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A saxophone someplace far off played

Overheard (coming out of mine and other nearby mouths) at a tavern in Brooklyn:

Installment 12,009 in the long running Lyrics vs Music argument.

Is Dylan a poet?

Well, let's see.

"I want you I want you I want you, So bad."

That would be a big NO!

(much laughter).

Oh fuck you, you always were a music guy anyway. How about this?

"They sat together in the park As the evening sky grew dark, She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones."

(much silence)

With Cheeks to Match

With cheeks to match her pretty pink dress, Morgan Jet walks into the office, a pleasant wrinkle upon the day's usual sights and sounds. She sings.

She steals my seat, knocks my cell phone to the floor, spreads pencil shavings all over my desk, scribbles across dates on my calendar, and, with a few lucky deft strokes, manages to shut down my computer. She smiles.

CEA Calls RIAA On Its BS

The EFF's Fred von Lohmann posts about the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) new ad reminding Congress that the RIAA;s (and MPAA's) high dudgeon over copying is nothing new—and that such hysteria has been historically short sighted.

Run in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, the ad's headline reads: "You've heard this song before!" Following are four alarmist predictions from John Philip Sousa (player piano), an unnamed record label executive in 1925 (FM radio), the MPAAA (VCR), and ASCAP (cassette tape). The prediction each time: technology will strip artists of their ability to…

DRM Debate in the <I>WSJ</I>

The Wall Street Journal ran a DRM debate between the MPAA's Fred Attaway and Brooklyn Law School's Wendy Seltzer that is a thing of beauty. Attaway calls DRM "the key to consumer choice."

Umm hmm. To quote Corey Doctorow, "I don't think any consumer ever woke up in the morning and said, 'Today, I'd like to be able to do less with my discs.'"

Seltzer responds: "I have not been asking for media free of charge. I have been asking for it free of usage and interoperability restrictions that go beyond copyright. The difference is critical -- I fully support a market in which creators…

This One's For Jeff

Half the time when I'm talking about music with my friend Jeff Wong, mention of some album will elicit the response, "I got turned on that when Elvis Costello covered/mentioned that." Okay Jeff, here are 500 records recommended by EC—how many do you know?

Obviously, there will be a test.

Watching the Electrons Flow

Japanese physicists have built a bi-directional single-electron ammeter that can detect individual electrons flowing either forwards or backwards. Practical applications might include nanoelectronics, calibration devices, quantum computation, and biology. That banging noise you hear is John Atkinson in Sioux Falls pounding his head against the desk, muttering "Want one!"

Well, who doesn't?

Are Engineers the Product of Nature or Nurture?

Neither, a new article at EE Times suggests: There might be an engineering gene—and the University of Minnesota has the MRIs to prove it.

Sun Stands Still

Precisely at noon, Brother Todd called to remind me. Elvis came from my cell phone, ringing singing ringing: "You were always on my mind..."

I answered, "Hello?"

"Lighter latest," Brother Todd replied.

On this day, and for several days before and after, the sun simply stands still in the sky. At the end of that time, the sun will get down and dance the night away. It should be fun to see.

Which also reminds me of the Mermaid Parade. "Will you be there?" he asked.

"Nah. I don't even like my memories of that parade anymore. The first couple of…

The Sky is Falling

Digital Music For the Future says so, asking, "is the record industry ready to face the music?" Interesting essay—and one that says , "the record industry is stuck in a time warp, always several years behind. That would mean 2006 is the new 1999. The Internet boom and music sales have reached their climax, anything is possible, and the digital entertainment world was ready for something to pop."

Cheetah Crashes

"More common than you'd think," says National Geographic. Makes sense—they can run 60mph over broken ground and, if Huckleberry is anything to judge by, a cat in full jetpack mode pays scant heed to obstructions—even walls.

Why are we just figuring this out? Cheetahs have radio collars now, so we have statistics.