Do black leather pants qualify as a tax deduction for rock stars?

Loren’s long awaited legal music database has finally arrived!

here is the official video:

and here is the official press release:

From writing-off leather pants to copyright disputes: New database chronicles legal side of music industry

School of Law’s Center for Empirical Research in the Law and a recent law alum launch thediscography.org

By Jessica Martin

Do black leather pants qualify as a tax deduction for rock stars?

Fans, musicians, journalists, researchers and anyone else interested in music can see how the courts dealt with this question and nearly any other legal issue involving the music industry at The Discography: Legal Encyclopedia of Popular Music accessible through thediscography.org.

The site was created by Loren Wells, JD, musician and recent graduate of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and is supported by the Center for Empirical Research in the Law (CERL) at the School of Law.

The site’s database — the most elaborate of its kind — covers 2,400 court opinions spanning nearly 200 years of the music industry.

The opinions, ranging from copyrights and contracts to taxes, torts and more, are fully summarized and searchable by a number of variables such as artist, location, timeframe issue and more.

“You can see nearly all of U.S. law through the cases and while the cases are educational, they’re also immensely entertaining,” Wells says.

“The Discography is for anyone who legitimately wants a balanced perspective of the music industry and an appreciation for the people who make it happen.”

Wells started in the music industry with small rock shows and then moved onto playing the House of Blues and record label showcases. He strayed from the stage briefly to attend law school.

Thediscography.org also features a blog that highlights interesting cases, artwork by Wells and a news section on current legal events in the music industry.

CERL provides the technical platform to deliver Wells’ database to anyone who would like to access it.

“We took an uncut gem and presented it in a defined form,” says Andrew D. Martin, PhD, CERL director and professor of law.

“The Discography is exciting because it’s an extraordinary collection of information that did not previously exist.

Martin says the project is being driven by a “very passionate student” and is a departure from the staid, faculty projects that CERL normally supports.

“The value of the database is immense,” says Martin, who is also professor and chair of the Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences. “Through the lens of music cases we’re able to understand a great deal of American law.”

CERL’s research technologist Troy DeArmitt says “Wells put a lot of energy and knowledge into constructing this body of information.

“It would be criminal if this information was not accessible to the world,” DeArmitt says.

Editor’s Note: Loren Wells, Andrew Martin and Troy DeArmitt are available for live or taped interviews using Washington University’s free VYVX or ISDN lines. Please contact Jessica Martin at (314) 935-5251 or jessica_martin@wustl.edu for assistance.

Berlin’s Eruv Talk

I will be presenting Berlin’s Eruv at KAM Isaiah Israel, as part of their World Jewry Program, this Sunday, November 8th. The lecture is open to the public.

video still from interview with Moshe Or

In 2008 I traveled to Berlin as part of exchange program with my University. Prior to this visit, I had never been to Germany- nor did I have any particular reservations about going or not going, but it seemed everyone else had their own opinion on the matter.

“Germany, how can you go there as a Jew?” “There are Jews in Germany? I thought they were all dead?” “You are so brave to go to Germany…”

Ultimately people’s projections as to my intentions for going to Germany became the filter through which I experienced Berlin.

While I was in Berlin I conducted interviews with members of the community concerning the highly visible presence of the monuments and memorials commemorating Jewish life (death) have impacted their individual and communal Jewish identities. Other topics included: the notion of German Jews vs Jews living in Germany and how this differs from an American Jewish identity, their status as diaspora Jews and their relationship to Israel, their thoughts on the European Union, anti-semitism and the widespread use of facebook as a mode of connection.

The title of the piece Berlin’s Eruv is a play on the fact that there is not actually an eruv in Berlin.  An eruv is a rabbinically sanctioned demarcation of space that transforms public space into private space for the purposes of the Sabbath, allowing Orthodox Jews to carry in public places, a practice which is otherwise prohibited. Modern eruvs are often made of wire strung between utility poles, a gesture towards a “walled courtyard,” indicating an enclosed, private space.

Just as the eruv exists in the minds of the people who abide by it, Berlin’s Eruv manifests itself through the conversations surrounding the idea of the piece. The interviews I conducted in Berlin relied on the presence of institutionalized markers of Jewish identity, to give weight to the idea non-presence of the living Jewish community.

