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Behind VH-1 Behind the music Daniel P. Beckmann, Moderator of Letters 10.25.02-Long Island City, NY |
I have made it no secret amoungst though who know me…I have often talked of my ambition to expose those people who sit around that conference table in that Mid-town Manhattan office building who arbitrarily decide to “rank” things in order of their unarbritrary desires. These are also the same people who parade trend-o looking videoites with their one liners and their think glasses wasting away the stored attention that our country’s youth forfiet their most fruitful years to try to achieve.
These are not noble people, nor are they concerned with fact, they are merely concerned with what might stick to the wall when thrown. They send ideas out into the atmosphere that influence people’s opinions, which until now have really gone unchallenged for who really cares who got calls shortly after 867-53-09 or why A-HA didn’t move on to bigger and better things after their earth shattering Take on me video?
But there is a loss and it can be quantified in US Currency amoung others as American Popular culture has since grown into becoming a business in which a person can hope to make a living. The creation of such a racket is part of humanity’s movement towards business of more cilized persuasion, as opposed to those which are more boarous in that of widget manufacturing. The facts within that genre are what these culturalist peddle, and if they are later deemed fallible, than maybe so to will be their very livelyhoods.
IN addition, who are these self-ordained ranksters and more importantly who’s their daddy?
Who are they to decide what is and what is not culturally factual?
What are their methods for research and what are their standards of honesty?
Does that stink coming from midtown in the middle of night have more to do with VH-1 reputation than bums peeing in the subway? TO answer that question, everyone knows that within the last 10 years or so, most of the bums were shipped out of Manhattan under das Furer Gulliani…about the same time that VH-1 started to produce their rocumentaries.
Instead of me having to go behind the scenes of the Vh-1 conference table to plant some sort of bug, as things sort of do when you advertantly will them, they actually came in search of me without my formal beckoning…
The Correspondance-
| From: Manago, Greg Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 12:21 PM To: respond@tomarken.com Subj: Double Vision Article |
Hello
My name is Greg Manago and I am working on a show for Vh1 called Behind The Song. We’re researching the stories behind some of the classic songs of our time. As part of this research, I came across an article on your website about the song Double Vision. The article states that the song was written in an effort to force people to continue working despite double vision caused by drug intakes during their overnight shift at the Willy’s Jeep plant in Toledo.
Is this a true belief? Do you and the author believe this is the story behind the song? Can I contact the author of this article?
Please let me know…
Greg Manago
Broadway Video Entertainment
Related Object
08.16.02 Its a story of unions, corporations, drugs, and the rock ‘n roll between them. How they all used Double Vision to get the job done.
| From: Tomarken Response Date: Saturday, July 26, 2003 2:18 PM To: Manago, Greg Subj: Re: Double Vision Article |
Mr. Manago
Thanks for your interest in tomarken.com…..Sorry for taking a few days to get back to you, but I had to do some research, here’s why:
According to the policies of tomarken.com, if an article/object meets the qualifying criteria, and adheres to our submission process, then it is put up on the site unedited. The contact information for the author is not released to the public without the author’s consent.
In the case of “Double Vision”, this object was submitted close to a year ago. The email address of which it came from appears to be no longer active as all of my attempts to contact this author have been returned by the ‘mailer-daemon’.
IN addition to this, I tried to do some further investigating among my friends because I too, grew up in Toledo, Ohio–i.e. I thought that this could have been someone of my acquaintance. As I have since moved to the New York Area, I have circulated the word amongst my friends there and not a single person has come forward as the writer of this article.What I can tell you with some certainty as a native Toledoan, is that a lot of the themes displayed in “double” are indeed quite accurate with concern to the “urban legends” of which I grew up with…i.e. there was(is) a drug problem at the local Jeep factory, there are three classic rocks stations—arguably four now, some of which are owned by the same company, and of course, driving through town you would find Foreigner to be quite popular indeed. So basically, as a moderator of this on-line anthology, also growing up in this area, I found this article especially compelling because I could not say that it “wasn’t” true.
I hope this helps you in your quest “Behind the song.” I personally have a great deal of respect for what your company produces and if I or the tomarken team may be of any further assistance in the future please let us know.
Cheers,
–Dan Beckmann, Moderator of Letters
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From the computer on the desk of:
Daniel P. Beckmann, Moderator of Letters
“Mutual Beneficial for all associated”-tomarken.com/tomarken.org
So who is this “Manago, Greg” and who’s his daddy?…in this case it was more like A.K.A. who’s his Mommy?…
“the screening of Serenity, a short movie from Manhasset’s own aspiring filmmaker, Greg Manago.”
