Members of the band The Eagles (L - R) Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh
and Timothy B. Schmit attend the premiere of the film "History of the
Eagles Part One" during Sundance London, at the O2 Arena in London.
REUTERS
- The Eagles have filed a lawsuit accusing the owners of a Mexico hotel
of using the name "Hotel California," arguably the band's most famous
song, without permission.
In
a complaint filed late Monday, the Eagles said owners of the 11-room
Todos Santos hotel in Baja California Sur "actively encourage" guests to
believe the hotel is associated with the band, in order to sell
t-shirts and other merchandise, and make guests feel welcome.
This
allegedly included piping "Hotel California" and other Eagles songs
through the hotel sound system, and selling t-shirts in that refer to
the hotel as "legendary," resulting in apparent confusion among many
guests who posted online reviews.
The
Eagles also noted that the defendant Hotel California Baja LLC has
applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register the Hotel
California name.
"Defendants
lead U.S. consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is
associated with the Eagles and, among other things, served as the
inspiration for the lyrics in 'Hotel California,' which is false," the
complaint said.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court seeks a variety of damages and a halt to any infringement.
Neither the hotel nor the lawyer who filed its trademark application immediately responded on Tuesday to requests for comment.
The
Todos Santos hotel was named Hotel California when it opened in 1950,
but went through a series of name changes before a Canadian couple, John
and Debbie Stewart, bought it in 2001, and according to the Eagles
began using the original name in marketing. Its website is
((http://hotelcaliforniabaja.com/)).
"Hotel
California" is the title track from the 1976 Eagles album of the same
name, and won the 1977 Grammy award for record of the year.
It is known for its long guitar outro featuring Don Felder and Joe Walsh, and complex lyrics sung by Don Henley.
In
an interview with CBS News last year, Henley said the song is about "a
journey from innocence to experience. It's not really about California;
it's about America."
The case is Eagles Ltd v Hotel California Baja LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 17-03276.
Ma
Nerriza dela Cerna of Erika Records displays a full color "Beauty and
the Beast" record at the company's office in Buena Park, California on
April 12, 2017, where the record manufacturing business has been
pressing vinyl for over 30 years (AFP Photo/FREDERIC J. BROWN)
New
York (AFP) - Ten years ago, most vinyl records sold for a few dollars
-- dusty old albums with dog-eared covers that had been thrown out as
useless relics of an earlier age.
However,
faced with twin onslaughts from digital music and big-box stores,
independent record stores in the United States banded together in 2007
to create an annual day of special sales -- and much to their surprise,
vinyl has been king.
Metallica
played the first Record Store Day at a branch of Rasputin Music in the
San Francisco area. While the metal legends' presence ensured a crowd,
all 10,000 vinyl reissues at the store sold out that day.
"That
made me realize we were onto something. We tapped into something that
nobody could have imagined," Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz
said.
Kurtz
quickly expanded Record Store Day to continental Europe and Britain,
where the first British edition was championed by Billy Bragg, the folk
rocker known for his left-wing activism.
The
10th annual event takes place Saturday at thousands of stores around
the world -- due to the deliberately loose structure, Kurtz does not
have an exact figure -- with some 350 special vinyl pressings in the US
market released on the day.
Since
the first Record Store Day, vinyl has soared to levels not seen since
the 1980s. It has been a rare source of growth in the long-beleaguered
music industry alongside -- although at a much smaller scale than --
streaming.
Vinyl
revenue will top $1 billion this year while sales of CDs and digital
downloads tumble, the analytical firm Deloitte estimates.
In
Britain, where vinyl's rebirth has been particularly pronounced,
records generated more revenue than advertising-backed tiers of
streaming platforms last year.
- Owning a format -
Vinyl
enthusiasts such as Elton John, who has done promotions for Record
Store Day, insist the medium offers a superior listening experience. But
there are also broader cultural forces at play.
"It
was a perfect storm," said Kurtz, 59, sipping coffee near his home in
Harlem as he wore a T-shirt of punk icon Iggy Pop -- among the musicians
with special Record Store Day releases.
