Posts by Russell Brown
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Oh, one more: the reliably excellent Dusty Crates record fair outside Conch on Ponsonby Road tomorrow.
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Hard News: A medical cannabis korero by…, in reply to ,
It would be simpler to ether treat it the same as any other pharmaceutical, decriminalise it for everyone including patched gang members, and other such alcoholics, and angry people.
Agreed. I think any medical regime would be much easier if growing was addressed under general cannabis reform.
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Hard News: Friday Music: NME – it was…, in reply to DaveSwift,
I think this is the best bit.
And that final big NME interview I did, with Brian, paid off again in 1992 when he was battling A&M Music in an LA court. A&M had been virtually handed the rights to all of his classic songs when angry dad Murry Wilson sold off Brian’s Sea of Tunes publishing company dirt cheap. Lawyers flew me to LA, put me up in a 5 star hotel for 5 days, gave me a rental car and pocket money, all for a 30-minute deposition in a legal office: “I swear that these cassette tapes are a true record of my interview with Brian Wilson in London four years agio.’’ I learned then why lawyers are so costly.
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Hard News: Friday Music: NME – it was…, in reply to DaveSwift,
And that’s the last time I will haul out these memories, I guess. Cheers Russell. Thanks for the inspiration.
That's brilliant, David. Thank you!
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Hard News: Friday Music: NME – it was…, in reply to Hugh Wilson,
my secondary school library used to stock The Face, which portrayed a world quite different to that around us. Coincidentally the New Yorker’s Hua Hsu recently penned a similar piece of reminiscing (and what struck me about this was that he was in NY, seeking out the very same worldliness as me and my friends in suburban AKL):
I particularly loved what The Face was doing towards the end of the 80s in mixing its style and music fare with reportage and politics. And it was quite thrill meeting Sheryl Garratt once when I had to deliver something to her as a cycle courier.
I actually have copies of the first issues of both The Face and iD – they were part of a pile I found when I broke a new squat in 1987. The junkies who'd been living there left the toilet solid to the brim, ut they had good taste in mags!
Might not be everyone’s cup of tea
Relevant to my interests!
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Hard News: ACL: The best of times, the…, in reply to Tom Semmens,
I think you both have good points.
Is it even possible to put together a large festival now, when so many acts come through Spark Arena, and when the kind of storied artists who you’d put at the top of your bill maybe don’t have the demographic reach you need? And you’re not going to get stadium-fillers like the Foo Fighters because they can fill stadiums on their own.
And yet: $175 was actually a pretty good deal for that lineup, and it was a much nicer environment than the bloody arena. And Grace, of course, did very well for her promoter in Queenstown.
Maybe the venue itself has issues – the stadium bowl needs quite a lot of people in it before any real atmosphere develops. There certainly wasn’t at any point the crowd fervour you saw at Anderson Paak at Laneway, or even Dizzee Rascal at Splore.
I’d miss ACL a lot if it wasn’t there, but it’s a conundrum.
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The lineup for Sydney City Limits is interesting.
The Avalanches, Grace Jones and Phoenix finishing one stage.
Future, Beck and Justice closing either side of their dual stage.
And Ocean Alley(?) and Tash Sultana finishing the “Big Top”.
Of note:
Grace Jones was 25 minutes late there too – it’s a thing.
No Peking Duk anywhere.
And they only pulled 14,000!
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Hard News: ACL: The best of times, the…, in reply to Nick Russell,
The Magic Factory were indeed a riot. Best vibes of the today. Disasteradio was good at GD as well.
Yeah, wishing I'd got there earlier to see Luke.
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Hard News: ACL: The best of times, the…, in reply to Grant McDougall,
It’d be interesting to be a fly on the wall when the promoter(s) and their staff sat down for a debrief yesterday or today, that’s for sure. Wonder if they’ll make any public comment on the P/Duk balls-up.
They won't make any public comment on Peking Duk, but I presume there'll be words had within the franchise. It's the difference between what might fly at Rhythm and Vines (where even Kim Dotcom's execrable "music" got a rave reception) and an urban festival for a broad demographic.
And I'm sure they'll be addressing the scheduling and ticket sales. I felt a bit nervous writing the post above – I've known Campbell and Paul for years and I want their shows to succeed – but decided to just go ahead and say it. Hopefully I'm not banned next year ;-)
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Hard News: ACL: The best of times, the…, in reply to Eediot,
Golden Dawn Western Springs was not what I’d gone for- pushed the boat a bit further out you might say ;-)
Nah, fun’s where you find it at a festival. You missed a treat by not at least popping in there. The Magic Factory were a riot.