Category: Caveat Emptor

I don’t have a dog in this race but I watch with great interest: As artists seek to bypass the RIAA/Mafia and turn to the web and self publishing/promoting, interesting things happen. Sites have sprung up to help fledgling artists get their work out to the masses but who benefits? One new site – Bebo – has just been sold to a subsidiary of Time Warner, generating some controversy. I like the reference to "sharecroppers". The ever-wise Burning Bird has this to say. The plot, as usual, thickens.

It’s been happening more and more and it’s really getting on my nerves. You’re at a concert in Duke Chapel listening to delicately written music from the 15th century being sung by women with heavenly voices. Just as they reach a delicious dissonance and the tones are suspended in air, the audience collectively holds it’s breath waiting for the resolution and cli-ick!  comes the loud shutter of the camera shattering the fragile, shimmering harmonics. Why, with all our modern technology, we can’t have cameras with silent shutter mechanisms is beyond me. And it seems to be the flashy digital SLR’s with their enormous lenses that are the noisiest – even noisier than my old Nikkormat. They seem to be saying "look at me, I’ve got the latest and greatest!". Until the idiots behind these cameras at least learn to hold their shots until the loudest part of the music, or better yet, use something quiet, they should be banned from any musical event. They’re even a nuisance at outdoor folk music events and the like. This particular instance (and he took many pictures during the most delicate parts of the performance) was at the Women’s Voices concert in Duke Chapel last night.