Friday, June 07, 2002

For My Wife: Hey cupcake! They chopped down the big dead tree in the backyard-- all of it. As a result, the back yard looks a bit bigger, the lemon plant and dill got trampled and we have a hell of a lot of firewood stacked against the fence. I guess that beats having the apt. crushed by a giant tree. You'll be home tomorrow-- I'm so excited! See u then!

For You Strangers:

• Jay-Z, 311, N.E.R.D. On Sprite's Liquid Mix Tour
  Here's the official line-up: Jay-Z with Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, and Freeway, 311, Hoobastank, N.E.R.D., Nappy Roots, Talib Kweli, and other groups to be announced. De La Soul were mentioned earlier, but not in this story. Still, looks like a pretty good tour.
  
  
• Robbin Crosby Passes Away
  You don't need to follow the link, becuase it won't tell you anything more than I write here. Sorry, it was the only story I could find. Anyway, Robbin Crosby-- one of the original guitarists for 80s hair-metal band Ratt-- passed away yesterday after a long battle with HIV. He was 41 years old. R.I.P., dude.
  
  
• Getting a Lock on Broadband
  Very good article in Salon about how the FCC is in position to give a few big companies the rights to control everyone's high-speed Internet access. Read the article and get in touch with your representatives.
  

posted by Randy on 11:04 AM | permanent link to this entry

Thursday, June 06, 2002

For My Wife: Hi baby, how is the East Coast? Don't forget to represent for the West Coast! Westside! Last night I cooked the fired chicken so I would have something for lunch. Mmmmmmmm fried chicken. Also , I went and had a drink for jeffreyp's b'day and some watering hole in union square. On my way back, I made a stop a Borders Books and Music. I made it out of there....with only one new CD to my name! It's pretty cool-- Pirates Choice by Orchestra Baobab. Traditional latin music as played by a band from Senegal, recorded in 1982. Very cool Afro-Cuban stuff. You'll like it. i bought it after listening to it on a listening station and realizing that there was no way I'd ever remember Orchestra Baobab at a later date. That's all the news. I hope all is well! See you soon!

For You Strangers

• Dee Dee Ramone Found Dead In Los Angeles.
  *Sigh* He changed the way we all count to four. Dead, apparently, of an overdose. *Sigh*
  
  
• Metallica Spin Out Surprise Show As 'Bob's Band'
  Unless they picked a coffee shop, it is doubtful Metallica could find a smaller venue in San Francisco to play a surprise show. The kicked off with a bunch of Ramones covers, which is a very weird preminition.
  
  
• Michael Jackson Joins New Coalition
  Jackson has aligned himself with the Rev. Al Sharpton and attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr., who earlier in the day announced they are forming a coalition to investigate whether artists are being financially exploited by record labels. I'm totally down with their fight, but it's hard to rally round the cause with this disreputible bunch leading the charge. I'll stick with The Future of Music Coilition and their allies.
  
  
• ABC Bleeps 'Jesus' Out of Broadcast
  ...and no one's happy about it. On the May 23 edition of "The View," Meredith Vieira noted that the daily weigh-ins of her dieting co-host, Joy Behar, had ended. "Yes, and thank you, thank you, Jesus, is all I have to say," Behar replied. Her words were aired live in much of the country, but when ABC broadcast a taped version of the show on the West Coast, "Jesus" was edited out. ABC standards prevent folks from saying "Jesus" unless specfically talking about Jesus Christ. Funny thing is, even Rev. Jerry Falwell was offended...by the deletion!
  
  
• Senator Boycotts Backstreet Boy
  Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, boycotted Thursday's hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works clean air subcommittee to protest the appearance of Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson. It's just a joke to think that this witness can provide members of the United States Senate with information on important geological and water quality issues," Voinovich said Wednesday. "We're either serious about the issues or we're running a sideshow."
  
