I am so proud of our swing dance community right now I could burst. What began as a random suggestion by my friend Shorty Dave — “Hey wouldn’t it be great if all the lindy hoppers in America bought Frankie’s book on the same day?” — blossomed into an international campaign that shot Frankie Manning: Ambassador…
Loose Marbles – Nawlins hot jazzy goodness
I had the pleasure of catching this group of New Orleans-based ragamuffins called "Loose Marbles" playing for dancers last night in Manhattan. They make such a joyous, hot jazzy noise, led by Meschiya Lake on vocals. Meschiya eschews the mic and just belted all night into the crowded room. The percussion section looks like…
Today’s the day! Buy Ambassador of Lindy Hop today from Amazon!
Today thousands of Friends of Frankie Manning are rushing to Amazon.com to purchase his new autobiography entitled Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop. Today is Frankie Manning’s 93rd birthday, believe it or not. To celebrate, we are asking folks everywhere to go to Amazon.com and purchase his book. We believe we can make The Ambassador…
New business / non-profit alliance calls for cheaper broadband, net neutrality
The Open Internet Coalition is a new alliance of 54 private companies and non-profits united behind the cause of cheaper broadband internet and the principle of network neutrality in the United States. Yesterday, the coalition issued an open letter to the US Congress and the President to take serious measures to preserve net neutrality and…
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if a million mash-up artists cried out in glee…
The Washington Post sends out news that will thrill sci-fi nuts everywhere. Lucasfilm tomorrow is releasing 250 video clips on their website StarWars.com to encourage fans to mash-up and play with. This very surprising news given how litigious George Lucas has been about fans "borrowing" images and video footage and using it for their own…
Here come the French Spammers, ahem, Marketers to SL
I just got the following press release about two French marketing firms — Tapage Media and Community Chest — joining forces to spread some more ad-love to the metaverse. Here’s the skinny, for those who’s high school French was many, many years ago: Tapage apparently specializes in all sorts of marketing products, from post cards…
SaveNetRadio coalition rejects Sound Exchange “compromise” on webcasting
Save Net Radio, a "national coalition comprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists, listeners and labels", yesterday rejected the compromise offered by industry consortium Sound Exchange on the webcasting controversy, which I reported on yesterday. “The proposal made by SoundExchange today would throw ‘large webcasters’ under the bus and end any ‘small’ webcaster’s hopes…
Mitch Kapor speaks on young people of color in science and technology tomorrow
The Electric Sheep Company send out news that Lotus Notes creator and Linden Lab board chair Mitch Kapor will be talking about his work to encourage young people of color to study science and technology this Thursday, May 24 at 8pm PST. Mitch is on the board of the Level Playing Field Institute, a San…
Buy Frankie’s book this Saturday — get free music, club admissions, classes!
I’ve been helping coordinate a national campaign to get people to buy this amazing autobiography of a pioneering swing dancer entitled Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop on May 26 from Amazon.com. Saturday May 26 is Frankie Manning’s 93rd birthday, believe it or not. To celebrate, we are asking FoF (Friends of Frankie) everywhere to…
Grassroots net radio saved from going dark by Sound Exchange today
Finally some good news on the net radio front. Just when it seemed like hundreds of net radio stations around the country were about to go dark after July 15, the music industry group Sound Exchange has agreed to stave off execution for a bit. RAIN reports that this morning that Sound Exchange, in response…