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Friday, 26 March 2004
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Yesterday I received a plain birdhouse which I am to decorate and return by April 7th so that the Houston House Beautiful Show at the Reliant Arena can auction it off, together with dozens (hundreds?) of similarly decorated birdhouses. All of the money goes to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation.This evening I started the creative process by drinking some wine and staring at the little made-in-China wooden birdhouse while I was enjoying dinner - yes, fried capers over a bed of crispy romaine lettuce.....Using the supplied paints is out of the question. Too easy. And so, without further ado, here is the first harvest of ideas:1. Cut some grooves into the wood and turn it into a Chia birdhouse. Buy some Chia Pets at K-Mart, attach the seeds to the wood and hope that it will survive the journey to Houston...2. Paint the birdhouse black and glue a photo of a bird (actually a hand flipping the bird) to the back of the house. One would only see the obscene gesture if one were to put one's eye to the tiny bird-holes in front. Very Seventies and subversive....alas they probably wouldn't find this as funny as I do...3. Make nest out of strings inside the birdhouse. Nope, won't work, because the hole is too small...it might be possible, but it would take way to long!!!4. I could go to Doodlets (great store at 120 Don Gaspar in downtown Santa Fe) and find a whole bunch of small tin milagros to tack onto the birdhouse, hearts, little guitars etc...I could cover the whole birdhouse with tin...5. Here is comes...inspiration strikes again...wait for it...wait for it....I could do a Christo birdhouse!!! Only I shall use guitar strings instead of fabric. Genius idea. I'll get started tomorrow....
7:28:28 PM  ;
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Current Food Addiction I love capers. My favorite dish this week:Buy capers packed in salt, not brine or oil, wash the salt off, drain and dry. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the capers. Capers will turn brown when they are done...sprinkle over a salad for some tasty and crispy goodness!
6:33:52 PM ;
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Chris Null soaks a gummi bear in water and gets a surprise.
[BoingBoing]
I knew that. In the early nineties somebody put gummi bears on our rider and after a while we started experimenting with them. We soaked them in water, and we soaked them in vodka...and finally we made up a game:You know the row of vertical light-bulbs on both sides of a dressing room mirror? We discovered that gummi bears slide when they get hot, but at the same time they do adhere pretty good....and if you stick them to the top light-bulb in just the right way, they will slowly slide around the bulb and drop down to the next bulb, slowly slide around that one and drop down etc. etc. At the same time the gummi bears give off a little smoke from the heat of the bulb, which gives even more of an illusion that they are racing...what fun can be had on tour...
5:49:20 PM ;
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Flying brother 
3:02:06 PM ;
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Stereo OK, I admit it! The Bose stereo I had in my Audi beats the JBL stereo in the Prius with ease. To upgrade or to upgrade or not to upgrade is the question.....And here is your virtual Prius as a screensaver....
2:56:02 PM ;
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Check out all of the awards the Prius has been getting with the title link.
And this is what the Prius is all about: the synergy betweeen gas-engine, electric motor, generator and traction battery. One reason it works so well is that here is no conventional starter, where gears grind together to start up the engine. I am told that the Prius starts the conventional gas engine via magnetic induction instead of gears. This is very important because the engine is turned on and off many times during a drive. Every time you come to a standstill for more than a few seconds, the engine is turned off automatically. If you should need to move quickly there is the electric motor to get you going and the engine is turned on right away as well. All of this happens automatically and you would never even notice the interplay unless you choose to look at the display.
2:43:13 PM ;
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A few days ago we received this email from a group called "Downhill Battle", which apparently is fighting the RIAA:
From: "Downhill Battle"
Date: March 22, 2004 12:24:07 PM MST
To: Luna Negra Music
Subject: Cancelling your membership in the RIAADear Luna Negra Records,We’re writing because Luna Negra Records is listed as a member of the Recording Industry Association of America or RIAA (see: http://www.riaa.com/about/members). In the last year, several independent labels that were RIAA members have decided to remove their names from this list, because they disagree with the RIAA’s policies or because it was hurting their sales. We’d like to suggest some reasons why you might want to consider taking your label out of the RIAA.Over the past 3 years, the RIAA, which had previously been virtually unknown to consumers, has become one of the most hated organizations in the US. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, have begun boycotting RIAA music, which unfortunately includes your record label. Among other issues, people are angry about the invasion of privacy and the pain to families that has been caused by the major label’s lawsuit campaign. While it is only the 5 major labels who are actually suing people, it is the RIAA that coordinates the lawsuits, and consumers associate all RIAA labels with this action. In addition to the lawsuits, the major labels’ reputation for price fixing, mistreating artists, and homogenizing popular culture has become the public reputation of the RIAA. Unfortunately, this hurts the reputation of many independent labels who do not participate in these questionable business practices. It’s our belief that the 5 major labels include independent labels in the RIAA as political cover, so that the agenda of the 5 giant corporate labels is seen to be broadly representative of the music industry as a whole. For a sense of scale about how much RIAA awareness there is, consider that Google’s year end “zeitgeist” report lists “RIAA” as the 5th most popular news search of the year. And when you search google for “RIAA”, the number one result – coming before the RIAA’s own website – is Boycott-RIAA.com, a site dedicated to a total boycott of music by any label on the RIAA’s member list. The third Google result, coming just after the RIAA’s website, is called RIAA Radar; it lets you search by the album or artist to determine whether an album is released by a member of the RIAA. When an album searched on RIAA Radar is found to be released by an RIAA member, a “WARNING” message appears. The RIAA Radar tool is used by consumers who wish to make ethical purchasing decisions by avoiding RIAA music. If you do decide that being an RIAA member has become a liability for your label, or if you were unaware that your label was listed as an RIAA member, you can contact RIAA Member Services to request that your label be removed from their website listing. RIAA Member Services
1330 Connecticut Ave N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 775-0101
Yes, that's possible, but I can't be bothered. I have stepped outside the system. We do not sell in record stores. We do not report our sales to Billboard or anybody. We do not enter music for Grammy consideration. We are outside. And that means I will neither actively support the RIAA nor this group Downhill Battle.Three years ago I talked to somebody at the RIAA regarding digital codes that can be embedded in a CD to trace copying and that's why Luna Negra can be found on the RIAA site. Never paid any dues and am not a card carrying member....but I do have a long list of awards on the RIAA site: go here and enter my name in the artist field...and you will find a pretty long list.PS: the link in the email is incorrect - it should be: http://www.riaa.com/about/members/default.aspThe music business is quickly becoming a silly circus. Oh, and don't bother me with any more emails like the one above, I have work to do instead of playing in the sand...Me thinks I will take a break after this year. We have a big tour planned for 2004 (schedule due on our web site next month) and we have two more albums due for release, "La Semana" and a new Christmas CD...after that you will find me in the shade of a tree, sipping caipirinhas and playing my new guitar....
12:10:16 PM ;
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© Copyright
2004
Ottmar Liebert.
Last update:
01.04.04; 22:27:10.
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