Photo of the Day

Our 2006 mp3 compilation is now complete and available on archive.org at the following URL:

http://www.archive.org/details/SG101_2006_MP3_Compilation

I am really knocked out by this years compilation! I want to thank everyone who contributed. Great job everyone!! Special thanks go to ButchDelux who created the CD case front and back artwork!

Please spread the word about the above link, and please continue discussing this very special project in the forum thread.

I'm looking forward to next year's!

SurfGuitar101 is pleased to announce that we now have a TeamSpeak server. We can now offer voice chats! All you have to do to get started is go to the TeamSpeak Downloads page, and grab yourself a client program. Clients are available for Windows, Linux, and Macs (be sure you get the right one), and are available free of charge to non-commercial users (i.e. us). I've used Teamspeak extensively and I can vouch for it being free of spyware.

You will need speakers and a microphone for your computer to chat. I use a microphone/headphone headset combination, but any old computer mic will do.

For additional help, information, etc., please see this forum thread.

I will shortly install a block that will appear on the home page that will indicate who is chatting on TeamSpeak.

This resource was brought to you by the generous people who have donated to the site. I hope it proves useful to the surf community! Use it to talk about surf music, shoot the breeze, coordinate going to shows, make new friends, etc.

I am pleased to announce the SurfGuitar101 2006 MP3 Compilation. Just like last year, this is a way for all members to share music, recording tips, and to just have fun. The main emphasis is fun, so please send in an entry no matter what your skill level is.

Here are the rules:

1. You must be a member of this website to submit an mp3.
2. You may submit only 1 mp3.
3. The mp3 you submit must not have appeared on any "official" release before. Likewise, please don't submit anything that is destined for an official release in the future.
4. The mp3 must be 8 MB in size or less.
5. There is a good chance the comp will end up on Archive.org. Therefore, you must agree to their Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives) License for your mp3.
6. The deadline for submitting an mp3 is Friday, December 1st, 2006.

I have created an Official 2006 MP3 Comp Forum Thread. Please use that thread to discuss the compilation and to get information on how to submit an mp3.

Please use that thread if you'd like to find a fellow member to work with on the project. With the magic of digital recording and the internet, remote collaborations are possible. Make your own virtual surf band!

Let the comp begin!

I've created a new Photo of the Day feature for the site. A new picture is chosen randomly each day, and registered users can leave comments on each photo. If you have a photo you'd like to add, please send it to me along with a title and description! Dig it!

First of all, you may have noticed things look a little different. Hopefully for the better. I've finally got my hands around the coding aspect of themes, and was able to customize one of the stock themes. This isn't the final product though, and I would still appreciate any new ideas from you guys. It is even possible to create multiple themes, and each registered user can pick his own from a list!

I also want to thank Joe, aka norcalhodad, who created a great set of topics icons for the news stories. He also made the cool Downloads logo. Thanks Joe!

Again, I don't want to discourage anyone from making more topics icons. They can be used in different themes.

Second, I have created an "Encyclopedia Review Board" sub-forum in the forums area. Here we can discuss terms for the site encyclopedia. I hope this encyclopedia will supplement our FAQs (which also need a lot of work!), and will be useful to newbies and visitors.

And finally, I am planning on adding a "Photo of the Day" feature to the site. I will add a block that will feature a thumbnail that will change every day. Clicking the thumbnail will bring up a full size version of the photo with a caption and perhaps even with a rating and comment system. So while I am working on that, I need photos! Anything surf music related is fine: bands, gear, album covers, beach scenes, whatever! Please email your photos to: brian at surfguitar101 dot com.

Thanks everyone for your continued interest in the site!

We have two RSS feeds available. For news stories and similiar front page content, point your reader at this URL:

http://www.surfguitar101.com/backend.php.

Our forums are syndicated in the following feed:

http://www.surfguitar101.com/backend-forums.php

By default this retrieves the last 10 posts. You can customize that, for example to 20, by altering the URL as follows:

http://www.surfguitar101.com/backend-forums.php?count=20

The script will retrieve up to 200 characters from each post. You can go up to 500 right now by using the 'chars' argument: e.g.

http://www.surfguitar101.com/backend-forums?count=20&chars=500

Hopefully some of you will find these useful. Please send me any feedback, I'd be glad to tweak the scripts.

Today was the last day for the old SG101 Yahoo Group. I've turned it into an announcements-only style group. Please check it for announcements from me in case something catastrophic happens with the new site (here).

The SG101 Yahoo Group was founded on Oct. 31, 2001, and it was a lot of fun, so today is a little sad. However, I'd like to think this new site is the next logical step for growth. I would like to thank all the members, past and present, for making it what it was, and for making this new site possible.

I know some people liked the email features of the Yahoo Group. I can't offer that (yet?), but I do have RSS feeds available for both the forums and the stories that appear here on the front page. I will make an announcement a bit later about these features. Meanwhile, please contact me via the Feedback link or send me a PM if you are interested in testing the RSS feeds.

I do have most of the messages from the Yahoo Group saved. I will be compiling them into some kind of database in the near future. Meanwhile, members can still search the archives at the old Yahoo Group site (as painful as that is).

Let's hope this new format is even more successful than the last! Thanks, everyone!

--BN

A very popular fixture on the old SG101 site were the various video clips that my wife shot. I took these videos down when we turned on the new format, as the videos were eating my monthly bandwidth.

I have created an account (surfguitar101) on YouTube.com, and have begun the process of uploading the videos there. It's gonna take me a little while to get them all uploaded, so please be patient. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope they will receive a wider audience at YouTube.

SG101 Videos on YouTube.com

PS Here is a tip for would-be YouTube uploaders. I got the best results with my Quicktime files by first converting them to mpeg-4 (.mp4) before uploading them to YouTube.

I have just installed an event calendar. If you have an event (show date, release date, etc.) that you would like to publicize, just click on the Calendar and then Submit Event Info. Fill out the form, paying careful attention to the event date (it defaults to today). Then click Submit Event to send the info to me for approval. Please leave a comment here if you have any problems or questions. Thanks!

Okay I went around and found some passable icons for the topics. Take a look at this link to see what they all are:

Topics

At first I thought it would be cool to have a photo of The Lively Ones to represent the Bands category, but then I realized people would see a story about Slacktone, for example, and see this picture of The Lively Ones next to them. Hmmm..

So here is where I need your help: create some cool icons for this site! Send me a private message or leave a comment here.

Thanks!