Ten years ago The Flaming Lips convinced Warner Bros. Records to release their four-disc musical opus Zaireeka. It was considered one of the weirdest album experiments in rock music since Lou Reed talked the suits at RCA into releasing his Metal Machine Music back in 1975 (MMM is a headache inducing thunder punch of pure sonic feedback released on two LP’s and a serious entry in the realm of noise rock). Reed’s album was so twisted, in fact, that legendary rock critic Lester Bangs claimed it made his hermit crab literally dance and thus he dubbed Metal Machine Music, “the greatest record ever made in the history of the human eardrum.”

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Flaming Lips four-disc aural milestone (which is arguably a thousand times more palpable than MMM), fans across the spectrum are hosting Zaireeka listening parties in bars, house parties and record stores. What makes Zaireeka special is that in order to hear the album as intended by The Flaming Lips – all four discs must be played simultaneously on four separate CD players with each player hitting “play” at the right moment in the countdown, which begins each track. Each player’s volume can then be adjusted to “mix” the album. This is as close to an interactive experience with a piece of recorded music (outside of the studio) as some listeners will ever get.

I’m a big fan of old postcards. So it’s with pleasure that I point you to the website of Fly Lajitas, a carrier with the sum total of two routes—Austin to Lajitas and Dallas to Lajitas.

Lajitas is a border town in West Texas and home to Lajitas, The Ultimate Hideout, a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. The property is a 25,000-acre private estate nestled between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park along the Rio Grande River.

See Visit Big Bend for more.

While the jury is still out on how successful Radiohead’s experiment in internet album distribution has been, that isn’t stopping other big name artists from following in their footsteps. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame has announced that he will be releasing the new Saul Williams album via the net.

Although the distribution model is similar in nature, there are a couple of noticeable differences. Unlike Radiohead’s model of “pay whatever you want,” the only options in this case are $5 or free. For those who pay, they get high quality MP3 files while the freeloaders get lesser quality MP3s (which all in all isn’t a bad deal assuming you don’t care about the sound quality).

Trent Reznor is acting as producer on Saul Williams’ new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, which will also be his first foray into self distribution. Fans can go online to sign up to download the album on the November 1st release date.

It’s all over the news today–Microsoft, in what some are calling a defensive move–has agreed to invest $240 million in Facebook. Microsoft gains a 1.6% stake in the privately held company, which is now valued at $15 billion (based on the amount Microsoft was willing to pay).

Facebook was founded by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, now 23, who dropped out of school and moved the business to Silicon Valley.

Bill Gates also dropped out of Harvard to run Microsoft full time.

Just 18 months ago, Zuckerberg shocked a lot of people by turning down a $750 million dollar offer for his company, saying he wanted to maintain control. That move is looking highly prescient given today’s news.

With bands as massive as Radiohead attempting to re-imagine the future by releasing albums when and however they want (with many other bands – large and small – leaning in the same direction) it is probably time for the Recording Academy (the august organization that doles out the annual Grammy awards) to begin thinking about their own continued relevance in the zeitgeist.

For a recording to be eligible for a Grammy award it must be released before September 30th of the given year in order to be considered for the upcoming February 2008 awards. On the other hand, the major labels are strategically eschewing the once highly coveted Grammy consideration and waiting until October and/or November to pull out their big guns. This keeps the songs of their top sellers fresh in the minds (and ears) of consumers as they troll the crowded aisles of the local “big box” retailer seeking the perfect holiday gift.

By doing this, the major labels – who feel the grip tightening in this digital age - count their real gold (sales) versus Grammy gold (glory) as the number one factor when it comes to releases by their stable of big artists. By adapting this strategy they are then relegating these albums for inclusion in the running for Grammy glory in February of 2009! A long way down the road! It might as well be one thousand years down the road when it comes to sales and/or current relevance, for a good deal of major label output tends to have a short commercial shelf life as new songs constanly vie for a very short consumer attention span.

This does not bode well for the Grammy’s continued relevance and there are many who argue that it lost its way years ago.

There’s pumkin beer and then there’s beer made in a pumpkin.

image courtesy of Flickr user, Cog_Nate

See the entire photo set on Flickr to learn how it’s done.

[via Cynical-C]

I’m Not There is an unconventional journey into the life and times of Bob Dylan. Six actors portray Dylan as a series of shifting personae—from public to the private to the fantastical—weaving together a rich and colorful portrait of this ever-elusive American icon. Cate Blanchett is one of the six actors, so that’ll be interesting.

A concert celebration of the Todd Haynes’ film will take place Wednesday, November 7th at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.

According to Gizmag, there’s a new blimp in the air. Aeros has introduced the new Aeroscraft ML866 which can be utilized as a private air yacht, corporate air vehicle, business office in the sky, or commercial commuter, providing its passengers with far more space than any existing business jet.

The Aeroscraft ML866 offers 120 knots top speed and over 5,000 square feet of interior compartment. The helicopter like vertical takeoff and landing capability and ability to operate from unprepared fields enhance the scope of the Aeroscraft by enabling access to remote areas anywhere in the world.

And Aeros isn’t the only company advancing the blimp concept. According to de zeen art director Tino Schaedler and Michael J. Brown are working to launch their Strato Crusier, a luxury helium-filled airship contains a gourmet restaurant, a spa, a swimming pool, a resident DJ and so on.

A British survey purports to show the middle class and rich are more likely to regularly consume hazardous levels of alcohol than the poor.

But the highest levels of harmful binge drinking were found in poorer areas, The Times of London reported.

The study is part of a campaign to reduce alcohol use in the country. By the end of 2008, health officials plan to have all alcoholic beverages sold in bottles and cans labeled for how many “units” of alcohol they contain.

[via UPI]

According to The New York Times, geeks are gaining more ground.

Boing Boing, “the directory of wonderful things” that draws 7.5 million page views a month is about to move into another important medium.

As the site bloomed, various networks approached the editors about a reality television show, which caught no one’s fancy. But as the amount of video on the Web and Boing Boing has grown, discussion began among the editors about what a branded television program might look like. They came up with a five-day a week program, three to five minutes in length, that is being produced in partnership with DECA, a Santa Monica digital entertainment company. The broadcast platform, naturally, is the Web.

Xeni Jardin is the face of Boing Boing TV. With a shock of white, almost architectural, hair, she looks like a siren from some lost episode of “The Jetsons.” Ms. Jardin, who also contributes to Wired and other publications, as well as National Public Radio, serves as a muse and screen-saver for fanboys everywhere.

In related news, TMZ, the celebrity-obsessed Web site owned by Time Warner, recently began syndicating a daily television show.