On Fri, 2003-07-04 at 07:16, Daniel James wrote: > > I suppose that's why Chuck always insisted on being paid in full, in > cash, before he would go on stage. There's a famous story about a > promoter in the UK having to push banknotes one at a time under the > dressing room door. > That's outstanding. I don't blame him a bit. > > Will Bach be upset that Chuck Berry lifted complete sounds from > > his work at times? > > I don't think the lift was quite so complete, or close in time. To > take the example of Bo Diddley, he would have been able to hear > plenty of derivative music coming out of his radio while he was still > working. On one level that's flattering, on another it must be > upsetting - especially if the sound-alike bands are getting all the > attention and making all the money. > Bo Diddley listened to (and borrowed from) every other blues musician around at the time. > The general problem of 'intellectual property' seems to apply across > many arts. Disney, for example, had very few orginal ideas, but is > now keen to keep all the folk stories it borrowed in an > ever-extending copyright envelope. Just parody or otherwise adapt > Mickey Mouse, and see how far a defence of creativity gets you in > front of the judge. > The fairy tales *are* public domain, Mickey Mouse was an original creation. You can legally parody Mickey Mouse any time you want (it's been done a million times). > > Those 60's British musicians weren't exactly starting with the raw > stone - more like taking a mould of the sculpture. Bo Diddley did the same thing. Robert Johnson got some of his lines from other blues players of his day. The wheel is always turning. I still remember the first time I heard La Grange by ZZ Top. I was walking through the parking lot of a local arcade and I heard irt playing on the juke box. I thought "Great, we've got John Lee Hooker on the box!". When I went to check it out I was wondering who the hell ZZ Top was. Bernard Bessman later sued over that song - ZZ Top settled out of court and the settlement is sealed. They've had other problems along those lines too. This is humorous because Jimi Hendrix at one time said that Billy Gibbons was his favorite guitar player. > > In my opinion, anyone > > who has been addicted to heroin and whose son has done a one-way > > nose dive out of a fourth story window has a right to play the > > blues. > > I think Clapton's career as a bluesman was well established by the > time those things happened. > He was on heroin before he was rich and famous. My point was that *everyone* has had it bad at some point in their life. No one has exclusive rights on suffering. I get real tired of hearing that old line - you can't play blues because you're A) white, B) not poor, C) didn't grow up during the depression, D) not an alcoholic/addict, E) not from Mississippi, F) fill in your reason here. Music, of any genre, is not the sole property of any one group of people. You can still play and write good reggae even if you're not from Jamaica ;-) Jan
