Dreamcast Party - Athens, GA - 09/09/09
It is almost here! 10 years of Dreamcast gaming! We have heard lots of rumblings of gaming marathons and Dreamcast celebrations across the internet. We have finally gotten our acts together and think we are ready to start talking 09.09.09. I HAVE A DREAMCAST should be streaming a lot during 09.09.09. But will we not be gaming all of the time, we'll have a number of activities streaming throughout the day. We'll have a schedule soon. However, our big event will take place in the evening. The entire I Have a Dreamcast crew will be at The Go Bar! in Athens, Ga. It will be a party like no other! There will be performances by the Dreamcast bands, we'll have at least 4 gaming stations set up (one or two will be projected on the walls of the club), we'll have cake, special t-shirts made for the event, and copies of the Dreamcast EP. The event will be FREE and open to the public. We are doing our best to get all fans of the Dreamcast in the Athens/Atlanta region to attend and, hell if you live within 500 miles of Athens, Ga you owe it to yourself to be here! After all, it only happens once this year!
The Dreamcast Survey
Speaking of the DC 10th Anniversary, The Dreamcast Junkyard has put together a great survey to officially declare the top 100 Dreamcast games. Voting has already begun and the results will be posted on 09.09.09. So get over there and vote! We already have. http://dreamcast100.blogspot.com
DreamMP3
Last but far from least.
The folks at DC Evolution recently released DreamMP3, an MP3 player for the Dreamcast. At their website you can download the DreamMP3 for free and included in the CD image is our very own Dreamcast EP. So, once you've finish voting for your favorite Dreamcast games make sure you head over to DC Evolution and download the DreamMP3. They have also posted some kick ass album artwork for the release. Very cool. DC Evolution - DreamMP3
Lots of things going on in the coming weeks! I have probably said it before but I am totally impressed and proud of the Dreamcast community, from everyone in the SEGAJunkyard Family, DC Evolution and their DreamMP3, SegaNerds, GVN, the folks at the SEGA of America blog, and all of the other SEGA related blogs out there. I'm looking forward to September 9th and all the celebrations leading up to that day! Let us know what you are doing. We'll try to organize a way to list and promote everything.
DREAMCAST EP REFLECTIONS
First, a huge thank-you to everyone that supported The Dreamcast EP it was a HUGE success! We purposely left the website alone (maybe a bit too long) to allow for easy access to the download. Countless thanks for the outstanding support from The Nomad Junkyard, Sega Nerds, and The Dreamcast Junkyard as well as mentions on GoNintendo, SEGA of America's blog/podcast, and all the other SEGA fan sites out there. Most recently Barry from The Nomad Junkyard posted a preview video of the Dreamcast EP. Check out his website and see the video below.
Additionally, a huge thanks to everyone that downloaded the album and posted links around the 'net. We made the album for SEGA/Dreamcast fans everywhere and were totally blown away by the positive responses. I would also like to thank Buckner & Garcia.
As a child I wore a groove into my vinyl copy of their album Pac-Man Fever until the thing would no longer play without constant skipping. For those that do not know, Pac-Man Fever is a record dedicate to early arcade and Atari classics including: Pac-Man, Frogger, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Asteriods, Defender, and more. The music is a bit dated but it is still a fun listen, I recommend checking it out if you've never heard it. In my mind, The Dreamcast EP owes part of its inspiration to this early 1980s release. Additionally, over the course of making the Dreamcast EP it went from being in the back of my mind to one of my main sources of motivation. You can download the album from Buckner & Garcia (they are charging) and listen to Pac-Man Fever below.
SHENMUE
Where am I with Shenmue and the original intent of this website? Right where I left off! I have a long list of excuses as to why I haven't played but I will spare myself the embarrassment. However, know that we have our hands in many pots here in Athens, Ga and we will be sharing some of these other projects with you very soon. However, I still have every intention of completing both games before the end of 2009. I'm going to start playing again and will probably stream most of my Shenmue gaming, as well as document my progress.
MINI UPDATES
In an effort to keep things up-to-date we've added a Twitter feed. This feed will reflect things happening within our little Athens community including ihaveadreamcast related things, our music events, wiffle ball games (we play regularly), and random comments. So keep an eye on the Twitter feed whenever you visit and you please follow us if you have an account: @otherbooks.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE - 09/09/09 - DREAMCAST 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Recently, we have begun planning some events for 09/09/09. We should be able to reveal our plans within the next week or two. We are also up for ideas and collaborating with all the Dreamcast enthusiasts out there, so let's start scheming! Hit up the comment section to get things started. Expect another update next week - stay tuned.
All the songs are written by the individual bands. Feel free to share these songs with whoever you think will enjoy them. Below you can find information for purchasing the CD and/or downloading it.
