We all know the music industry is changing fundamentally, whether it likes it or not. It seems that lately it has become trendy to ditch record labels and give music away for free. Let’s hope this becomes the norm in the future, because my bank account is just loving this little experiment.

The latest full album to come out free of charge is from punk/skate rock staple Pennywise. Their album is available for free download (and DRM free - yum) through MySpace. All you have to do is add Textango as a friend and then click on the link they post in their bulletins. Its as free as it gets, and you’ll be able to download it for about the next week and a half. Otherwise it will be available in stores where you pay for things.

I just listened to the album, called “Reason to Believe,” and its a fun venture that sticks to the punk genre. It was certainly worth the time it took to download it, and it will be a good way to prepare for seeing them out at the Warped Tour this August.

Exciting new music can be a tricky thing to find. Especially if you aren’t satisfied with finding the same three new songs everyone else is finding through the radio and Apple commercials. Luckily, the Internet has made it a lot easier to listen in to garages around the world. My favorite place (and I think the easiest place) to explore new music is MySpace.

When I signed up for MySpace I didn’t actually think I was going to use it much. I already had a Facebook account and did not know too many people using MySpace. Eventually I found the music section and the rest is history. Through MySpace I’ve become more familiar with the local music scenes both in the CU and in Chicago. I’ve also gotten into new bands from across the country and a few from different parts of the world.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the bands and random people that decide to friend you on MySpace. I usually like to listen to at least one song by a band before accepting a friend request, so sometimes these requests pile up in my inbox for months at a time. After a while I felt like I was friends with all these bands but couldn’t remember what half of them sounded like.

The solution I came up with for this problem has provided me with some of my favorite mix CDs to listen to. A lot of artists put up songs for download on their profiles, so I usually grab the ones I want as I come across them. Every so often I accumulate enough to burn them onto a full-length CD. I’ve made three of these MySpace mixes to date. The only rule for these mixes is that the songs on them have been made available for download by the artist, whether I found it on their MySpace profile, their Web site, et cetera.

I’ve discovered some of my favorite new bands this way, and I’d encourage any other new music hunters to give this a try. I put together my third mix during spring break and I think it’s my favorite one so far. Check out the tracklisting (some of these are still available for download):

1. “Robinson” - Learn to Fly (Charleston, Ill.)

2. “Khalil” - New Black (Chicago)

3. “Dance Dance Revolution” - Agents of Change (Chicago)

4. “This One” (live) - Headlights (Champaign-Urbana)

5. “Even in His Youth” - Children’s Masterpiece Theatre (Chicago)

6. “Sh*t a Brick” -  Alleyway Sex (Champaign-Urbana)

7. “To Him” - Noah Harris (Chicago)

8. “This is Life Krukid” - Curb Service (Champaign-Urbana)

9. “Bronx Dance Party” - Daly’s Gone Wrong (New York City)

10. “Antonymity” (live) - Elsinore (Champaign-Urbana)

11. “Scalliwag” (Simlish version) - Gaelic Storm (Los Angeles)

12. “Please Come Back” - Catfish Haven (Chicago)

13. “Dead Man’s Hand” - Tritone (Champaign-Urbana)

14. “One of a Kind” (live) - Lorenzo Goetz (Champaign-Urbana)

15. “Explain” - The Scarlet Harlots (Birmingham, England)

16. “The Very Last Messenger” - No Torso (Oslo, Norway)

Since I haven’t been doing anything fun for Spring Break ‘08 and I haven’t cut or highlighted my hair since November, I decided I would try to get pretty today and go to the salon.

Back home in Naperville, there is only one place I will go to get my hair cut and that place is “Amber Waves” hair salon.

My usual girl was unavailable any time I could go this week, so I had to try someone else. Now I think Amber Waves is a fantastic salon and I know they employ only talented stylists, but I was still a little concerned that a complete stranger would be cutting my hair. What if she messed up?
I think women are extremely attached to their hair, almost unnaturally so. Is it really that big of a deal if you get a bad hair cut? We all know that hair grows and a bad hair cut isn’t permanent. So why do people, women in particular, make such a big deal over a cut gone awry?

As the stylist chopped away at my hair, inch by inch, and the golden clumps fell to the floor, I began to understand the feeling that comes with a bad cut. Was this girl seriously making it shorter than previously discussed? She even told me it would look bad if it was too short. And here she is chopping it shorter and shorter and shorter….

Luckily it turned out great. But I finally understood the panicky feeling that comes with realizing you could look hideous for the next few months. It isn’t just about the hair, it’s the entire feeling of confidence that comes (or goes) when you get it cut.

At the same time, you shouldn’t be afraid to try new things with your hair. So I’m torn. Are you justified in making a big deal if your hair cut doesn’t go according to plan? Should you never take any risks, when you could end up looking horrible, but on the other hand, could end up looking more amazing than before?

Maybe we should all just learn to love hats.  That  way, we can take risks with our hair and still have a backup plan.

You know how in fashion, everything old eventually becomes new again? Well, it’s pretty much the same in beauty trends. Obviously both have alterations to make them more modern, but there is one thing that should never, ever come back. Crimped hair.

Unless you are 8, maybe 9, you should not have crimped hair. That means you, girl who sat in front of me today.

I know a lot of fashion designers are using crimped hair to give their models an ethereal look, but they really just look like they’re from 1985. Even with minimal pieces of hair crimped, it just looks outdated and kind of trashy.

I’ll admit, I did it a few times in high school but those times are ones I would rather forget  (if only I didn’t have pictures of the time!)

If you’re bored with your straight hair, try wavy or curly or try a three-barrel iron. Just please don’t try crimped hair.

Last night I headed out to downtown Champaign, to take in an elsinore show at the High Dive. Ryan Groff and company have become one of my favorite local acts. Watching them transition from their folk-y tunes on their 2006 album “Nothing for Design” to their heavier, guitar solo enriched new material has been a lot of fun the last few times I’ve seen them.

I’m getting familiar with “Landlocked,” which they closed with last night. It’s the first new song I heard them play, and I’ve heard them play it a few times now. The last section of the song is the best part, it is an instrumental build from scratch into chaos and its fun to watch in the live setting. They also played “The General,” “Gasoline” and “Antonymity,” all of which should be on elsinore’s new album, although lead singer Ryan Groff hinted that “Antonymity” may be some sort of bonus track.

The band has been at work on this new album for quite a while (they’ve been playing “Landlocked,” “Gasoline” and “Antonymity” for a while now), and it should be released in the summer. However, Groff gave the crowd a juicy tidbit of information when he said they plan to release a tour EP so fans don’t have to wait until July or August to hear some of the new material. He didn’t give a specific release date for the EP, but keep your ears open because I have a feeling it will come out sooner rather than later.

“The Long Run” was the sole representative from “Nothing for Design” in elsinore’s set last night. I definitely like watching them play the new material, but I have to say I missed “Vampire in My Town” and “Timid Maggie Mae,” which are usually standards in their sets. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to have to trade the lively cover of Beck’s “Debra” with an appearance from Larry Gates. All in all it was a good way to spend a Saturday night.