ENN September 28, 2009 (MP3 download)

• What budget should I set for Sellaband’s new format? I can pick anything from $10,000 to $100k, but right now I’m only at $5,000. What should I shoot for?
• The robot band is cute, but is it worth it? Tell me what you think about my performances with backing tracks vs. without. I really want to know!
• Of course, you can see the difference for yourself tomorrow at 6pm Eastern Time at http://matthewebel.com/ustream

With all due respect to Scott Bourne, birds do indeed dream. No, not of fish… at least, not all the time. Some of them dream of music, lights, smoke, and Robot Bass Players.

Wait, what?

Every Birdy Needs A Robot by Stampy

A fan of my weekly UStream shows sent me this fabulous piece of original art a couple days ago and, with permission, I’m posting it here. This is one of the single most impressive chunks of awesome anyone’s ever thrown at me. Not only did Stampy catch my fascination with osprey, my laptop with red case and sticker, my M-Audio keyboard, and even the ugly-ass Exit sign that lived behind me at my New Hampshire gigs, but check out the robot playing bass behind me.

Yup, that’s Prodo-1, my faithful co-host from High Orbit and snarky sidekick from Goodbye Planet Earth.

It’s stuff like this that reminds me why I do what I do. Thank you, Stampy, and all the others that have been sending in photos and art! Birds dream of having fans like you.

There are days when the robots seem to gang up against me and try to make me crash. Since I’ve been prepping hardcore for my upcoming summer on Block Island, I’ve been tinkering with Apple’s MainStage software, and today it is kicking my ass. Seriously. It’s refusing to do my bidding, even though I’m running through basic concert setup with it.

I need to find a real, live, actual band one of these days, even if I have to abduct some aliens and give ‘em instruments to play.

If you could hear the hair-curling obscenities I’ve been hurling at my pile of technology, you probably wouldn’t be a fan anymore. This is why I don’t do the lifecasting thing!

Image by The Walking Dude (No, not THAT Walking Dude, another one):