Metaverse promo video

Good news everybody! I've got a video to share. It's not the one I've been talking about, it's just a teaser, but I think you'll dig it. It's the promo video for our album, Metaverse!



Support Darkfold and buy our album! Thanks!

Darkfold's web site is live!

Hey everybody: Good news! Darkfold's web site is live!! Check it out:

http://darkfold.underutopia.com/

Edit: I've got the Darkfold.com domain transferring now! It's bliss.

Let me know what you think of the site. It's got two different music players, 4 downloadable MP3 tracks, plus links to a bunch of pages that are hosting the full album, like Bandcamp, AmieStreet and Jamendo. It's rock and roll overload!!

So now you know why this blog hasn't seen many updates lately. I'm hoping to get back to regularly scheduled posting soon, but I post on two other blogs as well as this one! ::wipes sweat from brow::

I'm also working on a super-secret video project that I hope to be able to share with you guys soon! I'm pretty stoked; it's coming along really well. More info soon...

Fear and Loathing in Maplewood

Catch my review of a recent All-American Rejects show in Maplewood over at PerfectPorridge.com! Despite what you may think it was a pretty crazy time. Here's a quick excerpt:

Just when I was about to write the youth of today’s idea of rock’n'roll off as about as rebellious as a church picnic, the crowd started to raise some hell. Crowd surfers erupted in the pit and the girl next to me tried to climb onto the stage. When security dragged her back down she refused to stand up and had to be physically removed from the building; outside there were cop cars with lights flashing and sullen occupants in the back seat. Clearly, a good time was had by all.

Read the rest of it!

Darkfold at the Dinkytowner this Wednesday

Hey kids, my band Darkfold is playing the Dinkytowner Cafe this coming Wednesday. It'd be great to see you there, but I totally understand if you can't make it on a weeknight -- plus we don't go on until 11 pm. But we'd love to see you if you can make it! We're gonna bring the rock and there's no cover!!

Haunted and evil

Take a listen to this hauntingly beautiful rendition of Vader's Theme:

Darkfold shows -- Are you ready to Rocktober?

I've got two Darkfold shows coming up in October (plus two more in November). Sorry for the short notice on the first one, but it's on Thursday October 16th at the legendary 400 Bar in Minneapolis!

Then the next gig is on Friday October 24th at Station-4 in St. Paul at 10pm. Both shows are with Foresight for Sore Eyes and Human Bean.

Check out a quick review on PerfectPorridge and find our tunes on MySpace or Last.fm. Be sure to check out PerfectPorridge for a chance to win the album just by saying you deserve it!

Incommunicado - Darkfold

I've been piss poor at updating this blog lately, huh?

That's because I've been working on the album. Yep, my band, Darkfold, are readying our first album -- finally -- after months of delays as life interceded, as it often does. But no more! I think we're finally getting close. I'm gonna get this sumbitch out if it's the last thing I do!

It's called Metaverse and it's a quick, powerful album full of bruisingly loud, but always-melodic songs that we think are pretty cool. I'd say it has elements of The White Stripes, Nirvana and Iron Maiden in a stew that we've definitely made our own. I'm pretty psyched about it. I can't wait until people can finally hear it!

I'm finishing up the album artwork. Here's a preview of the CD cover; let me know what you think!

Oppressotron video!

My band, Darkfold, has a new video. It's fucking crazy and disturbing; I know you'll love it! Let me know what you think. It's called Oppressotron!!

Ring in a New Era with a Frigid Lunar Eclipse

It was cold. February cold. -5 degrees cold, plus windchill.

But that made for perfect viewing conditions. Amazingly, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the moon filled up the night sky like a giant flashlight searching for some ancient, lost love. I watched the eclipse envelope the moon in shadow over at Andy's place and then drove home after finishing up practice. I told myself I wasn't going to break out the telescope since it was so fucking cold, but after staring at the moon in my driveway for a bit I figured, "what the hell; why not?"

I nearly froze my ass (well my hands really) off trying, but I eventually managed to snap a decent shot with the aid of the telescope. Check it out:


The moon looked amazing through the telescope. I couldn't replicate what I was seeing because my hands kept shaking from the cold. I snapped about a dozen crappy shots before the one above came out. I fled inside instantly and put on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

I don't know what an eclipse "means" but this one meant something to me. I just wish things were different. Everything's fucked up in my life and the world as a whole, but I think seeing an eclipse can remind you that some things really are preordained. How many hundreds of years ago was this eclipse predicted in some ancient ephemeris? I dunno, but like clockwork it happened last night. There's something comforting about that.

Mostly I hope that this eclipse is the harbinger of a new era, as it was 500 years ago when Columbus used a similar eclipse to scare the shit out of some natives. Maybe this time we can start off on the right foot and bring everything up a notch. We each set the tone for our reality. We can erase our fears and free our souls from this torment if we'd each let our hearts ring true. But there's the rub; we need to do it together. One person freeing his mind is a lunatic. A billion doing the same is a global awakening.

I keep hoping against hope; a fool's hope. But sometimes that's all you've got. And even with the pain and heartache of being let down so many times I wouldn't trade that foolish hope for anything except the truth. I know the bell is cracked, but I hope it will ring again someday anyway. Is that stupidity? Delusion?

I know it's stupid. My logical brain tells me unequivicably that it is. But something deeper tells me that things are not always as they seem.

Maybe that will be the first lesson of a new era.

The value of music labels

Wired has a great interview on their site. It's a Thom Yorke interview conducted by David Byrne. You should check it out.

This is the part that stuck with me:

Byrne: What about bands that are just getting started?

Yorke: Well, first and foremost, you don't sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority. If you're an emerging artist, it must be frightening at the moment. Then again, I don't see a downside at all to big record companies not having access to new artists, because they have no idea what to do with them now anyway.

Byrne: It should be a load off their minds.

Yorke: Exactly.

We won't be so lucky to have the major labels slit their own wrists, but they're doing everything up to that to kill themselves. It's almost as if they're dinosaurs hoping for the asteroid to come. In Rainbows wasn't the asteroid, but it might be a harbinger comet. I feel compelled to stand before RIAA headquarters with a big sign saying "REPENT!"

The end is nigh.

Sick Music

I haven't posted in awhile. It's been two weeks; two very busy weeks.

I wish I had something cool for you, but I don't have much to say other than: I'm sick. I feel like crap. So no worthwhile posting today. Instead, I want to direct you to an interesting site I found. It's called thesixtyone and it's basically Digg for music. FINALLY!! I've been waiting for something like this for a long time and it looks like somebody's finally done it right.

Check it out; let me know what you think. I've uploaded a Darkfold song if you want to hunt it down. :-) We have a show coming up on Saturday at Station-4. We would love to see you there!

I forgot to mention my concert

Shit. We had a poster and everything. I'm posting it anyway, dammit.

There. Don't you wish I had posted this earlier so you could've gone to see Darkfold lay down the rock? I'm such a bad promoter.

But wait!! There is a chance to redeem myself. We've got another gig this Friday at the Whiskey Junction! We're playing with a band called Foresight For Sore Eyes and a few other bands.

Oct. 5th @ 9:30pm! Whiskey Junction! Darkfold will be on early so get there fast and be ready to rock.

Everything I Need To Know, I've Learned From Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden is a kick-ass band with songs full of crazy guitar solos and high pitched vocals, but that's not all they offer. Almost every song is a history lesson, covering a diverse range of topics and times. This hilarious article about Maiden vs. high school history class is 666 kinds of awesome:

I am writing this letter in protest of the perverse travesty I have suffered at the hands of Mr. Bradley in the form of the horribly unjust "F" grade he has given me for last semester in his complete fraud of a class, World History 101. It calls into question the academic standards of this institution!

