Tom Petty-CorporationsKilling America

Subject: Tom Petty
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 12:12 PM

There was an interesting interview with Tom Petty in today's USA Today. I thought that I'd share a few quotes, which could easily have come out of a Mudcat thread. The comments are in regard to his new album attacking the music industry:

"I left nobody out," Petty says "I pick on the artist, the audience, everyone." "And not just in the music industry. It could be any business. The problem is greed, pure and simple. Never mind a healthy profit; the idea is "We want all the money we can get. We want every damn dime out there, and our computers can show us where every dime is." The Mom and Pop store had to care about its customers and its products to survive. These giant corporations don't care about anything but profit."

"Consumers have been anethestized," he says. "Standards go down, we settle for less. A CD is not expected to have more than one or two good songs. And I find it amazing that audiences accept lip-syncing at live shows."

"TV's down right dangerous," he says. "It endangers every one of us. There's an industry that makes the music business look like Boy Scouts. You would have thought you'd see s drastic change in attitude and maybe some moral responsibility in the wake of 9/11. I've seen no change other than an attempt to cash in on the flag and patriotism."

Strong words, but certainly true. For 30 years I was Director of a large museum with a farm, nature trails, art exhibits, an observatory exhibits and classes on early New England and American life, and not least a folk concert series and festivals. My stated opinion about the museum was "The Museum is people." And the staff and I ran it that way. We always put people first, and the Museum thrived. About five years ago, the Board became very top-heavy with corporate executives, and their bottom line was not people, or education or enjoyment. It's not that they didn't recognize the importance of those things. But, they seemed to see them as a side-effect of increasing attendance and income, not the purpose of the organization. The irony is that it's good BUSINESS SENSE to treat people with respect and consideration. That's soemthing that seems to have been lost in the corporate world. They see spread sheets, not people. In the long run, people who are driven by greed, who care nothing for their customers are brought down by their own greed. I just wish that it didn't take so long...

Mild-mannered Jerry

Subject: RE: Tom Petty
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 12:23 PM

Exactly. Amen. The computer spread sheet, the TV, and the mindless search for one more nickel of profit X 250 million potential customers is utterly destroying our culture. And for what? It's ridiculous. These fools have forgotten that they will die some day, and the hill of money they leave behind will avail them nothing.

- LH

Subject: RE: Tom Petty
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 12:25 PM

"All is vanity."

Jerry

Subject: RE: Tom Petty
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 03:50 PM

Love isn't.

Y' know, Jerry, I think you should have titled this thread a little differently. Maybe putting the word "Shatner" in the title would have helped...

:-)

- LH

Subject: RE: Tom Petty
From: GUEST,gar
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 03:59 PM

.

Subject: RE: Tom Petty
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 04:14 PM

Or how about Corporations are Detroying America?

I guess we left Guest speachless..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Tom Petty
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 05:04 PM

Not much to say, xcept to agree with TP(and you, Jerry), and to say that he has one of the best rock'n'roll bands ever--saw them do the new single on the Today show last Friday, and the music was as good as ever--

Well, maybe I do have something to say--things went bad in the Reagan years when sales, aquisitions and leveraged buyouts began to be they way money was made--instead of companies selling products, the money was made buying , selling, and brokering the sale of companies--

The people who were running things discovered that they could make more money, and faster, if they ignored running the business and concentrated on cutting up the business and selling it off--

The Dot.com thing carried this to the extreme--businesses that had no sales, no markets, no products, but were simply sold and resold themselves, making huge amounts of money for a small group of people, and leaving the rest of us to clean up the economic havoc that they created--

The latest investment catastrophe is coming to a head now--all the overvalued corporations acquired other seemingly profitable corporations in order to siphon off their profits--only thing is that many were doctoring the books to show profits where there were none--

Subject: RE: Tom Petty-CorporationsKilling America
From: allanwill
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 05:47 PM

Tom Petty seems to be going down the same path as Joni Mitchell. Could this be the start of a revolution to bring music back to the music industry?

"Video killed the radio star".

