"All Children are born artists. The problem is to remain artists as
 we grow up."
 - Pablo Picasso

"I urge readers of this list to be wary of some of the angry anti- 
 ASCAP diatribes posted here, and to take some of the vague  
 insinuations, wild accusations and snide "insider" information with a  
 grain of salt.   As I have said for many years, it's easy to get people  
 upset about things (and ASCAP is the piniata of targets), but much  
 more difficult to develop and champion achievable solutions which can  
 actually make things better.

"And finally, for the lawyers: The views expressed here are my own and  
 do not necessarily reflect those of ASCAP, its directors, officers or  
 staff."
 - Doug Wood (516) 883-0121

"For those who want to talk to me directly, here's my phone:
  (516) 883-0121.  My cell is (516) 423-6021.  If you feel I've
  ducked out of the discussion, or if I can help you in any way,
  just pick up the phone and call me."
 - Doug Wood 7/24/07


>> On Jul 7, 2008, at 2:08 AM, Mark Holden wrote:
>>
>>>> ASCAP board member Doug Wood posted here last week and mentioned  
>>>> that his responses might be deferred until a project was completed. We
>>>> understand time constraints!
>>>>
>>
>> If Doug Wood could find the time to respond at all, he could have put
>> matters to rights.,
>>
>> He either had the data or he didn't.
>>
>> Very simple.
>>
>> More smoke n mirrors, but why?
>>
>> L

"Doug was asked to provide some kind of clarification to his post or cite
 examples in support of his rather harsh and sweeping statements against the
 credibility of unnamed posters on this list. The allegations were just too
 vast to simply let them pass without notice, and a second missive was posted
 in challenge to his remarks.

"As Doug has chosen not to respond to the list in defense of his statements,
 I have little choice but to suspend his subscription to the FMPRO list for
 30 days. 

"While we acknowledge that Doug has the right to make any assertions under
 the sun, he does not have the right to blow smoke and walk away from
 invalidating and unsubstantiated remarks.

"In declining to cite quotes, attributions, reasons, or other specificity to
 his indictments, Doug is employing the same vagary and wild accusations he
 levels against unnamed subscribers on this list. Such behavior will not be
 tolerated.

"At the end of this suspension, however, Doug may reestablish his
 subscription to the FMPRO list without prejudice."

"Thank you for your attention,
 - Mark Holden, FMPRO Admin

On Jul 8, 2008, at 10:41 AM, JJB wrote:
> Well, if you ban him from the group, how can he respond when he
> eventually gets time? Seems like a crazy act of desperation to ban  him.
> There have been no posts to the list from Doug Wood since June 19 and
> there was nothing inflammatory in that email, no insinuations about
> anything that I can see.
  - Joel Brave

On Jul 8, 2008, at 1:11 AM, Pete wrote:
> I think you should lift this silly ban so Doug Wood can defend  
> himself if he chooses. And, we should all respect the fact that he  
> doesn't owe us one second of his personal time if he chooses not to  
> respond. I think that would be the fair thing to do.
> P.S. We have no idea if Doug Wood has even been reading these posts  
> over the past few weeks.

"Doug accuses me of posting a lot... mountain air ;-)
 You simply do not know the history."
 - L

"I will be out of the office starting 05/16/2008.
 I will respond to your message when I return."
 - Sean Goble

"Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be
 played night after night but differently each time."
 - Omette Coleman 

"As composers we are wont to be neurotic, deep, often dark, usually  
 cynical and jaded on some level, fighting our own demons about whether  
 those notes are "good enough" and can ever be "good enough" and  
 digging into the pulp of our emotion and souls..." 
 - Chris Alpair

"Don't hit the jokes, but instead leave room for them - stop the music, 
 let the joke play and then keep going.
 That way you can score it deadpan if you like,
 and that can be even funnier."
 - Alain

