We mentioned a few days ago that Stevie Wonder and India.Arie had the first Grammy nomination ever for a song specifically recorded as a commercial. Here’s the next step: ALANA DAVIS is a sort of alternative singer who left her contract with a major record company last summer. The other …

I have little doubt that the vast majority of those who demonstrated yesterday against possible war with Iraq, did so for commendable reasons of conscience and principle. I think they are wrong, but that is not the point at the moment: no one who is opposed to war with Iraq …

My son just got an Xbox for Christmas – the guy at Wal-Mart said the Xbox had a lot more of a future than did Playstation 2. I guess he was right: Project Dreamix will turn the Microsoft Xbox into the ultimate home entertainment center. Right now we are in …

Robbie Williams is one of those British pop stars who will never cross the ocean because he is just too middling in every way. I have listened to at least three of his albums at various times and I have absolutely no impression of him whatsoever: not bad, not good, …

This is one of those intellectual products that is either sincere or a brilliant parody, or some odd combination of the two, and the fact that we don’t know which of the above it is makes it that much more interesting. On the one hand we have a very high-minded, …

Katy Raymond observes some surprising info on her cool blog, Fallible.com: Yesterday, I saw Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman interviewed about their upcoming move, Hours. I was fascinated to learn that both Streep and Kidman routinely phone their directors one week before filming of a new movie is …

In today’s Washington Post, Frank Ahrens has a very long opus on XM satellite radio, the history of FM, and the person in whom they intersect, Lee Abrams: Why does radio sound the way it does today? Why does it sound like it’s been prepped, packaged and served up in …

In what could be a major philosophical shift, RIAA chairman Hilary Rosen says the ISPs should have to pay for enabling file sharing: “We will hold ISPs more accountable,” said Hilary Rosen … in her keynote speech at the Midem music conference on the French Riviera. “Let’s face it. They …

Wired reports that the webmaster of Planet Replay, a ReplayTV user’s site, shut down the section of his site that facilitated sharing recorded programs between ReplayTV owners: On Thursday, Chad Little closed the sharing section of Planet Replay after being deposed by an attorney representing the entertainment companies that are …

Now that the Donnas are on a major, they are turning up in all the right places: TRL last week, SNL last night. Although I am not thrilled that they have turned in the direction of the chunky hard rock of Kiss or AC/DC and away from their punkier beginnings, …