Ya know, I *still* haven't rec'd a password from them. I, for one, am not taking back everything I said about the bee, and I'm adding a few more choice comments.

I hope it's a nice article and that it drives visitors to watch The Flirts.

congratulations!

have you seen this yet? it's sully's new book -- www.thepathswechoose.com

Well, Mr. IT Professional, maybe you fucking didn't do something right? That would be my bet.

Take it all back do you? My but your price is low.

Aw fuck, and they want a login. It will have to remain a mystery. The Sacto Bee is harder to access on the web than the NYT.

Congrats, Annie!
...and I cracked their high-security environment with:
Userid: Password
Password: Password

You've only been in the hood for a year + and you are already making headlines.....impressive, girl!

or is it 2+ years. whatever....not that long regardless....

Congrats on the Bee, and on five straight years of winning the Axe!

Casca, seriously: What is your fucking problem?

Answering this would be akin to beating an idiot child. But, I was asked. It would be bad manners to ignore the twit.

Those who show up after the fact with weakass excuses offend the sensibilities of those who have made the effort. Had you but carried your weight, our girl would have won outright. Add to this my loathing of mince pies, and all who bake them, and you've entered a very select group in my estimation. I threw in an explanation of your girlfriend's Aunt's strange looks towards you for free. Finally, your posts uniformly suck. Any more questions?

My congratulations)

Casca:

I TOLD you; pick on someone your own size. These mental midgets are unworthy.

You know better than to take bait that looks too easy. I'm thinking you might be losing a step.

Hey Casca, you can't get on the NYT or the Bee sites unless you have a super secret liberal decoder ring. You can get yours from Daily Kos.
BTW you also mispelled but (butt) just like me!

Congrats Annie for this dubious distinction. Still, as the infamous corksucker Oscar Wilde said, its better to be talked about than not talked about.

Shelly, I've lost several steps, but not nearly as many as you, and like you, I compensate by being a devious old bastard. Youth is exciting, but maturity is interesting.

Kyle, I did that on purpose to put you at ease, and make you feel welcome. "Corksucker", love it.

Congrats on the Bee mention; that's how I just managed to become aware of you just an hour ago. But I do think that when Tower and other music retailers blame Amazon and file-sharing for their woes, they are overlooking their own role in their demise.

Until these recent going-outta-business sales, I hadn't bought new music at Tower in years. Classic albums by Jesus & Mary Chain...30% off a $26.95 list price? Even factoring in gas and bridge tolls, I'd be saving money to buy that at Amoeba Records in Berkeley. Even during these drastic price reductions, the Tower store four blocks from my house in Davis couldn't compete for my dollar next to a mom 'n' pop store 60 miles away. Why is it a surprise that they're folding? Why is it even lamentable?

I'm reading music-related blogs by avant-gardists and obsessed obscuro geeks from all over the planet, and it seems to me that only Americans ever ballyhoo the plight of fading record stores. And DIY labels in America complain loudly about losing their sales to downloaders, but DIYCEO's abroad don't seem as prone to that. I've begun to seriously believe it when my friend Scott--who runs his own DIY record label--says that this problem is uniquely American because of the way we devalue culture here. Europeans, he says, are more enthusiastic about supporting art and music and that they'd never disrespect it enough to steal it.

Indeed, culture is such a low priority for so many Americans that even when we do wanna pay for it, we buy it from the ultra-limited and tame vanilla selections at Wal-Mart and Target. I read somewhere recently that 55% of all music sold here in the USA are sold at Wal-Mart and Target.

Several stores are finding a successful niche selling serious music to serious music fans, the minority of Americans who do not roll over and settle for less. And even a store like The Beat has said that they had a record year in 2005. Amoeba and Aquarius in the Bay Area are as successful as ever. Portland, Oregon, has more record stores now (32 and counting!) than they did last year or ten years ago. These success stories are adapting and finding a new sustainable business model. Tower put up a feeble attempt to adapt; their can't-beat-'em-join-'em approach of offering downloads for purchase on their website shows just how ready they were to capitulate.

I spend probably $500-$1000 per month on new music, but I am not even 1% sad about Tower's bust.

Your comment gives me some reason to be optimistic, Rick. Thanks. Tower's prices had been going up, its true. And like I said, I had found other sources myself. Amoeba was a favorite haunt, in my college days. But now, without Tower, there's a vacuum, and technology will find a way to fill it. Pandora.com and satellite radio may be part of the answer. We shall see.

Congrats to you Annika!