Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year...

To all my readers

Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

I will be back after Christmas and New Year with some follow up stories that I promised including a photo essay on Sean McCann.

Enjoy the holidays and keep safe. Thankyou for all the support and for continuing to check in.

Liz Smith

Lyndahere And The Russell Crowe Indoor Garden Party In New York City...A reflection.

“Being a seated and ticketed venue the entry was timely and easy – they did check for video cameras, but everyone was using their cell phones as recording devices, as is the norm nowadays.  I recognized lots of Crowe fans – was sure many vocal supporters are GBS fans and met some young people on the entry lineup that came to see Samantha Barks”. (Fan report who attended the concerts at the Gramercy Theatre New York 2012)

As an observer of this fandom I always find the announcement of any Indoor Garden Party concerts and the events that follow interesting. So I went in search of information about the concerts by amateur and professional concert goers. The first IGP concerts in Newfoundland have been reported on another post. I was interested in two things the role of the concert goer in the reporting of a current event and the collaboration of a celebrity and fans using a concert bootlegged videos and fan blogs to generate publicity rather than the regular means of the paparazzi. Through fan reports I have found out that Russell Crowe was filming and there were bag searches conducted on video cameras. However, @lyndahere has managed to escape these and recorded despite their wishes. I have attached two articles one by a fan Byran Kremkau from JunkRead.com who takes wonderful concert photographs and was denied permission to photograph and film. The other article is by regular Russell Crowe and Alan Doyle concert goer Jaime Lubin from the Huffington Post about one of the concerts at the Gramercy Theatre that united fans throughout the world. There were no photographs or bootlegged videos attached to this article.

To me there are six fandoms that form this group (although I have moved on from the Russell Crowe fandom and the Indoor Garden Party fandom a while ago). There is the Russell Crowe fandom, the Indoor Garden Party fandom, the Scott Grimes fandom, the Great Big Sea fandom, the television show Republic of Doyle and Allan Hawco fandom and more recently the Cocksure Lads fandom that all link fans and the artists and musicians in them. Each fandom has it’s own group of fans including big name fans and own rules and ways of operating that are controlled by the artist or musicians concerned.

Many of the fans move across the fandoms, although many don’t. Fans are known to each other mostly through social media in particular the big name fans and have different levels or participation including going to concerts and participating in social media. It is always interesting when concerts and events like this are announced and to follow the discussions about who goes and doesn’t, the meetings, the concerts themselves and what happens afterwards in particular the sharing of information.

Fandoms connect people around the world as people travel to fandom events like concerts as mentioned in Jaime Lubin’s article from the Huffington Post article attached below. But how does this affect those fans who cannot go through no fault of their own may be excluded unintentionally. Many of the fans in all these fandoms go to concerts on a regular basis in Canada and America. I am wondering can a fan who doesn’t go to concerts and events actively participate in these fandoms with what is provided and shared amongst social media and the Internet? (We are allegedly covered by fans @lyndahere).

When Russell Crowe’s Indoor Garden Parties moved from St John’s to New York they opened up a whole new level of access of people to attend including professionals and fans, reporting, taking photographs and bootlegged videos. The wonderful thing about exploring the information and bootlegged videos was the stiff competition from professionals and big name fans from all the fandoms including Great Big Sea, Scott Grimes and Russell Crowe alike as both concerts became more accessible in particular to American fans. The regular Russell Crowe and Scott Grimes fan sites now recognised and include the fan stories and photographs as a legitimate source of information and part of the story.

I didn’t see anything unethical in watching some of those bootlegged videos as they were from fans who were not professional bootleggers and bootlegging is part of the concert experience. The quality of them varied from absolutely dreadful with little or no editing that are poor quality material to exceptionally good from seasoned concert goers. Many of the videos had an exceptionally large number of hits due to being placed on Youtube immediately after the concert as social media exploded with the news of special guests and celebrity attendance.

The Hugh Jackman’s surprise visit to perform a Les Miserable song at the Indoor Garden Party at Joe’s Pub in New York was recorded not only by @lyndahere but by others and circulated within minutes on social media sites that generated thousands of hits and an incredible publicity all for free. The fans if they are in the right place at the right time can make money via Youtube and have their 15 minutes of fame as an Internet sensation. Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and the others involved receive a considerable amount of publicity without having to pay anything for the service. The ultimate win win situation. The fan bootlegged videos now provide the basis of many news and entertainment stories.

