JamesLindenschmidt.com

I just came across this fascinating article called 1,000 True Fans. It is basically a manifesto on how, with web/Internet technologies, a creative person can make a sustainable living if they have just 1000 “true fans”:

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

The idea here is not new, but it is a nice articulation of a formula that bands have followed for years. For example, Marillion (one of my all-time favorite bands) first began exploring the potential of the Internet in 1997, when their fans (me included) donated money ($50, $10, $100 etc) to get the band to be able to come tour the USA, a venture which would have been cost-prohibitive otherwise. Then in 2000, they again tapped into their fanbase to finance their album, Anoraknophobia.

The challenge, of course, is to find 1000 true fans. Not a simple task.

Speaking of “true fans” (LOL), I wanted to note here that my band, Freakwitch, has finished our new album, Interconnected. If you are a myspace person, you can here 6 of the 8 songs on our myspace page. Or, you can listen to the full album right from your browser by going to our RPM challenge page. Or if you are “old school” net music aficionado you can download the mp3s directly from us (though PLEASE use the other 2 to save bandwidth if you are able).

We took part in the RPM Challenge in February, which is something like the National Novel Writing Month, except that you record an album rather than write a novel in a month. We decided to go for it, partly because we were tired of not getting recordings done, and partly because we wanted to give my new recording rig a test drive. Enjoy it, and if you do please consider becoming one of our 1000 true fans. :-)

Ok, you can make the argument that this post is in response to seeing a headline that Rush Limbaugh is ordering his cult to cross the lines and vote for Hillary in Texas. Sheesh.

Clearly, there was a deal made here somewhere. Some money (or another form of concentrated energy) changed hands somewhere.

And in the matter of Clinton vs. Obama, this is demonstrative of the reason why I cannot endorse Hillary Clinton.

It’s not about her shady past, her questionable profiteering, her womanly laundry capability when it comes to stained blue dresses, or anything like that.

It’s about her obvious connection to existing power structures. When Rush Limbaugh of all people is openly campaigning for Hillary Clinton, you know that there is a connection there. This is the existing power structure trying to preserve itself. And it says a lot about how much they fear Obama.

Speaking of Obama, let me take you back for a moment.

It’s 1991. A young Democrat takes the political world by storm, and convinces people that there may indeed be a way out of the oppressive dominance of the Republicans and back to more compassionate, sane values. He was a breath of fresh air and inspired hope when he spoke. He was intelligent, articulate, and conveyed an honest passion that was refreshing from the usual scope of politician of the day.

He wins the election.

/cue Monty Python/

“And there was much rejoicing.” *Yay, hooray*

And from my point of view, not a heck of a lot changed. Capital, (or the corporations, the neocons, whatever you want to call it) expanded its power got wealthier, thousands are people were killed in the name of profit, etc etc. Things did indeed feel better immediately, but I soon realized the rush of euphoria (I can’t believe We(tm) actually won!) wore off quickly. The Clinton Years were, in my mind, characterized primarily by a relief that the velocity of destruction and greed seemed to be slowing.

Before you accuse me of believing that there is no difference between Demicans and Republicrats (yes I voted for Nader in 2000, but don’t worry, Gore “won” Maine) I concede that, obviously, Bush II is “worse” than Clinton. But this is only because Bush is 8 years further down, and at the opposite polar point of, the same trajectory that Clinton rode for 8 years.

I now am aware of the difference between Democrats and Republicans. The 2000 election taught me that, as I’ve written before. They each serve the power structure in different ways. Republicans push the line as far as they can while in power, then the Democrats maintain that power until the next Republican is elected. Lather, rinse, repeat. This give and take is now the sum total of American political consciousness, such that anything that exists outside of this power structure is seen as not valid or “not realistic” or other such dismissal. This dance between the two goes back decades. Think about it:

• 1992-2000, the Clinton years. The golden age. Wealth, prosperity for many. American didn’t actually invade and occupy any countries, we just bombed them from afar.
• 1980-1992, the Reagan/Bush years. Destroyed labor unions, several wars, the rich got richer, etc etc.
• 1976-2000, the Carter Years. End of Vietnam, the country heals after Watergate with another young fresh breath of trustworthy air.
• 1968-1976, the Nixon Years. Vietnam. Watergate. All kinds of outrageous scandals, corruption, genocide, standard Republican nonsense.
• 1963-1968, the Johnson Years. Vietnam, and the empowerment of the Military Industrial Complex. This is a Democrat, no less….
• 1961-1963, the Kennedy Years. Another golden age, another young politician who charms people, etc etc. This one had people feeling so good they killed him for it.

And so on. Push the envelope, then provide some relief because things don’t seem to be plummeting as quickly. Push/pull. Give/take. Take it all together, and over time you see that this energy pattern is a downward spiral.

Anyone who is connected to this energy pattern, this concentration of power, should NOT be voted in to power. Anyone reading this from Ohio (my birth state) or Texas should read this as a suggestion to vote for Obama. There, I’ve officially done my part to counter Rush Limbaugh’s endorsement.

