I guess I can do a #reintroduction #introduction #introductions

Hi! I'm Andrew! I run Retro.social.

I'm an SRE manager at a gaming company. I own a coffee shop, I run a makerspace, and I make toys.

I also do a #podcast called Expedition Sasquatch that releases infrequently and is super specifically funny. Like, I can't listen to a single episode without falling out of my chair laughing, but maybe you don't know any old southern men who want to hunt bigfoot professionally.

I run a peertube instance, which mostly gets music from my record label, and tv shows from the 50s.

If you know me from outside of the fediverse it's probably from my blog (http://ajroach42.com) which inexplicably gets featured on boingboing or the front page of that orange nightmare every once in a while. I did podcasts on floppydisks and a piece about how computing has gone wonky since circa 2012 or so.

I do media digitization and preservation, archiving 16mm film of TV shows and movies, and I write about that sometimes.

I have a tendency to do Big Long Posts. I won't apologize for that, Your instance should crush it down under a read more. If it doesn't, I will apologize for that.

I'm a #DIYMedia advocate. I strongly believe that we have to escape from our corporate media overlords, and fight back against them if we want to be free.

Uhhh... What else? I have Strong Opinions about things.

I post about #PD #publicDomain and especially #PDMusicList recently.

Here are some photos of things I've worked on recently.

@greyor So music actually started entering the public domain in the US for the first time this year.

#PDMusicList has a decent collection.

@crash #PDMusicList is a good place to start, and the Kevin Macleod collection is unparalleled.

https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/artists/kevin-macleod

The Free Music Archive is still out there, and is searchable by license (it's one of the only places that has decent metadata tagging.)

Crazy Blues
Sissle & Blake
Pm 12007
41564-1
November 1920

#PDMusicList

So weird to hear a male vocalist tackle this track which was popularized by several of the early blues women who founded the Vaudeville Blues Style.

OTOH, it features the lyrics "Find myself a gun and shoot myself a cop" which is ... uhh... I mean, it's 1920.

Here's the original 1917 rendition for comparison.

(Oh #PDMusicList Both of these mp3s are of recordings that are clearly in the public domain, having been originally published in 1917 and 1920 respectively.)

@freakazoid @vertigo Thanks for the hat tip. Some recent projects:

- Making videos way too small: https://retro.social/@ajroach42/107595166462917351

- Jumbo hand made toys: https://retro.social/@ajroach42/107584598058013935

- Exploring newly public domain music: #PDMusicList

Lots of other small and medium sized projects in the works (#jupitersGhost, repairing and upgrading a vintage omnibot, robo sumo, building TVs and scifi props, #spacelarpcafe)

@rook I've been collecting newly public domain music under the tag #PDMusicList and I did a blog post celebrating stuff http://ajroach42.com/public-domain-day-2022/

If you do a thing, Let me know so I can signal boost it!

@RussSharek anything stand out to you in thr #pdmusiclist I have started to build?

I found some more Black Swan releases!

https://archive.org/details/78_jazzin-babies-blues_ethel-waters-and-joe-smiths-jazz-masters-richard-jones_gbia0363130a

https://archive.org/details/78_kind-lovin-blues_ethel-waters-and-joe-smiths-jazz-masters-waters-mitchell-henders_gbia0363130b

https://archive.org/details/78_sal-o-may_joe-browns-alabama-band-stolz_gbia0027946b

https://archive.org/details/78_how-many-times_joe-browns-alabama-band-robinson-turk_gbia0027946a

#PDMusicList

Black Swan, founded in 1921, was the first successful black owned and operated record company.

Take me out to the ballgame recorded in 1908: https://archive.org/details/78_take-me-out-to-the-ball-game_harvey-hindermeyer_gbia0381865b/TAKE+ME+OUT+TO+THE+BALL+GAME+-+Harvey+Hindermeyer.flac

#PDMusicList

This one just blew my mind:

https://archive.org/details/78_doin-the-new-low-down_willie-lewis-and-his-orchestra-willie-lewis-joe-hayman-big_gbia0364559a/DOIN'+THE+NEW+LOW+DOWN+-+WILLIE+LEWIS+and+his+ORCHESTRA.flac

DOIN' THE NEW LOW DOWN by WILLIE LEWIS and his ORCHESTRA

The notes say 1920. It's so lively that I have a hard time believing that to be the case, so I'm going to go make sure.

