Carla Ulbrich

Randy Hoffman's new CD

2009-11-01T21:16:18Z

Just received and enjoyed both Randy Hoffman Cds:
Scratch these vocals and Vocals up a third

Randy is full of great ideas and humor.
I kind of enjoyed having a completely unhindered CD with almost no accompaniment, so the ideas jsut stodd on their own. Not everyone's ideas are unique or strong enough to stand alone like that. I really enjoyed the CDs, and not just because each CD contains a parody of one of my songs :)
More likely, Randy chose to parody my songs because we think alike, and that's why i enjoyed them.

Recommended for people who love lyrics, especially smart funny ones.

survey on health care reform

2009-10-30T04:39:11Z

There are several interpretations of what a public
option should look like, and I just shared my
preferences with Senator Dick Durbin through his
online public option poll at:

http://www.DickDurbin.com/PublicOptionPoll

leslie's lock and load

2009-10-30T04:29:00Z

Just finished listening to lock and load (leslie fish) the other night and I must say, it made me think about a topic I had sort of dismissed til now.
I considered myself a pacifist/ anti-gun, but not adamantly so.
Now, I understand the pro-gun point of view.
If the people in charge have guns, then we the people need them as well, or they can rule with an iron fist.
We are no different than any other nation in that respect- the government needs some fear of the people or they'll go hog wild.

I especially enjoyed the barbarshop arrangement of "they were having a sale at the gun store" and "me and my 30 ought 6," a very well-crafted Joe Bethancourt tune.

I still don't like the idea of owning a gun myself, but I do understand now the point of view of the need for the people to be armed. Which, I believe, was at least part of the intent of the CD. And I truly admire the idea of a concept album, and of doing art that is about something, nto just "here's a collection of songs I wrote about random topics" (which is also fun, and something i love to get from a favorite musician; I just appreciate getting a concept album on occasion).

ANyway, for anyone who's not already sold on getting the Leslie Fish CD, my 2 cents.

con report: archon

2009-10-07T00:37:42Z

i debated on whether to do a con report, being filk GoH and all.
Not sure what the etiquette is. All the same, here goes, and i'll try to be brief.

If you're looking for a con in the Illinois/ Missouri area with a fantastic masquerade, lots of gaming, esp. RPG, and a party atmosphere, this is the one. After signing the "responsibility agreement" upon checking into the hotel, where I agreed to "act in a mature fashion" while in the hotel, I got the impression that Archon was a bit notorious for its room parties, which were forbidden by the new hotel. This seriously bummed out some Archonites, and the con will be relocated to a new town next year where they can have room parties. This con is so big (around 2000 people) it's held in a convention center next to the hotel. The convention center wants the con to stay but clearly the hotel would just as soon not have archon and its room parties around, despite their ability to sell out the hotel- if room parties were allowed. Since they weren't, many attendees opted to stay elsewhere.

So, you see, a good hotel is everything at a con. This hotel was quite lovely, minus the overuse of perfumes by the housecleaning crew. And the hospitality suite for the VIPs was very nice. But if its so unwelcoming to scatter most of the attendees to a bunch of different hotels, it splits up the community.

Now, all that aside, I enjoyed the filk track. Gary Hanak has a wealth of funny songs in his filk repertoire that i had never heard. He's really funny. Bari Greenberg is also a regular at Archon, and had some very ambitious fast-paced filks I had also never heard, and there were several fantastic singers, a fiddler, another filker with guitar, and a few folks who just did one song here and there over the weekend. Gary had a concert, and there was a Sunday bardic filk in a panel room. Luke Ski did a concert, but not as part of the filk track. there was also wizard rock, but again, done separately form filk. music is not all under one roof at archon, much like dragoncon. And of course I had a concert, and also played my star wars song at opening ceremonies in front of Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).

Having no car, we ate at the hotel every day, which was pretty decent food actually.
All the same I came home and developed a cold, which I blame partly on too much travel this past month, and partly on the irritating (literally) amount of cologne people seem to wear at costume-heavy cons (my only real complaint, and not one that can really be addressed other than me wearing a gas mask- which would not be considered strange at most cons, but would make it hard to filk).

