Vivisecting Media

To download or not to download?

Do you know what the number 2 digital music store is? If you look at current market reports they say that eMusic owns 9% and therefore is second only to iTunes 80% market share. The interesting thing about these reports is that they never mention AllOfMP3. The reason AllOfMP3 never comes up in these reports, is that according to most analysts, the IFPI and RIAA, AllOfMP3 is an illegal download site and their sale numbers are not valid. The question that keeps coming up about AllOfMP3 is: Is AllOfMP3 really illegal?

A little background… AllOfMP3 is a website based in Russia that provides a huge (like iTunes huge) selection of downloadable music that can be provided in a selection of custom encodings (OGG, MP3, FLAC) that the end-user can choose from.

Now, here is where it gets really interesting, customers do not pay per song, they pay per megabyte. When you buy into AllOfMP3 you buy bandwidth and then you can download as many songs as you can with that bandwidth you purchased. Current reports claim that the average song rate would come to about $0.08 a song. This is the reason AllOfMP3 is so popular, you just can’t beat that price.

When most people find AllOfMP3, they think to themselves that it’s too good to be true and there has to be a catch. Is it a fake site? Is it just a scam to get my credit card number? People tried it out, it worked and they loved it. The problem is there is a catch and here is where the company’s legal ability to exist becomes a little grey.

According to AllOfMP3, they are a legal service because Russian copyright law states that since AllOfMP3 is not distributing physical materials, they are providing a service that is considered a musical performance. Because it is a performance, AllOfMP3 just has to pay the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems (ROMS) for every performance/transaction. ROMS is the Russian equivalent of ASCAP/BMI and ROMS tracks the performances and then pays the artists according to the number of plays (more or less).

Now, the IFPI, labels, artists, and RIAA really, really disagree with this. In the US and the EU, copyright law states that to sell copyrighted material you need to have a license from the 3 owners (songwriter, recording owner, and artist). AllOfMP3 does not have a license to sell this music and this is where the debate kicks in.

Which law applies? The WTO is putting pressure on Russia to comply with, what is now considered by many to be, standard copyright law and to close down AllOfMP3. AllOfMP3 is saying they are following their countries laws and it is really on the consumers end to follow their countries laws. What this means, is that if you live in the US or the EU you are breaking the law by using AllOfMP3. Interesting.

So, as of today AllOfMP3 is semi-down. The site was 100% down a few days ago and has slowly been coming back online. People are debating if the site is finally being closed or are they just having server problems, as AllOfMP3 claims.

Either way, this is a really interesting topic because it gets deep into the issues we have playing in a global market and how the internet is accelerating these challenges as countries’ borders are removed in this virtual environment.

Sources: Museekster.com – “AllOfMP3 FAQ” Museekster.com – “AllOfMP3 Interview” Wikipedia – Article on AllOfMP3.com moskalyuk.com – “AllofMP3.com escapes criminal lawsuit, for now” Reurters UK – “WTO entry must be in Russia’s interest – Putin”

Educational Dopeness

Yeah, I know dopeness isn’t a word, but whatever. Over at my favorite music info blog, Create Digital Music, Peter posted a link to the Philharmonia orchestra site. What is interesting about this site is they break down the orchestra by instrument and have info for each one.

This is where it gets interesting. Each instrument is then broken down by construction tonal range, playing technique, how it is written for, what it transposes to when played, etc. etc. There is some seriously deep information here and on top of that they have members of the orchestra demonstrating all this in streaming Quicktime so you can actually see and hear how it works.

This is the kind of site that I can get sucked into for hours. Watching and reading every tid bit of information they have on the site. My old roommate and good friend, Halim, majored in composing and he and I would spend hours talking and playing music over the piano and guitar. This is definitely an area I want to spend more time focusing and there is just so much to learn. Anyway, this is definitely a site to play with if you have any interest in orchestra or orchestration.

What I learned at the CC Salon

The other week I spoke at the Creative Commons Salon to talk about Fake Science, Podcasting and music. I was the first speaker and after me was Bob Ostertag and Lucas Gonze (founder of Webjay). One of the main themes that the other speakers presented was the concept of free music and getting away from paying for recorded material.

When they were speaking I agreed with most of what they had to say, such as how large labels use artists, almost all artists do not make money from their albums, the typical “the system is broken” statements. I disagreed with how they felt we should throw this all out, not charge for music, give their recorded content away and focus on making money from touring.

