First cottage show is done for the record books!
Two surprise guests made this nice extra special: John T. Snow of 2Loud2OldMusic, and my wife Jen! Together with Harrison, Kevin and Rob, we looked at:
Thanks for watching everyone!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 18: New Arrivals (and some books)
It’s finally that time. First cottage show of the year! We have been looking forward to this since November.
This week, we plan on looking at some new musical arrivals with Harrison, Rob Daniels and Kevin “Canadian Grooves” Simister. I’ll have some books to go over, and of course, we have “Ask Harrison” with a question from the California Girl.
Notes: This being the first cottage show of the season, please allow for —
But the show must go on, and we hope it will! Please allow for any difficulties that a cottage show in April may cause, especially the first one. Who knows if the internet will work in the weather we are expecting. If all goes well, see you then!
Friday Apr 28 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
Awesome musical treasures tonight! Thanks to Grant Arthur, Rob Daniels, Brian Richards and Harrison the Mad Metal Man for spending a Friday night showing off some amazing hauls. Some highlights:
Thank you friends for hanging out tonight, and thanks for watching! See you next week.
Robert “Visions In Sound” Daniels not only grabbed a stack of rock, but also a rack of socks! Rob rocked us all tonight, with some cool soundtracks that are rare and desirable to collectors! Harrison “Mad Metal Man” Kopp also stepped up to the plate with some 3 CD sets and assorted items. Because Rob was on, I decided to go with a Star Wars theme with CDs, VHS, and stickers. But we got much than we bargained for. Other features:
Next week, Uncle Meat and Marco the Contrarian will be grabbing stacks of rock with us! Don’t miss it!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 4: Special guest Robert Daniels
Fourth week of Grab a Stack of Rock! It’s already been a month! We’re doing something special tonight. This evening, Harrison and Mike are joined by one of the internet’s foremost experts on just about everything movie related, Robert “Visions In Sound” Daniels! What will he show off tonight? You’ll just have to tune in and see. Robert is in the midst of listening to his entire soundtrack collection in alphabetical order by movie title. Perhaps we’ll see where he is currently. As usual, it’s his choice how he spends his hour tonight and I can’t wait to find out.
Also, “Ask Harrison” will return as a new regular feature.
UPDATE:
If deliveries come in time, I will also be unboxing:
Come on Amazon guy, don’t let us down.
Friday November 18 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook.
While the LeBrain Train is no more, we can still enjoy some past shows. This one was special as it was the very first show on the Streamyard platform, 8/14/2020. At the end we had six guests. I called it “the shape of things to come”, and I was right about that! Things only got bigger and better. Not that this show wasn’t big on its own, as you can read below in my original text.
I am sure I will miss the LeBrain Train eventually, but you just don’t get this kind of interaction anymore, where I could snap my fingers and suddenly we have six people on the screen. A moment in history, not to come again.
Enjoy!
History was made Friday night!
For the first time ever, Deke and I have shared the screen with Mr. Books himself, Aaron from the KMA. The subject this week: Top 11 Canadian albums of all time. An absolutely epic discussion unfolded with so many different genres being touched upon. As remarkable as the lists were (five in total), it’s also quite astounding when we talked about all the albums we left out!
Lists submitted by:
With Deke coming in from Lake Superior, Aaron from Georgian Bay, and myself on the shore of Lake Huron, we had three massive bodies of water covered. What should we call ourselves? The Great Lakes Consortium?
For a look at the shape of streams to come, check out the end of the video. We brought in Uncle Meat, Rob Daniels from Visions in Sound, and Kevin/Buried On Mars. While six at a time is a lot, it sure was fun to see everybody together for the first time!
I can’t help but take a little bit of pride in all this. My very first live stream was March 20, the week lockdown began. Eager to make connections with others in isolation, I hit that “live” button on my Facebook app just to see what would happen. It ended up being a lot of fun and it so happened that others liked it too. A few weeks later, we figured out how to get Uncle Meat to co-host and he came up with the now infamous “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” format.
