Have we come that far?

Wow long time between drinks on this blog.  


A couple of related pieces grabbed my attention over the last few weekends.  Obviously what has been front page news is  Andy Hayden thinking that there is some kind of racial quota for 'darkies' with the Crusaders.  





While his thoughts are absolutely bat shit crazy, his casual racism is unfortunately still prevalent in our fair nation.  Haden relayed how it was ok when he played back in the 70's and 80's, he was called 'honky' etc etc so its somehow ok.  Former team mate Bernie Fraser thinks it is 'PC gone mad' to find that offensive.  I find Fraser's comments ultimately more disturbing and sad than Haden's.  Fraser is Fijian born.  Bernie I will refer you to the late great Richard Pryor.





It got me thinking about how much rugby and New Zealand society has changed over the past 25 or so years since people like Haden and Fraser were playing.  These were times when the country was still divided over playing rugby with an openly racist nation, and a good proportion of people supported touring there.  It is not surprising that both Haden (who helped organise it) and Fraser were paid to play in apartheid South Africa.  This is now thankfully a bygone era.  But if you look at the team, they still remain strong parts of New Zealand rugby.  


In a recent article with questions to John Key from prominent New Zealander's I was shocked to see at the top of the list:

1. Sir Colin Meads, former All Black: Do you think you are doing too much for the Maori people? Is it just to keep their votes?

Call me a 'tall poppy', but someone who is a national icon, held up as a treasure and a 'classic New Zealander' can get away with openly racist comments?  I was less shocked to discover who the coach of the Cavaliers in 1986 was.  It all makes sense now.


But have we come that far.  I see this morning that Sir Ian McKellan remarked when here on how good race relations were in NZ in a conversation with then PM Helen Clark. 

"I congratulated her on the public's enlightened attitudes towards racial issues, but she disagreed. She said to me that New Zealand was really a very racist country, and she was determined to do everything she could as prime minister to change that. I thought that was a very bold, honest statement to make to a foreigner, and I really respected her for that."

While we have come a long way, unfortunately she did have a point.  After all we are subjected to racists on a weekly basis in our news media.  We get our knickers in a twist over added a correct spelling to a town name.  My parents constantly get get questioned over why they would want to live in Rotorua.  Helen Clark unfortunately also succumbed (somewhat) after Don Brash's Orewa speech. 


While we have become a much more open, multi-cultural and tolerant nation, I think we still have a way to go.  You don't hear it clearly in  the big cities areas such as Wellington or Auckland, but you only have to go to our 'heartland' (or Christchurch) to find it.  I grew up in Napier, I know all about it.


At least I guess we are on an upward trend. While people such as Mic(h)eal Laws still have a following, they are becoming more and more marginalised.  I am impressed that there was such widespread outrage in most parts of the country to Haden's comments


Then again Haden has just kept his job as a RWC ambassador.  Like I said, still some way to go...


Update:
Ted Henry has come out and said what a load of racist nonsense it all is.  Good stuff Ted.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Graham-Henry-talks-about-the-Haden-controversy/tabid/367/articleID/158502/Default.aspx

You say you want a revolution

As most people would know it was recently the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival in 1969. I have the documentary on VHS (and remarkably still own a working video player), so thought I would break it out as I hadn't really watched it since my university days. It is a great movie, but right through the feeling that I got was:
a) Gosh the hippies were so earnest thinking peace and love could bring down Nixon;
b) We are so cynical now to think that it couldn't.

The documentary is fantastic. There are of course the classic performances from Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker (showcasing the invention of the air guitar). And some moments of unintended hilarity; Arlo Guthrie talking in hippie code "I was just rapping with the fuzz.. can you dig it?", the announcer trying to discourage people from taking the brown acid.

For me the best band there was The Who, for the shear fact that they didn't buy into the hippie ideal. They simply blow everyone else off the stage. At the time, Tommy had just been released and they were at the peak of their powers. To see Townsend playing so hard his fingers were bleeding, is the dictionary definition of rock'n'roll. Nothing was going to stop them that night. Not even Abbie Hoffman, the famous hippie radical, who ran on the stage and stole the mic for a polemic, got a smack to the head by Towshend's guitar for his troubles.



I can dig it... The next fucker who comes up on this stage is going to get fucking killed... Gold.

The documentary itself is a great snapshot of the hippie ideal, and while their hearts were mostly in the right place, it shows what an absolute sham most of it was. Free love mainly entailed guys wanting to have sex with women without committment. A large amount of the hippie dream was about getting high, which was bound to end in mindless ramblings and narcotic addictions.

To contrast how the hippie dream failed you only need to look at the video's below.

This:


Became this:


Indeed. Just over ten years later the same people at Woodstock and settled down and voted for Regan and were listening to some of the same bands playing pale versions of their former selves (including The Who).

