desdemona
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he needs to learn how to pronounce "nuclear", that gets so annoying!
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Feds Might Join Piracy Fight
David McGuire, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
If you download copyrighted music from file-sharing services like Kazaa or Morpheus, you're already the target of a multi-million dollar anti-piracy campaign spearheaded by the music, movie and software industries.
And within a few months, you also could find yourself in the crosshairs of the U.S. Justice Department.
A bill circulating through the Senate would allow the Justice Department to file civil piracy lawsuits similar to the ones that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has used against hundreds of file-sharers for more than a year.
The other would make it a crime -- punishable by up to five years in jail -- for people to keep more than 1,000 illegally copied songs or other pirated works on their computer for online trading.
Both bills would alter the current landscape. Justice Department attorneys at this time can file criminal charges against music and movie pirates, but only if the the government can prove the defendant acted "willfully" and distributed music worth more than $1,000. In the case of file-sharing, those prerequisites are difficult to prove, especially because many of the people branded as pirates are stealing for their personal use, not to set up sophisticated bootleg distribution networks.
The bills are manifestations of a growing push, both here and and overseas in countries like Australia, to get the government into policing copyright violations, a job that traditionally falls to copyright owners themselves.
Movie and music industry leaders have long clamored for the Justice Department to be more aggressive in pursuing pirates, arguing that the government has a vested interest in defending one of the country's strongest exports.
Civil liberties advocates, meanwhile, greet such proposals with trepidation, arguing that taxpayers shouldn't be supporting one industry's efforts to protect its property rights.
The push for a tougher government crackdown on file swapping comes as two researchers asked whether file-sharing is actually hurting music sales.
In a research paper released in late March, two academics concluded that file-sharing has no adverse effect on music sales -- and in some cases augments them.
In response, the RIAA cited dozens of surveys and sales figures demonstrating a steep decline in sales that corresponds with the rise of the peer-to-peer networks.
But for all of the other people who can't be bothered with the specifics of the changing face of music in the digital age, it's important to remember one thing: Although the file-sharing networks are perfectly legal, using them to share and download copyrighted music without paying is not. It's tempting -- and easy -- to do it, but there's no reason to end up paying $2,000 to settle an RIAA complaint over a song you could have bought legally for less than $1.
If you're a stickler for following the law, take John Gilroy's advice from last week's "Ask the Computer Guy" column -- buy your music from legitimate download sites like iTunes, Napster and even Wal-Mart.
And save the date. washingtonpost.com will host Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig on Wednesday, April 14, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his new book "Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity." You can submit your questions in advance or during the discussion.
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College Rejections Stinging More Stars
By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 12, 2004; Page B02
David Weinstein, a senior at Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, is an academic star by any definition. His grade-point average is 4.68. His SAT score is 1500. He has served as student body president and co-editor of his school newspaper, all while struggling with the challenges of Tourette's syndrome.
Ten years ago, he would almost certainly have been ensured a place at one of the Ivy League colleges. But within two hours on April 1, as he checked the admissions messages on his computer, Harvard, Yale, Brown and Pennsylvania all slapped him with wait-list or rejection notices. Princeton delivered the bad news two days later.
Throughout the country, many high school seniors and their parents are coping with another wave of the unpleasant surprises that have become a part of the college application ritual. Record numbers of students -- about 2 million this year and expected to go higher -- are applying to colleges, while the number of available spaces at the most sought-after undergraduate institutions has stayed pretty much the same.
"The fact is that there are so many more kids in the pipeline," said David Hawkins, director of public policy for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Students' decision to apply to more colleges now to make sure they get in somewhere adds to the problem, he said.
Hawkins said he expects no relief from the growing admission crush until about 2011, and perhaps not that soon.
The rejected students are becoming more appreciative of less-exalted schools with excellent programs. Weinstein, for example, was accepted at Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and Emory universities.
But being turned down still hurts. Weinstein said he was irritated by the rejection notice from Harvard, which said that the school's admissions dean "was very sorry to inform you that it is not possible" to admit him.
"Sure, it was possible," Weinstein, 17, said aloud after he read the note. "You just decided not to do it."
Diane E. Epstein, a private college counselor in Bethesda, said she tries to ease the angst of growing numbers of April rejections by reminding applicants that fewer than 100 of the 2,400 four-year undergraduate colleges "are creating the frenzy. The rest accept most of their applicants."
This year's high school seniors were aware of the difficulties encountered by last year's graduates, she said, and searched harder for good schools with higher acceptance rates. Parents are slower to adjust, many guidance counselors said.
David J. Hamilton, director of college counseling at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Wheaton, said one mother once complained about her daughter being accepted by only one of the six schools she applied to. When he pointed out that he had recommended a dozen other colleges, the mother said, "Those are second- and third-tier schools."
"I graduated from one of those schools," Hamilton replied. "I worked at one of those schools." The student enrolled at the school that took her and was happy with her choice, Hamilton said.
Bob Sweeney, a counselor at Mamaroneck High School in Westchester County, N.Y., summed up his students' ability to handle the pain with a Rolling Stones lyric: "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."
As growing numbers of top-flight applicants play it safe by also applying to lesser-known schools, it is becoming much harder to predict who will get in where, college counselors say. Shirley A. Bloomquist, a retired public high school guidance director in Great Falls who advises private clients, said she had a top applicant -- a National Merit Scholar with athletic talent -- who was put on the waiting list by two of the upcoming, lesser-known schools, Washington University in St. Louis and Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., but admitted to an Ivy League school.
At Colorado College in Colorado Springs, another well-regarded but less famous school, applications were up 17.5 percent this year. For the first time in a long time, the college rejected more students than it accepted, said Matthew Bonser, senior assistant director of admission. "We didn't make offers to many qualified applicants that we would have been able to take in previous years," he said. Jennifer Britz, dean of admissions at another increasingly selective school, Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, said applications there have surged 80 percent in the past four years.