The correspondance continues…
| From: Manago, Greg Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:21 PM To: Tomarken Response Subj: Re: Double Vision Article |
Dan
Is Tom Marken.com a humor website or is it a site for people to post conspiracy theories?
Please let me know ASAP
Thanks
Greg Manago
| From: Tomarken Response Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:39 PM To: Manago, Greg Subj: Re: Double Vision Article |
Mr. Manago-
To be honest, tomarken.com is neither humor or a conspriacy website. Most easily explained, tomarken is an on-line anthology established as a house to hold only things deemed original per our manifesto (NOTE: http://www.tomarken.com/content/manifesto.shtml). Some items on our site are funny, others are not…some try to expose conspiracies, others try to start them. What binds everything together is that is all considered original(we call this avoid the ‘zero-sum-gain’).
Also…the site is also not named after some guy, Tom Marken, as you put, it is instead just tomarken–one word(pronounced TOE-markn).
I hope this helps you out. If you wish, please feel free to give me a call at 202-224-1675 anytime and I can answer your questions in ‘real-time’.
Thanks again for your continued interest.
–BECKMANN
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From the computer on the desk of:
Daniel P. Beckmann, Moderator of Letters
“Mutual Beneficial for all associated”-tomarken.com/tomarken.org
Five minutes later the phone rings…
BRRR-ring…BRRR-ring…
BECKMANN: Hello?
VH-1: Is this Dan Beckmann?
BECKMANN: Yes…
VH-1: Greg Manago Vh-1..
BECKMANN: That was fast…
VH-1: So what is your website about?
BECKMANN: We like to say its about “avoiding the zero-sum gain”…we only post things that are original in nature
VH-1: oh…
BECKMANN: Basically, we’re really anti-plagurism.
VH-1: Oh!…so what about this article on double-vision?
BECKMANN: Well, the writer hasn’t gotten back to me and I originally put it up becuase according to our guidelines, I had never seen it before. But, as to where its author got it from, I haven’t been able to get any answerVH-1: Well listen.. probably if we actually went through and researched this we would find out that it wasn’t true. The question is is it believable?
BECKMANN: Oh yes, I’m from Toledo, OH and it certainly is believable.
VH-1: Would you be willing to go on air to talk about it?
BECKMANN: Well, sure…there certainly is a drug problem at the jeep plant, and there certainly is a lot a classic rock in Toledo so I would be willing to say that on camera.
VH-1: That’s fine….we’ll get back to you in a few weeks.
BECKMANN:One last thing…are you hiring right now?
VH-1: Well, no we’re not, but what do you do?
BECKMANN:Well, I just got back from this stint in Australia at Sky News and before that I got my masters in journalism from Northwestern…and I obviously edit this website.
VH-1: Well aren’t the news networks the place to go to then?
BECKMANN: Well, I figure that you’re writing entertainment either way, and at least on your end you’re allowed to be more creative.
VH-1: Well sure, email me your resume.
BECKMANN: Ok, will do…talk to you soon.
| From: Daniel P. Beckmann, Moderator of Letters Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 6:38 PM To: Manago, Greg Subj: Dan Beckmann’s Resume |
Greg,
Nice chatting with you over the phone…I talked with Richard, my partner at tomarken, about the interview you proposed and he too thought it was a ‘banner idea’!
Per our conversation, I don’t exactly know what type of positions you might know about at Broadway Video, but I have attatched my resume and I hope that you can see that I am motivated and that I work hard. I have been interviewing around New York networks for “Associate Producer” and “Broadcast Assistant” positions, but I feel that the work that you guys do would be more conducive to my personality type and ‘career aspirations’.
Below are also two links to my work on tomarken.com, which might give the powers that be at Broadway a better idea of what I might have to offer them. I also have other ‘works’ that I have not put up on tomarken.
Stuff written under my name, Dan Beckmann
http://www.tomarken.com/content/intervals/beckmann/beckmann.shtml
I don’t know if you could tell when we were talking, but I am in New York right now and can stop by to chat about the ‘double’ article and my experiences whenever its convenient for you, so don’t be afraid to call!
Enjoy the last few moments of this summer day before the rains come! I Look forward to working with you soon!
All the best,
–Dan Beckmann
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From the computer on the desk of:
Daniel P. Beckmann, Moderator of Letters
“Mutual Beneficial for all associated”-tomarken.com/tomarken.org
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Two weeks later…a call was placed to Mr. Manago–this project unfortunately did not make this season->>BUMMER! we can only hope for enough space in next year’s! All of us around here have been keeping our fingers crossed!