--snip--

100 B.C. The Roman Empire: The opening track "The Ides Of March" from the album Killers takes its name from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which the Roman Emperor is betrayed and murdered by Brutus after being warned to "beware the Ides Of March," which is March 15th. This song immediately reminded me of the time that asshole senior Zack threatened he's kick my ass if I didn't return his copy of Slayer's Reign In Blood before Christmas break, and my so-called "friend" Marty totally sold me out and told him that it was in my locker the whole time. This betrayal led to my tragic, Caesar-esque fall from grace. More specifically, this involved Zack wailing on me and duct-taping my buttcheeks together in the locker room after gym class. Et tu, Marte?

Read the whole thing!

BTW, the descriptions of the songs are 100% true! The lyrics really are about historical events.

How was the show?

Thanks for all those who came to the show tonight. It was awesome to see you all there. Hope we put on a good show.

For those of you who missed our inaugural gig, we've got another one coming up on Saturday the 25th! It's a the Terminal Bar at 9:00 pm. I believe cover is $5. We'd love to see you there.

We're Darkfold. We rock your face.

Darkfold show -- Tuesday night at Big V's

Hey everybody. I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to post about my band's show tomorrow night!!

As you may know, I'm in a band called Darkfold. We're playing Big V's Saloon Tuesday night at 9pm. Cover is $5. Also playing are A Life Without and Post Mortem Grinner. It's gonna be an insane show! More metal than you can swallow. Hope you can make it!

Some Mornings are Death Metal Mornings

Have you ever had a Death Metal Morning™? It's when you need a fix of super-loud, super-fast death metal in the morning when most sane people are listening to light music to slowly wake the hell up.

As I was pulling out of my driveway this morning I couldn't find anything decent on the radio so I switched to a CD Andy gave me - Nile. I figured it might be a death metal morning. Boy was I right.

Not three seconds after putting on the CD I turned onto a road not more than 100 feet from my house and was nearly driven right off the road by a vehicle coming at me at extreme speed.

This is a neighborhood, mind you. Kids are all over the place around here, and this street was a residential road (one lane in each direction) with a speed limit of 30 mph, which most people actually follow. Not dumbshit though. She/he was going at least 50 miles an hour. Although the car was coming right at me I managed to make it up to 30 before they caught up to me. You'd think we'd be cool, right?

No. Dumbfuck swerves and passes me, crossing the double yellow line (no passing) and into oncoming traffic (there was none. This is a quiet neighborhood...or it was) and gives me the finger as if this is all somehow my fault.

No way, muthafucker. Not in my neighborhood. So I follow the little bitch and lay on the horn. We come up to a stoplight and we have to wait at least 30 seconds, thus negating any time dumbshit might've saved by speeding 50+ mph in a residential zone.

Muthafucker should be thanking Jesus I didn't have a fucking baseball bat in my car or there would've been trouble. She/he would've seen a well-dressed office drone jump out of his car with a bat and death metal blaring. I would've proceeded to beat the fuck out of his/her nice-ass SUV (of course it was an SUV) while screaming, "Not in my neighborhood, MUTHERFUCKER!!!" repeatedly. It would've been quite a sight.

Luckily, I don't have a baseball bat in my car, but life is a mosh pit and I'm thinking about getting one. We live in a death metal world and if you're not ready to fight back you're gonna get your face stepped on.

Nile, by the way, is perfect for working through a spasm of rage in the morning. It truly was a Death Metal Morning™.

Bob Dylan is so fucking overrated...

...But he's still good. People have been talking about Dylan's new album, Modern Times, saying it's one of his best. I got my hands on a copy and I must disagree. I thought it was quite disappointing except for the last track, "Ain't Talkin'" which is damn good. Too bad the rest of the album is impotent and paint-by-numbers tripe.

I don't expect Bob's voice to soothe me or even sound decent. Shit, there's tracks on the album where old Bob sounds like he's just been gargling with battery acid and peanut butter. He sounds like Zombie Dylan on a couple tracks. I think maybe Dylan's been dead for a few years and he's been re-animated with some Frankenstein-esque machine, doomed to wander the world as the undead while recording songs when his rotten voice box feels up to it.

But that's not what bothers me about his new album.

No, it's his backing band. On most tracks they sound like a shitty wedding band, playing the blandest, most inoffensive tunes your Aunt Marge could possibly ask for. I know, I know; it's Dylan, not Killswitch Engage. But c'mon, Bob! Crank it up a notch. The band sounds like they're on horse tranquilizers and auditioning for a gig as studio musicians for the Muzak corporation.

I saw Dylan live on this tour and the band was a bit better on stage, but maybe that's because you have to be loud in a 20,000 seat theater. They seemed a little more energized, even playing (sort of) the Jimi Hendrix version of "All Along the Watchtower."

Still, Bob's not what he used to be. He's a living legend, but it's not like he could write "Like a Rolling Stone" or "The Times are a-Changin'" at age 66.

Instead we need a new generation of musical geniuses to move things forward; guys like Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. Their new album, The Crane Wife, is fucking brilliant.

The Decemberists are so fucking literary they sound like a band fronted by your old college English teacher, but in a good way. Despite the focus on words and lyrics (like Dylan) the band is about much more than that. They actually have great tunes! Their sound has been described as progressive-folk rock. They've clearly listened to a few Pink Floyd albums, but also a lot of Dylan.

Like Dylan, Colin Meloy has a.... uh.. "unique" voice. It takes some getting used to, but he can sing and hit the notes, just like Dylan used to be able to. Colin's timbre is reedy and somewhat nasally, but he sings with more melody than dear old Bob.

If you're a little disappointed with 7th decade Dylan, check out a band in its prime: The Decemberists.

Blogs of Summer

It's hard to blog during the summer.

There's so much to do outside, even when it's melt-your-face hot out there. Things only get complicated by the fact that I've started turning my computer off when I'm not using it. This is "who are you and what have you done with Tim?!"-type behavior for me, but I'm trying to waste less electricity. And I've realized that the computer is really loud. It's quite peaceful when the damn thing is off 'cause the hum of the fans is pretty annoying.

I use my computer as a jukebox, so this crimps my ability to play tunes easily. Still, I kinda like having the infernal machine off for a change -- I use it too fucking much. What do I often do after coming back from a hard day at work, where I've been staring at a screen for 8 to 10 hours? Why, surf the internet of course! That shit needs to stop.

I'm hoping this change doesn't impact the blog too much. I'll still turn the computer on from time to time. It's also my recording workstation, so I'll need it to make a bunch of tweaks to the album before we are finished. Speaking of the band, concert dates are coming soon.

Lastly, there might be fewer posting for a few days as I battle a wizard. That wizard, of course, is Harry Potter and his 7th book. I love J.K. Rowling's books and this is the last of the Potter books. I'm about 200 pages in and it's really good. I've been trying to slow down or else I could read the whole thing in two days despite it being 750 pages. I'm sure a lot of people are done with it already, but I'm trying to take my time and savor it since this is it; no more Potter after this.

How sad it will be when the book's over. Whether Harry dies or not doesn't really matter. Since this is the last book he's dead to us when the last page turns. There's something very final about that.

More Reviews at Perfect Porridge

I reviewed a few more albums for Perfect Porridge. Check'em out! We've got a little Pestilence for you, along a nice slab of Sadus! Fuck yeah! Some thrash metal from the late 80s/early 90s for ya! You know you love it.

music goes 'round, money goes down

I've been thinking about music a lot lately. Okay, I always do that, since I'm obsessed with music, but you wouldn't know it from this blog. I don't know why, but I don't usually like to write about music (it's like "dancing about architecture" or so says Frank Zappa).

