NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Tremé's Everyman: Wendell Pierce Back in NOLA

Photo: Rick Wilking/Reuters. The Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

via NYTimes: Television

Home to His Acting and His Activism
By STUART MILLER
Published: March 25, 2009

NEW ORLEANS has always been home for Wendell Pierce. But recently it’s become more than that, so much that he sometimes needs to be in two parts of the city at once.

On March 20 Mr. Pierce, acclaimed as Bunk Moreland on “The Wire,” was scheduled for a 12-hour day shooting the HBO pilot for “Treme,” an exploration of post-Katrina New Orleans by the “Wire” creator David Simon. He was also scheduled to be at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the revitalization of the hurricane-battered Pontchartrain Park, one of the city’s historically black neighborhoods. In both places Mr. Pierce was essential.

In “Treme” he plays the trombonist Antoine Batiste, struggling to find work while coping with a scattered family. “The show follows the lives of a disparate group of people during the rebuilding,” he said. It features a range of characters, like a chef and a civil rights lawyer, and an ensemble that includes Steve Zahn, Khandi Alexander, the Oscar nominee Melissa Leo and the “Wire” actor Clarke Peters. “My character,” Mr. Pierce said, “is an everyman.”

But in Pontchartrain Park he is no everyman; he is the leader, the president of the Community Development Corporation who spent eight months planning and negotiating with government and insurance officials to build affordable and environmentally friendly homes that will preserve the community’s character.

But the city doesn’t run as smoothly as a television series. The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority changed the groundbreaking’s location twice and start time thrice, leaving Mr. Pierce unable to sneak away from his day job.

“My whole frustration in dealing with the redevelopment, I’ve used that for my character,” he said. “I’m enjoying the fact that art is imitating life.”

In August 2005 he arrived at his parents’ house in Pontchartrain Park for a family gathering just in time to flee the storm. He moved his octogenarian parents to Baton Rouge, then worked to restore their home; they returned two years ago.

Still Mr. Pierce wanted to do more.

Photo: Cheryl Gerber for The New York Times

Wendell Pierce is a New Orleans native who stars as a trombonist in a pilot (from David Simon of “The Wire”) named for the area.

His first step was, naturally, artistic. He acted in an independent movie about the renowned cornet player Buddy Bolden. He starred in a “Waiting for Godot” with the hurricane as central metaphor; in 2006 it was staged in New York, then in 2007 on the streets of New Orleans. And he turned down another TV role to shoot the pilot of “Treme,” though HBO has not committed to the series (but given its track record with Mr. Simon, that seems likely).

Mr. Simon said Mr. Pierce was integral to his show because “he totally understands that in New Orleans, the nuances have nuances.”

“To do this without him would be fraudulent,” he added.

[read on...]

HBO: Copyright Hall of Shame?

via Fred Benenson's blog:

We Are One if You Are HBO

photo by jurvetson on flickr

Techdirt is reporting that Against Monopoly is reporting that HBO is sending take down notices to people who have uploaded their own recordings of the Inaugural Concert: We Are One.  I haven’t been able to verify this, but if it is indeed the case, it would seem that HBO is misunderstanding their rights under copyright law. Note that I am not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice.

Since HBO merely owns the copyright to their recording of the concert, they can’t control what other people were doing with their own recordings from their own cameras. This is because a work is not entitled to copyright protection unless it is fixed. The actual performance that happened that evening wasn’t fixed or copyrighted until it ended up on HBO’s tapes (or hard drives).

If the content of the concert was in the public domain or free (e.g., The Star-Spangled Banner is in the public domain since it was created prior to 1923), then any audience member who recorded it had the right to make a recording of it and distribute that recording since they owned the copyright to the video. Putting aside questions of anti-bootlegging laws (which are arguably unconstitutional and not relevant to DMCA takedown notices), it is not clear that HBO can prevent distributions of privately filmed performances of public domain works that were performed in a public venue, which, if the Against Monopoly report is correct, is what part of what they’re trying to do.

However, according to the Wikipedia page, a lot of non-public-domain non-free content was performed.

Which means that by recording and distributing a live performance of say, a Bruce Springsting song, an audience member might be infringing on the boss’ copyright, but probably not HBO’s copyright. Does anyone know more about bootlegging laws and how they might or might not apply here?