It was clear from the fan blog about the Gramercy Theatre concerts Russell Crowe did not want fans making bootlegged recordings however, @lyndahere went ahead anyway. Her long waffly titles and the time it takes her to edit photos and write make it difficult to locate anything on her blog. While she did write a little about the shows at Joe's Pub I found it difficult to locate information about the concerts at the Gramercy Theatre. It is unfortunate for a person so concerned with sharing what happened at the concerts through photographs and bootlegged videos, they are done so long after the event and people have missed their opportunity to participate in the fandom experiences on social media. She ignores the wishes of the artists and musicians as it was clearly being filmed. Then those people who do the right thing and only record on their phones mostly for personal use, and apply for permission and @lyndahere sneaks in her camera. @lyndahere while willing to share other people’s work does not allow people to download pages from her webpage Between the Rock.

Some of the entertainment sites on the Internet were totally frustrating and wasted my Internet download capacity and time as they contained nothing more than a brief mention of the Indoor Garden Parties and a connection to a lot of @lyndahere’s illegal bootlegging videos and fortunately some other fans who went. These places are nothing more than spaces for advertising on Google. How the information and links get there I do not know. The benefits of having a concert in New York City is that there are many experienced amateur concert reporters willing to get information up fast and so that everyone who is interested in can participate.

The first article was by a concert fan who reported on the event to JunkRead. Byran Kremkau was surprised at the lack of paparazzi that was there. This seems to be a common theme that runs throughout the Indoor Garden Parties regardless of where they located. The paparazzi is replaced with reporting by big name fans on fan blogs.  

The second article I found was this well circulated article by experienced Russell Crowe and Alan Doyle concert goer Jaime Lubin from the Huffington Post about the concert at the Gramercy Theatre in New York city in 2012. Always a pleasure to read Jaime but just one correction Russell Crowe is not an Australian as mentioned in your article. He has not taken citizenship.

Indoor Garden Party (Russell Crowe, Alan Doyle, Sting) Gramercy Theatre New York on the 12 October 2012 (no copyright infringement intended) by Byran Kremkau from JunkRead.com. Published October 13th 2012

Other Performers: Samantha Barks, Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand, Size2Shoes and others (no copyright infringement intended).

It was an all-star night last night at Gramercy Theater for The Indoor Garden Party in New York City. Actor Russell Crowe and Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle performed many songs off their album The Crowe / Doyle Songbook Vol. III, but they got help from their friends & colleagues Samantha Barks, Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand, and Irish group Size2Shoes. Oh yeah, and Sting made an appearance at the end too!!!

The show was sold out (I felt like I was youngest one there haha), and the club had a weird setup. I had general admission tickets, so my wife Kristen and I had to stand up in between the stadium seating in the back and the seats down on the ground. I wanted to sit on the side but apparently that wasn’t okay. Most people had seats and there wasn’t many people standing. We ended up being close to the bar. Camera crew was around including a big crane and tons of video cameras. I can see why I was turned down to shoot this.


Russell Crowe came out with a wireless mic and was leading the crowd in vocal warm-ups and making everyone sound like horses. It was weird and funny, and he performed a “Ol’ Man River” from Showboat. After that he asked Alan Doyle, Scott Grimes and others to come out and explain how they warm-up and get ready. They decided to sing “Hit The Ground and Run” from the latest Great Big Sea album to warm up to. After that, Russell and Alan went through their Songbook III album with the help of Samantha Barks on vocals. She’s also going to appear in Les Misérables as well, and had a beautiful singing voice not to mention she was just beautiful as well. They played songs like “Love is Impossible,” “Perfect in Your Eyes,” “Killing Song,” “Disappeared” and “Too Far Gone.” I particularly liked hearing “Killing Song.”


Throughout the night, others took the stage to sing as well like the Irish group Size 2 Shoes who were really funny & entertaining. Kevin Durand did some poetry jam type of thing that was kind of funny, Scott Grimes played keyboards and sang. Never really knew he had such a great voice. At one point, Robin Hood and his Merry Men performed Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls,” which they did a lot of when they were promoting that movie. Besides what happened later, that song was the highlight for me. I was cracking up at the banter Russell and Alan were giving. Russell called Alan a 5 dollar whore because she’s always off writing with someone else. Alan said 5 dollars is too much, he’d do it for a bag of chips haha.


