5 Reviews this week – cool as a cucumber

Well, I’m back, and cooled down since last week’s rant. I got some new CD’s since last time, and will be coming at you with some sweet reviews of all that has been bouncing in my ears as of late. This week, I think I got a good mix, let me know how it hits you. I love typing into a vacuum as much as the next guy, but we need to get some conversation going, and keep this blog breathing. I’m as guilty as all, just reading and leaving, but it would be cool to get this thing active!

David Yazbek – Evil Monkey Man – *** –

Nozzle of the Week: the RIAA

If the RIAA were a common street thug, here’s how things would go. It would jump an innocent old lady, stomp her within an inch of her life, and then, when she screamed for mercy, it would file a motion asking the nearest court to sanction her for wasting its time.

Seriously, you ain’t gonna believe this shizzle:

The Recording Industry Association of America is declaring attorney-blogger Ray Beckerman a “vexatious” litigator. The association is seeking unspecified monetary sanctions to punish him in his defense of a New York woman accused of making copyrighted music available on the Kazaa file sharing system.

MySpace, your cut…

Interesting post in the “square” media about MySpace Music – http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2008/tc20080912_717914.htm – but read it carefully, especially if you’re a musician. The fact that the labels want to use online channels like this not just to sell music but also to grab a cut of merchandise and ticket sales – the last reliable revenue streams for performers – speaks volumes about how much they actually care about their artists.

5 reviews whenever i feel like it…OK?!

OK, this blog is now the 5 reviews whenever I feel like it. You know, I always complained when comic book writers broke from a monthly cycle or something. And that’s because comics take like 10 minutes to read the first time, not realizing all the work that has to go on. I mean I relate to that. Coming up with these reviews amount to the same amount of hard work that goes into drawing and writing a comic book. I mean for one, I have to, like, listen to them, which takes like 45 minutes or something. Then, uh, I have to write the review, and determine a star rating based on over 500 categorical themes. And that takes like 2 minutes, so in all, to get these out weekly would take AT MINIMUM 4 hours – A WEEK! That’s crazy, no way would I possibly be able to do that on a weekly basis. No way.