Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Weirder yet

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  • bob daktari,

    This story seems like its straight out of the: what happens when you break the "what happens on tour stays on tour" rule/guide.

    It will only end up fodder for Whaleoil and those whom have taken it upon themselves to air all of the Dotcom's laundry in public and they will taint anyone who they come across with their stench

    its all bad politics baby

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 540 posts Report Reply

  • Ken Double,

    I don't know if anyone out there watches "Veep" but I believe we can officially dub Slater the Jonah Ryan of New Zealand politics.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2012 • 119 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Today on Aaron’s Facebook:

    Well this part of my story was actually going to be Part 3 of my 8 part account of working for Kim’s Dot. But as i sit here getting Part 2 into shape Part 3 made the Paper! And now the truth i was going to speak out about AMAZINGLY has been substantiated by KIM DOT COM and his little n……ers themselves. WAKEY WAKEY Aotearoa this is the ‘guy’ that currently has the potential to run our country if we let it happen and……………THIS CANNOT HAPPEN………… PLEASE……… FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVE IN AND CARE ABOUT……………………………….WAKE UP.

    Then Brad Kora chipped in:

    fuck it was all good. I dont give a shit what people think bout mine and Lawts situation is with the bro Kim…As long as their mouths dont stain us(me and Lawts) in the media process. Ill come at yah hard and fast.

    And Aaron replied:

    There is no fucken way any of this will touch my brothers kora. We are working muso guys that have the right to take money for a service we provide that is actually priceless. If Kim rang me up right now and said ‘hey my mick come play for me’ I’d say to him sweet and then proceed to charge quadruple what I did last time and then I’d turn up to work and precede to make his music more bearable and consumable for everyone else the best that I can !

    So, make of it all what you will …

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Isn't it par for the course for a session musician that you have to work with crazy egotistical talentless people? It's just that usually the money comes from either their past musical success or a record companies betting on their marketability.

    Could be worse. Could have been Ian Watkins, right?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington, in reply to Russell Brown,

    So, make of it all what you will …

    I dunno, but between this and Farrier's homophobic tickling story, I'm really enjoying this wigged out new alt-news universe that we appear to have departed to.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Update: it does appear the Dotcom camp is considering some sort of youth voter drive.

    And the non-Dotcom (Notcom?) youth vote people are going to give me an announcement/statement this afternoon, explaining what they're doing, which is quite impressive.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Ken Double,

    You know what's upsetting? That there is no "Jonah Ryan's scene entrances" YouTube supercut I can post here in response to you, Ken. You disappoint me, internet.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    here’s the statement from #RockEnrol ..

    The Truth behind the Youth Voter Drive” by Laura O’Connell-Rapira

    There has been a lot of talk about using gigs and music as an incentive to get more young people voting in this years’ General Election. It all started when Tom Scott of Home Brew took to Facebook with a call to action for promoters and musicians to organise a gig on the same day, at the same time around the country where the only requirement for entry was you had to enrol to vote.

    Within 24 hours, Scott had 17 promoters put their hands up to get their hands dirty. An email thread ensued, a Loomio group was set up, meetings were had, networking was done and just as the ‘Rock the Vote’ inspired initiative began to take shape: this happened.

    “Although we would have liked to release our strategy and plans for people powered parties and politics closer to the time our website was due to launch, we may as well leverage the publicity and make it public now. The campaign is called #RockEnrol and we will launch as a crowdfunding campaign on June 1st and then a web platform on June 15th.” says Laura O’Connell-Rapira, the RockEnrol Campaign Director.

    RockEnrol is set to be a crowdfuelled and collaborative experiential marketing campaign designed to build and activate political power for young people in Aotearoa NZ. The campaign is non-partisan, youth-led and is comprised of three major phases: get the youth enrolled, get the youth informed, get the youth voting (details here). RockEnrol will host its first Open Evening in Auckland on Saturday 24th May on Karangahape Road.

    So where does the music come in? ‘40 Days of #RockEnrol’ is a series of events and parties that will take place around the country from July 1st – August 9th. The only prerequisite to attend a RockEnrol event is the participant has to pledge to vote for any political party in the 2014 General Election on the RockEnrol website.

    “Pending confirmations, but so far it looks like we’ll be lucky enough to see free performances from Homebrew, Optimus Gryme, Third3ye, Chronophonium, Tiki Taane and more this Winter as long as you’re enrolled and pledge.”

    “As far as I am aware, the Internet Party will be working with a group of NZ musicians and doing a tour in July to try and rally support. This is a separate initiative from ours, and that’s totally fine. We are not the first, nor are we the only campaign to come up with idea to work with people from the creative industries or leverage popular culture to engage more people in what can often be bureaucratic and boring. Rock The Vote has been around for more than 30 years.”

