I wasn't going to do another one of these this week, but since there was a bit of fluff happening, I thought it might be fun. Plus, I had some free time to waste.

The standard warning for those of you who've never seen one of these before: If you would like to see some of the latest entertainment news, celebrity gossip and odd crap making the rounds, keep reading. However, if you are easily offended by half-nude men & women or other such things, you might want to stop right now.

You've been warned.

I think the (slightly belated) occasion of the passing of the vile, venal and despicable former Senator from North Carolina calls for a song.  A raucous, celebratory, insulting, ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead kind of song. With a tuba.  A song called:

The Senator Goes To Hell

Click play to hear the song -- full lyrics after the jump!

I was recently informed of a travesty taking place in the local music scene that has me angry and saddened.  The door has been closed on an icon ...

Once again, I've managed to slip in a diary that will technically be posted on a Monday, although anyone to the east of my timezone might debate that fine detail.

It's been a strange week for me. Maybe it's my psychology, or maybe I'm tapping into some zeitgeist, but I've been feeling like we're at the tail end of an era and about to open up a new chapter. I was trying to figure out a song that captures how I feel, and one keeps returning unbidden: hear it below the fold.

I know my limits. I leave the relevant & serious issues like "Purity" & John McCain's teeth for others to ponder. No, here we contemplate the questions that arise from the fluff of life, while hopefully having a little fun. So in addition to the usual stuff, I thought I would throw a question on the table tonight.

Like many of you, I decided to have fun during the 4th of July holiday. At a party thrown by some friends, I met someone. She's smart, funny, and very hot, basically everything a heterosexual male could ask for. We had a good time, but there is one issue. It wasn't until later that I found out she's 19. I'm in my late 20s & maybe it's a sign of me starting to feel old as I approach 30, but there is something just a tad odd about going out with someone who a short time ago was worrying about Homecoming & a Prom dress. Although I'm sure she might feel a bit strange if she knew I was on a website as "Rimjob" posting gossip about Lindsay Lohan.

So all of this led me to wonder whether people think there is an age, a point of no return, where it gets "creepy" to date someone 18 or 19? Well, enough about my hangups, on to the crap.....

I've been in Nashville and haven't really found a lot I like.  I judge everthing by Philadelphia standards, so maybe I'm just having trouble getting into the NashVegas mindset.

So what, I was thinking to myself earlier, what could I do to change that?  

I have been on Kos for a few years and I had to miss Las Vegas and Chicago.  I was very much looking forward to the gathering in Austin.  I think the convention made a very wise choice.  

Unfortunately, my vacation is here this week and my family and I are going to drive to Yellowstone and Spokane to visit family.

So here is a welcome to y'all to Austin, and my humble suggestions for places to spend money and places to have fun.

So have a good time, and I'll come to Net Roots next year.

Love all of you.

For those looking for something to do in Austin on Wednesday evening, I have perfect suggestion. (Ahem) As a resident of Austin, I would like to cordially  invite you to an evening of music on Wednesday, July 16th, from 9 to 11 pm.  

We Austinites brag that we are the "Live Music Capital of the World".    I've been making my living here as a musician for a long time, and some of my friends and I will be playing for you early arrivers. The venue, The Hideout, is within walking distance of the Austin Convention Center, near the corner of 7th and Congress, in the heart of downtown Austin.  It's a coffee house, owned by Greg Nelson (a really nice guy).

Presenting their original music will be Steve Brooks, Bill Colbert, Jan Seides (Hey! That's me!) and The Therapy Sisters. The songs will cover a wide range of subjects, from the political to the humorous to the haunting. Details below.

Well last week I posted a first in what will hopefully be a series of diaries on Mondays involving music. Tonight's theme is songs that relax you at the end of a long first day of the week. Please post titles, links, or YouTubes of a tune that helps soothe the demons. After the fold, I'll give you this week's sample: A Perfect Circle's cover of Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle and the Drum:

Folksingers

A long time ago in a land far away, I started hearing this new (to me) music that told stories. Some guy named Bob Dylan had written some songs and Peter, Paul and Mary made them popular and they were actually being played on the radio! What was this all about? Off to the record and sheet music store for me.  There were whole sections devoted to this genre and like a kid in a candy store I started buying up all I could afford. I learned about Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Buffy Saint Marie, Tom Paxton, Leadbelly, Elizabeth Cotton, The Rev. Gary Davis and many, many more singer/songwriters of the past and present. The library even had songbooks I could check out including copies of  "Sing Out" magazine. Next up, buy a guitar.