There's an article over on Slashdot that got me thinking. It's about the decline of the CD as a medium. Yeah, an article on that subject comes out every couple weeks, but I didn't even read it. More important, I thought, was the ensuing discussion. It seems everybody has a different take on the state of the music industry. For me, no, CDs are not dead. I prefer my music uncompressed and pre-backed-up before I put it on my iPod. Plus, if you count CD-Rs, CDs are more popular than ever. I burn CDs all the time, whether its a copy of a CD a friend gave me or mixes from my band's recording sessions.

Band Update - finally
Speaking of the band, I know I haven't posted about us in awhile, probably because I didn't want to jinx anything. People have been asking me when our album's coming out for years and I keep telling them, "pretty soon. It's right around the corner!" For the last few months I've been saying, "in a few months!" Well, it's been a few months and it's not out yet, but not for lack of effort. To be honest, we don't know what the fuck we're doing, but whatever we're doing is shaping up pretty nice. We've got about 7 songs pretty much in the can -- which is to say 90% or more recorded. They all need some mixing, but we're going to try to bust out 2 more tracks before mixing begins in earnest. The songs are heavy but not punishing. They are melodic, but not sappy. They are all fairly unique but I think they will sound pretty cohesive together on an album (except for maybe one oddball).

We've learned so much about recording over the last 7 months, I don't know where to begin. But we've also had some setbacks. I'm not blaming anybody (*coughMattcough*), but my Digi 001 suddenly went from an 8 track recorder to 6 tracks. Not good. But we'll pull through. We're recording all of the instruments separately for maximum flexibility (and it just sounds better in my opinion), so this shouldn't cause too many problems. After all of the overdubs are added on we typically end up with over 20 tracks anyway, now we're just limited to recording 6 tracks at a time.

So anyway, the band: I haven't even told you the name yet. We're Darkfold. We're on UnderUtopia Records, which is our own independent net-based label and our album is yet to be named. Darkfold consists of me, Matthew R. Coon (esquire) and Andy Riedinger (esquilax). We trade off instruments. Matt does much of our singing, but I do a bunch, too. We play heavy rock music, at least that's what we're focusing on at the moment. The second album could be totally different; who knows?

Anyway, I'll try to keep y'all better informed as the album nears completion. We hope to start gigging soon, but we want to get this album done before Armageddon (which could be any day now... in fact... we'd better hurry!). This making an album thing is fucking difficult, especially with 3 fulltime jobs between us. Of course, it would be impossible without money coming in. I really respect anybody who can start a band, even a shitty one, because there's so much that goes into making it work.

Music, Money & Class
I've been thinking about music and money -- more specifically, music and class. A question to ponder: How much music is the world being robbed of because the would-be musicians are too poor to start a band? I mean, becoming a professional musician is basically like taking a vow of poverty to begin with (unless your name is "Paul McCartney"), but you have to have a certain level of wealth before you can even take that plunge. Buying guitars, drums, amps and assorted gear is expensive. So is buying recording equipment and practice space and a van for touring. Then, after doing that you need to find time to practice -- but how can you do that if you're working all the time to afford food, clothing and shelter, let alone the aforementioned gear/space?

So needless to say, I'm kinda shocked anybody can afford to start a rock band these days. That's why I wasn't too surprised to find out that many successful rock musicians were wealthy before they hit the top of the charts. Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, for instance, had rich parents to help him out when he was just getting started:

Conor: Dark? Not really. Actually I had a great childhood. My parents were wonderful. I went to a Catholic school. They have, I had money, so it was all easy. I basically had everything that I wanted anytime

Gee, wouldn't that be nice. If my parents were bankrolling my musical endeavors I think we would've released 5 albums by now. Curse my middle-class upbringing! (j/k) It seems like every other star is the child of someone famous, from Norah Jones to Jakob Dylan. Rock and roll music was sparked by working class kids like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Elvis. Would those same kids have a chance in today's cut-throat economy with all its barriers to entry?

America's Famous Poverty Machine
So my question is: Do you have to be upper-class or at least well-off to have a good chance of making it in music these days? Do the rich people in America make the rules? Music has evolved and the bar for "good" music has been raised and if you don't want to sign your soul away to a near-extinct dinosaur of a record label what choice do you have?

Personally, I get the feeling that we're being fucked. The economy seems to be devised to deprive of us our hard-earned money. After inflation, college loans, housing bubbles, gas prices and the fucked up healthcare system, most people are barely scraping by. I have several friends who are still living with their parents because moving out just doesn't make economic sense. Rent is sky-high and wages are down (even as productivity is up!). Most of my other friends have massive debt (myself included) and no easy way out.

This is the richest, most prosperous nation on earth?! Bullshit. We are being fucked by the rich. The fascist/capitalist oligarchy that controls our government is all about extracting ever more money from the poor and the middle class, not because the rich need another yacht (they don't) but because the whole system is set up this way. It all needs to come crashing down. And at the rate the dollar is falling, it might just do exactly that. And we'll have Bush to blame. The "legacy" they keep talking about will be one of fascism, terrorism, poverty and incompetence.

Music and class is not something most people like to talk about. It's fair to ask, "does it matter? If the music is good, so what?" I would argue that it does matter, and we miss their unique perspectives. If you need a lot of equipment or players (like rock and classical, respectively) the poor simply can't play that game. And music education is already cut to the bone in inner city schools.

We'd be condemned to hearing only music created by the offspring of rich people if it wasn't for hip-hop. Hip-hop, thankfully, can be made on the cheap if you know your way around the software (and if you have a computer) or mixer. But not everybody wants to be (or can be) a rapper. And what is the manifest goal of almost every single rapper on the radio -- that's right; getting filthy rich. (not every rapper is like that)

I don't wanna be rich; I just want to make some music. I would love to do it for a living, but that just doesn't seem possible these days. Signing a record contract is a great way to feel rich for a couple years before you discover the terms of the contract have impoverished you and stolen the most valuable thing you have -- the copyright to your own songs. So we're going the indie route, even if it kills us (and it might). In the meantime, I urge you to give some thought to the idea that lower and middle class folks are being shut out of the music game. Just like the other games.

I should make it clear that the most valuable commodity the rich have is time; specifically the time that comes from not having to work.

If only rich people are able to make popular, radio-friendly music we'd lose about 90% of all potential music, and we'd be subjected to endless songs about Jacuzzis, Mercedes Benz's and Courvoisier. Thankfully, there are a lot bands out there struggling against impossible odds and making songs about real shit, like trying to pay the rent, finding their way in the world and dealing with relationships. Shit, music used to be the province of poor folks -- look at all those old blues albums. Leadbelly was poor as piss, but now people think there's a lot of money in the music game so the rich's kids have invaded... and conquered.

Shit, the music business ain't even worth that much, monetarily. But its cultural and entertainment value is immense! I hope it doesn't sound like I'm whining, but I certainly have a new respect for musicians of modest means who have managed to carve out a good living for themselves without signing to a major label. I just don't know who those bands are... -

Oh yeah -- The Goodyear Pimps!

And WookieFoot! Represent, bliss junkies!

Do you know any others? Give me a shout-out!