Middle of the show, Kristen tells me that actress Emma Watson (Harry Potter films) was like 5 feet from me. She never gets starstruck but when it comes to Harry Potter things, I guess she does haha. Actually, it wasn’t just her we saw, we were probably sitting next to at least 5 or 6 other cast members of the upcoming Russell Crowe movie Noah. They have been filming in Iceland and New York. I wasn’t surprised to see celebrities at the show, I was more surprised to have not seen any paparazzi. Guess they don’t read Russell’s twitter feed at all haha.


Towards the end of the show, everyone was just playing songs and coming back for encores. Russell played Bruce Springsteen’s “Highway Patrolman”, Scott Grimes did a few awesome covers of Michael Jackson’s “Man in The Mirror,” and Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis.” Russell said he was kind of stalling because one of his friend that was coming down from the ’60s to play a song for us. He said it’s fucking New York so who knows if he will get here in time. Well that friend ended up being STING! Yes, that Sting. The crowd went nuts and Sting played “Every Breathe You Take” with Scott Grimes on the keys and Alan on guitar. That made the night for me! What a way to end the evening.

Here’s a few photos taken with my crappy Droid phone:

Russell Crowe at Gramercy Theatre by Jaime Lubin 17 October 2012 in the Huffington Post (no copyright infringement intended).

It's 2 a.m. in New York before the last Russell Crowe fans finally vacate the Gramercy Theatre. Representing a wide variety of states and nations -- Texas, Canada, Israel, Indonesia -- many had been there since 6 p.m., eager to share an evening of songs and stories with the Oscar-winning Aussie and his assembled colleagues. What they got was a night of pure joy.

The Indoor Garden Party saw Russell once more reunited with his Merry Men from 2010's Robin Hood: Scott Grimes (ER, American Dad!), Kevin Durand (Lost, Real Steel), and Alan Doyle (lead singer of iconic Newfoundland band Great Big Sea). Bonded by their stunning artistic talents, an undying love of performance, and the perpetual search for a good time, the foursome has, over a decade of friendship, built one of the most enthusiastically prolific creative communities in recent history.

"It's just a wonderful thing," says Alan, "to get together and sing a few songs. And I'm so happy that we've come to a place, all of us, in our different careers where that's enough."

Enough, apparently, to persuade fellow performers of every stripe to join the fun. Guest artists continually upped the ante on the pleasure scale. Les Miserables ingénue Samantha Barks, making her American debut, charmed the crowd with her soulful voice and insouciant sense of humor. (Appearing barefoot onstage midway through the show, she joked, "The shoes are off, so it's serious business.") Between numbers, Irish duo Size2Shoes drew laughs with their rationale for "sampling" ("We use bits from other songs in our music so you'll think we're famous!") And, at the height of universal excitement, Sting suddenly emerged from the wings for a surprise serenade of "Every Breath You Take." Cue excitement tipping over into cloud-nine ecstasy.

But all roads lead back to the Merry Men. At its core the Indoor Garden Party celebrates their incredible chemistry. Watching each member of the quartet showcase his own unique abilities (you kill that keyboard, Scott Grimes!) and then blend seamlessly into a four-part harmony for a rendition of "Beautiful Girls" is a thrill beyond words.

It's a miracle of, to use Alan's phrase, "circles connecting" that four such seemingly dissimilar men became friends in the first place: "Russell, Kev, and Scotty met while filming a movie in Canada [1998's Mystery, Alaska]. They got on like a house of fire because they're like-minded fellas, and the soundtrack for most of their parties was Great Big Sea." In 2004, Russell and Alan met while presenting at the NHL Awards and decided to start writing songs together. Since then they've released three official albums and countless tracks for movies and other bands.

"I know I've become better at my job since I met all those guys," Alan notes, "because we come from different parts of the earth and our early musical skill sets were so different."

That diverse mélange of elements reflects the guys' "gypsy" philosophy -- an artistic existence based solely on insatiable curiosity about the world and its stories. Alan admits that Russell is "one of the most curious people I know," but he gladly gives him a run for his money: "I always want to see what's around the corner; I always want to meet one more person, sing one more song. Stay up the latest. Get up the earliest. I want to be the guy who lived the most."

