While wasting time on the internet, I ran into a thread on a message board asking people what the number one song was when they were born. You can find out what it was here.

Looking over the list of number 1s is pretty interesting if not just to get a sense of the times through their choice in music. But what really struck me was that starting in 1992, the actual number of different number 1s per year completely dropped off and has more or less stayed lower since. I wonder what the exact correlation to 1992 is, but overall I think it says a lot about the effects of media consolidation. Less choice equals less number ones.

And the answer: In 1992, the FCC passed duopoly rules allowing ownership of more than one FM radio station in a single market.

jambase.com gets a fresh new look, while Andy Gadiel closes down his site.

Vegas here I come.

As seen on jambands.com:

moe. has announced that it will be offering fans high-quality digital audience recordings at this year’s moe.down, slated for Labor Day Weekend in Turin, NY. The event will feature an audio file server with both ethernet and Wi-Fi connections for those that bring laptop computers. The server will feature archived recordings - in both MP3 and SHN format - from past moe.downs as well as this year’s performances, which will be available within a few hours of each show. All downloads are free of charge.

For technical questions, contact shoop@moe.org. Complete festival details are available at www.moe.org.

So, basically, bring your laptop and wifi connection to their festival and leave with everything you heard. Along with Phish and its livephish service, Moe. is now leading the music industry by offering music, not only free of DRM, but also now directly available using 802.11. Those in the open-source world should start drawing strong parallels between open-source code and open-access to music. Are "jam bands" to music what GNU is to software?

Separately, imagine if they were streaming music live rather than a couple hours afterwards for a small charge and you brought a wifi enabled handheld with you. It seems to me that this is the future of a making money on music in the internet age.

The time schedule for the Austin City Limit's Festival has been posted. There are a couple hard choices to be made, but overall I'm pumped.

Also, in regard to String Cheese Incident's lawsuit against TicketMaster, TM has come back in response. Let me tell you how bad I feel for Ticketmaster. Good thing they don't own the rights to Zilker Park.

Pretty pathetic. I saw this message on a phish related message board. I don't know what exactly this dude did to catch the ire of DMB fans or if this is authentic, but it appears to be. Is it really necessary to go to such lengths to shut people up by invoking such an awful law?

"You are strongly encouraged to seek advice of counsel in this matter." ha.

Plenty of news of this around Austin, but the line up for the Austin City Limits Music Fesitval has been posted. Also, here's a link to Phish performing our national anthem at the NBA finals last night-- not too shabby.

Billboard has an article out with some dirt on ACL. REM is the confirmed headliner for the final night and the band list includes:

Liz Phair, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, String Cheese Incident, Patty Griffin, Alejandro Escovedo, Al Green, Leftover Salmon, Topaz, the Derailers, Richard Buckner, the Gourds, Robert Randolph, Ween, G. Love & Special Sauce, Spoon, Galactic, O.A.R., Gomez, Doyle Bramhall, Ian Moore, Asleep At The Wheel, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Mavis Staples, Pat Green

Pollstar also has some more info on who's playing on what day including more names that aren't on the list above (Soulive). The official line-up will be announced June 12th, but in the meantime pre-sale tix go on sale on May 3rd direct from the ACL website. This year the festivities take place September 19-21st.

Some more good info from this comment to a previous blog entry of mine. Austin's newest venue has got its website up. Mostly, the site is currently devoted to the 4th of July picnic (now confirmed: Neil Young), but check it out nonetheless. I've also heard rumors of Beck in attendance.

Also on their website is this link to buy tickets for the two day event. Seems they can't decide whether to put a roof on the pavillion ... I say it's time for a glass ceiling.

My only personal experience with a music venue with onsite camping is Deer Creek in Indiana. Renowned for being a great place to see a show, it looks like Austin is in store for something pretty similar. Though, like all venues in the U.S., Deer Creek has since been renamed the Verizon Wireless Music Center-- just like venues in San Antonio, Virginia Beach, Kansas City, Charlotte and Los Angeles. Happily, from this write-up it doesn't sound like Austin's new venue will meet the same fate.

As you can tell from the date on the write-up (9/02) this isn't news, but I thought I'd share anyway. It refers to the venue as Big Sky, but I think this has since been renamed Two River Canyon Amphitheater. In fact, it looks like this years July 4th picnic with Willie and the Dead will be its inaugural event. From what I hear, the amphitheater won't be 100% ready, but I hope its start is inidicative of its future. With what they have in mind, it sure sounds like they're starting with the right ideas:

* Out in the hill country with what looks like a great view of Texas greenery
* On site camping and RV park to "attract the two and three day festivals"
* Large stage to "attract major festivals"
* Vaulted pavillion roof so the lawn doesn't get an obstructed view
* Room for 25,000
* Less than 2 acres of concrete total in entire construction
* Project manager is the guy behind the Gorge Ampitheater in Washington
* Hot tubs
* No "six dollar beers and bad food"
* Secondary stage, BMX track, an equestrian center and a rodeo arena
* 3 waterfalls and a lake

Let's just hope this isn't all too ambitious. Sounds great.

Update: I found this link on the Austin American Statesman.

Continuing my music blogging for today, it looks like The Dead will be playing Austin on July 4th. I'm not familiar at all with Two River Canyon Amphitheatre, but apparently, its in Spicewood, TX.

Perhaps someone can fill me in, but I hear that Two River is South Park Meadow's replacement and that it's supposedly really cool. I think this event might be part of the Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic.

Phish is going back to Limestone, Maine, this August to have a festival. Previously they've held "The Great Went" and "Lemonwheel" on the Loring Airforce Base and it seems like its on again. Here's the news link.

Phish has made the cover of Rolling Stone. If you look at the pic of the cover itself, you'll see how phish is still determined to remain out of the mainstream by seeming weird, strange or dumb. I'm glad they continue to do this. Though, I'm not sure they do it on purpose. Also, you can read this interview outtake article. Best quotes come from Fishman who says, "I could fucking care less if everybody downloads our album off the Internet. We're not in a position to be screwed by that at all. We have the one thing the Internet can't touch -- live music. If you can actually go out and play your fucking instruments, you won't be replaced by the Internet. If you're a good live act and you put on a good show, people will buy a ticket to see your show." I couldn't agree more.