Episode 119

Hucklebug, Episode 119: New Hucklebug store, check out the new merch!  Shout-outs, movies (Stennie: Juno, The Gay Divorcee, Lili; Bet: none!), highlight & lowlights, dachsunds, fuck-offs and you-rules, pets of sorts, special Humdingers/Fact or Crap combo.

Music:  “The Hucklebuck,” performed by (respectively): Otis Redding, Annette Funicello, The Radiators, King Curtis, Frank Sinatra

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19 Responses to Episode 119

  1. I have to tell you, being a law student has added tremendous value to my listening experience: The Hucklebug has essentially become my personal exam-prep tool; every time I learn some new doctrine of copyright law, I see how it applies to the HB.*

    Public performance—Stennie got it right: the composer gets paid when a song is played on terrestrial/analog radio; the performer does not. However, since the Hucklebug would probably be considered a digital transmission, the performers would be entitled to royalties as well.

    If you password-protected the podcast and made it available only to “family members and social acquaintances” the performance would probably be found sufficiently private so as not to violate the public performance right. Keep in mind that no court has addressed whether you can be a “social acquaintance” through online-only relationships (email, blog comments, discussion boards, chat rooms).

    Also, even if you’re not infringing the public performance right, you are probably infringing the exclusive reproduction right by copying some portion of the protected work into the podcast file. The length of the clips you use would probably make them recognizable enough that you couldn’t use a “de minimus” defense. You might—might!—have a Fair Use defense for the bumpers since you’re only using a snippet, but it’s unlikely that you could satisfy the other three prongs of the Fair Use test. (I’ll get back to you on this after we cover Fair Use in a few weeks.)

    Another problem, unrelated to use/performance: the fact that you call the podcast “The Hucklebug” might be considered a derivative work, which is infringement if you use the name w/o the author’s permission. 

    Basically, if you want to have a completely infringement-free podcast, you would have to restrict access to family/social acquaintances, and you would have to use only renditions of the songs for which you have, or have secured, the reproduction rights—essentially those you’ve performed/recorded yourself (or Bitterspice’s excellent versions, with her permission). Of course, you would also need to have paid a small statutory licensing fee to “cover” the song.

    With so many ways to infringe, you can see why it’s kind of a big deal that nothing is going into the public domain.

    Hail Theethuh!

    *Still, it hurts a bit when non-commenters get shout-outs.

  2. Mike says:

    You’re seriously asking for another lyrics quiz?  Will you never learn?

    Another one will be posted Sunday night, hopefully.  And, with any luck, you’ll know these tunes.

    Too many damn RIPs already this week: Edie Adams, Neal Hefti, Levi Stubbs.

  3. Patrick says:

    You guys are soooo busted on copyright infringement. Now, wait in line for your punishment.

    Thanks for the shoutout, etc. but I do feel that being a part of the physical universe entitles me to it anyway. I keed, I keed.

    I’m with Bet: The Gay DivorSAY. Don’t know about this “in/on the floor” business though, as I hover about 2 inches above the earth’s surface at all times. The floor is for you mere mortals.

    In honor of Neal Hefti
    Dun-nuh Nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh-nuh: Bat-Man!

  4. Patrick,

    I assume you mean wait in line _with the rest of us_. Let those w/o mix tapes/CDs cast the first stone…

    With the advent of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it’s just absurdly easy to infringe. It’s like the mail-room orientation in The Hudsucker Proxy: “Use an mp3 of ‘Superfreak’ as a ringtone, and they DOCK ya!” It’s really a matter of what copyright owners choose to enforce. Fortunately, though life-changing and essential for me, I doubt The Hucklebug will be showing up on ASCAP’s or BMI’s radar.

    It should be interesting to see what happens now that we’re getting a Copyright Czar. As if Big Content didn’t already hold all the cards…

  5. venice says:

    Woohoo! I got a shout-out even though I didn’t comment! Very nice.

    I got nearly all of the humdingers, except for that first one. I thought it was some Bach concerto—- but there were so many of them, weren’t there?

    How about a fuck off this week for Joe the Plumber? I have my own reasons, but I want to hear yours.

    I can’t remember how we got into this whole copyright infringement discussion, but yeah. Actually, The Huckle Buck is so ubiquitous, I was surprised that it wasn’t already in the public domain. And, as I’ve threatened before, I’ve done a couple of versions of it, and they’re posted here: http://www.youtube.com/bitterspice—- at least until the copyright Gestapo get to me.

