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The Good Ol’ Goats CD release
A NIGHT OF YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE, HUMOUR AND A WEE TOUCH OF THE MACARBE.
THE GOOD OL’ GOATS – THE TRAIN: The CD release concert and party at the Studio/Stage Door, September 15, 2012, 8 pm. This highly original band of young musicians have been together for probably less than a year and seem to be rolling from success to success. It is not often that young musicians step completely out of the box, 
bypass the standard rock and roll quartet and write and perform original music. When was the last time you saw two banjos on a stage? The band consists of the principle writer Nolan Eckert (vocals, banjo, guitar), Julian Bueckert (drums), Angus Liedtke (vocals, banjo, guitar, harmonica and accordion), Angus MacDonald (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), Theo Moore (upright bass and vocals) and Joelle Winkell (vocals, Shaker, tambourine, guitar, autoharp, mandolin, charm, good looks and the feminine touch). 
Click on images for a larger view
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Quote of the Week
“Ten billion beetles can’t be wrong – buy BC pine”
THE MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE
Considering the havoc the beetle infestation is having on forestry communities this quote is probably in poor taste. It comes from a book by Calgary writer Andrew Nikiforuk called “Empire of the Beetle – How human folly and a tiny bug are killing North America’s great forests”. This book is a comprehensive look at the historical records of beetle infestations all over the world. Although we tend to think of the current situation as a recent manifestation precipitated by climate change that is only part of the story. While climate change is a factor it is not the only one. The author also implicates logging practices and over zealous fire control. One of the hypothesis of the book is that the beetles are only doing what beetles are meant to do – manage the forest to ensure regeneration and healthy diversity. The beetles do this by attacking old an unhealthy trees to make way for new growth. The beetle is not the bad guy in the current scenario. Forestry practices, fire control and, now, climate change have interfered with the essential environmental niche that belongs to the beetle. Things are now out of balance to the point where the beetles are attacking younger and healthier trees. And, based on the historical record, there is not much we can do about it. Clear cutting, poisoning, hormone therapy, electric shock and even music therapy (yes Martha, there is such a thing) have little effect on outcomes. In fact most measures do more harm than good. Clear cutting destroys watersheds and fish habitats and does very little to foster diversity in the forest. The piles of slash left behind harbour beetles that have nothing better to do than continue to chow down, cohabitate and multiply on the free meals left by the logging companies. Attempts to poison the bugs end up taking a huge toll on the beetle’s natural predators (woodpeckers and the like). The application of hormone therapy has met with some limited and diminishing success and electric shock is too impractical to consider on a large scale. Music therapy, using the beetle’s own arsenal of sounds, still sounds a little hair brained and is some what experimental. In the past the most successful interventions have been masterminded by mother nature herself. In the past a few good forty below winters have stopped infestations cold (pun intended). In this era of climate change cold winters of the required intensity may be a thing of the past. All told the prognosis is pretty grim. There is nothing we can do but watch the destruction of the forests and decline of communities and industries as timber resources rapidly disappear. There is even a fear that now the beetles have crossed over to the east side of the Rocky Mountains the infestation could invade the Boreal forest and, if that happens, why not go all the way to Labrador?
Need this have happened on such a scale? The urban myth is that “ground zero” was Tweedsmuir Park and an aggressive clear cut of the diseased trees in the park would have stopped the spread of the infestation. Or, at least that’s how the myth goes. It was the politicos who were unwilling to butt heads with the tree huggers and environmentalists and chose to do nothing and the result was the spread of the infestation. Well, as I said, that’s how the myth goes and, as usual with most urban myths, the truth is a little more complicated. The complete logging of Tweedsmuir Park would have done little to control the spread of the beetle. For years the beetles were already out there across the province doing what beetles normally do.
