When I'm in Paris I walk EVERYWHERE. I don't even know how far I end up going. Probably ridiculous mileage. My shoes always need refurbishing when I get home. But there is just no place more beautiful to wander.
Today I happened upon a knitting store. What are the odds?
And then these ladies on the Mayor's building of the 11th arondissement caught my eye.
Of course seeing the Louvre again is always mind boggling. It has its own arc de triomphe.
And everywhere, surprises.
the first day, just sitting in the cafe across from the conference, all of a sudden, they were making a movie.
That night, I almost got into the hot new show.... But the line was too long.
We took a quick break to seek out my favorite eyeglass store, Francis Klein. And on the way there, Jean found a pair, no kidding, of Christian Louboutin clickety clack shoes. ok they were used, but they were just sitting on a windowsill. @#$%^&!!!?
Her sweetheart, David, wasn't quite sure what the big deal was.
Francis Klein was divine
I, of course, fell in love with the purple.
And then of course back to the meat of the matter.
The discussion kept coming back to how to implement some kind of levy on the ISP's that would help to remunerate the 'creators.' and '‘content providers' for this new digital world. Would the public agree to some monthly fee in return for access to whatever, whenever?
In the end we all had to agree that it might be the only way to get SOMETHING for the things that people are happily taking for free. (and for granted!)
There was much heady talk about the actual origin of copyright, and the outdated notions it holds. The difference between moral rights and the rights of authorship...
There were lawyers, medical patent people, internet people, publishers, journalists...
Eddie Schwartz was here helping with the artist's side of things. (He wrote, "Hit me with your Best Shot!"
Hank Shocklee (public enemy) was on my panel, and we got into a friendly debate about sampling....
Later we all went to hear him mix at a cute little parisian club.
Peter Jenner (Pink Floyd, Billy Bragg) had lots of smart saucy things to say.
My old pals from college were part of the conference.
Dean Schram (film producer, "Darfur NOW," literary agent, lawyer) and Ann Chaitovitz (copyright lawyer, rebel) on the front lines
It of course remains to be seen how new digital revenue will be collected and distributed and how we will be able to make a living out of this fraction of what record sales, book sales, newspapers, moviesÂ…. used to bring. But this is our reality, so we have to figure it out.
It was really helpful to have a dialogue and hear all the sides of the story.
My beef continues to be educating people about OUR reality. We, the creators of "content." The reality of rent, groceries. Just making a living doing what we are on this earth to do.
And my hope is that whatever document we finally draft is not naive about the general public's willingness to pay for what is now free.
