space echo
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Guilty Holiday Listening
after a personal throwback night at Spaceland checking out the American Music Club Playing Their Greatest Hits (for free), I've stumbled upon a recent EP by the Bedroom Walls... nice accompaniment to my rainy holiday week trips into a deserted downtown area. the track about "Dots on the Wall" sounds good driving past the still striking Vons workers warming themselves over a makeshift picket line bonfire on a damp Dec. 23rd evening commute.
it's a little sappy, but it works.
Link
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
More on Organized Crime
digital downloading is the cover story of the new Punk Planet, complete with the requisite EBOY illustrations.
Jenny Toomey continues the prohibition analogy, Ian MacKaye comes off like an old fart curmudgeon, and there's also an interesting interview tidbit with Sandy Pearlman in which he breaks down the history of platform development in the industry.
a related article ran in the LA times the other day about the negotiations between the majors and the filesharing networks. here's a couple of good quotes where "Da Bosses" sound more like characters out of Bugsy Malone than the recent Brian De Palma flick:
"Said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America: "It reminds me of negotiating with the mob. 'If you just pay us some insurance, your storm window won't break anymore.' There's an emotional reaction to that."
"I think that the peer-to-peer guys are more willing to let bygones be bygones," said one file-sharing executive who, like most of those interviewed for this story, spoke only on condition of anonymity. "But it doesn't negate the fact that we're dealing with a bunch of idiots."
...and in the meantime, the NL has become a giant redlight district. millions of flashing DSL modem LEDs twinkle on.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Lists of Five
This guy Merlin is pretty damn funny. He's got a blog that's all lists of 5 things, here's a good example:
Five fake Brian Wilson songs from the mid-70s
1. Envelopes are Good for Mailing Letters
2. (We're Having) Leftover Pot Roast for Lunch
3. 12:15, 12:15--It's Almost 12:16
4. Mike Keeps Hollering (at Me and My Imaginary Friend)
5. French Fries in My Beard (Make Me Happy, But Sometimes Very Sad)
Link
Friday, December 19, 2003
Good news for music downloaders
Exciting news from AP Music, the US Court of Appeals has ruled that ISPs don't have to provide information on their file-swapping users to the RIAA. There's a bunch of people who already paid multi-thousand dollar settlements to the RIAA because their ISPs weren't willing to participate in fighting the original decision, they must feel like serious chumps now. I wonder where their money went?
Link
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Is the world getting more evil, or is it just my MP3 collection?
Lately I've been on this insane heavy metal kick. It's like one day I just had the urge to download some Slayer, and the next thing I know I'm driving around LA listening to some of the most evil, insane music I've ever heard. Since I usually listen to hip-hop, reggae, jungle and classic rock, I can't help thinking that this is some kind of response to current events. Maybe the fantasy evil of metal is a welcome escape from the real, terrifyingly evil behavior of the Bush administration. Either way, I like driving around with the stereo blasting, singing along with lines like "What I am and what I want? I'm only after DEATH!" and "I am lord I take command..." I wonder if any of our soldiers in Iraq listen to this stuff over there. Here's a short playlist (just songs, I'm not up to full albums yet):
Slayer - Raining Blood
Morbid Angel - Fall From Grace
Mercyful Fate - Come to the Sabbath
Motorhead - The Ace of Spades
What a Crappy Present!
Great holiday advice from the folks at downhillbattle.org on why NOT to buy your kids CDs as presents. (Thanks, BoingBoing!)
Link
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
ATF... M?!?
the Untouchables are gunning for your hard drive... the industry news lately brings to mind a certain Clash song.
the new face of the RIAA
straight shooting from The Nashville Skyline
Monday, December 15, 2003
Xmas comes early for George W. Bush?
Is this wrong? Something about Saddam's picture on the front page struck me as a tragic Santa... must be the beard. At any rate, it's one hell of an xmas present for Bush, isn't it? Of course I don't agree with the pundits on CNN who say that "he's got the election sewn up" - I mean, come on.
Dub Zen in Meatspace
Hunting for elusive records is one thing, but hunting for rare dubplates is just psychotic. Here's a list of the "top ten baddest roots dubplates of all time" according to Jah Warrior, a roots reggae producer from the UK. In the immortal words of Brad Hamilton, "Learn it, know it, live it."
Link
Recent Playlist
what I'm listening to while trying to find a place to hang the Eldridge Cleaver FBI wanted poster in my new LA pad:
Eugene McDaniels - Outlaw (check the Wax Poetics interview)
Terry Callier - Occasional Rain/What Color Is Love
V/A - A Sun Ra Dedication: The Myth Lives On
Love - Forever Changes (getting ready to buy the live DVD)
Roy Ayers - Virgin Ubiquity
this is always good for inspiration too: Link
The Mustache Theory
I'm sitting in a downtown LA office this morning, and the mail comes in around 9:30am.
in the mail is this week's issue of Time Magazine with the photo of "Captured Saddam" looking all crazy and hairy and the words "We Got Him" underneath his face. if they captured him Saturday night, and had a press conference where Paul Bremer uttered those words at some point even later, how the hell did they print the cover, write the story, and get millions (?) of issues printed and mailed on Sunday to arrive Monday morning all over the US? one of the guys in the office says he saw something on a TV news show this weekend about Time changing their cover, but still it seems beyond belief to me... I mean how did the postal service deal with it?
also, I know it may be pushing things a little far, but when I saw the news yesterday I was shaving about a week's worth of a beard so I was a little more observant than usual re: Saddam's before and after photos. nevertheless, to me, his mustache seems at least a few days thicker in the clean shaven shot.
and doesn't the timing strike anyone as unusually fortuitous? when I was in corpo land, monday mornings were always the time when big positive press releases came out. the only thing better than this for the Bush campaign on the Monday after the week in which the stock market makes a huge gain, would be the capture of Osama. it'll be interesting if/when they announce that.
I'm just waiting for the Paris Hilton style video leak of Bush & Saddam in a "spider hole" right around Thanksgiving sharing some cranberry sauce & stuffing.
wasn't there an old Bugs Bunny cartoon that went something like this?
-stark raving Ian.
