RIAA drops their pants, er...suit against the Rio player, coppers nab net pirate, Albert and Moss sue Universal, K-tel...they're everywhere!, Cibo Matto get burgled, Everclear beat up fans for fun, did Green River kill Mia Zapata, Blues Traveler plays the blues, and Lynyrd Skynyrd vs. Marilyn Manson. All this plus the return of the Sixty Minute Soundtack.

In its only stop on American shores, the WOMAD festival once again pitched its tent in the Pacific Northwest for three days of music and art that were second to none. In this month's Profiles, eP set out to capture the sights, sounds and smiles of WOMAD USA, and bring back some of the lasting impressions made by both artist and audience.

There's a rotten smell coming out of the music scene and it's causing Earpollution's Cecil Beatty-Yasutake to give some serious thought to becoming a field medic. Armed only with a sharpened pen and black, black ink, he's ready to step up and do battlefield operation where necessary. This month's Cool By Proxy finds Cecil cutting into rap music and peeling away the layers to get at the damaged tissue underneath.