Monday, May 31, 2004
National Anthem: 24 hour TV NZ music fundraiserWell, being as oblivious as to what's on commercial TV as always, I totally managed to miss the musical extravaganza that was the National Anthem - a 24 hour musical telethon type thing that was out to raise funds for Mike Chunn's Play it Strange Trust (which is a scheme set up to encourage kids to learn music in schools). Having been given $5000000 by NZ On Air to help set up the thing, and extra help by TVNZ (it screened on an ad-free TV2 over Saturday and Sunday) also probably worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars, the whole shebang netted, um, just a tad under $150000. Probably not helped by the fact that the main income stream was txting, and that few of the big corporate and community sponsors that jump into the telethon fray weren't present this time around, but, still, as has been pointed out on more than one discussion group, why didn't NZ On Air just give the money straight to Play It Strange? Of course, half a million bucks to see 24 hours of nearly continuous NZ music is a bargain, really, regardless of what the cause actually was. If someone had put this idea forward 10 years ago, most people would have laughed their heads off at such an idea. "What? A whole day of NZ music on the telly? Where will it come from? Won't Neil Finn get tired after a few hours?" Which just goes to show how far NZ music has come over the last decade - no more cultural cringe, and, even better, the ability to criticise the crap (and we're definitely producing our fair share of turgid mainstream bollocks, just like the rest of the world), instead of proudly declaring every single release by a local as a (rough) gem. So, by all accounts, it was a mix of the good and the bad. I'd have to concur, without having seen a second of footage, that TVNZ made a horrible mistake by a) having Jacqui Clarke host the Wellington section, and b) having the 'Wellington' section shot out at Avalon studios in the Hutt. What's wrong with hiring people who already do this for a living? NZ's now full of professional VJ/DJs with a good knowledge of nzmusic thanks to Channel Z/b.net/C4 and the like. Why didn't they get some of them in? As Joanna pointed out over on nzmusic.com this morning, the level of presenting was generally so bad as to make the perennially hated Dominic Bowden look good. And having it out at Avalon doomed the Wellington leg to a serious underpopulation issue. As Matt Nippert at Fighting Talk reports: "Upper Hutt Posse performed a call-and-response version of 'E Tu' to complete silence from the studio audience." Ouch. For those of you who might want an opinion about this event from someone who actually saw it, try dubdotdash, fighting talk, fiona rae [nz herald], and the usual all-over-the-show discussion at nzmusic.com. And as for the question, will it happen again, I think Russell Brown sums it up best... There's no reason that TVNZ couldn't collaborate on another show at the St James, say, and bring it live to the nation. When you consider how good this was at times, and how bad TVNZ's recent efforts at in-studio light-ent have been, you'd think it would be the thing to do.Yes! More of this sort of thing! Less of the Big Night In sort of thing! # | Thursday, May 27, 2004
Nick Hornby on pop music, and Sasha Frere-Jones on Nick HornbyNick Hornby (of High Fidelity fame), wrote an opinion piece about pop music in last week's New York Times. He says things like this...I understand that I run the risk of being seen as yet another nostalgic old codger complaining about the state of contemporary music. And though it's true that I'm an old codger, and that I'm complaining about the state of contemporary music, I hope that I can wriggle out of the hole I'm digging for myself by moaning that, to me, contemporary rock music no longer sounds young.Run the risk? Too late you whinging oldie - best to embrace old age rather then try and excuse yourself with 'but actually, modern music does suck' lines. Terrible. Sasha Frere-Jones obviously feels similarly, and takes Nick's piece apart in an excellent post over at his site. For example, Sasha translates the quote above for us... TRANSLATION: By acknowledging the wack thing I am doing, I prove that I am an honest, down-to-earth guy. I know my limitations, and I am being paid to flaunt them. I can now say the thing I was going to say without making you mad because I have apologized in advance for saying it. See? I do not even have the courage of my own dreary convictions, but you still like me!Read the whole thing here. # | Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Very Short FilmsFor anyone who really wants to get a giant double-whammy of good new zealand music and good new zealand video making, both done in the old-school-nz-d.i.y-get-the-gang-around-in-the-weekend-to-record-a-new-bit sorta way, then get the Very Short Films DVD. 41 (mostly) classic songs synched up with (intermittently) brilliant video making to create a fantastic bunch of these things called music videos. And the good old interweb. You can try before you buy. Head over to Amplifier for two of the better tracks - The Chills epicly depressing 'Pink Frost', and the Straitjacket Fits seminal masterpiece 'She Speeds' (which features one of nzmusic's more notorious characters on cello). Also spotted out and about in online music video land is the Mint Chicks whose first single 'Licking Letters' (and here), Dimmer's 'Giving What You Give' (and here) and the 'buzz band of SXSW' The Have's 'The Fuzz' (and here). And, as per yesterday's post - please note you can win it here. # | Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Flying Nun Quiz Night - CompetitionLast week's Flying Nun Quiz night was a rip-roaring success by all accounts, and now you too can test your knowledege of nz music trivia by answering online the same questions that were asked on the night. And not only that, the Nun are going to give away three copies of their new DVD 'Very Short Films' (and some posters). So be in to win here.Here's a (ahem, randomly picked) sample question, so you know what you're letting yourself in for... Q. In 1993 the FN Noizyland Tour of the USA embarked with The Bats as one of the bands. Who were the other two? And how many of the bands split up after the tour? Oh, oh, I know that one! # |
So, what's all this about the foreshore?For those of you, like me, who are struggling to get your heads around the legal issues that surround the seabed and foreshore debate, try this post by Auckland University Professor of Law Jim Evans over at Public Address. An enlightening, interesting read.
