Random thoughts from Dave Haber inspired by today's news and whatever
else may be happening in his little corner of the internet.
Update: City council meeting to save Capitol moved again! [Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 06/18/08 4:28 pm] [Permalink] [Related Posts] [Digg This]
According to a new article today in the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles City Planning Council meeting scheduled to discuss the matter of constuction near the Capitol Tower in Hollywood HAS BEEN MOVED AGAIN!
Originally set for June 10, then moved to June 17, the meeting is now scheduled for June 24.
If you are in the Los Angeles area, you can help save the Capitol Studios by attending the meeting on Tuesday, June 24 at 2 p.m., at the Los Angeles City Hall, 200 North Spring Street, Hearing Room 350.
Click here to read more about why Beatles fans are needed to help save the Capitol Recording Studios!
Domo Arigato, Mr. Rocko Roboto [Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 06/18/08 2:54 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This]
You won't believe this unless you play the video for yourself.
This is The Trons, billed as the first fully autonomous robotic band. This is not electronic music, this is electronics playing music. Sort of reminds me of crude Disney animatronics, except these robots actually are doing what they appear to be doing!
The robotic members of The Trons go by the names Ham (vox and rhythm guitar), Wiggy (single string lead guitar), Swamp (drums) and Fifi (one-handed keyboards). The song in the video above is called "Sister Robot".
If you think about it, with what would be required to make robot fingers do something like actually play a guitar, this is pretty impressive. And also a little bit scary.
Half of America not yet ready to switch to digital [Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 06/11/08 4:26 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This]
According to a new report released yesterday by the government, nearly half of TV owners in the U.S. are not ready to switch to the new digital TV broadcasts.
On February 17, 2009, full-power TV stations in the US are required to stop all analog TV broadcasts. But there are still 70 million TV sets in the US who's only connection to a signal is an analog antenna. Without a converter box, these viewers will not be able to get the new digital signals.
The new reports state that up to 50% of the TV owners in the US have not yet purchased a converter box, or a newer, digital TV.
Is it likely the majority of the 35 million TV viewers have not yet done so will get a new TV or a converter box in the next eight months? What will happen when all these people lose the ability to watch TV? What will happen to the TV stations with the loss of all those viewers?
I don't know the answer to these questions, but I think that February 17 is going to a very interesting day, a day long remembered. I don't think analog TV is going to "go quietly".
Help save the Capitol Records recording studios! [Posted by Dave Haber on Sunday, 06/08/08 3:42 pm] [Permalink] [Related Posts] [Digg This]
Recently, we learned that Hollywood's historical Capitol Records Tower and Studios are threatened by the new construction of a neighboring 16-story building and parking garage. Tests have indicated that the construction would have a detrimental sonic impact on both Capitol's underground echo chambers and on the historic studios themselves and might even force the closure of Capitol Studios.
Now, thanks to the vocal support of many in the recording community, EMI/Capitol and the building's developer have agreed to mitigation efforts on the construction and operation of the parking garage.
However, help is still needed from Beatles fans, Beach Boys fans and members of the music and recording industries. If you are in the Los Angeles area and are available to support Capitol Studios, you can help by attending a Planning Council meeting next Tuesday, June 17.
Capitol needs your help to bring music community presence to the appeal by Capitol Records/EMI against a recent permit grant that will allow construction of a 16-story building and adjacent underground parking lot within feet of the Capitol Tower and Capitol Studios.
According to an EMI spokesperson, "People who are concerned about the development are encouraged by Capitol/EMI to show up at the Planning Committee meeting as the Committee members will have to ratify the restrictions and may impose further requirements on the developer. In addition, compliance with the mitigation agreement will depend on both the commitment of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) to the agreement and the community's demand that its concerns be taken seriously."
Please show your support by attending the LA City Council's Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee meeting, which is being held on Tuesday, June 17 at 2 p.m., at the Los Angeles City Hall, 200 North Spring Street, Hearing Room 350.
Last week I paid 3.99/9 for gas in Canoga Park. Ah, the good old days, because now, in my part of the San Fernando valley, gas cannot be found for lower than $4.00.
I paid 4.27/9 for gas this morning in Woodland Hills. Across the street, a "no-name" gas station was selling regular for 4.34/9.
I don't know if oil companies are making obscene profits, but something sure does seem to be out of control here. There must be something wrong when a gallon of gas is the same price as a gallon of milk...
They have a nose for bad DVDs [Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 05/14/08 3:15 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This]
Two black Labradors, named Flo and Lucky, are the world's first disc-sniffing dogs. They work at ports and other locations around the globe to help stem the flow of pirated DVDs, CDs and video games into America.
Though they work with global law enforcement authorities, the two were trained for the Motion Picture Association of America, a group which takes the billions of dollars the movie industry loses each year to DVD piracy very seriously.
The two dogs have already located millions of bogus discs, and they've so angered Malaysian pirates that a $30,000 bounty was placed on their hides.
Beatles fans should hope these pooches don't come across a shipment of Let It Be DVDs...
Records: The Vinyl Frontier [Posted by Dave Haber on Thursday, 05/01/08 6:59 am] [Permalink] [Digg This]
Old-fashioned records are making a comeback, more than two and a half decades since the release of the first CD.
According to Billboard magazine, sales of vinyl records has been increasing since 2005. Approximately 990,000 vinyl albums were purchased in 2007, according Nielsen SoundScan, a consumer tracking system used by Billboard.
And, it's not just original Beatles and Stones fans reliving their lost childhoods. According to music retailers, approximately 50 percent of today's vinyl buyers are young people in their late teens and early 20s.
Good news for those of us who never stopped loving the licorice pizzas!
Favorite Corporate Game: Bobbing for Apples [Posted by Dave Haber on Thursday, 04/03/08 3:19 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This]
This is no April Fools joke. According to bloggers on the internet today, Apple (Computers) is challenging the Big Apple (New York City) over a trademark claim to the apple (the fruit), even though New York being known as "the Big Apple" dates back to a sportswriter in the 1920s, and even though Apple (Computers), by twice paying Apple (Records) trademark infringement money, has acknowledged that it was not the first apple (the fruit) on earth.
Wired.com discovered Apple's (Computers) move, which claims the Big Apple's (New York City) new GreeNYC campaign, with an apple (the fruit) logo, might "seriously injure the reputation" of Apple (Computers) and its products. Apple (Computers) is challenging the environmental campaign's attempt to trademark its apple (seen above, left), presumably because the offending fruit might somehow confuse people familiar with their apple (above, right).
New York's response, as the Wired headline put it: Bite me.
A New Site for the New Year [Posted by Dave Haber on Tuesday, 01/01/08 7:47 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This]
After many hours and months laboring behind the scenes, I have completed and launched a new website today. It is my third site about The Beatles and it is called Beatles Collecting.
My original Beatles site, The Internet Beatles Album, in continuous operation since 1995, covers Beatles history and Beatles recordings. My second site, launched in 2000, What Goes On, brings fans the latest in Beatles news, and is updated daily.
The new site, Beatles Collecting, is sort-of like the Craig's List for Beatles fans. The site includes For Sale and Wanted Classified listings, and a Beatles Collecting forum.
I'm very excited about this new site and I hope you get a chance to check it out! Happy New Year 2008!
I guess that's what it picks up [Posted by Dave Haber on Monday, 12/10/07 6:06 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This]
I just saw this picture which is almost full-page height in an ad for Oreck vacuum cleaners in a magazine:
The way the woman is holding the vacuum cleaner, isn't she making the O look like a D? Do you know the Yiddish word for poo-poo?
