Oh…The pure joy of the music video.

The Newfoundland band The Once, are currently on a tour with Passenger and Stu Larsen (The Once are managed by Great Big Sea’s Bob Hallett). To coincide with the tour they have made five fantastic videos of cover versions of some classic songs in some of the American cities they have performed in. The project is a fine example of YouTube, music and videos at their best with fans being able to watch an amazing legal product where proceeds go to the musicians and makers. 

The Newfoundland and Canadian newspaper ‘The Overcast’, an alternative paper Newfoundland Arts and Culture paper wrote an interesting article about the project available on their webpage.  

‘The Once & Passenger Have Been Recording Fitting Covers in Different Cities During Their American Tour’ published in September 2014. The site also contains links to the videos on YouTube and available at overcast.ca (no copyright infringement intended).

If you’ve been reading the paper, you know The Once are on a world-wide tour with Passenger. While on tour, they’ve banded together to record a series of classic covers, befitting of the city they’re in as they sweep across The States.

They’ve been releasing these covers about once a week, starting with John Prine’s epic, “Angel from Montgomery.” The project’s aim is to “document our travels and give you guys a little insight into what we’re up to.”

They recorded “Angel from Montgomery” in Nashville, because Passenger frontman Michael Rosenberg was in Nashville six or seven years ago, and went looking for John Prine himself.

“It was good fun and a great learning experience, but also a bit of a weird time as I didn’t really know anyone, so I found myself with time to kill.” To kill that time he decided to go meet John Prine “and play him some songs … whether he liked it or not … god that sounds really creepy!”

“When I finally turned up at John Prine’s record label, I was a sweaty and sunburnt mess but elated that I’d finally made it. I pressed the buzzer and to my disappointment found out that John was in Chicago . I still hope that i can one day meet john but for now this will have to do.”

“The idea,” Rosenberg says, “is that each song will in some way be linked to the place we’re playing in – for example it could be the artist/band’s hometown, or the song will reference the city in some way, or it may have a personal story attached to it.

They recorded Simon & Garfunkel’s “Only Living Boy in New York” in New York, for example.

One of my favourite spots on earth,” says Rosenberg, “[is] New York’s Central Park … Central Park has always amazed me as one minute you can be in the hustle and bustle of the city and the next thing you know you’re in this beautiful green expanse. I love it … Secondly, growing up, my favourite album was Simon and Garfunkle Live in Central Park . We used to listen to it over and over again in the car to the point that the cassette broke and the sound went all wobbly.”

One of the most recent covers to emerge has been a version of “Nothing Compares to You,” in Minneapolis: home of the man who wrote the song, not the woman who made it popular (Sinead O’Connor).

“Prince is originally from this city and made this venue famous by playing it a bunch of times, and also shooting scenes here from his movie Purple Rain. It was pretty surreal to be playing this song in a dressing room that he must have been in so many times. This one has a very different feel to the other videos – Bryan decided to shoot it in black and white, and I think it gives it a really great quality.”

“Also, Geri is taking the lead for this one, as it was Sinead O’Connor’s version that became such an enormous hit. I need to say that vocally this is possibly one of the most difficult songs that we could have picked and Geri absolutely nailed it. She is a phenomenal talent, as are Phil and Andrew, so please, if you haven’t done so already – please check out The Once and their new record Departures!”

The Once band with Passenger and Stu Larsen making a video in Stanley Park Vancouver from the Twitter page of Bob Hallett (no copyright infringement intended). 

Can You Believe in Women’s Rights and Enjoy Sport?

I have been following with interest the latest sporting scandal in the National Football League in America. Over the past couple of days there have been many responses to the treatment of women by the NFL and the type of action they should take to make genuine change posted online. Yes, I agree violence is unacceptable on the field and off against men or women. I hope that the American public can put real pressure on the NFL to implement real changes for women through education programs and raising the profile of women. This is my response to some of the responses online.  

Firstly, I don’t know anything about the NFL or the National Football League in America. So I am not going to go there and criticize or defend various interpretations of a sporting cultural institution. But I am going to respond as a sports loving fan with experiences from my own country Australia. I live in a sports crazy nation Australia. I first became interested in a football code over 12 years ago. First, the national team named after one of Australia’s cute and cuddly native animals, then a local state and territory team competing in the international competition in the Southern Hemisphere between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I went to games in my home state when the team came to visit, and then to games in the eastern states.

