Hey folks,

Last week I went to Canada Music Week in Toronto - it's the biggest Music Industry Event in Canada, something like SXSW in Austin.  It was very educational. I learned a lot of inside dope... for example, (brace yourself) the music business isn't always very nice.  For one thing, they want to separate you from your money, and the want to use your children as their agents in doing it.

The guy from MTV crowed about the number of kids as young as nine years old who have their own cell phones (I don't remember the exact number, but it was something like "a lot.")  Every kid with a cell phone is a potential customer for something called a "ring tone."  I don't know about you, but I don't know many nine-year-olds with jobs.  They have to get the money to buy these "ring tones" from somewhere, can you guess the most likely place?  That's right.

I felt sorry for the artists and producers who are scrambling to make a living while the record companies are resisting change and suing consumers, and targeting children with their vile product.

So it was kind of disheartening, but in the middle of all this, I took an hour away from it to be interviewed on camera by John Mitchell for "Waiting for Ishtar", his film about Ishtar fandom (http://www.waitingforishtar.com/).  He's one of the nicest guys I've had the privilege to meet in I don't know how long... he put me totally at ease, and I don't think I'll look like a kook or a moron, so I'm happy about how it went.

He told me one thing that was fascinating - I don't think I've heard this before.  The on screen snippets of songs Paul Williams wrote for the movie are only sections of complete songs. Furthermore, Williams wrote 55 songs for consideration!

My gosh, what a treasure trove.  I hope they become available to us some day.