Longing for the day ...

Musowiki turns 100

Yesterday I put the 100th entry into Musowiki.net. There are now 114 entries. This is wonderful progress and I am so happy about it ... but there's a long way to go before it becomes a really useful resource.

The response has been great. Lots of people tell me they agree that this is a good idea (after I've put their service in it for them ...). A few have done some work on the site - mostly on their own pages, but a couple have done other things to help it grow. These people are acknowledged on the Acknowledgments page and I thank them very much for their help.

Now ... on with the long slow process of building it ... while simultaneously writing it up for publication as part of my thesis.

Please let me know if you have any spare time and are willing to help out.

Fete de la Musique

What an amazing musical experience I had yesterday! It pretty much covered everything that is great and awful about life as a musician. If only everyone could share something like this ...

It started with the Brisbane Fete de la Musique. I payed on the Licorice Lane stage, which was about 30m up a laneway between the two main malls in Fortitude Valley. This gig was a bit of the downside of being a performer. The two main stages in the malls on either side were quite loud, so hearing was an issue and an acoustic soloist getting attention was ... difficult. There were a few people walking past, but most of them stopped for a bit and then kept walking when the song was finished. I guess it's good that I was able to keep their attention for the song, at least ... a couple of people stayed for most of the set and the woman who was selling massages at the end of the laneway (she heard every act that day) said I was great.

Before I played I was asked to lend my guitar to Yolande of Yolande and the Sea, who played first on the main stage in the Valley Mall and then repeated their set when the second band didn't turn up. Poor Yolande had broken her top E string in her first song and when Jo (the organiser) asked them to play again, she asked me if Yolande could use my guitar. Being a drummer and not at all precious about my guitars, I was very happy to help ...

I was supposed to play for 20 minutes and had rehearsed a 20-minute set but the act after me cancelled, so I was given the option to extend a bit and played an extra two songs. I thought about more but I haven't had the chance to rehearse much this year and didn't want to embarrass myself ...Finished just after 1pm ...

I then got to hang out with the crew (particularly Jo Bell and "Mustang" Sally Porteous), and watch some great performers. I only caught the very end of the very beautiful Eleanor Angel, with a voice to match, before she was drowned out by the Pop/funk stylings of Shuttle Wreckers. These cats were seriously tight and funky - despite having taken a month off before yesterday.

Also caught Alan Boyle, though I had to leave in the middle of Alan's set to give Yolande my guitar. I met Alan in Fetfest last year and he's a real songwriting talent with a great voice. I also caught a set from Benjamin Hooper, whose sense of humour and musicality were unsurpassed. Finally, I caught up with PJ Weston in Ric's Bar. This was the first time I'd caught PJ's band and I was really impressed - tight, crunchy and very well arranged. A great unit. I also had a good Chat to Chris Pickering, who's off to the Nashville to do some writing. Best wishes, Chris, I apologise for missing your set.

But the best part of the day was that there was just sooo much music of all kinds going on all over the place that you couldn't walk around without hearing something ear-catching. I apologise to the great acts that I heard but didn't pay enough attention to remember. This festival is a brilliant idea and should be expanded n Brisbane and surrounds in future - awesome for the local music scene.

Which brings me to the next bit of downside to laying music. Sort of. I had a paying gig with Bun' Ber E starting 6pm on the other side of the river ... so I had to leave the Fete. I drove across the river and found the venue much more easily than I expected ... so I had to sit around for half an hour waiting for the rest of my band to show up - and, for that matter, for the function organisers to show up.

This is an often-overlooked downside to being an entertainer: you get to spend a lot of time waiting for things to happen. Anyone who tells you life on the road is always exciting and fun has either never done it or is full of shit. It's boring in large part - and even if you don't travel so much, there's still a lot of sitting around waiting for other people to want you to do stuff. Patience, tact and tolerance are very much needed.

But then the final upside: we had one of those nights when everything was perfect. The crowd was beautiful and enthusiastic, the organisers were organised, we were the perfect band for the event and the crowd was very appreciative - joining in the fun. It was a gig to die for - the band was also cooking ...

So there we have it - a complete musical existence in one day: sharing, technical failure, inspiration, letdown, travel, boredom, friendship, appreciation, enjoyment ... all of it.

