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"Once I ran the numbers it was a 'There's no (expletive) way' kind of moment," Garcia said. After much hand-wringing and grumbling from bookers who'd scheduled the band to play, Garcia canceled the tour.

“There is no reason that the internet should be a lawless zone,” President Sarkozy told his Cabinet yesterday as it endorsed the “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” scheme that from next January will hit illegal downloaders where it hurts.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - LeAnn Rimes is putting her own stamp on My Little Pony. The singer is among celebrities and artists who've agreed to design some new versions of My Little Pony, the plastic toy that has captivated girls since the 1980s.

More than 40 bands will play the Pitchfork Music Festival at Chicago's Union Park from July 18-20; you're bound to be less familiar with some of them than others. In fact, as great as we expect the collective high to be during, say, Spiritualized's set, stepping outside of one's comfort zone to discover potential new favorite artists is one of the joys of the festival. To prepare festivalgoers for a weekend of exploration, the Pitchfork Music Festival has again partnered with digital indie music retailer eMusic to offer a free compilation of artists playing the festival. The 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler marks the third consecutive year of the P4k Fest/eMusic partnership, and this year's compilation cuts across genres to deliver 90 minutes of MP3s from 25 artists. Alongside established acts like Mission of Burma, Animal Collective, Jarvis Cocker, and Dinosaur Jr., the comp includes relative newcomers like High Places, Times New Viking, HEALTH, and Fuck Buttons. From this instant through August 1, eMusic subscribers and non-subscribers alike can download the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler for free right here. Finally, a reminder to latecomers: As of last week, only individual day tickets to the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival remain. Get them for $30 a pop from TicketWeb here.

As a lighted costume designer, I get a lot of questions from people who want to know how to make their own EL wire costumes (many of them seeking to mimic the immensely popular Daft Punk red robot suits, which I illuminated for their Alive 2007 tour). I don't have time to help everyone individually, so I thought I'd consolidate my advice into one instructable. Hopefully this will help you understand the steps involved in this labor-intensive process, and get you started with your own lighted clothing projects. Rather than describe how to make a single specific design, I am trying to make these instructions fairly general so you can create your own EL wire layout for almost any type of clothing, although many of my example photos refer to lighted coats. Also, since EL wire is very fragile in situations where it is flexed repeatedly, a lot of these tips will focus on methods for improving durability and getting the longest possible life out of the garment.

Welsh singer Duffy's single Mercy has been named song of the year at Mojo magazine's awards in central London. The soul singer lost out in the best breakthrough act category to The Last Shadow Puppets - the side project of Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner. And she was beaten to best album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Other acts honoured at the reader-voted Mojo Honours List bash at The Brewery included Led Zeppelin, Paul Weller, the Sex Pistols and Genesis. As she collected her award, Duffy said she had "never won anything" in her life. John Paul Jones (left) and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones (l) and Jimmy Page picked up the band's prize The 24-year-old dedicated her win to her father, who is retiring after running a club in her home town, Nefyn, for 35 years. "He tells me he's only got four bingos left," she said. "So this is for him tonight and thanks everyone for your support." Mojo's editor-in-chief Phil Alexander told the audience Mercy won because it was "a timeless song". "It could really have come from any period in time over the last 50 years," he said. Led Zeppelin, who reunited at London's O2 arena at the end of 2007, won best live act.

Producer T Bone Burnett talked passionately about sound quality, or lack thereof on a radio program, Soundcheck, from WNYC on Monday. Burnett produced Robert Plant and Allison Krauss' awesome Raising Sand CD; the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack; as well as records by Bob Dylan, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, and Counting Crows.

The Times reports (via Next-Gen) that Beatles representatives are currently in negotiations with Activision and MTV Games, although curiously the exact wording of the Times story says the talks aim "to create a Beatles-themed video game in a move that could pave the way for a broader licensing of the Fab Four's catalogue." This seems to suggest there may first be a stand-alone Beatles product, perhaps something akin to the Metallica-branded versions Guitar Hero, before their songs are used in normal versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It's also possible that the Times' wording is simply inaccurate, but it's hard to say.

NEWPORT, R.I. - Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin will headline the 2008 JVC Jazz Festival. ADVERTISEMENT Festival organizers say the Grammy winner, whose hits include "Respect," "Chain of Fools" and "I Say a Little Prayer," will perform her gospel-charged soul Aug. 9 at Fort Adams State Park. Other performers include jazz saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter, best-selling trumpeter Chris Botti, and pianist and composer Herbie Hancock.

I have all of Le Tigre's albums and EPs on CD as I am a pretty big riot grrrl fan. I actually haven't really liked the latest Le Tigre's stuff, but am more of a fan of old Bikini Kill. However, the first Le Tigre album is amazing. Maybe in my next post, I will talk about another favorite, Bratmobile :)

I've always been fond of this music genre, which started in the early 90s through music and fanzines. The origin of the name seems to have come from Jen Smith (Bratmobile) writing a letter to Allison Wolfe about how the Summer of 1991 was going "to be a girl riot." Soon afterwards, Wolfe, Kathleen Hanna and Tobi Vail were inspired to create a fanzine called Riot Grrrl.

No kidding. I was browsing events on upcoming.org and my jaw nearly dropped when the event details finally finished loading. My computer is a dinousaur. Anyway, check it out.

S♥M♥A♥S♥H