In the news…

I’ve posted quite a bit of stuff lately, and I don’t want you to miss out.

Best of 2005 – #31 – Smog
Get To Know Your Blogger – You Ain’t No Picasso
Get To Know Your Blogger – Gorilla Vs. Bear

Now, onto the good stuff….

TMWSIY* posts 3 tracks from the Seu Jorge Life Aquatic sessions.

Largehearted Boy lists his 11 favorite albums of the year.

While technically out of the general scope of music I normally feature on this site, I’ve found the Grateful Dead live archive battle to be very interesting. Basically, the Grateful Dead had allowed free downloading of their shows from a the Archive.org website until recently. According to this Rolling Stone article, The Grateful Dead fans got angry, signed petitions, and prepared to boycott the legendary jam band’s concerts and merchandise.

The petition states: “Now it appears doing the right thing, for the fans, has given way to greed . . . We’ve lost all respect for this organization . . . We refuse to support any aspect of GDM until we see change.” The petition has already picked up thousands of signatures. A kindler, gentler petition is also circulating, with nearly an additional thousand signatures.

Well, it worked because all of the concerts will once again be available on the Archive.org site according to this article today.

I found this to be a particular good counter point raised by David Gans — host of the radio show the Grateful Dead Hour:

“The howling has begun, and the sense of entitlement that has always concerned me is in full flower.” Countering claims that the Dead are doing this to maintain “champagne-and-Porsche lifestyles,” Gans mentioned that Grateful Dead Productions, the band’s business wing, was recently forced to downsize. Meanwhile, fans are still permitted to trade shows, and Live Music Archive is developing a special section for streaming thousands of the band’s audience recordings. “I think it’s worthwhile to ask ourselves if there isn’t some greed on the other side of the equation,” wrote Gans, pointing to the fans.