2007 Company News Articles
Monday, December 3, 2007
Writers Go Artists
The Pennsylvania Rock Show came by the studio November 2nd and a pretty good show broke out live - over the net! Here are 2 songs from that evening by 2 of our best. Here We Go Again (live) by the James band and 600 Under (live) by Stephen Christopher.
MISPRINT
A printing error will keep supplies of the new John Vento and the Nied's Hotel Band - The Way That You Roll CD low. More are on the way but we're not sure if it's going to happen before the holidays. Also, there's going to be another release party this spring. More news after New Years.
Special Holiday Shipping Rates
We are lowering our $2.00 shipping and handling costs on our CD's for the holidays. There is no handling fee so some items are less than $1.50 and still get your order in 2-6 days. So hurry and get yours now. They make great gifts and the price goes up after the holidays.
New Label
Daryl Strodes is planning to launch his new label in China after New Years. More details soon.
Wishing You A Happy Holiday Season
On behalf of the entire TME family we want to say HAPPY HOLIDAYS. See yinz next year!
Monday, November 5, 2007
NEW MUSIC - The Great Debate
What's hot? Rock or Hip-Hop? YOU decide. We brought in one of our best to supply the material - 1 song each = 2 new songs from Tony Marinacci.
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Songs |
Artist/Author |
Hi-Fi |
Lo-Fi |
WMA |
Real Media |
Download |
Credits/Lyrics |
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Like
U! |
Rock |
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Better
Than |
Hip-Hop |
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PARS Comes To TME
The Pennsylvania Rock Show is coming to TME Studio for an action packed second live show. LIVE! Friday night November 2, 8 to 11 PM EST, then rebroadcast every day of the week. This is also the second year we are hosting a show. Maybe we should just make it an annual event?
This time we'll be debuting a new song "Like U!" from Tony Marinacci. We will be presenting 3-song-sets of some of our great songwriters James Buckley and Stephen Christopher, who are also active local artists. We are also happy to be joined by special guest Chux Beta to do an unplugged set. And as if that's not enough stuff ... we will also be playing some stuff recorded here by our resident rockers SickleEye - "directly from the board"!
International Radio Play
Tony Marinacci's EP Tight But Loose is still going strong even after a year. There's even been a recent spike in Italy, where he has always been well received. One place to look for his stuff to be featured next on is Radio Basile (shout-out to Carlo) in the coming weeks.
Webstore Ensures Confidence In Purchases
Our new Webstore with PayPal has really been a great addition. You don't even have to be a member of PayPal to use it. Plans are already underway on adding an option to place deposits for Studio time when we open again in the spring.
We are also now able to accept your credit card, debit card or other direct purchasing agent as payments for services in the field. So we are now able to provide better options to all our clients.
Monday, Rocktober 1, 2007
New Release
The new John Vento and the Nied's Hotel Band - The Way That You Roll. Features an all star line up with; Wild Cherry's original drummer Ron Beitle, guitar player Reb Beach and sax great Kenny Blake. Click here to see what some REAL FM DJ's got to say about it.
This CD is all about keeping it in the family. Not only did John Vento hookup with his main producer Buddy Hall, who also performs on every track, but our writers Jim McCullough and Andy Quinn also pitched in.
Also, we would like to take this time to welcome our 2 newest songwriters John Fiore and Nick Zannit. Both have 2 songs each on the CD and both are also pretty active musicians so you'll be hearing more about them soon.
Webstore
You can make purchases directly online by using our Webstore with PayPal. When you're done shopping you enter your billing and shipping information then upon checkout you will be taken directly to PayPal where you can safely and easily use your credit card, debit card or other direct purchasing agent. PayPal is the trusted leader in online payments.
Music Files Upgrade
We have upgraded all the media files for our Lo-Fi playing option to 50kbps. So if you still use a dial-up modem it may take a little longer to load but it'll sound so much better. We are working on adding Hi-Fi options for Real and Windows media files.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
9/11 Documentary
In memory of the tragic events of September 11, 2001
we proudly present the Day The Lady Cried Documentary.
