And we love that. We love the time of year and we love the music too.

That doesn’t mean we stop making music. Far from it. We understand that there are many events and parties that aren’t holiday related. You know we’re there for those whenever and wherever they may be. And we’ll even do a holiday song or two when they’re wanted/requested by popular demand.

It just means that in December you’re less likely to see something like this in your Twitter stream:

From Eric Clapton to Queen - love @jimntim!

August 21, 2011 1:51 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@theresalc

Theresa L Carter

Just keep watching, these will start popping up again very soon and we’ll be having a great time doing what we do best. Singing for you.

Happy Holidays from Jim & Tim.

 Photo Credit: mikecogh

Why don’t we see Jim & Tim this holiday? originally appeared on Jim & Tim on December 1, 2011. Tweet This

Why don’t we see Jim & Tim this holiday? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 1 December 2011. Tweet This

I admit it, I did it. I’m responsible for enough sites that I decided to make this site an aggregate of those sites. I’ve started taking feeds from both the Jim & Tim site and from the 4-AM site, including the upcoming gigs feeds. So now there’s one place to follow what I’m doing, when I’m doing it and I get to show off the majority of my work in one place.

Some call this “Lifestreaming”. I would agree, except it’s only my musical life I’m streaming here, plus it doesn’t include Facebook updates and only one of the Twitter feeds that I use.  At any rate, I’m a bit more streamlined now and that’s definitely a good thing for me. I hope you enjoy it as well.

I also added a plugin to all my sites that gives proper attribution to the feed, so I don’t hurt my SEO rankings. Always trying to stay one step ahead.

Let me know what you think.

Photo Credit: Kelp

I went and did it this time originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 21 October 2011. Tweet This

Recorded 23 August 2011

Here’s a short little ditty tonight about an article from Music Think Tank titled Musician’s Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools & Sites - Visibli. If you’re not reading this blog, you should be.

I talk about this past Sunday and Jim & Tim playing at Elburn Days and its effect.

4-AM will be at the Buffalo Grove Days again this year.

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172 – Visibli and Elburn Days originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 23 August 2011. Tweet This

Jim & Tim at Elburn Days 2010

Hey, it’s this coming Sunday and if you’re not busy…

We had our rehearsal and a couple of weeks ago we determined the songs we were going to use for the day. Elburn Days is always a fun gig for us, we’ve been playing a for a few years now. It’s the site of the infamous seven and a half hour gig  a few years back and it’s been a favorite of mine ever since then.

I don’t think that we’ll be playing that long this year (you never can be sure, can you?), but we’ve got our set list all ready. Come out and join us, it’s a great place and it supports the Elburn Lions Club. A worthy cause and a great group of people.

Even if you’re thinking about coming out, do, you’ll have a great time and I just don’t think…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMgRnygok8

Photo and Video Credit: Theresa Carter

Hey, what are you doing the 21st? originally appeared on Jim & Tim on August 18, 2011. Tweet This

Hey, what are you doing the 21st? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 18 August 2011. Tweet This

Recorded 22 March 2011

This show is a flight of fancy, based on a few things. First the article Obama Officially Backs Performance Radio Royalties… on Digital Music News, The White House White Paper on which the article is based, two podcast episodes 096 – Performance Rights Act part 1 and 097 – Performance Rights Act part 2 and my Op-Ed piece Performance Rights Act – my two cents on HR 848. I tell you, it was fun to talk about what I’d like to see happen, whether it does or not didn’t matter. It was fun to talk about.

At least most of it was. This show is a whimsical prelude to a more nuts and bolts look at the White House IP White Paper. I hope to bring that to you soon. Enjoy this show while you can and tell me what you’d like to see happen if/when these suggestions/directions are followed.

Show time [00:25:23]

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159 – Dream a little IP with me originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 25 March 2011. Tweet This

Recorded 15 March 2011

The news of Illinois considering news laws to loosen the smoking laws left me with a few words. Based on the article Bills to loosen smoking restrictions to be considered by Illinois House, I do more than just a bit of talking. I also incorrectly read a quote from the article itself when I made mention of “However, he said casinos in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri…” . I said Illinois, and the article read Iowa. Ah well, I didn’t notice until after the fact.

