(no subject)

[sen_no_ongaku]

This past Friday, I received a letter from Johanna Lawrenson, Abbie Hoffman's widow, that I could not use the text from Steal This Book I had set for wavyarms's recital on March 4.

Let me stress that the temporal proximity ot the letter to the performance is not her fault. It took inordinately long to obtain information about who held the performance rights from the book's publisher, and in that time I had to present wavyarms with music to rehearse.

Nevertheless, the depth of irony in...

1) Having to ask for permission to set text from a book its author honestly wanted people to steal,

2) Being denied that permission in an effort to protect the legacy of one one of the most notorious and outspoken antiestablishment figures of the late '60s and early '70s, essentially

3) Refusing an artist the right to express himself fully

...is nigh overwhelming.

So I spent Saturday afternoon adapting the Wikipedia article on Molotov cocktails to fit the preexisting music. I feel that this diminishes the power of Cocktail greatly, as what attracted me to Hoffman's text was not only the juxtaposition of its clinical, neutral tone with the intense emotion underneath, but also speaking through a historical document. Even though the new words are not wholly mine, they are in my voice, and I feel that changes the tone of Cocktail to one more of petulance than of despair.

Interestingly, it only just occurred to me that Cocktail is as much about despair as it is impotent rage.

Comments

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

That's so weird.

Sorry to hear about the setback.

[2h2o.livejournal.com]

Can you set the text of the rejection letter to music?

[osirusbrisbane.livejournal.com]

This strikes me as a great idea. You could even throw in info from your own paragraph above about why you wanted to use Hoffman's work. (Then again, I'm nobody's target demographic)

[(Anonymous)]

This? Is an excellent idea if you can work it. I like this so hard. And, a lot.

[rissymonster.livejournal.com]

the above is me, since lj apparently logged me out.

[sen-no-ongaku.livejournal.com]

Would I have to ask for her permission? I don't know how copyright laws work on correspondence...

[rissymonster.livejournal.com]

When I mentioned this to Bobsquatch, he brought up the letter copyright issue as a likelihood. Poopy. Might be worth chatting up some of our attorney friends with to see what might be considered fair use.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Did Ms. Lawrenson give a reason for the refusal?

[sen-no-ongaku.livejournal.com]

Not explicitly, but she strongly implied that she doesn't want people to focus on Hoffman's more...incendiary and perverse side, and stressed his work with grassroots organization and methods of nonviolent confrontation.

Hm.

[traglar.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that it caused you a lot of work and/or led to a less than optimal result compositionally speaking, but an irony of this level has a certain beauty to it.

[sen-no-ongaku.livejournal.com]

irony of this level has a certain beauty to it

I wish I could disagree.