    RockEnrol is a non-partisan effort dedicated to building the political power of young people in this country by identifying issues that are important to young voters, engaging youth in the electoral process by making it easy and relevant, urging politicians to pay attention to issues that matter to young voters and ultimately, getting out the youth vote. RockEnrol is driven largely by Our Place Events and Generation Zero, among others.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Here's my one thought on the matter: I bloody LOVE the #RockEnrol name. That is all.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Russell Brown,

    quite impressive

    brilliant. will certainly be supporting that effort

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I guess, since apparently no one else is going to say it, and I said it on Twitter last night, that I’m gonna have to express my discomfort with this paragraph:

    Whatever happened with trash talking and “racist day” it does seem clear that the game came from the African American members of the recording party. With hindsight, it also seems clear that Dotcom should have refused to play

    It’s usually pretty easy to work out that as a white dude you should not play a game that involves racial slurs with members of a marginalised group. It doesn’t need to be with hindsight. If you’re a thoughtful human being you can probably work it out ahead of time. It also doesn’t matter who started the game. I think this “they started it so it’s not so bad that he joined in” approach to the issue is… a bit weird in itself, actually.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danielle,

    It’s usually pretty easy to work out that as a white dude you should not play a game that involves racial slurs with members of a marginalised group. It doesn’t need to be with hindsight. If you’re a thoughtful human being you can probably work it out ahead of time. It also doesn’t matter who started the game. I think this “they started it so it’s not so bad that he joined in” approach to the issue is… a bit weird in itself, actually.

    I wrote the post as carefully as I could in the time I had available. There were a number of tricky elements to it, including what it was appropriate to share of the private knowledge I had of RockEnrol (getting a massive bum steer on Neil Baldock didn’t help either, and I’ve had to do my best to make that good).

    With people on Twitter declaring it was all Dotcom’s idea, that he was a definitely a white supremacist, etc, I did think it was useful to establish exactly the context in which it happened.

    I’m sorry I didn’t write it exactly as you would have, but after being abused on Twitter last night, I’m actually really over this.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It's not a question of how I would have written it; it's a question of not giving Dotcom an implicit pass because his racist behaviour isn't as bad as some people on Twitter imagined it to be. It's still pretty damn bad. Like collecting an autographed Mein Kampf is pretty damn bad.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danielle,

    You don’t think the context makes any difference, I think it makes some difference. I would note that the senior member of the marginalised group has endorsed Baldock’s characterisation of events. But it’s written now and I’m happy to be disagreed with.

    Edit: That still sounds snippy, and it’s not meant to. But my perspective is that this was something that happened within a private group, it sounds dickish, it reflects poorly on Dotcom, but I’m not going to be outraged and angry on their behalf if they’re not. Even Aaron says he’d work for Dotcom again.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Russell Brown,

    You don’t think the context makes any difference, I think it makes some difference.

    Its all just black and white to some people. Am I allowed to use those words?.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Oh for fuck's sake. Of *course* I think context makes a difference. "Context" is why I consider Dotcom a thoughtless douchebag exhibiting racist behaviour instead of a white supremacist. But I think the pass line for someone taking part in New Zealand's political life probably shouldn't be set as low as "is not an actual Nazi, just has fun with the imagery".

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danielle,

    But I think the pass line for someone taking part in New Zealand’s political life probably shouldn’t be set as low as “is not an actual Nazi, just has fun with the imagery”.

    Which wasn't what I said or what happened in this instance, but I accept that we differ strongly on this.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Myles Thomas,

    I can imagine being in that jokey blokey setting with everyone being more outrageous than the next and it all being harmless fun. And if you sat back and DIDN'T join in you'd be the egg who no one trusts. Context is important obviously but possibly many people don't get the context because they've never mixed in those edgy circles.

    People need to stop making uninformed unilateral judgements about each other.

    Auckland • Since Apr 2011 • 130 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Danielle,

    fun with the imagery

    great band name

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Myles Thomas,

    I can imagine being in that jokey blokey setting with everyone being more outrageous than the next and it all being harmless fun. And if you sat back and DIDN'T join in you'd be the egg who no one trusts.

    Sticking up for your beliefs can be like that. Hard. I'd seldom fault someone without knowing more of the picture*, which is often not available.

    * unless they are a politician or similar person of power

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Myles Thomas,

    I can imagine being in that jokey blokey setting with everyone being more outrageous than the next and it all being harmless fun. And if you sat back and DIDN’T join in you’d be the egg who no one trusts.

    Especially if you’re the giant adolescent who’s devoted his life to being with the cool kids.

    Context is important obviously but possibly many people don’t get the context because they’ve never mixed in those edgy circles.

    Mmmm. I don’t think that’s necessarily the issue. Let's not make generalisations about each other.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Sacha,

    * unless they are a politician or similar person of power

    This all happened before the political party and possibly even before the raid, for what that's worth.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Myles Thomas,

    I think entering into a dick-waving contest over who has lived The Most Edgy Life Among People Who Say Racist Stuff would possibly be the dumbest move ever on my part, so I'm not going to do it: I reject the framing of the argument. It's ludicrous. I'm just going to say this: my husband is from Texas and my father is from DEEP BACKWOODS Louisiana. It's very silly to assume everyone who rejects this sort of behaviour has no experience of it.

    Given those facts about me, I'd also like to note that it is often very simple not to join in. So yeah, I also reject that as an excuse.

    I get that he's not very mature, and he's keen on being accepted by the cool kids, and all that jazz. I really do. I just don't think all this falling over ourselves to give him a pass is doing him - or us - any favours.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Danielle,

    Most Edgy Life Among People Who Say Racist Stuff

    too long to be a good bandname

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Russell Brown,

    This all happened before the political party

    Wasn't Good Times made when Dotcom was already planning the party? The album launch was also supposed to be the party's launch. (Not that I think being racist before deciding to become a politician is in any way exculpatory, mind, but.)

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

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