I honestly don't think that Elon Musk has really thought all this through.
An awful lot of people at twitter have been let go. Programmers, Human Resources, Security, and especially content moderators. Advertisers have pulled back and he is currently feuding with Apple over the fact that Apple might remove twitter from their app store because it potentially exposes people who would use the app to harm.
It was discovered a few days ago that the Christchurch Massacre found it's way back into twitter in video form. This video was filmed by the killer himself, in the hopes of inspiring others to commit the same kind of violence. Twitter used to take this stuff down within seconds. This time the government of New Zealand had to contact twitter directly to alert them this had happened before the content was taken down.
And this is the part where Elon is in waaaaaaay over his tiny pointed head.
You see, the content moderators at twitter, while far from perfect, have been doing a ton of work. It's not just this massacre but other massacres. Hate Speech. Nazi propaganda. COVID and Election Disinformation. Stalking. Catfishing. Child Porn. All of this has to be searched out and removed. Some of it just in the name of decency, some of it to keep government regulators off their backs.
But that takes staff. Bots alone won't cut it, and that is already readily apparent.
While it isn't true, there is a perception in the Western World that child porn is worse in the Asian Nations than anywhere else. There is a child porn problem there and it's horrific, but the customers tend to be westerners. And as of the moment I'm writing this the staff for twitter that tries to keep this from reaching your feeds is down to one person. In a region of 4.5 Billion people.
What Elon Musk doesn't realize is that some of the countries where this is happening take this very seriously. I would not be surprised to find that he has been indicted on Child Porn charges before the end of the week, because the site he owns is hosting it. In some countries he could be beheaded for this.
I'm shocked that Germany isn't already blocking twitter. It's carrying Nazi propaganda fairly freely now and that's actually illegal in Germany. This is why Volkswagon has pulled their advertising. They could find themselves liable and they want no part of that.
Covid disinformation is now running rampant on twitter. This is something they actually chose to do. And the day they did so over 100,000 people in the US were infected with COVID-19. Nearly 1,000 died. That day.
And then there is the HR fiasco. Musk famously offered people a choice between 3 months severance and signing a contract to work harder. Most took the severance - but many haven't received it. That's because most of their HR department didn't take the deal and there's not enough people left to actually implement the severance. That's actually a violation of California law.
So to sum up only what I've noticed:
1 - Potentially thousands of HR violations 2 - Responsible for disinformation that will lead to people getting sick and dead 3 - Child porn charges 4 - Nazi speech/hate speech violations that are illegal in Germany 5 - Deplatforming by Apple (and I promise you that Google Play will follow if they do) 6 - Terrorism charges. That's what New Zealand has charged people with who have posted video of the Christchurch massacre.
I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that this is one whole lot of trouble to be in. I could be very wrong about all of this. It's also very very likely that this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's stuff out there that I never would have thought of - that seems evident.
And I can't deny that Elon's rich, and rich gets away with a LOT.
Sorry it's a day late. If you follow me on Spotify or at counter.social (I am @Animeraider over there) or on tumblr (hey, I have a linktree) you'd have had this yesterday. A quick episode for new music this week including music by Vulfpeck, Rick Allen, Rammstein, Negah Santos, Motion Sickness, Red Hot Chili Peppers and much more. Enjoy!
If you want a listing of the artists in this week's episode just look at the playlist above. As of last week I have left twitter for the time being, so I'm not going to link to people's twitter profiles as part of this update. You can find all of these artists fairly easily - go for it.
Shorter week this week with new music from Disturbed, St. Lucia, MOULE, Manchester Orchestra, The Linda Lindas, Theo Katzman and much more! Enjoy!
Here is a listing of this week's artists my twitter handle (as long as that's still a thing) unless otherwise marked:
@Disturbed @ManchesterOrch @MOULEOFFICIAL Rijell (follow him on Spotify!) @mtl_bar with Rob Stuart and Richard Heyfron @thelindalindas @MrJamieJamal with @Kiffie8 @engagementmusic @theokatzman @monsterpop1234 @WeyesBlood @stlucia @scarypockets with @sophiajmusic (and Leland Sklar on bass too!) @Disturbed with @AnnWilson
A super eclectic week for new music including a number of covers from artists like Pomplamoose, Springsteen, Black Crowes and new music from Godsmack, Mammoth WVH, B'z, Fitz and the Tantrums, lovelytheband, Iggy Pop and much more. Enjoy!
