Spanish language music in the US has typically been heavily influenced by Latin American beats, tropical grooves and sounds from south of the border. That's natural since this country's Latin heritage comes from those regions.

However, I've noticed a minor trend in Spanish language music becoming more influenced by American...

Anything that's worth achieving typically isn't easy. The value of a lofty goal comes from the fact that not everyone has the combination of skill and drive to accomplish it. The road is tough, lonely and those who love you and support you can also have their doubts about your...

After last night's occurrence when Congressman Joe Wilson heckled President Obama by yelling "You lie!" during Obama's address to a joint session of Congress, Wilson's official website was overrun with traffic. The site has been taken down to prevent those of us who would have liked to send him a...

Sometimes it takes a couple listens for a song to sink in; to grow on you. Then a there are songs you just can't get out of your head after one listen. Germans call that kind of song an ear worm because it bores into your brain and begs another...

I started a song-a-day blog a couple weeks ago where each day I post a song I like. I either find these mostly-obscure songs during the course of my day job or artists submit them to me for me to consider. The blog was chugging along...

All last year and early this year there was a lot of anticipation in the neighborhood about the High Line, a new elevated park in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan's West Village. Personally, I didn't realize what a big deal this was for everyone but since it opened we've probably...

I'm a sucker for a good love song but these days you don't often come across love songs that strike the right balance. They're either clichés of themselves, cross the frontier into corny or they're more about sex appeal and desire than about heartfelt, honest, old-fashioned yet never-out-of-style love.

On...

Jon Stewart exposes Fox News for their hypocrisy, their double standards and their casual relationship with the facts.

If you grew up during the cold war like I did, you probably remember being told how lucky we were to not live in the Soviet Union because their media was biased...

Erik Qualman has been doing his homework on the social media phenomenon that has been spreading faster than (insert your own tasteless swine flu metaphor here).

His new book called Socialnomics comes out later this month. I think you'll be hearing a lot about it in the days to...

I'm cheap. I'm like Clark Howard. When I get money hey I feel empowered. - Al Lorden (The Cheap Song)

Scroll down to hear the song

This weekly song review I've started doesn't exactly do for a songwriter what Oprah's book club does for an author but let's...

Give it up to your teasing babe. Lead me astray. Never knew that love could ever feel this way - Simon Fagan (Never Really Cried)

scroll down to hear the song

Some estimates suggest that there are more than a million songs uploaded to the Internet each year by independent...

"Her tears are like diamonds on the floor and her diamonds bring me down" - Rob Thomas (Her Diamonds)

Today is the official release date of three time Grammy-award winning artist Rob Thomas' new single called Her Diamonds. It's the first single from his upcoming album entitled Cradlesong which hits...

Click here to read Part I

"It's not show friends. It's show business. " - Bob Sugar (Jay Moore): Jerry McGuire (1996)

What will happen to the major labels?

The labels were only ever going to survive as long as they remained the powerful gatekeepers between the artists and...

"In the race to adopt new technologies, the music industry historically has finished just ahead of the Amish." - Stan Cornyn, former Warner Music Group executive

What is happening to the music industry?

In short, the traditional music industry has been beaten, battered and completely transformed by a perfect storm...

Have you seen the new ad the DNC is going to run against McCain? Apparently the Democrats are calling McCain out and they may be doing it today in order to take advantage of network and cable news coverage of the Pennsylvania Primary. It doesn't sound like the DNC has...

In Spain the government collects value added tax (VAT) on exchanges between retailers and consumers. It's similar to the sales tax in that it's an indirect tax that is collected from someone other than the person who actually bears the cost of the tax (namely the seller rather than...

José Luís Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's recently re-elected Prime Minister has announced that his cabinet will, for the first time in history, be made up of more women than men. Of the 17 cabinet members nine are women. Zapatero is a self-proclaimed feminist and his previous cabinet sported an equal number...

Last night, I was fortunate to attend the Elton John concert / Hillary Clinton fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan (never a lack of things to do here). I've been supporting Hillary Clinton's tumultuous race for the nomination and in spite of the diminishing likelihood of her securing...

It's been six years since 9-11 and the question everyone is asking is, "are we safer"? All the news channels are filling air time with the multi sides of that issue. What we can all agree upon is that 9/11 changed our country. For as far as I can see...