The Opinionated Diner

I'm looking through you / you're not the same

2010-06-23T15:28:00.001+07:00

This blog has now moved to my own dedicated server. The Opdiner.com address is the default address for the blog. These pages, which are also hosted on the new site, will remain as archives.

So they flew the Super-Constellation all the way from Rimini / And feasted them on fish and chips from a newspaper facsimile

2010-05-22T16:12:00.001+07:00

What a very odd few months it has been. What a surreal few weeks. Both gross understatement I think, but better that than gross overstatement. I think odd and surreal describe the extended period better than any adjectives that imply bloodshed, disaster, civil mayhem or urban warfare. There have been those much reported moments of awfulness too but mostly those were limited to four bloody bursts

So let me sing a song for you / Just to help your day along

2010-05-08T15:09:00.001+07:00

How many of the world's armies travel with mobile Karaoke trucks? h/t to ThaiVisa

The bats have left the bell tower

2010-05-07T12:45:00.001+07:00

Hugely recommended, this interview with Martin Mills, owner of the most important independent record label in the world (and the bloke who released some of my favourite records ever and still does): The internet has revived interest in music, thinks Mills, by encouraging people to experiment. "It's made so much more possible - a greater and deeper love of music. It's re-stimulated my own

Two minutes fifty / it’s a 45 single / oh yeah

2010-05-06T09:55:00.001+07:00

This post, originally from August, 2006, in reply to a question from Robbie Siataga on an earlier post, linked, still seems to work for me. I thought I'd repost it for NZ Music Month, and because of the ongoing discussion on Public Address:------------------------------------ This was a question I received from Dubmugga; where do you see New Zealand music going and what measures would you

Besame mucho / love me forever and make all my dreams come true

2010-05-05T17:40:00.001+07:00

The preacher talked to me and he smiled / Said, come and walk with me, come and walk one more mile

2010-05-05T12:45:00.003+07:00

This is an interesting, and I think fairly perceptive overview of China's possible media future, from journalist and media observer Charles Mabbett: When China’s most popular blogger Han Han had his recent post about a spate of violent attacks in Chinese schools taken down, it wasn’t the first time that he had courted controversy and it is unlikely to be the last. The post entitled “Children,

A Chill in My Vein

2010-05-03T12:57:00.001+07:00

In honour of New Zealand Music Month, from Otaki (and a huge hattip to Yvette Parsons, without whom we may never have seen these): or the live version: With the upload comment: only thing the annoys me is the sound person did not know how to do the sound correctly, so...that's why I was off pitch. sorry guys,

I gave you silk suits, blue diamonds and gucci handbags / I gave you things you couldn't even pronounce

2010-05-03T10:36:00.001+07:00

There's nothing I wouldn't be / Oh that's the gift of schizo

2010-05-02T21:30:00.001+07:00

Oo-eee, in the USA this wack-job would be only slightly to the right of centre, but in the UK? Surely not. Perhaps so these days...... A high-flying prospective Conservative MP, credited with shaping many of the party's social policies, founded a church that tried to "cure" homosexuals by driving out their "demons" through prayer. Philippa Stroud, who is likely to win the Sutton and Cheam

Zip a de doo dah

2010-05-02T17:00:00.000+07:00

In the mid 1970s I read and re-read a book about Phil Spector. It was a inspirational book for me at that age. Out of His Head by former (and later) Melody Maker editor, and one of the most important music journalists of his time, Richard Williams, was the first biography of Spector and indeed one of the very earliest serious biographies of a rock figure that wasn't all PR puffery and gloss (I'm

There's a stack of shellac and vinyl / Which is yours now and which is mine? / 45

2010-04-16T08:52:00.002+07:00

Since we're celebrating record stores and all things vinyl, I thought I'd repost this, originally from August last year. I've had a couple of conversations of recent with people about record stores in Auckland...the lost sort..where was Record Warehouse? When did Taste close? That sort of thing. I guess its part of being some sort of aging vinyl buff, but the thought of all those places, many of

Play the string gently now / Pull the bow

2010-04-12T00:32:00.002+07:00

There is so much stuff online documenting and commenting on the riots and the before and aftermath, it's hard to know where to start. I've spent large parts of the day sifting through all sorts of pages and links, but still in a state of shock. This is in the city I live in, in streets I walk down, if not every day, at least once every two or three weeks. I know by sight some of the vendors

