From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V11 #243 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Sunday, December 31 2006 Volume 11 : Number 243 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Alloy: Announcement. Year's End - New Beginnings! ["Rochelle" Subject: RE: Alloy: Announcement. Year's End - New Beginnings! What a great experience. I am of the belief that there are no coincedences... Rochelle - -----Original Message----- From: owner-alloy@smoe.org [mailto:owner-alloy@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Melissa Jordan Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 2:55 PM To: alloy@smoe.org Subject: Re: Alloy: Announcement. Year's End - New Beginnings! It had to be a good omen. This morning, after I dropped my sister off at 5:30 in the morning for her shift at the hospital, I sat in her car, drinking some badly mangled coffee, waiting for the local Kinko's to open up. I'd written three commentaries yesterday for the local NPR station here in the lovely Quad Cities, and I needed to print them up before driving over to record them at the studio. I flipped on the car radio just in time to hear a cheesy DJ say, "And now, I'm gonna blind you with science!" And those familiar opening notes filled the car. I had to chuckle. Hearing Dolby on the radio in the town where I first heard his music back in '82 or '83 improved the flavor of the burnt espresso beans in my cup. When I finally got inside the non-24-hour Kinko's here, I logged in to their one and only workstation and checked my e-mail. As I was reading Robin's lovely message, the most astounding thing happened. I heard "Missing... missing... missing... missing... one of our submarines... is missing tonight..." over the Kinko's sound system. This time, I didn't chuckle, I just grinned and laughed out loud. I think the grandmotherly woman on duty thought I was slightly nuts. Yep. Had to be an omen. A very good one, in fact. Alloy was my very first online home. Just a few weeks ago, I was telling someone that when I got online back in '92 or '93, the first thing I did on Usenet was look up Thomas Dolby. What a geeky fangirl I was! I didn't seek out college friends or find family... Nope. I looked for the talented Mr. Robertson. And, through one of TMDR's collaborators, I found Alloy. I bonded with this group of Dolby-folk pretty fast, and it's been so wonderful to know so many of you online for more than a decade now. I went away from Alloy for a while, after 9-11, after my mother died... but even when I was gone, I checked the archives all the time to see what was going on. And when I came back late last year, it felt a little like coming home. Alloy has had the benefit of superior stewardship over the years... my wonderful friend Paul Baily... my equally wonderful friend Robin Hazen... and I am tremendously grateful to Robin for having faith in me to maintain Alloy and keep it a friendly, positive community. I know that stepping down was difficult for Robin, but she is a creative force with many irons in the fire. I know she wanted to make sure that the list was in good, attentive hands, and I hope I can live up to her standards and her expectations. Even with the great popularity and success of TMDR's blog and forum, Alloy still holds a role in the Dolby-verse. We are a focused list of modest size, a place where a handful of voices can be clearly heard, and a community of friends that has stayed together for many years now. I am glad you are all here. Still, I highly recommend that you visit and participate in the official forum when you have the time. My lovely friend Lunesse does a brilliant job of keeping us all up to date on All Things Dolby (as does TMDR himself, of course, in his delightfully well-written blog.) I will work hard to keep Alloy up-to-date on big things that pop up over on TMDR's site (or that I find rummaging around online - I know, I need some hobbies), and I hope to build a new Alloy website in the coming weeks. If you have photos (of yourself, from TMDR gigs, etc.) and links and words you'd like to share on the site, please don't hesitate to let me know! Heck, maybe we can do a new Alloy shirt for 2007. With the advent of CafePress, it'll be a breeze now. Something for us to wear to new gigs in the coming year, perhaps? The secret Alloy handshake. :-) Robin very kindly described me as one of TMDR's dearest friends. Alas, that's not true. I think I'd best be described as "schlub most likely to annoy Thomas with rambling e-mail." :-) But it is my pleasure to support him and his creativity as best I can. Like all of you, Thomas Dolby's music has been the soundtrack for my life. It's a real delight to know that the man behind the music is decent and kind and a really damn nice human being. So, here's to 2007, folks! I'm glad you're along for the ride. Don't hesitate to let me know if you need any help with anything Alloy-ish. Cheers from chilly Illinois, Melissa http://merujo.blogspot.com Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V11 #243 ****************************