Posts by Paul Rowe

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  • Hard News: We'll find out where all the…,

    Just because someone hasn't been run over at a party in Auckland doesn't mean Auckland parties aren't similarly out of hand. I stand by my comments: I believe a key factor in this problem was the liberalisation of the drinking age.

    Didn't the same thing happen at a party in Papatoe last year where a girl was killed?

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Out of the Groove,

    while elemenop or whoever aren't

    I think Elemenop are getting a bit of a hard deal here. I just mentioned them as the first commercially successful band that sprang to mind.


    I recall Shona Laing not getting any airplay for Kennedy until she won some songwriter award in Aus. I'd had the first Crowded House LP for a year before it got any airplay, and they were "commercial" artists.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Out of the Groove,

    Rogerd, I'm not really qualified to make any comment on hip and/or hop. Only that like most musical idioms, there is cream and there is crap.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Out of the Groove,

    With respect, that's bollix, or at least an observation based on a very narrow window of kiwi music

    Well, you're right that if you're prepared to look outside the mainstream you'll find something you like (loving Samuel Flynn Scott's clips on Alt-TV at the moment).

    I guess that after being away from NZ for a long time I was starved to hear NZ stuff. I came back and was quite excited to hear so much of it on TV or on the radio. Unfortunately I quickly realised that radio hadn't embraced NZ music, NZ music had produced a brand fluffy enough for radio to touch. The alternative scene was still out there doing what it alway had.

    And no, criticising a band's music isn't criticising anything about them as people, or their goals, it's just about personal preference. Graham Reid's site has a story about how Billy Joel was one of his favourite interviews - didn't like the music, but that didn't matter.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Out of the Groove,

    I toured with Enz twice in the early eighties as mgmt / label for the Blams

    Now that would have been great. When I saw the Enz in 84, the support act were (I'll never forget it)...Grey Parade. Who?

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Out of the Groove,

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Something has drained NZ music of its uniqueness in the last few years. Some guy from a band was on Nat Radio this morning and he put his finger on it, NZ bands feel they need to compete with overseas acts. They do to be commercially successful I guess, but as Russel says, it's nigh on impossible to make a crust on music in NZ anyway.

    I'd be curious (but not nosey) to know if old-timers like Chris Knox, David Kilgour, Robert Scott, Graeme Jeffries etc make a reasonable living playing on the fringes of the international altenative scene?

    Or at least as good a living as a successful mainsteam band like Elemenop?

    At risk of preaching to the choir, I know which I prefer (and thanks emusic - Dead C, Cakekitchen, even Pointsman all available to some extent)

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Out of the Groove,

    And why didn't anyone in Split Enz - who I think it's fair comment to say are all very strong personaities - kill one or more of their bandmates?

    You got me there. I love Split Enz - my first ever gig, Napier Muni Theatre 1984. I haven't heard the doco, but I came away from Mike Chunn's book (lightweight as it was) feeling the same thing. Tim Finn seemed really highly strung and high maintenance. I think the fact that he's been involved in fisticuffs with both his brother and with Phil Judd (after he'd left the band) shows how close it must have been.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Southerly: New Zealand's Wave Energy…,

    http://www.windenergy.org.nz/documents/2005/050825-NZWEA-FactSheet5Siting.pdf

    The other major reason is related to the geomorphology of our continental shelf which tends to be steeply sloping and narrow as a consequence of which the water gets very deep very
    quickly. This means that the number of potential sites, for offshore wind farms, is actually quite limited despite the fact that we have one of the longest coastlines, relative to our land area, of any country in the world.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Southerly: New Zealand's Wave Energy…,

    if you had wind turbines out in the sea, you could use the turbine base as the monolith

    Am I right in thinking that NZ's coastline doesn't really lend itself to offshore windfarms? I'm trying to remember where I read that...

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

  • Hard News: Some actual politics,

    Any compliments from D4J would automatically make me feel like I needed a wash. In veeery hot water.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report

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