Posts by Tony P
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The answer to question 1 is the surname Woolright is it not and I think the Neeve console was built for the Beatles.
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Here's what is happening around Napier. The council is putting lots of paths on green belts to link up with other existing cycle trails. Means I can cycle most of the way to school on a path now. Once these were finished the number of people using them has increased with a lot of older people cycling as well as families. Seeing a lot more e-bikes on them too. Helps that Napier is pretty much flat most places also.
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Steve Kilbey's response to criticism of his column.
storm in a teacup
we are very amused by the feeble little backlash against our music reviewing skills.
i was contracted by the guardian to review the JJJ top ten.
it was not my idea to do it.
i am putting myself forward to the guardian to write some "serious" articles on rocknroll. i hate to call myself an expert but after more than forty five years of rockin' in the free world i know a bit about this beast and i have the deafness to prove it.
i guess the guardian offered me this job to see if i had the "smarts" and did i have "what it takes?" to deliver an article on time.
i am bemused to think that some people out there think i am too old to "get" the Rubens et al. Yes i am very very old but even when i was young and very beautiful , let me assure you, i would not have liked the Rubens et al. Its not because i am old that i dont like them, its because i came to review rocknroll and i found limp bland pop. Maybe i was overqualified for this gig. People have been making this bland tripe ever since i can remember. yes the fifties and the sixties and the seventies were full of it. it will always exist and there will always be people like me railing against it. Because rocknroll is capable of making statements that no other artform can make. I aint no philistine either. I am well versed in many literary, artistic and religious works and still i say rocknroll can do things that no other artform can do so effectively. its sexiness. its rage. its revolution. its anger. its otherworldiness. its dissociation. its preposterousness. its glory. its tragedy. etc etc etc. I find none of these qualities in the people in the top ten except for tame impala upon whom i certainly bestow my blessing (big deal!). I find many of the artists in the top ten indistinguishable from what are generally known as "boy bands".In that they sing dopey little songs in their "little boy" voices to some little girl who (shame upon shame) broke their little heart. good for them. I was a random reviewer asked to give an assessment. i would be willing to admit if i was too old to dig some wild or strange new mess. but this is the same old limp tepid pop that theyve always dished up and probably always will. And believe me i DO understand it.
Second thing is a few people have castigated me for not researching the lyrics to KIng Kunta and they assure me that if i did and i wasnt so old and white, that i would realise how brilliantly essential this song is. When was the last time you heard of someone researching a fricking pop single ? superficially i look at the vid and sho'nuff theres the chicks shaking their bums, a guy saying mutherfucker and homies doing the homey dance.
having spent a lotta time in the USA i would say superficially that this vid/song is pretty much par for the course with all the standard accoutrements of stuff that ive been seeing for well over 25 years. What is an old reviewer to do..? i admitted that i couldnt dig it but someone else probably does. boo hoo. fuck you!
hopefully my next assignment i will be back on familiar ground writing about the stuff i am best writing about . which is rocknroll eg bowie beatles dylan and stuff like that. something that fucking means something. not the vapid miasma of the JJJ top 10.
amen brothers and sisters
i love you all
please carry on ! -
Kind of related. Another 60's musician gone.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jefferson-Airplane-s-Paul-Kantner-dies-at-74-6791483.php -
Who knew eh? I vaguely remember this happening but having a new born son and not really being a Motorhead fan I didn't go. Wonder what they thought of Napier and other provincial centres. Wouldn't happen today.
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Have taught the kids at school both the Slade and Wizzard songs. Great singalong tunes and cool to bash out on the guitar. Makes a change from having to do the Boney M version of Mary's Boy Child all the time. I read somewhere that Slade makes 500,000 quid every Christmas off that song.
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Showing my guitar-centric jangle and americanish roots a few more that hit the spot for me locally were Marlon Williams, Tami Neilson, Don McGlashan's latest and of course the Chills. That Nadia Reid is something else though. Honorable mention also to the guys from around here-Jakob.
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Our very first bloom from a tree that's been in a couple of years. Nice day here in Napier.
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You're right about education. Their push now will be to destabilize the NZEI and PPTA, more charter schools, more unqualified teachers in classrooms and a continuation with the IES (paying some principals and teachers extra to work in other schools) I wouldn't be surprised to see bulk funding rear its ugly head again. None of their education policies directly affect children in the classroom. it's all about applying a business model to education so that a profit can be made from it by a few people/companies. Expect also a ramping up of the meme around the quality of teaching. This is why I'm angry and disappointed in the result as it's going to make my job more difficult and I can see schools and the children in them suffering. I have around 8 years left before retirement and I would like to enjoy them working with the children I teach. I'm not sure it's going to be that easy.
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And the weather is atrocious at the moment. Going to be a heavy ground to play on tonight.