There is a bit of déjà vu about the situation. It reminds one of the collapse of the cod fishery twenty years ago. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse there was tremendous pressure on the politicians to open some limited fishing to ensure some livelihood for the unemployed fishermen and plant workers. It required tremendous fortitude to resist this kind of pressure. One of the heroes of the day was John Crosbie, the then Minister of Fisheries, who called “a spade a spade” and held his ground for a rational scientific approach. With the destruction of the Burns Lake Mill and one in Prince George there are calls to open the logging of marginal forest lands to try and increase inventory to enable the rebuilding of destroyed mills. The mantra once again is jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Despite the heart break and hardship that needs to be dealt with it is a call that should be resisted. As I said déjà vu. Like the cod fish the supposedly unlimited source and supply of timber has gone, or at least going, and the unimaginable is on our door step – a decline of forestry as a mainstay of the BC economy. If the cod fishery is any indication then there is a bleak prospect for many years to come. Twenty years have gone by and there is no indication that the cod fish are returning. How long does it take a tree to reach maturity? I am pretty sure it is way more than twenty years.
Two books well worth reading are:
Andrew Nikiforuk’s “Empire of the Beetle – How human folly and a tiny bug are killing North America’s great forests”.
Michael Harris’ “Lament for an Ocean – The Collapse of the Cod Fishery: a True Crime Story”.
Both of these titles are in the Cranbrook Public Library.
Classical Season just ended….
2011/2012 THE CLASSICAL SEASON THAT WAS…
It was a classical music season of ups and down and I guess the outdoor concert “Music in the Mountains” was a convenient end to a somewhat rocky season. But first a disclaimer. I didn’t get to all the performances during the season. I missed the Symphony Christmas concert and I didn’t attend any of the Arts Festival performances so I guess I missed a significant chunk of what was going on. However, of the concerts that I did get to attend I think the following are worth noting.
The Diva and the Maestro – Natalie Choquette and the Symphony of the Kootenays, Key City Theatre, Saturday, October 29th, 2011, 7:30 pm
Classically trained sopranos are not necessarily my cup of tea. More often than not for me they are shrill and hard on the ear. However, Natalie Choquette proved to be the exception. She managed to take the standard diva repertoire to another level of entertainment. The premise of the concert was “A Maestro is trying to come to terms with eccentric 
internationally renowned divas such as “la Fettucini”, “Fraulein Wienerschnitzel”, “Nadia Camenitchaïkovskyaya”, “Mrs Osolemio” and many more…!” In an array of an extravagant costumes and interactions with members of the audience and “the maestro” Natalie played the role of all the divas in this contest of wills with the conductor Bruce Dunn. With humour and panache she managed to work her way though the popular operatic repertoire. Of the symphony concerts I have attended over the years this was by far the most entertaining. It was unfortunate that the audience numbers were less than optimum. Of course one wonders why that was the case and possibly part of the reason for low attendance was the lack of adequate publicity. I for one had no idea what to expect from the concert and as a result I was more than pleasantly surprised by the wonderful performance. Normally I am not a fan of concerts that place a high reliance on show biz glitz to pull off a performance but for Natalie Choquette the entertainment trappings were definitely an added value.
LA CAFAMORE STRING QUARTET, Knox Presbyterian Church, Friday September 30th, 2011, 7:30
From one extreme to the other; From the entertainment values of the operatic world to the modern, super cool, amplified music of the La Cafamore String Quartet is quite a leap and it was a leap well worth taking. The featured work on the program was Steve Reich’s minimalist masterpiece “Different Trains”. This piece may have required a significant intellectual and emotional leap for audiences unfamiliar with truly modern music. Steve 
Reich is a modern American minimalist composer who relies on short phrases that evolve, loop and interlock in complex melodic and rhythmic patterns. It is steps away from the increasing harmonic complexity of most modern music. The piece is a programmatic rumination by the composer on train journeys in the United States and in Europe in 1939 on through to about 1950. It is a reflection of the composer’s personal recollections and war time Jewish experiences. Now here is the super cool part. As usual the publisher sends along the manuscript for the string quartet but also includes a CD of pre-recorded train sounds, 
snatches of speech and another string quartet playing the loops of music that are the core of the composition. In simplistic terms “Different Trains” is an interactive karaoke experience of a pre-recorded CD performance and the amplified La Cafamore String Quartet on stage. The overhead display of the text and the sequence of the music certainly helped keep the audience on track. “Different Trains” is a three movement work; “I: America – before the War”, “II: Europe – During the War”, “III: After the War”. The piece was featured on a landmark 1988 recording by the Kronos Quartet but to actually see and hear the piece in live performance was a some what mind blowing experience. Also on the program were pieces by those other well known revolutionaries Beethoven, Debussy and Puccini. This was a remarkable concert.
