Q: Is our children ceasing and desisting?

A: In what is possibly the closest we'll ever come to approximating legitimacy in the highly competitive sphere we call the blogo-, T.A.M.S.Y. joined an exclusive club yesterday morning, as we were issued our first ever cease-and-desist! We've often been told to cease, and also to desist, but never before at the same time, and never by penalty of law.

We were happy to comply with the request from Touch and Go Records — and we were honored just to have been noticed. In fact, the whole experience imbued us with such delusions of grandeur, we've been referring to ourselves in the first-person-plural ever since.

But perhaps most impressive in all this was T&G's quick reflexes. Consider the following timeline of events:

• PRE-DAWN: The Internet calls me to tell me Ted Leo's forthcoming Touch and Go debut has leaked. The songs from said album appear on my desktop, as though magically uploaded there by Satan.
• DAWN—POST-DAWN: No longer able to resist the temptation, I listen to said album. I find it pleasing to the aural cavities, and decide to post a track to the blog.
• 9:42AM: I instant message my brother:
  

  T.A.M.S.Y.: hey bro, the new Ted Leo just leaked.
  BRO: yeah, [redacted, but our friend at T&G]'s had it for a while since he's on Touch and Go, she said its awesome
  BRO: she also said how badly they were trying to protect it from leaking
  T.A.M.S.Y.: huh. i hope she doesn't mind that i'm about to post a track. but it's just one track!
  BRO: eh, im sure its fine

• 10:15AM: I begin writing my post. Shortly thereafter, I notice that the song I intended to share, "The Sons of Cain," was previously made available by Pitchfork. I decide to throw in "Who Do You Love?" as a Valentine's bonus.
• 10:34AM: The post goes live. I email Scott Stereogum to tell him he's free to link the files directly, if he likes.
• 10:36AM: I take a nap.
  
• 11:07AM: An employee of Touch & Go finds my post via Google Blog Search.
• 11:24AM: The C&D is posted directly to my comments section. I am publicly shamed!
• 12:17PM: ...upon awaking from my nap. At which point I remove the links.
• 12:18PM: Within a minute, T&G has already thanked me for complying, and graciously informed me that I may continue to host "Sons of Cain." Thank you, T&G! Both for that, and for not suing me.
  
• 1:16PM: Scott replies: "These days we post only MP3s that we get permission for. It's been a challenge, but no more C&Ds! ;)" My shame is intertwined with the pride of my new red badge of courage! And by "red," I mean "red tape," and by "courage," I mean, "promoting new music by means frowned upon by the recording industry, and taking frequent naps."
• 1:18PM: More napping.

We should note that it remains T.A.M.S.Y.'s policy to share a track or two from new, hott and/or underappreciated acts; for T.A.M.S.Y. knows that no one listens to radio anymore, and that the tradition of Top-40 radio has been reborn into self-made playlists and iTunes shuffle. And we feel that our upwards of several dozen readers deserve access to the finest tracks.

We also encourage our readers to buy the albums that most interest them. And we encourage them to buy those albums, as well as books, high-priced electronics and all groceries through T.A.M.S.Y.'s affiliate link.

Of course, we will always be happy to comply with the specific requests of record labels, whether they're made via our comments or via email: dean dot simakis at gmail you know the rest.

POST-SCRIPT: A bit of Wikipedia'ing reveals another reason to love Touch and Go: They aren't affiliated with the jokers at the RIAA.

I'm also pleased to discover I now have something in common with the Butthole Surfers.