So Hurry Up And Bring Yr Jukebox Money

ASCAP are suing a small bar for playing records by their artists (in this case, Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi) without paying their annual $2,818 fee. Russ is right on about this – why should free advertising and exposure be subject to fines and fees, especially in the case of artists who clearly aren’t having any trouble moving records and selling concert tickets? The article doesn’t make it clear whether or not the songs are being played on a jukebox or not – if it is being played on a jukebox, I can see how the artists might deserve royalties since the proprieter of the business is profitting from their music, but if it’s just being played over a stereo, that’s just unfair.

Why Is “Fifth Member” In Quotations? He IS The Fifth Member! It’s Not Like He’s Murray The K Or Something!

I fail to see how Badger can describe this hateful, ingnorant, personal diatribe against Jim O’Rourke as being ‘rational’. Honest, maybe. Articulate, possibly. But certainly not rational – it’s all vicious hyperbole, mindless bile aimed at a person who I really don’t think is worth getting worked up about. I don’t trust this guy at all, and his willingness to go along with the ridiculous notion that Sonic Youth are in an “obvious decline”, or worse, that their work (or the simple fact that O’Rourke is now a member of the band) must be ‘groundbreaking’ is little more than sub-Amy Phillips anti-music drivel. For me, that would have automatically destroyed the writer’s credibility, but the title “Jim O’Rourke: Fat, Soulless Fuck” already did that before I read the first sentence, especially since Jim O’Rourke is not a particularly fat man. I have no time for childish, fatphobic, bitter former music students, and I’m very irritated that I just wasted my time reading that article.

Some blog notes – first, I added a new set of recommended songs for this week. Second, I decided to drop the comments service I was using because it was disrupting the load time of this page, and was acting sort of flakey when it wasn’t. If you feel compelled to respond, either write something in the guestbook area (“Tell Me Nice Things”), or email me.