Cubs Win! The Magical ’08 Season Goes On

I was thrilled to watch the Cubs celebrate their Central Division-clinching win on national television today and before a full house at Wrigley. It seems they’re always clinching on enemy territory — the Pirates come to mind (and yes, in my 33 years it’s happened with relative frequency — 1984, 1989, 1998 [wild card], 2003, 2007, and now 2008). But this is the first time the Cubs have won back-to-back division titles since they three-peated in 1906-1908 (winning their last two World Series in 1907 and ’08).

I’m in Las Vegas (the Cubs are 9-5 favorites to win the NL Pennant; 4-1 on the Series) at the Blog World Expo but — my heart was in Wrigley… and the victory cry I heard just now on Channel 9 News at Nine as bellowed by Ron Santo was something else — I’ll have to get audio. I’d like to thank Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella and the greatest Cubs team I’ve been fortunate to cheer on — the 2008 Cubs. For now, video below, and even the hat is pretty cool. Now back to regularly scheduled weekending and BWE08 activities.

LISTEN to the postgame celebration via WGN AM Radio

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Register to Vote – or Hate Yourself for 4 More Years

There is no reason to NOT vote. Why register to vote even if you just moved somewhere new? Because you can. It’s fun. And, unless you vote by mail (which is increasingly common in many states), you’re bound to meet some awesome neighbors that you never knew you had. Rock the Vote has a cool widget this year. Click on it. Do it.

Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Credo Mobile

CUBS: Carlos Zambrano Returns With No-Hitter; Magic Number is 7

carlos zambrano no hitter cubs

Amazing night at — of all places — Miller Park. Much will be said about this night, and personally, I’m elated at the moment. But in the interest of getting out of the house, I’m going to post the audio highlights c/o WGN Radio, Pat Hughes, and Ron Santo. Yes, The Chicago Cubs, on the back of Carlos Zambrano — who nearly no-hit the Astros in the past — pitched his first career no hitter, the first no hitter by a Cubs since Milt Pappas in 1972.

Listen to the call of the 27th out:

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Holy Shit Carlos!

And the Magic Number is 7!

Piniella, Zambrano talk to the media:

Game Highlights (WGN Radio):
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Socializing the Music Industry: Online Tools

social media clubIn brainstorming for tomorrow’s panel on Social Media and Music tomorrow tonight (Sept. 11) at Kleiner Perkins in LA (I’m co-moderating with Jackie Peters), I came up with the below list of concepts, products, and applications that peer into the future of music and the Web. More info on the panel is here. Please feel free to add more context / suggestions in the comment section below:

DIY LICENSING & DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS

— SNOCAP — http://snocap.com
— RouteNote — http://www.routenote.com/
— ArtistShare – http://artistshare.com/home/default.aspx
— http://cashmusic.org/
— http://youlicense.com
— http://licensequote.com
— http://severedfifth.com
— http://www.fina-music.com/

SOCIAL PLATFORMS for FANS and ARTISTS:

— Buzznet — http://buzznet.com
— ArtistDIRECT — http://artistdirect.com
— TunesBag — http://www.tunesbag.com/
— HobNox — http://hobnox.com
— Eventful — http://eventful.com
— Gruvr — http://www.gruvr.com
— Jambase — http://jambase.com
— AnywhereFM — http://www.anywhere.fm/player/
— MySpace Music (whenever it *really* launches)
— Seeqpod, MusicBrainz, iLike, iMeem, etc.
— even more tools (the Mashable list)

DISCOVERY:

The New Zune firmware / Marketplace (FM click to purchase and recommends) — http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/default.mspx
http://www.archannel.tv/
http://www.deezer.com/
http://amalgamdigital.com/
http://alterhit.com/
http://www.soundflavor.com/
http://www.jogli.com/
http://www.songza.com/

http://www.signalpatterns.com/

WIDGETS & APIs

Y! Media Player — http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/
MusIcon — http://www.muzicons.com/
FineTune — http://finetune.com
MixWit — http://www.mixwit.com/
Music-related APIs — http://www.programmableweb.com/music
Y! Audio Search API — http://developer.yahoo.com/search/audio/
Music DNS API — http://www.musicip.com/dns/
MusicBrainz API — http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/XMLWebService
Seeqpod API — http://www.seeqpod.com/api.php?music_discovery#Disco_Rex
Gruvr API — http://gruvr.com/developers/

FILESHARING & MP3 DIRECTORIES

— Dropbox — http://getdropbox.com
— Media Master — http://mediamaster.com/
— HypeMachine — http://hypem.com

FINANCING / LICENSING MUSIC w/ SOCIAL Media:

— http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/9/could-payola-save-online-radio
— http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/major-label-see.html – Former Label Exec Sees Future Outside Music Distribution
— Monetizing / Licensing music via Creative Commons: http://ccmixter.org/, http://freesound.com, http://www.podsafeaudio.com/, http://opsound.org/
— Free vs. ad-supported vs. Subscription models. Subscription tied to Hardware (Nokia, Lenovo, GM, etc) or to Operating system / software (Zune, iTunes)
— Pairing bands with advertisers based on social demographics