Featuring:
1. The Pianosaurus – Green Hill Drone
2. Bicycles & Gravel – A Song for the Dreamcast
3. Gemini Cricket – Dreamcast Visions
4. Grey Milk – Venice is Dying
5. Bicycles & Gravel – Curious Console
6. The South Will Rave Again – I Fell in Love Playing Marvel vs. Capcom
7. I Have Read Other Books Besides The Catcher in the Rye – To Beat, From Gum
8. Captain #1 – Bring SEGA back CD Version exclusives
9. Josh Wootton (of Marriage) – The Shinobi Song
10. Grey Milk – Venice is Dying (clean/sfx mix)
Buy
The Dreamcast EP comes in a handmade Dreamcast shaped box construct out of cardstock paper. All CDs contain the 10 tracks listed above. In addition, all orders come with an additional CD by one of the bands. Free shipping in the Continental US. We have made the album available at the lowest price possible. The $5 covers production and shipping costs, our recent website bandwidth fees, and to reimburse the bands for their donated albums.
The Dreamcast EP - $5 us dollars
All orders are purchased using PayPal (no account required). Currently, we can only accept US orders. If you live outside of the US and want to purchase the record, please email us and we might be able to work something out.
The file is a zip. All 8 tracks in mp3 format. Included in the download is a new digital album cover designed by Barry from The Nomad Junkyard (very awesome).
Well another week, another amazingly large number of downloads. Over the weekend,
we hit a few bandwidth issues, which I think is awesome and a true sign of success as well
as a testament to the number of SEGA fans out there. So awesome! I've also had to move the
download file around a bit. Currently the album has been uploaded to Megaupload (sorry for
any banners/delayed downloads or codes you have to deal with). Hopefully. I'll post more
mirrored versions of the album soon.
Here it is: THE DREAMCAST EP (DOWNLOAD) - Megaupload
link - sorry about the delayed download
The file is a zip. All 8 tracks in mp3 format.
(Hopefully we'll mirror it other places later this week)
Album Breakdown
1. The Pianosaurus – Green Hill Drone
2. Bicycles & Gravel – A Song for the Dreamcast
3. Gemini Cricket – Dreamcast Visions
4. Grey Milk – Venice is Dying
5. Bicycles & Gravel – Curious Console
6. The South Will Rave Again – I Fell in Love Playing Marvel vs. Capcom
7. I Have Read Other Books Besides The Catcher in the Rye – To Beat, From Gum
8. Captain #1 – Bring Sega Back
Included in the download is a new digital album covered designed by Barry at The Nomad Junkyard (very
awesome). Also, tomorrow we will post (the much delayed) ordering info and
images of the physical CD. Another local band has been recording a special bonus track
that will only be available on the CD, it's all about Shinobi and the all consuming powers of
revenge. It is a very awesome track! We finished recording it last night. A preview of the
song's epic outro: "And the stars are in your hands / Will you use them up on
me? / Do they follow your demands? / Or are they your slavery?"
OH and if the website is ever down check back and within a day it should be back or
point people to this link (it is always live: http://apps.ihaveadreamcast.com/Blog/)
Our domain.. www.ihaveadreamcast.com is down for the weekend due to bandwidth issues but it'll
be back sometime Monday. Despite the domain block the blog is still up and running you just have
to use an RSS feed or send people this link: http://apps.ihaveadreamcast.com/blog/ . The album is
still downloadable too.. so click on the entire below.
On Monday, we'll post some of the fan art and ordering info for the physical copy of the CD (we'll
include images of the packaging). Keep downloading!
As of midnight (April 7 – EST) I have posted a remastered version of the album. Most of the tracks remain untouched, but I fixed Grey Milk’s track “Venice is Dying” and Catcher’s track “To Gum, From Beat.” The bass and the volume were too overdriven in the original post. So I fix them. I’d suggest a re- download if you like those tunes (it truly is worth the extra few minutes).
The Dreamcast EP (BROKEN - FOR NOW)
The file is a zip. All 8 tracks in mp3 format.
Album Breakdown
1. The Pianosaurus – Green Hill Drone
2. Bicycles & Gravel – A Song for the Dreamcast
3. Gemini Cricket – Dreamcast Visions
4. Grey Milk – Venice is Dying
5. Bicycles & Gravel – Curious Console
6. The South Will Rave Again – I Fell in Love Playing Marvel vs. Capcom
7. I Have Read Other Books Besides The Catcher in the Rye – To Beat, From Gum
8. Captain #1 – Bring Sega Back
All songs were written by the bands out of their love for Sega! Feel free to share these songs with whoever you think will enjoy them. Also, feel free to use the songs however you want. All the bands ask is to give them the song writing credit (and send us a link – cause we’d love to see/hear what you do with them).
