Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Talking about MJ and goofing off

Last Sunday we spent time talking about Michael Jackson. As I pointed out on the show 2 weeks ago he was demonized in the popular media. He was called a pervert, child molester, freak, unfit for society, among other things.

Now, all of a sudden since he passed away the popular media has almost canonized him.

WTF???? What a bunch of hypocrites.

(for the record we didn't pull any punches, while we did give him credit for his contribution to music, we can't deny that the man had his issues)

Later in the show my wife made a cameo appearance and decided to give me a makeover.



In other news I did update the links on here, as well as on blogtv homepage. Check 'em out!

Oh yeah, my new YouTube page is IndieSpotlightLive if you want to check out some video from the show.

Monday, June 22, 2009

If You Missed Spotlight Last Sunday...

...then you missed one heck of a show.

Deb from the Unsigned Musicians show was able to join me as co-host this week. It was nice having her back on the show. To kill some time and wait for the regular viewers to start shuffling in we talked about the PETA idiots freaking out because Obama killed a fly instead of trapping it humanely and letting it go free outdoors. Deb offered her opinion on PETA (on top of supporting unsigned artists she is also an animal rights activist) and confirmed everything I ever thought of them. Sorry if you support PETA all I can say is go do some reseach on who they really are. PETA does things that honestly send a shiver down my spine.

Anyway....

We also had SmokingToad on the Skype call. Deb is looking to do another 24 hour show about legalizing Marijuana. Toad was able to offer some input into the Free the Weed issue, along with some folks in chat. It was an interesting conversation and I'll have more information about the show when we figure out when it's gonna be.

Then we talked about the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case, the disqusting judgement that was entered against her ($1.92 million dollars) and what it means to the indie artists and those of us who play independent music on the internet, as well as confirming that the RIAA really isn't a nice group of people. We also talked about ASCAP wanting to charge cell phone companies royaties for ringtones, their argument being that when a phone rings in public it's a public performance of a song. Rediculous isn't it?

Then, the fun surprise of the evening, Pete Berwick showed up in my chatroom while we were talking about all this crap, and offered his own opinion of it, which if anyone knows Pete knows that he has no real love for the "music industry hacks". We were able to have Pete on the show, which was nice, it's always a treat when he's able to stop in.

We closed out the show with a live performance from Jamie Gray. After we talked to Pete, we wanted to show him how easy it is to invite someone to "co-host" come on a show and play. Jamie was in rare form, and played an outstanding set (coincidently if anyones interested, he does have a show on blogtv, Thursday nights at 10 (eastern time) check him out.

Like I said, it was a great show, I know I had a blast!

Funny Obama Clip from JibJab

I'll blog about last nights show later (and if you missed it, you suck it was a great show) but in the meantime check this out. I laughed my ass off when I saw it this morning.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Getting Back Down to Business

Ok, now that we've gotten the bugs worked out over on blogtv, I'm getting back into actual show planning. Here are some of the things we're going to talk about tomorrow.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset lost her case. Again. This time, this particular jury decided on a worse penalty than the last one. Now she has to pay the RIAA (also known on this page as the music mafia) $1.92 million dollars. Works out to hundreds of thousands of dollars per song.

Hmm, what is the 8th amendment to the constitution? Some crazy thing about excessive fines and penalties?

Ah here it is.....

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.


Ok, so this isn't excessive? Got it.

Also found something interesting on the EFF's website, ASCAP wants cell phone companies to start paying royalties for ringtones. No, I'm not making this up.

All this and more, tomorrow night at 9 (eastern) over on blogtv!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Been a while, time to catch up....

Between getting the show set up the way I like it on blogtv, and some other stuff going on I guess I should post some updates.

The new show is going well, I don't miss blogtalkradio at all. I think we've worked out most of the bugs on blogtv and I'm ready to quit goofing off and start getting back to doing some real shows again.

Yeah I said that a few weeks ago, I know I know.

We've already had our first guest, it was kind of a surprise when Pete Berwick popped into my chat. I have to tip my hat off to Deb from Unsigned Musicians who often helps me out as a co-host for coming up with a quick solution. When we co-host on blogtv, we use Skype to keep in real time, and Pete does not have Skype. Deb called in on Skype, and put Pete on a speakerphone. It came out good considering how last minute it was and I have to tip my hat to Deb for thinking it up.

I'm starting to see some familiar faces in my chat during the show, people who had to deal with the technical problems on btr and said fuck it, are starting to show up on blogtv. It's a nice feeling to see some old friends that I haven't seen on the internet in a while.

Now we need to start talking music, the industry, and I would really like to start having musician interviews again. Pete was last minute, the interview was really good as it always is when he's on. I did record some segments, you can find them on my showpage over on blogtv and as you can hear we had a ton of fun on that show.

Overall I have to say that the switch to blogtv is going well. Like I said before we've worked most of the bugs out, it's coming together really well. If there are any Indie musicians out there who would like to come on the show and talk about their music, and anything in between hit me up. Right now I know I can have you on via Skype, but I am working on having people on the phone as well. I would love to have some fresh talent on the show.

I'm also going to be working on having some of our past guests back on, I'd like to catch up with some of these folks and I think the crowd on our new show would really enjoy getting to know them. I know I'd enjoy it.

Finally, here's the skinny with the latest myspace bullshit. Pete Berwick had this picture as his profile pic on his myspace page. It's the cover off of his latest album.



Myspace took it down because they said it was offensive and violated their Terms of Use. He sent them a very pointed, and yet professional letter asking why, and never got an answer.

