Posts by Tom Beard
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As for Tom's general point - in Wellington at least the problem is one of venues
That's true. Some acts such as Fly My Pretties play in places like BATS theatre, but those are usually one-offs.
A lot of the live music I've seen in the past few years hasn't been at "gigs" per se, but people playing in cafes or small bars where the patrons are expected to talk through the music. And a lot of the gigs I've been to are at bar/venues with small cover charges where, as people say, there's a mix of regulars or people who just turn up on the night and those who are there specifically for the band. A place like Mighty Mighty might have a curtain between the bar area and the venue area, and when someone like Alex the Kid are thrashing away the bar chatter is hardly going to interfere; but if it's some sort of winsome folkiness then the bar sounds will intrude. And to those who object to people talking or ordering drinks at the bar: it's a bar. I'm here for a drink and a chat. Deal with it.
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I blame the rise of alt-country-folk-whatever. At a rock or dance gig, most people are too busy thrashing about dancing to text or talk, and even if they did there'd be too much noise and motion for everyone else to notice.
If it's the sort of concert where the audience is expected to listen with rapt attention to every pluck and croon, then shouldn't it be at a venue with seating, where you can sit down in comfort and stroke your chin? Being at a stand-up gig stuck among hordes of motionless indie-kids standing around facing the stage like so many op-shop pod-people is a very disconcerting experience.
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As opposed to the system we have now, you mean?
No, but not necessarily any better.
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I'm expecting nothing less than an Ernst Hemingway-like account of the heroics at the Cake Tin, full of sentiment and pathos. Get to work, Green.
He promised us a Gonzo account, and I'm holding him to it: "We were near Thorndon on the edge of the Caketin when the G&Ts kicked in ... Look out! This is bat-pad country!"
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I learned years ago, to never get into arguments over alcohol.
Themsh fightin' wordsh!
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Oh, and these conversations are combining with the hot weather outside to give me a burning desire to pick up a couple of bottles of plonk and some pork sausages from the nearest dairy :-)
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You're lumping. It's a bit like saying "you non anarchists start wars".
Of course I'm lumping, but it's one end of the spectrum. My feeling is that for the most visible anarcho-vegans, their disapproval might not extend to bombing, but certainly "collectively giv[ing] you the evils" would extend beyond raised eyebrows and anonymous gifts of the Moosewood Cookbook, and would involve rather a lot of shouting and red paint. Maybe there is a difference between saying you can't do something and saying you shouldn't, but collective disapproval can get very ugly and coercive.
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they don't say you can't eat meat, they say you shouldn't
And never bomb butchers, factory farmers or those who experiment with animals?
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Anyway, we've now had a long period of alcohol being progressively normalized
A long period? As in, say, approximately the last 10,000 years of human history? As Faulkner said, "civilization begins with fermentation".
Then again, I found that quote by reading a book called The Joy of Drinking, so perhaps you know where I'm coming from :-)
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I guess my unease with supermarket sales stems from the degree to which it normalizes alcohol, placing it on the same level as bread and milk.
As opposed to abnormalising it, labelling it as dangerous, forbidden, naughty and hence glamorous?
And the fact that supermarkets have been using alcohol as a 'loss leader' doesn't make me feel any better about it.
On the contrary, I was very happy that Lindauer Special Reserve was 2 for $20 at my local NW Metro, making it all that much easier to stock up for the New Year's Eve punch.