The Selkirk Trio, Knox Presbyterian Church, Cranbrook, Wednesday April 11th, 2012, 7:30 pm.
This unusual chamber music concert of piano (Sue Gould), clarinet (Nicola Everton) and 
cello (Jeff Faragher) was well attended. The trio featured the music of Beethoven, the Cuban Jazz world of Paquito D’Rivera’s “Afro”; The “lively and cheeky” music of Nino Roto (of The Godfather I & II film scores); some minor pieces by the German Jewish composer Max Bruch and the exotic Serbian dances by Marko Tajcevic. The Serbian music was a complete revelation. Arthur Rubenstein was known to have played transcriptions of these compositions and his influence was very evident in Sue Gould’s lively accompaniment to Nicola Everton’s absolutely liquid clarinet playing. Nicola bounced and oozed her way through the exotic odd metre eighth rhythms of music that sounded like it came straight off 
the streets of Zagreb. The program was rounded out with Paquito D’Rivera’s “Danzon” and Sue Gould and Nicola Porter giving full rein to their jazz inclinations with a wonderful rendition of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”.
So those are my top picks of the season. That does not mean there were not other performances of merit out there. The concerts by the Bisset Singers was full of surprises and gorgeous choral arrangements. The La Cafamore String Quartet came back to Cranbrook with Nina Horvath for another wonderful performance at the Knox. The unusual combination of Carolyn Cameron on violin and Aurora Dokken on piano and organ were also featured at the Knox in February. The talented amateur vocalists had their day in the sun at the Knox performing in “Sonatina Sunday” (see the tab PERFORMANCES / MUSIC / SONATINA SUNDAY 2012 ). The JOE TRIO gave an entertaining performance at the Key City that was billed as a Symphony of the Kootenays concert but there was no orchestra in sight. I found that a bit puzzling. And of course there was the grand finale concert “Music In the Mountains” outdoors at the St Eugene Mission Golf resort.
So despite some organizational miss-steps by the Symphony it was a season full of wonderful music. The most notable feature of the season was the significant amount interesting and varied chamber music performed at the Knox Presbyterian Church.
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Bumper Sticker of the Week
“SO MANY MEN, SO MANY REASONS TO SLEEP ALONE.”
Field of Dreams Syndrome
THE FIELD OF DREAMS SYNDROME: By their very nature Municipal Governments, Regional Districts, Chambers of Commerce and similar local business organizations are optimistic and conservative in their approaches to planning for the future. The optimism is heart felt and needed in any attempt to move forward. The conservatism, however, is often based on assumptions and analysis that are history by the time they hit the discussion floor of these organizations. Over the past decade this combination of optimism and conservatism has led to an emphasis on tourism as a possible economic engine to offset the variability of the resource sector in the East Kootenays. The result is a plethora of tourist targeted developments. Numerous ski hill expansions, golf course constructions, hotel expansions and recreational real estate developments that have all been designed as added value “Fields of Dreams” to attract potential tourists. The philosophy seems to have
Mission Hills Golf Course: over supply in action – Sunday, mid-summer, mid-afternoon.
been “build it and they will come”. But have they? Over the past few years estimates of tourist traffic indicate a definite decline. Some anecdotal estimates place recent down turns as high or even higher than 30%. Added to the significant declines over recent years the idea that tourism is a growth industry is definitely dead. Even the most optimistic forecasts describe tourism activity as “flat” – a euphemism for “negative growth” or even, dare we say it, “decline”. Even by the most conservative estimates the truth of the matter is that tourism has been in steady decline for years. Noted in the Vancouver Sun, Saturday June 16th, 2012, “BC Ferries Traffic Sinks – hits lowest level in two decades contributing to $16.5 million loss” and “BC is recovering from a 20 year low in visits from Americans”.
Shadow Mountain Golf Course: More oversupply in action – Sunday, mid-summer, mid-afternoon.