So, I put that evil, satanic pic as my main profile picture on myspace. Mostly because I want to support Pete but I also just felt like being an asshole and what better place than one that is run by a bunch of 'em. Lets face facts, since Tom Anderson sold out Myspace has been ruled by the media whores that bought into it, which includes the music industry majors. It does not surprise me that they might find a reason to stifle the little guy for coming up with some great music, and oh yeah he might have an album cover that might be a great idea that they should have thought of but didn't because they were too busy looking at TITS!

It's bullshit. Offensive my ass, you know what I find offensive? How about Miley Cyrus, Miss Hannah Montana herself showing some skin on the front page of Myspace? She's under 18, could that be considered child porn? Yeah I like to look at a young piece of ass but shouldn't it be a legal piece of ass? Beside that do I really want to look at a no talent wannabe musician when I log in?

But I digress.....

So Pete's crotch shot wearing handcuffs is offensive, 13 year olds might see it, but Miley, or whoever the blonde flavor of the week might be, is not offensive? Give me a fucking break.

So, it's been a week, the Myspace police hasn't caught it on my profile yet (although they might after I post this blog over there) and not one person has told me why that album cover might be offensive. So, I'm leaving it up until myspambullshit, oops I mean Myspace pulls it down. I don't see how Pete's picture can be considered offensive.

Sorry about the rant, well, not really....lol

Anyway, the blogtv show is going well, we're on every Sunday night at 9 p.m. (eastern) and I hope to be scheduling some musician interviews soon!

Well except for no talent big titty Barbie wanna-be's you won't be hearing them on the show.

Ever.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A Clip from My Conversation with Pete Berwick

I'll post more about what's going on with the myspace shit tomorrow.

In the meantime chill out and enjoy this clip from my blogtv show with Pete Berwick talking about the inspiration behind the song "Busted in Kentucky".


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Comment on Yesterday's Post Regarding Pete Berwick

I had copied and pasted yesterdays blog on Myspace. My good friend Rob Mazurek made a very good comment on it, and I wanted to share it as well as my response for the benefit of those who read my blogs on here.

Nothing offence about Pete's picture that I can see here Jack,pair of handcuffs..-so what ? . I've seen women on myspace post almost completely nude shots of themselves and never get them yanked from their pages (then again who would complain... I guess thats a bad example...lol) Seriously though, Pete's picture here is completely harmless- I think you may be onto somthing Jack, it's not the pictures at all-but the music that the major labels find to be a threat to their existance-so yeah,they nit-pick away at the indie guys for creating music just as good (and in some cases better-then some of their major artists)

What I find sad and pathetic is...the world of music is digitalized now,downloads are the norm as opposed to buying CD's- the market is huge for everyone to make a buck, there's no need for childlike greed on anyones part. I wont mention any major label artists names here but if certain female artists can make half-naked videos and sell music based on "Sex" and have their videos freely posted on myspace for the world to see (including impressionable 13 year old girls) , than Pete's pic is very harmless compared to that !! , Ive also seen womens websites with pics depicting/suggesting bondage- so the handcuffs obviously cannot be the "Real issue" here.

- Just my Two Cents people.

Posted by Rob Mazurek on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 6:13 AM


I think he hit the nail right on the head. Reposting my response here for the benefit of my blogger readers.

Rob I think you make a very good point. We've all seen some pretty suggestive pictures here on Myspace, generally from legit users of the site. As the world of music has become more digitized social networking sites like Myspace are the perfect tool for independent musicians to promote themselves, get their work heard and do all this without being with a major label. The majors meanwhile want to promote THEIR people, and the music that THEY think people should be listening to, never mind that there are a lot of people who have gotten tired of the cookie-cutter crap that the majors keep churning out. Keeping in mind that the major recording studios (or the companies that own THEM) have bought up the majority of the radio stations here in the states, they control who gets heard, its not like it was before where a locally owned station would give the "little guy" airplay.

So, with all this in mind, the only real avenues that the independents have are live shows, and the internet. The internet is a powerful tool as we all know. Independents have used and embraced Myspace because of the potential to promote yourself to thousands (some cases tens of thousands) of people, and create a fan base. All this being done without any help from the majors whatsoever and I really think that this is where the problem lies. The major labels continue to insist that musicians NEED THEM. Well, no, you don't. I really think that because of this the majors feel threatened, and pull below the belt crap like this.

When you consider that the 4 major labels all have bought stakes into Myspace, it's easy to read between the lines and see what's really going on.


Just thought I'd share the conversation for the benefit of my blogger readers.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Myspace Threatens Pete Berwick with Account Deletion!!




First of all, does anyone find anything offensive about this album cover? Obviously it's Pete's new album, Just Another Day in Hell.

Some asshole over at Myspace seems to think that this is offensive, believe it or not. Pete had it posted as his main profile pic, and Myspam, oops I mean myspace pulled it down, and sent him an email threatening him with an account deletion if he continues to "post pictures that are violating Myspaces' terms of use"

Isn't this some bullshit?

Seems Myspace continues to go after independent musicians, first they wouldn't let Black Angel upload music for 3 weeks because they posted a copyrighted song, that believe it or not was an original Black Angel song.

Now they are harassing Pete Berwick. Could it be that maybe these Indie guys create and perform music that is much better than the Majors Flavor Of The Week? It's interesting that we get almost naked pictures of Carrie Underwood on the front page of Myspace, and yet an unsigned artist can't have a profile picture of himself wearing handcuffs.

Oh shit, thats right I forgot, Myspace is partly owned by the Music Mafia, silly me.