Wanna earn money with your music? Become a Court Composer!

[V o n h ö g e n]

This has to be one of the strangest headlines of the year:

"Man sentenced to listen to classical music (...) (http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/08/sns100908noise.html)"

So it's now official: "Symphonic Justice" has arrived, ladies and gentlemen! :D I must admit that it sounds more like the name of a new PLAY library, but this truly is an historical moment for all of us. Just think of the opportunities it creates! This new type of "creative sentencing" gives a whole new meaning to the notion of "Court Composer". :p Imagine what your business card would look like if it said "Court Composer". This is your chance of becoming one! Just submit your music to Harvard Law School and wait for your Masters Degree to arrive by Federal Express. Who needs Taxi, Filmmusic.net or CueSheet.net anymore?

For me, (having a legal background), it's reassuring to know that if I won't make it in the music industry after all, I can always resume my legal career, become a judge, and make the defendants listen to my rejected scores for hours to get some lazy sentencing discount in return. :rolleyes:

- Jerome Vonhögen :cool:

[peter5992]

That's a pretty whacky story - but US state court judges are pretty creative in their sentences which, especially recently, go well beyond mere community service.

Don't print new business cards just yet Jerome -- this guy was sentenced to listen to Mozart / Bach / Beethoven - and after 15 minutes he bailed out. Now with all due respect how you think you are going to convert this dude?

[OneThrow]

Vogon poetry. Perhaps that would be too cruel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxPeIiU2kx4

[shnurgle]

gives a whole new meaning to the notion of "Court Composer"

Well played, my brother.

[V o n h ö g e n]

Now with all due respect how you think you are going to convert this dude?

Peter, I don't want to convert any defendants, I just want to let them suffer! :D

- Jerome Vonhögen

[V o n h ö g e n]

Vogon poetry. Perhaps that would be too cruel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxPeIiU2kx4

Hey Eric, that was clever! I didn't think of that. :)

There is one problem with your solution, however: criminals and other offenders may actually love poetry! Like that serial killer Benoit, the main character in one of the funniest cult movies ever, "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" (USA title: Man Bites Dog). At a certain point in the movie, Benoit recites a poem about the beauty of a pigeon:

"Pigeon"-Benoit reciting a poem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koRPuV4NPBs)

(English translation: "Pigeon, the bird with the gray dress. In the hell of the cities, you draw my attention. You are really the most agile.")

Benoit even shows a remarkable sophisticated view on urban development and social housing projects when commenting on the bleak architecture of low-income housing in one of my favorite scenes of the movie:

Benoit on the aesthetics of low-cost housing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9dDaOTjOjs&NR=1)

(Sorry, it's in French. I don't have the translation, and I don't have time to make one myself at the moment. Anyone else, perhaps?)

- Jerome Vonhögen