SickleEye Live
SickleEye will be live at a major artist showcase.
Good-byes
Sometimes good-byes are easy and sometimes they are very hard. This past month was very hard in that out devoted Stacey Marinacci lost her father suddenly. We are all with her during this trying time for her family and admire her strength as she exhibits great poise in this situation.
Other good-byes are easier in knowing that a person is moving on in a positive direction. We also expect this one to be back soon after school to help out again. Chris Tant will be moving on to Florida to begin his collage education by the end of the month. You've truly been an asset and one of the most productive people we've had here in years. You were apart of one of the biggest growing times our company has had. We will surely miss you but know you'll be back! Covering will be another Chris and we know we'll be in good hands once again.
The Flood
We know you were expecting to hear some new stuff but we were flooded. And not the good kind! Just about everyone in South-Western PA got soaked on the morning of August 9th. We got an inch and a half of rain within 20 minutes and were experiencing minor flooding throughout the entire office and studio areas. Then 2 and a half hours later came round 2. When nearly 1.8 inches pounded for over 30 minutes and started a flow of water that took the next 4 hours to contain. In all the chaos - an old pair of speakers is all of the gear that was lost. The office did loose several old PC's and some other easily replaceable stuff.
We had clients back in the studio within a week and never missed any sessions. We did have to put off our own projects for 2 weeks but will be back on track for the John Vento and the Nied's Hotel Band - The Way That You Roll CD coming up next month. All others were moved to October.
So we are presenting this special live performance of an American classic - Wild Cherry's original drummer Ron Beitle joins John Vento and the the Businessmen in a live performance of "Play That Funky Music". Also sitting in are our writers John Fox on guitar and Tim Hadley on keyboards. This is the ENTIRE song!
Media File Upgrade
The first of 2 major upgrades is taking place. We will upgrade our lo-fi audio files now to 56k. This will be completed by October. Plans are also in the works for adding a hi-fi Real and Windows Media option for each song.
Studio Closed To October
As we mentioned above, the flood hit us pretty hard but we're not missing a beat. We have put off construction of our new iso-booth, but the studio has been booked solid for months and what ever time is available will go towards finishing up in-house projects.
New Projects
Keep an ear out for rapper Huck. He just wrapped up 2 new songs in the studio. More news as it becomes available.
Music Area's New Name
A deal for a new name for the music area has been postponed indefinitely. Late developments have made it in our best interest in operating as normal.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
John Vento and Buddy Hall Release Date Moved
John Vento and Buddy Hall have moved the release of their new material to October now so fans will have to wait just a little longer. The delay was the addition of several covers and clearances take time.
Music Area Getting A New Name
We will be changing the name of our music division. We will no longer be releasing material as TME Recordings. Full details next month.
New Music Previews
You won't have to wait until October to hear some new music. Just read on...
Daryl Strodes has 2 new songs you can hear on his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/strodessong. We'll be debuting a new mix of ...And Over And Over that was totally re-performed and mix by Daryl Strodes from China! Again, you can get a peak from his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/strodessong.
SickleEye has a new song on their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/sickleeye
Tony Smith has some new stuff on his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/1rastaman
Tony Marinacci will be doing a double-duty by completing his latest Hip-Hop song featuring Precious Yaa on vocals. He has another Rock tune featuring another new talented lineup - Justin Ryan on vocals and John Fox on Guitar. Look for these sometime in September here or on his MySpace Hip-Hop music page - www.myspace.com/tmarinacci or his MySpace Rock music page - www.myspace.com/tonymarinacci.
James Buckley has a new song on his website at www.james-music.com. Look for more details here next month.
Delay In Implementation
We're sorry for the delay in implementing the purchasing features that we've been mentioning. We've been working with the SNOCAP Business Development team and because of the enormous growth they are operating at full capacity. We want to make sure that we can provide our customers with the most secure payment interface possible. There are also a lot of issues we needed to work out on behalf of all our Artists, Producers and Songwriters to ensure we would get accurate tracking. Only then can we make the proper changes as it effects many pages within the site. We will have this up and running just as soon as possible.
