Canada: Where the 4th Best Election Outcome is Kind of OK

Possible 2015 Canadian Election Results, Ranked NDP Majority NDP Minority, propped up by liberals Liberal Minority, propped up by NDP Liberal Majority Liberal Minority, propped up by conservatives. Conservative minority, propped up by liberals. Conservative Majority. By my count, a liberal majority was the fourth best outcome I could have hoped for from last night’s election. …

An Open Letter in Support of Divestment

For the past few years, Divest McGill has been working to get McGill’s endowment and retirement funds out of the business of supporting fossil fuels. They now have a petition they want to take to the Board of Governors. Divest McGill is organized and run by students. There is a group of faculty and librarians …

Once Again, the Political Economy of Communication People Had It Right

Yesterday’s New York Times caught up with a story that’s been making the rounds of the internet music circles since Zoe Keating published her finances about a year ago: in many cases, Spotify pays so little they might as well not be paying artists at all.  Sure, artists get fractions of cents in royalties, but very …

Protest Pictures

Finally, I got a good shot of my favourite sign. In the background, you can see that St-Denis, normally a very busy thoroughfare, has been cleared. Also, some great costumes from tonight’s protest, AND a May 1st flashback for the Tax Dodgers at the NYC May Day demonstration. They also sang, but I didn’t record.

Two New Texts avec Backstory + New Rhythm for Villeray

Two new texts on the casseroles appear today: 1. Quebec’s #casseroles: on participation, percussion and protest. This was the piece that got me started writing about all this stuff — as in, “I have to write something and this has such an obvious sonic angle.” I emailed Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman, as I’d admired the Sound Studies …