Feature Writing Final

Well, college is pretty much over. I'm stumbling through my last day as we speak, trying to churn out one last story for my public affairs reporting class. But I just turned in my second-to-last story, for my feature writing class, and I thought I'd share it with you, my faithful readers (just a figment of my imagination, I know).

The story is a "News Feature" about the illegal downloading issue on college campuses and the actions of the Recording Industry Association of America against student offenders. It's not my best work, but I think it reads fairly well, I guess, and, well, I got it done, and that's all that matters. For any who are interested, here's the full text, all 1,186 words.

When junior journalism major Liz Granger returned to NIU after winter break her sophomore year, she couldn’t get her computer to connect to the internet. It must have been some glitch with the network in her dorm, she thought.
She brought her laptop to the NIU library to try to log on to their wireless network.
Nothing.
She took it to local coffee shops that provided free wireless internet access.
Nothing.
After a month and a half of this frustration, Granger took her computer to NIU’s Information Technology Services (ITS), hoping for a diagnosis. What they told her had nothing to do broken wireless cards, bad Ethernet cables or fried hard drives. ITS had disabled her computer’s internet capabilities at the behest of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), who caught Granger illegally downloading copyrighted music.
This was the first time in Granger’s life that she felt like the bad kid. A life-long teacher’s pet and frequent winner of the best-behaved student award, she was finally caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“It kind of made me feel like a criminal,” she said. “I don’t ever get in trouble.”
Granger was one of millions of people who acquire music for free through a system known as peer-to-peer file sharing. Users get the music from the open hard drives of other users, rather than from a central server. You get music from other users, other users get music from you.
To successfully connect her computer to the internet again, Granger would have to go to the office of judicial affairs and sign a document affirming that she was aware of the consequences if she were to get caught downloading music again.
So what are those consequences, exactly? Direct legal action from the RIAA.
The organization has been aggressively targeting college campuses in its campaign to eradicate illegal downloading practices over the last year. Over 100 NIU students have received RIAA pre-litigation letters. The letters give the students two options: prove your innocence in court, or settle out of court to the tune of $3,000.
No one at NIU has chosen the first option. In fact, only one of the thousands contacted by the RIAA has actually brought her case to court. The jury in that case found the defendant guilty of downloading the music and hit her with $222,000 in damages.
The RIAA says that college students are among the worst offenders of illegal downloading practices.
“Universities are being targeted because that's where piracy is taking place in the most rampant way,” said RIAA CEO and Chairman Mitch Bainwol in a DeKalb Daily Chronicle article.
Despite all the bad news for illegal downloading offenders, the practice persists, and even Granger doesn’t think that will change soon.
“I think people are always going to do it,” she said. “I don’t think college students want to pay or think they should have to pay.”
Granger’s words underscore an important phenomenon about mp3-hording college students: they feel an entitlement to any music that they want. This entitlement, of course, has no basis in copyright law and little basis in the capitalist system, but it is very real to the students who get their music for free online, and it is very unlikely that they will be surrendering it any time soon.
“They’re going to have to start suing a lot more people if they want to make a significant change,” Granger said.
Senior English major Andy Mitchell has downloaded tens of thousands of songs illegally. A musician himself, he feels neither guilty nor afraid about the consequences of his downloading activity.
“I’m not really worried about them finding out,” he said. Again, it’s the sense of entitlement that keeps him feeling safe: “It’s kind of my own moral belief that they’re wrong and that makes me less afraid of them.”
Donald Henderson, director of the NIU Students’ Legal Assistance Office, has spoken with and advised some of the students who have been hit with letters from the RIAA.
As an attorney, Henderson said he really couldn’t comment on whether or not the RIAA is “right” or “wrong” in its actions. As far as he is concerned, the Copyright Act is the law of the land – the black-and-white, cut-and-dry rules. It says the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of music is illegal. To him, the issue couldn’t be clearer.
“It’s unmistakable that there is this comprehensive statute that is intended to protect the rights of creative people… [the] law is enforced in courts across the country every day,” he said.
He did acknowledge, however, the general sense that things are getting out of hand. Once big corporations start suing thousands of college students, you know something isn’t quite right. How to rework the copyright laws, he couldn’t say.
Mitchell and Granger agree that things will have to change soon. Granger’s solution is of the simple variety.
“Mostly I think it should be legal and they should just put up with it,” she offered.
Granger is a typical poor college student, working part time jobs and saving up for a car. She can’t make room for music in her budget. Now that she’s scared out of her wits to download music for free, there is a void of new, exciting music in her life.
The music on her mp3 player is from her days as an illegal downloader – almost a year ago now – and it hasn’t withstood the test of time.
“Everything that’s in there is kind of old and stale and I’ve listened to it a thousand times,” she said.
After getting used to accessing all the music she wanted for absolutely free, she feels paralyzed, not sure whether to start paying for music, asking friends to download CDs for her, or try her luck again downloading. Thus, the copyright law should change for her, her logic goes.
Mitchell’s proposal didn’t offer much more in terms of practicality.
“I’m just hoping eventually the copyright rules will be rewritten,” he said.
Kelly Sill, applied artist in the NIU jazz studies program, has mixed feelings about the RIAA’s practices. As a full-time professional musician, every penny he makes from a CD sale counts, and the thought of downloaders acquiring music without paying for it troubles him. However, the RIAA doesn’t get a whole lot of sympathy from him either.
“They’re trying to use fear to get people to not use their stuff. I’m not a big fan of using fear. However, it is their stuff.”
How long the public will be able to put up with the scare tactics is another question. College students show little sign of responding to it as of yet.
Mitchell is holding out that things will change soon enough.
“The way people listen and distribute music has become so crazy that you kind of have to figure out a new business model rather than shake down people who don’t buy into your old one.”
That new model seems as elusive as ever, and the very people who would be responsible for heralding it – the RIAA – continue fighting the change with every pre-litigation letter they send out.

