OpiumMagazine.Live

OpiumMagazine.Live #16

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 02:22:00 -0500

Reading. Estimated listening time: 19:50. Live with Jonathan Ames at the Opium Gala, February 4th, 2006. Recorded at The Slipper Room. Originally published in The New York Observer.

OpiumMagazine.Live #15

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 6 Feb 2006 02:06:00 -0500

Reading. Estimated listening time: 13:58. Last Request by Dennis DiClaudio. Recorded live at .reading #8, 17 November 2005 at Happy Ending, NYC. Featured in opiummagazine.print #2.

OpiumMagazine.Live #14

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 23:21:00 -0500

Reading. Estimated listening time: 7:50. Dear Santa by Elizabeth Koch. Recorded live at .reading #9, 15 December 2005 at Happy Ending, NYC.

OpiumMagazine.Live #13

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 01:05:00 -0500

Story. Estimated listening time: 14:45. Basta Cosi by Michelle Orange. Part 10 of 12.

OpiumMagazine.Live #12

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 5 Dec 2005 01:35:00 -0500

Story. Estimated listening time: 5:45. Broken Enter by Shya Scanlon.

Upgrades And Face-Lifts

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Fri, 2 Dec 2005 20:57:00 -0500

The information presented in this post is, at the time of writing, already a couple of weeks stale and kind of cold, but it's also assumed that the information is not widely known. So, it shall be treated as if it were as fresh and amazing as the day it was first announced (which it sort of is... you know what? nevermind).

The news is that starting with OpiumMagazine.Live #11 the podcast now features, in addition to the spoken word, the written word as well. Nick Antosca, who wrote "Ashes, Snow, and Fever Dreams", asked if it would be possible to include the text of the poem along with the audio, and the answer turned out to be, "Well, there isn't any real reason why it couldn't be done..."

So it was.

Unfortunately, it is far from perfect at this point. The face-lift is exclusive to the Apple iPod brand of MP3 player. It also only seems to work with fifth generation (henceforth "5G") iPods like the nano and the video (No tests have been made on the 4G iPod Photos or minis yet). And it only seems to work if the file is downloaded directly off the Opium Magazine website; podcasts that are automatically downloaded through iTunes or iPodder seem to lose the ability to display lyric information (probably something to do with the file being filtered through FeedBurner).

Still, we feel that it's an awful nifty feature and we hope that whomever takes the extra time to notice enjoys it just as much.

Far more importantly, the .live studio just recieved a fairly massive influx of new recording equipment. Actually, some of it was just lying around un-used and it will soon seeing front-line action; the rest was purchased today. Among these items are:

- A Behringer B1 cardioid studio condenser microphone
- A brand-new Presonus TubePre vacuum tube microphone preamp
- And a 6" Mogami XLR(F)-to-1/8" cable

The entirity of .live's portable recording gear is now housed in two rather ominous looking steel carrying cases -- sure to be mistaken for home-brew WMDs on the subway -- which also store our MiniDisc recorder, our library of past episodes, blank discs, cables, adaptors, tape, pens, and cracker crumbs.

But what does all of this mean to you, the reader/listener? It means just this: from here on out, .live is going to kick twice as much ass and sound 10x as good. The new mic and preamp are really set to boost the fidelity of each show, to the point where you're going to think you're listening to a book-on-tape or NPR.

And this is a good thing because there are even bigger and better things planned for .live in the near-future.

Until then...

Coming next week:

Michelle Orange, who rocked the mic at Happy Ending back in November, will be reading material of hers, possibly something from Pindeldyboz, McSweeney's, or any of her other pubished works.

And she's going to sound amazing.

OpiumMagazine.Live #11

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 00:04:00 -0500

Poem. Estimated listening time: 1:55. Ashes, Snow, and Fever Dreams by Nick Antosca. Read by Mina Kim.

OpiumMagazine.Live #10

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:20:00 -0500

Reading. Estimated listening time: 6:04. I Carry A Hammer In My Pocket For Occasions Such As These, Many Fine Marriages Begin At Friend's Parties, & Really Happy Day by Anthony Tognazzini. Recorded live at .reading #7, 20 Oct. 2005 at Happy Ending, NYC.

OpiumMagazine.Live #9

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 7 Nov 2005 12:20:00 -0500

Story. Estimated listening time: 10:50. Grand Marshal by Clay McLeod Chapman.

OpiumMagazine.Live #8

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 02:36:00 -0500

Poetry. Estimated listening time: 6:37. I Am About To Kill My Literary Agent, I Want To Pour Orange Juice On My Face, I Want To Start A Band, & I Went Fishing With My Family When I Was Five by Tao Lin.

OpiumMagazine.Live #7

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 23:19:00 -0500

Story. Estimated reading time: 9:10. Ukrainamerica by Paul A. Toth.

