JOYA'S WEB PIX

May 29, 1996

If you're into new technologies and finding ways to get the most out of your time on-line, I've found some noteworthy net sites to tell you about today. These sites all incorporate RealAudio, an application that plays sound clips off the web in real time. So no more lengthy downloads and time asleep in front of your monitor&emdash;this time it's instant gratification!

For your listening pleasure, the first site I recommend is called Welcome to Somewhere. On this site you'll find many clips from multimedia and vocal artists, as well as interactive links that incorporate graphics and artwork. Right now the site is featuring Helen Thorington, an innovative artist and composer who has created North Country, a cyber-mystery where net-folk can contribute to the plotline. This is an ongoing investigation surrounding the fictitious death of a young woman, and the attempts to identify her. You can view the evidence, read what the detectives have to say, and decide for yourself. But what really adds to the site is Thorington's music, which accompanies the images and text to give a ethereal feel to the site. As a whole, I recommend the Somewhere site as a whole because it enables you to listen to samplings of many new artists in an engaging web environment.

The second site for this week is a trendy but fairly unknown one, called Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. If you're into lounge culture, and have frequented that oh-so-popular martini bar down on Ontario St. E., this site is for you. Everything you've ever wanted to know about lounge is here. From the discographies, to the album covers, to the lifestyle, Bachelor Pad Music is is no way restricted to the fairer sex. The music is swank, and the site is chock-full of goodies that any music lover would appreciate. The featured artist for the time being is the king of space-age pop, Señor Esquivel. He has many albums out in re-release now, including Space Age Bachelor Pad Music and Cabaret Mañana.

So there you have it. And if you can't quite find these sites for some peculiar reason, just go to a search engine like Yahoo or AltaVista and type in Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. That's all for today, so my parting message for all our listeners out there is: Be hip. Be swank. Surf the net. You'll never know what you might find.