I'm not going to create another post...all excited about more musicians who are letting us use their music for the upcoming podcasts (though we just got the Blind Boys of Alabama, Brand X, Thrill Racer, Too Much Joy and Robert Freakin Cray!). I'm actually going to do the opposite.

I find it interesting to read the reaction of folks who are hesitant about giving permission. We've had four so far. One ended up saying flat out "no" after a brief, but semi-uncomfortable e-mail exchange. Another, the original e-mail went to one of the band members cell phone who via text, forwarded it to her record label (still haven't heard from them). The next two were music label reps who have asked to hear the podcast first. Here's the weird thing...all 4 artists/bands were women or a band fronted by one. I don't know if that's relevant or coincidence. Actually, now that I think about it....the only other two who questioned me before giving permission were women as well. Hmmmph. What's that all about? I usually only get negative reactions like this from women I want to sleep with.

Well on another note, here's a strange problem. One band who shall go nameless...someone from their management not only gave us permission but e-mailed me a bunch of songs we could play. Sounds cool, right? The problem is...uh...they're not very good. I think we'll just play the stuff I already have in my collection.

Still, everything's shaping up nicely. We're still waiting on permission from a number of artists and a record label that if approves will pretty much double the music I have that we can play (it's a jazz label...sorry)

UPDATE: OK, in the interest of honesty, I just got our first "questioning" e-mail from a male artist. But he is kinda feminine in his ways. (no, not Boy George)

Labels: copyrights, podcast

Jeez...There's almost 2 years until the 2008 election and there's already 7 dems running...and that doesn't include Douchebag & Bore. This was "rainbow" week. Barack, Clintonbagger & Richardson all announcing. Black, woman, hispanic, whatever. I really don't know enough about Richardson, so I'll do some homework later...or not...don't care...I'm not voting in that primary.

On a different note...a really good article on how eating meat products is worse for the environment than driving a gas guzzler. Honestly, THAT is something that could get me to go completely vegetarian than the eating animals argument. In the last year, I've definitely decreased my meat consumption - just trying to eat a little better. But this article does make me really think. Or I could just set up my own cattle farm in the back yard. I'd probably lose my security deposit.

Podcast...podcast...podcast...

Yeah, I know. I'm a bit too excited. But dig this...today I got the OK to use music from...ready???? Fishbone and the Bus Boys. I'm freakin psyched! There's only 3 more artists I really, really want. It doesn't look that good, but we shall see.

And more importantly, we got permission to use audio from Democracy Now. That's going to be huge...huuuuuuu-ga! (an inside rochester joke)

Looks like all the music is going to be mp3-based, which makes it a bit of a pain for me - the engineer - but we'll make it work. Just one more technological hurdle and we're ready to go.

Labels: bus boys, fisbone, podcast, presidential election

A few things and a podcast update...

I watched both segments when Stephen Colbert went on Bill O'Reiley & vica versa. We already know what an idiot O'Reiley is, but on his own show, Colbert made him look like a fool and on The Colbert Report, SC didn't have to do anything as O'Reiley made himself look dumb. You can catch both clips at Crooks and Liars.

Now...more seriously...Bill O'Reiley has to be fired. Plain & Simple. His disgusting take on the kidnapped kid - that he didn't try to escape because he had a better life with his captor than at home - was...I really can't think of an appropriate word. He has the right to think / say whatever he wants, but Fox should fire his ass.

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Alberto Gonzalez is a fucking moron. He got grilled by Congress today...er...yesterday. And he said that the right of Habeus Corpus is not guaranteed in the Constitiution - only the right of the government to take it away. Arlen Spector came as close to calling him a fucking moron as you could without saying it....and what killed me is Gonzo just chuckled, like it was a joke. You know, I still believe in non-violence, but I swear...if anyone needs to get mauled by a bear, it's this bastard. If there's a god, or karma or whatever, these jokers will all be coming down with long, painful diseases down the road.

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OK...podcast news. We got music & permission to play it from Josh Weinstein and Golem as well as new music from AJ Croce & Will Hoge. I'm still trying to get permission from a couple other bands that I really want to use...not giving up yet. I just got a digital camera so we should be posting pictures of us "performing". I'm also working on acquiring a decent digital voice recorder to use for "in the field" stuff - including the war protest in Washington on Jan 27th. Technologically, we're all set except for one little issue with headphones, but I plan on working that out early next week. We get together for a practice taping this Wednesday, with the real thing coming up the Wednesday after. Good times.

