Why music is on life support

Why music is on life support.

If you can’t confidently say you are young anymore than you should not only remember what a record is - you should remember what they smelt like, how they felt, the visually titillating artwork, the crackle of the needle, the warm bass and the subtle treble.

I am not a vinyl enthusiast; I am far too lazy, messy and clumsy.
I would like to be though and I do have fond memories of the wax disc.

After vinyl came the lovely cassette.

Maybe it’s harder to conjure up such fond memories of this device. The sound of an old tape…sounded like a devil screaming from your head deck, the painful task of trying to re thread a tape, the annoyance of your sister taping over N.W.A with Madonna.

They did have good qualities though. Like the fact it was the first time we could create our own mixes. I used to love making tapes for people, mainly girls;
What hooked me was the subtle use of hidden lyrics and the arrangement of songs to create the perfect journey. Another new benefit was the ability to create tapes from radio shows. Depending on the station and who was recording the tape this could also be an act or aural evil.

Next on the sound platform was the CD (we’ll skip Mini disc due to the fact that it never really managed to get it up, a shame really). The CD was a technical marvel in sound terms so my Uncle proclaimed. He created one of New Zealand’s first stomping factories and is a bit of a whiz. I asked him why then the record sounded better? He argued that a records bass would distort and treble would be cut out as the sound range was not there but we as listeners found this pleasing, technically though these wonder laser read discs were far superior.

I found they sounded compressed and were not made to last (on purpose me thinks).
The inevitable scratch in the middle of your favourite track was so annoying that we almost hugged the next format…

Digital.

Yes here we are at the promised land, the holy soundscape of user friendly downloads and portable devices.

I am in a way a fan of digital music. I have an I-pod, and I think it’s easy.

It’s just not the same.

It worries me that there will be a whole generation of snotty nose kids, with white plugs stuck in their ears that have never seen an album cover.


Kids these days don’t buy albums they “buy” singles. Some of my favourite tracks have been the hidden gems.

Record companies only push singles; they used to do that so you would cop the album now they do it so you’ll buy a single.

Borrow one of your friends I-pod’s and see how many albums are on it.

Not many if any.

An album is a work onto it self.

You don’t go to an art gallery and stare at the brightest part of the piece and not notice the beautiful brush strokes to the left, do you?

In this day and age music is not about creating a body of work, it’s about making some quick cash, by getting people to download a sound file that’s probably so bad in quality we will All be deaf by the time we’re 50.

What will save music?

See the top of the page – the record my friends.

We must return to the love affair with wax, the spinning record, the crackling spirit.

I know it seems strange but check this out:

Records never really died, they have been lurking in the crates of DJ’s worldwide.

True fans will buy them if they actually came out, only a few non dance albums come out on Vinyl.

If record companies want to stimulate the dying music market they need to push Vinyl.
Get kids into albums, get them into truly listening again, get music stores to phase out CD’s and bring back the record.

This way true fans will pay for their favourite artists music, and their cheap friends won’t be able to copy it, easily.

I don’t want my child listening to only one bad quality song from per album. It seems about as productive as reading one paragraph from a poorly printed book.

The Places We Live - or luckily not - a must see

The places we live

Hell Freezes Over

Ever used that saying?
Might not be the best thing to say any more. Vegas- commonly referred to as "Hell on earth" - under snow.

On a more thoughtful note this is only the second time it's snowed there in 150 years.

Climate change anybody?

No one is creative

No one is creative.

I consider myself a creative person…well at least I used to.

Lately on my journey of self discovery I’ve began to wonder if anyone is really creative.

If you think I’m crazy, you might be right, I hope you are - sanity is banal.
However please allow me to illustrate why I have reached this peculiar conclusion.

Have you ever wondered why so many artists, writers, musicians and so on, feel the need to take drugs or drink themselves out of their lack of eureka moments.
This wretched cliché is commonly refereed to as the tortured creative spirit.

Why is it, I wonder, that plumbers never reach a plateau or a point in their career that they will never be able to top?

I’ve never heard of a builder who was a one house wonder.