Joe grabbed Gary's accordian and walked around the hall looking for vampires and playing minors chords behind them. He got into a lot of pictures (and lots of requests for another one rides the bus). Gary has spent too much time becoming a great accordian player (have him play beer barrel polka for you!) and not enough time roaming the halls and letting the accordian work its magic. who needs musical now how when you've got an accordian that's 80+ years old and humongous?

I spent most of my time doing filk stuff.
TH pm arrive, dinner with jan dimasi, gary hanak, joe, nick dimasi

FR 3pm jam workshop
5pm opening ceremonies
945pm- 130am open filking (it went til 3am but i pooped out)

SAT noon workshop on recording, etc,
350 GoH concert,
5 attend a panel on social networking
6 dinner
945-230am open filking

SUN 11am pack stuff and store at hotel desk
noon sun bardic filk (i attended; Joe played)
lunch/ put stuff in gary's car
350pm closing ceremonies
airport

I was surpised how few people attend the opening and closing ceremonies at Archon. But every con has its own personality, and this one seems to be about parties and costumes first. The filk track is denigrated at Archon, so I am told, known as the red-headed stepchild of the con, but I thought the filkers I heard were great, and there was something like 20 people in the open filk room both nights, and about 40 in my concert. Many games and panels at Archon had sparser attendance that that. So I don't know what their problem is with filk, but it does remind me of Dragoncon, where they also regard filk with disdain, often shoving it off into the farthest, stinkiest dungeon of the hotel, even though there were often 60-100 people in the filk concerts. (archon doesn't do that! I had a nice stage- same one as opening ceremonies). apparently the archon filk used to be off in the hotel, in a room with a giant marble table taking up most of the space, so when Gary walked into the open filk room and saw something like 47 tables had been dumped into the filk room, it was de ja vu all over again.

I don't know how to address that attitude, but wouldn't it be nice if the concom would at least stick their heads in and see whether the filk track even exists before passing judgment? then again, if they're even having a filk GoH you hate to raise a stink. (the Filk GoH happens every 3 years, sharing a spot with the gaming and costuming GoHs)

So many thanks to Gary for keeping the filk flame alive in his corner of the world, and for pulling off the hosting of a filk GoH at a not-so-crazy-about-filk con. I appreciated being there, and really enjoyed the filking. That moose song was just wrong. in a good way.

one regret: wish i'd had/ made time to go up inside the St Louis arch. what a work of art.

filk reputation at archon

2009-10-03T23:18:16Z

love this blurb from the archon program book:
"this year there will be an actual, bona fide honest to goodness filk track, though goodness has very little to do with it."

looking for a book printer

2009-08-28T16:33:13Z

Hey everybody
One of my friends is self-publishing a book and is looking for a printer- *not* something like lulu.com, but a place where she can get a batch of them printed up for cheap/ reasonable price.
Anyone here done this? Got a good printer to recommend?
Thanks!
Carla

anyone

2009-06-20T00:50:31Z

do you know who or what culture started the thing where you make a vase, purposely break it, and reassemble it?
(and no the answer is not pottery barn. i'm serious)

to anyone who bought my leftovers cd last year: discount

2009-06-01T02:37:13Z

hey i'm offering a special to those of you who bought leftovers 1.0 and want to purchase leftovers 2.0
if you are one of those 63 people, e mail me with the list of songs off the back of leftovers 1.0, and i'll send you a coupon code for $5 off leftovers 2.0

Leftovers CD now available

2009-05-31T22:05:14Z

Well, it's finally here! Exactly one year after the very limited release of Leftovers 1.0, Leftovers 2.0 is now available.

This rare tracks CD is for my longtime fans, who will appreciate the oddball nature of the songs and the oddball album concept: offbeat songs that didn't fit the previous projects, and alternate versions of a few previously released songs. There are fewer tracks than in the 1.0 version of the CD, but the audio quality is better overall than the prototype (of which there are only 65 existing copies).

There will be no big CD release party. And, it will not be going out to any radio stations at all. It's just something a little special and strange i felt like doing.

There will only be 200 copies of this CD printed. After those are gone, it will be available digitally only, at carlaulbrich.com only . So, if you want a "real" copy of "Leftovers," do not delay. I'm telling my LJ friends first. Everyone else will get an e mail later this month (June, that is).

Here's the song list!

