|
Note: In general, I use my blog as an archive of the
tidbits that appear on my front page. Occasionally, I'll write
directly to the blog about non-music topics.
Blog Archive
2008
February/March
June to
Sept.
2007
January
February/March
April/May/June
July/August
Sept. to Dec.
2006
December
November
October
|
by George Ziemann
Breathing Room
December 5, 2008 -- Got all of my side projects finished,
so I thought I'd see what is going on in the world and let a
little reality seep in before getting deep into drum and guitar
tracks. (Read
More)
November 26, 2008 --
I'm still working on recordings, so I haven't been hunting down
any pertinent music news. Do have a short personal snippet, though.
I've mentioned several times that Carl Hayden (guitarist for
Hayden's Wall and The
Hurricane) is a stockbroker. In conversation last week, he
mentioned that he works for Euro Pacific Capital, and his boss
is a guy named Peter Schiff, who was apparently the only person
on the planet to predict the current economic situation.
Here is a video
of Fox talking heads laughing at him a year ago. For balance,
a more timely perspective at the NY
Post.
While this really has nothing
to do with anything, I just think it's interesting that Carl
works for someone with vision. Hmmm. We might be able to weasel
a few media contacts or marketing tips from the company publicist.
November 21, 2008 -- Today's big story is that the Internet
and Fox News are America's most trusted news sources. The Internet
came in first, demonstrating that the vast majority of those
participating in the survey didn't understand the meaning of
the word "source."
November 20, 2008 -- I've been kind of busy, but two
stories have caught my eye this week.
In the first instance we have
the state of Tennessee, which has instituted a new law that will
require 70 people to be hired at $75k each (plus benefits) to
chase pirates within the universities' domains. If this were
not stupid enough, the state is also laying off 100 professors
due to lack of funding. Nashville's profits now outweigh the
value of education in Tennessee.
The second story is that Apple
added DRM to its latest laptops, which apparently has something
to do with high-definition DVD display and movies. So, even as
the record biz admits defeat and is now a banner-carrier for
the once dreaded mp3 file, Hollywood is going to waste a few
more $$ billion trying to defy the laws of physics, which is
always fun to watch. From a distance.
November 5, 2008 -- Impressed
by CNNs holograms last night? Does it change your mind to
know that Anderson Cooper was talking to empty space? The "hologram"
only appeared on your TV screen. It wasn't really there.
Why Today's Music Sucks
October 29, 2008
-- I have nothing against Joe
the Plumber. He's from my home town of Holland, Ohio, which is
an obscure suburb of Toledo. I have never heard his music, but
he "can sing and 'knocks around on guitar' but is not an
accomplished musician or songwriter," according
to Politico. Of all the musicians in the Toledo area, Joe
is probably the only one being "pursued" for a record
deal, with an album expected before Inauguration Day.
Joe thought he had financial
problems before.
Elsewhere, the headline says
"Kazaa Founder Wants Us To Find 'Legitimate' Files."
It should say, "Kazaa Founder Wants Us to Find Pay-For Content
from the Cartel."
October 25, 2008
-- "The data strongly suggests
that local radio is still effectively closed to independent or
local musicians, calling into question the effectiveness of the
consent decrees signed by the four largest radio groups and the
[Federal Communications] Commission in April 2007."
This means that radio's most
obvious argument against paying royalties to the RIAA is still
valid, but neither side will ever bring it up because both sides
are breaking the law to do it.
Fox News Links Obama to Satan
October 25, 2008
-- According the link that led
me there, here's the deal: Fox News has a blog post or something
suggesting that the McCain campaign start connecting Obama to
the greatest evil-doer they could find -- Satan. God crashed
my browser right after I saw the headline, so I couldn't actually
read the story. but here's
the link.
While I'm tempted to write
a long "How stupid do you think we are?" rant, I saw
a clip of Sarah Palin speaking somewhere on the news today, dressed
in an expensive red outfit, spouting obvious bullshit and serious
misrepresentations as fact. To put it more succinctly, she was
lying her ass off.
So if we want to take politics
to the level of superstitious fantasy, that's fine with me. This
being the case, you don't have to be the Church Lady to figure
out which team Palin plays for.
Hurricane Project -- New Song
| Okay,
it's not a new song. We've had two previous versions. This one
is significantly better, twice as long and, since Carl wasn't
around, I was forced to come up with a lead guitar track on my
own, that may or may not make it to the retail version (but so
far, I kind of like it). |
Hold On (3:02) 192k
Vocals -- Cara.....Guitar -- Carl
Everything Else -- GZ.
Stream..Download..4.2 MB |
McCain Searches for 'Fair Use'
October 15, 2008
-- John McCain has had a tough
time with copyright this year. Everytime he uses a song in his
campaign, he gets the old "cease and desist." And apparently,
a lot of the campaign
ads he puts on YouTube are getting taken down for copyright violations.
The telling part of this tale
is that McCain seems to think this is YouTube's problem and he's
telling them they should be considering the "fair use"
provisions of the copyright laws. YouTube isn't the one sending
the takedown notices. If McCain had any idea how this whole "intellectual
property" thing worked (along with the frivolous takedown
notices and YouTube's DMCA burden to 'remove first and ask questions
later'), hell, if anyone in the Senate had any clue what the
result of all the cartel protection has been, they wouldn't have
invented a copyright czar.
Maybe the new czar can point
McCain to fair use. "It's right over there, John. Next to
the Free Speech zone."
In Defense of Piracy
October 11, 2008
-- Even I wouldn't write something
with that title. But the
Wall Street Journal did. I read some of the first page. They're
talking about fair use, not piracy.
Also today, EFF has a recap
of the last five years of the industry's campaign of stupid.
Universal Signs Salvation Army Band
October 8, 2008
-- That's right ladies and gentlemen,
the Salvation Army band just landed
a three-album deal with Universal Music, which London's Times
reports as worth $2 million (£1 million), and then says,
"Although none of the band's 32 amateur musicians will
earn anything personally, Universal is making an undisclosed
donation to the charity."
I'm not sure where the $2 million
number came from, unless it's a guess that someone pulled out
of their ass as an estimate of how much the Salvation Army could
potentially make from sales if they were paid some sort of royalty
and actually sold about 20 million copies AND Universal paid
them fairly. But they're getting an "undisclosed donation"
instead.
Although I'm not surprised
to see Universal exploit a charity, I have to wonder whether
the SA realizes their music is going to be illegal, presenting
the opportunity for Universal to sue a previously untapped target
demographic -- the downtrodden and overtly religious.
October 1, 2008 -- The
Return of the Partridge Family -- "In the original, the kids actually recruited
their mom to front the band, which I can't see happening in any
family on this planet. The new version will reflect what seems
to me to be the more realistic family band scenario these days:
a struggling, sort of well-meaning mom pimping her kids in order
to create a wholesome-slash-sexy cash cow."
|
Quotes
"Never attribute to malice
that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"
-- Robert Heinlein (in Logic of Empire)
"I don't want to go out
and see Bob Dylan. I don't want to go out and see the Stones.
I wouldn't pay money to go see the Who, not even with new songs."
-- Pete
Townshend, 2006
"Two things are infinite:
the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the
the universe."
-- Albert Einstein
"A watched pot never boils
over. " -- GZ
"News is what someone
wants to suppress. Everything else is advertising."
-- Reuven
Frank, NBC News President, 1968-72
"I live in my own little
world. It's nice there."
-- Deborah Harry
"Music is everybody's
possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it."
-- John Lennon
I don't gamble, because winning
a hundred dollars doesn't give me great pleasure. But losing
a hundred dollars pisses me off. -- Alex Trebeck
|