A few of my readers are aware that the blogroll on this site has been shrinking. Since launching eclectique|916 I removed two links from my Sites, Sounds, and Bytes roll and placed them on a line-by-line “editorial merit” basis. I still read them, but rather than take the whole bunch, I’ll pull out a few good apples or link to specific useful, relevant, and interesting perspectives as they catch my attention. Amusing gets some play too. I haven’t had time to articulate the specifics of my decisions, but Jon Stewart comes close:
If you’re in DC, October 4, there’s a free showing of the documentary COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, an exploration of the creative and legal ramifications of music sampling in Hip-Hop. Executive producer and writer for the documentary Kembrew McLeod will be part of the Q&A.
WHERE: Georgetown University Intercultural Center (ICC) Auditorium
WHEN: Sunday, October 4 @ 5 PM
WHO: Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit (Oct. 4 – 6).
There are over 50 FREE Community Cinema preview screenings across the U.S. of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS during the month of October. Find a screening near you here. COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS is a co-production of ITVS.
Dylan Favre is #1 on today’s Google Trends. His hotness rate is “On Fire.”
Favre is a high school senior at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. As of last week, he has thrown 102 touchdown passes and is heading to break the state record of 104. The Clarion Ledger keeps up with these things.
Dylan is the nephew of NFL quarterback Brett Favre who started with the Greenbay Packers in 1992, retired, had a brief rendezvous with the NY Jets in 2007-08, considered retirement again, then signed a 2-year $25 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings in August.
UPDATE – EVEN BEFORE I POSTED: Dylan Favre has already dropped to #3 in Google Trends. #1 is now “atlanta housewives fiance killed” aka the beating death of Ashley “A.J.” Jewell the former fiance of newest cast member Kandi Burruss of the Bravo “reality” show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Jewell was killed in a fight outside his strip club. He was the father of six.
This one’s also “On Fire” on the Google Hotness Meter.
Kandi Burruss co-wrote songs for Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, and won a Grammy for her work on “No Scrubs” by TLC. Her come back via “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” is a prelude to the release of Burruss’ new album.
There are days when I’m glad I don’t have cable television.
TOWARDS A MORE CIVIL UNION – JIM LEACH, CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
“In our society we rightly identify hate words with racial, ethnic, and gender slurs. What are we therefore to make of the usage or what more aptly might be described as misusage of words like “communism” and “fascism”? In 1938, we now understand, it would have been the height of irresponsibility not to shout from the rafters the dangers implicit in the demagoguery of Hitler and his S.S. But if we fought a war to defeat Nazi Germany and manned the barricades to hold communism at bay, isn’t it logical to assume that if a citizen were to believe that a government official is a fascist or communist, that official’s personal safety, as well as our social cohesion, could be in jeopardy?
That is why it is so important for Americans to think through the meaning of words and the meaning of history, our own as well as others’.”
Jacqueline Trescott’s article on the NEH can be found here in today’s Washington Post. Jim Leach was formerlly a Republican member of Congress from Iowa.
BUSING POETS WITH KIM ROBERTS
Initially Kim Roberts and I were going to have coffee at Busboys and Poets, but decided to take the plunge and order some scrambled eggs for catching up and other true confessions. Kim has been writing the literary walking tours for the Big Read – D.C. since “Zora Neale Hurston’s Washington.” Kim is also editor of Beltway: The Online Poetry Journalwhich turns 10 years old in 2010. Kim is working on a schedule of activities to celebrate including a special 10th anniversary edition of Beltway. Beltway has a solid reputation in poetry circles. Some of my favorite issues explore Washington DC writer history.
Kim is also completing an anthology of poems about Washington, DC. This should be a great companion to George Pelecanos’ DC Noir anthologies (short fiction – 2nd volume is the best). The title is Full Moon On K Street: Poems About Washington, DC. The 100 poems that make up the anthology were written between 1950 and the present by writers who have lived or are currently living in DC. Our friend Thomas Sayers Ellis is included as well as Holly Bass, Grace Cavalieri (who gave me a copy of her Langston Hughes interview for her radio show “The Poet and the Poem” – I’ve got to listen to that), Sarah Browning, Essex Hemphill, Naomi Ayala, E-Notes E. Ethelbert Miller, Tony Medina, and many, many more.
The anthology is being published by Plan B Press. It will be available in January.
HEALTH CARE REFORM PAPER TRAIL – THE BAUCUS BILL
I guess “health insurance reform” didn’t stick. Nevertheless, the Baucus Bill known as the “America’s Health Future Act of 2009” coming out of the Senate Finance Committee has been designated the pony to watch, perhaps because the Senate will probably move on their bill before the House on their version. There is no public option in the Baucus bill. Senator Max Baucus, the friendless Democratic Senator from Montana, authored the bill which received no support from Democrats or Republicans. It is being used now as a draft to retool for a final Senate bill. The complete version is over 1000 pages; but there’s a 223 page over view available here.
Open Congress has a decent site for tracking and understanding the Baucus Bill here. You can add your two cents or more. You can also follow the money trail for big Pharm, insurance, and other medical business interests on Open Congress here. Unlike the health care debate, OpenCongress.org is non-partisan. Oh, come to think of it, so was the initial Hill hate on the Baucus bill.
THE FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION POLICY SUMMIT (October 4 -6)
Health care for musicians is one of the scheduled sessions at the upcoming Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit October 4 – 6 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
FMC has a program called HINT (Health Insurance Navigation Tool) to help uninsured musicians navigate the health insurance maze and find an affordable plan.
The Policy Summit focuses on music, technology, policy and law. Basically the new business of music distribution (and the old recorded tunes as well). Speakers at the summit include Senator Al Franken (D-MN), FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski , Mike Mills of r.e.m., and Daniel Ek, founder of the music service Spotify.
I’m working with FMC to present a special screening of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS as part of ITVS Community Cinema (October 4 at 5 PM – Georgetown University Intercultural Center Auditorium). The film’s exeuctive producer, Kimbrew McLeod, will be there for the Q&A. COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS looks at the evolution, use, profits, and legal madness of sampling in hip hop music. “Who owns the notes and who gets paid?” The screening is FREE. Additional Community Cinema screenings of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS are scheduled for October 25 and 28. Go here for more information.
Here’s a trailer:
And be sure to check out the Pew Research Center for People and the Press’ report on how the public evaluates the acuracy of the news media.
The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans’ views of media bias and independence now match previous lows.