He understands what is happening in the ‘online world’ relative to IP, Content, copyright, law, and the future of the Web and the Internet.

craphound

Cory Doctorow  is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing (boingboing.net), and a contributor to Wired, Popular Science, Make, the New York Times, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. He was formerly Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. In 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

Cory_Doctorow

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Trotskyist teachers, Doctorow was raised in a Jewish activist household, working in the nuclear disarmament movement and as a Greenpeace campaigner as a child. He later served on the board of directors for the Grindstone Island Co-operative on Big Rideau Lake in Ontario, helping to run a conference center devoted to peace and social justice education and activist training. He received his high school diploma from SEED School, a free school in Toronto, and dropped out of four universities without attaining a degree.

In 1999, Doctorow founded Opencola along with John Henson and Grad Conn. Opencola was a software company, which distributed their product’s source code under GPL. In 2003, Opencola was sold.

Doctorow moved to Los Angeles in mid-2006 from London, where he had worked as European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation for four years, helping to set up the Open Rights Group, before quitting to pursue writing full-time in January 2006. Upon his departure, Doctorow was named a Fellow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Doctorow spent the 2006-2007 academic year teaching as a visiting professor at the University of Southern California, despite not holding any academic degree. He then returned to London. He is a frequent public speaker on copyright issues.

laughingsquid

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular blog Boing Boing, and a contributor to Wired, Popular Science, Make, the New York Times, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. Cory is an EFF fellow and the former Director of European Affairs at EFF. Cory will be reading from his novel, “Little Brother,” a story of high-tech teenage rebellion set in the familiar world of San Francisco. As he currently calls the UK home, this is a rare opportunity to to hear Cory read from his work in person.

Kutiman Rules !

New YouTube and viral sensation Kutiman !

My GL Misha ran up stairs the other night to my lil office and pointedly said – “You have to see this !” – Now, she is skeptical of some of my online interests, so, for her to get so enthusiastic about something in the online world makes me stand up and pay attention !

Time Magazine:

That Viral Thing
Kutiman: YouTube’s Most Famous DJ
By M.J. Stephey Friday, Mar. 20, 2009
Israeli mash-up artist Kutiman.

If you’ve ever posted a video on YouTube, then Kutiman is coming for you. On Mar. 7, the Jerusalem-born DJ (whose offline name is Ophir Kutiel) launched ThruYOU, a project with a simple enough premise: to create visual symphonies using random YouTube footage of school concerts, piano lessons, weirdly intimate soliloquies and American Idol-esque performances uploaded by people across the world. In one of his creations, dubbed “This Is What It Became,” the 26-year-old artist juxtaposes clips of a “Glitch Monster Love Bot,” a tutorial called “How to Play Conga Drums,” a dimly lit monologue for the legalization of marijuana and a demo for a toy keyboard/ tape deck that YouTuber CosmoHelectraStudio, who posted the video of the gadget, describes as “a very bad sound” and “a poor tape player.”

And that’s why Kutiman’s viral orchestras are so fascinating. Unlike Philadelphia mash-up guru Gregg Gillis (a.k.a Girl Talk), who mixes hit pop songs and familiar classics, many of the YouTube clips selected by Kutiman, when viewed apart from one another, are … well… bunk. Who wants to watch — or, for that matter, hear — a vintage fire siren wailing away on a piece of plywood? Or a Cuban percussion instrument made from a gourd. OK, that one is kinda cool, but footage of a trombone recital recorded by an unsteady, possibly intoxicated cameraman? No, thank you. In the Israeli maestro’s hands, though, such raw material becomes … well… awesome. See for yourself:

ThruYOU

Nuff Said !

Techdirt founder Mike Masnick has followed the twists and turns of the digital music debate for more than a decade, offering some of the most prescient and lucid information and arguments on the topic anywhere. Today he tackles growing calls for a voluntary music-licensing scheme, pushed most recently by Warner Music Group to universities, that would basically allow file sharing by having ISPs impose a surcharge on all users to be paid out to copyright holders. (A version of this has been done before with blank media like tape cassettes in some markets, including Canada, but this would be a massive expansion of the idea.)

TechDirt and its; republish on Wired

Really excited to see this getting picked up by Wired, for it puts the discussion one step closer to mainstream media, which in the end is where it needs to head to have more people engage in a public debate at large.

Life and times: Simon Napier-Bell

The record industry is careering towards meltdown. A good thing too, says Simon Napier-Bell, after 40 years of working with its most notorious moguls:

Everyone had the same story. ‘Systematic thievery,’ said the Dixie Chicks in their writ against Sony. ‘Intentionally fraudulent,’ claimed US music lawyer Don Engel.”