"Oh, and hint to the composer: adding bassoon to every [comedic] cue
 doesn't necessarily make the music funnier.  Especially a synthesized
 bassoon."
 - Mark Northam

"Slur a melody once, it's a mistake.  Slur it twice, and it's art."
 - Jim Chase

"When it comes to music, there are no schollars, there is no status,
 no academics and egos. There is only love. There is nothing to music
 but Love."
 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vienna - 1770

"Money comes with the passion. Emptyness comes generaly
 to those who ignore it.
 - Marinho Nobre

"But common sense is no match for the convoluted results
 when ego, greed and money are mixed into a toxic combination that will
 forever undermine any semblance of fairness when it comes to compensating
 greatness.  Just my 2 cents."
 - Robert Stanton 4/16/08

"Never mix emotion with business. Always mix it when creating art. Take  
 lithium and figure out how to do both ;-)"
 - Christopher Kennedy Alpiar

"Rap did not come into being because somebody thought they could  
 make a lot of money with it."
 - Job M. van Zuijlen 041708

"Bingo... and 'classical' music was, to some,
 the crass pop of its day!"
 - Les Hurdle

"There is a great gulf between making art and making money.
 Both require entirely different sets of skills."
 - Fernando Rivas

"ASCAP is a great org... it is those who run it who are questionable."
 - Les Hurdle

"They are also competing with each other, with elephants, and with
 El Greco."
 - Edward Estlin Cummings

"I'd much rather work with a terrific person who can do the job
 than a diva or prima donna who is fantastic but brings a lot of
 turmoil and problems into the fold."
 - Robert Scott Stanton

"Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Can I be Les Hurdle this time?
 ASCAP and et al. may receive license fees, but how are they going 
 actually track this (or not) and be sure we get paid fairly?"

"Seems like this would be one of the *easiest* things to track. But, 
 wanna bet ASCAP receives money, but you don't see any increase on your 
 statements because they refuse to implement any tracking method?"
 - The other Les

"LOL "the other Les"  More or Less, Les is more???"
 - Robert Scott Stanton

"There were 65 people (out of 800 reported members) who posted a total
 of 500  messages since May 1,  2008 (103 in May, 397 in June).
 Hey, I'm the 501st post!

"The average poster posted around 4 or 5 messages.
 The most posts were by Brian Corber at 105 posts. Running a far second was
 John B with 49 posts. Les Hurdle takes the bronze with 41 posts,
 but he's only been  posting since June 10th. Les has an average
 of 3.7 posts per day, to Brian's average 2 posts per day.
 Making Les the most frequent poster.

"Chris Alpair 40, Mark Northam 18, Mark Holden 3.
 Me, I've been exercising my right to remain silent-ish at 19 posts
 (20 if you count this one)." 
 - Pete Surdoval

"Sadly only the bronze, but like you I exercised my right.. I left  
 for a while.
"I urge you not to remain silent as the run up for the ASCAP election
 continues, you have always been able to offer the other POV and often
 data which many of us simply can't obtain."
 - Les Hurdle

"Damn! That's really impressive, Pete! There's a real statistician in the
 house. May all genuflect in your direction!
 And maybe Brian should refrain from posting quite so often.
 Now, if you would just turn that keen intellect towards obtaining
 statistics on how music was used in American television in 2007,
 we'd be MUCH better informed."
 - Mark Holden
 P.S. I'm also dying to know how many ASCAP board members will fit
 on a pinhead. Goodness gracious, that deserves a pithy comeback!"

"And I believe the comeback you are looking for is,
 "It's not how many board members you can put on a pinhead,
 but how many pinheads you can put on the board"?
 (I just supply the puns, I don't necessarily agree with them.)
 - Pete :-)

"Homage to Pete! Brilliant. Superb! Your supremo comeback exceeded all my
 expectations, which were admittedly high.
 I've now struggled back into my chair after collapsing to the floor,
 helpless with laughter. Truly, a quip destined for the FMPRO Quote
 Hall of Fame. That was wonderful!
 In the immortal words we recall from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,
 'I bow to the superior intellect.'