So what right does HBO have to send takedown notices for other people’s works? Sending fraudelent DMCA takedown notices is itself a violation of the DMCA, so if you’ve been threatened by HBO for posting videos you recorded at the inaugural concert, you probably have the right to file a putback, and perhaps take action against HBO. [emphasis ng's]

There are bigger questions, however, about the inaugural committee’s right to leverage tax payer money and support to sell off exclusive rights of a public event to a private entity such as HBO. I’m not clear on whether their status as a legal entity would entitle them to do this.

Anyway, while I would like to see HBO put the concert into the public domain along with other works of the federal government, that is probably impossible as the recording contains works that are in copyright, such as Bruce Springsting songs.

There is the possibility that HBO could put the video but not the audio into the public domain, but I do not think there is an easy work around for including both the audio and video. This is not to say, however, that HBO is justified in sending nasty letters to citizens interested in helping celebrate an important event.

I sympathize with the inaugural committee’s desire to produce and execute a fantastic recording of a historic moment in American history. I know that this kind of production costs money and there must be incentives for creating it. But I think the conflicts between HBO and citizens indicate that copyright is not the proper incentive here. It alienates too many citizens interested in documenting their own version of history, and given the context and content of our current president’s administration, sets the wrong precedent for sharing that history. HBO should be ashamed of themselves.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Copyright, Law, Music, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Wassup 2008

Via Americablog;

              Hysterical. First, watch the original commercial from 1999;

...then the new one:

Election '08: Curb Your Enthusiam?

Image Via

via Huffington Post:

Waiting for Nov. 4th
by Larry David
Posted October 22, 2008 | 06:44 PM (EST)

I can't take much more of this. Two weeks to go, and I'm at the end of my rope. I can't work. I can eat, but mostly standing up. I'm anxious all the time and taking it out on my ex-wife, which, ironically, I'm finding enjoyable. This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it's worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there's still a potential cure. With this, there's no cure. The result is final. Like death.

Five times a day I'll still say to someone, "I don't know what I'm going to do if McCain wins." Of course, the reality is I'm probably not going to do anything. What can I do? I'm not going to kill myself. If I didn't kill myself when I became impotent for two months in 1979, I'm certainly not going to do it if McCain and Palin are elected, even if it's by nefarious means. If Obama loses, it would be easier to live with it if it's due to racism rather than if it's stolen. If it's racism, I can say, "Okay, we lost, but at least it's a democracy. Sure, it's a democracy inhabited by a majority of disgusting, reprehensible turds, but at least it's a democracy." If he loses because it's stolen, that will be much worse. Call me crazy, but I'd rather live in a democratic racist country than a non-democratic non-racist one. (It's not exactly a Hobson's choice, but it's close, and I think Hobson would compliment me on how close I've actually come to giving him no choice. He'd love that!)

The one concession I've made to maintain some form of sanity is that I've taken to censoring my news, just like the old Soviet Union. The citizenry (me) only gets to read and listen to what I deem appropriate for its health and well-being. Sure, there are times when the system breaks down. Michele Bachmann got through my radar this week, right before bedtime. That's not supposed to happen. That was a lapse in security, and I've had to make some adjustments. The debates were particularly challenging for me to monitor. First I tried running in and out of the room so I would only hear my guy. This worked until I knocked over a tray of hors d'oeuvres. "Sit down or get out!" my host demanded. "Okay," I said, and took a seat, but I was more fidgety than a ten-year-old at temple. I just couldn't watch without saying anything, and my running commentary, which mostly consisted of "Shut up, you prick!" or "You're a fucking liar!!!" or "Go to hell, you cocksucker!" was way too distracting for the attendees, and finally I was asked to leave.

Assuming November 4th ever comes, my big decision won't be where I'll be watching the returns, but if I'll be watching. I believe I have big jinx potential and may have actually cost the Dems the last two elections. I know I've jinxed sporting events. When my teams are losing and I want them to make a comeback, all I have to do is leave the room. Works every time. So if I do watch, I'll do it alone. I can't subject other people to me in my current condition. I just don't like what I've turned into -- and frankly I wasn't that crazy about me even before the turn. This election is having the same effect on me as marijuana. All of my worst qualities have been exacerbated. I'm paranoid, obsessive, nervous, and totally mental. It's one long, intense, bad trip. I need to come down. Soon.

Palin Flow

Palin Flow, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).

thanks Ardele!