A football team eventually determined where I lived and worked for many years. I was a member of a club for several years, went to the home games and player and member organised events. It brought many great pleasures to my life and I met a lot of great people. Many of my favourite players retired and I didn’t like their policy of keeping old boys on and not bringing any new ideas into the club. They also left a lot of loyal young players sitting on the bench and who were not given chances to prove themselves. As a consequence we didn’t win, not that winning is everything. Then I returned home and the power of the people brought a national club to my city. I still watch the national team on television. I love my sport well this football code anyway.

Tammy Bleck an American blogger wrote a post called “Can A Female Blogger Shame The NF Even If She Doesn’t Know A Thing About Football?” that was published in the United States Huffington Post.

“Hey NFL, if I were your mother, I would take you out of the game. No time outs, no suspensions. I would throw your disrespectful a*** out on the dirty street where it belongs…Your behaviour is reprehensible, disgusting and show absolutely no regard for your players or their families…It seems many a coach has put their players into harm’s way for the sake of revenue. Concussions run rampant and they don’t care. Players are injured and they don’t. Many players receive little or no education at their collegiate institutions, and you guessed it they don’t care… I’ll tell you what the NFL didn’t know: They didn’t know that the video (Ray Rice) would go public. Or that the public would be so outraged that they would stage mass jersey burnings on social media everywhere. Or that women making up 45 percent of their fan base would be so outraged enough to refuse to buy tickets”...

Yes, I understand and agree with the blogger’s concern about concussion, sporting injuries and bad behaviour in sport because it has been a problem in all Australian football codes as well. In Australian football codes there are rules about concussions and players who receive them cannot play for a certain period of time and without a medical clearance. I don’t know what the rules are in America for their codes but I imagine they have some in place although I also imagine there is a way around it. I don’t believe any sporting club with a legal and ethical duty of care to players, even with the depth of players available in America, they would intentionally place any player’s health and wellbeing at risk and the threat of legal action. But that is just my opinion. There were concussions this week and the players were taken off the field. My code has over the years had a number of people retiring from the game from serious injuries including concussion and spinal injuries due to the nature of the game. There have also been players who get regular concussion and even a broken neck playing on. But that is between the player and the club.

“When did American sports become all about trophies and ticket sales? What the hell happened to fairness in the game, integrity of the players and honesty of the institution? It got sand bagged for big bucks, then bigger bucks…Then NFL stands for everything America does not. Lies, crooked dealings, drugging damaged players, hiding disgusting vile and deviant behaviour, denying head injuries exist in their players and hiring hot shot attorneys to fight the notion, and supporting many players not getting their education, also they can continue in the game. That’s some prideful organization” (Tammy Bleck)

The players and clubs are a representation of the community in which they come from and as a consequence will reflect both the positive and negative behaviour of that community whether they be in America or Australia. Over the years all football codes in Australia have been involved in negative behaviour and other sports such as swimming. These include player health concerns, anti-social behaviour off the field, drinking, drugs, betting, match fixing, domestic violence, poor conduct towards women, racism and domestic violence. Players have been mixed up in business deals gone wrong and clubs breaking the player salary caps. I don’t know about other codes around Australia but in my code this season there have been an increased number of yellow cards for players from all countries who engage in dangerous play. This shows that there are concerns at an international level about dangerous play but also sportsmanship.

There have been lots of inquiries into players and teams and strategies put into place to stop this behaviour happening again and again. Every week there are players from all codes in sporting tribunals defending their actions. I don’t believe a suspension after the fact doesn’t do any good, but more effective immediately during the game and in particular time out.  Clubs and players who continually commit offences and recommit are given more chances than most people in the community. But unfortunately they continue to engage in this type of behaviour. Yes, I agree there are only so many chances a player in sport can be given and no matter what a genius the player they are, the club has to eventually cut the player loose. Just like any business or employees who engage in unacceptable conduct or members of any community anti-social and criminal behaviour needs to be addressed and not just swept under the carpet because these men are sporting stars. 

