Roller Derby Report

Hunter Thompson once wrote that the Circus Circus was what the world would be like if the Nazi's had won the war. And while I think part of that analogy is true, I think it misses a key part of what we would all be doing: Roller Derby.

First, I was surprised by the large turnout yesterday. I thought we were talking about a fringe of a fringe sport here, but they sold out the roller rink this all happened in. Lots of tattoos and coolers and beer in cans, but a surprising number of young kids and older folks... maybe they were all family of the roller girls, but I doubt it. Lesson one was :Next time buy tickets in advance.

Second: I had no doubt seen roller derby before, but I didn't understand it. Now I get it. Of course this isn't 70's TV roller derby with the banked track with the rails, it was just on the regular roller skating floor... and they used old style 4 wheel skates, not in lines. I don't know if that's keeping the 'Classic look and feel' or [as Amanda pointed out] possibly keeping injuries down. But anyway, I understand scoring now. And the girls were mean and rough. Amanda's friend was # 666 Marco the Beast and she is really mean at blocking out, clean but rough. Unfortunately her team Truth and the American Way lost to Lies and Conspiracy, but Lies had the better jammers... boy they were fast.

Overall it was good clean family fun and I hope the good turnout allows them to keep having matches.

Hall of FAME, not Hall of the Very Good

Rafael Palmeiro is not a Hall of Fame player. I heard a guy on Sporting News Radio say it: "Hall of Famers are OVERACHIEVERS."

Palmeiro is a good example of a VERY GOOD player, but not a Hall of Fame player. Tommy John, Rick Sutcliffe, Ryan Sandberg, Craig Biggio, Dave Andreychuk, Cam Neely, Dino Ciccerelli, Claude Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk... all good players, but NOT Hall of Famers.

To be a Hall of Fame guy you have to be more than a talented guy. You have to play with guts, Crash Davis' 'Fear and Arrogance.' Raphael Palmeiro isn't one of those guys.

RETHINK:

I was watching Sports Century this afternoon [7/20] and it was on Hank Aaron. Hank never had overwhelming numbers for many seasons either[though he did win some batting titles], but he had good numbers over a long career. If he had only hit 600-650 home runs he would probably still be in the Hall. So maybe I am wrong.

$ 50.00 ???

I was killing time in Forever Young yesterday and I just walked by looking for something and I saw one of my fave's, the Rave Ups Town and Country. I picked it up just to get an idea and it had a $ 50.00 tag on it!

Now realizing Dave isn't in the business to lose money, I take that with a small grain of salt, but $ 50 for the Rave Ups? I checked it: no autographs or anything to drive the value up, just the Rave Ups on the Fun Stuff label. I didn't see if it still had the insert [mine does].

Now we're not talking Guns N Roses Appetite for Destruction original cover [$ 250.00] or Lynyrd Skynyrd in flames, we're talking about a little band out of the Pittsburgh area that the old Zoo loved and me and Marty and Nate all have copies of and love the record. So why $ 50?

The only thing I can think of it's a small label, low run and suddenlyRyan Adams or someone in Japan or England has named them an influence.

The other point is Dave may never get $ 50.00 for that record. [Dave is also convinced people will want first run CDs like they do original copies of vinyl.] But you add the Rave Ups and the GNR and my Evening With Groucho... suddely I have a record collection that might be worth something.

What Did We Do Before DVD?

My sister, Cory and the girls are off on a road trip, their first major DRIVING vacation as a family, going down to Corpus as the hurricane approaches... anyway they were thinking they had to get a new DVD player since one of the springs is broken on the current one, but we fixed it with Duck tape.

I was just thinking, 'we were such easily entertained kids, just load up some comic books [or a couple books in later years] and a couple dolls/action figures and we were good to go.' Of course our generation's idea of fun was a Spirograph: some colored pens and plastic disks you made designs with. I didn't have Playstation or Gameboy, I had to play baseball games using a pair of dice. [Not Stratomatic, but a made up version.] We used to play Monopoly or Yahtzee or Sorry [or the equivelent with the plastic gameboard and pegs and 'Pop-O-Matic die in the bubble]. I am STILL not allowed to play Aggrivation [similar to Sorry but with marbles] because last time we played my cousins Hal and Craig were ganging up on me.