Ultimately "living" for Alan comes down to entertaining the audience. "Once eight o'clock comes, I can't help it. The moment the curtain rises, I want everyone in the room to have the greatest night of their lives. I'm lucky that most times people are satisfied to hear me sing. But in truth, unlike most of the greatest artists of our time, I would abandon them all if I thought it wasn't working. My desire to leave everyone panting at the end of the night is too strong."

Panting literally occurred at the Gramercy Theatre, thanks to Size2Shoes including that action in one song and encouraging full participation. "Communal" was the night's keyword, as a bushy-bearded Russell -- fresh off the set of upcoming epic Noah -- engaged the audience in pre-show vocal exercises and Scott's version of "Man in the Mirror" brought all present to shout the chorus. "I want you to take this away when you leave -- you made this show tonight!" the golden-voiced redhead enthused.

If you've read this far, you might be wondering whether the event had any negatives. Only one -- that it had to end. But with Russell as their guide, the boys are always searching for the next adventure. (Alan asserts, "There's nobody in my professional life, anywhere, who's as ready to start work as Russell Crowe.") Thus the fans wait, wrapped in the intoxicating haze of happiness, for the gypsy drums to pound again -- and soon.

Lyndahere And The Australian Indoor Garden Party...A reflection.

Firstly before I write this I would like to wish all the people who got tickets to the Australian Indoor Garden Party in 2014 a great show and I hope they enjoy it tremendously. For me however, it concludes participation in this part of a fandom as I am not particularly fond off what has happened over the years. Russell Crowe has specific rules of operating within this fandom that I don't like including access to tickets to concerts and interacting with fans. So I have moved on.

@lyndahere wrote to @russellcrowe @alanthomasdoyle ½ the OZIGP tix for locals by your request? Way to go Russell! Class act, dude. Coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/Russell-Crowe Feb 13 2013.

While this may seem like a regular @lyndahere or Lynda Elstad retweet of a an article informing people about the Indoor Garden Party and the sale of the tickets in early January 2014 in Australia there is a bit extra added. One of her bootlegged videos from the Indoor Garden Party in New York with Hugh Jackman. This is not the first newspaper article I have seen that used one her bootlegged illegal videos to support their stories. I am wondering why this is necessary and why did the journalist not attach one of the legal videos from Russell Crowe’s South Sydney Media site. 

For someone like Lyndahere who is allegedly concerned about locals getting tickets, and her friend @liltexasgal8 (a fellow American and regular Indoor Garden Party concert goer) engaged in a Twitter conversation, including tweeting Russell Crowe to tell him they both had extra tickets for sale. I am wondering why do these women purchase more tickets than they need and at the expense of others? It is not the first time Lyndahere has more tickets that she needed usually bought during pre ticket sales. Surely these women know who they are travelling with by now as travelling to Australia is expensive at this time of year. They also need a visa.

While these women state they are allegedly not selling for profit they can decide who has their ticket either an Australian or an American undermining Russell Crowe’s wishes that locals attend. Reselling tickets regardless of whether or not they are for profit is usually against a venue's ticket holder’s policy and perhaps local entertainment laws. It is difficult to say what the people of Coffs Harbour want as they may prefer tourists spending money in their local businesses than concert tickets.

@liltexasgal8 to @lyndahere @russellcrowe I ended up so many helpers, that I have an extra Fri 10^th & Mon 13^th ticket @lyndahere has Mon 13^th extra tkt. Anyone need? Dec 10 2013

@lyndahere to @jaruskaS @liltexasgal8 No worries. I have friends who do re-sell for a profit. Not morally opposed to it – it’s just not my cup of tea. Dec 10 2013

@lyndahere to @jaruskaS @liltexasgal8 No offence intended to those who do re-sell tickets for extra $$$. Just not my own choice. Dec 10 2013

@lyndahere to @jaruskaS @liltexasgal Not a scalper. I’d give the extra ticket away to a needy Coffs Harbourite before I sold for profit. Dec 10 2013

This is not the first time this kind of behaviour by wealthy mature aged American women who are Russell Crowe fans has happened. These women have such a great sense of entitlement when it comes to accessing tickets to concerts not only in their own country but in other countries like Canada and Australia. Of course Russell Crowe has to include locals in Coffs Harbour unless he wants to be public enemy number one, and irrelevant of the fact that unless it is a private event, excluding people based on their nationality would be against the Racial Discrimination Act and basically illegal as well as immoral. It would be interesting to see who got the tickets but my bet is an American. I do not agree that this fandom is inclusive of all as stated by these long term fans.

