Hi everybody! It’s time for another newsletter:

FISHNEWS:

· BIG News! On September 27 at 7:00 PM Pacific time, I will be playing a live one-hour show at Border’s Books at 9980 North Newport Highway in Spokane, Washington. This will be the first time I play a show that features just me and not a whole group of people waiting in line to be heard. I’ll have pictures on the site from the show, too for those who couldn’t be there! Watch for a similar show coming up at Hastings Records in the near future!

· Fishkill downloads now available: For those who don’t like the committing to a whole CD, here’s an alternative. Download the tracks you want! Click here http://www.carniedigital.com and search for Fishkill under artists and you’ll find everything right there. 5% of all the profits made from sales at Carnie are being donated to music education programs in our schools. Not a bad deal, really.

· Artist First Radio Interview: For those who missed it, and for those who want to hear it again, the show is scheduled for a rebroadcast on August 13 at 9:00 PM Eastern. Click here to get a live stream from the station: If this link fails, go to www.artistfirst.com and follow the links to the broadcast. We had a lot of fun, talked about different things and played music from the “Atmosphere” CD. I’m going to go listen to it as well!

· Where do I get Fishkill CDs? You ask? If you live in Spokane, go here:
Hastings Books and Records -1704 W. Wellesley (Shadle)
Hastings Books and Records - 15312 E. Sprague Ave. (Veradale)
Borders Books, Music, and Video - 9980 North Newport Highway
If not, go here: http://www.cdbaby.com/group/fishkill
· WSVN Radio chooses Fishkill track for Hall of Fame Volume 9: The song “Merry-Go-Round” from “The Big Purple Sky” is going to be featured in a CD compilation from WSVN radio. You can tune in to them by clicking here: http://www.wsvnradio.net/ It’s currently in work, so stay tuned. They’re still working on volume 7 right now.
· I still need volunteers! I need help promoting the music. E-mail me at fishkillmusic@yahoo.com and I’ll put a distro list together—we can all discuss the details there.

SITENEWS:
· Gig calendar: I now have a working gig calendar which you can access from either the web page, www.geocities.com/fishkill (“gig” on the main page)or the club site, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Club_Fishkill/ (click on the calendar option)

· Bring your friends to the Club!: Did you know you can invite others to join Club Fishkill? It’s easy! All you do is click on “invite members” and add the e-mail address or yahoo ID of the person or persons you wish to invite and write a little message telling them what’s so great about this group (you can fill in the blanks here!). Once you’ve done that, hit invite and the message with the invitation will be off to whomever you’ve invited into the group. Let others know about the band and our little group here. They don’t know what they’re missing.

· Radio airplay: I’ve created a list of all the stations currently playing Fishkill music. Mp3.com stations aren’t included in this list, only actual broadcasting Internet stations and eventually, FM and XM radio, should I get confirmations from any of them. Make frequent requests and keep the songs in rotation! Click here: http://www.geocities.com/fishkillmusic/Airplay_Matrtix.htm

· Recent additions: There have been some new links added to the Art Gallery, Rock-n-Roll Altar, and Other Musicians pages. Click on the appropriate options at the site to see what’s new. Here’s a link: http://www.geocities.com/fishkillmusic

OTHERNEWS:
· Fish’s picks updates: I’ve added some new stuff to the station. It’s been getting good reviews from people who’ve listened to it. Come hear it for yourself: www.mp3.com/stations/fishpicks

· Say hello to an old friend: Colin Kennaugh, who’s been in the indie music scene for years now, has re-released all his older recordings with his former band, Salt of the Earth. I have one of these and I think they’re excellent. Here’s a link to his mp3.com site so you can hear for yourself: www.mp3.com/kenna

· “Half-Lit” will be the title of the upcoming new Flashlights CD. They’ve got three songs completed now and one of them, “Younger Than Today” is featured on Fish’s Picks station. The Flashlights official site will be offline for a while, guitarist Jon Mumma says they’re looking for a new website host. I’ll make sure everyone knows where the new site is, once they’re up and running again. You can still hear Flashlights music at: http://www.mp3.com/the_Flashlights