Cos the moral doesn't matter / broken rules are all the same / to the broken and the breaker / who's to bless and who's to blame

2010-04-11T10:27:00.001+07:00

The last twenty four hours in Bangkok have been horrific, with two opposing political factions refusing to back down from confrontation, one egged on by a leader sitting in a plush suite in Dubai. I'm not going to go into the political back and forth here, partially (and it's a huge part) because I don't understand Thai politics which are enormously complex, and I don't want to mis-state things I

As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent / You asked for the latest party

2010-04-07T22:03:00.004+07:00

I’m writing a lot at the moment. I’m writing stuff that probably won’t appear for a long time. Hell it might not even appear at all. But I’m writing, and getting things off my chest which satisfy me and scratch an itch, if you will. But I think I need diversion, so I’ll tell a story. It’s a story I’ve long wanted to tell but to be honest it was only after a bit of prodding from Brigid that I

I'm Standing At The Gates of The East / I Take My Pulse and the Pulse of My Friend

2010-03-28T21:40:00.004+07:00

A few days ago we Bangkok residents (and others in Thailand) received the most recent of the regular travel warnings we get via email. Despite the fact it was rather mild this time, it kinda irked me. They always do. Whilst I understand that governments have a responsibility to keep their citizens safe, and given the current uneasy situation in BKK it's likely wise this time around but the

Lonely days are gone / I’m a going home…

2010-03-18T11:10:00.001+07:00

I was going to post a Box Tops clip here as a tribute to the late, and extra-ordinarily great, Alex Chilton, but I guessed the internet would be filled with such things in the next day or so. So, I thought I’d post this instead: Good, huh? I'm sure he'd approve. RIP Alex.

l never got over bein' a tax man...

2010-03-17T16:24:00.001+07:00

Well I do my best to understand, dear / But you stiil mystify / And I wanna know why

2010-03-17T16:16:00.001+07:00

The Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister proves once again that being a moron is no impediment to getting a cabinet post in that nation.... Suryadharma added he did not agree with Muhammadiyah’s branding of smoking as haram, saying he believed Islam’s original stance on tobacco was makruh (frowned upon) but not haram. “Unless it poses a direct threat to human health, such as by causing

Eat to the Beat

2010-03-16T19:17:00.001+07:00

I was passing time, chatting rather aimlessly, a day or two back with a friend who’s lived in BKK for over thirty years. We were talking music mostly, the sort you find on 12” vinyl, something I’ve been buying quite a bit of recently, but slipped into culture and life in this city in general. You know, he said, Bangkok only has one real culture. Forget the temples, forget everything, Bangkok’s

Time takes a cigarette / puts it in your mouth

2010-03-15T14:58:00.001+07:00

Guilt?

Sometimes it short circuits / sometimes it’s a golden glow

2010-03-12T14:08:00.001+07:00

Ohh, I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front. No Particular reason..mostly just ennui and observation. Today, though, given as how some 500,000 folks in red shirts are marching on distant parts of Bangkok (and the panic stricken western travel alerts..how many tourists have been robbed, raped and murdered in fair NZ in recent years? Quite a number. And given the 150 million odd tourists here

You say you’ve seen seven wonders /and your bird is green / but you can’t see me

2010-02-26T12:07:00.001+07:00

A fascinating 1968 interview with Lennon, away from the screaming hordes (although without said screaming hordes of course he’d likely never have been a position to write, or, more, publish his two books). The things that hit me before 16… Parts of this have been edited out recently for the much derided new car ad that Yoko seems to have been happy to license. I like Yoko Ono, always

Sitting up front / Elivisi by the wheel

2010-02-18T12:14:00.001+07:00

Just a thought on media weirdness and the journey that erroneous data can take. In particular I’m thinking today of the reportage drivel that was the core of much of the reporting of Pauly Fuemana’s untimely death. I could write a book on the misreporting of the whole sad OMC saga, you never know where that thought might lead, and Peter Mclennan nailed it rather well here and here. As he says:

I knew a man / He told me of a land….