But anyway, my question is this: If kids today have TV/DVD/CD and Gameboy/Playstation 24/7, what are their kids going to be entertained by? Will their 'rebellion' be 'Anti-tech?'

Random Notes:

1. BUSINESS This Weekend:

Nate Fowler's Elixer is opening band on a three band bill at the Double Wide this SATURDAY night [July 16]. They're opening for The Golden Falcons and Max Cady, both, I am assured, good rock and roll bands.

SUNDAY, I venture down to What's Hot Roller World in Pleasant Grove for some good old fashioned American entertainment: ROLLER DERBY! Amanda's friend Robin is on one of the teams and it sounds like fun! Anyone interested is encouraged, and I see the Young Heart Attacks and Golden Falcons will be playing! Doors open at 630.

2. Coaching changes in the NHL

Pat Burns out in NJ due to second bout with cancer, Dave Lewis not re-signed in Detroit, but those jobs are pretty spoken for. Looks like Larry Robinson will be behind the Devils bench for the third time and Mike Babcock will be lured away from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, though I am not sure why the Wings want him. He's gone to the Cup finals riding a hot goalie the same way Calgary did, he's got no long track record. What about Barry Smith who was passed over when Scotty Bowman retired a couple years back?

My group has been discussing Duane Sutter and we're thinking he may end up in Columbus. If he does, look for the Blue Jackets to push for a playoff berth.

3. Live 8: What was that all about?

'Hey let's make people aware of crippling poverty in Africa even though they get billions and billions of dollars in aid every year.'

Getting African debt dismissed is... well, I don't have an opinion on that. I am sure some banks around the world will have some heavy losses on their ledgers, but will be given breaks for it on their taxes. Woo-hoo.

The problem in Africa is still the same: The money is going to corrupt governments who are not spending it to better their people's lives.

Now you want industry to ivest in Africato help bring them up. Great. We're complaining now about India and Pakistan taking American phone in tech support and computer programming jobs and China making clothing for Wal Mart so cheap that American industry can't compete. What industry do you want to move to Africa?

People want the freedoms afforded them by the standard of living of the G8 [US, UK, France, Germany, Russia[??], China [???], Italy, Japan] or the basically Industrialized nations. Unfortunately the never had facist dictators there, never got the snot bombed out of them and we never had to help rebuild their economies. Start moving jobs there and we're gonna start honkin' about that, too. But face facts: If you want to raise the standard of living somewhere else, you're going to have to make sacrifices in your own back yard.

I've seen this addressed on the West Wing, jobs being sent overseas and Union guys losing jobs here, and it's true: the low end jobs go first. And as long as they [Indonesia, China, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, etc] are doing the same work cheaper, that's the way it's going to be.

Just a side thought: What market would be so great to get American products into? How about Cuba?

4. Being Bobby Brown

Television sinks to a new low with this on Bravo. I update Andy Warhol's words: Everyone will have their own 'Reality Show' on Bravo. Hasn't Bobby been arrested for drugs and not paying child support and beating up women? Oh, then he's perfect for 'Reality TV.' P-U.

5. I mean it, I am going to write a book...

And I am calling it My Family's Nuts, You're Family's Nuts, We're All Okay. Let's Go Get A Beer and Talk About It. And I will make a gazillion dollars and move to Acapulco and be a one man boost to the Mexican economy. Or I'll buy the Chicago Blackhawks and return a once proud franchise to respectability. Yeah! All my cousins love Chicago, Cheap Trick is from there, it can't be all bad...


6. Star Wars Episode III

Well, I saw it. Unfortunately, that's about all I can offer. It's kind of neat that there's some cool sword fights and a big double cross, but the suspension of disbelief required approaches James Bond level, especially when they find Anakin and 'rescue' him. It's not the worst of the series, but it's not the best.