Allan

Subject: RE: Tom Petty-CorporationsKilling America
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 07:09 PM

mild mannered Jerry:

Yeah, Bruce Sprinsteen says, "Sooner of later, it all comes down to money...". He knows. He got screwed by one record company after another.

But it doesn't *have* to be that way. And I think there will be a backlash to run away corporatization. I think that Enron was a crack. And then World Com... And then... And then...

And, yeah, the corporations are real happy to have the Iraq distraction, because they are going to be taken to task at some poin in the near future. I would guess that in reality, they are next in line.

But the sad thing about it is that even knowing that, they are still "ripping andf running", like a junkie trying to get a fix, because the folks who run 'em don't have the internal wiring to do anything but what they know. Spread sheet and profits.

Hey, mankind is gonna have to make the changes or it can not survive. We earthlings are going to have to learn to share, top listen, to include, to solve problems with win-win thinking, or the terrorists will just bring ourselves down upon ourselves.

And it does come down to individual choices. Then community choices. It's gonna take a lot of folks to say "Heck, no" to business as usual. This is why I urge folks to learn more about the Green Party, which is the only voice against the abuses of the bosses.

Bobert

Subject: RE: Tom Petty-CorporationsKilling America
From: khandu
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 09:51 PM

Indeed..."Vanity of vanities; all is vanity"!

Bottom line...$$$$...greed...avarice....the love of money.

Two principles exist...buying and selling, and, giving and receiving. I prefer the latter. But, I honestly have never managed to maintain survival without the former. I wish I could.

It is greivious to see real needs of people going unmet because of the lack of a dollar, as well as a lack of compassion from others. Today, at a funeral, I heard that a loved one of the deceased could not attend because she "didn't have the money" to make the long trip. This saddens me deeply.

Perhaps I am not in the best of moods to even post this tonight. Forgive the thread creep, Jerry.

Ken

Subject: RE: Tom Petty-CorporationsKilling America
From: C-flat
Date: 19 Oct 02 - 05:04 AM

In my home town there is a tiny sports shop, "Jack Hatfield & sons", selling kit and equipment, that is now being run by the grandchildren of Jack Hatfield.
I remember being served by old Mr.Hatfield when my dad took me for my first pair of football boots. He made quite a fuss of making sure my boots were the right ones for me and as I was leaving he called me back and, with a conspiratorial wink, slipped me a free pair of spare bootlaces.
The next time I called in the shop was for a new football. My "friend" Mr.Hatfield enquired how I was getting along with the new boots and, as I paid for the ball, was given a free valve.
Many years later I took a young nephew of mine into town to buy a football strip and although it had been some years since my last visit I was delighted to see the shop was still in business. Sadly old Mr.Hatfield had died but his sons were running the business and after we'd got what we wanted and were heading for the door, the "young" Mr.Hatfield called my nephew back and, with the same conspiratorial wink, gave the lad some shin pads.
The Hatfield family have been "giving away" their stock for 50 years now and despite the upsurge of interest in sports/fashion wear and the influx of big, departmental-style sports shops, it remains as one of the last bastions of retail service.
Make no mistake, Jack Hatfield was no mug when it came down to business. He recognised that his and his families future lay in the hands of those little kids and the generations that followed. I wouldn't begrudge them their profits, they earned them and, like many others, I don't even mind paying a little extra for the pleasure of the "freebies".
No matter how many "Buy on get one free!" offers the big stores make, they can't ever make it personal like Jack and his wink!

Subject: RE: Tom Petty-CorporationsKilling America
From: YOR
Date: 19 Oct 02 - 01:43 PM

Thanks for sharing the info Jerry.

There used to be two good old hardware stores in my area. You know the kind of store where you could ask a question to the old fart there and he knows what your talking about and can help you. Now I have a Home Depot, and I love Home Depot, but it just ain't the same.

I agree, spreadsheets are running corporations and the idiots reading them only care about every cent possable.

I work in government contracting. Everytime we have layoffs the upper management says: "Well I'm staying!, my assistant is staying! and that one other person that makes me look good is staying. After that I really don't care." Cut all the indians and keep the chiefs. Who the hell is going to do the customers work!

Smell any boycotts?

Enjoy, Roy