They are for drunken light-saber duels. (Sorry, Brogan, my money’s on the drunken ninja.)

Thanks to both Chris Penn and C.C. Chapman for pointing this article by Bruce Schneier out:

Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days.

I won’t set foot down the “we’re becoming a police state” path, I just want to focus on what this means for traveling musicians and businessfolk. So, to quote the legendary Dick Clark:

Protect your ass at all times.

(more…)

One of the panels I was on was led by Mr. Dan Patterson, UN Correspondent for the Talk Radio News Service and host of the Creepy Sleepy Show. The other panelists were none other than CC Chapman, Whitney Hoffman, and Chris Penn. Dan was kind enough to record the entire session, so if you’re interested here’s the show:

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In case you missed the show in Providence last Saturday, here’s a little bit of video from Chris Penn:

I’m sitting in the Nashville International Airport waiting for a giant metal bird to take me home for Christmas. In the mean time, I caught this gem of a post by my friend Chris Penn. Here’s a clip:

Music industry – the lesson is not that free will always win. EASY will always win. I could rip this track for free by breaking the DRM and converting to an MP3, but that’s 10 minutes of my day I can spend doing something else (like blogging about it). That would be free, but I want easy. I value my time more than my money, because I can always make money, but my lifespan is finite and irreplaceable.
-It’s Not Easy Being Legal

The larger implications of his post are debated on his site (which I recommend you check out, it’s a good read), but that paragraph in particular really resonated. I’m the kind of guy who will look on iTunes for a track, then go steal it if it ain’t there. I don’t buy CD’s unless I’m at a live concert, and if a label is too stupid to get their music on iTunes (especially here in the US), they’ve told me that they don’t want my money.

I also try and live this philosophy- I’ve got all my selling albums on (even though Goodbye Planet Earth isn’t listed yet), on CD Baby as both a disc and MP3 download, and on MySpace. I want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy my music legitimately.

To be honest, I’m kind of glad the major labels aren’t jumping on this with both feet. It puts us independents a step ahead.