Page 109 - TheGoldBug1971-72

MAY 16, 1972 THE GOLD BUG PAGE. 5 Record ~ -Bootleg albums r::":":s:~::icI(Ie:::::::a::m:o:n::g~::::::::11 Uncle Wiggily meets bvRkhGould Iistudents; a reportI Rubber Dubber ::1 Among college students suicide is the seconJi greatest the that report psychiatrists College cidents. cause of death, exceeded only by ac- It was a cold, rainy Friday night on Rockville number of tapes missing from his home at Wood- student suicide rate is about 50% higher than the Pike, in the fall of 1969. Tipped off by a friend that stock. Recording Jive rock concerts is a very easy nonstudents of' college age, or the general the Beatles had released a new album C'Come thing to do requiring only a ticket and a tape or population. An article in Moderator, a national Back"), we both made our way to Waxie Maxie's. cassett playerl recorder. Irrespective of this, magazine for college students, claimed that in the In the 'middle of a seething crowd, a harried however, what many of these recordings do have to year'l966 1,000 college students would commit salesman was busiely handing out albums from a offer for the serious rock enthusiast is of con- suicide. 9,000 would try and fail, and another 90,000 siderabletnterest or value. would threaten to do so. ~a:rt~~iurnreJin;n~u~f ~~~. t;::~:h~~~ecrcoa~~a~~ Aside from this streak of altruism, there is the To give you some idea of the circumstances wrappers, obviously containing a non-standard profit motive, which should not be discounted. surrounding a college suicide, two examples of recording. Without worrying about royalties, and expensive college suicides follow. A highly creative coed at a Arriving home, there was some question as to the packaging or manufacturing costs, most of what is large Eastern private school scored high marks in authenticity of the album. On the record label itself made on each sale is profit. Uncle WiggiJy some classes, and dismal grades in others. She was was a title -- "Kum Back" -- a list of song titles, and remarked that "We give a lot of money to the free a loner, obviously unhappy, and she jumped from ~ legend "By the World's Greatest." When played, clinic and to the peace coalition," but one wonders the 14th floor of the campus library. In her room it had a strange sound quality, but it was, true how much. I noticed, several months ago that there authorites found a novel she' had completed. enough; the Beatles. were a number of bootleg Bangle Desh Concerts Professors said that it showed great promise. A Have you' ever had your brains scrambled by floating around which not only cheated George Midwestern university junior loved boxing, said he Paul McCartney's "Teddy Boy" accompanied by Harrison and his friends, but the Bangia Desh enjoyed "outmaneuvering the other guy". But he liberal doses of microphone feedback? Or in that refugees as well. constantly felt squelched in class, could not un- matter, have your virgin ears ever been raped by a To beat the system is, in itself, an adventurous derstand why his English papers come back aU blasphemous recording of Dylan's "Great White undertaking. As producer Dennis Wilson com- marked up with critical comments. His roommate Wonder?" If not, then you most likely have escaped mented, "these communes (bootlegging outf\ts) explained that the professor was mainly concerned the bootleg people. are dedicated to bringing music directly to the with improving his writing style. "But this is the Somewhere in the wilds of Los Angeles, the now people without having to go through the way Ifeel, the way I really feel", the boy insisted. underground recordist "Uncle Wiggily" boldly bureaucracy of the music industry. The romantic ~h~;.t1y thereafter, he took an overdose of sleeping leads his merry band of boogymen in the aspect is the most compelling attraction. People questionable business of bootlegging albums and can't fight in the Spanish Civil War any more, and At WMC there are generally a few suicide at- tapes. UncleWiggily along with other extra-legal the day of the desperado, of Robin Hood, is over. So tempts each year, but there have been no suc- recording companies such as Rubber Dubber they strike out at the fat cats of the music com- cessful attempts here recently. Barbiturates are Records, have for quite a while sustained a crusade panies this way. It's an existential romantic trip." by far the most common method, distantly trailed agai.nst the established recording companies, Bootlegs were commonly found on the counters of by shooting and jumping, Girls have more of costing the latter $100 million per annum in sales. most big record shops until February 'of this year. a. tendency to use drug overdoes in attempting to Bootlegging albums isn't new - Frank Sinatra They usually came in plain white