Technology and the Music Industry: Part Two – Media Going Social

In 1996, I wrote a paper on internet-based music distribution, which I saw as the inevitable evolution of the recording industry. Unfortunately, not many record labels saw it that way at the time, but Apple was already making plans. The roadmap toward a digital appliance-based approach to computing began here. Upon Steve [...]

A Decade in Music (1969-1979) – Part I: Get Back

From 1977, several memories converge into one of the greatest decades of the five I have lived through. While George Lucas put me to sleep with his laboriously-written, but visually groundbreaking, Star Wars, my babysitting cousin could only rock me to sleep with music. I had Steve Miller Band, Kiss, Cheap Trick, Nazareth [...]

The Grammys® Transcript – Facebook Style

Watching the 52nd Annual Grammy® Awards, I was on a bit of a tear posting nonstop updates to my friends on Facebook as the show went on. Filmmaker Nina Paley suggested I post the entire collection as an article on Cinemalogue. So here are my comments and observations, unedited:
Rubin Safaya No WAY… GaGa [...]

Blood Lust

Did Bram Stoker ever suspect that Dracula would become a cultural touchstone in the evolution of gothic romance? Did he endeavor to revolutionize the horror genre in the same vein as Mary Shelley’s hauntingly humanizing Frankenstein? Did he see a man or a monster in Vlad Tepes when he borrowed from the blood-stained legacy of [...]

Radio Goo Goo

How does one analyze a business model that is sprawled upon shifting sand?   Media pundits and industry insiders are treading with care; there is no longer a magic formula on which to pattern an artist’s career, no roll-out progression guaranteed to rake in enough profit to repay hefty recording advances.     Careful observation [...]

Edward Woodward (1930-2009)

Edward Woodward’s career impressed three generations throughout the English-speaking world. Of course, he was best known to American audiences as Robert McCall in “The Equalizer,” but he was so much more than that.
He distinguished himself as a singer (12 albums), as an actor on the Shakespearean stage (“Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Pericles”, “Much Ado About [...]

The Evolution of Cinematic Violence

Of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Pauline Kael wrote:
The movie’s confusing — and, finally, corrupt — morality is not, however, what makes it such an abhorrent viewing experience. It is offensive long before one perceives where it is heading, because it has no shadings. Kubrick, a director with an arctic spirit, is determined to be [...]