Here is a listing of this week's artists by twitter handle (checked by me and not twitter - free of charge - but given today's environment I might have gotten one or two wrong) unless otherwise marked:
Fun fact: Remerge Band blocked me on twitter several months ago over a political disagreement. No hard feelings - I don't take the internet hardly seriously and they have the right to do it. I still like their music, and I promote shit I like no strings attached.They don't have to like me - I can be a real asshole sometimes.
New music this week from Laura Jean, Crown Lands, Atarashii Gakkou, Monalisa Twins, Ryan Adams, Alabama Shakes, Joe Lynn Turner, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and much more. Enjoy!
Here is a listing of this week's artists by twitter handle (while there still is such a thing) unless otherwise marked:
@laurajeanmusic @scarypockets featuring @LizzyMcAlpine Magazine - made up of @pomplamoose, Arielle Kasnetz and @AnileeL @CrownLandsMusic @Soumyajit42 with @itsam222 and KAYA E @volkermilch mixed by @DurzzoMusic @japanleaders @MonaLisa_Twins @alyandaj @ergobria @TheRyanAdams @wearesilvertwin @Alabama_Shakes @WhiteReaperUSA @joelynnturner @wearephoenix @FirstAidKitBand @turnoverva specialinterest.no (Instagram) @okaykayaouch with @elikeszler @carladalforno @JulienChangBAL @lafemmeressort @YYYs @kinggizzard
Hey, Americans - vote as if you were trying to defeat fascists. Because you are.
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Well, for those of you who follow everything that has happened in the process of turning twitter into... well I have no idea what really, I need to point out something that everyone is overlooking. It's not about Musk's astonishingly thin skin, or the banning of parody, or the gross mismanagement of the labor force, or the blackmailing everyone over their check marks, or whatever has happened since I started typing. A lot of people have migrated to Mastadon, and a lot have moved to Counter.Social (I opened an account on each and am considering options).
Remember how Musk financed all of this? A lot of the money that was used to buy twitter isn't Musk's money, but the money of various investors and banks. The largest investor is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. Let's do a little math:
The purchase price for twitter wasn't $44 Billion. He actually committed $33.5 Billion. He already had a 9.6% stake in the company and that made up the difference. Of that $33.5 Billion $13 Billion is debt financing, so actually Musk only went $20 Billion out of pocket. The rest is owned by other people, the greatest share holder being Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Now for those of you paying attention Musk has no real clue how to run twitter. By the time he gets bored with all of this twitter will probably only be worth about $5 Billion. I don't actually care about that. These sites come and go. Remember MySpace? Hell, I had a MySpace page. The problem is that no matter how much twitter eventually winds up being worth, Elon Musk is still going to owe Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudia Arabia about $2 Billion. Probably a lot more - who knows what interest rate he's getting charged.
Now there are a lot of banks in the debt financing. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle is also a large investor - about half what the Prince put in. A lot of people are going to need to be paid off, and that's Elon's problem.
I think that our problem is that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia isn't going to take a payout. I think he's going to take twitter.
Now Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is a complicated person to analyze. He has been both in favor of the Ruling Saudis and in the outs. During one time while under arrest he held secret negotiations and essentially bribed his way out of house arrest and all charges against him by donating $6 Billion to the Saudi Government. He is the 7th richest person in the world. He is the largest shareholder in News Corps (i.e. Fox News), Saks 5th Avenue, Chase Manhattan, Citigroup, Four Seasons Hotel Group, Planet Hollywood, Daewoo, and he holds large minority interests in everything from Ford Motor Company to Coca-Cola to Euro Disney.
