Still getting huge amounts of comment spam (thanks nice girl lesbian, but no thanks). It's getting ever more poetic. One, for health care, really caught my eye--

"infringing foresters.sweating comrades regrouped Anatolian Berman miscarriage"

Isn't that a Mars Volta lyric? And if it isn't, shouldn't it be? Followed by thirty minute cucaracha track, of course.

Mick Hucknall on copyright.. "Far from obstructing this exchange of inspiration, copyright facilitates sampling" Will there be a more fatuous, idiotic or plain wrong statement made this year?

God, that Killers LP is crap. Appalling sub-Springsteen warbling, over-meaningful lyrics, banal tunes. Not much better is the MY Chemical Romance one. Thought it was meant to be heavy? About as heavy as Japan's first LP. Bad pop music. God, I'm getting old.

Wonder if, if they'd shouted 'che galida manina' while doing the mugging, Puccini would have been to blame?

Yes, yes, I understand that illegal downloads are costing rhe record industry millions. £1.1bn over three years in fact. It says so in The Times and Reuters and the Evening Standard. There's also the same story here, here, here and here. And I mean exactly the same story. But where's the methodology? How on earth were these figures arrived at? No one seems interested in any consideration, certainly in challenging the figures. Only the good old BBC seems to have done any further analysis (though Monsters and Critics mysteriously carries the same quotes). But, hey, if you're a hack just print the press release, right?

In another visit of the d'uhhr monkey to T'Grauniad, the ever-desperate to be published Dave Simpson writes that ex-Goths are likely to be lawyers, meejah types and other professionals. And therefore that parents shouldn't be frightened of this particualr youth craze. Apart from the fact that parents today were probably punks or summat worse (bobby-soxers?). its alwasy been the case the gothdom has been relentlessly middle-class. The fact that middle-class kids get to be professionals is hardly news. And Simpson gets in another quote from main man of Leeds indie music, Choque Hosein. I count that to be the third mention of his name in Simpson's articles this year. While a lovely guy, his label isn't that important. Anyone who brought Black Wire to us deserves an occasional kicking.

That Pete Doherty. He's not Oscar Wilde is he? Guardian desperate for some younger readers presumably.

Not sure what happened there, but apologies to anyone who noticed the outtage. Gave me time to wander around the interweb a bit, and hang out at the Bad Plus site. The Bad Plus are one of the best young power-jazz acts in the world, most noticeable for an eclectic range of covers (heart of Glass, something by Aphex, Smells Like Teen Spirit). They're also on Sony and suffered from the recent rootkit debacle. It was a strange list of acts that Sony inflicted this DRM on, mostly seeming to be jazz (Blaket, Armstrong, Mulligan) rather than the most-piratable targets. The Plus also blog, and blog properly, rather than the written-by-a-junior-PR style you'd expect from a Sony-signed act. Therein, various ruminations on music, books, touring and especially the contributions of Charlie Haden to American (and world) music. THis cynicalbastard likes Charlie Haden.