Latest Tweet ↓ |
||
|
                |
|
Rebecca made a post about this yesterday[miss604], and I’m not going to put the YouTube video on my site. However, I really think you should go over there and watch this.
Weird Al Yankovic has been a favorite of mine since I was four, and it’s amazing that he is still running strong. I dislike the original version of this song so much, but “White and Nerdy” might be some of his best work yet.
His new album lands in stores on September 26th.
Rouge Wave is a band that I’ve played on the podcast before. Since emailing the guys, I’ve been put onto their mailing list, which is a common thing that happens whenever I email artists. This note came in this morning that I thought was worth passing on here.
On September 30th 2006, Rogue Wave will host a benefit concert at The Independent to raise money for drummer Pat Spurgeon, who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
The benefit concert will feature performances by Rogue Wave, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie,) Matthew Caws (Nada Surf,) Ryan Miller (Guster,) John Vanderslice, and other special guests. Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snickett) will MC the event.
Pat was born with one kidney and it failed. He had his first transplant in 1993, which served him well until now. After 13 years, it has started to deteriorate. He has been on dialysis since April and is hoping desperately to find a donor. Some of their friends have gotten tested to see if they are a match, but Pat has yet to hear good news. Provided he finds a donor, there will be an enormous amount of costs that both Pat and his donor will incur.
In a logical world, medical insurance would cover his donor’s and his expenses after the procedure, but it does not; so he and his family must carry the financial burden. The expenses can be huge. We are trying to raise money for costs like: donor’s travel, care, bills, lost work wages, etc., as well as Pat’s expenses, care, bills, etc. while he is in recovery.
If you cannot attend the show, we encourage you to donate whatever you can by visiting www.roguewavemusic.com
Thank you for your love and continued support,
Rogue Wave
(Zach, Pat, Gram, Evan)9/30/06
The Independent
628 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Doors: 8:30pm; Show: 9:00pm
Tickets available now on www.ticketweb.com
Talk about an impressive line-up. I’d love to road trip down for this one, but the government of Canada would prefer it if I didn’t leave the country. So if you think you might be able to make it out, this would be for an excellent cause.
Rebecca posted something about their cover of “Hey Ya” by Outkast yesterday, and while that is absolutely brilliant, I liked this one just as much. And you can find out more about Obadiah Parker at their website.
Covers are delicate things. I’m all for them, as long as you make the song more than just a carbon copy of the original. Of course, there are some folks out there, like bands you find at The Roxy, that it works for. Well, “works” can be taken lightly. Ok, maybe poorly, but you see what I’m getting at, right?
If you are a fan of independent music and internet radio, then you are just as sad as I am to here about the recent decision by the folks at WOXY.com[wiki] to pull the plug.
This is the moment all of us hoped would never come. After plugging away at this for the past two years, it’s become pretty clear that operating woxy.com as a stand-alone Internet “radio station” is not going to cut it. Our operating costs are higher than you might think, and the revenue we were able to generate from advertising isn’t close to supporting what we’re doing. Even membership revenue wasn’t enough to get us there. When your business doesn’t make money, you eventually go out of business.
With this in mind, we’ve been looking for either a significant partner – someone with a larger plan into which woxy.com could be plugged – or an outright buyer. That search hasn’t been fruitful. We’re still willing to entertain offers and explore possibilities (email bryan@woxy.com), but our time is short. We thought it was time to share our situation with you … to give you a heads-up. [...]
Barring something exceptional happening in the next two weeks, we will silence our broadcasts on Friday, September 15th.
Sometimes no matter how hard you try and how special the thing you do, it simply isn’t enough to beat the odds. It’s the cold reality of business that not even we could escape. When September 15th comes, we’ll meet it proudly with heads held high and celebrate the past two years of woxy.com and the spirit of 97X. For those lucky enough to have been part of it, The Future of Rock and Roll will forever be in our minds and hearts. [woxy]
Heartbreaking. I nearly cried the day I found out that the radio station that used to be 97.7FM, WOXY, was sold off to some radio group and dismantled, only to become some variety hits station(aka crap). It was the, “97X! Bam! The future of rock and roll.” Real DJs playing real music. Totally awesome stuff that I would listen to via their online streams.
The beauty of the operation is that even though the broadcast portion of the station was sold, the programming was retained. A dream would be for WOXY.com to make a return to the world of radio somewhere. It’s some of the best, new music that you won’t hear anywhere else, not to mention nearly all of it being independent artists.
I’m hoping for a last minute hero to help them out, but until then, I’ll miss WOXY.com a lot.
We’ve jammed a lot into this summer, and this week has been no exception. I accompanied Rebecca to another MetroBlogging Vancouver meetup this past Tuesday night, but there was no recording taking place at this one. It was just a small group and a good time had by all. And if you were there and didn’t have fun, I know that we did.
