Dirty Martini’s video ” Waiting for Magic” is the top finalist in the OURSTAGE.com video competition but we need your text message vote before March 31st to win.

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The 2007 Renegade Saints. Older. Wiser??

Yep the Renegade Saints are reuniting once again for a two night stand at John’s Alley in Moscow Idaho. Moscow, of all places, was a strong hold for the Saints as they toured the U.S. in the 90’s. Quite amazingly the city never forgot the band; their one and only CD has been on regular rotation at John’s Alley ever since the band went on hiatus in 1996. Although I’ve played with the band over the years I’ve never been counted as one of their official drummers - until now. It’s a damn fine honor too.

April 13th and 14th, 2007
Renegade Saints
John’s Alley
Moscow Idaho
10pm

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship. They have a few really good songs and “takes off”, in particular, is a quintessential early 60’s album to own (I think hot Tuna was the best thing to come out of both incarnations of airplane/starship). But I’ve always enjoyed following the soap opera that seems to surround this particular group of players.

“As the world turns featuring members of the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship. This week founding member Paul Kantner is sued by his ex-band mate/wife for using the name ‘Starship’ inappropriately. This is the second lawsuit on this issue for Kantner. We join this article already in progress…”

From billboard.com:

Singer Grace Slick and Bill Thompson, former manager of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in California federal court charging that Kantner is violating both trademark rights and an $80,000 legal settlement he signed in 1985.

In exchange for the money, Kantner promised never to perform as Jefferson Starship and never to use the names “Jefferson” or “Airplane” without consent from Slick, the majority shareholder in Jefferson Starship Inc., the suit said.

Kantner has been performing for years under variations on the names. He started touring in 1991 as Paul Kantner’s Starship, while Mickey Thomas, another ex-Starship vocalist, has been touring under the name of Mickey Thomas’ Starship. Kantner’s and Airplane vocalist/co-founder Marty Balin’s use of the Airplane name for a 2000 concert tour brought another lawsuit and an injunction.

Asked why Kantner hadn’t been sued before now, Thompson said, “Grace and I were being Good Samaritans, I guess. Playing small fairs didn’t irritate us so much.”

Kantner crossed the line by making a deal earlier this year to let Microsoft Corp. use the Starship name to promote a new computer operating system, Thompson said. He said publicity for the concerts associated with the promotion included a poster with a photograph of Slick.

The suit says Kantner has cost Thompson, Slick and Jefferson Starship Inc. more than $750,000 in revenue from using a name not rightfully his. The suit seeks to confiscate his profits and stop him from performing as Jefferson Starship.

“Thompson’s been suing people for years and usually he’s on the losing end,” Kantner said. “This time the whole pack of cards is going to be coming down.” Kantner said he hadn’t sold the Starship name, but let Microsoft use it in promotions for four free concerts, for which the band was paid $100,000.

“On this 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love,” Kantner said, “love is going to triumph.” Slick, reached at her Malibu, Calif., home, laughed and said she wouldn’t discuss the case.

Billboard reports that David Byrne “Asks Labels For Help….” His speech at the SXSW conference mirrors my thoughts exactly.

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne called on record labels to remove DRM on digital files and shift from manufacturing and distribution companies to more closely resemble marketing firms in the face of increasing digital album sales. Byrne gave a presentation entitled “Record Companies: Who Needs Them?” at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas, today (March 15). Byrne offered a slide show that predicted digital sales would outstrip CD sales by 2012. He said that year will be the “tipping point,” much like the mid-to-late ’80s when CDs overtook cassette sales. Once download sales became the norm, Byrne said, it will allow manufacturing and distribution costs to approach zero. “That is a fact,” he said. He said at that point, record labels will be faced with a sort of choice — to ramp up marketing services to use music as a loss leader for tours and merchandise revenue, or aim only for international stars of the ilk of Britney Spears. “Artists need help,” said Byrne, who said he’s in the final stages of negotiating a new contract with Nonesuch. He said the idea of artists working completely independent of a record label is possible, and pointed to the success of Aimee Mann. Yet Byrne noted that such a model won’t work for smaller or developing acts, who need a team to provide marketing and tour support.

