Micro-Indie Blues: Eclectic Seattle Label Fin Records Goes on Indefinite Hiatus: Christian Fulghum, owner of the Ballard-based record label Fin, announced that his four-year-old company will go on indefinite hiatus due to financial difficulties. Fin’s eclectic roster includes Pigeonhed, J. Pinder, Jack Endino, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo, Low Hums, Long Distance Poison, STAG, and KAIROS. Explaining the decision in a press release, Fulghum said, “It has never been easier to record, release, and distribute a record, but it has also never been more difficult to make money doing so…. The music wasn’t the problem. The economic models of the past have been thoroughly disrupted, and all of us, from the majors to the smallest independent labels, are struggling to create a viable new model.”

Downbeat Brings Upbeat News for Eyvind Kang: Rosemary Jones, the interim director of communications at Cornish College of the Arts, confirmed that Eyvind Kang, a local musician and composer who with Jessika Kenney won the Genius Award for music in 2013, did win an award from the prestigious jazz mag DownBeat....

Kent Deveraux, head of the Cornish Music department, let us know that current Cornish adjunct faculty member and Cornish alum (MU '93) Eyvind Kang was named best "Rising Star Jazz Violin" in the DownBeat magazine's 62nd annual critics poll. I believe this just appeared in the August issue of DownBeat.

Here is something jazzy by Kang...

Who Flew a White Flag of Surrender Over the Brooklyn Bridge? Whoever it was, they're gonna be in a lot of trouble.

I Thought We Weren't Talking About That: In advance of San Diego Comic-Con, Chuck Palahniuk's comic book sequel to Fight Club is getting a lot of media attention.

Render Unto Kickstarter the Things That Are Kickstarter's: Someone is trying to crowd-fund a more modern translation of the Bible.

No Editor? No Problem! The self-published poet laureate of North Carolina has resigned after her appointment led to a (relative) firestorm of controversy.

Confidence in Phony News Is on the Decline: Customer satisfaction in Fox News is declining, but customer satisfaction in USA Today is on the rise.