And I wanna do it again tomorrow ... what's wrong with me???

MiTunes

I have to say that I was quite disappointed with SBS's exploration of the impact of file sharing on the music industry. It was shallow and unilluminating. It presented far too many stock lines from self-interested parties (APRA, ARIA, IIA) and lacked any consideration of the underlying issues and alternatives available to indie musicians.

At the risk of taking a cheap shot, it certainly lacked insight :-) (Disclaimer - I offered to appear on it but received no response. Not even a "no thanks". And I must confess that my viewing was interrupted by two phone calls - but that's why we have transcripts, isn't it??)

I understand that SBS does not have a great budget for producing this stuff, but their choice of talent was appallingly Sydney-centric and myopic. None of the artists was given any opportunity to explain what they do in any real sense -- if they actually understand their position very well.

The show didn't adequately distinguish between legal and illegal downloads or between the benefits of giveaways and the problem of piracy. It gave scant regard to the wider structures of musicians' income and the legal environment in which they operate - nor the separate but important issue of closing live music venues in this country. Nor did it balance "decreased" CD sales against increased revenue from digital sales.

But what I found most galling was the uncritical reception given to John Butler's in absentia statement that file swapping had led to a 40% reduction in sales of his most recent album over its predecessor. Excuse me? And the evidence for this is what? That the reduction occurred? And that links to file swapping how?

Isn't it just possible that Butler's latest album is a cold rehash of the same formula that worked on his previous 2 albums and that he's operating in a market of leftie youf kulcha, where budgets are tight and challenging authority a badge of honour? That Sunrise Over Sea was a breakthrough creation that exposed his unique music to a mass audience, a proportion of which found that his follow-up added nothing to their auditory pleasure and hence that, despite (or perhaps because of) the radio-friendly releases, it is therefore not worth buying.

Butler would not be the first to make this mistake - it's exactly the cookie-cutter approach that has led to so much criticism of the major labels in recent years. His sound depends heavily on a highly affected vocal style and high levels of musicianship over what are otherwise unremarkable arrangements of largely inconsequential compositions. His visual image trades on a similar approach. That works brilliantly for hard-core fans and, for a while, captured the imagination of a wider audience because of it's sheer innovation.

But if he doesn't evolve, all that will be left for future releases is the hard core, because to the rest it's just more of the same. Of course, that hard core may well be large enough to sustain him handsomely - Trent Reznor's is. But Reznor is bright enough to recognise where his fans come from - and doesn't go around making anti-file swapping pronouncements. Perhaps, as he notes, people simply don't like the new album (not him personally - I'm sure he's a great guy) so much any more. I wouldn't be at all surprised if making that statement has cost Butler some fans.

John, please, stick to playing guitar and entertaining people as well as you do. Leave the analysis and understanding to others ... if this program showed anything, it revealed the appalling ignorance on all sides this issue.

Harry Potter ...

Last night, at about 2am, I finished reading the last of the seven books in the Harry Potter series. Much to my surprise, I had started it at 9am and found it impossible to stop reading. This, unfortunately, followed on from me starting the first book less than two weeks ago. I have not had a relationship with fiction like that since I compulsively devoured The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant as a teenager.

Various members of my family had bought all the books, and I had seen all four of the movies made so far. I wanted a little distraction from the stresses I currently endure, so I thought I'd take the opportunity ... my wife had been gripped by the books.

I found the first four quite engaging and a good read. They were good stories, well told, with evolving complexity, but nothing special. I was quite annoyed at the filmmakers for distorting certain aspects of the stories but I guess that's understandable, given the nature of the stories.

But from the fifth book on, the world just exploded and I could not put them down! I was amazed as suddenly a complex and profound exploration of the human condition was laid out before me. The plot became more complex and the writing more gripping, too. Then, particularly in the last two, the philosophy that was dragged into it has quite enlightening.

Well done, J K Rowling, for pulling together this extraordinary work. I can see now why you are richer than the Queen ... and deservedly so. Rowling has created something that will be remarked upon in the canon of Western culture for years to come, while the Queen's legacy will be a mere chapter in the continuation of the British monarchy.

I thoroughly recommend the books to everyone, and the first few movies are pretty good, too, though I didn't like the third and fourth movies and can't see how the final three movies could possibly do justice to the story ....