"For
the older music fan, people in my age group, it was a romantic thing
that you can go back and buy all your favorite records again and buy
special versions of those albums," he said.
"On the younger side of things, it enabled a whole new generation to own it. I think it was a response to digital in a way."
In
a sun-kissed industrial plaza in Orange County, California, Erika
Records never stopped making vinyl. But production has ramped up eight
times in the past decade. The plant now produces 20,000 records a day.
"The
vinyl resurgence has been very good to us," project manager Ma Nerriza
dela Cerna said next to the plant, where records by artists from Lady
Gaga to Bob Marley are manufactured from start to finish.
Part
of vinyl's draw is the unique touches it provides for fans. Erika
Records, the sole US plant to make color and picture records, works with
artists to create original designs -- although it drew the line when
one band proposed infusing its members' blood into the vinyl.
- Will boom last? -
"A
lot of people say that the vinyl industry will eventually slow down,"
dela Cerna said. "I personally don't think that only because I feel like
we're introducing vinyl to a new audience every day."
Record
Store Day and Erika Records both have their roots in working with
independent labels, although major conglomerates have since joined the
event.
Unlike
some indie purists, Kurtz rejoices in major labels' participation as a
signal of vinyl's success. But he also worries that the same trends that
battered independent stores a decade ago are coming back, with some
labels bypassing them to sell directly to consumers.
Vinyl's
growth has also been inconsistent. A major format for indie and classic
rock and jazz, it has had much less impact in hip-hop, where top
artists often find it more lucrative to sign streaming deals.
While vinyl makes up an ever-greater part of the market, the rate of growth in the United States slowed to four percent in 2016.
Kurtz isn't worried. Record store owners are enjoying themselves, he said, and the expansion was expected to plateau.
"Music
has always had a core 10-15 percent of the population that buys the
full vision of the artist, whether it's on CD or vinyl. And right now
it's pretty close to that."
Helmut Igel prepared to
paddle out into the California surf. The popularity of surfing means
more traffic on the water, but things can be quieter at night.Credit
Donald Miralle for The New York Times
SAN
DIEGO — The ocean and the sky melted together in a gray mass, making it
tough for the surfer to size up the coming waves. Would they crash down
on top of him and hold him under — or break in just the right spot for
him to catch the perfect ride?
By
day, the surfer, Helmut Igel, is not fazed by six-foot waves. But it
was after midnight, on a moonless sea. Surfing is not the same in
darkness.
Igel,
55, is among a small subculture of surfers who dot coastlines from San
Diego to Sydney after sunset, pursuing an adventure that’s a subject of
curiosity on social media these days thanks to pro surfers on LED
boards. Visibility is but one of the perils.
Sharks,
while rare along the coast here, can hunt at night. And surfers cannot
count on being rescued by lifeguards; they left hours ago.
So why paddle out under the stars? Elbow room, mainly.
“These
days on a full moon, you can still paddle out to a crowd. On other
nights, it’s like stepping
into a time in California pre-‘Gidget,’” said
Igel, referring to the 1959 movie about a teenage girl’s infatuation
with surf culture that helped kick-start a boom in the sport.
Estimates
of the number of surfers worldwide vary greatly — the International
Surfing Association says it is 35 million — but forecasts indicate that
the sport is growing. More surfers means more traffic on the water as
they wait for waves, continually battling for position, given that the
surfer closest to the curl gets the wave. Crowding also strains surf
etiquette, which calls for only one rider per wave (or two on a two-way
peak).
So
Igel agreed to an interview, as well as a request to shadow him in the
water, on one condition: no naming the precise spot he frequents,
somewhere between Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and the curving La
Jolla coastline 40 miles to the south.
Before
hitting the darkened seas, Igel strapped on a helmet that was crusty
from all the exposure to salt water, snapped a selfie and texted the
picture to his wife to try to put her mind at ease. It does not always
work, he said.
