Tag: Products

May 2024 Bandcamp Friday

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Today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 3 May 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Yesterday I released my seventeenth Bandcamp album, Four Mages.  It is a collection of ten electronic tracks, all but one of which (“The Blind Prophet“) is color-coded. Each piece explores some facet of fantasy archetypes, weaving and casting a musical spell upon listeners.

Here are some platforms where you can listen:

Four Mages is just $5 on Bandcamp, and most of that goes to me today.

For those looking for the cheapest, easy way to listen, here’s a YouTube playlist:

Happy Listening!

—TPP

🧙‍♂️Four Mages🧙‍♂️ Out Today!

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Today is 2 May 2024, exactly twenty-six weeks to Halloween!  What better day to release my latest collection of compositions, Four Mages?

🧙‍♂️Four Mages🧙‍♂️ is a collection of ten electronic tracks, all but one of which (“The Blind Prophet“) is color-coded. Each piece explores some facet of fantasy archetypes, weaving and casting a musical spell upon listeners.

It’s $5 on Bandcamp, and is also available on all major (and minor) streaming platforms except for Spotify.

I’m quite excited for this release; I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed composing it.

Happy Listening!

—TPP

April 2024 Bandcamp Friday

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 5 April 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Earlier this week I released my sixteenth Bandcamp album, Leftovers II.  It consists of tracks leftover from other composing projects, as well as two older pieces (“Robobop” and “Pwrblld [Ballad II]“) and a lo-fi organ piece I recorded using an old computer microphone sometime in 2007.

You can listen to the full thing on Bandcamp for free a few times before Bandcamp locks out full track playback.  However, if funds are tight and you’d rather not pay $5 for the album (which you should totally do anyway—it’s just five bucks!), you can listen to the album through the following services:

Thanks for listening!  Even just streaming helps me out a great deal.

—TPP

TBT^2: Inspector Gerard eBook is Coming 1 April 2021 (Out NOW in Paperback)!

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It’s hard to believe that I released The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot three years ago (well, almost three years ago—give it another couple of weeks).  It was my first foray into self-publishing, and it was a fun experience.  I still need to go back and edit some of the embarrassing typographical and grammatical errors in the book, which I will get around to doing eventually.

Since then I’ve released a second book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures.  It has not done as well as Inspector Gerard, but at the time of writing, Amazon has it marked down to $11.16 for the paperback version.  That is a steal, as the list price is usually $20, so it’s 44% off.  It’s actually a pretty good book.  Of course, I’m biased.

This week is testing for middle school students at my school, and it was during this same testing week in 2021 and again in 2023 that I slapped together my books.  There’s something about having that extra hour or two a day without my Middle School Music Ensemble class that makes it feasible for me to compile and edit my writings into book form.  I am currently working on my third book, Offensive Poems: With Pictures, but I’m not sure if I’ll manage to get it written and edited this week, even with the extra time.

Still, I hope that by the time you’re reading this post that I’ll have put a dent into it.  The biggest challenge is going to be converting all of the hand-drawn pictures into a digital format.  I imagine the formatting of the entire book will be a huge headache, but it’s just a matter of making the appropriate sacrifices to Microsoft Word and Kindle Direct Publishing.

With that, here is 23 March 2023’s “TBT: Inspector Gerard eBook is Coming 1 April 2021 (Out NOW in Paperback)!“:

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An Actually Lazy Sunday: Composing Update

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Last Sunday I was exceptionally busy and had to phone in my already-phoned in Lazy Sunday post.  Today I’m doing the ultimate phoning in and taking yet another day away from the blog (as it were—gotsta keep that daily post counter mollified).  I’ll actually be doing a significant amount of writing this afternoon, so have no fear—we’ll back to the more-or-less regular schedule tomorrow.

As I noted in yesterday’s lazy post, I’ve been fairly swamped at work, and ended a long week with two very long days.  I spent most of Saturday lounging like Goethe, alternating between reading, napping, and eating.

I wasn’t completely useless.  I finished composing for my next major release, Four Mages.  It’s a collection of fantasy-inspired instrumental music, with nine of its ten tracks corresponding to different fantasy archetypes (each with their own color).  The titular mages are “Red Mage,” “Blue Mage,” “Black Mage,” and “White Mage.”  The other tracks (in no particular order) are as follows:

  • “Pink Princess”
  • “Purple Prince”
  • “Green Knight”
  • “Yellow Knight”
  • “Brown Friar”
  • “The Blind Prophet”

That album will hit Bandcamp and all streaming services (sans Spotify) on Thursday, 2 May 2024—exactly halfway to Halloween!  It seemed an appropriate time to release a fantasy album.

Of course, if you haven’t picked up Epistemology, please give it a listen.  You can purchase a digital download via Bandcamp for $5.

You can also listen to the full thing on YouTube for free:

You can listen to Epistemology on YouTube Music and Apple Music, too.  It’s even on Amazon Music—cool!