But he's been investing in Tech in one form or another since the 1990's. He has held either minority or controlling stakes in AOL, Netscape, Motorola, and MCI. For a while he was the largest stakeholder in Apple, but he sold that off in 2005. His investment strategy shows incredible patience, but his tech interest also shows a keen interest in infrastructure - and that's the point of all of this.
Twitter has massive infrastructure. They've been building data centers all over the world to handle their traffic and customer load, as well as their advertising structure. We're talking buildings where the interiors are measured in the hundreds of thousands of square yards full of computer servers and tracking all of their users, advertisers, and all the metrics involved. I have seen one of the buildings with my own eyes, and it's impressive. It's some of the largest internet infrastructure anywhere in the world - larger than what is put together by Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple or any of the other big players.
And it appears that Elon Musk has no idea what to do with it all. He may not even know it all exists, beyond the fact that it's the backbone that lets twitter function on a day to day basis. But imagine what a Saudi Prince, part of the Royal family even if not close to the throne, could do with that.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is seen by us in the west as something of a reformer, although he tows the line when it comes to issues like Israel and Palestine. He is one of the richest members of the family but despite his views he managed to survive the purge of 2017 that ended with him paying that $6 Billion I mentioned before. He is a box of contradictions, but he's also a proven survivor and his interest in tech goes back decades. This is a man with a plan, and the patience to wait years to execute it.
Which brings me to a troubling question: When he eventually takes twitter, which might take some time but seems likely to happen, what is he going to do with it? What is he doing NOW with the access he has NOW?
I honestly don't know, but we'd best prepare for it and be ready to ask when the time comes. What would a Saudi Prince do with the already-built infrastructure of what is currently the largest social media company in the world?
Eclectic and pretty good week for new music, including Dragonette, Martha, Adam Bostwick, MOULE, Drugdealer, Abraxas, Scout Gillett and much more. Enjoy!
Here is a listing of this week's artists by twitter handle unless otherwise marked:
@dragonette @MarthaDIY @ReganSCJ @MayaAgnesxo with Yannick (No idea on the socials, sorry) Magazine - made up of @pomplamoose, Arielle Kasnetz and @AnileeL wanderingwithmusic (Instagram) and @musicbyscarIett @AdamBostockRock Fivemeanstoanend (Meta) @MOULEOFFICIAL @lafourcade @drugdealerband @LukeHaines_News and Peter Buck of @remhq @Aoife_N_Frances @abraxasintl__ Scout Gillett of @capturedtracks sylvie_music_ (Instagram) @sm__worldwide @joshawtaylor @_Therion
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So I've been watching for a few days now people talking about the attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband in their home and I think I'll sum up some of the horseshit I've seen with a few succinct responses:
The attacker was invited in. No, he broke in through the back door, breaking a glass pane.
The attacker was out on bail or out on parole. No. That is untrue.
Mr. Pelosi knew his attacker. No, they had never met.
They were lovers and it was a quarrel gone wrong. No. Again, they had never met before.
The attack was faked/staged. No. Mr. Pelosi suffered a broken skull and swelling of the brain as well as damage to some of his limbs. As of the writing he is still in the ICU.
The attacker is a liberal. No. He is a racist, transphobic, antisemitic conspiracy theorist.
San Francisco, where the attack took place and where I live, is a crime-infested cesspool. No. However, the home town of Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, Bakersfield - where I have also lived, is a cesspool of crime.
The attacker was a nudist hippie leftist male prostitute on LSD. No, he was radicalized by Gamer-gate, Fox News, and right-wing rhetoric by lying right-wing politicians.
Hammer attacks happen all the time. No, you're thinking of guns.
David Wayne DePape lived in a house with BLM materials in the window. No. He lived in Richmond, California, which is a few miles north. That house they keep showing is where he lived about 10 years ago. He used to be that guy, before Gamer-gate and QAnon.
The attacker is an illegal alien. Hmmm, maybe? Lots of people are claiming this but all I could find was that he was born in Canada and moved to the US 20 years ago. He has children here.
