Here’s Youtube user Louis Gaston’s tongue-in-cheek account of his experience in the music industry. This seems pretty accurate.
It was a noble experiment, giving us talent like Rachel Maddow and Al Franken, but now progressive/liberal radio talker Air America has gone kaput:
It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.
The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a “perfect storm” in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry’s long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.
Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success.
With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies
Meet Mini Daddy, reggaeton’s littlest superstar and the future of pre-adolescent Hispanic gangsta rap. Did the evil geniuses of the music industry concoct Mini Daddy in a laboratory experiment as a deeply subversive—and cynical—marketing ploy: “Hmmm…. let’s get a kid, a little kid—no, wait, a fat little kid—to dress up in gangster gear and gold chains, we’ll put some “fly” 7-year-old girls in the video as his hootchie backup singers ... He’ll be the Lil’ Bow Wow of reggaeton!”
Or is this tyke a self-created sensation, tailor-made for the “Age of YouTube,” who just walked in off the streets, and is worth his weight in gold records? He’s unstoppable, this Mini Daddy. Forget Ke$ha and Lady Gaga and meet the future. Your future.
You’ll never have to fear your cellphone running out of juice again as long as you’re near a 7-Eleven or a vending machine, thanks to brilliant London-based designer Daizi Zheng. But maybe “juice” is the wrong word; Zheng has produced a cellphone that runs on Coca-Cola. Or Mountain Dew or Pepsi or whatever sugary, fizzy beverage you happen to have handy. Yes, you read correctly, this is a cellphone that runs on soda. It’s the call that refreshes!
As Zheng explained to Tree Hugger:
“Through my research, I found that phone battery as a power source, it is expensive, consuming valuable resources on manufacturing, presenting a disposal problem and harmful to the environment. The concept is using bio battery to replace the traditional battery to create a pollution free environment. Bio battery is an ecologically friendly energy generates electricity from carbohydrates (currently sugar) and utilizes enzymes as the catalyst. By using bio battery as the power source of the phone, it only needs a pack of sugary drink and it generates water and oxygen while the battery dies out. Bio battery has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium batteries and it could be fully biodegradable.”
Three to four times longer than a lithium battery? Sounds good to us. Now all Zheng has to do is come up with a way to run a cellphone on booze, for a sort of unholy cellphone/hip flask hybrid.
Cross posting this from Brand X
io9 reports on a recent Scientific American article that suggests that plants use quantum entanglement in photosynthesis. The mind doth boggle. The original Scientific American article is here.
A recent article in Scientific American suggested that plants use quantum entanglement in photosynthesis. What can this mean? The answer is more (and less) than expected. Take a quick look at quantum entanglement and find out why.
Quick Quantum Entanglement Facts:
a) Quantum entanglement happens when the quantum status of two particles is intertwined, like two cats in a sack.
b) As with two cats in a sack, determining the state of one particle (say, by lightly nudging the sack with your toe until one side twitches and says ?
SEPULVEDA UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY (THE ONION) 9550 Haskell Avenue
Frank Ehrenthal (1964) The Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society sanctuary, widely known asThe Onion for its unique, bulbous shape, was designed by Frank Ehrenthal, a student of Richard Neutra
KNOLLWOOD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 12121 Balboa Boulevard
Hal C. Whittenmore (1966) The ultra-modern Knollwood United Methodist Church is defined by its swooping, asymmetrical white walls, including a soaring fin-like tower that evokes a traditional Mediterranean campanile (bell tower).
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF NORTHRIDGE 9659 Balboa Boulevard
A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons (1962) Built as a pyramid, this church’s sanctuary appears infinitely solid on the outside yet equally light and airy inside. The interior’s exposed beams soar to a skylight at the apex, while hanging cylindrical light fixtures float throughout. Walls of glass integrate outdoor gardens with plantings along the inside perimeter. A below-grade entrance and garden wall minimize street noise. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the building was deemed one of the safest in the San Fernando Valley.
(thanks L.J.Williamson !)
While there’s little actual live footage of anarchist agit-propsters Crass floating around online (see bottom for a rare example), there’s plenty of available footage from Christ: The Movie, the collection of experimental shorts put together by Crass collective member, Mike Duffield. As All Movie says of the shorts:
They were designed to be shown on-stage during Crass’ live performances. The films are accompanied by music the group recorded for their album Yes Sir, I Will, a 1983 polemic on the ideas and realities behind the War in the Falklands.
As with most things Crass, some of it’s harsh, some of it’s lovely, and the transitions between the two come whiplash fast. Christ: The Movie Part V (the more music-heavy clip) follows, with links to the other clips below:
Rare Crass live footage:
Christ: The Movie, Part I, II, III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Unexpected Crass-Beatles Nexus Point
Check out this Illuminoid sunspot blitzkreig courtesy of Gary War, from the “Horribles Parade” LP (Sacred Bones Records 2009). #23 in The WIRE’s Top 50 of 2009.
Alleged alter-ego to both the late great Andy Kaufman and Kaufman’s longtime writer/co-schemer Bob Zmuda, meta-comedian Tony Clifton‘s still alive, well and wonderfully profane. (Sample: Why is it that Mike Tyson cries after sex? Well mace will do that to you.)
The Onion’s AVC is carrying a lengthy, frequently hilarious interview with the man dubbed “the worst nightclub singer you’ve ever seen or heard.” In it, Clifton dishes on Sinatra (a moody bastard) and New Orleans cops (crazy motherfuckers).
And when he’s not frolicking with prostitutes or updating his blog, Clifton’s making the club rounds. He also recently played a string of Comic Relief gigs to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Some footage of Clifton in action follows below. The clip also attempts to tease out Clifton’s “true” identity, an effort that, as it has for years now, quickly becomes a hall of mirrors.
