Posts by Russell Brown
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Gathering poppies, undated.
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Here are several of the original news stories, uploaded here in comments for reasons of readability.
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Access: Jim's Truth, in reply to Sacha,
This is a really important aspect of Jimmy’s series for me (halfway through it as I am).
Yes, really important.
Other cool things: getting a copyright takedown part-way through, challenging it and winning. Time was, he might have been thrown by something like that, but he basically wasn't going to put up with it this time.
Also, now that he's wrapped he was finally able to get a haircut and a beard trim : -)
I’d love to see him helping others do the same, when he’s ready. There’s a valuable enterprise in that.
Now there's an idea ...
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to Babs Baker,
But I know you did the hard yards too, writing all that great copy on a typewriter.
The irony is that the first time we used a computer, it was a disaster, because our "expert" (aka Ngila's friend) somehow managed to delete the whole issue and I had to retype the next day, on deadline. That was quite a nightmare.
But yeah – I can't imagine writing without the ability to quickly and easily edit either. What a bizarre way to run things!
Off to listen to that Kim Hill/Murray/Chris chat that someone kindly linked to.xx
I got asked on Jesse Mulligan's show for a chat this week too :-)
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to Babs Baker,
Great to hear from you Babs!
I remember Murray coming at me after mail runs to rattle the envelopes and see who’d sent cash instead of cheques.
Oh, now you mention it, so do I ...
And I remember how sad I was a few times at Darby St to come in on a Monday and find you all there pretty much as I’d left you on Friday. You guys were troopers!
Ian and Murray pulled longer shifts than me, but I don't really recall it as very onerous. Perhaps I've suppressed the memories ...
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Usually dependent on how much cash from the Mail Order books came out of the PO Box at the end of the day – Duran Duran fans kept us fed!
Ha ha!
Which brings to mind the amazing letter from A Simon Le Bon Fan:
Angry Durannie
Your magazine is absolute crap. I will rip it up. don’t you worry! The only reason it’s free is because no one would buy it if it wasn’t. Talk about trash! Half of it is advertising and the rest is on useless Kiwi bands. New Zealand music is crap, except for Split Enz – the only good thing that ever came from NZ. The Mockers are absolute jerks and they couldn’t sing if they tried.
Now why can’t you print stories on Duran Duran or Big Country or even U2 9 Who the hell cares about Blam Blam Bloody Awful and friends? I want decent stories on decent music.
Speaking of decent, how do you get $9.50 for Duran Duran In Their Own Words ? It’s only worth $5.00. Where does the other $4 50 come from?
A Simon Le Bon Fan
There was quite the flood of indignant responses the following month.
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to Ken Double,
Food is essential to any fringe creative endeavour that can’t afford to pay people properly. Nothing’s more bonding than a late night dash to a quality dodgy restaurant. You’ll do anything for people that feed you.
Testify. I put a ton of time into a big British Council event years ago, none of it paid. It certainly wasn't a case of lack of funds, just their usual practice. But good lord they fed and watered me well, so I was happy enough.
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to Jonathan King,
In my day it was Shahi Indian on Jervois Rd. Murray didn’t have to say what his order was he’d say “Hello, Murray here … 15 mins? OK, thanks.”
I now feel I need to know what his standing order was.
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to Simon Grigg,
The big story missing from the early years’ oral history is the deadline story. MC would go into a mad frenzy for at least a week a) trying to finish the magazine,
The other part there, from a staff point of view, is that Murray felt that food was extremely important on deadline and we'd down tools and go eat. It was usually Wun Loy, up on Hobson St, or the Mekong on Wellesley St, on the other side of the block the RIU building was in. Crucial part of deadline.
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Hard News: Rip It Up: A history of us, a…, in reply to andin,
This site can’t be reached paperspast.natlib.govt.nz’s server IP address could not be found.
Not just you.
It may be that their servers weren't quite ready for this.
