Category Archives: Opinion

The Story of OLGA and Harry Fox

By lytspeed Posted in Music, Opinion Leave a reply

Once upon a time, there was a little music archive named OLGA. OLGA liked to collect lots of songs and share them with her friends. She had over 20,000 songs from all different types of music! She even had a lot of different versions of the same songs, by people who had figured out how to play them differently. That is part of what made her collection so beautiful; it was a picture of musical growth. It helped to keep the music alive for other people to play on their own guitars.

Then along came a big bad Fox, who said that OLGA couldn’t keep her songs because he hadn’t given her permission. He told her to get rid of the songs or he would huff and puff and blow them all away. (He’d learned how to do this from his cousin, the Wolf.) Actually, the only reason he was upset was because he thought that he should be the only one to keep those songs, and should charge people for using them. This Fox was obviously not interested in keeping the music fresh and alive. He didn’t want to let people learn how to play songs for their own enjoyment and that of their friends.

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I interrupt this fairy tale to talk about a grave disturbance in the world of online music. The On-Line Guitar Archive (OLGA) has been shut down by the Harry Fox Agency, an organization that issues licenses and distributes royalties for mechanical reproduction of copyrighted music.

OLGA is an invaluable resource to me as an amateur guitarist. I make no money from the music I play, and I have no intentions of making a living as a guitar player. It is a hobby, and a very important aspect of my life. Songs like Dan Fogelberg’s “Leader of the Band” and Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” made me want to learn to play guitar. I learned those songs by purchasing the sheet music (which was written incorrectly) and trying to figure out what notes to add to make them sound like the records. Of course, I will never sound as good as someone who has devoted his entire life to music, but I can come close enough to call back the feelings that the original songs gave me.

These songs and songs by Tommy Shaw, James Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton (to name only a few) continue to provide me with the inspiration to learn music and pass it on to my family and friends, with my own interpretations and phrasings. They also inspire me to write my own music and share it with others — not in the interest of making money, but just to share the beauty of music and express some of my feelings in a (hopefully) beautiful way. I don’t think the Harry Fox Agency is specifically out to destroy this kind of musical sharing and inspiration, but their actions in shutting down OLGA have that effect.

The following lines are from the Harry Fox Agency’s web page:

 

What is HFA’s Role In The Music Industry?
HFA represents music publishers. We issue licenses and collect and distribute royalties for the mechanical reproduction of their copyrights. We issue licenses and collect and distribute royalties for synchronization use of their compositions in motion pictures, television films, video tapes and electrical transcriptions and many other sources.

What is a mechanical reproduction?
It is an audio-only recording, such as a phonograph record, compact disc, or audio tape. A mechanical license does not include lyric reprinting or sheet music print rights. For these rights, you must contact the publisher(s) directly.

 

Unless I’m reading this wrong, nowhere in these lines does it say that the Harry Fox Agency has jurisdiction over personal interpretations of songs shared by individuals. Song interpretations, whether posted on the Internet or scribbled on napkins, are not mechanical reproductions by the definition listed above. I think their concern is that people can use the songs for monetary gain by learning them and playing them in cover bands, so the agency demanded that OLGA be shut down. But that makes no sense. Most of the venues in which successful bands play already pay a flat fee to cover royalties on any song that gets played under that roof for a specified period of time. If a guitarist learns a solo version of “Sweet Home Alabama” from an OLGA file and then performs it at his local coffeehouse gig, that royalty should already be covered by the coffeehouse. Why shouldn’t that guitarist be able to play the song live?

Musicians learn more from other musicians than from any other source. Is the Harry Fox Agency going to start following musicians around to make sure they don’t teach anyone how to play the chords to “Stairway to Heaven?” Does any agency have the right to say what songs I can learn to play or teach to my friends?

Not in my opinion. I consider this to be an attempt to kill music, or at least make it subservient to money. The Harry Fox Agency claims to be serving the interests of the artists and music publishers, and I have no dispute with the fact that the artists deserve compensation for mechanical reproduction of their songs. But by shutting down OLGA, the Harry Fox Agency is only hurting itself. Live musicians play what the people want to hear, and the public doesn’t really care whether the Harry Fox Agency is getting its cut. If musicians are allowed to exchange information about songs, they are actually increasing the amount of money that the Harry Fox Agancy can get because more people will come to hear the songs. If the Harry Fox Agency attempts to license OLGA, they are double dipping — trying to make money two different ways on the same song.

