Many people know me as a HUGE Linux and open source nut. I am even fanatical at times due to the importance I see in where open source can take us as a whole.

Well, I received an email today that contained an article on RedHat’s website. This article is, in my opinion, one of the best articles to speak on open source and music.

Read it! It is worth it.

“The irony of popular music is that many of the great songs are about challenging the status quo. About sticking it to The Man and annoying the hell out of your parents. Yet much of the mainstream music we hear today is homogenized and shamelessly formulaic.”

Full article: http://www.redhat.com/magazine/001nov04/features/music/

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Ska Is Dead
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Punkbands.com reports: The 2005 edition of this years successful Ska Is Dead tour is in the world. It will run between February 1st and March 17th with a core lineup of Streetlight Manifesto, Voodoo Glow Skulls and MU330.[see full story for more]

Full Story – http://www.punkbands.com/

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Epitaph Tour
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Aversion reports: The first-ever Epitaph Tour is taking shape to help the punk label promote its latest generation of bands.

The Los Angeles label announced that it will showcase many of its latest signings on an upcoming tour. Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack and From First to Last will appear on all dates, with The Matches and Scatter the Ashes appearing on a handful of dates. All bands represent Epitaphs latest wave of signings, putting post-hardcore-influenced acts onto its roster. [see full story for more]

Full Story – http://aversion.com/news/news_article.cfm?news_id=3337

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KROQ X-Mas
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liveDaily reports: The lineup for the first night of Los Angeles-area radio station KROQs two-night Almost Acoustic Christmas–set for Dec. 11 at Universal Amphitheater in Universal City, CA–will include Franz Ferdinand, The Shins, The Killers, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Jimmy Eat World, Keane, Muse, Snow Patrol, Taking Back Sunday and The Music. [see full story for more]

Full Story – http://www.livedaily.com/news/7334.html

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Soil Hire New Singer
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submitted news reports: [From Soils official site] We are proud to announce we have a new frontman for our band: A.J. Cavalier (of Diesel Machine). AJ originally hails from NY and was recommended by some very close friends,” the band write on their web site. “Once he came to rehearsal to jam and lay down some rough demos with us, we knew he was the man for the job. We are currently writing the new album and preparing to get ready for the new chapter of SOIL. It feels great to be a full band again. AJ is everything we were looking for and wanted in a singer. We know the SOIL army will welcome him with open arms.

Full Story – http://www.soil-music.com

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Slipknot, Hives Big Day Out
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Reuters reports: The Hives, Slipknot, the Polyphonic Spree and Le Tigre have been added to the lineup for the annual Big Day Out festival tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Other acts new to the bill are Atmosphere, Carl Cox, Blues Explosion, Kid 606 and Hatebreed. [see full story for more]

Full Story – http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=34AXDNBXKEYM0CRBAE0CFEY?type=musicNews&storyID=6777928

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APC hits number 2
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Entering The Billboard 200 chart at No. 2 this week is A Perfect Circles “Emotive”.

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Morrissey The Musical
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Xfm reports: New reports claim that a musical based around the music of The Smiths and Morrissey is currently being written and will be staged at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, West London, with rehearsals pencilled in to start in May 2005.

The musical is named after The Smiths 1986 track Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others and is said to feature over 20 Smiths songs all arranged for a string quartet with vocals being supplied by a cast of six. Due to negotiations with representatives for Morrissey and his Smiths co-writer Johnny Marr, its not yet known which songs will be used. [see full story for more]

Full Story – http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=52686

From Wired News today comes an interview with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy on the bands past and current work as well as the importance of file sharing to their current success. Read the full interview here: Music Is not a Loaf of Bread

For those of you interested, you can check out a live audio only webcast of their show tonight at The Fillmore in San Francisco (Monday, November 15th, @ 8:00 pm PST. Here is the link: Wilco