Giving Thanks.

We would just like to take this time to wish you and your families a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. One of the true holidays.

Over the years and thru this site, we have met and had amazing discussions with some truely great people (both live and virtually). As corny as that sounds, it is simply the truth. And while we would like to thank each of you by individually, it is logistically impossible. You have helped to enrich our lives and we can only hope that we at least made you wiggle in return. Thank you & God bless.

It was 20 years ago today ...

If you were living in Chicago at the time, this was HUGE! It was 20 years ago today that a video freak hijacked the television airwaves, disguised as a ranting Max Headroom and getting a good spanking.

... and just a friendly reminder:

BUY NOTHING DAY IS COMING – NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

BUY NOTHING DAY – NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

Hey folks, it's that time of year again! This Friday, Nov. 23rd marks the return of "BUY NOTHING DAY". BUY NOTHING DAY is timed to coincide with "Black Friday", which is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, in the US. (The rest of the of the world celebrates BND the following day/Nov 24th). So what do you to participate? Simply do not participate.

So who is invited to the party?  Everyone and anyone.  You can look at it anyway you want - going green for a day, not falling for the corporate overlord propaganda (this year the Christmas buying brain washing began just before Halloween), maybe you just want to be lazy and chill, or you might be a cheap ass looking for an excuse - well, now you've got one. Celebrate it.

JaGoFF will be celebrating BND by giving you your consumer consumption fix, and offering up the entire JaGoFF CD (via FREE download) on the 23rd-24th. Download it, burn it & give it to your friends.

Want to be part of the fun? It's fun and it's easy. If you do wish to participate on BND, the BUY NOTHING DAY website has some great ideas (along with several posters and stickers that you can download, print and use). You can organize credit card cut-ups, zombie mall marches, give away free samples of nothing, or just gather yourself and a couple hundred of your closest friends to walk around the mall and BUY NOTHING.

If that is too much effort for you ... here are some simple ideas you can do to participate in not paricipating. Go to the library. Read a book. Write a book. Draw. Paint. Listen to music. Record. Spend some quality time with your kids. Perform a free concert. Have a poetry reading. Clean your house or work on that project that has been hanging over your head for the longest time. Donate some time at the local soup kitchen/homeless shelter. Hang out at the beach with your significant other. Cook a meal for your significant other or stay home and get it on. Yup, it is just that easy.

Hmmmmm ... "What would Jesus Buy"?

It ain't all about the Benjamins...

...baby. Word.

... on that note (pun intended), if your cash flow is in Euros, you can buy the JaGoFF CD (or DRM free mp3s) for next to nothing. So, what are you waiting for? You know you need the funk and we need the money.

Taste the rainbow ... or at least the red and the blue.

Just ran across this fun bit, detailing the listening and entertainment behaviors according to political bent (liberal vs conservative). Scroll down for the fun or click here. for more in depth stats.

- Out of 15 musical genres, conservatives were more likely than the rest of the respondents to listen to only two of them: country and gospel. What genre are they least likely to listen to, compared to the rest of the respondents? Not punk or hip-hop, as you might expect, but world music. World music is also the music genre where we see the greatest difference between conservatives and liberals.

- Conservatives are the least likely group to listen to jazz (34% vs. 44% vs. 53%) and reggae (8% vs. 20% vs. 26%).

- Over 90% of conservatives said they never enjoy reggae, electronic music or Latin music. Over 95% said they never enjoy world music and punk music.

- Liberals, on the other hand, are more likely than other respondents to enjoy almost every music genre, including world, punk, Latin, hip-hop and rap, blues, reggae, electronica, R&B and soul, jazz, folk and traditional music. Rock was the most popular genre among liberals (67%).

- Although all political types claimed they enjoy classical music, moderates were the least enamored with it (55.5% listen to it compared to almost 62% of the rest of respondents). Moderates also showed their distaste for folk & traditional music (72.5% said they don’t listen to it, compared to 62.4% of the rest of the respondents), and they joined conservatives in their distaste for world music (90% said they don’t listen to it, compared to 71% of liberals.)

- Moderates’ favorite music is rock (58%). Conservatives’ favorite music is classical (60%) followed by country (56%) and rock (55%).

The SEXIEST post EVER !!!

In our constant quest at bringing sexy back, we ran across this post to get you in the mood for that 3am booty call. What you don't know can't hurt you.

You have options, just be careful where you use them.

Eyes Wide Shut ...

We ran across this interesting piece about how the brain reacts to complex sounds by "closing the eyes". This explains why so many musicians play with their eyes shut ... not to mention, the massively, incredible sounds that sprang from the likes of Stevie Wonder and such. Just check out Stevie's "Songs in the Key of Life", "Music of My Mind", "Innervisions" or "The Secret Life of Plants" (or any of his work from the 70's for that matter) if you need any confirmation.

A Real Da Vinci Code ???

An Italian musician claims to have found musical notes, resembling a requiem, hidden in Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper".

We think of all the education that we missed...

But then our homework was never quite like this!

Breaking News!

It just gets better and better, doesn't it?

WTF

Why do you think ...

they call it crap?

TONIGHT: JaGoFF "Culture Jamming" Lecture @ Columbia College Chicago

JaGoFF's very own Sir Real will be giving another of his infamous "Culture Jamming" lectures (big suprise) this evening at Chicago's Columbia College. For the for those of you lucky enough to be in the Interactive Advertising dept. - you are definitely in for a treat. Get those brain juices flowin, because it's going to be a good one.

We will be recording the audio for a future podcast.

ARTISTS : MEET THE FUTURE...

In the latest blow against the so-called "major labels", the much hyped release by Saul Williams/Trent Reznor, has built and improved upon the Radiohead model. While it certainly and by no means the only way to go, commercially, it looks like THE leading contender for a viable, working model in the future of independent artist music distribution.

While the industry remains so far out of touch , they may finally have no other choice but to answer the call if they wish to remain relevant.

The truth is, from an independent artist perspective, who really cares what their fate is - as they have never represented the artist (or the listener) to begin with ... their time has come and is long past it's due date - any artist worth their wieght in dog crap already knows this.

Here is how the Saul Williams/Trent Reznor release is structured: For the cost of your email addy, the listener is allowed to download the entire album (CD artwork and booklet included - yippiiieee) in 192k/mp3/DRM free format! For $5, the listener can choose between 360k/mp3 or the lossless FLAC file. For listener AND artist, this is a win/win situation ... listeners unfamilar with the artist, the free model gets the word out (which leads to more potential sales), while the paying customer gets what they actually pay for. Considering there are no distro, manufacturing, shipping, warehouse and/or inventory cost associated with the download model, the $5 price tag looks to be right on target. Kudos to Trent & Saul for following thru and helping to map the future.

Many thanks to the good folks at TheRecordIndustry.com for the massive amounts of info.

and as always ...

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MUSIC OF BE FORCE-FED CRAP.

Your ol' pal,
JaGoFF
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