You asked for them (well, some of you did) and now they’re here — CFR t-shirts are now available from our CaféPress Store! For now it’s only items bearing the frog-with-iPod logo, but I’ll probably add another design or two in the near future. Since I’m all the way in the southern Caribbean US buyers will probably get their hands on these things well before I do, so please send feedback on quality etc. Please note as well that CaféPress does have a 30-day money back guarantee.

Thanks for supporting CFR!

Woke up this morning to find that the new version of iTunes 4.9 has been released, but where is CFR in the iTunes podcast directory??? Up to this morning, however, I’m seeing a record of iTunes 4.9 activity on my latest podcast feed. Have tried submitting the feed using the link at the iTunes Music Store but I get a message saying it’s already been submitted. Hmmm. . .

Technorati Tags: itunes, itunes4.9, apple, podcast, caribbeanfreeradio, music, RSS

Another dispatch from the garden, in which I talk about:

The addition of the CLR James papers to the Memory of the World Register | Amerindian names of the Caribbean islands | Andy Palacio & the Garifuna in Belize | interview with Andy Palacio at Global Hits

You can listen to this podcast in any of the following ways:
MP3 | Online Player | RSS Feed

Other links:
Nominate your favourite podcast/s for a Podcast Award! (Be sure to read the rules, however) | Vote for Caribbean Free Radio at Podcast Alley. Help us make the Top 50 this month! | Tortuga Rum Company - makers of the world-famous Tortuga Rum Cakes. Order yours online today! | Caribbean Free Photo - CFR’s photoblog

Music played in this podcast:
“Iere Vibes” by 3canal from The Best of 3canal | “Se Busca” by Andy Palacio from Keimoun - MP3 downloads available at Calabash Music CDs available at Stonetree Records | “Love Our Children” by Candice Alcantara from Candice Alcantara

Technorati Tags: clr+james, andy+palacio, garifuna, amerindian, caribbean, caribbean+music, podcast, caribbeanfreeradio

Seems I wasn’t the only one who felt compelled to respond to Patrick Norton’s throwaway comment about buying Trinidad & Tobago on This Week In Tech Episode 10. Two Trinidadians, one quite irate and another who took it in a spirit more similar to mine, have left comments on the TWiT site, but somehow the moderator hasn’t see it fit to publish the two comments I left announcing that the issue had been addressed in CFR #21.

What gives? Could TWiT be against the publicising of other podcasts on their site? Or is it simply that they fear the overwhelming power of CFR?

Technorati Tags: thisweekintech, TWiT

I foolishly posted the note about service being interrupted due to my switching web hosts fairly late last night, which meant that most of you did not see it. Thanks to all who called and e-mailed — your concern warms my heart. I’m glad to know that CFR’s absence may mean something in the grand scheme of things.

The changeover was hardly seamless, but I don’t think I lost anything in the process. If I have, I trust you’ll let me know.

Onward and upward!

I’m in the process of changing web hosts, so CFR may be down for a few hours between tonight and tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience!

An endless series of interruptions drives me into my garden for this freewheeling episode (apologies in advance for iffy sound quality and general raggedness), in which I talk about:

Why long weekends and public holidays don’t do it for me| Labour Day in Trinidad and Tobago and Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler | Mangoes | Anthuriums | Debt relief for Africa | Moussa Sene Absa, Senegalese filmmaker | the MTV crew running roughshod over a protected turtle nesting area in Tobago | how you can support CFR by initiating an order at Amazon.com through any of the links on the site | and play a clip from the This Week in Tech podcast in which Patrick Norton says–okay, in jest–he’s going to buy a certain twin-island state

You can listen to this podcast in any of the following ways:
MP3 | Online Player | RSS Feed

Other links:
Nominate your favourite podcast/s for a Podcast Award! (Be sure to read the rules, however) | Vote for Caribbean Free Radio at Podcast Alley. Help us make the Top 50 this month! | Tortuga Rum Company - makers of the world-famous Tortuga Rum Cakes. Order yours online today! | Caribbean Free Photo - CFR’s photoblog | CCA7 Arts Centre

Music played in this podcast:
“Pe Letenel” by Emeline Michel from the album Cordes Et Ame - you can also order the CD from CDBaby through Emeline’s site | “The Streets are Calling” by Dingo & the Hardmore Crew - free dowload at download.com | “One Pant Man” by Manuel Monestel at Calabash Music

Technorati Tags: caribbean, caribbeanfreeradio, podcast, caribbeanmusic, calypso, reggae, Haiti, debtrelief, africandebtrelief, moussaseneabsa, thisweekintech, mtvroadrules, leatherbackturtles, Tobago, Trinidad, costarica

Taken a look at Caribbean Free Photo lately? Lots of interesting additions, including pics of a 3canal photo shoot, a streetwise dog, and a Guyanese ship.

Another longish one, in which I talk jazz and steel with Trinidadian Ron Reid, composer, bassist, steel pannist and professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Hear Ron’s take on arranging for steel orchestras, the steel pan as a jazz instrument and much, much more.

