Friday, May 16, 2003

• June Carter Cash Dies With Family At Her Side
  R.I.P. to the one and only June Carter Cash, from all of us here at Rocktober.com. We also send our condolences and wishes for strength to Johnny Cash, the ailing country legend who I am assuming will soon be fatally devestated by this loss. Keep your head up, hoss.
  
  
• FCC's Powell Refuses to Delay Media Rules Vote
  This comes as no surprise. A disapointment, but not a surprise. On the other hand....
  
  
• F.C.C. Studies Market Power of Radio Giant
  The five commissioners of the FCC are trying to redefine radio markets as part of their June 2 vote on new media-ownership rules. It seems strange to me that the consolidation of the radio media is the focus of bipartisan concern on the commission, yet only the Democrats on the F.C.C. are seeing the bigger issue here. Still, this a good sign and the start of a long fight to come.
  
  
• Judge says Kazaa must reveal investors, officers
  U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Walsh ordered Sharman Networks to produce a list of names of investors, as well as lenders that declined invitations to invest, its revenue from Kazaa and the names of all its managers and directors.
  
  
• Ryan Adams "Love" in Limbo
  Very interesting story about the fight Ryan Adamsis having with his label trying to get his new album, Love is Hell out on the streets. To me, this is the most interesting part:
  
  "Despite an abundance of press, Adams' three solo albums -- Heartbreaker, Gold and the demo collection Demolition -- have combined for sales of just over 500,000, according to SoundScan, substantially less than the similarly hyped White Stripes (690,000 of White Blood Cells) and The Strokes (879,000 of Is This It) have sold for just one record."
  
  Despite fighting with his label about Love is Hell, both parties agree that a boxed set of unreleased material is also likely to come out this year.
  
  
• Mariah Downsizes Tour
  I told y'all this was gonna happen. Her summer arena tour has suddenly morphed into a tour of theatres. Those she can probably fill. The above linked article has Mariah saying she wanted to do it to put on a better show and save her voice. I suppose she could be right, but I'm putting my money on the fact that promoters finally did some market research and figured out they'd take a bath on a Mariah Carey arena tour.
  
  
• Wainwright, Breeders Rock With Hedwig
  Rufus Wainwright, The Breeders, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Mould and Sleater-Kinney w/ Fred Schneider of The B-52's are among the artists contributing tracks to Wig In A Box, an album of covers of songs from Hedwig and The Angry Inch that will benefit New York's Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk School for gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered youth. Due in the fall, the tracklist looks a little something like this:
  
  -Rufus Wainwright (Origin of Love)
  -Sleater-Kinney & Fred Schneider (Angry Inch)
  -Ben Folds, Ben Kweller& Ben Lee (Wicked Little Town-Tommy Version)
  -Imperial Teen (Freaks)
  -Bob Mould (Nailed)
  -Yoko Ono & Yo La Tengo (Hedwig's Lament/Exquisite Corpse)
  -They Might Be Giants (The Long Grift)
  -The Breeders (Wicked Little Town-Hedwig Version)
  -Jonathan Richman (Origin of Love--Reprise)
  -Cyndi Lauper (Midnight Radio)
  -Stephen Trask & John Cameron Mitchell (a new Hedwig song!!!)
  
  Peep the Wig In A Box offical website and the above linked story for more details.
  
  
• Depeche Mode's Gahan Sets Solo Tour
  Starting July 18 at The Roxy in Atlanta and playing across North America until winding up Aug. 25 at The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, Dave Gahanwill be touring to support Paper Monsters, which comes out June 3rd and is available for pre-order here.
  
  
• Sum 41 Record Song With Iggy Pop
  The song, "Little Know It All," is set for release on Iggy Pop's Skull Ring, which is currently slated for a fall release. Iggy Pop has also collaborated with Peaches for the album.
  

Thursday, May 15, 2003

• Spymac Pulls iTunes4 Sharing
  Well, that was quick. However, there's still iLeech, Shareitunes.com and iSuck. If you are conflicted about weather to pay or not pay for your music using the new iTunes software, Last Plane To Jakarta has an interesting piece about the joys of shelling out the cash..
  