But there were limitations, because we had to use a Facebook phone app if I wanted to have a co-host. This reduced the scope of awesome people available to share the screen with me. Finally Kevin directed me to Streamyard which solved numerous problems. After months of trying to figure out how to stream to Facebook (where my audience is) without having to use Facebook, Streamyard worked. For the first time after many months of trying, Aaron has finally co-hosted a show. A milestone! So yeah, I’m proud of myself and proud of the awesome friends who have co-hosted along the way. We made something here that is catching on with people. I owe Meat a huge debt for being the first co-host and coming up with the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten concept.
Look at the first stream below, and look where we are now. We’ve come a long way.
Everything you wanted to know about synthesizer but were afraid to ask! Thank you to the Seagram Synth Ensemble – James Reesor, James Dowbiggen and Dave Klassen whose No Moving Air album has provided many hours of listening enjoyment. Thanks also to Robert Daniels from Visions In Sound for cohosting tonight! And of course, special surprise guest Dr. Kathryn who had some comments and questions of her own.
Topics tackled tonight:
“Ephem” is unique as a single, as it comes in a brand new format. It is a piece of art and a statement about the way we consume music today.
This was a fascinating interview for me and I hope you give it a watch.
The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano & Robert Daniels
Episode 113 – The Seagram Synth Ensemble
Please give a warm welcome to James Reesor, Dave Klassen, and James Dowbiggen — otherwise known as the Seagram Synth Ensemble! This trio of talented musicians first came to our attention with their excellent 2019 LP, No Moving Air. Not only did the vinyl look great, but it sounded amazing. No Moving Air is a soundtrack, or soundscape, of synth excellence, taking the listener on a journey.
Now the trio is back with a new (sold out!!) single called “Ephem” and, well folks, there’s no other word for it besides “innovation”. The guys have not only come out with a new song, but also a new format. It comes in the form of a small black box about the size of a guitar effects pedal. Plug in a 9-Volt battery and a pair of headphones, and you can hear “Ephem” …but not forever! It’s not just a song, but also a piece of art designed to make a point about listening with intent. Music is instant and disposable these days, so the guys decided to say something about it with this project. We will find out all about that, and much more tonight on the LeBrain Train.
Joining me for our first joint interview together will be Robert Daniels from Visions In Sound. I can’t wait to hear his thoughts on the Seagram Synth Ensemble.
The always difficult-to-please Chris Sarre called this a “Top Five” show last night, and I’m flattered but have to agree with him! Thanks to Rob from Visions In Sound, and Harrison the Man Metal Man for showing off your music and entertainment collectables last night. From rare CDs, autographs and Australian exclusives, to board games, books and odds n’ ends, we saw a lot of cool items with great stories behind them.
Hightlights:
Thanks to all who watched and participated live in the comments. Apologies for the sniffling. Those board games were dusty and triggered my allergies.
No show next time, time for a break! Thanks for watching and we’ll see ya when we see ya!
The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike & Friends
Episode 111 – Cool Collectables! Helix bass, Rob Daniels and Harrison Kopp!
Tonight I’ll be showing off some previously unseen treasures of my collection. The summer months offer a wealth of riches, including a variety of things at the cottage. From books and magazines to toys and games, and finally my new acoustic bass formerly owned by the late Don Simmons of Helix, there will be plenty of fun things to look at tonight. Rob from Visions In Sound, and Harrison the Man Metal Man will be on hand as well with their own treasures.
While this episode will be less focused on music than usual, it will be 100% zoomed-in on fun.
NOTE: I am not a musician, so no song requests on the new bass! I am a casual fan just looking to fart around to some records this summer on the porch. We will be taking a nice close look at the bass but I will not be able to play you a song.
As always, your participation is encouraged and desired. As David Lee Roth said, “It ain’t no good without an audience” so please like, share and join us live!
Friday June 1, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on YouTube, Facebook and also Facebook!
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