Asita Recordings

We like Pam Grier, Red Stripe, the sound and the smell of records, mixtapes,the SF Giants, analog synths, McCovey Cove, Lanikai at night, and San Francisco's indian summer.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Addendum to the Ghetto Primer/YouTube Downloads/An easier way?



All of you technophobes, and those of you who half heartedly skimmed through my boring tutorial, will be pleased to know that I've discovered a much better/easier/faster way method.


Remember how I had briefly mentioned, and virtually written off vdownloader application, in my previous post? Well it turns out that the problem with the player was on my end, not with the application itself. Basically, while I had installed the ffmpeg converter, I had extracted the application itself on to my desktop. It is vital that you install all of these components in to the same folder for them to work properly. Once, I did that (which in retrospect is basic common sense), it's smooth sailing. The program is pretty self-explanatory.

I'd like to note that the humble creator of this program, a guy by the name of Enrique Puertas, contacted me directly to help troubleshoot my issues with the program. You can check out our conversation on the original post in the comments section. The wonders of google triumph again!

So yep, Vdownloader passes Asita's quality control facility with flying colors! Please support benevolent coders.

I've been getting great feedback on the "Ghetto Primer" regarding Youtube downloads and I thank everyone for their questions, comments, and links.

By the way, I uploaded the hilarious Shapeshifters - Circuit City video for those of you who missed it.

Vdownloader

Kanye comes to Hawaii

Some of you might find this of interest:



----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: DJ ELITE
Date: Feb 27, 2006 7:32 PM

(Courtesy of J. Blaze @ www.partyrazzi.com)

From Uncle Tom's office:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING ARTIST
KANYE WEST
TO PERFORM AT BLAISDELL ARENA ON APRIL 9TH

KANYE WEST, winner of six Grammy Awards and one of the most talked-about celebrities on the charts, will perform at the Blaisdell Arena on Sunday, April 9th at 7:30pm.

General admission and reserved tickets are priced at $49.50 and go on sale this Saturday at 9am at Blaisdell box office and all Ticketmaster outlets including Times Supermarkets.

Tickets may also be charged by phone by calling 1-877-750-4400 or ordered online at ticketmaster.com. For more information, phone 591-2211.


Sunday, February 26, 2006

My Ghetto Primer: How to save You Tube Video

Some say, that these sites will disappear in time, due to obvious copyright infringement issues. So, I've provided a quick primer on how you can download these videos, before they're gone forever.

1. Go to your favorite streaming video site. I like YouTube since it seems to have the greatest variety of clips, from classic skatevideos, to old commercials, to archived music videos, etc. Another one is Google Video. Copy the url/perma link now which is located right below the video you've chosen.

2. Now go to Jay Moya's handy site and proceed to copy-paste your video url in to the appropriate box. Hit the download button. Then, like magic, a link will appear at the top of the page. Right click and save the file. Now this is important.....rename the file extension when you save it. Change the extension .php to .flv.

For those who care .flv is a flash video file format.

3. Technically you now have the .flv video file saved to your computer, ready for viewing anytime you want. The main problem with .flv files, however, is that they are not widely used, except for in web applications.

Even just to play back the .flv you've just downloaded you will probably need to grab a special player. I highly recommend getting VLC Player. It has tons of built in codecs and can handle virtually any video file format you throw at it. Did I mention, it's also free?

4. So now you have this .flv file, what next? Well most people, at this point, convert these files to either mpeg or avi, mostly for the convienience and compatibility of these other formats. I'm not sure who would want to burn these to dvd, considering they are kind of low-res, but if you were inclined, it would require a conversion.

Alot of people have suggested I use Video Downloader at this point in the process, but I never got it to work (the application kept hanging in the conversion process). Perhaps, it will work for you.

I use and endorse Riva Flv Encoder. Check this tutorial on info on how to use it. Basically the program is for creating .flv files, but it's also capable of doing the opposite, which is what we're interested in. In a nutshell, just import your .flv in to the application, and then change your output extension to .avi. Make sure you have audio enabled checked, or you will have a silent film. Voila! Conversion takes a couple of minutes. Experiment with settings and go with whatever works best for you.

Send suggestions and grizzly discoveries to asitarecordings@hotmail.com

Jay Moya Conversion site
VLC Player (download)
Riva FLV Encoder

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Journey In to Youtube Weirdness

Services like Youtube and Google video have been providing hours of brain numbing fun, on the random streaming video tip. If you haven't been to these sites before, they are essentially searchable video databases. They are hardly all-encompassing (since they are fairly new) but they have enough to offer, to give myspace a run for it's money, in terms of time wasting.

