Monday, March 21, 2011

I Discover Law and the Multiverse

Last fall I wrote about a fun blog I stumbled across called Preslaw.com, which reported all of the major court decisions involving Elvis Presley. Tonight, I heard a story on NPR about a relatively new blog called "Law and The Multiverse," run by two lawyers who are also self described comic book nerds. Their goal is to study the application of the law to those fictional characters who inhabit the universe of comic books and superheros.

Don't snicker too loudly. this stuff is fascinating and the authors are extremely well read and intelligent. Even though my comic book tastes never went much further than Batman and Superman, this material is ripe for legal analysis. I have to admit that my favorite posts dealt with such civil procedure topics as "Shape Shifting and Trial Testimony,""Superheros and Alter Egos" and "The Multiverse and Res Judicata".

For anyone with a passing interest in the outer limits of the law, this is great stuff.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Seminar on Covering Your Assets

I received an email from the Nashville Arts & Business Council regarding an upcoming seminar on artists of all types protecting their assets in the even of an emergency. Given the floods of last May, tornadoes and the horrible disasters we are witnessing in Japan right now this seems like a timely topic, so I wanted to pass the information on:


Cover Your A's (Art, Assets, and Archives)
Emergency Preparedness for Artists 101

Were the May floods in Nashville a wake-up call for you? Can your
career sustain the losses of a flood, studio fire, tornado, or burst
water line? Did you know that most homeowner's and renter's insurance
does not cover losses or liability for your art business?

What: The Arts & Business Council's April Seminar
When: Saturday, April 9, 2011, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Where: The new auditorium in the Howard School Complex (700 Second Avenue South)
To attend: $15 (includes brunch and free copy of Studio Protector).
Register now. Attendance limited to the first 25 participants.

This workshop will help you get started in protecting your career from
losses from both natural disasters and individual emergencies. Most of
the preparedness steps involve a little time and little or no money.
We will have an insurance expert on hand to demystify the topic of
business insurance and to answer your questions, and an artist who was
affected by flood to share lessons learned from the experience. Craig
Nutt, an artist and Director of Programs of CERF+ ( Craft Emergency
Relief Fund + Artists' Emergency Resources) will lead the session and
talk about emergency resources that are available to artists.
Participants will each receive a free copy of the Studio Protector:
The Artist's Guide to Emergencies®.




Presented in partnership with CERF+, Metro Nashville Arts Commission and Tennessee Association of Craft Artists with support from: Windgate Charitable Foundation, Nathan
Cummings Foundation and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Let Us Now Praise Foster & Lloyd


I am pleased to note that my friends Bill Lloyd and Radney Foster are about to release their first new album in a few years (...like 20+). I am also pleased to report that the record. "It's Already Tomorrow" sounds great: the same fantastic combination of vocals, guitars, more guitars and great songs that made them a breath of fresh air the first time around. This time, the record is released on their own Effin Ell label and is available for pre -orders at their website. The record really is an unexpected surprise.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Statistics and Pop Music in Nashville

Richard Florida, writing for The Atlantic, just published a fascinating article called
The Changing Geography of Pop Music .

The article confirms, via statistics, that Nashville leads the world by a hefty margin in its concentration of music businesses (i.e., record labels, publishers, publishers, distributors, recording studios, etc.). The article establishes with quantitative facts what we all have been feeling for years, that there’s something going on here. Despite the clear decline of major label’s country presence, there has been an organic growth of other genres, that can no longer just be seen as an anomaly - as well as a healthy repositioning of the country market. It’s a triumph of an infrastructure that has existed since Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins first started recording here. This infrastructure encompasses everything from studios and engineers, to gear rental companies to CPA’s and lawyers. This is largely why artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, The Who, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and The White Stripes have quietly been recording here for the past 40 years. It’s a good place to get stuff done. As Florida writes, “The ongoing evolution of Nashville has made it into something of a Silicon Valley of the music business, combining the best institutions, the best infrastructure, and the best talent.”

Interestingly, the next top four cities are Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. What (besides Justin Beiber and the Arcade Fire) is going on in Canada?