CASH Music

About a week ago I blogged about Maggie Vail's CASH Music Summits. Here is some more information on this important project from Vail herself. "I work a lot. I’ve always worked a lot. I’ve worked at least a 40 hour work week since I was 19 years old. I think it’s safe to say that in the last two and half years since I started working at CASH Music I work at least 20 hours more per week than I did at Kill Rock Stars. The good thing is I like to work, especially when it’s something I truly believe in. As a result of all this working I’ve become a bit of a social recluse. Lately when I do get out I’m often asked what exactly CASH Music is and what it is that we’re trying to do. Sometimes there’s a twinge of “what do you mean you don’t know what I’m spending all my time doing?!” and then I remember this is a massive, ambitious, and multi-faceted effort that we’re in the middle of building. It’s not just a simple product that’s easily explained, this is a life’s work in progress. It is really important and if executed the way that we envision we believe will ensure a healthy option for all musicians moving forward. This means everything to me. My partner, Jesse von Doom, and I have a vision and a very solid plan towards a sustainable future for the organization. That said, right now we need help getting there. We are currently raising funds via a Kickstarter campaign for a series of summits in 2014. Because I sadly can’t speak with everyone on the phone or in person I’ve broken down the important parts of who we are and what we’re doing into ten simple points: What is CASH Music? 1) CASH Music is a nonprofit organization. We are a tiny staff of just two people. Our board is made up of 16 people. Since we are a nonprofit none of us can own CASH Music. This is important. 2) Our mission is to help empower artists for a more sustainable future in this digital age. We believe that an important part of helping artists includes helping artist friendly labels, managers, publicists, etc. 3) We build digital tools. Jesse has spent the last six years building a massive platform, project by project, directly with artists and labels. The platform can be downloaded and used on your own site or you can use our hosted version, currently in beta. Right now the platform can do things like digital sales, download codes, email list management, email collection, etc. Later we will be adding features like a full shopping cart, a subscription service, and much much more. All of our tools are open source. This is also important. 4) Our tools are, and always will be, free to use. We are unwavering on this stance. We believe giving artists access to basic online tools is an important part of sustainability. 5) We believe artists should own their own data. All information collected by our platform can be exported at any time. 6) Because we are a nonprofit we cannot be bought or sold. We also cannot take investment. Since we build all of our tools using an open source license this means that even if CASH as an org for some reason dissolved, the code would still exist and live on. Both of these things are very, very important to us and we think very, very important to the future of music online. 7) Education is also a key component of our mission. It’s vital that artists have free access to information and resources that will help them manage and navigate their careers in an ever changing landscape. Education, both online and in person, will be a big part of 2014 for us. 8) We think musician’s perspectives are often missing in the current discussions about the future of music. We believe their voices are necessary to the conversation. We’ve launched a series of summits designed to make sure they are heard. 9) The CASH Music Summits bring artists and technologists together. The conversations started in these events will influence our educational goals, our platform, and hopefully many other projects. We want to foster a new form of collaboration that can lead to new understanding of the intersection of technology and music, leaving real change in its wake. 10) We think that music is one of the most important parts of being alive. We want to help the people that make it survive. We need your help to make this happen. If you believe that what we are working on is important please consider donating to our Kickstarter campaign, spreading the word, or getting involved. We have seven days left to raise over $15,000 dollars. That’s a lot of money in a very short time. I know we can do but we can’t do it alone. THANK YOU! - (Maggie Vail)" And this from the project's Kickstarter page:

What the Hell Was going on in the '70s?

Clip number one of my just invented series What the Hell Was Going on in the '70s. It can't be explained. It must be experienced in video clips. It helps if you're hopped up on Booberry cereal. These need not be in chronological order - they will come sporadically. They will catch you unawares. They will be like acid flashbacks or minertia blue attacks while wearing spadex pants. It's not a "Psychobilly Freakout" but it's better. And it went on for a decade. Pretty sure Chuck Barris snorted Peru before Steven Tyler even got to the table.

Bettie Page Reveals All

Bettie Page Reveals All Finally the real story of cult icon and infamous pin-up model Bettie Page. This documentary film is directed by Mark Mori, narrated by Bettie Page, and features Dita Von Teese, Hugh Hefner, Rebecca Romijn, Mamie Van Doren, the legendary Tempest Storm, Perez Hilton and more.

