The holidays have been a busy time both in and outside the eP offices, and before we push into the new millennium we need to extend some congratulations to a few of our beloved writers.

Congratulations and shout outs to Earpollution's Erik Hage and his lovely Jen on the birth of their beautiful daughter, Sophie Maria Hage, back in November. Mother and child are doing fine. Papa Erik was last seen dusting off his Who and Stooges collections in anticipation of being able to show off to his daughter just how cool he really is. "And this is the seven-inch, blue vinyl, Japanese-only collector's edition where only 500 copies were pressed. See, you can tell from this little marking right here in the corner. And this is..."

Shout outs to Tiber Scheer, who mans the eP outpost in San Francisco, on his recent wedding, whose reception included a Cars cover band. Doesn't really get much better than that, now does it?

And finally, congratulations to eP's Senior Editor, Mark Teppo, who tied the knot with his lovely sweetie on Winter Solstice. eP would like to point out that Mark had planned that day for wedding long before Madonna decided to upstage him with her own wedding. We here in the offices would also like to congratulate Marky Mark on simply being able to stand on his own two feet for the wedding after surviving a bachelor party the previous night that included outfitting the groom in a head-to-toe pink bunny suit (see Product Placement), padlocking a real ball and chain around his ankle (a solid 20 pounds), and forcing him out on the town for an evening of bowling, karaoke and random run ins with people in gorilla suits. However, Mark should consider himself lucky that the original plans for a water dunking tank inside a seedy local bar got thwarted at the last minute.

Fidel Castro Praises John Lennon as a "Revolutionary"

The BBC News reported that on the 20th anniversary of John Lennon's murder, Cuban President Fidel Castro led a ceremony at Havana's El Vedado Park that honored the former Beatle and commemorated his death by unveiling a statue of Lennon. Castro, whose government denounced the music of the Beatles back in the Sixties, called Lennon a "revolutionary." "I am a dreamer who has seen some of his dreams become reality." Other events coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Lennon's death included a ceremony at Lennon's childhood home in Liverpool where a plaque was erected in his memory, and the unveiling of an anti-gun campaign by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, at a candlelight vigil in New York's Central Park.

R.I.P. Melody Maker

R.I.P. Melody Maker, the oldest music weekly, is calling it a day after 74 years in the business. The British magazine first began publishing in 1926 and reached a circulation of over 250,000 during its hey day in the '70s. Initially focusing on American jazz, over the decades MM became known as a premiere underground music magazine, and by the '90s it was a necessary reading staple for those involved in the Britpop scene. But due to lagging readership and, according to some, inept management, MM's publishers, IPC, decided to merge it with the weekly's fiercest competitor, New Music Express, which IPC also owns. Go figure.

Oh yeah, Melody Maker's website shows that it's "currently under redevelopment." Again, go figure.

R.I.P. 10,000 Maniacs' Rob Buck

R.I.P. 10,000 Maniacs' guitarist, Rob Buck, who died on Tuesday, December 19th at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from complications due to liver failure. In his memory, fellow bandmates have set up a memorial fund with the hopes of raising $5,000 by this August to put towards liver disease research. Please link on the following and consider making a donation in his memory.

Robert Buck Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o Chautauqua Region Community Foundation
418 Spring Street
Jamestown, New York 14701

www.gottabuck.org

Asian Dub Foundation Secures Government Funding for Youth Music Project

Through Britain's National Foundation for Youth Music, British hard-hitting political band, Asian Dub Foundation, have secured a portion of the Foundation's £10 million to help improve the quality of life for impoverished youth by investing in ways to provide young artists with access to music related education and development.

"Music makes a significant contribution to the all round development of children and young people. It contributes to greater confidence, and better communication and social skills," stated Culture Secretary Chris Smith. "This scheme will give children and young people in areas with least access to music making the chance to get involved in a range of musical activities."

Asian Dub Foundation themselves formed back in '93 from a youth project where bassist Dr. Das was teaching music technology and rapper Deeder Zaman was a student.

Pet Shop Boys/Oasis Donate Roskilde Proceeds

Both the Pet Shop Boys and Oasis have decided to donate a portion their performance proceeds (minus expenses) from last summer's Roskilde Festival to the Roskilde Tragedy 2000 Fund and other international charity organizations. The Roskilde fund was set up by festival organizers after nine concertgoers were tragically killed during Pearl Jam's set as fans rushed towards the stage. Both bands were scheduled to play the day after the tragedy, but decided against going onstage.

