The
Apollojams! Mailing List:
("charcoal-filtered, dark and robust"!)
The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):
Intro and Welcome
What IS the AJ! Mailing List Like, G?
What cool things can we do besides gab?
How do i do this and that?
Any rules to play in the AJ! lair?
I'm so OUT of it. What's a Mailing List, period?!?
Good to see you've joined the AJ List. Welcome! Or if you're reading this first
(before joining), we hope you'll subscribe to the AJ List after reading this. :)
Bookmark this FAQ (Frequently asked questions) along with your "yahoo groups"
page & you're all set!
A select crew of over 200 were chosen off my main mailing list and solicited to
be members. Because i know you (and they) are the kind of folks who will
get into the whole concept. Help out with people's questions. Post their own
questions. Engage in dialogue with fellow listmembers. And so on.
Plus we know our shit. And collectively, we'll all learn a whole BUNCHA shit! :)
Whether you've joined off the Charter List, or you're coming in via the
Apollojams! website,
or via an e-mailed invite, or just plain out of the blue (!), we hope you'll
enjoy the lively interaction, and contribute your comments/answers/questions/reviews.
Those of you who have recently subscribed: please go fill out SOME of your
profile! At LEAST your name/country/time zone. if you're in the biz, tell us
in your profile WHAT YOU DO: whether it's music retail, dj, record label, or simply
a primo funkateer! So we know who we're shuckin' and jivin' with when you
post messages! And if you dig what we're layin' down, SPREAD THE WORD to others
who'd be interested in participating or just "lurking" (subscribers who kick back
in the bleachers and just read the posts).
What IS the Apollojams! Mailing List?
It's NOT a mouthpiece for Apollojams! promo,
tho it'll come in handy when i have the occasional dispatch about what's new on
the site, or if i've uploaded a crate of records i haven't offered before. Actually,
i'm here to UNwind, not work more.
The AJ! List IS: a virtual bulletin board with LOTS of space underneath each "pinned
up note" for people to add to a "thread" (subject) that interests them. Your
comments can be supportive (yay!), conflicting ("no way!"), helpful ("the answer
is..."), additive ("here's ANOTHER example of..."), basically whatever's on your mind.
You get a copy of what anyone posts, sent directly to your mailbox. Anything YOU
post, goes directly to everyone else on the list. Got a question? Looking for a jam?
Wanna kick it about an artist or record label or genre? Just wanna rant about
anything in the black music world? You got a whole "brain trust" of people who
may answer you!
The AJ! List IS: a discussion group, made up of people all over the U.S. and world (!)
who share similar interests in any ONE of a thousand topics, all black music related,
with emphasis on the street-level genres. The general flow will be anything related
to: funk, soul, hiphop, doowop, disco, house, garage...anything from the 50's to now. But
keep in mind: we can go ANYwhere with our discussions. Earlier! More current!
Side topics like blaxploitation/drive-in films, black authors, street culture, you
name it. Whatever we feel like talking about. I'm a veteran of newsgroup posting,
and sometimes someone will pick up on your question/comment, sometimes no one
will. It's all pretty leisurely, but most of the time, there's a core "brain trust" on
any given newsgroup who will scramble to address your interests, if they feel they
can help. Whether it's pointing you to a website that has something you're looking
for, providing discographies, identifying a certain breakbeat or record, or just
kickin' back "shootin' the breeze" sharing their experiences or memories about a
topic, it's all here, and all welcome. You're among friends (you just haven't met
them yet).
The AJ! List IS: a refuge from the positively INANE "other" newsgroups who look
promising from their name, but when you GET there, all it IS is people arguing/talkin'
shit/sayin' nothing, or going on and on about things no REAL black music fan cares
about! Or worse: just BLATANT SPAMMING (the giveaway is if you look at the "To" field of
the e, and see that this jamoke posted to 20 newsgroups at once!)
The "experts" (some wide-interest, some "specialists") on hand here are
sure to have the answers to any questions you may have. We hope! Between
discussions of rare oldies and seminal grooves (both old and new), you will
find a generally intelligent/pleasant/off the wall group of folks talking
about anything and everything. Wherever the various threads lead!! I've
been involved in threads that started out as a comment about "Fingers Inc"
and mutated into discussing old Lou Donaldson albums and obscure jump
blues 78's! From Iceberg Slim to "Ice T" to Nikki Giovanni to Angela Davis
to the Watts Prophets to Lord Buckley to Lenny Bruce to Hugh Hefner to
black "Playmates" to Russ Meyer films, all in the space of 50 posts and
a few days!