Hey, enjoy listening.

Show length [00:20:38]

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158 – Smoke gets in your eyes and ears…And throat originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 22 March 2011. Tweet This

Recorded 08 March 2011

I was reading the Techdirt article ‘Derivative Artwork Inspiring Derivative Artwork — But Will The Lawyers Ruin It?‘ About the work of Girl Talk and the surrounding copyright issues of mashups and their use of sampled music. Funny thing is, I didn’t find the article itself that compelling, but the analogy used comparing mashups made of sampled music and incorporating dance techniques just seemed to be on the mark. So I tried to come up with a more fitting analogy and I think I succeeded! Oh, and as a side note, I changed my mind on some of my positions on Sampled music, mashups and copyrights. I also gave my rebuttal of an opinion in the comment section of the Techdirt article.

Here’s the quick poll that a said I’d put in the post. Let me know what you think.

[00:21:01]

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157 – When is a song like a collage originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 13 March 2011. Tweet This

Recorded 31 August 2010

This episode is a tribute  to a friend and great musician who passed away recently, Mark Brink. David Kav and I talk about Mark and his impact on everyone around him and how we got to know him as a musician and a person.  I also play a couple of his songs (recorded live) at Uncommon Ground here in Chicago and a short excerpt from an arrangement of Mark’s. I’ll let you listen, rather than try to recap here.  Here are the links to things discussed in the tribute:

• Mark Brink’s Reverbnation page
• Mark Brink’s MySpace page
• David Kav’s written tribute

And last, as I promised in the show, here are the lyrics to the last song played on the show:

The Saddest Song That I Never Wrote (vocals by Crystal BowerSox)

The saddest song that I never wrote
I thought I’d write about you
But I didn’t need to find
the perfect rhyme or reason
for things that came true

So the Saddest Song That I Never Wrote
had no beginning,
but happily ends
For we both understood
what we loved and was good 
was the Loyalty
of True Friends

Words and Music ©2008 Mark Brink

Mark, you will be missed

[00:30:47]

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144 – A Tribute to Mark Brink originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 31 August 2010. Tweet This

Photo credit Theresa Carter 2010

Okay, I’ve been remiss in writing. I’ve had a few things happen that kept me from writing about our last gig (And I’m not going to go into them here). And I will post some pictures, but let me tell you how it went and some news because of it and more.

The gig was fun, got there, got set up, said hi to the people we knew and started playing.  Now we had a good group of friends at the gig, which is always nice and a couple people came out that I literally haven’t seen in years, good surprises. But the best surprise of all is the unintentional one, and by that I mean the one that just sort of grows out of the situation.

We had a table of people come in that didn’t look any too interested in us or listening to us play. They seemed to be disinterested at best so at least from my point of view, I just tried to focus on the rest of the crowd who were enjoying us. Pretty standard performance, you just can’t please everyone all the time and so you go with the ones you do make happy. Well, I began to notice a change and soon enough, this table started lighting their lighters and more people came to the table (I found out after we were done that people at that table started calling their friends to come and hear us play and just have a great time at Beacon Tap, works for me!).

Even though it’s too late for long story short, what happened when we finished playing, they came up and asked how much it would take for us to stay and play a little longer. I told them it wasn’t up to me, they’d have to talk to the management at Beacon Tap. So they took up a collection and went to the folks there at the Beacon and we ended up playing for a little over an hour longer. Always a good thing when you have a gig like that. And the best thing? We talked with the Management there and they booked us for two more gigs in August! So you’ll have plenty of opportunities to come out and hear us and we’ll have a great time at a great place to have some summer fun! You just can’t beat that.

