Fantasy Football!

Come join your fellow thesixtyone listeners in Fantasy Football! The league is brought to you by Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. There are only ten spots so join fast! It is a great way to talk about the ol' pigskin and meet members of thesixtyone. The league ID is 336868 and password is, appropriately, maxbump! Our live online draft is set for Monday, August 25 at 10:00pm EDT. To join, click here! See you on the gridiron!

Get to Know a Fellow 61'er: Supergrover

We've redesigned the 'Get to Know a Fellow 61'er' to probe deeper into the psyche of your comrade in bumps. Fun, eh. If you've already filled one out and would like to do it again, please do! Just email your results to Batface89.

1. Your User Name:
   supergrover
   
   
2. When did you join T61?
   
   Sometime around Thanksgiving of 2007.
   
3. What is your current avatar and why did you choose it?
   
   Why it's Super Grover! It's a stylized version created by my canukkistan compadre, myktoronto.
   
4. What part of the world are you in?
   
   Ohio. South of Columbus, north of Cincinnati.
   
5. What type of work do you do that allows you so much time on a computer? Do you bump at work? Have you ever been reprimanded for excessive bandwidth usage? :-)
   
   I create databases and software for contractors, various needs. Time in the home area, time in DC, San Antonio, Phoenix, Albuquerque. I do bump at work. The group I sit in is, logically, outside the firewall so the streaming isn't as stringent as
   it might be otherwise.
   
   
6. How would you describe your bumping personality? Are you a player? In it for the music? Has your style changed since the site changes?
   
   Definitely a mixed style. I'll bump any song I like. Period. First bumps are (almost only) songs that I like, not normally a consideration of whether it'll do big or not. (You can tell if you look at my stats) I tried guessing which might do what early after I noticed an influx of Second Life folk and thought I'd try to profit from their tendencies. It didn't do well.
   My style has certainly changed since the changes. I used to max bump songs that I really thought would do well (band of horses, for example), but now I'll do two or three to start and then a couple later to keep it on the activity page. This new 'groupie' thing may influence that activity a bit. We will see.
   
   Definitely in it for the music. If the music were all geetar and a microphone with no production, I'd not stick around. (Apologies to some artists who are that style who I happen to think are pretty good)
   
   
7. Got any good strategy you would like to share with newbies or do you think new users should have to figure it out for themselves?
   
   I did do a write up on someone's wall once. Look for it. It's good! (here it is, mathmanmrt, page 8). I think the strategy has been slightly evolving away from that. Plus I've been busy with work and appointments that my points aren't reflecting like they used.
   
   
8. The 61 hitting Diggs Home page... good or bad? Discuss.
   
   It was a bit buggy that day, but Sam and James got things back in tune. Good thing. Good thing. Gives me more walls to snark on.

Here are some great questions stolen from Pandora (hey, they had great questions... thanks for finding them d!) and a few originals.

1. What is the first album you ever bought?
   
   Wow. I actually remember buying it.
   
   It was TOTO : TOTO. I think it was around 1979 or 1980. Man, that is still a good album. I actually "listened" to it by digging through YouTube a few weeks ago and found most of the songs on video from some live show in Germany whaaaay back then.
   
   My first real album that I owned was Jefferson Airplane 'Ride the Tiger'. My mother bought it for me on christmas.
   
   My first EVER album was Tommy the Tuba... a kids album of some sort.
   
   
2. How has your music taste matured since you were a teenager?
   
   Shiiit. When I was a kid, I knew how to ROCK baby! Player. Badfinger. Styx. Yes. Then I grew to understand what corporate rock was. Grew disenchanted with the whole thing. Didn't know about college rock, so it was top 40 or WTUE. Sucked.
   
   Then I found The Clash on a faint radio station from a kinda local college. Started listening to that station and found the Ramones and NY Dolls and other interesting stuff. Still never invested myself enough to do concerts or anything until the late 80's when great music came out... you know... RATT, Riot, YNT. god it sucked. Hell, I started listening to talk radio.
   REM and the like came out and drew me back in a bit.
   Grunge reinvigorated it for me for a while... but nothing got me back to enjoying sitting at a radio all day. Then I found thesixtyone.com on a throwaway thread on bannination. Been mclovin it ever since. (I really went years without being concerned about what was on the radio)
   
   
3. Do you think that the way a song changes with repeated listening is in any way related to where that piece of music might fit into the spectrum that goes from entertainment to art?
   
   Yes. There are some songs that I can listen to over and over and the influence varies depending upon the mood I'm in.
   
   REM, 10kManiacs, STP. Sometimes you wanna dance. Sometimes you wanna sit back and stare at the ceiling. Sometimes you want to kick a chair over. I think many good artists have songs that can do all of that.
   
   
4. Have you ever heard something that completely failed to interest you on the first listen, which later ended up being a very important piece of music to you?
   
   Yes. There is one on thesixtyone. September 29th's 'But'. The first time I heard it, I almost turned my nose at it. (I've told her this, so I hope it's not a secret) I couldn't get past her voice at first. But boy, the first time I heard the lyrics I fell in love with it. Deeply. It's a fantastic song on many levels. I've also been able to recognize her voice as an instrument itself, although her singing is non-traditional it is a very wondrous tool. For so long I wondered why nobody else bumped her except flapjacksyrup and batsceba and she was stuck on a low level. Dammit, I wanted her to upload soemthing new for the wake. I must've sent out 100+ tuneboxes that day. It helped. Woohoo for me.
   