The songs posted on OLGA are not there to harm anyone. They are there as tributes to the songwriters and as educational resources. Someone liked each song enough to spend his time to learn it and then gave his interpretation to other people so they can have the enjoyment of playing it as well. There is an ancient tradition here, going back to a time before writing even existed. For thousands of years, people have been teaching each other songs and stories to entertain. In the modern world, we have the means to make this teaching available to anyone with access to the Internet, but it is still the same thing: People teaching other people how to enrich their lives. To try to squelch that is to kill tradition as well as damage our souls.

Fortunately, there are some rebel sites that have mirrored and posted the entire OLGA catalog. Most of them are outside the United States, and are therefore out of reach of the Harry Fox Agency — for now. And the Harry Fox Agency will not keep me from getting together with my friends tonight and playing Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” just to make a private statement.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled fairy tale.

–+– –+– –+– 

OLGA thought about the Fox’ threat, and decided that keeping the music and the learning alive was important enough to stand up to him, so she kept on giving her friends copies of the songs. Sure enough, true to his word, the Fox huffed and puffed and blew her house in, leaving her with only a few songs that he wasn’t interested in.

Fortunately, the Fox didn’t know that OLGA had friends who had made copies of her songs, and that they were giving out the songs in other countries. So the music was still out there, available, but harder to find. And as more and more people heard about OLGA’s tragedy, they began yelling for the Fox to give back what he stole from OLGA and all the other music lovers in the world. When the Fox heard about this, he got so scared that the tip of his tail turned white and he began running away as fast as he could. He’s still running today.

Click this link for more information about the On-Line Guitar Archive’s legal battles with the Harry Fox Agency.Support OLGA: Join the Blue Treble Clef Campaign

An Open Letter to Fred Phelps

By lytspeed Posted in Opinion Leave a reply

Thank you, Rev. Phelps, for bringing me out of my writing slump. I’ve managed to slog through months of Kenneth Starr, Y2K scares, OLGA closures (see The Story of OLGA and Harry Fox), and plenty of personal challenges without adding so much as a sentence to this website, but hearing that you and your constituents plan to picket the funeral of Matthew Shepard broke me out of that silence.

Never mind that he was gay. Never mind that he was of small stature and ganged up on. Never mind that he was tied to a fence, pistol-whipped and left for dead in the freezing Wyoming night. Never mind that the entire state of Wyoming is suddenly forced to deal with a stigma of intolerance because of the actions of two idiots that happen to reside within its borders.

I only want to know one thing:

Where does a supposed man of God find justification in his soul to picket ANYONE’s funeral?

Funerals and memorial services are a time for the loved ones of the deceased to deal with the emotions and realities of their loss. I suspect that the emotions at the funeral of a hate crime victim would be even more strong than those at a “normal” funeral. This is not a time for anyone to grandstand and try to make a point about how “God hates fags.” In fact, it would seem to me that a true man of the Cloth would not focus on what God hates, but what God loves!

I am not gay, but I do not hate gays. I am not a Baptist, but I do not hate Baptists. When one dies, I do not seek to further my own causes by capitalizing on the attention paid to their death. When you die, I will not celebrate, despite the fact that I disagree bitterly with you about your actions in this matter. (I might speculate on whether you end up where you expect to be, though. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself much farther south — and much warmer — than you expect! I don’t think that being a preacher guarantees you a spot in heaven if you don’t uphold the position in a forthright manner.)

I guess what angers me most is that you intend to cheapen Matthew Shepard’s life and turn one of the most important moments in his parents’ lives into a circus sideshow, and you don’t have the right to do that.

Yes, you have the right to broadcast your propaganda on shortwave radio and over the Internet, just as I have the right to use the same media to disagree with you. But you do not have the right to tarnish his parents’ last memory of their son. You do not have the right to capitalize on the national media to push your ludicrous points. The Governor of Wyoming, Jim Geringer, has stated that he won’t let you interfere with the funeral proceedings. For all of our sakes, I hope that he doesn’t.

