News …

Remembering Isaac Hayes in pictures – New York Daily News

The difference between the record industry and the music industry is that one is declining while the other is growing – The Sydney Morning Herald

What? Can it be? Breaking its own tradition, Rolling Stone shrinks to normal magazine size after spending 30 years as odd-rag-out on the magazine racks – The New York Times (registration may be required)

Record producer Cliff Jones sounds off about illegal downloading – “The trouble is, the law doesn’t always help us sort right from wrong.” – The Times Online U.K.

R. Kelly continues to keep low profile weeks after trial acquittal – Chicago Sun-Times

Local law officials in Wales town confiscated, then crushed stereo equipment belonging to Cher fan who evidently blasted his neighbors with “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves” one time too many – Wales On Sunday / Wales Online U.K.

Views …

All Points West Music Festival in Jersey City – ” … was extremely well organized for a maiden effort.” – The New York Times (registration may be required)

Ozzfest in Frisco, Texas – “Ozzfest is about metal’s past and present (and often simultaneously), and despite a lineup that reflected more the latter than the former – with a few important exceptions – the 2008 version fulfilled that tenet.” – The Dallas Morning News

Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore – ” … this year’s performers were some of the hottest in their respective genres.” – The Baltimore Sun

JVC Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island – ” … outdid itself with a perfect blend of the old and the new, of the highly regarded and the highly entertaining.” – The Boston Globe

Rosanne Cash in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – “Throughout the evening Cash sang cleanly and compellingly, with moonlit heartache and lullaby yearning.” – Allentown Morning Call

Robin Thicke in Anaheim – ” … capably proved that the slow-to-rise star aims for a feel distinctly different from those of his peers, a sound steeped in ’70s soul more than modern R&B.” – The Orange County Register

Wilco in Delaware (for the first time) – “The band unleashed an enchanting two-hour, 24-song show, touching on nearly all of their studio albums and their Mermaid Avenue collaborations with Billy Bragg.” – The News Journal / Delaware Online

They Say It’s Their Birthday … (Or so says Associated Press)

Kenny Gamble (Gamble and Huff) is 65

Jim Kale (The Guess Who) is 65

John Conlee is 62

Eric Carmen is 59

Joe Jackson is 54

Charlie Sexton is 40

Chris Dave (Mint Condition) is 40

Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Lucy Pearl, A Tribe Called Quest) is 38

Chris Kelly (Kris Kross) is 30

J-Boog (B2K) is 23