This is about sex, because power is an aphrodesiac.

My peeps,

If we could talk about something really sexxy for just a second, I'd like to discuss ... public broadcasting. Yes, it's hot stuff; caliente. But please, read on. It gets even sexier.

Corporate media's goal is to get you to watch ads. That's a great motive to fund shows like the Simpsons, The Daily Show, The OC, but it's not great for news. Whichever way these networks lean politically, they all lean economically towards profit.

PBS and NPR are the only outlets in the media landscape that stand distinct from all other media outlets, which exist to make money. Public broadcasting exists to inform, educate, inspire and engage. The critical idea here is that PBS provides an essential alternative because America is a democracy. Without public broadcasting, all of America's airwaves are run by corporations.

Now hard enough to believe, the party of power in Congress is seeking to eliminate funding for public broadcasting, even after a public outcry stopped it last year. I'm not big on online petitions, but I'm big on keeping the media landscape level. If you care about keeping the media landscape even marginally democratic, please sign the petition at this link.

http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting
thank you,

rob

Also, read the Boston Globe story on the threat to NPR and PBS.

Also, the C.S. Monitor is a rare privately-funded media source that serves up reliable news.

Also, my band Analog Jetpack will be playing in DC this month and New York City next month.

First radio play for "Hypocrisy In The Genius Room"

Party time. I just moments ago discovered the first radio play for my new album. And it happened in Boulder, Colorado, on KGNU 88.5 FM. I gotta give a shout out to Rob Bell on "Sleepless Nights", which runs primetime (MST) 12 am - 3 am. Thanks for playing "Pockets of Resistance." It feels good to be on a chart with Wilco and Sigur Ros.

It's most gratifying to get even one radio play, as I've sent about 100 packages to college radio stations around the US and Canada in the last week. If you want to know what I've been up to, make a list of 300 local/college radio stations around North America, Google search each one, and then contact them to make sure their listed music director is still pumping his fist against Clear Channel. Then about a week after sending them a package with the album and press info, do a Google search for "Hypocrisy in the Genius Room". With quotes. Quotes are the only way to Google search.

It's not an exact science, but supposedly these stations note their rotation of the album to the College Music Journal charts, to which the "record companies" pay attention. Then the so-called record companies pour money on whoever charts the most! Wow! Awesome!!! Dolla billz, y'all!!

I've come to view that as something of a fruitless hope, because the music industry is not really about how many college radio stations are playing your stuff, but who you know. But who's making music for the sake of the industry? What I've come to enjoy about this process is connecting with people and saying, "Hey, I'm sending you a copy of my new album. I hope you like it." It's even gratifying if they respond to an email or say, "Great. Can't wait to hear it." This must be preferable to a pile of generic packages addressed "attn:Music Director" on their desks.

Don't get me wrong, if this process enables me to support myself completely with music, and play constantly instead of in hitches and starts all around the town, I'm down with it. But I'm not hanging my hat on cold-calling a network of think-different stations with built-in turnover rates. I'm just hoping somebody there finds it and likes it.

I had a radio show in college at the midnight slot. My buddy Jeremiah and I called it "Bad Like Michael," and it was generally a bunch of kitsch records with a liberal application of sound effects over our dialogue. We were more about an hour of uninterrupted "Superbowl Shuffle" extended remix, featuring the Fridge, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon... the trainers... the concessioneers... second cousins of inactive-list special teams players... contest winners. And then follow that up with Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love." You feel that?

It was sort of a scattered affair. We were freshmen.

But anyway, it's good to have Colorado's KGNU represent for The Frozen Food Section, because my bro got his inspiration for the label name as a snowboarder out in those parts, and Tucker and Jon make the occasional run there for the odd show. I'll keep you updated on the airplay of the new album, and if you really want to hear the new stuff on your local station, you can call and make a request! And rock, rock on!!! Whoever charts the most wins!!!!

respectfully yrs,

rob