The idea that MySpace Music is fighting an uphill battle to establish itself as a social-network music service isn’t particularly interesting to me.

But this one aspect of their long-term approach is:

Eventually, [MySpace Music director Courtney] Holt wants to build up discussions of artists’ discographies on MySpace and foster “social DJs” — playlist creators who are as influential as radio disc jockeys once were.

Custom-rolled playlists that followers would use to get clued in on new music they might otherwise never have found. That’s what old-time radio DJs did back in the day, and since this fits into the trust factor that social networks foster, it’s a natural. It’s funny to imagine the growth of an online cognoscenti of music taste-makers who’ll have a direct and measurable impact on which song is a hit and which isn’t. In turn, these social DJs would gain a fair measure of fame themselves, leading to crossover success in other media.

That’s all if MySpace’s grand plan comes off. But even if it doesn’t, I can see this idea of the playlist-based social DJing catching on elsewhere, filling the void between major-label marketing and music-listener consumption.

When I first heard that John Mellencamp had a 14-year-old son that just won the Indiana Golden Gloves amateur boxing division title, what came to mind?

This did: The video for “Authority Song”, which memorably featured a boxing motif (serving as a metaphor for a broader populist message):

It’s tempting to think that the little boy in the video was Hud Mellencamp, John’s real-life son. No dice, though: The video is from 1984, a decade before the future junior pugilist was born.

So for this rocker, life eventually imitated art. I assume Cougar Mellencamp has always been a fan of the sweet science, and encouraged his boy to take up the sport.