After the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004, in general I am not inclined to vote these days. Obama is the only one I would actually vote for, I think. But I know this: I will not limit my participation in American politics to this one event every 4 years.

EDIT: someone pointed out to me that Obama is still very much a part of the system, and I completely agree with this. My point is, at present Obama is less entrenched into the system than Clinton is. Perhaps in 15 years they will be similarly invested. This underscores the point that the problem is with STRUCTURES of power, and not with individual people. This point was brought home by Al Gore; here’s a guy who participated in the atrocities of the Clinton years, who votes Bush into power in 2000 when they stole the election for him, etc etc. Now that he is removed from the power structure, he’s doing good work with his films and environmental activism.

So yes, I am quite suspicious of concentrations of power, and the reason Obama is so attractive is because he is, for the most part, outside of that structure at present. This is also why I am suspicious that things will change, because if he does win the presidency he will then be assimilated into the power structure.

We had a winter storm pass through. We got 12″ of snow, then it turned to freezing rain and then rain. Truly a “wintry mix.” The snow is piled about 2/3 of the way up our garage at the edge of the driveway. Our power went out for almost 24 hours.

But yes, I still love Maine.

I took some photos, and (finally) started a Flickr account. There are 9 photos in the set. Here are some thumbies to give you something to check out:

In case there was any doubt about whose side the RIAA is on, this article clears things up. The public perception they would like to create is that the RIAA is busy fighting for the artists, by suing those artists’ biggest fans.

Mmm hmmm.

But now the RIAA is arguing that the artists get paid too much. I mean, getting 8 whole percent of the sale price of a 99 cent digital download, DAMN those artists are greedy. What do they think they do, write, perform, and create the product we’re selling or what?

According to papers filed by the RIAA at the Copyright Royalty Board, the labels want the board to reduce the rate to 8% of wholesale revenue. The current rate is about 9 cents per song, but it often is lowered in negotiations with the record companies. That money usually is split 50-50 between the publisher and the songwriter.

So yeah, that 8 per cent royalty rate is actually split between the artist and the publisher. So in actuality, the artists only see 4 percent.

It gets better. They also want to ELIMINATE royalty payments for streaming audio. This is when you click on a link on a webpage somewhere, and the music starts playing on your computer without you having to save a file or download. The RIAA is arguing that this does not constitute a “mechanical” royalty, which is paid whenever someone buys a copy of a song. The fact that streaming technology necessitates transferring a copy of the song from the server to the listener’s computer seems to elude the RIAA.

Yet another example of how the RIAA misunderstands the digital age, and its application to outdated business models. Their business model is doomed, and they know it. For 70 years, the RIAA has been nothing more than the gatekeepers between artist and fan, and now there is new technology that makes that position completely moot and irrelevant.

So rather than adapt to the new reality, they grip ever tighter to the old paradigm, to the point where they are suing their best customers and ripping off their artists.

Good plan. Uh-huh. That’ll work.

I just finished my penultimate shift working @ AAA. I’ve accepted a new job working for RealTraps beginning on Monday. Lots of changes in our reality… good changes.

Lots of details to come, not the least of which is the laptop-wrangling I’ve done this week. I have a new laptop, and I’ll be writing about Liberating it from Vista. I will need XP for my job, and I’ve worked very hard to get XP up and running on my new laptop. Linux went in much more easily, of course.

Of course.

Anyway, tomorrow is the final shift at AAA. I like the turn of phrase on “penultimate shift” because it reminds me that something new is always around the corner.

Those who pay attention to what is being said in the corporate media understand that they are, by and large, tools of propaganda to shape public opinion. I still keep an eye on cnn.com fairly regularly so that I can continue to see this. I’m particularly interested in what is said about both Iran and Venezuela, since it is likely that these two countries will be future targets of the US Military machine (given that these 2 countries have among the largest oil reserves in the world).

Anyway, on cnn.com today there was another story that reminded me of the Gulf of Tonkin incident that launched the Vietnam War. It was reported that Iranian ships ‘harass’ U.S. Navy, officials say.

Are they for real? What armed force, anywhere in the world, would knowingly “harass” the US military without provocation? Knowing the technological superiority of the US military, and knowing the US military’s unabashed willingness to blow the crap out of anyone they perceive as “enemy,” I think anyone who would “harass” the US military would have to be insane. I just don’t think it’s likely.

Of course, anytime you have boys playing in their war machines, one must account for increased testosterone levels, so who knows. But then again, increased testosterone levels are known to bring about insanity.

On another note, a friend mentioned the Zeitgeist movie in a comment a couple entries down. I’ve watched the film; it’s fantastic. I highly recommend watching it, though I will say that if you are Jewish or a Christian, and unwilling to have your BS (Belief System) challenged by rational argumentation grounded in both history and world myth, don’t bother as you are likely to simply be offended. The film does do a great job of showing how religion (and here I mean organized religion, or as my father would say, the “Big-C” church) is little more than a mechanism for social control and domination, teaching people to submit to external, arbitrary authorities and stop thinking. Or as they say in a quote in the movie, to take authority as the truth rather than truth as the authority. Brilliant.

You can watch the video entirely online, it is available on Google video.

