CARDRUNNERS

Friday has come again and it's time for another musical themed entry. Yesterday, the director of one of the web design firms I met with admitted in conversation that he was a former Deadhead. Years ago he had been living on the east coast, had followed the Grateful Dead on one of their tours out west, and he never went back. He eventually settled in Portland for the high quality of life he found here. He, like many, appreciated many things about the Dead; the music, the culture, the freedom, and the experimentation. The Dead were non conformists and loved to experiment and improvise. Much of that adventure and musical exploration has been lost in music today. Radio demands shorter catchy songs in the 2:30 to 4:00 minute range. That leaves no room to experiment musically. Your journey, no matter how great the song, is very structured and brief.

While I was never a big fan of the Dead, I always appreciated their approach to their music. I have always loved bands who take a catchy riff or melody and expand and experiment with it. In a different way, it was why I enjoyed some classical music as a youngster because you were taken on an extended journey that explored the range of the particular composition.

I thought I would share some samples of some interesting groups. The first is the Grateful Dead performing Fire on the Mountain.

With with the demise of the Dead, some groups tried to take up the mantle, most notably Phish. I'm not as familiar with them and I quickly selected a song Farmhouse that captures a sense of their music.

This week I found a couple groups that are also into experimentation and jamming, carrying on the spirit of these earlier groups. They have very different music styles and backgrounds. The first Lymbyc Systym has a very electronica fusion feel with a very trippy video accompanying their song Truth Skull.

The second group is from Norway. They have many musical influences but also embrace the experimental and improvisational elements of these other groups. The group is Jagga Jazzist and the song is All I Know Is Tonight. Enjoy tonight's musical selections.

I started a thread in OT following up on the original topic:

I made a post a while back talking about poker groups at cardrunners. There was a lot of interest in starting something up and I was more than ready to get it going. I believe allreds and Trevrob said they were working on a similar concept, but I haven't seen anything come of it.

Here is what I posted originally in that thread:
It's obvious that not everyone can win Taylor's Protege contest, but it has given me an idea.

I was thinking that a lot of people take the time to post HHs and comment on them, sometimes very in depth, which is great. From what I hear it sounds like Taylor uses something like TeamViewer (to share one person's desktop with the group) and they use voice chat to talk about the current hand.

So I was thinking about it. Why can't small groups of people at similar stakes get together once or twice a week and use TeamViewer and Ventrilo to rail one of the people in the group?

I think this would help quite a few people get instant feedback and different viewpoints on their play right at the table. They would be able to take feedback they usually get in the forums and use it right away against the same villains. This would allow people to try different techniques than they would have, while the table dynamics are the same.

There could be several different groups (with people of the same stakes, or a mix of people from different stakes) and members could be in several groups depending on how involved they want to be.

How nice it would be to go work with a group at the level above you for a couple weeks before you move up? It would lower the learning curve of a new limit and probably lower variance a bit.

This is just an idea right now, but I think it would help a lot of people improve their games and meet some CR friends. I am only a 25nl player right now, but I would love to get some groups setup.

If we work together our games will evolve.

We don't have to do something huge, but I would like to get some groups going. If you are interested in joining a group please PM me with the following:

1.)Your preferred level(s)
2.)A screen name for aim, msn, google, or yahoo instant msging.
3.) Times you are available during the week as well as your Time Zone.

The preferred software for group sessions will be Mikogo ( " alt="http://www.youtube.com/v/w8inztO0Xx8"> " title="http://www.youtube.com/v/w8inztO0Xx8"> ">http://www.youtube.com/v/w8inztO0Xx8">
I will answer questions on here as well as update the list of interested members as I am PM'd. Please Do Not post your information or interest in this thread, just pm it all to me, so this thread stays as uncluttered as possible. Groups will most likely meet once per week and possibly more depending on each group.

If you have any questions about the system itself I will try to answer them in here. I am in no way affiliated with CardRunners and this is not being sanctioned or run by them. I just feel that we have a great community here with a wealth of information to share. It would be a waste to not help each other improve as players.

To start I think it will be 6max NLHE. When we work out the kinks other groups will be added for full ring, mixed games, sngs, and mtts.

Since it's hard for me to edit without an admin I will keep the list updated here. The list in the thread will be updated once a day or every other.

Player List:
Dahlig763
Axe_hero
Glamdringer
T0mmy2T0ne
ChrisGuert
allreds26
Asheh
MBuckler
Probability
Nookx
ScorpianJim
Lyncks
4_Vader_4
jeccross
0815am
XxPanchoxX
Hammer_FLHT
aisflat439
nuht
Cetamega
mastertrey436
jibs10
malfaire

Level Preference:

5nl
-----------
Cetamega



10nl
-----------
T0mmy2T0ne
aisflat439
Cetamega
mastertrey436



25nl
----------
T0mmy2T0ne
4_Vader_4
0815am
XxPanchoxX
Hammer_FLHT
mastertrey436
jibs10



50nl
----------
Dahlig763
Axe_hero
ChrisGuert
Asheh
MBuckler
ScorpianJim
lyncks
0815am
XxPanchoxX
Hammer_FLHT
nuht


100nl
----------
Dahlig763
Axe_hero
Glamdringer
Asheh
MBuckler
allreds26
Nookx
ScorpianJim
Hammer_FLHT
jeccross
nuht

200nl
---------
allreds26
jeccross
nuht
malfaire


400nl
---------

600nl
---------


1000nl
---------

I hope to get these started as early as next week. There is no reason it should take very long to get it going.

Video Of The Day:

Method Man - Bring The Pain