Family RoadTrip 2009

I hereby subject my readers to home movies. Behold! Actual video footage of our madcap adventures. See the Seattlites drive to Idaho and Montana. Thrill to the footage of bears! Rock to the sounds of Evil Little Men with special guest stars The Beatles. Chico Hot Springs. Yellowstone, Bozeman. Missoula. Coeur d'Alene. Big Sky. And much more...

Intruders TV Relaunches

Intruders TV has re-vamped their site and posted a bunch of new video interviews with musicians, tech wizards, filmmakers and cleantech pioneers. They are a truely global operation, posting in multiple languages. Some great interviews are available...check 'em out.

They describe themselves as follows: "Intruders tv is the leading provider of valuable insights through their unique approach to capturing Innovators on camera. Interviews are conducted by well known, experienced and international industry editors, hand picked by Intruders tv to convey credibility and respectability both with the innovators being interviewed and the audience watching the interview."



"The mastermind behind Java, James Gosling created the programming language that brought the Internet to life and can be found in everything from smartcards to cell phones. In the interview above, James talks about Java, embedded systems, the iPhone and sensors in the middle of the Pacific!"

Black Cab Sessions Music Videos

I'm a big fan of great music and I also love online video so imagine my delight when I was turned onto Black Cab Sessions. It shows what you can do with a simple concept, a camera, a microphone and talented artists.

The producers bring a band into a London taxi cab and have the musicians record one take of a song while driving around town. The results are fun and intimate. Check out great acts such as Brian Wilson, Ryan Adams, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Daniel Johnston, The Futureheads and more. Wow!

Video Fun in the Public Domain

Fun with the public domain. Goodnight Irene is a 20th century American folk standard popularized by such musicians as The Weavers and Lead Belly. The video clips are from Archive.org which provides free, public domain video footage such as school filmstrips, government training films and vintage TV advertising. Performed here by Ray Taylor and Todd Tibbetts. Edited by PixelFarmer.com.

Zune Arts Digital Music Videos

I love my iPhone, but the marketing efforts surrounding Microsoft's Zune are catching my eye. They are funding the creation of a lot of great mini digital art pieces.

"Zune Arts brings the best creative minds to collaborate on inspiring works of art under themes of sharing, connection, discovery, and friendship. Zune Arts is continuously growing, ever-evolving, and always open to new voices, influences and ideas. Zune is Microsoft's music and entertainment brand that provides an integrated digital entertainment experience. The Zune platform includes a line of portable digital media players, the Zune Marketplace online store, and the Zune Social online music community."

Family Friendly Digital Media

I've recently made updates to another web site I created called FamilyMusicParty.com. The site publishes information about family-friendly music including videos, lyrics, artist bios and other fun stuff.

Wilco Live

Just a short post about the soundtrack to my summer. Wilco has been playing over and over in my car, home and iPod. Great rock, well-made, rich and textured. Attached to this post are a couple photos and a short video clip from my old Treo phone which was laid to rest right after this show. They played outside in Marymoor Park, Redmond, Washington. Bill Frisell joined them for a few songs. A lovely night for humans and dozens of freshly-hatched dragonflies.

Family Friendly Digital Media

Sometimes I hook my laptop up to our home LCD TV and I watch videos and play games with my kids. One thing we’ve noticed is that it is often a challenge to locate appropriate music videos for the whole family. An innocent search for "Oh Suzanna" on YouTube.com might display a frat boy fart contest. We've been saving links to good videos on a new website we slapped together called FamilyMusic.tv.

Lately, rather than searching the web, we’ve been producing our own family-friendly digital creations. It is true that one of the drivers of user generated content has been users not finding what they want, so they create it themselves. Below is a sampling of our latest experiments. These were all created using consumer tools in our home. So, ah.. watch out!

The Mystery of Lazy Hill Farm
A music video made using toys and art supplies found around the house. The song was written by me and brilliantly brought to life by Ray, Zack and me at Andrew’s home studio.


The Camptown Ladies
A classic old tune spiced up by The Family Music Party Experience. Zack, Ray, and Todd played on this. Andrew engineered and produced.


Little Boxes
Written and recorded originally by Malvina Reynolds in 1962. I recorded it at Poolhaus Studios in Burbank, CA. I played all the instruments and sang all the vocals.


Faces on My Money
The kids and I tried to record a song and shoot and edit a music video in 4 hours or less...and it shows! I wrote the lyrics and part of a song and Ray supplied the better part of the melody and some real chords.