7. Rip Off

I cannot BELIEVE you people in the general public. GM says 'We're going to give you the same price out employees pay' and you rush right out like it's the second coming. Folks, GM SUSPENDED the use of the discount by the employees this year because DEALERS WERE MAKING BETTER DEALS THAN DISCOUNT TO MOVE CARS. But leave it to marketing... call it a sale though it's not and look at the people come running. Suckers!!!!

8. Ed V and Mr D

Though I rarely just answer the phone anymore, I was surprised and pleased to hear two old friends on the other end of the line. Ed's working out a new band amd getting ready to cut some solo tunes in November; Jim has weathered more surgery for Danni, Danni's Mom passing, other family illnesses, moving and all the OT he can stand and then some, but he's alive and well...

The Big Chill is on...

It's got me thinking about this class reunion that's coming up. Really, what's the point? Just another mile marker, another excuse to get together and see who 'made it,' who got plastic surgery, get drunk and talk about the things we used to do. And show off pictures and brag on our kids and talk about how much better they have it than we did or about how weird their music is.

A trusted source told me the 10 year reunion is the one all about who's made it and bragging, the 20 is the one no one gives a shit about that stuff anymore. I'll have to trust my source on this one.

But it's got me thinking again. I'm not doing what I thought I'd be doing. I just wanted to be working in the record store. I managed that for a few years... not much money in it. But I remember that I loved being around the MUSIC. I still do, but I am finding myself more and more like my parents and locked into an era and not understanding the new stuff. And right now I'm not even getting a charge out of the music like I used to.

Come on down, crooked man Step on up, broken man
It's okay to cry, troubled man
Just ease your worried mind and rest a while

Do you remember when it started?
You had a dream
Now you never talk about it
Your fame and riches everything, no matter what the cost
Now you wish you hadn't blown it
Lay it all on me [2x]

Come on down, crooked man
Step on up, broken man
It's okay to cry, troubled man
Just ease your worried mind and rest a while

I came to see how you were doing
It's been a while
Looking back over your shoulder
You were restless, you were wild
Always running away
Once was young, now you're older
Lay it all on me [2x]

Come on down, crooked man
Step on up, broken man
It's okay to cry, troubled man
Just ease you worried mind and rest a while

-Lay It All On Me; The Black Crowes
- playing right now, the Lions CD

Just thinking back to graduation. Back then my movie was American Graffiti. Or I liked to imagine I was in a gang like that. The Breakfast Club made an impact. I found it very true. My group split to the winds after high school. I guess everyone's did. That's the point of this thing then.

I used to have a sentimental streak for this shit, but I guess it's diminished over time as I've developed [and destroyed] new relationships and let others lapse. One of the people I know threw out all their yearbooks. At one time that appalled me, but I can see it now. Of course I hocked my class ring YEARS ago.

I am no success in a traditional sense of the word, but work an honest day, pay my bills and I don't hurt anyone or steal to do it. I don't have four kids scattered across the metroplex and I have held jobs for years at a time. I am relatively stable. I still worry about being alone and I still hate being alone. But I go to sleep at night with a pretty clear conscience. I guess that says something.

Jeremy Roeneck inserts whole leg into mouth: Medical community stunned

PRESTO, Pa. (AP) -- Philadelphia Flyers center Jeremy Roenick has some advice for hockey fans who blame the NHL lockout on players' greed: Once it's finally settled, stay home.

``We're going to try to make it better for everybody, period, end of subject. And if you don't realize that, then don't come,'' said Roenick, who spoke at a charity golf event he played in over the weekend.
``We don't want you at the rink, we don't want you in the stadium, we don't want you to watch hockey,'' he said Saturday at the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational in suburban Pittsburgh.

The NHL and the players' association have been in almost daily negotiations to get a new collective bargaining agreement after the lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season.

``I say personally, to everybody who called us 'spoiled,' you guys are just jealous ... we have tried so, so hard to get this game back on the ice,'' Roenick said.

