COWBOYS IN CYBERSPACE - December 2006

Each month guitar picker and Webmaster Bob Howe brings you the latest Country Music happenings on the Internet.
You can surf your way from month to month, or why not bookmark the main index for the complete contents!
Why not join our mailing list below for notification of each new column?

Cowboys In Cyberspace - December 2006

"WEB 2.0 - WHERE D'YA GEDDIT?"

You can't buy it and you can't download it,
but you can experience it.

As we lurch towards another year of technological advances, you will hear the term Web 2.0 bandied about along with many new buzzwords, but Web 2.0 isn't something you can hold in your hand. The name is inspired by the tech-world's habit of numbering the incremental upgrades to software releases but in fact Web 2.0 is the opposite; not so much a product as a service and a vast and varied collection of services at that! One of the ways of trying to define it is to compare instances of what it might be, to similar previous examples. In the past we were sold encyclopaedias, first in print and later electronically, but now we have WIKIPEDIA, the free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit.

NICKI GILLIS Also, many applications, programs such as word-processors and even data storage are becoming web-based and can be used in a collaborative way; e.g. several people editing the same document or file. Social networking is also becoming a key feature of many sites. Look at MYSPACE with its ability to promote a person or event as well as connect their friends to each other and YOUTUBE where users share video clips. Members of these on-line communities can also 'subscribe' to various elements, and receive notice when blogs are updated or videos added to the collection.
(Example pages: NICKI GILLIS (pictured) at MYSPACE and Search for AUDREY AULD MEZERA videos at YOUTUBE)

As we approach a time when iPods will soon be dispensed from vending machines (true!), even the methods by which we choose music will start to change. First hand experience is now coupled with reviews and advice from like-minded people. A new service called MUSIC RECOMMENDERS has been launched by Nokia (the phone comapny) and it is a free service presenting new music each month selected by experts in 40 of the world's best independent stores. Only two country music retailers on the planet were chosen: the historical Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville and our very own 'The Country Music Store' in Brisbane!

A Merry Christmas to all our readers and may the new technology bring us one step closer to a World Wide Web of peace and harmony.

Until next time, happy surfing!

Bob talked to Barbara Morison on 2SER 107.3 FM
about this month's column and more...
LISTEN HERE - MP3

DVD REVIEW

DVD cover

DALE WATSON
AND HIS LONE STARS
LIVE AT NEWLAND.NL

The NL in the title refers to the Netherlands as this live concert was filmed at Club Newland in Klaaswaal, Holland. European country music fans also embrace many aspects of Americana so they must have been in honky-tonk heaven to have DALE WATSON and his LONE STARS onstage, transporting them to Texas via their music. The DVD begins with Dale warming up backstage with his beloved Australian-made Tomkins guitar (the one encrusted with coins from all over the world and especially from Europe; noted bassist Gene Kurtz also plays a Tomkins) and soon they are onstage for a 27-song set of pure country music.

The set-list, much of it prompted by the audience, encompasses the wide span of Dale's career; mostly originals plus a few well-chosen covers. The film and sound are as crisp and tight as the band's playing and that could be studied as model for the perfect country band. Powered by Dale's singing and masterful guitar picking and complimented by the Lone Stars' tasteful styling, this performance echoes with the sound of real country music heritage, alive and well and yes, kicking!

ME and MY RECORDS
(Rounder Europe) MMDVD 1024
90 Mins
Available from www.dalewatson.com

If you want to share the location of an interesting site you've seen
or request a topic for discussion in future columns, why not E-mail me.

Don't forget to listen out for cyberBob each month on the radio waves with
Barbara Morison on 2SER (107.3 FM in Sydney and on the Web)
and listen for Big Bob from Bondi every Saturday night with
John Nutting on Saturday Night Country (your Local ABC Radio and the Web).

Would YOU like to be added to our FREE mailing list and be automatically notified each time a new Cowboys in Cyberspace article or competition appears on the Web? Just enter your E-mail address (and/or comments) in the box below and click the button once!

You can use this box to search this site for your favourite Country Music artist... ...or if you want to search the World Wide Web... ...type their name into this search engine box and then press the GOOGLE SEARCH button.....