The internet is a wonderful thing when it comes to being a musician. There always seems to be some kind of cool project to get involved in, and through a couple of friends I've signed on to participate in one of them.

There's a record company called Burning Sky Records, and over the past few years they've released a series of tribute albums for the bands Jellyfish, The Posies and Roxy Music. Their latest project is an expansive tribute to the legendary UK band Squeeze - they're having various artists cover the first three Squeeze albums in their entirety - and I'll be contributing the tracks 'It's So Dirty' from the Cool For Cats album and 'Farfisa Beat' from Argybargy. At this point the basic tracks are done, and I'll be adding the vocals and doing rough mixes this week. The album is planned for a summer release.

I'll give you guys a preview once I'm done croaking my vocal parts...

This may have more to do with the bar paying ASCAP than it has to do with Springsteen making more money.

Bruce Springsteen is showing a midtown bar who's The Boss.

The rocker slapped Connolly's Pub & Restaurant on W. 45th St. with a copyright infringement lawsuit Wednesday.

He claims the bar hosted a band on Aug. 9, 2008, that performed three of Springsteen's hits - and charged customers a cover fee.

Venues that host live performances are supposed to pay an annual licensing fee to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which doles out royalties.

Springsteen had no comment, but ASCAP officials said the point of the action was to protect all songwriters.

"It's not about him as a recording artist," said Vincent Candilora, ASCAP senior vice president for licensing. "In this instance, he's simply a songwriter with rights."

The band, which was not identified, allegedly played three songs that night: "Growin' Up," "Because the Night" and "You're No Good," which was written by Clinton Ballard Jr., a co-plaintiff in the case.

Connolly's, which did not return calls for comment, could face a $30,000 fine for skipping out on what would have been a $2,700 licensing fee, Candilora said.

Digital Music NY is having a networking meetup on February 9 in NYC. Unfortunately, I'm not able to attend, but it looks like an interesting event. If anyone goes, you wanna cover it for B3? I'll be yer friend...

Along with the Greymatter stuff and the music reviews, I've also come across the stuff that put B3 on the map back in the day - all of the original Flash movies from the original 'Question Mark Campaign' series.

It's kind of saddening to watch some of them, honestly. Looking at them with a few years' distance and the benefit of hindsight, it's a little painful to remember that we had a good shot at turning Bush out of office in 2004.

How different would the world be right now if Kerry had won in '04? Maybe not much at all, but it's kind of interesting to think about.

I'll post a link when the QM campaign is live.

I found about two years worth of daily posts from back when I was using Greymatter software for the blog.

I'm going to format the stuff a little and post the entire archive tonight. If you're in the mood for a long walk down B3 memory lane, you'll enjoy this.

Edit: Did I tell you I suck at math? The archive I found is a year, just about to the day, from May '03 to May '04... I was a funny dude back then. Dunno what the hell happened.

Update: Took a little bit more formatting than I thought, but the Greymatter Archive is now here. Some of the images aren't there and I can't guarantee that a lot of the links still work, but it is what it is.

I read a lot of the archive last night while making it readable. We did indeed live through interesting times.

From last night's Grammy Awards - Jeff Beck and Irish Rockabilly revivalist Imelda May turn in a note-perfect performance of Les Paul And Mary Ford's 'How High The Moon.'



They couldn't have picked a better pair for that tribute. My only complaint is they only got a two-minute slot in a two-hour-plus program. Lester deserved much, much more than that.

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, and after a conversation with Invictus over the weekend I figured now is as good a time as any.

This site has been in existence for over 10 years now, starting out as a music site with the odd posting about politics. Once Bush v. Gore happened and then the 9/11 attacks, the focus of the blog shifted nearly entirely to politics. When we started covering politics here at B3, there weren't a whole lot of us doing it. The outrage of the Bush II Era had just manifested itself, and there was plenty of outrage to go around and a ready audience to read what we posted.

Then Blogger happened, and a lot of people started blogging about politics. And once that happened, B3 held its own for a while - but as the landscape changed and people started to see political blogs as a source of advertising revenue in addition to a handy place to complain about Bush, the ''A' List' Blogosphere took shape and guys like us took a hit, but we kept going.

