A Woman Is Suing the RIAA for Racketeering and Spying; Are You Ever Surprised When You Read Headlines Like This?

Last month, Tanya Anderson counter-sued the RIAA after it tried to sue her for copyright infringement, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge. However, it's been recently announced that Anderson's lawsuit against the RIAA for racketeering and spying is back in full swing. This time, it's been revived as a class-action lawsuit against the RIAA and its use of MediaSentry (its spy subsidiary) to illegally hack into the private computers of tens of thousands of Americans and wrongfully accuse them of piracy.

The case was originally swatted down by the federal judge because the case was too subjective and didn't have much in the way of evidence. Hopefully the newly modified class-action suit will be enough for it to move up the justice system ladder. Time will tell whether or not the case is truly up to snuff, but if it does start rolling, the RIAA will be forced to explain just how legit MediaSentry probably isn't.

Awesome Color to Release Album for the Ages

In the beginning, so far back in antiquity that no record of it exists, three harvesters stumbled upon a discovery that would change the world. After screwing around with a variety of waters, dry land-grown fruits and grains, and naturally occurring yeast, they produced an intoxicating alcoholic beverage that they called “beer.” While the brew was a crude elixir, it seemed to have done the trick, because the three spent the night fighting, trying to kiss each other's partners, and repeating stories that they swore were “like, super important” at the time. Weaving through the makeshift city streets, one stopped to “drain his camel hump” and noticed the strange-colored urine being released from his zizi. He wasn’t the only one. From behind each shoulder, both friends remarked at the same time, “Awesome Color, Dude!”

Some say it was somewhere in Egypt in Babylonian times, some say it was somewhere in Bushwick, but shortly after this soused event, Alison, Derek, and Michael, as they were known, formed a power trio, naming themselves after that over-the-top statement they shared on that fateful night whilst pissing and watching pissing on the street. They were quickly forced to drop the “Dude” from their name after it was discovered that a group of musical miscreants down the Nile had already played some gigs using “Awesome Color, Dude.” So, they became known simply as Awesome Color. Electric Aborigines, their 2087th album since their Babylonian birth many centuries ago, will be released by their label of the past 3000 years, Ecstatic Peace!.

Electric Aborigines:

1. Eyes of Light
2. Already Down
3. Step Up
4. Come and Dance
5. Taste It
6. Outside Tonight
7. Do It Right
8. Burning
9. The Moon
10. Evil Rose

Over time, Awesome Color, Dude started using junk and saw their public and critical acclaim wane while Awesome Color honed their once-primitive chops into a well-formed, ass-thumping machine. Awesome Color, Dude split up hostilely among rumors of wife-swapping and conversion to Scientology, while Awesome Color managed to avoid the pitfalls that plagued other pre-Jesus rock combos, staying pure ever since. Still spry despite their advanced years, they will announce in due time a full complement of European and North American dates in support of Electric Aborigines, but they will definitely be playing two sunny Spanish festival shows in May and one in cruddy Connecticut on April 26.
04.26.08 - Middleton, CT - Eclectic House, Wesleyan University #
05.30.08 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
05.31.08 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival

# Myty Conqueror & Crooked Hook

Aimee Mann Preps New Release; P.T. Anderson Tortures Kittens

The following is a retelling of the events of March 21, 2008:

After handing in my article on the release of Aimee Mann's seventh album "@#%&! Smilers, due June 3 on her own SuperEgo Records, to my editor and boss, Mr P, he abruptly slapped me in the face.

...

Mr P: What the hell is this shit? This was supposed to be an article about Aimee Mann. Why the bloody hell (Mr P is British) did you continually mention Paul Thomas Anderson, who has used Mann's music in his films?

Emceegreg: Talking about Aimee Mann and not mentioning P.T.A is like preachin' about Jesus and not mentioning his "sexy soccer legs."

Mr P: But you didn't begin to write anything about Mann or the actual album. You failed to mention the album has a different sound according to Mann, with no electric guitar and a lot of Moog. You also could have told the readers that she will be touring soon, as well as making appearances at the Bonnaroo festival in June, NPR's "All Things Considered," and Ovation's "Live From the Artist's Den."

...

I told Mr P that what he said was all bullshit, and then he clocked me in my right eye with his robotic fist.

The next morning when I arrived at the homeless Vietnam Vet And Injured Kitten Shelter that I volunteer at, I was bombarded with questions of how I got my black eye. I told them I ran into a door. A door named, Mr P.

Universal Music Group Wants Be Your Own Pet to Sell; Makes Record Safer By Removing ‘Violent’ Songs

Be Your Own Pet's Jemina Pearl (pictured above) sort of resembles Blondie. Which is to say, she fits very snuggly in a certain mold bastardized by cookie-cutter mall punks like Avril Lavigne and imitated by others, including pop-punk sensations like Paramore's Hayley Williams. In other words, she has the potential to bring in big dollars. So, for the domestic release of their sophomore album, Get Awkward (TMT Review), Universal made sure that the spunkiest songs of the bunch -- "Blow Yr Mind," "Becky," and "Black Hole" -- were left off of the record.

After sounding messy and defiant -- shouting "I'm an independent motherfucker and I'm here to take your virginity!" -- on their eponymous 2006 debut for Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label, the kids in BYOP have crafted a catchy, accessible, and slightly reigned-in effort on their follow-up, Get Awkward. So, when Universal Records -- believing it may have a hit on its hands -- made an agreement with Ecstatic Peace! to release the record in the United States, it wasn't going to let a little bit of teen angst and artistic license hinder their cash flow or ability to create a controversy. God forbid the record not be sold in Wal-Marts everywhere.

When Pearl sings "Let's go and kill someone" on "Black Hole" to describe the boredom faced in a wasteland of a town, her punky shouts are the sound of plummeting profits to the Suits in charge. Just imagine the horror on Minivan Mom's face when her adolescent daughter -- enamored with Pearl's pretty golden locks and wicked sense of style -- pops in the disc and "Becky" blares: "Now I'm going to juvey for teenage homicide!" The local news would have a field day.

So, it was a close one, but Universal Records and its parent company Universal Music Group saved the innocence of our youth, just like they did when they brought us Eminem. Remember when he told Kim, "Bleed, bitch, bleed!" on The Marshall Mathers LP on UMG subsidiary Interscope? Ah, I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.

Photo: [Leia Jospe]

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