You might accuse me of the same grandstanding of which you are guilty: using Matthew Shepard’s cruel demise as a forum to make a point. Think that if you will. I would not be writing this if you hadn’t made your intentions clear.

At any rate, thank you for making me angry enough to sit down and write. May God have mercy on you.

Very Sincerely,

Stace Johnson

On Growing Up A Nerd

By lytspeed Posted in Family, Geek, General, Opinion Leave a reply

While heading home from a Superbowl party last night, I became engaged in a heady discussion with my soon-to-be nine year old about the size of our galaxy relative to the rest of the universe. This is the same eight year old who recently brought up the subject of reincarnation out of the blue at a wedding reception. He didn’t know what it was called, but he knew what it involved. I didn’t start either of these conversations, for the record.

It seems he’s headed down Nerd Alley, just like his Dad. He receives the same amount of picking on by kids at school, thinks about things I don’t expect him to, likes playing with Legos more than with other kids, and can’t catch a ball worth beans. His favorite activities involve computers, and he has a frightening capacity for forgiveness and compassion — frightening only because he doesn’t even think of protecting himself from outside hurt. I am loathe to admit it, but protecting oneself mentally, emotionally and physically is more important now than it ever was when I was his age.

When I was a kid, I lived just outside of a small, relatively safe town. I spent more time in my room reading than outside playing, and when I was outside I was on a bike. I didn’t have a lot of friends at that age, mostly because other grade school kids thought it great fun to make fun of my feminine name. My son doesn’t have a lot of friends in our apartment complex, partly because he comes across as “wussy” and feminine. One difference is that he craves friends more than I ever did at that age. I had one good friend in the trailer park I lived in and a couple of friends from Cub Scouts, and that was more than enough for me. This continued, and though I gained more friends, we were all pretty tightly bound into the “Brain” clique. This brought more taunting from more kids, teaching me more and more how good it was NOT to be like them. I continued hanging with the Brains and refusing to learn how to deal with social situations outside my clique.

There are obvious pitfalls to this, and I had to learn to vault them later in life, but I think this was one of the best things I could have done. In addition to keeping my brain exercised, I learned independence from the masses at an early age. This translates to one very important lesson: I didn’t have much of a problem dealing with peer pressure. The dangers of alcohol, drugs and trouble did not present much of a challenge to me because I didn’t need the acceptance of the people who were offering these vices to me.

In a way, I hope my son continues on the nerd path. It will teach him how to say “no” to peer pressure and will increase his self-confidence as long as he doesn’t wallow in the lonliness — that is a real danger for him. With the gang violence and drug problem in the schools now, these skills will be more important to him than they were to me. It is vital that he know when to say “no” and when to let his compassion pour forth. The more he exercises his mind, the better equipped he will be to handle that. I don’t mean that I want to make my son socially inept (as many of us nerds were,) but given the alternatives, I would rather see him grow up to be capable and careful than gullible and people-pleasing.

Denver Broncos

By lytspeed Posted in General, Opinion Leave a reply

Hanging in the hallway of my apartment is a piece of … well, history. It’s orange and tattered and just about the right size to fit (tightly, perhaps) on a small 12 year old. I remember wearing it, watching the Broncos fight all the way to the Superbowl under command of Craig Morton, aided by Haven Moses, Lyle Alzado, Randy Gradishar, Rick Upchurch, Rob Lytle and the incredible #57, Tom Jackson.

I used to sit on the edge of the couch, hunched forward (especially during the 4th quarter) with my elbows on my knees, right knee determinedly bouncing about once a second. You see, I used to be able to influence the outcome of Bronco games — or so I told myself. I just knew that if I stared enough energy into the screen they would win. And sometimes, they would make incredible plays and support my conviction. The times that they didn’t, I just wasn’t trying hard enough.

