Magic Jewball

And one more Beastie related thing. If you are like me and are a nut, A NUT, for music copyright cases (I don’t know why, I have been obsessed with this since I was literally a child looking things up in the library; I have written about this before), there are few more interesting cases than Newton v. Diamond. This is the case regarding the sample you hear right at the beginning of Pass the Mic and underlying the rest of the song, which is by an obscure (to me, anyway) jazz flutist named James Newton. It’s a really fascinating case both from a legal and a human standpoint. There’s no question that the snippet of Choir, Newton’s song, is heard within Pass the Mic because the sample was cleared. The band licensed the rights to the actual performance, though, and not the composition which is a separate thing. So, one, the song someone wrote as a series of notes on paper that anyone can read and play, and two, someone’s recorded performance of it. They felt the notes in question were not unique enough to be a copyrighted work and never bothered to license it. The court agreed and Newton lost.

But more than legal issues, there is always the human drama of someone who has written something that you’ve never heard of, who probably has a day job (Newton is also a professor of music), who writes something that becomes part of a huge, successful enterprise larger than himself and doesn’t get to share the spoils. Often, the most famous thing about this person is their case against the rock star (see my post about UB40 and Deborah Banks. Deborah who?). Newton, from what I’ve read, was outraged by this, especially after the Beastie Boys’ legal team then went after him for their costs in the case.

In a case like this, whenever I hear the song after I read about the lawsuit, I am haunted by the sample forever. And this sample is somewhat haunting as it is. I think this is why it’s my favorite Beastie Boys song. Or maybe it’s the way they say the title of this post right after.

Actually, it could be a tie with Paul Revere, which I also like for personal reasons. Here are my reasons. Once, in the first year of working at my last label, the general manager of the label, who was (and is) a powerful woman in the music business, happened to walk by my office while it was on the radio. In a perfect moment, she popped in and rapped the line that came on just at that second, “I’m Mike D and I get respect!” It was kind of awesome and to this day, I always hear that line in her voice.

Or maybe it’s Hey Ladies because it’s funky.

If you are the same kind of nut as I am, here are some links:

This is the greatest repository of music copyright cases. Do not start with it if you have somewhere to go that day.

This is the entry on Newton v. Diamond.

Here is a snippet from Pass the Mic and one from Choir to compare. Pass the Mic has some other interesting samples, as well, but none with court cases.

Here is the greatest book you will ever read on a music copyright case and its human drama: a case that dragged on for years, bankrupted a record label, and involved some of the biggest names in the music industry. The story is told entirely in documents, both legal and otherwise.

Title comes from:

Edited May 9 to add:
And it goes on. About 14 hours after I wrote this there was this news:
Beastie Boys Sued Over Decades-Old Sampling One Day Before MCA’s Death

Also, see this fascinating article from Slate on the topic:
Was Paul’s Boutique Illegal? How dumb court decisions and bad laws have made it all but impossible for musicians to sample the way the Beastie Boys used to.

Apparently, I only post on Sundays now. Who knew it would come to this?*

*I probably did.

Here are some thrilling, scintillating updates. I’m talking to you, people having trouble falling asleep!

1. How the same half lives: I have been going to open houses and some of the apartments have been empty and some not. The ones that are not all share a similar theme to my current apartment, that is, they are stuffed to the gills. With some of them, you can’t open the closet door without the stateroom scene happening to you. The one I saw this afternoon took the cake, though. This woman had inserted into every available space a piece of furniture meant to hold things. Sometimes, there were shelving units affixed to the smallest empty square of wall space. The brokers always apologized for this in a way that made you feel they hated their clients. “Of course I would have gotten rid of these things…” they say helplessly, voices full of disdain. I am considering leaving a recording device somewhere in my clutter when this inevitably happens to me.

On the other hand, it has really inspired me to declutter somewhat.

2. I made these fabulous things recently.

Lemon-ramp butter – I have been consuming loaves of bread so that I can have something upon which to slather this. Are ramps everywhere? If not, maybe leeks?

Tres leches cake – really improbable as I am not a cookie dunker. I do not like liquid in my baked goods and am not fond of whipped cream. But this is awesome! I call it “Three Lactaid Cake.” It’ll be perfect for Shavuot.

3. School is almost over! The end is in sight. I have been planning my break including some travel, some learning, and probably a lot of house-hunting and/or selling.

4. I was never a big Beastie Boys fan; I think they reminded me of all the immature prankster Jewish guys I knew in my real life. But they outgrew that, mostly. And I forgot until this weekend how many songs of theirs I knew and liked. This song was a big part of my early teen years. They played it late night on my station, WLIR, I guess because of the profanity. When Beastie Boys later came out with License to Ill, I remember thinking, “this cannot be the same people as that Carvel song, can it?” RIP, MCA.

Title comes from Beastie Boys – Cooky Puss:

You can sort of guess that I’ve gone back to work because I am again way too tired to write when I get home. The schedule of falling asleep at 9pm has re-started… bleah.

I have several things I’d like to write about but have not yet gotten to. When that will actually happen is up to my energy level, and I can’t really predict that, because just putting together this sentence has been exhausting. In the meantime, I suggest you go see the Hunger Games because it was Teh Awesome! Also, I offer this video because as I gaze dazedly at my TV each evening, I cannot muster enough strength to decide whether I am disgusted by hearing this in a commercial or ecstatic to hear its charming few notes. I just know I’d rather see this. If you are like me, the odds are now ever in your favor.

In my time providing password hints to the million+ websites which require you to have one, I have shared many bits of info about my life: street I grew up on, mother’s maiden name, favorite movie, first job, first pet’s name (I did have a goldfish, you know), etc. And there are many I have seen that I chose not to utilize: first car, spouse’s whatever, etc. But never in my life have I seen this idea… at least, not until Irish Rail.

Not to stereotype. *cough*

Anyway, here’s a happy song from a Northern Ireland native. Tomorrow, last day of Project Happy Thoughts and (groggy) arrival in another land. And then another land. And then a third land.

By the way, regarding the title, the fog was here. Crazy. But I hear they have some over there, too.

I had to put off my Friday delayed post for this. Really, timely news keeps interrupting my flow; it’s not my fault! I just discovered that yesterday was the 50th birthday of one of my favorite actress/singers of the 80′s, Clare Grogan of Altered Images and various Bill Forsyth movies.

I have learned through hard experience to not say things like, “OMG, you will LOVE Gregory’s Girl!” Because it seems to be one of those things like cilantro that some people love and others are more, “you eat what now?” But I love cilantro and I love Gregory’s Girl (that’s Clare in Gregory’s Girl to the left there), which I still quote fairly often to this day. And I love Clare Grogan who was quirky and poppy and awesome.

BTW, she is still acting and I think singing, but I admit to not having seen/heard anything of hers in a while. I think this video is probably from when she was more like 20.

Altered Images also had a song called Happy Birthday which you may remember from the movie Sixteen Candles and that might seem more appropriate to this post. But I prefer this song, not only because I like it better, but because it perfectly encapsulates the theme of the month. I might not be happy… but I could be!