2010-02-15T11:53:00.001+07:00

It’s been a project I’ve spent more than few leisure hours engrossed in and on. I’m not sure that it will change the world but I’m well aware of the woeful state of the online documentation and presentation of so much of New Zealand’s music history. There is of course the wonderful 50s and 60s encyclopedia of New Zealand rock’n’roll presented online by Bruce Sergent, but it hasn’t been updated

Feel like being a monkey man one more time…

2010-02-13T17:54:00.001+07:00

Happy New Year, from the cusp. Any chance we could use this year to save the last of these wonderful cats, so that these ones, made of flowers in Hong Kong this week, are not all we have left when the next Year of the Tiger comes around?

Angels' wings we drive..

2010-01-31T14:21:00.000+07:00

Thank you Paul. Rest peacefully my friend.

Feel like I'm flying, I'm dying to say / "Want you forever and easy"

2010-01-26T05:35:00.001+07:00

Time to eat my words. A few weeks back I posted a comment on Lance Wiggs’ blog. Lance had written some very positive words about Air New Zealand in the post: A selection of reasons why Air New Zealand won the Airline of the Year in the Air Transport World magazine awards. Most of these refer to posts made here over the past three years, and the overarching reason is simply that Air New

(Go inside) and close your eyes / It's just a fools crown

2010-01-23T19:19:00.000+07:00

Alan McGee a few minutes ago on My Bloody Valentine: WORST BAND I EVER SIGNED? MY BLOODY VALENTINE A JOE FOSTER JOKE THAT FUCKING REFORMED ON US AND K SHIELDS IS THE BORING CUNTS OF ALL CUNTS As you were.

When your world is full of strange arrangements / and gravity won't pull you through

2010-01-13T10:50:00.001+07:00

Never trust restaurant reviews. Never trust restaurant reviews. Never trust restaurant reviews. Of course after a few glasses of house Chianti I usually get some perverse notion in my head that I should perhaps think about writing good restaurant reviews. This thought evaporates as the Chianti lulls me to sleep an hour or two later. I’ve trusted restaurant reviews from time to time. In

Aww / Fuck Off…

2010-01-12T12:46:00.001+07:00

Fantastic piece, built from quotes of those who were there, in the February Vanity Fair, written by Lisa Robinson. The quotes I enjoyed most came from Nile Rogers: We wrote “Le Freak” because we were denied entry to Studio 54 on New Year’s Eve 1977–78. Grace Jones had invited us to see her show, and she assumed that since our hit “Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” was so big we

It’s a long way from home / welcome to the Pleasuredome

2010-01-10T17:41:00.001+07:00

There were two great scams in the 2000s (assuming the decade is over..it’s technically not of course). One, it almost goes without saying, was the drive to war scam pulled fairly successfully by the Bush administration in concert with a few compliant governments (the UK and Australia come to mind) whereupon clear and known fraudulent data was placed in front of not only the public as a whole,

Lift me up on my honour / Take me over this spell

2010-01-07T13:48:00.001+07:00

Rather numbing, especially when you consider how many times it happened this last century (and before of course): This is taken from the 1963 movie The Victors, and was, so they say, inspired, if that is the right word, by the sad execution of Eddie Slovik, the last US serviceman shot for desertion. There is more at the Hunter-Gatherer. from whence this came.

Soul Adventurers

2010-01-06T09:33:00.001+07:00

A couple of incredible Jamaican voices since passed, both live in Ja: The very soulful Jacob Miller with his take on Marley’s Soul Rebel, and the deep chocolate tones of Dennis Brown. And for Willie Mitchell, perhaps the greatest producer of the early 1970s, two from his finest creation (sorry Al), Ann Peebles, who’s voice simply overwhelms me. The first is a raw, live in the studio take,

Rotary accessory watches / hire-purchase signet rings

2010-01-03T18:24:00.001+07:00

First essential film of 2010? I think so….