Upset

Patty Schemel (Hole, Lucid nation) is in a new band with Ali Koehler (Best Coast/Vivian Girls). They're called Upset and I already love them. Here's their video for "You and I" It ROCKS!

CASH Music Summits

Maggie Vail (formerly with Kill Rock Stars) just announced the first round of speakers for the CASH Music summits: CHI (March 1, 2014) Damon Krukowski (Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi) Harper Reed (former Chief Technology Officer, Obama for America) Dave McCreath (Mule Radio) emceed by Dan Sinker (OpenNews, Punk Planet, Internet Shenanigans) NYC (May 17, 2014) JD Samson (Le Tigre, MEN) Anil Dash (ThinkUp, Movable Type, The Internet) Dapwell (Das Racist, Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Project) emceed by Jonathan Coulton SEA (August 2014) Larry Crane (Tape Op) emceed by John Roderick (The Long Winters) ATL (November 2014) Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses) http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cashmusic/cash-music-summits-music-meets-technology

Joseph Gordon Levitt, Stephen Merchant and Jimmy Fallon

Lip Sync Battle with Joseph Gordon Levitt, Stephen Merchant and Jimmy Fallon For the few of you that may have missed this - it is well worth investing your time. Fallon is the least funny. The other two are Gods of the mic.

Got My Tight Pants On

Not too far from the mods I hung with....

David Lynch Releases 12"

The new David Lynch 12' "Bad the John Boy" will be released tomorrow via Sacred Bones Records website. It appears the limited edition version is still available.

Louis Vuitton Venice Fim: David Bowie & Arizona Muse

Louis Vuitton Venice Fim: David Bowie & Arizona Muse

Kathleen Hanna Documentary

Director Sini Anderson's Kathleen Hanna documentary The Punk Singer: A Film about Kathleen Hanna has won the jury prize for international music documentary at Barcelona’s Beefeater In-Edit Film Festival. After playing November 9 at the Olympia Film Festival and at DOC NYC, November 16, the film will open at select theaters in America November 29. Hanna with Bikini Kill Hanna aka Julie Ruin Hanna with Le Tigre (Johanna Fateman, Sadie Benning (98-01) and JD Samson). Hanna with The Julie Ruin (Carmine Covelli, Sara Landeau, Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, and Kenny Mellman) In addition to various band members "Punk Singer" features Joan Jett, Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater Kimney), Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth, Body/Head) and Adam Horovitz (Beastie Boys, Married to Kathleen Hanna)

Excision and Suburban Gothic

As an ardent fan of John Waters as well as all things macabre, I am deeply ashamed that I completely missed the boat on the film Excision. The film was written and directed by Richard Bates Jr. and released in November of 2012. It features Annalynne McCord, Malcolm McDowell (whom I forgive for his stint in Entourage), Traci Lords, Marlee Matlin, and Matthew Gray Gubler. Keep an eye out for director Bates' upcoming film Suburban Gothic which he co-wrote with Mark Bruner (script coordinator for Under the Dome and the aforementioned Entourage). The film stars Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls, Thor) and Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds, (500) Days of Summer), and features an embarrassment of riches: Sally Kirkland, Ray Wise (::geek alert:: Laura Palmer's Father from Twin Peaks), John Waters, and Mackenzie Philips, among others. The plot according to IMDB: "Raymond has a prestigious MBA, but he can't find work. He can channel the paranormal, but chatting with a cute girl mystifies him. Kicked out of his big city apartment, Raymond returns home to his overbearing mother, ex-jock father, and beer-bellied classmates. But when a vengeful ghost terrorizes the small town, the city-boy recruits Becca, a badass local bartender, to solve the mystery of the spirit threatening everyone's lives." All that and one of the characters is named Zelda. Well I for one can't wait! November 9 2013 update from the director (Richard Bates, Jr. ‏@RichardBatesJr1) via Twitter: "DO NOT watch "Excision" on starz. It's a pan & scan that looks like ABSOLUTE SHIT (not its original aspect ratio). What a joke..."

IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

From the wonderful Michel Gondry
The new Michel Gondry film is described as "A series of interviews featuring linguist, philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky done in hand-drawn animation."