This was a kidnapping/assassination attempt and the intended victim wasn't home. The attacker had with him at the time of the assault zip ties, a roll of tape, white rope, one hammer, one pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and a journal. He has admitted that he was at a minimum going to break Ms. Pelosi's knees.
Anyone who says otherwise is a cunt-faced lying motherfucking cock-sucking son of a bitch, and you can quote me.
And because I love you, allow me to introduce you to Magaziine:
Quite a week for new music, and it's an eclectic one, just in time for Halloween! Music from Marshal Crenshaw, me, Copperstone, Arthur Brown, Goat, Simple Minds, a-ha, Manhattan Transfer, B'z, Taylor Swift and (for real) QUEEN! Enjoy!
Here is a listing of this week's artists by twitter handle unless otherwise marked:
nickcampbelldestroys (Instagram) with @theokatzman @animeraider (me!) @PONYtoronto @Bz_Official arielengelmusic (Instagram) @mcrenshaw @copperstoneband @_GuidedByVoices @GodofHellFire5 with The Sinclairs (not sure what their socials are) @TankandDaBangas @kinggizzard Goat (No idea what their socials are, if they exist at all) @drugdealerband with @katebsongs @rivalsons @theheadstones @cassmccombs with @mvbones1980 @TheDelines @drycleaningband @simplemindscom featuring Russel Mael of @sparksofficial @Bibio @aha_com @mantran with WDR Funkhausorchester (aka The Cologne Philharmonic) @richaucoin @MOULEOFFICIAL @_avantasia featuring Jørn Lande of Masterplan and Michael Kiske of Helloween @taylorswift13 @QueenWillRock
And because I love you let me introduce you to Mark Lettieri, one of the rare masters of the Baritone Guitar:
Quite the week for new music, including Betty Who, Todd Rundgren, Mammoth WVH, Peter Gabriel, The Lightning Seeds, The 1975, Wild Pink, Skullcrusher and so much more. Enjoy!
Here is this week's artists by twitter handle unless otherwise marked:
@scarypockets featuring @indiacarney @BettyWho @FrogLeapStudios (fo' Shizzle) @toddrundgren with @NeilFinn Jerry gomes (I appear to be the only person following him on Spotify. Let's fix that, shall we?) Baiije (Instagram) @MammothWVH @itspetergabriel @the1975 @ChiliPeppers @WildPinkNYC @broken_bells songofcoco (Instagram) @bozscaggsmusic @springsteen @ToveLo @DexysOfficial @Zelladay @GlennDonaldson @Lightning_Seeds daydreamingwinter (Instagram) @charlottedossan @palmmlap @im_skullcrusher @_fieldmedic @sarahshook @TheClaudettes @toddrundgren with @stevevai @PuddlesPityP
So I have a story to tell you, and it winds around a bit. This is the tale my new EP, made up entirely of music I released in the 1990's.
A lifetime ago I worked in Cable Television for my day job. Band at night, Cable TV Executive by day. Now this is long before Cable got glamorous or even paid well. You couldn't even tell people what you did for a living because they'd turn around and tell you how much their own cable sucks - as if I could fix it. One of the techs in the office had his own band and they were doing about as well as mine was, just playing a different circuit than mine did. His band was kind of country-blues while we were rock and roll leaning towards alternative.
One day he pulls me aside and tell me that I need to watch "Northern Exposure", a hit TV show from those days, the following week. He had licensed a song he had recorded to the show and gotten a hefty paycheck for it. In fact, he didn't have to work for a year, and his song played in the background of a bar scene, barely recognizable.
This seemed like a GREAT gig. I had released my first album by this point but wasn't yet signed to that disaster of a record deal that killed my second album. I was working on new material but what the hell; I'd shop around stuff from the first album.
And this went nowhere.
I kept trying though. I wasn't the indie musician I am now - hell, no one was. We were still all searching for the record deal, the big break, and the success stories kept us going. When Lisa Loeb broke through with "Stay" all of us felt inspired. This was 1994, and by this point I had left TV and moved to San Francisco to pursue music full time.
