Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Friday Music: You are among friends

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  • Mike O'Connell,

    Two of my albums of 2015 were those by Anthonie Tonnon and Nadia Reid. Happily, the pair of them next week launch a national “urban folk” tour with Darren Hanlon

    Can't wait for this, they're at Blue Smoke in Chch on Saturday 5th. I happen to be in Auckland this weekend. Much to choose from incl. Doprah album release party at Golden Dawn and Andrew Keoghan at Q Loft.

    What really attracts are these two daytime events: the Rice & Beans Festival at Silo Park, 12-6, Sat. And the Myers Park Medley, 12-5, Sunday.

    The latter includes performances by personal favs Delaney Davidson (rolling out his Manos del Chango) and Tami Neilson. Have just seen Tami in Chc this weekend gone at Nostalgia and the Hilltop. She was smokin' hot.

    Now she's doing a superb cover of the Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton version of 'Hound Dog'. Needless to say really, Phoenix Foundation also a polished performance at Nostaligia under what was a hellish, Bleaching Sun - they were buoyed along by the cricket events of the day methinks!
    .
    Here's Willie Mae and Hound Dog (audio):

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 385 posts Report

  • JP Hansen,

    I assume you didn't get to Prince on Wednesday, Russell? Missed something quite extraordinary.

    Waitakere • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh, and if you want to hear that record in a taxi, call Mandeep on 027 216 9287.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to JP Hansen,

    I assume you didn’t get to Prince on Wednesday, Russell? Missed something quite extraordinary.

    Too skint to do it, I'm afraid. And yes, I hear it was incredible.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ken Double, in reply to JP Hansen,

    I'd spent two weeks perversely ratcheting my Prince expectations down to zero. Honestly, I was mentally prepared for a 40 minute rendition of "Cloreen Bacon Skin". Turns out that left me in a perfect state to attend the best gig I'll ever see. Coming out my dear wife said "Well, everyone else should just give up." You kinda know intellectually that he's the most gifted artist of the modern era but to be confronted with the fact in a medium- sized auditorium is another matter altogether.

    (Bloody hell Russell, sounds like it's past time to make a contribution to PA. Where do I go?)

    Wellington • Since Dec 2012 • 119 posts Report

  • Graham Dunster,

    According to the guys @ the Southbound shop a licence is required to deal in used cds and audio cassettes because they're digital. Seriously? It'd be great to see someone other than Real Groovy in this market (in Auckland)! Meanwhile I guess Flying Out will stick to vinyl.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2009 • 184 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ken Double,

    (Bloody hell Russell, sounds like it’s past time to make a contribution to PA. Where do I go?)

    Absolutely no pressure, but ...

    http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/supporting-public-address/

    Perils of being a freelancer/contractor/TV person – summer is lovely, but it sure don't pay!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Graham Dunster,

    According to the guys @ the Southbound shop a licence is required to deal in used cds and audio cassettes because they’re digital. Seriously?

    One would think not. Cassettes aren't digital, for a start.

    A sounder reason is that the market in secondhand CDs is pants. They're worth bugger-all these days.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ken Double,

    You kinda know intellectually that he’s the most gifted artist of the modern era but to be confronted with the fact in a medium- sized auditorium is another matter altogether.

    I had a similar reaction many years ago when, not long in London, I got a press ticket to the Parade tour. Mind: blown.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ken Double, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Had tickets for "Sign of the Times" at Wembley in '87 and he cancelled. Aaaaaaargh!

    Also, I've reminded myself that even the nightmare scenario might have been fun.....

    Wellington • Since Dec 2012 • 119 posts Report

  • Alan Perrott,

    damn, wish I'd known about that drop at Flying Out earlier - on the other hand did score big in the Real Groovy 7s bin this week. among others I found a long time Shadows grail, this has been years in the hunting...

    oh, and just cos, I also found this - for trainspotters the backing band includes Starr, McCartney and Clapton...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher, in reply to Russell Brown,

    A sounder reason is that the market in secondhand CDs is pants. They're worth bugger-all these days.

    I've always wondered if the massive devaluation of second-hand CDs has meant fewer car break-ins now. What is there left in cars for petty criminals to steal?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Strictly off the record…

    One would think not. Cassettes aren’t digital, for a start.

    Damn straight, ‘recording’ a magnetic flux is merely the electric ‘field’ version of inducing the vibrations of a carefully gouged groove though a needle… IMHO.

    A sounder reason is that the market in secondhand CDs is pants. They’re worth bugger-all these days.

    it’s weird that format trumps content…

    Now what about that other ‘icon of obsolescence’ – 8-track tapes (and Beta video – that was great for sound as well.)