And now we're into a different era, where a Democrat is in the White House. But it seems like the same battles are being fought over and over again, now against chowder-headed media personalities and obstructionist Republicans (redundant, I know). As I wander from blog to blog reading about The Latest Fucked Up Thing Rush Limbaugh Said or What Crazy Glenn Beck Lied About On His Show or (Insert Republican Member Of Congress' Name Here) Has Set A New Standard for Irrational Hatred, I realize that I have very little to add to the discourse at this point.

Yes, I'm jaded. I'm pretty much over political blogging. Here's why.

There are literally thousands of political blogs out there. Most of the ones on the liberal side cover the same events, express the same viewpoints, draw the same conclusions. Many of them say what they have to say much better than I can, and between those blogs and the ones who can't say it better than I can the noise level is unbearable. The snark isn't really that funny any more - how many times can someone type 'IOKIYAR' or refer to John Boehner as 'Boner' before you're totally over it?

I can visit Daily Kos and I can guess the content and style of posts now just by looking at the poster's name. I won't impugn anyone's enthusiasm or commitment to the cause of their choice, but look - we've all been doing this for years now. Style points have been established, and some days the output of blogs both left and right is nothing but sheer repetition.

I really don't have the interest in running a full-time politics blog any more. The political climate in this country is way beyond toxic, and those who have the stomach for it can and probably will keep going. Good for them. Don't give up The Good Fight.

Me? I'm going to go back to a pre-9/11 Mindset here, if you will. The slogan for Blah3.com prior to Bush's presidency was 'Music, Media and Pop Culture.' That's coming back, because I find music much more interesting that pointing out tat Glenn Beck is an asshole for the 50,000th time.

My thanks go out to the B3 staff that has posted here for years - you guys added content to this site for free, and it was a pretty lively place for a while there. And if any of you want to still contribute political content, you are more than welcome. I'm going to go in a different direction at this point, but I don't expect any of you to just follow. Someone like Invictus has taken his expertise to a place where it is better appreciated and more widely read than it was here, and I can't fault him for it. He was a voice in the wilderness here regarding the economy, and what's worse is he was right - and there were very few eyeballs recognizing that fact. Someone with Invictus' level of expertise should be as widely read as possible, and he'll have my eternal thanks for contributing so much to this site.

But I gotta go where my heart leads, and unfortunately it's not leading me in the direction of the Endless Kabuki Dance that is modern politics in the United States. Sorry, not that interested.

I've located literally years of music reviews of some fine independent artists that disappeared from the site as we jumped from format to format, and those archives will be added to the site over the coming weeks. And if you're an idependent artist that has music for review, contact me and I'll listen to it and give my take on it.

And I'd like to thank everyone who thought enough of what we were doing here to come and read us every day. You're welcome to keep coming back, but there's really no point in trying to find a different way to say what thousands of other people are saying.

Time for something new. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

in Massachusetts.

Sadly, this while under control of the U.S. military

Despite guarantees, given by the United Nations and the US Defense Department, an MSF cargo plane carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, and was re-routed to Samana, in Dominican Republic. All material from the cargo is now being sent by truck from Samana, but this has added a 24-hour delay for the arrival of the hospital.

You can tweet a message to your representative to let them know what you think about this, or call:

1-800-828-0498 1-800-459-1887 1-800-614-2803 1-866-340-9281 1-866-338-1015 1-866-220-0044 1-877-851-6437

In B.C., premiums are based on family size and income.

Monthly rates are $54 for one person, $96 for a family of two and $108 for a family of three or more. Effective January 1, 2010 monthly rates will change to $57 for one person, $102 for a family of two and $114 for a family of three or more.

An American In Britain

My healthcare in the UK was never dictated by a bureaucrat. Decisions were made by me and my doctor alone, and whatever we decided was the right course of action was the course that was taken. The scope of care available to me was far, far wider than what is covered even by the ‘very good’ insurance policies I’ve had here in the US.

Credit card rates.

"They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other." Pat Robertson

Was he there?