A Prairie Home Compendium:
(A Prairie Home Page)

Welcome

Hi everyone.  I am in the process of re-building this website.  Bear with me.  The technical reasons are that I had to move from my original server (a Windows-based server) to a new one (Linux-based) and because I found that I like building data-based websites in MySQL and php more than in MS Access and Active Server Pages.

Changes

It is my intention to make a big change.  Instead of you having to wait for me to catalog my old tapes, YOU the visitors will have an opportunity to help with the process of cataloging old shows (I've gotten real busy with the rest of my life over the last several years).  I will merge all of the data I have compiled in the old system into this new one and create a new interface that will allow you access to that data as well as another that will allow you to contribute your own show run-downs.  If you want to help, but don't have any old material to catalog, maybe I can help you with that, too.

The old system organized the rundowns by PERFORMANCE.  That became confusing because so many tapes provided by different donors were in conflict: different people had different shows cataloged as being from the same date.  Some tapes are of edited/compiled shows, etc.

The new system is based on RECORDINGS ("recording_id" is the primary key for the rows in the recordings table and there is a unique field called "REC_LABEL". . (ie. Whatever each contributor has labeled his or her recording.)  Additional variables that may be helpful in sorting out your recordings include "rec_date" (the actual date the performance took place...if the recording is a complete show) and "broadcast1" (the first known broadcast date for the recording...if for example it was taped as part of a series of performances over a weekend and not broadcast until later in the year).  In the case of live broadcasts, "rec_date" and "broadcast1" should be identical, however pre-recorded and edited/compiled recordings will have different values for both fields.  In the case of compiled recordings (segments from multiple past shows) the "rec_date" will be left blank.

The "Gold Standard" or priority shows to be cataloged here will be complete performances (either live or pre-recorded) with known first broadcast dates.

Cataloging of edited/compiled shows will also be supported as a convenience, but these are not considered a priority.

Contact

If you would like to contact me about the site, please figure out what I mean by the following:
j m s l i k e r (at) c r e a m c i t y r e (dot) c o m
(Putting an actual email address or mailto: link on a webpage is just an invitation for spammers).

Progress

Step I: Create new online data tables in MySQL for rundown data (complete)

TABLE 1: recordings (recording_id (primary key), Recording Date, Venue_id, 1st Broadcast, etc. )
TABLE 2: segments (seg_id (primary key), recording_id (foreign key), onset_time, segtype_id, segment_details, added_notes/comments)
TABLE 3: performers PERFORMERS_LOOKUP (PERFORMER_ID, PerformersName , ?GroupMembers, AddlPerformer_info)
TABLE 4: venues (Venue_id, City, State, AddlVenue_Info)
TABLE 5: segment_types (segtype_id, segment_name, etc?)
TABLE 6: releases (Commercially available Album/CD/Videos/cassettes)
TABLE 7: release_trax (tracks/segments on each release title...related to segments found in rundowns)
TABLE 8: SEG_PERFORMER_JOIN (PERFORMER_ID, SEGID)  (for multiple performers within a segment...maybe overkill)