WHY THIS LIST SERVER, Yahoo Groups?:
In order to TEST how well-received and popular this List can be. So bear with the
"Yahoo Groups" logo.
Their loaded banner ads are discreetly tucked away at the BOTTOM of each
message so you can start reading a post immediately. I've tested it & don't
find it to be much of an intrusion. To join is FREE with no strings attached.
You can even adjust how or if you want/don't want any promotional mail
from THEM. Either way, you won't get spammed or anything of the sort, as
long as you fill out your profile and TELL Yahoo Groups what they can/can't do.
And dig the BONUS FEATURES Yahoo Groups will allow you access to, when you
become a member and fill out your profile:
- MESSAGE ARCHIVES!
Just joining us? Wanna get an idea of what everyone's layin' down before
you jump in and start contributing? Had to unsubscribe while you were on
vacation? No sweat: signing up with Yahoo Groups gives you access to the AJ! List
Message Archives. Now you can browse, view and search for past messages
quickly and easily, pick up where you left off, find the beginning of a particularly
good thread, and so on.
- CHAT!
Yep, we can set up real-time, private chats with each other, one on one
or free-for-alls! Let's say i have a GUEST in the house. We'll post an
announcement that'll tell you when/where/what to do, to interact in a live
chat with the AJ crew, and/or whomever's in town who plans on stopping by
the ole' Apollojams!
Archives/Home Base. Actually, we can get ANYBODY no matter WHERE they
are to "guest-chat" with us: all they need to do is log in, like you or me or
anyone else does.
ALSO: i'm considering a regular monthly chat for just US! All you have to
do is go to your "My Yahoo Groups" page and click on "CHAT". Try it out NOW if
you like: you'll be in there alone but you'll be able to play around with it &
see how easy it is to use. At some point, i'll solicit you all on the List about
what's a good time for us all to get together at once.
- DATABASE!
We can create customized, searchable tables of info that eGroups members
can access. Go to your "My Yahoo Groups" page and click on "FILES": you'll see
that i've already uploaded a List FAQ. We can add Label discographies, artist
histories, whatever's clever. If a List Member asks a question that requires
an answer that we ALL might want to refer to anytime in the future, we can
create a CHART for it and make it permanently accessible from your "My
Yahoo Groups" page. Examples: list member Christian Pientier's dogged detective
work of discographies on obscure 80's Florida BASS record labels, ME with
my lifelong love of 60's "Northern" soul labels & go-go labels (among a
hundred OTHER fixations), someday-a-list-member Scott Down's encyclopaedic
knowledge of breakbeats: "where the new jam stole it from" AND/OR "how
many people subsequently used this Baby Huey break". And you're always
welcome to send in corrections/additions to make our database the most
SLAMMIN' out there. Or make up your own to have posted!
HOW TO's:
How to GET to the AJ! List Main Page on Yahoo Groups (quickly):
1) Go to the
AJ List homepage and sign up: it's FREE!
2) Once you get your own "My Yahoo Groups" page on their site, BOOKMARK it.
3) Subscribe to the AJ! List.
That's it! You'll start getting messages, or use your "My Yahoo Groups" bookmark,
then click on "apollojams".
How to Subscribe to the AJ! Digest:
A "digest" is basically a day's worth (or more) of messages all in ONE
clump. Some of us like the immediacy of replying to ONE person's post as
they see fit. Others like to get a bunch of posts in one BIG e-mail. By
becoming a member of Yahoo Groups, you'll get a "My Yahoo Groups" page.
There you'll find the list of groups you subscribe to, and separate options
to choose from (ie. one post per mailing, one "digest" per mailing, etc.).
i wouldn't bother with the digest YET, until you feel you're getting overwhelmed
with too many individual posts each day, THEN you might want to consider the
"Digest" option. For now, don't worry about it.
How to Switch Back & Forth Between Your Decisions:
go to your "My Yahoo Groups" page, and it's as easy as a click of a
drop-down menu! :)
How to Post a Message to the AJ! List:
Open up your mail browser and send your message to
apollojams@yahoogroups.com
Obviously, they won't POST your message if you're not yet a member.
How to Contact the List Owner:
(for my eyes only, no one else will see it but me):
apollojams@yahoo.com
How to UN-subscribe to the AJ! List (or Digest):
Go to your "My Yahoo Groups" page, click on "edit my groups", and click on "leave group". Simple. :)
How to make your life EASIER at Yahoo Groups:
- Visit YahooGroups
Help Page for any general usage questions. It covers all the bases: how to use
the List, how to tweak and configure the List to your liking, how to use the different
sections of the AJ! List, like "Files" or "Chat" or "Polls" or "how to link your account",
your Settings and Preferences, etc.