Still, hindsight as they say is 20/20. At the time, it probably would have been amazing to be in such a worldwide movement, when so many things were turned on their head in such a short space of time. Youth culture now is so fractured, music is so commercial, it is hard to imagine their ever being another festival like it, much like there will never be another band as popular as the Beatles.

I guess, going back to my point before, it is a measure of how cynical we have become that some of these ideals are dimissed as 'hippie dreams'. And maybe that was the failing of the 60's generation, they failed to realise that given time they would settle down and become their parents. But once again in hindsight it is very easy to judge.

Thirty years later we had Woodstock '99, a festival marred by riots, violence, rape, overpriced commercialism, and Limp Bizkit. So which concert would I have rather gone to? Stupid question.

The making of a great compilation tape is a subtle art many do's and don'ts

I was talking to friends the other day about the ancient and long lost art of making a tape. This used to be something that I took great love in doing. And yes I have given a few tapes to girls in the past.... Indeed I used to make a tape for every month I was at university and right into 2004, when I still had and used a walkman.

But obviously I made the huge step up to a discman and finally, an ipod. While I live on ipod playlists, it just isn't the same feeling as making a tape; writing the songs out, not knowing how many songs would fit on the tape and really having to think about what would make the cut for the month of music I was listening to. And tapes couldn't be erased by an accidental delete of a playlist. But for a present for someone I decided to put together a CD of my (at this present time) all time favourite songs. Now I have limited time on this, bascially jut under 80 minutes (what can fill a full CD). These aren't songs I have on high rotate at this present time, but rather songs that I think truly mean something to me. By putting together this CD whoever the lucky person who gets this gift, it will be random, can listen to this music and hopefully either get turned onto some music they haven't heard, or better still find the music has some kind of positive effect on their life. Or they may hate it....
Either way I present 16 songs.

1. Teenage Riot - Sonic Youth
(Daydream nation)

The ultimate song of rebellion, this was released in the 80's as a rip on Reagan's dystopia, but is as fresh today as it was then. Anyone with a guitar, bass and drums and a tune can change the world.


2. Baba O'Riley - The Who
(Who's Next)

While CSI seems to have ripped the meaning out of some pretty amazing Who songs its great to sit back and just rock out to this song. The Who at their absolute peak


3. Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire
(Neon Bible)

This is the newest song on my list. I find this song to have a similar feeling to Born to Run (see below), that is the feeling of moving on with your life and never looking back.

4. Common People - Pulp
(Different Class)

Social commentary at its finest. Jarvis Cocker has put down one of the best lines in "You will never understand how it feels to life with no meaning or control and nowhere left to go." For any politician who says the understand the people while sitting in their Epsom mansions. You will never have a clue.


5. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
(Born to Run)

For me, the most awe inspiring song I have heard. If I am ever feelign down I onyl have to put this song on and within moments I am jumping around punching the air.... Thanks Boss.


6. Rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam
(Vs)

My old teenage angst song. "I gather speed from you fucking with me." Enough said.

7. Clampdown - The Clash
(London Calling)

How The Clash could make such a anti fascist song drawn from history into such an upbeat song still amazes me.

8. Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
(Single)

Similar to the Clash, I am struck by how Joy Division could set such dark and depressing lyrics into such an upbeat song, which makes you want to dance around the room.

9. Here comes the sun - The Beatles
(Abbey Road)

"it seems like years since it's been clear. Here comes the sun and I say it's alright...."



10. Protection - Massive Attack
(Protection)

It sounds cheesy but this song always makes me want to be strong for my better half. "You can change the way she feels you could put your arms around her."



11. The man who sold the world - Nirvana
(Unplugged in New York)

It takes a truly great band to be able to take a good song by a truly great artist and make it better. But that is what Cobain did here.

12. Jenny - Sleater-Kinney
(Dig me out)

They can't all be uplifting, this is probably one of the most harrowing break up song's written. "Didn't we almost have it, didn't you want it?"

13. This is a low - Blur
(Parklife)

This, for me, typfies the genius of Damon Albarn and Blur. Being able to turn the shipping forecast into a song about love and depression will always continue to amaze me. Plus Graham Coxons guitar. Perfection.

14. God only knows - The Beach Boys
(Pet Sounds)

Like here comes the sun, a song of true beauty, with just enough menalcholy to make it that much more interesting.

15. This is the one - The Stone Roses
(The Stone Roses)

My favourite song of all time. That is all.

16. Find the River - R.E.M
(Automatic for the people)

This sound's morbid but this is the song I want played at my funeral. Not because it is sad but because it sums up, well, life. "The ocean is the rivers goal..." we are all here on that river, we will go fast, slow, take many bends but in the end we will all get to the ocean.

Is it better to burn out than to fade away?

You can't really go anywhere this weekend without running into wall to wall coverage of Michael Jackson's death. Some say it is tragic, but there was a certain inevitability to it. And it's a funny feeling really.

