Admiral Schleuse has devised two games so far – one using songs (Bracketology) and one featuring artists (Survivor).

Is an albums game right around the corner?

Also, remember back to the Sweet 16 Preview; schleuse’s post on Nov. 5:

“Oh, I got it--fab four round (sorry, just woke up and wasn't reading attentively enough). Uh oh...I feel an idea percolating...”

The first hints of Survivor were made on October 4, and the game was revealed a few days later. The November 5th idea refers to something that has not been seen as yet. Will this new game involve the Beatles?

Lol, ooh, schleuse will be panicking now!

For some reason, I got so excited about the combination of the last two weeks of bracketology and my plan for Survivor, that I just couldn't shut up, and I launched Survivor earlier than I had planned to. Some people complained about the overlap, and in retrospect I wish I had waited a few weeks.

About Philadelphia, I will say two things today:

1. It's not the Beatles thing. iirc, that was just a notion of running a small 64-song tournament with just the top-ranked Beatles songs (since the Beatles are the only act with that many songs on this site). I decided not to mess with it; if anybody else wants to give it a shot, feel free.

2. It's still under construction. I promised May 26, and I'm sticking to that. I think you'll be surprised, and I think you'll like it.

That's as much as I'll say--beyond that, I ain't bitin'. Still WAY too early...

I’m pushing this thread back up top because…well, because I’m shameless. I will unveil Philly five weeks from today, on May 26, and I want to drum up a little interest before it starts.

(By the way, here in the US, May 26 is Memorial Day, which is kind of the unofficial beginning of summer. I hadn’t planned it that way, but that makes a nice symbolic kickoff date.)

What I envision doing with this thread is to, well, drop hints about Philly. Yes, Anthony, we’re close enough now.

So, first, here’s a re-post of a couple of very vague hints I mentioned on one of the Survivor threads:

1. Where Survivor is about expelling artists and “inventing weaknesses,” Philly will be about celebrating artists and discussing why they’re great. Whereas bracketology and Survivor, each in their own way, virtually guarantee that there will be some negativity, negativity in Philly will be...pointless.

2. The very nature of Philly will probably make it unappealing to people who don’t know music very well. Or at least, it'll encourage people (including me) to find out more about music they don't know well.

Just one or two new observations for today (although I don’t know if I’d call these “hints”):

Philly (no, that’s NOT what it’s gonna be called) won’t actually start on May 26. I’m figuring right now on a start date around July 1, with about a month of discussion and planning beforehand (although I have the basics ready to go now). There are some details I don’t want to finalize until I’ve gotten feedback from you guys.

However, I understand that somebody (Moonbeam? John?) will soon be firing up the Favorite Artists poll. I’d prefer not to start the voting process on Philly until that one’s over.

Every Monday between now and May 26, I’ll try to post one or two more hints about Philly as a way of (hopefully) whetting everyone’s appetite (if I forget, remind me). Any speculation is of course encouraged, although I retain the right to maintain a Sphinxlike silence until the Big Day.

Cheers.

schleuse - you are a good man. Ever since my early exit from Survivor, I've been sitting aimlessly here at work, patiently waiting for some clues about the new game. I'm excited.

Any hint as to what sort of homework I should start planning on :)

If Philly is going to expand my musical horizons, I'm all for it! I'm well aware of the fact that I know a considerable a lot less about music than most of you, but I still want to participate.

As for the artists poll, it doesn't seem to be in high demand right now, so I might wait to see if I can drum up interest in it first.

I've got an unused $20 iTunes gift card that I'm willing to donate as a prize for this game.

If this game encourages comments, maybe the prize could go to the best overall commentator (as voted by the participants of the game)?

Just a thought anyway.

(Oh, and I'd like to echo Slush's question.)

I’ve got a list of hints to choose from, so, let’s see…Slush and Anthony want to start doing homework for Philly. Yeah, I can say one or two things about that.

Philly will involve an extensive knowledge of music history. BUT, as I said last time, if your knowledge isn’t as deep as you’d like (mine isn’t), particpating in Philly will be a great way to get it.

One of things I’ve wanted to create since I started doing this stuff was a project that worked chronologically. So in a sense, Philly will be like a timeline of music history. Kind of like the Yearly Chart on a Daily Basis (except not on a daily basis). In other words, we’ll start with the earlier stuff, and proceed, eventually, to the present.

