NEW YORK TIMES: Federal prosecutors in Virginia say they have shut down one of the world’s largest Internet file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. An indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday [and] says that at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular Web site in the world. MORE RELATED: Spearheaded by CEO Swizz Beatz, Megaupload has issued a counter lawsuit against Universal Music Group to stop the record label from interfering with […]
JAZZER: Meet Nate Wooley
[Photo by Jim Newberry] BY ZIVIT SHLANK Trumpter and composer Nate Wooley has maintained a relatively humble profile on the scene while simultaneously creating a new harmonic language with his musical innovations. He’s played in a variety of settings: solo, duet, quartet and quintet. With each new context, Wooley strives to make us hear the trumpet in a whole new way and as such he has become one of the most mesmerizing figures on the ‘out’ jazz scene. His latest released, (Put Your) Hands Together, dropped last year and featured some of Brooklyn’s finest jazz and experimental players. Thanks once […]
THE REVOVLING DOOR: This Is Why We Suck
[Click image to enlarge] THE HILL: Corporate headhunters are sizing up the K Street prospects of the retiring members of the 112th Congress — and they like what they see. Twenty-five representatives and senators so far have announced they will retire from Capitol Hill after this year’s election. Executives who work to place ex-lawmakers at law firms, lobby shops and corporate boards are monitoring the outgoing lawmakers and discussing who could go where — and how much they would earn. “As a retiring class goes, this is a very valuable class. A lot of these members are marketable and will […]
Gene Ween To Release Rod McKuen Tribute Album
[Artwork by TODD SLATER] PHILLY DELI: Gene Ween will be releasing a new album on April 10 entitled Marvelous Clouds, which will be a 13-song tribute to poet and songwriter Rod McKuen (who has penned songs for the likes of Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and Madonna just to name a few). All this will be done under his own name Aaron Freeman. MORE RELATED: The statistics involving McKuen’s career and work are staggering. He has recorded over two hundred albums and is the recipient of 63 gold and platinum records worldwide. His three-dozen books of poetry have been published in […]
Capturing The Dominant Market Share Of ‘Free’
NEW YORK TIMES: The adulation of “free content” inevitably meant that “advertising” would become the biggest business in the open part of the information economy. Furthermore, that system isn’t so welcoming to new competitors. Once networks are established, it is hard to reduce their power. Google’s advertisers, for instance, know what will happen if they move away. The next-highest bidder for each position in Google’s auction-based model for selling ads will inherit that position if the top bidder goes elsewhere. So Google’s advertisers tend to stay put because the consequences of leaving are obvious to them, whereas the opportunities they […]
SMELL YA LATER: Perry Ends Campaign, Backhandedly Endorses Golem Gingrich
[Illustrations by ALEX FINE] NEW YORK TIMES: Gov. Rick Perry of Texas dropped out of the Republican presidential race here on Thursday and announced his endorsement for the candidacy of Newt Gingrich, a man he called a “conservative visionary.” “I’ve never believed that the cause of conservatism is embodied by one individual,” Mr. Perry said at a news conference here. “Our party and our conservative philosophy transcends any one individual.” Mr. Perry, who opened his bid for the Republican presidential nomination five months ago here in South Carolina, conceded that “there is no viable path forward for me.” He urged […]
SLEIGH BELLS: Reign Of Terror
New album, Reign Of Terror, out February 21st.
CONGRESS BLINKS: Internet 1, SOPA 0
NEW YORK TIMES: When the powerful world of old media mobilized to win passage of an online antipiracy bill, it marshaled the reliable giants of K Street — the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Recording Industry Association of America and, of course, the motion picture lobby, with its new chairman, former Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat and an insider’s insider. Yet on Wednesday this formidable old guard was forced to make way for the new as Web powerhouses backed by Internet activists rallied opposition to the legislation through Internet blackouts and cascading criticism, sending an unmistakable message […]
SIDEWALKING: What’s The Best Tuna?
Rite-Aid, 4th & Sprin Garden, 2:23 PM by JONATHAN VALANIA
BREAKING: Troc Adds Second Show
CARRIE BROWNSTEIN * FRED ARMISEN SECOND (LATE) SHOW JUST ADDED Sun * Feb 19 General Admission Seated Show Trocadero Theatre 1003 Arch St * Philadelphia On Sale This Friday at 10AM! Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) and Carrie Brownstein (Wild Flag, Sleater Kinney) from IFC’s hit original comedy Portlandia are embarking on a unique limited tour bringing the romanticized and dreamy rendering of Portland, OR to life for fans across the country. “Portlandia: The Tour” will feature Armisen and Brownstein, the co-creators, writers and stars of Portlandia, performing live music, presenting sneak-peek clips from the show’s second season and sharing […]
DR. DOG: That Old Black Hole
Lead-off single from Be The Void, out Feb. 7th on Anti- Records.
UNMASKED: Q&A With Delocated‘s Jon Glaser
BY BRYAN BIERMAN For years, Jon Glaser held what is probably one of the most thankless jobs in Hollywood: Television comedy writer. They’re the people who create the jokes that make you laugh, but by and large remain completley unknown to the general public. Fortunately, Glaser got to show off his talents onscreen during his five-year tenure as writer for Late Night With Conan O’Brien, gaining a cult following for playing bit characters such as Ehud Henkleman, a non-Jewish shofar player who just likes “blowing on [his] jam stick,” and as a member of The Slipnutz, a terrible comedy group […]
A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE: Wikipedia, Reddit & Phawker To Go Dark Tomorrow In Protest Of SOPA
ABC NEWS: Do not try to look up “Internet Censorship” or “SOPA” or “PIPA” on Wikipedia, the giant online encyclopedia, on Wednesday. SOPA and PIPA are two bills in Congress meant to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Internet, but major Internet companies say the bills would put them in the impossible position of policing the online world. Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says his site will go dark for the day on Wednesday, joining a budding movement to protest the two bills. “This is going to be wow,” Wales said on Twitter. “I hope […]