Show up at any McDonalds in the country today, buy a soda, and get a free “Southern” fried chicken sandwich or breakfast biscuit. Not a bad promo for two new products. Only problem is that if you don’t eat McDonalds on any regular basis and now cash in on some free fried what have you, I would be willing to bet that you’re going home with a mean case of the shits.

Coldplay is just giving it away - details in the press release below:

“Violet Hill,” the first single from Coldplay’s upcoming album, Viva La Vida, will be available as a free download from the band’s website (http://www.coldplay.com) for one week beginning Tuesday, April 29th, at 7:15 a.m. EDT - a full week before it goes on sale at digital retailers. Viva La Vida will be released in North America on June 17th.

“Violet Hill” also debuts on radio this Tuesday. On the same day, Coldplay will post preliminary details on its website regarding the band’s upcoming free show:

June 23rd New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Please check http://www.coldplay.com beginning April 29th for details on how to win tickets. As this is a free show, no tickets will be available for purchase. Coldplay will also be playing a free show at Brixton Academy in London, England on June 16th.

Viva La Vida was produced by Brian Eno and Markus Dravs. It is the follow-up to the immensely successful X&Y, which has sold 10 million copies worldwide since its release in 2005.

Some people might find it shocking that 58% of music in the US isn’t paid for but hey - that means 42% of music IS paid for in the US!

OMG DROP what you’re doing and head on over to…..hahaha, sorry, I can’t do it. I support our locally-owned coffee shops on a daily (sometimes twice-daily) basis. I realize that this doesn’t make me better than anyone who frequents Starbucks, a company who apparently has a conscience and mixes in good with the bad (I hear their employees get great benefits, and with record stores dying I’m glad there are still places to buy a limited selection the next of overly-hyped artist-of-the-minute). I just like supporting my own local tax structure. So therefore, it’s really hard for me to say it. So I’ll just let the Starbucks Home page say it for me:

“On April 8, 2008, Starbucks is introducing Pike Place Roast with coast-to-coast tasting events…”

From Palm Beach post:

The event is more than just free coffee — it’s a coffee tasting, according to Starbucks. Customers will be instructed to smell, then slurp (”by slurping,” the guide for store managers says, “you aerate the coffee by spraying it across your palate, which enables the subtle flavors to reach your nose”), taste, then describe. Describing is like “poetry” and involves aroma, acidity, body and flavor, the guide says.

The event is the latest in the company’s attempt to connect with customers, become less corporate and be more about the coffee.

So on my way to the Naked Lounge or The Upper Crust or Has Beans, I will still stop by the Starbucks and pick up a free 8 oz cup of their new Pike Place Roast, because to not get free coffee is MORE of a crime.

According to the Take part blog, you can also go into Starbucks and request (and then buy) a cup of Fair Trade coffee instead. YEAH, that’s right, stick it to the man…

I say just bring your own jar.

The makers of South Park have posted uncensored and high-resolution version of every episode of the show for streaming on their website here. The site also includes previews of upcoming episodes and all sorts of other South Park related shit. Does anyone even watch South Park anymore?

Satellite Radio might finally stop sucking 98 dicks now that the Justice Dept has approved Sirius Satellite Radio’s $5 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio:

The Justice Department, in a lengthy news release explaining its decision, said the two companies compete not just with each other but also with other forms of radio and entertainment.”The likely evolution of technology in the future, including the expected introduction in the next several years of mobile broadband Internet devices, made it even more unlikely that the transaction would harm consumers in the longer term,” the Justice Department said. “Accordingly, the division has closed its investigation of the proposed merger.”

The downside is, of course, that once Satellite Radio overcomes terrestrial radio as the new standard it will make music just like TV and water:one of those things that used to be free but now you have to pay for. Its cool though, I don’t really like music anyway.