  
• Citizens Urge FCC to Retain Current Media Ownership Rules
  Excellent work by The Future of Music Coalition. The examined the 9360 comments available for public review in the FCC's Broadcast Ownership rulemaking (Docket 02-277) and found , 9065 citizens unaffiliated to a corporation, organization or association opposed changing existing media ownership rules that would pave the way for further consolidation, while only 11 unaffiliated citizens supported changing the rules. FCC commissioners and staff have claimed that over 15,000 comments have been received by the agency on this issue-- the law of averages and statistcs tell me that the majority remaining 5640 comments skew the same way.
  
  Related stories:
  -Delay Sought on Media Ownership Overhaul
  The 92 Democrats and one independent from the U.S. House of representatives asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powel Wednesday to publicly justify his agency's plans for overhauling media ownership restrictions before making the changes. The National Rifle Association said Wednesday it had joined the ranks of consumer groups, musicians, writers and academics who oppose easing the restrictions. The NRA asked its members to write Powell and lawmakers in support of the existing rules, said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president.
  -A Look At How Concentrated Our Media Already Is Pt. 1
  Scary and worth reading.
  -A Look At How Concentrated Our Media Already is Pt. 2
  A very illuminating graphic showing who owns what, as of 2001.
  
  
• Tori Amos Sets Summer Run
  Tori Amos and Ben Folds are doing the Genx version of the infamous Billy Joel/Elton John tours. July 26 - Sept. 3 in ampitheatres across North America. I wonder if, like Joel and John, they'll cover each other's songs. Tori Amos tackling "Brick," perhaps? Ben Folds adding some earnest boyness to 'Silent All These Years," maybe?
  
  
• Four Young Albums Make Jump To CD
  On the Beach (1974), American Stars 'N Bars (1077), Hawks & Doves (1980) and Re.ac.tor (1981)-- the four remaining Neil Young studio albums that have never been issued on CD-- will be released in that format June 24 via Reprise. Remastered, but with no extra tracks. Click on them album titles up there to pre-order. If you're a Young neophyte, you might not know that those albums have basically been unreleased on CD for a reason-- they're not his greatest work. Of course, On The Beach has a lot of snark going for it and American Stars 'N Bars has the classic "Like A Hurricane," but over all these albums aren't up to snuff.
  
  
• 'Lost' music archive released
  More than 600 recordings, a mixture of live sets and studio sessions that were taped for Radio Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1970s and 80s, have been discovered after collecting dust for 20-30 years and will be released in conunction with Universal Music. Artists on the tapes include Roxy Music, Simple Minds, U2, Rod Stewartand Elvis Costello, among others. These recordings haven't been heard since they were originally broadcast, so this is a pretty swell find.
  
  
• Pop archives get digital airing
  The BBC is gearing up to launch five national digital radio stations, one of which will be built around The BBC's considerable radio archive of concerts and music interviews. Hello-- XM and/or Sirius? Can a brotha get a broadcast feed? Oh snap, the article also says it will be availbale on the Internet-- but I imagine the fidelity won't be the same.
  
  
• Ice-T Reforms Bodycount Metal Band
  Here's something I did not know-- original Body Count drummer Beat Master V died of leukemia and bassist Moose Man was shot in the back and didn't survive. (Also previously unknown to me-- Moose Man played bass on Iggy Pop's Beat 'Em Up). Anyway, Ice-T has found two folks to replace 'em and is finishing up a new album tentatively titled Violent Demise - The Last Days. No release date set in stone yet.
  
  
• Lawyers Seek To Block Release Of Alleged Trina "Sex Tape"
  I couldn't find a link for the site that is/was trying to sell it. Darn it.
  
  
• Snoop, Method Man Come Aboard 'Soul Plane'
  "Described as an urban version of the classic 1980 comedy "Airplane!," the film is set to go into production in late June. Snoop Dogg will play a pilot, and Method Man will portray Muggsy, the airline owner's best friend who is put in charge of the plane's business class." As much as I love Snoop and Meth, there's just no reason on God's green earth for anyone to remake "Airplane!"-- urban version or not.
  