Forums Are Back
We got the Forums back. We will do our best to get the 200 or so pre-registered of over 300 that were registered when the first one went down.
Studio Closed This Month
Though we are usually very busy in the middle of concert season this time of year, the studio has been booked solid. We will be doing some work at the studio and will be closed this month. This won't effect any projects being mixed down and will only have a small impact on winter projects.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Still Alive And Kickin
June marked our 20 year anniversary in professional entertainment. Who would have thought that a little sound company named after it's founder, would become the TIHTS and then TME. Providing quality services to almost every aspect of the industry. A local backline company with a national punch!
So ... We've been whoopin' it up all month, and, quite honestly, not much has gotten done. But we're back to biz now!
Documentary
In honor of the July 4th Independence Day holiday and in memory of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 we will be running the Day The Lady Cried Documentary all this month. This is entire 12 minute Documentary.
New Deal For Our Songwriters
With the cooperation of BMI and SNOCAP we will be implementing a new service on our online sites. This includes our main and music sites, Artist, MySpace, Yahoo!, and other group sites. It will allow for high quality downloads of the full versions of our most popular tracks for a small fee. We have had demand for this since our site has started but we just never had the right deal AND interface in place. Also, we needed absolute security for the people buying the product. We've found it this time. This is going to be a major ordeal meshing this with our site but it will be done behind the scenes with no interruption to any page. Other options such as iTunes will be available soon. Not all the tracks on the site will be made available but if you want your favorite just let us know and we'll make it happen.
Website Additions
We've made it real easy to get accurate quotes on the service that you need. We've added a button on the heading bar for each service on our SERVICES and RECORDING pages. This will take you to our quote contact page where you can enter a brief description of your needs and we'll reply promptly.
We will also be launching a beta of our new Forums area this month. We've received many messages saying how much people missed this. So we'll be trying this.
Monday, June 4, 2007
New VP & Helpers
We are taking this time to introduce our new Vice President. His name is Eric Weinstein and he is the nephew of our VP and legal eagle Jerome. He is an entertainment executive gaining quite a reputation for getting things done. He will be conducting business from Los Angeles and is sure to help us into this next successful run.
We would also like to introduce our newest local member - Chris Bell to the family. He'll be starting in the office and helping in the studio. He'll also be taking on more jobs as some of our staff joins the NBC network this fall.
20 Years And Counting
It was 20 years ago this month that our President and CEO, Tony Marinacci had the fortunate ability to support himself in the entertainment industry. After joining his father and several other family members in the business during his teenage years he went right from high school to the road full time. He quickly found a niche' in sound mixing and also developed other skills while performing various other administrative tasks. Not only did this allow him to become self-employed, but he also began hiring friends to help with his local sound company and on the road, while he was on the road with national acts. This was also during a turning point professionally as he was gaining a great reputation as a nationally respected audio engineer. He decided to incorporate to benefit the group of friends and to give the gathering a single identity. This is what allowed him to keep Pittsburgh as his base and expand his company to provide affordable professional entertainment services to local acts and venues.
That original concept was the begging of what is the company today. In fact, many of the records from those days are still in our file system and still of great resource to us. Though the co-ownership has changed several times, it is the reputation of the company that has always remained the same. Impeccable and capable have been descriptions or tags that we have thrived to achieve. Prestigious and world-class has always described the majority of our clientele. Honesty and loyalty, just as the town we are from.
In 20 years TME has gone from a small local outfit to a nationally respected company. We are also expanding our publishing division internationally to markets in Europe, Asia and Australia. As for the next 20 years? Less on the road - MUCH more recording ... and our new mission ... getting plaques!!! (Gold or Platinum)!!!
New And Updated Marketing Materials
So, with the new look in the website we thought it would be a good time to update our marketing materials. So we're rolling out our new video and audio ads as well as some updated pages. No big changes but we did update the material to reflect what we do NOW.
Updated ABOUT and SERVICES pages.
