IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Apr 08 2018 11:40 AM
Some of you may be aware - and many probably not! - that the Space Cossacks' "Tsar Wars" CD was of the "enhanced" kind, utilizing the latest circa-year-2000 technology in order to package the Tsar Wars novella on the same CD as the music. The novella was written by Jamie Miles expressly for the CD, with each of the 15 chapters corresponding to a song. Each chapter also came with exclusive illustrations done by the remarkable Stephen Blickenstaff. Well, this technology has been obsolete and not really accessible by computers in many years, and the CDs of Tsar Wars are not so easy to find anymore, either.
HOWEVER! Jamie has just posted the entire novella with all the illustrations on his website, AND made it free to access! Yes, you can finally read that highly adventurous and wildly entertaining Tsar Wars novella (seriously, it's a freakin' BLAST!) and see all of Steve's fantastic illustrations for it - while of course listening to your copy of the album!
You can access it here: http://jameswmiles.com/tsarwars/
THANK YOU so much to Jamie and Steve for doing this for us in the first place - and now for giving it a second lease on life! We're very excited to finally have this on the internet! (Oh, Larry White AKA Moon Dawg's role in coming up with the title and providing important feedback to Jamie in his early drafts needs to be recognized, too - thanks, MD!)
Enjoy!
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
Last edited: Apr 08, 2018 11:41:18
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remora1
Joined: Jan 04, 2008
Posts: 1278
San Pedro, CA
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Posted on Apr 08 2018 01:39 PM
Great news! I really enjoyed reading the novella when listening to the CD, I remember thinking how cool and cutting edge it was. Everybody do yourself a favor and check it out- thanks to you Ivan and everyone involved!
— Bill S._______
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MichaelK7
Joined: Jul 01, 2018
Posts: 106
NYC
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Posted on Jul 04 2018 08:21 PM
This is cool. I've loved that album since it was released, but never knew about this aspect. Looking forward to reading the novella.
— Deal with reality, or reality will deal with you.
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remora1
Joined: Jan 04, 2008
Posts: 1278
San Pedro, CA
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Posted on Aug 19 2018 01:17 AM
I've just been browsing some of my old posts and feel the need to bump this. It was truly an amazing concept and something that, at the time seemed far beyond the reach of a band in the surf genre. Anyone here who is a Space Cossacks fan owes it to themselves to cue up this CD and take the link to the story and read it while the soundtrack plays. I know it blew me away and changed my whole perspective on "surf" and what possibilities there were with digital media and this music. Of course things have advanced exponentially since then and I can only imagine where the next surf visionary will take it, until then I will say thanks again to Ivan, the band , and everyone else who made this happen. You swung for the fences and hit a grand slam!
— Bill S._______
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 21 2018 03:55 PM
So great!! Thank you VERY MUCH, Bill, love to read this! It was a great effort to do all that, and it's truly nice to hear that there ARE people out there that appreciate it! I'll actually go ahead and share your post on the Cossacks FB page, too, it deserves it!  Thanks again!
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 21 2018 04:29 PM
I was just thinking a bit more about this, and thought I'd add one thing: the Tsar Wars novella, as you can see in the author Jamie Miles' credits on the above website, was born at my suggestion to him. I outlined the basic plot to him based on the album track order. When I was putting together the track order, I started thinking in terms of a story that the album could tell - or maybe I should say, suggest - as a guide to the best dynamics of the song order. Once the story became clear in my mind, I asked Jamie (an old college friend and a brilliant guy and writer) to flesh it out. This is something I've continued to do with all four Madeira albums - the tracklist on every one of them (well, maybe Sanstorm the least) reflects a story arc. The whole band provides feedback on it, of course, but I do usually imagine a particular story when putting together the track order. I don't know how many people pick up on that, but at least one did - Jonpaul back in 2012 put that in his review of "Tribal Fury" (see here: https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/17593/ - he nailed it!). And "Ancient Winds" is even more like that - the story arc should be fairly obvious between the titles and the sounds and dynamics of songs themselves. So, while none of those albums have accompanying novellas, they very easily could!
One thing I loved about surf music from the beginning is that it's extremely evocative of exotic locales and settings, and unleashes the imagination as few other forms of music do. Having also grown up in the album-rock era and being exposed to quite a few concept albums, it seemed but a short step to put the two together. Instrumental concept albums - makes perfect sense to me! Of course, it's not at all necessary to approach the albums like that, but if a listener is willing to use his/her imagination and listen closely to the album, they will be rewarded with a deeper experience, I think!
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
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remora1
Joined: Jan 04, 2008
Posts: 1278
San Pedro, CA
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Posted on Aug 21 2018 05:31 PM
You're quite welcome, Ivan. I remember getting my autographed copy of "Tsar Wars" at the Pitcher House in Hermosa Beach where you played an amazing set. I recall at the time that a lot of the major labels were experimenting with multimedia CD's to boost sales and most of them sucked. Then comes indie surf band The Space Cossacks to show 'em how it's done .
I was kinda surprised that I was practically the only respondent to this thread and felt it deserved a bump. Tsar Wars is one of the definitive surf records of that era and still one of my all time favorites!
— Bill S._______
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ncgalt1984
Joined: Nov 27, 2013
Posts: 235
Greenville, NC
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Posted on Aug 21 2018 05:43 PM
This is awesome. Thanks for sharing. Now I want the graphic novel...
— Kevin
The Out of Limits
www.facebook.com/theoutoflimitsband
https://theoutoflimits.bandcamp.com/
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Badger
Joined: Nov 16, 2013
Posts: 4537
Wisconsin
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Posted on Aug 22 2018 07:02 AM
AWE-some!!!
— Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel
DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.
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