Thanks for your patience—and please give my tunes a listen.  Every stream helps!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

TBT^2: Getting Medieval… with LEGO

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Over the past two years my LEGO hobby has become something more of a habit—an expensive one.  LEGO have always been pricey, but prices have only gone up with inflation.

As such, I’m trimming back on my habit slightly.  I still have an awesome set from Christmas that I need to build, and it’s a big one—more details soon(ish).  I just keep having other projects and deadlines and such to meet, so I haven’t taken time to sit down and build it.

Of course, the best of all was the Medieval Blacksmith (#21325) set, which I purchased for $145 as a birthday present to myself in January 2022.  The set is sold-out at LEGO.com at the time of writing (it’s likely soon-to-be-retired), but were it in stock, it’d cost a cool $180.

Honestly, the set is worth it.  If you really want to get it—and, if you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up—it’s on Amazon for $178.36.  There are also tons of knock-offs, like this $80 GUDI version.  I can’t vouch for its quality, but it’s a testament to this set’s success that it’s been copied so frequently (including variations, like the FunWhole apothecary’s shop—$60 after using a $20 Amazon coupon).

Before going on, Amazon requires me to tell you that this post contains affiliate links—they’re in that prior paragraph.  I get a portion of any proceeds from sales through those links, at no additional cost to you.

That aside, let’s get back to the LEGOs!

With that, here is 2 February 2023’s “TBT: Getting Medieval… with LEGO“:

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Bandcamp Friday 2024 and a New Album!

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

The future of Bandcamp Friday is a bit up in the air, but we’re living in the present here at The Portly Politico, and today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 2 February 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Even better:  I have a new album out today!  You can pick up Firefly Dance for $5.  It’s eleven tracks of original instrumental music.  Your digital purchase includes not just the music, but also full scores for every song; music videos for each piece; handwritten manuscripts for most of the pieces; and exclusive artwork (including artwork to accompany every piece on the album).

There’s a lot to dig into in this release.  The opening track, “Ode Napol​é​on,” is a multipart tone poem depicting the rise and fall of the infamous French emperor.  The title track, “Firefly Dance,” tells the story of a mysterious woodland world of dragonflies and fairies in the form of a flowing, interpretative waltz.

You even get the frenetic, eleven-second, unexpected YouTube sensation “FRANTIC!!“

If you’re feeling generous and want my entire catalog of fourteen releases, my entire discography is half-off.  That’s fourteen releases for $25.89, or $1.85 per release.

Tight on cash?  No worries—you can listen to Firefly on any streaming platform (except for Spotify), and all the tracks are on my YouTube page (you should subscribe to that, by the way—it’s free!).

I’m excited about this release, and I appreciate your support.

Happy Listening!

—TPP

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It is My Birthday, Again

The Portly Politico8 Comments

Today is my birthday.  I’m thirty-nine today, drawing ever closer to forty.

Last year I was sick on my birthday.  At the time of writing (around three weeks before my birthday—I’ve really been working ahead) I might be coming down with something again, but if I did get sick, let’s hope it’s cleared up by today.

Also like last year, I am back at work today.  I’m used to that, as I frequently went back to school on my birthday growing up.  Thanks to 2024’s leap year, my fortieth birthday will fall on a Friday, but from looking at my school’s 2024-2025 academic year calendar, I’ll be back at work that Friday, 3 January 2025 for a teacher workday.  I can’t win!

Of course, when you get to my age—I write as though I am ancient—a birthday is just another day.  I’ve never been one of those people who takes a day off for his birthday (although I might next year out of principle), and I’m happy to celebrate it with friends and family at whatever time is convenient.  Indeed, I like it a bit better that way:  I end up getting several weeks of various celebrations.  Mwahahahaha!

Hmmm… perhaps I care more about my birthday than I let on.  Whatever the case, I’m thankful for another year enjoying God’s Creation.

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Supporting Friends Friday: Son of Sonnet on Substack

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Longtime readers might remember the thoughtful, moving poetry of Son of Sonnet.  In addition to being a skilled poet, Son is also a gifted orator, and his readings of poetry are always a special treat.

Now you can enjoy his poetry and recitations on his Substack page.  He has a consistent schedule of regular posts, so you won’t be wondering when the next post will arrive.

A subscription is just $7 a month or $70 a year—well worth the price of admission.  Son possesses an extensive theatrical background, which he uses to great effect in his recitations. He even takes requests, and will frequently write poems on themes that subscribers submit.

I bang this gong a lot, but as conservatives and/or Christians, we need to support our people.  The Left gets most everything wrong, but they get this right—they support their creators.  On the Right, we’re often too pragmatic, and dismiss art, culture, and literature as impractical playthings.

We couldn’t be more wrong.  No one remembers early nineteenth-century German tax policy; everyone remembers Beethoven.

So, consider a subscription to Son of Sonnet’s Substack page.  He is worthy of your support.