From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #16 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, January 14 1998 Volume 07 : Number 016 Today's Subjects: ----------------- my wife and my dead wife (Re: Plagiarism) [Bayard ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 01:25:32 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: my wife and my dead wife (Re: Plagiarism) "the dead wife song" aka MW&MDW was inspired by Noel Coward's play _Blithe Spirit._ Does that make it plagiarism, just b/c it has the same concept? Course not. They made it into a musical too. http://www.capybara.com/42ndStMoon/Schedule/highspirits.html Personally I view the 80's as a musical wasteland (RH's 80's oeuvre being one very notable exception-- there are others.) Not just on the strength (or lack thereof) of compilations, either. Guess I just was never into 80's style. things started to get really interesting to me around 1990 or so. =b ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 23:29:20 -0800 From: Mark_Gloster@3com.com Subject: Re: Negativlegalstuff and actually some RH at the bottom... Negativland is one of my favorite "bands." I trade emails with Mark Hosler (the guy who can sing) once in a while. If I ever get around to posting my '97 faves, their newest CD, _Pissdepi_ will be on it, and my favorite single of that year was their "Aluminum or Glass" ditty. >>I even read the book. >>From what I've seen, the record could easily mistook as being called >>"Negativland" and by U2. The art was, in giant print, "U2", a U2 bomber >>and in tiny print, "negativland". The song list was parodies of U2 songs, >>and it was released a few weeks before some U2 album. Why don't other parody albums get whacked for this. Among the elements that our legal system is supposed to protect are "Fair Use," which includes parody. U2's ownership of their name strangely supercedes the surveilance aircraft's stake of it as it appears on the cover. Unfortunately, the loser in these cases, even if they are won later under appeal, seems to be the gnat's-patootie-sized entities. "Lardass Jeans" was sued to death over a similar case of trademark infringement. This was eventually overturned by a higher court, but the owner of Lardass was long out of business by then. In a different case, which didn't involve any parody, E&J Gallo copied the label and packaging of Turning Leaf wine for one of their lines (it doesn't even mention their name). They immediately grabbed some of Turning Leaf's market share. Because they are several thousand times bigger than the winery that makes Turning Leaf, they are expected to win the suit, though there is no fair use provision that should protect them. They have more expensive lawyers. Leaf >Really, it was much more of a parody of *Casey Kasem*. And yet, Kasem never >said a word of protest, as far as I know. Guess he's not as >fussy/self-important/litigious as U2 and Island. Actually, with the tiny help of the U2 band, Negativland reached a tentative agreement with Island, but Casey would not agree to it, since he had entered the lawsuit. I wrote Casey to ask that he show a sense of humor about the issue, allowing the band to release the single again and drop the lawsuit, and received a heated, but personal, letter saying that he would never agree to having the single released. Kasey is as fussy/self-important/litigious as U2 and Island. Actually, U2 to this day deny having anything to do with the lawsuit. I find all their post Joshua Tree material posey and dull. They have forgotten more than I may ever know about songwriting, but they have forgotten it. Sorry. >>And as a result of this and other things, negativland sued SST. >Um, more the other way around, I believe. And SST has never been the same, >it seems. There was a time (1986-1987ish) when SST was my favorite label. >But since the Negativland problems and the Meat Puppets/Screaming Trees got >signed to majors around the turn of the decade, SST's output has gone into >the dumper. They really lost the touch -- couldn't stay current. Now half >their records seem to be Greg Ginn vanity projects. :/ But I guess the >label will press on, since they will always make money off their stellar >back catalog. Around the time that they dumped Negativland, a number of bands accused SST of ripping them off, financially. I don't know the result of the class action lawsuit that ensued, but Ginn's empire is only a shadow of it's former self. >Eb, who has never owned a U2 album You are a better man than I. Well, maybe. - ----- Also, there was some discussion of Robyn firing Steve, his personal manager. I thought I'd suggest that due to the staggering amount of work, the amount of clustered human sphyncterpersons with whom one must deal, and the long travel schedule, it is just possible to me that Steve wore out. That's, I'm sure, enough outa me on this, - -Markg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 23:52:05 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth Subject: Re: Best of 1998 List The Quail pfeeped: > Well, now that 1998 is over, -- and what a wild, wacky and > interesting year it has been... > ... and of course "Prodigy Unplugged." Yes indeed. What a year! That "unplugged" craze certainly took hold. What with "Unplugged" albums from George Cables and Wire, not to mention "The Three Tenors Unplugged" and the unforgettable "Spice Girls Undressed" (oh sorry, that should have been in another category). But my favorite was the triumphant return of 70's electronic band Kraftwerk with "Kraftwerk Unplugged". Their cover of John Cage's masterpiece "4 minutes and 33 seconds" was simply stunning... ~N ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #16 ******************************