The Sound of Music’s 50th Anniversary Revelations

Even though it premiered in theaters 50 years ago, the much beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical still has its own surprises to offer to both old and new fans? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Recent revelations about the much beloved 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical turned cinema blockbuster – i.e. The Sound of Music – says that this 50 year old cinema classic isn’t just for your grandmother anymore. But what factoids – both esoteric and revelational - could it offer to both old time fans and the uninitiated? 

Just like The Golden Age of Stereo still fascinates young ones who’ve just discovered their soldering skills to cobble up single ended triode and pentode vacuum tube amplifiers that represent 1950s era high resolution sound that contemporary solid-state audio amplifiers from big consumer electronic firms still have trouble matching in sound quality terms, it seems like The Sound of Music – especially the movie version that stars Julie Andrews – still offers a unique zeitgeist of how the world view countries who pledge their loyalties to the Third Reich 20 years after their defeat and surrender. 

Even though it was later dubbed “The Sound of Money” weeks after its runaway blockbuster success after the initial March 2, 1965 opening in the United States, it seems like the producer and director Robert Wise has been blinded by the glory of the Marshall Plan as its lifesaving economic aid sweeps across Europe that were formerly controlled and then ravaged by the Third Reich. Take the song Edelweiss for instance, which is a cornerstone of the movie’s soundtrack and to be sung by Captain von Trapp. In truth, Edelweiss was a Rodger’s and Hammerstein construct and it is not an actual folksong in Salzburg, Austria signifying loyalty to the Austrian nation. Thus Robert Wise’s headache when he found out that no native Salzburg resident knew how to sing the song in either English of German. 

And let’s not forget the iconic boat scene where Julie Andrews is singing with the von Trapp kids. It seems to be the most idyll scene of the movie but almost ended in tragedy when the boat tipped over and one of the von Trapp kids almost drowned. And given the 50^th Anniversary of The Sound of Music is a year long celebration in 2015, who knows what other revelatory factoids will emerge about this iconic cinema classic. 

Can Napalm Death’s Frontman Change The Mind of Indonesia’s President?

Can Napalm Death frontman Barney Greenway convince Indonesian President Joko Widodo to spare the lives of three convicted narcotics smugglers? 

By: Ringo Bones  

Given that the current Indonesian president is a huge heavy metal music fan (remember that exclusive Christiane Amanpour interview?) and counts Napalm Death as one of his favorites, can Napalm Death’s frontman Barney Greenway change President Joko Widodo’s mind not to execute three convicted narcotics smugglers of Australian nationality when one of the president’s platform that he ran on was a tough crackdown on narcotics smugglers? But the story behind the three convicted narcotic smugglers convicted back in 2005 is a bit more complex than your typical prima facie case Lindsay Sandiford – who is a grandmother, was coerced into smuggling heroin by local Indonesian drug lords who threaten her grandchildren – with Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran could be executed within the next few weeks after being denied the chance for a judicial review of their sentences. 

An excerpt of a letter written by Napalm Death frontman Barney Greenway to Indonesian President Joko Widodo goes as: “As a follower of our band Napalm Death, you would appreciate that our lyrics and ethos challenge the unbroken cycle of violence in the world, whether it comes from a state or individual. If these things are not challenged and ultimately changed, I believe we will truly move forward as humankind.” From a social media perspective, it seems that Barney Greenway is the best hope for a commuted death sentence for Lindsay Sandiford, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. 

According to avid fans, Napalm Death’s moniker was inspired by that iconic Pulitzer Prize winning picture of a 9-year-old South Vietnamese girl named Kim Phuc who was running away from a napalm strike at the height of the Vietnam War as she ripped away her burning clothes to avoid the sticking burning napalm from causing further burns. Since I’ve heard of them back in 1989, Napalm Death has a preference of writing songs about man’s inhumanity to his fellow man that is quite rampant during the second half of the 20^th Century at the height of the Cold War. 

Taylor Swift Copyrighting Her Song Lines: A Fool’s Errand?

Even though some unscrupulous fashion accessory manufacturers had taken advantage of the “hooks” of her most recent and most popular songs, does patenting them a “fool’s errand”? 

