On Monday June 16th, 2014 an appellant court in Chicago ruled that the greatest fictional detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes and all of his stories published before 1923 were now in the public domain in the United States. The Chicago Tribune covered the story. (I've included the link to the news story for two reasons. One it is very well written, and secondly because it does an excellent job explaining the legality of the situation.)
What I find so exciting however, is what this means for artists, story-tellers, and playwrights. These individuals no longer have to pay licensing fees to the Conan Doyle estate in order to use the character.
For someone like me, who oversees a college radio station, this is a tremendous opportunity because students or other aspiring individuals can now adapt one of the most famous literary characters of all time. The creative story-telling possibilities are endless. Of course there will probably be some poor adaptations of the character, but among all of these new adaptions, there could be a new interpretation that could totally reinvent the character.
This evening I discovered a very cool PBS digital short, and received a very cool promo for the radio station I over see.
1. PBS Digital Shorts posted a video entitled "The Abandoned Railway below Philadelphia". In their quest to create more green spaces in an urban center, a group of individuals look to parts of the abandoned Philadelphia railway system as possible spaces for plants, farming, and other green usage. I think this is so cool, and I would love to see if Chicago would do something similar with their abandoned areas.
I always thought it would be cool that if an abandoned building was destroyed, and no one was going to develop it, that we could plant a garden there. Help freshen neighborhoods up, and it wouldn't just be vacant spaces.
2. On WXAV we air a program entitled "Planetary Radio". Bill Nye the Science Guy is a regular contributor to the program, and earlier tonight I received this promo for WXAV. It speaks for itself.
So I am new to Tumblr. I don't use it very often, but I try to go on there about once a week. It's not so much that I don't like Tumblr, I do, it's just I haven't worked it completely into my web surfing habit quite yet.
Anyways, one of the blogs I follow on Tumblr is PBS Arts. And holy crap is it amazing. If you are not following it, I highly recommend you start checking it out. Every time I look at at the art they have posted there, I always feel inspired.
We forgot that great art inspires the soul. It moves individuals to do great things. It creates an emotional response from a person. With so much "art" being produced online currently, I feel that the term "art" has almost become a water down term. PBS Arts breaks through, and grabs your attention immediately.
Just received “Ghost Stories” in the mail today. Once again, Coldplay
delivers an outstanding album. It’s funny, it seems like every other
album they create, I absolutely love. Loved “A Rush of Blood to the
Head”, wasn’t a fan at first of “X & Y”. (However, I do appreciate
much more now.) Loved “Viva la Vida”, wasn’t a fan of “Mylo Xyloto”.
Earlier today, I read Greg Kot’s review of “Ghost Stories”, and I
actually agree with him for a change. This is a stripped album on par
with Parachutes. Ghost Stories is a great pop rock album.
On Tuesday May 13th the award winning PBS public affairs program 'Frontline' aired part one of a documentary series entitled: "United States of Secrets". This multi-part documentary series focuses on the NSA's domestic spying programming.
The series traces the spying program through its inception following the tragic events of September 11th through the Edward Snowden revelations of last year. This presentation was one of the finest pieces of journalism I have ever seen. I feel that it did a wonderful job presenting the facts, as they found them, and that both sides of the argument were presented in fair manner.
If you have not seen part one of this series, it is a must see. You can check it out here.
My friend got this close to the band.
Photo Credit: Pam Wichert.
On Cinco de May, I got to see Queens of the Stone Age. This was my second time seeing them, and man or man did they not disappoint. As I was watching their 1.5 hour plus set, something dawned on me. Josh Homme, lead singer of Queens of the Stone Age, is a pure unadulterated Rock N' Roll star.
Let me explain. There's always been an attitude associated with rock n' roll. "Real" rock n' roll stars play by their own rules, and they exert an energy that makes them the absolute center of attention. Elvis Presley is a rock n' roll star. Mick Jagger is a rock n' roll star. Robert Plant, Mike Ness etc. They are all rock n' roll stars.
Josh Homme is cut from the same clothe as the
My friend located in the balcony of the Aragon Ballroom
Photo Credit: Kevin Kellam
aforementioned gentlemen. The way he commanded the audience's attention, played guitar while smoking a cigarette, and got into a banter match up with a fan about sleeping with his mother. He is an old-school rock and roller. I've gone to many a concerts in my day, and seen a lot of people "pretend" to be rock and rollers. There's no pretending with Homme.
Queens of the Stone Age is an amazing band to see live, if you want to have your face melted off. Below is one of my favorite Queens songs that is freakin' amazing live...
*Side note. I usually don't take pictures at concerts.
I fell like I am behind the curve on this one, but this week I discovered the band Yeasayer. Holy crap, are they catchy as hell. They have a very 1980s New Wave sound, only with a modern feel. All I know is that I have not stopped listening to them since Thursday.
The band hails from Brooklyn NY, and have been around since 2006/2007. Their discography consists of three full length albums, and a couple of EPs and live releases. I've included a live performance that Yeasayer did on the Jools Holland program. It really does a nice job showcasing their sound.
Here's the weird part. I came across Yeasayer from my own iTunes
library. I was listening to my iTunes library on shuffle this week, and
Yeasayer came on. I have no idea how I got their music... It's almost like the musical gods wanted me to have these music as a gift.