@lyndhere to @CGeee And now he’s doing it with a locals IGP. Generous and Smart Dec 9 2013

@GGeee to @lyndahere He was always inclusive to all, be it his long term fans, Alan Doyle fans and anyone came out to see TOFOG on that tour Dec 9 2013.




Fans wait to buy tickets to the Indoor Garden Party in Coffs Harbour. From The Coffs Coast Advocate. 13 December 2013 by Frank Redward (no copyright infringement intended)

Piracy And Some Of The Reasons Why People Engage In It...Part 2

This interesting article is from the official site of the United Nations Economical, Social and Cultural Organisation.

(no copyright infringement intended)

The piracy phenomenon stems from social, economic and legal backgrounds. Causes include:

§  Low level of public awareness
Piracy lacks the negative social stigma that would make the public realise that it is a criminal activity. The public often does not realise that by purchasing pirated products or engaging in infringing activities, it may contribute to the spread of unlawful practices.

§  High consumer demand for cultural products
The social demand for music, films, books and software is very high, which may induce the development of an illegal market to cater to the needs of consumers.

§  Misconceptions about piracy
The public often views piracy as a means of having access to cheaper, just-as-good versions of works, ignoring the effects that piracy has on creativity, creative industries and related sectors.

§  Inefficient intellectual property protection and weak enforcement of rights
Poorly drafted or incomplete laws, and weak enforcement thereof, directly contribute to the increase of piracy.

§  High cost of cultural goods
Cultural goods are expensive to create, produce, and distribute, and the multiple costs that arise before the product reaches the consumer  add up to make the final product expensive. Consequently, poverty is identified as an important factor contributing to the spread of piracy. As the prices for genuine products are often too high for people to purchase, there is a constant market for counterfeit, cheaper goods.

§  Difficulty of access to legitimate works
Supplies of legitimate products in stores and libraries are often insufficient, particularly in developing countries. Technical protection measures in digital format products are also viewed as hindering the access to certain copies and, therefore, as limiting  the availability of legitimate works to the general public.

§  Considerable business profits for pirates
Pirates do not incur any of the costs related to the production of original cultural goods due to limited up-front investment needed for illegal reproduction and distribution. Hence, the perspective of making huge and easy profits is another reason for the spread and persistence of piracy.

Piracy And Some Of The Reasons Why People Engage In It…Part 1.

From a previous post published on 8 November 2013 'Why I should watch piracy...'

It was a hard decision not to watch all kinds of pirated material. Two decisions lead me to decide to watch a pirated copy of Alan Doyle's Boy on Bridge documentary when it eventually appears. It is increasingly frustrating trying to do the right thing and watch legal material.

This week I went into a DVD store to buy a new series of one of my favourite television series. I was told it would not be available until next  year. But they are already three seasons ahead in the US I tell the assistant who looks at me unsympathetically.

The second has been explained in the previous post. As the Great Big Sea fandom buzzes with excitement of Alan Doyle's documentary being shown on Canadian television, me and a lot of other fans including Americans can't watch it so I am going to watch a pirated copy.

I am on a journey into the world of pirated material and looking for reasons as to why we should watch pirated material whether it be music, movies or television show.

“In our culture today people think they deserve their entertainment, not that it's a perk” by Devin Faraci of Badass Digest.

In the article “Top 10 Reasons People Use To Justify Pirating Digital Content (And Why They’re Wrong)” Rob W. Hart provides readers with ten reasons why people engage in piracy. He obtained this quote from the Twitter page of Devin Faraci of Badass Digest “In our culture today people think they deserve their entertainment, not that it's a perk. An eBook is a luxury, not a right. If you can't afford it, too bad, but that's life”. While many of his comments apply to e-books they can also be applied to piracy in music and bootlegging live concerts. 