Some colleges that usually reject most of their applicants have found less application growth this year, a sign that some seniors are no longer betting on such long odds. Charles A. Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions at Georgetown University, said that the number of applicants fell 3 percent this year to 14,850 but that the school will still reject about 80 percent.
David Weinstein has his own theory of the admissions trend: "The Ivies are rejecting so many qualified applicants that . . . schools that are second-tier now are going to move into the top ranking."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...ml?nav=E4bottom
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'Murphy Brown' Actor Dead From Overdose
The Associated Press
Monday, April 12, 2004; 2:51 PM
LOS ANGELES - "Murphy Brown" actor Robert Pastorelli, found dead last month in a bathroom at his Hollywood Hills home, died of a heroin overdose, the coroner's office said Monday.
A syringe, a spoon and a plastic bag with white powder were discovered, Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman David Campbell said.
The 49-year-old actor played Eldin, a housepainter with artistic vision, on the Candice Bergen series. He had recently finished work with John Travolta on the movie "Be Cool," the sequel to "Get Shorty."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Apr12.html
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The NYTimes magazine ran an article about your nickname wingnut, but I'm not so sure I still get it, I'm thinking it means, you're a nut, that's winging it, but not so sure that's the meaning you attach to it. What's a wingnut?
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Music labels tune in to file-sharing information
By DAWN C. CHMIELEWSKI
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Posted: April 10, 2004
It was one of those sunglasses-required summer days in Los Angeles when Eric Garland, a leading expert on music downloading, arrived for his meeting with a senior media company executive. Rather than talking in the company's air-conditioned offices, the executive led Garland and his partner through a fetid back alley to a secluded courtyard.
Only then did the executive ask his question: Which songs, exactly, are the millions of Napster users illegally downloading? "I just thought, this is crazy," recalled Garland, who had to prop his laptop on a dumpster to give his presentation.
The reason for the cloak-and-dagger theatrics, which continue even today: While the music industry publicly flays Kazaa and other file-swapping services for aiding piracy, those same services provide an excellent view of what's really popular with fans.
Record-label executives discreetly use Garland's research firm, BigChampagne, and other services to track which songs are traded online and help pick which new singles to release. They increasingly use such file-sharing data to convince radio stations and MTV to give new songs a spin or boost airplay for those that are popular with downloaders.
Some labels even monitor what people do with their music after they download it to better structure deals with licensed downloading services. The ultimate goal is what it always has been in the record business: Sell more music.
"I know of a case where an artist had obviously gone with the wrong single, and everyone loved this other song they had on their record," said Guy Oseary, Madonna's business partner and head of her label, Maverick Records. "In the world of what we do, it's always good to have real information from real fans."
Tracking, persuading
Maverick used BigChampagne's 100-city breakdown of popularly downloaded songs to convince radio stations to start playing a new band, Story of the Year, during prime daytime listening hours instead of at night.
The online data revealed that despite Story of the Year's lunar rotation, its single "Until the Day I Die" ranked among the top 20 most popular downloads, alongside tracks from Blink-182, Audioslave and Hoobastank that received significantly more airplay. And when the band performed in a city, "we didn't necessarily see the phones blowing up at radio, but we saw download requests for the song skyrocket as they went through," said Jeremy Welt, Maverick's head of new media.
Armed with this data, Maverick fought for more airtime at radio stations, which translated into more CD sales. Story of the Year's album, "Page Avenue," just went gold, selling more than half a million copies.
"I definitely don't like to spin it that piracy is OK because we get to look at the data. It's too bad that people are stealing so much music," said Welt. "That said, we would be very foolish if we didn't look and pay attention to what's going on."
It's not an isolated example.
Garland said Warner Bros. followed a similar promotional strategy with "Headstrong," the single from the Los Gatos, Calif., rock band Trapt. Indeed, nearly all the labels work with BigChampagne on a project or subscription basis, he said.
Some promoters at the major labels have gone a step further, using advertising agencies or other intermediaries to place ads on popular file-swapping networks to promote new acts.
Before the music industry effectively shut down AudioGalaxy in 2002, the labels would pay the file-swapping service to sponsor search terms to direct fans looking to download songs from, say, Radiohead, to an emerging band with a similar style.
"We'd promote it to you right there," said AudioGalaxy founder Michael Merhej, whose account was confirmed by two independent sources. "The link took you to a third-party Web site done by the label, but you couldn't tell it was done by the label. . . . This went on for a long time."
Joining the enemy
None of the major labels has been as bold as Artemis Records, a New York-based independent label with such mainstream acts as Lisa Loeb, Rickie Lee Jones and Steve Earle. In March it began distributing paid versions of these artists' songs on Kazaa and other file-swapping networks. Using technology developed by Kazaa's business partner, Altnet, the first listen is free. After that, downloaders must pay 99 cents to buy the song, as they would on licensed services such as Apple's iTunes Music Store.
"My feeling is there's a promotional value to exposure," said Artemis Records chairman Danny Goldberg, an influential industry player who previously headed Mercury Records, now part of giant Universal Music. "Give something away for free, and hope they fall in love."
While the smaller labels are willing to discuss the value of file-swapping information in promoting their artists, the legal crusade by the industry's giants to shut down Kazaa and two other file-swapping services, Morpheus and Grokster, makes it difficult for them to admit that they, too, want to know what's being downloaded.
Indeed, all but one of the Big Five labels refused to discuss how they use data from the file-swapping services, which are also known as peer-to-peer services because the files are technically exchanged between individual computer users.
A spokesman for Warner said he'd been advised against granting an interview, for fear of undermining the company's legal arguments that such services have no significant legitimate uses.
The one executive who spoke on the record said the download data provides a glaring look at the obvious.
"Kids in the neighborhood, they get the track they want because they heard the track on the radio or at a friend's house," said Ted Cohen, a senior vice president at EMI. "I don't think you're going to see this great undiscovered artist discovered on peer-to-peer. The ones getting the biggest numbers are getting the biggest play."