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Download or view our flyer or brochure in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. |
FLYER
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BROUCHURE
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Our updated video and audio ad has a re-mastered music bed of "Keep The Fire Burnin'" made for the video. All the graphics that were kept from the old one were reprocessed with the new ones. It was also re-mastered specifically for DVD and, high and low speed internet. Also excerpted a small portion for TME Recordings that we will have available later.
Bocan On The Team
Fans of local FM DJ Bocan who have missed hearing him on the radio don't have to go without anymore ... because we're bringing him back! You can now listen to him on the internet. Bocan has teamed up with TME and the Pennsylvania Rock Show, to co-produce his new media outlet venture. This will compliment his YouTube page where you can hear him rant on many different topics.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The New Site Designs Version 3.0
You may have noticed the new look!?! It's all the direct result of input we received from many emails since converting to the last version of the design that was done by Bill's Web Studio. This time we have collaborated closely with Bill to create what we hope is both a visually pleasing and easy to navigate site. We have also addressed the biggest issue from the last design and made it possible to bookmark you favorite pages.
The original purpose of the Music area
part of the web site was to allow quick access to material by our great Songwriters for potential clients. It then began being visited by various fans of our Writers and the Artists that were appearing on the demos. It quickly grew to be the most visited area of the entire site and we uploaded more and more material. Soon there were 1,000 plays a month, then 2, then 3, and fans were making postings all over the forums about how great the music was. But, we were also getting many comments about how bad the site looked.
As we were refining our content delivery system we were not able to come up with a suitable design in-house. So, we brought in a pro. We wanted it to be known that we were addressing the needs of our fans. And, did come up with a very stylish look and innovative navigation scheme. However, one thing we didn't realize was that a lot of people had book-marked their favorite artists or song page and it was no longer possible to do this with the design that had been developed. So this time we worked very closely with the web developers and are now confident we have come up with a solution that keeps the style and ease of navigation of our last design but enables the user to save their favorite places for quickest access.
We feel this will be put to the test buy what are loyal and sophisticated fans and, intelligent clients. All of which are not afraid to express their high expectations of us.
New Commercial
* * NEW * *
Bob
Sedney Automotive, Inc. uses the song "Grow
Up Fast", written by John
Vento and Tim Hadley,
as the music bed in their latest TV commercial. Click the icon to see the commercial in Flash format.

New Mix Of "...And Over And Over"
New remix of ...And Over And Over from our (triple threat) Artist/Producer/Songwriter Daryl Strodes. This one has been going out to the radio stations and will now be the standard mix on the site. This one was remixed by Tony Marinacci.
Company Changes
We will be updating our Services and About Pages as well as revising our video. We'll be rolling out a new company video very soon.
Forums
Our Forums area is
still closed. We will be starting a new one during the
month. There will be some changes though. We will
keep you all posted.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Hello, Goodbye
Our new resident Rasta
Tony
Smith is someone
very familiar. He has been known by many as JJ (Jolly Joker)
but has now parted ways with his current Raydio Jamaica project
and has a new project and name. Though he has left the project
suddenly, due to personal differences, it has allowed to take
some time off and evaluate where he wants his new efforts to
go. This has allowed him a clean break and a return to his
own sound. He has completed several new songs that are available
this month and he is currently in production on several others.
The Clients Page
Our new Clients Page
is up. We certainly are proud to have provided so
many great entertainers with great service over the years. When
so many keep coming back you know you're doing something right.
Check out our wall of fame ... or wall of shame (shamelessly
name-droppin).
"Grow Up
Fast" In Bob Sedney TV Commercial
You may have seen
the local TV commercial for Bob Sedney Automotive
. It happens to use the song "
Grow Up Fast
", written by
John Vento
and Tim Hadley
, as the music bed. It is aired daily
and seen by hundreds of thousands of people throughout South-Western
Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Northern West Virginia. Now you'll
be able to check it out from our site. With cooperation from
Bob Sedney we will have this together during the month and will
be featured next month.