I agree the system needs to be changed, but to say that artists are getting screwed on recorded music so we should just give it away isn’t necessary the right response to this issue. I feel this works for some artists, free music is good, but if an artist wishes to spend time in a studio using specialized equipment to get the sound they are looking for then they should have the ability to look for compensation.

Where I feel the change is needed is in how we compensate the artist. Yes, the current model in the record industry is fucked. Artists are getting screwed and used by major labels. This is an industry were we run at a 98% failure rate and the majors feel this is acceptable. What I believe is that we need to look into the old belief of becoming a patron to these artists.

The people that truly love the music, the people that want to see more of the music made are willing to contribute to producing more. For this to happen, the patrons need to know their money is going to the artist. At the moment, the old system does not do this but this is what we are trying so hard to do with Fake Science. Create a place that allows fans to purchase music knowing that most of the money is going to the people that made it.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if my message was really portrayed correctly when I spoke. Being the first presenter, I went more with the typical rundown and to be frank, I am used to being the black sheep, bring-the-system-down kind of presenter. But by the time the night was over I felt that I was the corporate shill trying to sell out. This definitely opened my eyes and it helped me build a firmer stance on what we are trying to achieve at FS.

Note: I posted this at the FS forums and already Christopher has given some great input.

Speaking in SF tonight

Tonight is the second installment of the Creative Commons Salon and this month’s theme is music. I will be talking about Fake Science, Podcasting and how we use Creative Commons. Here are all the details:

Please join us for the second CC Salon, taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 12 from 6-9 PM at Shine. CC Salon is a casual get-together focused on conversation and community-building with 2-3 brief presentations from individuals and groups developing projects with relationship to Creative Commons. We look forward to seeing you there!

CC Salon – San Francisco http://www.creativecommons.org/salon Wednesday, April 12 6-9 PM Shine (http://shinesf.com/) 1337 Mission Street (between 9th and 10th), San Francisco

Featuring

James Polanco; “Podcasting and Fake Science Digital Music Store”, Fake Science (http://www.fakescience.com/)

Lucas Gonze; “How the Net is Changing Music”, Webjay (http://www.webjay.org) + http://www.gonze.com/weblog/

Bob Ostertag, http://www.bobostertag.com * He recently made all of his music available he has rights to under CC BY-NC

Plug, music by Minus Kelvin, http://www.minuskelvin.com

The Growth of Internet Music Stars

Over the last year we have been seeing more and more success stories about artists using the internet as a way to establish a fan base. One of the first “breakout” artists was Geoff Byrd. Geoff used Garageband.com as a launching point to expose his music to a larger audience. He spent around a year promoting the album day in and day out till finally he became the top download at Garageband, beating out Greenday and U2.

Geoff then signed to a mid-sized indie label with national distribution and released his album nationwide. Once the album was released he did 200 radio-station tour playing and promoting his music. Geoff made headlines because he was the first to establish himself nationally using the internet as his launching point and doing this all without any major label backing. We all had imagined the possibility of using the internet as a promotion system but Geoff was the first to reap the benefits.

Almost a year later we had the next huge leap in internet based success. The Arctic Monkeys, out of the UK, took it to the next level by growing their popularity to such extremes that when their first album finally released in the UK, they hit number one that day. This is unheard of; a technically unknown band releases their first, and I mean first, album and it hits number one in the same day.

Like Geoff, the Arctic Monkeys’ used a website as a way to build a fan base. Instead of Garageband, the Arctic Monkeys used MySpace. As we all know, MySpace is making a ton of headlines for all kinds of reasons, and this was a pretty big one. Here an untried band who was able to put up tracks they were working on, push shows they were playing locally and build a network so vast they literally built an international following without having to travel there to do it.

The next big step is being reported on by Digital Music News. Sandi Thom, out of Scotland, just signed a deal with RCA/Sony BMG (good god I forgot Sony owned RCA) to develop her next album. The reason this is interesting news is that she got this attention by playing shows, without leaving her flat. She did a virtual tour for 21 consecutive days and broadcasted the performances live to the internet.

