HotTrax Radio Toolbar: Uber Cool!

Okay now... let me see if I remember how to blog. LOL Seriously, I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. I want EVERYONE to know about the HotTrax Uber Cool Toolbar! The HotTrax Toolbar is not only Uber Cool, it's the ONLY toolbar you really need! Unlike other toolbars, such as Google and Yahoo, the HotTrax Radio Toolbar uses fewer of your system's resources. And while other toolbars track where you go on the web, the HotTrax toolbar does not.

The HotTrax Radio Toolbar has been around for a while now, but it keeps getting better all the time! If you don't have it... why not? Hmmm... where do I begin? Let's start with Applets. Well, first off, once you have the toolbar, you need to create an account. This will let you sign onto the toolbar. Why would you want to do this? Well, two reasons, actually. First of all, if you are time challenged, as I am, it allows you to choose your time zone. Then when you go to the Applets and look at the schedule, it will give you the times in YOUR time zone! The other reason is so that you can use the Tune Minder. What's a Tune Minder, you ask? It's another nifty Applet. It allows you to remember a tune that is playing that you like and would like to add to your library. You can even use it to go directly to purchase the tune. Another cool feature of the HotTrax Radio Toolbar is the Playlist Search Applet. This allows you to search a DJ's playlist for a certain song. It also allows you to check ALL the DJ's lists at one time. I use it when I'm looking for a tune during my show. I can look to see if a DJ has a song, then contact them if they are online to send it to me. It's handy during a show, when a DJ gets a request. Sure, I could probably go online and find a tune, but if a DJ has it, then it's probably already been checked out and tagged! Other handy Applets are the Song History and the Listeners Map. Oh, and I mustn't forget... you can even come directly into our Chat room from the HotTrax Chat applet.

Then there are the Links you can get to from the toolbar! All the HotTrax Channels, all the DJ's playlists, and DJ Bios. The only way to get to the Bios is from the HotTrax Radio Toolbar! There are more channel links, plus from the ToolBar you can get to a couple of lyrics sites, the station's Facebook and MySpace pages, NASCAR.com, AND there's even a link for the WildWest Festival in Hayes, Kansas, where the HotTrax Gang will be meeting up again this year for the 4th of July Celebration! Oh, and don't forget the Blogs! You can reach those directly from the Toolbar, too!

Then there are the Gadgets. You gotta love gadgets! There are plenty of cool ones there, including the Countdown one, under "Tools/Utilities." It allows you to count down to special events in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. And there are some fun games under Gadgets, too. There is more than one DJ around HotTrax who can be found playing Bubbles... occasionally even during their show! TSK TSK!

Recently, our beloved Lizard Boss, who is responsible for constructing our fantastic toolbar, added a Games drop down menu from the toolbar. There are even more games to become addicted to there! How much better can it get? You can listen to HotTrax and play games all at the same time.

There is also a Newsfeed drop down menu, a place to set the weather so you have the temperature at your finger tips, and you can even set the Toolbar to check your email, and inform you when "you have mail!"

Of course, I've left out the obvious... you can tune in directly from the Toolbar and listen to your favorite HotTrax stream... or your favorite DJ! Also, the HotTrax Radio Toolbar uses Google as it's default search engine. And when you use the search engine on the HotTrax Radio Toolbar, it benefits HotTrax Radio. So download the Uber Cool HotTrax Radio Toolbar, lose the others, and start searching! And let your friends in on it... it truly IS Uber Cool!

The Grammys 2009

It's always rewarding when the station you work for has shown that it's consistently up with, and often ahead of, the game when it comes to choosing the music which will eventually be saluted as the best in its field.

Look at this year's Grammy awards, held 2 days ago and which, of course, is the supreme arbiter of the year's best music. There were some well-deserved winners and I suppose the run-away 'superstars' were Robert Plant and Alison Krauss who won all five awards for which they were nominated - and that's some achievement - including 'Record of the Year' for 'Please Read the Letter', Album of the Year for 'Raising Sand' , Best Pop Collaboration for 'Rich Woman', Best Country Collaboration with vocals for 'Killing the Blues' and finally 'Raising Sand' won the best Folk/Americana album of the year too. And Hot Trax Radio has been playing 'Raising Sand' - and all the above songs - throughout 2008 even when the album's success was not a sure fire guarantee. After all raucous Zep front man and gentle Bluegrass queen hardly sounds like a marriage made in heaven, but the results were wonderful.

It was great to see Adele win Best New Artist and Best New Female Performer for 'Chasing Pavements' another song HotTrax has played almost from the date of its release.

