Bounced around

Procul Harum’s organist finally had his day in (English Supreme) court.

The 60’s organist who opened and closed out “the Whiter Shade of Pale” just got an award (share of royalty) for his part in the still-money-making song. Sandra Bullock in the NET was playing it in one of her moments of doubt (interestingly, the organist real life job is computer programming).

I listen to this song for its mood, but for lyrics, I still haven’t gotten it yet.

It transported me every time, back to a club I sneaked in during my teen age years.

I believe it was frequented by GI’s in Saigon at the time.

Talking about a “long tail”.  The organist still gets a share of all future proceeds from this song (while the DJ’s who had promoted it back in the 60’s probably spent the payola many times over).

On a separate note. I saw Bounce coming out with its new product for clothe drying (peel, stick and throw away after “about 2 months”) to replace its signature clothe drying sheets. They made miniaturized dryers with Bounce sticks inside to catch your attention.You can see them at Target stores.

I thought this is clever, and I know we will see more of this on TV .

After a few cycles of wash and dry, the clothes we wear come out fresh like new.

But after 4 quarters of consistent negative performance, does the American economy come out fresh?

It were as if we had overstuffed ourselves with Grande Latte and we had lost our appetite for real food.

Feeling “sea-sick” like in  “whiter shade of pale”. If the 60’s revolt was against industrial excess, the last year of this decade should call for a revolt against financial excess (they call it ” financial instruments” i.e. your house is an investment, your car is a depreciation, your spouse is liability… wonder where to put the kid? A life insurance opportunity?)

I have a cousin whose son’s wife died, and left him with a set of twin girls and a life insurance of a few hundred dollars.

I kept hearing my  relatives whisper that his wife had left him with a few hundred thousand bucks. Sort of stuff that is supposed to make me envy? When my wife is dead, is she supposed to leave me with more to keep up with the Jones?

I am just glad for the organist (Matthew?) after all these years. When “the whiter shade of pale” is played somewhere on the globe, or downloaded, he gets a cut of this new long tail of residual enabled only by the proliferation of the Net.

Now, that’s a just reward for a job well-done. Long overdue though. IP at its best. Go ahead, and file share. See if he cares. The tail just gets longer, that’s all.