Ultimate flowers
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Mark Reeve send me a cassette tape long time ago called The ultimate flowers. I have no idea where he got it from. It might be that these are his own records, but I doubt that. Some of them are pretty obscure! Apart from the Aphrodite’s Child 45 I don’t have any of the records on this tape. I will make scans of the inlay that Mark typed, so you can read all the information that I have on this collection of psychedelights.
While working on this Soundtrack I have often searched the Net for information and illustration on the topics that I wrote about.
I didn’t use much of what I could find, but often I couldn’t find much either. Especially illustrations are difficult to find. I make scans of the records that I mention in this Soundtrack, and often I spend half an hour on one record cover. That explains why many people use the scans made by others, and why I see the same pictures and illustrations everywhere.
I love the Internet and I like the idea that work once done by one can be used by all.
Recently I got a mail from somebody who asked if she was allowed to used one of my illustrations that she found on my site.
There is no need to ask that: everybody can use all my work without asking me as long as it used for non commercial purposes. When there is money being made I would love to have my share, but I trust that most people will do this automatically.
I really hate it when I find things on the Net that I cannot copy.
For today’s story I did a little search for the artists and records on The ultimate flowers tape, and there was a beautiful picture of Jack Constanzo, but when I tried to copy it, a frame appeared that read that I was violating copyright laws. As if I am some sort of criminal! Information is free! And everything that can be found on the Internet IS information. It are all nothing but strings of zero’s & one’s.
As I see it, the Internet cannot be stopped, and the old ideas about copyright are no longer of use. I am not afraid of the future; I think that the Internet and all the digital possibilities are the fulfilling of the greatest dream of mankind since the beginning of time. Of course, there will be people making money with other people’s work. But I think that most people will not do that. And I often wonder how the world would be if all copyright laws were abandoned. Or even if all laws were abandoned. Has ever anybody refrained from doing something because a law said it was illegal?
Sorry for this rather incoherent rant. Here is one of my favourite tracks from The ultimate flowers tape: UFO with Timothy. Is this song about Timothy Leary? Or about that other Timothy, Cooper, who wrote a book about his encounters with aliens?
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(Somebody once called Timothy Leary Limited Theory, and every time I hear or see his name this link pops up in my mind. Every theory is limited by definition, but i think some of the ideas of Timothy Leary are great. He has made two LP’s on which he talks about his ideas and insights. I will come back to them later!)