Today seemed to be a music day on the web. There's been a lot of focus in the media recently about the legal squabbles between the recording industry and file sharing services, and about digital copyrights. Maybe law plays too large a part in art and entertainment these days. While I was surfing around the web, I came across a number of articles about art and music. The first one is about a program which benefits the arts, and which many perceive to be in danger. It's such a beautiful recognition of what artistic endeavors bring to our society, that I hope it survives:

construction supporting art
I had never heard of Philadelphia's "Percent for Art" initiative, but it sounds like a good idea to me. Unfortunately, it's now facing a challenge. The program has developers within the City using one percent of their construction budget for public art. An exemption has been asked for by the developer of a multimillion-dollar riverfront apartment high-rise. If granted, many are fearful that others will try to skirt around this program, which has been in place for the last forty years and is responsible for making Philadelphia a very interesting looking city. I frequently wondered why there were so many statues and murals in the City of Brotherly Love. Now I know.

I wish more cities would adopt a program like "Percent for Art."

spending billions to make a million worldwide
An article in Billboard Magazine reports that over four billion dollars have been spent by online music providers to see a return of almost one million dollars worldwide, in an article entitled The Music Industry's Web Of Intrigue. An interesting perspective in this rant that takes the recording industry to task for their shortsighted practices:

Recent studies show that even hardcore fans have scant knowledge of the latest releases by established acts. The satisfactions of album-length releases have been systematically obscured in the marketplace by limited public exposure on either radio or TV. Many of the songs receiving the most aggressive pushes are designed to appeal to the prurient interests of nominal/cursory listeners. Such tacky sideshows rarely translate into a stable consumer base.

small screen music sales
And what music is being advertised on the radio and television? Pop Music's New Creed: Buy a TV Commercial, from the Washington Post, is about the appearance of two types of advertisement on television, and it blurs the line between the two without making much of a distinction between them. It does make some thoughtful observations.

A number of acts have turned to TV to advertise their music, including Bob Dylan, and Creed. A popular place to see the ads are during primetime shows like WWF Smackdown. Creed's marketing plan seems to take a clue from the marketing magic of Boxcar Willie, complete with a toll free number.

Another place where music is showing up is as background music in ads for products and services, which can be a risky proposition. The small screen can end your career, as it seemed to do for MC Hammer (Burger King), or it can bring you sales, as it did for Rufus Wainwright (The Gap) and Sting (Jaguar). A volkswagon ad brought Nick Drake back to the public's attention years after his tragic death. And when I see BB King in a Burger King ad, all I can think about is that he is getting well deserved recognition and a payday for years of hard work, rather than seeing him as selling out to corporate interests.

pirate radio
Some interesting going-ons in the world of small band broadcasting and the courts.
Pirate broadcasters get a boost from free-speech ruling as a federal court made a ruling last month that may return the rights of some people to start broadcasting again.

Microbroadcasters -- a diverse assortment of community groups, churches, music lovers, students, political dissidents and eccentrics -- were driven underground in 1978 when the FCC stopped licensing them and set a 100-watt minimum for most stations.

The FCC's position was upheld in court but came under increasing attack as giant media companies gained control of most of the commercial airwaves. In January 2000, the commission passed new rules authorizing a limited number of noncommercial FM stations of 10 to 100 watts, with a range of one mile to a few miles. Former pirates could apply only if they had shut down when ordered to do so.

The federal appeals court ruling overturned a provision of the laws governing small band broadcasting that limited access, and denied it to those who had continued to carry on as pirates.

james carter, where art thou?
Sometimes in our deepest, darkest moments, something good happens. In James Carter's case, it was his singing "Po Lazurus" while working on a chain gang in 1959, and being recorded by Alan Lomax. Now, almost half a century later, his voice appears on a record that is outselling "the latest records from Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey." Mr. Carter was part of that large crowd that took the stage at the Grammys last week when "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" was announced as the Album of the Year. Congratulations, James Carter.

goodbye sheet music?
Harry Connick, Jr., received a patent (ny times - registration req'd) for a computerized: "system and method for coordinating music display among players in an orchestra."

In fact, Mr. Connick approached Apple Computer (news/quote) about helping him develop the system.

"I love their products and I thought for sure they would go for it," he said. "They put up a lot of `Think Different' posters and I sure think different. But they weren't interested."

On the day his patent was issued, Mr. Connick said, his wife, Jill Goodacre, a former Victoria's Secret model, asked him if he was proud of himself.

