I don’t think I’ll be able to get away with it at work, but afterwards… :-D
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(via Dad)
iTunes: “Schiff Ahoi” by Totenmond from the album Cold Hands Seduction IV (3:55).
Grey Tuesday
It’s Grey Tuesday…
It’s time for music fans to stand up and demand change from the music industry’s copyright cartel.
Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse’s Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI’s attempts to censor this work.
DJ Danger Mouse created a remix of Jay-Z’s the Black Album and the Beatles White Album, and called it the Grey Album. Jay-Z’s record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. But despite praise from music fans and major media outlets like Rolling Stone (“an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time”) and the Boston Globe (which called it the “most creatively captivating” album of the year), EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and websites remove them from their site. EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles 1968 White Album.
Danger Mouse’s album is one of the most “respectful” and undeniably positive examples of sampling; it honors both the Beatles and Jay-Z. Yet the lawyers and bureaucrats at EMI have shown zero flexibility and not a glimmer of interest in the artistic significance of this work. And without a clearly defined right to sample (e.g. compulsory licensing), the five major record labels will continue to use copyright in a reactionary and narrowly self-interested manner that limits and erodes creativity. Their actions are also self-defeating: good new music is being created that people want to buy, but the major labels are so obsessed with hoarding their copyrights that they are literally turning customers away.
This first-of-its-kind protest signals a refusal to let major label lawyers control what musicians can create and what the public can hear. The Grey Album is only one of the thousands of legitimate and valuable efforts that have been stifled by the record industry– not to mention the ones that were never even attempted because of the current legal climate. We cannot allow these corporations to continue censoring art; we need common-sense reforms to copyright law that can make sampling legal and practical for artists.
The Grey Tuesday protest is being organized by Downhill Battle, a music activism project that has no affiliation with Danger Mouse.
And on that note…
Update:
Much as I’d like to continue this, I just joined the many people who have been sent “Cease and Desist” letters. I debated leaving the links up, but should the lawyers decide to follow through, there’s no way I’d be able to put up a fight (not that I’d have any money to give them anyway, but it’d be more hassle than I want to deal with). I’m sure that many other sites will continue to offer the Grey Album over the course of the day, and possibly beyond, and I wish them the best of luck.
This time, though, I’d rather record that I made my statement of support and participated until receiving the Cease and Desist — at which time, for my own protection and peace of mind, I did just that.
The letter I received follows (though it’s the same letter that other sites were getting yesterday)…
From: JCJ\@cll.com
Subject: The Grey Album and Misappropriation of Capital Records, Inc.’s Sound Recordings
Date: February 24, 2004 9:50:43 PST
To: djwudi\@myrealbox.comCowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
LAW OFFICES
1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036-6799
Telephone (212) 790-9200
Web www.cll.com
Fax (212) 575-0671Re: The Grey Album and Misappropriation of Capitol Records, Inc.’s Sound Recordings
To Whom It May Concern:
We are counsel to Capitol Records, Inc. (“Capitol”), the exclusive U.S. licensee and/or owner and distributor of musical sound recordings featuring performances by The Beatles. We write concerning your announced intention of distributing an unlawful and unauthorized sound recording known as The Grey Album on February 24, 2004. This infringing album contains extensive samples from recorded performances by the Beatles, including “Long, Long, Long,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Glass Onion,” “Savoy Truffle,” “Mother Nature’s Son,” “Helter Skelter,” “Julia,” “Happiness is Warm Gun,” “Piggies,” “Dear Prudence,” “Rocky Raccoon,” “Revolution 1,” “Revolution 9,” “I’m So Tired,” and “Cry Baby Cry” (the “Capitol Recordings”). Distribution of The Grey Album constitutes a serious violation of Capitol’s rights in the Capitol Recordings as well as the valuable intellectual property rights of other artists, music publishers, and/or record companies and will subject you to serious legal remedies for willful violation of the laws. We accordingly demand that you cease any plans or efforts to distribute or publicly perform this unlawful recording.
As you are no doubt aware, The Grey Album is an amalgamation created by an individual named Brian Burton (a/k/a Danger Mouse) of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and the Beatles’ self-titled 1968 album commonly known as The White Album. There is no dispute that The Grey Album incorporates Capitol Recordings, as Mr. Burton acknowledges on his website (http://www.djdangermouse.com) that “every kick, snare, and chord is taken from the Beatles White Album and is in their original recording somwhere [sic].” There is also no dispute that Mr. Burton never requested permission from any of the rights-holders to create The Grey Album.