OpiumMagazine.Live #6

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:59:00 -0500

Reading. Estimated listening time: 11:30. An excerpt from Love Creeps by Amanda Filipacchi. Introduced by Todd Zuniga. Recorded live at .reading #6, 29 Sept. 2005 at Happy Ending, NYC.

New Episode, New Places To Find .Live, And A Correction

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:30:00 -0500

We've got a new episode up this week, bringing the total number to six (count 'em, 6) .live broadcasts.

This one is something slightly different than the studio recordings we've been doing up until this point; it was recorded live at one of our many monthly reading events in New York City, and the reader, Amanda Filipacchi (who's written such books as Nude Men and Vapor) is an absolute riot. This is one to be enjoyed.

Of course, the other big news this week is that OpiumMagazine.Live is now available directly through the iTunes Music Store. There are still some issues regarding our phobos server address that will allow for easy linkage from here, .com, and anywhere else, but it shall be resolved soon. Regardless, if you punch "Opium", ".live", or variations thereof into the Podcast section of the Music Store, you'll find us.

We're also now listed at:

Yahoo! Podcasts

PodNova

and

Podcast.net

Many of these sites also feature a voting or review system. If you've found us through any of these directories and have enjoyed the broadcast, please go back and give us some positive feedback. It not only encourages us to keep doing this, but it will help to magnify our blip on the great podcasting radar screens, which means more listeners for us, which means more readers, better audio quality, and a host of other good things.

Lastly, I'd light to bring light to an egregious error that has since been corrected. When last week's episode (#5) was tagged and uploaded, the name of the author was accidentally left out of the description. A humble apology goes out to Matthew St. Amand, who wrote the wonderful Lipschitz/Zuma piece. Check out his website at www.matthewstamand.com.

Coming next week:

OpiumMagazine.Live #7 features Tao Lin, a regular contributor to .com and whose piece "Insomnia for a Better Tomorrow" is featured in .print #1. We'll have more details once the recording has actually taken place. Stay tuned!

OpiumMagazine.Live #5

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 06:01:00 -0500

Reading. Estimated listening time: 9:06. The Art of the Deal: Xavier Lipschitz & William Zuma by Matthew St. Amand. Performed by Adedayo Olokowande & Walter Raubicheck. From opiummagazine.print #1.

.Live is Back! Bigger, Badder, and with 235% More Trans-Fats!

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:35:00 -0500

After many sleepless nights toiling away at Opium.HQ, we've successfully updated the entire OpiumMagazine.Live episode backlog in preparation for the massive relaunch on October 10th, 2005 (10.10.2005).

Not only does this mean that all of of our previous podcasts are now available for download to your preferred MP3 player, it also means that said 'casts have been remixed and remastered for optimal listening enjoyment.

In addition to that wonderous item of note, we've also got A BRAND NEW EPISODE (#5 - The Art of the Deal) available on the main site (and here, and the link in the title of the post). I hope you'll agree that this latest one is our best and funniest yet. Give it a listen!

How? Simple! Either download the .mp3 directly from this blog, the main OpiumMagazine.Com page, or the .live section of .com -or- follow these steps to subscribe to the OpiumMagazine.Live podcast (and your iTunes will automatically update with the latest .live!).

- Open iTunes, or download it here.
- Click on Advanced, Subscribe to Podcast
- Type/paste in this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OpiumLive
- Voila!

And, FINALLY, for greater convenience, the OpiumMagazine.Live 'cast is now featured on both PodcastPickle.com and Odeo.com (odeo/158cdb9ae34c9882).

More listings, including iTunes, PodcastAlley, Podcast.net, Podcastingnews.com, and Podnova.com, coming soon.

Things get exponentially more exciting henceforth! Five (5) episodes all ready for your aural pleasure, a steady stream of future podcasts from talented writers, the potential for a far larger listening community, and a steady increase in audio fidelity. Be sure to stay tuned.

Coming next week:

OpiumMagazine.Live #6 features Amanda Filipacchi, author of Love Creeps and interviewee from .print #1 recorded at .reading #6 in NYC on Sept. 29th. Not to be missed.

OpiumMagazine.Live #4

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 13:29:00 -0500

Story. Estimated listening time: 7:23. Tales from the Inside by Angela Lovell.

OpiumMagazine.Live #3

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 1 Aug 2005 16:15:00 -0500

Story. Estimated listening time: 2:59. Dream House by Todd Zuniga.

OpiumMagazine.Live #2

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 08:42:00 -0500

Story. Estimated reading time: 3:06. The Diary of Gordon Gulliford: Bear and Chain by C.J. Kershner.

OpiumMagazine.Live #1

OpiumLive@gmail.com (OpiumMagazine.Com) — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 19:26:00 -0500

Story. Estimated listening time: 1:26. Italy by Heather Kelley.