Sax on the Web Forum upgrade

Update (Jan-16-10):  As a new feature there is now Sax on the Web Forum Portal

Or you can go directly to the SOTW Forum
The Sax on the Web article site is still there.

Hope you'll like it,

Jim and Suzy in Helsinki

Helsinki, I missed Harri!

By Jim Glass

Late last night Harri, a Finn and the owner of the SOTW, pinged me on Facebook to see if we could have a breakfast or drinks tomorrow morning when we arrive in Helsinki. I let him know we might be able to make that happen, but didn't hear back. In the morning, for the first time since we started the cruise, all three of us overslept waking up after 10 AM!

So I quickly tried to get online to see what arrangements had been made, but the Internet connection was tenuous at best. An hour and twenty minutes later I found out Harri had been at a restaurant that was not to be at. Sigh, oh well we tried.

  

The first part of our tour was a visit to the great architect Saarinen (father of the famous American architect) country villa and study. Such an interesting space with so many architectural delights some of which I captured. Even if it is just doors, they are so nicely done.

 

And his art, drawings, and use of color was of interest.



Then we toured the city and headed back to the ship.

Technorati Tags: Helsinki,SOTW,Sax on the Web,Harri Rautiainen,Jim Glass,cruise ship,Finnish architecture,Eliel Saarinen,Hvitträsk,Finland

Pictures courtesy of Jim Glass

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The above trip report was filed by Jim Glass. He is former moderator and chief administrator of the Sax on the Web Forum. Jim lives with his wife Suzy in Seattle, Wash. and is an active saxophone player in several bands in the area. Also known as a saxophone collector.

Blowing your own horn

While browsing through the Sax on the Web Forum recently, I realized that many saxophonist members are also keen brass players. Here they proudly display their latest inventions:

Miraphone Double Belled Sax Shaped Trumpet (1950s?)

Martin Williams and his Double Belled Trumpet

Triple Belled Trombone

Double Belled (in series) with a muffler

I am assuming that the picture posters have rights to these pictures. By posting on the SOTW Forum the rights have been extended to the owner of SOTW.

Late addition: Is this a proper use of brass instruments?

This just in (Jul-18-2009):

 

Randy Emerick has joined the trombone section. Watch out, Kid Oreo!

Frozen Saxophone

Perhaps surprisingly Google’s search engine ranked this SOTW Forum thread as the highest of all Sax on the Web pages. “rs1sensen”, a long time SOTW member writes:

Yesterday I marched in some of the coldest weather I've ever had to deal with on a horn. Some of my pads were frozen shut. Others frozen open. A couple tone holes were almost sealed with ice, and there was some ice on the bottom of my horn. After the game, I carefully de-thawed the horn, dried everything off, and re-oiled my springs.
I tried to keep warm air going through the horn prior to playing, but it actually seemed to make things worse, as more and more ice would just form. I gave up on playing. What I did find interesting, is that about half of our section ran into the same problems, but the other half could play perfectly fine.
I have to give the dance team some credit, they did a performance before us and wore much less clothing than all of us!

Then there is follow-up discussion and helpful hints. Although the post is more than one year old, it seems to become current every winter.

The evolution of Sax on the Web logos

The Sax on the Web site has been around for more than twelve years now, and the Discussion Forum turned ten years old last fall.

The first logos portrayed on the site were pretty rough, produced with rough tools and with minimal graphic design talent (mine). Please, do not use any "way back when" searches, I am not too proud of my renditions.

Then I turned to some people with more talent. Here is the first outcome.




After that I contacted my ex-colleague Heikki Luhtala. The logo he designed (on the left) was around for a long time. A T-shirt and a Messenger bag sporting that logo are still available from SOTW Gift Shop as "nostalgia items".




Canadian graphic artist Kim Pelletier, who is also a saxophonist, has been around Sax on the Web as long as the SOTW Forum existed. her contributions to the graphic image of the SOTW site has been significant. Besides designing cartoons for the SOTW front page she came up with a logo design that has been around since then. The SOTW Gift Shop has many items with the SOTW logo that Kim designed.


Last fall when the SOTW Forum celebrated ten years anniversary, Kim designed a new logo to commemorate that significant milestone. She started from sketch sporting the saxophone characters which have become her signature.

And the final result is below, thanks Kim.



Added later:
The latest development

Sax Site improvements

Sax on the Web Forum platform software update

The SOTW Forum was successfully upgraded from vBulletin 3.6.9 to version 3.8.1.

The new version contains bug fixes, but also significant new features over the old one. There is a possibility to add Facebook-like social groups and blogging to the forum. (Perhaps moving this blog there?) I will currently study their feasibility.

There are some SOTW-specific items which do not necessarily work on the new version, yet, but they will be addressed shortly.



Old SOTW Archive revived

Some of the forum messages from 1999-2003 were lost forever because of the service provider used then. What was salvaged is now found at: www.saxontheweb.net/SOTW_Archive/index.htm

I will brush up the appearance soon and fix some crossed links.

Building a web site over time

An American tourist was visiting an English castle and admiring the superbly well cared for lawn.
Approaching the tour guide: "How can I get such a lawn to my mansion?"
Answers the tour guide: "First of all, you'll start four hundred years ago."

That's the answer I give to people asking an advice after Sax on the Web (SOTW) reached the first page (now #6 when using key word "saxophone") in Google search. You'll be advised to start twelve years ago. Ten years ago my good friend, guitarist and now my band-mate Robert Rasmus directed me to a book about building loyalty in WWW. The key was not providing only static web pages, one-directional information, but adding interactivity, getting visitors involved. Then Sax on the Web Forum was born to form a community for saxophonists to discuss topics of interest. The membership varies from beginners and "late bloomers" to more advanced players and even to top-notch professionals.

The SOTW Forum had several incarnations and the current platform has been in use since 2003. There are now over one million posts, 25,000 members from all over the world out of which 30% are considered active. (Some of the older posts have been archived and available separately.)

The forum gets 8000 visits per day whereas the "static" pages get more than 3000 daily visitors.

The Sax on the Web site looks like its membership which will set the tone and also provide the vast contents available for everyone on the WWW. Running the forum would not have been possible without volunteer administrators. Now I only want to single out Kim C. Pelletier who participated from the very beginning as a moderator and admin, and also designed logos and cartoons for SOTW. The above 10 year celebration logo is also from her pen.

I will be giving credit for all significant contributors later on.

The Sax on the Web site has many followers who benefit from the contents, but do not want to necessarily register as forum members. Now I added a Google friend connect application to the Front page. Now visitors can inform their friends about SOTW and possibly connect with other members.


Thanks for your support during all these years,
-Harri Rautiainen