Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Important notice - avoid wasting your time...

There is an email being forwarded around Auckland city at present. If you get it, DO NOT send it on to your friends, It is a hoax. Remember, just because you get it from someone you trust, does not mean it's true.

Check this...
"This warning message is pure hoax: No drug called Progesterex exists, no pill for permanently sterilizing horses or other large animals is used by veterinarians or sold on the market, no campuses have reported any students becoming the victims of sterilization-by-drug, and the URL cited in the text never offered information "telling people how to use" Progesterex." (my bolding)
Remember JUST GOOGLE IT.... copy the first line, paste into Google, add the word Hoax, then hit Search.
There are a number of reasons that flag this email as a hoax - Crowbar's name is mispelled, its not a pub either.


The email starts... "A woman at the nightclub Crobar (pub in Auckland city) on Saturday night was taken by 5 men, who according to hospital and police reports, gang raped her before dumping her. Unable to remember the events of the evening, tests later confirmed the repeat rapes along with traces of Rohypnol in her blood, with Progesterex, which is essentially a small sterilization pill.

The drug now being used by rapists at parties to rape and sterilize their victims. Progesterex is available to vets to sterilize large animals. Rumor has it that Progesterex is being used together with Rohypnol, the date rape drug. As with Rohypnol, all they have to do is drop it into the girls drink.

The girl can't remember a thing the next morning, of all that had taken place the night before. Progesterex, which dissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that the victim doesn't conceive from the rape and the rapist needn't worry about having a paternity test identifying him months later.

The drugs effects are not temporary - they are permanent! Progesterex was designed to sterilize horses. Any female who takes it will never be able to conceive. The bastards can get this drug from anyone who is in vet school or any university. It's that easy, and Progesterex is about to break out big every where... "
EMI on the block
Via Coolfer...

"Big news this morning about a private equity bid approach for EMI. The company acknowledged it has received a bid of £2.5 billion ($4.87 billion) from an unnamed party of multiple private equity firms.

The Financial Times reported today that private equity firms Kravis Kohlberg Roberts and Goldman Sachs are in talks with EMI. In June of 2006, EMI rejected a £2.5 billion by Warner Music Group.

Update: Kate Norton at BusinessWeek.com has an insightful and, I'd say, spot on article about the EMI bid. Analysts note that the cost-cutting that makes an EMI/WMG merger so attractive would not be realised if EMI was acquired by private equity firms. Where is the value?

"The most likely route to value creation would be to sell off the EMI Music arm, where underlying profit from operations fell to £11.5 million from £38.3 million in the first six months."

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

RDU being sold off?
Just spied this at The Joint...

Interesting story in The Press this morning titled RDU sale upsets students...

"Canterbury University's student radio station has been sold for $1 without the knowledge of its student body.

According to confidential documents and emails given to The Press, the University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA) decided to sell the student station's RDU brand to newly formed private company RDU 98.5FM Ltd for $1 earlier this month. Its office and equipment have also been sold to the company for $1, while its frequency will be sub-licensed.

The decision has not yet been made public and was made behind closed doors in a secret ballot."

UPDATED -Please read the comments for the statement from RDU's station manager, to get the full picture...


UPDATE 2 : From the Joint...
Radio New Zealand report: "Student radio station sold for $1"
Amusing discussion here and here

from the LJ comments mentioned above (and also in the comments below, hat tip to Bob Daktari)... "When this happened at Waikato, they sublet the frenquency and it was used as commercial station. When the student association tried to start a new student station they got told that they had one already so they couldn't get a new one. Problem was the deal they signed meant they effectively lost control of the licence forever. RDU's old debts (From the Canterbury Student Broadcasting days) have been written off, and at the moment it was being run direct by the UCSA, not as a separate company so it doesn't really have any separate losses to transfer."