Labels: Alberto Gonzalez, Bill O'Reiley, podcast, Stephen Colbert

Huh? What's that I smell? It can't be...it's only January. It's not the season...it's yep...gotta be...Sheep. How do I know? Because all I hear is:

Obaaaaaama....Obaaaaaaama....Obaaaaaama.....

Good Sheeple.

Come on, folks...have some f-ing standards. He hasn't done anything and takes stances when his party says it's OK...

How about Russ Feingold. If you gotta have a black guy, John Conyers. A woman? Barbara Boxer.

Substance! Substance! Substance!

Arrrrrrgh!

Labels: Obama Barack, presidential election, Sheeple

(I tried to embed this video in the post, but I could only find a link, so you'll have to do a couple more clicks.)

OK...Nancy Pelosi...THIS should be outlawed. White, facist, liars should not be allowed to reference songs by 70's funk band Wild Cherry or any other music with the tiniest amount of funk or soul to it.

Shut up Tony Snow

Idiot.

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People use language for their own means. I don't think that's arguable. So with the Iraqi invasion...

What is "success" and "failure"? The media is slowly coming around and calling these lying bastards...a little...even Fox...a very little. But as I said before, every word that comes out of their mouths is a lie. Check out the crap Cheney pulled out of his ass today on Fox.

And Joe Lieberman is either extremely stupid or a dangerous liar...or both. This should piss everyone off. The fact that a Republican had to call him on it and not Tim Russert is criminal. Russert should be sent packing.

Labels: Funk, Tony Snow, Wild Cherry

Just a few random things:

At the risk of seeming Seinfeldian (Who arrrre these people?)...

Just exactly what is the business plan for UPS? In getting ready for the podcast, I'm in the middle of getting various things shipped to me...unfortunately, most use UPS. In this entire process, I have not seen one aspect of how they operate that makes business sense. It's as if every procedure they have has the same goal - to be as inconvenient &/or expensive for all the people involved in shipping something. The shipper, the drivers, the workers at the pick-up place and the shipee. The only thing brown does for me is give me skidmarks. I'm just sayin.

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More podcast news: This asking individual artist thing if we can play their music is going really well. You can add on Jill Sobule & AJ Croce to the list of people who have given us permission. It's inspired me to try a couple of other bands who I didn't think I'd be able to get, but what the hell...it only costs an e-mail. More on that later.

A couple of things I've bought for the podcast is a digital camera and a hand-held voice recorder. We'll be putting pictures of everyone involved on the show's blog and using the voice recorder to do some in-the-field stuff...such as the upcoming war protest in Washington. That's on the 27th and our first taping is the 31st. So assuming my ass doesn't get thown in jail, we should have some cool interview things to play for you.

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So I haven't gone off on The War Criminal in a while. To be honest, I just don't have the ambition to. We're at the point right now that anything that comes out of the mouths of anyone who works in that dickhead's administration is a lie. If anyone who worked at the White House right now told me that water is wet, I'd burn my umbrella. Can someone give me ONE example of something that someone who's worked for this murderer that has been truthful? I'm really not exaggerating. They lie about every, single thing. I can't even get that pissed about it any more. I'm just sitting and waiting for the Democrats to do what people think they're going to do. We shall see.

Labels: podcast, UPS, war criminal

A few days ago I posted about the crisis in the independent publishing world. Well, I'd like to show you a little more of what's happening and why you should be buying yourself some indpendent literature right now.

The following is a letter written by Tristan Taormino that was cross-posted at Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog. (Neither site is work safe - and I'm posting this letter with Tristan's permission)

How Corporate Bankruptcy Affects Independent Publishers and Authors

Several people have written and asked me about the recent bankruptcy filing in the publishing world and how it affects authors who are published by small, independent presses, which includes me and many writers who write on sex, GLBT issues, gender, and other alternative or taboo subjects. Here's my shot at an answer:

Advanced Marketing Services (AMS) is the parent company of Publishers Group West (PGW), and PGW is the distributor of Cleis Press. AMS filed for Chapter 11 on December 29, 2006. PGW will not be paying Cleis Press any of the money it is owed for the previous four months of sales. That means that Cleis Press will not be paying any of its authors, including me, any of the money we are owed for four months of sales of our books. Eventually, once all court battles have been exhausted, someone may see some fraction of the money, but we've all basically been told not to hold our breath.