Like New York Rangers right wing Jaromir Jagr, who came out last week and admitted that the union's gamble didn't pay off, Roenick said he doesn't think the players can get a good deal at this point.

``I know we are going to give up probably more than any union has ever given up in the history of (professional) sports and, to me, I think that's enough to bring the fans back -- to know what their players are going to give up as much as they have in the last year,'' Roenick said. ``If people are going to chastise professional athletes who are making a lot of money they need to look at the deal we are probably going to end up signing in the next three weeks.''

I saw the end of this clip on Sportscenter last night, but this is the whole quote. Now normally I have a lot of respect for JR for calling it the way it is, but this time he's screwed up. How can anyone who makes millions of dollars playing a kids game tell the fans to stay away? SO WHAT if you lost a year's play and pay to stand up as a group. You were so convinced [as is every sports player] that ownership will just bend over and give in. THIS TIME ownership said 'Enough Is Enough' AND STOOD TOGETHER. AND GOOD FOR THEM!!! Anytime outgoing surpasses income to force owners to work in a deficit, something's going to give, unless you're a government and can print money. It's time professional athletes leatned the basics of Economics they were supposed to learn in school.

JR is never going to have to work a $ 10 an hour job, he's never going to miss a credit card payment or have to plan his check writing around payday every two weeks. He's made millions and will continue to make millions, just FEWER millions than before. It's just like Latrell Spreewell complaining last year about ONLY making $ 14 Million a season and saying 'I got to feed my familiy.' OH PLEASE. So yeah, I am jealous there. Tell me you're not going to get a good deal, though? Blame those people who told you 'ownership will cave, they always have.' And didn't JR get paid for part of the season becuase he was injured with a concussion? Maybe you'd better see that specialist again JR or get your money back,

JR doesn't want me watching? Fine. I will boycott all the sponsors of the NHL TV deal... OH, that's right, THERE ISN'T AN NHL TV DEAL. Giving up part of your salary is nowhere near enough to bring the fans back. Maybe we will all read JR's comments and NOT come back and JR WILL be worrying about kiting checks and selling his mansion in Phoenix and his cars. I'm not holding my breath on it, though.

Is This My Fault?


From Friday's FWST:
By Malcolm Mayhew

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals [Preview]

Forever will North Texas fondly remember the Ryan Adams of yesterday, when he used to fight with his band onstage and get in beer-bottle-tossing matches with the crowd. Back when the North Carolinian was fronting alt-country stalwarts Whiskeytown, there was always a chance you'd leave one of his shows covered with beer or blood. Adams, now a half-dozen records deep into a prolific solo career, has mellowed out some, as you can hear on his latest double-disc snoozer, Cold Roses, which easily could have been trimmed to one disc, and maybe even an EP. Bring back the fights, man; those were more exciting.

From Saturday's FWST:
Review By Stefan Stevenson

Star-Telegram Staff Writer


DALLAS _ Ryan Adams' Friday night show at the Gypsy Tea Room showcased the often brilliant songwriter's tortured-artist syndrome. Throughout his two-hour show with his band, the Cardinals, he complained about his fans, fidgeted with his guitar or did some bizarre comedic shtick that no one in the packed crowd seemed to understand.

All this might be forgiven if it hadn't affected his songs. But the nonsense did, more often than not, bleed into the music. He ruined a piano- driven version of `Rescue Blues' with improv lyrics and a sloppy finish that could only be blamed on a lack of focus.

When he immersed himself in a song, his talented four- piece band was always there to supplement his whims and provide a steady backbone. How the Cardinals tour with Adams and remain together, or sane, is beyond comprehension. One guess is the fact that Adams is an intelligent songwriter and musician. He's fearlessly prolific, tackling and nailing several genres. He released a double CD, Cold Roses, in May, will release an album in August and another this fall.

For the first 20 minutes, it seemed that we'd get a head- down, no-nonsense rock show. Adams and band tore through `Love Is Hell,' a raunchy `New York, New York,' a tight `To Be Young' and two songs from Roses: `Magnolia Mountain' and `Easy Plateau.'

