Charon Promos Blawg Review

Charon QC promos Blawg Review with a movie. Hilarious, if you follow @Charonqc and his smokedo program on Twitter.

Blawg Review #214, the June 1st edition, is up early; relations between the USA and the UK will never be the same after this.

My Generation

A Day at the Beach

This is not Flag Day; it's Towel Day.

In the United States, it's Memorial Day.

A Day at the Beach — Omaha Beach.

Blawg Review #213; bring your towel.

Memorial Day Weekend

These are the faces of the fallen.

Memorial Day 2005 at Crime & Federalism
Memorial Day 2006 at Blawg Review
Memorial Day 2007 at Biker Law Blog
Memorial Day 2008 at Patent Baristas

Cyberlaw Central is hosting Blawg Review #213 on the Monday of Memorial Day weekend this year.

Help Me Remember You

Beginning a Memorial Day long weekend with a little country western music by a couple of my favorite Texans, Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, to complement this week's Blawg Review #212 by entertainment IP attorney Tamera Bennett.

Tamera is a past chair of the State Bar of Texas Entertainment & Sports Law section, a founding board member of the Women Business Owners of Denton County, and a former adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University. Tamera frequently lectures to attorneys and business owners on intellectual property and entertainment law matters. In addition to her law practice, Tamera is the owner and president of Farm To Market Music, LLC a full service song administration company.

Tamera Bennett received her law degree from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and her undergraduate degree in Recording Industry Studies from Middle Tennessee State University.

Tamera was named a “2006 Best Lawyer in Dallas Under 40″ by D Magazine.

Blawg Review #212, I don't wanna get over you.

Throwing In the Towel

Blawg Review #213 is one week from today, on May 25, 2009. Kevin Thompson at Cyberlaw Central says he needs a picture of you with a towel for his theme; who picks these hosts?!

Seriously, though, Towel Day is a great way to celebrate the life of Douglas Adams, and not just the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series he’s most famous for.

Douglas was an environmentalist as well, one of his more interesting endeavors was writing the book Last Chance to See, a book about the search for some of the rarest and most endangered species on Earth.

It’s a wonderful book, which, like Hitchhikers, was also a radio show.

Douglas also wrote much more, including several episodes of the classic show Doctor Who, two books in a series about the holistic detective Dirk Gently, the quasi-dictionary The Meaning of Liff, the computer game Bureaucracy, and Starship Titanic.

So, carry your towel on May 25th as any savvy hitchhiker would (or, in correct lingo, as a hoopy frood would), and honor a man who brought much laughter and joy into the world.

And come back on Monday to read Blawg Review #213 on Towel Day at Cyberlaw Central, where quite a number of law bloggers (including this anonymous editor) will have posted photos of themselves with towels!

Are You Experienced?

In Seattle for the 131st annual meeting of INTA, the International Trademark Association, we're studying the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Apparently, it's not a CLE credit @INTAAM09, although it could be.

Tamera Bennett, an entertainment IP attorney who is hosting our Blawg Review #212 next, could teach a CLE credit course on "Trademarks and the Entertainment Industry".

On the entertainment side of Tamera Bennett’s practice, the primary focus is administration of music publishing and master recording catalogs. Because of lawyer Tamera Bennett’s extensive background in music publishing and specifically in working with the 1909 Copyright Act, the focus is on “estate” catalogs. In the more traditional practice areas of trademark and copyright law, Tamera advises clients on the proper selection and maintenance of trademarks. Additionally, she manages her clients' trademark and copyright portfolios.

A current series of articles on her blog, Current Trends in Copyright, Trademark & Entertainment Law, describes the estate nightmares of iconic musicians.

James Brown, Jerry Garcia, and Jimi Hendrix all held very different spots in the world of music and entertainment, though there is some arguable overlap given the extent of each one’s influence. Yet, one thing they most certainly all have in common after their respective deaths concerns problems in handling their considerable assets, including royalty and trademark rights.

Whether you're a regular follower @blawgreview, or you've just discovered Blawg Review at INTA, be sure to check out our next presentation, Blawg Review #212, which, if nothing else, will certainly be entertaining.

Seattle Trademarks

Looking out my hotel window in Seattle, thinking about trademarks, with the 131st annual meeting of the International Trademark Association just on the horizon, not to mention the next issue of Blawg Review #212 being hosted on Tamera Bennett's law blog with the Create Protect trademark for her legal services, it seemed like a good time to reflect on all the great brands and trademarks associated with this part of the country. Here are just a few that come to mind:

Space Needle, Starbucks, REI, ExOfficio, Pike Place Fish Market, Seattle's Best Coffee and, of course, LexBlog.

If you think of other great brands we should link here, by all means send this editor teh links and we'll include 'em among Seattle's trademarks we're looking at this week.

While we're here, let's ask a Seattle Trademark Lawyer, "Is the Space Needle Different from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?"