For me (and no jokes are intended) he was a symbol of my childhood. I think for anyone that was born between about 1970 and 1985 he was your first music idol. One of the first music video's I remember was Bad. One of the first Cd's I got was Dangerous, which got thrashed for a good period of time. I don't think people who were born after that period truly can imagine what a superstar he was at the time. I heard it said that imagine how much attention Britney spears gets. And now imagine she was talented. That was Micheal Jackson.

Of course not long after he was dogged by controversy of his private life. That's all been said and gone over a million times. I had serious doubts about him, but really we will never know. He was raised in the glare of stardom, and that he became one of the only child stars to actually become more famous is testament enough. But, again, it raises questions about the media and the notion of celebrity. It the end it seems as though he was a seriously talented but disturbed man.

And his music. I mentioned about loving his music as a child. Much of his music lost it's meaning for me when I became a teenager. Was his death as tragic as John Lennon? Not for me. Even though John Lennon died before I was born, his music has had much more of an effect on my life than Michael Jackson's. The Jackson Five had some classic Motown hits such as I want you back, and, in my opinion, two classic albums Off the Wall and Thriller. Bad was hit and miss, and by Dangerous (apart from being a personal childhood favourite), the rot had well and truly. He had fallen from being the epitome of cool, to being a bizarre, self promoting, demagogue sailing giant statues of himself down the Thames. By the mid nineties he was increasingly irrelevant, while a slew of younger RnB stars borrowed from him on their way to stardom (Justin Timberlake I am looking at you).

I have always thought that if Micheal Jackson had died after Thriller or Bad he would truly be remembered as the most famous musician of all time, leaving at the peak of his fame. But this was a human being and as much as we want to gloss over the subsequent bizarre behaviour, we cannot. So while, like Neil Young said, Its better to burn out than to fade away, unfortunately Micheal Jackson did fade away, but his music never will (unfortunately that means we will might have to hear Heal the World again.....)

So kids I present Micheal Jackson, when he was all that was cool.

So very cool


Should have kept the afro... and the nose... and the skin....

Live feeds - How I loathe thee

I was watching this clip from Media 7 recently, and it got me started on one of my bugbears in the media here.



Namely, live feeds or crosses. You cannot get through the first twenty minutes of the news on TVNZ or TV3 without crossing live to a 'breaking story'. Even if there is absolutely nothing happening where the reporter is, there will always be a young boffin (good god I'm the youngest curmudgeon around) straight out of journalism school on the ground talking about 'what the feeling is' etc etc. Grrr. What happened to putting together a proper report so you can get a proper story rather than just standing someone and talking to someone live in a studio.

Example 1 (as shown the the clip above): last month when swine flu first hit New Zealand, on a Sunday night they had a report for TVNZ standing outside Rangitoto College at 6pm in the dark. Who was in the school. No one!

Example 2: Two weeks ago both TVNZ and TV3 put two poor reporters out in the middle of a storm hitting Wellington. One looked as though hypothermia was setting in.

While I think in some cases it is important to be where the news is (the David Bain trial being one) . Do we need to have reporters standing by passing cars when talking about accidents. I wouldn't think so. Far better to actually spend more time investigating the story.

News, particularly television, seems to be obsessed with getting in their first or getting the scoop on a story. For example tonight John Campbell mentioned that "I watched David Bain supporters watch the verdict first on TV3." Shameless. Similar to those short lived "we don't just read the news, we get it," with newsreaders emoting with long dramatic pauses about being in Lebanon, or ANZAC day parades. Once again shameless.

I understand we live in a fast paced world with information at our fingertips, but do we need to hear our newsreaders to name drop themselves. And do we need pointless live crosses to people 'on the scene'. arent TVNZ and TV3 meant to be saving money?

Shooting. Fish. In. A. Barrel:




(sorry for the quality)

And this just in......

Saw things so much clearer

Pearl Jam. Where to start. I can't actually believe that I have got this far and haven't posted anything about this band. Because pure and simple they are my favourite. They may not always be on my most played list, I might go for a long time without listening to a song. But to me every time I play Pearl Jam it feels like coming home.


Now I could write a Russian novel on Pearl Jam, it's history, meanings, top 100 songs etc. But I won't. What I will talk about is my personal relationship with the music. Now I don't mean that kind of personal, but rather how some songs have shaped my life.

I still remember the first time I even heard Pearl Jam. It was 1995 and I was in third form. Being a bit young to be right in the middle of the grunge explosion, Nirvana had already been and gone, and funnily enough grunge was already in its deaththrows.

It must have been an afternoon after school and on tv was I think the MTV music awards and they kept playing this song, (which turned out to be Jeremy). When I heard that chorus, and you must remember prior to this I was listening to Michael Jackson, I was blown away. I had never heard anything like it. I remember after that seeing commercials on tv advertising Ten, strange as it was a full 3 or so years after it was released. But I couldn't get it out of my head. I had to have this album. I managed to persuade Mum to buy it for me (on cassette of course). I remember getting home and listening to those first atmospheric chords of Once and thinking, 'this sounds like Phil Collins.' Thankfully it wasn't. I turned turned the dial on the stereo up loud and took it all in. I don't think my adolescent brain could digest it all at once. At that moment my poor parents must have thought "oh god he's a teenager now". It is really no coincidence that I feel in love with rock music in my 13th year. The rest was history.

