Happy Holidays!... and other news. :)

First things first, team... MERRY CHRISTMAS and all that neat stuff! Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, I hope it's a good one for you with lots of love, health and happiness.

Next thing... WOW! I finally got my midnight blue Rickenbacker 4003 bass!!!! No thanks to the guys from KISS, however, who had every opportunity (see earlier rambling blog posts) to do the honorable thing and give me one (grin). Let's just say that a local dealer here in the RDU Triangle area happened to have one in stock, and I happened to call him at just the right time to inquire about inventory. So congratulations, ME! It sounds glorious. I'm pretty sure I'm now a devoted Ric guy, although I still occasionally like the thump of the Fender as I historically have.

Next thing-- saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra on 12/20 here in Raleigh at the RBC Center. Quick review: good as always and worth the ticket price, though Alex and Chris were the highlights of the show. After seeing more or less the same show (with different opticals, to be sure) three years running, it's getting a little stale. Their new bassist is OK, but I really preferred Dave Zablowski ("Dave Z") from the last couple of years. Otherwise, not a particularly remarkable show, though Jennifer Cella touched my hand as she ran back up the aisle from her "back-of-house solo" which was a special treat since I always melt at the sight of her in a tight black dress. :)

Last but not least-- if you haven't read the website completely yet, please be advised that PLANET ZEB! is changing its "free listener" capacity on 1/1/08, substantially curtailing it from pre-08 levels. An explanation is on the website itself which I won't repeat here, but suffice to say that too little financial support over the years and too much personal spending toting the note for all those free listeners, combined with some life changes that have me busier these days, have finally gotten us to the point where I think it's wise to bring PZ back to what it started life as-- a li'l ole hobbyist station that I can mess with to my heart's content, and with a few extra "free listener" slots open for anyone anywhere in the world who may want to tune in just for the fun of it. If you really, really LOVE the station and just can't live without it, please be advised of a few things:

* it will probably be de-listed from iTunes directories soon, which is Live365's way of punishing successful stations that don't toe their line year after year;

* it will probably fill up quickly (free listener slots) in the morning, so the earlier you log in, the better... then, just leave it streaming to save your spot;

* if you have a Live365 VIP listener account (see "listen AD-FREE" button on the planetzeb.net website), you will STILL have 'round-the-clock UNLIMITED ACCESS to PLANET ZEB!... completely ad-free, as always! Sign up today if you'd like this service-- it's cheap, good and I've loved my own VIP listener account for the last couple of years. :)

If you're one of the many who believes that PLANET ZEB! is just another station and you can easily tune to another station playing sort of the same music in sort of the same mix, and you'd rather do that FREE than pay a minimal amount for a VIP account... well, I understand. Free is an awfully good price most of the time. I would just add that you usually get what you pay for, as my gran'pappy used to say, and that's the reason I think we're better off, looking forward, back as a little, innocuous 80s rock station lurking in the corners of the Live365 community.

Thanks for the ride, though-- it's been a GREAT eight years, and thanks to YOU, PLANET ZEB! became one of the earliest and biggest "station phenoms" in the early history of internet radio!!!

Cheers, and again, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Zeb