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The Hill Is Alive With The Future Of Music
by Heather Greenfield
The Future of Music Coalition has a new voice in Washington. Casey Rae-Hunter has signed on as their new communications director.
As people on Capitol Hill and beyond debate music and technology issues, FMC attempts to represent musicians' intellectual property rights.
"I'm thrilled to be working with the incredibly bright and boundlessly energetic folks at the Future of Music Coalition," Rae-Hunter said. "I've long wanted to combine my interest in public policy and technology with my music industry background, and now I have the perfect opportunity to do so."
"Establishing a 'musicians' middle class' is of great importance to me," he said. "I look forward to helping artists voice their opinions on the issues that most affect them in arenas where they're not often heard."
Rae-Hunter is a musician himself. He attended a university for jazz guitar at 17 and spent much of the 1990s toiling in the punk, hardcore and indie trenches, fronting and/or playing guitar for a list of bands whose names, as he puts it, are too long and insignificant to mention.
Before taking his new position, Rae-Hunter was the music editor for Seven Days Newspaper, a prominent New England alt-newsweekly with a print circulation of 75,000.
As a music journalist and critic, Rae-Hunter has profiled some of the leading figures in both underground and mainstream music, including Animal Collective, Antony & the Johnsons, The Books, Lindsey Buckingham, Built to Spill, Jolie Holland, and Mike Watt. He currently records under the moniker The Contrarian.
The ACLU's Hiring Triple Play
The American Civil Liberties Union has three new people joining the cause. It has hired Georgia Noone as deputy director, Michael Macleod-Ball as chief legislative and policy counsel, and Joanne Lin as legislative counsel covering civil rights issues.
"The ACLU is excited to have these three dedicated and talented individuals join our Washington legislative office," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the office. "Each brings tremendous experience in the fight for civil liberties." Fredrickson said the office is expanding ACLU's resources in the fight for justice and equality.
Noone came over from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, where she served as the chief administrative officer, directing several departments. "At a time when our nation's principles are under constant assault, the ACLU is at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and civil liberties," Noone said.
Macleod-Ball most recently was the executive director of the ACLU of Alaska Foundation and was serving on the national committee of ACLU affiliate directors. "I am proud to join the tireless group of talented individuals in our Washington legislative office as we continue to fight back against the Bush administration's persistent assaults on our basic constitutional rights," he said.
Lin brings to the ACLU vast advocacy experience from her time with Legal Momentum, an organization committed to advancing the rights of women and girls, where she served as senior staff attorney. Lin directed advocacy on immigration policy at a national level.
"Our nation is at a critical juncture -- a time when the civil rights community has suffered setbacks in the courts and a demise in civil rights enforcement, while at the same time our country has become more diverse and more and more people are being cut out of the American dream," she said.
Rural Group's Co-Chair Eyes Broadband
High-speed Internet deployment will be a top priority as Daryl Bassett of the Arkansas Public Service Commission becomes co-vice chair of telecommunications committee at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Bassett will serve with committee Chairman Tony Clark of North Dakota and co-vice chair Maureen Harris of New York in pursuing state telecom policy, educating NARUC membership on emerging issues and analyzing industry trends.
Bassett replaces Curt Stamp of Iowa. "I am looking forward to taking on this responsibility and using this platform to continue our focus on broadband deployment, particularly in rural America, and effectuating an efficient video-franchising process," Bassett said.
Before joining the Arkansas PSC in 2003, Bassett served the state as budget director in 2002 and as a policy adviser to the governor for economic development, higher education, workforce education, employment security, rehabilitation services and independent living councils.
"Commissioner Bassett is stepping up to this important position at a critical time in the telecommunications industry," Clark said.
E9-1-1 Institute Announces Board Members
The E9-1-1 Institute, which is focused on expanding emergency telephone service to nontraditional systems, has some new help on its board of directors.
The organization, which has more than 1,000 members nationwide, has elected: David Aylward, COMCARE's founder and director; Michael Amarosa, TruePosition's senior vice president of public affairs; Mary Boyd, Intrado's vice president of government and external affairs; Janice Partyka, Technocom's vice president of external affairs; and Art Prest, a consultant to Illinois Valley Cellular.
For the first time, the institute also will have a board member representing the fast-growing Internet telephone industry. Angel Arocho, Vonage's director of public safety, has been appointed to that seat and will serve a one-year term.
NIST Scientists Surpass Standards
Four members of the National Institute of Standards and Technology staff are receiving 2007 Presidential Rank Awards that recognize exceptional long-term accomplishments in public service by career senior government executives.
The winners are: William Boettinger of the NIST Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory; Charles Clark of the NIST Physics Laboratory and the NIST-University of Maryland Joint Quantum Institute; Paul Julienne of the NIST Physics Laboratory and JQI; and Richard Kayser, NIST's acting deputy director.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science, meanwhile, has recognized a NIST physicist for measuring forces between ultra-cool atoms. AAAS has named NIST physicist Paul Lett as one of its new fellows.
AAAS cited Lett for his work in developing the technique that can be used to measure the forces between atoms cooled close to absolute zero. The technique, known as molecular photoassociative spectroscopy, shines laser light on two slowly colliding atoms in an ultra-cold gas, and gives them energy to join together and form molecules.
Quote Of The Week
"I'm a strong supporter of net neutrality. Google and MySpace may not have been started if you didn't have that level playing field."
-- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, speaking to Iowa college students during a MySpace/MTV forum Monday.
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