Abra Por Vida!

Musical stylist Abra Schnur has taken it to the net with Culture Club. The TPR/NPR radio news reporter, and one-time host of KSYM, has been added to the list of podcasts available for download on Texas Public Radio station KSTX.
Abra always had great shows on KSYM, and I was sad to see her go off air. So if you didn't have a chance to listen to her back then, and you haven't tuned into TPR/NPR lately, you can now download her program featuring stories about arts, music and culture in San Antonio, Texas. Yay!

What the FTC Starbucks???

Several years ago I worked at a local Starbucks. What can I say, it was rough times, and I needed the cash to pay for school. It was for one summer, and an odd experience of waking up at 5AM in the morning to grant coffee wishes to office employees working outside of my parents rural community. As soon as they mentioned to me a role in management I quit, and got a part-time job on campus.

On November 3, 2006, three days ago, the Seattle Times reported that four laptops were stolen from the Starbucks Seattle headquarters containing personal data on 60,000 present and former employees. Today, I received a letter from their VP of Information Management, Elizabeth King, informing me that my private information, including my name, and social security number was on one of these retired laptops stolen. Your identity has been stolen, and we just wanted to send you this black and white unsigned letter without an apology. What the FTC?

The letter goes on to explain that I need to visit a site on how to protect myself on identity theft, and that if I have any other questions to visit a partner information site. Second, they have suggestd that I enroll in an Equifax Credit Watch Monitoring System, sponsored by Starbucks and Equifax, to install a warning system on personal credit changes. Thanks.

Before I go on my rant did you know that Washington is ranked No. 7 in the nation for reported identity-theft cases? Nearly 6000 residents were victims last year alone, and those were just the people we know about. Starbucks discovered that the out-of-use laptops were missing on Sept.6, 2006, but they waited two months before they sent out notifications.

I have a few questions:

1. Why would the personal information of 60,000 employees, including their social security numbers, be stored on four unsecured mobile computers?
2. If the information is data sensitive why were the computers only password protected, but not encrypted? I know Starbucks has heard about the Washington Data Breach Notification Law.
   
3. Why would I register or enroll in a service to protect my credit, and identity, with Starbucks or Equifax?
4. Why are they only offering this monitoring service for one year? We have to protect our identity from here on out.
5. The security breach has not been posted on their main site. Why?

So what now? As you can see I have several questions, and I left a message for Elizabeth King at Starbucks HQ. I don't think they are going to give me a call back. The operator said something like, "...oh are you calling about that thingy in the news?" Awesome.

Hey, I never said that I was the only one upset.

Feeling Lame to Mercury Rev

I deleted one email from Mercury Rev. The kind they send out to let people know about updates, and upcoming tour info. It was a big mistake for someone who waits for every whisper from the band that takes their time. I missed out on info about a new CD.

Mercury Rev has released a set of B-Sides, and other tracks, on a 2CD import titled The Essential Mercury Rev, Stillness Breathes, 1991-2006. It has been a month, and I still haven't received my copy of the CD, and I'm feeling lame for not having what I want.

Yeah, I could copy the tracks from someone, but I actually want to give my cash to these furry animal loving group of guys. Here are some tracks YouTube-d for our pleasure until I get my order from Hogwild Records.

Preserving Tacoland

Many people have asked me recently about the procedure to apply for a historical marker for the music venue Tacoland, owned by the now deceased Ram Ayala. There is an application process, and a large portion of it includes documentation describing the cultural and historical significance of the building to the community.

To begin the process the community will need to follow a few steps to acquire a historical marker:

• To prepare Tacoland for the new application deadline someone will need to do research on the building, and Ram Ayala, as a marker topic developing a brief historical narrative with supportive documentation. Most applications have 4-5 pages minimum with footnotes.
• Next, someone will need to visit with the county historical commission (CHC) chair regarding the time frame for review at the county level. Work out a schedule with the CHC chair to ensure the commission has adequate time to review and comment on the application before it is then forwarded to the THC.
• If possible, someone representing the community petitioning for the historical marker will need to attend one of the THC's marker workshops to learn more about basic research and the application process. The THC will post the workshop schedule on the web site and send notices.
  

Due to the conservative climate of local politics here in San Antonio a community driven petition would also be another source of supportive documentation for this project. Secondly, a collection of articles, and stories done on Tacoland would also be helpful to the application.

IMPORTANT DATES:
November 15, 2006-When the Texas Historical Commission will begin accepting applications
January 2, 2007- Deadline for submitting marker applications

There are other projects that include the preservation of Tacoland underway. People have mentioned a hard bound archive of flyers and tabloids of bands that played at the venue, and a DVD documentary produced by local patrons, musicians, and supporters has been mentioned by those close situation.

My last experience at Tacoland included a show featuring Stoli and the Beers. At the time I had stopped allowing bands, or sleepovers at my house. That night they ended up crashing at my house anyway, and the next day we talked about the significance of the venue to our local music scene history. Sadly, for all of us it was our last show there together.

So many people were close friends to Ram Ayala, and I was not one of them. Just a fan of the dark lights, and loud music within a raw environment. It would be great to see the the San Anto cultural corner of Punk on the river preserved by those who still watch over the venue, and his family.

What was your last experience at Tacoland?