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'jseattle' at flickr, via capitohillseattle.com
Yes, it’s been nearly a week since I’ve posted any of these tender tidbits of randomosity. Since then, here’s some of what’s cropped up online and also in the allegedly “real” world:
lindsay lowe, kplu
beautifullife.info
komo-tv
Band name suggestion of the month: “Premier Instruments of Pleasure.” (From the “Sexual Wellness” section of the Amazon subsidiary Soap.com.)
Why do we value the network and hardware that delivers music but not the music itself? Why are we willing to pay for computers, iPods, smartphones, data plans, and high speed internet access but not the music itself? Why do we gladly give our money to some of the largest richest corporations in the world but not the companies and individuals who create and sell music?
Why do we value the network and hardware that delivers music but not the music itself?
Why are we willing to pay for computers, iPods, smartphones, data plans, and high speed internet access but not the music itself?
Why do we gladly give our money to some of the largest richest corporations in the world but not the companies and individuals who create and sell music?
The locally owned Wave Broadband is taking over the dreadful and bankrupt BS Cable (Broadstripe). Yay!
The first part of the transition is the switching of “on demand” program suppliers, effective Wednesday.
This means I’m looking over my current “on demand” lineup while I still can.
I didn’t know I received something called The Karaoke Channel!
I’m now listening to lead-vocal-less covers of the greatest hits of yesterday and today, accompanied by scrolling lyrics and generic stock footage of women twirling around on the beach.
Oh, why did I not discover this sooner?
(PS: I could list the songs from which I culled the above images, but I’m certain you know all of them, you pop-o-philes you.)
I’m still having trouble finding words to say about the Cafe Racer tragedy.
At least I can give you pictures of just a little bit of the near-citywide outpouring of grief, condolence, and mutual support.
The above images are from last Thursday afternoon.
The following are from Sunday evening, when the weekly jazz jam session went ahead as scheduled—in the alley between the cafe and the Trading Musician music store.
For up-to-date word about memorial and benefit shows for the victims’ families and the one shooting survivor (taking place all around town, just about every day), go to caferacerlove.org.
Owner Kurt Geissel (who was not on the premises at the time of the shootings) has said he will reopen. Just when, he hasn’t decided yet.
As many of you know, I’ve been at least a semi-regular customer at Cafe Racer on Roosevelt, ever since it opened almost a decade ago as the Lucky Dog Cafe.
It’s been a food, booze, and coffee joint, the site of Marlow Harris and Jo David’s “Official Bad Art Museum of Art,” a space for more ambitious art works, a home to comix-drawing sessions, and an eclectic live-music live music. It was the latter role that got it a big front-page paean in the Sunday NY Times arts section.
The music booker at Racer also led its house band, performing at the space at least once a week. He’d been a sword swallower in the long-running Circus Contraption troupe.
He, and another member of the band, were among the three who died from a gunman’s madness. Even if a motive for the shooting gets discovered, it will still be, and will always be, senseless.
I wish all condolences and serenity to Racer’s staff, its owner Kurt Geissel, and the many communities that coalesce there.
dangerousminds.net
u.s. geological survey
Happy Mount St. Helens Day!
This is from Sunday’s “Color Run” downtown, a 5K benefitting Ronald McDonald House. Runners were splashed with “color dust” at points along the route. (Note: This is not at all to be confused with the 2005 teen novel The Rainbow Party, or with the false rumor that that novel depicted a real-life fad.)
npr.org
Thriller author Barry Eisler, a born-again proponent of self-publishing (and the first established author to sign with Amazon’s publishing division), told a local audience that :
Needless to say, in many parts of the book establishment (the most tradition-bound establishment in all the lively arts), them’s fightin’ words.
•
Meanwhile, authors Sarah Weinman and Maureen Ogle have put up separate online essays. Each questions the future of “serious non-fiction” in the digital age.
Under the old regime, profitable publishing houses subsidized this work with large advances against royalties. In many cases, the publishers knew authors would never earn these advances back. It was the companies’ way of subsidizing prestigious “loss leader” works.
But if self-publishing becomes the new business-as-usual, Weinman and Ogle ask, what will become of long, research-heavy projects—projects that could take as many as five years of an author’s full-time attention?
There’s always Kickstarter.com. That’s where local comix legend Jim Woodring is raising funds so he can work full-time on his next graphic novel.
And there are always grants, fellowships, teaching gigs, and working spouses (for those authors who can land any of them).
And there’s another answer, one that’s right under Weinman and Ogle’s proverbial noses.
Both essayists note that the most successful e-book self-publishers, thus far, are fiction writers who churn out several titles per year.
Non-fiction writers can do likewise.
They can chop up and serialize their longer works, one section at a time.
When it comes time to put out the full book, authors can still revise and re-sequence everything.
In another sector of the digital media disruption, music-biz attorney Ken Hertz reminds you that even (or especially) with the new marketplace, bands still face tremendous odds against “making it.”
meowonline.org
Every person I talk to at a signing, every exchange I have online (sometimes dozens a day), every random music video or art gallery link sent to me by a fan that I curiously follow, every strange bed I’ve crashed on… all of that real human connecting has led to this moment, where I came back around, asking for direct help with a record. Asking EVERYBODY.… And they help because they know I’m good for it. Because they KNOW me.