"I said not really," Mr. Connick recalled. "It's not like I invented Velcro or anything."

sony and filesharing
Something that may be a good sign for the recording industry: Sony Licenses Music for Song-Swapping CenterSpan

CenterSpan Communications Corp. CSCC.O on Thursday said it struck a deal to distribute Sony Music Entertainment's music on its peer-to-peer service, marking the first time a major record label has licensed its content to a file-sharing company.

I haven't looked at the CenterSpan service yet, but it might be worth taking a peek at.

other opinions regarding music
I came across the neumu site tonight, and it looks like it's filled with some interesting observations regarding modern music. They appear to be just as happy discussing the artistic merits of albums recorded on home boomboxes for fifty dollars as they do new major label releases. One article that caught my eye was It's no surprise major-label music sales are down - the music sucks! The site is filled with some solid writing on music; well worth a visit.

written in invisible ink
I remember when my father taught my brother and sister and I the magic of invisible ink. We wrote a message on a piece of paper in lemon juice, and let it dry. A short time afterwards, he held a match under it, just far enough away so that the paper didn't catch on fire. The heat from the flame caused the letters to show back up. I don't remember thinking of this as anything more than a curiosity, and never used the method to transmit intelligence reports to anyone. I guess the subtlety of espionage was lost upon us. Playing cowboys and indians, and little league baseball was more fun.

The James Madison Project (JMP) tried to discover the formula for invisible ink that was used by the intelligence offices of the United States almost 100 years ago. It looks like the greatest way to make invisible ink remain invisble is to hide it away where no one can read it. Chances are good that the method used is nothing greater than that home science experiment that I referred to above.

The JMP is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., and created in 1998. Their mission is:

to promote government accountability and the reduction of secrecy, as well as to educate the public on issues relating to intelligence and national security through means of research, advocacy and the dissemination of information.

One of their earliest efforts was to try to identify the oldest documents that exist which are classified as "Top Secret" by the United States Government, and they filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to do so. They received a response from the National Archives and Records Administration identifying the titles of the six oldest documents on record, all of which have to do with secret inks for invisble writing.

The JMP followed up their FOIA with a request that the documents be declassified. They weren't so much interested in the secret to invisible ink as much as they were in trying to get the goverment to stop protecting documents that probably no longer contain secrets worth protecting. Their request was rejected by the Agency, and they filed a complaint in Federal Court in an attempt to have the denial overturned. The Court made it's ruling this February. It appears that the secret to invisible ink will remain a secret.

During the exchange of documents filed in the case, the JMP's memorandum of law in opposition to a motion for summary judgment contains some great material regarding some of the information that our government has protected in the past, and an excellent history of the use of invisible inks. Some of the documents which they point to as having been held secretly:

• The U.S. Army classifying a study on archery under the heading "silent, flashless weapons." David Wise THE POLITICS OF LYING 67 (Random House, 1973)("Politics of Lying").


• The U.S. Navy classifying a report on sharks that was derived entirely from publicly available sources, purportedly to keep the documents from falling into the possession of the Soviet Navy, but more likely to keep the information from discouraging recruitment. Id. at 67-68.


• The Joint Chief's classifying as "TOP SECRET" a report which criticized the gross abuses of secrecy classification at all levels in the military. SANFORD J. UNGAR, THE PAPERS & THE PAPERS 219 (Columbia Univ. Press/Morning side ed., 1989).
• The Pentagon adamantly refusing to publish information that acknowledged that NASA had sent monkeys into space, despite the fact that the Washington Zoo had already identified its monkeys with a plaque praising their participation in rocket experiments in the U.S. space program. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon explained it was trying to preserve the U.S. relationship with India, where certain obscure sects still practiced "monkey worship." Politics of Lying, at 67-68.


• The classifying of White House menus as "Top Secret." Id. at 70.


• Weather reports produced by an aid to General Eisenhower during World War Two still being classified even thirty years after the fact. Commission Report, at 52.

The memorandum also gives a description of the uses of invisible inks by the ancient greeks, by both sides during the American Revolutionary War, and by spies during World Wars I and II. It also cites the wide spread dissemination of formulas for hidden inks by books and through the internet, and gives examples of different types, including: Israeli Pale Blue Secret Ink No. 2, Gestapo Blood-Red Secret Ink, and Australian Secret Vapor Ink. JMP insists in their memorandum that the secrets of over 80 years ago regarding invisible inks are likely no longer secret anymore.

