alexbarnett.net blog : The Lightnet Revisited

was curious to see how the lightnet meme has been doing so I did some searching around.

Building an Relationship Economy | Linux Journal

What can we do -- as music lovers, or as customers -- to find, use, and even pay for, licensed work? Some mechanisms are there, but nothing yet that is entirely in our control -- that reciprocates and engages on the demand side what Creative Commons provides on the supply side.

Doc seems to be approaching the lightnet concept, but from a different angle -- how can listeners take control of their relationships with musicians? My answer is that they start by taking responsibility. There should be a sort of inverse Creative Commons license where the listener takes the initiative to be respectful and can demand to be treated reasonably in return.

I got a lot of reactions to my quickie blog entry on going to the Grammys, mainly annoyed that I did such a half assed job providing details, so here's more detail.

Brett asks how where the Police? (They reunited for a live performance that night). Well, it was incredible to see them doing their thing as a live act, and it definitely was live because they broke out into a space jam for the mid section of "Roxanne". They were ragged and not especially together, but who cares. Stewart Copeland played in that loping and loose style he's known for, Andy Summers did that sadistically understated sound that you've heard a billion times on the radio. Sting tried to be a bit more rock than normal, which is good because he is on my lifetime Most Hated list. All snark aside, it was great and I gushed about it to my seatmates.

My dad asks tell me more about the Grammy awards. ... I feel like a Kalahari pigmy who wants to know what riding a New York subway feels like. Ok, so realize first of all that Stevie Wonder and other pop royalty are not wandering around the lobby, where I had access. Out in the lobby it's people like myself who are modestly esconced in the Bizness, The Bizness contains a wild variety of subcultures, and each of these subcultures is known for having a distinct personality. About half of the people, presumably the business half, were wearing their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and trying not to stare. The other half, presumably the creative types, were dressed to get stared at.

Out of this second half you could almost always figure out their angle instantly. The country people were whacko country, like the guy with squirrel fur braids. The emo bands were instantly recognizable for the slicked down hair style. Also, they mainly skulked rather than pranced. The star fuckers showed an absolute maximum of skin; it was an asymtotic relationship to public nudity. There was a waif model female who was so thin I thought she was going to drop dead. Truly scary, not sexy at all. The hip hop wing was acutely fashionable, and you'd expect, and the thug faction wasn't even remotely scary. There were a disturbing number of child stars in Disney-ish outfits like ball gowns or white suits.

Sorry, I can't tell you who all the famous people were. I just don't care about musicians at this level. The only one I recognized in the lobby was Joan Baez, there for a lifetime achievement award.

My seat was way up in the rafters. The show was clearly about television -- there was an announcer who came out and told the stars in front that they had to sit down before the cameras went on; there were long breaks for commercials; etc. I could tell where the big stars were sitting because camera crews would swarm them.

After the show I had to go straight home to walk my dogs, so that was it. People-watching in the lobby was the point of the thing for me, and it did not disappoint in any way.