Monday, November 27, 2006

November 25 BaseFM Ring the Alarm playlist
James Brown – Blind man can see it
Fabulous Counts – Dirty red
Grant Phabo – Message to you Rudy
Eternals – Queen of the minstrels
Quartertones – Caffiene (DJ Format mix)
Horne Singers – Flat foot
Donald Fagen – Ruby ruby
Erykah Badu vs Junior Byles – Cut it aaht badu
Pat Rhoden – Living for the city
Aretha Franklin – Jump
Open souls - What you do
Dancing Djedi – Body surfin
Boozo bajou feat U Brown and joe Dukie - Take it slow
Paragons feat Uroy, Channel Live, Vegas – Wear you to the ball (Flex re-edit)
Breakestra - Gotta let me know
Don Drummond and the Skatalites – Heavenless
Sizzla – It’s appropriate
Delroy Wilson – Better must come
Al Green - Take me to the river
DJ Krush - The dawn
Ann Sexton - You’re gonna miss me
Radio city feat Baijka – The hop
Sam Sever -Words of wisdom
Tenor saw - Golden hen
Vin Gordon – Steady beat
Top cat – Champion DJ
Freddie Cruger – Simply fresh
Chosen few – Tears of a clown
Piero Umiliani – Mahna Mahna


November 18 BaseFM Ring the Alarm playlist
Cedric Im Brooks – Shaft
Bumps Jackson – Funky in Jamaica
Skatalites – Coconut rock
Lyrics Born – Do that there
All Natural - Renaissance (inst)
Mulatu – Yegelle Tezeta
Connie Price and the keystones – Western champion
Riot riddim sound system – Home girl
Phillis Dillon – Rock steady
Idris Mohammed – Express yourself
Keith Mansfield – Morning Broadway
Freddie Hubbard – Red clay
Paul Murphy – Soul call
Kevvy kev – Give and take dub
Rejazz – Torch of freedom
Paragons feat Uroy, Channel Live, Vegas – Wear you to the ball (Flex re-edit)
Black Grass – Oh jah
Onelung – Devine No 5 (Dub asylum remix)
Nicolette – No government
Bob James – Angela (theme from Taxi)
Archie Shepp – Attica blues (Chief Xcel remix)
Rolfos Tabanka Rhythms – Watermelon man
Bobby Byrd - Hot pants
Tyra and the tornadoes – hui hui
GHP - Karmastition
Quantic soul orchestra – Get a move on
Quartertones – Caffiene (DJ Format mix)

Friday, November 17, 2006



Clyde is cool.
There's a fine exhibition of 70s sneakers down near High St, at the Loft, in Chancery. Today is that last day (of the two-day show) so get on down there if you can. I went and had a lookee yesterday, way cool...

"The Clyde is arguably one of the most beloved and significant shoes from PUMA’s past and has been a part of contemporary sneaker culture since its inception in 1973. The first signature basketball sneaker created, the Clyde was a custom tailored version of the popular PUMA Suede, designed for basketball legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier (pictured above). Nicknamed “Clyde,” as a reference to Bonnie and Clyde, Frazier was a pioneer for becoming a style icon both on and off the court during his all-star career.

In organizing the exhibition, we asked some of Clyde’s oldest friends and fans to share their stories and personal treasures. The showcase will feature memorabilia, photo displays along with relevant music references to the scenes that embraced the Clyde through the years.

The gallery exhibition will tour the world and make a total of 23 stops in Sweden, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Italy, United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Brazil and the U.K. " More on Sneaker Freaker.

I also popped into Loaded on High st, and saw Chingy. He was buying sneakers. He's kinda short.


on a different tangent...

Tom Waits - new music video over here. Off his 3 disc set Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards due out shortly. He appears playing live on The Late Show with David Letterman (Prime TV) on Wednesday, November 29, along with Kate Winslet, and a Survivor: Cook Island’s castaway. What company. (hat tip to Fiona)

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

iPod owners are thieves and liars
"Universal CEO Doug Morris revealed that the label refused to license its content to Microsoft's Zune Marketplace online store without royalties, arguing that his company requires compensation above and beyond direct music sales, regardless of whether Universal artists' music is ever copied to a Zune.

"These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it," says Morris. Link.

Universal will get a fee for every Zune player sold. Expect the other majors to jump in shortly.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Funniest headline of the year
from Daily Chord - "Will Zune make brown cool?"
Which links to this story...

"Who in their right mind would produce a brown electronic product?" Steve Kaneko, design director of the Zune, asked. "Artists would. Musicians would. This is very underground. This is Seattle grunge. This is our Kurt Cobain." Just to drive that point a little further, every Zune has the phrase "Hello from Seattle" engraved in the back.

Oh, my aching sides....