· Artilect: I met this artist down at the Blue Spark last time I played there. Frank Sheridan is the mastermind behind the “Artilect” project, which features jazz-fusion melodies laced with intricate percussion. When he played live at the Spark, he mesmerized the crowd with his playing. He plays an instrument known as a Chapman Stick, which is a cross between a guitar and bass. Those of you who are familiar with a Warr guitar know what I’m talking about. In addition to getting everyone’s attention with this funny-looking instrument you have to sit down to play, the crowd asked him for more when he finished his three-song set! Listen to the recordings on his mp3.com page: www.mp3.com/artilect

· The Indie Watchdog: I’m proud to announce Garage Radio’s John Foxworthy has started a new yahoo group called “the Indie Watchdog.” It is dedicated to all protecting independent musicians from the scams and con men lurking around the industry. I think this is something we’ve needed for a long time and I’m glad to see someone taking the initiative to expose scams to the rest of us who may not know what we’re looking for. Here’s the link to the group site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indiewatchdog/

Editorial: Recently there’s been a lot of discussion about the future of music and the fate of Internet file sharing. This will probably shock many of you, but I don’t have a problem with downloading files on the Internet. If people want to share a file of mine they’ve downloaded, I see nothing wrong with that anymore than I would someone borrowing a CD from someone else.
Most of the files I’ve downloaded from these free services like Kazaa or Morpheus were crap anyway. Many were lo-fi and a lot of them cut off prematurely or had breaks in the music. I don’t download new music, only stuff that’s been around for twenty years and hard to find on disc—in some cases out of print. I want the new musicians to have the chance to make their million. However, if someone wants to download something that’s not to say this individual won’t later buy the CD for a better-sounding quality. For the independent musician, allowing downloads is a lot like giving away free samples. Let’s face it; no one will buy your music if you don’t let them hear it first—unless you’re a name-brand artist with a huge record company or publicity firm behind you.
As I have stated, I don’t see a problem here, but the Recording Industry Artists of America (RIAA) does. Of course, they have an axe to grind, since they’re losing money. That doesn’t concern me—CDs are still being sold and just because less than a million copies of a particular CD are being sold doesn’t constitute a crisis for me. I am more concerned with the fact that congress has gone along with this RIAA sob-story.
Senator Orrin Hatch (R- UT) has recently put forth a suggestion that there should be software that will destroy one’s computer if it is used to download illegal music files! OK, sure this is a knee-jerk reaction, considering Mr. Hatch has his own music site (no joke, really! Here’s the link: http://www.hatchmusic.com/) and has an interest in promoting his own music. I’m not interested in destroying computers, however, I’m interested in entertaining people…and promoting my own music. I don ‘t want to lose sight of the objective here. There’s this little concept called freedom that I find very hard to let go of. Pre-emptive strikes into people’s computers, to me, constitute a violation of that freedom. Should the government or the police be able to blow up your garbage can because you put recyclable materials into it instead of the recycle bin?
Here’s something that’s even more troubling: Senator Diane Feinstein (D - CA) has commented that file sharing is a threat to National Security. What! How’s that possible? According to experts in the field, file sharing can—under certain conditions—allow private documents to be accessed by system software. My answer to that is fix the software, dummies! Specifically, the operating system is the program responsible for granting access to files and programs. This is obviously a software glitch only recently discovered by someone and can just as easily be fixed with a service pack. Besides, I don’t know too many people that have classified documents residing on their home computers—at least they shouldn’t have any, according to the law. Most machines that would have information like that won’t be connected to the Internet or are protected by a firewall, a piece of software which acts like a filter for anything entering and leaving the computer network.
Too much emphasis has been put on National Security these days and it seems like anything can affect it, depending on the wants and needs of our elected officials. Perhaps we can get Bill Gates to make software that actually works by claiming that Windows XP can be considered a threat to National Security!
Our freedoms are being slowly limited to the point where eventually columns such as this will become illegal. Frank Zappa once said that one day, music would be illegal. Some of you may think I’m overreacting, but I urge you to look again. If we start narrowing the areas where free speech is allowed, we’ve effectively started to control the media and ultimately the nation.


Chris Nelson
President, Club Fishkill