David Byrne, Mike Mills formerly of R.E.M, Cake’s John McCrea, Tift Merritt, and Marc Ribot performed at NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge Tuesday evening. The concert supported Content Creators Coalition-NYC, a group currently petitioning congress for pay-for-play radio royalties for artists, Consequence Of Sound reported.
As it stands now, when a recording is played on the radio, the composer is paid a royalty but not the recording artist (unless they happen to be the composer.)
Byrne covered “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie to make a point.
“Mr. Markie didn’t write that tune (although he did probably write the rap),” Byrne wrote in his e-newsletter. “The drum and keyboard loop was lifted from a Freddie Scott recording, but the song was written by Gamble and Huff, the great songwriting team that wrote for The O’Jays and The Spinners. So chances are Biz Markie didn’t see any royalties from all the radio play that song got.”
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
In “Inside Llewyn Davis” there’s a scene where Llewyn Davis records a novelty song, “Please Mr. Kennedy (Don’t Send Me Into Outer Space).”
Today The Hollywood Reporter published a fascinating piece about that song, asking the question: who really wrote it?
Here’s some of the story:
[T Bone] Burnett’s rep explains that the music maestro and the Coens adapted their song, “Please Mr. Kennedy,” from another novelty song of the same name that came out on the 1962 album Here They Are by The Goldcoast Singers. That tune depicts a comical draft-board scenario where some shaggy rock & rollers beg President John F. Kennedy not to induct them into the army. Since these lyrics were modified for the film, the new songwriting credit shows original writers Ed Rush and Ed Cromarty now accompanied by T Bone Burnett, The Coens, and Timberlake.
That’s interesting, because before that song there was a 45 single release of “Please Mr. Kennedy (I Don’t Want To Go)” by Mickey Woods in December 1961 on the Tamla-Motown label, and you can easily hear the similarity between that war-phobic plea and the Coen creation. Credits for that particular tune actually list Berry Gordy, Loucye Wakefield and Ronald Wakefield as the song’s composers — no trace of Messrs. Rush or Cromarty here.
Three short stories written by the late J. D. Salinger found their way online following an eBay auction of a bootlet book titled “Three Stories.”
The stories are “Paula,” “Birthday Boy,” and “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls.”
Supposed cover of bootleg Salinger book.
At the Reddit website, there is an intense discussion about the situation. This is apparently what the person who leaked the stories had to say:
It took me many weeks of research to find that this book existed and many more weeks to acquire it. I will confirm and take with that take responsibility to the claim that these are accurate to the originals.
Not much is verifiable to the origins of this book I have here. At least I will not confirm anything. What I do know is that someone with access to the originals compiled them together in this self-published collection. There is a single UPC symbol on the back that leads no where. Other than that, it’s existence is not well documented.
Enjoy.
Also posted at the site:
The book “Three Stories” seems to be a copy of a collection originally released in 1999. An eBay who sold a first edition of this collection said the following:
Ebay Seller seymourstainglass wrote:
Paperback. 47 pages. On Copyright page it says printed in London in 1999. Copy number 6 of 25.
3 short stories written by JD Salinger never published at all and that remain in The Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin Untitled or “Paula” (1941)
The untitled manuscript at the Ransom Center is less a story than a series of scenes not yet sewn together. Whether or not this is some form of Salinger’s lost story “Paula” is pure speculation. However, in a letter dated October 31 (1941), Salinger states that he is “finishing a horror story (my first and last) called ‘Mrs. Hincher.’ ” Undoubtedly a reference to the story described here, Salinger’s letter dates its completion to late 1941 or early 1942.
“The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls” is largely regarded as the finest of Salinger’s unpublished works. While not having had the opportunity to revue all of the author’s unpublished materials, it is hard to imagine a more important work among them
“Birthday Boy” (1946?)
The short story “Birthday Boy” is accompanied by a letter from Salinger to John Woodburn which refers to “both sets of proofs”. Although undated, the letter probably dates to 1951, the year that Woodburn published The Catcher in the Rye. However, it’s also likely that the letter does not reference Catcher, but a short story sent to placate the editor instead. Salinger’s relationship with Woodburn was brief and somewhat bizarre.
Images of the First edition http://i.imgur.com/98bfQ8K.jpg
Printing/Copyright details http://i.imgur.com/T7nymsT.jpg
Onetime Motown recording artist/songwriter Barrett Strong, 72, is at odds with Motown over the song “Money,” according to a recent story in the New York Times. Strong says he wrote the song, and he was originally listed as a writer, according to the United States Copyright Office in Washington. Motown says it was a mistake that Strong’s name was on the song, which rose to #2 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart in 1960, and reached #23 on the pop charts that year. The Beatles and the Stones recorded versions of the song, and it’s generated millions in publishing royalties over the years. Strong’s name was removed from the song, three years after it was written, according to the Times.
This is a story worth reading if you care about the people who make the music.