Britney Spears Hottest Search on Lycos

Yes, you guessed right..."Britney Spears" is the most searched for animal, mineral or vegetable on Lycos in 2000. Number Two was Japanese cartoon Dragonball Z. God have mercy...there's some lonely, lonely people out there.

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch to Speak at Music Conference

United States Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will be the keynote speaker at the Coalition for the Future of Music Policy's 2001 conference scheduled to take place at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., January 10-11. Future of Music is an activist think tank that seeks to address copyright issues affecting both musicians and businesses as a result of the continual evolution of digital technology. The focus of the conference is to create an open discussion regarding the future of digital music where all parties can address and help build policy that is equitable to "musicians, technologists and entrepreneurs."

Other confirmed panelists include Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Napster's Hank Barry and Bill Ivey, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Napster Hires Orrin Hatch's Advisor

And speaking of Orrin Hatch and Napster, it was reported in early December that Napster would be hiring Senator Hatch's chief policy advisor, Manus Cooney, as its Vice President for Corporate and Policy Development. Cooney, currently serving as Chief Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, has previously dealt with issues and litigation arising from both the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the American Inventors Protection Act.

Napster is still embroiled in the copyright infringement suit brought on by the recording industry and is currently awaiting the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on a preliminary injunction against Napster that the court stayed last July.

Product Placement

eP's Marky Mark Teppo trying to flag a ride

How to Help Destroy the Music Industry (in 12 Easy Stages)

From the webpage of the FGZ/Fighting Cocks ("London's premier Gypsy band!") comes "How to Help Destroy the Music Industry (in 12 Easy Stages)," a brilliant, short, concise piece on starting and distributing your own music and how to avoid record labels in the process. Required reading for everyone, whether you're starting out or having been at it for most of the past century.

1. Form Your Own Band. Learn to play later!

2. Form Your Own Label. It's easy as falling off a log. Just think up a name, open a P.O. box, duplicate some cassettes to sell. Give your releases some catalogue numbers and away you go. Wahey, you're a record company boss! (people take that title far more seriously than "band member").

3. Get Wired. Get a fax, get a PC, get desktop publishing. Get on the Web. Start making connections with like-minded people. Collect fanzines, get ideas, start your own 'zine. You only need scissors and a photocopier. Contact independent radio stations. Start your own music club and put on your mates' bands.

4. Distribute Using True Independents Like Shellshock or Pinnacle. Check your distributors carefully. Some use Sony distribution or Virgin as intermediaries, which is okay 'cause then they're doing the work for you; but some are mostly owned by majors.

5. License Your Product. Don't sign a publishing deal, and Don't join the Musicians' Union. Instead, license bigger companies the right to produce your work--that way you still own it all and they're paying you for the privilege. Also, rather than signing away your publishing rights, you can keep them and get a publishing company to administer them for you. Ever wonder why the big companies don't talk about this?

6. Buy a CD-R. Burn your own CDs at home, off the radio or the web. Get Real Audio. Get free MP3 software.

7. Put Your Music on Independent Web Servers. MP3.com, UBL, or put it up on your own site using Real Audio or MP3 clips.

8. Start a Pirate Station Radio or webcast. Get a FM transmitter, or use Real Audio to stream your transmissions over the web. Buy mini-transmitters and jam the airwaves!

9. Buy Shares in the Big Cartel Record Companies. You only need one share and you're a shareholder. Then you own a piece of them, and they don't own jack shit from you. You can even turn up at their shareholders' meetings and ruin their day. Imagine your tiny bedside record label owning a chunk of PolyGram!

10. Never Buy Another Music Publication. Read them in the shops or the library. Photocopy the interesting bits and pass them around. If you ever wondered why they're all in plastic bags these days, we're the reason!

11. Get Plastic. That's right kids, get a credit card and be somebody. It's the quickest way to surf and shop, and you can max it out to finance your record label/club scene/crack den etc. Failing that, get that other great equaliser, a Kalashnikov.

and finally...

12. Join Our Worldwide Massive--Become an Asset. We subscribe to the doctrine of Leaderless Resistance, meaning we ain't always gonna tell you what to do, i.e. hunt down the music industry vampires and put a stake through their hearts. Oh no, we'll let you think up your own acts of cultural terrorism. Get out there and make your own news!

Amen!

Craig Young
Editor, Earpollution