I found that cassette not too long ago at home, the packaging dog eared from me pouring over the liner notes and the artwork, trying to decipher the lyrics. I went out and bought all the other Pearl Jam albums. Vs still remains my favourite. It has an anger and a tightness that was really Pearl Jam at their peak.

It's funny now to look back at those times as Ten is re-released in a beautiful deluxe version. Indeed it has been not only remastered, but the entire album has been remixed by Brendan O'Brien on a separate disc. From the first few run throughs, the redux is, in my opinion, a superior and less dated sound than the original. The original mix has a bit of an 80's rock sound to it, too polished and sheeny for the music it contains. The remix is a lot more immediate and sounds a lot fresher than the original.

While listening to the redux I was thinking how different music can sound at different periods of your life. When I was an angst ridden teenager songs of anger, injustice and despair were a revelation. I would listen to a song like Black, a lament to unrequited or lost love, and think, this guy really knows how I feel. Embarrassing I know.

Now I am a (slightly) more better adjusted adult, I can't listen to the album in quite the same way. You can't relate in the same way to angst ridden songs when you are happily engaged and generally in a really spot in life. But then again Pearl Jam are no longer in that space either. They aren't trying to pass off their former glories by trying to force the angst. They stepped away from 'grunge' and, while it lost them a large amount of fans in the process, they have written some interesting music in the meantime. Indeed, No Code, Yield, Riot Act and Pearl Jam contain some of the most self affirming music written.

Take a song like Loveboat Captain (not the best name, but great song nonetheless) off 2003's Riot Act.
"And the young, they can lose hope cause they cant see beyond today,...
The wisdom that the old cant give away"

This is no longer the voice of the youth, but someone who has been through some hard times and made it out the otherside, and can now see the good in life.

Vedder explained the change quite well in an interview around the time of Yield
"What was rage in the past has become reflection. In the past we got really angry and we cried out against many things in our songs, and I think our message reached to people pretty well this way. But where do you go after that? I think when you become an adult you have to express your energy in a different way, more calm. That doesn't mean we forget the bad side of life, because it still appears in our songs. But what it's now exciting, a real challenge, is facing it from a more positive point of view, looking for a way to solve it. In the past we said: what a shit, this stinks, that sucks, everything sucks... Now it's time to say: stop, let's look for a solution, let's be positive."

I'm not sure if I have necessarily grown with Pearl Jam, or that at a slightly older age I can appreciate the positive in their later records. Whatever the case may be, I love both periods of their music. While I can no, longer relate directly to their older songs, the energy of their early shows is undeniable.

Take the Porch below from 1992 with Pearl Jam in all their grunge glory. This is a truly amazing performance, all the power of youth and exuberance, plus what looks like 100,000 people.

Pearl Jam now do things how they want to and seem to be all the happier for it. Naturally, some of the raw anger and energy has dissipated but it doesn't mean they have forgotten how to rock out.

Who knows, maybe they could be cool and retro again soon. Flannel seems to be making a comeback.... I am already starting to feel old.

(photos courtesy of www.pearljam.com)

How the mighty do fall....

And fall hard sometimes they do. Case in point: Chris Cornell. He is currently the definition of the the law of diminishing returns.

Now I am a big Soundgarden fan. Superunknown is one of my favorite albums of all time. His vocals are simply amazing for a rock singer, how he can hit those notes I will never know. See Flower below:



Soundgarden were one of the original Seattle bands that stuck around and made it big. They produced some incredibly heavy music, but in a way that wasn't clichéd like much of the hair metal 80's bands. They instead played Sabbath and Zeppelin infused heavy rock with increadible wailing vocals from Cornell. They produced 4 full length albums peaking with the afformentioned Superunknown, before and acrimonious split in 1996.

Cornell embarked on a solo album (Euphoria Morning) which was very stripped down and a departure from the Soundgarden sound. It contained a few gems, although nowhere as good as his two previous solo soundtrack contributions Seasons (Singles) and Sunshower (Great Expectations).



He then made the bizarre decision of joining the members of Rage Against the Machine to form Audioslave. They subsequently made three albums together, which were quite frankly, rather bland. They subsequently broke up Rage became, comically, an unintentionally ironic relic by touring their greatest hits.

Cornell then released a fantastically average solo album, which was most notable for carrying a rather serious cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, as well as the theme song to the James Bond movie Casino Royale. He then went on tour with that fantastic bastion of alternative music: Linkin Park. I remember thinking at the time that Chris Cornell had hit rock bottom.