Nevertheless, EMI pays researcher NPD MusicWatch Digital to watch everything NPD's panel of 40,000 computer users do with the songs they download from file-swapping networks or purchase or transfer from CDs. EMI plans to use the information to shape artist promotions and craft terms for future digital distribution deals.
Wayne Rosso, chief executive of Optisoft, said file-swapping services like OptiSoft's Blubster and Piolet have helped the record companies, not hurt them.
"It's a great marketing vehicle," Rosso said. "In fact, they should be paying us."
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I'm wondering if this may be slsk's problem.
By Mike Musgrove, Washington Post Staff Writer
The latest variant of the Netsky worm is directing infected computers to launch Web-based attacks against music- and file-trading Web services such as Kazaa, taking down at least one company's Web sites in the process.
The worm, the 19th version of a bug that made its debut in February, is also targeting some Web sites that offer computer programs designed to illegally break or bypass copyright controls on software programs.
Sharman Networks, owner and distributor of Kazaa software, said in a statement that the attack had "no disruptive effect" on its site.
But Jed McCaleb, lead programmer for eDonkey file-sharing software, said the worm temporarily knocked out the company's two main Web sites. A third site run by the company remained up and all were working late yesterday.
McCaleb said does not know why his sites were attacked. "It's strange to me that these people are virus writers and pointing their fingers at others," he said in a phone interview yesterday. "Obviously they don't have the highest morals if they are hurting people's computers."
McCaleb said that the three-year-old service has 5 million users worldwide.
Antivirus experts said they were unsure whether the author of the 19th version of the Netsky worm is the same as the author of previous versions. A 20th version of the worm that has been circulating on the Web is scheduled to attack a similar group of file-sharing sites between April 14 and April 23.
The experts advised people not to click on strange attachments in e-mail, which can activate the worm, and to update their antivirus software frequently to ward off new threats.
http://mp3.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.ht...a349%5F2004apr9
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APOLLO 13 LAUNCHED TO MOON:
April 11, 1970
On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The spacecraft's destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin and conduct geological experiments. After an oxygen tank exploded on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive.
At 9:00 p.m. EST on April 13, Apollo 13 was just over 200,000 miles from Earth. The crew had just completed a television broadcast and was inspecting Aquarius, the Landing Module (LM). The next day, Apollo 13 was to enter the moon's orbit, and soon after, Lovell and Haise would become the fifth and sixth men to walk on the moon. At 9:08 p.m., these plans were shattered when an explosion rocked the spacecraft. Oxygen tank No. 2 had blown up, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Lovell reported to mission control: "Houston, we've had a problem here," and the crew scrambled to find out what had happened. Several minutes later, Lovell looked out of the left-hand window and saw that the spacecraft was venting a gas, which turned out to be the Command Module's (CM) oxygen. The landing mission was aborted.
As the CM lost pressure, its fuel cells also died, and one hour after the explosion mission control instructed the crew to move to the LM, which had sufficient oxygen, and use it as a lifeboat. The CM was shut down but would have to be brought back on-line for Earth reentry. The LM was designed to ferry astronauts from the orbiting CM to the moon's surface and back again; its power supply was meant to support two people for 45 hours. If the crew of Apollo 13 were to make it back to Earth alive, the LM would have to support three men for at least 90 hours and successfully navigate more than 200,000 miles of space. The crew and mission control faced a formidable task.
To complete its long journey, the LM needed energy and cooling water. Both were to be conserved at the cost of the crew, who went on one-fifth water rations and would later endure cabin temperatures that hovered a few degrees above freezing. Removal of carbon dioxide was also a problem, because the square lithium hydroxide canisters from the CM were not compatible with the round openings in the LM environmental system. Mission control built an impromptu adapter out of materials known to be onboard, and the crew successfully copied their model.
Navigation was also a major problem. The LM lacked a sophisticated navigational system, and the astronauts and mission control had to work out by hand the changes in propulsion and direction needed to take the spacecraft home. On April 14, Apollo 13 swung around the moon. Swigert and Haise took pictures, and Lovell talked with mission control about the most difficult maneuver, a five-minute engine burn that would give the LM enough speed to return home before its energy ran out. Two hours after rounding the far side of the moon, the crew, using the sun as an alignment point, fired the LM's small descent engine. The procedure was a success; Apollo 13 was on its way home.
For the next three days, Lovell, Haise, and Swigert huddled in the freezing lunar module. Haise developed a case of the flu. Mission control spent this time frantically trying to develop a procedure that would allow the astronauts to restart the CM for reentry. On April 17, a last-minute navigational correction was made, this time using Earth as an alignment guide. Then the repressurized CM was successfully powered up after its long, cold sleep. The heavily damaged service module was shed, and one hour before re-entry the LM was disengaged from the CM. Just before 1 p.m., the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere. Mission control feared that the CM's heat shields were damaged in the accident, but after four minutes of radio silence Apollo 13's parachutes were spotted, and the astronauts splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.js...egory=leadstory
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The Associated Press
Saturday, April 10, 2004; 8:39 PM
LOS ANGELES - Paris Hilton's former boyfriend, who appeared with her in a sex video that went public, has dropped his $10 million slander lawsuit against the heiress and her parents.
In court papers filed Tuesday, attorneys for Richard Salomon asked to dismiss claims against the Hiltons. No reason was given for the request. Salomon's attorney, Martin Singer, did not immediately return a call for comment made Friday after business hours.
The heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune made a homemade video with Salomon three years ago. Snippets were sent to various media outlets and made the rounds on the Internet.
Salomon filed suit last November, alleging Hilton was an "active participant" in making the video, but she and her family have waged a "cold, calculated and malicious campaign to portray Salomon as a rapist" to protect her image.
Singer has said a friend of his client stole the tape.
The suit will continue against Hilton publicist Siri Garber, whom Salomon claimed in court papers "orchestrated" a campaign against him.
