Music Stuff

David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars

a great read!

The day today

See You On The Other Side

Have a wild christmas or whatever it is ya do and here's to a wonderful and peaceful 2008!

To the BMP posse, cheers heaps for the bobpod, it rocks in a zeroes and ones kinda way...

My Boss

IS the bestest cunt in the world!

Why would I say that you might wonder...

Blog Dismissal

Had a bad day? You might want to think twice before moaning about it on the net. Ask Deena Pawson. After a particularly bad day at work, Deena vented her frustrations in her online diary on her Bebo social page. ''Work Sux'', she said. No names mentioned. No places. But next thing she knows she's in the boss' office being given 24 hours notice for serious misconduct. To Deena, it was an over-the-top reaction but as Sofia Wenborn discovers, The Warehouse was within it's right to fire her.

Is the Pope a Catholic?

"Pope Benedict has warned climate change alarmists that solutions must be based on firm evidence, and not dubious ideology."

From the Daily Mail


Wonders never cease

Adam & Joe's Record Store Guide #3 - The Music Megastore

Part 3 - Learn the correct speech and ettiquette to use when buying music. Adam wanders into the local Megastore tring to find a particular music CD.

Click link can't embed... learn

One for the geeks

I'm a shocker for reflection

So much so you may as well put a hat on me and call me a reflector.

So here we are a week out from Santa's day and I'm deep funk looking back on my year and wondering where the time went.

Since Mel Cheren's death I've been reflecting on this dance music thang I adore so. I've started to re-read Shirley Garratt's "Adventures In Wonderland - A Decade Of Club Culture" having just finished the early sections of Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life". Always good to remind oneself of the where it all came from thang.

I'm drinking my morning coffee, smoking whilst listening to the Enrght House's debut album A Maze & Amazement, such a amazing album. Don't know what it is with Christchurch right now but by god that cities offering up some wonderful sounds!

So I'm reflecting, over work for the year, over the year in fact.

Not long to go when one can pretend the world is different because of construct, one we all time.. aw fuck it this isn't a time for blinking on and off... here's the Enright House... enjoy

It all stopped back in the '00

And now we simply await the end....

*insert doors song and strangle oneself*

I can't wait to have a extended break from being a wage slave... one week to organise music and party hats

Toot toot

Nice day for a garden party

Christmas in the ghetto - well Chicago.. and vinyl only!

Looking for a good cause?

Bethlehem is one of the most contentious places on earth.

Perched at the edge of the Judaen desert at the intersection of Europe, Asia and Africa in the state of Palestine it was governed by the British following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. After World War II the United Nations voted to partition the region into two states - one Jewish, one Arab and there’s been fighting ever since.

It’s obviously not the job of a loose collection of idiot doodlers to tell you what’s right or wrong about this situation, so you’re advised to do further reading yourself (this month’s National Geographic has an excellent article all about Bethlehem).

We would like to make it very clear Santa’s Ghetto is not allied to ANY race, creed, religion, political organization or lobby group. As an organisation the only thing we’ll say on behalf of our artists is that we don’t speak on behalf of our artists. This show simply offers the ink-stained hand of friendship to ordinary people in an extraordinary situation.

Every shekel made in the store will be used on local projects for children and young people. Not one cent will go to any political groups, governmental institutions or, in fact, any grown-ups at all.

Salaam

Trust is dead

By Phil Hoskins

12/10/07 Capitol Hill Blue

This experiment in government we like to call democracy depends upon a certain level of trust, not only of government and elected officials, but maybe more importantly among the people themselves. After many years under attack, we can now declare trust dead.

Trust was more common and easier to uphold when this nation was founded. With far fewer people, it was possible to actually know those with whom you would have contact and in turn be aware of their history. A liar or scoundrel was known for his works as was the person who lived by their word. Each was trusted to behave as they were and accommodation was made for the behavior of each.

Today it is rare for many to even know who lives on their block or even in the same building. Our culture is segmented, isolated and IPod-ed so that we are but strangers passing in the mist of self-awareness. After WW II Americans became more mobile and less likely to live in extended families. In recent years the permanent job has all but disappeared and workers have increasingly been forced to move far from their roots to find employment.