I was wrong

Chris Cornell "Part Of Me" (produced by Timbaland)

I mean what is he thinking? If it was 5 years ago and every blimmin song on the radio wasn't produced by Timbaland, it could (possibly) be seen as a departure. But plain and simple Chris Cornell has sold out. He is using auto-tune for god's sake. It is very, very, very sad to watch the downfall of a previously great singer, reduced to using the same techniques as Cher and Chris Brown. He has even sunk to chauvinistic lyrics.

Clearly, Cornell, while being the frontman of Soundgarden, was definately not the creative talent. I fail to see how he can come back after this.... I need to see this amazing performance to heal!

Northern Walkway

Myself and my better half decided to celebrate our national holiday by tackling the Northern Walkway here in Wellington.

And wow what a walk. We got the train out to Johnsonville (thankfully it was the first day it was running after a month and a bit of upgrading), and began the 16km trek. I imagined that climbing Mt Kaukau at the start would be the most difficult part of the walk. However, it was relatively simple and by the time we got to the top we were able to soak up the 360 degree vistas of Wellington. The scenery is truly breathtaking, we not only got to see Wellington in all its glory from the highest point, we also got views of the South Island. (Unless you are a master walker I would suggest going the way we did, its basically a climb straight up from Khandallah if you go from that side.)

We naively thought that this would be the hardest part of the walk. We were wrong. We descended straight down Mt Kaukau into Khandallah and down into the Nagio Gorge. This lead onto what was most definately the hardest part, clmbing from the bottom of the Nagio Gorge up to the top of Wadestown and the Tinakori hill. It's fair to say that by the time we got to the top we were fairly spent. Having said that there are some beautiful houses in Wadestown. Dreams are for free, the houses certainly are not.

Once we got to the Tionakori hill we had a closer view of the city of Wellington, and the near full stadium, complete with a crowd sung rendition of Wonderwall (England must have been playing). From there it was straight down into Thorndon and back home. All in all a beautiful walk and if you have a spare half day I definitely recommend it. The town belt walks around the city is one of the reasons I love Wellington so much. The fact that you don't even have to walk 45 mins and be right in amongst nature makes living here truly worthwhile.

Hopefully the memories of the views will far outweigh the sore legs we had the next day.

Get of the bandwagon, put down the anvil

Well I have been slack but very busy.

Anywho, a few weeks ago now I ventured to the Town Hall to see the Arctic Monkeys. Now of course the Arctic Monkey's have a hell of a lot of hype behind them. Their debut album was the fastest selling debut of all time. Not to mention some massive hype generated by that giant musical tabloid known as the NME.

Despite the hype they have managed to release two cracking albums, with the second, Favorite Worst Nightmare, managing to break the second album curse and actually be slightly better than their debut.

I was therefore pretty interested to see how they would shape up live. I had seen reviews saying they are known for blowing through a set without barely a word to the crowd, or indeed a breath. Lets just say I didn't leave disappointed. The gig was at the Wellington Town Hall, which is a beautiful venue and is usually really good for sound. That night however, the sound was slightly below par. I could have been where I was standing, but despite this I proceeded to have my mind (and ears) blown.

Having the balls to open with a B-side showed that they aren't afraid to mix things up. The setlist was as follows

• 'Da Frame 2R'
• 'This House Is A Circus'
• 'Still Take You Home'
• 'The View From The Afternoon'
• 'Dancing Shoes'
• 'Dangerous Animals'
• 'From The Ritz To The Rubble'
• 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
• 'Pretty Visitors'
• 'Brianstorm'
• 'When The Sun Goes Down'
• 'Leave Before The Lights Come On'
• 'Go-Kart'
• 'Crying Lightning'
• 'Fluorescent Adolescent'
• 'Do Me A Favour'

Encore

• 'Red Right Hand'
• 'If You Were There, Beware'

They played three new songs, 'Dangerous Animals', 'Pretty Visitors' and 'Go Kart', which will be on there new album they are working on with Josh Holme from Queens of the Stone Age. You could definately see the Holme touch on the songs, quite a bit darker than their previous material.

The Monkeys did not dissapoint. Their was some banter between songs, but mainly it was all about the music. They didn't do the old "save the famous single until last", they played I bet you look good on the dancefloor right in the middle of the set, leaving their encore to be A Nick cave cover (pulled off quite well) and the lesser known If you were there, Beware as the last song.

Some of the songs sounded slightly looser than I hoped, but it was their first gig for over a year, so I will forgive them. Overall a top gig, and I am definately looking forward to the new album.
4.5/5

Makara

Went, on a bit of a wim, for a drive out to Makara today. What a beautiful place. I had been there once before e few years back, but it was pretty wild and not very nice. Even though it wasn't so flash in the city today, it was actually really nice and calm out at Makara. I left my beloved and our friend on the shore and went on the ritual McCarthy 'lets have a good old explore' (thanks for bestowing that on me Dad). There is a gun emplacement right up the top, but I decided to turn back halfway, as I knew the other two would be saying "where in the hell is he"! For next time then.