1) What If Your Girlfriend Was Gone (twang version with country band)
2) Boy Wonder (pop version- big wall of sound)
3) Open the Car Door (parody of Over the Rainbow)
4) If I Had the Copyright (sound effects version, WLRN)
5) We Don't Need a WalMart with Bob Malone
6) Snickers (spoof on the commercial)
7) W is Listening (wiretapping song)
8) If I Did It (OJ song)
9) The Nth Day of Xmas (parody, about algebra)
10) Guardian Angel (Nashville version)
11) Put It On the List (parody, about groceries)
12) What If Your Butt Was Gone (rap version) with Mark
Johnson

Bits of trivia: layout of graphics done by Tom "FuMP" Rockwell. "Art" (and I use the term loosely) done by me. Leftovers 1.0 has 2 songs with cuss words and a parental advisory. 2.0 has neither. 1.0 has 16 tracks (one of which is a song intro). 2.0 has 12 tracks.

i'm offering a special to those of you who bought leftovers 1.0 and want to purchase leftovers 2.0
if you are one of those 63 people, e mail me with the list of songs off the back of leftovers 1.0, and i'll send you a coupon code for $5 off leftovers 2.0

carlau AT mindspring DOT com

This CD available only at www.carlaulbrich.com/products.html

shortcut to shopping cart for those having trouble locating the "buy" link:
http://www.ccnow.com/cgi-local/cart.cgi?carlau_LOCD_continue-page

digpak or jewel case?

2009-04-23T03:40:46Z

hey everybody
i'm putting together my next cd.
what do you like btter- digipaks (cardboardish covers reminiscint of LP sleeves) or jewel cases(hard plastic cd covers)?i've done projects using both kinds, and own others' cds of both types.
have my opinions.
please discuss...

got enviromental books anyone?

2009-02-19T07:16:49Z

LOS ANGELES (February 17. 2009) _ The 2009 Green Book Festival has added
business books and mysteries to its call for entries to its annual competition
honoring books that contribute to greater understanding, respect and positive
action on the changing worldwide environment.

The 2009 Green Book Festival will consider published, self-published and
independent publisher works in the following categories: non-fiction, fiction,
children's books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics/graphic novels,
poetry, science fiction/horror, biography/autobiography, gardening, cookbooks,
animals, photography/art, e-books, wild card (anything goes!), scientific, white
paper, legal, business, mystery and spiritual.

Entries can be in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian. Our grand
prize for the 2009 Green Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 and
transportation to our April, 2009 Earth Day celebration in Los Angeles OR an
equivalent amount donated in your name to the environmental charity of your
choice.

A panel of judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:

1) The overall writing style and presentation of the work;

2) The potential of the work to enhance understanding of the environment and its
issues;

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at www.greenbookfestival.com
or may be faxed/e-mailed to you by calling our office at 323-665-8080.

The Green Book Festival is produced by JM Northern Media LLC, producers of the
Hollywood Book Festival, New York Book Festival and DIY Convention: Do
It Yourself in Film, Music & Books and is sponsored by eDivvy, Larimar St. Croix
Writers Colony, Westside Websites and Shopanista.

JM Northern Media
7095 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
US

note to webacasters

2009-01-08T21:59:39Z

did you all know about this?

These regulations are taken from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was enacted by Congress in 1998Â and is the law of the land.

In a 3-hour period, you may play:

- No more than 4 songs (no more than 3 in a row) from any particular
artist.
- No more than 3 songs (and no more than 2 in a row) from any particular
album.
-No more than 4 songs (and no more than 3 in a row) from a particular
box set.

This 3-Hour periodâ is any block of 3 hours, so you must be aware of
what the programmer before you has played if you play the same genres of
music.

You may not publish your playlist prior to your show (this includes on-line
playlist postings on personal sites, message-boards, etc.) the only
exception to this rule is classical music programs that have a history of
pre-publishing playlists that predates 1998.

You may not announce in advance when particular songs will be played. Also,
requested songs should not be played at a specific time.

thank you!

2008-12-24T07:48:08Z

Hey- thanks to my friends here who wrote in to XM about the Folk Channel. They are not only bringing it back, they are bringing it back a few days earlier than planned, on Jan. 2. Looks like we tiled things back towards keeping it!

I know it was in danger not only because of what i heard from the eyes adn ears of the folk music world, btu also by prior experience- Sirius canceled its one folk show, and now Sirius and XM are one and the same. they ar emoving more and more towards playing all top 20 hits from this decade and the 6 previous ones, plus sports and news and not much else. so this was a win for the little guy, the indie singer songwriter and the old folk troubadour writing and singing from the heart.

