Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: "Creative" and "Flexible"

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  • Sacha,

    Or do you mean a reflection of a stereotype of what everyone should be...?

    Tells us more about what's in Paul's head than mine.

    More than Midnight Youth or whatever they're called? I'd say so. More than Shihad? I'd say so. More than Smashproof? Lyrically? No. Musically? Hmmm.

    Oh, and Christopher's it seems.

    Anyone wonder why lefty intellectuals get stereotyped as elitist?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    Jan Farr said above that concert music is serious music. It's true.

    But can you dance to it?

    Who is to say that music 'that makes you think' (or whatever else that statement is meant to mean) is more worthy of a nationwide Government-funded station than music you can shake your hips to?

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    Guys! Dream bigger!! If you expect nothing, you get nothing. Think Big Radio! If the government can build a dam to employ underemployed workers, they can damn well build Radio Cricket, and Teh Awesome Soul FM, and UkeLive

    Awesome. I vote for your party!

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • Christopher Nimmo,

    Anyone wonder why lefty intellectuals get stereotyped as elitist?

    Is it something to do with wanting the best for everybody?

    Wellington • Since May 2009 • 97 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Perfect

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Craig, you don't have to take an attack on greed and theft by others so personally.

    Greed and theft? If that's what Heatley was up to, he should be thrown out of Cabinet for rank incompetence and a severe style fail. Keeping your bribes in the freezer is how you do it!

    I'm sorry to have to agree with Mr. Barnes here, but why the hell is any Minister walking around with a credit card in the first place? If you're on business, Ministerial Services should have all your travel and accommodation sorted with any other reasonable work-related costs easily covered (and promptly reimbursed). Not as if Ministers of the Crown are on minimum wage.

    (NB Save Radio NZ fans =/ clowns, just to be clear).

    No, but some of the folks posting comments on the Facebook group could profitably read some Constantine Cavafy:

    Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
    (How serious people's faces have become.)
    Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
    everyone going home so lost in thought?

    Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
    And some who have just returned from the border say
    there are no barbarians any longer.

    And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
    They were, those people, a kind of solution.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Martin Lindberg,

    Q: Anyone wonder why lefty intellectuals get stereotyped as elitist?

    A: Is it something to do with wanting the best for everybody?

    ROFL! Classic.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report

  • David Hood,

    It's always the harpsicordists, isn't it? That's why you can barely find one these days.

    You fools, you should be throwing the viola player overboard.

    I don't know the "saying it should be tax supported means you want other people to pay for your indulgence" argument holds any weight, particularly if it is recast as "we think these cultural institutions, which are beyond the ability of individuals to perform on their own are a good thing, and we think a very small part of the collective effort of our culture (as presented by taxes) should go towards preserving it". Different people advocate what's important to them (Or its removal in the case of the libertarian fringe), and that process makes culture. If I was prioritising the Concert program would rate as far more important than the Rugby World Cup, or the ability to increase my personal savings to one day buy a yacht.

    If I could characterise the government's strategy, it would be one of malign neglect- don't want to fund the service to the level that a chunk of the population expects, and will try to offload the onus of failing to meet those expectations onto Radio New Zealand.

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    I would suggest that Debussy would be the wrong composer to consult.

    I'd believe you, I don't know my Aria from my Elbow.

    The development of um... development, and in particular the relationship between symphonic development and its contemporary manifestations might provide better insights.

    Not to mention pithy comebacks. Imagine, next time I'm pinned down by a particularly hard argument, I'll come back in with "Yes, well I think Bach answered that fairly conclusively with "Dum duh, duh dah dum, dum, deedle deedle deedle, dum...Dah!". If the cretins don't get it, then they're lost anyway.

    Anyone wonder why lefty intellectuals get stereotyped as elitist?

    I hope the answer isn't "because they're elite".

    But can you dance to it?

    Of course, with the aid of 20 muscular yet graceful women, I can dance to anything.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    our culture

    For a local creative life probably deprived of the 'best' concertos, ballet and oil paintings, check this photo essay. Libraries do get a mention, however.

    “Every group here has its own culture, its own art and we can bring it together for everyone with our art… Take the designs you get in Tapa… Or like Maori has a flowing style, Rarotongan has a natural style wit flowers, hibiscus – You could use Hibiscus instead of clouds and the Samoans have a formal style, straight organised style… All these styles we could use. Do Koru instead of arrows.” -Claude Iusitini/Street Action Aotearoa

    Thanks for the pointer, Mr Grigg.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Christopher Nimmo,

    Who is to say that music 'that makes you think' (or whatever else that statement is meant to mean) is more worthy of a nationwide Government-funded station than music you can shake your hips to?

