Comments on: And Ed Norton Begat Yogi Bear, Who Begat Homer Simpson, Who…. http://madisonian.net/2005/12/12/and-ed-norton-begat-yogi-bear-who-begat-homer-simpson-who/ a blog about law, tech, culture, and related things Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:59:42 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: donald ahearn http://madisonian.net/2005/12/12/and-ed-norton-begat-yogi-bear-who-begat-homer-simpson-who/comment-page-1/#comment-20747 donald ahearn Wed, 21 Dec 2005 04:40:52 +0000 http://madisonian.net/?p=464#comment-20747 I toured with the Grateful Dead in the late 80's and early 90's. This was a time when the band had claimed a new generation of listeners, and consumers. Their marketing ideal worked very well--all of us newcomers caught onto the best parts of 1968 very quickly. They created good will by allowing and encouraging taping (DAT was just becoming prevalent at that time)(and with a usually superior product), and the new fans reciprocated through purchasing millions of tickets, Record label CD's, and vast amounts of related products; all this with scant mainstream marketing efforts by the DEAD (but huge and free word of mouth). Jerry was a very smart guy, as his fans have always realized. I'm surprised, I guess, that someone decided to abandon an element of what most of us who were lucky enough to spend significant time around this band, realized was an essential and effective dynamic between a large group of people. Also, as any poet knows (or any artist, I would guess), appropriation is a necessity. I steal from Rilke whenever I can figure out a way to manage it. You never really have a prayer of copying; if lucky, you may be able to emulate while attempting to steal. Appropriation was a hot topic back at my MFA program at Goddard College in the mid-90's. As in, how much John Ashbery could you cut and paste into your own work, without violating a law. Poets are lucky, as we have almost no audience, and stay out of trouble this way. However, it seems the debate was just getting started. I toured with the Grateful Dead in the late 80’s and early 90’s. This was a time when the band had claimed a new generation of listeners, and consumers. Their marketing ideal worked very well–all of us newcomers caught onto the best parts of 1968 very quickly. They created good will by allowing and encouraging taping (DAT was just becoming prevalent at that time)(and with a usually superior product), and the new fans reciprocated through purchasing millions of tickets, Record label CD’s, and vast amounts of related products; all this with scant mainstream marketing efforts by the DEAD (but huge and free word of mouth). Jerry was a very smart guy, as his fans have always realized. I’m surprised, I guess, that someone decided to abandon an element of what most of us who were lucky enough to spend significant time around this band, realized was an essential and effective dynamic between a large group of people.

Also, as any poet knows (or any artist, I would guess), appropriation is a necessity. I steal from Rilke whenever I can figure out a way to manage it. You never really have a prayer of copying; if lucky, you may be able to emulate while attempting to steal. Appropriation was a hot topic back at my MFA program at
Goddard College in the mid-90’s. As in, how much John Ashbery could you cut and paste into your own work, without violating a law. Poets are lucky, as we have almost no audience, and stay out of trouble this way. However, it seems the debate was just getting started.

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