Monday, May 28, 2007

Rest, Fair Sir: Charles Nelson Reilly

Charles Nelson Reilly died. Tony Award winning actor, Tony nominated director, noted opera director,...& yeah, he did game shows to pay the bills.
Here's a clip from a film of his one-man show "Life of Reilly".

Godspeed Sir.
Love & Peace, Clarence

Saturday, May 26, 2007

New tracks on OlioRadio

It's (past) time for a new playlist on OlioRadio. Although there've been tracks added over the last few weeks, I've got a fresh playlist of music and stuff riding the InterTubes 24/7.
And who's the Noobs? Well! Here comes a list of the Artistes freshly added:
20/20 - Alan King - Allen Toussaint - Ann Peebles - Apples in Stereo - Billy Jones (no relation) - Bing Crosby and the Mills Brothers - Bobby Fuller Four - Bow Wow Wow (by request ;) ) - Catherine Duc - Dwight Yokum - Earlimart - Enigma - Esquerita - Gregorian Sense - Husker Du - Insecto - Irma Thomas - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Lonestar Pornstar - Long John Hunter - Miss Leslie and Her Juke-Jointers (YES!!!!) - Neurosonic - the New York Dolls (yayyyyyyy!!!) - Patti Smith - R.E.M. - Richard Ashcroft and Coldplay (live from Live8) - Schizowave - Scraps of Tape - Sevrin - Shari Lewis and Lambchop - Shimura Curves - Superchunk - The Artesians - The Beatles - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Mighty Hannibal - The Residents - The Russian Futurists - The Texas Tornados - The Weakerthans - Trapeze - Warren Zevon (live on the newly re-released Stand in the Fire) - Willis Alan Ramsey - and Zinoeki. A whole bunch o' music goin' on!
And please surf to savenetradio.org for info about the Internet Radio Equality Act, why it is desperately needed, and how you can help. A couple of minutes of your time can help save this station and thousands of others.
Love and Peace, Clarence

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Internet Radio bill in the Senate

The Internet Radio Equality Act has been introduced in the U.S.Senate! Please call your Senators now!

U.S. Senate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Melissa Merz, (202) 224-1170 (Wyden)
May 10, 2007 Becky Ogilvie (202) 228-3107 (Brownback)

Wyden, Brownback Propose Bill to Keep Internet Radio in Play

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) today proposed legislation to keep Internet radio alive by vacating a Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision that could increase Internet radio sound recording royalties by 300 percent to 1,200 percent.

According to an Arbitron and Edison Media Research, 52 million people listened to Internet radio at least once a month in 2006. Bridge Ratings and Research predicts that number
will double within three years and reach nearly 200 million by 2020.

July 15, when collection begins on the new royalty fees, literally will be the day the music died. Most Internet radio Webcasters will be driven out of business because of a massive retroactive royalty rate that is above total revenues for most in the business.

For large Webcasters, the royalty increase could be between 40 percent and 70 percent of revenues.

For small Webcasters the royalty increase could reach up to 1,200 percent of revenues.

Currently, terrestrial radio stations only pay royalties to songwriters. Internet radio and
satellite radio pay royalties to both songwriters and record companies/recording artists. However
satellite radio only pays royalties of 7.5 percent of their revenue. The Internet Radio Equality
Act of 2007 corrects the enormous disparity created by the CRB by putting Internet radio on par with satellite radio. Additionally, the legislation would create special royalty rules for the Webcasting arms of non-commercial broadcasters like National Public Radio and college radio
to ensure they are not left out of reaching new listeners on the Internet.

“Our bill is about standing up for folks ranging from a small Webcaster in a basement in Corvallis to an innovative startup in Beaverton to a new band trying to be heard in Portland to a huge music fan in Coos Bay” Wyden said. “Keeping Internet radio alive is part of a broader issue that is important to me -- keeping the e-commerce engine running by preventing discrimination against it.”

“I am alarmed by the recent Copyright Royalty Board decision and the effect it will have on Internet radio – especially small Webcasters with limited revenue streams. I am hopeful that with this bipartisan legislation Internet radio will continue to flourish,” said Brownback, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Jefferson Public Radio joins with all our public radio colleagues in thanking Senators Wyden and Brownback for introducing legislation that will permit us to continue to serve Weblisteners all across America,” said Ronald Kramer, Executive Director of Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland, Oregon. “The public service mission of public radio Webcasters enables programming diversity not available elsewhere. Without passage of Senators Wyden’s and Brownback’s legislation, the decision of the Copyright Royalty Board will dramatically curtail the Webcast programming diversity we wish to continue providing.”

The legislation also will undo the prohibitive $500 per channel minimum royalty fee set by the CRB. Wyden and Brownback noted that Internet radio is not limited by the number of “channels” available, as traditional radio is. Thus, while regular radio stations play a very limited number of mostly popular songs that have a mass audience, Internet radio – not confined by spectrum capacity – gives any artist or consumer the ability to have their own channel. This allows independent artists to have a medium to reach new and old fans and allows consumers to customize their own radio stations to their liking.

Wyden’s and Brownback’s bill will be the Senate companion to H.R. 2060, the Internet Radio Equality Act, introduced April 23 by U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo(R-IL).

“This Titanic rate increase will sink many Webcasters if we don’t act,” said Inslee, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. “We need a more balanced rate structure that allows Internet radio to thrive, promotes media diversity and rewards artists for the use of their intellectual property.”

“I applaud Senators Wyden and Brownback for taking leadership of this important legislation in the Senate so we can overturn these unfair royalty rates that threaten to bankrupt our small Webcasters and silence the music on the Internet,” Manzullo said.

“Since we introduced our legislation in the House two weeks ago, I have been inundated with messages from Internet radio listeners throughout the country thanking me for protecting this wonderful medium. This issue has ignited a flurry of passion from music lovers throughout our country, and I again thank Senators Wyden and Brownback for
their efforts to help keep the music playing on the Internet.”


Love & Peace, Clarence

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

See April's Top 25 tracks on OlioRadio!

Howdy Howdy Oliofans! Here's your OlioRadio Top 25 Tracks for April 2007. As always, these are the top tracks (27, due to ties) as rated by You, the listeners, for the past 30 days.

This month shows the eclecticism that OlioRadio is known for. The top tracks include perennial favorites Nina Gordon, Blind Willie Johnson, and 'Under the Sheltering Sky' by one of my five favorite bands of recorded history, Walking Wounded. There are early 20th century recordings such as 'Nobody', recorded in 1905 by the great Bert Williams, along with songs from later decades by The California Ramblers, The Du-Droppers, The Exotics (a great ad for Bill McKay Chevy!), and Todd Rundgren. And tracks from the last couple of years by Collusion and Vijaya. You will not hear this variety of musical styles and eras anywhere but OlioRadio!

The Internet Radio Equality Act was just introduced in the U.S.House of Representatives. This bill is the last chance for Internet Radio stations like OlioRadio to survive after May 15th. It rolls back the impossibly high copyright royalty rates set in March to a level that's fair to Artists and Webcasters. If this bill doesn't pass the House & Senate by May 15th, most, maybe all, Internet Radio stations in the USA will have to shut down. Go to savenetradio.org to help keep OlioRadio & thousands of internet radio stations alive!

Love and Peace, Clarence