The Year 2015:
Kid: People used to actually pay for music?

Old person/me: Yes. Yes they did.

Kid: Were you just stupid?

Old person/me: No! We were held hostage by inefficient systems of getting the music to us. We had to go outside, drive far and buy discs and plastic never knowing what we would find or how much we would have to pay.

Kid: The olden days sure sucked

Present Day:

On Thursday June 12, Canada’s Digital Milliennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Bill C-61 was barfed out of generic politician Jim Prentice’s mouth. It was simultaneously vomit and the sputum of an industry that voraciously profited from inefficient music delivery systems to become the bloated, pussy mess it is today. (more…)

GEORGETOWN, SOUTH CAROLINA—I am writing from a gorgeous historic town, thick with Spanish moss and fishing boats. But the whole thing is tainted by the rancid smell carried in the warm Southern breeze that pervades the entire town.

Georgetown dates back to 1729. It was populated by people who obtained wealth from indigo and rice crops grown by enslaved African people. They displayed their wealth by getting their free labourers to build them mansions like Kaminski House Museum—Described on tours, with a rationalizing flourish and no irony, as “African-American craftsmanship.” (more…)