But It’s by Julie Andrews / not by John Coltrane

2010-01-02T14:02:00.001+07:00

Ok, 2009 was a shitty year financially. The whole world went bust. Or if you were sitting in Iowa or London, that’s what you’d believe if you spent much time looking at the televised media. But, that’s not true: China, India and Indonesia had a pretty good year (and it’s bemusing to look back on the American China doomsayers in late 2008..hopeful thinking indeed) and other parts of the so called

At 17 got my first Volkswagon / And mastered the life-long art of dragging

2009-12-31T11:45:00.001+07:00

A quick diversion: TOP 10 by extermitent

And with your hair combed right / and your pants fit tight

2009-12-31T11:11:00.001+07:00

Yeah, its via Bob Lefsetz, who mostly loves the sound of his own voice (remind me..what has he actually done apart from type?), but this, if you wanna be a pop star or just make music professionally, is very, very good: record labels. they can help or they can drag you down. here's the scoop. if they expect you to be the primary distributor of the product, don't sign the deal. the typical

See how they're dancing / to the Superfly

2009-12-30T10:17:00.001+07:00

Our paranoia is often worth revisiting decades later. Here is, in several parts, Orson Welles (who knows a bit about paranoia after all) and a fascinating, for mostly the wrong reasons, documentary version of Alvin Toffler’s massive ‘70s seller, Future Shock, now largely forgotten:

I'm wise enough to know that life doesn't give us the dreams we dream

2009-12-29T17:13:00.001+07:00

I saw Nina live once and it wasn’t a happy night, as she wasn’t in a good state. Sometimes I wish I’d been born twenty years earlier. A fascinating documentary from 1969, from Peter Rodis.

They’re smiling in your face / the backstabbers…

2009-12-29T12:05:00.001+07:00

Technorati Tags: China,opium So the Chinese have executed a Briton for perhaps smuggling opiates into China. I think it’s thoroughly appalling, but without wanting to get into the pros and cons of the death penalty (which, as I’m sure any reader of this blog would likely be aware of, I’m, without reservation, opposed to), one can’t but wince at the British hypocrisy. It’s hard not to recall

Ain't been round since you know when / Christmas time is here again

2009-12-27T15:40:00.001+07:00

A million or more words must've been put to screen about Avatar since Dec 17th. I'm about to add to them. Sorry. Christmas Day in Bangkok seemed to be the obvious time to see this. It's a Buddhist town, and a working day, so, we figured, we could celebrate in our own unhurried way. We'd do the family thing, the Skyping and the gifts, the big breakfast and then, having dispensed with all that,

People turn on in Otaki / I wish you were there....

2009-12-27T10:42:00.001+07:00

Utter briliance from Space Waltz: Phil Warren gets it (although he notoriously missed Spilt Ends on the same show) and the rest don't...but one could hardly expect Howard Morrison to. I just think having the balls to go up against the horror that was the NZBC light entertainment machine in the 1970s (and beyond) is something. I remember watching this at the time..the

Walking a straight line / No Deviation

2009-12-23T10:46:00.001+07:00

Yes, yes, yes..it's gratitous plug time, although I've missed the rush, I'm sure. But I'd just thought I'd mention one last time that The Screaming Meemees' album, If This is Paradise, I'll Take The Bag, as produced by the mighty Ian Morris in a haze in 1981 and 1982 (sessions that found him eventually married it should be mentioned), and remastered lovingly in 2009 by Alan Jansson is available

An' if I close my eyes / They will not go away

2009-12-22T22:50:00.001+07:00

Hey Charlie / I'll be eligible for parole / come Valentines Day

2009-12-22T19:02:00.001+07:00

All Christmas records are not tosh. Well, that's only slightly true as the overwhelming bulk of those foisted upon the public by hungry record companies are complete rubbish, and are best discarded, or set aside from the things that are supposed to make us feel good at this time of year. In 2009 Bob Dylan decided it was his turn and, while I've not heard it (and am unlikely to) beyond a track or

And I hoped we passed the audition...