It is an amazing view form up there though, beautiful views of the Malborough sounds, as well as Kapiti Island. Quite a sheer drop to the shore as well, and it certainly wasn't a good day to have a southeast breeze at the back! I was hoping to get some kind of view of where the wind farm is going out there, but from as far as I got you couldn't see anything.

All in all a good afternoon out. Makara is only about 30 minutes drive from the CBD and its quite a beautiful drive out so I thoroughly recommend it. Possibly not though if there is any kind of a westerly!

2009: Bring it on!

Well it is 2009 already. As far as resolutions go, i'm not big on them but I do have a few 'goals' for the year (which you could argue is exactly the same as resolutions but I digress)...

Get married (!): Wow how quick the time goes, but it is now less than a year until I marry my beloved one. I honestly can't wait, and am really excited about hitting Europe again.

Getting fit and healthy: 2008 was really a year of two half's in that regard, but it finished quite well so this year I plan to keep it going.

Explore beautiful Wellington: There are so many amazing walks that I have already done, yet there are so many more to do. My next one to do is walking the wind turbine to the red rocks. I would also like to knock off the tinakori hill and make it up to the massey monument amongst other things.

Write more: I started this blog last year and it was a bit of a slow start but I aim to do it a bit more reguarly this year.

Read more: I tend to read a large amount of non-fiction in newpapers, and history, but I have quite a few good books I would like to get through.

There are a few more but that covers the main ones. It is going to be a frugal year of savings for us, which is fine, the things I have listed above are mainly free, with the exception of getting married!!!

To borrow a cliche 2009 looks to be a year of change for the world and New Zealand (hopefully not too much at home). We only have about a week and a half until old Commander Cookoo banana's goes into retirement and Barack Obama takes his place in the White House. An extremely momentous timen sure, but let's not expect too much too soon for Obama it will take a while for him to get his eye in.

But some good music beckons for the start to 2009, I'm off to the Arctic Monkeys this week at the town hall (a great venue) so I will report back soon, but I am looking forward to a crackin concert......

Let fury have the hour, anger can be power, do you know that you can use it?

Sunday afternoon I managed to take a second viewing of the Joe Strummer documentary The Future is Unwritten. I saw it for the first time last year in the film festival, but it was good to take in a second viewing to understand the contradictory man that was Strummer and his role in The Clash.

Now, while I wouldn't pretend to be a die hard fan of all things Clash, I would consider myself a fan of some of their music. In particular, their early singles and London Calling, which I would include as one of the best albums ever (with the best album cover of all time, hence my profile picture).

WIth their first three singles they burst out of the blocks with White Riot, 1977, and London's Burning. All were an almost literal call to arms to knock down the tired and staid state of rock at the time. Indeed, the song 1977 is almost a year zero for music with Strummer's scathing "No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones." With a collective time of less than 6 minutes, it contained more excitement than some bands muster in their entire careers.

However, by 1979 much of the steam had run out of punk. The Sex Pistols were gone, replaced by a number of knock off bands. The Clash moved away from the pure anger and thrash of their debut and diversified. It mixes its own brand of ska, reggae, punk and rockabilly with some potent storytelling. Themes range from the political: and Spanish Bombs and Clampdown's anti fascism call to arms, to the disillusionment of consumerism (Lost in the Supermarket), bands selling out (Death of Glory) and even Hollywood actor Montgomery Clift (The right profile). While the songs are not outwardly angry, the way Strummer can craft a story in the lyrics proves even more potent.

London calling, for me at least, was their zenith, and would prove to be an album they wouldn't match. They followed it up with a bloated triple record Sadinista, and the only slightly better Combat Rock. Unfortunately, they quickly succumbed (Strummer most of all) to the standard rock death sentence; stadium concerts, drugs, and in fighting. Within a few years they would be no more. Strummer himself comes across in the documentary as a walking contradiction, and while he is unfortunately no longer around to defend himself, I am sure he will agree. Through his life he traversed the scale from a middle class boarding school upbringing, to dropout hippie, to an angry punk, to embracing being a hippie again. While he can be seen as a contradiction in the broadest sense, it is hard to doubt the intesity that he had for which ever hat he chose to wear.

No matter Strummer's contradictions, in London Calling The Clash produced one of the finest rock records of all time. We unfortunately live in a time where angst, anger and protest songs are homogenised. As another great band, Sleater-Kinney, sang in their homage to the Clash "where is the questioning where is the protest song." While the majority of contemporary music has largely failed to rage against the machine (no not even that band has), it is helpful to jump back to records such as London Calling, which are often as if not more applicable to today's environment than they were when they were released.

"The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin"
The Clash - London Calling

We did it all for the glory of bad taste

I come here for a time of confession. This is not easy, and I am not really proud of it so I will just say it. A Tears for Fears song is currently sitting in my top 10 most played songs on my ipod.

