August 15, 2008

Poor McCain, Even Jackson Browne and Mike Myers Are Against Him

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mojo-photo-mccainwaynebrowne.jpgCan’t somebody throw the guy a bone? John Mellencamp said “uh-uh,” Chuck Berry said “sorry,” even fellow politician John Hall (he wrote “Still the One”) said “no dice.” Only the Rich part of Big and Rich seems to care. Well, it turns out that the McCain campaign is just shooting the moon now, culturally speaking, throwing copyrighted material into their ads willy-nilly like a demented mash-up hooligan. I guess the Republican presidential nominee should take it as a compliment that people are still paying any attention, since a couple more artists have sued to make him stop. First up, Jackson Browne is none too happy about “Running on Empty” being used in ads for the senator, apparently without a license, filing suit against McCain and the Republican Party. A McCain campaign spokesman denied they had anything to do with it.

But they’ve got a bad track record: just a few days before, Mike Myers demanded the McCain campaign remove the “Wayne’s World” clip from their “celebrity” anti-Obama ad. The campaign’s Michael Goldfarb tried to make a joke out of it, blogging that “apparently, we are not, in fact, worthy.” Ha, but overlooked is the fact that they put one of the most recognizable moments in Saturday Night Live history in a TV spot, and didn’t think to call anybody? Could they possibly just be playing a cynical political game, breaking the rules intentionally just to get some coverage? Nah, they wouldn’t do that. Well, hey, John, you kooky culture jammer, if you want to use some of my mashups in your commercials, you go right ahead. I’m sure the original artists whose rights I never bothered to get wouldn’t mind…

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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