   Have you ever listened to a song so much that you got sick of it? What's going on there?
   My high school buds would kill me: Led Zeppelin. just smoked out on it. I was that guy with the Chevelle SS going down the strip with Kashmir playing as loud as I could take. What a twit.
   
5. Do you think that the way a song changes with repeated listening is in any way related to where that piece of music might fit into the spectrum that goes from entertainment to art?
   
   No. Anybody who says otherwise is a pretentious git.
   
   (I'm stealing back a couple of the questions)
   14. Current Favorite Artist on t61: easy: Band of Horses. Lots of artists I really love on there, but this is an easy answer.
   
   
6. Artist you most wish would upload music: non-t61?
   
   Don't care. Whoever gets here, I'll listen.
   
   T61 artist? Keith Warren. The bits he has are magnificent. Curious to see what range of style he has.
   
7. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person?
   
   Oh, clearly this person : (new window).
   
8. Anything else to say:
   
   Yes. Very much. I want so greatly to thank all those who have offered me their support in these last couple of weeks. It's going to be a trying time, I'm sure, but I'm keeping optomistic thanks to some personal success stories that were tuneboxed to me and the jokes and all the kind wishes.
   
   I'm really quite overwhelmed (who's cutting onions in here?) by the sudden influx of grovertars / supportatars that have popped up as my first chemo approaches. It's hilarious and emotional all at once. Thanks to all who've done it and to bryank who, I believe, was the first. Jeesh, even a couple artists have done it... Glenn Case, bitwise, Evil Seagulls, Room Nineteen, alluswe. (I shouldn't list for fear of missing one...)
   
   
9. Found for me by some elvis impersonator:
   
   

Get to Know a Fellow 61'er: Evonity

We're coming up with new and improved questions for the month of June! They'll be deep and probing, I promise - Batface89, MaxBumps Czarina (Genus Mormoops... oh, go look it up!)

1. Your 61 Listener ID: Evonity
2. Current Favorite Artist: On T61: The Indio Bait, The Jacks, Kalabi and many others. Outside T61: Spinvis (lyrics are Dutch, music is multilingual)
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Any of the following Dutch bands / artists (do check them out!)
   • Moke (rock that reminds me of The Shins - clip is from Dutch movie TBS)
   • Voicst (alt rock that could compete with the best)
   • La Melodia (great hiphop - you probably won't believe she's Dutch)
   • Pete Philly & Prequisite (these are the guys that every wooden shoes wearing, real music loving Dutchman is talking about)
   • C-Mon & Kypski (all kind of mixtures, based on hiphop dj'ing)
   • LPG (alt rock that tries to compete with Voicst)
   • Scram C baby (alt rock / punkrock since 1993)
   • Benny Sings (piano pop rock)
   • De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig (they sing and rap in Dutch slang - a language i unfortunately not master completely)
   • ZzZ (warning: X-rated video - contains explicit nudity).

   Leave a note on my comment wall if you like any of the above mentioned artists.

4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Dutch polka (example), but only when I'm working outside ;-}
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? By browsing del.icio.us on a keyword I forgot.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I decided to back off a bit from the whole thing. Just answer some messages and stay away from the upload page. Force myself (at least for one week long) to spent time on other, equally important things like my little business, my family and eight hours of sleep.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? A way to seperate Artist news from Listener news in the Subscriptions block.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Anyone who is as adicted to the game as i am. Maybe we can setup a little T61-ic Anonymous get together one day.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? I'm thinking of getting Dutch Artists and Listeners to apply a windmill to their avatar - eventually resulting in a new question in this questionaire: "What do you think of Dutch Avatars for musicians and users?"
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? I appreciate the posts by the maxbump.net contributors and I like to talk about T61. So I'm satisfied.
11. Do you have anything else to say? I maintain a T61 fanblog at Evonity.org, but it's in my natural language, which unfortunately happens to be Dutch language only. Although there's a Google Search page to search the T61 site. For this page i wrote a small introduction in English. Btw. Did you know that "We used to play in a van down the river" is called a Chris Farley description? I didn't, until i started using 'my own' search engine. Have a look at the blog and tell me what you think - especially when you understand what i'm writing.

Get to Know a Fellow 61'er: Tokyosexwhale

• Your 61 Listerner ID: Tokyosexwhale
  
• Current Favorite Artist: Always a toughie, but right now it's gotta be Red Abbott (thanks t61!) and Crystal Castles. That being said I can never go too long without listening to some Zepplin or Massive Attack.
  
• Artist you most wish would upload music: Any of the above listed. Also JJ Grey, DJ Shadow, Hot Chip, The Escape Frame, and GoodBooks. Oh wait, the question only asked for one. Well pretend this is 'Choose Your Own Adventure' and just go with the one you like! Oops you picked wrong, you got eaten by a wolf. Go back to question 3 and start again.
• Your musical guilty pleasure: Englebert Humperdink, of course.
  