    Does commercial control of the distribution of dance music affect people's ability to dance to the music? And does commercial control of the distribution of 'thinking' music affect people's ability to express ideas through music? And is this a bad thing? Shostakovich's relationship with the Soviet leadership was mentioned above. That was government control that prevented the expression of ideas, because the government feared the power of music. But this is a democracy. Surely a democratic government should value the expression of ideas? If commercial interference in the Concert Programme were to reduce the airtime given to new music, this would inhibit expression.

    Wellington • Since May 2009 • 97 posts Report

  • Cecelia,

    And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
    They were, those people, a kind of solution.

    Great poem Craig (Have just read the Coetzee novel of same title). But this is different. The gummint's going to take away my radio stations! Waaaaaaaa.

    What would YOU start or join a Facebook page to save??????

    (Just a hint that they might take them away is enough to make people of my vintage panic. Look at what they did to TVNZ! And The Listener...Sob.)

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report

  • Paul Litterick,

    For a local creative life probably deprived of the 'best' concertos, ballet and oil paintings...

    Call me elitist if you like, but I don't think you are doing your argument any good. Painting lettering in derivative forms hardly amounts to much of an art movement.

    Jonathan Fa'afetai Lemalu., on the other hand, has talent and has not been constrained by others' expectations of what a Samoan boy should be.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report

  • David Hood,

    Does commercial control of the distribution of dance music affect people's ability to dance to the music?

    My daughter is trying to come up with music for a school disco at the moment. For a moderately diverse group of 10-12 year olds, there is not much on commercial radio that she thinks would be danceable. Of the current commercial crop, she is keen to include Muse- Uprising, but her other choices are less likely to be on the radio.

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Call me elitist if you like

    I think you're doing just fine on your own, Paul.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    What would YOU start or join a Facebook page to save??????

    What would make my pointy-headed elitist blood boil with righteous indignation? Good question -

    The Civic -- yes, ideologically I don't see any reason why local government should be in the Lord Lloyd Webber business, but I'm totally lady ga-ga for that gaudy old tart. Though if her honour was insulted, I'd go for stalking councillors over joining a Facebook group.

    Public libraries. Though my curmudgeonly streak comes out where they look more like a video shop than anything else.

    Any move to sell off our national art collection. I've pretty much given up hoping Te Papa is going to get serious about displaying a significant proportion of it, but you pick your fights.

    Censorship laws that forget the overwhelming majority of citizens aren't psychotic.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Jan Farr,

    Who is to say that music 'that makes you think' (or whatever else that statement is meant to mean) is more worthy of a nationwide Government-funded station than music you can shake your hips to?

    Nobody that I know of - but you have listen harder.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report

  • Jan Farr,

    I think you're doing just fine on your own, Paul.

    If you go through your entire gamut of stereotypes, you're sure to be right some of the time.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report

  • bronwyn,

    I don't see any reason why local government should be in the Lord Lloyd Webber business

    Technically, they're not - that's why there's a seperate organisation with its own board and everything running it. As attractive as it is to imagine John Banks in his office humming along to tunes from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert , and then demanding a 6 week run in The Civic, it ain't happening.

    tamaki makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 86 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    __Call me elitist if you like__

    I think you're doing just fine on your own, Paul.

    I was going to go with: boy, has that horse bolted. I think the stable might have changed hands a couple of times in fact.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Chris Knox talks about records that have influenced him, with a little help from a friend.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Painting lettering in derivative forms hardly amounts to much of an art movement.

    Indeed, anyone can do design. Nothing to it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Paul Litterick,

    K, you called me elitist and you are right. But at least I am not patronising, not in this context at least. I find the sight of middle-class folk praising the suburban poor for their hip-hop culture to be just a little unsettling. Look at the brown kids, being creative with their culture [which, of course, has been imported wholesale from the USofA]. It is all so street. Of course, if they spray-painted their culture in our suburbs that would be an entirely different battle. But, so long as they do the sort of things we expect of Third World people - bright, colourful pattern-making done as a group activity, they don't have to be accepted as complete human beings.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    So... the brown kids have a crappy 'unoriginal' artistic culture you despise, and the middle-class people are patronising racists for daring to say they enjoy it. What a delightful view of the world you've articulated there, Paul.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Paul, that's a load of arse, and I'll be happy to explain why some time after I enjoy an early evening bike ride.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

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