Comments on: Morning Links

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:00:15 +0000

The rock label hearings from '85. The entire 5 hours is full of win, but full videos of Hot for Teacher and We're not Gonna Take It @ 23:00, Tipper and the PMRC @ 33:00, with a still photo of a nude album cover and hilarious lyrical quotes @ 52:35, Zappa starts @ 1:24:00, Dee Snider starts @ 2:24:00 C-Span Video

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:38:35 +0000

I’ve never much cared for Dee Snider (indifference, not dislike) but that just changed. Oh snap!

By: John Jenkins

John Jenkins — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:16:59 +0000

It’s too hard for them to figure out whether a person is a professional photographer or just a hobbyist. The camera policy is a heuristic that lets them approximate that distinction based on the equipment. There will be some type I & type II errors involved, but it’s easily enforced and easily understood (as a practical matter, I suspect the policy collapses into no cameras with detachable lenses, since that’s the closest proxy the average security person would have for what makes a camera professional). Since the stakes are so low, the errors aren’t that important.

No one has made any significant argument as to why the policy would be illegal because, I suspect, there is no good argument for it being illegal (one lawyer made some assertions in the article, but not a good argument). A permanent policy in a public park regarding cameras might well violate some liberty interest (I’m not really sure). But when the owner of the park (the city) rents the park temporarily to a private entity (the festival), then it makes sense for the festival to be able to assert some control over the area it rented.

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:46:57 +0000

I see a problem with the photography policy. If they banned cameras altogether, I’d have less of a problem with it than leaving it up to security personnel to decide what makes a camera “professional.” I know some hobbyists, like my father-in-law, that enjoy taking pictures and their only camera has a detachable lens. It’s highly unlikely he’d be able to take a picture that he could use to make money off the event.

Whether the policy is illegal or not, I’m not so sure. I’m inclined to think that an outdoor venue in a public area, presumably with only a small section of the park being controlled, should probably not have restrictions at all. Unless there are police on stage, then obviously you shouldn’t be allowed to take pictures. /s (although I hope that’s not needed)

By: Tolly

Tolly — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:28:01 +0000

Off topic – but a good simple explanation of prohibition (via BoingBoing):

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/29/cartoon-about-prohib.html

By: B

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:58:36 +0000

I’ve been trying for weeks to muster some basic human compassion for the Gores over the failure of their marriage, but then I keep coming back to how they’ve both spent their lives telling me (and my parents, back in the day) how to run mine. So…fuck ‘em.

By: Rhayader

Rhayader — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:48:56 +0000

He did write “The Mothers of Prevention,” which is not his best material IMO, but still a cut above the rest, using Congressional testimony (i.e., Gore’s own words against him) as the background track.

Yeah he didn’t shy away from criticizing his government. I’ve always loved the version of “Dickie’s Such an Asshole” from the YCDTOSA series.

The FBI (gonna get your number!)

By: JS

JS — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:39:01 +0000

Excelsior!

Sorry, I just been wanting to say that.

By: hattio

hattio — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:38:52 +0000

Radley,
Count me with the other posters who see nothing wrong with the photography policy. You rent a public park, you get to make the rules. Don’t like it, don’t go see their show. Wanna see their show? Play by their rules. Seems pretty simple.

By: Marty

Marty — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:04:10 +0000

I have the Mothers of Prevention on vinyl! Frank did an incredible job of ridiculing everyone. I also loved Abbie Hoffman’s ability to ridicule…

By: Marty

Marty — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:00:50 +0000

#15 | Rhayader-

I agree completely. I respect that he stood up. I still hate Twisted Sister- that was a long summer with their crappy songs on the radio ALL. THE. TIME.

By: Cynical in CA

Cynical in CA — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:57:19 +0000

#6 | Rhayader — “Too bad Frank’s not still around — I’m fairly confident he could have found a much more effective way to satirize this than saying “oh snap” on some show I’ve never heard of.”

That effective way would have been writing “Al & Tipper — The Rock Opera.”

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:55:11 +0000

Got a good laugh out of Dee. He does have a point.

I liked the Twisted Sister Christmas videos.

By: Cynical in CA

Cynical in CA — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:53:22 +0000

“Three bullet points of good news this morning. Granted, all three are qualified victories. But hey, that’s better than three bullet points of bad news, right?”

So sorry, nothing Congress does can be considered good news by any rational person, except for voting itself out of existence.

“No man’s life, liberty or fortune is safe while our legislature is in session.” – Benjamin Franklin

Side note: Thanks a million Ben for giving us a republic, if we can keep it.

By: MacGregory

MacGregory — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:32:31 +0000

Hmmm…the “offensive labeling” fiasco. Was that before or after the “backwards satanic messages” scare? So long ago and so much “for the children” bullshit since then, I can’t seem to keep the chronology straight.

By: Rhayader

Rhayader — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:10:39 +0000

@Marty: Hey he was fighting Tipper’s bullshit way back in the day. The music sucks, but at least he’s sticking up for basic freedom. Same goes for John Denver.

Zappa’s music was awesome though.

By: SJE

SJE — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:09:32 +0000

Mark R: most congressional press releases are indistinguishable from bowel movements

By: SJE

SJE — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:08:05 +0000

I think Dee Snider has a great point. The Democrats are always crowing when some preaching moralizer from the GOP gets caught with his pants down. It’s only fair when the same happens to preachy moralizers in the Democratic party: Tipper Gore, Eliot Spitzer. It probably explains why people were easy on Bill Clinton for the whole Lewinsky thing.

By: Marty

Marty — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:04:16 +0000

I always hated Dee Snider. Until today.

By: Mark R.

Mark R. — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:49:34 +0000

@SJE

I believe they would write a press release for every bowel movement if someone would pretend to congratulate them.