Duct-taped
to the helmet were orange and purple glow sticks, a longtime night
surfer accessory that alerts riders streaking across a wave to paddlers
in their path.
Glow
sticks can seem primitive next to the LED technology employed by pro
surfers in video and social media clips in recent years. The most famous
night ride to date took place in 2011: The Australian big-wave surfer
Mark Visser — equipped with a buoyancy vest and a board with specially
engineered LED lights — surfed 30-footers at the Hawaiian break Jaws.
“It
started off as, ‘This is the most terrifying thing,’ but once I settled
down and was able to really feel what was happening and be in the
moment, it was the most amazing experience,” said Visser, noting that
his death-defying stunt had required four years of preparation.
Visser’s
tricked-out life jacket and board were not designed to light up the
waves, but rather to enable rescue crews to spot him in the event of a
wipeout. He figured out during training that lights pointed in any
direction but behind him were blinding.
The
Australian board maker Mike Bilton — one of the few producing
commercial LED surfboards — encountered the same problem while
developing a prototype.
“Later
designs moved the lights mostly to the underside of the board, which
casts a bit of light, so particularly when you’re on the wave you can
see,” he said. “You’ve still got the initial challenges of seeing a wave
coming.”
But
glow sticks suit Igel just fine. Their light was the only sign of him
as he stroked into a peeler, drew S-shaped turns and kicked out before
the wave dumped him on the shore. He immediately began clawing his way
back to the takeoff spot.
After
20 years of night surfing, Igel is accustomed to dicey situations. He
recalled collisions — and a 12-foot sneaker wave that gave him and a
friend the spin-cycle treatment. But those incidents have not kept him
from going out a few times a month.
For
Igel, a former ship navigator, bobbing offshore under the cover of
darkness is second nature. “It’s not only about trying to get away from
the crowds,” he said. “It’s the ambience, which is hard for me to put
into words.”
I got a taste of this eerie beauty between wave sets.
Digging
my hands through the water left sparkly white trails — what Igel calls
pixie dust — because of phosphorescence in the water. Stars twinkled.
Headlights from the occasional car reflected off low, wispy clouds.
Yet for all its allure, night surfing is linked to tragedy.
On
Oct. 27, 2015, just as night began to fall, the big-wave surfer Alec
Cooke paddled out at Waimea Bay in Oahu, Hawaii. After Cooke was
reported missing, emergency responders found his surfboard washed up on
shore, but not him.
Three
days later, the body of Kenneth Mann, a master surfboard sander who was
known to ride waves at night, was found tethered to his broken
surfboard on the beach in Encinitas, Calif.
James McDonald of Ireland surfed under a full moon this month in California.Credit
Donald Miralle for The New York Times
The
Encinitas lifeguard captain Larry Giles said he had seen Mann jogging
to the beach with his surfboard an hour or so before sunset the previous
day. It is not clear what happened after that or when Mann drowned.
Given the lack of light, it is common for surfers’ eyes to play tricks on them: Is that kelp or something worse?
“Sharks
are a big part of night surfing, even if they are not actually there,”
said James McDonald, who joined Igel in sharing stories but did not
paddle out that particular night. “The thought is always with me.”
He
half-jokingly added that if he had the misfortune of encountering a
shark, he would receive “an amazing epitaph: ‘Eaten by Great White
Whilst Night Surfing.’”
Brad
Benter, also a part of San Diego’s night surfing scene, said he had
once spotted a shark’s dorsal fin 100 feet from him under a full moon
about 4:30 a.m. These days he wears an anklet meant to ward off sharks,
although he is not confident it works.
Still, the night surfers are moonstruck.
“Your
eyes start to adjust after a while, and while still hard to see, you
catch a wave,” McDonald said.
“And in your head it feels like you ride
two miles. Time stops.”
Night
surfing is not new. A 1909 Collier’s magazine article on surfing in
Hawaii described the annual Waikiki beachside carnival, in which surfers
rode with acetylene lamps. In 1969, Hawaii’s Jock Sutherland,
reportedly after taking LSD, rode 20-foot monsters at Waimea Bay well
after sundown, according to Matt Warshaw, author of “The History of
Surfing.”