"Now, if you'll get back to those TV music statistics..."
 - Holden ;)

"Popularity and talent are very different things and I don't think
 that either should be used as a measure of the other. No doubt
 that some of the most  gifted composers in the world will never
 be heard by anyone on this list."
 - Tracey Larvenz

"Friends in high places, marketing and sales have much more
 to do with getting your music into big films than does talent."
 - Tracey Larvenz

"Bottom line, it is rarer than fresh dinosaur shit that a client
 will offer to pay you more than you say you are worth.
 They will much more likely try to pay you less, and often
 from way less down to zero."
 - James Ryan 051508

"So 'stark', 'rough', 'lyrical', 'pretty', 'builds'... pretty ambiguous
 (perhaps 'lyrical' is not.)  I propose an abbreviation of the set:
 'strkrflyrptyblds'.  Not to be confused with 'strdrlyrptydrms',
 which is of course string pad swells, as lyrical and pretty
 as you can get, with storm drums.  That should clear things up."
 - Andrew Feazelle   052708

"Andrew, right on. Contemporary and textural scores are just doublespeak
 for 'can't handle counterpoint'.
 - Fernando Rivas

"If only unions would stick together - much could be accomplished!
 The musicians would certainly benefit, and the long-needed
 composer's union would be off to a great start."
 - Mark Northam 052708

"Composers need and deserve a truly independent organization that is
 free from financial obligations to any outside entity, especially
 those that a composer organization could constructively lobby
 on behalf of its members."
 - Mark Northam 062608

"This new organization needs to be strong, independent,
 and not afraid to deal with issues that other composer
 organizations historically have shied away from.
 This is nothing more than any other organized group
 of creatives in Hollywood have, and it's high time
 composers have their own independent organization
 to represent their unique interests."
 - Mark Northam 062608

"Is there a Fmpro archive anywhere? I know we've discussed
 a certain topic, and I wanted to review the discussion
 to refresh my myself on the details. I seem to remember
 someone saying that there is an archive,
 but I can't remember for sure.  Thanks!"
 - Kevin 051208

"http://nxport.com/pipermail/fmpro/"
 - Christopher Kennedy Alpiar

"I've been hearing for quite sometime from agents to directors
 and producers, that film composers who pursue parallel activities 
 in music (if there is even time...) do get an extra point on their favor 
 when it comes to getting commissioned to score a film. 

"I would definitely imagine they would become more of an
 attractive asset to film makers, rather than say, the guy who
 just sits at his computer workstation... 

"Any Thoughts? Any other side activities I didn't list?
 Would this be a good stepping stone for film composers 
 to reach out and match the increasing success songwriters 
 are having with their placements on film? Or just the greatest 
 formula ever to make the best use of downtime? (or both!)"
 - Marinho Nobre

"I'll add golf to the list of extra-curricular activities.
 Where else can you hold a director/producer/music supervisor
 captive for 4-5 hours?"
 - Dave D&D Music 050808

"In music usage terms (for purposes of performance royalties only),
 it would mean that the equaliser would not be the WHO, but the HOW
 -- how the music itself is used -- regardless of how much a
 licensee paid to use the composition and/or master, regardless
 of who composed or recorded it."
 - Gael MacGregor 062808

"Hooooooray.. some one gets it"
 - Les Hurdle

"As far as lobbying and legal action, this is a good reason to form a  
 group. However, I fear that the amount of people (and resources) that  
 identify themselves as "composers" will be basically insignificant in  
 comparison to the forces that we want to change."
 - Steve Roitstein

"Creating some kind of composer's organization seems to be
 a popular idea on this list."
 - Ed Hartman

"Hmm, wonder why I wasn't invited. Oh yeah, 'popular' :-)"
 - Pete Surdoval

"Imagine a world where ASCAP and BMI actually competed for your music
 instead of locking you into excuslive contracts with one or the other.
 That's exactly what foreign writers experience in the US, so why
 should it be denied to US writers?"
 - Mark Northam

"PLEASE... ASCAP [et al] can't 'collect' overseas, only receive  
 whatever they are given and if they do not know your music is on  
 air... how can they 'collect' for you.