  
• Jewel: Not Just A Folkie Yodeler Anymore
  So, watch the following videos:
  George Michael- Killer/Papa Was A Rolling Stone
  Monster Magnet- "Spacelord"
  Blink 182- "All The Small Things
  Warrant- "Cherry Pie"
  
  And then watch Jewel's new video
  
  Tell me she doesn't owe some people some royalties. It's like she took the above videos and threw 'em in a blender.
  
  Pre-order Jewel's 0304 by clicking here. It's due in stores on June 3, 2003.
  

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

• iTunes Music Store Tops Two Million Song Downloads
  Though I am a Mac head through and through, I can't wait for this to come to Windows so the music industry will really see how much money they can make when they give the customer what they want.
  
  
• Song Sharing by iTunes Users Stirs Piracy Concerns (L.A. Times registration required)
  On the other hand, the record industry is probably already re-entrenching themselves after discovering that hackers are already turing the iTunes software into a distribution tool. Some examples: iLeech, Shareitunes.com and Spymac-- all of which allow for users to stream music from other users collections.
  
  
• Senators Seek to Keep Cap on TV Audience
  As the FCC nears it's June 2 deadline to complete its overhaul of the laws regualting braodcast media, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday introduced legislation to head off those rule changes and keep some of the current provisions. Go, congress, go!
  
  
• Weiland to Front Gn'R Band
  The band will be called Reloaded. They've already recorded a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" for The Italian Job Soundtrack and a new song called "Set Me Free" for The Hulk Soundtrack. I m taking a wait and see approach, but my gut instinct is to say "Oh no."
  
  
• The Smiths: The Influential Alliance
  It was 20 years ago that The Smiths released their first single ("Hand In Glove"). The above linked article is a decent look back at their music and who they've influenced (Radiohead, Oasis, The Stone Roses, Belle & Sebastianand more). If you are a fan of those bands and don't know diddly quat about The Smiths, do yourself a favor and pick up Louder Than Bombs-- while the band has a ton of singles collections, Louder Than Bombs is the best of the lot. Work your way through the albums from there.
  
  
• Tricky Talks About His Next Two Albums
  Tricky already has two albums in the can to follow up Vulnerable, which is due in stores on May 19. Nearly Goddess is an electronica album featurinf all female vocalists (including Kelis, P.J. Harvey and Miss Medusa), while Rodigan and Tricka is an urban/Jamacian album that Tricky sez "is the album I would have done if I hadn’t been in Massive Attack. I heard the cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" yesterday and it thought it was really well done.
  
  
• White Supremacy: Blacks have a better chance surviving a slasher movie than making it to the end of a reality TV show
  Thought provoking Salon.com piece about race in America and American culture, how people of color have done historically on reality shows and the chances Ruben or Kimberly have to win on "American Idol". If Ruben isn't in the top 2, I will riot in the streets. If Clay wins over Ruben, I will complain loudly but know in my heart thar Ruben did the best he could and The Man was just keeping him down.
  
  
• LL Cool J, Dru Hill Plan Summer Tour
  All night long, every song will be introduced with "This next one...is for the ladies."
  

Tuesday, May 13, 2003

• Noel Redding Dies
  Dead at 57, the bassist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience between 1966 and 1969 (as well as Fat Mattress and The Noel Redding Band). R.I.P. and thanks for the memories from all of us here at Rocktober.com.
  
  
• R.I.A.A. apologizes for threatening letter
  The Recording Industry Association of America apologized Monday to Penn State University's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics for sending an incorrect legal notice of alleged Internet copyright violations. The R.I.A.A. thought someone was using the department's FTP server to distribute Usher MP3s, but it turns out the department has on its faculty a professor emeritus named Peter Usher whose work on radio-selected quasars the FTP site hosted. The site also had a copy of an a capella song performed by astronomers about the Swift gamma ray satellite, which Penn State helped to design. Ooops.
  
  For Usher and Penn State's troubles, the R.I.A.A. will be sinding along an Usher CD and T-Shirt. My thoughts:
  
  1. Is Usher going to be charged against his royalties for the CD and T-Shirt? That's how promo items are traditionally paid for. How does a CD and T-Shirt sent to someone you falsely accuse of a crime count as a promotional expense?
  