- If you continually have to log in each time with your e-addie and password,
click the little box to the right of it that says "remember me". No longer will
you have to keep typing in all your info.
- List traffic can sometimes be slow (very few posts per week) or busy (if
we're in the midst of a heated debate). It's senseless to bitch about getting
a "flood of e's" (during the rare week that it happens) when YOU can go to your
"My Yahoo Groups"
page and switch your settings to DIGEST FORMAT (one e-mail with all that day's posts). Or
e-mail me offlist and i'll
change it FOR you. Could i make it any easier?
Good NETiquette:
Please take a minute to set yourself up with the "group" by doing
these few simple things:
- FILL OUT YOUR PROFILE:
Go to your
"My Yahoo Groups" page, click on "My Profile", click on "Edit Profile". We all
respect your privacy, so you can as specific or vague as you feel. It's nice
to know who you are (or at least, what you want to be called), what you
do (if you're involved with music in any capacity), where you live (what
country or, if U.S., what area), what time zone you're in (this last thing IS
important if you want to receive the List Messages in ORDER, avoiding situations
where the answer precedes the question). Stuff like that. It helps the other
Listies to recognize you when you post and encourages interaction.
- EMAIL SETTINGS:
(advisable for ANY e-mail use, not just for the AJ! List.)
1) Turn Your "Caps Lock" key Off. Fellow Listies don't need to be "shouted" at.
2) Go to your e-mail Preferences and configure your e-mail program to:
--attach/paste the e you're replying to
--automatically put YOUR comments at the TOP of the e, not the bottom.
3) TURN OFF YOUR ENHANCED TEXT when posting! It GOBBLES UP twice the space (k's)
of a regular text e-mail message. Some people have LIMITED SPACE web-based e-mail
accounts, ie. HotMail. Also, "enhanced text" is UNREADABLE to non-pc owners, ie.
WebTv users (and we have many "WebTv-ers" on our list). Thanx.
4) TRIM the fat off a post you're commenting on. We've ALL JUST READ the post
you're replying to, and don't need to see the ENTIRE THING again. Just the "nuggets"
you're commenting on.
- GET ACCLIMATED:
When the posts first begin arriving in your e-box, they will probably be in
"mid-thread", meaning we're all already in the mud playing & hip-deep in one
topic or another. It's usually recommended to List Newbies that they "lurk"
for a few days to get a feel for what's going on. However, YahooGroups makes it
easy to get a handle on what WENT down right before you subscribed. Simply
go to your
"My Yahoo Groups" page. Click on "messages". There you'll see the AJ! List
Archives, each message stored in order up to the present. Pick a "jumping-in"
point and start reading. You'll be up to speed in no time without having to lurk.
WHEN POSTING:
I HATE being put in the position of being a ListNazi, but I think the problem is,
while we're all pretty knowledgable (musically), there are a number of people
who have no experience with mailing lists, so they don't realize the benefit of
doing some obvious things, like:
- GREET the person you're directing your post to ("Hi Len", etc.) or if a general
post, "Hey Jammers" or "Hi, All" (or whatever).
- SIGN OFF with your name (or your nickname/"tag") AND your e-mail address!
So we can associate an actual NAME with your e-mail address. It's a pain in the
ass to have to type out "cordwainerbird@yahoo.com" when all you're trying to
say is something like "the info that (joe) supplied".
- ATTACHMENTS:
DON'T put them in your posts. It clogs up many Member's mailboxes.
Plus everybody KNOWS not to download anything from strangers.
Recommended (either one):
1) Put a link in your post to where the "thing" IS, or:
2) go to your "My Yahoo Groups" page, click on "Apollojams", click
on "Files" and upload the file. Then post a message announcing that
you've uploaded (whatever it is) to the AJ! List files section.
Those that want it, can GO and get it.
- SALES AND TRADING:
If YOU've got records for sale/trade, we WANT to know about it! As long
as you're not some store trying to horn in as a one-time "spam"/casting
rod just to see what you can "reel in". Some of the people i'll invite in DO
own stores or work in them, and then it's perfectly ok to plug your shit,
whether you're a recording artist, producer, retailer, "eBay-er", private
seller, label owner. It's all good if you actually CONTRIBUTE to this list on
a regular basis. A hot tip tho: you wanna make friends REAL fast? Offer
fellow ListMembers an "Apollojams! List Members" discount! YOU'll get
customers, beLIEVE me!
