Merlin In Rags Returns as The Dancing Master

In keeping with the tradition of informing the music blog community of news concerning our favorite blogs, I am happy to report that another long-time blogger has rejoined our ranks after recently having his blog removed by Blogger. The person I'm referring to in this instance is "Merlin", the former admin of the blog "Merlin In Rags". Merlin has returned with a new blog, titled "The Return of the Dancing Master" (or the Transfiguration of Merlin), which can be found at: http://thereturnofthedancingmaster.blogspot.com/

Merlin picked up where he left off, apparently without missing a beat, already having posted 16 albums for the month of August. As with his former blog, The Return of the Dancing Master delivers vinyl rips of rare, out of print albums. His specialty is blues and roots music, including country, rockabilly, folk, and related genres.

It's great to see that another blogger has refused to call it quits, opting to keep pushing forward, rather than choosing to lay down and die as so many other blogs have. Please be sure to pay his new blog a visit. I would like to thank the Irate Pirate, who runs the Wrath of the Grapevine blog for the tip.

The Return of the Dancing Master:
http://thereturnofthedancingmaster.blogspot.com

Help Wanted

I will be moving to Oklahoma in two days. I have no idea how long it will be before I have internet access again. During the last few months I have had a number of very important responsibilities to take care of in my personal life. Please see this post for a more detailed explanation: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2009/07/regarding-my-absence.html

I am currently looking for someone who would be willing to contribute over at my regular music blog, Digital Meltd0wn. At the moment I have a few guest contributors helping out, and they have done an amazing job. In fact, I wouldn't have been able to keep the blog going without their help. However, two of those contributors recently started college and live very busy lives, so it is unlikely that they will be able to contribute much until their semester is over. J-Unit1 has agreed to post for a couple of weeks, but will be resuming work on his own blog once he is finished. NØ originally agreed to guest blog here for a couple of weeks, but fortunately for me he decided to stick around and continue to post. Being the absent minded person that I am, I have neglected to send him a message regarding this, but I'm not sure how long he plans to help me out.

What I'm looking for is someone who can regularly contribute on a permanent basis. The only requirements are a large music collection, the willing to share the more obscure albums, and the ability to post a couple of times a week. Knowledge of HTML and the Blogger platform would be a plus, but is not absolutely necessary because I can always go back and edit the posts if I need to.

If any of you are interested in this position please try to contact me within the next two days. I will be unable to check my messages or comments after that. You can e-mail me at Shockw4ve_X at hotmail dot com or leave a comment here with details about how I can contact you.

Join me on Blip.fm

I just recently discovered a promising and relatively new site by the name of Blip.fm. Blip allows it's members to DJ music using a Twitter-like interface, with a massive selection of songs available from Imeem to choose from, in addition to the content uploaded by members on third party sites.

I first decided to use the service to share music that I wouldn't normally post here, such as recently released material or music that is commercially available. However, since I have started using the service I have come to realize that it also happens to be a great resource for discovering music that I am unfamiliar with, and has also allowed me to rediscover a few old favorites.

As with Twitter, members have 140 characters to play with when writing their messages. Despite the simple interface, there are a number of options available to blippers that allow them to share music and interact with one another. If you are familiar with Twitter commands, such as replying to another person using the @User command, then you will have no problems using the service. Despite the similarities to Twitter, there are a number of music related features that set it apart from it also. DJs are able to create playlists, "reblip" their own blips and those of others, find other members who have blipped the same artist, search blip.fm receive artist's tour info based on your their area code and more. Members are also able to upload their own songs to third party hosting sites, import the url, and blip the song. This is the best method for sharing music that isn't available on Imeem. I recommend using http://opendrive.com, which starts you off with 5 gigs of space with a free account, if you don't already know of a host that allows hotlinking to mp3 files. Blip.fm has also added integration with other services. At the moment you can scrobble songs you have listened to on blip.fm to your last.fm account, and post updates to Twitter, Ping.fm, FriendFeed, Tumblr, and LiveJournal.

Blip has also set up a system for showing your respect to other DJs for the songs they select. Each DJ receives 15 prop credits to award other DJs when they first sign up. At the moment the props have no practical purpose, other than to show appreciation; however, the developers have hinted around on the blip.fm blog that this will change in the near future.

If you're looking for a truly eclectic listening experience I would recommend going to the public page where you can view every blip being posted in real time. Every style you can imagine eventually makes its way on here. The majority of it is mainstream music, although there are several DJs who make it a point to offer up lesser known yet interesting music. After only a few days of using Blip.fm I have already discovered a few people worth following, and have gained a few followers myself. I would like to invite you all to join me on blip.fm. Please use the invite link that I have posted here, as blip rewards you 10 prop credits to dish out to other members for each person you invite. I hope to see some of you on Blip.fm soon. Please don't be comment shy if you join up. I love interacting with others, especially when dealing with music. I've been sharing music with visitors to this blog for nearly three years now. Now some of you can finally introduce me to the music that you love in return.

Blip.fm: http://ping.fm/vu2yY
My Blip.fm Page: http://blip.fm/Zer0_II/Zer0_II

I would also like to thank OneLuvGurl for inadvertently introducing me to Blip.fm. Check out her blog @ http://dorkmuffin.com