#PDMusicList

The B-side hasn't been restored yet, but is every bit as good as the A-side.

https://archive.org/details/78_four-oclock-blues_johnny-dunns-original-jazz-hounds-dunn--horsley_gbia0012510a/Four+O'Clock+Blues+-+Johnny+Dunn's+Original+Jazz+Hounds.flac

#PDMusicList

One of the cleanest, swingingest Jazz recordings I've heard in this dive:

https://archive.org/details/78_hawaiian-blues_johnny-dunns-original-jazz-hounds-bradford-brassfield_gbia0012510b/Hawaiian+Blues+-+Johnny+Dunn's+Original+Jazz+Hounds-restored.flac

I don't know Johnny Dunn and I've never heard Hawaiian Blues, but this is exactly what you think of in your minds ear when you think of the Jazz Age.

#PDMusicList

Very Clean recording of the hymn Abide with me: https://archive.org/details/78_abide-with-me_olive-kline-elsie-baker-henry-f-lyte-william-h-monk_gbia0095516b/Abide+With+Me+-+Olive+Kline+-+Elsie+Baker-restored.flac

#PDMusicList

This isn't my kind of thing at all, but the recording is clean enough to sample up, chop and screw in to something fun.

Here's another rendition of Crazy Blues, this one by Mary Stafford, an early "Classic Blues" singer who recorded 16 sides over her career.

https://archive.org/details/78_crazy-blues_mary-stafford-and-her-jazz-band-bradford_gbia0007719b/Crazy+Blues+-+Mary+Stafford+and+her+Jazz+Band.flac

Many of them are available here:

https://archive.org/details/georgeblood?query=date%3A%5B*+TO+1922%5D+Mary+Stafford&sort=-date

#PDMusicList

"He may be your man, but he comes to see me sometimes" https://archive.org/details/78_he-may-be-your-man-but-he-comes-to-see-me-sometimes_fowler-edith-wilson-johnny-du_gbia0000430a/He+May+Be+Your+Man+(But+He+Comes+To+See+Me+Sometimes)+-+Fowler.flac

released in June of 22.

Followed up six months later with

"He used to be your man, but he's my man now"

https://archive.org/details/78_he-used-to-be-your-man-but-hes-my-man-now_edith-wilson-johnny-dunns-original-jazz_gbia0039644b

Edith Wilson took no shit.

#pdMusicList

Here's the B-Side:

https://archive.org/details/78_society-blues_kid-orys-sunshine-orchestra-papa-mutt-carey-kid-ory-dink-johnson-fre_gbia0215087b/SOCIETY+BLUES+-+KID+ORY'S+SUNSHINE+ORCHESTRA.flac

Of note, this is an early bootleg reissue of an otherwise basically impossible to find record.

Piracy paves the way for preservation again.

#PDMusicList

Here's a good one for the #PDMusicList

Ory's Creole Trombone:

https://archive.org/details/78_orys-creole-trombone_kid-orys-sunshine-orchestra-papa-mutt-carey-kid-ory-dink-joh_gbia0215087a/ORY'S+CREOLE+TROMBONE+-+KID+ORY'S+SUNSHINE+ORCHESTRA.flac

The entry in the #PDMusicList is called Chain Gang Blues - https://archive.org/details/78_chain-gang-blues_sam-moore-sam-moore_gbia0395844a/CHAIN+GANG+BLUES+-+SAM+MOORE+-+Sam+Moore.flac

I've never heard the track before, but it's pretty good.

It is an acoustic recording, though, and the mix is Super quiet compared to the background noise of the recording.

I might try to compress it.

#PDMusicList

Here's Tiger Rag - recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band

https://archive.org/details/78_tiger-rag_original-dixieland-jazz-band-la-rocca_gbia0076753b/Tiger+Rag+-+Original+Dixieland+Jazz+Band.flac