James Au (embedded journalist for Second Life) mentioned a story about a performer in Seattle that now makes a living by doing virtual shows in game. The aritst would shoutcast a music stream of his performance and players of the game would tune in. The listeners would then tip the artist with Linden dollars (in-game currency) that he could convert to real money if he so desired.

We are seeing a sort of evolution of music performance and promotion via the internet. The thing is these are only a handful of examples and I feel it would be hard for anyone to replicate what they have done. There are more possibilities for sure, but there is no guarantee that playing virtual shows or putting your band on MySpace will get you success. What the articles always fail to tell you is the hundreds of hours these people put in attracting attention, networking with fans and just plain promoting what they are doing. There is now even more opportunity, but it still requires good old fashioned hard work.

Subimage live on Friday

For everyone in the Bay Area, Subimage is playing at the Red Devil Lounge and opening for Dramarama. Yeah, that Dramarama. Subimage was founded by my good friend Chris Campbell around 10 years ago. Originally the band started out as a synthpop act but over the last few years he has really evolved the sound to more of an indie/dance punk tip.

Last July, Chris was opening for a Cause and Effect at the Red Devil Lounge and asked Cedub and myself to sit in on the show. I played guitar and scratched whiled Cedub was playing electronic percussion. The show was a hit and we ended up sitting in again as bassists and drummer for another show at the now defunct Cherry Bar.

Since then, Chris has been joined by guitarist Ruba and Greg on bass. They had their first show earlier this month with this new iteration. The live versions of the album songs they have on myspace sound great and I am excited to finally catch them live this Friday. So, if any of you reading are in the Bay check out the show on Friday they go on at 8pm, you can get tix online here.

The Agriculture on Fake Science

Woo, back in Oakland after a whirlwind tour de force of Austin and Dallas. A special thanks to Niki for scoring the final show of the trip and getting us amazing seats for the Stereolab show on Saturday night. The show gave me one final dose of live music before the flight home.

In other news, I want to take a second to hype the newest label to the FS family. I am trying not to pimp FS too much in my blog, but this is an awesome addition and I just have to mention it.

For those of you that have not heard of The Agriculture, this is a stellar label with amazing artists like David Last, DJ Olive, QPE, just to name a few. They are based out of NYC and are pushing the concept of Rooftop music. They are putting on amazing shows on rooftops in Brooklyn and other parts of the city with music that you can either dance to or just sit and admire.

We are huge fans of their music at Fake Science and we are stoked to add them to our site. So check out all the tasty new music and there is more to come your way as always. And now back to the regularly scheduled program…

Tales from SXSW – Day 4 (the finale)

The last day of SXSW has now come and gone and it was a non-stop whirlwind of amazing music. Saturday started out a little later then usual so we grabbed a quick cup a coffee, a snack for breakfast and headed to Waterloo Records to catch Nada Surf and Rouge Wave.

We arrived at Waterloo just as Nada Surf was getting on stage. They were doing an acoustic set and they played almost all request for the 30 min set. Niki and I talked after the show about how Nada Surf was written off many years back when they had their big hit “Popular”. The issue about their hit was that it was so different then the rest of their music and this caused critics to call Nada Surf a one hit wonder.

The thing is that Nada Surf is not a one hit wonder and they are very talented and intelligent music makers. It looks like the critics are finally coming around, are starting to see through the Popular fiasco and are finally giving respect were respect is due.

After Nada Surf, Rogue Wave came up and also did an acoustic set. Honestly, I had not heard much about Rogue Wave but Niki is a big fan so this was a must see. As I mentioned yesterday we tried to catch them at Red Eyed Fly but it was not meant to be. They played a great set and Matthew Caws, the lead singer of Nada Surf, came up and sung harmony for a few of their songs. They mentioned that Nada and Rogue Wave toured together for a while so they are all friends.

Once the set was done we picked up camp and headed into the heart of Austin for our last round of shows. I was especially excited for tonight because Sia was playing at 8pm. I have come to terms with the fact that I am a Sia fanboy, but at least I don’t promise love and devotion on her forums… yet. grin

Anyway, when we got down to the Parish they were not open so we headed to the Shoegazer Hacienda put on by Anglophile Music. We got there just as Local Division was wrapping up their set. What happened next will live in infamy in both Niki and my minds. The band up was Sianspheric and then Adam Franklin from Swervedriver fame would join them and play some songs.

