Greed and Stupidity
So now the RIAA is suing 12-year-old girls for downloading music. And 71-year-old grandfathers. And divorced mothers of teenagers. And anyone else they pick out at random.
Bastards.
You know, there's a lot of great music out there that the RIAA doesn't control. There are literally dozens of great artists all over the world waiting for you to discover them. And if you're like me, one of life's sweeter joys is discovering some brilliant musician or band that you never knew even existed before. There's no need to settle for the pablum the big media companies try to foist on us. I'm not telling you to boycott the RIAA (although it's certainly worth considering); I'm urging you to go out and find all the great music that's out there that isn't controlled by plutocrats who seem to feel the need to sue 12-year-old girls.
How do you know whether something comes from an RIAA member company? Just go here.
Here's a list of some of my favorites to help you get started:
Warren Zevon - The Wind, Life'll Kill Ya
Lori Carson - House in the Weeds (you can order it direct from her website)
Gigi - One Ethiopia
Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo (The Special Remix Edition on Ziriguiboom - if you want the original, email me and I'll burn you a copy)
Gilberto Gil - Refavela
Paco de Lucia/Eric Montoya - Flamenco Romantico
Like Irish music? - check out Green Linnet records. I'm partial to Altan and Wolfstone.
Putumayo puts out great collections from all over the world, as well as individual artists like Oliver Mtukudzhe.
The Texas Music Group brings together a bunch of great Texas labels like Antones and Watermelon records, so you can find Toni Price, Don Walser, The Derailers, and more.
And go out and see some live music. A bigger percentage of your dollar goes to the artist than it does when you buy a CD.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Life - The Good and Bad in Santa Cruz
So the city council has decided to send a letter to the House Judiciary Committee to voice the community's concerns about President Bush's actions. It isn't quite a call for impeachment, but it's the next best thing. You might assume that this is payback for the infamous DEA drug bust of a little over a year ago (after which members of the city council handed out medical marijuana on the steps of city hall), but it actually is a reflection of the will of the electorate.
I must look for references to this in various right-wing ideo-blogs tomorrow, just for the entertainment value of watching their mouths foam with righteous indignation. I'm not really a leftist, I just prefer the goofy entertainment the left provides to the mean-spiritedness of the right. And life here in the CenCal Riveria - the land that time and neo-conservatism forgot - is always entertaining.
The bad is that I have to drive over the hill to my job in San Jose. The "hill" is actually the ridge of the Santa Cruz mountains that separates the Pacific coast from Silicon Valley. To get to work, my fellow commuters and I have to take Highway 17, a twisty four-lane mountain road that cuts through Patchen Pass, the lowest point of the mountains near Santa Cruz. Normally, it's not too bad once you're used to it, but today it rained for the first time since late April. This always catches people by surprise, and they tend to do foolish things. That last rain was on a Friday, and I waited until after 8 PM to go home because I knew how bad things would be. And I wasn't mistaken; in addition to passing 3 multi-car accidents that evening, I also two cars - one on each side of the road - flipped over on their roofs in the right-hand lane. Today I only saw 2 accidents, neither of which looked too terrible.
The problem isn't the road itself; all you have to do is slow down and drive carefully. No, the real danger is an impatient yuppie in an SUV or a BMW. I assume today's accidents will be enough to bring the CHP patrols back, and I'll be glad to see them.
So the city council has decided to send a letter to the House Judiciary Committee to voice the community's concerns about President Bush's actions. It isn't quite a call for impeachment, but it's the next best thing. You might assume that this is payback for the infamous DEA drug bust of a little over a year ago (after which members of the city council handed out medical marijuana on the steps of city hall), but it actually is a reflection of the will of the electorate.
I must look for references to this in various right-wing ideo-blogs tomorrow, just for the entertainment value of watching their mouths foam with righteous indignation. I'm not really a leftist, I just prefer the goofy entertainment the left provides to the mean-spiritedness of the right. And life here in the CenCal Riveria - the land that time and neo-conservatism forgot - is always entertaining.
The bad is that I have to drive over the hill to my job in San Jose. The "hill" is actually the ridge of the Santa Cruz mountains that separates the Pacific coast from Silicon Valley. To get to work, my fellow commuters and I have to take Highway 17, a twisty four-lane mountain road that cuts through Patchen Pass, the lowest point of the mountains near Santa Cruz. Normally, it's not too bad once you're used to it, but today it rained for the first time since late April. This always catches people by surprise, and they tend to do foolish things. That last rain was on a Friday, and I waited until after 8 PM to go home because I knew how bad things would be. And I wasn't mistaken; in addition to passing 3 multi-car accidents that evening, I also two cars - one on each side of the road - flipped over on their roofs in the right-hand lane. Today I only saw 2 accidents, neither of which looked too terrible.
The problem isn't the road itself; all you have to do is slow down and drive carefully. No, the real danger is an impatient yuppie in an SUV or a BMW. I assume today's accidents will be enough to bring the CHP patrols back, and I'll be glad to see them.
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