Cold comfort for Northeastern
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff – February 24, 2010

The advertisement touting the college’s co-op program was ready to go. It featured a lone king penguin in ice-covered Antarctica — “The only continent where you won’t find a Northeastern University student . . . yet,” it proclaimed.

The ad, set to run over the next month in the Chronicle of Higher Education and in Newsweek magazine, was drawn up to mark the centennial of experiential learning through the school’s co-op program and the expansion in recent years of co-ops abroad. Each year, more than 6,000 Northeastern students work, conduct research, and participate in community service in more than 500 cities around the world.

But, as it turns out, the ad will never run. The campaign, is seems, was killed by its very prescience. Northeastern officials recently learned that a student is heading to the South Pole in April for a six-month research stint, and have withdrawn the ad.

Smaller damages sought in music case – Lawyer for file-sharing BU student says jury award should be $21
By Jonathan Saltzman – Globe Staff / February 24, 2010

A Boston University graduate student who was ordered to pay four record labels a total of $675,000 in damages for illegally sharing 30 songs online caused no more than $21 in damages, said his lawyer, who implored a federal judge yesterday to slash the jury award or order a new trial.

Standing before the US District Court judge who presided over last summer’s closely watched trial, Harvard law professor Charles Nesson said the 1999 federal law applied by the jury to calculate damages caused by his client, Joel Tenenbaum, had “produced absurd results’’ and a grossly excessive award that violated Tenenbaum’s constitutional rights.

If Tenenbaum had bought the songs legally on iTunes, Nesson argued, the student would have paid 99 cents for each, and the record labels would have received 70 cents each from Apple. Thus, Nesson said, total damages should be no more than $21.

“The idea that somehow Congress has done this,’’ Nesson said of the federal law at issue in the hourlong hearing, “it’s almost like an insult to the Congress.’’

Hub’s new House of Blues takes a place on top of the world
By James Reed – Globe Staff / February 24, 2010

A month before the new House of Blues opened on Lansdowne Street last year, concert impresario Don Law made a lofty prediction. As president of the New England division of Live Nation, which owns the House of Blues chain, Law said the venue could book as many as 300 shows its inaugural year, making it far busier than the space’s previous clubs, Avalon and Axis.

He came close – it hosted nearly 250 shows – but he did not foresee the latest news: Boston’s House of Blues sold more tickets last year than any other club in the world.

According to Pollstar, the concert industry’s trade publication, the House of Blues sold 314,597 tickets in 2009, restoring luster to the city’s diminished nightlife scene since Avalon and Axis closed in 2007 and outdrawing well-established venues in New York (Hammerstein Ballroom), San Francisco (the Fillmore), and Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club).

“Part of it is that location has been successful for 40 years, going back to the Tea Party,’’ Law said of the No. 1 ranking, which is even more impressive considering that the House of Blues – which debuted Feb. 19, 2009 – was not open the entire year.

struggle in ‘Idol’ performances
By Bill Burke / Boston Herald – February 24, 2010

The terms “clumsy” and “dark” were used to describe the performances of two Bay State singers who faced the judges, and the voting public, on the first live show of this season’s “American Idol” last night.

Berklee College of Music grad Ashley Rodriguez, 22, of Chelsea was the second performer of the night. Dressed in a white top, silver jacket, a gold chain and heels, she gave Leona Lewis’ “Happy” a shot. Unfortunately, she seemed to miss.

While Kara DioGuardi said there were “nice moments” and she expected Rodriguez to move on in the competition, there also were “definitely moments that weren’t great.” Randy Jackson said the song didn’t allow Rodriguez to show who she was, and Ellen DeGeneres suggested she “take a risk” next time.