Thanks. Well done.

singingpatient @ 2008-12-18T20:59:00

2008-12-19T01:59:42Z

because the waffles are just that tasty

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/4162935/

inno!

2008-12-15T08:42:56Z

Thanks to you guys, my LJ friends, for your advice on the inno for an XM receiver. and clearly, a lot of other uses. Joe gave it to me for Christmas (early, so we have radio in the car on the 13-hour drives to South Carolina and back). My old XM receiver, which I've had for 4-5 years, just up and quit. So even though it was an expensive thing to ask for for Xmas, Joe was going to insist on buying me one anyway.

You guys really know your stuff when it comes to tech and tech toys- thanks for all your awesome advice.

I hope you won't be disappointed to know i'm using your advice ot record 2 hours of the 70s channel and 2 hours of the Oprah channel... (Oprah has some deep thinkers on that radio channel of hers! No couch-jumping on the XM Oprah channel. well maybe a half hour of it a day, but the other 23.5 hours are great stuff- Course in Miracles, Dr. Oz, Dr Robin's call-in psychology school, Rabbi Shmuley, Law of Attraction)

XM eliminating folk channel?

2008-12-11T21:34:36Z

XM Radio has knocked the Folk Channel of the air in favor of -what- *another* Christmas channel?! The fear is that the folk channel may not return, and tis' one of the few places a relative unknown -like me, and many of my peers (Christine Lavin, Chuck Brodsky, Roy ZImmerman, Jack Williams, Cheryl Wheeler, Vance Gilbert, as well as legacy acts Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seegar, Tom Paxton, Peter Paul and Mary)- can get heard on the radio. When they start eliminating stations like this, all we'll be left with is simulcasts of the stuff on TV and Top 40 music from the last 4 decades that we've all heard a million times.

If this bothers you, please click here and as XM/ Sirius to bring back the folk village XM channel 15:

http://xmradio.com/help/emailus.xmc

new video

2008-12-09T01:46:04Z

I figured out how to make a montage video today. Hope you enjoy.

singingpatient @ 2008-12-07T23:51:00

2008-12-08T04:54:05Z

Had a corporate holiday party last night and basixally slid all the way there and back in my car. i didn't know it was snowing in pennsylvania.
i barely got there in time, as it took me almost an hour longer than it normally would have to travel.
pretty exciting getting back as well.
mr winter showed up early this year. i hope it means he'll go away early next year!

tom smith's free stuff

2008-12-08T04:45:12Z

i visited tom's page today on a whim and stuimbled on this insta-filk tool. i think maybe my answers don't scan perfectly,m but as always, when in doubt, "Holy crap" seems to always been the best answer...

Old McRorschach

Old McRorschach had a blot, I-d-E-g-o.
And in this blot he saw his first menstrual cycle, I-d-E-g-o.
With a mangle mangle here and a slam slam there,
Here a mangle, there a slam, everywhere a mangle slam,
Old McRorschach needs some help, I-d-E-g-o.

Old McRorschach had a blot, I-d-E-g-o.
And in this blot he saw his sister, I-d-E-g-o.
With a thumbdrive thumbdrive here and a annoying annoying there,
Here a thumbdrive, there a annoying, everywhere a annoying thumbdrive,
mangle mangle here and a slam slam there,
Here a mangle, there a slam, everywhere a mangle slam,
Old McRorschach needs some help, I-d-E-g-o.
Old McRorschach had a blot, I-d-E-g-o.
And in this blot he saw a unicorn, I-d-E-g-o.
With a write an essay on which W was the best president ever write an essay on which W was the best president ever here and a screech screech there,
Here a write an essay on which W was the best president ever, there a screech, everywhere a write an essay on which W was the best president ever screech,
thumbdrive thumbdrive here and a annoying annoying there,
Here a thumbdrive, there a annoying, everywhere a annoying thumbdrive,
mangle mangle here and a slam slam there,
Here a mangle, there a slam, everywhere a mangle slam,
Old McRorschach needs some help, I-d-E-g-o.