Stuff I've found, which you can easily look up yourself. eddie k and dj quest - ghetto stash video, rappin 4 tay-playaz club , eric b and rakim videos, eddie hazel live!, afro sheen commercial, kinks preforming waterloo sunset, distortion 2 static on google video (bay area hip-hop show), sun ra, kiss doll commercial, dodge charger 500, commodore 64 with william shatner.....As you can see it's a glorious cess pool of pop culture!

The best clip i've found is a very early Parliament live preformance from 1969. George Clinton's mohawk is truly next level. Interestingly enough, this is apparently from the same Boston cable access.TV show that Stark Reality/Monty Stark appeared on called "Hey Brother."




Please read my exhaustive tutorial for more on how to save you tube videos to your computer.

Myka9 ghostwrote NWA songs?



Allegedly, Myka9 formerly Mikah9, ghost wrote some material for NWA, after crossing paths with Eazy-E. Whether true or not, this is certainly a great way to get a buzz, and is subsequently all over the internets, along with news of his free album Citrus sessions available for download on his site.

"AllHipHop.com: There's a story that's been going around for years that Eazy-E gave Bone Thugs n Harmony a Freestyle Fellowship tape of “Mary”, and he instructed them to use it as a blueprint for their style, is there any truth to this?

Myka 9: No, not that I know of. Unless I left some music in his car. Rest in peace. He brought them to The Good Life with [DJ U-Neek] , and I played him our stuff at Earle’s hot dog stand and in his SUV. We shared what we were working with on occasion. He was also into the ghostwriting thing, like what I did on the very first NWA album.

AllHipHop.com: Wow, I didn’t know that.

Myka 9: Yeah, I wrote two tracks off NWA and the Posse, my name M. Troy is listed in the liner notes. I should be getting publishing off the record, but I don’t know if the statute of limitations is up on that or what. [laughs]"


Read more here.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Questlove on Jay Dee



Rather than attempt to post yet another Jay Dee tribute blog, I've decided to pass along this link instead. It's a heartfelt and personal post made by Questlove of the Roots, describing his friendship with Jay Dee, his apprehension with funerals, and much, much more.


"i attended about 5 funerals before this and most when I was real young….so this is the first time I delt with unexpected tragedy---because most of the funerals I attended were for people age 80 and up and I don't grieve more than less celebrate their long life on earth. So that said this is the first time that i have felt utterly comfortable in a funeral setting. at least enough to express my personal grief.

kinda weird walking up ----(i was late i admit. I was going to play drums and I realized that I had no drumsticks so I arrived 10 mins into the service)----to see the people i saw--both whom i have been life long friends with....and some whom I've had friction with---all in the same circle. i started to feel uncomfortable again.

but then i realized that this day was about dilla and not me.

part of me felt underdressed (house shoes---a key figure to getting slum village exposure pre qtip meeting--- made me feel at ease once he came in jeans and tshirt), part of me felt uncomfortable (the last time i saw ali shaheed it was not under the best of circumstances), part of me felt like running away (the site of headstrong erykah crying made me not to want to walk inside), and part of me felt helpless again (i ended my 5 month silence from dangleo yesterday as i spoke to him for the first time since his fatal accident that almost took his life away. i expressed my fear of staying in contact with him for fear that i would get the call that i got about dilla's death last friday and that is something i CANT take)—

but part of me felt strong.

it was so uplifting to see the musicworld in full view today. all of the mavericks there. from a&r's, to CEOs, to directors, to A listers, to "backpackers", to blingers.---cats from waaaaaaaaaaaaaay across europe to down the street."

Read the rest, here.

Rest in Peace

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Mizell Brothers



I never thought I'd see the day when the Mizell Bros got their much deserved due.

However it seems, that following, the recent release of the Blue Note compilation simply entitled "Mizell" the duo is finally getting their shine. The compilation collects some of their best loved productions, along with some previously unheard tracks. Even Wax Poetics, gave a proper nod to the Mizell's music, in their latest Issue 15/Feb March 2006.

"The Mizell Brothers made Blue Note the hippest record label of the 1970s, even if it infuriated the jazz purists. Archie Shepp and the jazz avant-garde also had a knack for incensing the critics. We've got beautiful photos showing how real their movement was. And we finish up our talk with David Axelrod, who never got his own critical due."

I know that their music has had a deep impact on Joe and Alex 75. And even before I knew who the Mizell's were I was unwittingly enjoying the sound of songs like Donald Byrd's "Wind Parade" and Bobbi Humphrey's "Black and Blues." Check out this little known song they produced for Marvin Gaye called "Where Are We Going" for a taste of that trademark genius.

Larry Mizell was recently interviewed on the Gilles Peterson show, which you can download for a limited time below.

ghetto mizell brother fan page with tons of great info
get your copy here
listen to the gilles peterson interview