• How did you hear of The Sixty One? I'd like to think I was brought here by a higher power. Like God......or the Fonz. Thank you Fonz, for the wonderful bounty you have bestowed upon me.
• How much less productive are you since you've joined? Can you hold on? I've got to go check the Playlist of Democracy. I'll get back to you on this...........sometime...........probably never.
• What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? I'd like to change the way first bumps work. It just seems too easy to browse for songs with a maxbump of 0. I know the site is all about discovering good music but I wish it would be more specific. Like I'd have to check the Electronica section to see if there was anything new uploaded there or check for individual artists. I think that as more and more users join, the fight to be the first bumper might get out of hand. Of course, I'm just griping because I'll never be able to keep up with the likes of SNYpod or iyzie.
• Who is the listener you'd most like to meet in person? For the sake of easy travel, I'd have to go with mattynabib or eatabagel. Boston FTW. I think we should definitely have some local t61 get togethers though.
• What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? I'll stick with First Life, thank you very much.
• What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? More banner ads. 3 cheers for revenue! Seriously though, I think the blog is a nice complement to the official site, we just need to get more people involved. [I agree! - Batface89]

Get to Know a Fellow 61'er: Aldark

1. Your 61 Listener ID: Aldark
2. Current Favorite Artist: Admiral Twin and Levi Weaver (though like several others)
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Varsovia, love their stuff and WANT moar!!! I love all the Admiral Twin and I could listen to Levi's great lyrics and performances all day long.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Pr0n Jazz?  Don't understand guilty pleasure.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? Supergrover
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined?Ask my boss... actually I 61 a lot from work and a bit from home.  I'm not hardcore into the bumping game.  I do bump, but I don't actively search out new songs very often.  Look at my stats, when I have it has suX0red.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One?  Hmmm... I suggested 61 using Channel 61 on XM, that would "ROCK" (GC quote), but I would like a lyrics panel for songs.  I'm sort of a lyrics 'tard and don't necessarily pick up all the words very well, so that would be bonus.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person?  Well... I'd like to meet Illuminaughty, (Feel free to strike that from the record) but if I had to pick one it would probably MykToronto.  He just seems cool as hell.  I don't like the fact he's a Steelers fan, but what are you going to do?  Otherwise there are several that I would love to meet.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users?  I have to be honest until a week or two ago I had no idea what it meant and am still learning.. so right now I have no viewpoint.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog?  Artist success and CD releases.  I've been pimping a few artists outside of the Internets and would love to hear about those who land record deals with big labels, etc.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: iWoo

Deviating a bit from the standard 10 questions normally asked, here is an excerpt from an email iWoo sent me of his recommendations, which I think is another good way of getting to know a fellow 61'er.

"There happens to be a lot of emphasis on Canadian content (iWoo is from Calgary, AB aka home of Feist), but these are groups I am recently into as well as a longtime fan of.

The playlist:
http://www.seeqpod.net/search/?plid=aae0e1491b

Patrick Wolf - Overture
Patrick hails from London, I believe, and his tracks are really unique. I have yet to pick up an album, but I am sure the rest is great. I first heard his music (this song) in a fantastic mix by Bigo & Twigetti.

Bigo & Twigetti (not in the seeqpod list)
http://www.bigoandtwigetti.co.uk/
I highly recommend looking up B&T and downloading ALL of their mixes available on their website. They use a lot of different genres in a really refreshing manner; and most of it was brand new to me. Just to name a few things you can hear in their sets: Regina Spektor, Philip Glass, and a mix involving Peaches, and the composers Modest Mussorgsky and Wagner... just to name a few. I've been listening to their sets (among other things) repeatedly for months now, and it's part of the reason why I stopped logging into thesixtyone for so long. An overabundance of amazing music.

Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
I am fairly sure you've heard this artist by now, but he's a Canadian artist from Toronto. I recently heard it again in a movie written by Douglas Coupland, called Everything's Gone Green. There are a few songs on that film's soundtrack that you'd like; Hawaii is another great band that has/had Torquil from Stars as a singer. Need to look into it more!

Woodpigeon (various songs)
A band from my city (Calgary, Alberta). No handclaps I think, but they frequently have a chorus of voices and xylophones. They recently invited any capable fans to sing background for one of their new tracks. Jamie (Jane Vain) has performed several times with Woodpigeon, and has written and recorded with them on their next upcoming album.

Ohbijou - St. Francis
I heard this Toronto band last year at a concert festival in Montreal. Really lovely, at times reminding me of Arcade Fire. Apparently did some collaboration with Final Fantasy on one of his older albums.

New Buffalo - Recovery
A Melbourne singer/songwriter that I heard open for Feist three or four years ago in Calgary - this was her first and most enjoyable song that she performed.

Reverie Sound Revue - Passes & Passports
This band is also from Calgary, but is no longer. Their singer (with the interesting name of Lisa Lobsinger) toured for two years with Broken Social Scene, singing parts formerly performed by Leslie Feist and Emily Haines.

The Organ - Love, Love, Love
Five girls from Vancouver, though they split up in 2006. The whole album (Grab That Gun) is quite good, and they have been compared to Joy Division, The Cure and The Smiths. There's a video of their song 'Brother' on YouTube I believe.

Some last recommendations not on the list:

Anita Athavale
Yet another (very talented) singer/songwriter from my city. Check out 'Grace Is' off her site in the discography section, and if you like it, 'South Pacific' off YouTube. I think her full album is available on iTunes as well. Will be in New York soon on tour.
http://www.anitaathavale.com/

Circlesquare - Fight Sounds Pt 1
Another Vancouver artist, who has seemingly been laying relatively low. Dark, electronic, minimal. Very eclectic and awesome. The song was used in a recent Tricia Helfer movie, and incidentally, Patrick Wolf has done a remix of one of his songs.
http://www.circlesquare.ca/fightsounds/

Adele - Cold Shoulder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGwH-x4VoH8
Produced by Mark Ronson, who is sometimes annoying and sometimes brilliant. I think Ronson's hype about this track and artist was the main reason she made her debut at #1 on the UK charts (how does that work anyway?). Nonetheless, this track is pretty fantastic sounding, in a motown/Amy Winehouse way."