For a brief moment in a past blog post I became very disillusioned with always doing the right thing and watching legal material. I live in a country where Alan Doyle’s documentary Boy and Bridge was not being shown during November. While I do not begrudge Canadians with access to CMT and others who obtained access to a paid movie channel watching the documentary, I can now understand why people turn to piracy, in particular when musicians and artists sign exclusive contracts not to have their content distributed. But it is not a reason to pirate as the author explains and digital content is a luxury not a right.

The other day on the train I talked to nice young guy about a favourite television show. (I knew he was interested because he was decked out in memorabilia from the show). I mentioned something about the television show not being available on DVD and he replied just go over to Bit Torrent and download it. He had no issue with downloading a pirated copy. I was kind of horrified at the thought of the producers not making some money out of it. On the other hand he was prepared to watch the latest episode on pay television. The distribution methods do suck but are improving for example, many countries are now receiving the latest episodes from series like a Game of Thrones directly after the US. Digital content on pay television and music streaming provides immediate access but is expensive and the costs can add up. But digital content is a luxury and not a right.

People like Lyndahere or Lynda Elstad who pirate and bootleg have different objectives than the musicians and artists themselves. While musicians and artists want their music to be heard they also want to make a living. I agree with the author’s comments that because a person has a copy of material in one format then they are not entitled to a copy in another format. For example, while many Great Big Sea fans have purchased CDs it does not mean they are entitled other content for free for example, illegal bootlegged recordings or free digital downloads from sites as provided from Lyndahere content. From my own experience free material such as bootlegged videos on YouTube do not lead to sales of CD’s or music in other forms from sources like itunes. 

I did not watch a pirated copy of Alan Doyle's documentary Boy and Bridge.

“Top 10 Reasons People Use To Justify Pirating Digital Content (And Why They’re Wrong)” by Rob W. Hart August 31 2012 (no copyright intended).

1. If you're a writer, you should just be happy to write.
...”Expecting people to forgo payment because you wanted something and didn't want to pay for it? You're an asshole. And if you're an artist, you're an even bigger asshole, because you lack empathy for fellow artists. But, look, if you're utterly convinced that artists should just be happy to create, I'll make you a deal: I'll do my job for free, but you have to do yours for free. We'll circle back in a month and see how that went”.

2. We already own the book/movie/show in another format.
If you have an eBook, you can't go to a bookstore and take the paperback version, claiming that you already own it anyway. I'm heartened to see that some publishers and movie studios are including digital copies with physical media--I'd pay a few extra bucks to get eBook versions of the physical books I buy--but until that's a common practice, this is the system we have. Buying something in one format doesn't give you the right to other formats.

3. We live in a different country so we don't get movies/books/shows until months later.
Distribution methods are not ideal--far behind the capabilities of technology. It's frustrating, and distributors should absolutely rethink how media is disseminated in our global cultural landscape. But it still doesn't give you the right to steal something. Again: Digital content is a luxury, not a right.

4. Everyone else is doing it.
There are a lot of examples of mainstream acceptance of pirating, but the most recent (and troubling) example comes from David Pogue, the technology writer from the New York Times. He wanted to get The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum for his son, but he discovered the eBook wasn't available because of a dispute between Ludlum’s estate and Bantam. Instead of downloading any one of a million other eBooks, Pogue downloaded a torrent and cut the publisher a check for $9.99. Except if the books aren’t available, the estate probably still has the rights, so the check should have gone to them. And he used the biggest and most respected paper in the world as a venue to justify a selfish, petty, and illegal act. Shameful.

5. What about libraries?
Libraries purchase the large majority of books in their collections through wholesale retailers like Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Money changes hands. Authors get paid. All this argument shows is you don't even care to check your facts.

6. We would pay for it if we just had access to it.
This is bullshit of the highest order. Some people would, sure, but you know what? Both season 1 and 2 of Game of Thrones are available on DVD, and through a variety of digital download services, and it's still pirated at a huge rate. If this was true, as soon as something was available for sale in another format, it wouldn't be pirated ever again. It's ridiculous for people to pretend they'd be noble, if only the circumstances were right. (As someone pointed out in the comments, season 2 of Game of Thrones is not available yet. Plenty of digital content gets pirated even though its for sale elsewhere, so the point remains).