An enjoyable four-day weekend

I'm back at the grind after a lovely Memorial Day vacation. I hope you all had a great vacation as well. Mine was pretty cool. It involved dancing, drinking, camping, recording, softball, jogging, bocce ball, lots of eating, frisbee, jamming, driving, hiking and non-stop partying with friends. All in all, I can't complain. The weather was even pretty nice. It got really windy the first night we camped, though. It was kind of surreal, but it just added to the fun.

I should have a more interesting post up soon. Probably later today or tomorrow. I will have to do a bit of research before I post. This blog is tougher than it looks, yo. I move mountains for you, dear readers!

"Pearls Before Breakfast" -- great article in WaPo

Joshua Bell is one of the world's greatest violinists. His instrument of choice is a multimillion-dollar Stradivarius. If he played it for spare change, incognito, outside a bustling Metro stop in Washington, would anyone notice? [/digg]

It's a long article, but well worth the read. Unfortunately, things don't look good for humanity. On the plus side, maybe no one will notice (or care) when we're gone.

Eulogy for DRM: Apple & EMI Ring DRM's Death Knell

You hear that bell ringing in the distance? That's the sound of DRM dying.

What is DRM and why is it dying? Well, DRM is the collection of anti-copying technologies that record companies and movie companies use to try and prevent their products from ending up on the P2P networks (like Limewire and eDonkey). DRM stands for either Digital Rights Management or Digital Restrictions Management, depending on who you ask (I say the latter).

It is my considered opinion that DRM sucks donkey balls. It impedes fair use and generally creates havoc. Files were meant to be copied, but DRM tries to erase this feature. DRM is even built into Windows Vista in an attempt to make DRM more effective since earlier designs have failed miserably.

That brings us to Apple and EMI. Their announcement today is the first crack in the industry facade. Previously, the industry titans were aligned and spoke in unison of DRM's necessity. Now it has become clear that many in the industry recognize that DRM is a failure, a waste of money and (this doesn't seem to matter to the RIAA) virulently anti-consumer.

Steve Jobs started things off with his broadside against DRM. He said:

Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Right now an iPod can't play music purchased from Microsoft's stores, just as a Zune can't play music purchased from Apple's iTunes store. This is a ridiculous state of affairs since both companies went out of their way to make their songs incompatible -- at the RIAA's request. Every MP3 player can play unprotected MP3s, but once you start putting DRM on those songs it gets really sticky.

That's why DRM must die. The only thing keeping our portable music players from being able to play any song out there is simple human greed. The technology is there, but new technology was erected to prevent sharing. Worst of all, it didn't work. Every major DRM-scheme has been broken. Geeks like myself know how to avoid and circumvent it, but the average user probably doesn't know what the hell DRM is -- until it smacks'em in the face. This lamentable reality took a body-blow today.

EMI agreed to sell DRM-free music this morning, with Apple at their side. This is not an ideal scenario since the songs cost $1.29 instead of the customary 99 cents, but Apple sweetened the deal by bumping up the bitrate to 256 kbps -- double the previous amount -- granting audiophiles the extra sound quality they need. Many of the tricks to eliminate DRM (including simply burning the files to CD and re-ripping them) result in reduced sound quality. This solution manages to fix both problems and should satisfy most geek/audiophiles.

In short, today's announcement was a long time coming (some may argue that it's 4 or 5 years overdue), and it is just the beginning of DRM's death. Even as I celebrate DRM's passing new anti-consumer technologies are being developed by the MPAA and others in the music industry. Indeed, the 3 other major labels are still heavily invested in DRM and committed to using it as a bulwark against the internet age.

So maybe I'm digging DRM's grave while it's still on the operating table, but I'm not the only one who wishes it would go away. We can't sit down and start slacking now. We need to keep letting these huge companies know that they can't control our content after they sell it to us. They want to have their cake and eat it, too -- and that just ain't happening.

Burn in hell, DRM!

Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston, dead at 55

This came as a shock. It's still not clear what caused his death, but it is confirmed that Brad Delp is dead. There are no indications of foul play.

This sucks. Boston was a great band, and Brad will be missed. I caught them live back in 1995, I think it was, for their Walk On tour. It was a great show. Matt and I had 2nd row tickets. They did a killer version of A Man I'll Never Be.

In Brad's honor I want to post a video of More Than a Feeling. The outfits they're wearing are fucking ridiculous, but the music still holds up, 30 years later. RIP, Brad Delp.

FuglyBack

Just got back from Toronto and on the way back, in the airport I saw a little 8 year old girl on the pudgy side with those multicolor cornrows that all the girls get when they go to somewhere tropical for spring break... and I thought: "She's bringing fugly back."

Yeah, it's pretty awful, I know. But it was one of those thought-portmanteaus or something... You know, when two thoughts get mushed together. I took some, like.. "thought dough" and kind of merged it before I realized how totally cruel that shit is. But it's still funny, yo!

I'm sure you all hate me know, but I'm bringing brutal honesty back, like Randal tried to bring back "porch monkey" in clerks II. Oh yeah, and it's a reference to Justin Timberlake and his SexyBack thing-song. I'm wasn't aware sexy left, but it's a smart move on JT's part. Bringing back something that never left is very easy. However, convincing people that you brought it back is the key to deluding the helpless public.

You may thing you'll get away with this, Justin -- but I'm on to you!! And your little SneakyBack shit, too. Fucker.

Anyway, I'm tired and my feet hurt. Bad. That concludes this post... Stay fugly, Toronto.

Hate to Say I Told You So

No, this isn't about Iraq (but I did). Instead, it's about Van Halen. I mentioned the impending reunion a few posts ago, if you remember. Well, like the poll results indicated, disaster was just waiting for a chance to spooge its awful justice in our collective faces.

Over the weekend, employees of tour promoters Live Nation were informed that “the Van Halen tour has been shut down.” It’s not yet clear what went wrong: Just last week, the band released their first official photo of their new line-up to Rolling Stone.

Well, there goes that. I guess Wolfgang will have to get a summer job instead. Welcome to showbiz, kid!

Anybody have any bets on what went wrong? I'm betting that David Lee Roth started some random beef with Eddie about Wolfie being in the band (he wanted to hire a rapper instead), or maybe Dave just demanded a separate touring bus that floats (he doesn't like bumpy roads). Mr. Roth is not known for being gracious and accommodating. But he is known for great lines like this:

At the time, Roth told us that he was thrilled about the tour, and that the reunion could be permanent: “I have Hope and Faith – and that’s more than just the name of a couple of strippers from Albuquerque,” he said.

Those strippers would probably have less mental issues. Maybe the Van Halen family can hook up with them.

Reviews at Perfect Porridge, pt. 1

Yours truly has two new reviews up at Perfect Porridge. Go check them out.

I'm doing a bunch more, all focused on some fairly obscure late 80s/early 90s thrash and death metal. Some good stuff, some not so good. Keep checkin' back for more!

Hatebeak's God of Empty Nest - Death Metal with an Avian Twist

In my years upon this planet I have discovered that there are two basic types of people in this world: Those who talk about starting a hardcore death metal band with a parrot for a lead singer, and those who actually do it. Hatebeak, my friends, is the latter.

No, I'm not kidding. After you've heard their music you'll know what awaits you in the bowls of helllllll!!!!! They sound like Cock & Ball Torture, but the unholy screeches are like the howls of demon.... uh parrots. Seriously, give it a listen. Download a copy. Play it at your prom. Let your grandma jump in the pit. Fuck yeaaah.

Personally, I think we should give Hatebeak the keys to the kingdom. Who else has given so much to humanity? There should be parades, fireworks, medals of honor, world acclaim and they should get their choice of our finest virgins.

Fuck your Britney Spears records. Her time is over. It's time for... HATEBEAK!!!

