Flaming Lips, Built to Spill, Spoon, Others Auction Off Protest Signs for Charity; My Sign Is Now a Coffee Table
By Heidi Vanderslice on Sep 30 2008
Yes, my protest sign is a coffee table, and it also didn't make it into the special Under the Radar Magazine's Summer Protest Issue, but who's counting? (Next year, I will spend more time on my tree disguise.) Artists like The Flaming Lips, Spoon, Built to Spill, Sharon Jones, Shout Out Louds, Les Savy Fav, R.E.M., Chuck D, Talib Kweli, and oh so many more donated their art skills and pretty faces to make up a photographic representation of their various protestations. From the plight of polar bears to paper ballots to health care to the right to live in Woody Guthrie's America, these artists ran the gamut of righteous grievances, and you can check out photos and clips from the issue here.
As if that wasn't dece enough, many of these artists donated their signs to be auctioned off for charity, specifically War Child, an organization working to help children in war-torn areas around the world, which recently announced a compilation benefit CD (TMT News). You can check out the signs up for grabs here, and remember, the auctions begin today!
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band Ruined My Mini Golf Game To Notify Me That They Were Touring
By Julbucket on Sep 30 2008
Sarah knelt at the top of the 18th hole, deep in thought.
“I’m going to bank it off the side of the windmill,” she stated. “Gimme the putter.”
“That’s not possible,” I responded. “Ball’s gonna hit the big grizzly bear cutout and end up in that puddle. And, you know, you do need this shot to tie.”
I was happily smirking over my imminent mini-golf triumph.
“Just give me the putter.”
I handed Sarah the club, and she began to carefully lineup her shot. Her eyes widened as she shifted her feet back and forth and aligned her arms so that her hands met in unison at the top of the club. She took a deep breath. Her arms slowly moved backwards, separating the putter and the ball. She brought the club forward--
“HEY YOU!”
A scream from behind.
“Shit!” yelled Sarah. Due to her distraction, Sarah had hit the ball right off the grizzly bear and into the puddle, as I predicted. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band had messed up another one of our mini-golf games.
“Come on guys,” she groaned. “This is ridiculous. You just made me lose.”
“WE JUST WANTED TO NOTIFY YOU THAT WE WERE GOING ON A EUPOREAN TOUR,” they yelped in unison. “HERE ARE THE DATES:
10.01.08 - Malmo, Sweden - Debaser
10.02.08 - Oslo, Norway - Park Teatret
10.03.08 - Gothenberg, Sweden - Pustervik
10.04.08 - Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
10.05.08 - Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
10.08.08 - Riga, Latvia - Grivas Mebeles
10.11.08 - Warsaw, Poland - CRK
10.12.08 - Prague, Czech Republic - Rock Cafe
10.13.08 - Bratislava, Slovakia - A4
10.14.08 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
10.15.08 - Budapest, Hungary - Corvinteto
10.16.08 - Novi Sad, Serbia - Interzona Festival
10.17.08 - Zagreb, Croatia - Teatar ITD
10.18.08 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kudfp
10.19.08 - Padova, Italy - Unwound
10.20.08 - Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti Club
10.23.08 - Firenze, Italy - Festival Della Creativita
10.24.08 - Bologna, Italy - Covo
10.25.08 - Torino, Italy - Spazio 211
10.26.08 - Marseille, France - Cabaret Aleatoire
11.05.08 - Toulouse, France - Le Phare
11.06.08 - Lyon, France - Transbordeur
11.07.08 - Metz, France - Festival Musiques Volantes
11.08.08 - Strasbourg, France - Le Laiterie
11.09.08 - Dijon, France - Le Vapeur
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.”
Suddenly, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band disappeared in a flash of blue light.
I grinned. “I guess I win then, huh?”
Wal-Mart: “Always Low Prices, Occasionally Sketchy DRM Practices”; Wal-Mart to Stop Supporting Its DRM Music, Encourages Burning CD-Rs
By Nobodaddy on Sep 30 2008
The music market took an extra large hit this week on Wal-Street, when the value of DRM songs from Wal-Mart began to plummet at a rate not matched since the great Wax Recording Crash when vinyl came along. After it was recently uncovered by economic experts that Wal-mart, who began offering DRM MP3s in August 2007, had been irresponsibly offering customers cheap DRM music that it could not support after the company switched to DRM-free music this past February, music consumers fell into a panic and many analysts began to paint a doomsday picture of the future of digital music.