Since the heady tourism days of the late 1990’s what do we have to show for the effort? An over supply in most tourist targeted projects (skiing, golfing, recreational real estate) and financially floundering development projects (Shadow Mountain, WildStone, Kookanoosca Lake Shore properties and on the horizon the Jumbo Pass Glacier development) and a tourism sector that continues to be sluggish. Why is that?
The reasons are many. Here are few. The financial crash of 2008 is right up there as the watershed moment that changed everything. That crash has been compounded by the ongoing European debt crisis, the high Canadian Dollar, negative affects of the HST, Peak Oil, the impacts of Global Warming, sales tax differentials with other jurisdictions and increased competition from both national and international tourist destinations. And it isn’t over yet. As the world financial centers roll from one crisis to another the economic uncertainty is likely to continue for many years. On the horizon is the impending implosion of the Chinese real estate boom. This will unleash another 2008 financial tsunami that will impact the whole globe. The Chinese money that has driven up real estate demand and prices in Western Canada will disappear and that, along with predicted higher mortgage rates, changes in mortgage rules and attempts to cool the “hot” market will lead to declines in local real estate values. The slide in values has already started. As Chinese economic activity slows so will the demand for Canadian resources with all the attending economic impacts.
Some, but not all, of the factors mentioned, could have been predicted or avoided. Locally the biggest problem has been timing. The sale of the Blackcomb / Whistler ski area was the penultimate signal that, despite the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Ski industry had peaked. Immediately prior to the games the shareholders knew that the glory days were over and it was time to take the money and run, and that they did.
Timing is always of the essence. The Cranbrook airport expansion is about 15 years too late. The intended influx of international flights to boost the local tourist industry was predicted on the success of earlier airport expansions projects south of the border. The infusion of public money encouraged Delta airlines to initiate international flights into Cranbrook that were later suspended due poor local and international response. Because the expansion was built with borrowed money this little bit of optimistic planning will continue to burden the local economy for years and yet, there is a bright side. The airport did need upgrading and proposed increases in tourist traffic was as good as an excuse as any to go ahead with this particular “field of dreams”. With an upgraded facility in place Cranbrook may now be able to assume its rightful place as a commercial business center. A local air carrier operating a much needed regular schedule between Cranbrook and Kelowna would be a helpful step in the right direction.
The fate of the airline industry and tourism traffic in general has been impacted by ‘Peak Oil’ (production output is being outpaced by demand – hence higher fuel prices). Simply put it means it costs more to get goods and people from one place to another. That cost is going to continue to rise.
The down turn in the economy and the negative impacts of the HST have decimated recreational property sales. But also at fault is some questionable market assumptions that probably identified baby boomers as potential buyers. The part of the equation that appears to be faulty is the lack of recognition that the targeted buyers are approaching retirement and one of their prime objectives would be a desire to downsize. A half million dollar property on a golf resort does not qualify as down sizing. Most women in that demographic would not look favourably on cleaning and maintaining a large, possibly an additional dwelling, that would be equivalent to a large domestic residence in the city. Similarly, large lake shore developments have the substance and appearance of suburban Calgary. Some where the ambience of cottage country got lost in the mix.
So where do we go from here? Denial or acceptance? With unpleasant news denial is always in the cards and there will be a perceived sense that the situation is not that bad. It’s just a hiccup and the economy will turn around and the good times are again just around the corner. Possible of course but unlikely. Wouldn’t it be better to hope for the best and plan for the worst. If things turn around that would be great but if things stagger on in the same fashion as the past few years a Plan B to diversify the local economy would be more than prudent. So folks, where is plan B?
The Death of Doc Watson
As the latest edition (August) of ACOUSTIC GUITAR went to press it was reported that Doc Watson had died. For anybody playing acoustic guitar the life and music of Doc Watson has a special place. For myself, the first time I heard Doc Watson play it was with a sense of disbelief. Up until that time I didn’t think acoustic guitarists played above the fifth fret. It was just too hard to play up the neck. He certainly changed my mind about that. Thanks Doc for a lifetime of wonderful music.
