The World Forgot

You need to see this video. Watch it immediately. As in now.

Towards the end, when they enter the ‘guitar solo’ and ’shredding’ part of the song, I laugh every single time. Maybe I’m a nerd who thinks this is hilarious. Maybe it really is funny. Watch and decide.

Do I keep posting mixes only or should I return to my old format of sharing one artist at a time? It’s a tough decision. I can either dump thirteen tracks once a month or I could share a different artist every two or three days.

And recently there’s begun to be a lot of new readers here at The World Forgot. And I do hope to keep you entertained. So you tell me, how should I continue?

And while you think upon this momentous decision feel free to enjoy a song.

mp3 : DeVotchKa - Venus in Furs

buy How It Ends on Amazon for 13.99

I found this on YouTube and thought it deserved a spot here.

We all know him from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. It was his cover of Mad World, a Tears for Fears classic, which first put Gary on the map whether or not it sounds like an R.E.M. original. For the record, at first listen to this track, I couldn’t tell his voice from Michael Stipe’s if my life depended on it.

All covers and famous Georgian voices aside Gary Jules has finally begun making an impact on his own. His career started off rough as he was bounced around, and largely lost, in the shuffle of merging labels. For the last few years, with the exception of his massive success in England, Gary has largely been flying under the radar here in the states. All this is set to change with his latest self titled LP.

He sounds a bit musically like Jack Johnson at times, if Jack was fused together with a southern folk singer’s voice. On his website, as well as his myspace account, Gary includes a quote from a fan’s critique of him. And with this quote I agree. “[Gary has] a soulful voice . . like whispery life-soundtrack music for grown-up indie kids.” What more could you want?

myspace.com/garyjules
garyjules.com

mp3 : Gary Jules - Whiskey for Everybody
mp3 : Gary Jules - Gone Daddy
mp3 : Gary Jules - The Devil Keeps Grinning
mp3 : Gary Jules - Mad World (Tears for Fears cover)

buy Gary Jules on CDbaby for 14.00

In lieu of a new post [basically my filehost is still down. lame] I am copying and pasting a recent email I received. Please, if you don’t know anything about Net Neutrality take a moment and inform yourself. www.savetheinternet.com

Below is an email I received today. We really can make a difference in only two minutes.

Today, Congress begins its August recess while legislative debates continue to heat up that will shape our media for generations. Here’s an update on where things stand.

Over the past three months, our SavetheInternet.com campaign has elevated the crucial issue of Net Neutrality from obscurity and thrown a wrench in the phone and cable giants’ plan to overhaul our telecommunications laws behind closed doors.

While on its face Net Neutrality - along with most policy issues - are wonky, at the end of the day they are about getting critical, independent journalism into living rooms in every state - red and blue. It’s about limiting the undue influence and control of the largest media conglomerates, and creating vibrant and fearless noncommercial media that provide a real alternative to commercial media.

The unprecedented http://www.SavetheInternet.com campaign has brought together more than 750 groups from across the political spectrum. More than a million of you signed petitions and flooded Congress with calls and letters.

Tens of thousands of bloggers and MySpace users have linked to SavetheInternet.com - many of them posting free ads to counteract the multi-million-dollar misinformation campaign launched by astroturf (fake grassroots) groups like Hands Off the Internet. Creative people have submitted their own videos and songs about Net Neutrality — and no corporation paid them to do it. (http://www.savetheinternet.com/=videos)

A bad telecom bill passed the House in June. But the Senate is split over Net Neutrality - as seen in the 11-11 tie vote in the Senate committee that oversees the Internet. The phone and cable lobbyists don’t yet have the votes to move their bill forward - and chatter in Washington says it may not be voted on until after the November elections.

If we can keep the pressure up, it is believed that Net Neutrality could derail the entire bill and force Congress to start from scratch from next year. As always, we’ll be tracking this and asking for your help.

