Bubbles in the park

Bubbles B&W,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Cathy captured this great picture of Parker in 3rd Street Park at the Carrie Newcomber concert. He's wearing his "party shirt."

Carousel Mirror

Carousel Mirror,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Just a cool picture I took of a carnival carousel.

I wish I was a little bit taller

I wish I was a little bit taller,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Here's a cute picture of Parker and his buddy Paul longing to ride the carnival rides. Maybe next year guys, once you reach the height limit!

Save Net Radio

My favorite net radio site has gone silent for the day. Pandora.com has stopped broadcasting in protest of the recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board to triple royalties for internet radio stations.

Here's more details on the issue from SaveNetRadio.org

On March 2, 2007 the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased Internet radio's royalty burden between 300 and 1200 percent and thereby jeopardized the industry’s future.

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed. And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters’ royalties will grow exponentially!

Before this ruling was handed down, the vast majority of webcasters were barely making ends meet as Internet radio advertising revenue is just beginning to develop. Without a doubt most Internet radio services will go bankrupt and cease webcasting if this royalty rate is not reversed by the Congress, and webcasters’ demise will mean a great loss of creative and diverse radio. Surviving webcasters will need sweetheart licenses that major record labels will be only too happy to offer, so long as the webcaster permits the major label to control the programming and playlist. Is that the Internet radio you care to hear?

As you know, the wonderful diversity of Internet radio is enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans and provides promotional and royalty opportunities to independent labels and artists that are not available to them on broadcast radio. What you may not know is that in just the last year Internet radio listening jumped dramatically, from 45 million listeners per month to 72 million listeners each month. Internet radio is already popular and it is already benefiting thousands of artists who are finding new fans online every day.

Action must be taken to stop this faulty ruling from destroying the future of Internet radio that so many millions of listeners depend on each day. Instead of relying on lawyers filing appeals in the CRB and the courts, the SaveNetRadio Coalition has been formed to represent every webcaster, every Net Radio listener, and every artist who enjoys and benefits from this medium. Please join our fight for the preservation of Internet radio.

Orange tunnel

Orange tunnel,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Just a really cute picture of Parker. Click on the photo for full sized version.

Touch a truck!

Touch a truck!,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Here's a cute picture of Parker driving the soy bio-diesel powered bus at the Bloomington Parks and Rec "Touch a Truck" event. If only his legs were longer he'd be driving it.

Reunions and Soda Jerks

So, I missed my 10 year college reunion last weekend. OK, so maybe I didn't really miss it all that much. None of my old friends form DPU were going to be there anyway. We'll take Parker to a couple more DPU football games in the fall. That's a lot more fun than a reunion anyway.

Speaking of the mid 1990s, I saw that one of my favorite bands from that time has a new album coming out. Buffalo Tom's "Three Easy Pieces" is scheduled for release on July 10th. This is their first new studio album since 1998's "Smitten." One of my fraternity brothers turned me on to them my freshman year. My brother George and I crammed into a car with him and a couple of other guys on "Sibling weekend" and headed to Indy to see them at this little hole in the wall all ages club in Indy called Second Ave. back in 1994. They put on a great show, but haven't been back to Indiana since. Maybe they'll pass through Bloomington this time around. I'll never get tired of songs like "Soda Jerk", "Tail Lights Fade" and "Souvenir."

Another great early 1990s band has a new album coming out. Smashing Pumpkin's new album Zeitgeist is also scheduled for release on that same day. Their first since 2000.

An education in the Dark Continent

Our friend Eric Williams, who's a social studies teacher at Lebanon Middle School, recently got back from a 2 week African safari. He was awarded a Teacher Creativity Fellowship grant from the Lilly Endowment to take the safari and use what he learned in the classroom. We haven't gotten a chance to talk to Eric yet or see his pictures, which I'm sure are amazing, but you can read all about it online at the Lebanon Reporter.