Every football club in Australia at a national level has education officers and career advisers that assist players to prepare for a life after they have finished their sporting career. A couple of years ago most of the players in my code were university graduates who got their degrees while playing professional sport with the help of their clubs. But the nature of the game has changed and not all players today want a university education. Just an in America, university may be the way into a professional sporting life and they accommodate these players for whatever reason but not all players want to or can complete a university degree.  I think it is not fair to blame the club who may have all kinds of support in place and the player doesn’t want to complete their education.

Tammy Beck continues “The most recent NFL scandal in the news is about Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back. Yet, another fabulous example and role model being employed by the NFL and being paid millions in sponsors. We are being led into believing that the NFL never saw the video that demonstrates Mr. Rice punching his then fiancée in the elevator and knocking her out cold. Yeah, right. If you believed that, I’ve got some sink hole land to sell you in Florida.

I’ll tell you what the NFL didn’t know: They didn’t know that the video would go public. Or that the public would be so outraged that they would stage mass jersey burnings on social media everywhere. Or that the women making up 45 percent of their fan base would be so outraged enough to refuse to buy tickets.

The NFL, has three other players accused of domestic violence that they have yet to deal with. It is obvious that their strategy is to wait long enough that the public forgets about it, then suspend the player for a game or two and on with the show. Cowards! This is no way to run a business, let alone an American institution.”(Tammy Bleck)

Yes, I agree violence is unacceptable on and off the field against men or women and the NFL needs to address these issues ASAP.

Rob Ford a columnist from The Inquirer in Philadelphia in his article titled “NFL sending mixed message about women” that the NFL is sending mixed message about the way it treats women. At the top of the list is the need to disperse with cheerleaders and objectifying women in sport. “It would be a symbolic message that the league understands that part of the problem is related to the objectifying women, which does by parading them around in skimpy outfits that are little more than lingerie with logos. The cheerleaders are there, to a large degree, for the pleasure of male customers and it’s fine to leer at them and whistle at them and view as whatever you like, with the possible exception of equals”. 

I agree with Rob Ford that the NFL and their administration does not set a good standard for women with its use of cheerleaders. I acknowledge the issue and the role of cheerleaders in American is a complicated issue. There have been numerous articles in the newspapers in American about the owners and clubs exploiting cheerleaders and not paying them minimum wage. Many of these women have taken legal action against the owners for unpaid wages. What does that say about the contribution of these women? The issue of the respect of women begins with the clubs and their owners.

In Australia football teams and other sports like basketball also have cheerleaders. I don’t particularly like going to official sites and finding women in sexually explicit poses all over these sites. And I didn’t like them when I went to NRL games in the eastern states in particular when the game is pretty exciting in its own right. Yes codes of football can live without cheerleaders. My code of football doesn’t have cheerleaders. The actor Russell Crowe lead the way in Australia’s National Rugby League competition when his team South Sydney Rabbitohs dispensed with their cheerleaders when he took over the ownership of the club to make it more women and family friendly. This weekend South Sydney are marching towards the NRL finals with the membership as high as ever. Other teams in the NRL are so humming and harring about the role of cheerleaders in their clubs.

“What Ray Rice Should Mean For NFL’s Female Fan Base” by Dr Peggy Drexler in Forbes published at Forbes.com wrote in response to this issue “Indeed the NFL has worked very hard to cultivate this female audience through rigorous marketing efforts like female-orientated sports programming, pop-up clothing boutiques at stadiums, branded home goods offerings like wine bottle holders and cheese boards and partnerships with nail polish brands to create sports-themed manicures (‘fanicures’). There are campaigns and products and million dollar efforts to welcome female fans to the sport”.

Seriously? This is what the NFL believes its female fans want from the sport other than to buy a ticket and sit in a seat and watch the game. I am wondering where they did their market research for what women want from sport? While I am not sure what a female-orientated sports programming is, many of the initiatives suggested by the blogger perpetuates stereotypes of  women in sport in that they are there to look good, and should be seen and not heard. That is not to say some women might like what is being offered.  Yes, some Australian football codes offer this kind of inducement to female fans as well. How family friendly are NFL games to welcome women with children? I am wondering how many women are employed in the NFL and in what roles? How are they involved in the discussion and debate on the game? How are the female fans and journalists involved in the discussion and debate treated?