“For 50 years the major labels have thought of themselves as guardians of the music industry; in fact they’ve been its bouncers. Getting into the club used to be highly desirable. Now it doesn’t matter any more.For artists and managers, this is the moment to take things into their own hands. Artists no longer need to be held for 10 years and they no longer need to sign away ownership of their recorded copyrights. These days, an artist working closely with his manager can ensure that everything is done in the artist’s best interest. Majors have never done that. And never will.”

Thank you Simon Napier-Bell for some truth about the thugs of the RIAA !

LINK

Rob Garza (Thievery Corporation) DJs & Dust Galaxy Live
GBH & Giant Step Present: ESL Night – Friday Nov 16 at Hiro Ballroom

Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation (one of the most celebrated names in electronic music) has a new band – They are called Dust Galaxy and they have exceeded all our expectations. Just really really good. We are hearing shades of Happy Mondays, Kula Shaker, Primal Scream, Stone Roses and even Velvet Underground…. not quite what you might expect from a project headed by one half of Thievery Corporation – but more than welcome just the same.
But don’t listen to us, listen to a couple of their tracks: Overhead and Sun In Your Head – you’ll be glad yo u did.

Dust Galaxy will be performing their New York Debut live at Hiro Ballroom on Friday November 16 – and we recommend you don’t miss this show. Seriously. It’s going to be something you can tell your grandchildren about one day.

Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation will also be spinning (which he hasn’t done in NY for a while now) and the always excellent Ursula 1000 (of ESL Music) will also be taking his turn behind the decks – opening for the band.

$15 Tickets Available Here
Hiro: 371 W16th St. at 9th Ave. Doors Open 10pm. 21+ with I.D.

Holly Dolly made this Finnish song Levas Polka by the

They are singing in Finnish, but the Savo dialect.

This is a newer and funkier version of Levas Polka. Holly Dolly is the animated donkey girl.

This Holly Dolly – Levas Polka became a hit 2006.
And now she has made many songs: Ciao Ciao Goodbye, Don’t Worry Be Happy, La Isla Bonita…

Free on the Guest List!!!

Come and join us for our weekly Trashion party, upstairs at Marquee – where downtown kids meet the uptown fashionistas for some drinking, dancing and, possibly, and exchange of wardrobe tips.

DJs Alex English, Lily of the Valley and guests spin rock’n'roll, electro, new wave and classics.

Your delectable hosts – Nico XO!, Claudia, Mike Deguzman, Gomez, Jerold and Yuval Eder – will be joining us for fun and frolicks – with Nicky Digital (Nickydigital.com) taking some photos for posterity….

Complimentary admission on the GBH guest list. Click here

Marquee: 289 10th Ave (between 26th & 27th Streets)… Doors 11pm… 21+ w/ID.

Come and hear some of the finest music in the city, drink, dance and soak up the opulence of your surroundings at the lovely Lotus this Friday night.

In the main room, We’ll be bringing in some special guest DJs for the upstairs room this week, keeping you on your toes with the usual mix of hip-hop, disco, funk and R&B…
Hosted by Alejandro GBH, Jeanette, Ruben & Noel, Mike DeGuzman and Avi.

Meanwhile, at the Loaded party in the downstairs lounge, Michael T. and Melody Nelson will be playing some good, solid electro, rock’n'roll, ’80s new wave and party jams. Hosted by Amanda Lepore, Miranda Moondust, Nico XO!, and Daniel Barbosa. This week, Elhaam will be guest DJing.

Loaded Drinks Specials (available downstairs only):
$7 PBR & Shot
$5 Beers 3AM-4AM

Pictures by nickydigital.com. Drinks Specials.

Free on the Loaded guest list click here

Doors Open 10pm. 21+ w/I.D.
Lotus: 409 W14th St. between 9th & 10th Ave.s

L Magazine are joining us this week for a party featuring a live show from the excellent Mobius Band, who according to Flavorpill are “the latest proof point of the symbiotic relationship between electronic music and rock.” (we agree).

J.D. of Le Tigre will be DJing, plus Sune of The Raveonettes will also be spending some time behind the decks.

L Magazine are bringing with them Pilobolus for a special performance… we don’t want to tell you any more just in case we spoil the surprise…

Drinks Specials:
Two-4-One Vodka drinks 10pm-11pm.
$8 Tiger-Beer-and-Whisky-Chaser-Combo, and $4 Sparks all night.

NO COVER ON GUEST LIST. CLICK HERE
(Sign-up is free and simple, but only one sign-up per person – no plus ones!!)
Dress Code: Rock’n'Roll
Space is limited – so we advise coming real early and dressing up nice to avoid disappointment.

Hiro: 371 W16th St. at 9th Ave. Doors Open 9.30p