Author: Mike Katzif

This article in the New York Times makes me long for the days of drinking German beers at every little hole in the wall brewery we could find… I especially loved the Kölsch beer from Köln (Cologne for you plebians) which is known for being served in those thin cylindrical glasses. Tasty stuff. You should read this whole thing when you have time…its quite nice peak at a few distinctive places.

Also of note, the hostel they list for Köln is where I stayed the two and a half times I went to Köln (why two and a half? that is story for different day). I also went to the touristy Chocolate Museum in Köln, mentioned in the article. While full of chocolate and chocolate accessories, it was not quite the Willy Wonka experience I expected …ie no German Oompa Loompas.

When I first moved to the District almost two years ago, many longtime DCists said one of the city’s greatest and longstanding institutions, the venerable Ben’s Chili Bowl was a must. The small diner specializing in chili, hotdogs and other grilled and fried food stuffs is a throwback to the an era when these types of food counter eateries were not simply an aberation in a developing neighborhood full of Starbucks and Quizno’s.

I frequently pass by on my way home from the 9:30 Club or Black Cat after concerts or after a night at the bars. Suppose the timing was never quite right. So it must have been sitting in a darkened theatre watching all of Britain get obliterated by zombies (again!?!?) in a highly mediocre 28 Weeks Later, that put me in the mood for something to dig my own teeth into. Something, um, not made of people.

Lets just say after my half-smoke with the works, drenched in chili and cheese sauce and those cheese fries more than satisfied my zombie cravings. And without much cost to human life. Highly recommended. Here are some pictures from our excursion:

Came across this article today (via Wired’s Listening Post blog), written by a professional musician who put his recordings on his site for free. This was not so much a grab for press but perhaps just a way to make his music more readily available without having to work within the system of the record companies.
Some call this musician suicide in the professional sense by giving away their livelihood, but really, very few musicians make much on record sales, even if it sells well. He says:

Record companies used to charge a fee for making it possible for people to listen to recorded music. Now their main function is to prohibit people from listening to music unless they pay off these corporations.

Or to put it slightly differently, they used to provide you with the tools you needed to hear recorded music. Now they charge you for permission to use tools you already have, that they did not provide, that in fact you paid someone else for. Really what they are doing is imposing a “listening tax.”

We have been doing the same thing here at on our site every month for our EP series and also showing behind the scenes looks at early versions. In some ways it is much more rewarding to just get the music out to people who want to hear it rather than wait for the time to release an ‘official’ album, which in reality could be years.

In fact the idea of ‘official’ album carries little weight anymore as anyone with a laptop and cheap mic, or a video camera can make music or little short films or whatever and put it up for the world to see. Its part of that whole ‘You-ser” created generation we’re in.

So is what we are doing here career suicide? If we have eventual aspirations to be musicians for a living, does offering music for free hurt our chances. Does offering music for free, somehow make our music illegitimate? I would like to think most would answer with a resounding no. Even if few ever download our songs, does any of that really matter anyway? Aren’t we in a way doing it for ourselves; for the enjoyment of it all?

By the way, stay tuned in the next few days for our April EP release… not coming to a store near you, but rather here on our site for the easily digestible price of FREE. We must be crazy.

It looks like at this point the increased royalties rates for songs on the web is a done deal, with all appeals by webcasters (and led by NPR and Yahoo!) having been shot down. The implications are grim as this could all but shut down countless sites who will not be able to afford the hiked prices.

Obviously the Copyright Royalty Board have a clear misunderstanding of web radio and music on the internet, but since the RIAA is already cracking down on piracy, file sharing and not paying artists their due, why not make it even harder to find quality music?

I’m not sure how much these online petitions ever really help, but for those looking to show support for internet radio make sure you check out savenetradio.org. For more details go to Wired’s Listening Post. What do you think? Let us know here or at netradio@hellocomein.com

About two months back, I got forwarded a link to a website where I could download an album by Bob Dylan singing the words of Dr. Seuss. Or so it advertised. Titled Dylan Hears A Who, the music was a mash of 1960s era Dylan that recalled classic albums such as Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde.

It obviously wasn’t Dylan, but sounded so close to that style, cadence, phrasing and instrumentation that it was really fun to imagine it actually was him. Sort of a grandly inspired “What If?” or “Super Marvel Team-Up!” re-imagining two of the most important artists of the Sixties.

The music was an instant viral hit on sites such as Boing Boing and other music blogs, but soon the creator received a cease and desist letter for copyright infringement from Dr Seuss Enterprises. Though he complied immediately, Salon takes an interesting look at the legal recourse of the half homage, half parody project, completely intended as a lark.

In our current state of mash ups and remixes, where do they draw the line on maintaining intellectual property, copyright infringement and public domain fair use for basis of parody?

Here is are two of my favourites from the album: “Green Eggs and Ham” and “McElligot’s Pool.”