Unexpected Benefits
UNEXPECTED BENEFITS OF THE DIGITAL AGE:
My son informs me that with the advent of the digital age people fall into two categories. Those that are still into molecules and those that are into bits and bytes. I am afraid I fall into the former group. I don’t own an IPod, I don’t down load (that seems like too much work to me) and I prefer to listen to music without the aid of headphones. Regardless of how loud or obnoxious the music is a set of headphones still tends to put me to sleep. I also need molecules; I need to have something in my hand. It means it exists and won’t disappear when the wrong button is accidently pressed. I like to flip open the CD, peruse the cover art, liner notes and, if included, lyrics are a real bonus.
I have listened to and collected recorded music ever since I was a teenager. I have avoided some, but not all, of the technical missteps. For instance I have never owned an eight track player and I never was a big fan of cassettes. I preferred reel-to-reel tapes (okay, okay, that was a misstep). But having said that I think I have successfully navigated my way though most of the technological changes of the past half century. I even collected 78 rpm recordings at one stage. When CDs came on the market in the early eighties I immediately jumped on the band wagon and have been collecting CDs vigorously ever since. It meant I no longer had to preserve the original recording by transferring the vinyl LP to tape. I was not alone in this somewhat strange pursuit of permanency. Lots of guys, never the ladies, upon the purchase of a prized album would immediately record it onto tape and keep the original, in a pristine and safe condition, stored in some safe place waiting for the eventful day when the car stereo or some other misadventure destroyed the taped copy.
Yes, CDs where the great leap forward. No more static build up, scratches or pops that, for me at least, interfered with my listening pleasure. Now it was just pristine broad band sound. There are luddites around of course who insist that vinyl is, or was, the best recorded sound and by comparison CDs are harsh and ear fatiguing. Ferdy Belland, an expatriate Cranbrook bass player now living in Vancouver, on a recent tour through the area wrote a newspaper article where he claimed it “had been proven” that the physical contact of the needle on vinyl produced a more psychological pleasing sound. That sounds like fantasy to me or at least nostalgia for a bygone musical era. In his article he noted that bands are going back to releasing their material on vinyl. This is partly true but I can’t see it gaining a significant market share. After all who still actually owns a high end turn table. Those of us who lived though the “snap, crackle and pop” era of the 60’s and 70’s have no real need or desire to re-invent that very shaky wheel.
It is kind of ironic that at the height of the vinyl era there was a concerted effort both in recording and play back technology to obtain the best fidelity possible. The quality of one’s stereo system was a measure of self worth. Next to a really hot car it was all that really mattered. Pretty shallow eh! So, as I said, it is ironic that when this purist goal of perfect sound actually came within reach fidelity standards were down graded to accommodate the digital mp3 era. The new goal was capacity and convenience rather than fidelity. Not for me. The CD is a superior storage media with better quality sound. Despite early claims, they are not indestructible, but with minimal care can be relied on to last for at least my life time or what little there is left of it.
And yet there is a hidden plus side to this push to the lower mp3 standards and the constant quest for over capacity. The president of ARCHIV (a Classical CD distribution site) recently stated that lovers of classical music are living in a golden era of recorded music. He’s right you know. The major labels, and some of the not so major labels have huge inventories of very high quality material stretching back over 50 years. They are in the process of repackaging and releasing this material at a quality and a price that cannot be matched in the download arena. For instance I recently acquired a 15 CD boxed set of Joseph Haydn’s “The Complete Music for Solo Keyboard” for less than the regular price of 3 CDs (around $60 including shipping). That’s 17 hours of music recorded by Ronald Brautigam on a reconstructed pianoforte. As a musical endeavor and recording project it is mind boggling. A musician, a major interpreter no less, studied, polished and recorded a great chunk of a major composer’s output and released it in a conveniently minimal package. It is not only a startling beautiful recording it is at a price that there is no way you would spend or would want to spend the time and effort to download the inferior product from iTunes. And that is only the beginning of the deluge. I have seen complete box sets of Bach, Haydn, Vivaldi etc. These 150 CD collections have been listed at $150 and I have even seen them on sale for $100. That’s less than a buck a CD. I now rarely purchase single CDs of classical music – the boxed sets are just too good to pass up. And there is the added bonus of the documentation included with the sets that is just not available with an iTune download. That’s more molecules to enhance my listening experience.
