I’m sitting around the Winnebago doing some last minute homework for the gig tonight. Cody’s South-Springfield MO, if you’re in the area. There are a couple of tunes we haven’t played yet and there is the threat that we might throw ‘em out there un-rehearsed tonight. I’m getting a kick out of re-visiting some of these tunes that I haven’t thought about playing in a while. Remember “Hot Legs” by Rod Stewart? It has some great guitar stuff on by St. Louis guy, Billy Peek. Check him out, he’s still getting it. I always thought Billy had a great take on the Chuck Berry kind of stuff. That makes sense because he played with Chuck for years. But, that’s not all he has in the trick bag-good player and singer.
The ice is melting right now but, it looked rough for a while. Here’s a couple pics from yesterday afternoon.
The road out…
The winters, here in the Ozarks, aren’t as rough as a lot of places. We do get the ice though and, because of the hills it males driving treacherous. This will give you a better idea.
I’m just going to hit on a couple of things that caught my eye today and get it all in one shot here; in the interest of time.
I’ve been writing a lot about the music biz lately. Here is an interesting BBC article about the music industry in China.
Whereas the US and Europe are still finding ways to counter piracy, Chinese record companies have already decided it is a lost cause, finding other ways to make money which are not directly related to music sales.
This comes from necessity rather than by choice, says Shen Lihui, the head of China’s largest independent label, Modern Sky, based in Beijing.
One thing a lot of artists are doing is, playing well paying corporate events where they sing a song in a product promotion capacity.
Pop artist Agi said this.
“People abroad definitely come to see you perform for no other reason than they are a fan of your music,” she says.
“But on the Chinese mainland there could be a hundred other reasons. They think you’re pretty, or whatever. Music is just a tool to sell things.”
I hear a lot of talk about how the music business is changing and it needs to adapt-find new revenue streams. All of those “new” revenue streams involve music as a loss leader at best. In other words, what’s happening with music in China is the next wave in your neighborhood.
Last week I read a story about how fans of The Carpenters were making an effort to save the house that the pop duo bought and featured on an album cover. This is a situation where the fans are trying to raise money to buy the house from the present owner who, wants to tear it down and build a new one.
This piece from Reuter’s is also about preserving a house as some kind of monument.
Poet and author Charles Bukowski is gone but the bungalow where he penned his first novel still stands, as bedraggled as the writer himself, and city leaders say they will save it as a literary landmark in a city better known for its Hollywood glitz.
The Los Angeles City Council was expected to vote next week to preserve the faded stucco home in the shadow of Hollywood where the hard-living Bukowski lived from 1963 to 1972 and wrote the autobiographical novel “Post Office,” among other works.
The city’s Cultural Heritage Commission has recommended the nearly 90-year-old property’s designation as a historic monument, rescuing it from demolition by developers looking to put up condominiums.
Now, I’ve seen the documentaries and clips where Bukowski sits around this very house (hovel), all liquored up and spewing forth his views on society and humanity. A few things come to mind.
Why do we need to keep the house; isn’t the body of Bukowski’s work what should be of importance? The words ought to cover it. Do we need to see the type of self-imposed squalor that may have inspired them in some way? Maybe we should keep one of his empty vodka bottles around too.
In the Carpenters’ case, fans are attempting to pay the cost. With the Bukowski house it’s the “city’s Cultural Heritage Commission” meaning, taxpayers.
Is Bukowski culture?
“Hollywood is famous not because everybody has been a saint or a nun,” Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti said. “It’s always attracted complicated and important people and Charles Bukowski certainly fits that mold.”
Thanks for clarifying, Eric. Evidently, Mr. Garcetti thinks that Bukowski fits the cultural standard. Is the house “complicated and important”?
Related posts
Tags: agi, Billy Peek, Charles Bukowski, Councilman Eric Garcetti, ice, Music Business, ozarks
Suite_Judy_Blue_Eyes wrote,
In Italy when the pontif sends a memo that recommends a person like say: “Padre Pio” is a Saint, get out your check books. This is the model of our lame Heritage councils.
In the foothills of Italy, once a city produces a Saint, may as well count on a new multi-purpose center, tourist trade center, Segway dealership, new hospital/medical center… the new businesses list is endless. No more sheep herding these grounds.
What I found interesting, and this is not a sarcasm, is the selling of cards the size of business cards with a piece of the robe Padre Pio wore. You see, St. Pio though passed on, was a stigmata. His burden was clearly noted by millions, while alive. But he never ventured further up the ladder of Padres… he lived in a small room all his days, you know cloistered.
You will visit the holy place, and find his gowns/robes are all on display now showing blood stains. These relics as they are displayed to the queueing public, would probably make Padre Pio roll over in his grave, since he was demure, and straight as a gunshot. “Look Mother Theresa, their displaying my underwear…!”
America doesn’t have saints: “Hollywood is famous not because everybody has been a saint or a nun,” So we trump up some gaffs: It turns out, reward for a first round draft pick in the NFL, the top round draftees get an extra million just for being first picked.
Then what about Hall of Famers? They get a bonus for extended commercialism. Entrants get to charge more for showing, hosting, speaking…blah blah blah. An Oscar winner gets to charge an extra few millions to be in your cine…
The only complication I see for LA people is that they built a city and a dam on a fault line. Then they founded Babylonia. Italians, now there is complications. They built a city on fault lines in the shadow of Vesuvius. Then founded a Vatican.
Suite_Judy_Blue_Eyes’s last blog post..Butterflies are Free, and also this music from Gibson
Link | February 22nd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
wav_flac wrote,
Above as regarding piracy:
The host — http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/02/205534.php
had commented on digitally recording her LP’s — and got this from a reader:
Comment that follows is a method for changing files to fit one’s own unique needs… the Net is full of the necessary tools and equipment needed for pirate trade.
This comes as no surprise, rip burn wav flac… it is a reality music business persons are facing. I think China plays leapfrog. They wait it out, and then jump in at the techno-microsmic moment of switcheroo!
Pretty smart cookies in the long term, those Chinese industrialists.
That’s all I got today, moopig out, for the summer….
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Ref: retrieved in secondary research interest today by me at: Barnett, Barbara.(March 02, 2008) From LP to mp3: Bringing Your Record Collection into the 21st Century Published by blogcritics: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/02/205534.php
wav_flac’s last blog post..“Among the blind, the squinter rules” [anon]
Link | March 4th, 2008 at 11:09 am