Not to be outdone by Carson Williams, Mike Ziemkowski, has been putting on a Christmas and Halloween spectacular for several years in Sherman Oaks, California.  His site features videos and photos for each display.

Here’s a great set of Christmas lights flashing synchronized to Wizard in Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) from their The Lost Christmas Eve album.  The display is provided by Carson Williams from Mason, Ohio who decorated his house with this sophisticated spectacular each Christmas until last year when traffic congestion became too much of a problem for his neighborhood and it was discontinued.  Williams broadcast the audio over FM frequency so cars could listen without him having to blast music and upset the neighbors.  You can also check out this great video clip of his display performing Jingle Bells.

I’ve changed the “Recently” section in the right panel to contain access to the blog database for easier updates.  Previously, I had the “Recent Books” and “Recent Albums” information stored within the web site layout for the right panel and found that it was too much of a pain to update.  By moving the data into the database, I can quickly post new or change the existing information without dealing with the site layout.  Hopefully, this should help me to update this information quickly and more often.

Prior this change, I had had the same list of albums for several weeks now even though I had in fact been listening to some newer ones.  I still listen to The Fray, so I didn’t mind it as much, but some of the newer ones definitely deserve their day in the sun.  In particular, I’ve been listening a lot to WBOS Studio 7 Live from the Archives Volume 4.  WBOS is a Boston radio station that plays a good mix of adult contemporary music.  They also host live on-air sessions at a Boston studio called Studio 7 from where the tracks on the Archives album were recorded.  Years ago, another boston station, WBCN used to release a similar type of disc called the WBCN Naked Disc, but they don’t seem to do that any more.  Not only do the WBOS Archives albums feature some of the best of current artists, the songs are often recorded as rare, acoustic versions which may actually sound better than the original releases.  This makes the collection a good deal even for someone who already has most of the tracks through the artists’ albums or from downloads.  The Studio 7 albums sell out quickly and WBOS doesn’t rerelease them once they sell out, so if interested you should buy one while still available.

The current Studio 7 album features:

1. One Man Wrecking Machine - Guster
2. Colorful - Rocco DeLuca & The Burden
3. How We Operate - Gomez
4. Let Me Go - Sonya Kitchell
5. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray
6. Move By Yourself - Donavon Frankenreiter
7. Mandolin Moon - Sister Hazel
8. Beautiful Wreck - Shawn Mullins
9. Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
10. Ordinary - The Alternate Routes
11. Save Yourself - Greg Johnson
12. Boston - Augustana
13. Nothing Left To Lose - Mat Kearney
14. Stronger - Mieka Pauley