Dawnsinger

'Sagging' crackdown & bad karaoke thongs

Massacre in the streets . . . endemic corruption . . . economic woes . . . disappearing wetlands . . . plagues of termites & West Nile. Welcome to the sordid underbelly of Greater New Orleans. So what does rookie state Rep. Derrick Shepherd (D-Marrero) do but make the home page of every major news site on the web with his crusade against thongs and saggers. Oh yeah, baby, we know how to set priorities.

Read the Times-Picayune story | Read the paper's editorial smackdown

But giggle as you will, I've gotta admit that sometimes I wish the law were in effect. Britney's sparkly thong strings are one thing. But the fashion police . . . heck, the fashion Swat Team would have been welcome Saturday night at Cats Meow.

Read the full column in "The Bourbon Street Journal"

How wrong is Christian 'piracy'?

This is an interesting story about online music piracy from the Dallas Morning News . . . ironic in that the music being pirated is Christian music.

Read the story . . .

To me, this raises a number of issues. First, just so the RIAA doesn't show up at my doorstep, I buy my music online at iTunes, and am very happy with such services. For many of people, the issue was never about stealing music, but about the music industry forcing us to buy overpriced albums for the one decent song we wanted to hear. Christian music, by the way, is vastly underrepresented in online sales services, so the more quickly that changes, the more quickly there will be a legal outlet for those who want to obtain music this way. It's not about money, it's about access. Nuff said.

But two main issues I'd raise about this story - the first dealing with the whole concept of intellectual property as it applies to today's youth . . . and the second dealing with the concept of intellectual property as it applies to the gospel.

Read on . . .

Vanilla Ice 'Down Under' . . .

Now this is a scary vision. 42-year-old politico Down Under pulling out the old "Bling-Bling in Every Crib" maneuver.

Read the story . . .

I'm getting this really frightening picture of the presidential debates. Kerry & Bush "bling-blinged" out, Band-Aids on cheeks, saggin' and crotch-grabbing in a desperate hip-hop smackdown.

Word.

Madonna's Kaballah

Madonna (or "Madge" as this article calls her) - current alias Esther - is refusing to do concerts on Friday nights, to honor the Sabbath.

Read the story . . .

At least one rabbi, however, has some serious issues with the Material Girl and her invocation of this mystical branch of Judaism.

Read the rap sheet . . . (note - this is a pdf file)

"Ethnic cleansing" of newspaper seniors

Newspapers, in their desperate (and losing) battle to hold onto a young demographic is systematically purging senior music and entertainment critics, some charge. The veteran rock critic fired by the Cincinnati Enquirer, who is the poster child of this story, is 49 - an age that resembles me exactly.

If the guy was holding up his end of the bargain, more power to him. I've done my tour on the critic's desk, and honestly, I couldn't do it today. Searching for artistic merit in Britney & Justin? Not with a straight face. There's a good reason the Hoary Old Bands of Rock keep raking in the big bucks on their final, final, final tours. But that's just my opinion, and one that automatically qualifies me for "ethnic cleansing" in this field.

Read the Editor & Publisher story . . .