Berlin’s Eruv Talk

11/8/09 @ 10:30 am
KAM Isaiah Israel
1100 E Hyde Park Blvd
Chicago, IL 60615-2810
773-924-1234

Berlin’s Eruv Video

click here to visit website

Berlin’s Eruv at the 2009 Conney Conference on Jewish Art

I will be presenting Berlin’s Eruv at the 2009 Conney Conference: Performing Histories, Inscribing Jewishness at University of Wisconsin Madison.

Berlin’s Eruv is a conceptual project that addresses the assumed non-presence of Jews in Germany. Berlin does not actually have an eruv. There is however, an active Jewish community, one that is frequently overshadowed by the city’s prominent monuments and memorials commemorating Jewish life (death). Berlin’s Eruv weaves together voices from Berlin’s Jewish community in an attempt to construct a metaphorical eruv representative of a living Jewish Community. Just as the eruv exists in the minds of the people who abide by it, Berlin’s Eruv manifests itself through the conversations surrounding the idea of the piece.

*****

I will be showing Berlin’s Eruv at 2009 MFA Thesis Exhibition, opening May 8th at the Kemper Art Museum.

breaking down the elephant

Ruth at the writing center (who somehow amazingly manages my artistic craziness and dyslexia) helped me come up with this metaphor for my work, based on the story of the elephant and the blind men.

I think it might become my artist statement.

********************************************

Some people think that I am the true representation of the elephant.

It is true I am an elephant, but not the only elephant.

I try to break up the conception of being the only elephant.

Some people see a small portion of my work and think it is the whole- the representative elephant.

Others understand that each piece connects to another piece and that individually they are only fragments.

When breaking the elephant up into pieces, information slips in through the cracks.

People also respond to this new information- creating a bigger more amorphous elephant.

The amorphous elephant is broken up again and again, so that it is relevant to new individuals new experiences…

a) accionesplasticas.com
b) mayatalk.wordpress.com/2007/04/11/obsessed-with-frida-kahlo/
c) thewayismadebywalking.com/
d) www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5sFV2xmpfA
e) berlinseruv.com
f) www.youtube.com/watch?v=359HwupsY1s
g) mayaescobar.com

Negotiating Diaspora Identities Through New Media

Join PhD Anthropology Candidate Eric Repice and MFA Candidate Maya Escobar in a brown bag lunch discussion concerning transnational, transcultural, and hybrid negotiations of identity through new media.

How do these discussions vary between our fields?

Eric Repice

for more information on Eric Repice visit http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~esrepice/home
for more information on Maya Escobar visit http://mayaescobar.com

Washington University in St. Louis MFA Open Studios

Washington University Graduate Open Studios and Art Sale
Saturday, December 13th, 2008
Open Studios: 4-9 p.m.
Lewis Center
725 Kingsland

_____________________________________________________________________
Washington University MFA students are pleased to announce our Fall 2008 Open Studios and Art Sale, featuring work by more than 40 innovative young artists working in painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, combined media, installation and video.

From 4-9 our studios will be open to the public and artists will be present to answer questions and interact with visitors. This event presents a unique opportunity to experience the work of emerging artists outside the traditional gallery setting.  The event will be accompanied by an art sale from 4-9:00 pm.

The art sale will take place on the third floor of the MFA Building and will feature original works by MFA students.  Payments may be made in cash, or by check with ID only. Proceeds will benefit the Washington MFA Student Organization and will be put towards the growth and development of the MFA program as well as to the individual artist.

The Graduate Program has been flourishing at Washington University.  Housed in the distinctive Lewis Center in the heart of University City, MFA students and faculty interact in a collaborative, organic setting, creating a program that is always evolving and pushing the boundaries of contemporary artistic practice.  Please join us for this unique event.

