Bruce and Kali, When the box set was first released I was wondering if there might be any family members of the Paramount recording artists still around that might come out of the woodwork and jump on the ‘suing bandwagon’ to try to get rights to copyrights for song royalties from their dead relative’s work. I’ve read some pretty wild stories of relatives keeping the fights for copyrights going on for decades. I can not believe that Dean Blackwood approached Third Man Records with this idea without having full knowledge of clearance to use the songs and other material in the set. He seems like s strange character and I hope TMR doesn’t do any more business with him. Dean Blackwood, like our president, is a lawyer = sharks…always got to watch out for sharks when swimming in the ocean; if ya catch my drift. We all need the service of lawyers for many things to take care of in our lives from powers of attorneys, buying and selling houses, for making wills, etc., etc., etc. Not all lawyers are bad but I wouldn’t trust this Dean Blackwood ever again and thank God an American president can only serve two terms…this one is driving me crazy with all of his crazy ideas for our country. NUF SAID :-)

Bruce: Here’s the news— http://www.offbeat.com/2014/02/01/revenant-jack-white-third-man-records-copyright-infringement/ I hope the same for the second Volume. What it comes down to is if TMR & Revenant took liberties they shouldn’t have, then shame on them and they need to remedy that. If GHB has no real proof of ownership and all their other licensing agreements are based on bogus claims, then shame on them and it’s about time somebody stood up to them. Either way, it doesn’t diminish the beauty of what this set represents. If anything, it adds more flavor to it. Somehow, this little bit of contention just seems to fit right in with the craziness of the Paramount story.

CINCI, wow, I had not heard that yet about the copyrights being contested. Thanks for sharing that. I hope everything works out all right and they are able to release the second cabinet this fall.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/a38607d4e380114f5969e0db1bb5f12f/tumblr_n0hesjazBj1rkf1pdo1_500.gif

correction: “write” them off on taxes

PS: I would have recommended to Dean Blackwood he make the recordings available to the public in a less extravagant format in public libraries around this country and the world. That way many more people would be able to enjoy the music history and sounds of these great American recordings from the past. Oh well…maybe you all will have some of the box sets left over that you can donate to libraries and right them off on taxes. I would visit the library in Nashville or the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum if I could listen to the recordings in those places. The $400 price tag was just a little too steep for me. For 4 payments of $60 = $240 a year to be a Platinum Vault member and get all the goodies y’all send out over a year’s time is a much more exciting monetary investment for me.

Sorry to see in the news that the copyright for the songs in this box set are being contested after all this time (decades). It’s amazing how people can come out of the woodwork to dispute these things. I’ve read stories about families fighting for years and years and years over copyright rights of dead relative’s work…sad and pathetic. This makes me hope that everything works out well for TMR. It also made me think about the project costs: (1) 5,000 units to be made (2) 4,000 units needing to be sold at $400 each to cover costs of making total # of units (3) 5,000 units x $400 = $2,000,000.00 (4) 4,000 units x $400 = $1,600,000.00 (5) second box set scheduled for release in 2014, if costing same = another $2,000,000.00 investment. Holy cow, and I would’ve voted against this merger and voted for buying the apartment building next door to TMR and making plans to demolish it and build a state of the art theater for that kind of money and then all the recordings you make there would most definitely be your own property. If anything else comes up, you have my info if you would like to do some consultation. Love you guys and don’t like you all having to be put in these kind of situations. I would’ve vetoed the balloon release too. The balloons and strings may have been biodegradable but the records weren’t. I kept imagining them ending up in the countryside and in farm fields and thinking cows, horses and other domestic animals and wild life, especially birds, possibly ingesting the plastic which would eventually would break apart in the elements/weather and hurting the poor unsuspecting creatures. Oh and I didn’t like the two band thing either…not too fond of a bunch of females in a band and can’t even imagine the costs of touring with such a large number of people. Just call me a “cheap mama” but please call me if you want my advice in the future. I am serious.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I want to officially state how wonderful the folks at Third Man are. Had a bit of a panic this week over the lack of tracking status for the boss’ set, but Rebecca looked into it for me and was assured by the USPS that it was on its way. Just now received it here at work and the little note on the outside of the carton has me grinning all over again. Love you guys and gals. Happy holidays to y’all, too!

The deal (see below) is done, order placed. I can’t wipe the grin off my face, I am so pleased and proud that the folks I work with chose this as a gift for the owner of our store.

My boss just came to me… She’s been thinking of what to get for the owner of our store as a Christmas gift from the staff this year, and she’s heard me and one of my co-workers raving about the Cabinets of Wonders we each bought, so she asked me for more info about it. If this happens, that’ll be three Cabinets that found homes within one place in Washington, DC. Oh, and another co-worker is still trying to convince his wife to let him buy one, so that’d make four.