Posts by Grant McDougall
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I'm aware that Six60, Gin Wigmore, etc, are very popular at present. My point was that they appeal more to the Summer Winery tour crowd and More FM listeners and their ilk, than potential BDO punters.
In other words, they've chosen the wrong bands for the wrong demographic.As for my comment on seeing said bands in a pub, of course it'd be more than $160, but I meant seeing these bands by themselves - $20 to see them (and a support) at the King's Arms, Refuel, SFBH or the like.
Also, my original criticisms echo those of three or four music writers / critics interviewed on RNZ National a couple of Saturdays back. Such people and their friends are more the target demographic these days than I, so if they're not happy I think that's telling.
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I'm looking forward to precisely nothing in the stadium on Friday
And there is the problem in a nutshell. I think the BDO has lost its way in recent years.
Through a poor choice of headliners this year, the BDO has been hoist by it's own petard. I mean, let's look at the "big names" on the line-up:
Soundgarden - grunge has-beens that aren't terribly relevant these days. They headlined at the first NZ BDO in '94, but who the hell needs to see them these days ?
Noel Gallagher - dull dad-rock, anyone ?
Kasabian, My Chemical Romance, The Vaccines - spectacularly unimaginative indie-by-numbers, sheep-in-wolves clothing music.
Six60, Kimbra, Midnight Youth and, Jesus wept, Gin Wigmore: music normally found on the Summer Winery tours. Go figure.
Not terribly exciting is it ?
Of the bands Russell mentioned he does want to see, well, why pay through the nose to see them when you can see most of them in a pub much cheaper ?
The BDO was once a chance to check out fresh, innovative, cutting edge bands. Of late it's played it too safe and as a result Laneway has stolen it's thunder in that regard.
Incidentally, on Feb 6 it'll 18 years since the first NZ BDO. I know this because I've just dug into the depths of my clothes drawer to look at the Breeders' t-shirt with their tour dates on the back, which I bought at it.
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Goos interview with Keith on this issue on RNZ National this morning. Listen to it here
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The prospect of Labour underr-taking an electoratal petition against Bennett was discussed on RNZ this afternoon and someone made two interesting observations.
One was that it'll cost an estimated $100,000; Labour isn't cash-rich at present and if Bennett wins, it'll just be money down the drain.
The other was that doing so would make Labour look bad to the public; they should quit whining about the result, take it on the chin and stop being sore losers.
It's also been observed that if Labour won, it'd only have a short-term effect anyway as Bennett would be next cab off the rank when Lockwood Smith high-tails it to London.
I appreciate the legal and constitutional aspects of this case, but in terms of the real politic aspect, Labour should just say to themselves "too bad" and not bother with it.
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The Clean doing a great version of 'Getting Older' a couple of weeks ago.
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"The Munchies" or "Getting The Munchies" if no one's suggested one or the other so far (I haven't looked at the previous nine pages, sorry).
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As with Phillip, Shayne Carter and The Clean were highlights for me too.
I saw The Clean the evening after election night. I was expecting them to be pretty good, as they have been the many times I've seen them. But they really were on fire right from the first chord. It was the best I've seen them since 1989, easily.
Bob Scott couldn't help himself and made a "No Xmas For John Key" Fall pun while introducing the second song, too.
Of local albums, Bachelorette's third and last is delightful and the best re-issue, bar none, of the year is the 3Ds' Early Recordings 1989 - 1990.
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I wasn't having a laugh; however I only said 2% and 4.07% because that was how I remembered it (obviously wrongly) and because I was unaware of the actual number of votes they got.
Also, I'd forgotten Peters had lost Tauranga in 2005.
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But whether the balance has been struck correctly is something I think I'll be asking the MMP review to address.
Graeme, can you also ask them to review the anamoly we saw in the 2008 election where:
- ACT got a measly 2% of the vote, yet thanks to Hide winning Epsom, they got five MPs, while in contrast...
- NZ First got twice as many votes, 4.07%, yet because Peters failed to hold Tauranga, they got no MPs.
One suggestion I've heard to counter this anamoly is that if a party wins an electorate seat, they only get that seat and must crack 5% to get any more MPs.
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I predicted here a few months ago that Paula Bennett would lose her electorate seat and so it has came to pass...just.