Then the wheels came off.

Adams berated a fan for yelling a request. "I heard you, and guess what? We're not going to play it now."

Twenty minutes later, after blistering versions of `What Sin Replaces Love' and `Shakedown on 9th Street' and beautiful takes on `Dear Chicago' and `When the Stars Go Blue,' Adams abruptly announced that he was taking an early break.

"If you guys want to pay $30 and waste your time, that's fine. I won't fight the audience. Hopefully, these [ jerks] will leave."

Okay, a while back, like 2001, I was hailing this guy as the New Whiz Kid, the New Springsteen, the Promising Future of Rock and Roll.... well, I could be wrong.

While I STILL believe Gold was/is Ryan's best work [everything else SEEMS like he's only half interested, even the much praised (by some) Heartbreaker], it seems the boy is slipping into a Syd Barrett/Brian Wilson manic schizophrenia from which his career may never recover. Has Ryan been reading his own clippings? Does he want to be a Rock God so but that he's willing to let any semblance of Artistic Intergrity or dignity he has left slide down the tubes?

No, I haven't sat down with Cold Roses.. I have sampled it in the store though and I didn't hear anything that grabbed me and said "You have to have this record!!!" And I understand at 79 minutes for 2 CDs something could have been trimmed to make it 1 CD. But the Record Corporation seems to be okay with a double CD so they can charge a couple extra bucks and for that "Oh So Cool" faux leather cover... which Waylon did first anyway.

And I almost blew my dinner when I saw Dennis Leary push the CD on Letterman along with his 15 DVDs of failed shows. [I love Dennis, but he couldn't pick a hit show with the broad side of a barn. And anyone who thinks Cam Neely is Hall of Fame worthy needs his head examined. Even John Buccigross. Cam may be a great guy, but he was no Bobby Orr and he doesn't belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Only 726 games played, 395 goals, 299 assists?] "I just put it in there because I love it." P-U.

So I ask again: Is it the fault of the Adoring, Praise Heaping Masses [SELF INCLUDED] for giving this guy a swelled head? Should this be a lesson in tempering one's opinion until there is a clear track record? Was the guy just lucky hitting on all cylinders for a couple really good records [Whiskeytown's Stranger's Almanac and Gold]?

Speaking of Hockey

The Chicago Blackhawks, hockey's worst run franchise in the last 10 seasons, fired coach Brian Sutter today. Sutter was NOT the reaons the Hawks are losing: look at who the Hawks have traded or let go by free agency in the last decade: Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Tony Amonte, Alexei Zhamnov, Ed Belfour, Dominick Hasek, Gary Suter... the Bill Wirz Fan Club now meets in Philadelphia, featuring Zhamnoz, Roenick and Amonte. They've had to play their best asset goaltender Jocelyn Thibault into the ground, big Eric Daze has been hurt the last two seasons, and their best defenseman has been near blind in one eyed Bryan Berard!

Why Brian got the boot? He said the team needed help and the Wirz family refuses to part with any money to help the team. They got a nice new building a few years ago but they can't generate any intrest with a losing club and their games are NOT shown on local TV or cable. Is it any wonder the Hawk haven't been close to the Stanley Cup since the team that played the Penguins in 92-93 was dismantled piece by piece?

Sutter will pop up somewhere... like brother Daryl, coach of the 'This Close' Calgary Flames, he's a taskmaster and not a player friendly coach, but all that will pay off in a very disciplined team. Hello, anyone listening in St Louis? Can Wayne Gretzky forget aboout coaching with this guy available?

UPDATE: 6/22 7:15 PM:

The Blues, rather than hire a coach who can whip a team into a Team, have re-signed unknown quantity Mike Kitchen as head coach. How many coaches are shaking in their boots right now? Ed Olcyk in Pittsburgh? Dave Tippett in Dallas? Who IS coaching the Mighty Ducks of Anahiem?

