Universal Hub highlights today the work of eeka, writer of social justice blog 1 Smoot Short of a Bridge. She wins twice over - once for the name of her blog, and once for today’s post, titled “I’m Liveblogging the Thunderstorm”:
Awesome. Reminds me to tell you guys that there most likely will be another episode (or two) of Endless Feature tonight. The other night we watched Perfume, which is now one of my favorites of the series. Stay tuned.
(thanks for the photo, SoStark. I knew I could count on you)
The Northeastern News, the de facto source for campus goings on, announced today that they are going independent of the University, and instead of licensing the name “Northeastern” have opted to change their name to “The Huntigton News.”
The News has been operating primarily as an independent newspaper for nearly a decade, supporting itself through advertising revenue. However, the publication was a student organization and used university office space.
The move to cut ties with the university was set in motion about a year ago by then editor-in-chief Ricky Thompson and former managing editor Derek Hawkins. The pair said they first seriously discussed becoming independent last summer, when The News was relocated to a smaller space in the Curry Student Center, which is approximately a third of the size of the original space. [...]
Thompson said talk escalated when fear of prior review arose recently, during a time of speculation about the university’s humor publication Times New Roman (TNR) staff’s decision to pull its December 2007 issue and reprint it with modifications.
Although Hawkins said the TNR reprint was a catalyst, The News was already financially self-sufficient through advertising, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go independent.
While I graduated in May, I still work on campus, and still am curious as to how my alma mater is faring. I still have the 2006 newspaper which contained three editorials about me and my selections for Springfest. I’m proud of the News for moving off campus, as I hope this is a signal for them to focus on some of the tabboo issues facing Northeastern that the administration would not allow - case in point: the ongoing pressure to offer NU Janitors a living wage. The issue has been on the minds of active students for more than three years, and only this year has the news reported on the incident, and only in very soft terms. There are adminstration issues, dynamic cuts in student activities, escalating tensions between NU and the Roxbury community, and so many other things the News could go out and get investigative about. I see this as an exciting moment of maturity for the News, and very much hope that they embrace it.
(Update: See post here and gripping conclusion here)
“I get so tired of listening to the way everyone treats music. I keep feeling they’re selling out.”
~Johnny Mercer, songwriter, on his founding of Capitol records
And you thought that we were faking
That we were all just money making
You do not believe we’re for real
Or you would lose your cheap appeal? ~Johnny Rotten, songwriter, on Capitol’s owner, EMI
As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently touched base with old friend Brian Bergeron, who brought this story to my attention via the blog post of fellow artist The Everyday Visuals. The story also made grumblings on LemmingTrail today.
Capitol Records has decided to hold a contest to select openers for Coldplay’s latest tour for shows in San Jose, Philadelphia, Chicago, Hartford, DC, and Boston. Bands may submit a video to YouTube of their best song, and the winner gets a chance to take the stage before the headliner and play to no-doubt sold out audiences of tens of thousands, assuredly launching them into superstardom and earning the love and respect of one of the largest rock bands of our time.
Below the cut is the terms and services of this agreement, outlining the very worst contest rules and conditions I have ever seen. Seriously, Faust would be loving this.
Hey everybody - thanks for waiting, and happy Canada Day. Everyone may remember the War of 1812 and the only invasion onto the continental US soil by another nation’s army (Canadians, as a British colony), but did you know we also fought between Maine and New Brunswick in the Aroostook War in 1838? It was a bloodless war, so I guess no harm, no foul - and I’d forgive Canada on behalf of Americans everywhere, but I’m not altogether certain if my family had moved to Massachusetts from Newfoundland yet, so it’s entirely possible it should be me asking forgiveness of my neighbors. Be it as it may, Canada runs deep in my blood and I hope you can take some time to hug-a-Canuck today.
I’m going to do a quick news brain dump for now, and get into some more quality writing a little later today. Here’s some of the stuff I missed while spending time with some of my favorite people up on Mount Desert Island (the land mass with an identity crisis):
As a followup to what I wrote in early June, the House Subcommittee on the Courts, Internet, and Intellectual Property approved the Performance Rights Act on Thursday. The act requires radio stations to pay royalties on sound recordings as well as compositions, as does webcasting since 2007’s Copyright Board ruling. Reactions abound from the ruling from the two major parties involved, musicFIRST and the National Association of Broadcasters, and analysis from Coolfer and Ars Technica, where Nate Anderson does an excellent job laying out the issues and showing how the merits of the cases are obscured by strange lobbying and PR tactics.
Alex Leavitt, a young man I met at Berkman@10, delved into ethnomusicology on Friday with an analysis of enka music mixed with hip-hop. Enka was a popular early-20th-century form of pop music, best known in the US for its frequent inclusion in Tarantino films. It’s an interesting case of East mixing with West, then mixing again, such as what you see in Ghanaian Highlife (and more recently, Hiplife) music. Both enka and Highlife are favorites of mine, and on this balmy humid Boston day Nigeria Special! is one of the only things keeping me cool.
Public Knowledge signals the importance of today (aside from this being Canada Day and all) as the first day in which Copyright claimants can register online, with a reduced fee. PK is well-known for their backing of the current Orphan Works bill, which inverses my opinion of the aforementioned Performance Rights bill - whereas the latter represents an issue I typically oppose but can appreciate the compromise in the details, the current Orphan Works bill represents an issue I usually support (that is, letting unrepresented works pass into the public domain) that loses my support in the details. Be that as it may, Alex Curtis does a great job showing how an online copyright registry can be opened up with a little API love to help users navigate the records easier.
