In the old days, people wanting attention would bring a soap box into town, and they’d stand on it to make a speech. Seems kind of silly in these days of YouTube, not to mention microphones and amplifiers, but everyone still knows what it means. And so, up on my proverbial soap box I go for a little speechifyin’.

I put together a harmless little video slide show featuring pictures of our summer so far, and legally purchased a song that seemed appropriate for it, adding it as the video soundtrack in my little amateur production. While attempting to upload my video on a popular social networking site which shall remain nameless, I received a “copyright infringement” notice. My video was removed, and I was threatened with legal action if I tried to upload the video again.

I thought that was kind of harsh.

Apparently the song that I purchased legally from iTunes can’t be used as a video soundtrack since I don’t own the rights to it. A record label does. Even when videos are set to “private” meant to be seen by only friends, they are either taken down after the fact, or prevented from being uploaded completely.

I am all for artists getting their fair share, my business is promoting music after all, but this seems a bit crazy to me. Who, exactly, is benefiting from hearing a cool song used as background music to my slide show? The artist. Someone caring enough to watch the video may be inspired to buy the CD or download the track themselves if they like it. I paid for the song, I’m not offering the MP3 as a free download for anyone to steal, I’m certainly not making any money by using the song, so what is the harm? Wouldn’t that constitute Fair Use of the song?

Nope.

It amazes me that something as simple and innocuous as this can be construed as illegal activity, but lawyers and litigators rule the roost these days.

As I step down from my soap box, I wonder if these types of things were even debated in the days of soap box speeches.

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” –William Shakespeare, Henry VI, written 1590.

Guess so…

–Brian

It seems a little wrong. But she’s the one who said it all on an answering machine. She had to realize this would eventually happen!

17 minutes worth of answering machine messages that Madonna left for an ex-boyfriend is up for grabs in the Gotta Have Rock and Roll celebrity auction. The starting bid for the messages – $25,000.

Other items in the auction include a few other Madonna items, an original Bruce Springsteen Born In The USA outtake photograph, three outfits worn by Eminem, a ton of Beatles stuff, and a bunch of other cool rock and roll memorabilia.

Get the money ready and visit quick – the auction ends Wednesday, August 5th!

The prize this week for Retro Trivia is tickets to see Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.

Everyday, the question will be about a retro TV show that had wizards or witches in them.

Here’s the five TV shows the questions will be about this week (no need to actually watch the videos unless you want to see classic & brilliant TV shows)…

Wedding Entrance Dance

Here’s the link to the Wedding Entrance Video everyone is talking about.

More on the event here and here

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was gigantic in the 90’s. But do you remember some of these similar shows that weren’t as successful?

And yes, I actually liked some of them. I might possibly be one of only a very few people on the planet that made it through five or so episodes of USA Network’s Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills (there’s no way anyone anywhere could have sat through all 40 episodes).

Kings Of Leon

I’ve been spending some time with Kings Of Leon’s Only_By_The_Night. While I’m not a big fan of the production of the disc…very hazily and overly compressed, (I like a crisp bright sound…think any Jet album), the bass absolutely is punishing. I don’t know what they did during the mix, but even at low levels my rearview mirror vibrates like crazy with the bass line. On some songs, you can almost feel it in your chest as if you were at a concert.

While Only_By_The_Night isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, a few of the songs strike me as being very Springsteen-like in construction and power. Especially cut 8, “I Want You.” A slightly brighter mix and it would be fit well in Bruce’s Darkness era.

Kings of Leon are a fringe act for female leaning adult/rock pop station like ours, but if you get a chance, give the album a listen. And if you like it PAY FOR IT. BUY IT IN A STORE, NOT DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE. Not to support the record industry, but to support your favorite band. Other than that, it’s just stealing. Really.

Retro Trivia was kind of easy tonight. It was a question about SpongeBob’s grumpy neighbor (the answer being Squidward Tentacles).

I switched it to an easy question because I was worried no one would ever get the original question about a really obscure ABC sitcom. The original question went like this…

In 1996, ABC passed on 3rd Rock From The Sun (a series they had originally developed) and instead went with this sitcom about aliens.

The answer: Aliens In The Family.

Big mistake for ABC there: 3rd Rock lasted 139 episodes while Aliens In The Family only ended up with 8 episodes. It was a fun show though.

So would you have gotten it right?

And do you even remember the show at all? If not, here’s the first episode…

Sometimes, things are just so bad that they’re good.

That’s not the case here. This is just bad. Very bad. Unwatchable in fact.

And it’s got some bad language – so watch out for that.

If you just have to see for yourself, check out the preview clip.

What a strange pairing.

90’s rock band Extreme and 80’s drumming goddess Sheila E. teamed up a few days ago and performed the Michael Jackson classic Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.

Jericho was a great show. But I think this might be even better.

A reality show about life after a disaster begins tonight at 10pm on the Discovery Channel.

It’s called The Colony and features ten strangers thrown together for ten weeks with no electricity, no running water, and no communication with the outside world. The producers try their best to simulate what it would be like to survive in a world that just suffered a viral outbreak.

Check out the promo for the show, read more about it at Reality Blurred, and then get set to see the colonists survive (or not) tonight at 10pm on the Discovery Channel.

Here’s a little slide show of the Demay Family Summer of ‘09 so far, as Matt Wertz sings, “Everything’s Right.”

–Brian

Her latest album Startin’ Over was finally set to come out this summer (after being delayed quite a few years). The first single was going to be “Love, Honor, and Obey”. But after her brother Michael’s death, she changed the first single to “Home” (the lyrics do fit in a way).

Hear some clips from the new album on LaToya’s MySpace page.

Or even better, check out one of her biggest hits from the 80’s! I remember buying the 12″ single (the Special 12″ Club Version to be exact) for this back in 1984…

Boston North End Market Tour

The highlight of our Boston getaway was taking a market tour of the Italian North End. My wife set this up after she had seen it online and on The Food Network. Oh My Gosh…this tour is unbelievable…the ONLY way to truly see the North End. The tour was hosted by a former chef, and while you don’t go in restaurants and try food, you do go into markets and learn to shop and cook like a true Italian. After taking this tour, I will never shop for or think of food the same way again.

Just a few of the things we learned:

• It’s better to cook with a male than female eggplant, and how to tell the difference.
• Why there is truly no such thing as Italian bread.
• In Northern Italy, cooking is very butter and lard heavy. As you head further south Olive Oil (Arabic and Greek influences) becomes the norm
• Why in Italy it is proper to drink cheaper wine at lunch and dilute it with water (this drives the French crazy!).
• How to tell if a store bought item is truly from Italy (it should have a DOP marking on the label)
• The Balsamic Vinegar we buy in stores locally is, well, crap. Very little vinegar in it at all. Producers use brown sugar and assorted things to make it taste like Balsamic Vinegar, which truly only comes from the Modena area of Italy. We saw a 4 ounce bottle that went for $125…got to taste a drop. Wow…what a difference!
• Why out of the 80 or so North End restaurants, about 60 are Italian-American, and handful are true Italian.
• Why the most popular pastry shop in the North End (Mike’s) has the worst pastries. Nothing but a food tourist trap

It matters not if you are into cooking…if you are addicted to the Travel or Food channels, this tour is for you!

Some web sites to get you there:

http://www.foodtoursofboston.com/

http://www.salumeriaitaliana.com/ (One of the best true Italian markets in Boston. They ship everywhere! Click around this site…tons of recipes here as well.)

http://www.vcirace.com/ #1 Italian Wine Shop in U.S.

http://www.northendboston.com/

The pics are photos I took along the way. Click on them and blow them up to get the full North Boston feel.