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While we’re on the topic of reggae, did you know that remixing and rap can both be traced back to Jamaica? That’s one musically influential little island. The art of remixing, used ubiquitously in dance music of every stripe since the late ’70s, can be traced back to Jamaica and …

Another in an occasional series: “British Royals to Probe Alleged Rape”. Most unfortunate choice of words, and a revolting story period. UPDATE At 2:46pm Yahoo! changed the headline, a pity.

Johnny Griffith, keyboardist for Motown backup group the Funk Brothers, has died at 68. Launch reports: This news came just a few hours before the red-carpet premiere of the film about the Funk Brothers, Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Michigan. Griffith, 68, had …

Eric Olsen hates Bohemian Rhapsody with a vengeance. Damn those Brits!

The Hollywood Reporter says that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Deutsche Telekom’s mobile phone division have signed a multiyear deal in which Sony will deliver film-based content to T-Mobile’s cell phones: The deal, signed Monday, marks the first ever multiyear content deal between a Hollywood major and a global mobile operator. …

The Bush administration, and in particular the sometimes waffling Colin Powell, deserve full credit for successfully executing the intricate gavotte required to unanimously pass the new Security Council resolution requiring full disclosure and disarmament of Iraq. But, having accomplished this, December 8, the deadline for full disclosure, becomes a critical, …

The NY Post reports that investigators are focusing on money as the probable motive behind Jam Master Jay’s murder: COPS want to question an acquaintance of slain disc jockey Jam Master Jay because they think he may have been the lookout for the hit man who executed the pioneer rap …

A personal website doesn’t get much less pretentious or more charming than this one: why Northwest Notes? Because I love almost everything about the Pacific Northwest. I’m a longtime writer and a novice photographer, and I’ve been keeping a journal since 1975. I started the online journal as an incentive …

I am almost always suspicious of appeals to the “good old days” as the appeal typically has an agenda behind it, or reveals some reflexive need on the part of the appealer. For example: “Remember the good old days before the impersonal, featureless interstates cut across the land, killing mom …

As products like this keep coming out, distinctions between broadcast radio, webcasting, P2P, wireless, and your face keep breaking down. This will take years to sort out, but a brand new economic/regulatory paradigm is another day closer to inevitable. You simply cannot stop technical innovation. It isn’t a question of …