Copyright guru William Patry put on his Constitutional scholar cap on Friday and drew some fascinating parallels between the DC Handgun decision and Constitutional interpretation of Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 - the sentence that gave us copyright. His point, and I heartily agree with him, is to cast serious doubt in the majority’s opinion of dismissing the first part of the Second Ammendment (”Because a well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a free State,”) as a mere prefatory clause, and cutting to the second part (“the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”) as the actual “right.” It’s dense and referential reading, but shows quite cleanly that if we are to agree with Scalia that this first part was just fluff, it would be the first time we ever regarded any part of the Constitution as prefatory.
Aquarium Drunkard gives us their take on a curious release from this year that seems to be slipping under the radar: Stax Does the Beatles. Included in their assessment is a curious anecdote: Did you know the Beatles were originally slated to record Revolver at Stax, but for security reasons the band opted to stay at Abbey Road in London?
I recently reconnected with an old friend and performing buddy Brian Bergeron. He informed me of his blog, which is now added to the blogroll on right. Today’s post is a deeply personal and excellent read about how the slumping economy is impacting street performers like Brian, who you can see frequently up at Faneuil Hall. Brian also fed me a story that I’ll be writing about a little later as well. Stay tuned.
Over the weekend came the Solstice, and I spent the majority of the day out and about, enjoying the charm of Boston in the summer. This will be my fourth and perhaps final summer living in Boston (though I’m not ruling out returning by any stretch), and I do plan on doing something in July with a camera and a monthly T pass to document the city as I’m leaving it. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’d like to echo the sentiments of fellow music blog Funeral Pudding by wishing you a happy summer through the voice of the greatest band of all time, The Modern Lovers. Frontman Jonathan Richman is a muse that has influenced an untold number of artists, my self most certainly included. He’s a quirky and wild force to reckon with, and constantly surprises and delights even almost 40 years after the Modern Lovers first formed (for example, did you know that he did a live accompaniment to the Sweedish silent film the Phantom Carriage last year?) Here’s Jonathan doing a classic off of his quiet 1992 album “I, Jonathan.” It’s the perfect summer song.
In keeping with the irony theme of today’s first post, here’s one from Paste that’s worth reposting. The best charting metal album of all time came from this year. From a dude in Boston. Who’s a comedian.
From Paste:
The Dethalbum [by pretty-much-faux band Dethklok] debuted at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 charts, breaking all sorts of records even without a needlessly pedantic title. Dethklok may not be the biggest band on the planet yet, like they are in Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, but Nathan Explosion is one step closer to that gigantic death metal fortress in the arctic wastes of Norway.
Creator Brendon Small has taken the self-aware element of acts like GWAR and honed it to a razor’s edge, crafting face-melting metal that, for once, doesn’t take itself seriously. Small writes the music and scripts for the show, as well as doing voiceovers for several of the characters and taking the helm on lead guitar and vocals.
I’m plum tickled that Brendon Small has made such a big splash in all that he’s done. While born in Illinois, he’s Berklee and Emerson trained and spends his days at Soup2Nuts, based right up the road in Watertown, where the world met squigglevision and amazing shows like Dr. Katz, Science Court, and Small’s own Home Movies.
Das Intarwebs rumbled this morning with rumors that Activision and Viacom, current custodians of the Boston-born Guitar Hero franchise (from Cambridge’s Harmonix in partnership with CA’s Red Octane) and Rock Band (a Harmonix production) are in talks with none other than the Beatles.
Let me repeat that. The Beatles, the band that would not even enter the digital world deep enough to be on iTunes, are now considering their first digital music entry in the form of a video game.
Sorry for the lack of updates today. Work and the peursuit (edit: wow, bad typo) of financing for a new web project I’m working on took me to New York for the day. I did see some fantastic things while darting between offices - most notably, this amazing billboard found in NoHo:
Go team Venture! The Venture Brothers is my Lost. Season 3 has been amazing so far.
Once I got back (a scant couple hours ago) I had the chance to begin catching up on my RSS feeds, but only got as far as this Brookline article from the Wicked Local collective.
Watch out! The Brookline Health Department has issued a Bat Advisory, warning resident[s] to watch out for the winged creatures and to contact health officials if you spot one in your home — even if it hasn’t touched you.
When I go on my gonzo journalism binge to find the meaning of America this summer, I’ll be sure to keep a flyswatter handy as I drive up Beacon Street.
I’m plum tickled that the Celtics are playing for it all as we speak (as I type?). This is a piece of Boston life that I was far too young to experience last time, and I’m thrilled to be here for this. Growing up outside Boston with these characters as idols, it’s amazing to have lived here to see the Red Sox win twice (!) and the Celtics putting up a solid showing. I don’t mean to jinx it, however, so uh, they might lose. Be prepared.
And I really want to highlight what search terms were used to get to the site this week, because they are awesome:
“be a master and eat people arcade games”
“Shutter Island atari”
“games to see how old i will be when i die” (twice!)
Incredible.
Also, I updated the muxtape. On the way back from Maine I listened to all of Nuggets, and picked out a bunch of oft-forgotten tracks for your garage rock enjoyment.
I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday down by the beautiful nook of Boston where the Back Bay, Fenway, and Huntington line all touch: off of the Hynes stop, down Boylston towards Hemenway Street. It was a lovely day, but something was bugging me as I walked about:
When I lived in this part of the city, from 2003-2005, there were five music instrument shops in the neighborhood. Now, there’s only one. Where shall the next wave of Northeastern and Berklee kids go to get their guitars and drums and such?
This isn’t to say that there aren’t good stores in the greater Boston area, but this corner was a haven for them for decades. It’s sad to see them all go so quickly.
So, here they are. Preserved online for posterity.