Shirazette Tinnin article

Here's a story I wrote about NIU jazz studies student Shirazette Tinnin, who just secured the drum spot in the prestigious all-female jazz group Sisters in Jazz.

It didn't get published in the print edition of todays Star, since the school was closed due to weather and security problems. It is, however, online for your viewing pleasure.

Candidate Match Game

I haven't written an article for The Northern Star in a little while, so my blog has been neglected as of late. I apologize, but I have a little treat for you today.

I took a little time out of my busy writing schedule today to take a little test created by USA Today called the "Candidate Match Game." It asks you multiple choice questions and then compares your answers with the ones they think the various candidates would have given. It was fun to do, and, honestly, was probably the first time I've given more than a fleeting thought to some of the biggest issues involved in the elections.

The test covers the main areas of 1)The Iraq War 2)Immigration 3)Health Care. It also includes a smattering of questions on topics like gay marriage and more general questions about what you look for in a candidate.

The trouble was that oftentimes I agreed with more than one of the multiple choice answers. It tells me I "match" with one candidate more than another, but I also dig what the other candidate is saying.

Anyway, it was interesting to take, and very informative because you can see the positions for every candidate, not just the ones you are "matched" with.

For those of you dying to know, I was ultimately matched with Chris Dodd, John Edwards and Hilary Clinton, matching with all three of them on 7 of the 11 questions. I thought Obama was my man, but we only hooked up on 5 of 'em, though, as I mentioned earlier, I still agreed with his answers on some of the other questions, even though we didn't pick exactly the same one.

I was least matchy with Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, only answering one question the same with each. Guess I'll stay away from those guys.

Another Art Review

Who do they think I am, Robert Hughes? I wrote this story about the current faculty exhibition at NIU.

Again, I didn't really know how to approach it, and I probably should have taken a "newsy" angle and researched how the reception to the exhibition has been thus far (it has been running for a few weeks already). This might have included interviews from faculty with their art on display, quotes from students checking out the exhibition, and maybe input from the university's president about what an exhibition like this does to further the school's positive image and get people out to DeKalb.

Instead I took an hour to check out the exhibit myself, take notes silently, and pretend like I really am an art critic.

Track of the Day 5

TOTD 5. I felt like I had to return to jazz after my foray into popland with Rufus on TOTD 4. I took my brother Cooper's suggestion and went with "Cherokee" by Clifford Brown and Max Roach from their "Study in Brown" album. The song features, I think, one of the best bebop trumpet solos on record.

