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18 NOV 03: UNCHAINED MELODY

The other night at dinner, a friend joked he didn't plan to buy my new album - because he was waiting for it to show up online on Kazaa. Well, I THOUGHT it was a joke. But I found out Monday at least one spare copy of my CD is being passed around odd parts of Columbus. If I walk into a Valley Rescue Mission store and see it on sale for 99 cents....

I found about the stray CD quite by accident. A woman I'll call Olivia told me she passed on a copy of the album to a neighbor. But there was one problem - I knew Olivia hadn't bought one! Unless, of course, she'd sneakily followed me to Panama City Beach last month and held up a customer in the parking lot....

(Then again, maybe I shouldn't be admitting all this. If I know Olivia hasn't bought an album, that means I know who HAS - and you'll figure out I haven't sold that many yet.)

Olivia explained to me she obtained a copy of my CD from another woman, who works at a motel on Armour Road. Problem #2: I didn't know who that woman was, or how SHE obtained a copy of it. Is there a "six degrees of compact discs" rule or something?

After thinking it over, I decided NOT to go to the motel on Armour Road and ask around about my CD. I'll simply change my promotional lines a little to say, "Bootleg copies already are spreading ALL OVER TOWN!"

The news from Olivia admittedly burned me up a little. In fact, it burned me like a CD inside a brand-new Dell Computer....

The whole idea, after all, of releasing my album is to attempt to make a living from music. And this is an album of CHRISTIAN music, at that! Haven't these people heard of Bible verses such as, "The laborer is worthy of his hire"?!

There are many people I could blame for the plague of people trading music (both online and off) without buying it, hurting musicians such as I. But I hereby put the biggest share of the blame on Barney the Dinosaur! He tells little children, "caring means sharing" - but never explains the copyright laws that restrict that.

I know, I know -- some of you are saying I should be thankful they're passing around this CD. At least they're listening to my music, you say. Maybe so - but if they're laughing at it behind my back, that's not exactly good public relations.

BLOG UPDATE: Monday night's Muscogee County School Board meeting was loaded for fireworks. Some board members said they were surprised by Superintendent John Phillips's request for a Chief of Staff. And some in the crowd were so opposed, you'd think it was a staff infection....

School Board Vice-Chair James Walker told WRBL he never knew the Superintendent wanted a Chief of Staff until he opened his envelope for a work session November 7. But other board members claim it had been planned since the summer - so maybe Mr. Walker needs to learn where some of his colleagues are getting together for breakfast.

To make the pot even hotter, we found out Monday Superintendent John Phillips's candidate for Chief of Staff already has bought a house in Russell County -- even before the Board voted on hiring him. Now this IS arrogance! After all, he'll spend most of his sales tax money to improve Phenix City's schools.

As it turned out, the Muscogee County School Board postponed a vote on a Chief of Staff indefinitely. Superintendent John Phillips apologized publicly for not communicating his plans - but hopefully that will change, once a psychic magnet school is ready.

Superintendent John Phillips explained the sudden call for a Chief of Staff by saying he was "impatient for progress." Nice try, Dr. Phillips - but if you were THAT impatient, you would have been at work last week instead of taking a vacation.

The postponed vote on a Chief of Staff leaves the Superintendent's choice in limbo. School Board member Owen Ditchfield says he feels sorry for Jerry Malinowski. Perhaps that's because Malinowski already has bought a house -- or because he never heard about how bankrupt Alabama is.

Now some other things which crossed my path and mind on Monday:

+ WRBL never put the "CBS Evening News" on the air at 6:30 p.m. - showing several minutes of commercials, then joining "Wheel of Fortune" in progress. I'm not sure if the station had technical difficulties, or if Dan Rather threw one of his hissyfits and walked out again.

+ Local inmates began cleaning up the trash at McClung Memorial Stadium, after Saturday's Fountain City Classic. As much food as I noticed sitting in the stands Sunday, they probably enjoyed a free lunch in the bleachers as well.

(Keep Columbus Beautiful put up nice "don't-litter" signs all around the outside of the stadium. Trouble is, they forgot to put any reminders inside.)

+ The Columbus Quarterback Club's Monday night guest speaker was a "nationally-known sports impressionist." [True/WDAK] I assume this guy can do Tommy Tuberville - who's still pretending to have a good Auburn football team, even though its record is 6-5.

+ Miriam Tidwell briefed reporters on next weekend's "God Bless Fort Benning" event. She almost broke down in tears when she told WRBL about a planned procession of motorcycles. Now, now, Miriam - you don't have to stand behind them and inhale the fumes.

+ Instant Message to all Money Back stores: You're joking, right? Hiking the price of unleaded gasoline Monday to $1.39 a gallon, when stations down the street are 15 cents lower?? C'mon -- which truck line is refusing to pay its bill?

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© 2003 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.