-----Original Message-----
From: Black, Chris
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2000 2:18 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: RE: "Grateful Dead and The Bootleg"
Please read the original message first, and then my additional comments.
In other words, start from the bottom and work up. I don't think they realize
how tightly knit our community is.
THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO SHOW THEM.
Don't be a loon about it (that would just fuel the
stereotypes about us) but in short, very carefully thought-out words, please
express your displeasure to the people responsible, and attempt to set the
record straight.
Someone please forward this to etree and any other traders or tapers lists
or groups with whom you may be associated. If we don't do this, nobody else
will.
Perception IS reality! It is time to defend that which we all
value so much.
Chris Black
Blackbox FTP
blackbox.sugarmegs.org
http://www.oocities.org/blackbox_smegs/
______________________________________
RESPONSE 1:
The program was, in fact, Marketplace (http://www.marketplace.org/).
Here
is a link to the program in question, available in it's entirety in Real
Audio from the website (http://www.marketplace.org/shows/2000/09/25_mpp.html).
The story in question is near the end of the program, around minutes 20-25.
Marketplace is a production of Minnesota Public Radio (http://www.mpr.org/),
The University of Southern California (http://www.usc.edu/),
and Public
Radio International, aka PRI (http://www.pri.org/)
see snail mail address
info below. These are the bodies to whom complaints should be directed.
I heard the story when it aired originally, and there was a brief statement
by the Dead's attorney at the end that attempted to explain the situation
from the band's perspective, which was essentially, "Hey, we made 2500+ live
shows freely available, why should we let people SELL those shows or our
studio albums and give us nothing?"
Apart from that, the reporter (and the producer I must assume) showed a very
poor understanding of the complaints of GDP, and in my opinion, a rather
snide attitude implying that the Dead were being hypocritical by opposing
the sale of their music by unauthorized parties.
Thanks Scooter for pointing this out and reminding me of something that
didn't sit quite right with me either, but escaped the conscious attention
it deserved.
PRI - 100 North Sixth Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Telephone: 612.338.5000 - Facsimile: 612.330.9222
Chris Black
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
-----Original Message-----
From: scooter@usthefolks.com [SMTP:scooter@usthefolks.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 7:06 PM
To: gdlive@hotmail.com
Cc: gdmp3@hotmail.com; archersage@hotmail.com;
sonic_utes@hotmail.com; brian_brastoff@hotmail.com; bryan_allen1@hotmail.com;
cblack@retrieveronline.com; danasista@yahoo.com;
peggy_o@hotmail.com; Homerin3D@yahoo.com; fourtwenny@bigfoot.com;
dkaylie@aol.com; darsb1@home.com; twinklee@hotmail.com; dogcow@nauticom.net;
geoffweddle@hotmail.com; gjgoewert@hotmail.com; gds419@home.com
Subject: Dead bitchSlapped by Public Radio, RESPOND!
, Please respond to this on the air,
or the net
or emale
or a lawn sign
or a tattoo
or something.
This week, Pubic Radio focused on an event neither newsworthy nor in
any way remarkable or unexpected: The Grateful Dead organization went after
some
web Trash that were SELLING mp3 encoded versions of their Albums.
So, while the US pumped 77 million dollars into the Yugoslavian elections,
and molotov cocktails blossomed at the foot of the IMF in Prague, Pissant
Radio focused their glaucomic flailings on distractive incomprehensible
spine-free copy where logic was replaced with the following lines
of smarmy drivel.
paraphrased
"Of all people you would THINK that the Grateful Dead would EMBRACE the
spirit of free music on the internet."
"In the past the Grateful Dead encouraged taping and trading of their concerts"
"Perhaps if the Grateful Dead were starting out today, they would not react
so litigiously to movements such as Napster."
"Why is the Grateful Dead organization sending their lawyers after the Internet
music traders ?"
"If Jerry Garcia were still alive..." ad nauseum
This 3 minute, nationally regurgitated whine included one 10 second
rebuttal, then went on to compare the Dead to the pansies from Richmond
, Metallica.
