Secret Music News, May and June, 2011

Hi -

My name is Scott Raymond, and for those of you who don't know me, I'm a New Age/Ambient/Electronic music DJ with WVKR-FM. WVKR is a 3700 watt non - commercial station broadcasting from Vassar College to the greater Hudson Valley region. My show, "Secret Music", has been on for over 24 years and has a large and devoted audience. The show airs every Sunday from 9AM to 12 noon EST. For more information or to listen in online, check out our website at www.wvkr.org. I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting music to play on my show. If you have something you think I'd be interested in, feel free to send it to the address below or email me for more info. If you're a local musician or just passing through the beautiful Hudson Valley region and you'd like to stop by for a live interview and/or performance, drop me a line and we'll work something out. Also, if you'd like to send me downloads of your releases in lieu of actual CD's, that's fine with me, too. Just send me an email and let me know. Thanks.

It's been a while, which bears some explaining. Back in late May, my desktop computer died. Hard drive, I'm guessing. Fortunately, I had everything important backed up. Still not a lot of fun. Thought I had it figured out, but then what I think is the motherboard started acting up. So the desktop still isn't working properly and I'm relying on a 5+ year old laptop. Now since 1995, I've been relying on a great little email program called Pegasus Mail for most of my email needs. That's what I use for the newage@secretmusic.net address. Except for some reason, I can't send mail from the laptop using that address. I've been using Gmail for a couple of years and all is well so far, so I figured I'd make the change to web based email. This way I can check it from anywhere. The newage@secretmusic.net address is still active, and perhaps one day I'll be able to send email from it again. But I'd appreciate it if you'd start using this one, as this is the one I'll be using for present and future correspondence. It's a huge change, as I had to manually enter over 300 contact names and emails. But if you're reading this, then it succeeded.

What's been going on? I had lots of interviews in May. Thanks to Rapoon (Robin Storey) for coming in for an interview before going back to England. Thanks to Vic Rek for coming in again for an interview before moving to Poland (I'm starting to see a pattern here). And thanks to the great guys from the Candyrat Guitar Night Live tour for taking some of their time for an interview. I'm looking for more live interviews and performances. Drop me a line and we'll work something out.

I celebrated my 24th anniversary of Secret Music back in June, too. Doesn't seem like that long, really. I'm already looking ahead to my 25th anniversary in June, 2012. Hopefully the world doesn't end before then. I'm looking at putting together a CD compilation of music to commemorate the event. The initial thought is to feature local music (as there's a lot of it), but if I get enough interest (and especially enough funding), I may expand my horizons. If you'd like to help, here's what I could use. First, someone who can provide me with the necessary documentation to do this, especially as I have to do it as a non-profit in order to promote it properly. Second, someone, preferably local, who can help me get it ready for duplication. Third, I'm likely to use Kickstarter as a source of funding, so anyone with experience there would be helpful. And last but not least, submissions, particularly from local artists. I'll be reaching out to some people once I figure out how to do it, but I may be forgetting someone. Email me for info.

I'm also looking ahead to WVKR's annual fundraiser, which is in early September (right after Labor Day). WVKR gets some funding from Vassar College, but not enough to pay the bills. So our fundraiser is an important event here. Anyone who wants to help can gladly do so by sending me CD's and other such goodies for use as premiums. I'm pretty open to suggestion for alternatives to CD's too. Just email me and we'll work something out.

I've increased my online presence. In addition to my blog, I now have two Facebook pages. One for the show itself, and a personal page where I can better connect with all of you. I hope you'll check them out and add me as a friend, if you haven't done so already. I'll be posting updates there on a more regular basis. Here's the relevant links:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000748108725#!/profile.php?id=10 00007481087 25

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000748108725#!/pages/Secret- Music/111894398883294

http://secretmusicwvkr.blogspot.com/

Here's my playlists for May and June of 2011. Sorry I haven't written sooner. Enjoy!

Scott Raymond
WVKR-FM
16 Penn St.
Fishkill, NY 12524
secretmusic09@gmail.com

WVKR-FM "Secret Music" Top 20 Playlist
May, 2011

1. Blackmore's Night - Autumn Sky - Minstrel Hall
2. Ewan Dobson - II - Candy Rat
3. Various Artists - Sonic Frontiers I - Wayfarer
4. Spyra - No Beats For One Hour - Ricochet Dream
5. Montana Skies - Live - Self Released
6. Resonant Drift - Passages - Flow Space
7. Gregg Plummer - Luna - Self Released
8. The Glimmer Room - A Diary Of Occurrences - A Frame
9. Sans Serif - Unbound - Projekt
10. Free System Projekt & Gert Emmens - Legacy - Self Released
11. The Electric Golem - The Electric Golem - Ricochet Dream
12. Stellardrone - Sublime - Self Released
13. Stellardrone - Invent The Universe - Self Released
14. John Broaddus - Afield - Parnassus Nump
15. Time Being - A Dimension Reflected - Spotted Peccary
16. Air Sculpture - Before The Moon - Ricochet Dream
17. Susperia Electrica - Turmoil - Earth Mantra
18. Susperia Electrica - Intrinsic - Earth Mantra
19. Remy - I-dentity - Self Released
20. Ricochet Gathering - Okefenokee 2001 - Ricochet Dream

WVKR-FM "Secret Music" Top 20 Playlist
June, 2011

1. Alexander Turnquist - Hallway Of Mirrors - VHF
2. Dustin O'Halloran - Lumiere - Fatcat
3. Craig D'Andrea - ...and the B.L.T.'s - CandyRat Records
4. Jim Kirkwood - The Cello Tree - Dark Age Music
5. Zoe Keating - Into the Trees - Self Released
6. Michael Peck - Beneath Forever - Earth Mantra
7. Ian Boddy & Parallel Worlds - Exit Strategy - DiN
8. Antoine Dufour - Sound Pictures - CandyRat Records
9. Jeffrey Koepper - Arctisonia - Air Space Records
10. Markus Reuter & Zero Ohms - The Sun Is Just The Sun, But The Stars They Call The Heavens - DiN
11. Anthony Paul Kerby & Tomas Weiss - Distant Shadows - Dataobscura
12. Robert Davies - Whispering Grove - Dataobscura
13. Steven Lance - Spacetime - Self Released
14. Antonymes - The License To Interpret Dreams - Hidden Shoal
15. 15. Nils Frahm & Anne Muller - 7fingers - Erased Tapes
16. Steve Roach - Immersion Five: Circadian Rhythms - Timeroom Editions
17. Chris Russell & Disturbed Earth - The Approaching Armada - Relaxed Machinery
18. Monty Adkins - Fragile Flicker Fragment - Audiobulb
19. Nebulae - The Path Of White Clouds - Hypnos
20. Gregg Plummer - Three Graces - Earth Mantra