This means that sales of all my Cleis books from the busiest time of year (fall and winter) have basically vanished. If you bought one of my books from a store or from amazon.com during that time, that money went to AMS and is frozen by the courts and will eventually probably help pay off AMS' $43 million debt to Random House (you can guess where independent publishers are in the pecking order). This especially impacts sales of Best Lesbian Erotica 2007, since, based on past performance, more than half of the copies that are sold of a BLE title until it goes out of print are sold in the month of
December (because that is the release date and because of holiday sales). A good chunk of my income comes from the royalties I receive from Cleis, since all of my books except two are published by them. Like many small press authors, I receive a small advance for each book and count on the royalty payments. In the case of BLE, I use the advance to pay contributors and I do not see any money until after the book sells enough to earn back the advance.

What does this all mean? Well, if you support my work and want to to buy any of my books, I am asking you to buy them from my website, puckerup.com or directly from the publisher, cleispress.com. Please encourage everyone you know to do the same. And that goes for other authors who are published by incredible independent presses like Avalon, Goofy Foot Press, Grove Press, RE/Search, Seal Press, Soft Skull, Thunder's Mouth, and many others. This will increase cash flow at a time when it's really needed since, while the situation has been temporarily fixed going forward, those four months are gone.

If you'd like to read more about this situation, which I obviously only briefly summarized, check out:

Indepedent publishers affected by this crisis

AMS Bankruptcy Roils Book World: Big & Small Publishers Affected

Media Bistro Coverage

OK, so you're probably asking, "why should I give a shit?" Fair enough...

So many people are feeling powerless in this big, scary world. This is the power we have, our consumer dollar. Pennies on the dollar of stuff bought in big, corporate chains go to the artists. And it's these artists who have the courage to not sell out - to create their art and share it in a more progressive manner. This is not just for literature, but any consumer product - food, clothing, music, furniture, whatever. This is a way you can help create change - Go buy some smut, Goddamnit!"

On another note...another post on Rachel's blog...the post where she's explaining her recent firing as the Village Voice sex columinst (I've thought the Village Voice has been going downhill the past few years anyway). Well, her description of what sex is to her...well, let's just say that when I finished reading it, the only thing I could do is say, "damn".

Labels: independent publishing, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Tristian Taormino

Holy Fucking Christ! There is no God. I'm sorry, but this just kicked my ass. A while back I talked about the man, the myth, the mystery - Gene Scott. I believe I called him a crazy old bastard. Fine.

So I'm home tonight, flipping through channels and I run through Pax TV...the christian network. And I see this hottie. So I stop. I notice that her style of talking and her presentation looks familiar. Then I notice the www.genescott.com in the corner. Wha? This chick is hot and she's preachin just like Geno. I'm thinking it's his daughter.



It's his wife!!!! No shiny gold helmet! No cigar! Just hotness. This is so fucking unfair. I...love...Melissa...Scott...I...need...psychological...help...

UPDATE: Thanks to Data for the heads up to her wikipedia entry. Former wife of a porn producer...Oh Pastor, sanctify me!

Labels: hotties, melissa scott, religion

I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man here. So be it. And as much as I love Violet Blue I gotta sigh here. They busted out Apple's iphone today. Violet was at the unveiling at Macworld or Macspank or whatever it was called. Here's a picture of it she took:



Jesus Christ! You'd think it was the fucking Holy Grail!

Now the grumpy old man part - it's just too much. We don't need all this shit. You don't need a phone that does video, music, makes you a Daiquiri, doubles on sax, fillets a catfish and gives you a rectal exam. I've been thinking about this...we don't interact enough...myself included. It's so difficult to when no one looks at you, has some earphones jammed in their ears or are having an inane conversation on a cell phone. No one says "hi" to each other. The iphone doesn't help. You don't need to be in constant contact with everyone you know at every moment.

Hell, I can even go paranoid on you. Dumbass, futuristic, science fiction movies/novels have never interested me, but every year there's another thing invented or law enacted that puts us that much closer to 1984 or some other neo-facist state. I resist stuff, but I do end up giving in...cell phone, cable TV, breathing. Everything we do can be electronically traced now.

The Office of Flatulence knows I've farted moments after it happens.