  
• Craig Newmark Against The Machine!
  The King of Craig's List is the lead plantiff in a suit from ReplayTV customers represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against the entertainment industry to protect their rights to skip over commercials and record television programs for later viewing using digital video recorders. EFF has asked a federal court to declare that Replay TV owners have the right to digitally record television programs, fast-forward through commercials, and send shows to other devices. Go, Craig, Go!
  

posted by Randy on 1:46 PM | permanent link to this entry

Wednesday, June 05, 2002

For My Wife: Hi, baby-- Miss you lots! I'm still pretty sure The Mole is Darwin, in case you were curious. I won a Late Show With David Letterman t-shirt yesterday becuase I entered a contnest on their web site. I sent in an entry for a top ten list they publish evey week on their web site. It was two weeks ago, and I don't remember what the list was. i know my entry was someting about making Kraft Cheese and Macaroni even cheesier, 'cos I always enter that. So, anyway, I'm a winner! Love you! Come home soon!

For You Strangers:

• Any way you spin it, music industry in trouble
  
• Hey Mr. DJ, open the request line
  
• Music fans suffer from CD sticker shock
  
• A burning issue: Music piracy and downloads
  
• Music fans find dearth of quality
  A lovely series of stories in USA Today about how the music industry is in a self-destructive rut, from the label to radio and so on down the line. When your industry is decimated in the pages of of a mainstream paper tiger like USA Today, fer cryin' out loud, you know it is time to make a change.
  
  
• R. Kelly to be Indicted in Child Pornography Case
  Prosecutors have a videotape sent anonymously to the Sun-Times appearing to show R. Kelly committing various sex acts with a 14-year-old girl. The Class 1 felony charge carries a prison term of up to 15 years, and a fine of up to $100,000.
  
  
• Kid Rock, Run-D.M.C. Back In The Saddle With Aerosmith
  Look like they'll be touring together for a few dates this summer. Thus far, just August 13 in Holmdel, New Jersey, at the PNC Bank Arts Center, August 22 and 24 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, at the Tweeter Center and on August 28 in Wantagh, New York, at Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater. More dates to come, says Aerosmith's publicist.
  
  
• Bruce and E Street Rise Again
  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will release The Rising on July 30th. It will be the first recording of all-new material recorded by Springsteen and his longtime crew since 1984's Born in the U.S.A.
  
  
• We Hung The Most Dimwitted Essays On The Wall
  ... is an excellent first-person essay from Salon about a woman who worked as a grader of standardized test essays. Well worth reading, no matter where you land on the standardized test issue.
  
  
• Fast Forward
  ...is also an excellent first-person essay in today's Salon. It's about a guy who wrote a porn script, thinking he could make a cult classic, and his experiences on the set. It's so good, I have doubts that it's real. Then again, truth is stranger than fiction....
  

posted by Randy on 11:51 AM | permanent link to this entry

Tuesday, June 04, 2002

• Rocktober.Com-- Too Hot Too Blog!!!!!!!!
  Seriously-- it is quite roasty toasty in San Francisco today and my office is stuffy as all get out. Plus, my darling wife left early this morning for a trip to the East Coast to watch Blake "The Chore Monkey" Hocker graduate high school, so I am tired and hot, Plus, I didn't really see any great stories to link to today, so I'm just gonna slack and pick up the action tomorrow. Oh yeah-- for the next few days, this blog will start off with a note to my wife, followed by the usual pop culture debris.
  
  Unless, of course, I'm hot and tired again tomorrow. No promises. :-)
  

posted by Randy on 2:18 PM | permanent link to this entry

Monday, June 03, 2002

• R. Kelly Sued By Woman Claiming To Be Sex Tape Subject
  The hits just keep on coming for R. Kelly, as a fourth woman has come forward to file a civil suit against R&B crooner R. Kelly, and unlike the other suits, it alleges invasion of privacy instead of statutory rape. The alleged victim claims she is one of the women on the alleged R. Kelly sex tapes making the rounds on the strets and on the Internets and that she was taped without her permission.
  