Latin Jazz and Percussion Ensemble Story

I wrote a story about the Latin Jazz and Percussion Ensemble concerts taking place this week. I wasn't quite sure what to focus on with the story, because there a lot of elements: two different concerts, two different sets of music and different sets of students, and, most importantly, a big, important guest artist, Valerie Naranjo, percussionist with the Saturday Night Live band.

So anyway, I just wrote the story kind of plain and newsy, inserting little tidbits of info I deemed notable. Hopefully it'll do the job and get some folks out to the concerts. I'll be there.

Jazz Ensemble Story

Here's a story I wrote about this fall's incarnation of the NIU Jazz Ensemble. The story could have been more newsy, telling folks to come out to the concert to hear some great jazz, etc. but I decided to go a feature route, focusing on the new director and the new aesthetic he brought to the band. Of course, to do this issue justice the article would have been about five times as long, but whatcha gonna do?

I also didn't have room to include info about the news aspect that most people probably thought was most prescient: the guest artist on the Jazz Ensemble's tour is renowned drummer Peter Erskine. So instead, I included a little "sidebar" article about Erskine that's only in the online edition of the newspaper.

Hope you like it.

Track of The Day 4

I finally ventured away from jazz for this TOTD, talking about Rufus Wainwright's wonderful tune, "I Don't Know What It Is."

I know it would have been classier to go further back for my first-non jazz TOTD, but I just felt like writing about Rufus.

Chicago Afrobeat Story

My editor contacted me at the last minute to write a little blurbish story about the Chicago Afrobeat Project, who is currently maintaining a once-monthly residency at the DeKalb club Otto's.

I interviewed the group's drummer, Marshall Greenhouse, which was fun. He gave me the scoop on how the band manages (or mismanages) its budget, and the band's hopes for the future. For the most part I left these juicy details out of the article.

He also said they are very much in need of a trombone player, so, if you are one or know one, give 'em a call or go to the show tonight and sit in.

Eli Jones Article

Here's an article I wrote about Eli Jones, a Chicago pop/soul band that utilizes a lot of NIU talent (including me, but don't tell my editor that). I wanted to make the article more in-depth to cover the many areas of the band's sound and history as well as its NIU connection and comments about their CD release party to take place on Thursday, Nov. 8.

However, much of the article ended up on the cutting room floor, and it now reads kind of clumsily and doesn't even make much of a case for the whole aspect of the NIU connection, which is supposed to be the focus of the whole story.

I especially like how we find out that an NIU trombone player met the Eli Jones bassist in a grocery store just before an abrupt ending. The fact that the trombone player is now part of an all-NIU horn section that has had a big impact on the band's overall sound got left out. But, he ran in to the bassist at the grocery store, which, I guess, is important.

Track of the Day 3

Third track of the day. It's for "I'm an Old Cowhand" from Sonny Rollins' "Way Out West." I still remember the first time I heard this tune, and thought it was the baddest thing I'd ever heard.

Lee Rocker Preview

Yet another preview! What can I say, I guess my editor thinks I'm a one trick pony.

This one's about Lee Rocker, the bassist from The Stray Cats, who's playing in DeKalb Thursday night. He's pretty much as big as it gets as far as rockabilly goes, so it should be a cool show. I'm going to check it out and write an online review for the Northern Star, too.

Musical Discovery: Shooby Taylor

I hear a lot of music, but every once in a while some musician really catches my ear and demands that I spread the news. Today, on a friend's facebook page, I learned about a cat named Shooby Taylor. I don't need to describe him; his music speaks for itself.

MP3 - Lift Every Voice and Sing

Halloween Concert Preview

Another preview article. This time for the School of Music's annual Halloween concert, a long-standing tradition. I'm not sure whether it's really of any use to post little insignificant articles like this one on the blog, but if I didn't, I'd feel like I'm breaking the rules. But I made the rules, and I have the power to change them! It's MY BLOG! If I don't want to post the little preview article, I don't have to!

Aw, heck. Here it is.

Panoramic preview

Here's a preview article I wrote about Robert Chappell and Liam Teague's world-jazz fusion group, Panoramic. Again, about half of the length of my story was cut, but whatcha gonna do?