Capitol has demanded that Mr. Burton cease distribution of The Grey Album, and Mr. Burton has indicated publicly that he intends to comply with Capitol’s demands. As reported by Reuters on February 17, 2004:
Danger Mouse said he created the record strictly as a limited-edition promotional item, with only a few thousand copies pressed . . . .
The artist, whose real name is Brian Burton, has agreed to comply with the order and will no longer distribute copies. “He just wanted people to hear the record,” says a spokesman in the U.K.
Reuters has also quoted Mr. Burton as saying, “[t]his wasn’t supposed to happen . . . . I just sent out a few tracks (and) now online stores are selling it and people are downloading it all over the place.” By further distributing The Grey Album, you will not only be violating the rights of those who own the recordings and compositions at issue. You will also be interfering with the intention of the very artist whose rights you purport to vindicate.
We are aware of the so-called “Grey Tuesday” event, sponsored by http://www.downhillbattle.org and described on the http://www.greytuesday.org website as a “day of coordinated civil disobedience” in which participating sites will make the unlawful Grey Album available for downloading, distribution, and file-sharing in order to force “reforms to copyright law that can make sampling legal.” Your site is listed among those that will engage in this openly unlawful conduct. Any unauthorized distribution, reproduction, public performance, and/or other exploitation of The Grey Album will constitute, among other things, common law copyright infringement/misappropriation, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment rendering you and anyone engaged with you in such acts liable for all of the remedies provided by relevant laws. These remedies include but are not limited to preliminary and permanent injunctive relief as well as monetary and punitive damages necessary to remedy your openly willful violation of Capitol’s rights.
We accordingly demand you:
- cease and desist from the actual or intended distribution, reproduction, public performance or other exploitation of The Grey Album and any other unauthorized uses of the Capitol Recordings or any other sound recordings owned and/or controlled by Capitol;
- identify the names and addresses of any third parties who have supplied you with physical or digital copies of The Grey Album or who are otherwise involved in The Grey Album‘s unauthorized distribution, reproduction, public performance, or other exploitation;
- provide Capitol with an accounting of all units of The Grey Album that have been distributed via your website, either physically or digitally, and of all instances of public performance of The Grey Album rendered via your website; and
- preserve any and all documents and records relating to this matter, including but not limited to electronic data and other information which may be relevant/discoverable in the event of litigation.
In addition, to the extent that you have already commenced distribution of The Grey Album, you must make payment to Capitol in an amount to be discussed. We demand that you contact us immediately.
Unless we receive full and immediate compliance with these demands, Capitol will be forced to consider pursuing any and all available remedies at law and in equity.
Nothing herein shall be deemed an admission or waiver of any rights or remedies of Capitol and/or its affiliates, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.
Sincerely,
/s/ J. Christopher Jensen
J. Christopher Jensen
Telephone (direct dial): (212) 790-9204
Email: JCJ\@cll.com
Note that this is a boilerplate letter that has been sent out to many (if not all) sites participating in Grey Tuesday (to the point that to post it here, I had to edit out glitches that had popped up during many forwards and re-sends that the legal counsel had not bothered to clean out of the text of the e-mail).
Item one of the demands has been complied with.
Items two through four I have no intention of complying with, and according to Downhill Battle’s lawyers can be ignored.
Lawyers have advised us that we can ignore your demands number 2, 3, and 4 that are listed at the bottom of your letter. EMI has no legal right to make these demands and we will not comply with them.
Good luck to all the other participants.
And lastly, with thanks to adam b. and The Beatles:
have you seen the little piggies
crawling in the dirt?
and for all the little piggies
life is getting worse
always having dirt
to play around inhave you seen the bigger piggies
in their starched white shirts?
you will find the bigger piggies
stirring up the dirt
they always have clean shirts
to play around inin their sties with all their backing
they don’t care what goes on aroundin their eyes, there’s something lacking
what they need’s a damn good whacking
— The Beatles, “Piggies”, from The White Album
iTunes: “Hass” by Das Ich from the album Relikt (Disc 1) (2003, 7:09).