    Which reminds me of a horrific dumpster diving experience recently while in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains – full of boxes of Ampex, Agfa and other reel to reel tapes still in their sturdy boxes and cans of 16mm films – looked like someone was clearing out an estate, i grabbed some finished movies that a web search indicated might have been interesting early ‘70s Aussie ’art’ movies – and left them with the people we were staying with – no excess baggage allowance – hopefully they’ll find a good home for them – I have to reconcile myself to the fact that ya can’t save everything….

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Now what about that other ‘icon of obsolescence’ – 8-track tapes

    Never saw a real 8-track cartridge until I got to Australia at the start of the 70s. Oh wow! Do they, like, have 8 channels? Anyway there they were in second-hand record shops, only you never saw new ones for sale.

    One day down next to the giant Ampol filling station in Woolloomooloo I stumbled upon the motherlode - a whole store that sold nothing but 8-track cartridges, catering to truckers. In those pre-Dolby cassette days, before proper car stereos, only truckers seemed to be into mobile sound. The selection was pretty depressing, but there was a giant billboard outside featuring Jerry Reed, the man who put the funk into country.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    You may not have seen the entire 15-minute tribute.

    Incredible. Really puts Lorde's part into context. What an absolute honour.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    I have to reconcile myself to the fact that ya can’t save everything….

    Holy heck. I'm glad you got some of it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Attachment

    Hello! I knew Roger Shepherd was near finishing his memoir, but I didn’t expect it to emerge so promptly. Published May 23, preorders for the e-book here.

    About the Book

    The inside story of New Zealand’s iconic independent record label by the man who made it happen.

    I wanted to be more than just an observer. I wanted to be a part of what was going on. I had told someone and the word was out, and now I had to actually do this thing. Start a record label.

    I must have been drunk.

    Roger Shepherd was working in a Christchurch record shop when he realised the local bands he loved needed someone to make their records. Flying Nun was born.

    Those records and the bands that created them them – The Chills, The Clean, Chris Knox and the Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, Sneaky Feelings, The Bats, Straightjacket Fits and many more – went on to define an era and create what became known as “the Dunedin Sound”.

    In truth it was less a unified sound than a spirit of adventure and independence that characterised the Flying Nun ethos. In this long-awaited memoir, label founder Roger Shepherd describes the idealism and passion that drove the project in the first place, the hard realities of the music industry, and the constant tension between art and commerce.

    Filled with revealing anecdote and insight, this is the definitive insider history of the one of the most innovative and original record labels of the modern era.
    “Surely the label with the highest quality output per capita in pop history.” – Guardian UK.

    “Something inexplicably special happened in the Southern Hemisphere a quarter of a century or so ago, the ripples still rumbling, and without it, all the music you love today would sound ever so slightly, and indefinably, different.” – British comedian Stewart Lee.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Straightjacket Fits

    Dang, I'd have hoped a book on Flying Nun by Roger would have at least got Straitjacket Fits spelt correctly - I offered to proofread it - hopefully that's just the lazy publisher's PR rather than from the book...
    Nice to see my old logo in the mix, though...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Matthew Goody,

    Straightjacket Fits

    It appears copy editing made it to the tip sheet for the paperback edition, as it is spelt correctly on that version.

    At first I thought it was eBook only but paperback details are here: here. $37 for a 272 page paperback, yikes!

    Toronto • Since Mar 2015 • 24 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    I have a disco nerd question. This morning, I was preparing a big pot of beef cheeks to cook slowly for the rest of the day and listening to the Rough Guide to African Disco compilation. (Afro-disco seems to be my thing for 2016.)

    And my attention was caught by the Lijadu Sisters’ majestic ‘Come on Home’:

    And I thought: “This is a slowed-down version of George McCrae’s 70s disco hit ‘Rock Your Baby’.”

    Actually, it’s a better tune – but I’m not wrong, am I? But no one else seems to have ever remarked on this. Someone validate me here.

    PS: So I priced up the second-hand vinyl of the EP that Lijadu Sisters song is from. Sweet Jesus. $1000?.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ben McNicoll,

    Sounds very close to me...

    Sidebar: you should come and check out the new afrobeat project I'm launching at Golden Dawn on 28 April... Playing some straight Fela at first to ground ourselves in the style but I think you might enjoy the direction it's going to go.

    Grey Lynn • Since May 2007 • 115 posts Report

  • Ben McNicoll, in reply to Ben McNicoll,

    Though ,re sameness, there are only so many ways to put 2 chirds together in a disco feel.

    Grey Lynn • Since May 2007 • 115 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ben McNicoll,

    What a great initiative! Keep me posted and I'll make a fuss about it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • JacksonP,

    Totally.

    Double dutch

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report

  • Paul Waite,

    Proof of your thesis (for me) Russell is that when I heard the sister's song it immediately reminded me of the McRae number, then scrolled down and found it was the very same!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2010 • 2 posts Report

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