    Thanks, Siskita, for the sheet music! I’d love to hear other people’s versions of this.

    Since I programmed the music file, I’ve been playing around with other arrangements—- trance style and that long-threatened country swing style. I don’t know if I want to keep posting to YouTube, though, because I don’t want to alienate my subscribers. I’m sure they’re thinking, has she lost her mind? The same damn song over and over?

  6. venice says:

    Oh, yeah, I forgot to add my two cents about Real Simple magazine, which is my guilty pleasure and grocery store impulse buy. It always amuses me that their solutions to creating a simple life often involve buying more high-end stuff.

  7. LilyG. says:

    That first humdinger was “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. I actually got one! Actually, I got all of them, which is extremely rare.

    I’m not sure putting Nick-the-child-not-the-cancer up to the monitor was a good idea. He woke up the next morning with 102.7 fever. You’re going to have to work on your healing powers.

  8. Mike says:

    It’s lyrics quiz time again!  Run for your lives!

    This time around, the rules remain the same, but the song selection will be a little different.  Instead of quizzing you on top 40 songs of the past 40-45 years, I’m limiting the choices to a certain 7 year period that we should all know and love.  These all are songs featured in my most-played iPod playlist, which is simply titled “1976-82.”

    Now, name these tunes.

    1
    Thinking of grand larceny
    Smoking the everlasting cigarette of chastity

    2
    Stay awake at night and count your R.E.M.‘s
    When you’re talking with your super friends
    Levitating lovers in the secret stratosphere

    3
    Whenever ennui is takin’ me way down
    Then I feel I should be gettin’ to town on the double
    Yeah, here comes trouble

    4
    The hillsides ring with “Free the people”
    Or can I hear the echo from the days of ‘39?
    Trenches full of poets, the ragged army
    Fixin’ bayonets to fight the other line

    5
    She took his car, she took his bike
    She took everything she thought he liked

    6
    When there’s no future there cannot be sin
    We’re the flowers in the dustbin
    We’re the poison in your human machine
    We’re the future, your future

    7
    I got a feeling inside of me
    It’s kind of strange like a stormy sea
    I don’t know why, I don’t know why
    I guess these things have got to be

    8
    They stop you in the street, they wanna know your name
    To reach you on the phone, ‘cause they know your game
    Always running up the alley, trying to get home
    Or standing on the corner, never alone

    9
    Come on out baby on my motor bike
    And if it breaks down we can hitch hike
    I’ll pick you up outside your school
    Show those teachers just who rules

    10
    And all the world is biscuit-shaped
    It’s just for me to feed my face
    And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste

    11
    Some girls want a boy to give them all the action
    Others in a hurry to find a little satisfaction
    This girl, she’s tough
    She gets going when the going gets rough, and she cries

    12
    I got some groceries, some peanut butter
    To last a couple of days
    But I ain’t got no speakers, ain’t got no headphones
    Ain’t got no records to play

    13
    I know a lot of things that
    You don’t, you wanna hear some
    She said just give me something, anything
    Well, give me all you got but not love

    14
    For knowing that someone in this life
    Loves with a passion called hate
    And what you give is what you get

    15
    When the routine bites hard
    And ambitions are low
    And the resentment rides high
    But emotions won’t grow
    And we’re changing our ways
    Taking different roads

    16
    I, am I just imagining
    You, or do you really have a thing for me
    Like I think I see when I see you smile
    And the smile’s for me, I gotta tell you

    17
    Two dozen other stupid reasons
    Why we should suffer for this
    Don’t bother trying to explain them
    Just hold my hand while I come to a decision on it

    18
    Call me immature
    Call me a poser
    I’d love to spread manure in your bed of roses
    Don’t want to be rich
    Don’t want to be famous
    But I’d really hate to have the same name as you

    19
    Give me something for the man who doesn’t have to try too hard
    Spend a little time rehearsing my Tom Petty leer
    Well I’m dressed up for my conquest
    Come out fighting, no holds barred
    And I pray for courage and some half-way decent beer

    20
    Though your friends are ninety-nine
    Honey, you ain’t got no lover

    21
    Up on the roof, out on the street
    Down on the playground, the hot concrete
    Bus ride, it’s too slow
    They blast out their disco on the radio

  9. Patrick says:

    Hooray, I feel slightly less stupid as I knew 4 of these (1, 10, 12, 17) without looking first.