I’ve changed some since then. For one thing, I don’t follow football nearly as closely as I used to. And I don’t put quite as much stock in my abilities to influence John Elway’s arm through the television. But I’ve never forsaken my Broncos. I’ve never been a fair-weather fan. Even when they had “poor” seasons, they were still my favorite NFL team. When I was living in Phoenix, I rooted for the Broncos whenever they came to town against the Cardinals. (Of course, most of Phoenix did …)

Another thing I’ve never changed is my respect for John Elway. When he first came into the league, refusing to play for the Colts when they drafted him, he caught a lot of negative press, even from Bronco fans. I think a lot of people felt he would only be here a short time and then go after the highest bidder. After all, he was just a cocky hot-shot, right? I didn’t have this feeling about him. I liked him from the start, and was determined to enjoy his play no matter what the people around me were saying (yes, you Dad!) Fortunately, John did not come here to give up.

Now, in his 15th year with the league, John Elway is still piloting the high-flying Broncos, and better than ever. He has a formidable group of guys behind him in Terrell Davis, Tyrone Braxton, Ed McCaffrey, Shannon Sharpe, Bill Romanowski, Ray Crockett and the incredible Denver front line. The country is behind him, knowing that he has to be close to the end of his career — even someone as tough as John can only take about 20 years of this stuff! Much of America wants to see John Elway win a Superbowl, and I believe that he and the rest of the Broncos can pull it off if they can tap into that positive energy.

Besides, they have to win. I’ll have my tattered 20-year-old Bronco shirt with me on Game Day!

Hypocrisy

By lytspeed Posted in Friends, Opinion Leave a reply

We detest it in our politicians. We expose it in our enemies. We scorn religious leaders because of it. And yet, we deny that it exists within ourselves.

The common definition of hypocrisy is “saying one thing and doing another.” The American Heritage Dictionary states that it is “the professing of beliefs or virtues one does not possess.” Whether we like it or not, I believe most of us are hypocritical occasionally, often without realizing it. How many of us have talked about helping the homeless and then lied about having spare change when approached on the street? I know I have, but rationalization comes to my rescue: “Another buck toward the price of a bottle. That’s not helping him.” There may or may not be truth to that rationalization; I never take the time to find out. This is not the right thing to do, but I have done it anyway. There have been times I have given change, as well.

Are all my hypocritical acts wrong? Frankly, I think it depends on the mood I am in, and I suspect mood and circumstances have more to do with hypocrisy than we might think. It is possible to make a statement or commitment with all good intentions, then later say something entirely different due to a change in the situation or mood. For example, when I was still in secondary school, my best friend and I promised that we would always seek each other’s advice when we were in a bind. This continued without fail for years, until I found a woman that I decided I was going to marry. I started confiding in her more than my friend, and when he confronted me about it, I explained that I would be spending the rest of my life with this woman (or so I thought) and that I felt I obligated to share the most important things in my life with her first. My statement was the beginning of several years’ stress and distance in our friendship.

Were my actions hypocritical? Strictly speaking, yes. Were they understandable? Again, yes, but not necessarily from the viewpoint of the person hurt by them. My situation had changed since we had made those childhood promises and my responsibilities changed with it, so I had to do what I thought was right, despite the pain I knew it would cause. Sometimes, it is necessary to reverse position and risk hypocrisy in order to maintain your own integrity!

This does not mean that hypocrisy should be used as a weapon. It may result from a decision, but should not be the force behind it. When it is, rationalizations or excuses are almost sure to be present. “I said this, but it does not apply to me for X reason” is a dangerous statement to make, and the motives behind it must be carefully scrutinized before we make it. One method I use for determining whether my rationalization has gotten out of control is to pretend that I am someone else watching me make this statement. Does it fit with the person I want to be known as? Are the reasons compelling to someone outside my position, or do they look like justifications for other action? Do my actions seem childish? By separating myself from the situation for a moment, I gain some distance and get a better perspective so I can decide whether to go ahead with a seemingly hypocritical decision. I try to remember that reason is an ally, but rationalizations can lead to grave mistakes.

Of course, I may just be trying to convince myself of all this ….

(I am happy to report that my friend and I finally put the distance behind us and are now as close as ever, despite the fact that our primary confidants are now our spouses.)