# | Sunday, May 23, 2004
Big box stores pushing other music retailers into the marginsThis article from the US relates a few facts and figures about the growth of big box stores (eg. Best Buy, Wal-Mart), and how they've not only put many of the smaller independent retail stores out of business, but how their impact has also seen the demise of some branches of the larger chain stores (both Tower and Virgin Megastores have closed outlets in the USA, Camelot Music has gone under, and Trans World Entertainment - which owns FYE, Coconuts and Strawberries - has closed 100 stores around the country and moved its core business to DVDs). One suspects the same thing is bound to happen in NZ. The Warehouse now sells half of all CDs bought in New Zealand, and can make a NZ release go gold just by placing an order for it. CDs are one of their loss-leaders, a popular consumer good that the Warehouse is happy to sell at a loss just to get people in the door (update: I'm told this isn't actually the case - see the comments box). It's easy to see how other stores just can't compete, especially when, like most music store chains, they're treading on similar Top 40 style ground. The good news is that indie niche stores aren't really feeling the pinch at all. As many of the smaller store owners interviewed for the piece attest, catering for a specialist audience away from the top 40 flocks is the way to stay in business. Having that indepth knowledge of a specific musical area is key to attracting a discerning audience, many of whom will be happy to fork out extra cash for that rare 12" vinyl they've long heard of but never been able to lay their mitts on. Try going to the Warehouse and asking them to get in the latest Squarepusher 12" for you. The look you'll get will probably be even more blank than the usual one. So, Slowboat Records, Real Groovy, Records Records and the like can probably rest easy for now. # | Saturday, May 22, 2004
CD and DVD Owners Finding Techno-RotI remember when CDs came out back in the 80s, and we were all sold on the idea that this new medium would be a) as high fidelity as high fidelity gets, and b) virtually indestructible. Well, the fidelity is pretty good (although, feel free to argue with an audiophile about that one), but it turns out the lifetime of a CD (and now DVDs) isn't quite as long as the record companies would have had us believe. It quickly became apparent that, like vinyl before it, a scratch could lead to a horrible skip, or, in extreme cases, render the thing dead. "C'est la vie," we thought, "as long as we're careful with the things, we can at least rest easy that they'll last us the rest of our lives." It turns out this might not be the case - research by Media Sciences (a Massachusetts laboratory that tests CDs) shows that many CDs are actually rotting, either due to poor manufacturing processes, heat, or by inadvertent bad handling by users. And not bad handling like the old 'don't scratch' bad handling, but things I'd have thought were perfectly safe: stacking CDs being the main culprit, it would seem (I mean, you buy CDRs in stacks, why not store them that way?), but also by storing in your CDs in too warm an environment. Likewise, most people think the clear side is the side to worry about, when, in fact, it's the label side that's more fragile and will more quickly cause skips should it be damaged in any way. A bit of public education might be in order, methinks, but what chance do you think there is the record companies will alert consumers to the perils of poor disc handling when there's the chance to sell them the same disc in 5 or 10 years time? # | Friday, May 21, 2004