Hope in the STL POST

Article from the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

‘Hope’ springs anew for Washington University grad students

November 19, 2008 — Carianne Noga, a graduate student of art at Washington University, ties tags of hope onto a sculpture outside the University City Post-Office. Noga and fellow student Maya Escobar started soliciting people’s hopes to place on the sculpture. (Christian Gooden/P-D)

By Margaret Gillerman

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/29/2008

UNIVERSITY CITY — Georgia O’Keeffe found inspiration in the light and shapes of New Mexico. Mary Cassatt found hers in mothers and children. Maya Escobar and Carianne Noga, two graduate students at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Art and Design, found inspiration for their latest project from the long lines on Election Day at a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop in the Loop.

There, on the sidewalk outside the shop, which was giving away scoops of ice cream to voters, the two women felt excitement and hope among voters. They said they found that same feeling across the street in the long line of voters waiting to vote at the Loop polling place.

“We wanted to continue that moment and not let it peak out,” Noga said.

Before the polls closed, they had begun to create their “I hope…” project.

They first staked out a site: outside the University City Post Office at 561 Kingsland Avenue.

They then provided people with bright red tags and paint markers for them to write down their hopes for a better future.

The tags then are affixed to a permanent lattice wood sculpture already on site outside the Post Office.

“As difficult as it can be sometimes to voice our wishes and dreams, it can be strengthening,” the artists say in explaining their mission. “We can be reminded of the rest of the world outside our own immediate concerns. In this period of great change and near infinite possibilities, it is time for us to voice our hopes.”

While the project is for all people, Escobar said it holds special meaning for young people.

“This is our moment to make a difference for our communities,” Escobar said. “We need to be aware — of our national situation, of the economy.”

Many of the hopes expressed — most recorded anonymously — so far are noble and universal: “I hope for world peace” and “My hope is that hate is no longer.”

Some of the hopes are personal. “I hope to not fear death,” wrote one.

Others have a distinctly political bent: “I hope we get out of Iraq and don’t go to war with Iran.” And some are just fun, like the person hoping for “chocolate cake for dessert …”

A University City police officer named Hope — Reginald Hope — shared with them his own hope: for safety for police officers. A fellow officer was killed while on duty near the Loop last month.

Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton gave his hope and “wishes for better health and greater prosperity for all.”

The artists also are encouraging people to submit their hopes online at togetherwehope.com.

The existing sculpture outside the post office was designed in 2005 by an undergraduate architectural design studio taught by Carl Safe in the Washington University School of Architecture. University City resident Ethel Sherman had asked Safe to help create a sculpture in memory of her husband William Sherman, a Washington University biochemist who died about five years ago.

“It’s strong like Bill and peaceful and quiet,” she said. Sherman said she’s thrilled about adding “I hope…” to it.

“This is an exciting time of change and hope,” said Sherman, a retired psychologist and teacher who worked for 10 years at the Loop’s Craft Alliance.

The artists, both 24, come from family traditions of public service and political idealism.

“I grew up under the table of political meetings,” says Escobar, remembering her childhood in Chicago. “My friends and I formed our first political organization when we were 11 — Students Against Child Oppression — on behalf of children in sweatshops in Mexico.”

Her mother is a school nurse, and her father, an educator, hosts a radio show in Chicago called “Si, Se Puede,” which means “Yes, We Can.” The program has been around since 1996.

Noga grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and in Georgia. Her father is a psychiatrist at a state hospital, and her mother is a library director.

Both artists are second-year graduate students in the two-year master’s of fine arts program.

The project will remain up through January. Later, the tags can be relocated to other sites and the online site will remain.

University City has embraced the “I hope …” project, according to city manager Julie Feier.

“It’s an inspiring project,” she said.

mgillerman@post-dispatch.com | 314-725-6758

together we hope

The polling lines were LONG in STL, I waited over 4 hrs to vote!  But it was well worth it, I have never been more proud to be an american and to take part in such an important moment in history.

The night of the elections, Carianne and I initiated our project together we hope with the help of our friend Becky Potts.  We passed out red tyvek tags and asked people to write down their hopes for the future. We tried to encourage them to go beyond “I hope Obama wins” or I hope McCain wins”.

People wrote things ranging from “I hope I get good grades” to “I hope that we end the war in Iraq and do not go to war win Iran.”

Check out this website we created where you can submit your hopes online. We will make a tag for each hope submitted…