ACTA gway ourah tha!

Last Friday, the EU countries (with the exception of Germany,The Netherlands, Cyprus and Estonia), signed ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. In the same vein as SOPA and its hangers-on, ACTA is far more scary and far-reaching. Vague and open-ended (of course!), it provides a low threshold for criminal sanctions; 'to “acts” which are for direct commercial advantage but also for, also undefined, “economic advantage” or “aiding and abetting” (also undefined).' (http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number10.1/whats-wrong-with-ACTA - Part 2)

It puts the onus on ISPs (internet service providers) to police their customers' internet usage and offers bland assurances that it'll protect "fundamental principles such as freedom of expression, fair process, and privacy". Soooo, not fundamental rights, not a fair trial, not due process.

Ostensibly on grounds of public health, it goes beyond the digital realm as regards intellectual property. This has implications for generic drugs(drugs whose patent has expired, can be sold without a licence from the original company, much cheaper than brand-name drugs), and seeds.

Negotiations have been shrouded in secrecy since they started three years ago.

In fact, the EU rapporteur on ACTA quit in disgust on Thursday over the process by which the whole thing has been negotiated.

European Digital Rights have a good summary of ACTA on their site, five one-page documents on different aspects.

And then, what to do? La Quadrature du Net have some suggestions -
https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/How_to_act_against_ACTA

If you haven't already...

This is an online petition opposing what's been(or being) called SOPA Ireland, or "S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011.”

Dear Minister Sherlock:

I call on you to abandon your proposed enactment of “S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011.” This legislation subverts the democratic process, favours the special interests of corporations over the rights of individual citizens, will destroy the largest growth sector in the Irish economy, and will subject the citizens of Ireland to unwarranted and unintended censorship.

Here to sign:

http://stopsopaireland.com/

Flickr set from Monday's gig

Thanks to Cees Van de Ven for this.

Thanks also to John Thomas and Mark Dijkstra, AxesJazzPower's organisers, and thanks to my collaborators Sean Bergin and Alan "Gunga" Purves.

November news

The Eindhoven gig is approaching now - Monday the 28th of November is the date. I went up to Amsterdam last week to have a jam with Sean (Bergin, my collaborator for part of the show). My first ever electronic jam! He played sax, flute, whistles, concertina, and a banjo he made out of an oil-can, which I then sampled, processed, looped etc. It was mad interesting, I've never really done something like that before, and neither had he. We had a buzz though, and I think he got a kick out of it. It's very transparent, after all, "Oh, I just played that and now I can hear it play back again."

On the night, we'll be joined by Alan "Gunga" Purves, an instrument-maker extraordinaire. 'Sgonna be fun!

A few releases coming up soon too. I met Morphamish up at Rathlin, what a gent! He runs a great net label called Black Lantern Music, and asked me to make an EP for them. Which I am. Yay! Hope to have it finished by Christmas (I ALWAYS want to have things finished by Christmas. Ha!).

The wonderful Meljoann, she who mastered the album, runs a label called Boy Scout Audio. Making a track for a compilation of Irish-tinged but contemporary music. It started simple, then it got very complicated, but.... I hope to have it finished by Christmas. Hweh hweh.

The Machinedrum finally came back three weeks ago. Yes, three months being repaired. Three months to the day. Eeeek. I need an alternative in case that happens again, it's just too disruptive. For the time being though, it's all about catch up catch up.

Amsterdam Gig this Monday

This nice opportunity came up just a few days ago. And any excuse to visit Amsterdam is always welcome!

Learn discipline, learn focus, learn the meaning of PAIN - Learn Piano

Not really.

I picked up a piano last week (been workin out, wha!) in one of Eindhoven's swell second-hand shops. Cheap as chips too. It'll cost as much again to get it tuned, but then it'll be good to go. I might even try and teach it a bit.

There's something special about the piano. Maybe the size, the range, the wash of sound, wiggin out for a few hours, white-water rafting on a piano-y river. So to speak. And the really nice symmetrical feeling of playing with both hands in the same way (although you don't really. But damn, scales are satisfying.)

Piano Roles is a collection of writing by various people about the piano - both "the grip it has on the popular imagination" and historical essays about the modern piano and how it got to be the beast it is. And some lovely technical drawings of piano mechanisms, and kerrazy karikatures of 19th-century virtuosos (or is it virtuosi?). But anyway, a grip on my imagination the piano surely has.

This isn't straight piano by any means (dig those bonkers synths!!), but Stevie Wonder has this gem from 1976 - All Day Sucker.

This is news though

Hello from Patience Bootcamp! I'm not very patient, you see. This notwithstanding, it's been a bit of a slow few months. But the demo CDs are back from the pressing plant, be-artworked and mastered and all those professional things. I start sending them out next week, yeow!!

My first Eindhovinian gig is on at the end of November. Yip yip! AxesJazzPower is an Eindhoven-based promotions group and "stage for adventurous new music". Their programmes range from jazz to contemporary classical, theatre, electronica, and pretty much anything else interesting. I see that Andy Moor (guitarist from the legendary Dutch punk band, The Ex) is playing in a few weeks with Yannis Kyriakides, a Cypriot composer living in Amsterdam. Seeya down the front, hweh!

But anyway, yeah, their shows are always interesting, and for the gig in November, they're setting up a collaboration between an upcoming artist (that'd be me) and an old, wise, lion with years of experience. So, I'll be going to Amsterdam in a few weeks to meet up with Sean Bergin, we'll have an aul jam together, and see what happens. It's really exciting though, obviously a very different set-up to Ireland. Slightly more (this word again) professional. But it is though.