In Australia there have been issues with the participation and the role of women in Australian football codes too. How do football codes make a more welcoming environment for women? Other than as a consumer. While not completely ideal there have been small positive changes. They have introduced women’s memberships and events. Women are employed in all levels of football clubs and have become chief executives, senior coaches, umpire, sit on the boards of the clubs, number one ticket holders, are health professionals, administrators, volunteers, fans and members. In most games televisions women are seen as supportive role on the field as health professionals assisting players.

However, whether in America or Australia there needs to be real involvement of women in male dominated sports beyond the tokenism and consumerism. Using consumerism as suggested by Dr Peggy Drexler to implement changes in NFL may or may not work. People forget really easily. It will be interesting to check the merchandise sales at the end of season to see if this has had an effect but it is a small step and something all those who support change can do.

In conclusion to “What Ray Rice Should Mean For NFL’s Female Fan Base” by Dr Peggy Drexler in Forbes asked the question ‘Can you (women) believe in women’s right and enjoy sport?’ “On the surface, this would seem to be an encouraging move: A traditionally male-orientated sport recognising that fans can be and are of either gender. And yet, in its handling of running back Ray Rice’s assault against his then fiancée, now-wife Janay Palmer Rice, the NFL doesn’t not care about women. As far as I am concerned, this leaves women little choice but to return the favour. Can you believe in women’s rights and enjoy football? Can you be angry about Ray Rice and the NFL’s inadequate handling of him but still feel okay about watching the game? The answer, is both to no”.   

Although the author of the post says no to both I will argue yes to both the above questions. Look no further than the former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, Australian Rules Football ‘fan' and advocate for women’s rights. Regardless of her politics she has been a champion for both sport and women. As a female journalist Katie Nolan suggested who hosts her own YouTube sports and culture show on Foxtel removing critical thinkers from the game will not enable issues like women’s rights to perpetuate. And while we may feel angry now withdrawing support for the NFL will hurt the families, the women and children whose livelyhood come from that source. But also the right of women to make informed choices about how they choose to address issues. If the wife of Ray Rice can forgive her husband then why can’t we as women and a community?

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Australian Rules Football fan and advocate of women's rights.

Thank you to all the men and women who shared their ideas online about their love or dislike of the NFL.

References

Barton, S, 2013, ‘As a female NFL fan, I want a better stadium experience-Not a pink jersey’.

In The Atlantic.com published 25 September 2013.

Boudway, I. 2013 ‘How the NFL woos female fans’ in Bloomsberg Businessweek published 5 September 2012

Drexler, P. 2014, ‘What Ray Rice should mean for NFL’s female fan base’ in Huffington Post, published 9 September 2014.

Ford, R 2014, ‘NFL sends mixed messages on women’ in The Inquirer, published 12 September 2014.

Galazka, K. 2014, ‘Fox Sports hosts asks not to boycott the NFL’ in Buzzfeed.com, published 12 September 2014.

Ryan, E, 2014, ‘If  you care about women and still support the NFL, you are a hypocrite’ in Jezebel.com.

Making a big bang about online piracy…

I recently snapped up one of my favourite comedies, the CBS series The Big Bang Theory, Series 1-6 on DVD for less than $15 a DVD, (or less than $2 an episode). There are many things I love about The Big Bang Theory in particular its engagement and analysis of popular culture and fandom. Scientists Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard love their comics, superhero collectables, science fiction and computer, board and role playing games. They are frequent visitors to Comic-Con. It is always good to end the day with a laugh.

Most people who watch The Big Bang Theory will know Sheldon’s arch enemy Wil Wheaton who plays a fictionalised version of himself. (Wil Weaton played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation and has been in countless movies and television series). As well as an accomplished actor Wil Wheaton is also a writer, creator and blogger who has engaged in the piracy debate for several years. (The Barenaked Ladies from Canada who wrote the theme song for the show have also in the past taken a public stance on piracy).

