Down On The Corner
• Friends of Jerry Conte, owner of Sound and Music on New Cut Road, will be pleased to hear that he is back at the shop after a very, very long and difficult illness. While he is not up to his full strength, he is working and happy to hear from his friends and customers. Those who work with him are also glad he's doing better. Over the last several months, every stop in at the shop entailed a report on his condition. Stop in and tell him 'hi."
• The recent concert featuring Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello at Freedom Hall seems to have been a bit of a watershed; two days before the concert, fully half (or more) of the tickets had not been sold. Of course, it didn't help that September and October featured a torrent of national acts through the town. I think the audience was just tapped out...
• Following their recent success at suing a song-sharing user, a lawyer for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) testified that an individual burning a copy of CD - even for their own use - could be infringing the copyrights of the writers and company that produced the CD. While it seems unlikely that the RIAA would be able to effectively identify "burners," it remains a legal possibility for the RIAA and major music labels, in the minds of their lawyers. Just thought you ought to know...
• It may be that Hannah Montana, the character played by Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter Miley Cyrus, may be remembered for having triggered the public revolt against ticket scalpers. Several state Attorneys General, including those in Arkansas, Missouri and Pennsylvania have launched probes, asking TicketMaster for documents relating to the sale of tickets to concerts in their respect states. TicketMaster in turn has responded with a lawsuit against a company called RMG Technologies and several ticket brokers, contending that RMG has developed software that overruns TicketMaster's online defenses, resulting in up to 80% of the ticket requests being from those brokers, who subsequently resell tickets online at Stubhub.com (owned by eBay).
Additionally, many tickets at popular concerts are reserved for fan club members and presalers like American Express, so the total number of tickets available to the general public is a many fewer than the total seating at the venue.
CODAS
Barrickman, Richard "Rick" Jason, 40, died in Louisville on October 6. He was a drummer and the founder and president of the SafeHoop Company. He had played with the Fanatics.
Duncan, Gary Wayne, 45, passed away Friday, October 12, 2007. He was a member of the Everett Duncan & 3D Music Group.
Fraser, Nancy Jean, 82, died in Louisville on October 18, 2007. She was a concert and jazz pianist.