The videotape of Salomon having sex with Paris Hilton surfaced last year just before the launch of her reality television series, "The Simple Life."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Apr10.html
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Summerall Receives Liver Transplant
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 10, 2004; 10:16 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Broadcaster Pat Summerall received a liver transplant Saturday and was recovering in an intensive care unit, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The 73-year-old former NFL kicker had been on the waiting list at St. Luke's Hospital since April 2.
Transplant surgeon Jeffrey Steers said the 2 1/2-hour surgery was completed without complications.
Summerall was in stable condition after the transplant, hospital spokeswoman Evelyn Tovar said.
The broadcaster had been flown by air ambulance to the Mayo Clinic-owned hospital in Jacksonville from Dallas.
Summerall, a recovering alcoholic, qualified for a transplant through blood tests that rank potential recipients anonymously.
"We are extremely thankful that a compatible liver was donated and successfully transplanted," Summerall's wife, Cheri, said in a statement. "While our prayers have been answered, we also know another family is grieving over the loss of loved one. Please know you are in our thoughts and prayers."
Summerall played in the NFL for 10 years (1952-61) before becoming a broadcaster, then spent more than 40 years in the booth. He teamed with John Madden to call Fox's lead game from 1994 to 2001, and they were the No. 1 team on CBS for 13 seasons before that.
The two called eight Super Bowls together and Summerall has called 16.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Apr10.html
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April 11, 2004
Janet Spoofs Rice on 'SNL'
Janet Spoofs Rice Testimony on 'SNL'
NEW YORK, New York (AP) — It was inevitable: Janet Jackson spoofing her infamous wardrobe malfunction by flashing a heavily pixillated breast on "Saturday Night Live." The one surprise was the context. Jackson portrayed national security adviser Condoleezza Rice opening her blouse at the Sept. 11 commission hearings, in an opening skit on the comedy show.
The skit showed Vice President Dick Cheney, played by Darrell Hammond, suggesting Rice should "flash a boob" to distract the public from her testimony.
"Just one headlight, real quick," he said. "It does two things. You win over the liberals, plus, it's a distraction for the press. I guarantee that's going to be the headline, not the bin Laden thing."
Jackson, as Rice, huffily refuses.
"I am not a prude, sir, but this hearing is not the forum for that kind of lewd conduct," she said. "There are other forums, like pay television or national sporting championships. That would be fine, but I am the national security adviser."
Cheney reluctantly agreed. "It was Ashcroft's idea," he said.
The scene shifted to the commission hearing. Rice, tongue-tied under questioning, opened her blouse and pretended to reveal her right breast — the same one seen by millions of Super Bowl viewers during her halftime performance.
This time, the breast was heavily blurred by the network.
Jackson was the guest host and musical guest on "Saturday Night Live."
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By MARK WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 10, 2004; 10:56 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Victoria's Secret is dropping its nationally televised fashion show this year, at least partly because of criticism following Janet Jackson's breast-baring faux pas at the Super Bowl.
Ed Razek, chief creative officer for the Columbus-based lingerie chain, said Saturday the main reason for the decision was so the company can look at new ways to promote the brand. Still, he said, "We had to make the decision probably six to eight weeks ago when the heat was on the television networks."
The announcement came less than three months after the Jackson uproar and a week after federal regulators proposed $495,000 in fines against Clear Channel Communications for sexual material on the Howard Stern show.
The televised fashion show has generated criticism in the past from groups complaining about supermodels strutting down the runway in skimpy underwear.
A message left Saturday at the New York office of CBS, which has televised the show the past two years, was not immediately returned.
Olga Vives, vice president of the National Organization for Women, praised the cancelation, saying the show only objectifies women.
"We're concerned young women think they have to look this way," Vives said, adding she hoped the cancelation is permanent.
"There are many other ways to promote their product."
The fashion show, which aired in November the last two years, was televised on ABC in 2001. The first show was broadcast online in 1999; 1.5 million visitors tried to log on at once, bringing the site down within 20 minutes.
Victoria's Secret has $4 billion in annual sales.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Apr10.html
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The Darkness Sheds Light on the '70s
By David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 8, 2004; Page C01
Why wear your heart on your sleeve when you can have it emblazoned on your chest? And why merely worship an idol when you can dress like him, grow the same mustache and wrap a nearly identical silk sash around your head? If you're serious about paying homage, there's not much margin in subtlety, is there?
Not if you're the Darkness. This quartet of throwback metal-heads began to hail one of its favorite groups before it struck a note at an extremely sold-out 9:30 club Tuesday night. Guitarist Dan Hawkins had "Thin Lizzy" ironed onto his T-shirt, and bass player Frankie Poullain looked like he was trying out for the Phil Lynott job in a Thin Lizzy tribute act. Though defunct for years, the group best known for 1976's "The Boys Are Back in Town" is alive and well in the heart of the Darkness. In the time-forgotten world inhabited by these shamelessly retro rockers, the boys never left town. They just laid low and waited for the gaudy, phallo-centric music of the '70s to seem cool again.
And it does, at least in the glammy hands of the Darkness. The quartet is so in the thrall of Lizzy and Queen and AC/DC and Led Zeppelin that even admirers have to wonder if these guys are kidding. They're not, it turns out, but that doesn't mean that they're serious, either. You can't wear a Freddie Mercury-style white and purple acrylic bodysuit with a front that's open down to the crotch, then sing in falsetto and strut around like Napoleon -- as lead singer Justin Hawkins did for about a quarter of this 80-minute show -- if you don't have a sense of humor. On some level, the band is hilarious, but that doesn't make it a joke.
The Darkness has recorded just one album, "Permission to Land," which has gone gold in the United States, to the amazement of many in the music industry. "Permission," to be blunt, has everything except great songs. Or, rather, it has one very good song, "Givin' Up," and many average songs, all of them in the key of bombast. This is a liability for an album, but in the context of a live show it's not that big a deal.