On Wednesday, Preston threw a dinner party at some Chinese place that I don’t know the name of or how to get there, really. He picked up the tab to celebrate the ending of his bankruptcy. One should note that CDs and DVDs don’t sell well on eBay anymore. He’s off to bigger and better things now.
SO much seafood. I think I dreamed about it because it was that good and seemed like they were never going to stop bringing out more courses. Literally, at one point, the host tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Good luck!”
I’ve had a variety of projects going on lately. I’ll drop a hint about a new podcast project that I’m working on, but that’s about it for now. More as those details get sorted out. I’m also the new guy in charge of membership for the Association of Music Podcasters(AMP). Learning the ropes there has been interesting. All of this has put a kink into getting a podcast out in time, not to mention more network problems with Shaw(I shake my fist at you!).
Tonight, BarCampVancouver kicks off. Rebecca and I are both going, but we’ll only be there for a little while tonight. We’ll return on Saturday morning for the presentations and discussions. I hope to get some ideas, meet some cool people, share opinions, and see what other trouble I can get myself into. I’m not completely sure what to expect, but I’m taking what I’m doing with the blog and podcast to see what’s up.
Matthew Good has invited a few, select people to come over to his apartment tonight for a completely unplugged, stripped down performance. This will be, according to him, his last night in Vancouver. He’s packing up and heading out to wander the world like Kane in Kung Fu.
Rebecca, on her string of good luck, emailed to be there. Not only did she get in, but she is live blogging the event. I’m going as a plus one and really have no clue what to expect. I feel like I’ll be witnessing a major moment in music history, and let’s hope the folks at BarCampVancouver are cool with us missing out on their cool thing to go do this other incredible opportunity.
Ideally, what I would love to do, is just have my minidisc recording in some corner of the room. I could care less about quality and the fact that it would be done in mono. It would be an incredible thing to record, if not podcast. We’ll just have to see what Matt is comfortable with.
Outside of all of this, I’m focusing on Sunday. Oh yes… Beach? I’ve got my eye on you. And maybe some sleep, too.
For those who listen to the podcast, you have heard me mention Vate more than a few times. He’s a mexican electronic music artist that contacted me some months back about playing his music on the podcast. I have since made his material a permanent fixture by using it in a variety of samples, the main theme being the obvious one.
Vate has been doing the Electronica Mexicana podcast for a while now, but the updates come at various intervals. It’s a straight up feed, served through Webjay.org, and the feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/electronicamexicana. Updating my group of subscribed podcasts today, he released the tracks from his latest album, “060303″.
If you dig the electronic, you should subscribe. I listened through them once so far and really like what I heard. And you know that this stuff will be making its way into the podcast.
The Recording Industry Association of America[wiki] had a lawsuit against a Larry Scantlebury of Michigan for illegally downloading music over the net. Apparently, the actual offender was his stepson, but, naturally, the lawsuit came against Larry. This sounds like a common story that we’ve heard before in the news.
What’s unusual is that Larry passed away in June. Did the RIAA drop the case? Nope.
The RIAA represents Warner Bros. Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings, BMG Music, Arista Records LLC, Capitol Records, Inc., and Atlantic Recording Corporation all of whom brought suit against Larry. The lawyer representing the RIAA is Matthew E. Krichbaum of law firm Soble Rowe Krichbaum LLP (although I’m not sure if he’ll answer, he can be reached at matthew@srkllp.com in case you want to ask him questions about the case). [...]
Getting back to, Mr. Scantlebury, apparently, his death isn’t enough for the RIAA to take its business elsewhere. No, Krichbaum has already invested time and resources into this case and so now, he must still bring it across the finish line. So, in pursuit of a settlement with our war heroe’s estate, Krichbaum has made a motion to allow Larry’s family 60 days to grieve after which time they’ll have to give depositions. [zdnet]
Two months and then his family was under the gun by the RIAA to pay up on the settlement. Incredibly cold hearted, yes. There is something to be said about how the legal system works in events like this, but compassion is not apart of the equation here. Deaths in the family take a toll on emotions and finances, so even a year or two could have been more appropriate if they were that hellbent on seeing the case through.
Now that this story has circled the news outlets and blogs, the RIAA is doing some clean up to their image of being a heartless beast of control. They dropped the case.
Our hearts go out to the Scantleberry family for their loss. We had decided to temporarily suspend the productive settlement discussions we were having with the family. Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing. Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case. [boingboing]
Aside from misspelling Scantlebury’s name, the RIAA is showing some heart and a swift CYA move in the public relations department. Maybe the spelling issue actually shows some human element, but they’re far from able to demonstrate a sense of humor. Cory Doctorow lays it out pretty well on the same post over at BoingBoing.
