This page provides some information accessing and navigating our private media server that we make available to friends and guests.

Logging into the Media Server

Our media server uses an application called "Plex" which can be accessed via their website or using their app on a "smart" tv or Roku device.

On a computer

• Go to https://plex.tv and click top-right menu (icon with 3 stripes). Then select "Sign In".
• Sign in using username & password provided.
• Once signed in, click the top-right menu again and select "Open Plex". This will open the Plex server in a new window.
  • If you don't see "Open Plex" button, but rather "Install Plex" or something like that, click on the "Account Settings" link. This will force the plex app to load in new window.
• After the new window loads, you may get a page that says "Select User". Click "MFFriend". No password required here.
• Once logged in, you'll land at our server Home page. See Navigating Content in Plex below for navigating the content available.

On a smart TV (or Roku device):

• Find and install or enable the channel "Plex"
• Sign in with username & password provided.
• If it doesn't offer a sign-in option but rather give a code and says to authorize, give me a call and I can authorize it. Really, it only takes a minute and and only has to be done once. I don't mind doing it at all.

Navigating Content in Plex

Unfortunately, Plex does not really have a very intuitive navigation. Here's some instructions to help you get around and find what's offered on the server.

Left Hand Navigation Menu:

• If you only see the icons in left-menu, hover over any of them and the sidebar will expand to see the menu titles.
• Concerts - Selection of live performances from some of my favorite artists. Some of these are not publically available. See more info below.
• Live Music - Audio records of live music shows.
• Movies - Selection of movies I love, mostly from the famed Japanese animé master Hayao Miyazaki. Also the musical Hamilton.
• Pueblo Dances - From my time in New Mexico, I have a great love of the Pueblo feast day dances. For a long time recording these dances in any way was strictly prohibited - which is why you've probably never seen anything like this. However, recently some recordings have been turning up on YouTube. I decided to download some and save them in case they disappear. This is the real deal: not performed for tourists but sacred seasonal community celebrations of life. I love just listenting to the songs but it is wonderful to see the beautiful outfits and just watching the whole scene. This is what it looks like when you're refined community-inclusive art/celebration/prayer over hundreds of years.

Navigating the Concert & Movies sections:

• Navigating by folder: After clicking on Concert or Movies in the left menu, the easiest way to see everything that's available is via the "Library" view with folders. If it's not already in this view (you'll see a list of folders and concerts), here's what you do:
  • Click on "Library" in the top middle of screen.
  • On the left side of main section, there's some drop-down menus for different views. If it doesn't show "Folders", select from the second menu ("Movies") and select "Folders".
  • Once in the folders view, you can navigate through my collections that are organized by folder.
• See movie info: If you click on the movie image, it will immediately start the movie. However, if you click on the title below the movie, it will show you information about the movie.
• Watching movie previews: When you're looking at the information about movie, there's a little film reel icon. That's will show the movie preview (if available).
• Navigating within a movie via "chapters": When you're watching a movie, in the control bar at bottom of screen (if not visible, hover over movie) there's an little icon with multiple squares . Click on that to see chapters (if they are defined in the movie file). In concerts, this can be used to jump to specific songs.

Some Notes about You'll find on the server

About the Concerts

These are full-length concerts from some of my favorite musicians mostly in the folk & progressive bluegrass genres. Some are publicly available on YouTube but many are not.

Some notes on particular artists:

• Billy Strings - The hottest ticket in live acoustic music! See why so many people are calling him "a once-in-a-generation talent" that displays deep roots and serious chops from bluegrass but raises above any particular genre. Oh yea, also probably the best cover band ever!
• Bela Fleck - These are live performances of his My Bluegrass Heart album that came out in 2021. The one with no date in title was his premiere live performance of these songs at Rocky Fest in July 2021. The Dec 4, 2021 performance is when the "old guard greats" while the Jan 4, 2022 performance includes not only the old guard but also some of the hottest up-and-coming players. Pretty much as good as it gets in bluegrass/jazz/classical fusion with the best of the best! A concert for the ages.
• Eva Cassidy at the Blues Alley - This is the only full-length concert captured from this amazing artist less than a year before she passed away too soon (and shortly before she became well known). Her performance here is nothing less than sublime.
• Richard Thompson - If you're not familiar with him, he's worth checking out, particularly seeing him live. Although he's huge in the UK, the US is shamefully unaware of this artist who LA Times once hailed as “the finest rock songwriter after Dylan” and “the best electric guitarist since Hendrix”.
• Tony Rice - Personally speaking, Tony Rice set the gold standard for not just blue-grass but acoustic music generally that has never been surpassed. This concert from 1986 captures him at the height of his powers. While the video is not the best, the audio is top-notch and the performance is just excellent from start to end.
• The Singles folder contains individual songs pulled off YouTube that I particularly like.

Live Concert Recordings

• Some audio recordings of live concerts. Mostly Billy Strings shows currently. Great listening!
• A couple of long recordings of Billy doing Grateful Dead covers and another of him covering 70's rock classics. Always fresh!

Exploring the Incredible World of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli

While Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most widely acclaimed and loved directors in the world, within the US, he is hardly known at all. Here's some ideas about how to delve into his world, based on age.

• For young children, definitely start with Our Neighbor Totoro which is quite possibly the most perfect kid movie of all time. It's also been known to make adults weep at it's sheer beauty and invocation of childhood.
• Some of Miyazaki's movies really aren't that appropriate for kids, which surprises western audiences. Some that are great for a little older kids and pre-teens include The Secret World of Arrietty, Kiki's Delivery Service, Whispers of the Heart and Castle in the Sky.
• A couple of his more adult films which are also among my favorites are Princess Mononoke, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Howl's Moving Castle. Be forewarned that these include some fairly adult themes (as in troubling, not sexual) and graphic battle scenes.
• Perhaps the most accessible films for general audiences are Spirited Away (which won an academy award) and Howl's Moving Castle.
• Also highly recommended are The Wind Rises (Miyazaki's final film, so far), and Porco Rosso. Porco Rosso is also a great kid's movie but, oddly enough, particularly speaks to the woes of middle-aged men.
• As a general note, the age suggestions above are because some of the themes and images might be scary to younger kids. However, an adult will find all of them engaging and not at all "kid movies"!

Miyazaki/Ghibli documentaries

Hayao Miyazaki's his approach to film-making is so different from main-stream Hollywood fare, watching his films can be almost disorienting initially for American audiances. I have found these short documentaries about his work very helpful to understand what makes his art so unique. Watching one of two of these will definitely help you "get into" his films more quickly.

• Miyazaki Dreams of Flying (3 min) is just a short piece about Miyazaki's obsession with flying with images of some of his amazing flying machines and scenes. It's also a great, brief introduction to the incredible beauty of the worlds and images Miyazaki creates.
• Hayao Miyazaki the Essence of Humanity (16 min) is a longer analysis of what makes Miyazaki so unique not only as an animation master but as a film maker. It's slightly academic in tone but very good.
• The Miyazaki Problem a Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective (16 min) is a kind of critique of Miyazaki's approach to film making. Not sure I agree but pretty interesting.
• Never Ending Man Hayao Miyazaki (48 min) is a longer look at Miyazaki after he was suppose to be retired but still working. Interesting portrait of the extent to which this curmudgeonly, brilliant artist pushes himself and his team to produce his unique movies.
• Why Miyazaki's Films Sound Pretty (13 min) is pretty theory-heavy but is fascinating in what it reveals about music and culture. In any case, as you watch these movies, the music will definitely stick with you and you'll be curious why. This tells you.