SECTION SEVENTEEN
EMAIL PAGE FOUR 

sm
COLUMN SEVENTY-TWO, JUNE 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)

RUSSIA REMEMBERS GEORGE HARRISON

Subject: to Mr.Al Aronowitz from Russia
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 08:13:40 펍 (MSD)
From: "nvzea" <nvzea@yandex.ru>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

Dear Mr. Aronowitz!

Maybe it`s a bit odd for You to receive this e-mail from Russia. But, as a famous Journalist, You probably receive a lot of such letters from many corners of the world. So I hope You wouldn`t be angry to read these words of mine, a silly 27-old girl :-)

I`m a journalist, too, and I`ve admired when I`ve read some of Your columns about George Harrison. I`m a long-time Beatles-fan and when George has died I tried to search through the Internet something about him. There was a lot of uniform articles and tributes. But Yours were unusual, wonderful. There was warmth of human memories in Your articles. Obviously, using English words, I can`t express all my impressions. When I read Your rememberings I could imagine George as if he were alive. This was because of Your great Gift, Al!

As a journalist, I think I can value others journalists talents. Even if their works are written in English (American) which is not a native language to me.

But it doesn`t matter. It is much more important that people can express their feelings, their love to each other with Words and transmit them to other people. That is what journalism is for.

I believe that George was a very kind-hearted and brave man with a deep, gentle soul. And I believe You are, too. And You are a very, very gifted Writer. Thank You for Your talent!

And I`m proud to tell You, that we, in Russia, also have given a little tribute to George Harrison: There is a CD released. It is called Love One Another

Please, forgive me my VERY bad English (I like to read books in English and German but I can`t speak these languiges; sorry).

I want to wish You Happiness, Health, and, of course, Love. This is all we need

Yours faithfully,

Natalya V.Z, Ekaterinburg, Russia.  ##

* * *

DON HENLEY TELLS OFF HITS MAGAZINE

Subject: FW: Don Henley on Artists' Rights
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 21:28:13 -0700
From: "venire" <venire@znet.com> |
To: "Al Aronowitz \(E-mail\)" <info@blacklistedjournalist.com>

Don Henley is almost as pissed off as you are!

How's the gig coming along?

L R

Don Henley's letter to Hits magazine after they superimposed his face in post-Grammy party photos

Dear Loathsome Trade Hacks,

I was terribly amused by your series of fantasy scenarios detailing my supposed crawl through all the post-Grammy "company store" parties. In truth, I opted for a quiet, candlelit dinner with my beautiful wife at a seaside restaurant. You see, I didn't want to attend any of those sumptuous bashes and be the guy who ordered that one extra glass of champagne that shifted the delicate balance and sent the industry careening over the edge into the abyss of total bankruptcy (although Sony's music group shows a profit of $203 million for this past fiscal year).

In retrospect, though, I probably should have made the scene and kissed some record-company ass. Perhaps I could have gotten my own label deal. Maybe, while standing there admiring the ice sculpture filled with shrimp, I would have had an epiphany, seen the light and been converted: There is no God, there is no government, there are no individuals. There is only THE CORPORATION. The sovereign, almighty, world-governing Corporation -- and we are all here to serve It.

Having thus come to my senses, I, too, would then be able to sign fledgling artists to unconscionable, long-term contracts with all those juicy deduction clauses like the one for breakage that dates back to 1928, when the records were made of shellac and would shatter if dropped. Tried to break a CD lately? Why, you couldn't break one if you wedged it horizontally between Zach Horowitz's [President/COO, Universal Music Group] butt cheeks and told him that all his master copyrights were about to revert to the true owners, the artists.  But never mind that now. Then I could stick those stupid artists with at least 50% of the independent-promotion costs, even though they had nothing to do with allowing that practice to become institutionalized. For an encore, I could whack 'em again with "free goods," packaging deductions, video costs, etc., etc., ad infinitum.

"Sit your temperamental, flaky, naive ass down here, artist. Disgruntled about your deal after your third album sold 5 million copies? Sure, we'll renegotiate with you. We'll just give you what basically amounts to your own money, which we've been holding in the pipeline and collecting interest on, but we're also gonna start the clock all over again and tack on three more albums at the end so that you're essentially starting all over again. It's a beautiful thing. You're gonna love it here-for the rest of your career, which actually could be over in five minutes, but hey, that's not our problem (we own your master copyrights, you boob). So you can just sell the house in the hills and go back to that crappy little town you came from, and the world 'will not long remember what we did here, etc......' We'll just write off any losses we may have incurred (although we really haven't incurred any). It's just the cost of doing business. Then we'll proceed to the next gullible sap with a dream. You came from diddlysquat, and you'll get used to diddlysquat again.

"Meanwhile, here at media-mogul headquarters, we've got to lock up the house in Santa Barbara, as well as the one in the Hamptons (plus the vacation pad in Acapulco) and rush off to get the corporate jet serviced. It's in dire need of a tune-up after all those trips to France, and the new one won't be delivered until we find the next Flavor-of-the-Month and bring in some serious profits (or prophets -- we could really use either). After all, we've got to fund our mass-production assembly line somehow. You know-all the crap we sign just because some 21-year-old A&R man tells us it's brilliant. You can't expect us to sacrifice our bottom line just for the sake of culture. We don't give a shit about culture. That kind of starry-eyed idealism doesn't fit in with our plan for world domination, much less the plans of our board of directors and our major stockholders. We've got quarterly reports to file, and we've got a 90%-plus failure rate that screams out, 'We don't know what the fuck we're doing.'"

("Gentlemen, gentlemen! We've got to protect our phony baloney jobs!" -- Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles)

"I mean, who would have thought those freakin' hillbillies would have sold over 3 million albums and won five Grammys! And no tits, no ass, no cursing, no nothing! Just...uh...musicianship and soulfulness. We don't get it. Is there something we're missing? Is there some hunger out there for authenticity? We're so confused!"

Meanwhile, back in the real world: In order to finally settle these escalating disputes between artists and the record companies with the dignity and class indicative of these times, I have come up with a plan. Hilary Rosen [Executive Director, RIAA] and I will engage in a bout of nude mud wrestling, which will be broadcast on that paragon of good taste, the Fox Network (if Fox doesn't want it, then we'll do it on The WB).  If I win, she has to sleep with Zach Horowitz.  If she wins, I have to purchase a lifetime subscription to HITS magazine -- and actually read it.

Love and kisses,

Don Henley  ##

CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMN SEVENTY-TWO

CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMNS

The Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted at P.O.Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964
The Blacklisted Journalist's E-Mail Address:
info@blacklistedjournalist.com
  

THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST IS A SERVICE MARK OF AL ARONOWITZ

* * *