Just read a post at The Chronicle (of Higher Education) about how the RIAA goes about identifying alleged music pirates. Apparently an anonymous representative of the organization stopped by the Chronicle’s offices and gave a rundown of how it’s done. I found it funny, and perfectly obvious, that they would use Limewire to identify people who share songs on the RIAA hotlist. Read more…
While sharing this article with a colleague, he tells me about a highly controversial act which just overwhelmingly passed the House - the PRO IP Act. Not bad enough that tax dollars may conceivably fund the ‘copyright police’, but how about hiring “a Cabinet-level “IP enforcement czar” that would report to the President and coordinate enforcement efforts across government”. Wha? Learn more, then call/write/email your congressman.
I was surfing music blogs tonight and I came across something that raised my eyebrow. Now, not much surprised me, but this is hands down the winner of the most disturbing images evoked by a band name/album name in my lifetime:
My Penis is Made of Dogshit - Satan Gets An Abortion
The equipment for the podcasting lab has (mostly) been delivered and we’re starting to plan for it’s use. ONce everything is connected and working properly, we’ll do some test recordings and get this show on the road. First up, a podcast from the kids in my summer Upward Bound Computer Tech class. They’ll get to preview the studio before anyone else, and, hopefully, help Caleb and I work out the kinks.
Last night, I searched Google for some simple podcasting tutorials and came across what may prove to be a easy-access podcasting gem–Gcast. You can record onto a computer, you can record from your cellphone and you can use songs from their sister site, GarageBand.com. And that click led me to this post.
In addition to being a resource for free music and soundbytes for your podcast, GarageBand is a showcase for new and unknown artists. This week’s Acoustic Track of the Week is Good Times by the Lance Sitton Band. It’s morning and I’m feeling ‘acoustic’, so I give it a listen. Huh. This guy’s pretty damn good! Definitely influenced by Jack Johnson and the whole, feel-good, surf-and-sun genre, Good Times sounds like it could have been straight off Jack’s In Between Dreams from 2005. I look to hear more from Lance Sitton.
I finally took advantage of the fact that I: a) work at a local university, and b) have the opportunity to see great up and coming bands. This past Friday, I took Kate and Libby to see Deep Empire, Illuminea, Gene the Werewolf and Punchline.
Deep Sleep Empire opened with a respectable show. The guitarist broke a string and played the second half of the set to the amp to cover it up, but good solid music from them. They fit the whole emo/indie/punk expectation.
Illuminea, with their 5 lead singers, cello and violin kicked off the second set. Somehow their psychedic sound just didn’t seem to fit with the punk rock theme of the show. It seemed like they needed to turn down the volume a little so the crowd could appreciate them more.
13 year old girl watch: They sound like hippies. We’re going out in the hall. Text me when they’re done. Illuminea on Myspace
The curtains closed before the next set, bringing the anticipation level up just a little higher for the Gene the Werewolf set. Curtains opened with a twisted carney intro to the band, then went straight into Super Hero, a song off their demo that’s a little bit Kiss and a little bit (the) Darkness and a whole lotta fun. Jon, err, Gene, was dressed to kill in a white suit and black aviator shades. The followed with the other song off their demo, Make Love, before going in to a cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ that got the crowd sufficiently pumped up and in a party mood for headliners Punchline. Diamondcore, indeed.
Now, I had never seen or heard Punchline before this moment, save for their Myspace stuff which was misleading because the first few songs are acoustic. Acoustic is good, but acoustic is not what this band is all about. To quote lead singer Steve Soboslai, “…less talk, more rock.” And rock they did. The dove into their set with the volume cranked to 12 and didn’t let up for a moment. This show is exactly why I missed live music so much–the way the sound from the speakers blows the clothes right off your body. Punchline, now signed to Fueled by Ramen (Fall Out Boy, etc.), are off to Europe with MXPX after the show.
EDIWTB is about stuff I discover, and stuff I've forgotten about. It can also be about music, knitting, web development, social networking and my other obsessions du jour. More