Some added ingredients

In case you've not noticed, a few small elements have been added to the blog page here:

TRANSLATE
For those of you requiring translation of the postings, there's a button near the top [I hope you can read this before translating it though:-)]

FOLLOW BY EMAIL
If you want to be notified of blog updates, you can add your email address (found at the right hand side)

MIXCLOUD LINK
A permanent link to my Mixcloud page is also provided (also found at the right hand side).

That's all for tonight... and thanks again for all your support of the charity project. PLEASE keep up the requests for the CDs though, as the charities are grateful for every penny and cent.

Thanks very much to you all, as always.

Steve, 1 July

Mixcloud tracks

I've started to post a few old tracks up on my Mixcloud page if you are interested in hearing any of them. I will try and post a few odd things too that I have recorded in recent years (although there are a few that even I don't want to hear again). 
My Mixcloud page can be found at http://www.mixcloud.com/stevegood121/

I hope that you enjoy hearing some of these pieces. I maintain that I only ever produce this music to try and raise money for worthwhile charities, so PLEASE try and donate towards any of the available CDs if you can (please see the posting from earlier this month entitled "LEST WE FORGET - Ready for release tomorrow" for details on how to get hold of a copy).

For those of you who know what I've done in the past, and want copies of other CDs not on the "other titles available" list, please contact me and I will see what I can do (by email to tokengestures@yahoo.co.uk).

Bless you guys.

Steve, 28 June

Reminder - and a little thank you!!

Just a little reminder to all of the little charity CD that I and others have put together. Please try and get hold of a copy if you are able - two fantastic charities (Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and Cancer Research UK) will benefit from ALL of the profits raised.

BURNING DAYS
I have decided to limit the number of "burning days" to ensure that the project has a finite time to raise money, so please try and get a copy as soon as you can! An end date will be published on here in due course. This will also ensure the CD's status as a limited edition :-) 

A LITTLE THANK YOU!!
To all who donate more than £10 per CD, I am offering links to a free mp3 download of a previous release ("One More Gesture" (2010)); it is in 320kpbs mp3 format and I'm hoping it will be interesting to those of you who haven't yet heard it. Everyone who has already donated thus - and I have an email address for you - will be sent the links too. 

Please let me know if you have previously donated over £10 and don't get the links by the end of tomorrow, as it'll mean that your paypal email will not accept emails (or I don't have an email address for you!!). I will re-send to whatever address I'm given.

Thank you all so very much for your support in this project, I am touched by everyone's generosity.

Steve, 27 June

Other titles available

In case anyone else is interested, I have a made a handful of other titles available, with all profits going to the same two charities as "Lest We Forget". 

Each of these items will be the same cost too (ie a minimum of £5 donation). Simply, I do not want to make any money from anything I've produced; the joy of helping a couple of charities along the way is good enough for me.

The four titles are:

1 - ONE MORE GESTURE

The album that got quite a bit of exposure back in 2010 and thankfully some high praise. A handful of copies of this still remain.

2 - DISMANTLED TOKENS - ONE LESS GESTURE

 A little brother album to the previous years' "One More Gesture". What you get this time is an album that follows the same track order as its bigger forebear, but in premix/instrumental form. Call it "Singalong-a-Gesture" if you like... but with a couple of instrumentals too ;-)

3 - FO(U)RMIDABLE RETRAC(K)TIONS

A revisit to several old recordings that were original produced over the previous 20 years or so on a four track recorder, the tracks re-synched onto a digital recorder and then remixed. A little project that was quite rewarding, seeing as how they were originally recorded (ie in four track "spikes" which meant that several tracks above the usual four were readily available... so to remix these beyond four tracks was always an option). If Mark Linett could do it so successfully for the Beach Boys' immense "Pet Sounds", I felt that it could be done at home too. It turned out to be reasonably easy to achieve, if time consuming to get there.The results speak for themselves (I hope).

4 - A WHALE OF OUR TIME

In 1977-78 I was involved in a project of creating a melange of sounds for a project to help aid "Friends of The Earth", with a video also planned (which never happened). The project faltered to a close when my old recorder gave up the ghost... but not until it reached about an hour or so in length. 

A few years ago, I revisited the project, added a few instruments and lots more vocals, and even finished it all off by adding a piece to the last movement, and this CD is what came out of the whole thing. As with many of my musical utterings, the artwork for the original, and repeated on here, was created by my old friend Christopher Chatfield.

Bear in mind that this project was started on a two track Tandberg tape machine, so some issues are always going to be present, but on the whole it sounds pretty neat now. At the very least... it's finished.

---oOo---

If anyone is interested in any (or all) of the above, please email me (as always to stevestringbender@yahoo.co.uk) and I will get right back to you.

Thanks as always.

Steve, 23 June

First week - THANK YOU!

The seventh day after issue, and a HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated and bought a copy of the CD. All orders have either been sent, else will be on their way in the morning. Thank you SO much for all your support thus far... but we have a long way to go, so please help by buying a copy if you haven't yet done so, and by getting the message out to others who you think might like a copy.

Just £5 donated will mean that the two charities (DEC and Cancer Research UK) will receive ALL of the profits from this little project, but if you wish to donate more than £5, that would also be lovely. Up to you, I'm happy at any level!!

Payments accepted by Paypal (see earlier posts on here), or by snailmail and cheque/cash (write with your details to me at stevestringbender@yahoo.co.uk first and I will forward details of where and how to pay).

