digimills

“Offstage with Yoko Ono” is set to premiere today at 6pm on The Loft (ch 50) as part of XM Satellite Radio’s ongoing “Offstage” original music series.”

“The exclusive multi-part special will feature Ono with complete creative control selecting the music of her choice and speaking openly about whatever she chooses. In conjunction with the show’s debut, XM will be hosting an event during Art Basel at Social Miami at Sagamore.”

Found out today I’ll be attending that Sagamore event. I’ll try to update with some pics afterwards.

(via orbitcast)

Petr Janata, a neuroscientist at the UC Davis, just received a $1 million grant to figure out “why listening to music, and achieving that state of being in the musical groove, is such a heady experience.”

“People talk about feeling connected with everything, or that there’s a sense of timelessness or profound joy in both music and spiritual experiences,” says Janata. “You compare those descriptions, whether they’re the same with music as with something else, and then as a neuroscientist, I view the brain mechanism. If I can show the same part of the brain being modulated in these different contexts, then there’s no difference at the neuroscience level, and the experiences are the same, regardless of the language that one lays on it.”

Since The Grateful Dead are no more, Janata plans on using The String Cheese Incident for the study, but their status is in limbo as a member just announced he’ll be leaving the band.

And drugs will be left out of the study:

“While it’s true a lot of people have profound experiences that are drug-related, it’s not that way for everyone,” says Janata. “You can find lots of people that into the groove purely through the music, with nothing but a bottle of water in their hands.”

link

Check out this series of photos showing the merger of an original NES and a guitar. The end product turned out great, especially considering his crazy cutting tool.

link

Acoustic, electric and piano available from Jammin Johns
May have to add a toilet category soon.

link (via redferret)

Until today I wasn’t aware that a third satellite radio company, WorldSpace, existed. Probably because it covers Europe, Asia and Africa.
Sounds like they have a lot of work to do, they aren’t even available in vehicles yet.

link (via orbitcast)

So far I’m loving Songbird. It’s only at version 0.2 and it crashed on me within my first 2 hours of previewing it, but it’s features are fabulous. This media player is built on the same platform as firefox and plays local and online music. Go to any web site and it will scan the page finding the media and showing a playlist. Click on any of the songs, play it, pause it, download it to your library. A built-in search box includes Singingfish, elbo.ws and others.

If I haven’t convinced you to download this app, this screencast should.

Friendly with Windows, Mac and Linux

link (via Alex)

I’d like to have been in the meeting when this idea came up. “Adding the word Fillmore to the venue name will definitely increase attendence!” I’d have suggested “Super Terrific Fun-time Jackie Gleason Theater” though.

“The (Miami) Herald reported that Live Nation, the top U.S. concert promoter, said they would rename the South Beach venue “The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Incredible Jackie Gleason Theater” in an effort to put a more modern spin on the venue.”

link

“On August 19 the reggae world lost one of its most prominent figures. Joseph Hill, the leader of the veteran reggae group, Culture unexpectedly passed away from a sudden illness. At the time, the group was in Berlin, Germany at the mid-point of a European tour.”

“Joseph Hill will probably be best remembered for the impact Culture had on the reggae scene when they first appeared in 1976. During this period the group had a string of highly successful singles for producers Joe Gibbs and Sonia Pottinger. Perhaps most well known was the song ‘Two Sevens Clash’ which, due to its infectious rhythm and apocalyptic imagery, left a lasting impression on both Jamaicans and UK punks. The ‘Two Sevens Clash’ album was a landmark in reggae music and was named by Rolling Stone magazine in 2002 as one of the ‘50 Coolest Records’ - the only single artist reggae album to make the list. The group also scored a major hit with ‘Stop Fussing and Fighting’, a song that addressed the chaotic political climate of the late 1970s and the attempt on Bob Marley’s life.”

culturereggae.net

“In a startling new study, researchers from Columbia University in New York City have concluded that boys’ choice in music can predict their future risk of HIV infection. Specifically, boys who prefer gospel, techno and pop music have the highest risk of HIV than do fans of other styles, including hip hop, reports Agence France Presse.”

http://channels.isp.netscape.com/whatsnew/default.jsp?story=20060818-1052