And if the RIAA has it's way, that's how it's gonna stay:

Aimster: John Deep v. RIAA

You guys know I'm a Libetarian. Be aware that I also think one of the good things government does is protect against thugs from the RIAA (and similar organizations). Or to put it another way, to protect the rights of citizens to share the wealth of creativity, while protecting the rights of the producers.

Backing up: RIAA (The Recording Industry Association of America) reprents those who control the means of distribution of music via traditional media. Practially, that means they only care about controling what can be distributed by traditional methodes. (Control of course include categorizing and quantifying, and how the hell do yo quantify Africa?) Anyway and unfortunately, controling intellectual property that can be distributed by traditional methods means controling just about everything.

I'm in favor of protecting intellectual property, but these guys are in favor of keeping it all under lock and key controlled by their members (want to take a guess who those members are? Even better, want to take a crack at being invited to the parties?) That screws over small producers, because if you can't get a contract with the members, you can't get distributed. So your work sits on a disk drive someplace and dies when you do. Unless of course someone connected discovers you, and then all you're missing is the royalty checks. And the life. You know how that works.

I admit this is not a simple problem, but the RIAA wants to force it into a "simple problem" mold. The question is, what do we do to make sure people actually get to hear the next Gladys Appears Dazed? Saw the band in concert before she died. She was great. Maybe somebody has her recordings on disk some place. But if the RIAA has its way, you won't ever get the chance to hear Noelle's work.

File sharing isn't just about screwing the big players. It's about keeping some some very good things alive. "Big Stuff" survives for a wihle. "Gladys Appears Dazed" and vast majority of stuff that is marginal, or got a bad break (like a goddamned house fire) disappear into nothingness. And with today's technolgy, allowing that to happen would be criminal.

Government should protect intellectual property rights; it should also protect the legacy of what has been created by people like Noelle Hovey. Industry needs to be reined in, and that is something government can do.

Otherwise why not let it all fall to the strongest and the most ruthless?

ENDNOTE: In building links for this long comment, I noticed that the RIAA site seems to be gone, or experiencing technical difficulties. I take this as a very good sign.

ENDNOTE 2: I know this wasn't supposed to be a heavy post, but I can't get "Dead Pet Fixation" out of my head right now. I blame the RIAA for the fact that I can't spread the meme.

I had the pleasure to hear J.P.Barlow speak at a conference at HBS. Barlow is one of the founders of the EFF (an organization that, by the looks of their staff, has not enough Africa in it, either). Barlow wrote lyrics for the Grateful Dead, and he talked about that as a metaphor for how companies should do business on the Internet. When bootlegs from Dead concerts started showing up, he related, their record company wanted to know if they should go after the bootleggers. The band said no, and the bootleg tapes became a kind of currency among Deadheads, who of course are one of the most loyal fanbases ever, outside of a major religion. I don't think it ended up "costing" the Dead, in the long run.

I have a quite long list of questions about the moral and legal lines we should draw about copyright, which I'll get around to typing up at some point. But Mark -- you're dead on. The RIAA ain't nothin' but a racket, baby, keeping us from hearing the real racket.

Hey Mark. I was a collaborator of Noelle's some years before Gladys Appears Dazed. We played together in SW Virginia, and then also in London UK, where I and our collaborator John Hicks lost track of her. We learned of her death just a couple of years ago, having found sonictonic.com by chance googling. (That's how I found you too, BTW).

The good news is I do have some of her old recordings (1987-1992) I'd be happy to share with a fan. Do you have any to trade? I'm especially interested in "Dead Pet Fixation" -- that's a song she wrote and we co-arranged circa 1991, so I'd be absolutely floored to hear a later version of it. She wrote it partly as an ironic self-commentary after we arranged and recorded her "Dead Cat Song." I would also love to hear any personal memories you have about her. She was a good friend, and it just plain sucked to lose her twice. Please drop me a note and we'll develop a meme-spreading strategy.

Does anyone know what happened to Noelle Hovey of Gladys Appears Dazed?

I was shocked to learn of her death today. My brother & I went to several of her shows at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT and we had the pleasure of speaking to her after each show. She was a very cool person

Does anyone know what happened to Noelle Hovey of Gladys Appears Dazed?

I was shocked to learn of her death today. My brother & I went to several of her shows at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT and we had the pleasure of speaking to her after each show. She was a very cool person.

If there is a Gladys Appears Dazes album available, please let me know. ttrum33@yahoo.com

Noelle Hovey died when the building she lived in burned down. I heard that she was actually outside the building when the fire started, but she ran in to get her baby and didn't make it out.

By the time I wrote my rambling comment it was years later, and I couldn't find anything on the web about the story.

But yeah, she was great; wish I had a CD.

Are there any albums from Gladys Appears Dazed?
I am a friend of Priestley (who wrote above). I also have some videos of Noelle as a do-wop singer in 1986 in an R&B band. This is not embarassing "old-videos-ala-Alanis" kind of stuff, but hard kicking (cover versions) where Noelle was showing a lot of soul, and of course that amazing voice.
I am going to see about putting it into dig format.
Any other footage around?
Cheers,
John

I'm (was) the guitarist for "Gladys" - wow, what a trip to find this thread!

Noelle's death (and her daughter Lily's death) were a huge tragedy. She and I collaborated in Gladys from 1992-ish until about a year before she died. We were starting to talk about possibly starting up another project but then, well, we didn't.

I released a CD of her songs with Gladys, as well as some demos of stuff we were going to get around to and other stuff that was just hers from that time period. I've also got Gladys' two releases and a video of us at The Sting and a live recording of our last show (at BAR). That last one is on DAT and I no longer have a DAT player, so I can't even listen to it. I've got copies of her notebooks and lyrics, etc. And plenty of fond memories - I thinkn about her often.

Anyhow, if you are interested in any of this stuff, let me know (rickciervo(at)mac.com) and I can make some CD copies and send them along.

-Rick

I'm sitting here crying having just heard of Noelle's death. I know that it's been years since it happened. I lost track of Noelle about a year after she moved to London and tried to find her in the mid 90's with no luck. Today I was going through an old briefcase and found a letter that she sent me from Prague (going to France for a day then back to London). I decided to check again and found this and other links giving me the awful news. John, it's been too long, I hope that you're well. I only have photos of Noelle from our time in the 'burg before she left the states. I'd love some of her music to remember her by.

I've just posted some old music from Noelle's time in rake, our Blacksburg, VA band, circa 1989-90. Please pop in, give a listen, drop a note, etc.