It’s time to vote!

Michael Allen Magliulo, who grew up in Hilo, has made it through several rounds of CMT.com’s Music City Madness and needs your votes to continue on. Check the description of the competition that follows, or go here for more of Michael’s personal and musical history.

CMT’s third annual singer/songwriter competition, Music City Madness is a nationwide search for country’s next potential star. Sponsored by Chevrolet and Warner Bros. Records, the competition is comprised of an initial submission in the form of a performance or music video, followed by several rounds of tournament-style voting. The grand prize winner receives their very own CMT Studio 330 recording session, their original works and performances posted on CMT.com, a CMT Artist Profile, a private showcase with Warner Bros. Records executives, and a personal mentorship with country music legend Randy Travis. 

The contest is split into six rounds, and Michael has already pushed through into Round Four – the Elite Eight – with his original song and video, “American Dream.”  Round Four voting begins today, Tuesday November 18th, at 8am Hawaii time.  In order to vote for his video, you can log on to madness.cmt.com, and click on “vote,” or go directly to www.cmt.com/interact/music_city_madness/vote. Be sure to listen for his ukulele solo at the end!  Anyone can vote without registering, and you are able to vote as many times as you want, as often as you want. Keep an eye on the countdown clock for each round so that you can help Michael through to the next round (the Final Four, which will get him featured on the CMT website), and please continue to vote every week, day and hour!  Let’s show Nashville just how much we support our homegrown Hawaiian cowboy!  Click here for a sneak peak at the video. 

I wonder whether the “Royal Hawaiian Treasury Bonds” referred to in Peter Boylan’s story on the current sovereignty mortgage scam are the same bonds flagged by Rob Perez in a 2002 Star-Bulletin story?

Check out the interview with Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, broadcast last week by Democracy Now!

The GOP made much of Barack Obama’s ties to Ayers during the campaign, and it is quite interesting to hear Ayers’ discussion of the issues and his own past.

Let’s see. PR Watch.com flagged a story from Columbia Journalism Review describing how press releases and public relations are steering science reporting.

And here’s a story from Michigan that we’re probably going to see repeated across the country as cutbacks impact state workers and public services.

I received a Star-Bulletin survey via email yesterday that uses the Survey Monkey system.

It was pretty basic. What do you like/not like about the Star-Bulletin, what parts of the paper do you like most, what do you think is most important, what suggestions do you have, etc.