packaging with or kll~ themselves, the more violent means mainly records were cribbed during the 40's -- but it wasn't without printing on the covers. Each record is being employed by the guys. While academic until recently that the traffic in underground usually monaural with a sound quality ranging pressure ma.y be a factor, the main problem is recordings began to threaten the tight hold on the from fair to terrible. The bulk of the material usually more of a long term one. Few suicide at. music market now enjoyed by the big industries. available is of concerts. Don't expect studio quality tempts are made during finals or midterms. Why bootlegging? Although it is difficult to pin when you do invest in a bootleg. But on the other Perhaps problems from before college become down anyone general cause for the creation of hand, there is a lot of fine material in circulation more acute in the less restrictive atmosphere of large scale bootlegging firms, there are three which can be purchased only through a bootleg. So college. caveat emptor. The suicidal student on the average, tends to be ~t~~~;~,~i~~t~ a~~ cki~l~s.mih!il~'r~~e~~a7:i~~~ older, and has a greater chance of being a derground operations do attempt to make available In May 1971 the music industry began their language, English literature major, or a foreign to the public a quality of hitherto unpublished or summer offensive in the Senate in order to pass student. The undergraduate suicide performs on a unreleased material by well known artists or legislation which would extend copyright privileges level well above his fellow classmates, yet is groups such as Hendrix, Dylan, the Band and the to sound recordings. When this legislation went into unhappy with his scholastic record. The typical law .in February of this year, it became expressly suicide was withdrawn and virtually friendless. Stones. Quite obviously this material has to come forbidden to peddle or make bootleg recordings. from somewhere, and one is led to conclude that Although Rubber Dubber and National Manufac- The most calamitous example of such isolation was tapes or whatever are stolen, smuggled, or both turing Co. have been scuttled, Uncle WiggiJy is still a student, dead for 18days, before he was found in from the studios themselves (Kum Back by the at large and will probable become some sort of .hk rnnm given by students , con- Some clues normally Beatles for 1 example) - Dylan has noticed a national hero. templating suicide ~re: 1) A posture of depression where the student is withdrawn, stays in his roo~, which may be unkempt, also lack of .appetlte, headaches, constipation, and loss of The Gold Bug daydreaming, A decline in self-esteem shown in 2) weight. procrastination, inability to con- centrate, apathy and fatigue. 3) A loss of interest in. academic work, may read magazines, comic books, watch TV, or listen to records instead. 4) Suicide threats and notes, which should always be taken seriously. Some additional signs and symptoms include: Editor-in-chief : Cathy Nelson Associate Editor: Francois Derasse fatigue or loss of well-being, 6) changes in sleep 5) .. feeling of fatigue, 7) loss of appetite, particularly in News Editor: Nellie Arrington Photography: Dave Korbonits pattern, especially early morning awakening with a Art Editor: Jim Sollers Sports Editors: Robert Ramsdell, Tom Trezise th~ morning, and weight loss; or conversely, weight 8) gam from the use of food as a tranquilizer, gastrointestinal complaints, predominately con- stip~tion, ~ut sometimes including diarrhea, ab- Special th~nks to Miss Nancy Lee Winkleman for press releases and pictures. Hard work:- Pam domina! pam, and flatulence, 9) behavior changes Clark, Julie Mullen, Heather Keppler, Chip Wright, Rich Gould, Andy Keefer (see a~ve), inclui~ng significant changes in work, recreation, and SOCialpatterns; also alcoholism or sexual promiscuity, and 10) miscellaneous physical Entered as second-class material and the Westminster, Maryland post office, 21157. Second-class symptoms including headaches, dizziness, blured postaqe paid at Wes~min~ter. Published by and for the students of Western Maryland College. The vision, .dryness of the mouth, shortness of breath, opinions expressed In this paper do not neccessarily reflect those of the administration. and urinary frequency. Important to remember is that the person who threatens suicide is not to be dealt with lightly and Address mail to Box 394, Western Maryland College, Westminster, Maryland 21 157. should be referred to someone competent to help them deal with their problems. Note: The GOLD BUG will not publish during summer of 1972. This is a summary of a paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the course Education 303 by Charles Wilford. 11/18/71 r