By:Ringo Bones 

So Taylor Swift is already in the process of “patenting” the hooks of his latest hits because she thinks everyone is ripping her off. It is very Quixotic in every sense of the word, but does Taylor Swift’s “reactive” action against fashion accessory manufacturers riding the coat-tails of the popularity of her recent hit singles and album – i.e. 1989 – nothing more than a fool’s errand? 

From my own perspective – and past experiences as a working musician on of copyrighting your own works – I think “This sick beat” is probably stood out as one of the more unique of Taylor Swift’s hooks. Then again, it might have already been widely used by either hip-hop pioneers Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash back in 1976. And the most difficult to copyright of all – “Party Like Its 1989” – had been oft used by music critics since 1992 to poke fun at hair metal groups who still crack the Top 10 of the Billboard Album and Singles Charts at a time when Nirvana and other “Seattle Grunge” bands were already reaching multi-platinum status, so good luck with that, Taylor Swift. 

Even though Taylor Swift – like she said – “We’ll Never Probably Go Out Of Style”, even if she succeeds in copyrighting and patenting the hooks of her most recent hit singles, other more soulful working musicians may hate her for it. Given Taylor Swift’s US Republican Party leanings while adopting a “Bohemian” lifestyle as a well-paid musician could easily make her be labelled as “hypocritical”, liberal haters – even though they shun away from violent acts – are the most persistent of all. Will she be able to “Shake It Off” like those leaked racy Instagram photos from former lovers John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal?

Sony Pictures Entertainment: Cyber Terrorizing Online Music Lovers?

The famed multinational entertainment company may have gained the world’s sympathy after the cyber attack by North Korea and other rogue hackers that almost brought it to its knees near the end of 2014, but is Sony nothing more than a de facto cyber terrorist group? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Ever wondered why the famed multinational entertainment company Sony Pictures Entertainment has become the proverbial “whipping boy” of rogue hackers (Guardians Of Peace) and state sponsored cyber-terror groups (North Korea’s Bureau 121 and Unit 61318 of the Beijing 50-Cent Cyber Army) years before the brazen cyber attack aimed at the Kim Jong Un assassination spoof movie titled The Interview on its scheduled Christmas 2014 release? Well, US President Barack Obama might have used Sony Pictures Entertainment as a platform of the entire planet’s last bastion of free speech in a world increasingly inching towards “illiberal democracy” and thus making Sony, Seth Rogen, James Franco and some the world’s sympathy when it comes to one’s right of free expression. Unfortunately, virtually all of the world’s population remains clueless of a “grave crime” committed by Sony Pictures Entertainment in the form of its “XCP Rootkit copy protection software”.  

There might be some truth to the fact that Sony Pictures Entertainment might have “inadvertently” made themselves into one of the world’s first cyber terror groups by the multinational company’s first attempts to secure its own intellectual property and other copyrighted works from online piracy at the height of the NAPSTER debacle back in 1999. Copy protection and Digital Rights Management (DRM) measures that date back to a Sony Pictures Entertainment meeting back in August, 2000 when statements made by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s US Senior Vice President Steve Heckler foreshadowed the events that eventually led to the creation of the Sony BMG XCP Rootkit copy protection software when Heckler told attendees at the Americas Conference on Information Systems that: “The industry (Sony Pictures Entertainment) will take whatever steps it needs to protect itself and protect its revenue streams…”       

    

The debacle that resulted in the “over zealous” copy protection measures of the Sony BMG XCP Rootkit copy protection software that eventually became the Sony Digital Rights Management copy protection rootkit scandal of 2005 to 2007 might have “inconvenienced” everyone wanting to clone an expensive rare CD for use in their car stereo or portable players in line with existing Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Fair Use laws might be overshadowed by a greater debacle of former US President George W. Bush’s handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina back in Autumn of 2005. It unfortunately swept the Sony BMG XCP Rootkit debacle and the dangers it poses under the rug from the radar of the general public. 

