I LIVE for this kind of news, even when it’s ridiculous like this is:
A music publisher that has accused Australian band Men at Work of stealing the melody to their 1980s smash hit “Down Under” from a campfire song won the first stage of its lawsuit on Thursday seeking royalties from the Aussie anthem.
First off, who knew that “Kookaburra” was actually copyrighted? In my mind, that’s a bit like saying that the publishing rights to “Kumbaya” were owned by Michael Jackson. I was a bit traumatized by this song as a child when I found out that gumdrops did NOT grow on trees. Leave it to the Aussies to portray their country as being even MORE loveable than it already is!
The bigger question here is about how different one melody has to be from another melody to not infringe on copyrights. The whole “My Sweet Lord”/”He’s So Fine” lawsuit from 1971 was one of the first cases I ever encountered as a young music fan that made me question the sanity of people in the industry. Long story short, George Harrison was accused of ripping off “He’s So Fine” in his 1971 hit “My Sweet Lord”, and he lost. This was a big deal, because he was a Beatle, and the Beatles were still seen as other-worldly. Besides, the song was a favorite of mine early on (I loved the cover of Harrison’s album, and it was a double, which meant fold-out cover), and for anyone to malign a song I loved was grounds for…something. The history of this lawsuit is just amazing, and to read it is to read the history of several musical legacies (Beatles, Doo-Wop, Allen Klein) all colliding in an amazingly drawn-out legal dispute that just shows how much greed has ruled much of the music industry.
I really don’t know what to make of the Men at Work lawsuit, although I hope it can be resolved amicably. You have to imagine that the vast majority of that money has already been spent, and that there has to be SOME statute of limitations on what can be recovered 28 years later. In the meantime, here’s the source of the controversy…
I’ve been feeling a bit left out of my normal circle of blogger friends lately, because so many folks are going hog wild over the upcoming 
– Bedtime Stories remains my favorite Madonna CD. I played that bad boy out, and I never felt she was “selling out” by going R&B, because I felt like she pulled it off like it was a natural progression. Besides, “let’s get unconscious honey” has to be one of my all-time favorite lines in any song.
I have had a bit of a block on blogging the past week or so, and it has been compounded by the end of my toughest semester yet in school. In talking with Mike at 
Popdose today posted a review of the 
For about five years, I attended at least one show a year at Red Rocks. Alison Krauss, James Taylor, Tori Amos, Aimee Mann and David Gray…all of them just seem to fit the vibe of the space. Not everyone can pull off a show at Red Rocks, which seems to be the gist of the Rob Thomas article. (That, and the author seems to have it out for him, too) When the artist and the venue connect, it’s absolute magic. When Emmylou Harris hits THAT note, and everyone’s spellbound, the rocks just seem to reflect that magic back on to the crowd. If asked to pick my favorite concert venue, this is the one by a mile.
As a result of the magic, Red Rocks has become THE place for many artists to play. I have heard countless opening acts say “I have always wanted to play here”, and I believe them every time. When you look at an artist like U2, and how a live show at Red Rocks just catapulted their career here in the States, you have to believe that the magic can sometimes be bottled and taken out of the venue. Stevie Nicks got a good concert video out of it, although there was some extensive work to make it fully presentable, including live bits recorded without the crowd there. In fact, most live recordings get a LOT of enhancing. You’d be surprised by how much.
– Heard the 
– Those of you who are Blake Lewis fans should head on over to 
A couple of weeks ago, I was going through some boxes that I have in storage, and I came across a stash of cassette tapes that were just collecting dust. Mainly from the late 80s and early 90s, I have looked at them several times over the years, but never had the heart to part with them. Fast forward a week later, and as I was sitting in my car, changing channels on the radio, I realized that I have a cassette player in my car that I had never used. (Yeah…clueless, right?) Since I just recently wrote about 
Interesting fact that I had completely forgotten about: “Room to Move”, which was a top 10 hit here in the US for Animotion, was written and originally recorded by Climie Fisher. Their version is decent, although the male/female trade-off vocals on the Animotion version provide the more-superior version of the song. In fact, the contrast of vocals between these two versions provided both a blessing and a curse for Clime Fisher. Simon Climie has such a distinct voice that it borders on “love it or hate it”. One of the reasons that I think “Rise” didn’t do well in the US was because there were plenty of male vocalists in the mid- to late-80s doing the sensitive vocals on emotional ballads (Peter Cetera, anyone?) that there just wasn’t a need for CF’s ballad at the time. In fact, it was only when the hip-hop version was released that the song caught fire in other territories.
I think I’ve got myself together here. Went to lunch, and put on Sirius to hear the Michael Jackson memorial. Things were good until “Will You Be There”, and then the floodgates opened. First off, to have Jennifer Hudson sing it is brilliant, given what she’s been through in the past year. But when Michael’s spoke outro of the song played, I got choked up.
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