Is this the "golden age" or the shape of things to come.

I was reading a post on Bruce Houghton blog "Why Am I Still Optimistic About The Music Industry?"  wherein he first lays out the gloom and the doom, but is then uplifted by the emergence of  an independent musical middle class.  Those who are either self released promoted and represented, or who do so through smaller labels which are "all about the music" (my quotes not his).

While this is certainly a true phenomenon, one your own Bobo is looking to join, I cant blithely skip along down indi utopia road, as I have little faith that our corporate masters will leave us to our own devices long enough to have a lasting impact.   I posted the following to Gary's blog 

"I know deep in my heart that technology alone will not shift the fundamentals of our culture and economy. We are at a very interesting time, where many things are possible, but unfortunately what is most probable is an inevitable reshuffling back to the status quo. Albeit with a new face. Google/Apple instead of EMI/Sony Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Wealth and power are too consolidated for any new system to truly emerge on a mass scale. Try accessing forbidden web sites in China if you doubt it."

Pessimistic ain't I.

So dear reader, am I off the mark.  Has the tide turned. Has the standard level of/and access to technology gotten out front of the corporate state.  Are we on the cusp of a new age of reason, where each of us is endlessly connected to our 6 degree's of separation.  The web cam in place in every Tuareg village, so we can dig to the grooving of the local youths guitar culture, while in Bukhara the few remaining Bukhari Jews will be dancing to dollar downloads from our fave Klez Ska band Go Van Gogh.

Or will we see these days as the lost golden age of the global internet culture, before it was swallowed up as an extension of Sam Waltons empire.  Sam may be dead, but his family lives on.  They have a lot of wealth and power.  They know how to hire bright people to get bigger and bigger (A Thneed's a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need), but it's only Walton world if we let it be.

So my dears shake off that indifference.  Forget Bobo's pessimism.  Rush down to the small local bar, and buy a drink, buy the CD straight from the band.  Shop at local designers like Walkershaw for your dresses, coats, pants, and blouses. Get your food from local people who care what they sell.  And don't forget to vote for people you trust, not just the ones your told you must.

Thats all for now

XXOO

Bobo