Italian Prime Minister’s Rockin’ Lifestyle Celebrated On ‘Rolling Stone’ Cover
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a figure probably more suitable for a magazine such as The Economist, which featured him in a 2001 cover story titled “Why Silvio Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy,” than on the cover of Rolling Stone. But next month the magazine’s Italian edition will celebrate him “in reward for…
Phish-Loving Flickr Co-Founder Designing Online Game
Stewart Butterworth, who accidentally helped invent Flickr in 2003 when his company’s socially interactive online pursuit Game Neverending didn’t work out, started his career in computing like many a lad, according to this Globe and Mail piece: At the University of Victoria, where he did his undergrad in philosophy with a focus on neuropsychology, cognitive…
The Music Wood Campaign
After reading Debra’s great post on the federal investigation of Gibson Guitars’ Nashville factory for violating the Lacy Act, I remembered watching an episode of “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” on the Sundance Channel that focused on the art of sustainable guitar making. While guitars aren’t the biggest threat to our forests, without sustainable…
HeadCount Parties Hollywood Style
Television personalities Stephanie Pratt (left), Ben Gleib and Aisha Tyler were among the faces at HeadCount’s first ever fundraiser in Los Angeles, the “Rock. Laugh. Dance” party at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip. It was quite the L.A. welcome. Also on hand were Wayne Kramer of the MC5, “American Pie” star Jason Biggs,…
The Pseudoscience of Rock
Last week the number crunchers at Overthinking It produced this chart correlating the production of oil with creativity in rock. According to “The Hubbert Peak Theory of Rock, or, Why We’re All Out of Good Songs,” rock creativity topped out relatively soon after U.S. oil production (at least in the lower 48 states) – at…
DEA Changes Website Under Pressure
Last week the American Medical Association (AMA) announced its support of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II status. The AMA has refused to budge on this for decades, and opponents of marijuana law reform often cite the organization’s stance as an argument that marijuana should remain illegal. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which…
Feds Raid Gibson Guitars For Madagascar Rosewood
Federal agents raided Gibson Guitars‘ Nashville factory yesterday, seizing wood, guitars, computers and files. Sources told the Nashville Post that Gibson is suspected of violating the Lacey Act by helping to illegally import Madagascar rosewood into the U.S. via Germany. Clearcut logging has destroyed thousands of acres of lemur habitat unique to the island, threatening…
Dave Matthews Band Goes Deep In ‘Larger Than Life…In 3D,’ Phish To Follow
I have seen the future of entertainment a few times already this millennium. 1. The Simpsons Ride. Just do it. 2. On August 15, 2004, I watched Phish’s emotionally wrenching Coventry swan song in Manhattan’s Regal Union Square Cinema, where it was simulacast. I’ve seen Metropolitan Opera simulcasts since then at the same theater, but…
Franti the Family Man
Fresh off a hit song and rapidly becoming a household name, Michael Franti is making a television appearance in support of a cause he believes in. No, it’s not ending the war in Iraq, or peace between Israel in Palestine. The ultra-political rocker is lending his talents to “The 11th annual Home For The Holidays,”…
Interview: Nellie McKay’s Animal Objective
Singer-pianist-actor-songwriter Nellie McKay is a kitten with a whip, which she cracks at any sign of cruelty against kittens, cows, donkeys, humans, or any other mammal. Still in her midtwenties, McKay recently released her fourth album, Normal As Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day. On this warm and loving shout-out from one fabulous blonde…