  
• Fire Won't Stop Jubilee Concert
  "The roof/the roof/the roof is on fire!/We don't need no water/let the motherfucker burn!" A blaze that broke out in a roof apartment forced the evacuation of Buckingham Palace on Sunday evening, interrupting preparations for the outdoor concert and marring the high-spirited four-day celebration of Queen Elizabeth's 50 years on the throne. When the alarm sounded shortly after 6:30 p.m., Ozzy Osbourne had just finished rehearsing outside. BBC reported that those evacuated from the area around the palace included musicians Phil Collins, Eric Clapton and Queen guitarist Brian May. Here's my question: "Why is rock n' roll celebrating the monarchy?" What's up with that?
  
  
• South Park Mexican Sentenced for Assault
  SPM is going to the clinker for 45 years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. He could've recieved a life sentence. He testified that he did not assault the girl, who was at his home to spend a night with his daughter last Labor Day weekend, and that the children in seven other sexual assault cases against him had lied on the stand and been swayed by a prosecution request for victims to come forward.
  
  
• Lotsa Johnny Cash Stuff Coming Out: Re-Issues and New Stuff
  Columbia Records will re-issue 5 albums on September 3-- Songs Of Our Soil (1959), Johnny Cash Sings Ballads Of The True West (1965), Live At Madison Square Garden (1969), The Johnny Cash Show (1970) and Silver (1979). In new-stuff news, American IV: When the Man Comes Around is tenatively set for a September release. He's recorded cover's of Sting's "I Hung My Head," Nine Inch Nails's "Hurt," Marty Robbins' "Big Iron" and Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," though it isn't know yet whoich songs will end up on the album. Inmy head, a Johnny Cash cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" sounds KILLER.
  
  
• Clear Channel's Big Radio Ways Are Getting a Lot of Static These Days
  News flash-- big radio sucks and is a greedy, corrupt business. Always worth reading about, though.
  
  
• DJ Shadow Drops Off Smokin' Grooves
  Bummer. Okay, he was only planning to play the West Coast dates, but I'm going to one of those shows and always enjoy what DJ Shadow does. Oh well.
  
  
• Corgan Helps Bring Back Berlin
  Voyeur, Berlin's first album of new material in sixteen years faetures "Sacred and Profane," a song co-written with former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. The tune was inspired by frontwoamn Terri Nunn's first encounter with INXS's Michael Hutchence as an audience member at the band's first London gig. "He came out on stage and within five minutes I was a puddle on the floor," she says of the late singer.
  
  
• Masterpeice: Public Enemy's "Fight The Power"
  I basically like the song analysis presented in this article, but it seems to pick-up in the middle of the song. It's a bit like talking about The Beatles' "A Day In The Life" and starting the discussiuon at "I woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head." What about the "It seems they would rather switch than fight" quote at the beginning? And why is "Rapper Flavor Flav's drug problems made national news" the only mention of Flavor in the entire analysis? What's up with that. A for effort, B for actual execution. No, wait, I just got to the conclusion of the article. A few doozies: So, sadly, there will probably never be another "Fight the Power." and Arguably, hip-hop itself is dead. Perhaps there have been worse deaths in popular culture: the death of jazz, the novel, God. But hip-hop's demise will mark the greater death of rock music and everything it allowed: snarling rebellion, sensual abandon, flipping the bird to the establishment. Anyopne with half a clue about hip-hop culture wouldn't have written that crap. i change my grade-- A for effort, C for actual execution.
  
  
• Viewing secrets are safe with Sonicblue
  The judical branch has come to its senses! District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper on Friday overturned a late April ruling that required the maker of ReplayTV set-top box technology to write and install software to monitor what its customers were watching. The ruling is the latest action in a suit, originally filed in October by several major movie studios and TV networks, claiming Sonicblue's ReplayTV recorders infringed on copyright laws. The digital video recording service allows viewers to record live TV shows, store them on a hard drive, and skip commercials, and to send TV shows to other ReplayTV owners over the Internet. The plantiff's wanted to see exactly how many folks were skipping commercials and how often.
  

posted by Randy on 12:34 PM | permanent link to this entry