Mardi Gras
I’ll be making one of my few mid-week appearances at the Vogue tonight…
iTunes: “Unschuld Erde” by Das Ich from the album Relikt (Disc 1) (2003, 6:07).
Welcome to the neighborhood
After watching Phil struggle with his hosting provider for a couple weeks over system resources, he and I got to talking, and in the name of good geek-karma, I offered him a spot on my personal webserver. We spent the weekend getting everything configured, tweaked, and generally doing what it’s supposed to (I’m not much of a sysadmin, really…some parts of the setup involved me giving Phil root access and telling him to figure it out himself…), and as of sometime last night, everything’s up and running.
So now I’ve got four domains running off of my old G3: djwudi.com, hanscomfamily.com, geekmuffin.com, and interalia.org. I just may have to look into a G4 upgrade card if this keeps up!
iTunes: “Breathe (Peff)” by Lizette & from the album Breathe Remix (2001, 4:40).
Introductions
Got to introduce Jonas, Jon, and Jeannie to Fetish Night at the Vogue last night. Much fun was had by all, as far as I know, even if Jonas did give me crap for going out to dance to Depeche Mode‘s’Strangelove‘. ;)
Unfortunately, I realized halfway up the hill that I’d forgotten to grab my camera, so no incriminating evidence will be making the rounds.
iTunes: “Darkangel” by VNV Nation from the album Empires (2000, 5:28).
Safety != comfort
A few days ago, I started seeing links to Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent look at “SUV culture” and the disconnects between perceived safety and real safety. It’s an incredible read, especially if you might have ever looked longingly at the latest behemoth on the road.
Bradsher brilliantly captures the mixture of bafflement and contempt that many auto executives feel toward the customers who buy their S.U.V.s. Fred J. Schaafsma, a top engineer for General Motors, says, “Sport-utility owners tend to be more like ‘I wonder how people view me,’ and are more willing to trade off flexibility or functionality to get that.” According to Bradsher, internal industry market research concluded that S.U.V.s tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain, self-centered, and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills. Ford’s S.U.V. designers took their cues from seeing “fashionably dressed women wearing hiking boots or even work boots while walking through expensive malls.”
[…]
The truth, underneath all the rationalizations, seemed to be that S.U.V. buyers thought of big, heavy vehicles as safe: they found comfort in being surrounded by so much rubber and steel. To the engineers, of course, that didn’t make any sense, either: if consumers really wanted something that was big and heavy and comforting, they ought to buy minivans, since minivans, with their unit-body construction, do much better in accidents than S.U.V.s…. But this desire for safety wasn’t a rational calculation. It was a feeling.
In linking to the story yesterday, Scoble mentioned the statistical ridiculousness of being comfortable driving, yet being afraid to fly.
I’ve given up in trying to correct the stupidity of my friends (stupidity in this context is the lack of ability to apply any risk analysis to their lives). I have never met one of my brother-in-laws, for instance. Why? He lives in London, England. He won’t fly. He’s afraid of flying. But he drives. Let’s see, you’re 1000 times more likely to die in a car than in a plane accident. If he’s afraid of flying he should absolutely be freaked out about driving. But he drives a bus.
The thing is, this is something that I can identify with — far better than I’d like, in fact.
I used to love flying when I was younger. My family travelled a lot, and heading to the airport and getting on a plane meant I was going somewhere new, off to see new things and explore more of the world. Nothing could have been cooler. I’d be completely jazzed from the moment we hit the airport until we landed, gazing out the window seat to watch the ground below or the movement of the wings, feeling myself sink into my seat as we rose into the air — it was great.
Then I turned 18, and — funny, this — my parents suddenly stopped paying for me to travel. I spent the next ten years in and around Anchorage, not getting on an airplane again until I flew to Fairbanks one February to DJ a dance at UAF. Suddenly, I was a little nervous — nothing major, but I was a lot more conscious of the fact that an airplane is a giant metal tube, hurtling through the air thousands of feet above the ground. It wasn’t enough to really get to me, but it was definitely there. Still, nothing major.
Until December of 2001.
