I totally lied… I’ve heard “It’s my dick in a box” mentioned in my voicemails, IMs and e-mails. So here it is for those out of touch with all nerdy reality.

I know… The dick in a box video is sooooo 4 days ago, so I’ll skip that and go straight to a music video I enjoyed the other day. I’m not really ever into “urban music” but I’ve been watching this group’s video and for some reason I’m really into their style and his voice. Thumbs up from Shea.

Shane Carey, a musician from Arizona, sent this to gapingvoid.com:

A Music Mini-festo.

Amateur musicians: You no longer need to “make it big.”
The Internet is slowly killing the myth that only rock stars make popular music. The record industry still controls most of the fame and fortune, but a record contract is no longer necessary to reach listeners. If all you want is people to hear your music, get a website or put it on MySpace. Maybe you’ll get fame if 50 million people like it, and maybe you’ll have fortune if they send some money your way. If not, at least you have shared your music. Needing stardom puts the power in someone else’s hands; being a musician is yours, right now.

Professional musicians: Kill your contracts.
To pick an example, Joe Satriani fans cannot just replace him with some other virtuoso guitarist released under a Creative Commons license; only Joe will do. Your uniqueness means the fans can’t escape the music industry unless you do it first. Don’t sign; if you’ve signed, don’t renew. If you can’t afford to quit without your fans’ support, make sure they know it. If they won’t give you that support, then you’re not the star that you thought you were, and the record industry owns you more than you know.

Music fans: Support your musicians.
Enough about your right to hear the music, whether you can afford it or not: living in a world where people can afford to make that music is a privilege to be earned. Professional musicians who stop receiving money will have to start spending their days at jobs instead of writing music. A free download is not necessarily stealing, but if you don’t want to wait ten years for the next album to come out, throw them a few bucks to buy them the time.

Record industry professionals: Change or die.
An industry might exist in which people like you make money from the honest practice of making it easy for musicians to get their music to listeners, but yours is not currently such an industry, or honest practice. Without you, the musician can author, record, and distribute; without the musician, you have no product. Stop alienating your market by suing them for telling you that the value you add is no longer worth the asking price: increase your value, lower the price, or get out of the business and leave the producers and consumers to work it out amongst themselves.

I saw Shooter Jennings on Sunday night and it was one of the best shows I’ve been to in along time. There is something so real about soulful about his music. They sounded really good and the place was not crowed at all. The opening band “Carter Falco” was quite impressive as well. If you haven’t checked out shooter, please do.

Next week I’m seeing the Blind Boys of Alabama…

Fredd Kambo:

“I don’t bother “networking” anymore, instead, I try to build relationships with people I find interesting, and who I think are doing interesting things. And I make it my mission to help them in any way I can to achieve their mission. I find this much more satisfying, much more honorable, and much more fun. And this is the cool thing about people….When you help them out in this way, they help you out. Not because it’s a tit for tat deal, but because both parties are engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship that extends beyond the next favor.”

Work is so damn stressful around the holidays. A lot of people are in bad moods and everyone is stressed. Not to mention half our clients don’t pay their December bills. I’ve never been a fan of December and I know it’s only because of work. I love when clients call at 3:30 in the morning because they “thought it was earlier”. I never have any “so so” clients. I have clients that are rad and I love to work for and then I have those smaller clients that aren’t very profitable and are just a giant panic attack. I need to be a lot more discerning when picking new projects. Thats my new years resolution. Serious.

- PeekVid allows you to watch just about any TV right now for free. Sure you could find a torrent for better quality but if your in a hurry this is the way to go. Bring on The Wonder Years!

- Kevin Rose Confirms Apple iPhone (Diggnation is getting more and more annoying for me.)

- Specialized Bikes Christmas Greeting, this is pretty cool is watch.

- Seinfeld – Lost Episode (Kramer Becomes A Racist) (wow)

- DeGraeve’s Color Palette Generator is amazing, I just used it for a client. I found out about this over on My Site Stinks but Yours is Cool. You should go there.