I finally did the new newsletter, and the podcast should be up sometime tomorrow. To be honest some of the podcasts I've listened to have pretty sketchy quality - and I'm trying to avoid that - so it takes me quite a bit of time to go over each minute of the podcast and try and filter out any annoying sounds, make sure it sounds clear, etc. A couple of listeners pointed out that I recorded the last one a bit too low - so I'm trying to make sure this one is just right. That's the goal anyway!

But the La Bamba newsletter 77 is UP - ¡gracias a Dios!

As always feedback is great to have - so if you see a typo don't hesitate to email.

I've had quite a few emails and comments asking me if the podcasts are gone for good, and if I've quit writing the newsletter - and I wanted to let you know that this is not the case! I had company in town that ended up being for 3 weeks, and we were very busy! On top of that last week my main computer, which is a Toshiba laptop - began to give me all sorts of trouble, and it turns out the hard drive is bad. I don't think I will lose any data, but I have to mail the computer in to Toshiba's repair center.

So I'm working from my Mac, which is fine as it has most of the files I need to do the podcast and newsletter, but I'm a bit behind just trying to get reorganized without my main machine. Sorry for the delay! We have a great newsletter and podcast coming up that focuses on La Bamba - from the Musical Spanish La Bamba Lesson - and some new advertisers to tell you about such as the new SpeakTeacher.com website - where you can get one on one Spanish instruction with an actual human being online :)

So please be patient, the new stuff should be up shortly (hopefully by tomorrow).

Ok I've decided on the music for this week's podcast: La Bamba!

I'd like to mix it up a little, and integrate some other versions with the Musical Spanish one - but I'm still looking for that, as I've discovered this week that the rights to podcast a song are indeed a bit complicated and by no means something you can ignore just because your podcast is both free and educational. Too bad eh? Would be great to have snippets from Juanes!

I had to delay the broadcast because I've had company in town this week, and as usual I ended up way behind in my household chores, which in turn causes a web chores backup as well :)

I'll keep working in it and within a few days you'll hopefully find our most entertaining podcast yet.

Thanks for the question! Actually today I've been scouting around trying to find some music to use. While I would love to use pop music from the latest latin music charts - I don't think that's possible without going through some legal business that is a pretty big hassle. But it's something to research - as I'd like the podcast to have some fun stuff in it. I might have to use some clips from Musical Spanish this week (which I own the rights to) - but I'd really like to include a variety of artists in my podcasts, so it's worth it to spend the extra time researching right now.

If anybody knows of some royalty free music clips I can use - or Spanish singing artists who would grant me permission - leave me a note on the blog!