(no subject)

From my local news radio station:

Stanford University officials are breathing a sigh of relief after learning last night that their commencement speaker will be allowed to attend Sunday’s graduation ceremony after all. Peru’s congress has voted to allow President Alejandro Toledo to attend Stanford’s commencement, where he’s slated to be the keynote speaker. However, Toledo cannot use his presidential plane and not spend any public funds on the trip. The trip comes at a difficult time for Toledo, whose popularity back home is just 11%. Toledo has strong ties to Stanford, where he earned a doctorate, two master’s degrees and where he met his wife.

Eleven! It's not even funny.

(no subject)

Eric Olsen wrote a piece for MSNBC last week on the end of Pearl Jam's association with a major label:

If Pearl Jam — now touring the United States to wildly enthusiastic crowds — is able to create a successful business model mobilizing its fans via the Internet and engaging in such “crazy” stunts as releasing live double albums of every show it performs, this could be the beginning of a stampede away from the lumbering dinosaurs that the major labels have become.

Well, I guess. And, you know, I think such a stampede would be a great idea, regardless.

But if Pearl Jam--after twelve years of major-label-backed success, and the kind of promotion (music videos, national airplay) that only money can buy--continues to make money off its well-deserved fan base, well, what does that prove? The real test is whether bands can be successful (and I'll leave the definition of "success" open for interpretation) without signing a seven-record, decade-long contract in the first place.