"C'mon folks... get the picture here, wake up... sorry  
 if this is 'snarky'... but composers are their own worst enemy."
 - Les Hurdle

"YouTube Ordered To Hand Over User Details:
 A U.S. federal judge has ordered Google Inc. to hand over
 the records of every video users have watched on its video-sharing
 site YouTube to media giant Viacom, records that include users'
 names and IP addresses."

"What if this data were supplied to PRO's!!"
 - Les Hurdle

On 12/13/08 6:08 PM, "Brian Lee Corber"  wrote:
"The hourly rate of the top lawyers at White & Case is One thousand two
 hundred dollars an hour and up.

"So what does that $1,200/hr get you?  Legal advise + a pedicure while
 sipping Dom Perignon..?"
 - Geoff Koch

"You have to be scum to charge that amount of money for anything less
 than having the cure for all the world's ills, and you've gotta be an
 idiot, or too damn wealthy in order to accommodate such disgusting
 avarice. God, we need a revolution."
 - John Bender

"I was in line at the local quickie mart.  The guy ahead of me was  
 whistling parts of Chick Corea's "Spain" with perfect relative  
 pitch.  I had to mention to him that I rarely hear someone whistling  
 on key, let alone such a complex piece.
"Oh, really?  he said, dryly, "I didn't realize I was whistling."   
 True story."
 - Jim Chase

"Did you ask him if he had a license to publicly perform the music?"
 - Brian Lee Corber Attorney at law

"Hey, I saw that exact same guy in a restaurant once!
 The waitress was just about to slap his face when he exclaimed
 "I didn't realize my hand was on your butt!"
 Maybe a true story."
 - John Bender

"When Stravinsky saw the screening of Fantasia, he  
 went ballistic. While he wanted to work in the film medium to a  
 degree, he didn't want his message perverted. Disney, of course,  
 could have cared less what Stravinsky wanted."

"Film producers fit into that weird world where real creativity is a  
 liability."
 - Ted Peterson 12/17/08

"So too much of anything is difficult for any audience to hear.
 Too much repetition is outside our experience. It can't be dissonance
 because any rock band uses sounds that are so dissonant that they
 resemble different shades of noise. Yet people love that stuff.
 So it must be the abstraction of the musical idea: get too abstract
 and you lose audience. Get too repetitive and you lose audience."

"A commercial film is no place to lose audience through music."
 - Ted Peterson

"Newbies are such easy marks, it's incredible.  If I hadn't had
 Les Hurdle as a teacher, I'd probably be rich by now."
 - Brian Lee Corber Attorney at Law

"Maybe, but musicians and composers would be poorer and less educated."
 - Vic Flick

"The code has 5 simple rules:
1. Always show up, no matter what.
2. Respect your fans. If there are less people in the audience,
 than on stage, you play like you've sold out an arena.
3.  Take every gig, unless it is undercutting the market,
 or undercutting a serious composer or fulltime professional musician.
4.  Never publicly criticize another act.
5.  Never let the old man catch you breaking rules 1-4
 on pain of castration."
 - Mark McKee


"As you know, one doesn't do jazz projects to make money...
 If I wanted a hit, I'd do a CD of some musical sludge like
 "Zamfir and 101 Strings play the hits of Kenny G."
 (If I could keep from throwing up while doing the project)"
 - Phil Kelly 12/29/08

"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with
 anything original.  And by the time they get to be adults, most kids
 have lost that capacity."
 - Sir Ken Robinson




TO BE CONTINUED...