italy is a country i'm familiar with. it is at once stunningly beautiful and proudly untamed. if i could live anywhere there are really only two places i’d seriously consider: the middle of nowhere or italy. the people are disarmingly strong, the women achingly gorgeous and fiercely passionate. laws are suggestions, and taxes afterthoughts. hasn’t stopped me from getting speeding tickets on the autostrada mind you but i always pay on the spot while my italian friends practice restraint. wait they say. things change. and it’s true. normally such a huge contraband fine would after a time be whittled down to a fraction, seemingly by osmosis. a missed deadline here, a mistyped document there and pretty soon 2 million becomes two thousand. it has always been thus. it is their nature. however if i was this dj, i might be a little more worried than usual. you see italy has been run by it's richest citizen for years now, and it's richest citizen owes his wealth to corporate welfare and copyrights. he is silvio berlusconi and if you took summner redstone, kirk kerkorian, rupert murdoch, john malone, micheal eisner and a dozen other creepy media rodents in the states and melded them together in some awful, unhuman amalgam from your worst kolchak the nightstalker corporate nightmares you might begin to approach the unholy power this guy holds over bella italia and europa. reason alone to toss the whole rancid crew of media moguls and their sycophants out of the reichstag, brussles, congress and assorted parliaments of the west and right on their asses. until then this poor dj may be facing some hard choices i’m afraid. while the amount of the copyright fine is so excessive as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment (in case the riaa is salivating about pulling it here), when you consider dj’s promote music and contribute heavily to record sales, it’s an outrage this happened at all.
- js.
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