Now this is a hard thing to own up to. If you had a look at the other songs contained in the top ten you would see The Who, Blur, The Clash, The Stone Roses and Sonic Youth. But rounding out my top ten is Tears for bloody Fears.

How can I listen to Everybody wants to rule the world and at the same time moan about cheesy pop music without getting ritualistically murdered by Joe Strummer (if he was still alive)? After many sleepless nights and much thought I have stumbled upon how this might be possible. Some songs that I would otherwise hate, I do like because of the time it came out or what it reminds me of. For me many moments of life can be soundtracked, and it doesn't always have to contain good music.

Case in point: The Feelers. I absolutely despise The Feelers. They put out some absolute excrement, disguised as music. However, I do still own their first album Supersystem. While some of the songs, on paper are crap, it does remind me of my last year of high school and the people I was friends with then. Maybe I was slightly too young to experience better music, I was in Napier and there was no Youtube, but every now and then when I hear some of their songs from that album I can't help but nod the head.

Likewise, when I was about 5 or 6 a cousin made me a tape which contained such gems as the afformentioned Tears for Fears and such other classics as You're the Voice and Electric Blues. Those songs, while undeniably cringeworthy, remind me of what the 80's was for me, namely childhood; Richard Hadlee, the All Blacks last winning the world cup and the first wave of fluro. Thankfully I wasn't older and I didn't have to worry about mass unemployment, Rogernomics, hair metal or commies under the bed.

I suppose what I am trying to say is sometimes, just sometimes, it is ok to like a few songs which you might like to hide. We can all have a few songs that we might only like to listen to on headphones, but which we secretly enjoy. Everyone has their own favorite guilty pleasures.

This song is not one of mine, it has no sentimental value, only laugh out loud value.



(BTW: Peter Cetera is coming to New Zealand tickets are available here. For each ticket purchased $10 will go to Al Qeada, they have both terrorised the world in their own way)

Just to balance the ledger

Fight the power?

There is a new archival website which came along a couple of weeks ago from NZ on Air: NZ On Screen and it is an amazing website. NZ On Screen is a free archive that has been established with everything from the first episode of Gloss (truly cringeworthy) to some good quality documentaries. One that I took in over Labour weekend was Patu!, a documentary taken from the protesters point of view in the 1981 Springbok tour.

Having been born in 1982, obviously I knew how much of a schism the tour struck through New Zealand. I had seen the stock footage of protesters and of Alan Hewson, with his 1980's slug of a mustache slotting the penalty to give the All Blacks victory. But Patu! gave me quite an insight into the groundswell that was actually against the tour.

Seeing McAllister park, literally just around the corner from my house, covered in barbed wire was a wake up call. Indeed, the most disturbing aspect was the anger that was projected towards the protesters. New Zealanders literally setting upon other New Zealanders over a canceled game of rugby seems to frightening to be true.

In fact in one part a member of the public asks one of the protesters "How would you feel if your daughter brought one (an African) home?" For such a level of racism to be shouted in public today just seems downright foreign, however, this was only 27 years ago. It does reassure me that we have, thankfully, moved a long way since then.

Watching Patu! I was almost struck with a sense that we really do not have a defining political or social movement to stand behind. We had the Iraq war, but there seemed a complete sense of futility surrounding it. I remember going down to parliament and watching the protest just before the invasion. All it involved was some anarchists getting arrested, nothing that stirred my emotions. And yet in Patu! you see people literally risking their lives to stand up against what was a condoning of a racist institution (the South African government), and I could imagine myself getting in there and doing it (despite and maybe because I am a massive fan of rugby).

Talking to people who were around during the Springbok tour, however, it seems as though it was a watershed moment, the only other event which came close was the 1951 Waterfront Strike when New Zealand came the closest it has ever come to a dictatorship. Through other times we have been lucky enough to live in a relatively peaceful and democratically free country.

While I believe that a good amount of people now are either extremely apathetic, or very cynical to stand up for a cause, perhaps since we enjoy a peaceful and democratic existance, we are not forced to take to the streets to stand up for such things. Perhaps we should be greatful for that.

But ultimately it doesn't mean we should forget our history. So I'm off to watch the film 1951 on the 1951 Waterfront strike, when New Zealand supposedly came the closest it has ever come to a dictatorship. Time to find out more.....

You may ask yourself... how did I get here...

You know it must be over (touches wood) when the guy who helped put the USA into Iraq gets pissed off with The Republicans.


Colin Powell has now come out and endorsed Barack Obama. In his interview on Meet the Press he criticises the Republican right wingers for going way over the top and making up every crazy rumour known to man about Obama (see my previous post).

Now I haven't been a massive fan of Powell in the past, he is partly responsible, for starting the Iraq war. But in this interview he is rational, calm, and purposeful in his endorsement of Obama. This can't be a small thing for him either, Powell gave money to McCain, who is also a personal friend. But when Powell can come out and say McCain/Palin have gone too far, you know they have gone too far.

