Dear Universal Music Group:
I am the proprietor of a music blog (ondeafears.com). We have a small but (I hope) devoted following–in April 2009 we have averaged over 800 hits per day.
Yesterday I published a post entitled “The Best of Music of 1980,” which is exactly what it sounds like–I highlighted the very best albums of that year.
One of the albums I highlighted was by a band called Blue Angel. I was excited to be able to draw attention to this band, because their self-titled and only album is unknown except for to the most hardcore record collector. This is an unjust fate, not only because it is a terrific album, but also because it is at least somewhat historically important as the first appearance on record of future pop star Cyndi Lauper.
The album was out of print for...
Lifestyle
Dear Richard and Feargal,
I am writing to ask for clarification on an important point: do you believe the Digital Economy Bill requires full debate in the House of Commons?
The Bill has been debated in the Lords, but it has not received scrutiny and debate from the democratically elected chamber of Parliament.
The Open Rights Group strongly believes that full democratic scrutiny is vital for this Bill, since it includes measures that would affect people’s access to vital services and to free speech – rights that should not be legislated away without full debate of all the consequences.
Your organizations have recently appeared to be in favour of excluding genuine debate in the Commons from the passage of the Bill, minimizing the scrutiny given to its most controversial clauses...
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Dear Mr. Bach:
Thank you for taking time from your day to read my letter. I assume the subject of music continues to be of interest to you. If I am wrong, please feel free to toss this aside.
First, I would like to thank you for all that you have composed. Your music is of great importance to me. To give just one example, in 1991 my wife and I attended the Christmas Eve Concert at Carnegie Hall. A string orchestra played your Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Throughout the performance, I was slack-jawed. I had never heard anything like it. I was amazed. Up to that point, I had been writing popular songs as well as some relatively simple pieces for guitar. I had just begun to compose music for orchestral instruments; that has been my principal focus ever since. Your work was and continues...
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Dear Sirs,
It is with deep sense of respect that I greet you. With profound esteem as well, we appreciate your invaluable roles in the growth of the Nigerian music industry in particular, and the entertainment industry in general. What the combination of your robust personalities means to most of us is nothing short of being a blessing to our generation as enviable mentors. My own respect is not just fraternal, but somewhat avuncular as well. You have been championing the business of entertainment with phenomenal contributions as veteran producers and all-encompassing showbiz personalities. Thus it wouldn’t be out of place if something like a knock descends from on high, directly from the ancestors and lands on the head of any of us, your very junior colleagues for disrespecting the...
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Dear Ann,
Although your initial thought may be “who the threads is this?,” I’ll end the suspicion with a little explanation.
But firstly, thank you for the fantastic fabric strips you provided to Art Partners for their ‘One World Globe’ project. It got under way at the Social Work and Community Services expo at Bunbury ECU on 14th October 2014. Thanks to your gracious contribution, can we now consider this the Globe’s day of birth? – Here’s a photo of the bouncing baby project, nursed in the caring hands of Helen Seiver.
As for me, I was in attendance at the expo, and honoured to be part of the creative process, not least because I was able to meet many of the wonderful people associated with Art Partners. Unfortunately I was unable to meet you on the day, but I hope to in the...
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Dear School Board members and Superintendent Grier,
Opportunity is knocking loudly at your door, and you have the power to revolutionize education. No doubt these are truly tough times with regard to funding. At the same time, a significant transition is at our doorstep. In a recent editorial in the Union Tribune, County Superintendent Randy Ward called for flexibility in school funding. He is absolutely spot-on. Since the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA) (Public Law 85-864) put federal dollars toward discipline specific curriculum (science and math), and more recently the No Child Left Behind legislation which unintentionally emphasizes reading and math (because they are tested and test scores are tied to funding), educational priorities have shifted from preparing a...
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Dear Mr.Davis:
The reading of your letter of August 21 concerning the dire straits of the Center for Photographic Art caused a palpable sense of deja vu all over again and morbid inevitability. It was October 28, 2001 when this author wrote an obituary for the Friends of Photography under similar circumstances.
It may be useful to determine the exact constituent parts of a photographic arts organization. A photographic arts organization is the moronic convergence one or more visionaries, financial supporters, a geographic location and/or physical plant, a board, staff, and rank-and-file members. It is only when all of these elements coalesce that a photographic arts organization will even begin. A photographic arts organization also must develop an audience, which would tend to...
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Dear Dean,
The educational product you currently offer is misleading, and it’s having a toxic effect on our culture in the form of debt.
Your university’s degrees feed on artists' aspirations and promise a return of professional advancements such as high-end sales, prestigious galleries and academic careers. Yet these opportunities rest in increasingly fewer hands, and the mechanisms of privilege are ignored. The 99% of us either balk at the financial risk of pursuing higher art education, or will spend our entire lives struggling to pay off our loans. We are forced to push our art practice aside to work long hours at unsatisfying jobs that enable us to keep pace with climbing interest payments. This system resembles indentured servitude where the few capitalize on the labor of the...
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Dear Mr Juncker, Dear Members of the European Parliament,
We, the undersigned professional and representative association of independent performing artists with culture, education, civic initiatives, and human rights in our focus, would normally consider it a very positive step and a great honour that a representative of our country may fulfill the post of EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth, and Citizenship.
Under the conditions prevailing in Hungary, however, and with hearings just around the corner for your Commissioners-designate, we, concerned European citizens and independent Hungarian artists, would like to ask you a few questions regarding the role of the EU Commissioner for Culture, Education, Youth, and Citizenship.
1. What kind of citizenship policy do...
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Dear Nurse,
Unfortunately I don’t know your name or a comfortable way for me to deliver this to you. However, I hope that somehow you get to read this. You are an African American woman maybe in your 40s or 50s. You were working this morning at a free clinic in downtown Syracuse. You had my file and saw that it said “female” and that I am transgender. You also knew that I was a man who has slept with men. There were numerous reasons that you could be judging me. However you greeted me with a big smile and asked me how I was feeling. You asked whether I had a good holiday and seemed completely at ease. We joked a bit and it was a stress free experience for me.
No one else at your workplace has treated me like this. The receptionist for instance did not return my smile or say...
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