Why is it then - that our creative minds constantly beat themselves up once they have achieved something? It’s that inherent fear that you can never do better than that last project that seemed to matter.

The Greeks had the answer. You see the Greeks did not blame themselves. In ancient Greece people did not have ideas, they were given them. The Greeks believed ideas and creativity flowed through them. They were merely instruments for the spirits of gods, which they called muses. Guess what the Romans called these spirits? – Geniuses.

What a way to live, the most prolific artist could just stop all of a sudden and there was no pressure to perform because the gods were not talking to him anymore - So how could he paint?

Imagine this today – no deadlines, no performance criteria, no sequel, nothing but pure inspiration.

The idea that creativity comes from a realm apart from ours is surely the biggest pile of bollocks you’ve heard today right?

Well maybe.

I heard a lady talk recently about how she writes poems, they come on the wind. She has to run inside and get a pen and write them down. If she is too late, she sometimes can reach out grab it and pull it back but when this happens the poem comes out backwards and she has to rewrite it for it to make sense.

Stephen King, says when he writes he is in a sleep like state sometimes he wakes up and realizes he has written paragraphs.

Two books you might have heard of that the authors claim to have written with total divine inspiration:

The Bible & The English dictionary.

The purpose of all this ranting is to say simply this:

If you’re creative maybe you should surrender to the idea that you are not the master and let go. Be happy if no light bulbs are flashing above your head. Be at peace.

If you are not a creative person, try listening to that silent voice that lingers in the top right side of your brain. Great ideas are not shouted they are whispered.

Think of ideas like a winzip file, you might receive one but it will be useless unless you manage to extract it.

Adopt a country.

Lately I have been thinking about a new initiative that is an interesting way of tackling poverty, and disease worldwide.

It’s quite simple really:

What if every developed country took a third world country under their wing?
An adoption of sorts…although I’m not sure that is the best word.

Seems to me like it’s one of those ideas were people say “Oh they must have thought of that already” or “it’s too hard.

But is it?

Think about it, at the moment each country has numerous aid agencies and charities doing what seems like an endless amount of work in an infinite amount of areas.

There is no real organisation; there is no sense of achievement there are no performance measurements or accountability.

What if each country adopted a nation which in relative terms was a fair match and poured all their heart and soul into tackling issues in that one place.

Step by step.

For example here in New Zealand…maybe we would adopt Bali.

The U.S could adopt a large country with more problems like Zimbabwe for example.

The government would get involved providing money, resources and even troops if needed.

So would The Red Cross and World Vision - instead of money from each charity going into a big worldwide pot, what if the money raised in New Zealand was funnelled into our adopted country?

Why this would work:

• The people in the country that is doing the adopting would become more involved they would see the difference and feel hope that a change can be made. This would be done through reality TV shows and media coverage. Schools would get on board so would many organisations.

• It could even be broken down where a smaller region say Northland, adopts a smaller region in Bali. Tackling issues on a face to face basis, working with the locals who will inevitably become friends.

• The two cultures can share stories, plans, and resources as well as dance and food - which will be of benefit to both parties.

• By each developed country choosing one under developed country to focus on it becomes a challenge not only onto themselves - to provide real results but also as a competitive system, The US would want to show how great they were doing. Britain would go even further etc.

• Companies can get their sleeves rolled up too, at the moment it would be hard to take on anything; after all there are so many problems in the world. By doing this we are narrowing the margins. A communications company can help setup Broadband in their adopted country. A fashion label could help produce cheap clothes made from local resources.


This is just one small idea that needs planning and fleshing out. But if you think like me then maybe you can see the potential.

I believe this idea could change the world forever. I’ve been waiting for an idea like this.

I think we need to start a grass roots campaign to inspire John Key to formally adopt a country, let’s get all our aid agencies on the same leaf and issue a challenge for other nations to do the same.

Like Ghandi said “Be the change you want to see in the world!

What do you say… are you in?

I need a web designer to start a petition page and maybe can get the ball rolling.

hmmmm maybe www.adoptacountry.com, it has a ring to it.

Please forward this link to all your friends that you think will appreciate it.

