I’m impotent!

I was visiting with my twin the other day and was feeling useless for various reasons. She held my right hand, lifted my face with her other hand so that I our eyes met, and said so tenderly, “You’re impotent.”

So now I have pledged to myself that every time I visit her, I will get a shave and haircut, and will wear a suit. If I’m impotent, I gotsta look impotent!

And I am impotent for another reason. I am a big-time Beatles fan. Lots of links on the right side under the Apple logo (all rights reserved!). My twin was looking at some art on-line and sent to me a link showing a limited ed. litho of a Stuart Sutcliffe painting.

The gallery link is here, and the litho link is (or was) here. A good picture of the original painting is here.

The Beatles Store has packaged the litho with some letter and wants about US$500 for it. Yuk! So I did some research and found the Stuart Sutcliffe site which is where the painting is available (and the good pic link above is found).

I wrote to the estate using their on-site cgi, so I don’t have a copy of it. I wrote something like: I love what you have done with this site and the memory of Stuart Sutcliffe. You have done very well. Thank you. / I could never afford anything original, just a different economic class than me. However, I noticed that The Beatles Store is selling a limited edition lithograph of this painting. They have packaged it with some letter and the pricing is therefore too much for me. / I am wondering, since you have licensed the image for reproduction, if you would kindly direct me to a source so that I could buy just the litho. / Thank you, Clyde.

Whoops! Talk about opening a can of worms! “Objection, your honor, assuming a fact not in evidence!”

I did not get a direct response. It was instead directed to The Beatles Store and the attorney for the Estate of Stuart Sutcliffe. The e is reproduced below exactly as I received it. I am laughing my ass off! Seems that both the litho and the letter are violating the copyrights of The Estate of Stuart Sutcliffe and the National Museums and Galleries of Liverpool, respectively. I be’s impotent!

Dear Sirs,

It has been brought to our attention that you have for sale the following:

“The Art of Stuart Sutcliffe.
Limited edition 96/1000.

Reproduction of one of Stuart's last paintings with letter from his tutor Edward Paolozzi
W71 x H54cm”

You need to know that there are two separate breaches of copyright;

1) The Stuart Sutcliffe Art image is the property of the Stuart Sutcliffe Estate along with the copyright.

No authorization has been given to reproduce this image or to sell it as a limited edition and therefore this is a serious breach of copyright.

2) The letter from Eduardo Paolozzi was purchased with copyright from the Stuart Sutcliffe Estate by the National Museums and Galleries of Liverpool. You are therefore in breach of their copyright as well.

Where do they come from?
Who authorized them?
How many were sold?
How many are left? Etc.

We expect to hear from you straight away - before we put this in the hands of our solicitors and before we inform the National Museum and Galleries of Liverpool.

Yours sincerely,
Diane Vitale
Director
The Stuart Sutcliffe Estate

PS: Who ever boot legged this should have at least ensured that Eduardo Paolozzi’s name was spelt correctly.

I wrote back and thanked them for contacting me, and wished them luck in resolving their issue.

I received this e in return:

Dear Clyde,

Thank you Clyde for bringing this very serious matter to our attention.

There is an official limited edition Stuart Sutcliffe print (entitled, The Beatals) available through the Rock Art Show and Celebrity Art.

Here is the link: www.rockartshow.com

Best wishes,

Diane Vitale for Pauline Sutcliffe

I am now a small yet official part of Beatles history, as is my twin. Impotency is cool!