Get to know a fellow 61'er: willie

1. Your 61 Listener ID: Willie. Derived from my surname. The other thing is just a coincidence.
   
2. Current Favorite Artist: The Cuts and I still have a soft spot for Tripp Algiers they sent me a copy of their CD and it's become a firm favorite.
   
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: I was hoping Monkey:Sons would be joining but I'm not sure that's going to happen now. There are loads of others, one I think would do well is Billy the Vision & the Dancers . If I had to pick one song I'd go for Bouncy Ball by Ladyfuzz thought now sadly disbanded it would probably only appear via a blog scrape.
   
   
   
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: There's nothing I feel guilty about but I am obsessed with Jefferson Airplane, I seriously could write a book.
   
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? Via my 'real' life friends Geordielass and Haras.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? My productivity has always been sporadic, t61 hasn't helped. I remember to eat most days.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? Same as everyone else. Better tunebox, sortable stats I'm not a fan of the practice of blog scrapes although they do provide some of the best music.
   
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Geordielass and Haras as I've not seen them since I joined...... or my family now I think about it.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? Don't understand the appeal of second life at all, but each to their own I guess.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? Pretty much more of the same all contributions have been great. I especially like the band interviews, that interaction is what the t61 is all about for me.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: mikegreen

1. Your 61 Listener ID: mikegreen - usually with the radioactive face pic, but currently with a radioactive guinea pig. Handle's nothing original - just chunks of my actual name.
2. Current Favorite Artist:
   Port O'Brien currently - it came to T61 as a result of two blog scrapes, and I'm waiting for the album I've bought to cross the Atlantic as I speak. We guys in the UK aren't allowed to buy Amazon mp3s yet - go figure......
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Curtis Eller - although actually his stuff isn't that much the usual style I tend to listen to, I love it. I do think he'd fit right in on T61 tho', and would be popular.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: I have no guilt about anything I listen to. I suppose my private penchant for French cafe songs of the interwar period might generate a degree of whispering behind my back though. And it is worth pointing out to the unwary at this point that while many things I like fit right in with the T61 superbumpers and wider community, I also have what you fine folk might consider to be taste blindspots, which mark me a little apart. You wouldn't like everything I bump.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? One rainy afternoon, I was bored with everything I had to listen to already, and started doing Google searches to find something new. T61 came up on one.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? No less productive at all, now you mention it. I am now a lazy dissolute loafer who listens to more diverse music than ever before. That's maybe even an increase in productivity. But when I finish University and get a job again, I'm sure I'll not spend as much time on T61.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? Tuneboxing that's worth a damn with address books. General discussion forums that are searchable. Just a little Artist & Listener consultation. Oh, and searchable, organisable stats. I tend to bump in frenzied batches because stuff often uploads ands get mega-bumped in a more US oriented timeframe, and I have to catch up later in UK time. So I often bump-bump-bump, without listening to stuff completely, and then play from my stats later before you guys greet the dawn, to organise my adds and playlists.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Anyone I've engaged with on walls, forums, or listener events. Oh, and hodj - who hasn't been seen on the site for months. He was an early mentor when I got started.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? I've never been 'in world', haven't been tempted to, and I genuinely don't get it. But I don't get, inter alia, religion, teetotalism, swinging parties, morris dancing, SUV owners, smoking bans, grand theft auto, gun ownership, American Football, Hello magazine, or Virginia Woolf either, so I'm not too worried by not getting it. I defend diversity because we all diversify from one another somewhere along the way - it just depends where you draw the lines.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on Max Bumps?
    It's doing just fine as we speak. The mix of T61 activity such as bump campaigns, artist info, real world gigs and events, and member to member dialogue is a really good balance. I'm kinda ticked off that I only found out about Zuba when they were already no more - as one of not too many UK based acts featured, I might have got to see them.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: kafkajoubert

1. Your 61 Listener ID: kafkajoubert
2. Current Favorite Artist: There are quite a few artists on t61 that I really like. I'm Zuba obsessed and totally addicted to Hidari(first bumping them would send me straight to heaven). I also like pretty much everything that RAC, Ugress, Casual Lust and the Dodos upload. My favourite folk/blues chicks on t61 are Grace Buford and
   Suzen JueL. As for the new arrivals, I'm quite taken by Red Abbott and
   Tan Vampires. And those are just a few.
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: It's nice to bump an artist I already know and like but I get more pleasure in discovering new music. Seeing some French acts on t61 would be cool though.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: I have no shame so I guess this question doesn't really apply to me. Having said that, I do feel a bit guilty whenever I realise that my favourite uploads of the day are all from
   blogs.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? Grace Buford, a t61 artist, told me about the site. She should have known better, being familiar with my
   obsessive nature.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I've always had something on the side that I'm addicted to and which impacts on my productivity. I think I stopped being productive in 2001 when I joined the HSX.com (a mock stock exchange for movies) and I'm seriously surprised that I still have a job and a social life; I'm not sure how I've managed that but the SixtyOne could be what sends me off to homelessness.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? a bigger tunebox window. My spelling is horrendous at the best of times but the size of the tunebox window makes it worse. I get quite a few "huh?" in response to my messages. I'd also love to be able to delete/edit my posts on other people's walls. Typos again. Too many of them. Way too many.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? I'd actually want to be able to hear Grandesoreilles and JeniliaC speak in English to find out how thick their French and German accents are. The three of us on a conference call could turn out to be hilarious.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? Ah, but you see, I'm one of them, muahahaha. I did change my profile pic to an eerie castle from a Japanese anime but I joined the site in my SL avatar form, which is boringly human. I'm actually planning a metamorphosis into a giant Cockroach. I think t61 needs more insects.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on Max Bumps? Absolutely no idea..Is that helpful in any way?

