Infrasound shown to give people the willies: British scientists have shown in a controlled experiment that the extreme bass sound known as infrasound produces a range of bizarre effects in people including anxiety, extreme sorrow and chills — supporting popular suggestions of a link between infrasound and strange sensations. ….Lord …

We learned yesterday about the RIAA suing 71-year-old grandfather Durwood Pickle as part of its scorched earth campaign to deter file sharing. While Mr. Pickle is a sympathetic figure and didn’t do any file sharing himself, at least he is an adult. Today’s poster child against the campaign is LITERALLY …

The essence of the entertainment industry’s problem with the Internet is its culture of freely shared information that dates back to its beginnings as a connected academic think tank: Part of the challenge facing not just the recording industry but all media companies is how to deal with the lingering …

Salon’s Farhad Manjoo down in the trenches talking amnesty with Vietnam War draft evaders – no, wait, acid flashback – discussing the RIAA’s Clean Slate program: Perhaps to show that it wasn’t the big bully file-sharers claim it is, the RIAA also introduced an “amnesty” program for people who have …

This is a fascinating, discomfiting story: a self-avowed heterosexual Japanese baseball player appeared in a gay porn film while in college because he says he needed the money. He was blackballed by Japanese professional baseball. He was signed by the Indians, did well in the minors this year, and may …

You couldn’t make up stuff this good. We mentioned earlier today that the RIAA is dropping the suit bomb on 261 file sharers – one of them is 71-year-old Durwood Pickle: “Some of my grandkids got in there,” said Durwood Pickle, 71, of Richardson, Texas, who said his son had …

No, not militant Islam against the West, although there are certainly elements of authoritarianism vs. freedom of expression. No, I’m talking about the RIAA against the 60 million Americans who are file sharers, which comes to a head this week: On this there has been virtually no dispute: People who …

In a discussion I heard on the radio the other day, a pundit suggested the blues as a genre needs to speak to “today’s reality” to find a wider, younger audience. I have found such a voice and such a reality. Otis Taylor’s fourth album, Truth Is Not Fiction, is …

Staying ahead of the digital pack, David Bowie launches his new album Reality today with a live 90-minute concert from the Riverside studios in Hammersmith, which will be beamed live by satellite to 22 movie theaters in Europe, including five in the UK: Cinemas in the rest of the world, …

I have to admit I missed the president’s speech last night – over the summer we pretty much get completely out of the TV habit other than sports and movies and by the time I thought of it, it was over. But a transcript is here and I am pleased …