Behind the Music Redux:

We [my small group of rock and roll purists] have been discussing VH1's Behind the Music recently, specifically the 'Subtitled' Oasis episode and how funny it was you can't understand the Gallagher Brothers when they talk - sober or not. I just happened to have VH1 on last night [Sunday night television being the PITS] and who should be on but the Backstreet Boys. Isn't that a coincidence, a one hour special promoting the release of their new album!

Can we just get it over with and announce that VH1/MTV et al is only interested in you if your record company is willing to pay big bucks to promote you? Just like music 'journalism' today, we promise not to say anything bad or controversial about you and help you promote your latest 'Product' so you don't cut your advertising revenue.

See, this is the fascination with celebrity I am talking about. When IS the last time you read a negative review in a National Music Magazine? Jeez, Rolling Stone wouldn't run a negative review of an Art Garfunkel record because he's a friend of the publisher. The Publisher also ran second [more complimentary] reviews of Bob Dylan records when the first reviews weren't lauding enough and/or 'failed to expound on Mr. D's genius as the poet laureate of His Generation.' And let me tell you, some of those late 70s Dylan albums STINK.

No, you only see negative reviews in newspapers or local underground papers [like the Dallas Observer or FW Weekly here], which are not beholden to the Record Corporation Teet for advertising dollars.

One of my favorite stories about Wenner and Co at Rolling Stone is the one of their Non Opinion of Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage, which is basically a three Lp swipe at the Record Corporations. They called it 'Frank's Apocalypse Now,' but never said if that was a bad thing or good thing, knowing if they pissed Frank off [again], he would not be afraid to launch a broadside at them.

Again, I don't know why I care, but I do.

Home Taping Redux: iPod and file sharing

from Yahoo News:
Article by Anjali Athavaley, Washington Post

Ben Freedland did two things that his fellow college students have been doing routinely for the past several years: First, he bought a new music CD by campus fave the Dave Matthews Band, then he tried to upload it onto his Apple iPod.

Then something went wrong.

The screen went blank, then a copyright agreement popped up. The music wasn't going anywhere. Freedland could play the CD on his laptop, but he couldn't transfer it, and he couldn't copy it to share the mellow grooves with friends or family.

Freedland deemed the CD "worthless."

The Duke University student had had his first run-in with a technology that record companies are using to limit the number of times users can burn, or make extra copies of, CDs. The new content-protected disc, which is not yet compatible with the iPod, is the recording industry's latest strategy to curb the illegal spread of music. This time, the crackdown is on the CD purchased at your local music shop -- the last bastion consumers held in freely sharing legally bought music.

It's one thing for record companies to file suit against people who share music files illegally on the Internet, or to pursue criminal charges against those who make pirated copies of CDs and sell them on street corners. But this is different. Generations have grown up with the notion that if you buy an album at the store, the songs are yours to show off to your friends.

In the 1970s and '80s, people made mix tapes without thinking twice. The tapes were an expression of personality. "A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do," Nick Hornby wrote in "High Fidelity," a novel in which mix tapes served as the very definition of identity and the currency of relationships.

With the death of the cassette tape, that same mentality transferred to the mix CD. It became a birthday gift, a wedding compilation, a way to say "sorry" or "I love you." In college dorms, students started exchanging CD albums so that a hardcore Nirvana fan could try a little Garth Brooks without having to pay for the whole CD.

But the technology got too good. Copies of CDs sound just as clear as the originals -- unlike cassette tapes, which always had some level of hiss. And with the rise of the Internet and online file-sharing, suddenly it became possible to share with several thousand "friends" at a time.

Such behavior is being blamed by the industry for a dramatic drop in sales of CDs and other forms of recorded music. Over the past five years, shipments of music to retailers have dropped by 21 percent, according to the RIAA [Recording Industry Assosciation of America].

"There is no question that piracy -- in its various, ugly forms -- is the primary reason for that decline," said Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive officer of the association, in a written statement. "In the face of such devastating and ongoing harm, it is appropriate that record companies find ways to facilitate the continued investment in new art."