On our other fronts…

Media Ownership

You couldn’t paint a clearer picture of how media policy gets made in Washington than this photo from Details magazine of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin literally in bed with industry lobbyists.

Such slumber parties might explain why Martin recently launched his latest attempt to remove the last remaining media ownership limits. Acting under pressure from powerful media corporations, Martin seems determined to let one company swallow up three TV channels, eight radio stations and the daily newspaper all in the same town.

Martin’s indifferent to the impact such changes would have on localism and diversity - not to mention the fact that 95 percent of public comments received by the FCC oppose weakening the rules.

The current timeline puts any actual vote at the FCC after the November election. Before then, Martin has pledged to hold “a half dozen” public hearings - but he hasn’t yet scheduled a single one.

However, Free Press and our allies continue to organize a series of Town Meetings on the Future of Media. And along with staunch opponents of media consolidation such as FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, we’re gearing up for a fight this fall that will require all hands on deck. Check out http://www.StopBigMedia.com for the latest updates.

Public Broadcasting and Noncommercial Media

You probably remember Ken Tomlinson’s crusade to counter “liberal advocacy journalism” at PBS and NPR. Public pressure forced him to resign as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) amid charges that he misused power and injected his personal politics into the agency. But the partisan attack on public broadcasting continues.

Last month, President Bush nominated Warren Bell to the CPB board. He’s a television sitcom producer who has described himself as “thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues.” Brazen partisanship - on either side of the aisle - has no place in the governance of public broadcasting. In fact, the CPB was established specifically to provide a firewall from political interference. We will challenge the confirmation of any brazen partisans nominated to the board.

Meanwhile, the House recently voted for a 23 percent cut in funding for the CPB. The Senate approved full funding, but the two bills will be reconciled in December behind closed doors. We will need to raise the volume and ensure that public broadcasting is protected. At the same time, we are working toward long-term reform that gets public broadcasting away from running the annual funding gauntlet.

The Big Picture

That’s where things are in a nutshell. Together we have managed to stop nearly every major threat from Big Media during the last three years. Together, we can not only stop the next attack, but advance a vision: more investigative, critical journalism; smarter entertainment, less commercialism - a media system that supports and nourishes democracy, rather than one that undermines it.

Thanks so much for being part of Free Press and the movement for media reform.

All the best,

Josh Silver Executive Director Free Press www.freepress.net

Linford and Karin are the names of this too serious looking couple which makes up the group Over the Rhine. Hailing from the mean streets of Cincinnati they’ve been making gorgeous Midwestern folk pop for the last fifteen years. At times intensely introspective their music finds a way to touch your heart and get you to really think about what’s most important in your life.

While on tour in 2003 Karin and Linford did just that. Their marriage was faltering and they opted to quit their summer tour and retreat back home for a little bit of time alone. The story goes that they bought two cases of wine and each evening a new bottle was opened. Every night they would sit up and talk over this bottle of wine until it was gone, some conversations went quick, some took all night. And in they not only strengthened their marriage but they had begun to put together one of the most tragically beautiful albums of 2005, Drunkard’s Prayer.

The highlight of this album, for me, is the song Born which autobiographically details the journey they took alone together in the fading light of 2003.

mp3 : Over the Rhine - Born
mp3 : Over the Rhine - Flown Free

buy Drunkard’s Prayer on Amazon for 13.99

Please take a moment as a blogger or a blog reader to check out this website and use their provided resources to send a quick note to your congressmen or women. It’s all automated and it’s all quick and simple to use. You have no excuse not to become involved in the issues of net neutrality and keeping the internet free.

Please, check this out.

http://www.savetheinternet.com

And in response to all of you who think that this website won’t help the matter I am posting here the reply I received from Evan Bayh’s office. Yes, I understand it’s a form letter, but it still speaks volumes of how a simple email sent to your representatives and senators really can influence this nation.

From the Office of Evan Bayh,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me regarding net neutrality. I am grateful for your thoughts and always welcome the advice of those I am honored to represent.

