Hard News by Russell Brown

Thankyou Russell

Songwriters need people who believe in them. And that belief is its own reward.

Too true. Artists generally are precious and fragile and they need our love and support. It's not like they don't earn it, but even if they don't, they should get it anyway.

Great piece Russell. There seems to be a real collision of nostalgia, confession, death and celebration going on in NZ music at the moment. Really sad news about Malcolm. I didn't know him personally but by reports he was a wonderful guy.

Very sad to hear about Malcolm Black.

Verlaines: Dunedin Spleen

https://verlainesband.bandcamp.com/album/dunedin-spleen

I found it a bit frustrating that the documentary didn't explain how he conquered Hep C. He is shown finishing a very expensive course of a drug that doesn't work and then he is suddenly cured, presumably by something else? I understand that was because of the availability of a newly funded and very effective Hep C drug. It would have been helpful to have mentioned that.

I saw the movie last night, there's a scene where they explain that he's tried a different drug now and it's worked ... they didn't go into details, but it wasn't just "you're cured".

The movie was great, not some airbrushed hagiography, but also not a tell all assassination - something in between warts and all.

It's also a bit of an homage to Dunedin, wonderfully quirky shots of everyday places made special, if you are from here you probably should go just for that

This is very good Russell. BTW the version of "Night of chill blue" on the BBC Sessions LP is pretty good.

Yeah. I still remember seeing the NDTs in Nelson is a long, narrow bar with the stage in the middle. It was a weird venue, and having their full-on brass section in a tiny space was an experience.

And trying to hitchhike out of Dunedin with "standing in the rain" in my head. It just seemed appropriate. "far distant hillside" and the weather...

From W. Somerset Maugham’s short story “The Alien Corn”:

She made a great sweeping gesture that took in the magnificent room with the beautiful things it contained and all of us. “If I thought you had in you the makings of an artist I shouldn’t hesitate to beseech you to give up everything for art’s sake. Art is the only thing that matters. In comparison with art, wealth and rank and power are not worth a straw” She gave us a look so sincere that it was void of insolence. “We are the only people who count. We give the world significance. You are only our raw material.”

Maybe a rather bitter pill to swallow if you’re just a pleb like me, but I think she’s right.

The Chills documentary got a write up in the Guardian - Australian cinema release in July apparently:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/14/the-chills-review-martin-phillipps-triumph-and-tragedy-told-with-extraordinary-candour

5 stars too!!