Jesus Christ Superstar, Dunfermline, 29-Apr to 01-May

Jesus Christ Superstar is coming to Dunfermline's Alhambra theatre for four performances on 29-Apr to 01-May (with Saturday matinee).

The show - which many consider to be Lloyd Webber's most original score - is seldom made available to adult amateur societies. To mark the show's 40th anniversary, two of Scotland's most exciting amateur musical groups - The Melodramatics of Edinburgh and The Limelight Productions of Dunfermline - have joined forces.

The result is a show that is shaping up to be one of the most powerful theatrical events you are ever likely to see on the amateur stage.

With Iain McInnes playing Jesus, Bobby Mitchell in the role of Judas and Kirsty McLaren as Mary Magdalene, together with a top-notch ensemble, this is an event not to be missed.

The Alhambra Theatre is in New Row, Dunfermline, and has ample free parking close by. If you've not seen the theatre it's well worth coming to visit, as it has promise to become one of Scotland's top theatres in the near future.

You can order tickets (£13 for adults or £11 for concessions) from the Alhambra box office on 01383 740384, or from www.ticketmaster.co.uk

Please do come along - I am certain that it will be a night of theatre you will enjoy and remember for along, long time.

/alan

Well done Mr Connarty

Well, high marks indeed to Michael Connarty - he wrote back to me late yesterday evening (after 11pm) to reply to my mail.

His response started off by saying he had been campaigning to protect copyright holders for eighteen years in Parliament and would continue to do so.  

On Clause 43 he believed that copyright holders were protected because they could "claim back" mis-identified orphan works.  My preference would be to put more onus on the prospective user of the copyrighted material.

On Clause 46 he denied that it was a "Henry VIII" clause, which would allow substantial changes to the Bill without Parliamentary approval.  Instead, it requires a Statutory Instrument, which in turn requires a committee of MPs to make changes.  He described that as normal in legislation.

Finally, Mr Connarty said that he did not vote on the Bill as there was no amendment tabled in the House and hence no opportunity to vote.

While I still am uncomfortable about the issue of Orphan Works I am heartened by the speed of response from my MP and the fact it was clearly a direct response to the email I had sent, not some "form" reply.  

I would suggest to any reader that every image you post to the net has your contact data in the EXIF and IPTC data, and anything larger than a size you are willing to lose should have a watermark containing a copyright symbol, date, your name and some means of contacting you.

Letter to Michael Connarty

It does seem pretty underhand of the government to try to sneak through the Digital Economy Bill on the last day of Parliament before the Election is announced. This Bill will make it much harder for photographers to be paid for the work they do, and that seems wrong in a Bill that claims to be working to protect the "Creative Arts" (see http://www.stop43.org.uk/pages/read_more.html for more information)

Anyway, here's the text of a letter I sent to my MP Michael Connarty today. Let's see what response I get:

Dear Mr Connarty,

Even though it is late, and I am sure your mind will be on other things
today, I ask you to vote against the unseemly shoehorning through of
the Digital Economy Bill.

The Bill has clearly been poorly thought through. It claims to be
trying to promote the Creative Arts, yet in Clause 43 it greatly
reduces the rights of photographers to claim payment for the use of
their own works. Someone wanting to use a photograph need make only
the most cursory of searches for the photographer, and they can happily
go away and use the work without compensating the artist who created
it.

Furthermore, Clause 46 - a so-called Henry VIII clause - allows a
future minister to make changes in the scope of the law without that
being approved by Parliament. I thought we were supposed to be a
Parliamentary democracy - why should a single minister be free to make
sweeping changes to a law without consultation with MPs?

And finally, the suggestion that a family's internet connection may be
disabled because of a SUSPICION of misuse, is clearly contrary to any
form of natural justice. You always come across as a fair-minded man,
so I am sure that you would not go along with something as unreasonable
as that.

I hope you will let me know, at your earliest convenience, that you
have voted to delay this Bill for reasonable scrutiny in a future
Parliament.

Yours sincerely,
etc