This is reminiscent of the RIAA’s approach to things like YouTube lipsynch videos: “our songs are released to be listened to and nothing more; should you dare to make them part of your life, we will use the copyright law we bought to break you.” [boingboing]
Warner Brothers Records is getting into the business of podcasting. A major record label doing such things is not the worst thing in the world, but I take issue when they start calling it “indie” and refer to the music played as being by “independent artists”.
Murmurs and whispers around the podosphere have hinted that Bands Under the Radar, described as “a music podcast featuring unsigned bands and indie artists,” is not “indie” at all, but is in fact a podcast being quietly produced and distributed by Warner Brothers Records.
The podcast features music from “indie bands”, such as Tom Petty, Chris Isaak, Kasey Chambers, Better Than Ezra, Mark Knopfler, Johnny Cash, Loleatta Holloway & Muse – all Warner Brothers artists. [podcastingnews]
The creepy thing is that when you go to the website of the podcast, it seems like a total independent setup, complete with a Blogger look and feel to it. I have yet to listen to an episode, but let’s be clear about what’s going on here. This is not what it is being portrayed as. Tom Petty and Johnny Cash are far from being considered “indie”.
Kami Knake, the host for the program is New Media Coordinator for Warner Brothers Records, and the podcast is served up by Warner Bros. [...]
We asked Knake whether her podcast, which has a low-budget “indie” quality to it, is in fact an official corporate podcast made on behalf of Warner Brothers Records.
“It’s something I started before I came to WBR,” said Knake. “I do play WBR artists, but that’s by choice. My podcast has nothing to do with WBR.
”
While Knake’s official word is that her podcast has nothing to do with Warner Brothers, Bands Under the Radar features Warner Brothers artists, is created by a Warner Brothers employee and is delivered from Warner Brothers’ servers. [podcastingnews]
I’ve often said that major labels need to start something different to compete in a vastly changing industry. This, on the other hand, is not what I had in mind. It’s down right sneaky.
Some of my posts about Rescue Me[wiki] bring in a lot of traffic, and if you are a fan of the show, then we both know why. Season three has been nuts this far, and we’ve been loving it. I don’t want to give too much away as it has yet to actually start airing in Canada. If that makes you wonder as to how I’m watching the new episodes, then you really need to explore the wonders of the interweb some more.
Some one who passed through a while back asked me about one of the songs in a recent episode. Upon my ventures for info on my post about Jericho, I stopped by the Wiki for Rescue Me, and there they are.
Season 3
- 301: Stereophonics – “Devil” (Language. Sex. Violence. Other?)
- 302: The Twilight Singers – “Bonnie Brae” (“Powder Burns”)
- 303:
- 304: Screaming Blue Messiahs – “Wild Blue Yonder” (“Gun Shy”)
- 305: Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Open Heart Surgery” (“Bravery Repetition & Noise”)
Seasons one and two are there as well. I know that episode 306 is out and is not listed in the entry. The song in that one was “Numb” by Portishead. I did some digging but cannot come up for the song in 303 where Sheila was “cleaning” her son’s room. If it pains you that much to know, check out the RescueMeForum and post something in hopes of finding an answer.
I also found this news which should make all fans rejoice.
Cable channel FX has ordered a fourth season of Emmy-nominated actor Denis Leary’s firefighter drama Rescue Me.
The series will begin production early next year in anticipation of launching in second-quarter 2007. The order was for 13 episodes. [tv.com]
Exactly what the music industry needs.
EMI and Warner Music were locked in a two-way $4.6 billion takeover battle on Wednesday, with each trying to acquire the other to create a combined company that would shrink the industry to three dominant players.
London-based EMI Group Plc, home to Coldplay and Robbie Williams, said it had rejected a 2.5 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) cash offer from its smaller U.S. rival, calling the bid “wholly unacceptable”.
At the same time, EMI revealed that it had sweetened its takeover bid for New York-based Warner Music, whose artists include Madonna and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to $31 a share or $4.6 billion in total, from its original May offer of $28.50, although the new bid was also rejected. [reuters]
Oh, by the way, I was being sarcastic.
This is just asking for more problems within the music industry. The bigger something gets, the more you have to feed the giant. Record companies are already having a hard enough time dealing with the growth of the digital music format. Getting bigger is not the answer.
Hi, my name is John Bollwitt. I'm a broadcast radio engineering/I.T. technician in Vancouver and co-founder of sixty4media. I'm a small town boy from Iowa who has been living in Vancouver, B.C. since 2005 and enjoy hockey, technology, photography, and staying fit. |
Social Links |
Powered by WordPress → Designed by sixty4media
|