You want more? You got more! originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 31, 2010. Tweet This

You want more? You got more! originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 31 July 2010. Tweet This

So The Local Tourist and Free Spirit Yacht Cruises have teamed up to present Bringing Back Venetian Night and Jim & Tim will be aboard The Free Spirit providing the live music for the entire cruise! Man, I’m excited, this is going to be a ton of fun. So here are the details:

The cruise is from 8:00 – 11:00pm on Saturday, July 31st.  There will be an Italian Buffet meal, an Open Bar and we’ll be sailing to watch the fireworks at Navy Pier from the water! The cost is $99 per person with everything I’ve just talked about included.

Come and join us and a lot of fun people by buying your tickets for Bringing Back Venetian Night!

It’s out of the bag now! originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 2, 2010. Tweet This

It’s out of the bag now! originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 2 July 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 22 June 2010

On this episode of With A Voice Like This I talk about:

the June 18th Jim & Tim gig, well okay, scheduled gig. who knew that Mother Nature had other plans for us that night and the next and…well, why not take a listen and see what you think?

Oh and a link to the JimNTim.com post I talk about in the show while I’m at it, eh?

[00:15:33]

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137 – Weather, weather everywhere originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 22 June 2010. Tweet This

Tim and I have known each other somewhere between 8-10 years, I don’t remember exactly. We’ve sung together a lot in those years, subbed in for gigs, been called up to sing, things like that. We’ve just never put it together as our own gig.

Until now.

Tim plays a mean guitar(s) and sings and my main gig is singing. We do a ton of harmony work. You’ll be hearing everything out of us from Aerosmith to Josh Turner to the Beatles. Yeah, it’s a wide variety and everyone will something they love in what we sing. You can take a look at our Song List and see what I mean. We’ll be adding more as time goes by, just like we’ll be adding more pictures and of course, more gigs.

We’ve set a goal for ourselves of performing by Memorial Day and you can hear what we can do on our Media page and what you hear there is what we can do in any setting. We use MIDI tracks to fill in the rest of the band so we always have a big sound, but a small footprint. How can you beat that?

Check up on us to see how we’re doing or just come to the page to see and if I can ever get that Facebook Like box working right, you can even join our page on Facebook…But then again, you can do that already, can’t you? Well, I hope to see you soon at one of our gigs and get a picture with you.

Bye for now.

Here we go originally appeared on Jim & Tim on April 30, 2010.

Here we go originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 30 April 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 06 April 2010

On this episode of With A Voice Like This I talk about:

At Any Rate

• The WordPress eStore plugin a plugin that allows you to sell digital downloads of your music safely and securely. I even show you what I did in a fairly short time with my own Music, etc. page using the plugin.

News You Can Use

• A quick update on the Chicago Event Promoters Ordinance and what Alderman Eugene Schulter had to say about it as reported by Center Square Journal.

Portrait of Alderman Eugene Schulter (photo credit to "TLC, the most awesome chick in Chicago")

One More Thing

• I got some snail mail from Oasis Disc Manufacturing and I don’t know anything about them. Anyone care to give me an opinion?

[00:24:18]

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131 – Sell, Save and is this Oasis? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 6 April 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 30 March 2010

On this episode of With A Voice Like This:

Well, I had something to give away and it was the Eats Paste EP from Toy Block Music which is available throught the website starting 1 April. And don’t forget that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the EP go to Pager to help with infant reflux disease.

But before I drew and announced the winner (yes, delayed gratification is the keyword here) I did a follow up with some additional information from last week’s show, regarding ReverbNation,  Audiolife (ReverbNation’s  partner in the Reverb Store)  and CD Baby.

And now to the big news. I had quite a few entries to win the the free download code for Eats Paste and I wish I had enough codes for everyone who entered, but  I only had one. And the winner was April. Congratulations and I’ve sent you your code via e-mail and the EP will be available for download on the Toy block Music website starting Thursday, 1 April. How appropriate, I just noticed that the Winner is April and the EP’s available in April. Don’t forget to let me know what you think of the EP, I’m sure you’ll love it!

One Last Thing

I spent just a little bit of time talking about my trip to see The Marriage of Figaro at the Lyric Opera of Chicago last Wednesday. I had a good time and couple of stories as well.

