plus: New MP3 technology. Sebastian Bach. Electronica, or dance, or both, or something else entirely. Lou Reed [ tickets ].

Hip-Hop Summit 2001 concluded in New York on Wednesday (6/13). Participants came up with "a series of initiatives and commitments that will affect the artistic, social and political landscape of American society and the global community," according to a press release, which names the three commitments:

1. Parental Advisory Labeling. An agreement was reached on creating a voluntary uniform standard for marketing albums with the Parental Advisory Label. These standards have the support of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). ...

2. Industry Adoption of Hip Hop Mentoring Programs. ...

• Assignment of a personal and professional mentor for each artist.
• Career development coaching especially designed for each artist.
• Residential and social environment enhancement.
• Artist cultivation.
• Management assistance.
• Private educational tutoring.
• Financial planning.

3. Political Empowerment of the Hip Hop Community. ...

• Hip Hop Political Action Committee that will educate and address issues important to the Hip Hop community such as freedom of speech, racial profiling, and other issues; and help elect and raise funds for political candidates.
• Massive Rap the Vote voter registration drive and get out the vote campaign for 2002 and 2004 elections
• The creation of a Hip Hop Think Tanks with the initial Think Tank at Columbia University. Dr. Manning Marable, Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and other leading intellectuals will work together to establish a forum for Hip Hop artists and executives to engage in an ongoing dialogue with the intellectual community around questions on the impact of Hip Hop culture and music on the global community.

From the You're Never To Old To Learn Department, Louis Farrakhan at the Hip-Hop Summit, as quoted on Billboard.com:

"There are words that can trigger a hateful response, and there are words that can bring people together. I am learning every day that you can say things ... and inflame people, and say it in another way and it goes in."

According to CNet.com, "Thomson Multimedia and the Fraunhofer Institute, the companies behind the MP3 digital music format, are releasing an upgraded version of their music format Thursday [6/14] called MP3Pro. ...

"Although the release will be limited, it will include a new player and 'ripper,' or file creator, that will allow music lovers to create near-CD quality digital music files using only about half the disc space previously required for MP3s.

"While MP3Pro files will work with software and devices based on the current MP3 format, they may sound worse on systems designed for standard MP3s because of differences in the way the sound is recorded. MP3Pro uses two separate streams of data to improve audio quality, only one of which can be detected by older players."

From a Salon.com story on two-step garage music by Andy Battaglia (who is also music editor at liveDaily sister site newyork.citysearch.com):

If you're really into dance music, you probably know two-step garage. If you're not--if the difference between house and techno seems like little more than the punchline-ready distinction between country and western--maybe you've seen it referenced in a magazine. Maybe it meant something, or maybe you just wrote it off as another example of dance music's tendency to spit out new genre names as signifiers of readymade revolution. Either way, two-step is a legitimately distinctive new style that owes a lot to drum 'n' bass and the futuristic minimalism that dominates American pop and R&B. But its debt extends equally to every other strain of dance music that has cropped up in the past 25 years. Giddy disco, soulful house, mechanistic techno, rhythm-crazed hardcore, bouncy Jamaican dancehall, big-bottomed Miami bass, gin-sipping G-funk, glitchy ambience--they're all there.

It's an unfortunate circumstance in electronic music that such terms mean the world to some and nothing to others. If you follow the music closely, the distinctions are both meaningful and necessary. They all connote something specific, even if they often bleed into one another and break down when it comes time for precise definitions. But keeping up with the linguistic free-for-all can wind up amounting to a full-time job. And it unfortunately guarantees that the newest sounds get discussed most interestingly in coded language that only alienates those who don't have a working knowledge of the vocabulary. ...

From a press release:

Sebastian Bach, original Skid Row front man and Broadway’s "Jekyll & Hyde" star (Summer/Fall 2000), was named as Favorite Male Replacement, as part of Broadway.com’s 2001 Audience Awards.

Every year, liveDaily Briefly gives out its Most Unflattering Award Name award, and this year, the award goes to ...

"Favorite Male Replacement" from Broadway.com's Audience Awards!

We just read an ad for Hepcat Records, which is selling "Lou Reed--All Tomorrow's Dance Parties," an EP of four of the dance songs that Reed wrote when he was a staff songwriter for a New York record company, prior to founding the Velvet Underground.