Coldplay won best song for 'Viva La Vida' and Duffy won Best Pop Vocal Album for 'Rockferry' - another album which Hot Trax Radio has plugged almost from the date of its release.

There are way, way too many awards to list but I was pleased to see prizes for Ne-Yo, John Mayer, the Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys and Bruce Springsteen among so many - and again all their songs have been well featured on the HotTrax playlists over recent months.

I suppose the one unfortunate note in the proceedings was the non-appearence of Chris Brown and Rihanna who, it appears had had a domestic spat before the awards ceremony resulting in injuries to Rihanna followed by Brown turning himself in to the LA Police.

One puzzle was the award of the best country song to Jennifer Nettles 'Stay'. It is a great song but it must be at least 2 years old and not even on the latest 'Sugarland' album so I'm not sure how it qualified.

Finally, on a very sentimental note, I was delighted to see the Best Traditional Folk Album award go to Pete Seeger, for the appropriately titled 'At 89'. One of the great mainstays of traditional American music, now in his 90th year, there can't be many albums left and he deserved all the plaudits he got.



So if you agreed with the verdict of the judges - and even if you didn't - listen to Hot Trax Radio through 2009 and we will prove to be a pretty accurate barometer of what is the best in popular music in time for the Grammys of 2010. Just you wait and see!

John Martyn : 1948 - 2009

On Friday 29th January, the music world lost an amazing talent when John Martyn died at his home in Ireland aged 60. He began playing a blend of blues and folk music on guitar in 1965 when he was 17 and became a rage in Britain's folk scene of the 1960s, making his first album in 1967.

He was continually developing his musical style and by 1970 was creating original sounds by playing acoustic guitar through a fuzz box, phase shifter and echoplex, resulting in a haunting fading echo effect.

He made one of the great albums of the 70s in 1973 when Solid Air was released and which contained a number of great songs including 'May you never' which I have played on my Monday show and which was covered by Eric Clapton on his Slowhand album. Martyn continued to release innovative albums throughout the 1970s.

In 1979, John's marriage to his wife Beverley broke up and , in his own words 'I hit the self-destruct button'. He took to drink and drugs and severely damaged his health but produced a cathartic album called Grace and Danger on which Phil Collins played drums. At first his record company, Island, would not release it saying it was deeply and painfully personal but eventually he got his way and said it was the greatest album he had ever made.

By the 1990s, Martyn had picked up on hip-hop and had blended the phrasing into this own unique style on an album called And.

By now he was struggling with serious health problems including a burst pancreas, and later, in 2003 his right leg was amputated. Seriously overweight now and not well he continued to play and tour and was awarded the BBC 's Lifetime Achievement award for his services to music in 2008.

Though his death can hardly be called a shock, it is very sad for those who love music and innovative musicians. The last word should be left to Eric Clapton who said 'John was just so far ahead of everything, it's almost inconceivable'.

The 'Total Turkeys' List

OK we had a post the other day about a 'Must Have' list - and I think I just about kept my job with 5 1/2 out of 8 (Well I'm giving myself the half anyway just to be on the safe side) But what about a 'Total Turkeys' list (say top 10) - perfect for Thanksgiving - carrying the severe penalty that if you play any of them, the Lizard Boss will come after sensitive parts of your anatomy with an electrified cattle prod. Now I'm not talking hate music or anything that serious nor even some of the current crop to which I have a personal aversion, but just songs that stand the test of time of being so insufferably dire that they should be played endlessly to terrorists to force confessions.

The list of course is off the top of my head and could easily change when I next hear something excruciating:-

In no particular order:-

1. Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine

- the grandfather of British pop at his most syrupy. Guaranteed to have you running for the bathroom after the starter and before you even get to the Christmas turkey.


2. Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover from Liverpool

- Americans may have been mercifully spared this contribution from the one Osmond who certainly should have been throttled at birth. This falls into the excruciating on just about every level

3. Joe Dolce - Shaddapa ya face

- A bounce along novelty number that sounds mildly sing-alongy ONCE, but when you have heard it twice, let alone 2000 times you have a sudden urge to end it all.

4. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder - Ebony and Ivory

- The ultimate twee racially together song which takes saccharine sweet nausea to new heights (or is it depths?)

5. Band Aid - Do they know it's Christmas?

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH (should suffice)

6. Chris de Burgh - The Lady in Red

- They still play this before the start of every Liverpool soccer match (Liverpool play in red you see) and its one sound reason for missing the kick-off. Dreadful sentimental drivel.

7. Donny Osmond - Puppy Love

- The Osmonds are doing well in this list. Donny is a marginal improvement on younger brother Jimmy, but this song of dewy eyed teenage angst is definitely a thumbs down.