The creation of the Internet represents the most important technological achievement of the last twenty years. It has fundamentally revolutionized the way that Americans work, play and interact. While the development of the Internet has created new challenges for our society, it has created far more new opportunities for companies and individuals alike to pursue their dreams and communicate with others. The success of the Internet rests on an important principle: equality of access. Every individual, every company has the same ability to turn on their computer and explore the Internet or share their content with the rest of the world. This has allowed innovative small companies to become big companies and has allowed every voice and idea - whether it is in a small town in Indiana or in Washington , D.C. - to be heard.

As you know, there is an important debate taking place about whether telecommunications companies have the right to discriminate among Internet users by charging access fees to certain individuals or companies. I believe that allowing network operators to pick and choose who can effectively access the Internet runs the risk of fundamentally altering the Internet as we know it. No company, individual, or government should control access to the Internet. The Internet belongs to the people who use it and should remain that way.

It is for this reason that I joined with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to cosponsor the Internet Freedom Preservation Act (S.2917). This legislation will ensure that every American can access the Internet on equal terms and that it remains a democratic medium, free from corporate control. S. 2917 is currently before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. While I am not a member of this committee, please be assured that should this legislation come before the full Senate, I will keep your views in mind.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope that the information I have provided is helpful. My website, http://bayh.senate.gov , can provide additional details about legislation and state projects, and you can also sign up to receive my monthly e ‑newsletter, The Bayh Bulletin , by clicking on the link at the top of my homepage. I value your input and hope you will continue to keep me informed of the issues important to you.

Office of Senator Evan Bayh

Saying that someone sounds a bit like The Wallflowers, Joe Purdy, or Damien Jurado, and a lot like early Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart might seem a bit like a mashup. True, it reads like Josh is going to sound like a mass confusion of influences and styles and run on sentences. And while his sound is varied and complex I would never for a second suggest that he is distracted. Underrated yes. Conflicted yes. Great musically and lyrically, double yes.

His latest album will easily find it’s way into the best of 2006 lists that always seem to crop up late November. It’s not a lock for the number one album of the year. It might not even have that much power to it, that much superb originality. What it does have is a weight and childlike mirth to the sound that is captivating. By the second track you’ll have already decided that you’re going through this album at least twice in a row, maybe more, and you’ll want to understand what he’s talking about because everyone wants to be a part of something this wonderful.

mp3 : Josh Ritter - Girl in the War
mp3 : Josh Ritter - Good Man (Live on NPR)

buy his latest album, Animal Years, on Amazon for 13.99

Springsteen brought everything to Mr. O’Brian

First of all, who here knew that Conan O’Brian could play guitar? Apparently he really is the jack of all trades of late nite. Far and away he’s been the best all around late nite host over the last five years, but this time he took his game to another level. He invites a musical act on the show, and then plays guitar with them.

Now, granted, Bruce Springsteen has everything but the kitchen sink already in the band, but it’s still impressive to see America’s most loveable red head bouncing around and enjoying some folk revival music.

And folk revival is what the 21st album by Springsteen is. The story is that Springsteen has had a long love affiar with Pete Seeger’s music and for this special recording session the Boss decided to do things a little different. He invited a ridiculous amount of New York musicians out to his farm house in Jersey with the sole purpose of jamming for a couple of days just to see what they could find. What they found was fifteen reworked Pete Seeger songs that now have a decidedly Springsteen slant to them, as well as a new, more lively, possibly even more urban sound to them. The entire album is good fun, although if you’re looking for classic Springsteen this is the wrong album to buy.

Brought to you by YouTube are the two songs that this amalgamation of artists brought to the Late Show. Look for both Jimmy Fallon and Conan in the band, it’s a rare treat.

Pay Me My Money Down
Bring Em Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)

So, I guess this is what Jimmy Fallon has been up to since he wrapped filming Taxi?

Also, Culture Bully has the songs posted as mp3’s if you’d care to take them to go.

Buy this album on Amazon for just 11.88