Monday, November 13, 2006

I can see the music
The New York Times profiles the New Ambassadors... (also read here if NYT link has disappeared behind their paywall) - bands touring the US, funded by their governments.
The article talks to bands and reps from Denmark, Canada and New Zealand... including Die Die Die, Sam Scott, Mikee Tucker and Gary Fortune.

"Is the endgame selling a lot of records in America,” asks Adam Shore of Vice Recordings, “or is the endgame exposing America to their culture and their kind of people?”

... New Zealand has for several years helped cover recording costs, and recently created subsidies, overseen by music and broadcasting professionals, for artists and labels aiming to sell overseas. One recent grant went to Michael Tucker, who wanted to open a United States office for his independent label and marketing company, Loop Recordings. A fast-talking former hairdresser and fashion photographer, Mr. Tucker recently oversaw a show by one of his bands, the funk-reggae outfit the Black Seeds, at a swanky Los Angeles lounge. But not long ago he found himself at a government function hobnobbing with his government’s top ministers. “I can shave,” he laughed. “I can play that game.”


Also, via Dubbers New Music Strategies... Major labels to abandon DRM.

No, really.
Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, Saturday 11 November
Connie Price and the Keystones – Sucker punch
Fatback band – Wicky wacky
DJ Krush - Escapee
The creators – Make an impact
Jackie Mittoo – In cold blood
Joe Gibbs – Run around
Womack and Womack - Teardrops
Lyrics Born – Calling out
Roy Ayers - Running away
Latin blues band – Lay an oz on me baby
Bruce Ruffin – Oohh child
Butch Cassidy sound system – Burning sun
Kora – Poitician (Paddy Free remix)
Quantic Soul Orchestra – Raw ingredients (Nostalgia 77 remix)
Scrappy – Off the lead
International observer – London dub
Black grass – Oh jah
Specials – Message to you Rudy – Bombs re-edit
Fat freddy’s drop – Midnight maruaders (Pylonz and Kinetix remix)
Common – The corner
Society’s bag – Let it crawl
James Brown – I’m a greedy man Pt II
Jimmy London – I’m your puppet
Dady Ous – Hard like a rock (Groove Corp remix)
Lee Oskar – Down the Nile
Dee Felice trio - Nightingale
Simon Bogle – Dry bone
Katzenjammers - Cars

Friday, November 10, 2006

Vinyl fun n games
"The next Auckland Record Collectors Fair will take place at Polish House, Morningside on Saturday November 11. For any serious diggers and regulars to this fair, it's the place to discover those sought after tunes that are treasured for years to come.

Stalls include New Zealand vinyl and posters and foreign, 60s, rare, dance, reggae etc vinyl. The event also has stalls selling turntables & accessories.

The venue is the Polish House Hall, 1 McDonald St, on the corner of Ethel Road, off Sandringham Road, opposite Eden Park. The fair runs from 10am to 3pm. There is a $2 entry fee."


And Simon Grigg chips in on the iTunes NZ debate with this gem... "I have it on fairly reliable advice that you can expect the announcement of a New Zealand iTunes store within the next ten days.."

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Clash city rockers
Clash exhibit opens at rock hall LA Times (req registration)
"... The Clash is being celebrated with an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.It's enough to give Mick Jones a case of anxiety.
"I've got mixed trepidation about seeing it, getting to the museum stage of life and still being alive," said Jones ...

Why the Clash are still rock titans (The Guardian)
and some famous fans on their faves Clash tune... snip...

Ian Brown
Musician, formerly Stone Roses

Bankrobber

"I was at the recording of 'Bankrobber'. Me and my mate Pete Garner were walking down Granby Road in the middle of Manchester one day and we could hear these drums coming through the walls. Pete was a proper Clash fan and he was convinced it was them. Then Topper Headon walks out on to the street right in front of us!

He invited us downstairs into the studio to see what was going on. Mikey Dread was there and we got chatting. They were dead cool. Joe Strummer was sitting in the corner with a big, wide-brimmed hat on beneath this big grandfather clock, clicking his fingers in time to it. Paul Simonon asked us what our favourite film was and then said [affects authentic west London drawl]: 'Mine's Death Race 2000!' Funny, the things you remember.

Afterwards, we showed Johnny Green, their tour manager, the way to the record shop and he bought two copies of 'London Calling' - one for each of us. I'll never forget it."