We are isolated as we drive to work, pushed to produce so hard while at work that co-workers become objects rather than compatriots, and spoken to and dealt with by the public sphere on the basis of what divides us, not what we share in common.

Merchants cannot be trusted to deliver what they promise, employers cannot be trusted to pay on promised retirement plans, even spouses cannot be trusted to keep their vows. We live in a buyer beware culture where every person is on their own to make it through a jungle of real and perceived threats and attacks.

One cannot shop in a mall without fear of some idiot seeking fame with a rifle, cannot book a flight on an airplane without fearing being bumped because the flight was oversold. You cannot drive on the freeway without concern that the idiot racing to take your space will not pull a gun to prove his point, cannot give a toy to a child without fear of lead poisoning, cannot trust a politician on anything.

Trust is dead.

To compensate, we have tried regulating the behavior of commerce, finance and nearly every aspect of life. Some on the religious right want to force married people to keep their vows and some on the secular left want to write enough laws that trust isn’t necessary because it is replaced by government control.

The followers of Milton Friedman would have us believe we can trust in the “market” to right all wrongs, despite the complete failure in each and every instance where this philosophy has been tried. Karl Marx would have had us trust in the communal conscience to deliver the ultimate good, but again, each and every instance in which it has been tried has failed.

Trust cannot be imposed, it cannot be brought into existence by faith, it is by its very nature a product of free and open communication and human interaction. Trust is not a lofty goal of perfection and honesty. Trust is the acceptance of what is with the backing of experience that what was foretells what will be. But it does require facing what is without blinders, being responsible to look beyond the bright and shiny promises and putting in the effort to know other people for who they are.

Trust requires that we stop calling each other names as a substitute for discourse and problem solving.

There is so much of our culture that shoves us away from those requirements toward a world of fast paced isolation and fantasy. There is no institution or force on the horizon to pull us in the other direction, for all have become part of the vortex of insincerity and pretense.

If trust is to be restored it is up to you and I to step away from the distractions to see who is around us, to take the time to smile and say hello, to learn to honor our word as the definition of who we are and what we do. Trust is dead, but isn’t this the season that reminds us that miracles are possible?

Hangover Alert... danger, danger

Adam & Joe's Record Store Guide #2 - Cash or Trade

Part 2 - Learn the correct speech and ettiquette to use when buying music. Adam goes to the Record and Tape exchange to trade in his treasured LPs.


You'll have to click the link as I can't embed the video.

Tuesday Funny

Chris Morris - No Known Cure (Radio Bristol)

Taken from the Comedy History Of Britain prog, this is a look back at one of Chris Morris' earliest projects on BBC Radio Bristol from 1987-1990.

Empty Dancefloor

Karlheinz Stockhausen RIP

Electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen (August 22, 1928 – December 5, 2007)

The German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen known for his ground-breaking work in electronic music and aleatory (controlled chance) in serial composition is no longer. He was 79 and died in the German city of Kürten, in Nordrhein-Westfalen so the Stockhausen Foundation led by his ex-wife Mary Bauermeister announced on Friday.

Having composed 362 individually performable works, Stockhausen was one of the most important artist in the avant-garde movement after World War II.

The Godfather of Disco Passes Away: Mel Cheren

The founder of West End Records and the legendary New York nightclub, The Paradise Garage has died.

He helped build a culture that has touched millions of people.

RIP


http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mel+Cheren

http://www.westendrecords.com/staff/mel.php3

http://deephousepage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149760

Paintball and dancing

First we fight in a forest (paintball)
Then we BBQ
Then we rest
Then we drink, dance and frolic at the ball

Crap day then....

And again

I'm on at seven... dunno what I shall play, am heading towards a guitar centric evening I think... stuff dance music...tee hee hee

Glad I Don't Subscribe Anymore

I don't know what to make of the following article, bad journalism it is, but the message or at least the tone is quite strange.

What could have been an informative article, isn't. What could have helped explain copywrite and public performance, doesn't. What could have been an opinion piece, is not. Did this article make the obvious comparison - that florists don't license commercial enterprises to use flowers to create an atmosphere that adds value to a business, you know to "create an ambience for customers"... no it did not. It just filled some space.