Get to know a fellow 61'er: comradeinarms

1. Your 61 Listener ID: comradeinarms
2. Current Favorite Artist: The Felice Brothers. They're like Harry Smith's brain on indie rock. Amazing.
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Noir Désir, but I don't really think that's going to happen anytime soon. Or slightly more phantasmagorically, Can. That'd be awesome. Cause what the sixtyone needs is more twenty-four minute songs.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Charlie Mingus. So damned good it's got to be bad.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? Through my friend Morgan via his brother Alex who has like three profiles on the site. No idea where he found it, since it was before the digg deluge.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? Hopelessly?
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? Eh, I don't know - there are a bunch of small changes I'd make, but nothing huge. I don't like the fact that after months of campaigning for the removal of Browse>Newest, you can still do Max Bumps = 0. Really defeats the whole purpose. I'd like to see a decent PM system as well as some better means to organize songs. Not to mention a separate feed for artist and listener subscriptions. Perhaps also a system whereby if someone uploads a new song in say the two categories on your homepage that gets included in your subscription feed too. I mean - this is about discovering music right? Also, I hate the blog zombies. Yeah, if I could get rid of those, that'd be awesome.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Most of the people with whom I've had extended conversations. But picking one? No clue.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? If Zizek says all sex is virtual, why not the same for music?
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see at Maxbumps? Love the artist interviews, so I guess more of those.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: mattynabib

Just a quick entry to jump on board... perhaps when I've managed to get myself moved into my new house I'll have even more time to contribute my own unique form of drivel.

t61 Listener ID: mattynabib

Current Favorite Artist: Tough one, but absolute top right now is Brian Scary (who is barely a t61 artist, as a twice-scraped blog find). The album "The Shredding Tears" is, IMHO, an album huge, complex and cohesive enough to be put up there in the ranks with "The Wall," "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway," and eels "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations." Other favorite artists currently include Great Lakes Myth Society, Mad Staring Eyes, Bodies of Water, Jonathan Coulton.

Artist you most wish would upload music: SELF. And maybe Moxy Fruvous.

Your musical guilty pleasure: Feels like Phish and the Grateful Dead are both guilty pleasures these days. I almost had to bump a Cover Ops song the other night out of sheer impishness and appreciation for the utter ridiculous nature of their whole existence. Not Shlongeimmense, though...

How did you hear of The Sixty One? The TechCrunch blog.

How much less productive are you since you've joined? Significantly. I'm finding a balance, but I almost sacrificed a couple of projects at work before I found it. Hey, I'm about to move into a new house, there are any NUMBER of non-t61 things that I should be doing right now...

What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? Better ways to keep track of your comments, and better ways to search/sort your own songs and playlist (you can see my posts on this in the forums)

Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Hmm... so many intriguing characters. eatabagel is a home-boy (another Bostonian), so that seems most likely, KosmikRay has been sort of my t61 angel/mentor... and so many folks I know only by their bump patterns and comments. And some by their tastes in wine...

What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? No particular feeling - I'd rather see an actual picture of people or image of their choosing, personally - but if they choose to use their avatar, so be it. Maybe I'd feel differently if I spent any time in second life.

What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? People's musical discoveries OUTSIDE of t61 in addition to those we've found on the site - if you are all very bad I will post my Top 147 Albums list of 1997 (haven't had time to update it since). In fact, perhaps we could start posting MP3s of things we WANT to see up there and get ourselves scraped... ;-)

Get to know a fellow 61'er: iyzie

1. Your 61 Listener ID: iyzie (Yeah, yeah, it's an I not an L. I preferred to capitalize the first letter at first, but had no idea that it would be so confusing in sans-serif. It's derived from the first two letters of my last name and has been a part-time nickname since college)
2. Current Favorite Artist: I have to pick one? From t61, it's Hot Bitch Arsenal, but I could give you 10 others. From the ever-receding outside world, Zero-7 and Jethro Tull are long time favorites.
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Another 10+ possibilities. Let's start with Blue Man Group and Benassi Bros. Perhaps those are mundane relative to t61's mix, but I'd love to see more killer dance artists put their own stuff up (as opposed to blog-scraped remixes). Plus any artist from from my iTunes "Deep Dirty Massive Frou Zero Heap" playlist
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Bananarama. Heck, pretty much all of the '80s 1st-Gen MTV pop.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? I was part of the Digg wave.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? My productivity hasn't changed, I've just given up sleep to make up for lost time.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? I'd like to see better ways of organizing the music I've bumped and added; e.g. increasing the maximum number of songs per playlist, and allowing nested lists, so that I can divide up sub-categories of my own. Sam and James have indicated that the genre system is being reworked, and I would welcome a new, more detailed set. A pseudo-tagging system (say a third, artist definable genre slot) would also be useful
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? AnnieB, because the soundtrack of her life must run 24/7.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? I don't think about them very much - I find the variety of avatars on t61 fun and interesting, so too much of any one kind gets boring. I mean, if three dozen people chose adorable hedgepigs as their avatars, that'd get boring too, no matter how adorable they were. OK, maybe four dozen/
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? Leads to more artists I've never heard of but might love. See? Just like The Mountain Goats and Genki, both found (for me) the first time on this very page.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: KeithWarrensEar

1. Your 61 Listener ID: KeithWarrensEar

2. Current Favorite Artist: There's so many to choose from... so I am France in this situation. Pure, distressed ambiguity.

