UYRL

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"Then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty or twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral is: Know where you're going in life ... you may already be there.

Universal Music Publishing Group has obtained exclusive administration rights to the Jimi Hendrix catalog, in the world outside of the United States. The deal will go on for five years, and included all commercial prospects (synchronization licensing for motion pictures, advertising, TV, and any other media).

Universal is replacing Sony/ATV Music Publishing (which has up until this time administered the entire Hendrix catalog outside of the U.S. since ’98). Inside the U.S. the Hendrix publishing rights are still in the hands of the Hendrix Experience, headed by Jimi’s sister Janie Hendrix.

It seems that the Hendrix family made bank from this outside-of-the-U.S. publishing deal: Miss Hendrix told Reuters, “Overall, it was wonderful deal they offered us. Everything has to come through me for approval.”

This kind of thing is enough to make anyone wish that their happy, healthy brother was instead a dead sixties guitar legend. The Hendrix family set up the Seattle company to manage Hendrix’s catalog in 1995, when the now-deceased father of the guitarist James “Al” Hendrix established the Hendrix Experience.

Even without releasing any new music, the business rakes in millions each year, and they still have the option of releasing work from Jimi that the public hasn’t yet heard – the family business has about “10 more years of Hendrix music” stashed away. Beat that, Tupac’s mom.

This kind of thing – the fact that dead artists are so much better than current pop acts, enabling them to still make millions from beyond the grave – makes me almost wish that I’d been born in a time when the best music around wasn’t being made from a laptop. But then I wouldn’t have my iPhone.

After Metallica crashed South by Southwest (SXSW) with their video game promotional show, the festival got even more commercial when the recently criminally charged Kanye West showed up to promote his label, G.O.O.D.

Oh, you’re dying to know what arrogant phrase that acronym stands for? So was I, but it turned out to not be so bad: Getting Out Our Dreams. Founded in 2004, the label is currently home to John Legend and Common.

The label promo extravaganza featured Common and West, as well as appearances by Erykah Badu, Fonzworth Bentely, and 88 Keys. Even though West was obviously just in it for the money he can make in the future, he got hot and heavy with the crowd by performing a string of his hit singles. During his time onstage, the rapper spent plenty of minutes talking up his recent label catches, Big Sean, and Mr. Hudson.

Apparently his fledgling underlings won’t let him be great either, as in their presence West seemed so relaxed as to forget the words of his own songs – he couldn’t even get all the way through “Crack Music,” ending the song with “That’s all I remember!” One might be able to forgive such a sorry performance if the rapper wasn’t blowing up his own ego all the time.

Even though South by Southwest was invaded by non-fledgling artists, I guess we should just be grateful that West didn’t get into “Pinocchio Song,” but that’s probably just because he didn’t know the words.

Maybe one day the world will know a musical festival untarnished by cheap commercialism, but until then I leave you with some words from Kanye West: “I don’t know what’s better getting’ laid or getting’ paid.”

Kingston, Jamaica, dancehall reggae gangster Mavado opens his second album reciting the "23rd Psalm" over church piano, and closes with a version of "We Shall Overcome" for President Barack Obama. In between, Mavado gets ambitious, undulating his lionesque howl toward Zion, mourning lost loved ones, and braving the shadow of death as gunshots and goth–rock belfry bells and skidding electro–beats ring out. Sometimes on Mr. Brooks . . . A Better Tomorrow, he toasts so hard he winds up...

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