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----- Forwarded message from Ruben Safir <ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com> -----

Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:52:38 -0400
From: Ruben Safir <ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com>
To: April Centrone <april.centrone-at-gmail.com>
Cc: Ruben Safir <ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com>
Subject: Re: hello
In-Reply-To: <f25a5db50804071823u57fcfc2gfa4e9bfacfa14d28-at-mail.gmail.com>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i

On Mon, Apr 07, 2008 at 09:23:34PM -0400, April Centrone wrote:
  

By the way, for what it's worth, the contract the boy had was not from
Bassam.. it was a mandatory contract he had to have signed as a student
filmmaker for his teacher..

    

Uch more craziness.

I wouldn't have likely signed it at all, unless it was a release.  It 
doesn't take a lawyer to access that and if it did then I'd had not
signed it.

I've now done dozen of interviews and release hundreds of works and nobody
ever requested a contract.  

What was his name so I don't have to refer to him as the derogitive
"boy" ;)

Ruben

  

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 8:10 PM, April Centrone <april.centrone-at-gmail.com>
wrote:

    

Ruben,

I admire your passion and knowledge of the subject, but the expression
is misdirected. I am not asking you to sign anything. i am not accusing you
of anything. I merely asked you about where we go from here.

It is not Bassam who is to blame if you want to end our progress up to
this point. Bassam is a musician who has had bad experiences, he has every
right to be nervous. This is his work, and we all have to bend to our
colleagues sometimes, even if they are wrong or paranoid or whatever the
case may be.

I personally trusted you, that's why I got you involved. But I don't
promise every creative person I am associated with also has a keen business
sense and knowledge of modern-day technology.

Let's start over and try to move forward.

April


On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 7:44 PM, Ruben Safir <ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com> wrote:

      

On Mon, Apr 07, 2008 at 01:05:42PM -0400, April Centrone wrote:
        

Hi Rubin,
I'm not sure I understood your email fully. So where are you
posting/archiving the video? We are proceeding forward as usual I
          

assume..
        

thanks,
April

          

I have a political organization called New Yorkers for Fair Use.  It
fights
against restrictive copyright laws.  I wouldn't sign any copyright
contracts.

I believe that restrictive copyrights, especially in the digital arena,
obstructs
education, economic development, impedes cultural exchange, and
endangers creatitivy.

Furthermore, I talked at length to your cameraman.  He said that Basaam
was very slow
in signing even the consent for an interview.  That is just bizzare
because the boy,
I forgot his name, doesn't need a consent for an interview in the first
place.
No one can tell him what he can and can not write.  This really gets
twisted.

Regardless, what your trying to accomplish, cultural exchange and
education is
absolutely inconsistant with the position Basaam has taken, and frankly,
I'm
offended by sentence "We are legally bound, and there are
repercussions".

I have about a dozen lawyers who work with NY Fair Use.

You are NOT legally bound and I certainly wouldn't get involved with
any contractial agreements which would make me legally bound.

We will put the tape into our archive.  We have no reasonable fair use
purpose for any of it's content at the moment, but it is footage of
authentic middle eastern classical music and it might come in handy
for something important some day.

Meanwhile, the spirit of this is not conduscive to your mission.  It's
completely
contrary to mine.  You might not relize that yet, but your a bright
women,
and eventually you'll figure that out.

Keep in mind, the entire genera of Jazz would not have developed if
faced
with this kind of legal bluster.

"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to
our
own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own
society."

I'm not a sharecropper.

Ruben



        

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 6:32 AM, Ruben Safir <ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com>
          

wrote:
        

On Mon, Apr 07, 2008 at 12:42:14AM -0400, April Centrone wrote:
            

Hi Rubin,

Thanks so much for attending last Thursday. Did you set up the
              

video?
        

It's
            

very important that it is not broadcasted, and not just because we
              

are
        

perfectionists. :)

We are legally bound, and there are repercussions if it's let out
              

without
            

being approved and signed off by contract. This private area on
              

your
        

site
            

sounds satisfactory. The camera man we had we personally hired.
              

Even
        

allowed by invitation to tape, he still had to sign a contract
              

ensuring
        

there would be no private distribution.

              

Yeah - I'm not going to do that because I find that to be imoral
in principle.  I spoke to the kid on the subway hope and he made
clear that its too difficult to get anything done with regard to
promotion and education with the ensemble and/or school.  I would
never ever sign such a contract.

I don't have time to educate anyone right now on the damage such
use of copyright poses to public education, not to mention the
damage it does to promotion of individual artists and schools,
but I'm going to back off this project for other artists and
educational programs that permit collaberation and education.

I'm cc'ing Michael on this.  We'll likely to just privately archive
the tape since I hate to destroy information.

Good luck April.  Your very very talented.

Ruben


--
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn,
            

like
        

Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world
            

 - RI
        

Safir 1998

http://fairuse.nylxs.com  DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS -
            

RI
        

Safir 2002

"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"

"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming
            

sharecroppers to
        

our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
            

our own
        

society."

"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be
damned.<
You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology
            

have
        

been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt.  I
            

guess
        

you missed that one."

(c) Copyright for the Digital Millennium

            

--
 http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world  - RI
Safir 1998

http://fairuse.nylxs.com  DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI
Safir 2002

"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"

"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to
our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own
society."

"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be
damned.<
You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology have
been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt.  I guess
you missed that one."

(c) Copyright for the Digital Millennium

        

 --
April Centrone
www.myspace.com/aprilsoprano321
april.centrone-at-gmail.com
732-895-5357

      

-- 
April Centrone
www.myspace.com/aprilsoprano321
april.centrone-at-gmail.com
732-895-5357