Posts by Simon Grigg
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Support in the Thai political system is a far more flexible notion than some realise.
Indeed and far, far more complex than the silly, simplistic notion that they are all coming south because Thaksin put a few baht in their savings accounts. How bloody condescending and racially arrogant on the part of that PJM writer.
There were lines in that report that really made me grimace.
I've not been here long enough to really get my head around the incredible complexities of Thai politics, but, hell, I think I could be here for 20 years and still struggle badly.
On the phone to New Zealand the other day I was asked if the redshirts were leftist, and you struggle to explain that they are, in Western terms, neither.
From the little I do understand, and that SMH piece seems to be saying the same thing, the power struggle between the fast rising rural middle classes (60m+ Thai live outside Bangkok) and the traditional Bangkok ruling elite is at the nub of much of this. Thailand has long been ruled by a political elite, including the military, from Bangkok, who don't want to let go, and in the south the fight against that has been bloody for a long time. Thaksin, may come from that centre but sat outside it too, and, for his own ends but to their benefit, empowered that vast rural mass and they too are unwilling to let it go now.
But the the fluidity of support is also obvious. Large parts of the red movement want nothing to do with Thaksin. And there has been a visible movement of broad support, if not quite so street visible, to their cause, nationwide, but most especially in Bangkok in the past few days.
I guess we have an election coming soon but democracy in Asia is not as we know it in the west, neither better nor worse but different, regardless of how hard they rage for 'free elections' in the comments that follow that PJM post.
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Yes of course, Chris.
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A sightly more nuanced and informed analysis, James
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The MSM got it wrong?? Good grief what paranoid cliche-ridden planet is that writer from? Thaksin's role in this thing has been at the centre of just about every credible analysis in mainstream and other media since it began.
This is supposed to a revelation??
It's a wee bit more complex than your poster would have us understand. But hell, its PJM and simple is really your only option there I guess.
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I was thinking more The Beastie Boys number 1, 9 million unit selling 'Licence to Ill', a band which seemed to take a bunch of leaves from McLaren's book.
Just because they were white and making hip-hop records doesn't really make them the philosophical or stylistic heirs of Malc, surely, because I can't see any other connection.
Mclaren was an opportunist, the Beasties were anything but having batted for years before they broke.
The Beasties lineage was NYC, albeit hardly street, they were signed to Def Jam, produced by Rick Rubin, managed by Rush who managed Run DMC and half the hip hop world. They had hardcore punk roots but Licensed to Ill was primarily a hip hop record, never seen as punk at the time, and doesn't counter the fact the US album charts and FM radio were dominated by mainstream pomp and arena rock throughout the eighties.
The point about the Exponents is, as pop as they might have been, they came out of a thriving punk and post punk scene in Chch. Like The Mockers, we remember them as pop but the were a punk band first (and their, The Mockers, first two indie singles were killers).
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where I happily played rock, country, indie, lo fi, noise amongst house, techno and other styles more associated with george - I was on during the day... background music it most certainly wasn't
Any chance you could maybe, please, do it again, huh? It was rather good radio.
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Random clip from the Over 50s Karaoke champs
OMG, that is f**king fabulous. I've sent it off to people all over. Tingles of national pride.
But, gotta say, compared to the Indonesian variety shows on every channel each Saturday night, it's still high art.
Kevin Black look like John Peel
There actually was a time....seriously...when Blackie had the most edgy show on Auckland radio. Around '74 /75. his night-time show on 1ZM was where you went to hear the stuff that wouldn't get airtime during the day. It was the place I first heard Marley and Kraftwerk, and he was the only DJ to touch things like Spit Ends (sp. correct) and pre-Oz Dragon (the mighty Rock'n'Roll Ponsonby was often aired) and lots of other local stuff.
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Firstly Whip it was a huge international hit (how punk it is is debatable)
It was a novelty, and there were a few..B-52s etc, but not really what I'd call a part if the ethic of '77 even if both bands worked their way out of Ohio with help from two UK indies (Stiff and Island respectively) but, no not really punk.
And even in the provinces in NZ the rock music coming through in 1981/2 had its roots in punk: Screaming Meemees and Dance Exponents were both massive provincial crowd pullers and both post punk. The Clean had a huge hit across NZ: indie and post punk. In America you got Foreigner and Kansas
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As for George, since it was bought and renovated by RadioWorks, it's taken on a whole new commercial timbre that has doomed it to fitting in with the commercial dross around it on the frequency - it just sounds cheesy.
Indeed. It was not good when I was back earlier this year. But it was inevitable when they bought in. I was asked to do a guest show but declined .
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And I've never really gone back to George.
I think we've had this discussion before several times, maybe it's not one for a forum, and I know you had your issues with George, which I respect. But when I arrived at the station in 2001 I'd go as far as to say that it was waaayyy more interesting than B at the time, which seemed stuck in a bygone universe, as Sacha implied. I remember being ecstatic at my new freedom.
So, diversity? I get a bit grumpy when I get this, as I've had many times over the years, mostly from non electronic music listeners who think it's all the same (which, before you get tetchy, I know does not apply to either you or Russell).
My first show on George was at 6pm on a Monday night, before I was moved to Weds morn, and I was followed by Mark Burgess and Andrew Shearer's eclectic mix of all sorts of things black an rhythmic, Tuesday had the mighty Kog NZ Show at the same time as mine. The UK garage show was after that I think and then a d'n'b show. There were a couple of mighty fine purist techno (just "a different kind of house" to most non listeners to electronica I guess, but well targeted to those that loved that genre) shows week nights (Matt Drake and Miles Cuen did one and Silverbeat another) and a couple of specialist funk shows. Before me, Paul Dean pulled txts in a way I'd never seen a drive show do on B, the few I'd either sat in on or co-hosted. People loved it .. I remember sitting in a cab at 4am after Calibre, and the driver was rabbiting on about how much he loved Paul on the radio. Paul was asleep beside me :)
Yeah samey at times, later in the week (and some of the very late night here-is-my-new-record-I bought-this-week shows), until they pulled Philipa in on Fridays (my suggestion and it really worked) for drive but for me around 2001-2 the station really began to gel, and it's hard to overstate how immensely popular Bevan Keys' Fridays were. And to look in there during those drives, across the week and watch the incredible volume of txts rolling across the screen. George found an audience that B had missed, urban kids thoroughly dedicated to their black and electronic music mostly and I think you'd be surprised how many of them were those faces you saw at club venues each weekend. I'd go to clubs and get a stream of people coming up to me asking about tracks I'd played and I know Greg and others get the same still.
Cian's visibility on his 10+ years of George shows has helped keep what may be the best record shop outside Japan alive..no mean feat.
Still mates, huh?