Because what the Darkness lacks in tunesmanship it makes up for with swagger and nerve. Just four years into the job, Justin Hawkins performs like a guy who's been taunting audiences with his guitar and castrato-on-demand voice for two decades. He interrupted a solo to casually sweep up a pink thong that had been tossed at him ("Exquisite," he declared) and later offered thanks for an enormous bra that had been hurled his way ("Magnificent" was the verdict). Before he started "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" he led the crowd in a chant of the chorus, and then sang the unforgettable line "My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel" without a trace of irony.
That's a lot to ask of any lead singer, but Hawkins went further. There were two acrylic bodysuits -- yes, he changed for the encore -- and for the second encore number, there was a great, ritualistic lap around the floor of the club, which he took while riding high on the shoulders of a roadie. He brought his guitar and soloed the whole way around the room, as the rest of the band vamped onstage.
The audience all but entirely comprised kids who were a good decade from birth when Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" charted in 1976. It's unlikely that they would recognize Phil Lynott if he returned from the dead and introduced himself. But Hawkins and Co. prove that classic rock has an appeal that transcends generations. Like everything that lasts, it's too damn fun to die.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...4-2004Apr7.html
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oh well, so much for fuzzbusters, lol
Stoplight to punish suburban speeders
Pleasanton finds a way to slow impatient drivers
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Pleasanton is about to turn the fast into the furious.
In a move unprecedented in the Bay Area, the city's traffic engineers have created a traffic signal with attitude. It senses when a speeder is approaching and metes out swift punishment.
It doesn't write a ticket. It immediately turns from green to yellow to red.
Residents and commute-jockeys said Tuesday that the light, which the city plans to unveil today on Vineyard Avenue at the intersection of Montevino Drive, is either an inspired leap into the future or a blatant example of government overzealousness.
"It's kind of big-brotherish, but sometimes it's the price we pay for safety," said JoAnne Brewer, 49, who walked her golden retriever past the new signal Tuesday morning and predicted it would be a success.
"I'm not much of a speeder myself," Brewer added. "It's my husband that it will catch."
Drivers on the two-lane Vineyard, as they approach Montevino, will see an electronic sign that gives the speed limit -- 40 mph heading west and 35 mph going east -- then flashes their actual speed.
A camera about 350 feet from the intersection measures speed and tells the light whether to do its business. Traffic engineers plan to give drivers a few miles per hour of wiggle room. But once speeding is detected, the red light will turn on for at least 10 seconds -- or 30 seconds-plus if cross traffic is waiting.
It's all a little too much for Ken Pattee, a 52-year-old construction inspector from Livermore who sometimes rides his Harley-Davidson down Vineyard Avenue. He said he doesn't feel good about the electronic eye.
"It's depriving you of another one of your liberties -- going fast," Pattee said. "If they implement it everywhere, there will be nothing but red lights. Nobody does the speed limit."
Except Pattee, that is.
"I do the speed limit," he said. "That's my story, and I'm sticking with it."
The signal is a sign of the times. The Bay Area is increasingly consumed with its traffic woes, as seen in a recent fight over neighborhood traffic barriers that divided Palo Alto residents.
Top political issue
Pleasanton has become a capital of traffic hand-wringing, with a spot between Interstates 580 and 680 that invites cutting commuters. Traffic is easily the No. 1 political issue in the city, informing nearly every decision. The Police Department even allows citizens to borrow radar guns to document speeders near their homes and send out warning letters to offenders.
The punitive nature of the signal on Vineyard appears to have the united support of neighbors and the Police Department, which hasn't seen an unusual number of accidents on the route but envisions a low-cost way to make people feel safe.
The intersection sits near large stucco and brick homes with manicured landscaping. The route, connecting downtown Pleasanton to the Ruby Hill gated community and Highway 84 in Livermore, is not the country road it used to be, and it attracts a healthy stream of regional commuters.
Many neighbors are so peeved with the popularity of the road that they didn't want a traffic signal at all at Montevino because it would allow traffic to flow better than the stop sign it replaced. At least the stop signs made speeding impossible and persuaded some commuters to steer clear, neighbors said.
Pleasanton public works director Rob Wilson said the city has no plans to build more of the signals. But police Lt. Mark Senkle, who heads traffic enforcement, said, "If it works, I'd like to see it done in a few other areas in town. I don't anticipate problems, but the truth is, we just don't know. No one's done this."
Thousand Oaks light
At least one other place in California has put together a traffic signal that is deputized against speeders. The Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks installed one in 2000 that Pleasanton traffic chief Jeff Knowles, who used to work in Thousand Oaks, has been watching closely.
"The people who were concerned about speed are pleased with it, but you'll hear a different story from some of the users of the road," said Thousand Oaks senior civil engineer Jim Mashiko.
Thousand Oaks has discovered a few hiccups, Mashiko said. Pedestrians, for example, must be given the green on all four crosswalks in the intersection at the same time, so they are not confused by a sudden yellow and red aimed at a speeder.
In addition, red rage could become an issue as drivers can be guilty by association if a speeder is just in front of them, just behind them or moving simultaneously in the opposite direction.
Pleasanton plans to address at least one of those issues: the opposite- direction speeder. The Pleasanton signal will allow a red light to shine in just one direction, letting the light stay green for the nonspeeding driver in the opposite direction. In such cases, any cross traffic will continue receiving the red light.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...MNG8N61MGG1.DTL
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Electrifying guitarist and his band let their soul shine during Savannah Music Festival audience.
By Steve Corrigan
Savannah Morning News
912-652-0318
Yeah, he's Southern, born and bred in Jacksonville.
Derek Trucks works some of his slide guitar magic during a set with his Derek Trucks Band during a set Friday night at Orleans Hall for the Savannah Music Festival. Scott Bryant
And, yeah, he rocks, with gut-grinding guitar licks and cleverly cool chords.
But clearly, Derek Trucks isn't following the flight of that old "Free Bird," as evidenced by his electrifying and eclectic performance Friday night in Orleans Hall.
Trucks, 24, and his band touched just about every imaginable musical genre with style and grace, skipping with ease from blues and jazz to funk and soul.
