copyright ZZ Top and John Lee Hooker

A copyright case between John Lee Hooker and ZZ Top was started in 1991 when the copyright owner of Hookers song "Boogie Chillen" heard ZZ Top's song "LA Grange." Imediatly they had a feeling that there song was reused. John wrote three different versions of the song first in 1948 then again in 1950 and later in the 70's. In 1973, ZZ Top released there hit "La Grange."
La Cienage's (Johns record label) action was bored by a statue of limitations. This was thought to be expired. "Under the copyright act of 1909, properly recorded artists work receives copyright protection for twentyeight years from the date of first publication.The author may renew these right for an aditional twentyeight years." In 1996, the judge stated that the 1948 version and the 1950 version were both in the public domain. Hooker assigned his rights to his record label. "Boogie Chillen" was sold to the public domain. they registard the third version in 1992. ZZ Top was found not guilty.
Both the songs are very similar. The tempo is almost exact and the cordal structure is the same. The lyrics are not similar at all, "La Grange" is about a prostitution house outside of the Texas town and "Boogie Chillen" is about feeling the music take over your mind. ZZ Top's style is blues and one of there biggest inpirations is John Lee Hooker so it is quite possible to have similar sounds.

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new president

I dont understand why people are still talking about Obama being black. Thats not why he was picked to be president. He was chosen because he is the best candidate, he gives reason to what he sais. Its true that many african american citizens that have never voted now voted probably becaus he is black, but that doesn't mean that is the only thing he was chosen for.

world trouble

I don't think people understand how much trouble the world is in right now. Global warming is getting worse every day causing more natural disasters than ever before. Also the economy is not going so well either. the united states are going into a depression, not a repression. A Major bank in the U.S. has just declared bankruptcy. something needs to be done.

Paparazzi feeding time.

This whole class so far ( media studies) has been spent talking about the paparazzi going to far with there ways of getting the photos. They are definitely part o the problem, but the celebrities are also to blame. If they didn’t want to be followed they could leave for an island somewhere in the Bahamas of go to Europe for a few months. They have the money to do it. Britney Spears (the prime example in class) probably likes most of the attention that she gets from the public, but I don’t think that anybody would want a motorcade of cars following them around everywhere they go, having a business following you foe eight months [1]. The amount of money that the pictures are selling for, its no surprise that the paparazzi are going crazy for the photos. The photo with Britney getting out of the car with no underwear on sold for I think it was fifty thousand dollars.[1] its not all just the paparazzi’s fault. Celebrities often have videos that portray the fact that they don’t want to be followed [2], but then they go out and "party like a rock star", asking for the attention. An other thing, Lindsay Lohans music video Rumors, she is filming herself almost the whole time. What’s that about?
If the celebrities really wanted to get out of the tabloids, they could do it. Hillary duff is in the spot light but not so much that she is on the front page of three different magazine every day. She stays in it just enough so people remember who she is. I think in order to stay out of the spot light, one needs a certain sense of responsibility and maturity. Obviously being a celebrity is going to be a though thing because paparazzi are always trying to get footage of them. The key is probably to just be aware of what you are doing at all times.

1. "As paps push back" documentary.
2. Lindsay Lohans- Rumors