England v New Zealand, 1st Test, Lord's, 2nd day Ahh, cricket heaven. I love it that I can sit down on a Friday evening and watch the highlights and then the live action from the England v. NZ cricket test match at Lords.The particularly fantastic thing about test cricket highlights is that it's still boring. At one point one of the English commentator started droning on about how "these dull patches of the match really just need a spark from someone to get the whole thing out of doldrums." This was mostly due to infamously slow scorer Mark Richardson keeping true to form - 5 hours standing in the middle for 67 runs when the 'dull patches' comment was made - and leaving absolutely anything outside off stump. And this was all during the 'highlights' package! Brilliant. Richardson was finally given out on a more-than-dubious LBW decision for 93, having held on for over six hours in the middle. It did strike me that the commentating team often provides a good number of the entertainment high points during a day of cricket, and that often boring cricket can lead to some fantastic off-topic rambling by the likes of, in this case, Ian Smith and Geoffrey Boycott. They somehow got onto the subject of how many wickets Geoffrey (a batsmen) had taken in his career. He rattled them all off, all seven of them - names and how he'd got them out. It's so often the way: the batsmen love to tell the stories of how they got wickets, the bowlers rejoice when asked about their single three figure score.  Anyway, we went back to a live feed around 9:30pm, and finally got some real action by the name of Chris Cairns (the one-man highlights package, as he should be known). He went into his customary ballistic mode for the last part of the innings, as it became apparent that no-one was going to be able to hold out at the other end too long. It. Was. Awesome. The pommy commentators, who seem to love it when their team is getting spanked anyway, were waxing effusive about the big man's abilities, and he tonked his way to 82 runs in just over an hour, including 10 fours and 4 sixes, the latter figure taking him past Viv Richards as the player to have scored the most sixes in Test Cricket history. And from nearly half the number of matches that the West Indian master blaster had played. Awesome. Chris Martin finally came in at #11, and, much the delight of the small Beige Brigade in the crowd, managed to block a couple (and even score a run - which drew a massive round of applause from just about everyone), and held up his end long enough for Cairns to add another 50 runs at his end. Again, the stats books were out, and it was revealed that Martin is the Test Player with the worst (or best, depending on your attitude) runs:wickets ratio. For every run he scores in Test Cricket, he gets 3 wickets. God I love cricket - the facts and figures just keep coming...And now the Super 12 final to look forward to. Or, more accurately, to fret about all day. # |
Flying Nun Quiz NightSounds like the inaugural Flying Nun quiz night held last night (Thu May 20) was a rip-roaring success. There are, no doubt, a few sore and strained heads and minds around Auckland this morning. Dub Asylum's Peter McLennan was there, and reports on the night's happenings.
Oh, and it was all put together as a promotion for the new (and first) Flying Nun DVD - Very Short Films - a collection of 41 classic Nun videos from the label's inception (The Clean, Bored Games) to their latest signings (The Mint Chicks, PanAm). Grab yourself a copy - a finer snapshot of New Zealand music video making you will not hope to find (well, until the Greg Page or Ed Davis retrospectives come out, anyway). # | Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Radio Active 89FM NZ Music Show Playlist: 18 May 2004broadcast: 2100-2300 NZST | TUE 18 May, 2004 Fark it was cold last night. Jules and I rocked up to Radio Active towers a bit early, and had to rely on internal warming from our coffees for the first half or so, and then cranked up the oil heater for the second half. Brrrr. 'Twas a typical show of forgotten song names, wrongly announced phone numbers and unfindable requests. One day I'll be sure to make a note of the studio phone number before trying to announce it on air for a giveaway: "OK, to win the prize, call us now on 801...um...80?..um...mumble, mutter..." Luckily, our punters are more clued up as the numbers than we are, so we still managed to give the stuff away. One good thing about this week was the massive pile of new NZ releases and demos we got given to sample upon our arrival. Hooray for NZ music month - we managed to fill up well over half our show with brand spanking new songs, some from bands even I hadn't heard about. Particular faves were the new ones from Olmecha Supreme, Bannerman and Drekster. Here's the whole playlist...