With little time to spare before the impending crash, frazzled Wal-Mart publicists addressed the panic-stricken nation on the internet, highlighting, in a nutshell, the details of a highly controversial DRM music bailout plan:
As the final stage of our transition to a full DRM-free MP3 download store, Walmart will be shutting down our digital rights management system that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site. If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.
While naysayers of the DRM bailout argue fiercely about "what bullshit" it is to have to burn physical copies of all of their DRM digital music after it has already been bought and paid-for, proponents of Wal-mart's daring and unconventional bailout procedure counter with an insistence that sacrifices must be made if our global music economy hopes to recover from the crippling international stigma of DRM.
"DRM-free digital music is the future of digital downloads," said one particularly attractive proponent who later accompanied this reporter to dinner. "I know that burning CDs to back up all of your old music from Wal-mart is a sacrifice for many, but think about the alternative: without compliance, this music will be lost forever, and the face of digital stores will be permanently and irrevocably damaged on the world stage." My, what pretty words! Isn’t she great!?
Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival Offers Fun, A Good Cause, and a Way to Avoid Old High School Friends Slowly Trickling into Town Pre-Thanksgiving
By Liz Louche on Sep 29 2008
It seems like there are more and more reasons to make a Chicago roadtrip this fall -- whether you're motivated by a fanatical obsession with late-’80s TGIF offering Perfect Strangers or because you live somewhere that isn't BUT SHOULD BE on the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds autumn tour. And now there's another great entertainment option unique to the Chicago area, with the added bonus of being for a good cause. This would be the indie one-day Chicago Bluegrass and Blues festival, occurring for the very first time this November 22.
Local stalwarts Alligator Records and Bloodshot Records will be repping their shared hood and contributing label stand-outs to the event, held at the Congress Theater. Founder and organizer Mike Raspatello promises a varied line-up, ranging from Waco Brothers side-project Dollar Store to the David Grisman Quintet to the Avett Brothers. A portion of proceeds from the $31 ticket price will go to the Saving Tiny Heart Society, a volunteer-ran organization founded to raise awareness and support research about congenital heart defects. Apart from the positive vibes, there's also a chance to perform alongside the 16 listed performers through the Last Banjo Standing Contest, an online voting-based contest that is not limited to blues or bluegrass genre-based music.
This is a good cause, and a good line-up, so I'm not gonna make the requisite Urkel joke that happens whenever I write a story related to Chicago -- or well, anything. Below you can find the artists involved, minus the TGIF line-up jokes -- for now.
The Avett Brothers, The David Grisman Quintet, Ha Ha Tonka, Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials, Majors Junction, Billy Childers, Dollar Store, Blackdog, Blue Mother Tupelo, How Far to Austin, Mike Mangione, Cobalt & the Hired Guns, The Lindsay O'Brien Band, Jessica Lee, and Blue Room Hero
11.22.08 - Chicago, IL - Congress Theater
Deer Tick Tour, Educate Fans on Tick Bite Prevention
By Annapocalypse on Sep 29 2008
The following is a public service announcement from Providence, Rhode Island’s Deer Tick:
“Attention fans! By now most of you are aware of the ongoing tick problem in this country. We in Deer Tick have decided to spread awareness and educate others about tick bite prevention during our upcoming fall tour. Until the tour starts, however, please read our top three tips below on how to avoid tick bites:
1. Play our debut album, War Elephant, at a deafening volume. It’s a proven fact that ticks hate loud music (and deaf people).
2. Avoid tick-infested places by staying inside on your computer and buying tickets for our shows.
3. If you absolutely must go outside (and you will have to, because you bought tickets to our show), be vigilant and do a daily tick check. Also, wrap yourself in saran wrap and/or tin foil at all times. If any area of your body inadvertently becomes exposed, come back inside and listen to more Deer Tick.
Be safe, everyone! See you in October!
Love,
Deer Tick.”
Only you can prevent tick bites:
