Logo

My cricket team Falconhawk is in the process of designing a new team emblem. A rough impression of my best and most favoured logo (so far) is pictured; your comments are welcomed.

Three-thirty burstitus

Can there really be said to be anything wrong with the world when there are cupcakes (click images for larger view)

..and a great hulking brute like Jerry Collins (pictured)

can come up with a wonderful metaphor like this (from today's Dom Post):

"Last week they were like a bloke in a lion's cage who is blindfolded and has a plastic baton. This time he has a gun and knows what the lion looks like."

in relation to this.

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Re: cupcakes -- Ms. K has really outdone herself with these, this time, I feel. FYI she takes orders. (I mean, she accepts requests vis-a-vis the exchange of currency for baked goods; not, she allows herself to be bossed around. That she most certainly does not.)

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It's not even remotely cool to actually celebrate anyone's death, but obstetrician and prominent anti-abortion campaigner Diana Mason has died, aged 84.

In the universe where I am god, this would of course mean that the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, and the pro-life lobby in general, will be struck a mortal blow from which it will never recover.

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Wondering what burstitis is? Wonder no more...

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NP: the sound of the phone, not ringing. Sweet, blessed relief (helluva day, don't ask).

More ginga bullshit

As an interesting footnote to my recent anti-'gingerism' post, a workmate forwarded me this link. "Is gingerism as bad as racism?" asks BBC News.


The reader comments are entertaining, opinions ranging from "get over it!" to "it's made my life hell". My favourite, however, posits a theory for the possible origin of this curious cultural phenomenon:

Redheads are feared because they are believed in folklore to be the devil's children and have red hair because they were conceived during their mother's menstruation.A welsh proverb says "os bydd goch, fe fydd gythreulig" or "if he's redhaired then he is of the devil". Yesterday's superstition has become today's teasing.

Wikipedia appears to bear this out, at least partially.

This will be the last time

Look, I don't want to bang on about it, or anything, but David Cauchi has published the text of his address on Sci-Fi and art, on his blog, here.

He has also linked to a recording on Radio NZ of his radio interview with Lynn Freeman the following morning.

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NP: Celer - pretty much everything I can get my hands on (Last.fm)

listen to a track called 2 Bereft Oversight

Five Great Novels - Philip K Dick

You should buy this. Go on, you know you want to.... it's only 15 quid, and it rules.

Good god..

+ The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
+ Martian Time-slip
+ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
+ Ubik
and A Scanner Darkly

How do you imagine that you might ever go wrong?

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Woot, woot.. Pop Levi tomorrow night.

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NP: John Cale -- Vintage Violence (Allmusic): His first post-Velvet Underground solo album is easily one of his best. Excellent cover art, too.

Hamish McKay Gallery reopens

... my post on the Wellingtonista.

Petone is also full of aliens

Petone is well known for being full of jelly; yesterday, wandering around the foreshore, I found evidence of aliens.

I also found a jetty which seemed to stretch all the way to Oriental Bay (nice idea, though, eh) and some oystercatchers. We asked them to catch us a quick half-dozen for dinner, but they politely declined.

Queer by William Burroughs: A Legendary Novel

You should buy this. Go on, you know you want to.... it's only $9.50, and it rules.

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David's talk on Saturday afternoon was really good and quite funny. I got a surprise part-way through when a reproduction of one of my own works appeared on the big screen, to illustrate some point or other.



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NP: Billy Preston -- A whole new thing (Allmusic): Mahalia Jackson, Little Richard and The Beatles' keyboards go-to guy goes... disco. With surprisingly endearing results.

Tim Buckley -- Greetings From L.A.

You should buy this. Go on, you know you want to....



It's only 8 bucks. And it rules.

Friday farce: Skeptics double-play

Well, New Zealand music month is over again. And thank god. So long to state-sponsored sycophancy. Farewell to cynical marketing ploys and blinkered jingoism. Wave buh-bye to NZ Music Month. Buh-bye! Buh-bye...

Now. She's Lost: an underground New Zealand music recovery expedition is a free downloadable virtual compilation CD featuring "some of New Zealand's finest dark alternative/industrial/electro/experimental artists" recording cover versions of their favourite Kiwi songs. Or that's how it's being pitched, anyways.

Since it's no longer NZ Music Month, you probably can't download the whole thing anymore. (Which you may or may not be thankful for.) But you can read the story of the compilation here. And, like me, you may want to spend a moment blissfully reveling in the fact that the Skeptics (Wikipedia) are apparently now popular enough that their songs appear -- not once, but TWICE -- on the the compilation.

I love the Skeptics, me. In fact, the other night -- whilst sailing with a couple of sheets to the breeze -- I expressed a desire to quantifiably become the world's biggest Skeptics fan. (Ask me how, go'an.) So you'd think I'd be happy. And I would be, except that the covers are laughable. Utterly wretched.

I've lectured in the past at length about the various "rules" of cover-versions, and there are a good number. But surely the very first, the primary, the preeminent rule of recording a good cover is -- not to attempt to faithfully reproduce the original, adding nothing in the process.

So [1] Some noisy chumps called Hog Haul Valentine ignore that imperative and record a virtually indistinguishable version of La Motta, the brooding, chilling account of a boxer getting the shit beaten out of him:

Hog Haul Valentine - La Motta (4.77 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

It's not actually particularly bad, just... well... kinda boring. And the same. Their site is here, anyhow.

And [2] your listening pleasure, some horrible person called Greg "Danger" has fair ruined the spastic dance-floor classic AFFCO for all time:

Greg Danger - AFFCO (4.66 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

For god's sake, what was he thinking? I'm going to have to paraphrase the sample he uses on the intro to his track and direct it back at him:

I wanted to tell that you're an evil horrible person. You're an awful person, you represent horrible ideas, god hates you and he wants to kill your children. You should burn in hell. Bye.

Some of the other covers on She's Lost are quite good, though.

Links:
The Skeptics at Last.fm (where you can kinda listen to two different versions of Sheen of Gold)
She's Lost official site and Myspace page

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Don't forget to check out David Cauchi's address about Science Fiction and Art at the film archive tomorrow afternoon.

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NP: Inferi - Shores of Sorrow (Metal Observer review).

Golly

Stunned to discover (via Trademe) that the practice of making blackface minstrel dolls for children ("golliwogs") is still going strong in New Zealand. (Don't believe me? Check out this search.)

I'm sorry, but wha? Didn't these become passe -- if not completely unacceptable -- at least 30 years ago?

I'm surprised they don't come with tee-shirts which say things like "Lazy" and "Goodfernothing" and "Shiftless jigger" and "Lock up yer valuables" and so on.

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My friend David is giving an address at the Film Archive on Saturday afternoon. It's called something like Why Science-Fiction is the only legitimate artform of the 20th and 21st centuries. Read about it at the Wellingtonista.

It's going to be great.

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NP: Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions - We people that are darker than blue (listen).

Blonde at the Bar

Cracker beat me to it, but whatever.. The Herald has started a new "Sex and the City"-style blog thing called Blonde at the Bar. Yeah, exactly.

It's written by one of their reporters, Joanna Hunkin, and her frivolous, misguided, facile drivel is only just inconsequential enough to avoid spoiling your breakfast. Being published on a daily basis, though, it could almost be said to be good for getting your day off to an excellent start. You know, have yourself a nice hearty laff. And the (generally acerbic/of better quality than that to which they refer) reader comments are worth the price of admission alone.

*yuk yuk yuk*

Here's the RSS feed.


(Image out out-of-focus lady and floating, disembodied cocktail-waiter hand from Jupiter Images)

Safe by Rebecca Turbow

Rebecca Turbow is gorgeous, and she makes gorgeous clothes as well. (You might have noticed her Myspace page if you checked out the Pop Levi link from the other day.) Anyhoo, while they're really clearly mid-60s-Mod influenced, there's also something about them which just makes me say "Yeah!".

The designs are born out of Turbow's idea of creating elegant and durable hand-crafted clothing centered on the concepts of safety and protection. Are you thinking of some kinda weird pastel futuristic thing like Logan's Run or Zardoz? I am. Either way, my eyes are wishing there was more of this sorta thing around at the moment.

Rebecca's (admittedly rather Flash-heavy) official website is here.

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NP: Skeptics - pretty much everything they've ever released too, actually (Last.fm).

The hard word

Right on. It's time to take this blog in hand. I've been unbelievably busy on so many different thangs -- work, the new Foxy Digitalis, the new AudioFoundation project, writing for FD and the Wellingtonista, running Palindrone, working on new seht material, trying to get some new Stumps releases off the ground -- who really has time to post here? Well, I have managed 20 or 30 posts since the New Year which is not tooooooo bad, but it's the quality as much as the quantity, y'know.

So this here is where I put the stake in the ground and say "NO MORE!"... where I put my hand on my heart and faithfully promise to update much more frequently (dare I say daily???) and with much better content. Oh! The melodrama!

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Saturday night was Antony's birthday. Fifteen or so of us spent several hours on the cushions around the low tables at Cafe Istanbul, which was lovely and left me with the following thoughts:

• I'm never, ever going to do that again -- my back is still sore. Am I getting old?
• Are belly-dancers really supposed to be dangerously obese? And, even if so, are New Zealanders really ready for the challenge of upping and dancing with one in the middle of a restaurant? Or is it just cringingly, excruciatingly embarrassing.
  