I still shopped music around, and late summer 1994 I got a bite. A producer liked a specific track on my first album and wanted to talk about it. Let the negotiations begin.
Weirdly, the song she was interested in was a track called "Defending Luther", which is one of my shortest songs, quickly telling my opinions about the story of Two Live Crew (you have google, look it up). Turns out she wasn't interested in the song, but in the GROOVE of the song. That's cool. It's a good groove.
She pictured the groove being used in a love scene between the male and female leads, and I can kind of see that - if it's a noir kind of feel and it turned out that it was. Feeling bold, I mentioned the album the song was from and sent her a copy. She sent me a rough outline of the script and mentioned some of the cast (I only remember one name, and I'll get to that). She selected three other songs and ON MY BIRTHDAY, 1994, she sent me a licensing contract. I signed. She signed.
Done deal. $50,000.00 payday. You can ask my wife, I damned near passed out. This is 1994 $50K, not 2022 $50K. We could have lived off that for a couple years. The tech boom hadn't started yet and we were actually thinking about putting a down payment on a house. In San Francisco.
I offered to score the movie (or at least some of it) and we were negotiating about it. I would get frequent updates about the movie.It was going to film in Paris in the winter. I saw a couple of notices in the trade papers, that such-and-such actor had signed on to the project and so on. We had phone calls and e-mails back and forth about what kind of music would work in what scenes, other crime thrillers that we were copying the style of, the possibility of throwing new music or finding other bands to include in the soundtrack. It was a pretty heady time for me. My big break had come.
And by the end of the year the whole project had fallen apart. I don't know what really happened. What I was told was that the financing fell apart, which happens in these sorts of things. The schedule moved and the lead actor bowed out. I started getting excuses, missed phone calls, missed meetings.
I contacted my lawyer (I have a VERY GOOD lawyer) and he told me that I have a contract - it doesn't matter if the movie gets made or not. I get paid either way. I had a solid contract for a $50K license fee and I should demand payment.
So I did. I was given a few excuses about "you don't understand how the movie business works" (I actually do - former TV executive and all that, a distant relative with an Oscar, plus a few other things I'm not going to get into now). If the movie didn't happen I wasn't going to get a dime.
We sent a certified letter demanding that the contract be honored. In return I received a certified letter notifying me that the producer had filed for bankruptcy, named me as a creditor, and listed her assets as zero.
The Bankruptcy was done in Texas and I could not attend the hearing.
I didn't get paid. That lead actor, who had a contract where he got paid whether he did the role or not, was also named as a creditor. I have no idea if he got anything. My lawyer wondered if the producer had done this kind of contract with everyone and the whole thing just imploded. I never found out.
I do know that this producer tried to launch a different movie several years later with the exact same results. I like to think that she's a Walmart greeter now but I honestly have no clue.
I'm doing fine these days. So is Phillip Michael Thomas - the actor who was supposed to be the lead and used to be one of the stars of the original Miami Vice - went on to make a move called River of Stone instead. A distant relative of mine was in that movie (the same one as mentioned above) but alas we never spoke about it. The fact that Thomas was to be in the movie is one of the few things I know was true - he was also listed as a creditor.
Well, the world kept moving on and so did I. Three years later I would be signed to my second record deal and have a new album out and the industry began to change. It's been a long while now, and there's no point being bitter about it. It was an event in my life from nearly a lifetime ago and that's that.
But now that I'm a well-established indie musician with a following it occurs to me that I can take control of the soundtrack of the movie that never happened and release my contribution to it on my own. So here it is: "Unfilmed Movie Soundtrack from the 1990's" - a collection of material I've previously released under a different name a long time ago, packaged as it would have been in the mid 1990's.
About the songs:
First of all, I play everything, and make every sound - including the dog barking on "Defending Luther". The workhouse of these songs is my 12-string acoustic guitar, but I would not consider any of this acoustic music. This is alternative rock.