However, Southern rock was not among the mix.
The five-piece Derek Trucks Band has never been about that style. True, he doubles as guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band. It's also true the Brothers' blood flows through his veins. His uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, was an original Allman – and remains one to this day.
And when Derek is on stage with those guys, there's no doubt he can carry his load.
The DTB is another story, and that tone was established by the second song when they started funking the place up.
Kofi Burbridge of the Derek Trucks band takes a solo while his bandmates look on during last night's performance at Orleans Hall. Scott Bryant
Interestingly, the Savannah College of Art and Design venue, just a block from the Savannah Civic Center, was decked out for the 2004 Savannah Music Festival with black tablecloths, pale ale and bottled water.
"'Budweiser Night' was last night," a bow-tie wearing bartender told one patron.
Once the five-piece combo hit the stage, though, old hippies were grooving with the conservative-suit crowd. And the young college kids were having just as much fun.
If there were any doubters in the crowd, drummer Yonrico Scott hammered them away with a searing drum solo that was followed flawlessly by Kofi Burbridge on flute. All the while, Todd Smallie on bass kept things moving along at just the right pace.
The soul on this night came from singer Mike Mattison, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, slipping onto the stage for a powerful tune or two, only to slide back off.
All the while, Trucks mixed playfully with his bandmates. Best of all, though, was the give and take between Trucks and Burbridge.
One minute, Burbridge was on flute, the next on keyboards – floating and then flying.
Then Trucks would step in and bring it all home with an amazing run on his slide guitar.
Trucks' red guitar, a Gibson SG, is identical to the one the late Duane Allman once played.
On this night, Duane would have gladly shared the stage – and licks – with Trucks and his band.
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/040304/...rektrucks.shtml
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omg, instead of worrying about the homeless problem they have in that community, they're worried about people feeding them, $10 a night @ the salvation army? if someone's homeless, where are they suppose to get this money? I never knew the salvation army charged for offering shelter, I just assumed when they were full that was it, so sad to have this problem in the first place, and to think washington d.c. is one of the worst for homeless, lawmakers see that everyday and do nothing about it.
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I saw csn&y the last tour they did before they split, in cleveland, it was an outstanding concert. Then get this, lol last summer cs&n played the local county fair, saw them, they were still good, dave crosby tells some good stories, and some of the protest songs still make sense today :(
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Speaking of Music Piracy ....
Associated Press
03:11 PM Apr. 08, 2004 PT
To see the future of online music prices, look no further than Fly or Die, the new album by rock-meets-hip-hop trio N.E.R.D.
For months, digital-music services have been touting albums for $9.99 to entice more people to buy online. But Apple's iTunes Music Store has been charging $16.99 for Fly or Die, while Napster sells the 12-song collection for $13.99. Both prices are higher than the $13.49 that Amazon.com charges for the CD itself. The same pricing shifts are showing up on albums by a growing slate of artists, from Shakira to Bob Dylan.
Unburdened by manufacturing and distribution costs, online music was supposed to usher in a new era of inexpensive, easy-to-access music for consumers. In many cases, buying music online is still cheaper than shopping for CDs at retail outlets. But just a year after iTunes debuted with its 99-cent songs and mostly $9.99 albums, that affordable and straightforward pricing structure is already under pressure.
All five major music companies are discussing ways to boost the price of single-song downloads on hot releases -- to anywhere from $1.25 to as much as $2.49. It isn't clear how or when such a price hike would take place, and it could still be months away. Sales of such singles -- prices have remained at 99 cents -- still account for the majority of online music sales.
The industry is also mulling other ways to charge more for online singles. One option under consideration is bundling hit songs with less-desirable tracks. Another possibility is charging more for a single track if it is available online before the broader release of the entire album from which it is taken. There is also talk of lowering the price on some individual tracks from older albums.
Several record-company executives acknowledged that pricing changes are being discussed at all five major companies.
The new pricing developments come as digital-music sales are growing steadily. Around 25 million digital tracks were sold in the first three months of this year, compared to 19.2 million for all of the second half of last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
That growth is why some in the industry are uncomfortable with the talk of price increases. Most music-company executives believe that the download market is still in a critical early-growth stage, which could be disrupted by raising prices. "For us right now the issue is not, 'Do we make another $300,000 by raising the price five cents?"' says a music company executive. "It's making sure the market grows."
Revenues in the music industry have been dragging in recent years, which the industry blames on online piracy. Raising digital-music prices could spur additional illicit downloading. Weaning people off those illegal services by giving them an alternative that they consider viable is critical to the industry's future profitability.
N.E.R.D's Fly or Die is far from the only album that now costs significantly more to download from iTunes than to buy on CD. And many high-profile albums from two of the big five music companies, Sony Music and EMI, are now priced on iTunes and its competitors well above the $9.99 norm. Sony artist Pete Yorn's Musicforthemorningafter, for example, costs $13.99 on iTunes and $10.88 on average in retail stores.
The reason this disparity is so pronounced at EMI and Sony is that both companies routinely set wholesale prices for online albums higher than their competitors, according to people familiar with the matter.
A much smaller number of titles from the other major music labels also cost more than $9.99 on iTunes. A handful of albums from BMG, Warner Music Group and the Universal Music Group also cost more online than they do as CDs. But these tend to be double discs such as OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which incur higher costs in certain kinds of royalties when sold online than as traditional CDs.
"There's a lot of experimentation in the industry," says Peter Csathy, president and chief operating officer of Musicmatch Inc., which sells digital music.
The music companies are reluctant to talk openly about their wholesale-pricing strategies, but they are quick to blame the retailers for higher prices. A spokeswoman for EMI, for instance, stresses that the retailers, not record companies, ultimately set the prices consumers pay.
However, the digital-music services say they base their retail prices directly on the wholesale prices the music companies charge. "Our pricing comes when the fees come in from the labels," said Csathy.
ITunes, the market leader among downloading services, and its competitors offer music at two distinct price points: Single tracks cost 99 cents. A full-album has generally cost $9.99, regardless of how many songs are on it.
