My Parrot Stars in a Video with Willie Nelson... And it Matters to You

Recently, I opened a video for the song "Old Hippy" by the Bellamy Brothers that my brother had shared with me. Since he shares intriguing, offbeat music videos, I expected to enjoy it. (You can watch the video here )

But, I did not expect to know the star. The first image of the video was my parrot, Dory (Dorian Gray), not only seen in my avatar but also interviewed online (here ).

The video is a montage of photos that provides a rather literal interpretation of the lyrics of "Old Hippy." We hear about John Lennon, and we see a picture of John Lennon. We hear about the Vietnam War, and we see pictures from the Vietnam War. There are two appearances of a photo of Willie Nelson, but Dory appears four times.

Since this song is from the Bellamy Brothers, not Jimmy Buffett, there is no reference to a parrot, whether or not he wears a hat. In Dory's first appearance online in 2000 (here) , the picture of him wearing a hat was an illustration for an article about our lives together. I explained that I spent most of an afternoon wearing that same little hat, telling him how much fun it was to wear a hat, so that I could get that photo, taken while he was wearing the hat for about fifteen seconds.

I have had fun sharing the video, identified as "A Spadecaller video presentation designed to accompany the Bellamy Brothers' song, 'Old Hippie.'" But, I have also had some questions. How did the photo, which appeared on a local website (here ) from Sylvester, a town in south Georgia, come to the attention of Spadecaller (Youtube channel here )? Then, what was the connection between the tale of an old hippy and the image of Dory, rather hip in straw hat and gray feathers, but not hippy, and only about a year old at the time.

Important Questions

This has all been a lot of fun for me, and Dory continues to learn to deal with fame. But, it does raise some serious questions about intellectual property for anyone who produces content for the Internet. It may seem a stretch to think of the Bellamy Brothers' song "Old Hippy" and photos of Willie Nelson and a parrot wearing a hat as "intellectual property," but they are.

"Information wants to be free" (see the Wikipedia article here ), some champions of a wild, unregulated Internet proclaim. But creators of that information want to be paid.

Almost anyone providing content for the Internet runs into this issue. A friend of mine was furious when one of her articles was stolen for use on the website of a shoe company. I have even encountered the issue from the other side. Although I have written sixteen articles about Tintin over the past couple of years, I have never included an image of Tintin, because the use of that image is controlled it very closely.

I turned to the website of Spadecaller (here ), where I found that he/she is quite a prolific artist, with some stunning images. I wondered how the artist known as Spadecaller would feel about her/his images being appropriated without notice or payment. Looking down the first page, I found this amazing text -

As much as I love the process of creating works of art, there is one inescapable reality that is too often overlooked; artists are among the most oppressed and exploited group of workers in the world.

The text continues -

When I was a young boy, I discovered to my dismay that the French and Italian artists who painted
the beautiful birds, flora, and landscapes on fine dishes and ceramic ornaments were unfairly
treated -- paid almost nothing for their wonderful work.

I encourage you to visit the website (again ) and read that text on the first page and enjoy the music performed by... hmmm, Spadecaller does not even credit them, members of "the most oppressed and exploited group of workers in the world."

It make me wonder how much Spadecaller paid the Bellamy Brothers to use their music and the photographer of Willie Nelson to use that photograph. I know how much he paid the photographer of Dorian Gray Parrot. Or, should I say, how much Spadecaller did not pay...

Although I am glad that Dory's photo could bring a smile to a few hundred thousand people, Spadecaller has also raised some issues that will not go away, that cannot be legislated away (although some countries have tried), and that I do not have any answers for.

"Old Hippy," Karma, and I

Dory's video of "Old Hippy" has over 600,000 views. What is apparently an "official" video, with video of the Bellamy Brothers singing, has over 260,000 views. When I clicked on the link (here ), I was again amazed. No, Dory was not there, but the video was filmed in the backwoods of my native state of Georgia, at a place called Pasaquan.

Pasaquan, as you can tell, looks more like a theme park (which it is not) than it looks like a shrine (which it is), built by an old hippy who committed suicide there before I ever got there. So, the connection is that I also wrote an article about Pasaquan (here ).

I link to references throughout the article. By the way, if you would like to keep up with unusual music videos, check out my brother, Rick Segers, on Facebook (here ). By the way, he had not recognized Dory in the video. I guess he knows more sartorially-unchallenged African gray parrots than I do.