Old McRorschach had a blot, I-d-E-g-o.
And in this blot he saw a lobbyist, I-d-E-g-o.
With a Holy crap~ here and a Holy crap there,
Here a Holy crap~, there a Holy crap, everywhere a Holy crap~ Holy crap,
write an essay on which W was the best president ever write an essay on which W was the best president ever here and a screech screech there,
Here a write an essay on which W was the best president ever, there a screech, everywhere a write an essay on which W was the best president everscreech,
thumbdrive, thumbdrive here and a annoying, annoying there,
Here a thumbdrive, there a annoying, everywhere a annoying thumbdrive,
mangle mangle here and a slam slam there,
Here a mangle, there a slam, everywhere a mangle slam,
Old McRorschach needs some help, I-d-E-g-o.

Old McRorschach had a blot, I-d-E-g-o.
And in this blot he saw George Clooney, I-d-E-g-o.
With a furry toothpick here and a tasty ottoman there,
Here a furry, there a toothpick, everywhere a tasty ottoman,
Holy crap~ here and a Holy crap there,
Here a Holy crap~, there a Holy crap, everywhere a Holy crap~ Holy crap,
write an essay on which W was the best president ever write an essay on which W was the best president ever here and a screech screech there,
Here a write an essay on which W was the best president ever, there a screech, everywhere a write an essay on which W was the best president ever screech,
thumbdrive thumbdrive here and a annoying annoying there,
Here a thumbdrive, there a annoying, everywhere a annoying thumbdrive,
mangle mangle here and a slam slam there,
Here a mangle, there a slam, everywhere a mangle slam,
Old McRorschach needs some help, I-d-E-g-o.

singingpatient @ 2008-12-04T01:25:00

2008-12-04T06:25:45Z

Your rainbow is intensely shaded orange, green, and white.

What is says about you: You are an intelligent person. You appreciate a challenge. Others are amazed at how you don't give up. People depend on you to make them feel secure.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

hm!
i figured my rainbow would be blue like crazycajun's.
whaddayaknow. but the explanation makes sense, i do love a challenge, and i rarely give up.

so i like guys.

2008-11-26T05:09:08Z

build-a-bug

2008-11-23T07:55:17Z

create your own disease here
http://www.naturalnews.com/disease-mongering-engine.asp

Song Contest update

2008-11-22T06:02:57Z

Hey peeps
I advanced again tonight, in the Williamsburg (Brooklyn neighborhood) live song contest.
It started with 700 submissions. They narrowed those to 150 (!) and had all 150 songwriters play over the course of 6 days (25 per night) in various Brooklyn venues. 3 songwriters were chosen from each of those nights, making for 18 semi-finalists. half of those were chosen to advance to play the final round tomorrow (Saturday) night.

So, I am now in the Top 9. We played the song we submitted for the contest during both the preliminaries (quarter-finals? Mad 150?) and the semi-finals. Saturday we get to play 2 songs (one of them has to be that same song).

I've been mildly annoyed by the commute form Central NJ into Brooklyn (about 90 miles), but i knew the deal when I submitted to the contest, so I can't really complain. But I was really, really suprised to hear tonight that someone flew in from Oregon and another person from IRELAND to participate. You know, only the top 3 win any money!

Writer's Block: Oh, but it’s cold outside!

2008-11-21T00:10:53Z

"Oh, but it's cold outside!" It's a fact of life that the economic climate is a bit chilly this holiday season. Is that affecting how you're doing your holiday shopping?

singingpatient @ 2008-11-20T00:04:00

2008-11-20T05:09:34Z

well i finally caught up on sleep today after the big northeast folk convention over the weekend where i totally depleted myself and slept poorly and infrequently on a hard bed that felt like i was sleeping directly on the boxsprings. i sure have gotten soft since getting married, getting the sweetest dog on the planet (see userpic), and getting the most comfortable bed imaginable. Joe is too good to me. I really am turning into a mush. Say goodbye to the Carla of "Corny Schlocky Sappy Songs."
Oh well we'll always have the recording.

Meanwhile I had another acting class today. It's not nearly as challenging or organized as the ones I took in NYC, but hey it's around the corner from my house. and cheap. Thank the Lord because it's so damn COLD this week! Oy! It's hard to motivate and leave the warm house in this weather.

Speaking of which I really need to go grocery shopping. I had a peanut butter sandwich and a leftover slice of pizza today. and a few pretzels. :-/