3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Man in the Whale

4. Your musical guilty pleasures: Bjork, Fiona Apple, Gary Jules, Fink... i could go on and on... I indulge in music a little too much.

5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? From Coolo at another site I hang out at- www.homerecordingconnection.com

6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I've been far more productive, as well as motivated. It's a great thing to know that people are actually listening and enjoying my music, as well as others. It's a good, solid driving force for me.

7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? I'd add a flash chat room, much like the annoying rack pop up thing, but only you'd be able to minimize it. It's all about communication, isn't it?

8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person?Its a tie between Noize2u and Myktoronto

9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? is that what those avatars are? I had no idea. I guess they're alright. It kind of takes the humanity out of the interaction aspect of the site, but then again if it wasn't Second Life avatars, it would be random pictures, so I guess as long as they feel it portrays their personalities, it works for me.

10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? Midgets on stripper poles. No, seriously, I'd like to see music lovers come together in a drama free environment and just exist with one another. With the exception of Schlongimmense, that is.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: puntspeedchunk

1. Your 61 Listener ID: puntspeedchunk
2. Current Favorite Artist: Impossible for me to answer after joining T61. This place has opened my ears to *so* many different styles.
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: That aren't here yet? FMOS and Brother Love
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Well... I've bumped some Cactus Bob but I wouldn't put up a poster of his avatar on my wall for a babillion dollars. They're the only band in my iPod without proper ID3 tags and album cover artwork. :)
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? Pretty sure I found it on DIGG.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? Actually, it has made me busier than ever. I think T61 is going to be one of the final daggers into the heart of the RIAA's back and I'm doing everything I can to promote the artists that have the guts to go after their dreams without giving the big corporations money they have not earned.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? I'd like to have a forum for general chat where we could ramble about off-topic stuff and just get to know each other better.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Beybi
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? Those avatars inspired me to make a podcast dedicated to their work. Apparently T61 has a pretty large group of Second Life players ... and who am I to judge? I've got the artistic abilities of a doorstop.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? Boobies!

Get to know a fellow 61'er: batface89

Here's another in our thousand part series, Get to know a fellow 61'er. If you'd like to participate, here are the instructions.

1. Your 61 Listener ID: Batface89 (No, I don't have low self esteem. It's a comic I drew in high school. Sometime I'll change my avatar to reflect the true beauty of Batface. So the story on this: There was a new girl at my school and we were instantly best friends. About three months after school started, she suddenly stopped talking to me and started hanging out with a bad crowd - of CHEERLEADERS! I was not cool enough to hang out with her anymore. After that, she was known as batface. I vented my anger with her in a comic strip. It morphed into something completely different that had nothing to do with her after a very short time, but she was the original prototype. The original batface is twice divorced and hasn't aged well (probably due to all the tanning booths she visited in the late 80s. Okay, original batface, who's cool now?!
2. Current Favorite Band: 61 band: Mountain Goats, SambaYaSamba, The Morning Benders, Luxlisbon, We Were Pirates, Collide. I did buy a couple albums from T61 artists after hearing them there first: The Twilight Sad, Blaqk Audio and I bought SambaYaSamba last weekend. I should pick up the Collide album too.
   
   All-time Favorite Bands: Crowded House, Cheap Trick, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins (90s SP), The White Stripes
3. Band you most wish would post music: Liam Finn. I saw him play twice in August, opening for Crowded House. His father is Neil Finn of Crowded House/Split Enz/Finn Brothers. He has a lot of similarities with his father, vocally, but his music is much more experimental. He's a one man band.
   
   The Orange Lights would probably score well at T61.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Robbie Williams, The Wiggles. Greg Page's voice is like buttah. It's too bad he has that health problem that required him to leave The Wiggles. I saw him on the street in front of Madison Square Garden in his yellow shirt signing autographs to 14 year olds with teddy bear backpacks.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? From my friend Dru. He's on T61, but he has a big important job and can't tune in much. He's working on titles for Kung Fu Panda now. He's my former student. I'm so proud (tear.)
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? 55% at least, but I've been doing much better lately. I've learned how to balance it - play music in the background and just bump as I hear something really terrific.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to the site? Sortable Stats! The subscription box needs to be larger and update much more often. Sometimes it's 30-40 minutes out of date. The tunebox is tiny and needs an overhaul.
8. The listener you'd most like to in person: Apocalypse and willie, Annie B too. There are so many 61ers I'd like to meet. I think it would be a lot of fun to have T61 parties in select cities, like they have Fark parties.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? I don't care for them, because the arms always look funky, oddly out of perspective. It seems to be a polarizing question. I see a poll in the future.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? A wiki for bands and terminology. Interviews with James and Sam (hopefully they'll do it, if they can spare the time), interviews with artists, music videos, lots of interesting playlists, music discussion, reviews of albums and concerts, concert schedules, a map of where everyone is located. The contributors are thinking up such awesome ideas. I'll be back in a couple of days and we'll make it all happen, one at a time.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: ImOnlySleeping

