Music industry profits cut in half over past decade

It is no small wonder that the music industry's profits have declined. The best music is made through 'indie' channels with lower cost and on a lower scale. All the big record companies have invested in crap (see the grammy's - that crap was embarrassing to watch. It wasn't so much about music as it was about theatrics and glam).

The most successful artists are embracing the new wave of internet distribution (see NiN and Radiohead). I for one am glad to see profits down. Look at what happened to the movie industry in the 60's and 70's: their profits were down so they invested in art-house directors like De Palma, Scorsese, Lucas and Spielberg, just to name a few.

To read more about the issue go to the article.

Deadwood Explained

Archaeologist objects to Deadwood construction schedule
'If there's artifacts, they're destroying history without us being in there'

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff | Monday, August 03, 2009

Archaeologists who worked at the site for the Deadwood Recreation Center addition say city officials have sacrificed history for the sake of meeting construction deadlines.

Quality Services owner Lance Rom said his Rapid City-company was contracted to dig and monitor the construction site for the recreation center and was under the impression from city officials that the work could last through December or the beginning of the new year. But with ballooning costs, approaching deadlines, and no "significant finds," city officials abruptly ended the dig last week and downsized a 50-member crew to one.

"It's probably one of the best archaeological sites I've ever worked on; Deadwood is amazing," Rom said. " ... I don't think the city figured we were going to find a whole lot. And then they got upset when we were doing our job and finding things."

Archaeologists uncovered the stone foundation of a former 1878 county hospital, as well as rock walls, a mine shaft, timber structures, and between 100,000 and 200,000 individual artifacts, including leather shoes, plates, pots, pans, ceramic, silverware, Chinese and U.S. coins, medicine, butchered animal bone, washing bowls, dolls, toys, and fabric material.

To meet the city's goal of a building on the site by December, more archaeologists were hired to work 16 hours a day, in 8-hour shifts, to stay ahead of the construction work.

But City Commissioner Georgeann Silvernail said there were never any plans for the archaeologists to be at the site long term.

"We had no plans for them to be there that long," she said. "They were to be there until the digging was through."

City Commissioner Lenny Schroeder said the city expected the archaeologists to dig for about four to six weeks, and that the foundations and mine shaft they found had already been recorded.

Deadwood Historic Preservation officer Kevin Kuchenbecker agreed.

"We knew going into this ... there were foundations there," he said.

Schroeder said the commissioners didn't think the archaeologists would need as much time as they did. They did find artifacts, he acknowledged, but nothing significant enough to delay construction. Slowing construction would jeopardize the entire project.

"If that didn't happen, the project was going to die," he said, which is not what the community wanted.

Rom and Schroeder said archaeologists and Ainsworth-Benning Construction Co. workers worked well together, but it was clear at weekly management meetings that the city officials and Quality Services were not on the same page.

Rom said the city's expectations changed continually. Schroeder said there was miscommunication from the beginning.

"We had a bit of a misunderstanding about what they were going to be doing," Schroeder said. "... We didn't have clarification when we started. It's unfortunate, but we learned from it, and it will help business in the future."

The cost for the project also grew to more than six times the original amount, but Schroeder said the decision to stop the dig had nothing to do with money.

"It started out at $10,000, then went to $60,000, and now, it's significantly over that," he said of the archaeological research.

Rom said he continually cut costs, including finding cheap accommodations for the 40 out-of-town workers. Each worker was to be housed for an average of $30 a night in local low-cost motels, houses and travel trailers.

"We were trying to give them the best deal we can," he said. "When they canceled everything, we still have to pay for everything for at least a month."

David Wicks of New York was one of the archaeologists hired by Quality Services. He started work two weeks ago, having been told he would probably work until at least December, but was sent home after only eight days.

"I drove all the way out there -- worked 8 days and then drove 1,500 miles back," he said. "Then I thought about it, and it's bigger than my problems. If there's artifacts, they're destroying history without us being in there."

Jillian Flesh, an archaeologist and curator for Quality Services, agreed. Over the weekend, she stood in the warehouse storing the artifacts and turned a bottle over in her hand, the original liquid sloshing around inside. It bears the name of former mayor Kirk G. Phillips and dates to the mid to late 1880s.

"It's just kind of heartbreaking," Flesh said. "Once it's plowed down with a backhoe, those artifacts are gone. We can't get that information."

Rom also wonders, since the original contract was approved during a public meeting of the city commission, why downsizing the project also wasn't discussed or approved during a public meeting. Rom was told about the change in a weekly meeting with city officials July 27.

Schroeder said the change was discussed during a city historic preservation board meeting, not a city commission meeting.

Rom said he still wants a positive working relationship with the city but hopes things go differently next time. Because of its designation as a National Historic Landmark District, all building construction projects within Deadwood must follow historic preservation rules set by the city, which include ground surveys, site testing and research of the area.

"I think a lot of good is going to come out of the project," he said. "... My concern is that if the city decides not to follow its own historic preservation rules, how are they going to get places like casinos to follow the rules?" he said.

Schroeder said that in hindsight, the city might have done things differently so the archaeologists could have had more time.

"Had we known a year ago that we would be able to approve this, we could have dug it up, but to hold the project up now.... "

It would have been worth the wait, Rom said. He recently watched a special on the History Channel as archaeologists worked on Roanoke Island.

"They were all excited to find one tiny piece of pottery," he said. "I kept trying to compare it to Deadwood, and it doesn't compare."

Pictures from Thanksgiving and Luci

Thanksgiving and Luci

Some artifacts from the Massachusetts Survey and Crew Photo

Coldest and Last Day of Project


Quartz Point

Lamoka Point

More artifacts

Pipe from the 1800's recovered in Deadwood at site SD0969

Pictures from the dig in Deadwood

Deadwood

Pictures from the trip to Deadwood from Chicago

Here are some pictures I took with a disposable camera while I was on the road last Sunday and Monday. I wish I could have taken more but I ran out of room on my lowly disposable. I hope to buy a camera in the near future so I can update more regularly on how the dig is progressing.

Entering Wisconsin

Rest stop just before Mississippi River in Wisconsin

Over the Mississippi

Wind power generators in Minnesota

Sunset in western Minnesota

Morning at the Super 8 in Murdo, SD

Lots of fog

Free range cattle during their morning graze