Thanks as always. Here's hoping for another good week of CD orders!!

Steve, 23 June

ps - following soon will be a post showing other CDs that are available, and profits from these too will be going to the same charities!

FIRST BATCH SENT TODAY

The first batch of CDs has just been sent... so if you ordered a copy yesterday or today, it's now on its way... expect it to land in the next couple of days.

If you could let me know what you think when you've heard it that would be really great... and if you could forward info about it onto others, that would be even greater!!

Thanks everyone... hope to hear of many more orders very soon too.

Thanks and bless you guys.

Steve, 18 June

OUT TODAY!

Many thanks to those who have pledged to buy a copy thus far. All those who ordered today will have their CDs posted tomorrow (Tuesday).

PLEASE keep up the work in trying to publicise this charity CD, all profits are going to DEC and Cancer Research UK, absolutely NO profits are retained from the sale. The only gain to me is the fun I've had in putting this together with everyone who took part on the project.

Please give generously (see thread below on how to buy a copy on CD or 320kbps mp3s).

Steve, 17 June

RELEASED TODAY!!!

                              At long last... THE DAY IS HERE!!!!

Please see yesterday's blog entry about how to get hold of a copy of the CD.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make this project the success it deserves to be by getting a copy and letting everyone else know about how to get a copy too... and make DEC and Cancer Research UK really benefit by doing so.

Steve, 17 June

LEST WE FORGET - Ready for release tomorrow!!

At long last - and after a period of some three years - the charity CD is now ready for issue, and will begin to be despatched tomorrow (Monday 17th June).


HOW TO GET HOLD OF A COPY / AVAILABLE MEDIUMS
 
Payment is by donation, with a recommended minimum donation of £5 GBP.

UK Buyers
A CD or 320kbps coded mp3 of the CD is on offer to all; please stipulate which you prefer.

Non-UK Buyers
Only the mp3 is available (sorry, but as the cost includes postage, this is necessary to ensure that outlay is kept to a minimum and profit for charity is as high as possible).

All profits will be going to two charities, ie DEC and Cancer Research UK.


PAYMENT

PayPal 
Please send money using this method to the following email address: stevestringbender@yahoo.co.uk

Cash / Cheque
I will accept payment by this method; however, please email me for payee and address details (again to stevestringbender@yahoo.co.uk).

If requesting a CD, please state your delivery address with the payment (or by email to the same email as quoted here). Download links to the mp3s will be sent as soon as I'm aware of payment.

I'm hoping that we can raise as much money as possible to ensure that the project has been worthwhile - and also to get as much money for the two charities. As ever, PLEASE tell as many people as possible of this project.

Hope to hear from you all very soon - and thanks again for your continued support!!

Steve, 16 June

Ready to roll!

With just six days to release, the CD is getting ready to roll! I hope you can all become involved in getting hold of a copy, and hopefully ask friends and family to get one too. It will available primarily as a CD but also as a hi end mp3 download from Monday.

The cost of the EP is going to be "donation rated" with a recommended donation of £5, although higher donations would mean more profits to the two charities (DEC and Cancer Research UK).

To ensure that profits are kept as high as possible for the charities, any requests for non UK purchases will necessitate being mp3 only; having investigated overseas postage rates, it would mean almost running at a loss. However, mp3 files would mean you'd get the music sooner!!

PAYMENT

My favoured method of payment would be by PayPal,  as this would mean the money arrives swiftly, and the items can be despatched as soon as I'm aware of the payment.  Of course this doesn't preclude payment by cash and cheque via snailmail post of course. If you want to pay this way, please drop me an email (to tokengestures@yahoo.co.uk) and I'll send you the address to send the donation to.

Please try and push this little project to as many people as possible. It has been a long time in getting finished and I want to ensure that everyones efforts have been worthwhile. 

Links to PayPal payment will be posted here in the next few days. 

Many thanks once again.

Steve, 11 June

Taster on Mixcloud

A taster of the music featured on the CD can now be found on my Mixcloud page.

Please see:
http://www.mixcloud.com/stevegood121/taster-for-the-charity-cd-ep-project-please-visit-httpgesturesongsblogspotcouk-for-info/ 

Steve, 6 June

Ready for release day!

Just twelve days to go until release day, all CDs should be ready to ship on the day. Info on purchasing will be posted here over the coming weekend, so I hope that you will all be able to order as soon as possible to enable the right license from the project to be bought.

Exciting days ahead .. I hope!

Steve, 5 June

Acquiring license for CD - numbers required ... action please!

As this project featuring cover versions has totally charitable interests at its core, it is necessary to gauge roughly how many copies will be needed at release day on 17 June (two weeks today).

As mentioned previously, each CD will be as a donation, with a recommended fee of £5 for UK purchases (maybe a couple of £s more for international copies as postage fees are so high, else the profits for the charities will be negligible). Of course, this is just a recommended cost, I would happily accept more!

To get an idea on numbers, I would be grateful if all interested could send me a quick email with requirements; this is not casting orders in stone, it is merely to give me an idea for the license. As the licenses are so expensive, it is necessary to ensure that the profits, every penny of which is going to the two charities, are kept as high as possible.

The email address to write to is tokengestures@yahoo.co.uk, and please entitle email "LWF CD". 

Many thanks to all for your help. Hope to hear from you all very soon.

Steve, 3 June
YouTube video about the project