Letters from our Readers

On stolen songs, sugar beets, obscurity and TV shows

I started writing songs in the '60s. I was the lead singer in a band and I performed on stage in front of audiences before I was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966. I have not performed on stage since then.

WHAS-11 (TV) has used one of my songs in a commercial, my audio tapes have been played at radio stations outside of Jefferson County, my comedy routines have been seen from coast to coast and I had a weekly TV show locally, but I bet no one on the staff with the Louisville Music News knows me or knows that I have written, recorded and I have copyrights for about a hundred songs.

I previously offered to the songwriters co-op [Louisville Area Songwriters' Cooperative] to start a video library so that the songwriters could establish proof of authenticity. (I got no reply.) I mailed cassette tapes across the country to enter contests years ago and I entered local contests by sending cassettes.

I noticed Diana Black's cartoon [The Beet Goes On] in the April 1993 edition in which a character (I assume it is a sugar beet) is prevented from stealing a song.

If Diana Black's cartoon character is based on a real person, I would like to know who that person is so I could find out if he or she has stolen any of my songs.

A songwriter' s worst nightmare is to have his/her songs stolen.

I intend to start another weekly television show, so if there are interested songwriters-singers-musicians who want to be on my show, please write to: Jack D. Spurling, 806 Brookline Ave.,Louisville, KY 40215-2441.

Jack Darrell Spurling

Louisville, KY 40215

P.S. If Diana Black knows a real human song thief, please ask her to print his real name in the news letter. Someone could be in the next county claiming to have written your songs (or mine).

(Diana Black assures us that "The Beet Goes On" is purely fictional and that any resemblance to real people and situations is purely coincidental. — Editor.)