The problem was that the drummer from Sianspheric was in a wee bit of an inebriated state. He could barely sit on his kit let alone keep a beat. Sianspheric started the set off and near the end of the song the lead singer/guitarist started yelling at the drummer to wrap it up but the drummer kept drumming. After a full minute of yelling and still no drum stoppage (the rest of the band had stopped playing by this point) the guitarist then throws the guitar into the drum kit. This finally gets the drummer attention and he looks up and finally stops.

At this point, we figure the set is over but it gets even weirder. The guitarist starts packing up his rig and then walks over to the bass and starts setting up. This is when Adam from Swervedriver starts setting up to play guitar and the host claims the show will continue. At this point the drummer requests a jack and coke and then fucking falls off his drum throne. The drummer gets back up and starts tweeking his kit and the show starts. Now, once the song gets going you can see that the drummer is trying to keep the beat as hard as he can, you can just see it on his face, but try as he might he can’t hold a beat.

After the song ends, Adam looks at the bassists and other guitarist and shakes his head, they then start another song. At the end of the second song Adam starts yelling “What the fuck is wrong with this guy!” On the third song, the drummer just can’t deal with the beat, totally loses it and at that point everyone calls it quits. It was the most fucked up rock and roll classic moment we had ever seen. It was a total disaster, one for the story books.

Once this was over we wander over to the Parish to catch Sia. There is a huge queue building up already and we get in line. They finally open the doors at 7:50, ten minutes before Sia is supposed to go on. They split the line into badge holders and wristbands and this was the only time I decided to take advantage of the badge. Unfortunately this means I have to leave Niki in the other line but he is a good sport and most understanding.

Sia actually started around 8:15 and it ends up that she is one of the most quirky and funny little aussie I have seen on stage, which is a crazy juxtaposition to the soulfulness of her voice. She played a few tracks off her album, a couple of Zero 7 tracks that she sang on (which is where I first heard of her) and then she also played a brand new song. So new in fact, that she had to hold the lyric sheet. It was a brilliant set and Niki got in for the back half of her show.

We now faced a dilemma. We wanted to head over to Antone’s to catch the Camera Obscura set but with the issues of getting into venues we faced last time we didn’t know if it was best just stay at the Parish or to head out into the crowd.

I decided to take advantage of my badge again and then head over to Antone’s to see if there was a line. If it was to long I would head back and then try to get back into the Parish. Luckily, there was no line at Antone’s so I called Niki and he headed over.

We settled into Antone’s about midway through Annie Hayden’s set and as Niki was wandering through the crowd he saw his good friend Brandon, front man for the Earlies. I met up with them at the end of Annie’s set and we had a drink and chatted. Brandon was just in for the day and was checking out shows. He and a few friends left to catch another show and we got a nice spot of Essex Green.

Essex Green is a 5 piece that sounded a lot like a more mellow countrified New Pornographers. They were talented musicians but not exactly a moving set. They held my interest for the whole show but I felt like they were not enjoying playing at all. If they held more energy they might have been a much more fun show, but then again I could be wrong.

After Essex Green played, Superchunk came up and rocked the joint. It was a packed venue, at max capacity for sure. Once their set was over David Cross jumped on stage and shouted out props to Superchunk about how they were the pioneers in the rock scene and how many bands imitate them.

The next band up was Camera Obscure out of Glasgow. They were the real reason we were their and Niki had peaked my interest. They are a 6 piece (keys, percussion/horn, drums, singer/guitar, guitar/backing vox, and bass) with the similar Glasgow throwback sound ala old Belle and Sebastian. They had some feedback problems and two of the members were pretty ill with colds, but I was enthralled by them. One of their lyrics haunted me “She’s a heartbreaker, but does she have one?” I highly recommend them and if you get a chance check them out for sure.

We were down to the last band of the evening and we headed next door to the Fox and Hound to try to get into the We Are Scientists show. Luckily that was no problem. The problem was the horrible sound. It was a massive system but the bass was devastatingly boomy and created a pretty shitty musical experience.

They are definitely talented musicians but I wasn’t that impressed. I think that a lot had to do with the fact that the current musical genre they fit in (dance punkish) is super-saturated with the same sound. They can totally execute, better then a lot, but I feel it will be tough for me to say I like them at the moment.

After the show wrapped up the rain began to fall and it was time to call it a night for SXSW’06.