Thanks again for everyone that tuned in on Sunday night. It seemed Justin.tv was having a number of problems but we prevailed. Interestingly, the website took a pretty hard hit Sunday night and the traffic continues to grow. In a little over 24 hours we have already exceeded our allotted bandwidth for the month! However, the website remains!! (I have moved the file to be hosted at a different location and will probably add a rapid share link later today).
I have more thoughts and comments about the album but I’ll save them for next week (I’ll let the download frenzy continue for the time being).
It is finally happening! We are getting the gang back together this Sunday night. We’ll be hanging out, playing Dreamcast, and performing our Sega tunes. The party starts at 8pm eastern and will last until midnight. On that same night (or the following day) we’ll post the DC EP as a free download.
I’m not sure what games we’ll play – so let us know what you would like to see! I’ve picked up a few new titles, so I’m sure games like Rez or Cosmic Smash will make an appearance.
Sorry for the lack of updates. February and March turned into 2 very busy months. In that time I have played very little video games and none of those hours were dedicated to Shenmue. To quote a buddy of mine, ihaveadreamcast.com has turned into “the.worst.blog.ever.”
All of that is about to change!
The Dreamcast EP will be available for free digital download or online order (for physical copies) this Sunday night, April 4th. We will also host another streaming event that night with more Dreamcasting and musical performances from the contributing bands. More on that later this week!
What has kept me/us so busy?
Here is a quick breakdown.
February was taken over by the RPM Challenge (www.rpmchallenge.com). The idea is simple, write and a record an album in a month. I completed the challenge using the name I Have Read Other Books Besides The Catcher in the Rye and another Dreamcaster recorded an album under the name Bromance.
Check out my album here: otherbooks.rpmchallenge.com
Check out Bromance’s stuff here:bromance.rpmchallenge.com
As we were writing our albums, a story emerged about a lonely space traveler and a lonely astronomer. When the tracks from our separate albums are combined it tells a complete story. We call the entire tale “The Observatory: A Space Rock Opera.” It was a lot of fun making the music and we both explored new areas of music including hip-hop, rap, electronic beats/music, and less of a reliance on guitars.
We have many things planned for these recordings including theatrical performances and a combined album of the space songs. Information about these albums/performances will be posted later this month.
Additionally:
In March we went to a musical festival in St. Augustine, Fl called Harvest of Hope Fest. Good times and good music!
Some of us DJ-ed one night for the local college station, WUOG 90.5 (check out our playlist).
Bicycles and Gravel performed with Gemini Cricket in Athens, Ga.
We have been recording the Dreamcast EP.
We spent many days without power during a massive snow storm that hit the first on the month.
And we have been practicing and planning for The Observatory performances.
That is that. Sorry for being a lousy blogger and for not giving Shenmue the time it deserves. I truly miss playing the game and look forward to returning to it. I still have plenty of time to complete both games! Lastly, thanks to everyone that continues to check up on my process or hassle me about my lack of, especially those that send the emails and IMs – keep them coming and we hope to see everyone this Sunday night! (times will be posted later this week).
On Monday I went to the Captain #1 show. Luckily Tuesday was not so busy. Then Wednesday Grey Milk, the wonderful Chris Bell, and Captain #1 performed at a house show. Thursday night was spent recording the Captain #1 track for the DC EP, Friday was spent enjoying the comedy of funny man Patton Oswalt at the 40Watt here in Athens, Ga. Saturday and Sunday was more DC EP recording (this time the Pianosaurus track and Bicycles & Gravel). Overall, a very busy week. I got a lot of things done but all the while I could hear Ryo calling for my attention. See, this is why I told people I might need a year to complete both games. Despite all of these things I managed to return to Shenmue Sunday morning. I'm still loving the game. I'll write about the journey tomorrow.
THE DC EP
This week we are setting a date for the release (probably will be the first week of March). On the selected day we will re-ensemble the group, play more Dreamcast games, and all the bands will perform. Think of it as a streaming cd release party. Currently, we are working on sound issues so that everything will be nice and clear during any loud parts.
The Recording Process
So far... Captain #1 have recorded their track (it just needs some more backup vocals for the sing along section).
The Pianosaurus (DinoPiano) has recorded its track... Bicycles & Gravel have began recording and should have it completed in the next day or two. Gemini Cricket are recording themselves and have promised something by early next week
That just leaves Grey Milk (scheduled to record next week), The South Will Rave Again (might record tonight), and I Have Read Other Books Besides The Catcher in the Rye (will record next week).
We'll update you more on the DC EP as it gets closer to release. We'll also post a stream date and times once we set them later this week.