Now, that doesn’t mean we’re gonna start with Scott Joplin and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. It does, however, mean that we’re gonna start before the Beatles. So, at least at the beginning, my suggestion is to take a look at AM’s top artists of the 50s, and even the top artists of 1900-49, and start refreshing yourself on whatever pre-1960 music catches your fancy. Actually, the Yearly Chart on a Daily Basis is a good place to get started.

If you hate (or just don’t know much about) pre-Beatles stuff, this is a good opportunity to expand your horizons a little…if you still don’t like it, well, we’ll be getting to the mid-sixties pretty quickly.

****

Anthony, thanks for the offer; if you want to make your gift card a prize, we can probably figure out a way to do that. Yes, this project will involve comments...I’ve got another plan for an incentive for thoughtful participation, but since I’m a cheap bastard, it involves only glory, not money.

Four weeks to go.

If you hate (or just don’t know much about) pre-Beatles stuff, this is a good opportunity to expand your horizons a little…if you still don’t like it, well, we’ll be getting to the mid-sixties pretty quickly.

I think this applies to me! I actually don't own any albums from before 1967, and my taste for music doesn't really allow much from pre-1972, if I'm honest. I'm hoping this will allow me to expand my horizons and break down some of my own musical biases, of which I know I have too many.

I'll look at this as an opportunity to get in more pre-rock listening primarily (and a bit more "current" music). I've been trying to come up with my own personal 1000 songs list for the thread elsewhere and have made an Excel spreadsheet for that process and if the basic stat holds, it appears that 75% of my music preferences center around 60s-80s music (60s is biggest at 26%) with only 11% from before 1960 and 14% after 1989. A lot of that is no doubt due to my jazz and standards weakness (only 1% and 4% respectively of my listening) as well as rap for post 1989 (2% of my listening).

Hey Schleuse, when do you think this will officially begin? If I'm running the artist poll, I want to get an idea of when I should reveal it. Perhaps I should ask instead when the artist survivor will end.

I've been thinking July 1 for the official kickoff of Philly. That's not a firm date, but I don't want to drag it out too long. We'll collaborate on that decision after the May 26 unveiling.

Survivor should end by the end of July (good lord willin' and the creek don't rise).

OK, today’s topic is discussions about music.

I intended it to be kind of a trademark of bracketology and Survivor that comments were required. With Philly, I want to push that to the next level. In some ways, Philly’s going to be at least as much about discussing music as it is about voting.

Even though I haven’t definitely nailed down the start date yet, I have settled on a schedule. I think. Rather than one round of voting per week, each “round” will take place over a three-week period. As I envision it, it’ll work like this: each round, we’ll have one week of discussion, kicking ideas back and forth, followed by two weeks of voting.

Why the discussion period before the voting? The ballot comments in bracketology and Survivor have certainly generated a lot of discussion, but that format sometimes feels to me like “Ready, Fire, Aim.” I think a pre-voting discussion period will encourage open-mindedness and thoughtful planning. Plus, it’ll be a lot of fun.

Votes will still require comments. Some traditions are too stubborn to die.

Keep watching this space: three weeks to go.

This week’s hint is a day late—I apologize to loyal readers of this thread (both of them).

One of the biggest differences between Philly and my previous projects has to do with the results.

With bracketology, the Big Payoff came at the end, when we crowned the winning song. Same thing with Survivor: one artist will win. Philly won’t work like that—there will be a payoff after every round of voting. There will be no “champion”…instead there will be winners every round.

That’s a good thing, because Philly’s going to take a lot longer than bracketology and Survivor. I wouldn’t feel right about asking everyone to participate in a tournament/game that takes too long to resolve (I’m amazed and pleased that so many have the patience to stick with Survivor). But this won’t be a tournament or a war of attrition…you want a good metaphor? Philly will be like a house which we’ll furnish a little more every week.

In 13 days, I’ll give you the blueprint.

****

On a related note; I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Philly will proceed chronologically, and suggested that people interested in voting in the early rounds bone up on their pre-1960 music.

I just remembered that nicolas, Paul, and I did a very informal poll of the greatest pre-1950 artists. As compiled by Paul (thanks!), here’s our pre-1950 top ten and all of their AM-ranked songs.