I'm not an IP Maven, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express. ;-)

What Is Hip?

During his first 100 days as president of the United States, Barack Obama revealed how different he is from all the white men who preceded him in the Oval Office, and the differences run deeper — in substance and style — than the color of his skin.

Barack Hussein Obama is the nation’s first hip president.

In Blawg Review #211, at HealthBlawg, David Harlow looks back at the first hundred days of the Obama administration and some of the best law blog posts of the week or so since the President reached that milestone.

Like David Harlow's Blawg Review #88 and Blawg Review #129 and Blawg Review #154, Blawg Review #211 is hip.

Mothers' Day On Law Blogs

Send links to your Mothers' Day posts to editor@blawgreview.com and we'll note them here:

Eric Turkewitz at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog was the first to say, "Happy Mothers' Day!"

Diane Levin at MediationChannel.com reminds us that on Mother’s Day, every mother deserves a little peace…and justice.

The Greatest American Lawyer honors the "Greatest American Mom".

"I'd Like Mine Styled As The Islands Of Hawaii, Please," writes Denise Howell on Bag and Baggage, where mother and child have a discussion "On Time".

Carolyn Elefant's post "The Twenty-First Century Mom Lawyer: A Life Without Seams" featuring Michelle Obama is the perfect segue to this week's Blawg Review #211 based upon the first 100 days of the Obama administration.

Reflecting On Chicago

Those who follow @blawgreview on Twitter know that the seldom-photographed Editor of Blawg Review (above in Millennium Park) was in Chicago this week for the InsideCounsel SuperConference.

It was great to have the opportunity to meetup with so many interesting lawyers who had traveled across the country for the SuperConference, including several law bloggers who had hosted Blawg Review -- Stephanie West Allen (#114), Scott Greenfield (#170), and Dan Hull (#65 and #145). Their panel on Dealing With Gen Y @ Work was one of the most controversial and lively discussions ever at a conference. Adrian Dayton, who participated in the discussion with others, and who tweeted @adriandayton throughout the conference, wrote an interesting and provocative counterpoint in a blog post headlined: Why Partners Don’t Understand Generation Y, where the discussion continues in the comments. And Scott Greenfield replied on Twitter @scottgreenfield pointing to a new post on Simple Justice: The Slackoisie Fight Back.

We also met, for the first time, an old friend of Blawg Review (#45), Patrick Lamb, whose Chicago-based Valorem Law Group was on the leading edge of the debate about the "billiable hour" at InsideCounsel's SuperConference.

Beyond the conference, we had a chance to experience the hospitality of the locals. First among many, we'd like to thank R. David Donoghue, who hosted Blawg Review twice (#133 and #173), for generously inviting us to join him and his lovely wife and lawyer friends to cheer the Blackhawks vs. Canucks in a playoff hockey game at the United Center. We also visited historic Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs beat the Giants. We had a great dinner at Harry Caray's when, unfortunately, the White Sox and Tigers were rained out. Next time, ChiSox.

I can't wait to get back to Chicago, back to the Well. Who will be joining Kevin O'Keefe and Niki Black in Chicago for the "Get A Life" Conference... Scott, Dan... Holden? Anyone? Anyone?

May Fourth Movement

About 3,000 delegates from across the country attend a grand gathering on May 4, 2009 in Beijing, to mark the 90th anniversary of the "May Fourth Movement." (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

China marks 90th anniversary of "May Fourth Movement" and Blawg Review #210 is hosted at China Law Blog. A coincidence? We think not.

The "May Fourth Movement", a mass student movement in China that began on May 4, 1919, spearheaded a national campaign to overthrow the feudal society and promote scientific and democratic ideas.

To pick up today's news concerning China Law Blog, click on any of the Chinese newspapers below.


And don't forget to read Blawg Review #210 at this link.

Thinking About Chicago

When I first saw Chicago, live, they were Chicago Transit Authority.

Their first record (released in April 1969), the eponymous The Chicago Transit Authority, was an audacious debut: a sprawling double album, virtually unheard of for a rookie band (only "Freak Out!" by The Mothers of Invention and "Loosen Up Naturally" by Sons of Champlin, featuring Bill Champlin, who would later become a member of Chicago, preceded it) that included jazzy instrumentals, extended jams featuring Latin percussion, and experimental, feedback-laden guitar abstraction. The album began to receive heavy airplay on the newly popular FM radio band; it included a number of pop-rock gems — "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Beginnings", and "Questions 67 and 68" — which would later be edited to a radio-friendly length, released as singles, and eventually become rock radio staples.

Soon after the album's release, the band's name was shortened to simply Chicago, when the actual Chicago Transit Authority threatened legal action.

When I first saw the band, in 1970, Chicago was the opening act for Edwin Starr, who was topping the charts at the time with War.

In 2009, Chicago will reunite with Earth, Wind and Fire for yet another joint tour, which is scheduled to arrive in Chicagoland on June 26th, so I may have to come back.