Napster was until recently the lone holdout among the major online services on full album prices, charging $9.95 for numerous titles that cost between $12.87 and $16.99 on iTunes. But two weeks ago, it relented and created a higher tier of album prices, set at $13.99.
Separately, Walmart.com, the online arm of Wal-Mart Stores, recently rolled out a slightly cheaper 88-cents-per-track price. Many observers, however, argue that any advantage conferred by the 11-cent difference will be offset by a user interface that early reviews have called less friendly than those of other services. Executives at competing services also contend that research shows that consumers don't care much about price differences within the band of about 75 cents and 99 cents.
The issue of online music prices raises philosophical debates for music executives. Some executives, for example, believe they should be charging a premium for the online versions of older tracks because consumers may be willing to pay more for harder-to-find material
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,...=wn_tophead_11w
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Condi Lousy
Why Rice is a bad national security adviser
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well if you guys aren't going to respond I'm just going to say BBKING!!!!!!!!!!!!
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A Show That's All Woman
Crazy in Love With Beyonce, Missy, Alicia
By Sean Daly
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, April 9, 2004; Page C01
On a go-go-go night when three of the most dazzling women in music -- Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott -- flaunted their formidable skills at MCI Center, it was ultimately a dude who provided a jacked-up Wednesday crowd with the biggest reason to squeal.
The top rapper in all the land, and a supposedly retired one at that, Jay-Z bounded from the shadows to join his gal-pal Beyonce on the incendiary show-closer, "Crazy in Love," capping what will no doubt go down as the yowza concert of the year.
Any mortal man would have melted from the pressure of such intimidating company (or from the grindhouse-worthy amount of male and female backing-dancer flesh constantly sexing up the stage).
From infectious oddball Elliott's Jacques Cousteau-fever-dream set design to throwback Keys's funked-up piano wizardry to wonder-woman Beyonce's gyrating-gymnast-with-a-heart-of-gold finale, the Ladies First Tour was a four-hour display of spectacular show-womanship.
Despite their insistence on calisthenically working the stage in all manner of bumps, grinds and back-and-forth sprints, the stars never resorted to lip-syncing or allowing the highfalutin FX to take over their individual performances. (Are you listening, Britney?) And the buzzing, big-event crowd -- a marketer's dream of just about every music-loving demographic -- appreciated the genuine effort, from the frat boys to the droopy-drawers crew, from the decked-out, deep-cleavaged lookers to the wee ones in danger of disappearing forever into the precarious decolletage.
After the briefest of hello-goodbyes from humble pre-show appetizer Tamia -- that's Mrs. Grant Hill to you basketball fans -- in which she had just enough time (and a mere sliver of stage) to sweetly deliver a few song snippets, including Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire," Elliott appeared with the trademark trippy flair that makes her videos such a bizarro treat.
Putting together a too-short 35-minute set that was all parts performance art, underwater adventure and strip-a-palooza, the pop-rap party-thrower jumped out of a center-stage Vegas-style magic box and was instantly surrounded by skull-headed mimes, barely dressed cheerleaders and a DJ in a futuristic Easter egg. "Misdemeanor" Elliott has never been subtle about anything, so naturally this all went down in front of a swirling video aquarium -- complete with a singing shark. Think "Grinding Nemo" and you'll be close.
Hip-hop shows -- usually fueled by recorded tracks -- often suffer from muffled acoustics and fuzzy bass lines. But if the sound was loud and thumping all night, it also remained blissfully clear. The 32-year-old Elliott thrilled with quick-lipped deliveries of the Timbaland-produced gems "Get Ur Freak On," "Work It" and the new "Pass That Dutch," during which her eight -- no, here come six more! -- 14 dancers tried out some country moves (yep, line-dancing). Elliott bid adieu with a Cal Ripkenesque victory lap of hugs and high-fives around the arena's lower level, a rarely attempted meet-and-greet that fans were still swooning over at evening's end. Now that's working a room.
If there was a negative about the Ladies First Tour -- which returns to MCI Center on Sunday -- it's that the performers are a bit too much in touch with their sexuality. Beyonce's Olympic-caliber, coconut-cracking thighs should come with their own parental-advisory label, but it was a pole-sliding acrobat in Elliott's X-travaganza that had some worried moms pulling their kids just a bit closer.
"I was like, 'Omigod!' " said D.C.'s Jodi Liverpool, who brought her slightly dazed 6-year-old daughter Noel -- who, in a reporter's presence, could shyly peep just one word: "Beyonce" -- to her very first concert. "It was good. But I guess they feel that they have to throw in the sex stuff and be all aggressive."
"That's kind of what I like the most," whispered 35-year-old District man Honesty (just Honesty), sitting nearby and looking dazed for very different reasons. "Yeah, they showed a reeeeeal enthusiasm."
It wasn't so saucy throughout. The long-braided, bustiered Keys relied on a more old-school approach during her 75-minute set. Then again, just because her comparatively spare stage design didn't come equipped with George Lucas-level foofaraw doesn't mean every portion of her performance wasn't meant to get jaws dropping. A classically trained prodigy who infuses jazzy ballads with soulful oomph, the prodigious 23-year-old held heavenly high notes on the swoony "Fallin' " and the Prince-penned "How Come You Don't Call Me," busted out a baton and conducted her nine-piece band for a funky jam session, and, in a gulp-inducing bit of "Fabulous Baker Boys" whimsy, writhed across her baby grand -- and then played the darn thing upside down. She even threw in an all-together-now cover of the Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" for good measure.
Pop stars planning summer concerts could learn a few things from the Ladies First Tour. The entire night was carefully and cleverly put together, from the diverse-enough acts expertly fusing together various components of the hip-hop universe to the relatively fast set changes that -- considering that the stage got deeper and more tech-complex as the night wore on -- could have killed the momentum had the crew doddered.
