So, it is very possible, neigh likely, that I will be lucky enough to travel to Spain in the next few months. I will not be doing a tour this time- maybe next year. So, its time to get a feel for the coolness on the ground. Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona… Holla! or as the case may be Hola! At first listen is is like AM Gold Trumpet music a la Chuck Mangione with a cajon and some nice smooth grime rubbed all over it.

Found the Garrett Wall Band, currently in Madrid, love it so far and guess what indie bands… THEY MADE A FUCKING VIDEO! Please make videos. Please, pretty please.

I am going to put a few on here today as it has been such a tough week for a dirty Gen Xer like me. Enjoy these and we’ll get back to the world of Independent music soon.

First, Ed McMahon

Second, Farrah Fawcett

Third Michael Jackson.

UPDATE: MJ’s Doctor’s car has been impounded and towed for evidence by LA County Sheriffs department. He is being sought for questioning.

UPDATE: The Los Angeles Coroner’s office will perform an autopsy on Michael Jackson Friday

UPDATE: A Family Spokeperson has confirmed that reports are true concerning Michael Jackson’s death.

UPDATE: TMZ.Com, NBC news and LA Times is confirming the  report that Michael Jackson has officially Died.

My goodness what a week. Friends in Los Angeles have confirmed to me by email that Michael Jackson has died at age 50,

The “King of Pop,” who was known as one of the most eccentric pop stars of all time, collapsed in his home of a cardiac arrest. He had been struggling with many physical ailments for years and many suspect we will learn about some of those maladies.The greatest selling artist of all time, with the greatest selling album of all time- “Thriller,” is his opus, but he was a star since 7 years old and a member of the pop culture ever since.

Mr. Jackson was also accused and acquitted many times of charges concerning pedophilia. A Father of three and married/divorced once to Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie and once to Debbie Rowe a former nurse, Michael Jackson will be missed, literally, around the world.

He arrived at the UCLA hospital is a coma after being found non-responsive and not breathing.

<—-The Michael I knew.

I will update this story after it is confirmed by major newssources.

Below is a picture of the Wolrd’s Oldest Instrument. It is a flute found in Germany made of bird bone

“Berlin- A bird-bone flute unearthed in a German cave was carved some 35,000 years ago and is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument yet discovered, archaeologists say, offering the latest evidence that early modern humans in Europe had established a complex and creative culture.

A team led by University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard assembled the flute from 12 pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in a small plot of the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany.”

Full Story Here:

35,000 years ago, somebody yelled: “Hey can you please knock it off? Go practice that damned Devil Music elsewhere, you’re bothering your Mother!”

From the picture, it looks like this flute had four notched holes, which if you remember your sixth grade Recorder class,  it could have made at least 5 distinctive notes. I wonder if they were tuned and to what? How did the makers get the idea? Wind? What about the songs themselves, were they meant to communicate or just entertain? Were there pros and amateurs? Were there the equivalent of Fireside Open-stages where people would try out new material? Could they have been used for ritual or magic? Were there pieces of music that were passed down generations as oral stories were shared? Did music accompany stories as soundtracks and backing music? Scientists are already asking and exploring these questions and more.

It is really fascinating that a true musical instrument for fun, not a survival or a manufacturing tool, but an instrument was made 35,000 years ago. I would love to play it- I would try to play the intro to Sure Shot from the Beasties, no Tull here thank you very much.

Dear lovely worldwide readers,

Yours Truly will be running a little Music Industry Smack on the pages of Performer Mag starting next month. So, in line with the forthcoming book “The New Music Business Model 3.0,” and the Free Song a Week site that will launch in July, I will be keeping this blog to an entertainment slant and my Industry writing will be within the Magazine for the most part. You can check out the site for information on how to obtain one for yourself.

I am mui excited to bring the info to the people who need it, the performers, the musicians and artists that make this world a better place with every hook, broken string and shot of Jager.

After years in development, cost overruns and network interference, Johnny Carson is set to launch his new prime-time late, late, late  “Tonight Show in Heaven with Johnny Carson.”  Sources familiar with the negotiations have been ruminating about the lack of sideman talent, saying that contract disputes have been holding up production. Initially, Carson Productions was considering using Danny Kaye or Bob Hope, but Ari Emanuel, the agent for the two, has said that there were never “serious discussions.” Hope’s management added: “Mr. Hope is enjoying his time on the best golf courses in heaven and writing a memoir about his time with the USO. He appreciates the consideration but is already slated to do a Variety hour with Dean Martin, launching in the fall.”

Carson Productions will be holding a news conference today from the Yahweh Media Center (off of Gold Paved Mansion Road and Hail Mary St.) and will announce the long-awaited addition of Ed McMahon as the official sidekick for the show. Contract details were not available, but sources are speculating that Mr. McMahon got a deal in line with “A-list” sidemen in the ever-after.  Some time will be allowed for paperwork processing and work permits as McMahon has recently moved to the area.

Mr. McMahon released this statement through his P.R. group (Haveanicelife PR Beverly Hills) “I am excited to rejoin Johnny, as it has been many years since we have spoken to one another. I am sure the old chemistry is still there and I believe audiences throughout the universe will recognize the special bond we have.”

