Hard News by Russell Brown

Music and the internet - Steve Albini's Melbourne speech recently was an excellent overview - http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/17/steve-albinis-keynote-address-at-face-the-music-in-full - can't remember if this has already been posted here, apolgies if so!

Russell, I'm bitterly disappointed at your failure to tell everyone that DJ Max Key is in the house

Listen to them here

I wonder if this song will be in their set ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4TMJ6oEla4

Disco Babs, just cos I'm going on leave...

Russell, I’m bitterly disappointed at your failure to tell everyone that DJ Max Key is in the house

Listen to them here

If that's what the kids are in to these days, I'm quite pleased I'm a curmudgeon.

Oh, music? This is quite good, just arrived in my hot little hands last night
https://soundcloud.com/sacredbones/dream-police-hypnotized

New Music Mismanagement (RIP)
John Dix has been very charitable in this story

"I think I enjoyed the touring most of all. It was always fun on the road. I had some great times.

Some will be glad that the 'what-happens-on-tour-stays-on-tour' ethos is still being invoked, there are stories out there that don't cast such a rosy light...
Different times, and different behaviours were acceptable, perhaps.

These things have a habit of coming to light, eventually...

just sayin'...

I'm so thrilled that Corless says he eventually became a Toy Love 'fan', shame that that last tour they organised had so many added costs that it never broke even (and was a loss for the band), while we had to survive on a $10 per diem...

The only other pay off that tour was seeing some punk grab Benny Levin's wig off his head at one gig - and Craig Scott was an infinitely more friendly touring minder than Corless.

(add NaCl perhaps, as this is from what's left of my addled yet bitter memories)

My understanding of the "traditional" "morality" behind white-label remixes and the like is that they are produced to be played out in some kind of bar/club who will have an APRA license and hence New Order or whoever will get paid, theoretically.

my addled yet bitter memories

Would the gig at the Station Hotel, with Proud Scum supporting, have been part of that? Someone’s social rugby team seemed to have been providing unpleasantly obtrusive amateur ‘security’. When Chris Knox worked a running commentary into an ad libbed version of Iggy Told Me even the meatheads twigged that they were having the piss taken. Must have been the line about having muscles between their ears.

Some will be glad that the ‘what-happens-on-tour-stays-on-tour’ ethos is still being invoked, there are stories out there that don’t cast such a rosy light…
Different times, and different behaviours were acceptable, perhaps.

I don't know if it was even acceptable then, but it seems a long time ago.

Mr Jim tells me that even the creator of that 'Blue Monday' cover had the same "not available in your territory" roadblock when he tried to do it through Legitimix. Gawd.

The only other pay off that tour was seeing some punk grab Benny Levin’s wig off his head at one gig – and Craig Scott was an infinitely more friendly touring minder than Corless.

When you played the Brevet Club my mate somehow got talking to Craig outside the venue. We were surprised -- it wasn't that long since he'd been an actual pop star!

I can see why the site and remixes could so easily end up being near on impossible for so many potential buyers to get

"What Legitmix actually sells is a file that rebuilds the song on your hard drive to the remixer's instructions."

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/21/4541926/legitmix-omid-mcdonald-legal-remix-itunes

Given you need either the original source files (songs) or to purchase the exact same copies then for someone not in the country the remixer lives you would quickly find not all itunes stores contain the same source material and other vagaries of differing territories and markets...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legitmix

How this applies to a remake not remix I dunno, would guess its never going to work given the artist hasn't sampled any source file... easier to "find" the file on your computer than buy it in other words

Golden Dawn...tomorrow night Lawrence Arabia plays The Hits of the 60s. Something for everyone!

Rumour has it via Kiwi FM that Connan Mockasin is in town and will join the line-up. Pity I won't see that one. Love to hear any reviews and/or pics.

Did anyone reading here go to the 'Entrain' New Years Eve Dance Party, near Nelson in 1995/96?

A man who may have witnessed an alleged sexual assault during a New Year's Eve celebration nearly 20 years ago is being urged to come forward.
Canterbury police released two photographs today of a man known as Barney, urging him to get in contact with them.
The man may have witnessed a possible sexual assault against a woman who travelled to a dance party in the Nelson area, called Entrain, on New Year's Eve in 1995.

Some will be glad that the 'what-happens-on-tour-stays-on-tour' ethos is still being invoked, there are stories out there that don't cast such a rosy light...
Different times, and different behaviours were acceptable, perhaps.

I'm with Russell in saying I bloody hope not -- because some of the shit I've heard (and wouldn't dare repeat here for fear of a nastygram from Sue, Grabbit and Runne) would only be acceptable if you were a Visigoth on a day trip to sack Rome. I doubt I'm alone in rolling my eyes a bit at Golden Codgers waxing sentimental about the good old days, because in many respects they weren't that flash. And it's why I think it's really great when RB puts the spotlight on people who not only cash the reality check on that sentimentality, but also try and provide a bit of a memory bank so a new generation of performers and promoters aren't wasting time and effort reinventing the wheel. Making your own fuck-ups is a lot better than repeating everyone else's. :)

I doubt I’m alone in rolling my eyes a bit at Golden Codgers waxing sentimental about the good old days, because in many respects they weren’t that flash.

Left to their own devices they’d have happily perpetuated the kind of entertainment that wouldn’t get in the way of the punters’ drinking. A real pity to see Audio Culture hosting that kind of puff piece.

A real pity to see Audio Culture hosting that kind of puff piece.

