Hard News: Friday Music: A Life of Stories
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
put the Billy on...
the core players are still with us
I saw Human Instinct, and I think powerhouse
(maybe with Butler...)- this is still a favourite album:
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
and tell me you don’t hear ‘Pull Down the Shades’:
There is a distinct 'undertone' of that...
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Farmer Green, in reply to
That story makes it it sound all very clean. But it would be great for the history books to get some accounts of the night that the Boulevard Cafe in P.N. was busted . . . for alcohol. Can you believe it . . . . adults having a small number of drinks in a night club at 11 p.m?
Yes , kiddies , once upon a time such behaviour was illegal.The ditched "junk " under the tables was a veritable treasure trove :-)
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Farmer Green, in reply to
Yes there was a tour with Butler . North Island or South Island?
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</not helping?>
NMP
Spent many nights at Bo Peep listening to The Human Instinct when a friend was one of the revolving series of bass players. He lasted awhile tho. -
I will obtain the relevant contact information and dispatch it to you and Matt.
James of EB told me he's still quite elusive. I tried to meet up in London last time to no avail.
Roger was a record store owner – I’m pretty sure he was only ever a manager
Thought i'd changed that stupid error ages ago. Must have forgotten. Thanks for spotting.
RE the Knox book. There is progress. Hope we'll have some updates very soon.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I love social history as a reading genre. And stories about the music of our times (and other times, natch), are fabulous social history when done properly (people, events, background, social context).
That's integral to the Brixton Academy book too. Parkes only got his shot because it was run-down and rotting in a part of town it was thought white middle-class Londoners would never venture. Then sold it, sadly, to a entertainment corporate.
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Tracey Thorn’s Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to be a Pop Star will have to sit around the house a little longer.
It's highly recommended - I think its the second best muso memoir I've read (Paul Kelly's How To Make Gravy is tops in my, err, book.)
Thorn's more recent Naked At The Albert Hall is a companion volume - its more about singing and her favourite singers, but it is highly personal.
As well as being a superb read.
(Shameless Link Touting Ahead) Reviewed 'em both here.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Thorn's more recent Naked At The Albert Hall is a companion volume - its more about singing and her favourite singers, but it is highly personal.
As well as being a superb read.
Oh, ta. I used to see Tracey 'n' Ben walking around quite a bit when I worked at the HMV Store in Piccadilly in the 80s. I always thought "they look lie people like us".
I'm ploughing through the Viv Albertine book. It's wild and informal and funny and interesting.
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Rob Hosking, in reply to
Yeah, I read a rave review of that in the UK Telegraph, which I think shows someone won the Culture Wars, though I'm not quite sure who.
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Jim Abbott, in reply to
Denise has forwarded Dave's contact details to Matthew. I'd love to see that book!
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Ta Jim and Denise -
I have heard from Matthew,
early steps forward... -
I like this photo by Oliver Li that Stuff uses on Graham Brazier stories about his death - so apt on so many levels that Graham is engrossed in a battered copy of William Burroughs' The Western Lands - the Egyptian 'place of dead roads'...
I didn't like so much Karl du Fresne's continuing bewilderment at the appeal of Brazier and other flawed artistes...
First he had a go on his own site - but then had an sensitive moment and deleted it!Yesterday I wrote a blog post about Hello Sailor and the death of Graham Brazier. I have decided to delete it - not because I resile from anything I said, or because of any criticism (although it did attract one critical comment), but simply because I decided, on reflection, that the timing was insensitive.
Now he has a 'column' on Stuff's Dominion-Post site
Which I suspect is his earlier blogpost rehashed, now the 'timing' is better...
He seems to have recycled some of his vented spleen from last year's 'tone deaf' tirade against Philip Matthews piece on Dave McArtneyMatthews excitedly relates all this in the apparent belief that readers will be as impressed as he was by the band’s dissolute lifestyle. The great irony is that he reports McArtney’s fondness for the needle ultimately led to his death at 62 from liver cancer. You almost get the impression this is something Matthews thinks we should all aspire to.
Jeez, the way some people read what they want into things...
it all reeks of 'righteous finger wagging' and a 'moral crusade' to me (along with an unhealthy dose of 'fear of the different') - but this can't be because Karl doesn't like that:
Neither is Otago the only university that employs them (Moral Crusaders).
But it's unquestionably the go-to institution if you want to be badgered about your eating and drinking habits.
The Dunedin campus produces self-righteous finger-waggers the way Ethiopia produces marathon runners.(charming analogy there Karl) from his rant against concerned academics
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Jeez, the way some people read what they want into things...
Du Fresne is such an ass.
In both those screeds he's so set on reducing both those men to nothing more than drugs. For goodness sake, Dave McArtney went back to university after the bands and completed a BA in Renaissance poetry and an MA in music. He was a much-loved tutor at Mainz for more than a decade. Just a really sweet, decent man. Which is more than can be said for Karl du Fresne.
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While it might not be obvious to those who complain that the importance of this sport is being blown completely out of proportion, there are deeper political objectives underlying NZ Rugby that other sports don’t hold to.
I don’t believe that John Key cashes in on the successful “identity” of the All Blacks (NZRU representatives) just because they win. I believe that Key’s alignment with the All Blacks is another result of transnational corporations (Adidas) and the concentrated media ownership of Rupert Murdoch.
In 1995 Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited signed a 10-year $550 million deal with the New Zealand, Australian and South African rugby unions. Don’t you think this is a major contribution to how the All Blacks are portrayed to the public? This would have created a huge spike in the transnational marketing of the NZ AB’s as a team to “watch” not to mention the “head to head” history of NZ, Australia and South Africa.
Perhaps without this concentrated media ownership, the saturation of ‘Black outs’ in your headlines might have been less invading, and John Key might not be magnified as ‘branding himself’ off Rugby?
This global pedestal and the successes of the All Blacks are potentially one of the biggest contributions to NZ’s global position (politically). This is a ‘game’ where every ‘nation’ is classed as its own. Each nation is striving to be the best at the ‘game’ but it’s meaning and ability to be seen as the best consists of so much more. -
Kumara Republic, in reply to
Which is more than can be said for Karl du Fresne.
du Fresne is yet another of those "drugs bad, booze good" types.
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