Tales from SXSW – day 3

The word of the day: lines. Today was our logistical nightmare of the week; were all our best laid plans came crumbling down due to the convergence of the weekend, St. Patrick’s day and way too many bands we wanted to see that are all creating a lot of buzz.

We got off to a rocky start yesterday when we tried to get a little extra sleep and pack it all in. We wanted to catch Beth Orton at the Waterloo Records instore but she was going on at 2pm. By the time we got out of the hotel room it was 1pm and there was no way we could make Delaware subs and catch her set. We picked up Dani and went straight to the show.

By the time we got there the place was packed and they were only doing one in one out for the line. Luckily, a lot of people were there to shop so we got in just as Beth finished her first song. The interesting thing about her set was that she was up there by herself with an acoustic guitar. If you know her music she tends to lean heavy on the electronic music tip so this was a pleasant surprise. The last song she did was one of those goose bump moments because her lyrics were so powerful.

After Beth, we headed over to this bar/Cajun joint and met up with Niki’s good friend Amanda. We kicked back, ate duck gumbo, po-boys and sipped at a pitcher or two of Shiner. Once we were completely stuffed we wandered back to the store to see “Goblin Cock”. How can you not love that name, nor the fact that the entire band is dressed like Grim Reapers and all play BC Rich guitars? Not only that, but they played a fucking rocking cover of Tears for Fears. Interesting side note about Goblin Cock is that apparently it is a fun side project for members of Pinback and Stones of the Queens Age. Good times.

On a random side note, as Goblin Cock was breaking down their rig I noticed a familiar face. It ended being my old friend Polaris. He used to hang out with us at the old 43 Norfolk warehouse and he had moved to Austin about 2 years back. I hadn’t seen him in at least 3 years and it was great to catch up and also see someone random that I know.

We decided to stay around the store to catch Lady Sovereign, who is considered the next MIA by a lot of critics. Her DJ took a ridiculous amount of time to set up, seriously does it take 35 min to set up turntables? I could set up my rig in under 10 in the dark at a packed club, and he had a ton of room and good light. Anyway, he mixed a few tracks and then Lady Sovereign came up and laid it out. We were all rocked by her skills, once again I am blown away by the talent of someone so young. It was a fun bouncy set and I realized that the MIA/Lady Sovereign sound is coming out of the older hardcore dance scene (hardcore is a style of music fyi).

We made our way back into the heart of the city were all the SXSW fun is going on to see Ambulette play a full set, since we only caught part of their first set. We set up and they rocked us once again. The lead singer, Maura Davis, was dealing with a sore throat so you could tell she had to strain a bit but she was able to pull off a tight set. I was also able to grock the drummer of Ambulette and that guy is way out there good.

We left that club to head over to grab a bite to eat for dinner before Dungen went on at Buffalo Billards. Unfortunately this was our first major folly. By the time we got back there was a massive line to get in. We at first assumed it was people that wanted to pay to get in but after talking to the door guy we found out that the line was for wristbands.

The way it doors work at SXSW is that there are 3 ways to get into a club. One is to have the full SXSW badge (which I have) and badge holders get first dibs over any of the other ways. Second is to purchase a wristband that is only sold locally a few weeks before. Wristband holders have to wait for badge holders but have first dibs over people that want to pay the cover, which is the final way to get in.

What we were facing was that Niki has a wristband and I have a full badge. I could have just walked in at that point but there was no way I was going to bail on him. We stood in line and by the time we got near the front they stopped letting wristbands in because there was a huge line of badge holders. We realized that there was no way we could see Dungen or Elephant like we planned so we needed to find another show.

At this point I look up and lo and behold there is Dave M from Libsyn. My brain shut down for a second and I called him Marty (another libsyner) and I have no idea why. Stupid brain… probably because I hadn’t had a drink in a few hours grin

Dave and his friends bailed on the line a little earlier then us and they decided to go to set up camp at Emo IV to catch Circle. Niki and I decided to see how the crowd was there too. The thing about Emo’s is that there are 4 of them. Emo’s main, Emo’s Jr., Emo’s Annex and Emo’s IV. We ended up in Jr. and main before we realized it was the wrong club.

