Well, at least one of yesterday’s absurdities has been mitigated. SunnComm now says it won’t sue John “Alex” Halderman for publishing the “shift key” hole in their CD copy-protection system: SunnComm Technologies, Inc. announced yesterday morning it would sue first-year graduate student John Halderman over his recent critique of the …

Thanks to our most excellent pal Brad Hill for this review of the new Napster – visit his Digital Songstream site often!: Review: Napster 2.0 by Brad Hill The beta launch of Napster 2.0, an upgrade of Pressplay 2.0 by parent company Roxio, occurred on October 9, 2003. Napster 2.0 …

Current and potential webcasters, take note of this: SUMMARY: The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is requesting public comment on the adoption of regulations for records of use of sound recordings performed pursuant to the statutory license for public performances of sound recordings by means of digital audio …

Is it the moon, something in the water, the Cubs and Red Sox both getting out of the first round of the playoffs? First the Tommy Chong sentence, now this. We told you a couple of days ago about the Halderman report on the flaws in SunnComm’s “secure digital” format. …

65-year-old Tommy Chong sent up the river for selling bongs.

Our wise Taloran’s mention of the fine funky guitarist Carlos Alomar in the Rolling Stone guitarist poll post (see comments #534, 536) inspired me listen to his work (Alomar’s, not Taloran’s, no offense). This brought me to David Bowie, 1974. In a move away from sci-fi glam rock to what …

I just stumbled across an old news story about Toad the Wet Sprocket reuniting for a brief tour last February. I don’t remember hearing anything about it. There was a brief period in the early-’90s when Santa Barbara’s Toad was on top of the world – how soon they forget. …

Guided by the ace production team of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, Madness’s cartoonish “nutty boy” image, cockney enunciation, and mutating neo-ska sound struck a deep chord in Britain, where they had 19 consecutive Top 20 hits between ’79 and ’85. Highlights include the manic ska propulsion of “One Step …

As discussed at some length here, Love was hospitalized last week for a drug overdose after she attacked a friend’s house trying to get in. Now she’s been charged: Singer-actress Courtney Love was charged with a misdemeanor drug count Tuesday, less than a week after she allegedly tried to break …

“Up next on Antiques Roadshow: Hitler’s gonads!” When is an “antique” an antique? Meaning, when is an object transformed into a curiosity, stripped of its original context and turned into a product? Like in this case: FEDERAL officials want to know how an Ohio man got hold of a controversial …