Nice! Sent from Gary's iPhone 4. On Aug 6, 2010, at 12:18 PM, "Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ" <dsumner@arrl.org> wrote:

An interesting confluence of the worlds of music and Amateur Radio came to light this week.

Old Timers will remember guitarist Alvino Rey, W6UK, who died in February 2004 at the age of 95. He was a popular band leader in the 1940s and performed at a number of ARRL Southwestern Division Conventions in later years.

Alvino Rey’s grandsons Win and William Butler are members of the Montreal-based indie rock group Arcade Fire. The group is currently touring (they are performing in Columbia, Maryland tonight) to promote their latest album, “The Suburbs.” One track, “We Used to Wait,” relates to when communication was primarily by letter and postcard as contrasted to today’s rapidly changing world. On stage their performance of the song is illustrated by, among other images, QSL cards from their grandfather’s collection.

Among the graphics the group is using is a variation of the ARRL diamond with the letters “ARRL” replaced by “A” and “F” in two corners and the same letters repeated upside down in the other two. Chris Imlay’s law partner Cary Tepper is a trademark law expert and advises that even if we wanted to, it would be difficult to make a case that this constitutes trademark infringement. To me, the upside potential of acquainting indie rock fans with Amateur Radio seems more promising.

Dave K1ZZ