Van Halen reunites for David Lee Roth hair implants fundraiser

Okay, that was cold. I shouldn't make fun of balding people, it's just that David Lee Roth's receding hairline reminds me of how old I am. I can remember that Hot For Teacher video like yesterday. That was like 20 years ago. 23, I think. Damn dude. 2007 is like... the future! We're in the future! And it's pretty fucking dystopian.

Beyond the obvious terror of the deranged Bush regime we future-dwellers have further horrors to contend with. Like the prospect of a middle-aged Van Halen dancing on our memories, forever encoding the grim reality of their wrinkles upon our youth. Well, at least they have Wolfgang with them. If you haven't heard, Eddie's 15 year old son Wolfgang has replaced original-bassist, Michael Anthony. Mikey has been playing with Sammy Hagar's band recently, which kind of pissed off the Van Halen brothers. I love Eddie's playing, but I think he's fucking washed up and needs to lay off the booze and get his shit together.

What are your predictions for the upcoming Van Halen / David Lee Roth reunion?

David Lee Roth is back in Van Halen. The tour will result in...
	massive amounts of cash
	unmitigated disaster
	a new album
	a boycott by Michael Anthony fans
	Sammy Hagar crying in his tequila
pollcode.com free polls

Blog Constipation

I want to blog, but I have nothing to say. So now you have to read this pointless post. Go on, try to stop. You know there's nothing of value here, but I bet you're still reading this anyway. I already told you that I am without a point. But here we are. I'm posting, and you are, presumably, reading this. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Well, here's to life and football. Oh, and mad props to MPEG2 Works 4 Advanced, while I'm at it. It's a great way to convert video files to DVD format.

Man, we got fucked at band practice on Saturday. The neighbors complained a few songs into our set. We hadn't even gotten loud yet. Fuck, man, we were so pissed, but we continued playing an acoustic set.

See, I told you this post had no point.

James Brown and Gerald Ford dead!

A soul-funk singer and the former president of the United States have both kicked the bucket in the last few days. I don't think anybody really cares about Ford. Everybody knows that he couldn't sing or dance for shit. The real tragedy is James Brown's untimely passing.

Here's a clip of him back in the day. Sex Machine!!

As if you needed another reason to hate the RIAA

They make it so easy to hate them. The RIAA is trying to screw artists even harder, even as it steps ups its anti-consumer lawsuit campaign. The Recording Industry Association of America has always claimed that they are defending artists when they sue consumers (nevermind that few recording artists seem to be all that keen on suing their fans), but now it's clear that the only thing driving their insane lawsuit campaign is what most of us long suspected: Greed.

Watch the RIAA make their case for lower royalties by complaining about a changing business landscape (that they have failed to adapt to, unlike the publishers):

During the period when piracy was devastating the record industry, the RIAA argues, profits for publishers rose as revenue generated from ringtones and other innovative services grew. Record industry executives said there was nothing strange about seeking a rate change that would pay less to the people who write the music. "Mechanical royalties currently are out of whack with historical and international rates," RIAA executive vp and general counsel Steven Marks said. "We hope the judges will restore the proper balance by reducing the rate and moving to a more flexible percentage rate structure so that record companies can continue to create the sound recordings that drive revenues for music publishers."

Oh, so since you RIAA guys fucked up and sued your customers and failed to bring out a quality digital music store until Apple did it for you, that means you deserve a better deal from music publishers/songwriters? How the fuck does that add up? This is a capitalist system, fuckheads. Survive or perish.

I should also mention that the RIAA represents the evil record companies who insist on paying lower royalties to musicians for downloaded music -- including taking a cut for "breakage" in shipping. Newsflash, dudes: If your MP3s are "breaking" you've got some serious fucking problems with your distribution model.

The RIAA is pleading with the government for help, but I doubt they'll be able to push people around as easily since the publishing companies have their own teams of lawyers (most of whom aren't tied up suing fans -- although they do sue lyric sites and tab sites). Let's hope the publishers string the RIAA up by the balls and demand higher royalty rates.

The RIAA is almost as bad for rock 'n' roll as MTV. I hope they all burn in hell.

On the plus side, there are some innovative new ideas out there for musicians and music fans to bypass the RIAA. Check out SellaBand.com for a cool new business model.

Turkey Uprising Fails! ...And band news.

A belated "Happy Thanksgiving" to you all. Sorry if I've been, I dunno... - distant, lately. I had a great time with family and friends and I hope the same is true with you. As for my whereabouts, let me assure you they were... where I was... about.

We (meaning "the band") have starting recording a new (okay, the) album. We worked on it every spare moment during Thanksgiving vacation, and we got a few songs pretty much in the can. But there are many that need a lot of work yet. A few of the songs are perhaps more... fluid than I would like. We hope to nail them down soon.

As for the band name, I'm open to suggestions. We've been trying to think of one for months to no avail. Help us, or we're stuck with Geeech!

Where the Fuck is a Wiki for Classical Music?

Hey, where's our fucking wiki, man? I just searched for "classical music wiki" and I got precisely 8 results.

Doesn't classical music seem like an ideal basis for a wiki? Don't know what the hell a wiki is? Well, here's Wikipedia's explanation:

A wiki (IPA: [ˈwɪ.kiː] or [ˈwiː.kiː] ^[1]) is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. The term wiki can also refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a website, or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (an original wiki), WikiWikiWeb, and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia.

We've got a wiki for quotes and for animal species and for Macintosh computers. Why don't we have a wiki for classical music, encompassing a detailed history of composers, conductors, pieces, players and classical music through the years, while also being a repository for the songs themselves, both in audio and musical notation form?

Most of the relevant songs are in the public domain, although many recordings of the music might not be (consider the copyright of the recording versus publishing/performing rights). Still, such a resource could be an incredible compendium of knowledge concerning something that is woefully misunderstood by the general public.... or just not understood at all.

I can't believe that here we are in late 2006 and I just used Google, our most comprehensive search engine, and wasn't able to find a single wiki project for classical music. Am I just retarded? Can somebody fill me in? Is there some amazing classical music resource on the web that could help me learn more about music theory, composers, notation, the instruments themselves and even the players in both modern and ancient times? Classical.net is good, but not exactly jizz-worthy.

You might say "well, why don't you start one" -- and that's a good idea. However, I have limited time as the emptiness of this blog lately demonstrates amply. Also, I am currently pursuing a challenging musical enterprise -- starting a rock band! We're getting really close. We hope to have a CD recorded soon, which will shortly be followed by some club dates around town. (However, we've been having trouble in the name department. Our first choice, Geech, is already pretty much taken. Suggestions welcome.) I would much rather, in this case, be the guy who comes up with the idea and then goads someone else to do all the heavy lifting. [evil grin]

But somebody else must've had this idea already. Where's the fuckin' wiki, man?

This is kind of weird... Am I just not finding it? WTF?

Weird Al Yankovic -- White and Nerdy

Hilarious music video for Weird Al Yankovic's new cut: White and Nerdy.

Kinky Friedman for Governor of Texas: Why the hell not?

I'm not from Texas, but I'm throwing my political weight (think: feather) behind Kinky Friedman. He's running for guv this year if ya didn't know, and he's actually picking up some decent poll numbers (around 20% last I checked) as he campaigns around Texas.

Now Kinky, who is running as an indepedent, has chosen Willie Nelson as his energy czar:

Friedman said the country singer/songwriter and benefactor of biodiesel was a natural choice to lead a state energy department or commission, which he wants to create. He also said Nelson "would never have his hand in Texas' pocket."

