Flashbacks: the RIAA sues for its life, on the job with a female bouncer, and a money camp for kids

SCARE TACTICS

5 years ago

September 26, 2003 | Reporter David S. Bernstein pondered the recording industry's random subpoena flare-up.

"EVERYONE CLAIMS innocence when subpoenas appear, but in this case it’s a fair bet that Judith Sabatino, a nurse at Winchester Hospital, had neither the time nor the inclination to download 1167 files of songs ranging from the Beastie Boys to the Notorious B.I.G. No: when she says, upon first hearing about the lawsuit, ‘It’s probably my kids,’ we can assume she’s telling the truth.

"Likewise, the bulk of the songs on George Nadolny’s computer were probably downloaded by his daughters Lycia and Laikyn; John Jr., not Sr., probably did the file-sharing in the Delahanty household; and Peter Delgardo’s kid had to show Dad what Kazaa is. ..

"All these people have been sued by record companies for copyright infringement...

"In a last stand to save their industry as they have known it, music companies are trying to scare those numbers down to zero. They’re doing it by making very public examples of 261 families, including 46 in Eastern Massachusetts, out of an estimated 60 million illegal file-sharers.

" ‘That’s my luck,’ says Nadolny, an insulation installer in East Bridgewater, of the 230,000-to-one odds. ‘I can play Megabucks forever, right? But I get this.’ " Read Full Article here

TOUGH ENOUGH

10 years ago

September 25, 1998 | Sarah McNaught followed one of Boston's no-bullshit, tough-as-nails and yet unassuming, female bouncers and uncovered a security staff secret: sometimes women just do it better.

"Tonight, the four slightly intoxicated patrons butt shoulders and even heads as the music blares on. But [John Matthews] doesn't move in. He sees that one of his employees has the situation under control.

"If you followed Matthew's gaze, you might expect to see a similarly hulking man quieting the group of slam dancers. But amid the swirling crowd, wearing a radio headset and a black T-shirt with a white Axis logo, is Martha Whipple...With her glasses, ponytail and waiflike build (not much more than 125 pounds), she looks so much less imposing than her boss...

"Whipple is one of a rare breed: of 53 clubs contacted by the Phoenix, only three have female security staff...

"Beyond diversifying the staff, women can sometimes handle situations that men can't. The purpose of security is to maintain a controlled environment, not crush heads, explains [Axis owner Patrick Lyons]...

"But at Axis, the women don't just take the supporting role: they are in the thick of the action. Whipple has been punched in the stomach and flipped over a drunken patron's shoulder onto the hood of a car...Along the way, she has suffered a couple of broken fingers, multiple bruises, and many aches and pains the morning after."

HIGH SCHOOL HIGH

15 years ago

"Linklater's mastery of youth sociology is as keen in Dazed as it was in Slacker. He gets all the subtle delineations among the subgroups right, from the hardcore jocks to the jock intellectuals to the brains, the geeks, the stoners, the bohemians, and the one older guy for whom high school was the best seven years of his life...Whereas in a John Hughes movie jocks might fight stoners, in Dazed, the jocks are stoners. Linklater remembers the days when someone who wouldn't give you the time of day might still pass you a joint, or when three freshmen could get drunk from one beer."

" Linklater offers nostalgia without sentiment; as Pink says, 'If I ever start referring to these years as the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself."

WHEN A WEEKLY ALLOWANCE JUST AIN'T ENOUGH

20 years ago

September 23, 1988 | Reporter Caroline Knapp checked out a  money camp for kids.

"Why learn to swim or ride horseback when you could take classes like, 'How Now, Mr. Dow' (a/k/a/ ‘How to Read and Understand the Financial Pages') or 'Fun with Funds' (a/k/a 'The ABC's of Creating a Mutual Fund')? Let the masses run around and short-sheet one another’s beds. This was serious stuff. This was 'Dollars & Sense,' a financial camp for boys and girls ages 10 to 15, held last month at the Four Seasons Hotel. The 10 mini-moguls who paid $600 apiece for the privilege...had better things to think about than, shudder, playing games."

 -- compiled by Cassandra Landry