• BYO whisky (in the hip-flask that Ms. Brown gave me) is a great idea and should be done more often -- it really adds a hitherto-unknown element of intrigue and danger into what is otherwise the fairly straightforward procedure of going out and eating food.
• I still really, really like Mediterranean food. Yes, sure -- it's all very low-brow and so on, but damn if it don't taste good.
  

Apparently after James and I left at about 11pm, somebody broke down in tears at the table, and the party moved downtown; Kiran didn't get home until 4am. Am uncertain at this point whether it was a good or a bad thing to have missed all this.

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NP: Circle of Ouroborus - pretty much everything they've ever released, actually (aQuarius).

Pop Levi

Liverpudlian nu-glam and ex-Ladytron bassist Pop Levi is bringing his hyperactive T. Rex-isms to the Bathhouse.

Here's the sweet-toothed truth about Pop -

It's not often you get to use the word "cat" about a fellow human, but then it's not every day you come across someone like Pop Levi. And Pop Levi is one strange cat.

Born in London, with musical roots in Liverpool, a stint playing with Ladytron and a home in Los Angeles, Pop Levi likes to describe what's good about pop music as "astral". His debut album, The Return To Form Black Magick Party, is, fittingly, worthy of the term. Although the most obvious precursor of his sound might be Mark Bolan, listen carefully and you'll hear touches of everyone from Jack White, Prince and Hendrix to Dylan, Lennon and Beefheart in there. But rather than being any kind of eyebrow-raised pastiche, this is what Pop describes as "channelling" - an album of such complete conviction, flair and energy (plus a lorryload of hooks) that it is utterly irresistible, a stack heel pushed right down on the accelerator.

So come along, dance around and get sugar in your eye. It's gonna be cosmic, and it's gonna be fun.

Listen to Sugar Assault Me (2.18 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

Two other things:
1. Over The Atlantic is supporting. Woot.
2. Jaegermeister is sponsoring. There will be presents on the door, and trinkets and drinks being given away. *Hic*

POP LEVI
SAN FRANCISCO BATHHOUSE
WEDNESDAY 6 JUNE
Presales are $35, and available from Slow Boat Records

NZ music month in Wgtn

In honour of NZ Music Month, at the Wellingtonista we have been talking about our favourite Wellington bands. I chipped in with a list of my personal favourites (Wellington music month 4: gettin' serious) which included:

The Avengers
Bailter Space
Birchville Cat Motel
The Elephantmen
The Garbage and the Flowers
The Labcoats
Little Bushman
The Phoenix Foundation
Primitive Art Group
Signer
Surface of the Earth
Andrew Thomas
Trinity Roots

Other contributions:
Wellington music month 1: guaranteed Emo-free
Wellington music month 2: favourite songs for the forlorn
Wellington music month 3: getting Noizy
Wellington music month 5: The dub strikes back

Getting serious at Happy and St. Andrews

Two freakin' amazing concerts at St. Andrews over the weekend, and one tonight at Happy, including the launch of the iiii Records label and store.

Read all about it at The Wellingtonista.

Blues Onna Sunday

Latest in series of Sunday blues-sessions, featuring Shuji Inaba, The Stumps, Tindersticks, and two from LSD March...

Let Me Lose My Mind Gratefully

Hold onto your hat and get ready for one of the most over-the-top rock n' roll bands of all time.

Hailing from Japan, the King Brothers (Myspace page here) make it their business to somehow mash-up the elements of every vital era of rock n' roll music and then utterly demolish it. They approximate the sound of the Germs backing Howlin' Wolf -- with his hand caught in a garbage disposal unit.

Promoter Brendan writes:

Few live acts make me drop my beer. When the King Brothers played Auckland a couple of years ago they did just that and left a trail of blind worshippers in their wake, setting rock'n'roll music and anything else in their path on fire.

This incredible live act make notorious leather-stovepipe nutjob rockers Guitar Wolf seem like Scots sadcore drips Belle and Sebastian. They take the blues into primal scream territory, and in the live setting they gleefully pound your face in the resultant flaming gloop.

In support are Wellington's own excellent looney speed-rockers Knife Fight.

For better or worse, you will soon be able to divide your life in half - a time before you heard The King Brothers, and after. Oh, it's gonna be explosive. Fucking explosive. You can count on it.

THE KING BROTHERS w/ KNIFE FIGHT
THURS 3RD MAY
SAN FRANCISCO BATHHOUSE
DOORS 8PM

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT REAL GROOVY

PC or not PC, that is the question

So is a movie clip called "White People Dancing" -- sorta Funniest Home Vids montage style, featuring a bunch of unattractive whiteys -- at weddings, socials, whatever.. some of them Irish, or maybe Polish, I'm guessing -- committing various acts of uncoordinated abominations all in the name of getting down -- just a bit of fun?

Or could it be said to be -- at best -- culturally insensitive, or even -- at worst -- contributing to the propagation of racist stereotypes?