​The comments sections on several articles about Linda Chorney, the woman who gamed the system and social networked her way onto the final Grammy ballot in the Americana category, tend to be pretty negative, although Chorney's publicist, husband and a few friends are trying to staunch the flow of irate bile that has gushed like BP's Gulf well last year.

Lonesome, Onry and Mean has been following Americana music since long before we first went to work in country radio in the early Seventies, and we've never witnessed anything quite as shameful as Chorney's calculated internet march to the Grammy ballot. We were revolted by our first listen to Chorney's tepid folky Emotional Jukebox. We can think of a handful of women in Houston who could kick Chorney's musical ass with one arm behind their backs.

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​One of our favorite albums of the year is Fred Eaglesmith's 6 Volts. Like the Le Noise project from Neil Young and producer Daniel Lanois, 6 Volts is decidedly lo-fi. The main technical challenge for Eaglesmith and producer Scott Merritt, who goes back with Eaglesmith virtually to his recorded beginnings, was how to record the songs as a band with a single microphone in monophonic.

We recently emailed with the noted Canadian producer to delve into the technique and art of lo-fi recording and the recording of 6 Volts in particular.

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​Satellite radio got some new competition from a little old outfit called NASA when the government agency went live Monday with its new internet radio station, Third Rock.

The station is described in NASA's press release as "crafted specifically to speak the language of tech-savvy young adults." The New Rock/Indie/Alternative format mixes mostly deep tracks from new rock albums with a scant seasoning of recognizable radio hits.

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techonzo.com

​Google is finally launching its own music service. Google Music is a full-scale music service/store designed to compete with Amazon and Apple. Android boss Andy Rubin says they're very close to launch. About a dozen independent labels are have already joined forces with Google and the service is slated to arrive in the next two weeks.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that Google Music is off to a rocky start. Although Google has been talking to all four major music labels about licensing their catalogs for the new service, the The Wall Street Journal reported that only EMI (the smallest) is close to striking a deal.

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​No other company has changed the music industry as much as Apple. For the better part of the last decade, the late Steve Jobs and his co-conspirators have empowered music consumers in ways no one would have ever imagined.

The monstrous iTunes store made it possible for anybody to buy music without ever leaving the comfort of their home. And it paid huge dividends. iTunes went from a small digital enterprise to the world's largest music retailer in just eight years. Not largest online store - largest store, period, a bottomless pit of songs and albums, all affordable and within the click of a mouse.

Here are five ways Apple revolutionized the music industry.

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Charne Graham

The Faces of Coog Radio: Operations Director Sofia Straus, Music Director Josue Garcia and Co-founder Conner Clifton (first picture), and DJ Janet Quiroa (second).

​The University of Houston finally has its first student-founded and student-run radio station, Coog Radio, which launched online this week. The idea came about back in 2009 between UH senior Conner Clifton and two friends.

Prince Wilson, Student Government Association president at the time, directed Clifton to the right administration, and he sat outside President Renu Khator's office until he got the answer he was looking for. Nearly five months in the making, Coog Radio was created to reflect something that UH is most proud of, diversity.

Streaming uncensored 24 hours a day, Coog Radio has a student DJ team of about 40 people (including local underground hip-hop artist Fat Tony), each with two-hour shows. The station recruited the DJs via an e-mail blast to UH's liberal arts students. The students utilize a small studio in the school's UC Underground to produce, conduct and run the show.

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Jason611 via Flickr

​No one's willing to confirm anything, but all indications point to the same scoop: Facebook is planning to launch a new music service this fall. Here's what we know so far.

CNBC's John Fortt broke the news Kanye West-style - in ALL CAPS: "YES INDEED NEXT MONTH IS GOING TO BE A BIG ONE FOR MUSIC I'M HEARING FROM SOMEONE FAMILIAR WITH THE PLANS THAT FACEBOOK PLANS TO LAUNCH ITS LONG RUMORED MUSIC SERVICE AT THE F8 CONFERENCE ON SEPTEMBER 22ND. NOW, IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT FACEBOOK WON'T ACTUALLY HOST THE MUSIC, BUT WILL PARTNER WITH OTHERS WHO DO THAT. BUT FACEBOOK TO LAUNCH THEIR MUSIC PLATFORM AT THE F8 CONFERENCE ON SEPTEMBER 22ND."

And who's the lucky partner in Facebook's press-stopping, caps-locking tango?

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adrants.com

​Google stunned the tech world last week when it tied the knot with Motorola for $12.5 billion. But it's the music business that should be raising its brows at the union.

Like any typical suitor, Google weighed Motorola's considerably large assets in its decision to get in bed with the mobile giant. On one side of this pairing is Motorola Mobility, a pioneering cell-phone company with more than 17,000 patents.

On the other is Google, which commands roughly 40 percent of the Android market share. Both already had a successful fling when they teamed up on the Droid X and the Motorola Xoom; imagine the damage they could do long-term.

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West with Kelly Osbourne, white daughter of noted white musician Ozzy Osbourne.

​This morning in our daily Tumblr stroll for skull and Katy Perry pics, we found Kanye West With White People, a site dedicated to pictures of Der Fuhrer West with various white folks who are in natural poses, even smiling, while standing next to West. Considering his staunch opinion that he is the current Hitler, it's only fair that he be surrounded by the fair-skinned, even if some of them are Jewish.

Anti-Semitism is played out anyway.

Just to be clear, as much shit as we stir about West, we still listen to his music on the reg, which should make him sleep better at night. In fact, he may be our favorite rapper that isn't Slim Thug or DMX. In fact, if we could be any rapper, we would be West, because then we could date Kate Upton and just, like, dump her for no reason.

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howfresh2.com

Jay-Z's business plan: Don't leak the masters, get a Rolex.

​The kingdom is safe. The throne has been watched. In an age where albums spring leaks like baby diapers, Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne arrived on the appointed date without even as much as a drip.

For the first time in over a decade, we witnessed a major label release with no leaks. Aside from one isolated case where someone posted a few muffled snippets - and was roundly flayed in the Internet Court of Public Opinion - the album arrived intact.

The excitement that led up to its arrival was unparalleled. With no video or club single on hand, they still managed to garner enough buzz to shut down Twitter. Still more impressively Billboard reported today that first-week sales should top 500,000.

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