[00:16:40]

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130 – I’m giving it away! originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 31 March 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 23 March 2010

This episode of With A Voice Like This is about the changes ReverbNation has made in the past couple of months.

News You Can Use
I take a look at the four changes/new additions to ReverbNation since 29 January 2010:

• The complete redesign of the website
• The launch of the company blog
• The new digital distribution packages announced 22 March 2010
• The Reverb Store announced 24 February 2010 for print on demand merch with partner Audiolife

I also take the time dot a little compare and contrast with a couple of services I’ve used to this point and see how ReverbNation‘s services stack up against them.

• I compare the digital distro packages with my experiences with both SellMusicDirect.com (A print on demand site no longer in existence) and CDBaby.com and take a look at their offerings, pricing structures and payment to artists [Note: I made an assumption about ReverbNation's package pricing, simply because turnaround time was too short before the live show to get a clarification when I found the source of my confusion, but I think I got it right].
• I then compare both CDBaby and mainly Zazzle.com to the new Reverb Store and again look at their offerings and pricing structure

One Last Thing
This is the last week to enter the contest for a free digital download of the Toy Block Music EP Eats Paste, to be released April 1, live drawing to be held on Episode 130. Just tell me your favorite children’s song from your childhood and you’re entered. You can enter in one of 5 ways:

• Put it in the comments of the show notes
• Post it on the wall of the With A Voice Like This Facebook Fan page
• Call the Comments from the Podcast Gallery voicemail line at 630.492.0487(standard calling rates apply)
• Use the Google Voice link on WithAVoiceLikeThis.com to have the Comments from the Podcast Gallery voicemail line call you
• Send an e-mail to contact@withavoicelikethis.com

[Edit: I just realized I incorrectly called ReverbNation's partner in the Reverb Store "Audiofile". They are correctly identified in these show notes as "Audiolife". My apologies]

[00:33:24]

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129 – All things new from ReverbNation originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 24 March 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 16 March 2010

A couple of stories and a contest (yes, I make you wait until the end of the show for it) on this episode of With A Voice Like This.

4-AM
A proposal that’s going out for 4-AM and the stories that go along with it (plus a background phone ringing, oh it’s tough to be popular during the live portion of the show (c; ).

At Any Rate
A walk through of the progress on Jim & Tim (Tim & Jim?) project in our work with MIDI

News You Can Use
Here’s the big part where you come in. I won a a free download of Toy Block Music’s EP Eats Paste, which will be released April 1. I’ve decided to pass it on to one lucky winner. How, you ask? (and I knew you were going to ask). Just tell me the name of your favorite children’s song from your childhood and if you want to share, a memory of why it’s your favorite. You can do that in one of 5 ways:

• Put it in the comments of the show notes
• Post it on the wall of the With A Voice Like This Facebook Fan page
• Call the Comments from the Podcast Gallery voicemail line at 630.492.0487 (standard calling rates apply)
• Use the Google Voice link on WithAVoiceLikeThis.com to have the Comments from the Podcast Gallery voicemail line call you
• Send an e-mail to contact@withavoicelikethis.com

That’s all you have to do. The winner will be drawn on the live show for episode 130 on 30 March 2010. Good luck.

[00:18:11]

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128 – Psst, Wanna free EP? originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 17 March 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 09 March 2010

On this episode of With A Voice Like This I speak with Jim Donio, President of NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) about the association and the upcoming Chicago Crash Course (May 14 – 15) and Convention (May 15 – 17). Jim gives us a brief history of NARM, a description of the Crash Course and Convention and tells us about the the artist’s cost for the Crash Course and 1 year membership.

For more information about NARM, visit narm.com and the registration page for the Crash Course and Convention.

[00:14:47]

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127 – Interview with Jim Donio, President of NARM originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 10 March 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 02 March 2010

This episode of With A Voice Like This is a very special interview with Joanna Quargnali-Linsley of Toy Block Music and Misery Loves Co. about the March 4th preview of the EP Eats Paste to be released April 1st of this year.

