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Current Trop News items, updates, etc. etc.

GREETINGS!

Here is where you'll find current trop news items, tidbids,etc, that  I don't always have time to talk about during the radio show. If you have something you want to submit, write me at the station. Snail mail info is on the contact page.

Thanks,

DK your host of the Island Time Radio Show

Sail on Captain Tony - 1916- 2008


 

CAN'T STAY AWAKE PAST 10PM on MONDAYS??? RECORD THE SHOW!!

HOW I RECORD ISLAND TIME EVERY WEEK

by MICHAEL KELLY,  Columbus, Ohio

 Unsolicited Web Listener Testimonial:

Island Time - Any Time!

Even though I'm an "Analog Man in a Digital World",  for the last 3 years (or there abouts), I've never missed an Island Time show. This is because I use a computer program that automatically tunes in and records the program, it's called Replay AV 8 from Applian Technologies. It has had great reviews in all the PC journals. One can download it FREE and try it first. The registered version costs $39.95 if you like it.  I tried several similar products, and found this to the most reliable and easy to use. Every Monday at 10pm it comes on automatically and records till 1 am.  It creates a  file called IslandTime(date).mp3.  It makes one,  three hour long  MP3 music file - the complete show, each week becomes a file on your PC's hard drive. After that you can play it, keep it, edit it, delete it, etc.

Since Island Time is a 3 hour program, and I don t care to keep the news breaks, I also have a sister program called Replay Converter ($9.95) also from Applian. This is a cool little editor that  allows me to break up the show by song, or time, etc. It creates multiple MP3 files from each show.  Then I burn the stuff I want to keep onto CD's so I can listen in the car, work and on the Boat!  I also keep the original MP3  file so I can listen later on an MP3 player or through the PC. Even without editing or buring to CD's, when you play back the show it's like a VCR in that you can "fast forward" past the news breaks.  It's also handy for replaying event dates and times and addresses that are mentioned when Dennis interviews folks. Anytime I want to listen to a past show I have it - Island Time - Anytime.

These are easy programs to use. While I have a broadband Internet connection ( DSL or Cable),  I'm sure it will work well on a dial-up connection also. Just in case, I kick the kids off the computers from 10-1 on Mondays.  The quality of recording is equal to that of an FM radio station.  I also use this program to record Buffet concerts live on Radio Margaitaville. The program comes with a list of thousands of scheduled web cast programs, and Island Time is on that list. One can also add shows manually.  For anyone who can currently click on the WBWC web page links and listen to Island Time on their PC's, this program will do it all (and more) automatically.

Michael Kelly


A History of the Steel drum (or pans)
From the steel drum band Trinidadio's web site:

The Steel Drum, or Pan, is a unique instrument, invented in the 1930's. It is a skillfully hammered 55-gallon oil drum, which has been carefully tuned to produce tones. The Steel Drum carries the full chromatic range of notes, and can produce just about any type of music.
Brief History of the Origins of Pan
During British colonial rule of Trinidad in the 1800's, hand drums were used as a call for neighborhood gangs to collect and 'mash up' with the other gangs. Hoping to curb the violence, the government outlawed hand drums in 1886.
Deprived of the drums, the Trinidadians turned to the 'Bamboo Tamboo', where each member of the group would carry a length of bamboo and pound it on the ground as the group walked through the streets, producing distinctive rhythmic 'signatures', which identified each gang. (The word "Tamboo" is from the French "tambeau", or "drum"). When two gangs met on a march, they would pull out the machetes they had hidden inside the long bamboo poles, which solved none of the violence problems.
Soon the government outlawed the bamboo bands as well. Deprived of all traditional rhythmic instruments, the Trini's took any objects they could find, including garbage can lids, old car parts and empty oil barrels (from the Navy bases on the island). They used these instruments to form the Iron Bands, which marched down the streets playing the same distinctive rhythms. These impromptu parades were called Iron Band.
One Day in the late 1930's, during a particularly rough iron band session, somebody discovered that a dented section of barrelhead produced a tone. Winston "Spree" Simon is generally credited as the first person to put a note on a steel drum. Originally the pans were convex, like a dome rather than a dish. Ellie Manette, a pan maker still active in the US today, was the first to dish out the pan and give the steel drum its mature form. Many tuners began experimenting with and producing tuned 'pans', eventually forming large groups of the neighborhood pan men into orchestra bands. There are many great musicians, arrangers and innovators in the history of the steel bands.
The musical competitions, which began to take place each year at Carnival, quickly replaced the street fights. There are two competitions, one for the popular songs of the year, and a separate contest, which showcases both the technical ability of each band and versatility of the steel drum by presenting highly orchestrated classical pieces.
The bands, which include Phase Two Pan Groove, the Amoco Renegades and the Sliver Stars, each perform a masterfully arranged, ten-minute piece for the yearly Panorama competition. Each band can contain over 100 musicians and 300 pans, and they rehearse relentlessly for months before Carnival in the hopes of winning the Panorama and being crowned champion steel band for the year. Fifty years after the first such contest the rivalries between steel bands still exist, but manifest themselves in an excellent quality of musicianship.

The Phlocking of the Phaithful @ Put-in-Bay, Ohio