And if you’ve been liking what we’re doing here, please Vote for Caribbean Free Radio at Podcast Alley. Help us make the Top 50 this month!

You can listen to this podcast in any of the following ways:
MP3 | Online Player | RSS Feed

Links:
Tortuga Rum Company - makers of the world-famous Tortuga Rum Cakes. Order yours online today! | Caribbean Free Photo - CFR’s photoblog

Music played in this podcast:
“Nothing Serious” from Calypsolider by Ron Reid & Sunsteel | “Madame Blondell” and “The Road” from Reid, Wright & Be Happy by Ron Reid, Orville Wright and David “Happy” Williams

This podcast was edited using Propaganda, by MixMeister Technology. Stay tuned for a review of my experience with Propaganda!

Technorati Tags: jazz, panjazz, steelpan, steeldrum, caribbean, music, trinidad, steelorchestra

. . . but I least I know a few smart people. Woke up this morning to find several messages from said individuals alerting me to the fact that the forum I thought I had set up so well yesterday evening had some major issues. All sorted out now, I believe.

But thank you Wendy Warnick, sungoddess and mayflow for the heads-up.

CFR now has a Discussion Forum!

Feel free as well to check out our slightly re-designed home page, and while you’re at it, why not take a look at Caribbean Free Photo?

CFR inaugurates its “Theatre” category with a longer show than usual, in which I chat with Trinidadian actor Michael Cherrie, recently of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, about his craft and career. This episode features monologues from Blue/Orange, Othello, Master Harold and the Boys and The Dragon Can’t Dance, a few of which contain OBSCENE LANGUAGE–you have been warned! Tune in as well to find out why Michael owes me 50% of his earnings.

Happy Birthday, Wendell Manwarren!

And if you’ve been liking what we’re doing here, please Vote for Caribbean Free Radio at Podcast Alley. Help us make the Top 50 this month!

You can listen to this podcast in any of the following ways:
MP3 | Online Player | RSS Feed

Links:
Tortuga Rum Company - makers of the world-famous Tortuga Rum Cakes. Order yours online today! | Caribbean Free Photo - CFR’s photoblog

Novels & plays mentioned in this podcast:
Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall | Master Harold…and the Boys by Athol Fugard | The Dragon Can’t Dance by Earl Lovelace | The Final Passage by Caryl Phillips | Small Island : A Novel by Andrea Levy | The Lonely Londoners (Longman Caribbean Writers Series) by Sam Selvon | The Joker of Seville & O Babylon!: Two Plays by Derek Walcott

This podcast was edited using Propaganda, by MixMeister Technology. Stay tuned for a review of my experience with Propaganda!

In this special edition of Caribbean Free Radio, the intrepid and erudite Nicholas Laughlin, last heard on CFR’s soundseeing tour of Mount St Benedict, takes us on a visit to the burial site of poet W. B. Yeats in the village of Drumcliff in Sligo, Ireland.

As this isn’t a Caribbean subject, I didn’t want to risk upsetting subscribers by enclosing the audio file, so please listen instead via our Online Player or download/stream from this link. It should also be available soon at Soundseeingtours.com.

Downloaded iPodderX Version 3 a few days ago, but only just got around to installing it and checking it out. It looks like it has some fabulous features, and I’ve had a soft spot for iPodderX since August Trometer, one of iPodderX’s developers, responded so kindly to one of Delphine’s blog posts some months back.

But why isn’t Caribbean Free Radio listed in iPodderX’s built-in directory??? Did a search and couldn’t find us anywhere, even though we’re listed in the directory on the iPodderX web site. What gives?

Technorati Tags: ipodderx, augusttrometer, caribbeanfreeradio

After a series of fancy-schmancy theme shows, I revert in this episode to the good ol’ CFR formula of talk-music-talk–and I mention those other roots as well.

This podcast was edited using Propaganda, by MixMeister Technology. Stay tuned for a review of my experience with Propaganda!

It’s a new month, which means the voting starts from scratch again at Podcast Alley, so if you’ve been liking what we’re doing here, please Vote for Caribbean Free Radio at Podcast Alley. Help us make the Top 50 this month!

You can listen to this podcast in any of the following ways:
MP3 | Online Player | RSS Feed

Links:
12’s web site | Tortuga Rum Company - makers of the world-famous Tortuga Rum Cakes. Order yours online today! | Caribbean Free Photo - CFR’s photoblog

Music played in this podcast:
“Carapichaima Dougla” by élan parlé, from the album Kindred Spirits | “Tout Nasyon” by RAM, from the album Kité Yo Palé | “Good News” by 3canal, from the album the The Best of 3Canal | Buy 3canal’s Jab Jab Say at CD Baby

The band 12, who were featured in Podcast #17, have updated their web site. Among the goodies now available there is a free download of their song “Carnival”. Check it out.

And we’re now in June, which means that the voting begins again at Podcast Alley . . . .