Joanna tells us about the overall project and how it came about, how the charity Pager was chosen to receive a portion of the profits from the sale of the EP and some of the different experiences. A few of the artists who appear on the EP called in as well to talk about their part in the process (as well as tell a few stories) and best of all? I got to play clips from 6 of the 7 songs that will appear on the April 1st EP release. Here are the songs on the EP and their respective artists:

• Oh Susannah – artist is Arlen Ginsburg ( Website – Facebook Fan page) [Monica DaSilva - vocals (Website - MySpace page)]
• Wheels on the Bus – Olin Langley (MySpace page) and SpaceFace
• Crawdad Man - Austin Collins and the Rainbirds (Website – MySpace page)
• There was an Old Woman – Anna Soltys (Facebook Fan page – MySpace page)
• The Cat Came Back - Alex Sanders (Facebook Fan Page for The Texas Funerals – Facebook Fan page for The Quincy Not-So-Fine Arts Society) and The MeowTones
• Wynken, Blynken and Nod – Stereo Sinai (Website - Facebook Fan page – MySpace page)

And here’s the seventh track on the EP, just recorded two days before the show, so a mix wasn’t available.

• Alice the Camel – David Kav (Website - Writing the Rails Website)

GERD Links
For more information about GERD and Infant reflux disease , you can go to

• http://reflux.org/ – Home of Pager
• http://infantrefluxdisease.com

Other sites mentioned in the show

• I Wear Your Shirt
• American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA)

One more thing…
If you’re listening closely in the show, I took it as a personal challenge to find a musical joke in the Toy Block Logo and I won. What did I win? A free copy of the Eats Paste EP. But I’m not going to keep it…Oh no, I’m going to figure out a way to give it away to a lucky listener. Got any ideas? Leave me a comment and we’ll see what happens.

[01:27:57]

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126 – Toy Block Music ‘Eats Paste’ originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 4 March 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 26 January 2010

On this episode of With A Voice Like This:

4-AM

• How we worked on the three new demos on the 4-AM website’s Sights and Sounds page
• I play the excerpted demos of A Little Bit Me, Who Loves You Pretty Baby and It’s So Easy to Fall in Love.

Then I talk about my new as yet unnamed project with Tim

• How we’re using MIDI to fill out the band and tweaking the files we have
• Installing WordPress MU and how that works with GoDaddy hosting

And another project I’m working on for a submission for possible inclusion on a compilation of Children’s songs.

At Any Rate

• I talk about visit to Buddy Guy’s Legends last Saturday night listening to him during his residency in January 2010. Here’s where I sat:

• Listening to Mud Morgenfield (Muddy Waters’ son) sing with Buddy
• Buddy’s son play guitar with the band
• Buddy’s Lesson on the Blues influence in Rock and Role, live.

With A Voice Like This will be taking a brief hiatus to catch up on some back episodes and a little revamping. the next scheduled show will be the first week of March, but I could be back before then. keep an eye out, I’ll keep you updated.

[0:20:58]

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125 – Three Coins and a Buddy originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 26 January 2010. Tweet This

Recorded 15 December 2009

On this episode of With A Voice Like This I give a little insight about what it’s like to be gigging every day and how it all works. the surprises, both good and bad, the things that keep you going, the things you draw from for your performance and the fact that life and performing doesn’t happen in a vacuum, something that’s hit close to home this year again.

Free tickets
Okay, here’s the scoop, I thought it would be fun to have you see me on me. So here’s how it works. I’m offering two tickets to the show at two separate venues. But you have to be quick and be the first person to e-mail me to get them.

The first set is for the Wednesday, December 16th  8:00 show at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock IL. E-mail the subject White Christmas Revue to jim@4-am.net and I’ll set you up with the tickets, as long as you can really use them.

The second set is for the Sunday, December 20th 3:00 show at the Beverly Arts Center in Chicago, IL. This time e-mail the subject White Christmas Revue – BAC to jim@WithAVoiceLikeThis.com and I’ll make sure you get them.

[00:32:29]

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121 – This week and free tickets originally appeared on With A Voice Like This on 15 December 2009. Tweet This