# | Monday, May 17, 2004
Soundscan: "Sales down? Not according to us."The RIAA continue to alienate musicians and music consumers alike with their ongoing attempts to tie in online piracy with 'falling' retail figures. The latest bit of bad news for the American recording association is that real sales figures aren't down at all - according to Soundscan - the company responsible for measuring sales in the USA - sales figures for the first quarter of 2004 (160m units sold) were up on the same time-frame from last year (147m), almost a 10% increase.But, the RIAA's Cary Sherman claimed recently that there was a 7% decrease over this period. How are these figures so divergent? As is so often the way, it all depends on who's spinning them. The RIAA use 'units shipped' to measure relative sales from year to year, as opposed to the actual units sold. As a practical example of how this approach can skew figures, take this example (from here)... I shipped 1000 units last year and sold 700 of them. This year I sold 770 units but shipped only 930 units. I shipped 10% less units this year. And this is what the RIAA wants the public to accept as "a loss."Moses Avalon, the author of the piece being linked to, also points out that... I misplaced my MBA this morning, but my mental math assures me that fewer returns and shorter reserves should mean an INCREASE in record company profits and artists' royalties. If this is true, and file-sharing is responsible, one could conclude that "on-line piracy" has been the single greatest factor in increasing profits, because it forces record companies to keep a tighter lid on mass-production and costs.Which may be pushing things a little far, but, still, it's yet another situation where the RIAA has been pushing facts that, under a little scrutiny, don't really hold up too well. [via the wireless] # | Thursday, May 13, 2004
Kareem Adbul-Jabbar: renaissance manWhen I was a young lad, I was well keen on basketball. My parents both played representative basketball for Canterbury (dad, in fact, was captain, and most capped player in the province's history until Clyde (the Glide) Huntly came and took the record off him), and I played from an early age until my late teens.Other than my parents, one of the people that inspired me was the towering frame of Kareem Adbul-Jabbar - the super-lanky centre of the LA Lakers, one of the two glamour NBA teams of the 80s era (the other being Larry Bird's Boston Celtics). We only ever got the finals series of the NBA (this was all pre-Sky, pre TV3, of course, so it took a fair bit to knock rugby and cricket off the screens), so for much of that time, the only games we got to see on the telly were the Lakers and Celtics battling it out for the NBA 'world' title. Which was all right by me, of course - it was pretty much Magic Johnson and Kareem v. Larry Bird and Kevin McHale - all superstars at the time, and some of the games were absolute epics. Kareem was one of the 7" monsters of the time, had his trademark sky hook (try blocking a sky hook from a 7" centre - it's impossible) and, as a result of his natural talent and being part of a team that included the likes of super-guard Magic Johnson, is still the top NBA scorer of all time (38,387 points, a massive 7000 points clear of second place - Wilt Chamberlain, and poor old Michael Jordan languishes back in 4th with a measly 29,277 points.) I thought he was great. Go the tall and lanky guy! Anyway, turns out he's not just a great basketball player. A post over at MetaFilter today reveals that along with his 'acting' (you may remember him from the Airplane parody film, or, if you've ventured into B-Grade kung-fu land at some time, the Bruce Lee film Game of Death), but also a coach (no real surprise there, except he coaches underprivileged Native Americans, instead of a super-rich NBA team), a best-selling author, a jazz expert, and, brilliant, a prescription dope-smoker. What a legend. # | Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Idol ThoughtsWell, I managed to completely avoid the media hypefest that was NZ Idol, although, given the hysteria that surrounded it all on Monday night when the winner was announced, I couldn't help but avoid seeing that a local Island Bay lad - Ben Lummis - had taken the top prize. Tumeke! But will it all lead to fame and fortune for the winner, particularly now that BMG have announced they're also going to be offering a contract to runner-up Michael Murphy as well? Russell Brown's latest post takes a look at the back-room wheelings and dealings, and how similar situations have panned out in other Idol competitions around the world.Update: a coupleo more articles from Stuff. Seems runner-up Michael Murphy is going to ditch his band for the lure of the solo career. And Raybon Kan puts his excellent two cents in worth on the whole shebang here. # | Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Israeli diplomat alleges humiliation at Auckland airport"An Israeli official has complained he was interrogated and humiliated for three hours at Auckland Airport."Humiliated in the fact that he was asked some pretty normal customs (albeit dumb) questions: eg. "are you a drug dealer?" (has anyone, ever, answered yes to that question?) He claims he was held for three hours, customs claims it was 1 hour 25 minutes. Either way, whoopdedoo, these things happen in customs. And this really gets my gander up... "I have never met such a welcome in any place I have been, from Latin America to Siberia in Russia and