The New Music
Area Site Design
The new
Music
Area site design
(version 3.0) will be online by May 1st. You may experience some
pages down as these upgrades take place. We will be working hard
all month to provide what we feel is our most dedicated design
to the fans. Originally the site was designed as a business to
business interface. Then we began to add so much new material
and so many people coming by each month we decided the Music
area needed it's own website. So we agreed upon an interface
that was very easy to use but did not allow the individual pages
that were the favorites of our fans to be book-marked. So we have
addressed this and several other elements and kept the site easy
to use. We also liked and wanted to try and keep the look from
the past site. We feel we have reached a good balance but will
be ever moving forward on this to provide both a pleasing visual
experience and efficient media content delivery, while still
ensuring the rights of our Songwriters and Artists are protected.
State Of TME
We have been meeting
and discussing the new direction the company has been going in
the last few years. We have decided to update all our marketing
materials. We feel this will better show all our CURRENT services
and allow us to direct our focus on what the company is now.
Though we have provided services to nearly every aspect of the
professional entertainment industry, we feel it no longer makes
sense to post publicly what we no longer provide on a constant
basis. We will be posting details as to what services we will
and won't be providing in the next 2 months ahead. Look for an
update to our About and Services area, as well as, revised video
and audio ads.
Forums
Our Forums area is
now closed. We will be starting a new one when we roll off the
new design May 1st. There will be some changes though. We have
tried to keep our Forums an area where people can express their
opinions totally free. We have never removed a negative comment
and have tried to keep everything unedited except for profanity.
We fully intend on keeping things this way but, due to some harmful
content and outright malicious intent by others, we will be keeping
a close eye on all hyper-links posted and will no longer allow
anyone to upload anything.
Monday, March 5, 2007
JJ Says Goodbye
Our resident Rasta
JJ
is saying goodbye. He has parted
ways with his current Raydio Jamaica project and has a new project
and name. His new material will be as Tony Smith
, and he has completed several new
songs to be featured next month. You can catch some sneak peaks
of the project by joining the Forums area, then looking into
the Member's Only category for the "This Week In The Studio"
feature. Full details next month.
The New Music
Area Site Design
The new
Music
Area site design
has gotten great reviews for it's look. However, we have also
relieved many complaints about one thing in particular, in that
it is not possible to bookmark your favorite Artist or Song page.
We are currently at work on a new design that will solve this.
We are also working on a new design for the main TME site as
well.
We will also be making
some changes to our look with a new video and marketing materials.
More news about this next month.
Forums Changes,
Members Only and This Week In The Studio
We are bringing back
the Members Only and This Week In The Studio feature in our forums
area. Both these sections appear after you join our Forums. This
very popular feature has full mixes of SickleEye's 2 new songs
and sneak peaks of projects in progress by Tony Smith (formerly
JJ).
While we're talking
about joining the Forums, we've had to make changes to the registering
process. This is an unwanted but necesary change to prevent what
has been a raid of idiots that are posting porn links in the
topics. Most of the links were not valid (and the valid ones
weren't even to good porn ... oops). We have found this to be
an issue for several others who use a free Forums.
Works In Progress
John
Vento and Buddy Hall
have again brought local guitar great Reb Beach
in on their new project. Three new
songs are already in the can. Tony
Marinacci has
brought in 2 new singers for new rock songs that will begin production
in late March and April. More details to come next month. He
is also in the middle of a new RnB song to feature Phyllis Wellons.
He is also putting the finishing touches on his log awaited Hip-Hop
EP. No release date has been set. SickleEye
has told us they are in the middle
of working out several new songs. Also, as stated earlier,
Tony Smith
(formerly JJ)
has completed several new songs to be featured next month.
Get Outta Town
Check out this month's
"Get Outta Town" band - Sight Unseen
. There progressive rock from Texas.
"Get Outta Town" can be heard live every Friday night
on the popular internet radio show The Pennsylvania
Rock Show 8-11PM EST.
Trivia Answers
In honor of 6,000
units being sold we had a contest. Here are the answers to the
2 questions:
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1. What artist has sold the most
CD's? |
a. Tony Marinacci - Over 3,500
copies (2 solo and a 2 song collaboration EP). |
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2. What CD has sold the most
copies? |
a. Nied's Hotel (first release)
- Over 2,000 copies. |
In Loving Memory
Tony Marinacci is
dedicating the song "Only God" in loving memory of
Carol Jane Maggio for this month. Carol was Tony's Godmother
and one of his closest confidant. She passed on March 1st and
joins her close sister, Tony's mom, who passed on March 31, 2006.
