In November, according to Wikipedia and the mainstream media, G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, removed David Wojnarowicz's short silent film "A Fire in My Belly" from the exhibit "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" at the National Portrait Gallery. The move came after some bleats of protest from the Catholic League, right-wing talk radio, and the ironically named Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio). Pathetic of the Smithsonian to cave so easily to such censorious sentiments, but cave they did.

While Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray and a handful of Democratic Senators were busy outflanking their Republican colleagues on the right in the we hours of the morning of May 27 by crafting the most conservative immigration measure to hit the state in a good long time, Zac de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine was equally busy spearheading a musical boycott of Arizona, where the most draconian immigration law in the country (SB 1070) has already prompted significant outrage. “The Sound Strike”—as the boycott is called—has attracted outspoken musicians from Kanye West to Sonic Youth, with others getting on board as I write. (The full list of artists who have joined the Sound Strike can be seen at http://www.thesoundstrike.com ) They are protesting a law that has been widely criticized for encouraging law enforcement to detain anyone who looks Latino. Why Massachusetts would want to get on that bandwagon remains a mystery.

Capitol/EMI is the smallest of the so-called Big Four major record companies. Like the other majors EMI been bleeding money over the last several years, but EMI has been bleeding talent as well, having lost signature acts such as the Rolling Stones and Radiohead since their 2007 purchase by private equity company Terra Firma. Rumor has it that Queen is talking to other labels. And EMI just lost a suit over downloading to Pink Floyd, an act that has been with the company for over 40 years. In addition to being seemingly unable to restructure their debt covenants successfully, EMI doesn’t seem to get the internet either. The recent departure of OK Go is a case in point.

In 2003, Steve Jobs railed against music subscription services, telling Rolling Stone that “People want to own their music.” Now it appears that Apple might be changing its iTune. Apple’s recent $80 million plus purchase of music subscription service Lala suggests that the company that made it easy (and legal) to download digital music files to your iPod or computer might now be envisioning the future of music as a big jukebox in the clouds. One big question is where this will leave users? Another is where it will leave musicians.