EMOTIONS RUN WILD SOMETIMES ON A MAILING LIST:
- BANG us up late at night, get twisted, got stanky, whatever! And let the
fur fly! Hell, *i* do it all the time. However, make sure when you're
"playin' the dozens" with a fellow ListMember that WE know that you're
smiling/tongue in cheek about it. For example, if you wanna call someone
"numbnuts" or tell 'em: "aaahhh, you don't know SHEE-IT!", everyone should
be able to TELL from the way it's presented that it's being said with
"brotherly" affection/all in fun. Dig? Hopefully, we'll ALL get to know each
other (some of us go back a decade or more!), and the Apollo Homeboys?
Nothing but love and respect, but!: We DO shoot from the hip! It's an East
Coast thang, a'ite? Just dive in, and sling the mud around WITH us: it's fun! :)
MODERATED VS. UNMODERATED:
- I'm not about ANY kind of censorship (nothing offends ME, per se, i give
as good as i get). But keep in mind that there are topics that OTHER people
consider illegal or in poor taste. You're not HIDDEN by using one of those
anonymous e-mail accounts like "HotMail". Don't be fooled. ANYONE can find
out your IP address, and pinpoint the exact location of your pc within minutes.
I have NO problem with any topics or language, except that which is maliciously
intended (as opposed to a friendly curse/putdown) or, worse, threatening to other list
members. Cuz then you piss ME off, and you don't want to do that. You'll get a
warning and a request that you apologize to the person ONLIST. We ALL fly off
the cuff sometimes, and it could have just been a bad night/mood for you, which
is understandable and easily forgotten/forgiven. Other than that, let the
discussion lead WHEREVER it leads. The AJ! List is an unmoderated,
open-to-all, forum unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Capice?
Misc. Newsgroup/Mailing List Portals (there's a zillion people talking
about everything/anything you could imagine. Here's some of the more
well-known "Grand Central Stations" if you want to try out different
mailing lists):
Google News: you can search all the newsgroups by word or phrase!
Yahoo Groups
SuperNews
Some Sites you'll thank me for down-the-line:
If you've read THIS far, here are some rewards (I'll be adding to this little by little):
The Black Music Label Database, 1977-1987:
And if THIS place isn't a reward for all the FAQ reading you just did, i RETIRE! :)
Although i hope someday that he expands the parameters another five years in
both directions (1972-1992), and decides to tap in to the English-speaking market
(much of it is in german), and many of the tables don't fit neatly in a browser
window...this is still one MF-er of a resource if you need discographical info on
the hundreds of small soul and dance 12" labels!
Both Sides Now:
LP discographies!:
And here are the ALBUMS on just about every label you can think of!
Numerical in order WITH track listings (when they know them)! Everything
from A&M and Atlantic to Stax and VeeJay and Westbound, and hundreds of
other labels inbetween. This site is a MINDBLOWER! :)
Ken Clee's Stak-o-Wax:
7" single discographies!:
Discographies on almost every U.S. label that released singles! Not a DAY goes by
that i'm not digging around in these handsome white vinyl spiral notebooks.
Five volumes, can be purchased separately (to build your library) or all at
once (if you're loaded!). "The Directory of American 45 rpm Records" is the
most complete reference ever on U.S. singles from the beginning (1949) to
the 90's. Someday i hope to score Volume 5 and the newly-released
"supplement 2000", which updates all my older volumes (i've been using
the first 4 since the 80's!). PS: Ken! I need a "master label listing" newer
than 4/89! Hook me up?
RecordMaster:
The Internet's FIRST and ONLY music price guide!!!
Until Goldmine gets their shit together, this is a good resource!
Apollojams! Recommended Links:
I think we've put together an excellent list of links to many of the cool sites out there,
AND there's links to "Link Hubs" that go into a subject more deeply than i want to on my
site. Have fun: i especially recommend the sections called: "Fun/Odd Sites" AND "Rock
& Roll Webcasts"! Grab yourself "RealPlayer", above, and you can be listening to actual
50's and 60's AM soul and rock and pop shows from some of the most famous dj's ever!
NOW, AS OTIS REDDING SAID LIVE AT THE WHISKY, "TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! GET SOULFUL"!
COME ON IN AND LET'S PULL THE SHEET OFF OF IT!
- Gary apollo!
(ListMaster: the
Apollojams! Mailing List!
(To visit the home page for the Mailing List, click on the link above)
(To visit the actual Apollojams! website, click on the speaker below)
