Subject URL: Tim solo

Just Tim (The Whitlams) and his grand out on tour. This could be a fantastic gig. With all the massive over production removed from the most recent album (Love This City) the songs arn't too bad. And Tim can do some great covers when left to his own. I'm tempted. The Cornish Arms in Brunswick on Wed and Thursday 21st and 22nd November. Bloody week night gigs.

Subject URL: Midnight Oil tribute

I review the latest Midnight Oil tribute CD on RAN. It's exactly as was expected, straight out of the Australian band tribute album guidebook. ahhh Regurgitator rule...

Subject URL: Creepy

I was just thinking about a near miss I had in the car and was contemplating what I would have done if I'd been hit (T-boned by an on coming car, would have been my fault) and come out of it OK. Firstly I thought I'd like a picture of my trashed car and hence thought I'd like my camera to be there, but then thought it would likely to have been smashed in the crash. Then I thought I'd like to put it on my weblog. Then I thought that these are majorly sad thoughts and I'll stop there...

Ten minutes later I read Scripting news which points me to Scobleizer with his account of a recent crash.

His main moral-of-the-story is wear your seatbelt. In Australia it's illegal not to wear your seatbelt. You get a fine if you are caught. If I had any under-18s in my car not wearing a seatbelt I'd also be fined for each of them. To not wear a seatbelt when driving is to make sure every chamber is full when playing Russian roulette. You may as well get completely shifaced and go swimming in a hurricane.

Scobleizer's account of the crash explains in graphic detail one of the millions of reasons wearing a seatbelt is a good idea.

I knew what time it was yesterday and this morning but my blog didn't. Add an hour to Monday and this morning's posts. Daylight Saving. Bah!

New Tea Party album The Interzone Mantras has a conditional thumbs up from me after a few listens today. More later on RAN. Joy.

Subject URL: Moby is NYC

One of the more interesting blogs for me lately has been Moby's "Tour updates" blog. Moby is at home in NYC recording a new album. He's recently found out that for the last month or so the smoke and dust cloud of the World Trade Centre was full of nasty chemicals and asbestos fibers which most likely explains his respiratory and skin problems. The link above explains why he's not going to leave New York despite all this...

Subject URL: Labor : Musicians to (legally) claim the dole

As if they don't already, muscians might soon (assuming...) be able to claim the dole. But it seems only semi-sucessful musicians will be able to make said claim (via VM) :

They would have to play for a minimum of six hours a week, or work at least 14 out of 26 weeks in paid live performances or CD recordings.

They would also have to register their copyrights, register a business name, list themselves in the Australian Music Industry Directory and comply with business obligations such as insurance, workers' compensation and superannuation.

Subject URL: Cure dumping record labels

The Cure and Robert Smith plan to give up on releasing their material through the label system and release everything via their official website. They're still working out how they're likely to release the songs but given the comments in the article about no longer needing to worry about making a profit from their music, it may well be in good olde unprotected MP3.

And I don't have to ditch any of (the music). I can just upload it if I think it is good enough. We don't have to schedule a release four months in advance. It will be quite weird for me to drop the habits of that life.

Sounds like The Cure should do an MP3 weblog. I'm interested in seeing how this goes. They could implement a tip-jar idea where the music is free but please give us money to support the site (mmm maybe). Or maybe the old E-Music idea where you paid for downloads but the format was unprotected (no). They of course could just make it all completely free. Unfortunately web hosting for tons of music isn't cheap. (via Null Device)