2009-12-21T13:47:00.001+07:00

While the Beatles were busy re-inventing popular music as we know it, they still had time to send out a Christmas record every year. Merry Xmas y'all

I got a Rocket in my Pocket and a Roll in my Walk

2009-12-20T17:17:00.001+07:00

I've been meaning to link to this for a while: Chris Bourke's rather wonderful and evocative obit, from 2002, for one of Auckland City's most vital characters of the last half century. With a huge soul, generous and straight up, he's very much missed..there's always a bottle of Ouzo at the bar for you, buddy... Phil Warren, Impresario Irrepressible, imaginative, energetic, brash,

Wine, Wind and Pray on The Minds

2009-12-18T13:38:00.001+07:00

"It's flying in the face of our 2,000-year-old beliefs," a Catholic church spokesman, Lyndsay Freer, said.[From Semi-nude Mary and Joseph spark outrage in New Zealand | World news | guardian.co.uk] Ahh, but which ones exactly..you've changed the stories so many times down the years to suit (and slaughtered those who disagree), it's increasingly hard for us to keep up

Bought me a hi-fi for Xmas / Now I'm living in paradise

2009-12-18T11:59:00.001+07:00

Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere / Angel.....

2009-12-17T12:08:00.001+07:00

An other extract from the Opinionated Diner archives..this time the 7" list from March, 2006. I've tweaked it a little, mostly just typos and illiterate half finished sentences that crept through. Looking at the original I must've written the last half in some sort of bourbon induced haze (although I've never liked the stuff, but if I apply Occam's Razor to it, I can come up with no other

It was really nothing....

2009-12-16T15:12:00.001+07:00

Chad Taylor, over at his Marginalia, has a series of end of year thanks and is kind enough to mention me. I'm not sure whether to laugh or hide, but he's clearly nailed it rather well: I'm a grumpy bugger at the best of times and my wife, bless her, says I'm getting worse as I age. I hope so, I quite enjoy a good grump and grizzle. But this all of course, lays something of a burden on me at the

Things could work out just like I wanted them to / If I could have the other part of you

2009-12-14T23:37:00.001+07:00

Pa Pa Sa Re Ni Ni Sa Pa Pa Sa Re Ni Ni Sa

2009-12-12T17:56:00.001+07:00

Ok.... hello dilli haat everything is ok just want to inform u ur one mirror of the front wall upstair is broken which is not good for goodluck please repair it soon . when i pass by bus trough ur restarant i always see i dont have ur phone number otherwise i could have called u an informed u best of luck Posted by charan, on 01/22/2008 at 19:43[From Indians in Thailand - Dillii Haat]

No Tricks In '86: The 12" Singles

2009-12-10T22:53:00.001+07:00

Back in January 2006, on this blog, I posted a list of my favourite 12" singles. It was picked up by quite a few other sites, not least of which was the godfather of all house and dance music sites, Jahsonic, and it kinda went around the world, which was a buzz. I them followed it with a list of 7" singles and albums. The list disappeared into the blog archives and when I changed the URL to my

But At Least We'll Know That It's True / That I'm Almost Sixteen Again...

2009-11-29T14:05:00.001+07:00

If you'd pulled me aside thirty years back and told me that this year I'd be watching the The Buzzcocks in Bangkok, likely I'd be inclined to verbally slap you a bit to bring some sense back into the conversation. Of course I wouldn't have as I'm not a violent person by nature ( the last person I hit was Nicky Hager in the 4th Form, and I've felt guilt since). But tonight there I was, in the

And I want you...

2009-11-21T17:10:00.001+07:00

For those of us a long way away...

It poured sweet and clear / it was a very good year

2009-11-21T14:18:00.001+07:00

Time for a list. I hate lists mostly..reading them that is. But rather enjoy putting the things together, so if lists are your thing, please read on. Okay, as usual I can divide my new music this year into a fairly clear divide between the new and the reissued. But the divide is even stronger this time around as there is a very clear delineation between the physical and the digital. And the line

Believeing the strangest things (loving the alien)

2009-11-15T21:39:00.000+07:00

One of these days you'll go back to your home / You won't even notice that you are alone

2009-11-14T16:41:00.001+07:00

I guess I hit a brick wall in Bali. After years, it was hard to see it going anywhere. And I needed some urban. So, we packed the bags and moved to Bangkok, where, insanely, we know almost nobody. But, we reassure ourselves, it's rather close to a lot of people I do know, and rather more, for want of a better phrase, in the world. For the reasons I touched on in my last post, and for the

Is It The Blues I'm Singing?