This idiocy overlooks the simple foundation of all snail mail trading, mp3,
live taping, Napster, and FTP/website archiving and fails to mention the
fundamental principle upon which all these participants have agreed upon since
the
paradigm was FOUNDED by the Grateful Dead and their army of tape
traders once the Warner Bros. yoke was flung off around 1980...
People who reproduce music recordings, then SELL them, ARE MAGGOTS !!!
An obvious conclusion drawn from the basic rules that everybody plays by, and
began with a proclamation from Dead Central that went something like
1. here is the music, it is declared public domain for distribution on its own
merit,
warts and all. Trade it, broadcast it, give it away, spin 'em
off to your hearts content.
BUT
2. the commercial rights to the music remain property of the
band and reproductions cannot be SOLD by anyone else
It is, and always has been the opinion of those who exploit
and promote this paradigm that:
People who reproduce music recordings, then SELL them, ARE MAGGOTS !!!
If they are not pursued or harassed by the community and the injured
parties, then the paradigm will degenerate into the hopeless money grabbing
swarm
of two bit whores and back stabbers who not only clutter the NET since it was
given
away to commercial interests, but have busily stomped the American
Dream since Harry Truman.
This is the most slanderous, groundless and far flung attack
on the Dead by major media in my lifetime, and I've
been paying attention for over thirty years.
Some sort of reaction seems appropriate, and I urge all those
involved in the Free Music paradigm to respond immediately
and as loudly as possible.
Seva, the rain forest project, endless contributions and
benefits, hassles with promoters and venues over ticket cost
and taping rights, the mail order solution, etc. etc. etc. The Dead have always
set an example of
ethical behavior from the top and I have witnessed them putting the interests
of their fans, the Community, and the world ahead of their
own in so many ways, and in so many instances,
that it seemed nearly self-destructive at times.
This attack from a self perpetuating bilge water bucket like
Pubic Radio leaves me nearly at a loss for words.
carnivore this
scooter
..............................................................
............
.....
OPINION:
Any propaganda faucet that belches sloppy word stew
aftertaste, pretending to public responsibility, listener
support, and journalistic discipline is even worse than a
squirming retch of money grubbing music pimps.
Getting the facts in the ballpark is a discipline of
journalism. There is very little journalism practiced by
the Ministry of Free and Independent Media, and certainly
not from Petroleumjelly Radio. So when they try to do a
story on their own, it is no wonder that they come up not
knowing their ass from a hole in the ozone.
FYI: The CPB and Pubic Radio was created and financed by a seed Grant
from Commercial Media to relieve themselves of the legislated
responsibility of airing Public Service Announcements
or providing equal time to political candidates.
It has NEVER been listener supported and is a mirror image
of corporate media. Since it's afterbirth, Public Radio
has been bought off by General Electric, ADM, US oil and pharmaceutical pushers.
When they're not stomping out freedom of speech buying
legislation to outlaw alternative media and micro radio,
they wallow in their cellulite, drooling out press
releases from Gov't agencies and PR firms, misinforming the
public in the buzzy whining neo-liberal voice of the American
punk-ass, bootlicking, gutless worm. The whole thing
is an obnoxious pretense masquerading as a voice from the
left in the land of the sheep, home of the brainwashed.
Pubic Radio's attempt at INTERNET savvy which mangled and
slandered the Grateful Dead organization this week was a monument
to the cluelessness of habitual bootlicking media scum,
who would do less harm by sticking to their job, ripping
state dept and corporate PR memoranda from their fax machines
and reading them on the air.
I believe this came from PRI's Marketplace, but I am not sure,
I heard it on Houston's only Pubic radio station on Monday in the
evening. By the time I got steamed, I forgot the exact time.
100 plus Dead shows does not necessarily leave one's memory
impaired. But the way I did them will for sure. There is a price
for being whatever..
It was not All Things Apologized For, cuz I checked their
archive. If anyone can pin this down, please enlighten,
I would like to send them a letter or perhaps 10, 000 emales or so.
Kill your television
support community and micro-radio
if you can't beat 'em
hack 'em
onward
scooter
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