Additionally, the bandleader position will be held temporarily by Jimi Hendrix until Doc Severinsen can reach an agreement with the Network and production company. Mrs. Severinsen is not pleased with his plans to join the show anytime soon. Mr. Hendrix said in a written statement, “Doc is a brilliant cat man, nothin’ can touch those lips and armature, but horns aint my thang you dig? I’m just doin my thing for Johnny and the people and can’t wait to jam with McMahon. I hear he is a bad ass trianglist.”

Network jockeying is a tough business in Paradisio as the viewing migration has changed to a far younger demo within the Kingdom of God. Nielsen states that nearly 43% of new viewers are opting for internet only viewing and broadband is still trying to gain wide acceptance. In addition, the numbers for Purgatorio are way down, citing lack of programming and exciting new events. Ratings in Hades have been surging for late night programming; a recent survey indicated a full 100% penetration into the underworld for all demographics in all time slots. Bon Scott, a citizen of H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, lamented the lack of adult veiwing and the confusing switch to digital signals, “This digital switch was really confusing and to be honest, I do not see much difference in picture quality. I am also VERY disappointed in the adult viewing choices, outside of Family Guy, we have basically nothing to watch. Johnny’s show will truly be a Godsend!”

Johnny’s launch week will feature guests: Lucille Ball, Tom Snyder, George Carlin and performances by “Crazy Fugue” a new supergroup band featuring Wolfgang Mozart, Randy Rhoades, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Cliff Burton and Janis Joplin.

Executive Head Writer Aaron Sorkin said there are some surprises planned as well, “We are going to ‘resurrect’ favorite characters such as Carnac and really delve into the new media world with “heaventxt,” a new media that allows viewrs to interact with the show’s sidekick Ed McMahon in real time. It’s very exciting!” Mr. Sorkin also explained how the process of writing for a show on a different ‘coast’ is a challenge, “I normally email about 20 pages of material but with Johnny’s new show we are using Twitter as it is the preferred method of communication in Heaven. It is hard to write a 1-1/2 show using 140 characters at a time. Generally, at the end of the week, Johnny and I Skype and get a feel for what needs to be revised, it’s challenging but very rewarding.”

More news to come.

I don’t know about you, but the Iranian Election has been an addiction of mine. I have been in love with the country for a few years now. The culture and music scene is so exciting. Secret dance parties and music date nights- Unbelievable. As the elections approached, I was hopeful to have an Iran emerge that is friendly with the west for culture and music especially. You would be a completely stupid Music Industry exec if you were not interested in getting music to the 8 million sophisticated residents of Tehran.

But, alas, the elections and their subsequent fallout, have proved to be turning point of unrest and unquenchable thirst for justice. From all I can gather, this revolution is not pro Moussavi- it is pro Justice. It is pro truth. It’s not even really pro democracy, it is about being insulted as wise Persians who know better and detest a lie, especially in poetic form.

So, where is the protest music? Where are their Dylans and Joni Mitchells? Don;t think that they are not there, they just can’t be heard readily. So, I am on the hunt for those who write and sing about revolution in Iran. The creative’s point of view is always a bit more colorful than the rhetoricist.

This is Parnaz on Violin and Ashkan on Vocals. The name of the song is Khas o Kahashak. I do not have a translation for it yet, but some Iranians are blessing it.

This is 32 yr. old  Jammie Thomas-Rasset, mother of two and music lover. She is a fan of music and bands and saves up money for concerts but does not buy CDs anymore because they have been of such poor quality and Mp3s from the itunes store have DRM. Because of her stealing replicated versions, not original art, her life is ruined because of record companies.

A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song.

Full Story Here:

I wouldn’t say it is “free”…. ouch.

My comment: Yes it is illegal, yes artists lose some money on it, but mostly it is the larger record company and the publisher who lose the money on illegal downloading. My point is that a digital copy of a piece of art may not qualify for the art itself. The fees here are completely outrageous and meant to send a message to all of your college kids… beware! She really got busted for file sharing on Kazaa, kind of like a drug charge…  with intent to distribute. I am fine with going down this road, but I believe record companies are stepping into a possible trap.

If you place the value of every song at $80,000, then it follows that I can sue for you $80,000 in damages over a poorly mastered song, or technically, the lack of bass on a track that I purchased. This would fall under the FTC and could be consumer fraud. It won’t happen, but it could.

The end result is this. Music file sharing is a very small reason why the industry is losing money, but the response will be the main reason why people leave the industry for ever. Very few people rip off 1,000’s of copies of songs. The point is the “digital copies” do not cost anything whatsoever to produce and therefore the valuation is difficult. At the end of the day the only people that rip off music are poor music lovers, now they will just be poor.

Eddie Van Halen, the iconic guitarist for the Van Halen has sued Nike over their new shoe design for ‘Dunk Low’ sneakers saying it steals the color scheme from his Frankenstrat guitar design. Full Story Here

The true story here is that Eddie has his own shoe line called EVH shoes.

You decide:

Nike Dunk Low:

EVH Shoes:

Some of my favorite people across the pond, Sidewalk 7 Records, gave me a sneak peek into the new single from THIS IS RADIO FREEDOM, called “Family Man.” The single is actually released on the 15th…check out itunes etc. shot by “Spun” movie writer / producer Creighton Vero in California and the kid star is Indigo MacConnell’s- his first time in front of camera. The visuals are great and I love the storyline.

I have been watching this band since I was first turned on to them last year in France. This might be a big release.