She will be sadly missed.
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Songs |
Artist/Author |
Hi-Fi |
Lo-Fi |
WMA |
Real Media |
Download |
Credits/Lyrics |
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Only God |
Tony Marinacci Featuring:
Phyllis Wellons & Damian Yenick |
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Monday, February 5, 2007
Welcome To The Family
Our 4 newest songwriters,
also known as the band SickleEye
, have just finished 2 new songs.
These songs were produced by Tony Marinacci and except the drums
were entirely recorded and mixed down at TME Studio. We are sure
you'll get to appreciate these guys as much as we do. Not only
are they able to rock out with anybody but they're also 4 really
great people as well. Making us all the more proud to stand beside
these guys. Check out the 2 new songs ... you won't be disappointed.
Record CD Sales
CD sales had its second
most busiest year but the holidays shattered previous records
and help put our total CD sales over 6,200 units. We don't really
emphasize this a lot because we are not a record company. Though
no one else is helping us sell these, maybe we should consider
it.< BR>
In honor of our 6,000
unit being sold we're having a contest. ONE prize each to the
person who answers the TWO questions:
1. What artists has sold the most CD's?
2. What CD has sold the most copies?
First one with the answer to each one wins! CAREFUL though,
because you'll only get to try to answer once a day. To enter
just email us your - Name, phone and address to
tmerecordings@tmentertainment.com
. Put "Record CD Sales Contest
Entry" in your subject line to make sure yours gets entered
correctly. Each prize winner will receive a copy of the new EP
from Tony Marinacci, Nied's Hotel, and a copy of our CD-Sampler
that is being sent to various radio stations and DJ's.
State Of Local
Entertainment
We have joined with
several others to see what can be done to bring the public out
to see more of these great bands we have. The level of local
entertainment, across the board, is the best it's been in years.
It remains however, very fragmented and reliant upon any means
possible to promote shows by the best of bands at the best of
venues. The local media is also nonexistent in it's support.
If you have ideas that you'd like to share, feel free to post
them on our Forums.
You'll find there is some lively discussions on this already.
Quietly At Work
Though it's a relatively
slow news month for us it's not because we aren't workin hard.
We are hard at work on many different productions. We are also
getting our Radio Mixes and CD Samplers ready for manufacturing.
We are working hard to keep up with demand from clubs and DJ's
who are playing our stuff. No doubt this is the beginning of
what should be a very busy year.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Happy New Year
2006 sure had it's
ups and downs. Though as a company, we experienced some of our
biggest gains in almost a decade, many of our personnel have
experienced major personal tragedy. In the end we have all come
out of it much stronger. We also feel that this will be one of
our best years in recording and producing, not just our own stuff,
but many new people as well. Going into the new year we have
what is probably our most productive team ever assembled. And
everyone of them are very busy. We anticipate that 2007 may be
one of our busiest years in quite some time. Good-riddance '06,
hello '07!
We are still busy
in the major live entertainment area but have picked up our installations
work significantly. Computers (system designs and repairs) still
remain a viable service but it seems as though the manufacturers
got it right for the time being and service calls are now decreasing.
However, with major new operating systems coming for the PC and
MAC we are preparing for an increase in service calls starting
in the spring.
Keep On Requesting
The latest releases
continue to take over internet radio stations. We're still hoping
for more play locally, but have been sending singles to various
commercial and satellite radio stations across the country. If
you know of a station in your area that should have a copy then
just let us know. Start calling your favorite Rock and Hip-Hop
stations to request your favorite songs.
Pardon The Interruption
You may be experiencing
some interruptions to the site in the middle of the month. We
will be changing host servers. In order to provide you with the
best experience that we can we ask that you be patient while
these changes take effect. Our new server will be 10 times the
size and just as fast. So we will be able to post more videos
and full length songs as well as some other things we plan on
doing in 2007.