Although Elliott and Keys could easily helm their own solo arena shows -- and here's hoping they do -- there was really only one logical choice to wrap up this night.
Beyonce (nee Beyonce Knowles) loves her pyrotechnics. And her 20-foot-high, satin-covered swings. And her palanquin/hospital bed that, hefted up by some buffed helpers, carried her through the crowd to the stage like the pop queen she's quickly, and rightfully, becoming.
But what the 23-year-old loves more than anything is to bend, twist and Shakira-shake her epically proportioned physique, which -- after 85 minutes, six varying degrees of undress and a full-throated barrage of top-of-the-chart hits -- can now be considered the finest collection of body parts of all time. She's like Tina Turner with a bigger budget and -- hold your fire -- a better voice.
Flipping her long, streaked-blond brown mane and backed by six -- no, wait, here come nine more! -- 15 dancers, Beyonce, in gold lamé skirt (well, skirtlike) and bra, opened with "Baby Boy." She smoothly segued into the ecstatic moans of the "Love to Love You Baby"-sampled "Naughty Girl." Working with both a showoff DJ and a full band on two coolly gliding bandstands, she and her undulating abs strutted and shimmied out hits from her day-job group Destiny's Child ("Independent Women," "Say My Name," "Survivor") and then climbed a nifty staircase/slide straight out of Harry Potter for a dreamy singalong of solo hit "Dangerously in Love 2."
For the final wardrobe change of the night, "B" let it all hang out in a Daisy Duke-meets-Dorothy getup: a tight white baby-T, 10-sizes-too-small denim shorts and ruby-red pumps. "Crazy in Love" just might be the most overplayed song of the last 10 years, but it sounded positively bombastic Wednesday night. Of course, once Jay-Z -- looking remarkably fit in his retirement -- entered stage left for his mid-song rhyme, you couldn't hear much at all. As plumes of white confetti continued to fall well after the house lights popped on, a majority of the crowd continued to cheer -- ready, apparently, for another four hours.
Madonna, who comes to MCI Center on June 13 and 14, certainly has her work cut out for her. The Material Girl's top-level tickets are $303, while Beyonce & Co.'s best views can be had for $77.50. On this night, there was no question which was the more worthy expenditure. "Three hundred?" said Victoria Lender, a breathless 27-year-old Keys fan. "I can watch that on VH1."
The Washington Post
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A review of Déjà Vu
this was one of my favorite albums at the time, I found this site, which turned out to be well done, and interesting reading, here's a review from 1970
Author: Allen McDougall
Publication: Melody Maker
Date: March 28, 1970
CROSBY, STILLS and Nash started out together just to make some nice, harmonic sounds together. Their first album was a huge world-wide hit. Two million people thought their harmonic sounds were nice enough to buy. Only drummer Dallas Taylor was on that LP in addition to C S & N. It was the kind of record that had something for probably everyone's taste.
Question: how the hell do you follow that? The answer comes from Atlantic records in a couple of weeks, when they release the group's second, and even better (would you believe?) album.
FUNKY
Titled Deja Vu and performed by, to give them their new, official band name, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Dallas Taylor & Greg Reeves, it comes in a dark-brown, leather-bound jacket with a far-out front sleeve of the six-man band looking like Civil War combatants.
The album was produced by the chaps themselves at Wally Heider's excellent funky little Hollywood studio, immaculately engineered by Bill Halverson, over a period of around two months.
Kicking off with a really cooking Carry On, by Stills, this is actually two of Stephen's acoustic songs - Carry On and Questions broken up by their inimitable unaccompanied harmonising for eight bars.
PLEA
Teach Your Children is Graham Nash's simple little plea to us to teach our children well, so that we can learn from their dreams. Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead adds some Country flavour with his Steel Guitar.
A true reflection of Crosby's personal American paranoia follows with his song Almost Cut My Hair. But he didn't cut his hair, he tells us. He preferred to let his Freak flag fly! There's some great guitar from Stills and Young on this track, both of them working together and against each other, compatibly.
Young's Helpless follows, a slow song about the town in North Ontario where he grew up, and went through all his changes. Now he can't go back there, as it's all a big drag. And he feels helpless. Neil Young on lead guitar and voice, Stills on Cowboy piano, C,S&N harmonizing in the highest imaginable way.
HYMN
Closing the first half of the album is the group's rocking version of Joni Mitchell's hymn about the greatest-ever kids' get-together, Woodstock. Nash and Stills sharing most of the singing about the half-million Children Of God together in The Garden of Celebration. And about how Joni dreamed she saw the bomber jet planes, riding shotgun in the sky, turn into butterflies over the nation. Heavy.
Side 2 begins with Crosby's title track Deja Vu, which in this context means that we have all been here before (in another lifetime). Tempos vary in this one, illustrating the excellence of Taylor's drumming, and Greg Reeves' bass. John Sebastian adds some willowy harmonica to the dreamy parts.
Our House is dedicated by Nash to the log cabin he used to live in Laurel Canyon with his lady, and their two cats. Pretty Lah-lah-lahing chorus, with Nash's various voices and piano strongly shining through.
4 + 20 was written by Stills The Loner when he was four and twenty years old. Beautifully tragic song, just Stephen's voice and his acoustic guitar.
SOARING
Country Girl is an epic production by Neil Young in which he succeeds in out-Spectoring Phil Spector, and even out-Nitzscheing his former producer Jack Nitzsche.
And finally, a rocking bit of Stills/Young boogie called Everybody I Love You where the whole band really gets it on. And you won't believe the high, searing, floating quality of vocals.
http://www.4waysite.com/index5.htm
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:singin: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Janet,
Happy Birthday to you! and many more! :Here's to you:
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you know, even a high school student knows the national security advisor co-ordinates with the FBI and CIA, as part of the job, but to not include the chief director of terrorism in these days and times seems a little negligent.
College Rejections
in General News
Posted
I agree, and I hope to see some excellent schools climb in the ratings, there's nothing wrong with attending a local university, I liked the rollings stones quote, "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."