Similar things are happening in the Jazz world. The deals may not be as lucrative but there is still a wealth of material out there. The Jazz label Mosaic has been in the market of boxed sets for around twenty years and is producing material that is exemplary in sound quality, documentation and packaging. Most of the material is generally unavailable anywhere else. Everything from vintage recordings of the early giants of the 20s though to the late 60s.The re-mastering and packaging is unbelievably good. These box sets run from around $80 to $180 depending on the number of CDs in the collections. Considering the quality of the material it is still a pretty good deal. Interestingly enough Mosaic still produces and markets high end vinyl sets.
The folkloric, world music and the world of popular music are under represented in this bonanza of recorded material. Most of the pop world is image and celebrity driven and generally not of much musical interest anyway so that’s no great loss. Bad luck about the other non-mainstream material. It is out there, it is somewhat available but unfortunately, comparatively expensive.
So luddites all, enjoy your “snap, crackle and pop” world to your hearts content. Down loaders, if you have the time and don’t care about true high fidelity just go right ahead and plunder iTunes for all its worth. For me I am very happy taking advantage of the current “golden era” of recorded music.
For Classical Music check http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/main.jsp
For Jazz check http://www.mosaicrecords.com/
Symphony Saga Continues
“IT AIN’T OVER TILL ITS OVER” – Yogi Berra
At the extraordinary meeting of the Symphony Board held May 16th, 2012, to discuss the possible dissolution of the symphony organization and orchestra it was decided to call for nominations for a new board to address the issues. Nominations were called for and some behind the scenes discussions elicited a number of possible candidates. A week after this meeting Hans Dekker stepped down as the president of the organization.
The meeting of June 6, 2012 at the Knox Presbyterian Church was convened to move forward with the nominations. To ensure that the membership and the candidates fully understood the present situation a brief financial statement was tabled. A thumbnail sketch (my interpretation of the discussion) of the financials indicated the following:
- $12,000 in the bank
- $21,000 in additional grants on the way
- $24,000 liability for the costs of the June “free” concert.
- There are additional liabilities
- Probable deficit of around $15,000
- As a cost cutting measure the General Manager position of the Symphony will be terminated.
The following new board members were nominated, seconded and accepted
- Laurel Ralston
- Michael Grossman
- Lorraine Butler
- Terry Lynn Jeffers
- Aura Pon (Calgary)
- Ian Adams
- Steen Jorgenson
- Ruth Sawatsky
- Shirley Hansen
- Sven Heyde
- Patrick Hederly (?)
- Rob MacDonald
- Karen Clark (Secretary)
Following discussion of the proposed June 22, 2012 concert at the St. Eugene Mission resort the meeting was adjourned. Following the general meeting the new board convened to elect officers and presumably discuss strategies to deal with the situation.
Now comes the personal commentary and opinion. For some idea of the complexity of organizing a symphony season go to the Journalism tab of this blog and look at the article that was printed in the Townsman in October 2010. The resignation of Hans Dekker as president was noted in this meeting but no vote of thanks or appreciation of his efforts were tabled. This needs to be addressed. Prior to Hans’ efforts and the newspaper article predicting the demise of the symphony the organization was on the ropes. As near as I can tell board membership immediately prior to the crisis was at minimal levels and membership interest was pretty passive. Following the crisis the attendance at the special emergency meeting was around 60 and those in attendance were passionate in their support of the symphony. The organization needs to formally thank Hans for generating this amount of interest, support and discussion. We may not have like to hear what he had to say but it was very important that it was said before it was too late to act. Having said all that it should be noted that the attendance at this June meeting had slid to around forty. Is that an indicator of how the community truly values the symphony? One can anticipate that once the emotions cool attendances at the general meetings will probably continue to slide.
