Posts by Peter Darlington
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And on Moon: here's a Who track which should have been better known... and which also shows where Jim Henson and is co-Muppetteers got the model for their drummer.
The Moon biography Dear Boy has a fairly creepy bit where he's desperately seeking treatment for his extreme alcohol and drugs addictions. He saw rock star psychologist Meg Patterson who, on hearing him talk about his problems was moved (uncharacteristically) to advise him that he needed Jesus Christ. He agreed but explained that he was possessed by demons who took the form of an elderly Pakistani couple called Mr & Mrs Singh. They were apparently taking over his mind.
She was of the opinion that it wasn't more Moon hijinks because he was at such a low ebb and referred him onto her husband George, who was an expert in the occult.
Looking at that You Tube video you can certainly see a man in the throes of a fairly decent wig out.
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I'm going to sound hopelessly out dated but...
... Gene Krupa is my favourite drummer, particularly 'Sing, sing, sing' with Benny Goodman.
Well, to bring it full circle, Gene Krupa was Moonie's favourite drummer and you can certainly get a sense of free flowing jazz rhythms in Moon's style.
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Sometimes, like Keith Moon, they have to take loads of drink and drugs just to come down to our puny human level. And surely the greatest rock athlete of all time must be former Motorhead drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor.
I heart this drummer post. Keith and Philthy would be my 2 favourite rawk drummers (if I treat punk ((Paul Cook)) as a separate category), both for their drumming styles and associated personalities. Philthy still looks in pretty good shape on the Ace of the Spades 'Classic Albums' DVD as well.
John Bonham was a heavy hitter but he did drum solos so I couldn't possibly include him.
Happy birthday by the way. I know so many July birthdayers.
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Hype Machine is my crack.
I'm in yr blog chekin out yr top Hypem tracks.
That 'Brighton Port Authority' is well good.
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Sorry to blatantly threadjack but I'm looking for contacts at Freeview and wondered if Russell or anyone here knows anyone reasonably high up in the organisation that I can get in touch with?
Nelson and Tasman are missing out on the HD UHF rollout and there's talk of our local government politicians letting Freeview know what they think of this decision.
So, political protests about missing out on high definition digital services, how 21st century is that!?
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Bloody good tune that, Bomber. Lemmy would definitely be a McCain man tho fo sho.
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Exactly. 12-year olds are intractable and break things. 13 or 14 year old's are much better workers.
LOL! No teenagers in your house then?
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Food prices are now a major sleeper issue.
James Lovelock had a highly alarming and entertaining interview in Rolling Stone last year and he highlighted food shortages as being a critical problem in the very near future as land becomes unusable and populations shift.
He thinks we're already screwed, the population will be decimated by 70-80% by the end of the century and we need to rip into nuclear power and food synthesis right now if we're to have any hope of surviving.
Is he a nut? Probably, although he's generally been correct re global warming issues so far. The most interesting part of the interview for me was that he links the environment to Western philosophy and culture. He reckons the biggest risk for us is that massive environmental impact will decimate society and all the benefits of rationalism, liberalism, the enlightenment etc... will be lost as we return to some sort of middle ages nightmare.
Fun times!
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When I saw the farmlands swinging from floods to drought in the same season, my first thought was that this wasn't a climate problem, it was a problem with water infrastructure. Why didn't the farmers work together to provide the dams, reservoirs, canals, dikes and so forth that would get them through all these recurring 100-year droughts?
You're right, but they actually are in some places, usually the ones with a tradition of drought management. Both Marlborough and Tasman have had major dam/irrigation projects come on stream (ahem) in the last few years with more niche projects planned for the future. In Tasman's case this was done with a Water Augmentation Committee made up of key parties from agriculture, horticulture, local communities, councils etc...
The trick is to implement systems that provide irrigation (and potentially niche power) without wrecking catchments and waterways.
I do think you'll see a lot more happening in this area over the next 10-20 years. You can't really blame Taranaki and the Waikato for not being completely prepared for a major drought though, surely :-)
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The way forward for rural customers is almost certainly going to be wireless. Orcon is reselling a wireless product from its parent company Kordia, but I don't think it's cheap.
Have a talk to Chris O'Connell ex from Citylink. He's determined to get fibre to his pad up the back blocks of the Hawkesbury Valley in Marlborough. And if anyone can, it's probably him.