Yee-Haw...
post a comment | posted Mar 23
I finally figured out how to part out the songs from the data on the VCD; I ultimately had to use a program on my PC for the conversion, then one on the Mac for the edits, but after much drama and swearing I'm left with Quicktime MOVs of the actual songs. I'm uploading the first one to YouTube right this very minute, "Sins Of The Flesh." I'll definitely add "Carbon Copy," of course. Trying to decide if I'm gonna put any others up at this point.
In other news, the missus and I joined my cousin Michael and aunt Jennie in volunteering for the Obama rally in Eugene on Friday night. It was the typical Obama stump speech which you've already seen a hundred times if you're a fan (I've seen at least three complete iterations on MSNBC in the last couple weeks myself) but in person, there is always the hive-mind mentality of being one of 9000-odd people screaming and ranting that gets in your hindbrain. Perhaps my general viewpoint is stilted by personal experiences, but it had more akin to a rock concert than a political rally. I was shocked (and pleased) to see that the vast majority of the audience was people younger than myself, significantly so in most cases. My cousin Michael, as ardent an Obama supporter as you're likely to find, won't even be able to vote until the next presidential election. He got to shake the man's hand even, which was kind of nifty, I guess.
On the one hand, it was almost comical how poor the organization was, and seeing it behind the scenes was extra silly points, but on the other, I really have to hand it to the campaign to do these events daily (three on Friday all over Oregon) with a staff consisting almost entirely of unpaid, untrained volunteers, and to make them move with a relatively smooth fashion. I've been part of many tours and events which had a tenth the organization. They've had enough practice to make it almost idiot-proof by now, I guess.
I put a little clip up on my videos page of the rally while it was in full swing, if you find that sort of thing interesting.