So the homeless shelter where I worked since November just closed for the season. Yesterday morning, my boss handed out tents and cots to the guests to hopefully get them through the next seven months until we can afford to reopen.
This afternoon, I was out walking my dog when I ran into a young couple who had slept at the shelter. They advised me that the day before, they were pitching their tent along the river when a cop came along and ordered them to take it down. As if that weren't enough, he wrote them each a ticket for $92. It's anyone's guess how two homeless people are supposed to come up with $184 to pay those goddamned fines.
The location they chose is way down the railroad tracks, nowhere near any houses or businesses. All this couple wanted was a place to sleep where they wouldn't disturb anyone. But Dirty Harry just wouldn't cut them any slack.
NWA was right: "Fuck Tha Police!"
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The ASCAP Follies of 2008
Yesterday, this was posted to the listserv of a local collective to which I belong. Looks like the vampires are out to suck each and every last drop of blood that they can! Motherfuckers.
Hi folks,
I had a rather unpleasant phone conversation with an ASCAP rep today, and we will need to discuss this issue on Sunday.
We had received a contract from them recently, after having left messages saying that we were not going to enter into an agreement with them. I called the ASCAP person who sent the contract to let her know that we are not going to do this and that we had the documentation that we've been giving to bands to show that we've been very careful not to have ASCAP music played in the space. Before I even got the sentence out of my mouth, she interrupted me, saying that if an artist "slips up" we're liable, etc. It just went downhill from there. I'll spare you the details here, but she used all kinds of intimidation tactics including threatening to take us to court and implying we were trying to break the law. She essentially said it was impossible to have live music without the license from them, and when I said that ***** has been doing it, she demanded I repeat the name so she could write it down and follow up on them (I didn't), stated that if they got into legal trouble it was my fault because I mentioned them, and demanded to know names of other places that aren't paying the licensing fee. She also said that any ASCAP musicians who played their own songs in the space and were paid need to pay a fee to ASCAP and that somehow we are liable if they don't do that, and didn't directly answer my question of, well isn't that between you and them? It was kind of amazing. She was actually angry. If I hadn't experienced it, I almost couldn't believe that anyone could be such a total jackass about this. If there had been any doubt in my mind that these people are just legalized gangsters, it is gone.
Anyway, we'll need to write a letter to them stating that we are not entering into an agreement with them and we need to be VERY, VERY clear with musicians that they cannot play ASCAP music and that they are responsible for reporting their pay to ASCAP. We may even want to have a contract for musicians to sign just to cover our butts. And we also need to make sure that the CD's we play aren't ASCAP - we may need to think about the movies we show too.
Grrr.
Hi folks,
I had a rather unpleasant phone conversation with an ASCAP rep today, and we will need to discuss this issue on Sunday.
We had received a contract from them recently, after having left messages saying that we were not going to enter into an agreement with them. I called the ASCAP person who sent the contract to let her know that we are not going to do this and that we had the documentation that we've been giving to bands to show that we've been very careful not to have ASCAP music played in the space. Before I even got the sentence out of my mouth, she interrupted me, saying that if an artist "slips up" we're liable, etc. It just went downhill from there. I'll spare you the details here, but she used all kinds of intimidation tactics including threatening to take us to court and implying we were trying to break the law. She essentially said it was impossible to have live music without the license from them, and when I said that ***** has been doing it, she demanded I repeat the name so she could write it down and follow up on them (I didn't), stated that if they got into legal trouble it was my fault because I mentioned them, and demanded to know names of other places that aren't paying the licensing fee. She also said that any ASCAP musicians who played their own songs in the space and were paid need to pay a fee to ASCAP and that somehow we are liable if they don't do that, and didn't directly answer my question of, well isn't that between you and them? It was kind of amazing. She was actually angry. If I hadn't experienced it, I almost couldn't believe that anyone could be such a total jackass about this. If there had been any doubt in my mind that these people are just legalized gangsters, it is gone.
Anyway, we'll need to write a letter to them stating that we are not entering into an agreement with them and we need to be VERY, VERY clear with musicians that they cannot play ASCAP music and that they are responsible for reporting their pay to ASCAP. We may even want to have a contract for musicians to sign just to cover our butts. And we also need to make sure that the CD's we play aren't ASCAP - we may need to think about the movies we show too.
Grrr.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The shelter closes in 2 weeks; I can't wait!
On April 15th, the homeless shelter where I've worked since November closes for the season--thankfully!
I never thought I'd express gladness over being out of another job, but the last five months of working with the local homeless population has taken a toll on me. My compassion is quickly drying up because a lot of those people have sucked it out of me like vampires. Here are some examples:
- A middle-aged woman who never showers and who I have had to admonish (more than once) to flush the toilet after she takes a shit.
- A petite 33-year-old woman with a little-girlish face who enjoys playing up to the men and pitting them against each other. She'll walk up to Mr. X and say, "Mr. Y just called me a bitch." Next thing I know, I'm breaking up a fight between Mr. X and Mr. Y! For all I know, Mr. Y may not have said a word to Ms. Petite, but the chivalrous Mr. X just has to make a damned fool of himself to defend her honor.
- Any number of guests who cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars going through rehab or detox, only to finish the program and within days (or even hours) go back on the stuff that got them in trouble in the first place.
- Guests who sneak alcohol into the shelter and don't even have the decency (or is it the brains?) to hide the empty bottles and cans. Rather, they leave them lying around for the staff to find!
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
A lot of those people are homeless because they are their own worst enemies. Far too many of them have a sense of entitlement, as if we are somehow responsible for getting them out of their situation. Yes, there are those of us willing to point them in the right direction and provide them with the means to improve their lives; but they have to take it from there!
Thankfully, I've also worked with a number of guests who looked at their homelessness as a temporary situation from which they were determined to escape ASAP and did just that. But they're not the ones I see every time I show up for a work shift.
Suffice it to say, after five months of working with this population, I think I'm fully qualified to teach middle school!
I never thought I'd express gladness over being out of another job, but the last five months of working with the local homeless population has taken a toll on me. My compassion is quickly drying up because a lot of those people have sucked it out of me like vampires. Here are some examples:
- A middle-aged woman who never showers and who I have had to admonish (more than once) to flush the toilet after she takes a shit.
- A petite 33-year-old woman with a little-girlish face who enjoys playing up to the men and pitting them against each other. She'll walk up to Mr. X and say, "Mr. Y just called me a bitch." Next thing I know, I'm breaking up a fight between Mr. X and Mr. Y! For all I know, Mr. Y may not have said a word to Ms. Petite, but the chivalrous Mr. X just has to make a damned fool of himself to defend her honor.
- Any number of guests who cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars going through rehab or detox, only to finish the program and within days (or even hours) go back on the stuff that got them in trouble in the first place.
- Guests who sneak alcohol into the shelter and don't even have the decency (or is it the brains?) to hide the empty bottles and cans. Rather, they leave them lying around for the staff to find!
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
A lot of those people are homeless because they are their own worst enemies. Far too many of them have a sense of entitlement, as if we are somehow responsible for getting them out of their situation. Yes, there are those of us willing to point them in the right direction and provide them with the means to improve their lives; but they have to take it from there!
Thankfully, I've also worked with a number of guests who looked at their homelessness as a temporary situation from which they were determined to escape ASAP and did just that. But they're not the ones I see every time I show up for a work shift.
Suffice it to say, after five months of working with this population, I think I'm fully qualified to teach middle school!
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