I had the single worst flight I’ve ever been on on the way up. Most of it went fine, but then about half an hour before we touched down, we hit the worst turbulence I’ve ever gone through, plus multiple air pockets where the airplane would suddenly drop for a couple seconds before it caught lift again. I’ve got to say, that was the most all-out terrified I’ve ever been — one drop I might have made it through with just being a little frightened, but when it kept happening over and over, I really started to freak out. I was completely convinced that we were going down — especially when after it started happening, and when the captain came on the intercom, rather than telling us something about how we’d hit some turbulence and would we please all sit down (which, while it would be stating the obvious, would have been somewhat reassuring), all he said was, “Would the flight crew please sit down and buckle in now.” Not encouraging.
Ever since then, I’ve been terrified of flying. The sane, calm, logical part of my brain knew that it was flat-out stupid. Statistically, flying is the single safest mode of travel we have. Thousands of flights a day go all over the world without any problems. The chances of being on a flight that suddenly goes seriously bad are so slim to be almost laughable.
But it didn’t matter.
All I could think of when I got on an airplane was the feeling of that flight suddenly losing all lift, and dropping out of the sky. My head was filled with visions of this or that piece breaking, the pilots not being able to regain control, and I’d end up trapped in a giant metal coffin coming screaming out of the sky at hundreds of miles an hour. Ever bit of turbulence, every random sound the airplane made as it flew, and I’d be white-knuckling the armrests, closing my eyes, and doing my best to find whatever mental “happy place” I could until it was all over. My last couple flights, I took to dosing myself with Sominex just before takeoff — it wouldn’t knock me out, but it did at least calm me enough that I wasn’t completely freaking out.
I think that part of what triggered the extreme reaction, both during the flight that initially scared me so much and during subsequent flights, was the feeling of lack of control. When I’m in a car (especially when driving), I know that I’m in control of the vehicle, and if anything goes wrong (from mechanical problems with the car I’m driving to bad road conditions to other idiot drivers on the road), it’s up to me to make sure that I’ll make it out alive. If I survive (and even better, if I survive unscathed), wonderful — and if I don’t, then at least I can be sure that I did everything I could.
In an airplane, though, I have no control. I’m just a passenger, and an even more powerless passenger than I would be in a car or bus. Driving, even if I’m not the one behind the wheel, than if the driver suddenly conked out, than I know that I have the ability to take the wheel if need be (this may not be very realistic, but it could happen). Flying, however, there’s absolutely nothing I can do if something goes wrong. No matter what the situation is, all I could do is sit in my seat, ride it out, and hope and pray that we land safely. That feeling of powerlessness, of lack of control over my world, definitely plays a part in why I was so scared.
Not to mention the silly little fact that if a car suddenly loses power, you can generally coast to the side of the road, come to a stop, and get out to troubleshoot. If an airplane loses power, you’ve got however long it takes to fall 13,000 feet before you can kiss your ass goodbye. That definitely doesn’t help when a frightened brain is concocting worst-case scenarios.
Thankfully, that fear of flying seems to be lessening. My flights down to Memphis for my brother’s wedding weren’t nearly as nervewracking as other flights have been, and I didn’t even need the Sominex for the return leg of the trip. I won’t say I’m entirely over the fear — there were definitely some nervous moments — but it wasn’t anywhere near as strong as it had been in the recent past.
I’m actually somewhat curious (though not very, really) if dad was using some of his psychology techniques to subject me to “immersion therapy”, as I went from a 737 (or some other “normal” sized airliner) for the Seattle to Cincinnati flight, to a little 50-seater twin-engine for the Cincinnati to Memphis flight…and then going back from Memphis to Cincinnati ended up on a 32-seater! Considering that each plane was getting successively smaller, I was really starting to wonder if a Piper Cub could make the Cincinnati to Seattle leg of the flight. Thankfully, though, I was back on a 737 (or some other “normal” sized airliner) for that leg.
Anyway, all this boils down to is that just because you know you are safe in a given vehicle or situation doesn’t mean that you’re going to be comfortable. I knew my fear of flying was ridiculous. Unfortunately, I spent about three years powerless to do anything about it.
Of course, all this doesn’t keep me from sharing in the belief that SUVs are ridiculously stupid, overpowered, underprotected, gas-guzzling, ugly, pointless vehicles that should be banned for anyone not living down at least fifteen miles of unpaved road. ;)
Well-Designed Weblogs
Looking for some design inspiration? Good pointers to quite a few very impressively designed sites at Well Designed Weblogs Part One and Part Two.