7. Digital content is too expensive.
I will acknowledge that pricing on eBooks is not ideal, but pricing is a different conversation--you can't just take what you want, when you want, because you disagree with what's being charged. If you go to Target and they have a flatscreen television you like, but you can't afford it, can you just take it? No. Same rule applies.

8. The distribution method sucks.
Just because you don't like how something is distributed doesn't mean you can steal it. Game of Thrones is pirated at a huge rate, and sure, getting HBO shows can be tough--if you don't have cable and a subscription, you have to wait until the show is released on iTunes or Amazon Prime or on DVD. People like to say, Well, if they just offered HBOGo for $15 a month then I would pay for that. Except that doesn't work. HBO is an exclusive service for cable customers--if that service is no longer exclusive, cable companies might not carry it. HBO may be "leaving money on the table," but it's not.

9. Authors already have a plenty of money.
J.K. Rowling may not notice a loss in income, but what about the self-published author? What about the author who’s counting on a royalty check to cover the rent? Publishing a book isn’t a path to fame and fortune. There are plenty of mid-list authors, or authors whose books are out of print, who don't see a dime from their work. And it doesn't help them if their books are pirated, obviating any need to buy them. enough money to justify losing the support of cable companies. Then they won't have enough money to make Game of Thrones.

10. We're only hurting big business.
Say you steal a book published by Random House, a company owned by Rupert Murdoch. Yes, Murdoch has a lot of money, and I bet it's satisfying to take a few fractions of a penny out his pocket. But here's who you're really hurting, besides the author (which should be enough): The editors, the layout people, the marketing people, the cover designer... hell, even the maintenance staff in the building where the book was put together. Those are the people who are getting paid from the cost of the book. It takes a village. Murdoch isn't sweating the loss; the people who brought the book to market are

'Springsteen And I'...A review.

'Springsteen and I' is a lovely documentary about Bruce Springsteen and his fans around the world sharing their stories. Everybody remembers the story of the young woman in the front row invited up onto the stage to Dancing in the Dark. A thrill for any fan. 

The documentary was made by Ridley Scott's production company. Ridley Scott directed Russell Crowe, Alan Doyle, Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand in Robin Hood.

This review of the DVD from The Telegraph in the United Kingdom has some wonderful legal videos attached to the story of fans interacting with their idol around the world from the streets to the concert stage.

'Springsteen and I. Review A documentary about Bruce Springsteen'by Robby Collin, published in The Telegraph.com.uk on the 12 July, 2013 (No copyright infringement intended).

The documentary Springsteen & I is described as a love letter to Bruce Springsteen from his fans. In fact it’s more like an act of worship: had it not already been taken, a better title might have been Bruce Almighty. 

Baillie Walsh’s film is a scrapbook of home video clips in which Springsteen devotees pay tribute to their hero with varying levels of saucer-eyed zeal. The clips were shot and submitted by the fans themselves, and leave you in no doubt that his honest anthems to blue-collar toil have struck a deafening chord.

Most contributors fall into two categories: 'I met Bruce and he changed my life’, and ‘I have never been anywhere near Bruce, but he changed my life anyway’. The former group is more interesting, and includes such rare birds as an Elvis impersonator from Philadelphia whom Springsteen plucked from the front row, dressed in full jumpsuit and cape, to duet with on All Shook Up.

Later, a man from Yorkshire reminisces about being presented with a free upgrade to front row seats at a Madison Square Garden concert by one of Springsteen’s entourage. “I got so excited I bought my wife three glasses of champagne,” he remembers, eyes shining. “At seven dollars a glass.”

Of course Springsteen emerges rose-scented, and he radiates easy charisma in some archive concert footage. Particularly fun are some impromptu musings on cunnilingus: “I figure if you can pronounce it, you can probably do it,” he says between songs, and the audience screeches its approval.

But screeched approval is the film’s default pitch, and Springsteen’s fans seem less interested in talking about what their idol actually stands for than the way he makes them feel all oogly-boogly. For the most part, they could easily be talking about a boy band: you suspect a film called One Direction & I would not look all that different.

Springsteen & I ends with a largely unedited half-hour portion of last year’s Hyde Park concert, followed by a postscript in which some of the contributors meet the Boss backstage. It’s sweet enough, but lets slip the project’s true nature: this isn’t really a film, it’s memorabilia.