I have really got to admire people like Kurt Sutter and Wil Wheaton in the entertainment industry who become involved in debates like piracy. Wil Wheaton’s position seems quite different from that of another of my favourite fellas Kurt Sutter the creator, writer and actor in the television series Sons of Anarchy.

After putting in the search term piracy in his blog page WilWheaton.net I found some posts about piracy going back to 2008. He has really opened my eyes to so much about piracy and has the power to educate people like me. His topics about piracy include DRM on products, American piracy legislation and who is to blame for piracy.  

In 2013 Wil Wheaton made a video after an appearance at Comic-Con in United States where he talked openly and honestly about content access. He argued there will always be some people who pirate and will never pay for anything, but most people are honest and will be happy to pay for content. The entertainment industry just needs to make it easier for those people who want to pay too gain access to content.

However, after the cancellation of his television show Wil stated that in some circumstances piracy was good promotion for television shows. I don’t agree with people in the entertainment industry such as actors who make their living from television, music or movies to encourage people to engage with pirated content for any reason. I have learned a lot from this actor about piracy. He is putting his thoughts out there, informing and engaging fans and hopefully making a difference.  

Perhaps one of the greatest things I learned about writing and writing is about going back to the original source of ideas rather than reading other's interpretations as they are used to support their own cause.

Below is a brief summary of some of his ideas about online piracy from his blog. No copyright infringement intended.   

                                                    

                                                           WilWheaton.net
                                              (no copyright infringement intended)

                                         


2008

In October 2008 Wil Wheaton wrote on his blog, a post titled “Why I won’t infect anything you buy from me with DRM” where he discusses why he won’t use particular distributors to sell his book and why he won’t infect his book with DRM (I am not really sure what DRM is although my understanding of how he explained it something that is attached to products so they can’t be watched in different locations).

“I haven’t made them available there partially because Audible wants to take an enormous cut of the sales price, but mostly because Audible infects and cripples all of their files with DRM, even if the publisher and rights holders doesn’t want them.

Let’s talk about DRM for a moment. It’s not a secret that I hate it and I believe that treating your customers like they’re thieves is no way to run a business. “But what about piracy you ask, and where can I get a stylish ascot like yours?”

I am not that worried about piracy to be completely honest with you. I agree with Cory Doctorow that obscurity is a greater threat to an artist than piracy, but I also trust my customers more than the average publisher, because I believe I have a different relationship with them (you) than the average publisher has with say, me. This may be a little naïve, but hear me out…

Because I feel a more personal relationship with all of you who’ve supported me and watch my work on television, I don’t worry that much about piracy. I don’t believe that anyone who reads my blog and is interested in hearing me perform my work would deliberately steal from me any more than they’d walk into a friend’s house and take money out of their wallet. (Awkward note: this doesn’t mean we’re friends, but you get that right”)…

2012

In January 2012 Wil Wheaton wrote on his blog a post titled“Today the US Senate is considering the legislation that would destroy the free an open Internet” and his response to the proposed restrictions on the Internet.

“I am 100 % opposed to SOPA and PIPA even though I’m one of the artists they were allegedly writer to protect. I’ve probably lost a few hundred dollars in my life to what the MPAA and RIAA define as piracy, and that sucks, but that doesn’t come close to how much money I’ve lost from a certain studio’s creative accounting…

The RIAA and MPAA are, again on the wrong side of history. Attempting to tear apart one of the single greatest communication achievements in human history is a misguided attempt to cling to the out dated business model instead of adapting to the changing world is a fucking crime… He encouraged people contact their local senators and vote no to the legislation.

In May 2012 Wil Wheaton wrote on his blog a post titled “An example of the usefulness of bittorrent for entirely legal purposes” and the need to change a business model that is out of date and the bad deal bittorrents are allegedly getting…

“I frequently find my in an unpopular position in the entertainment industry: I believe in network neutrality, I don’t believe that piracy is the end of the world as we know it. I particularly don’t believe that a download or file shared automatically equals a loss of sale and I don’t believe in crippling the Internet to protect a business model that desperately needs changing.”