"My plan is to appoint the best people I can find, get out of the way and let them work ... people whose only agenda is to do the right thing for the people of Texas," Friedman told the Fort Worth Rotary Club. "... I really believe that musicians can better run this state than politicians."

A Texas biodiesel supplier partnered with Nelson to develop the BioWillie brand of the clean-burning fuel for truckers. It is made from used vegetable oils or soybeans and is blended with diesel, and does not require modification to diesel engines.

Hell yeah! Now this is a campaign I can get behind! Willie Nelson is cool. Kinky is the perfect governor for a state that's been churning out nothing but Bush cronies for decades. It's time to either elect Kinky or get yer ass kicked out of the union, Texas!

Kinky is right. Musicians would be better at running any state than politicans. Look how infested with politicians we are currently -- where has it gotten us? Now, some might say I'm biased as a musician myself, but I'm not running for anything, and I don't live in Texas. I just see Kinky as being the best man for the job.

Kinky's a funny guy, but he has real plans for the state; not just jokes:

Friedman, who unveiled his energy plan Thursday, said he plans to have 35,000 school buses running on biodiesel fuel, as well as his own vehicle. He said as it catches on, some 7 percent or 8 percent of Texans will be trying biodiesel, resulting in lower prices at gas stations because of supply and demand.

"What you're going to see is Texas finally leading the way instead of following behind all the time, being first in something besides executions, toll roads and property taxes," he said.

I think it's a great idea to start using more biodiesel. The oil-lobby has owned Texas for years -- it's time to take Texas back from this entrenched special interest groups!

Here in Minnesota we elected Jesse Ventura back in '98. He actually did a good job -- I just used the light-rail system the other day. That was a plan that had been around awhile, but nobody really pushed it through. Jesse helped make it a reality.

Of course, Jesse got attacked on all sides. All the fucking useless partisan pieces of shit made sure to write in every day about how awful Jesse was -- mostly because he wasn't kowtowing to their preferred special interest. Fuck those partisan shitbags. I HATE partisan politics. I prefer independents. The Democrats and Republicans suddenly become best buddies when facing off against an independent.

There's really only one political party: The Corporate Party. Democrats and Republicans are simply different factions within the One Party. Our only hope for true representation (i.e. candidates who aren't corporate servants) is electing independent and third party candidates. In MN, that means Peter Hutchinson. I'm not sure I'll vote for him; he's not as fun as Kinky, but at least he's not a Corporate-crat.

Kinky for president!

Amazing solo-acoustic cover of Outkast's Hey Ya

It's an awesome cover. Check it out:



Andre 3000 just shit his pants.

Dude's name is Mat Weddle. He's in a band called Obadiah Parker. I hope to see Mat and Andre 3000 perform this song together on stage. What say we try to arrange that via the power of the internet?

New business model for selling/discovering music launched with Amie Street alpha

Amie St. is a new online store for selling tunes by independent artists. The best part: it takes a new approach in letting users decide how much a song costs based on how many recommendations they give it. Even better: The music is all in MP3 format and it is NOT encumbered by shitty DRM (digital restrictions management).

Tech Crunch has more on the new store and its founders:

Artists can upload their music to Amie Street for promotion and sale. Users form social networks with friends, listen to, and purchase music. All songs are DRM-free in MP3. Songs appear to be at 192kpbs quality level, although it may just be whatever the artist uploads.

All songs are free to start. Prices fluctuate over time based on demand for the song - currently the highest priced song, “Against the Wall” by Danny Ross, is $0.36. 273 songs have been uploaded so far. This demand based pricing model seems like a good way to sell music.

I hope this business model takes off! I will be adding my music to the store once we've got an album to sell, if not before. I've got a couple tracks layin' around. We'll see. For now, it's pretty exciting and all-in-all, a great thing for independent artists.

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson rescues British citizens from Beirut

Bruce is an all-around cool guy in my book. He's got a big mouth, but that's a lead singer thing. Anyway, it's great to hear he's helping out:

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson reportedly came to the rescue of hundreds of British citizens stranded in war-ravaged Beirut. Dickinson who is also a jet pilot, flew a Boeing 757 to Cyprus where he scooped up the evacuees and flew them back to Gatwick. No word on whether Dickinson cranked “Run to the Hills” on the PA.

"Run to the Hills"? Wouldn't it be "Aces High"?! Or hell, even "Tailgunner"! But "Aces High" has that great line, "Got to get airborne before it's too late!" Hell, let me post the video in honor of Bruce's heroics.

Music video for Iron Maiden's new single The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg

What a weird song title - just who is Benjamin Breeg?

Here's the video, which will hopefully not get yanked offline:



Is it fuckin' cool?! I hope so; I haven't even watched it myself yet! That's how fast you're getting this.

Up the Irons!

Sad news: Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett has died

I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so this one hits close to home. Syd's era isn't my favorite part of Pink Floyd's catalog, but he was really the cornerstone of the band. Everything they did after that point was influenced by Syd in some way or another. Pink Floyd's second masterwork, Wish You Were Here, is considered a concept album directed at Syd Barrett. It's one of my favorite albums and a fitting tribute to the genius that was Syd.

Looks like Syd may have died from complications related to his diabetes:

Syd Barrett, the troubled genius who co-founded Pink Floyd but spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, a spokeswoman for the band said Tuesday. He was 60.

The spokeswoman - who declined to give her name until the band made an official announcement - confirmed media reports that he had died. She said Barrett died several days ago, but she did not disclose the cause of death. Barrett had suffered from diabetes for many years.

Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 with David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright, and wrote many of the band's early songs. The group's jazz-infused rock made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene, and the 1967 album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" - largely written by Barrett, who also played guitar - was a commercial and critical hit.

However, Barrett suffered from mental instability, exacerbated by his use of LSD. His behavior grew increasingly erratic, and he left the group in 1968 - five years before the release of Pink Floyd's most popular album, "Dark Side of the Moon." He was replaced by David Gilmour.

I'm actually kind of surprised that Syd lived this long. He had long since fried his brain on LSD. Actually, that might not have been the case. Gilmour has speculated that his mental problems were deep-seated and that he would've flipped out either way. In Gilmour's eyes, the drugs just acted as a trigger, although Pink Floyd's sudden fame might have been even more disorienting for Barrett.

Either way, it's sad to see Syd go. I'm not sure that his life was all that great these days, though, so it may be a blessing for him to go peacefully. His stature in the music industry will only continue to rise with his passing. He founded one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever, and his creativity sparked their genius long after he was out of the group.

Let me be the first imagination-deprived blogger to say: Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Album cover for Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death

I just found the cover artwork for Iron Maiden's upcoming concept album, "A Matter of Life and Death", which is rumored to be based on a British film of the same name. This is a very "Maiden" thing to do. They're all about putting cool stories to music and taking themes into their world.

Here's the cover art:

Fucking sweet, I love it! Can you spot Eddie? Looks don't mean shit in music, but from what I've seen so far it looks like a classic Maiden album. I don't wanna get my hopes up too high, but damn... can't wait.

The album's coming out in the U.S. on September 5th, 2006. If you missed the tracklist you can find it here.

Koizumi rocks out at Graceland

Koizumi loves Elvis a lot! This story is pretty damn hilarious:

It was Bush's first visit to Presley's white brick mansion.

"My first visit too," Koizumi said, standing in a gaudy, wood-paneled den known as the Jungle Room where Presley hung out with his buddies. "It's like a dream - with President Bush and Presley's daughter."

Bush, first lady Laura Bush and Koizumi drove through the gates of Graceland in a shiny, black limousine adorned with the flags of both nations. It was as if they were making a formal diplomatic visit.