Track 1: "Razor's Edge". Yes, the song is kind of dated in terms of sexual mores these days but at the time it was daring. Our bassist actually blushed the first time he heard it. It's VERY VERY Hetero, and I acknowledge that. It's not a song that I would write today. In my defense it's based on a real person, and she gave permission for me to perform and play the song long before anyone else heard it. She firmly believed (and I agree) that there is no reason that the woman in the relationship can't be the dominant voice. Bill Kroedel, who engineered the track, loved how the 12-string echoed slightly in the room.
Track 2: "Cross-Examination". This was actually a single back in 1990, although it didn't really go anywhere. The names in the song are just random picks. I wanted the song to have the feel of a "dark" Wonder Stuff song.
Track 3: "Defending Luther". This is the song with the groove. It was inspired by the story of the Florida Rap band "Two Live Crew", who at that time had been sentenced to prison for the quite frankly filthy lyrical contact of their work. It became a big 1st amendment issue and court case, and got a ton of publicity. I personally think the music was terrible, but they had the right to do it. They eventually won, but as of the moment I had written the song it was still up in the air. There is a spoken word section that my dad hated, because he didn't like swearing in songs. He liked the message, but not the "fuck you". This from a man who could swear like a sailor with 5 minutes left on shore leave and 60 miles still to drive. The groove is pretty nice - loosely based on a song by The Cure. The man from Compton was Ice Cube.
Track 4: "Back Pocket". This song has always felt like a scene from a Film Noir to me, and I wrote it as such. It's the only song in the collection (and the original album) where the vocals aren't doubled. The NPR station in Los Angeles played it a few times.
I had a lyric video made for "Razor's Edge", which I am releasing as a new single. The album will be available at all the usual places.
New music coming once my voice is fully recovered from having Covid twice over the summer. Soon!
A great week for new music from Scary Pockets with Rozzi, Lobate Scarp, Todd Rundgren and Thomas Dolby, Guided by Voices, Tank and the Bangas, Buddy Guy, Brocken Bells, Bush, The Smashing Pumpkins and so much more. Enjoy!
Here is this week's artists listed by twitter handle unless otherwise noted:
@scarypockets featuring @thisisrozzi @LobateScarp featuring p4jimmy (Instagram) @toddrundgren and @ThomasDolby @thedolcediablo with mellomattsnumb (Instagram) @_GuidedByVoices @CathalMusic and @arielposen @TankandDaBangas Dr.Feelgood.Official (Meta) @lcdsoundsystem Bill Callahan, signed to @dragcityrecords @TheRealBuddyGuy @SmashingPumpkin @theVoicePlay featuring @Lauren_Paley @kinggizzard @broken_bells @alvvaysband @Bartees_Strange @officialcult @jeandawsn with @MirrorKissesVA @TheOrielles @bushofficial @aawilliamsmusic @peeldreamzine @music_johanna @LobateScarp (again) featuring @RyoOkumoto with p4jimmy (Instagram)
Crazy week for new music from artists as diverse as B'z, Adam Bostock, Polyphia with Steve Vai, 2nd Grade, OFF, Bjork, Nandi Bushell and much more. Enjoy!
Here is a listing of this week's artists by twitter handle unless otherwise marked:
@polyphia featuring @stevevai RIJELL @Soumyajit42 with anaclarahaley (Instagram - she has a twitter account but it hasn't been updated in 11 years) @SoundSwansea mixed by John William Davies (socials unknown) @AvlisSatori @AdamBostockRock @Bz_Official @PIXIES @beck @dazysound @broken_bells @bjork with emilienicolasofficial (Instagram) @OFFofficial @melodyprochet Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble (no socials, but signed to @tsq2) @FujiyaAndMiyagi @2ndgradephilly @RobbenFord, @billevanssax, @djonesbassist, @KeithCarlock featuring @Max_Mutzke @_mamalarky_ @hellothesuperm1 @Nandi_Bushell (watch yourselves - she's only 12) mythicsunship.bandcamp dot com (bandcamp)
Don't really feel like ranting today. I told a few Republicans "Don't fucking lie to me" yesterday (after they lied to me) and got suspended by the twitter police bot. for 12 hours.
Feh.
But because I love you, have some Melbourne Ska Orchestra:
