~~~Ill Mannered and Occasionally Unseemly Outbursts~~~
"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." --Catherine Aird
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Serial Killer in 4E or Huge Corporate Profits for Record Companies
Interesting look at the problem. It's been a long time coming. This didn't just happen in a week, or a month, or a year.
I actually caught some mainstream network coverage of the Snitchin' issue last night, but I believe it was on MSNBC, so it wasn't 60 Minutes; at any rate, I was impressed by the sensitivity brought to the subject matter by a major media outlet. I watch these stations so infrequently that I can't even remember the name of the guy who was doing the report. I get most of my news by reading local newspapers, which in the recent past was the Boston Globe, and currently is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; supplemented by some NPR. So I don't get a lot of exposure either to alternate, independent media nor the major t.v. networks. But it is refreshing when those networks do a good job -- and also refreshing to run across a blog, by sheer coincidence, that includes sensitive and well thought-out political opinions. Sometimes am afraid to express my political sentiments on line for fear of being slammed for being "unpatriotic." --Marta P.
There was an repeat of this piece on CNN/Anderson Cooper's 360 last night. It included a lengthier interview with Geoffrey Canada and he says he's actually worried about talking about this. Not worried enough to stop, because he thinks it's important. Russell Simmons was also interviewed, but seemed to go around and around, not quite but sort of defending the stop snitchin' view, but in the end said he'd absolutely call the police if he witnessed a crime. Overall it was well handled.
Another interesting thing that came out was the "rapper feud" idea. Canada believes that record companies are actually encouraging this in the form of "why don't you start a feud with fill-in-the-blank, it will increase sales." So the rap star does it. Unfortunately, some of these feuds, manufactured or not, have turned into real feuds with people getting killed.
Yes, yes, it WAS Anderson Cooper, and I did see the interview you mentioned. // By the way, on another topic, I tried to post this comment (below) on Loki's Humid City site, and I can't tell if it is going to be posted or not there, --so in case it doesn't work there, I thought I would try it here!... It is kinda long, though. -- Marta P.
First of all, don’t legislators in New Orleans have bigger things to worry about these days than persecuting street artists?!…Perhaps there is a problem in the definition of what's "original." It seems to me that if a person carves out a design, in one way or another (whether originally from a drawing, or cut out from paper, or some other way), and then makes prints from it, that IS original. Maybe there could be a distinction between reproductions that the artist produces on his/ her own, e.g. at some small-scale print-making studio or facility, rather than really mass-produced posters that can easily be reproduced by the 1000s through a commercial printer and distributor? (I guess that’s what you are referring to with “… the same tired image could be hacked out in conveyor belt fashion”) But the kind of artist who wants to and can crank out conveyer belt posters, who is making art that is so commercially accessible, is probably not among the artists who want to wake up at 5am and set up to sell artwork at Jackson Sq or other outdoor squares. Thus, perhaps the people making these regulations have a misplaced, exaggerated fear of a commercialization process that is not really likely to occur. And, again, I can only shake my head… aren’t there much bigger problems to worry about in New Orleans these days?…
6 comments:
Maybe we ARE in the "End Times" like all the born-agains keep insisting....
I actually caught some mainstream network coverage of the Snitchin' issue last night, but I believe it was on MSNBC, so it wasn't 60 Minutes; at any rate, I was impressed by the sensitivity brought to the subject matter by a major media outlet. I watch these stations so infrequently that I can't even remember the name of the guy who was doing the report. I get most of my news by reading local newspapers, which in the recent past was the Boston Globe, and currently is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; supplemented by some NPR. So I don't get a lot of exposure either to alternate, independent media nor the major t.v. networks. But it is refreshing when those networks do a good job -- and also refreshing to run across a blog, by sheer coincidence, that includes sensitive and well thought-out political opinions. Sometimes am afraid to express my political sentiments on line for fear of being slammed for being "unpatriotic." --Marta P.
There was an repeat of this piece on CNN/Anderson Cooper's 360 last night. It included a lengthier interview with Geoffrey Canada and he says he's actually worried about talking about this. Not worried enough to stop, because he thinks it's important. Russell Simmons was also interviewed, but seemed to go around and around, not quite but sort of defending the stop snitchin' view, but in the end said he'd absolutely call the police if he witnessed a crime. Overall it was well handled.
Another interesting thing that came out was the "rapper feud" idea. Canada believes that record companies are actually encouraging this in the form of "why don't you start a feud with fill-in-the-blank, it will increase sales." So the rap star does it. Unfortunately, some of these feuds, manufactured or not, have turned into real feuds with people getting killed.
Thanks for your comments.
Yes, yes, it WAS Anderson Cooper, and I did see the interview you mentioned. // By the way, on another topic, I tried to post this comment (below) on Loki's Humid City site, and I can't tell if it is going to be posted or not there, --so in case it doesn't work there, I thought I would try it here!... It is kinda long, though. -- Marta P.
First of all, don’t legislators in New Orleans have bigger things to worry about these days than persecuting street artists?!…Perhaps there is a problem in the definition of what's "original." It seems to me that if a person carves out a design, in one way or another (whether originally from a drawing, or cut out from paper, or some other way), and then makes prints from it, that IS original. Maybe there could be a distinction between reproductions that the artist produces on his/ her own, e.g. at some small-scale print-making studio or facility, rather than really mass-produced posters that can easily be reproduced by the 1000s through a commercial printer and distributor? (I guess that’s what you are referring to with “… the same tired image could be hacked out in conveyor belt fashion”) But the kind of artist who wants to and can crank out conveyer belt posters, who is making art that is so commercially accessible, is probably not among the artists who want to wake up at 5am and set up to sell artwork at Jackson Sq or other outdoor squares. Thus, perhaps the people making these regulations have a misplaced, exaggerated fear of a commercialization process that is not really likely to occur. And, again, I can only shake my head… aren’t there much bigger problems to worry about in New Orleans these days?…
Did anybody see that episode of boondocks, where the rapper was trying to get shot, to help his street cred and boost his sales?
Do you think they don't realize the record companies are manipulating them?
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