Should the government protect secrets that are probably not still secret? Is national security threatened by the release of these documents? The Judge in this case issued his decision without actually reviewing the documents in question, on the basis of a statement from the CIA that disclosure of the technology involved could affect national security. I hope that isn't true. I'd like to think that our intelligence agents are using methods a little more sophisticated than something I learned as a child.

fighting cancer in delaware
The State of Delaware makes no pretensions when it comes to passing an increase in taxes on cigarettes. The primary focus isn't on helping the State's economy by this sin tax of 50 cents per pack. The purpose is to get less people to smoke. The tax increase, and approximately 100 other steps have been suggested by a 14 member committee as means to turn around the terrible record Delaware has as a state where cancer has taken a strong foothold.

In this time of tight budgets, the suggested projects will cost millions of dollars. The State can't afford to pay raises to its employees, and have asked for cuts across the board in budgets of all state agencies. While I'm for increasing the health of citizens across the state, maybe we should also be looking at ways for the government to run more effectively while spending less money.

ground zero
A memorial on the site of the New York City devastation done on September 11th? I think that this is something most people in New York, and around the country expect to see. One suggestion is to build a graveyard within the footprints of the twin towers.

lamplighters
Frank Serpico asks that those who uncover corruption within government be referred to as lamplighters rather than whistleblowers, in a speech given before the Paul Revere Forum on February 27, 2002.

Revere lit or arranged for the lamps to be lit and hung high in the tower. He was a lamp lighter and that is the term I much prefer than whistle-blower. LAMPLIGHTER. We can still holler and shout but we have to light the lamps that shed the light on corruption, injustice, ineptitude and abuse of power. When we do, you will see the villains scurry into the woodwork the way roaches do when you turn on the light. Some of you are fortunate enough never to have witnessed roaches and poverty. However, they do exist feeding off the crumbs of the poor. We may be told "don't make so much noise" and we can reply, "you'll soon hear noise enough before long," and we may be arrested as Revere was.

mac's good, pc's bad?
The good guys use Macs, and the bad guys use pc's. Just what are the producers of the show 24 trying to tell us?

e-z come, e-z go?

I received a violation notice in the mail from the E-Z pass Regional Authority in late December from a trip that I had made to New Jersey during the Thanksgiving holiday. Coming in to Delaware across the Delaware Memorial Bridge, I got into a poorly marked "e-z pass only" lane, and there was no one there to take the three dollars I was holding in my hand. I stopped my car at the booth, only to see cars in my rear-view lining up behind me, and at the sound of the first honk, I drove on.

The notice asked for the three dollars, plus another $25 dollars administrative fee. The temptation was to send them three dollars, and send a nasty letter to Governor Minner, the Wilmington News Journal, and the e-z pass authority. The letter required that the money be sent in within 15 days of the date of the notice. Fourteen days had already passed when I received their letter.

I held on to the letter for a couple of days, considering all possible options, and then figured that it wasn't worth arguing over, and facing the possibility of additional fines leveled against me from some faceless multi-state agency. The check went out in the mail.

I recently had to make a number of trips within Delaware using a car that had an e-z pass, and the convenience it brought was great. And then I heard from a friend how she had mistakenly driven through a wrong lane, an e-z pass lane, and couldn't back up to drive through the correct one. In a panic, she called the police on her cell phone immediately afterwards. They told her to keep on going, and that she would probably receive a notice in the mail, and should just pay it when it came. A few miles down the road, she saw a number of police cars ahead with their lights flashing, and thought that she was the subject of a roadblock. She said she was envisioning being arrested in front of her young children. The squad cars were for an accident ahead, and she passed without incident.

It seems like New Jersey is also experiencing some problems with E-Z pass.

Since E-ZPass was launched in November 1998, the state has taken in $13.3 million in fines but has spent $19.2 million to collect the money, she said. Officials originally projected that $190.7 million would be collected from 1999 through 2001.

So far, some 5.2 million toll violation notices have been sent out, but only 520,000 people, 10 percent of those cited, have responded by paying fines, Scaccetti said. "We have no enforcement mechanism," she said. "We do not have a collection agency involved."

One reason is the equipment used to detect that a vehicle with an E-ZPass electronic tag, known as a transponder, has gone through a toll plaza is faulty. About 10 percent of vehicles scanned are flagged as toll violators when, in fact, many are not, Scaccetti said.

She said the consortium is reluctant to engage a collection agency until equipment flaws are worked out.

I hope that they do get their equipment fixed, and the e-z pass program working correctly. But until they mark their lanes more clearly, and until there is a way set in place to appeal administrative fees imposed, and a responsible government body becomes attached to the program, I don't expect citizens of New Jersey care too much about paying the E-Z Pass Authority.