Go check out the show, Sunday night at the House Cafe in DeKalb; they're quite good.

How the tables have turned

I've gotten so used to writing about music in the last couple of months, the thought of someone else writing about me has been pretty far from my mind.

I was very pleased, then, to see a review of my performance with the Stuart Mindeman Trio in Door County, WI in the Peninsula Pulse, Door County's premier entertainment publication. We actually had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner with the journalist himself, Erik Eriksson, who was a very nice man. He's led a pretty impressive career, too: we were treated to stories about his interviewing Duke Ellington on the radio.

Well, anyway, it's nice to be on the other side of the paper.

Here's the review.

Track of the Day 2

I did another track of the day today, this time based on "Footprints" from the Miles Davis album "Miles Smiles." I realized I didn't really talk about the way the song actually sounds - the signature bass ostinato and dorian tonality, for instance, but what the hell, you only have so many words with these things.

Oh, and you'll notice that the people who put the page together credited the article to my editor, Keith, not me. Pure accident, there's no reason Keith would have wanted credit for my measly article.

Keith Jarrett Review

Well, it appears that another of my masterfully written articles failed to make the cut for the Northern Star website. I wrote a review of the new Keith Jarrett trio release, "My Foolish Heart: Live at Montreux."
Though it was published in the paper, it never made it to the website, so I'm offering curious readers my original, unedited version of the review RIGHT HERE ON MY BLOG! That's right, you get all of the insightful musical commentary without any of the bone-headed editing that my poor, precious articles undergo on the newsroom floor.

So, here it is:

In an era of Disney Channel pop stars, over-hyped indie bands, and jazz gimmickry, it’s an unqualified pleasure to hear one of jazz’s most enduring ensembles play for a live audience.

Pianist Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette have recorded almost twenty albums as a group. Nick-named the “Standards Trio” because of their selection of well-known jazz standards as repertoire, they also serve as the gold standard of what a modern jazz group should be.

The trio’s new release, “My Foolish Heart: Live at Montreux,” is a live recording from the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2001. Jarrett says in the liner notes that he was waiting until the right moment to release the recording the public.

He offers this as a rationale for doing so: “This, indeed, was a concert containing so much of the breadth of what we have been doing with “Standards” these almost 25 years, that now is the time to hear it.”

Whether or not that’s sufficient rationale for waiting so long to release the record is debatable; what isn’t debatable is his reference to the “breadth” of the recording. On “My Foolish Heart,” the three old friends seamlessly maneuver between straight-ahead jazz, free improvisation, lush, romantic balladry, and, for the first and only time in concert, three ragtime tunes.

What’s amazing about the almost two-hour-long recording is that all of the above sounds like it belongs. The ragtime tunes, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” and “You Took Advantage of Me,” are performed with the same earnestness as any other piece on the program, despite the rare straightforwardness of their delivery.

Thelonious Monk’s perennial blues head “Straight, No Chaser,” serves as the off-ramp from ragtime-land, and also as a sort of depository for the wild improvisation that would have sounded pretentious in the ragtime tunes.

The blues are always a sort of a home base for jazz musicians, and on this concert, “Straight, No Chaser,” sees the trio’s most freewheeling and highly intuitive playing.

On the blues the trio rarely defines a steady beat, and at times dips into completely free improvisation. But, much as the straightforward ragtime tunes don’t sound out of place in this modern jazz set, the impulsive improvisation on the blues sounds perfectly accessible and appropriate. Throughout the tune, the 12-bar blues form is hinted at, but rarely marked out very clearly.

Just as Jarrett is unafraid to explore different styles and moods, he and his comrades are unafraid to play alternately simple or complex ideas over the tunes of their choice.

In fact, he decries the “empty virtuosity” of today’s jazz artists in his liner-note exposé. Many times an idea of his will come to its logical conclusion, and, unafraid of leaving space, he will lay out for a measure or two before another idea presents itself, often filling the void with one of his trademark groans.

A player of unmatched technical skill and repertorial diversity (he has an extensive catalog of classical recordings to his name), Jarrett unabashedly recites the simplest blues licks and quotes old bebop tunes between unparalleled flights of technical prowess.