Let us hope that in three weeks time the United States can elect someone who can somehow undo 8 long years of what can only be described as the worst presidency in the history of the United States (a big call after Reagan and Nixon).

And on that note, there is an Oliver Stone movie on George W Bush. It look interesting, although whether it may be too soon, or possibly too late, remains to be seen. Having said that, the trailer is pretty fantastic, set to Talking Heads Once in a Lifetime. Never has a song summed up a President so well.

"And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful
Wife
And you may ask yourself-well...how did I get here?"

Folksy wisdom and all that

Unless anyone has been sleeping under a rock for the last year, the world's longest job interview is currently taking place for the president of the United States.

While this is a serious thing, you have to take some time to laugh at how crazy some of it is. In particular how flippin crazy Sarah Palin is, not to mention how bloody hilarious Fox news is. I actually turn on to Fox News occasionally to have a little snigger at how they can even claim to be fair and balanced. Sit back and enjoy.

The Daily Show is gold at the moment!



Reasons we should be scared


Reasons we should be scared II

I don't have to sell my soul, he's already in me.... The Stone Roses

There is an extremely strong argument that a good amount of excellent music comes during times of hardship. Indeed look at the advent of punk during the 70's, and also the roots of alternative music in the 90's started in the turmoil of the 80's. While some bands such as the Clash and the Sex Pistols, and later bands like Sonic Youth in the 80's drew their inspiration from a political stance, some bands chose to ignore the struggles of the day and instead let the music take you to another place.

While in a lot of cases this led to the creation of absolute commercial drivel (see the emptiness of 80's glam metal and MOR), in some cases this created an escape to what could possibly be better times.

It was against this backdrop of gloom, that the Stone Roses were born. Their eponymous debut album quickly showed they were a band that meant business.
The sound of their debut showcased a distinctly retro band, but given a jolt of late 80’s realism. In fact, the beauty of the Roses was that they managed to counter some of their gloom with distinctly uplifting songs, add in some true Manc attitude, and you had a winning combination.



The rise to prominenace came about around the same time as the explosion in the drug ecstasy, which people were increasingly taking to escape from the dreariness of 1980’s Britain. The Roses fitted perfectly into this, with guitarist John Squire’s Bryds-like jangly guitars Ian Brown’s sleepy vocals, Mani’s grooving basslines and Reni’s amazing drums (and equally amazing backing vocals). That a band could release a debut album this good, almost defies belief.

The album starts off in an almost dream-like state with “I wanna be adored” which gently easing you into the album, before crashing into the thunderous chorus. This is quickly followed by the beautifully, fast paced, “She bangs the drums.” I dare you to not be cheer up after hearing that song. “Waterfall” and “Don’t Stop” follow on nicely, they are essentially the same song, with the latter being the former played backwards with different lyrics. Reni’s drums on Waterfall simply defy belief. I dare you not to dance to this song.

After the extremely dark 'Made of Stone' the album finishes up on an extreme high. When listening to "this is the one" (particuarly on headphones)all troubles cease. Indeed this should be played more in the Middle East. To me this is possibly the most perfect piece of music to be made, a piece of pure escapism which we all need at this time of woe and despair.

Just when you think it couldn't get any better, along comes the album's pièce de résistance, the 8 minute plus epic "I am the resurrection". It has possibly the most arrogant, some would say blasphemous, lyrics, ever put into song, but for a small moment you almost believe Ian Brown when he sings "I am the resurrection and I am the light." No he is not Jesus Christ, but I know I could listen to that song for all eternity. But what beats this is the instrumental section at the end of the song, with multiple false endings and a groove that you simply can't resist.

Simply put the Stone Roses is one of the best albums ever made, but don't take my word for it, take a listen for yourself. It is an album which manages to counterpoint some dark brooding moments with some beautifully joyous ones. Unfortunately after this album, the band went into a legally educed hiatus, from which they would never recover. They produced one more album, Second Coming, which had its moments, but fell prey to the second album syndrome. It would be their last.

With the world, economically, hitting tough times perhaps it's a good time escape the madness of the world andinstead enjoy some musical madness. Enjoy!

Blogging, it's a hot potato: catch

Why yes I have jumped onto the blogging bandwagon. The question is why?
The answer is why not? No seriously, while I feel that blogging has possibly become incredibly passe, I feel that I have wanted an avenue for a while to express my feelings on certain matters by want of the (non)printed word. So here I am.
I am not trying to break any new ground or become any way authoritative on any subjects, but I just would like to share some thoughts on culture, history, places and politics (mainly international for State Service Code reasons) amongst other things. You know, all that small stuff.
So on this blog I will share my thoughts, some you may agree with, some you may not, or you may not even be bothered to read at all!
However, its a bit of a bandwagon, so lets jump on it.

To kick things off, for your viewing pleasure here is possibly the most amazing perfomrance of live music ever.
The Who performing Sparks at Woodstock