1. HANK WILLIAMS. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry; Your Cheatin’ Heart; I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive; Lovesick Blues; Hey Good Lookin’; Cold, Cold Heart; Move It on Over; Lost Highway; Jambalaya (On the Bayou).
2. BILLIE HOLIDAY. Strange Fruit; God Bless the Child; Body and Soul; Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?).
3. ROBERT JOHNSON. Cross Road Blues; Hellhound on My Trail; Love in Vain; Sweet Home Chicago; Terraplane Blues; Come on in My Kitchen.
4. LOUIS ARMSTRONG. West End Blues; Hello Dolly!; Mack the Knife; Let’s Do It.
5. LEADBELLY. The Midnight Special; Goodnight Irene.
6. WOODY GUTHRIE. This Land Is Your Land.
7. DUKE ELLINGTON. Take the “A” Train; Mood Indigo; In a Sentimental Mood; Black and Tan Fantasy; Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue; Black, Brown and Beige; Come Sunday.
8. BOB WILLS. New San Antonio Rose; Take Me Back to Tulsa.
9. THE CARTER FAMILY. Wildwood Flower; Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye); Keep on the Sunny Side.
10. JIMMIE RODGERS. Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas); Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standin’ on the Corner); In the Jailhouse Now.

That’s four country artists (Williams, Wills, the Carters, and Rodgers), three folk/blues artists (Johnson, Leadbelly, and Guthrie) and three jazz artists (Holliday, Armstrong, and Ellington).

This list is a good place to start on the pre-1950 stuff. I assume people don’t need quite as much guidance for 1950-1959.

Thanks again, schleuse -- still excited over here.

I'm really going to be over my head with the pre-1960 stuff (and really, the pre-1970 stuff as well), but I'm really excited about this, and maybe Philly will be the impetus to break down those barriers for me!

With only a week to go, I’m suddenly painfully aware that I’ve built up a lot of hype for Philly, and I’d better be able to deliver on it. Ah, well—I’ll trust my instincts; I’m really excited about this. I loved bracketology, and I like Survivor—but I feel like this one’s gonna leave both of them in the dust.

In wrapping up this preview thread, first let me recap the hints from previous weeks.

Philly will…

1. …be about celebrating music.

2. …go through music history chronologically.

3. …have a LOT of discussion about the music we’re considering.

4. …have a “payoff” in terms of voting results not at the end, but every 3 weeks.

Some of these hints are vague, I know (that was on purpose). I haven’t really given much of an idea of what Philly’s going to be like. So, here’s the most I can tell you right now:

Philly will be about artists, not albums or songs (although albums and songs will have an important role, as I’ll explain next week). And unlike my previous projects, Philly won’t be limited to a restricted list (256 songs in bracketology, 101 artists in Survivor). In theory, any artist will be eligible for consideration—although discussion will focus mainly on the artists listed on AM (which is still a giant list at 2000+).

Don’t panic, though. Since we’re going chronologically, we’ll never be looking at the entire pool of artists at once. For instance, at the start we’ll only be dealing with artists from before 1960 (and maybe the first year or two of the 1960’s).

OK, that’s the end of the hints…I don’t feel like I can tell you much more about Philly without actually just coming out and telling you what it is (in fact, with the information above, I betcha somebody guesses in the next seven days).

****

The Big Unveiling will come one week from today. That’s Memorial Day, and I’ll be out of town this weekend (camping in Bastrop), so I’ll post it when I get home—that’ll be Monday evening in my part of the world, so early Tuesday for most of you outside North America.

Can we guess?

And by guessing I mean posting the guess here – risking spoiling the surprise.

Sure. But I'm not going to tell you whether you're right or wrong.

(I just hope you don't post a cooler idea than the one I have in mind!)

The sentence "any artist will be eligible for consideration" made me think it would be us creating a sort of AM Hall of Fame, discussing which artists should be included for which period and eventually including a certain amount of artists into the AM HoF. This also fits with the other hints.

Don't answer, schleuse
I like surprises
Anyway, if Stephan guesses right, I like the idea

Don't worry, nicolas. I'm not telling. Like I said above, no answers from me until May 26.

This looks like a marvellous project - and as a fan of early popular music I for one am especially looking forward to the pre-1950 part. I recently whittled down my list of favourite artists to just ten, and two of them were pre-1950 bands.

Why do I have a sneaking suspicion about this being published?