I love Violet. I would bow before her and lick whatever she wanted me to lick...but it would probably get videotaped on her iphone and immediately posted on her blog - in mid-lick. Sigh

Labels: iphone, technophobe, Violet Blue

As our target date for the first podcast approaches, there's been a few interesting developments...

Playing music on a podcast is a bitch. The record industry, in it's ultimate wisdom, has put it's legal chokehold on people like me who have no intention of making money off of a show like the one we're going to do. So if we want to play, Stairway to Heaven, for example, we need the licensing rights. Radio stations have to do it, so do bars that have live entertainment. This consists of paying the 4 publishing companies a buttload of money. It involves paperwork and keeping track of this crap. Well, F-that.

What we've started doing is asking individual artists for permission to play music that we already have. Are we going to Bono? No. U2 is probably not getting played on this show. But I have had e-mail contact with some interesting artists - not representatives, but the artists themselves. Who? Chuck D, Marc Maron, Joy Eden Harrison, Jimi Hazel from 24-7 Spyz, Ron from Hotel X, some unknown dude from Bakra Bata, Kellye Gray, Wally Pleasant, Deborah Magone, Ron from M'Lumbo and more. We also talked to reps for Will Hoge, Chuck Mangione, Kitty Margolis, and a rep for the Rogue's Gallery collection, which is going to be cool. We also got permission from Evidence Music to play stuff from whatever releases of there's we have. And there are a couple dozen more artists we're still waiting to hear from.

A couple of people actually offered to send us copies of new stuff as we plan on using stuff that's already in our music collection.

So here's what we're going to do music-wise - there's a bunch of CD's I have from labels that have folded, or independent artists I can't find. We're going to go ahead and use their music. As we're not making money from the show, I'm pretty sure everyone's going to be cool with it - if they ever find out. We also will be using stuff from the people I listed above. It's going to be a nice, eclectic mix. But there'll be talk and other surprises on the show so overall, it's going to be a nice, little show. More details on the talk-part later.

Labels: independent music, podcast

I don't care what anyone posts here in terms of comments...well, generally...you can leave my Mom out of it. But if you don't have the guts to put a name, your comment gets deleted. Bye-Bye, Douchebag. And to update you:

Gerald Ford...still dead...still a punk-ass bitch.

Labels: anonymous comments, Gerald Ford

OK Kids...here's the deal. It looked as if this blog / website was going to disappear, but that's not completely true. What's going to happen to whitee.com is that it's going to be a lot less active. I decided that it would be cool to have all the links still around and the archive of posts - for all you volleyball porn enthusiasts & Biba fans.

The reason this site will be less attended to is that beginning at the end of the month I will be participating with some other folks in a weekly audio podcast. So in a sense I'm coming out of the closet - I'll be using my regular name & talking about aspects of my life. I've decided to take a break from being out front in terms of activism - as candidate, officer, board member, etc. That way, I can express the things I do here as myself.

That means if I ever do decide to run for office...well, let's just say that it may be an end to that because there will be documented proof that I called someone a fucking asshole...it'll be in my own voice on the net for all to hear. Which would be horrible for a candidate to say, right? Or that my site has links to...gasp...sexual websites that show naked people! Save the children!

So, I'm really, really psyched! I've been working on the creation of this podcast for almost a month now, my co-hosts are awesome, we've been getting permission to play some really great independent music and I've already written a ton of new bits for me & Cheese to play with.

I'll be giving up more details in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned.

Labels: candidates, closet, podcast

Hey Everyone!

Regular readers of this blog - all three of you - know that I get stuff (links, subject matter & titilation) from Violet Blue. I won't gush, but let's just say - she rocks!

Anyway, in the wonderful world of book publishing, the shit seems to have hit the fan with an Enron-type scandal that is going to screw book publishers. You can read about the whole thing HERE.

The big companies (like Random House) are going to lose a ton of money, which I don't care that much about, but the small independent publishers are going to be wiped out. They are the small businesses that survive month-to-month. So here's how I'm going to do my part to help:

I'm encouraging all three of you to start buying some smut, goddammit! Go over to Cleis Press right now and buy some books. If you've always wanted to buy some erotica, a how-to book, or just something different that you haven't read before - now is the time!. Of course, I'm biased, so I'd say you should buy some of Violet's stuff...but anything is fine. Now is the time to be a consumer: BUY! BUY! BUY!

Labels: corporate greed, erotica, independent publishing, Violet Blue