From today’s Oregonian - Popular Northwest Portland record store may close. Here’s a summary of the story -
Music Millennium, an institution on the increasingly tony Northwest 23rd Avenue, may close its doors due to a combination of steep rents and declining music sales, the owner said this morning. The store, one of two Music Millennium locations in Portland, has been in Northwest Portland since 1977. Owner Terry Currier said this morning he has not been able to renegotiate his lease with the building’s owner despite a year of effort….Currier said he has taken out a $400,000 second mortgage on the East Burnside building, which houses the flagship Music Millennium, to cover his losses. He estimated his monthly losses at the Northwest 23rd store to be between $4,000 and $6,000. The digital availability of music has hit the business hard in recent years, he said….He said he hoped to negotiate a lower monthly lease for at least a couple of years to give the business a change to rebound. “With our industry going down business-wise because of digital delivery, we are going to try to reinvent ourselves,” Currier said.

While I’m a huge fan of the Portland indie music scene I sometimes get a bit miffed that local media outlets, who are supposed to cover the Portland music scene as a whole, choose only to focus on the latest uber hip goup of 20 year olds. While it’s true that there is so much good stuff to cover in that indie world - there’s a lot of great music which does not fall into the indie category and consequently does not get the attention it deserves.

That Being said the PDX Pop Now collective who’s.. “mission is to celebrate not only the bands who’ve achieved “success”, but also the amazing lesser-known bands around town. PDX-Pop Now! is a local music event meant for everyone. No matter what age you are, or what type of music you listen to, our goal is to provide you one place to catch some of Portland’s finest, in a safe and fun atmosphere.” ..puts on a damn fine indie music festival. It’s worth checking out.

click image to view video

A cool new band I recently discovered called Midlake played to a full house at the Doug Fir in Portland on Tuesday. Openers Ester Drang seemed to have some difficulties with their equipment and their video projector which was a shame as there’s some interesting stuff going on there. Other than the same projector issues Midlake played a robust and tight set. Definitely worth checking out when they return to PDX.

It’s no secret that it takes much more than a good song for a band to get airplay on radio stations owned by the “big four”. Dirty Martini (my main band) has experienced first hand the politics and palm greasing (AKA payola) that comes with trying to get it’s music on the radio. Yesterday a little bit of justice was served…

12.5m Payola Settlement Reached Between FCC and Radio Corporations
Fred Mills
March 6, 2007
It has been announced that the Federal Communications Commission is settling its payola probe into the nation’s four huge radio companies: Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Entercom Communications and Citadel Broadcasting. The four will have a $12.5 million fine divided among them and will additionally be required to collectively broadcast several thousand segments (of a half-hour apiece, reportedly 8,400 total) on so-called “independent label” and “local” artists annually, and between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight.…Read the full story

Hey folks. A handful of advance tickets are now availble at both Music Millennium store locations. See the “dear dirty martini..” post below if you want to review the show details.

Store locations:

MUSIC MILLENNIUM - East
3158 E Burnside
Portland, OR 97214
Voice 503/231-8926

MUSIC MILLENNIUM - Northwest
801 NW 23rd
Portland, OR 97210
Voice 503/248-0163

Jeff is quite simply one of the best drummers on the planet. Before he moved to San Francisco he lived in Portland and I had the fortune of being able to pick his brain about technique , philosophy, etc. Currently Jeff works for Pandora which is a really cool web based music program that makes songs suggestions based on your musical taste. Jeff has posted an audio blog on Panodra about the basics of drums that is super cool (you don’t have to be a drummer to enjoy this). check it out here.

Part of me wishes Jeff lived back in Portland so I could absorb more of his mojo. On the other hand I get a lot more gigs without him around.