“In
the ’60s, young surfers would occasionally go out because the
ingredients were there: summer, warm water and moonlight,” Warshaw said.
“Later, it became a way to get away from the crowd, and I’m not even
sure if that’s true anymore at prime spots.”
Back at the midnight break, Igel stroked into a wave that marched in from the darkness.
“This looks like a good one!” he said before dropping in.
Aaron Hernandez arrested at his home in North Attleboro, June 26, 2013. (Photo courtesy: Boston Globe-George Rizer)
SHIRLEY (CBS) – Former New England Patriot and convicted killer Aaron Hernandez killed himself in prison overnight, authorities said Wednesday morning. Here is the message sent out by Christopher Fallon, the Assistant
Deputy Commissioner of Communications of the Massachusetts Department of
Correction: On April 19, 2017 Aaron Hernandez was discovered hanged in his
cell by corrections officers at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center
in Shirley Massachusetts at approximately 3:05 a.m., lifesaving
techniques were attempted on Mr. Hernandez and he was transported to
UMASS Leominster where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m. by a
physician at the hospital. Mr. Hernandez was in a single cell in a general population
housing unit. Mr. Hernandez hanged himself utilizing a bed sheet that he
attached to his cell window. Mr. Hernandez also attempted to block his door from the inside by
jamming the door with various items. The Massachusetts State Police are
on scene and the investigation continues. Mr. Hernandez’s next of kin
have been notified.
Aaron Hernandez reacts to the not guilty verdict in his double murder trial on April 14, 2017. (WBZ-TV)
Fallon later told WBZ-TV’s Anna Meiler that Hernandez was not on a
suicide watch because there was no indication he wanted to harm himself.
Corrections officers found him when they were doing a regular hourly
round in the unit. There are no reports of a suicide note, Fallon said, adding that investigators are going through everything in his cell.
Hernandez’s body has been turned over to the state medical examiner’s
office in Boston where an autopsy “will determine the cause and manner
of death,” according to a statement from Worcester District Attorney Joe
Early Jr. WBZ-TV Chief Investigative reporter Cheryl Fiandaca said investigators will be looking into the time Hernandez entered his cell, the last time guards checked on him, and if there were any incidents leading up to his death.
Aaron Hernandez cried when the verdicts were read April 14, 2017. (WBZ-TV)
Just last Friday, Hernandez broke down in tears in court
as he was acquitted of murder charges in the shooting deaths of Daniel
de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in the South End in July 2012. Hernandez, 27, was serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd in June 2013. Veteran defense attorney Randy Chapman told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 that Hernandez’s suicide may cause the murder conviction to be thrown out. “That will likely be vacated because the conviction was not final,
meaning that the state’s Supreme Court had not reviewed it for whether
or not there were any errors during the course of the trial,” said
Chapman.
The Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. (WBZ-TV)
Hernandez leaves behind his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez and their 4-year-old daughter Avielle. He grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, became a standout tight end at
the University of Florida and was drafted by the Patriots in 2010.
Tim Tebow and Aaron Hernandez during their days at Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
He quickly became a star and the Patriots signed him to a five-year
contract extension in August 2012, just a month after de Abreu and
Furtado were murdered.
Aaron Hernandez. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
In June 2013 he was charged with shooting Lloyd to death, a short distance from his home in North Attleboro and the Patriots released him. Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder in April 2015. n an interview last Thursday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick called the Hernandez story a “tragedy” and “heartbreaking.”
In
this 2012 photo, Bill Belichick and Aaron Hernandez chat at the
beginning of a Patriots practice at Gillette. (Photo credit: Boston
Herald)
Saskatchewan rancher Adrienne Ivey may have heard of a beaver, but until now, had never seen a beaver herd — cattle, that is.
On Friday, Ivey and her husband were surprised to see 150 of their heifers crowded together in one of their pastures.