DeJohnette likewise exhibits equal propensity for simple and complex improvisation, choosing the former during his eight bar solos on “Honeysuckle Rose,” where he plays New Orleans parade-style snare beats and even offers an homage to Gene Krupa, pounding out swinging rhythms on his many floor toms.

Less in the spotlight in this concert is bassist Gary Peacock, who does a superb job of accompanying his band mates but opts to stay out of the spotlight. On the 6-and-a-half minute version of “Oleo,” the bassist only solos for a total of 40 bars.

It doesn’t matter, though. Just like Jarrett and DeJohnette, Peacock is always humble and willing to play just what the music calls for, whether it be an old ballad, an up-tempo burner, or a traditional Fats Waller tune.

What really matters is that they play it all with the collective knowledge of three of jazz history’s greatest players, and it all sounds good.

Marching Jazz Band Feature

Here's a story I wrote on a new student-led ensemble at NIU that plays traditional New Orleans parade-style jazz, which ran in Tuesday's paper. As always, I feel like my editor obscured many aspects of the story, but whatcha gonna do? I don't live on campus, and I always just email my stories in, so I can't really sit there and discuss the changes with him.

Anyway, enough about me. The jazz group, which I saw on Tuesday, and of which I was a member in a previous incarnation, is plenty interesting because they're doing something that has pretty much been heretofore unexplored in the NIU jazz combo program.

Track of the Day 1

The entertainment department at the Northern Star is trying out a new feature called "Track of the Day." Every day a different Entertainment writer contributes a few paragraphs about one of their favorite tunes. I got my first turn today, and I wrote about Ahmad Jamal's "Poinciana," one of the great recordings in jazz. I didn't really feel like I could do the tune any justice with words, but, doggone it, I tried my best.

MCA Review: Disappeared?

I wrote a review of a new rock 'n' roll-themed exhibit called "Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. It doesn't appear to be archived on the Northern Star website, however. It's probably just as well. I'm not an art reviewer, and I wasn't too proud of the article. I'll just sum up the exhibit this way: cool art stuff related to rock and roll, making me realize that if I really want to be a hipster, I need to start listening to the Velvet Underground.

Pat Martino Article

Here's a little preview article I wrote about the great jazz guitarist Pat Martino coming to NIU to present a clinic. I gotta say, I kind of rushed through this one (It was keeping me from going to the Pumpkin Farm on Columbus Day).

Ulrich Maiss Review

I wrote a review of German cellist Ulrich Maiss' recent performance at NIU. His performance, which basically consisted of a lot of noise accumulated from layered loops of distorted cello, was probably really offensive to most of the folks in attendance, but I kind of liked it. I realized after reading my printed article that I never really made it clear that I experienced a little bit of enjoyment from all the noise. I think that's OK, though. My editor said it reads more "newsy" that way.

Herbie Hancock record review

This is my first album review! It was a good one to start with because I really, honestly, loved the album, Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters." My editor cut about half of the story, so there are some pretty essential details left out (such as who is playing the instruments), but it turned out ok. Go get the album.

Philharmonic Article

Here's a preview article I wrote for the NIU Philharmonic's first concert of the season. The angle focuses mostly on the new conductor. If I were perfectly honest, I would write in the newspaper that most of the members of the Philharmonic don't like the new conductor at all, but, I'd rather be nice.

Avalon Quartet Article

Last week I published an article on the Avalon Quartet, the new String Quartet in Residence at NIU, which is replacing the legendary Vermeer Quartet. I tried like the dickens to get some interviews with quartet members and students, but I couldn't make anything happen! I guess the article's alright, though. Check out the quartet in concert October 10 in the music building concert hall.

Podcast on Northern Star Media

I was recently a featured guest on Northern Star's local lounge podcast. I played some new tunes and chatted with my friend Andy Mitchell. Download the podcast here.

Northern Star Article

Here's an article about NIU's new jazz bass professor Kelly Sill. He was hilarious to interview, and I hope I can meet him in person soon.

Northern Star Article

Here's an article I wrote for the Northern Star about a band that came through town called White Rabbits. I really dug the band, but had to be honest about their less-than-spectacular performance the night I saw 'em.

First Northern Star Article

Here's my first Northern Star article, published on September 6, 2007, about the life of a couple of NIU jazz graduates making their livings in Chicago.