For Those of You Hungry for Pomplamoose News

Here is a trifecta. It is a news nugget that (a) features the blog-war - provoking indie duo, while (b) supporting a worthy Christmas-themed cause; and (c) offering yet another wrinkle on the endless "future of the press in a digital age" theme. How could I resist?

These strands come together in a front page story in the print edition of today's SF Chronicle, that the Pomplamoose singing group is supporting a book drive for several public schools in Richmond, in SF's East Bay. For a list of the schools and why they're seen as deserving, go here. The plan works this way:

1) You go to a special Amazon page that has been set up for the Richmond Book Drive and choose a book (or books) to donate, from the wish-list they have established it.

2) You pay for it, and specify that it be shipped to the Richmond schools address, which is already on the page.

3) You go to a "Thank You" page and download the Pomplamoose Christmas album.

SF Gate photo of Richmond students receiving some of the gift books:

I will confess that across the whole Pomplamoose oeuvre (which maybe I should spell "oovre" for consistency), Christmas songs are not my absolute favorites. This is the Pomplamoose-original I like best; this and this are some of their best covers. But I'll sign up for the book drive because: the "choose the books you want to give" model is appealing (sort of in keeping with the GlobalGiving model that gives you a fine-grained sense of the projects you're supporting);  as a product of the California public schools I'm happy to support them; plus, it can't hurt to have the music.

And the "future of the press" angle? The SF Chronicle's web site today has a mention of the story -- but says that the full text won't be online until two days after it runs in the print edition. Print subscribers can log in and get it right away. One more entry in the ongoing world-wide experimentation in how news organizations can devise new business models to cope with the internet. Check it out.