I just received an e-mail from Representative Marjorie Smith that SB 42, the bill banning smoking in bars and restaurants in New Hampshire, just passed the House (it passed the Senate earlier this year). The only step left in the process is for Governor Lynch to sign it into law, and he has indicated that he will.Thank goodness!

That’s Sting’s quote from The Police’s press conference happening right now…. Though they’re apparently still fighting about whether or not to let Andy and Stewart sing the backing vocals versus having a sampled track going.July 28th at Fenway Park, too…

A few months before the party, Andrew Stone told me about this idea he had to use his Videator software to create a light show for the band…. From what I understand, this is an easy thing to as a one-man or even unmanned light show, perhaps perfect for local bands to enhance their visual appeal.

It’s such a habit it almost rolls off the tongue without me thinking about it now, and it goes something like this: “Hey, happy new year, but I can’t talk now because I’m in a mad rush to get the last minute prep together for Macworld Expo.”… Braun and Chuck LaTournous to judge this fabulous event.Thursday, 1/11, 6pm: Mac Podcaster Meeting at the Apple Store with the likes of Adam Christianson, Andy Ihnatko, Leo Laporte, and more.

On Friday, it was all over the AP that Universal Music plans to go after YouTube and MySpace in an attempt to pierce the “safe harbor” veil that’s been protecting these online services from the actions committed by their users…. This egg *is* going to crack eventually, and the companies that change their strategy first will be in a much better position than those who fight tooth and nail down to their last dollar.

In a nutshell, you login to Pandora, tell it about some music you like, and then it’ll start streaming songs to you that it thinks you might like, as well. You can rate each one, helping to guide Pandora through its future suggestions (for both you AND others), making it smarter as you go.Yet another chink in the armor of mainstream radio.

Now think about this: If you buy your songs from the brick-and-mortar record store, or if you buy them from the iTMS, or if you copy them from your “friends” on your favorite darknet or public peer-to-peer network of choice, Apple’s still going to sell you an iPod to play them…. By getting into bed with the record labels and offering a way for people to download songs legally, Apple has given the labels very little ground to stand on as Apple trudges forward selling every song-pirate their favorite MP3 player.

The RIAA and the MPAA are frantically trying to thwart anything that gets in the way of their stodgy old business model…. heck, it’s a mafia.In between your downloads on bittorrent, Kazaa, and Gnutella, go tell ’em we’ll break their kneecaps if they try anything like this again…

…if only for a personal victory. The family (and me, of course) just recently relocated to Durham, NH, and tonight I had the pleasure of playing my first “post-move” gig (I’m a drummer, remember?) with a new band up here. Not only did the gig go well musically, but the crowd, the club staff, and […]

With all the flack we give them, it’s not the RIAA that’s the problem. They’ve mostly lost the battle (enough to where the consumer still has *some* choice, anyway). It’s the MPAA that’s the huge problem. They’ve successfully (and, for the most part, quietly) squashed hundreds (if not thousands) of products that would make our […]