Tastemaker

Media Music USA, a music licensing and management company, is starting something called MP3 Weekly.

Each week their A&R team searches out and selects new music from underground and underexposed talent; turning on friends, fans and the entertainment industry to interesting sounds from every corner of the world. You'll be sent a free MP3 each week. Below, see this week's pick:

MP3 WEEKLY for February 27, 2006:

Artist: Glued For Thought
Track: Deep Frying (Is Such Sweet Sorrow)

When he's not producing films like Mad Hot Ballroom, Brian David Cange makes cinematic joke pop with fellow deviant John Dallam and a revolving cast of several under the moniker Glued For Thought. Mixing satirical spoken wordplay and junk food in a musical rumpus room that is as varied as it is, well, deranged, GFT crawls the crooked line between high and low art - and often tumbles right off of it in a fit of giggles. "Deep Frying" is all electro Indian raga, a Midwestern waitress's dreams of Colorado skiing and icy cold slaps of reality. If you enjoy beer belly laughs with your politics and diner food, you'll want to get Glued. "All You Can Eat" is available in limited quantities - find out more here.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - State and local wildlife experts are trying to figure out what led more than a thousand flounder, spot and pin fish to beach themselves at the Marine Corps' New River air base — and then swim away.

They believe it may be related to a popular phenomenon known in coastal Alabama as "jubilee."

The fish surfaced in shallow water Friday morning. They were lethargic, but alive. "It's kind of strange," said Mike Sanderford, New River Riverkeeper. "It's a bunch of fish up here, but they're not dead. They're almost docile."

When he arrived, Sanderford said, the fish were lying in shallow water and allowed him to touch them before they swam away.

Representatives of the Division of Water Quality, N.C. Marine Fisheries and N.C. Marine Patrol checked on the fish along the air station's shoreline Friday morning. One expert estimated about 1,000 to 1,500 were crowded in the waterline.

But by afternoon, they were gone. The timing matched another oddity: the water's oxygen level, which veered from one extreme to the other.

"We measured the oxygen levels in the water this morning and they were very low," said Stephanie Garrett, environmental technician with DWQ. "Then two and a half hours later, they were high."

She said that might be a clue that the area saw a case of the "jubilee" phenomenon, in which thousands of live, healthy fish beach themselves.

Scientists know that a jubilee occurs when variety of factors deoxygenate the water, forcing fish to the shore.
-AP

Science Magazine reports that "deliberate thinking about simple decisions (such as buying a shampoo) does yield choices that are judged to be more satisfying than those made with little thought, as expected. However, as the decisions become complex (more expensive items with many characteristics, such as cars), better decisions and happier ones come from not attending to the choices but allowing one's unconscious to sift through the many permutations for the optimal combination."

So we experience the joy of deciding to take deliberate action vis a vis the little things in life, but prefer to let go of conscious responsibility for the big decisions. Interesting. I'd tie this in to the fact that falling in love is chemically similar to madness, or what i'd like to call "joyous abandon." We fall in love a bit with our big purchases, our cars or homes or computers etc. We fall in love, and we take the plunge, leaping without looking, smiling all the way...

Ok, I promise I'll get back to being humorous and fun. But just click on this link

Here's an informative tidbit: "minorities make up only 5% of the Senate, although they make up just under 20% of the US population. Looking at each race individually is almost futile, since there are just five minority members. The only African-American Senator is Barack Obama, just elected on November 2nd, 2004. There are 2 Hispanic and 2 Asian senators."

Women make up 14% of the Senate, although we are slightly over half the total population. Still striving, people.

The Be Nice Art Party is tonite at Orchard Bar on Orchard St. between Houston and Stanton!

As noted on Gothamist: "Be Nice is a free art show and party that takes place at Orchard Bar every so often, with apparently a pretty good sonic backdrop. This week's theme is "On My Bedroom Wall" - a collection of personal items from the bedroom wall including objects and images of inspiration, photographs of favorite memories and past-times hung salon style."

Found Art, Music, Drinking... my goodness, it sounds like the mid-nineties. Love it.

In the history of the United States, there have been only 5 African-American senators. 2 of these were immediately following the Civil War. 1 is current freshman senator, Barak Obama. So in the past 140-odd years, there have been only 3 others.

Now I'm bitten by the bug: in the next few days, i'll be looking up other Congressional facts. Like how many women and other minority-group senators have served on Capitol Hill.

I have to admit, politics has become much more fascinating to me since the Bush Imperial Front has started to crumble. Call me idealistic, but i can't imagine that the public at large would allow the current administration to successfully create a de facto military dictatorship. If Bush thinks he can save Homeland Security's ass by weakening our port security, thereby neccessitating Homeland oversight to bind the wound... well, thank goodness even conservatives have a problem with it. Bush Senior may have created the Crack epidemic to control inner city populations while funding Central American rebels and Middle East unrest, but damn it should be fun to hear the government watchdogs barking up Bush Junior's leg.

If you're interested in topics such as the ongoing history of America's Felon-Based Disenfranchisement, read this book:

"Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction" by Eric Foner and Joshua Brown.

I'll put the link in tomorrow - it's available everywhere. These two respected historians gave a riveting interview on WNYC, and we're ordering the book today. Review to follow in the coming weeks.

My friend Sara Shaoul has a divine voice, an intruiging and beguiling sound all her own. She's got this soaring, warbling, rootsy thing going on that just hits my heartstrings. I've been waiting for her to break out with her own act, and now she's finally done it! Her new band, O Pioneers, debuts tuesday at Pianos.

O Pioneers
at PIANOS 9:30pm Tuesday, Feb. 28th
158 Ludlow, just south of Stanton

check out their sound at www.myspace.com/opioneersnyc

Associated Press
Memoir writers on hot seat, by Hillel Italie

"Erlbaum, whose memoir comes out in March, offers a thorough and conversational disclaimer. The book tells of being on her own in New York City beginning at age 15, leading a life of sex, drugs and violence. While Frey has said that he sensationalized his life, Erlbaum's note suggests she did the opposite.

'This is a work of narrative nonfiction,' Erlbaum writes. 'Names and identifying details have been changed, and some major characters are composites. Dialogue has been re-created, and certain events are presented out of order. I had to leave out a lot of the good stuff. Sorry.'"

Janice Erlbaum, aka Girlbomb, has been a high-quality act her whole life. Her writing, exemplary. Her courage, honesty, and true humility are a light in the current cluttered, dark, basement-y feeling of memoir-dom. I can personally vouch for the fact that her life had years that were so hard, they'd HAVE to be edited to be believed. Truth is often even scarier than the fiction others make up. Her book Girlbomb comes out in March.

Jonathan Gray's Annual Post-Sundance Party!
No need to describe the awesomeness of this event, just COME.

at the Loft
476 Broome St. #5A between Greene and Wooster
9-late, BYOWhatever

And post-Sundance festival news: congrats and good luck to Josh, Mary Jane, and the rest of the peeps on The Hawk Is Dying - going to Cannes!

Congrats also to Flannel Pajamas - in Berlin!