  10. I got 10 and 12. That makes me half the man that Patrick is. I’m cool with that.

  11. venice says:

    I know six of them: 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17. (Between 12 and 15, I was wondering if Mike was looking in my CD collection.) So I have a little less than a third of Mike’s coolness. I know I’m going to kick myself when I find out what 20 is, because it sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.

  12. ThePete says:

    Yes, Tom Everett Scott was in “American Werewolf in Paris” *and* in one of my film classes in college. I actually worked with Tom on a project.  He was a very nice guy.

    Apples make your stomach do what, Bet?

    Thank you for confirming that I suck at the movie mashups.  I did think “Reds Dawn” was clever but I agree that it broke the rules.

    I don’t like Genius on iTunes, either.  I hate iTunes. Like Bet hates “Green Acres”.

    Bet, I’m so sorry you died! 🙁

    I’m very glad you’re alive again!

    If you have health bennies, use ‘em!

    Yeah, I’m worried Bet is right that there’s still one last “surprise” from the Bush administration.  He’ll let something else horrible happen before January 20.  I just hope no one dies because of it.  Well, I really hope we’re just wrong.

    Re: the switch from CafePress to Zazzle are the prices better over there?  Or is this just a product-variety issue?  Just curious.  I’ve been with CP forever and checked out Zazzle a few years back but found them kinda meh… I suppose I can give ‘em another look-see, though.

    I enjoyed the Humdingers and the Fact or Craps.  I got every Humdinger right, half of the FOCs wrong.  Fun all around!

    Mr. Middlebrow, if Stennie and/or Bet were to provide commentary about the songs Stennie cuts into the show, wouldn’t that be considered fair-use?

    No offense, but I can kind of tell you’re a law student and not a lawyer—I’ve never heard anything so definite on copyright law.  Usually it’s all vague and formless.  I guess you haven’t yet gotten to the part where they explain how to confuse and befuddle people who ask you legal questions. ;P

    And you’re right about it being a big deal that nothing enters the public domain anymore.  Luckily, we have archive.org which is a free library of largely public domain media.  Agreed on big content and their all-the-cards-holding.

    Venice great work on the Huckle Buck covers!  I look forward to the trance version smile

    Fun show as always!!

  13. Michelle says:

    Thank you for the bonus shout-out! I did listen, like I do every week, but didn’t have the time to comment. I wish I could do that from my iPod.

    I got alllll the Humdingers, but I think I got only single one of the songs on Mikey’s quiz. That would be #11.

  14. The Pete,

    No offense taken. I don’t think Equivocation and Obfuscation are offered until 3d year. ;^) I did try to work in a lot of qualifiers and subjunctive tense, but, as you observed, I am still a legal Padawan.

    I hope it goes without saying, but my comments are just me expositing on what I think I understand the law to be—definitely NOT something anybody should go relying on to his/her detriment. I’m not allowed to offer legal advice until after I pass the bar. Also: this package is sold by weight not by volume, some settling may occur during shipment; tax, title and registration are extra; your mileage may vary, do not puncture or incinerate.

  15. Mike says:

    I did go through your CD collection, Venice.  Was that okay?

    And between Bet, Stennie, Venice, Michelle, and Lily, someone has to get #9.

  16. LilyG. says:

    I did get number 9. It took me a second, but man, if this is your version of “easy”, we’re still in trouble. It’s not like that song was popular or even second tier. Bet should be able to get it—I’m pretty sure it’s in her collection.

  17. Marla B says:

    I listen every week too..just not always the week it is posted…

    I thought the shout outs were to listeners…not commenters…my bad.  I don’t always post comments, but you can’t hear smiles, now can you???

    Mr. Middlebrow…some of us are not as disciplined as you to comment weekly (or multiple comments weekly)  I don’t think that means we love the Hucklbug any less.

  18. Marla,

    I would never impugn your Hucklebug patriotism, even if you pal’d around with terrorists.

    My commenting is actually evidence of a lack of discipline. I usually do it (like now) as a way of avoiding work on something else. Thus, the delusion that I’m listening to understand the applicable legal principles…

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