everywhere." He should try visiting his own country on a non-Israeli passport. My (elderly) in-laws, visiting Israel to do medical work in Gaza and Jersusalem, were held up in customs for half-a-day while their credentials were established. They had half of their medical supplies confiscated. There was nothing in the way of civility or politeness shown to them, they were given nowhere to lie down after their 30+ hour trip from New Zealand, and they were not allowed to make calls out while they were being held. My advice, people who live in glasshouses...etc... Right wing blogger Tom Paine @ Silent Running sympathises with the Israelis on this one, though - for that viewpoint, go here. He claims that ... "Of course no New Zealand official would dare even think of stopping a Muslim, that would be insensitive and culturally offensive."Does he know this? Or is it just an assumption? One suspects quite a few muslim visitors on 'interesting' looking passports get hauled up for a bit of chat by customs (Ahmed Zaoui, anyone?). Perhaps Tom is also forgetting the recent Israeli passport scandal, and the fact that the Israel government has yet to come up with any adequate explanation as to those particular Israeli citizen's actions in this country. Tom also writes... Apparently the activities of the New Zealand Jewish community are so sinister that the Jewish Agency can't send out an emissary without being detained at the airport so Customs can paw through their address book as if the local Jews are part of some sort of international crime syndicate!One could easily counter with the example of my in-laws. Let's try it... Apparently the activities of the [Palestinian Hospitals] are so sinister that the [International Medical Organisation] can't send out [a Doctor and Nurse] without being detained at the airport so Customs can [confiscate and damage] their [equipment and records] as if the local [sick infant children] are part of some sort of international [terrorism] syndicate! # | Thursday, May 06, 2004
At the HikoiWell, the Hikoi went off. Estimates of numbers go from around 5000 up to 20000. I reckon it's always impossible to tell with this sort of thing, especially when people are milling about, but, well, it was a lot, and far and away, as many have pointed out, the biggest protest in NZ since the anti-apartheid Springbok marches back in 1981.I wandered down for a looksee a bit after lunch, having been stirred from my usual political apathy by the ongoing Scoop reports that were hitting my inbox every few minutes. It was great walking down the hill - there was a strong swirling wind, and every few seconds I got a snatch of indecipherable megaphone action from parliament grounds, and the occasional burst of massed voices as a new chant got under way. As I got closer, I could start to hear the megaphone speaker.... "...has lost their little tamähine, could they please come to the caravan to pick her up. Her name is Ngaio. She has a little Tino Rangatiratanga flag wrapped around her blue jacket, and has red trackpants on. And a reminder to all the parents out there, please hold onto your wee one's hands - we've had several lost children here today, and don't want any more." Not quite the firebrand exhortations to overthrow the government that I was expecting, but it was a good indication of the relatively good nature of the crowd. There were a few chants that came and went as I wandered the grounds taking some photos, but none of them were too inflammatory (ONE TWO THREE FOUR, DON'T YOU STEAL OUR FORESHORE! kinda thing), a few personal attacks on Helen Clark (I always wonder if the protestors who go on about her being punished at the polls have considered that the most likely replacement is Don Brash - oh well). Anyway, here's my snaps for the day, click any of them for a bigger version...
More photos @ David Farrar, Darkness Network, Scoop, and Rodney Hide (ACT MP). (Speaking of Rodney, PNN point out that the increasingly blog-addicted right wing MP made one of his recent posts live from the Beehive debating chamber, making it, perhaps, the first blog by any politician, almost certainly in NZ, and potentially the world, who was sitting in a senate/parliamentary situation at the time. Correct me if I'm wrong.) (And for any non-NZers who want a quick overview of what the Hikoi was, and what it was protesting against, try here, here, here, and here.) # | Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Google v. Phone v. LibrarianRos Taylor, Oliver Burkeman and Stephen Moss used (respectively) Google, a phone, and a librarian to search for the answers to half a dozen tricky questions (eg. "What was unusual about the British gold medal victory in the 400m in the 1908 Olympics in London?") Who, on average, was the quickest at finding the answers? The librarian, naturally. # | Monday, May 03, 2004
The Worst NZ songs. Ever.NZ Music month is upon us, and fellow NZ bloggers the Whig and PNN have marked the occasion by posting their respective 'worst NZ songs' lists. 'Shane' by Saint Paul sits at the top of the Whig's list, and PNN give the nod to Paul Holmes's cover of 'Lyin' In The Sand'. Here's my hastily thought out top 5 (note that I've only included songs that might have potentially troubled commercial radio programmers when they were released. I've heard a lot of bad indie music that could just as easily make the list, but you'd be sitting there going 'what the hell is that?' and that would be no fun, would it?)
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