I was very glad to see this primer on Linux audio: Audio Production Tools for Linux. It looks like audio for Linux is getting closer to ready for prime time.

In general I have the attitude: no matter how many bells and whistles exist in commercial software apps, if I can get the job done with Free software then I should do so. It just so happens that Free software tools have in many places gotten better than what commercial offerings can provide.

In particular, Ardour is growing incredibly, and Hydrogen looks wicked cool as well. Ubuntu Studio is probably what I’ll try first, it also has some video features which look intriguing.

For the most part, I love “owning” my home (though I still have philosophical differences with the notion of “owning” land and homes). It gives me freedom to do whatever I want with the place, and of course the economic benefits are well-known.

But sometimes it’s just a pain in the ass. Like, say, the past 18 hours. We have about 18″ of snow on the ground, and last night it got down to below zero, BEFORE the wind chill.

So last night I went to make dinner…. no gas. Hmm, I thought. If there’s no gas in the stove, then that means….. no furnace.

Indeed, the furnace wasn’t working. It was still reasonably warm at this point. So the first thing I did was go out to see if the propane tanks were full. After a fair amount of time digging a path to them (18″ of snow and all) I discovered that, indeed, they were all about half full. I called our gas guy and he had some advice for me. I tried what he suggested (cleared off the roof around the furnace chimney, and restarted the gas) and, no luck.

So we all spent the night in our room with the space heater on (Mo, LM, myself, our dog, and my daughter’s new gerbils). It was actually warm in there, but of course coming out of the room this morning was no fun.

After another phone call I decided to investigate the regulator at the back of the house. It’s just off the back porch; sadly we have no way to get down from the back porch, it’s basically a small balcony overlooking the hill and our woods. I could, however, see that the regulator was frozen solid.

I looked up, on the edge of the roof, and sure enough there were a bunch of icicles hanging down above where the regulator is. The exhast vent for the stove is right there; the warm air from the stove melts the snow on the roof, and then the water drips down and lands on the regulator. This is why it was encased in ice. Bad engineering.

So I went around to the back of the house and dug another path through the snow along the edge of the house to the regulator. After some gentle TLC with a hammer and chisel, the regulator was cleared out. I made double-sure the vent was clear; the vent being clogged with ice was the cause of the problem. When this happens the gas flow is designed to shut down.

After that I came back inside, turned on a burner on the stove, and sure enough there was the telltale hissing sound and the smell of propane. Yay!

So I re-lit the pilot lights and we were back in business. In fact the heater just kicked off again a few minutes ago, which means the house is back up to 68 degrees F.

I can’t move the regulator easily, so soon I’ll build a small shelter to cover the regulator, so any dripping water will be deflected away from it.

Don’t wanna have to do this again. Though at least we’re warming up now, we’re up to 6.8 degrees F. :-)

I’ve been very interested in the corporate media reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. The headline in my local paper reads “Conspiracy theories arise in wake of Bhutto’s death.” This is mirrored all over the corporate media, and frankly talk like this burns me up.

“Conspiracy theory” has become a smokescreen phrase; whenever it is applied anywhere — ESPECIALLY in the mass media — it is a cue for people to stop thinking, and consider the person to whom this label has been applied as a crackpot nutjob.

Which of course makes no sense at all. The Bhutto assassination, the 9/11 attacks, the Kennedy assassination, etc etc etc are ALL events that were not carried out only by one person (despite the Warren Commission’s characterization of a “lone gunman”); therefore, any theory about What Really Happened(tm) must by definition be a “conspiracy theory.”

Pretty much anything that happens in politics must also by definition be a conspiracy theory. This obviously included Bhutto’s death, the fact that it was a “conspiracy” goes without saying. There was another attempt on her life in October, and witnesses report both bombs and gunshots going off.

I just wish we could get beyond reactionary ostrich-like putting our heads in the sand at certain trigger words. There are many of these; “conspiracy theory” is one. “Freedom” is another.

But then, as I’ve said many times, there’s a reason they call it “television programming.”

There are a fascinating pair of articles on Wired involving David Byrne. First, and most interesting to me, is David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars. Byrne does a good job of outlining 6 possible business models for musicians becoming apparent now that the Major-Label music industry is dead. Definitely a good read for people interested in music and how to earn income from it.

Secondly is David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music, which is Byrne interviewing Yorke (of Radiohead), mostly about how they released their most recent album, where they offered it as a free download, giving people the opportunity to pay whatever they think it to be worth.

I find this passage from Byrne’s article interesting:

one of Radiohead’s managers, Bryce Edge, told me, “The industry reacted like the end was nigh. ‘They’ve devalued music, giving it away for nothing.’ Which wasn’t true: We asked people to value it, which is very different semantics to me.”

Different semantics indeed. This way of thinking (“they’ve devalued music”) is representative of the muddled thinking so often present in corporate/capitalist reality. Whitehead would have called it the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness,” which is “mistaking the abstract for the concrete.” In other words, it’s not music that is being devalued, it is an outmoded form of parasitic economic exploitation, known as The Major Label Music Industry, that is being devalued.