8. Middle of the Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

- Another of those mindless pop mantras that make you want to dash your brains out on the nearest wall.

9. Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart

- I'm almost certain (can't be sure) that when this came out I cried. Damn it, this was the man who was capable of 'My Baby left me', 'Mystery Train', 'That's Alright, Mama'...the finest white R and B man of his age ...singing Eurotrash. Ugggghhhhhhhhhh.


10. Rod Stewart - Do ya think I'm sexy?

- Now I don't know whether my aversion to this is a 'British' thing because I love some of Rod the Mod's early stuff but to have a male artist capering round the stage like a big girl's blouse singing up his sex appeal was just too awful for words. Hate it.


Well that's my ten for which Bill should dish out lethal doses of rat poison to anyone who plays any of them. I have omitted parochial ones which Americans wouldn't know, like seedy fat drunken British footballers who stagger to the mic at Xmas and re-record some famous hit. Legions of British flowers must be growing in thousands of such records converted into flower pots.

So Ive set you a challenge - not too serious - what are the total turkeys which make YOU curl up and want to die...or at least kill the artists. The floor is yours, guys!

The "MUST HAVE" List

We, the DJs at HotTraxRadio, don't have many rules. We don't play hate music, and we don't play more than 2 songs by an artist in an hour. That's about it. We choose our own music, and maintain our own playlists. But this weekend, a new "rule" has been written. I suppose the current DJs will be "grandfathered" in, but there is now a list of 8 songs new DJs MUST have.

The Lizard Boss' MUST HAVE List to be a HotTrax DJ
1. Boston - Foreplay/Long Time
2. Eric Clapton - Layla (acoustic)
3. Nickleback - Rockstar (he says it's the HotTrax anthem)
4. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me (I say this is the HotTrax anthem!)
5. Tesla - What U Give (live)
6. Eagles - Get Over It
7. Chicago - Beginnings
8. Enya - Orinoco Flow

I suppose that's not a lot to ask of your DJs. For the most part, they are pretty widely known, and most everyone seems to enjoy them... and they do seem to find their way into CDR (Context Driven Radio) fairly often in our chat room.

Actually, I did a little "research" as I was writing this, and I think most of the DJs have all of these, and those who don't have them all have the majority of them. Of course, the Boss was just joking about this list (sort of) but it makes me wonder... what would be on your list of 8 MUST HAVES? I'd love to hear your answers in comments!

The Excitement is BACK!

In case you haven't heard, we have regained our Featured Station status on Microsoft's Windows Media Tuner catalog. This week you will find us in the Jazz Section of the main radio page at WindowsMedia.com (http://www.windowsmedia.com/Mediaguide/Radio). This exposure has given new visibility to the station and the Smooth stream in particular and our listener counts have gone through the roof. We are having a Special Event this week on HotTrax Smooth, with several of the DJs who normally have shows on HotTrax Live coming over and doing their versions of Smooth shows. Be sure to check the main page of our website (http://www.hottraxradio.com) for the Special Event Schedule. With listener counts that are an order of magnitude greater than we've ever had, this is truly an exciting time for us!

I just want to give a great big THANK YOU to all of you out there that are tuning in. And also THANK YOU to the people at Microsoft's WindowsMedia for selecting us and helping to promote our station! We owe you all a deep debt of gratitude!

The Lizard Boss

It's A Pre-Race Party!

Okay all you NASCAR fans... come join the BIG BASH at HotTrax Live... Saturday, noon to 3 HotTrax Radio time. DJ LilHippie is hosting an end of the season party on Rock Your Racin'! You say you don't follow NASCAR? Well, c'mon anyway... LilHippie is an AWESOME DJ, and she will be playin' tunes that will really pump you up! And my Sista and honorary Texan, LilHippie, can PARTY! I promise, if you come, you'll have a GREAT time! You'll even have more time if you wander into our chat room. "How do I do that?" you ask. It's easy! Just go to our homepage at http://www.hottraxradio.com/. Once there, click on the HotTraxLive Link near the top of the page. On the right side of the page, under the "This Is HotTrax Live" Banner you will find a box that says "Chat." Just choose a nickname, type it in, and hit the "Connect" button. DJ LilHippie will be there. I will be there. And chances are, HardtoH8 (aka DJ Jazzy) will be there, too. And probably that won't be all... but even if it is, we'll be havin' fun.

LilHippie promises to have a spectacular show- better than usual, which in my humble opinion is going to be hard to beat, 'cause DJ LilHippie ALWAYS ROCKS! There will be a lot of Jimmie praisin' and a lot of Shrub bashin'... and all the latest NASCAR news. Hope to see you there!