If you'd like to get energized for a volunteer event, help yourself stay motivated, take a break from debates and relax, play some fun background music that might help convince friends/family/roommates, or just admire creative efforts inspired by this global movement, this is the place to go.

I am a Barack Obama supporter who enjoys finding and listening to original music created by other supporters to help spread the enthusiasm. The current version of my lists, with links and details (and statistics!), are included below in this diary. They are also available as playlists on YouTube at www.youtube.com/ObamaSongs, and as I find more songs, I will continue to add them to my playlists.

This holiday isn't this holiday without Dave Alvin:

His friends and sometimes Knitters bandmates in X have a great version of it, too, but it's Dave's song, so he gets the honors of the video.

That song and mcmom's potato salad are pretty much my only requirements for this holiday, since I don't get all that much out of explosions.

What makes your 4th?

Good Morning Everybody!

I have a hard time waking up, especially on Mondays. I thought I would start posting videos every week to help get the juices flowing! Please respond with a musical selection that moves your blood!

On Thursday I promised to have this damn thing ready by Friday night. However, the fickle finger of fate intervened, and made that impossible by occupying my time with other matters for the last 3 days. And like some of my better moments in life (i.e. like cramming a semester's worth of organic chemistry inside my brain in a 7 hour period), I have somehow pulled it together to give you this... Crap.

The standard warning for those of you who've never seen one of these before: If you would like to see some of the latest entertainment news, celebrity gossip and odd crap making the rounds, keep reading. However, if you are easily offended by half-nude men & women or other such things, you might want to stop right now.

You've been warned.

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon with the I-Pod on "shuffle."  In rapid succession it gives me "A Song For Europe" by Roxy Music, "China My China" by Brian Eno, and "Japan" by Be-Bop Deluxe.  And that gets me to reflecting about all the great songs in my collection that have geographical locations in the title.

The High Sierra Music Festival

will kick off in Quincy, California on Thursday, July 3, and run through Sunday, July 6.  It is

"...a world-class event, due in no small part to the caliber of our audience. We take great pride in knowing that our audience knows how to enjoy themselves while respecting their neighbors and the community.

On-site you'll find incredible music on five daytime stages and in five late night venues, a fun-filled Kidzone, quality art and crafts, delicious food and drinks, great microbrews, ice, an ATM machine, a General Store offering sundries and essentials, Yoga, Pliates and dance classes, and much more. Quincy, CA is a small town with a great natural foods co-op, and outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, rock climbing and swimming."

The music festival is held at the Plumas-Sierra County fairgrounds, the "cleanest and greenest" fairgrounds in all of California.

Update:  here's a Wikipedia link telling more about the festival.

Does neo-soul fit into the elitest, late drinking, prius driving, college educated, environmentalist, profesional label.

How much is a song worth? This should-be-simple question is fundamental to an ever-more complex intellectual property debate. Normally, to determine how much something costs, you go to the store and check the price tag. Easy.

But millions of us now buy songs off the Internet, where there is no "easy." The old Napster-style scheme, essentially music for free, is supposedly shut down. But new outlets have sprung up, hundreds of MP3 sites that all want your credit card. But ... again, "how much?"

Apple's iTunes emporium originally called the tune at 99 cents. And they still dominate the market. Rhapsody, a chief competitor, fooled with 49 cents, but settled at 89. And, exploiting international copyright loopholes, a huge number of Russian and Ukrainian sites have appeared with high-quality MP3s available anywhere from nine cents to 20. Most famed of these is probably AllofMP3.com, which was sued for 1.65 trillion dollars by the RIAA. It simply morphed into MP3Fiesta and/or MP3Sparks. Some ex-AllofMP3 customers report that they found their accounts still in good order when re-directed to the new sites. Over 1.5 trillion bucks is big, scary money, unless you don't have to pay it.