As I see it the major challenge to face the symphony will be the building of audiences. A substantial increase in audiences will lead to increase funding possibilities, particularly from the corporate sector. Without a very substantial increase in audiences every thing is moot. The continued support of the symphony is an expensive proposition and one can still wonder and question the ethics of such relatively large expenditures of public money for such small audience returns. I think the survival of the symphony as part of a diverse cultural environment is very important. It adds to the attractiveness of the area that in turn is a factor in recruiting progressive professionals and business interests needed to grow the community.
Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Law
Around 1985 Ivan the Cat, a local Cranbrook animator, spent many hours of labour creating a short three minute animated feature that he called “The Happy Tiger”. He drew and coloured each of the individual cells in the classic Walt Disney tradition of old. This was a labour of love, and, of course, an apprenticeship in his chosen profession. Upon completing the art work he decided for the sound track to use the classic Bix Beiderbecke recording of “At the Jazz Band Ball”. It was a bouncy happy tune that suited the theme of the feature. Besides, it had that sparkling bell like sound of Bix’s cornet. The recording dates from October 5, 1927 and to use this nearly sixty year old recording the copyright owners wanted twenty to thirty thousand dollars !!!!. Who were these copyright owners? It certainly wasn’t Bix. He died August 6, 1931 from a catastrophic alcoholic collapse. If it was his family’s estate that owned the copyright then that would be the supreme irony. Bix was estranged from his family. They didn’t approve of his career choice and they were barely on speaking terms when he died alone in his Queen’s apartment. He was only 28 years old. I suspect the copyright is owned by a music corporation that had no part in supporting, nurturing or caring about this talented individual. To this day that corporation continues to profit from the talents of the long dead jazz man.
Over the past couple of hundred years there has been a determined effort by the corporate section to plunder “the commons” and take what was nominally free and turn it into a profit centre. Whether it be land, water, beach front access, what ever, if it can be usurped by the corporate community and turned to profit then it makes good business sense and we all know what is good for business is good for everyone. Right! So under the banner of intellectual rights parliaments are in full swing to enshrine draconian intellectual property rights into law. The logic is that artists need the protection of the law to ensure that they have full access to the fruits of their labor. I doubt anybody would refute that logic. But is that what is actually going to happen? Will the average artist ever get to share in this new found bounty? Probably not.
In the discussion around the issue it becomes painfully obvious that the corporate sector and the law makers have no concept of how the creative process works. They work on the assumption that any given artist, artisan, writer, or computer programmer creates intellectual property out of thin air. There is no credence given to notion that artists frequently take what is already there and re-interpret and remould the material into something new and original. In the head long rush to protect what is rightful and just the powers that be will completely disrupt the creative process. Already there is software out there to analyze recordings to determine if there is any content that may be construed as an infringement of copyright. So if the software detects a fragment that it deems controversial then the creative process becomes still born. The artist become too frighten to complete the creative process or market the end product.
Social commentators are having a field day with the stupidity of what is being proposed by the governments of the land. For a sampling go to YouTube and check Cory Doctorow’s seminars and discussions on the subject. Better yet get a hold of the documentary DVD “Ripped – A Remix Manifesto”. This is a brilliant over view of the issue. When, and if, the proposed legislation sees the light of day, the big question is will it be enforceable. And if so, to what end? In reality it is meant to protect the property rights of the film and recording industries and not ‘the poor starving artists’. It is all an exercise in futility. Given the rate of technical change and the current shear mass of infractions of the law it will be unenforceable. And that’s the old story; once a law becomes unenforceable it is no longer the law. Just take a look at the recent legislation in Quebec meant to curb student protests. Despite the draconian nature of the new laws it has failed to stop the student protests. Students in mass just simply ignore the law and the prospect of arresting thousands of demonstrators is too stupid to even contemplate. So, in the end will copyright laws play out like the old anti-drug laws? Huge amounts of time, money and energy going to the non-productive efforts of making petty criminals out of copyright “abusers”, clogging up the legal system and filling jails with non-criminals.
In one’s darker moments a conspiracy theorist could well imagine the Harper government changing the legal system and building more prisons, despite the fact that criminal acts are on the decline, to accommodate a whole new class of criminals – the copyright violator. To what end? Possibly the privatization of jails to create more wealth for the corporate sector?
– Rod Wilson