So in a move that risks alienating a dwindling customer base, the major record labels are tightening up restrictions on CDs.

A growing number of newly released CDs are equipped with software that limits users from burning copies more than three times. On CDs released by record company Sony BMG Music Entertainment, individual songs can be used in compilations only three times.

But CD loyalists are divided on that issue. Greg Shadley, who works in the campus ministry office at Georgetown University, takes two buses and a train to get to his job every day. His iPod and his jumbo headphones accompany him every step of the way, he said.

Shadley, 49, even listens to his playlists at work. He prefers classical music, but he also rocks out to bands like the Grateful Dead and the Doors. He hates downloading music off the Internet unless it's absolutely necessary.

The content-protection technology would not keep him from buying an album, Shadley said, because he doesn't like to share music out of respect for the artists, who stand to lose royalties every time someone copies a tune instead of paying for it. Shadley used to work at a Tower Records downtown and hated watching kids buy the latest pop CD to lend to all their friends.

A newer generation of music lover views things somewhat differently. Around the George Washington University campus, students said they understand the record industry's reasons for combating music piracy. But they also acknowledged that it wouldn't stop them from sharing CDs with their friends or downloading free music.

Emily Mannie teaches a spinning class and likes to sample music online before deciding if it's worthy enough for her music mixes. She says she respects artists' rights and understands why the recording industry is setting boundaries. But she still downloads illegally because, well, it's free. The average college student pocketbook isn't very full of money.

"It's like speeding," said Mannie, a 28-year-old graduate student. "I know I shouldn't speed, but I have to get there."

First, let me say this: Yes, I understand copyrights. But I also understand that as a purchaser of a product I should be free to use it as I please. Making a compilation tape or CD for traveling, i.e. my personal use, does not violate copyright law. If I make A copy or two for friends, I may actually be doing the record company a favor by generating interest in a band, even though it is technically illegal.

Having said that, I also understand the need for anti-piracy software, having seen/known/ worked with/ lived with the people who download all this stuff off the internet and sell pirate copies. The broadband/ cable internet has made all of this so much easier.

But understand that the corporations [i.e. Record Company Corporations, now just divisions of huge 'Conglomerates like Seagrams [Phillips-Polygram-Universal] and Time Warner [Warners- Atlantic -Rhino]] are so behind the curve on the whole Internet music revolution... they're still thinking in the 1980s: People want product with pictures and lyrics and they will buy CDs with two good songs and ten tracks of crap. And that thinking is FAR FAR outdated. But that's what happens when music became Big Business in the 70s and 80s.

The smaller companies are in a far better position to reach the New Music consumer [of which I am not: I got a nasty virus from Kazzaa and I have never shared a fgile on the Internet since.] It's kind of like your Granparents hearing your parents Rock and Roll and going "What IS that?" The Record Corporations don't understand that people are not wowwed by product anymore; they want SUBSTANCE for their dollar. And AGAIN, I also bring up the fact that the price of mainline new CDs has remained around $15.00. For 15 bucks I can get a whole spindle of 50 blank CDs. What's keeping the price so high? Oh, couldn't be a bottom line of the parent corporation, could it?

I am a dinosuar, but I'd rather the Record Industry was back in the hands of the Ahmet Erteguns and Jac Holzmans who wanted to make a dollar, but also weren't afraid to take a risk and who loved MUSIC. Bands like Aerosmith and the Allman Brothers wouldn't exist in todays music business because they didn't have huge sales on their first records.

The other problem the Recording Corporations have today [and according to a thing I saw in Trio today, the same problem the Movie Corporations have] is that they're aiming for a teen audience whose tastes change with the sunrise. Who is putting out music for people our age, who have the most interest in MUSIC, not the look good band of the week?

And I thought Garth Brooks said it was reselling [i.e. the Used CD business] that was killing the recording industry.

Forgive me, it's the Rockist in me coming out again. By the way, Happy Birthday {Again] Amy: I will not post your age becuase I am a nice person, but I say again: Damn kids!!!!