Curious about the strange behaviour, they investigated further, to
find the herd of cattle following a beaver that had wandered along.
"He was out and about, I think looking for a new place to build a
beaver lodge, and they were following him," Ivey said. "There was about a
three-foot space around him. They didn't want to get closer than that."
According to Ivey, heifers are more inquisitive than the average bovine, which may have led to them following the beaver.
"They're a curious bunch," she said. "They're kind of like teenagers.
And I think they were following this thing around because they couldn't
figure out what the heck it was."
Ivey thought the odd event was even more notable considering the beaver is Canada's national symbol.
"We just thought this was so funny and so Canadian," she said. "A
Canadian beaver leading around a bunch of Canadian cattle just makes it
even more funny."
Ivey said they have a number of sloughs and wetlands on the ranch, and often see beavers walking around.
The couple farms near Ituna, 135 kilometres northeast of Regina.
Bob Iger, chief executive officer of The
Walt Disney Company, walks with Tim Cook, chief executive officer of
Apple Inc., as they attend the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley
Conference, July 6, 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
RBC Capital Markets told investors a mega-merger of Apple and Disney, though unlikely, would make sense strategically for the iPhone maker.
"We
have seen increased discussions among investors regarding 'How could
AAPL gain scale in media/content and what could it do with potential
cash repatriation?" analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a note to clients
Thursday. "We see a confluence of events
that make an acquisition of DIS a 'greater than 0 percent' probability
event (while odds are low). AAPL's focus on services and its inability
(so far) to replicate its music/iTunes strategy into content/media make
acquiring DIS logical in our view."
Daryanani cited Apple CEO Tim Cook's comments that "deal size isn't a negating factor" for its future mergers and acquisitions. In addition, the analyst noted
the Republican tax repatriation holiday proposals, where corporations
can bring home overseas earnings at a lower tax rate. If this tax reform
becomes law, the iPhone maker will have access to its more than $200
billion held abroad for acquisitions, he said.
Daryanani gave six reasons why Apple may buy Disney:
"Accelerates AAPL's push into services and content."
"Instantly leapfrogs Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube in content and resets the lead with content narrative."
"AAPL has been unable to replicate its music playbook to video."
"Iconic
brand — there are few brands that AAPL could acquire that wouldn't
dilute its iconic presence and customer relationships; DIS would clearly
strengthen (and not dilute) the brand value."
"Even using minimal cost synergy, we see the deal being accretive by 15-20 percent."
"AAPL has been increasingly looking at larger deals and noted that services is a focus."
RBC Capital reiterated its buy rating and $155 price target for Apple, representing 9 percent upside from Wednesday's close.
Gabe Lacques , USA TODAY Sports COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tim Tebow’s minor league baseball career couldn’t have started in more magical fashion.
In
his first at-bat for the Class A Columbia Fireflies, the former Heisman
Trophy winner drove a 2-1 pitch from Augusta GreenJackets lefty Domenic
Mazza off and over the fence in left field for a two-run home run,
sending a capacity crowd at Spirit Communications Park into a
disbelieving frenzy.
The shot came in the bottom of the second inning of Tebow’s first
game with the New York Mets’ low-A affiliate, and came on the heels of a
spring training performance during which he struggled in Grapefruit
League exhibitions against major league clubs, getting just four hits in
27 at-bats (a .148 average).
It appears he’ll like lower minor league pitching a little better.
Tebow
stopped momentarily at second base before an umpire motioned that it
was a home run. He did a giddy-hop and pumped his arms, before
completing the trip around the bases.
While Mezza is a far cry from Max Scherzer — the National League Cy Young winner who struck him out on three pitches last month — he’s far from a novice. Mezza, 22, posted a 3.93 ERA in 14 starts in this same South Atlantic League last season.
After
fouling off a pair of pitches and deftly laying off a curveball in the
dirt, Tebow — with fans clad in his jersey from the University of
Florida, the Denver Broncos and even freshly purchased Fireflies Tebow
T-shirts — created his first bit of baseball lore.