After they got out, the scene turned surreal.

Here was Bush, who didn't stop off at the Taj Mahal while in India, touring the home of a music star who died in his bathroom of heart disease and drug abuse in 1977.

Instead of walking down red carpets to review troops, Bush and Koizumi strode over green shag that lined the floors and ceiling of the den. Instead of elegant furniture and chandeliers, Bush and Koizumi posed for photos in a room decorated with white ceramic monkeys and wooden chairs with armrests carved in the shape of animal heads.

Aw, c'mon! What's wrong with ceramic monkeys! I'm tellin' ya - monkeys are fuckin' great. Everybody loves monkeys. You can't go wrong with monkeys. Hell, that's why I named this blog Electric Monkey Pants. If it's got monkeys in it, it's gotta be good, right?

I find this scenario improbably hilarious. I don't even have any of my customary Bush-bashing as I think it's decent of him to do a favor for Koizumi like this. Koizumi's involvement with the Iraq War not withstanding, I think it's he a pretty cool guy for a politician.

The whole thing sounds totally bizarre. I wish politics were always this weird and interesting. Mostly it's depressing and hopeless. But Koizumi has brightened my day with his appreciation of Elvis. Rock on!

New Iron Maiden album: A Matter Of Life And Death

I admit it; I am a total Iron Maiden fan. Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of though, as they totally fucking rock. And they still rule after all these years. Looking at the track list for the new album gave me shivers!

• Different Worlds (Smith/Harris - 4.17)
• These Colours Don't Run (Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 6.52)
• Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 8.44)
• The Pilgrim (Gers/Harris - 5.07)
• The Longest Day (Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 7.48)
• Out Of the Shadows (Dickinson/Harris - 5.36)
• The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg (Murray/Harris - 7.21)
• For The Greater Good Of God (Harris - 9.24)
• Lord Of Light (Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 7.23)
• The Legacy (Gers/Harris - 9.20)

Fucking right! Up the Irons! Those song names sound really cool, and my God some of those songs are loooong! Gotta love epic Maiden songs; they usually rule. Nothing quite as long as Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which is 13 and a half minutes long, but not bad none the less.

I'm stoked. I hope it's a concept album. I can already see some themes emerging: Light and Darkness, Death and Rebirth, Time and Change....

Looks fucking great. I can't wait. But it looks like I will have to wait until it's released in September.

Maiden Rules!

Update 7-12-06: Here's the album cover!

Blogger kicks Sony's ass; takes songs and cash

Perfect Porridge blogger Greg has finally cracked the spine of the beast. Sony ponied up the tracks and a settlement check!

UPDATE #2 (6/22): Would you believe we got 28,000 hits on this post yesterday? That's a lot of people reading/talking/blogging about Sony and their incompetence. Would you believe that as a result, Sony somehow got their act together to e-mail iTunes settlement codes AND a settlement check the next day? Guess it only took 232 days of persistence and a blog swarm of 8,500 unique user hits to get them moving. Thanks Sony!

This is why everyone needs a blog, people! Do you want a voice? Because without a blog you don't really have one (unless you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company). You can bitch and whine all you want, but without the power of the internet, not many people are going to hear you.

When it's time to take a stand will you be armed with a megaphone or a ballgag?

Sony Rootkit debacle continues

I never got a chance to blog about this as it was happening, back when my blog was a bitch to update, but I've always felt very strongly that this was a horrible, unforgiveable and unprecedented move on Sony's part. What the fuck were they thinking?!

Who knows, but my man Greg over at Perfect Porridge was infected by the rootkit when he bought a Trey Anastasio CD (his first mistake - haha,... just kidding. I like Trey). This resulted in a reformatted harddrive and lots of emails to Sony support as he winded his way through the settlement process.
It's been 230 days and he still hasn't managed to get Sony to pony up the settlement in iTunes tracks. They're trying to screw him into using Sony Connect, whatever the hell that is. Why should he use Sony's store after Sony screwed him over royally? Head on over to PP and lend Greg some much needed support. Don't give up man!

Gangs of Australian Youth name themselves after Heavy Metal bands and go on Rampages

This is the most fucked up thing I've ever heard. The gang members have named their gangs after all these heavy metal bands -- like Judas Priest -- and made alliances based upon which bands they thought were good and which weren't, leading to constant gang warfare about who's music is better, along with terrorizing the populace in response to hundreds of years of colonialism.

I can't really describe this, so I'm just gonna quote the (level-headed) article in The Bulletin:

But the Port Keats people were too strong to fully succumb to the church. Autonomous forces survived and, over the past 20 years, gangs have come to steer the under­current of life in the town. “They never sleep,” ­Perdjert says. “They’re always causing problems. ­Everyone stays up till daylight waiting for them to go to sleep. When the daylight comes, that’s when we sleep.”

On October 23, 2002, after a policeman shot dead a Judas Priest gang member in Port Keats, the JPs – who that day had been fighting the Evil Warriors – turned savagely on anyone with links to the Warriors. ­Perdjert felt their wrath due to her marriage to Eugenio Kurungaiyi, the deputy commander of the Evil Warriors.

“They [Judas Priest members] smashed my house, all my property, everything. They trashed my washing machine, my deep freezer, DVD and video machine, TV, table, chairs, everything,” she says. “They burned my clothes, mattresses, blankets. I was there.”

It was anything but a casual going over. Twelve houses were destroyed and eight cars burned. The message was clear: the traditional owners of Port Keats were no longer welcome on their own land. “They smashed everything,” ­Perdjert says. “They smashed the toilet, the sink, the fan, even the power points – everything.”

Six weeks ago, she sneaked back into Port Keats to visit her sick grandmother. But she was quickly found out and Judas Priest gangsters went to her aunt’s home, where she was hiding. ­Perdjert was punched three times in the head. The boys said they were looking for her husband. Her aunt’s house was trashed as punishment for shielding ­Perdjert, who immediately chartered an aircraft back to Wyndham.

The Evil Warriors align themselves musically to the heavy metal bands Pantera, Iced Earth and Testament. Outcrops of graffiti across the Top End testify that Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell album is regarded as a seminal work. Iced Earth, a shock-rock band, has albums called The Dark Saga, Dark Genesis and Burnt Offerings. Testament album titles include Demonic and Signs of Chaos, all of it suggesting the gangs rejoice in concepts forbidden and reviled by the church.

The Judas Priest boys take their name from the leather-and-chain British band. Metallica, the band that screams against injustice over studiously disjointed machine-gun bursts of sound, is also rated highly by JP. Both groups reject the other’s music as crap.

Beneath the two dominant gangs are sub-gangs with names like the Lica (from Metallica) Warriors, Mad Warriors, Fear Factory, Big T (taken from the band Testament), the German Punks, the White Lions and the Cowboys From Hell – a small group of young boys from just up the road at Palumpa. They are variously aligned to the two main groups.

“These smaller gangs,” says a lawyer with experience in the area, “represent the small Port Keats family groupings or clans that aren’t terribly powerful. They form their small gangs almost as a defence against the larger family gangs but inevitably they need to align themselves to the bigger groups.” In a power switch that came after October 2002, when the Evil Warriors lost influence in Port Keats, most of the smaller gangs got onside with Judas Priest as a matter of survival.

Wyndham exile Peter Cumaiyi confirms the lawyer’s assessment. “The reason why they’re in a gang is to protect themselves from other gangs,” he says. While his sons and nephews are members of the Evil ­Warriors, Cumaiyi, 47, insists he is too old to be in the gang – even though, when it comes down to it, he has stood alongside his boys and fought Judas Priest.