He then went on to describe how Internet Service Providers are blocking bittorrent because people are under the impression they are used solely for pirating content. He then provided a demonstration. …

“Some ISP are blocking all bittorrent traffic, because bittorrent can be used to share files in a piratical way. Hollywood lobbying groups are trying to pass laws which would force ISPs to block or degrade bittorrent traffic...Anyway, my point with this post is to illustrate that the bittorrent protocol is useful for more than just infringement, so when you hear industry lobby groups make a lot to noise about piracy, you’ll remember that they aren’t giving you all the facts”.

2013

In 2013 Wil Wheaton gave an interview in video about online piracy shortly after he appeared at a Comic Con event in America. He said the entertainment industry was to blame for the amount of online piracy in America.

“As soon as the entertainment industry provides an alternative to bit-torrent or an alternative to online piracy – that makes it ways for honest people to get access to program content then piracy dries up.

Gabe newel (CEO of Valve) says that pirates provide better customer service. How many times have you paid for a DRM  license for something and the server goes down, or travel across the border? I rented some episodes on Amazon for Dr Who: when I went to Canada – I paid for them in America: I live in America – they say “you can’t watch it anymore because you’re not in America anymore”. That made me angry because I was being honest. I was an honest person. If I had stolen it, I would be watching it”.

2014

In 2014 Wil Wheaton wrote on his blog about the first day about shooting The Wil Wheaton Project and encouraged people to watch it firstly through legal means and in a way that counts but if not through piracy.

“ I know a lot of you reading this don’t subscribe to cable or satellite, and as far as I know it will be online at Syfy.com and probably Hulu and Hulu+ but I’m not sure how soon after it airs. I also think it’s available as a subscription on iTunes. I know that, because of a number of factors that are completely out of my control, it’s only available in the United States. Totally unrelated to that, I wonder if any of you non-American viewer shave of VPN services unblock-us.

So I really want everyone in the world to see my show, because I’m super proud of it and I think a lot of you will enjoy it. If you have to use some possibly questionable means to see it, I’m not going to try to stop you BUT - if you can watch it in some way that the network can score (on broadcast or via one of the legally-supported websites), please do that, because the more people who watch it in a way the network can count, the more likely it is they will order a full season of the show”.

On the 3 August 2014 Wil Wheaton circulated this article titled “Piracy isn’t killing Hollywood, Hollywood is killing Hollywood” on tumblr and his highlighted comments. I agree with what he said about the content being offered by the movie industry and the writer of the original article said about the slum of sales in the movie industry. Thanks for bringing this article to my attention.

“If Hollywood dies, the industry has no one to blame but itself. In regards to Hollywood’s current summer slate, customers voted with their wallets.

They don’t want what Hollywood is offering, in part because its continuously catering to a demographic losing interest in the movies. That brings us to another explanation: Some believe Hollywood’s predilection for all things testosterone-laden is causing the downturn.

As Kelly Faircloth of Jezebel glibly put it “If you essentially ignore half the population, you’re leaving money on the table.” The number paint a clear picture “Females made up only 39 percent ofAmazing Spider-Man 2’s debut audience, compared with 42 percent for 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and 46 percent for Spider-Man 3.

The same trend applies to Transformers. This summer’s Age of Extinction skewed 64 percent male during its first weekend, more than the previous two films, and it played the oldest.” Women are not interested in seeing movies so generically masculine they’re tantamount to a two-hour Dr. Pepper Ten commercial. Summer 2014 was so brutal because Hollywood ignored the most profitable demographic—not because of The Pirate Bay.

References

Wheaton, W. 2008, ‘Why I won’t ever infect anything you buy from me with DRM’ published 13 October 2008 at WilWheaton.net

Wheaton, W, 2011, ‘The Entertainment Industry Is To Blame For Piracy.’ YouTube 27 July 2011at WilWheaton.net

Wheaton, W. 2012 “Today the US Senate is considering the legislation that would destroy the free an open Internet” 17 January 2012 at WilWheaton.net. 

Wheaton, W. 2012, ‘An example of the usefulness of bittorrent for entirely legal purposes.’ post on 12 May 2012 at WilWheaton.net. 

Saccaro, M. 2014, ‘Internet piracy isn’t killing Hollywood-Hollywood is killing Hollywood’. Published on 30 July 2014 at daily.dot

Wheaton W. 2014, ‘Today we shoot the our first episode' at WilWheaton.net.