According to his personal blog entry in October 31, 2005 of Microsoft’s information technology researcher-in-residence Mark Russinovich who – amongst countless others – who were the first to have uncovered the main dangers posed by the Sony BMG XCP Rootkit copy protection software are as follows: 1) It creates security holes that can be exploited by malicious software such as worms or viruses. 2) It constantly runs in the background and excessively consumes system resources, slowing down the user’s computer, regardless of whether there is a Sony BMG XCP Rootkit protected CD playing. 3) It employs unsafe procedures to star and stop which could lead to system crashes. 4) It has no uninstaller and is installed in such a way that inexpert attempts to uninstall it can lead to the operating system to fail to recognize existing drives. Soon after Russinovich’s first blog post, there were several Trojans and worms exploiting XCP’s security holes. Some people even used the vulnerabilities to cheat in online games – i.e. Sony’s Playstation consoles’ online games capabilities. 

At the height of the Sony Digital Rights Management copy protection XCP Rootkit scandal, there were 22 million Sony BMG CDs equipped with the “copy protection software” that allowed them to install one of the two pieces of software which provided a form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) by modifying the operating system to interfere with CD copying via your personal computer. Both programs couldn’t easily be uninstalled and they created vulnerabilities that were exploited by other malware. Sony claims this was unintentional. 

Following public outcry, government investigations and class action lawsuits in 2005 and 2006, Sony BMG partially addressed the scandal with consumer settlements, a recall of 10 percent of the affected CDs and suspension of CD copy protection efforts in early 2007. Sadly, the Sony BMG XCP Rootkit copy protection software still wreak havoc in donated computers often used in computer labs of public schools in developing countries set up by set up by leading charity groups like the Clinton Global Initiative / Clinton Foundation since free online antivirus software programs are powerless against the Sony BMG XCP copy protection software. Some IT experts say that only premium antivirus software packages costing 50 US dollars and above are the minimum required to keep the Sony BMG XCP Rootkit copy protection software at bay in infected desktop PCs. 

Was Elvis Presley a Spy?

Even though he was “conscripted” by the U.S. Army at the time his singing career just started taking off, has Elvis Presley ever did secret espionage work in behalf of the U.S. government? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Back during the time when America still has the draft, Elvis Presley – the newly crowned king of rock ‘n’ roll – was “conscripted” into the U.S. Army back in 1958, at a time when his singing career has just started taking off to a stratospheric rise that made him RCA’s biggest cash cow at the time. As RCA faced an 18-month hiatus by the then greatest cash cow in their stable, Elvis’ then manager – the old carny who called himself Colonel Tom Parker – managed to wrangle a two-month draft deferment before Elvis was shipped off to Freiburg in the then West Germany as a Jeep mechanic after completing basic training in Texas. Given the relative ease of his manager managed to get a two-month U.S. Army draft deferment, many wondered if Elvis Presley has powerful friends in the Pentagon, or even in Washington D.C.; but the very idea of Elvis doing secret espionage work in behalf of the U. S. government using his “lowly” position as a Jeep mechanic in a U.S. Army base in Freiburg just a short hop away from the Sudetenland and thus spy into the Iron Curtain at the time of rising tensions in the Cold War?

Though the very idea was “lampooned” in the 1984 comedy film Top Secret!, where Val Kilmer played an Elvis like pop sensation named Nick Rivers who inadvertently wound up doing espionage work in behalf of the U.S. government behind the Iron Curtain using his music stardom as cover. Given Hollywood’s intimate involvement in some of the U.S. government’s secret covert operations during the 20^th Century – i.e. the 2012 movie Argo where a science fiction filming crew was used as a cover to rescue U.S. embassy personnel in Iran that were trapped during the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution with the help of the Canadian government. The “Argo” operation led by C.I.A.’s master-of-disguise Tony Mendez was only declassified back in 1998 in order for then U.S. President Bill Clinton to commend the main players involved in the top secret operation.     

Even though no light-hearted or serious movie has ever been made yet about Elvis Presley’s secret espionage mission in the Sudetenland, one could probably be made as soon as the U.S. government feels safe to declassify dossiers pertaining to the operation. Would the movie be titled “Elvis in the Sudetenland”?