This is really weird, eh? Check the article out, man. It's seriously weird. And it gets weirder:

For a start, these are bush kids who don’t speak English well enough to explain themselves. The church sent their parents – like Cumaiyi – to Catholic boarding school in Darwin. But then came the era of self-­determination, which demanded the church move aside so that Aborigines could do things for themselves. What in fact happened was that a whole generation – these very boys – fell into a vacuum. They got to grade six and seven then disappeared into the bush.

They deal with problems the best way they know how – through confrontation, using their clan numbers, or forming allegiances with others, much as their ancestors did. But their life as bush gangsters has bitten back.

So you can actually trace much of this back to the Catholic Church's insistence on "christianizing" the Aboriginal population. Interesting... The Aboriginal youth were probably warned by the church that heavy metal was evil. So naturally, when the church lost control, the youths embraced that which they had been denied. It's very interesting, but it's too bad that it's degenerated into a series of tense, violent, stand-offs with white settlers and each other.

I can assure you that most of the bands mentioned in the article kick ass. I'm sure they would not want to see such destruction in their name. But they understand oppression, as do the gangbangers:

When they first emerged in the 1980s, the gangs were not seen as a threat. Because each gang is tied to one of the region’s 20 clans, or wider family groupings, it was thought the boys had simply updated clan names along contemporary lines. Recent events have forced a reappraisal.

“The music they’re listening to is the music of the oppressed and disadvantaged and these kids really heavily identify,” the lawyer says. “It’s anti-authority, angry, violent and rebellious and these are sentiments a lot of Aboriginal people can identify with. I’m no musicologist but that’s what it seems to be. You just better hope they don’t find Islam.” The lawyer pauses and adds: “I think I’m joking.”

The best way they can explain the love of heavy metal is, in the words of Francis, the “inspiration” it gives them. It needs no beer or ganja to kick it along. He says the music “works” when they are sitting at their out­stations, bored and in search of a shared muse. Most like to be seen wearing Kmart-issue camouflage gear they pick up on occasional trips to Darwin. The militia costume would appear to send the message that the boys are combat-ready at all times.

By and large, Port Keats men have lean, hard-cut physiques, with veins that rope in their biceps and powerful shoulders. The boys are careful to highlight these features in spray-on clothes. The men of Groote Eylandt, off Arnhem Land, and the Walpiri tribesmen of the Tanami enjoy their reputations as hard men. But for the men of Port Keats – nowadays the most jailed people of any NT community – a special respect is reserved.

Blending the symbols of hard-edged western cultures, gang members – perhaps surprisingly – prefer the angry guitar sound of white metal bands to the tempered black ghetto beat. Rap music, they say, is for kids – even though the shot-dead gangster-musician Tupac Shakur is singled out as an affectionate exception.

They reject the idea that the allegedly demonic nature of the metal bands puts them in the Devil’s hand. “We can be Evil Warriors and we can still go to church,” says Gerard Cumaiyi. “We go to church every Sunday here in Wyndham. We are strong believers. It’s that mob [Judas Priest]. They don’t believe. They never go to church.”

Wow. I think these kids need to get into reggae music, mon. Bob Marley, man. They need to get that aggression out. I think they still need the heavy metal. It provides solace in a world of shit. But reggae offers sunshine, even in the depths of oppression and cruelty. As this article makes clear, skin color doesn't matter. Music speaks to you, and sound doesn't have a color.

Shelvey is far from pleased that JP have the upper hand in his town. “All sorts of people in Wadeye are absolutely shit-scared of him getting out,” says an observer. “The Jongmins, as a matter of pride, would say bring it on – but it’s the women and kids generally who are afraid of being caught in the crossfire.”

The Wyndham-based Evil Warriors say they are depending on Shelvey to lead them back to Port Keats. “What the boys are suggesting,” says Gerard Cumaiyi, “is that we need a fair fight with them [Judas Priest] and then there might be peace.” After that, he says it’s over. “We want no more Evil ­Warriors, no more Judas Priest, no more gangs. We’ll settle down with true family.”

Gerard is asked if he hates the boys from Judas Priest. “We don’t hate them,” he says. “They’re the same mob as us – same language, but different country.” “It’s very hard,” says Peter Cumaiyi. “They can be right, we can be right. It’s a seesaw. Who is right? Which way does it go? We just want to be equal.”

Much of it comes down to how young Port Keats men see their place in the world. They have all been through manhood ceremonies and many have known the inside of Berrimah prison. Yet they are so strongly connected to ceremonial business that other communities rely on Port Keats people to guide them through correct ceremonial performance.

It's a cycle of violence, as they say. And not much good comes of it. Can't they get together and put this feud asside? Probably not. The warring gangs each have families where the rule is concentrated, and they get their power through conflict. We should not expect to see an end to this conflict as long as it is so profitable (power-wise) for certain gang families.

The ending is hopeful, however:

Same for the heavy metal gangster culture. These young warriors will fight, will go to jail and will go to jail again for their clans. But they are not beyond reach. There is none of the lethargy among Port Keats people that so demoralises many others. The boys are feared by other communities, seen by the cops as trouble, but are nevertheless warm and intelligent and would surely prefer to be doing more than fighting each other. As such, the heavy metal scene could be read as an attempt to engage in the world beyond their fishbowl existence in a community at the end of a long, dirt road. In a startling admission, it turns out there are Elvis Presley and Hank Williams lovers hiding beneath the furious wall of sound. “Yes, we like angry music,” says Gerard Cumaiyi. “But we also like the crooners.”

Good to know they're finding other good bands and singers. They need to spread their wings and find the good that exists in all kinds of music. Maybe then they can learn to appreciate the good that exists in all kinds of peoples throughout the world.

Spread the love in your life

Well, I'm still depressed about Rove, but I'm fuckin' happy now 'cause my softball team won. We won good, too; kicked dey asses 22 to 7. Yeah! We got crushed last week, by a score that's too embarrassing to print. But this game made up the difference.

Anyway, not much goin' on. Had a discussion with somebody and I'm happy with the outcome and our agreement, which I will put into writing. Got plans in the mix, man, and I hope to be moving up in this world, to a more stable position in life.

Speaking of life, I just finished mixing my band's last ad-hoc recordings. Pretty shitty quality but the energy comes through strong, and the musicianship has really been improving all around. We still need another member - if you know someone, get in contact. We're multi-instrumentalists in search of a heavy, melodic vibe.

Yeah, music is my life in a way. I'm always listening to it. This blog would be totally about music if I cared to talk about it, but I think writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Something just doesn't translate. I suppose this could be a gossip rag about certain bands, but it's really not. I might post an MP3 from time to time and see if anybody downloads it. Maybe a podcast format or just a song every now and then, probably from local bands or small-time bands that I'm assuming would want the exposure (most of us would kill to have millions of people downloading our tunes for free over the internet!). I dunno, lemme know if anybody interested.

I probably won't talk about the songs much; just say, "here take this MP3 and listen to it." Then you can bitch about it in the comments. Or rave about it! I've got good taste in music, man. You'll like my stuff; much of it you've never heard, I'll wager. Ah, gather 'round lads and lassies and I will tell of you a story. My friend said that a mutual friend's neighbors told him that the point of classical music, in fact the whole goal of composers since the dawn of the modern era, has been to compose a piece of music so good that it will open a gateway to heaven.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Can't guarantee a song that good, but I think every decent songwriter would love to open us a doorway to heaven in your heart for 4 minutes or so. I'm just here to spread the love.