Site news: You're invited to visit Heliocentric Worlds

As a reader of StLJN, please accept this invitation to check out our new spin-off site Heliocentric Worlds.

Those of you who are regulars here know that over the last year I've used a lot of videos from YouTube and other sources as part of the coverage of the St. Louis jazz scene. Well, believe it or not, although I've run a whole lot of YouTube clips, they are actually but a fraction of the stuff that's available online. So I've started this new site to share some of the clips I find that are cool, fun or interesting but don't necessarily fit StLJN's format.

(And, just in case you were wondering, I don't see this new site taking much time away from StLJN. HW is really more like a byproduct of the routine information-gathering done for this site, and since it's not necessarily about breaking news, I can prepare posts in batches and save 'em for future use, just like the game show producers in Hollywood do with episodes of Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy.)

Heliocentric Worlds will feature a new music video every day from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, experimental, progressive rock, classic rock and more. I've been posting over there for a few days just to give the place a "lived-in" look, and so you can already find clips of Sun Ra, Bill Evans, Ray Charles, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Frank Zappa, Booker T and the MGs, Ornette Coleman, Freddie King, Soft Machine, Duke Ellington, the Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet, and War, plus a multi-clip Christmas special and a tribute to late Godfather of Soul, James Brown. And while I don't want to tip my hand too much, there's lots more good stuff in the pipeline.

There are still a few design kinks to be worked out, material to be added to the sidebar, and so on, but for the most part, I think the place is ready for a few visitors. So, please go on over to Heliocentric Worlds, check it out, leave comments if you like, and bookmark it for future reference.