1. Your 61 Listener ID: ImOnlySleeping. My Real Life ID is Jon
2. Current Favorite Artist: Such impossible questions. So despite all the experimental/weird songs that I enjoy, when it comes down to it I like pretty relaxing music. 61wise I'll go Dark Captain Light Captain but all time it's Neil Young
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: So to go for an artist that maybe no one else on the 61 knows about (but possibly will soon enough) the spades.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Love Fool by the Cardigans. That's actually a lie, my real guilty pleasure is Faded by Soul Decision. So guilty.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? Random comment on a /. anti-RIAA article.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I've always been pretty non-productive, but at least twice that now. I'm starting a new position at work so we'll see how that impacts things.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? I would clone Sam & James several times over, so they'd have the time to get things done. More practically, one thing would be dividing the subscription window into bumped/added/commented. I think the value of a comment is so much more than that of the bumps. I would actually subscribe to a lot more people if that feature existed (I actually unsubscribed to a few people to unclutter my feed, I hope no one noticed and took it personally, I can totally understand why someone would unsubscribe from me. I'm a bumping disaster, plus I'm always rearranging.).
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? Hard to say. Based on musical preference, I'd probably get on well with AnnieB and zenlunch.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? The avatars are good. They alert me to who's from Second Life.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this site? Not sure. Maybe an ask an artist a question segment. Find a group a week that would be into answering questions. Forum users could vote on best questions if it gets to the point where the number of entries warranted it.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: silkworm

1. Your 61 Listener ID: silkworm
2. Current Favorite Artist: On t61 (and maybe this also qualifies as a guilty pleasure) it's probably Redding. It may be shiny studio candy but it's extremely catchy and consistent (and one of their songs references Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is an all-time fave). Outside of t61 the album which has gotten the most spins in the last 6 months is Josh Pyke - Memories & Dust. Really well-crafted acoustic pop from Australia.
   
   Josh Pyke - 'Sew My Name'
   
   
   
   
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Radio Dept. - great, melodic Swedish pop
   
   Radio Dept. - 'Pulling Our Weight'
   
   
   
   
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: 80's hair metal. Dokken, anyone?
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? digg.com
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I know it's not cool to sound like I'm actually being responsible about my job, but - not much. Thank you, Tab Mix Plus (Firefox).
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? A forum area specifically for free-form listener interaction, as opposed to the ones currently limited to Feature Requests or Bug Reports - although I guess this blog might pick up some of the slack there! Searchable stats. Longer playlists. Spiffier and more functional artist/listener pages. Better tuneboxing. Integrated chat, maybe.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? I'll go with KosmikRay, since he was like a beacon for me as a newbie, although I think our tastes in music differ quite a bit.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? I understand there are probably a few different reasons why someone would use them, but frankly I find them hideous, without exception, to the point where I resent having to look at them. A tiny part of my soul is ripped away each time I'm forced to look upon one. I'm going to see if I can use an Amazon gift certificate to remove them all from the S3 servers.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? I'd like this to be the Yang to t61's Yin. They could spoon each other, or play ouroburos together.

Get to know a fellow 61'er - shayborg

1. Your 61 Listener ID: shayborg


2. Current Favorite Artist: Among active artists, I'd probably pick Spoon, Wilco, or Yeasayer right now.


3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Tough question... Most of the best new artists have already been scraped from one blog or another. I'd love to see some Blonde Redhead, LCD Soundsystem, or Beirut on there, but in general I use the site to find new artists, not listen to songs from artists I already know.


4. Your musical guilty pleasure: I'd say Rihanna right now, although I guess it's not a guilty pleasure if it's Pitchfork approved... I've really enjoyed pretty much all of her singles. On the61, I get sucked into catchy electro-pop once in a while despite myself. For example, as a self-respecting Frank Zappa fan, I shouldn't be able to like Stefy's "Chelsea", especially after seeing the ultra-cheesy tween-targeted video, but I still find it catchy as hell.


5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? From Lifehacker, which, oddly, I almost never read.


6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? No comment. :)


7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? Searchable stats would be nice. I don't really use the site as actively any more -- I mostly just listen to the Rack, the browse -> activity page, or watch subscription activity -- so I'll leave any other details to the people who use them more than I do.


8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? This is a cop out, but pretty much everyone I've had any conversation with on the site is pretty cool. If anyone from here is coming to Sasquatch this year, we should meet up. :)


9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? The whole Second Life concept creeps me out personally, but people can pick whatever avatars they want.


10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? More feedback from artists about the site. Concert or album recommendations would be cool too. (On that note, the Sasquatch lineup is incredible this year. I can review the festival in advance: it will be awesome.)

Get to know a fellow 61'er: eatabagel

1. Your 61 Listener ID: eatabagel
2. Current Favorite Artist: Found on the61: if:then:goto, The Moon and Monday, Temple Scene
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Dredg
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Billy Ocean.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One?MetaFilter.com
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I am far more productive at finding music these days.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? A decent tunebox system that allows me to send to more than one person at a time.
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person? timyjl - So I can see if he really has math equations floating above his head.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? Hate, hate, hatem!
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? Me. A lot of stuff about me and the things I like.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: AnnieB

Yet another in our thousand part series, Get to know a fellow 61'er. If you'd like to participate, here are the instructions.