Joanne Black is a right wing hack... what ever went wrong at The Listener, it used to be fantastic. I've been thinking of re subscribing to the magazine after not reading it for most of this year, mainly because I miss the in depth articles on NZ issues. But I think perhaps I can lvie without if for a while more.

Anyways read the artilce, it concerns music, which is a huge interest of mine.


For your ears only by Joanne Black


An Auckland businesswoman pinged for playing CDs without a licence says the law is playing loony tunes.

Joanna Thomson is director of Flower Systems Ltd, an importer of artificial flowers, trees and Christmas decorations, which it sells mostly to the film industry and commercial designers for use in hotels, shopping malls and the like. But as she had some over-runs, seconds and other Christmas items, she decided to open her Penrose warehouse to the public for the first time this year and advertised a sale on Saturday, November 10.

Thomson says the first hour was quiet. “I was pottering around pricing things, so I put some music on, as I do when I’m at home.” Customers arrived, including one at about midday who bought a few things from another staff member and left.

Thomson hadn’t even noticed her, but the following Tuesday she received an invoice for $150 from Phonographic Performances NZ Ltd (PPNZ) and a letter saying that Flower Systems was in breach of the Copyright Act by playing recorded music without a current Public Performance Licence. According to the letter, the breach was discovered during “a recent site visit, conducted by one of our Music Licensing Representatives”.


Whoa! Pull up the reindeer, cries Thomson. “I have had more reasonable treatment from the traffic police.” She says she does not consider she was giving a public performance of recorded music, had paid for the CDs and had never heard of a Public Performance Licence, let alone the requirement to have one.

“I can understand it in a bar or café, but we’re not even retailers, really. We were just having a clear-out of some stock. The whole thing is stupid. It was more the manner in which it was done that annoys me – that on a Saturday, she could come in, take advantage of the bargains, but not identify herself. It’s bah, humbug stuff. It’s ridiculous. Am I going to pay it? I don’t know, probably not.”

PPNZ general manager of licensing Mark Roach says he apologises if his staff caused offence, “but, without wanting to sound nasty about it, that’s not the point”.

“If I’m in a bar on a Friday night, I might think, ‘Hmm, music’s being played here’, and when I get in to work on a Monday morning I might have a look at the database. If I see that the bar hasn’t been licensed yet, we’ll send them out a letter and a pamphlet. It says, ‘You may not be aware of it, but playing music commercially, as background music in your business, requires licensing and here’s the information about it.’

“When it comes down to it, we take quite a soft approach. In our experience people often aren’t aware, but we’re letting them know and giving them an opportunity to sort it out. Some people take umbrage, unfortunately, but that’s the law. We have to use everything at our disposal to identify where breaches of the Copyright Act might be occurring and then follow up on that. We’d be remiss if we didn’t.”

He says Thomson was not specifically targeted or made an example of. Although her business might be open to the public for just a small part of the year, “when it is, she plays recorded music to create an ambience for customers. That’s where the Copyright Act kicks in – it requires the permission of the copyright owners, which is represented by our blanket licence. Music is sold to the public on the basis of domestic use only – the back of a CD says in small print that it is not for public performance, for broadcast or hiring or lending etc.”

Thomson thinks it petty that she can lawfully play music in the warehouse when the public are excluded, but not when they aren’t.

Roach says that’s the law. “At the end of the day, it’s being used to add value to the business.”

Iran and them pesky nukes

"USA TODAY — Iran ceased its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and has not resumed work toward building nuclear weapons, a National Intelligence Estimate released Monday said.
The estimate, reflecting the collective judgment of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, also concludes that Tehran likely is "keeping open the option" to develop nuclear weapons in the future by continuing to build missiles and pursue a civilian nuclear power program.

The estimate reverses claims made two years ago that Iran appeared "determined to develop" a nuclear weapons program."

Well thats good news isn't it... now will this information make any differenc to the Bush regimes quest for war?

I fear not

Adam and Joe's Record Store Guide #1

The world is going to hell in a handcart

So best one starts the day/week in a positive frame of mind

or in other words, having just read a bunch of articles about the middle east and other interest points around this small planet of ours I think a chuckle is in order

rabbits