Night Of The Living Dead

Ever feel like you were the hapless victim, ensnared in some dysfunctional family drama? The formerly Grateful Dead, which served as a surrogate, loving family for so many for so long, is now a cesspool of competing, greedy people fighting over a very lucrative….yes, brand.

The Deadheads are the most loyal group of fans, they know Jerry, or feel they do, they will be heard…. and, they were. Fan recorded concerts are now back in the Archive to be freely traded again. According to an outraged and saddened John Perry Barlow, it was the drummers. Mickey can’t even fucking keep time. His poor bass players just stand by helplessly as he slows down.

Jerry died intestate and married. The woman he was married to for the last few years of his life went after his guitars, his kids…. It was a nightmare. Now Phil can’t even go near Bob… The whole thing makes me want to cry. What was he too artistic and drugged out to foresee what would happen when he died?

It shows you how tenuous and shallow all that love became as the original dreams turned into a merchandising megalith. As long as Jerry was alive people adhered. As soon as he was gone, everyone scavenged for assets. Manasha, who loved him well, and their daughter ,Keelin, were left with little. Deborah, who lived with him last, owns almost everything the band couldn’t nail down. Mountain Girl and their girls also got relatively little.

Wow, the CBS morning show just carried this story, congrats, guys. Too bad you reported only that the band asked for the fan concerts to be taken down and the outraged fans threatened a boycott. The point here is, in the end, the boys got it together. The thankless morons relented, but, what a slap in the face.

Do you really think your formerly devoted fans are just going to forget this, as you guys bicker now about putting your stuff on iTunes.? Maybe we could understand you putting the soundboard recordings up for sale there, but why take down the fan recordings?! Too much competition for you? Hey, if your records don’t offer anything more than your fans, well, maybe you shouldn’t have set up separate recoding sections and took all that ticket money.

The band needs to consider the fact, and apparently did, that the brand was built up on the ideas of freedom from label tyranny. You were the one fucking alternative, the last hold out. This is what we loved about you guys. We built you. We made you millions upon millions, for increasing minions, and if you want that loyalty and ethos to continue don’t become the embodiment of the antithesis of the message you built up on…. OK?

This is one of the largest music libraries in the world. Certainly the largest devoted to a single band. For God’s sake, how many thousands of concerts did they play, how many recordings were made? Maybe I should look up that Capitol Theater Show I mentioned earlier, where I met Manasha. That would stir up some great memories. Turns out she did remember our meeting and even invited me to Keelin’s birthday party. Don’t even ask how we reconnected.

Let’s just say, when it comes to the Dead and their fans, all things are possible because we, the fans are what your fucking organization is all about and when bands and record companies and distributors and nine-figure executives finally get that…. we’ll finally see the dreams of music and community and personal creativity, that you stood for and truly believed in at one time, (I hope!) come true.

Greenmail Anyone?

Carl Icahn is getting increasingly frustrated with the Time Warner board, and he is not a man to be put off for long. It looks like he'll fight for control of the board in May and, if that doesn't work... well, I must admit I wouldn't mind seeing the threat of corporate raiding putting these entertainment conglomerates' feet to the fire. He owns 2.6% of the shares and the company has made disastrous moves, leaving the stock price stagnant for over three years now.

Granted, it hasn't been a good time for the entertainment sector, what with the internet and all, except that they merged with an internet company... an outdated one... I mean, dial-up? They've tried using AOL as a portal, a brand... it's been slow going because the brand doesn't represent anything relevant to people now.

Then, there's the music division debacle. They sold it to Edgar Bronfman in 2003 and he took it out from under the stodginess of the corporate environment, went online and flexible. They're one of the few bright spots in music, showing an 80% gain, but, that's not doing Time Warner any good.

According to Icahn in his letter to shareholders Tuesday, the bloated structure of the company, including a new $800B building, and their refusal to cut costs, is no longer acceptable and is demanding a buy-back and retention of a bigger share in the cable division they plan to spin off.

While it's the need to address shareholders that in many ways causes the problems, making companies so sensitive to each quarter's performance that they resist taking risks and making changes, I support shareholders pulling their weight and targeting these outrageous boards. These boards are extremely powerful and so often go unchallenged. They have dragged their feet for years in addressing the internet appropriately and providing a rational mode of balancing the need for copyright protection with the need for society to have access to our creative bounty.

They have set themselves at odds with technology and their own consumers, in their insane drive to use the internet to gain more and more control over our mediums and the content they contain... and that they own! In the process, they have left the American and worldwide public confused and skeptical. This was shown last Friday as post-Thanksgiving sales featured a sell-off of CDs such as we have never seen. Wal-Mart alone was selling over 40 titles at $3.44.

I have been pondering that fact for days, and I really think the retailers have been put on notice that the tide is turning. I guess they're the first responders. People want digital entertainment. People bought disks that ruined their computers, they see everything going online, they look at the stacks of expensive plastic disks littering their homes. They are paying over $100./month for internet & cable access, plus Netflix. The $30B boom is ending and they (the retailers) know it. Get on board or jump ship guys, because if your customers and retailers don't get you, your shareholders will.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

As with Fun With Dick and Jane, the Jim Carrey remake coming out later this month, the titles are a sardonic comment on the high adventure lives led by the plainly named. Behind the well manicured lawns, and prettily painted walls are couples with many secrets, high emotion and interesting lives. It's the contrast between the mundane and munificent that makes this type of film interesting.

We've certainly seen warring couples before. The classic is The War of the Roses, where they reach their mutual demise trying to divide the house. After years of built-up resentments, all either party wanted to do was win. There was no backing down from the relentless vengeance. No one was willing to walk away and see that that (exiting) was the win. They each became subsumed by the desire to beat the other.

With the Smiths, there's a slightly different twist. The mutually assured destruction (if you recall this is what kept us from blowing up the planet earth in the Reagan era) was actually their job. That's right, killing the spouse... it's a job, but somebody's gotta do it. I guess you only see that in the movies... huh? Come on. That's what spouses do, in real life, all the time. That's why the movies poking fun at the phenomenon are hits. We all see our own unmet desires and deeply buried feelings in their outrageously honest behavior.

I think it's a very unusual spouse that is led by a desire to see their partner grow. Most want to see their partner show.... up and be there as an adjunct to their lives: accompany them, help them, be there for them when they are needed, to do what they are needed to do. My husband left me, not because I was failing to grow and thrive, but because he was and realized I could never be the crutch he needed anymore. Americans are so trained to be materialistic, distracted and shallow, I guess it's not surprising we have such possessive attitudes about marriage.

I found Angelina Jolie's character refreshingly strong and honest. Is anyone still confused as to why Brad Pitt left his self-absorbed wife for someone who uses her considerable fame to bring attention to problems like war and starvation? Angelina had a difficult childhood, rose above it and developed a true global consciousness. She's one of the first female action stars, does everything the guys do, makes no apologies, is totally in touch with her sexuality. Unlike Jennifer Anniston who has this shrinking violet personality, Angelina is strong and honest in a fully feminine way and I find her a much better role model.