At that point we just wanted to see at least one more good band so we headed over to Red Eyed Fly to try and catch Rogue Wave. We once again hit a massive line and this ended up being just badge holders! From there we checked Stubbs and that was even crazier so we ended up at Emo IV to catch Circle (which we know nothing about).

We got into Emo IV without a problem and this experimental noise rock band, Cul De Sac was playing. After them Circle came on. Circle ended up being this art punk/metal band out of Finland that was bizarre to say the least. The first few songs were not moving us but by the end of the show it became interesting.

Once we left Emo’s I had resigned myself to no more good shows and hell, we were 13 hours in we might as well call it a night. Niki had no intention of leaving with the taste of Cul De Sac and Circle in his mouth so we looked at all the clubs on the map that we would pass on the way back to the car. He recognized, or thought he recognized Electric Soft Parade so we headed over there.

Once again we got in without a problem (which I thought was a bad sign). As I was standing there waiting for a drink some random guy starts talking to me about the band. It ends up they are two brothers from the UK and this is there first show in the States. The band got set up and started babbling in that fun lack of sleep, jet lag kind of way and then jumped into a fucking rocking set. These guys were amazing and even though they had terrible monitor issues you could just tell how good they were. Electric Soft Parade saved the night and we headed out to try and find a late night snack…

Tales from SXSW – Part 2

yawn oh man its noon and we are rushing to get cleaned up so we can get some grub on at Delaware subs. On Friday’s they make these killer sausage subs that are legend around here. I haven’t had one in something like 7 years so this is a must. I may run out of time before I am done with today’s post. If that’s the case I will update later.

Thursday was by far the best music day we have ever, ever had. No concert, no show, no festival has even come close to matching the day’s musical quality. We started the day off by heading to the “I heart comix” day party over at the Beauty Bar on 7th.

Niki was psyched to check out Ambulette out of Chicago so this was a must show. He caught them a while back by accident at Rubber Gloves in Dallas and has been a fan ever since. The party was RSVP only so there was a slow line as they checked everyone’s name. Once we got in we grabbed a cold drink because today was fucking humid and head out back.

We were running a little late so sadly we only caught 3 of Ambulette’s songs, but the three they played were awesome. It ended up that Ambulette was one of the bands that I had heard on the SXSW torrent that I really liked. The song is called “Seconds To Midnight” and I recommend peeping it for sure.

After Ambulette, Cut Chemist stepped up to the decks. I mean, what the fuck. Cut Fucking Chemist!!!! He is one of the main reasons I pursed learning how to scratch and cut records. He and Shadow are huge influences on me and here I am 5 feet away with a crowd of about 50 people get our asses rocked by his mad skills on the turntable. I had never had a chance to see him work a set by himself, I always caught him with J5 so this was just ill.

The, the next act was Jean Grae. By this point my brain is having a hard time dealing with the pure awesomeness of the day because I know I still have Morrissey and Goldfrapp to deal with. Jean comes up and bantered with her DJ and the crowd for a while and then just spits out some of the most intelligent and funny rhymes I have heard in a long time. She is truly an entertainer and even though the crowd was little and at first really distant she was able to win them all over.

We finished another round of drinks and then started to head over to Austin Music Hall for the big show of the evening. On the way over Dani ran into her friend April who is a bartender at this really nice restaurant downtown. We ended up kicking it there eating Tapas and having the stiffest drinks I have seen in a long time. A bourbon and coke has only a splash added for color. That kind of thing.

Once we were full and buzzing we wandered to the hall and got in with no line at all, which was odd because the rumor mill said it would have been nearly impossible to get in. We popped a squat for a while to rest our weary legs and then at 9pm Morrissey came on and play a hour and a half show. To be honest I was never a huge Smiths or Morrissey fan but he does put on an amazing performance and the crowds energy was intense.

To end the night’s musical edition Goldfrapp came on and blew the doors off the place. Her stage presence is over the top and her band was really, really tight. As Niki commented as we were leaving the show, her set was the first one in a long one that you really truly did not want to end. I am not a huge fan of encores, mainly because they are overdone now but I really, really wanted her to come back and play some more. She did and rocked three more songs… seriously put her on your must see list if you like her music at all, so worth it.

After that we went back to Dani’s place and we hung out with her and Brian till 5am telling jokes and crazy stories. Well, looks like I was able to get it all down but we are heading out now, so until tomorrow!