1. Your 61 Listener ID: AnnieB
2. Current Favorite Artist: It changes from week to week, but since I recently found out about Jaymay, I'll say her. (ultimate favorites include Madeleine Peyroux, Feist, and Aqualung)
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Got a few: Junior Boys, Blonde Redhead, and Pink Martini (in regards to rock music: Athlete, The Cinematics, and Low vs. Diamond)
   
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: The Killers
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? My friend, Mitchell, sent me an email - he knows I'm always on the hunt for something new to listen to.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? A good amount, but that's because finding music is much more enjoyable than hitting the books.
   
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One? Same as what has already been mentioned before, specifically
   
   1. Listener's bio section (occasionally there's other music finds outside the61 that I'd love to share)
   2. Tunebox shake-up (more efficient way to tunebox multiple users at once, notification pop-up, larger writing field)
   3. Revision of subscription activity (fills up extremely fast and I tend to miss some things)
      [edit: Initially I listed sortable stats, but I'm not sure if I really care all that much about it anymore]
      
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet to in person? I'd love to meet all the regulars, though if I had to choose, perhaps rkeller4 (the painter), redbaron (the writer), and imonlysleeping (the light bulb?).
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? There's so much natural beauty in the real world – go capture it!
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this site? Interviews of artists or featured artists, video picks (youtube, takeaways, etc), latest album releases (and maybe t61 listeners' reviews), forums for music discussion, and links to other worthwhile music sites.

Get to know a fellow 61'er: SNYpod

1. Your 61 Listener ID: SNYpod. It's a combination of my last name, Snyder and iPod. When my first iPod (circa 2003) asked me what to call it, SNYpod was the first thing that came to. It quickly became somewhat of a moniker.
2. Current Favorite Artist: fave-th61-artist: Chris Merritt; fave-non-the61-artist: Fiona Apple
3. Artist you most wish would upload music: Fefe Dobson. She is currently unsigned in America yet still manages to rock my socks. Go torrent (download) her un-released second album "Sunday Love" (which, in case you didn’t like her first one, is a HUGE leap forward in quality). She approves of it being pirated since the label she recorded it under dropped her after its completion... Currently she is working on new material and is shopping around for a new American label.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Avril Lavigne. Though I wouldn't say it's a "guilty" pleasure figuring I don't feel that guilty about it. Yes, I am fully aware of the flaws she has as an artist that most people can’t see past, however I am able to ignore these problems and enjoy her voice, addicting melodies and passion. So please stop throwing things at me when I play her in my car.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One? There was a story on digg.com that lead me to the61 on January 3rd. I make music as a hobby, so I signed up as an artist initially. I quickly realized that there was a plethora of great indie material on the site so I decided to stick around for a while. Within a week the61 had retired digg as my most used site and put iTunes into hibernation.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined? I wasn't productive at all to begin with so the site has been working out great for me.
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The SixtyOne? I have three main changes I yearn for... Searchable artist profiles and stats pages, info/lyrics tabs, and the elimination of the "first bumped by" advertisement that accompanies every track on the site (it's pointless and redundant).
8. The listener you'd most like to meet in person: lankysob is the guy I talk to most on the site and is an awesome dude, but I gotta give the prize to AnnieB. Firstly because I’m dying to know what she looks like. All I know of her is that she likes old turntables. And secondly because I'm convinced she is a cyborg.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? To be honest they kind of annoy me, but who am I to judge. I like stupid stuff too. (oh no he didn't!)
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog? You mean like nudie pictures?

Get to know a fellow 61'er: timyjl

Here's the first in our thousand part series, Get to know a fellow 61'er (Yeah, I'm a big Colbert fan!) If you'd like to participate, here are the instructions.

1. Your 61 Listener ID: timyjl
2. Current Favorite Band: 3 way tie: Guster, Muse, Levi Weaver, CJizzle… But seriously there are far too many to choose.
3. Band you most wish would post music: Melophone.
4. Your musical guilty pleasure: Weird Al's Amish Paradise.
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One: Dee eye double guh dot com.
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined?: 72.8% ± 3.49
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to the61 site? A complete robustification of the tunbox concept. UI based notification for wall posts and tbx, tbx history, larger compose field, address book of subscribers, other, etc.
8. The listener you'd most like to meet in person: Big Ears aka grandesoreilles because I would hafta go to Scotland to do so. and I always thought I would be dead sexy in a kilt. But everyone I have played wall tag with really.
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users? Sorry, not so much.
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog?: More users.

Get to know your fellow 61'ers

You know those annoying questionnaires you get from friends from high school you don't particularly like to answer? Here's another you probably won't like!

If you'd like to participate, cut and paste the following and add your own answers. Email to batface89@gmail.com and we'll feature a different 61'er every few days, or whenever I get around to it. Feel free to be as elaborate as you like with your answers. Web space is cheap.

1. Your 61 Listener ID:
2. Current Favorite Artist:
3. Artist you most wish would upload music:
4. Your musical guilty pleasure:
5. How did you hear of The Sixty One?
6. How much less productive are you since you've joined?
7. What is the biggest change you'd make to The Sixty One?
8. Who is the listener you'd most like meet in person?
9. What do you think of Second Life Avatars for musicians and users?
10. What sort of stuff would you like to see on this blog?