thinking, pondering, remembering

Its been a time for second comings in NZ

First the advent of John Key who is already showing signs of being just another National Politican, he could learn a lot from his deputy Bill English.

Apple's digital music download service launched here yesterday, again for some its like Jesus has graced us with his presence. Well I guess if you were a Mac person, with all the faith and passion they often display it might seem like a second coming - it certainly ain't a first as we've waited a long time for the store to open here, for many reasons the biggest of which being a with holding tax issue between NZ and Australia (where the store is hosted and run).

I've never quite got the whole obsession Mac owners have with their computers, I'm damn fond of my PC I must admit but also see it for what it is, an amazing yet still flawed tool.

Well we now have access to Apples online sotre, yippeee, now all the mac converts can go back to limewire happy in the knowledge that should they chose to buy a track they can. meanwhile them that can't work out p2ps will start using the service, perhaps. Thing is the habits for many ipod users are formed, for years they couldn't 'legally' use their ipod yet managed, quite well it seems judging by the sales figures for that product line.

The media of course are all over itunes, even if they have little idea of what it all means.... my experience with some people who work in this area is they love and sometimes live for free stuff, so the launch of a store surely isn't something they care for?

Ahhh its all been very boring, even if it is, and it is, a small step forward in the digital landscape of NZ.

Whilst staying on a musical note, in keeping with the labels history the Flying Nun Box set has been delayed - twice now, so even now when the label doesn't actually exist in anything other than a brand Warners slaps on certain 'products' they still can't make a release date - I like this even though I am not enjoying the wait.

If you read this in time Public Address are running a competition to win a copy, even if you don't want to enter the Nun stories are wonderful to read, I haven't contributed one and am unsure if I will, even though I have dozens if not hundreds of great Nun moments in my life. Its great to read stoires about an era I lived thorugh and how a silly little record label impacted on so many peoples lives, or the bands that label represented did more to the point.

Reading these stories brings back so many fond memories, most from prior to my working involvement with the label, when i was simply a punter, a fan, obsessed with so much of what the label released, bemused and confused by some others.

I remember road trips to see bands, fighting in stores with friends to get that last vinyl copy of a Clean or Chills 7", the anticipation for the Chills "I Love My Leather Jacket" 12", my obsession with the Headless Chickens and how I managed to see dozens of their shows, 6 times in a month whilst in the UK - I forgave them the inclusion of Fiona (cute, could sing but Chris lost his manic edge and that sucked) even when they had left their most creative and interesting period behind.

The first time I saw the Clean, the mulitple Knox gigs, each and every time I saw Bailter Space and or the 3Ds, my continued love for the pop ethic of the Able Tasmans, the beauty of the Skeptics, the fun pop of the Bats, the way JPSE were different each and every time one saw them, the Chills.... the Chills my most beloved Nun band - a band I went on to do a great injustice to which I will be haunted by til the day I die, ohh so many stories, moments in time and well it was my youth and if not for the Nun I would be a very very different person today I imagine, or at least my life choices would have been vastly different.

Then there are the hundreds of memories from when I worked for the label, my god we had a lot of fun, never will I experience the same weird world that was our Queen Street offices.

I wish more music fans could experience just some of what I have, so much more rewarding than any quarter acre section or talk of mortgages that one comes across far too often at my time of life.

So tomorrow I should have my box set, just in time for the weekend, which thanks to the set will be one stuck at home, listening, remembering flushed with a warm glow of knowing I was a tiny part of this thing.

Shit, I do go on.... I had planned to rant about the new Hidden Camera's album AWOO, oh well there is always tomorrow.