And no, I’m not on the list. ;) While I like what I’ve got at this point, I don’t fool myself into thinking I’m doing that well!
iTunes: “VIT” by Future Sound of London, The from the album Lifeforms (1994, 6:48).
Help send flowers to the newlyweds
Another nice project springing up over the past few days — Flowers for Al and Don.
This afternoon, on Boing Boing, I read about this great idea. Basically, people are generously sending flowers to random gay couples waiting in line to get married in San Francisco. This is a brilliant idea, but I immediately recognized a problem. The flower shop cited, Flowers by the Bay, is apparently charging a minimum of US \$47 to deliver these flowers. That’s probably market value, but it’s a bit steep for individuals who might want to help out (particularly if they’re paying in Canadian dollars or other weaker currencies) but can’t spare fifty bucks.
Hence, Flowers for Al and Don. I’m using a PayPal account to collect money, with which I’ll buy bouquets in bulk for the couples in line. You can donate as much or little as you please, and I pledge that every cent (minus the PayPal fees) that I receive will go to this project. If make a donation, and want your name and/or Web site to be listed below, let me know when making your payment in PayPal.
He’s raised over \$4000 dollars so far — that’s a lot of flowers! But I’m sure there are still some happy couples waiting…
Also worth checking out: Justly Married, a gallery of images of legally married couples coming out of City Hall in San Francisco. I don’t see how anyone could go through that photo gallery without a grin on their face.
(both links via Arcterex)
This bandwagon just keeps rollin’ on…
I am loving, loving, loving one aspect of my newsreading these days.
San Francisco started it.
New Mexico is going to start.
Chicago, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City (!!!) and Plattsburgh, NY are also expressing support and talking about joining in.
Judges keep refusing to grant injunctions stopping the process — in one beautiful instance, the request was refused on the basis of a misused semicolon.
There are two things that really stand out to me about how wonderful this is. The first is that it’s suddenly happening so fast, and gaining so much support across the country. The second is how it all began…
It was only his 12th day as mayor of San Francisco, but Gavin Newsom decided that night — the very night he attended President Bush’s State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. — that he was going to defy California law.
And turn the nation on its ear.
Attending the president’s Jan. 20 speech as a guest of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Newsom listened closely as Bush voiced his strong support for outlawing same-sex marriage — with a constitutional amendment, if necessary.
Not long after the speech, Newsom called his chief of staff, Steve Kawa, a gay man who was at home with his partner and their two children. ”He told me that he wanted to do something,” Kawa said.
Two weeks later, during a staff meeting, Newsom dropped the bombshell on his top aides: He wanted them to explore how the city could start issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Kawa said the mayor asked staff to gather legal briefs, news articles and other background information. Added his communications chief, Peter Ragone, ``He also wanted it done quietly.”
Within 24 hours, Kawa was on the phone with Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a San Francisco-based public interest organization.
Her reaction: ”Oh, my God, you’re kidding me,” Kendell said in an interview.
It was the first time, Kendell said, that a mayor of an American city wanted to take such an initiative. And Newsom, a straight Irish Catholic man married for two years, was the perfect politician to take on the fight, she said.
Thank God for people like Gavin Newsom — people who decide that it’s time to do the right thing, and do it.
And congratulations to every single one of the more than 3,000 brand-new married, loving couples.
It’s been a long time coming.
iTunes: “Bacchanalian Feast” by Original Love Tribe, The from the album Twisted Secrets Vol. 2 (1993, 5:46).
Smoke and mirrors
Related to the previous post, a new whitepaper from security consulting firm BoydForbes Security states that the nation’s aviation security system is “smoke and mirrors.”
“Today we do not have anything resembling real security to protect the commercial aviation system and the traveling public,” asserts David Forbes, president of Colorado-based BoydForbes Security. “The sham pretense on stage now, and the implied direction of the future, is Oscar winning material of the ‘smoke and mirrors’ variety.”
[…]
Among the major conclusions of the white paper:
- Security upgrades are aimed at show, not substance.
- There’s been a failure to replace incompetent management.
- An enormous bureaucracy hinders security flexibility.
- A lack of accountability continues to persist.
- There’s a lack of cohesion.