Posts by Russell Brown
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15 minutes of video from Saturday night. Lotta people having a GOOD time:
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Emma Hart,
Yes. Absolutely. That said, it’s still important to pay more attention to people’s intentions, to what they mean, than the words they use to say it. Or you end up spending all your time and energy Language Policing, and alienating allies.
Or worse, using language policing as a means to power. As I have noted previously, that really gives me the shits.
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Muse: What The Frig, Police?, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
But quite seriously, if I was a promoter thinking about bringing a hip-hop act to New Zealand I’d be running a serious cost-benefit analysis on any future dealings with Inspector Davison. Which, I guess, suits him fine. I’m not so sure.
Fortunately, it's only going to be an issue where a special licence is required. But yeah -- I don't think I'd be staking my livelihood on a show at The Cloud after this.
The irony of course is that Davison caused the show to be moved to a less safe/suitable venue in a known trouble spot.
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Muse: What The Frig, Police?, in reply to Dave Patrick,
“Everything except the Feelers”
Who, of course, headlined the only other entertainment event to be held at The Cloud since the RWC – the New Zealand Beer Festival.
As this blog notes, the 2011 NZBF in Auckland “was chockful of bogans setting out to get munted.” This didn’t appear to be a barrier to a licence in 2012 – and happily, the 2012 festival seems to have gone quite smoothly.
On the other hand:
The Marlborough Wine Festival provided a stark contrast. Here’s the bare facts:
- 42 people were arrested
- 9 people treated for cuts from bottles and glasses
- 5 people were taken to hospital for treatment
- 9 people were treated for over-consumption of alcohol
I have received a photo of one lady’s injuries sustained from a bottling, but, due to its graphic nature, I didn’t want to post it here.Middle-aged white folks – they’re trouble.
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I now have some more of the bizarre correspondence between Inspector Davison and the promoters.
An email in which the promoter addresses the lateness question:
Now when he said the lateness of application…I was shocked as we submitted a while ago, then sat with council saying yes approved at compliance meeting with the Venue staff, my Security team, my bar manager and my business partners. The council apparently said it got lost for a week….
And a response from Davison to Greer Flynn, who was involved with the show:
Good morning Greer.
As I indicated in my telephone conversation with you this morning.
Police will not alter their stance in regards to your liquor licence application.
Had the Police been involved with your event from the outset, then this matter would have been better addressed.
I can say here and now, it would still be most unlikely that Police would have agreed to the granting of a special licence even had we been at that meeting given the nature/location of the event.
We are – or should be – long past the time when police and petty officials get to tell us what culture we’re allowed. Or are we resigned to a future where facilities constructed and run with OUR money can only be used subject to a musical sniff test from a policeman?
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Meanwhile, a nice little story on Stuff about yesterday's Auckland Museum lecture.
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Muse: What The Frig, Police?, in reply to 3410,
You know, before they built the Cloud, maybe they should have said, “Oh, by the way, hip hop fans won’t have to chip in for the cost of this place, since you guys won’t be allowed to use it”.
It’s actually turning out to be a hard venue for anyone to use for a gig. There are toilets, but no tills or bar facilities – they have to be brought in every time, and a special liquor licence has to be obtained first. Then there’s a 10.30pm curfew and the certainty of noise control complaints, because it doesn’t have walls so much as a membrane.
It’s been used a handful of times as a daytime conference venue since the RWC, but mostly it takes up space.
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Muse: What The Frig, Police?, in reply to Matthew Littlewood,
Okay, just reading Russell Brown’s post convinced me that maybe my antipathy was somewhat displaced. I did go see the Dammers-less Specials reunion, after all. Sounds like a cracking night.
It was a great night, the crowding problems notwithstanding.
With KRS it's not really about the records anyway, apart from a few standards everyone knows. It's an MC and a beat. He freestyled about half the show.
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Muse: What The Frig, Police?, in reply to Ocho Cinco,
Over the last 2-3 years, however, the “24/7 Scorpio” cluster on K Rd (just next to the bus bridge or whatever its called) – which is almost entirely hiphop/rap clubs – has exhibited an abnormally high degree of disorder and public place violence. So when Davison says “rap venues attract violence” he is telling the truth, because most of our rap venues are in that little cluster of K Rd.
I think few if any of the crowd at Studio last night would ever go to a place like Scorpio. And 24/7’s basically for toothless P-heads and alkies, isn’t it? I take your point that things can get a bit tricky around that block though.
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I’ve obtained a copy of the email (not from the promoter). It’s pasted in here in full, apart from addresses and phone numbers, etc. It’s addressed to Connie Clarkson of the Conference Company and Cathy Chambers of the Queen’s Wharf company.
Hi Connie and Cathy – to advise that NO SPECIAL LICENCE will be issued for this event.
There are a whole range of factors behind such a decision;
lateness of the application (although that has been disputed)
because of the lateness Police have not had adequate time to report on the Matter (and statutorily are not required to do so because of said lateness)
type of event – rap draws on a certain group within society which cause problems for the community as a whole
probability of abuse of alcohol causing disorder within and outside the event – alcohol is a crime driver there are many licensed outlets in the CBD to which patrons could avail themselves before and after this eventOtherwise, this event will be visited and monitored by Police on the night.
I will advise the Shift Commanders, Downtown staff and Northern Communications Centre accordingly.
Regards
Derek DAVISON
Inspector| Special Operations Planning Group (SOG)So, it appears that the application may have been late – although this is in dispute.
Inspector Davison’s comments indicate that such lateness wouldn’t have been a showstopper for other events. But he clearly does not like “rap”.