Ireland celebrates 100 years of The Easter Rising on Monday. Short video explains it all.

Ireland celebrates 100 years since what became the start of Independence through the rebellion ('The Rising') on Easter Monday 1916. 

Nice short documentary at the top of the page which explains it all if you're interested. And today....

What we're listening to. Carole King 'Tapestry'

The recent announcement that Carole King will be playing 'Tapestry' in full, in London's Hyde Park July 3rd for the first time, encouraged us to put it on again. 

These type of concerts follow of course, Patti Smith doing 'Horses' live and Springsteen doing 'The River', so a bit of a trend.

Tapestry was released in 1971, she was 29 from Brooklyn and stayed at number one for over 15 weeks, 316 weeks on the Billboard 200 - a record still, for a female solo artist. It was her second Album and produced by legend, Lou Adler.

Neil Sedaka in fact, had dated her in College but following a divorce from musician Gerry Goffin (who co-wrote "Will you love me tomorrow", "You make me feel like a natural woman" and other classics) she moved to LA (Laurel Canyon) where the Album cover shot is taken.

She became friendly with Joni Mitchell (who's legendary 'Blue' Album was released just months before Tapestry), and found a boyfriend in James Taylor (who plays acoustic guitar on Tapestry). Joni you'll hear too on some of the backing vocals.

JT famously recorded Carole King's 'You've got a friend' although most think he wrote it - he didn't, she did. You'll find 'Sweet Baby James' on this blog too, well worth a look.

Tapestry has won every award going and broken every chart record - being so well loved. It's very 70's and very intimate so you need to be in the mood..... but the songs are beautiful - "I feel the earth move", "It's too late", "Will you still love me tomorrow", "You make me feel like a natural woman" and of course, "You've got a friend". 

One of the all-time classic records that every collection should have. It's calming and that's just what we needed this week in Streamabout.

Previous "listen to's" you'll also find on this blog.......Beatles Red Album; Sex Pistols Never mind the Bollocks; Sam Cooke Live at Harlem Square; The Doors LA Woman; Thin Lizzy Live & Dangerous; Kendrick Lamarr Butterfly; Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace; Clapton 461; Massive Attack Blue Lines; The Clash London Calling; Chris Isaak At The Filmore; Bob Dylan Street Legal;Bad Company Straight Shooter; Jackson Browne Love is Strange; Lou Reed Transformer; Steely Dan AJA; Stones Black+Blue; Stephen Bishop Careless; Nils Lofgren Night after Night; Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells; Neil Young Harvest; Led Zep 4; David Bowie David Live; Van It's too late to stop now; Wings Band on the run; Rod Stewart Atlantic Crossing; Ryan Adams Heartbreaker; Santana Essential; Bob Dylan Desire; Roxy Music For your pleasure; Bob Marley Legend; Stephen Fretwell Magpie; James Taylor Sweet Baby James; Deep Purple Machine Head; Springsteen Darkness on the edge of town; Leon Bridges Coming Home; Eagles Hotel California; Jungle; Aretha Soul Queen; Neil Young After the Goldrush + Harvest; Zappa Overnite Sensation; Fleetwood Mac Rumours; Keith Jarrett Koln Concert; Doobies Southbound; Stevie Earle I feel Alright; Tom Waits Closing Time; Pink Floyd Dark Side; Van Moondance; Eric Church Caught in the Act; Randy Newman Little Criminals; Elton John Madman across the water; Patti Smith Horses; Doobies Captain and Me; Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill

1.3 Million UK Homes have no TV. New BARB data.

People are watching less and less TV so they're not even buying one.

New UK Barb figures (the TV measurement group) show that in the UK over 1.3 million homes don't have a traditional TV simply because they want online video like Amazon and Netflix. That's 4.7% of homes in 2015.

That actually tallies in Streamabout, where 2 crew members have no TV for over a year. They simply say, when asked, 'Well, Why would I?'. Fair enough.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of UK Homes subscribe to an online broadcaster and that's up in a year from 14%. Netflix is the dominant brand with growth of 1.5 million UK subscribers last year alone.

We've blogged and blogged about the decline in TV audiences, despite broadcasters issuing dubious statements to the contrary. But not buying a TV set in the home is another very clear indicator of the TV decline. If you don't have a TV you can't access TV stations except for the few broadcasting free online).

And the markets know it, hence the declines in broadcasters share prices. The top 10 US TV shows last year, featured only 2 Shows and a massive 8 live Sports. Broadband speeds and penetration zoom on, as does online choice.

The game is up and online video marches on thankfully. The truth needs to be told by the broadcasters and their representative bodies to advertisers. Advertisers need to move quicker, online to video.

Gawker's loss bring journalism into the money-making arena.

'Gawker' the American blog founded in 2002 by Nick Denton (ex Financial Times) focused on media and celebrity, has lost its legal battle against Hulk Hogan for 115 million usd in damages. More damages are to come and it's likely that Gawker will appeal.

The blog has always been controversial about the removal of videos/pics/emails (Tom Cruise, Sarah Palin), albeit with circa 23 million visits a month and a fairly furious rate of staff turnovers as Editors in Chief. We count 14 in about 12 years.

It took the jury a mere 3 hours to find in Hogan's favour where Gawker had refused to take down a Hogan sex tape (published 2012) thereby, violating Hogan's privacy. 

You can find all the Court documents here (cut + paste); http://www.2dca.org/Clerk/2D15-5044/15-5044.shtml

The fundamental is that it's probably going to be difficult for Gawker to find this amount of money. The Guardian says "it could destroy the site forever".

What needs to be understood is that Media are private businesses and whilst they might hide in the cloak of 'legitimate public interest', publishing is about generating readers and generating readers is about generating advertising and subscriptions. The more controversial it is, the more readers.

So this is not about 'journalism' per se but rather, money. Journalism is about money anyway. And they lost.

TUESDAY UPDATE - And he's just been awarded another 25m usd on top of the 115m usd already.