  2. Harassment through the U.S. Mail is very much illegal. Will PSU sue? Have the police been called?
  
  3. The R.I.A.A. had the legal right, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to request removal of the material from the FTP site or to force PSU to shut the server down. No judge, no jury, no police-- just a organization with fale information run amok. If this doesn't make your blood boil, you must be dead.
  
  
• Freedom of Speech vs. Rights of Publicity
  -Appeals court lets Rosa Parks challenge rap group
  A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit by civil rights icon Rosa Parks against the rap group OutKast over a song that uses her name for its title. The court ruled that while OutKast's free speech defense was valid, so was Parks' claim that using her name could suggest the song was about her or that she was connected to the group.
  -Celebrities' image rights vs. First Amendment Winter brothers challenge comic's portrayal of them
  Johnny and Edgar Winter are suing DC Comics in the California Supreme Court after a 1995 "Jonah Hex" comic had two characters very closely based on Texas blues rocking brothers that were portrayed as villainous, half-worm/half-human creatures with green tentacles sprouting from their chests. If the brothers win the case and it is upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court, it may mean that artists won't be able to even fictionally portray a celebrity or a character based on a celebrity in their work.
  
  
• The China Syndrome (N.Y. Times registration required)
  Very nice editorial in The New York Times today that once again hammers home the point that further consolidation of the media in the U.S. is just a terrible, terrible idea.
  
  
• Wild Boy Fred Durst Working On New Wave Solo Project
  Pacifica is the name of the project. He's just getting started on it. Just imagining ol' Red Hat getting his Flock of Seagulls on gives me The Fear.
  
  
• Melissa Auf Der Maur, James Iha and The Sounds Do Karaoke
  For my girl Melissa, and only for my girl Melissa, I would do karaoke. Carol Lee somehow scored this cool writing gig, causing jealous fan boys like myself from around the world to take big sips of Haterade. Good article, though.
  
  
• One Big Weekend Videos
  Streaming video of live performances from The White Stripes, Badly Drawn Boy, Dirty Vegas and more from this U.K. rock festival.
  
  
• Punks Prevail in 'Live Freaky! Die Freaky!'
  Members of Green Day, Rancid, X, Blink 182, A.F.I., A Perfect Circle and White Zombie are lending their voices and likeness to the forthcoming animated/puppetry film "Live Freaky! Die Freaky!" The film is due to be released in December. Peep the above story and the official "Live Freaky! Die Freaky!" site for more details.
  

Monday, May 12, 2003

• AOL, Bertelsmann Reportedly in Talks to Merge Music Arms
  It won't happen. But if it does, and manages to clear regulatory hurdles, it will be a big, bloated disaster. It just baffles me that these companies want to get bigger when they should bec concentrating on getting smaller and more limber.
  
  
• June Carter Cash in Critical Condition
  She was hospitalized in critical condition Saturday as a result of complications from heart surgery. Get well soon, June, from all of us here at Rocktober.com. Show your support and pick up her Press On if you don't already own it.
  
  
• Study Shows Rap Is Top Genre Bought by Downloaders
  Easy there-- this was a study based on surveys, not observation of actual behavior. Still, it's good to see a study that shows that downloading music can lead to purchase of actual albums.
  
  
• Dropkick Murphys Do Woody
  The Dropkick Murphys will go the Wilco/Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue route on their next album and put music to an unrecorded Woody Guthrie song. The song, "Blackout," is also the name of the album-- which is due in stores on June 10th. The CD will also come packaged with a bonus five-song live DVD. Pre-order Blackout by clicking here.
  
  
• Woodstock to Host Ben & Jerry's Festival
  A summer festival marking the 25th anniversary of Ben & Jerry's ice cream is set for Aug. 23-24 at the site of the original Woodstock in Bethel, N.Y. "The One World, One Heart Festival," has taken place in Vermont since 1991 and has featured such acts as Dr. John, Uncle Tupelo, Buddy Guy and Buckwheat Zydeco, among others. This year's line-up is still not set in stone.
  
  
• Lauryn Drumming Up Next CD
  The good news-- Lauryn Hill is working on a new album. The bad news: she didn't learn he lesson from
  MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 and continues to sing and rap while playing guitar. No release date is yet set stone.