Given the historic importance of the subject (the agency and the driving force behind it) , I don’t see it’s a puff piece at all and I suspect the countless bands who benefited immensely from that solid touring circuit and the many, many people who got to see the literally dozens of acts that were able to get out and play nationwide to audiences that would not have had chance to see them may also disagree. That list of acts includes almost every live rock and roll act in New Zealand at time who made a decision to play beyond their home base. It changed things – and rather radically.

Did stuff go down? I have absolutely no idea but I’ve heard those rumours too – and I’ve heard similar about other eras – and as anyone who was active back then would know, they were matched with very vocal denials, so all we are left with is hearsay and chinese whispers. We discussed this before we accepted the story and decided that the undoubted and known historic substance of the changes wrought warranted a piece.

The shares, likes and multiple positive comments on the story across several FB pages perhaps underline that. It seems a lot of those supporting the story were actually there and many had long industry careers and maybe get why this was briefly important. Or maybe it's rose tinted sentimentality - we are all guilty of that I'm sure.

I’m aware Toy Love had a bad experience perhaps, but bad business decisions sadly were something that plagued them and to be fair it wasn’t NMM that selected Michael Browning as a manager and did a deal that was disadvantageous. Most touring bands did rather well from the circuit – the various acts I was working with (Blams, Meemees, Newmatics, Dabs. Mockers, Bongos, Dance Exponents, some of the Flying Nun acts etc) all did.

Did stuff go down?

Jaysus I was working myself to exhaustion, and a puffett at the end of the day was heaven. As for anything else, Shit! who had time or energy.
But there was that one time at a Charley Gray organised gig somewhere

Pity I worked for the oppostion? I guess back then
later tho' Moods was fun in Syderrs ... and Cockroaches paid well
And the 'circuit" was even BIGGER

It seems a lot of those supporting the story were actually there and many had long industry careers and maybe get why this was briefly important. Or maybe it’s rose tinted sentimentality – we are all guilty of that I’m sure.

Or a case of the tail pretending it wagged the dog back then. Surely it’s a story that could have been told without needlessly aggrandising an often self-serving system that arguably took as least as much as it gave back.

Or a case of the tail pretending it wagged the dog back then. Surely it’s a story that could have been told without needlessly aggrandising an often self-serving system that arguably took as least as much as it gave back.

It was a business Joe and it made money. I’m not sure that’s a problem or a crime, but from memory the agency never made a lot of money – certainly not the sort of money the old school agencies were making in the 60s. The regional scenes that grew up in the wake of the new touring circuit were immensely important too and may not have existed without it – at least in the same way. The Skeptics openly admitted they were inspired by the touring Newmatics, The F-Star scene in Gisborne and the New Plymouth scene that gave us the likes of Nocturnal Projections are all quite open about the importance of the new touring acts.

Not only that, but it made a lot of acts fiscally viable. The early 1980s was the decade in in which the music industry as we know know it took root – both mainstream and to the left of that – and what was created by this small group of businessmen was central to that. You can thank NMM for the Dobbyn and Exponents national phenomena (they were far and away the most popular acts in NZ between 1981 and 1985) and The Mockers (same in the mid-decade).

It’s really hard to deny the historic importance of what Corless, with regional partners (Nesbitt, Wilson, Young etc) did for our fledging industry. In 1977 the live scene was almost dead – in 1983 it was vibrant and as much as we would like to think it was the rise of the indies and post-punk etc, it was primarily because this lot gave people somewhere to play.

Not sure about your itunes Match experiences there Russel, the thing is slow to update, but I've found it to be great.

Having multiple computers and devices, and being able to use any of them to import, buy tracks, or make a playlist which is then available on all the others, is perfect. Slow, yes, but it beats trying to sync the files any other way.

I think the idea is to realise that it takes time to propogate, and to get past the initial set up on all devices, after that, the ability to pick and choose which bits of your collection are where works well.

Best Tip - Rip full wav quality backups of your CDs on your capacious desktop computer with itunes, then let it faff around and convert the whole lot to AAC while it uploads, and presto - a full mobile version of your library backed up in the cloud as well.

It’s really hard to deny the historic importance of what Corless, with regional partners (Nesbitt, Wilson, Young etc) did for our fledging industry. In 1977 the live scene was almost dead – in 1983 it was vibrant and as much as we would like to think it was the rise of the indies and post-punk etc, it was primarily because this lot gave people somewhere to play.

All good to know and appreciated. With Audio Culture now conferring something like the final stamp of posterity, poor old Steve Gilpin's entry, under Misex, seems comparatively likewarm. While his brand of punk cabaret might have lacked a certain authenticity for some, surely his pioneering work in taking it to the provinces showed the financially astute that there was a buck to be turned out there.

financially astute

Yep keeping the door charges was a financial must

surely his pioneering work in taking it to the provinces showed the financially astute that there was a buck to be turned out there.

Mostly he didn’t. Mi-Sex made their name in Australia after a brief live spell more or less in Auckland and Wellington, with brief (successful) forays into the provinces, returning as hit-making heroes to large venues. The earlier proggy incarnations, Fragments of Time and Father Thyme, played the provinces but there was no established national touring circuit at the time. They did residencies at places like the Cabana, an important venue but one that was mostly residencies until the end of the 70s. Their pic is at the link.

I think we give the Mi-sex their due but their importance was not as a provincial touring act when they appeared. I’m not saying they and other bands didn’r head out and do well, but they were not the beneficiaries of an established circuit as others later were.

Just clarifying a little – by “mostly he didn’t” I mean that it didn’t encourage others to get in a van and trek around the country – it took a special kind of drive that Mi-Sex certainly had to do that at the time.