And hopefully we’ll have a petition to sign soon.

I look forward to your comments.

Peace.

Why Tangi

Why Tangi?

Every year on the 6th of February we are lucky enough to get a day off.

Yes it is to mark the signing of the Treaty. A document whose history conjures up ill sentiments – amongst many a New Zealander.
It’s a well known fact that the Maori were ripped off and yes translations were questionable but we are missing the point here.
Anyone with even the most minuscule understanding of colonial takeovers around the world knows that the Maori here got a fairly good deal, it is this fact that cements our country and makes us who we are. Trust me things could have been a lot worse, for example the French were on their way when the English landed, one may ask what would have eventuated had they got here first instead.

However without sounding too right wing let me get back to the point.

Yes – there was a certain maliciousness surrounding that piece of paper.
However the foundation of it is such a blessed and remarkable achievement that I think we bask in the awkwardness of its fine print a bit too often.

This is a nation despite a few idiosyncrasies we stand united, we celebrate our
differences. There are so many cultures here now but we all share a certain attitude. There is a sense of the under dog that creates a bark amongst us...

When South Africa tried to field an all white team we said “hang on a minute”.
When The French tried to test nukes in the pacific we said, “not on our watch buddies”.
Then when the English argued the pros and cons of our nuclear free stance our prime minister said he could smell the uranium on their breath.

We climb mountains, take on Hollywood, and gave women the vote first and so on and so on.

This is a fine, fine nation.

Recently I heard an interview with Kevin Roberts who is the CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi.
They asked him why, when he can live any where in the world, he chooses to live here?
He said.

“Have you been to New Zealand?”
“No”
“Well that would answer the question, New Zealand is paradise, it’s a valued driven society, they’re are big on social equality, environmental issues, and they believe in greater education for all, it is like England but a place that the upper class has not ruined.

Herein lays my point if one of the most influential creative thinkers in the world knows we are great, why don’t we?

Australia day is a massive celebration, people throw parties, get together have traditional meals and they really encapsulate what it is to be Australian.

What do we do on our National day, at best we celebrate the birthday of Bob Marley at worse we have these shadows of yesterday hanging over us.

Tomorrow I hope we all take time to reflect on what a great country we live in and actually take the time to soak some of it in.

If you’re like me and you have not travelled much you may not appreciate Aotearoa as much as you should.

Waitangi day is the day to make up for lost time.

Happy new Zealand Day Everyone.

Why things will get worse before they get better

If you haven’t noticed already there is a recession on.
The thing is, in a recession people can still live the way they want.
We are still paid the same amount and things are relatively around the same price.
It is corporations and credit institutions that will be tightening their spending.
I’ve heard people saying lately the light is coming and that we are nearly out of the dark.
That is not the case and this is why:

• The decisions companies make now are going to have flow on effects:
• Redundancies take money out of the pockets of consumers.
• Cost cutting can lead to lack of performance which will cause shares to drop
• The things companies do to cost cut like outsourcing for cheaper labour will change the publics’ view of the company which will deflate brand loyalty.

New Zealand in particular suffers from the Butterworth syndrome.
Remember when Brad Butterworth, the sailor, left to join the Swiss team. He made the right business decision for him. But in the minds of average New Zealand he was a traitor and I think even the sport as a whole has suffered. If Brad Butterworth was a commodity would you still buy it.

New Zealand does not like people who “Sell out”. Our nation is built on the shoulders of go getters and people who don’t give up, no matter what. Change without good reason is a nuisance. Only in NZ could a small town rally to stop a McDonalds being put in.
We conquer mountains physically and metephorically.

The bail out package in America is the worse thing that can happen.
The reason why this crunch started in the first place was the banks and credit companies lent more money then they had and guess what they are going to do with the bail out money? – Lend it out.

I think we won’t hit a depression however I do predict there are more jobs to be lost, more homes to be foreclosed and more companies going under,
I predict it will be late 2010 before we hit the bottom.

Mind you I’m hardly an economic genius so don’t take my word for it, although if you know me you know I predicted this collapse 3 years ago.

Good news though if you’re about purchase a house.