2009-11-10T23:28:00.001+07:00

So that was Indonesia. I wasn't going to write anything on my leaving for fear that I might offend or come across as the perennial grumpy ex-Indo expat (and the usual response to such is for others to say, vacuously, 'if you don't like it..leave'..uhh, I have) but this piece (which has disappeared on the original site as it's domain seems to have expired, but is at this link and caused quite a

I had a little trouble in the home town / Things got funky so I had to leave - right away

2009-10-07T14:46:00.001+07:00

The truth is this isolation (because of being nuclear-free) has not been good for New Zealand...[From US may buy NZ skyhawks, reverse military training ban - National - NZ Herald News] I scratch my head and wonder in what way it's not been good for NZ. You mean because we were not allowed to purchase those antique F-16As, which, as an aside, Pakistan had already paid for? You ignorant,

The Sumatran Earthquake

2009-10-04T16:46:00.001+07:00

Zakharuddin, 42, a resident of Lubuk Laweh lost his wife, their two children, their home and most of his belongings. "I found my wife's body drifting by the river," he said matter-of-factly, as he collected clothes from the ruins of his home. He was out of the hamlet when the quake struck, and had only been able to get back on Thursday. "My daughter was 18 years old and my son was

I turned 18 the other day....

2009-09-29T14:58:00.000+07:00

Before the internet...more things from boxes..

You gotta wait a minute, wait a minute, oh yeah..

2009-09-27T13:04:00.001+07:00

I've always wondered what the Auckland City Council has against Auckland. Over the past three or more decades it's hard to think of a time when Auckland's controlling body has entirely worked toward the betterment of Auckland. There are huge successes of course and I think the city is blessed with it's parks, pools (although Parnell Baths are a shadow of what they once were), libraries, Art

In the light of 1000 smiles

2009-09-26T18:05:00.001+07:00

The Screaming Meemees sound as fresh and vibrant today as they did in 1981 and 1982. They still leap out of the speakers full of teenage verve to a pounding almost martial rhythm from Joh and Peter. Tony Drumm adding the off-true Kiwi vocal and ear for a memorable hook line Jordan Luck would work into a high art. Michael O’Neill – style and guitar – never too little and never too much – punk

Got to know how to pony / Like Bony Maronie

2009-09-23T23:36:00.001+07:00

Assuming this is correctly reported, not only is Palin ignorant about much of what surrounds her on this planet of ours, but she can't count either: He said she shied from discussing U.S. politics, though she did say it had been 10 months since Obama took office and Americans were questioning whether he had made significant headway.[From Some early exits as Palin woos Hong Kong investors -

Little men tapping things out / points of view

2009-09-21T22:50:00.001+07:00

Paul Holmes slaps tweeting in the NZ Herald and comes across as vacuous and grumpy... I think tweeting is inane..... ....Whatever tweeting is - and I genuinely don't know what it is - it ain't for me.[From Paul Holmes : Tweeting ain't for me - Technology - NZ Herald News] No Paul, inane better describes the substance of 90% of the grossly self-important television you hosted over the past

I'm a tower full of power with rain and hail...

2009-09-21T13:20:00.001+07:00

Gosh....... The failure was traced to an interconnection circuit beneath the Java-Bali straits that officials claim was stuck by lightning resulting in the sudden loss of 100 megawatts of transmission power.[From Bali News: Bali Suffers a Blackout] Lost in translation or......

We Gave Our Today For Your To-Morrow

2009-09-18T08:19:00.000+07:00

Brigid, our 14 year old, Bella, and I spent two hours on a local bus to Kanchanaburi today, to the North West of Bangkok, to visit the site of the famous River Kwai bridge, as mythologized, not altogether accurately in the 1957 movie. For all the tackiness of the surroundings of the actual bridge, which sits amongst countless souvenir stalls, people with very sad looking tigers and leopards (100

She ought to think twice / She ought to do right by me

2009-09-14T16:43:00.001+07:00

Gosh....Beatles demolish UK albums. The number one album, from dear old Dame Vera Lynn, bless...only managed 32,000 As 16 of the albums made the Top 75, Elvis Presley’s record of 14 simultaneous Top 75 albums, established in September 1978 a couple of weeks after his death, is eclipsed. It is certain that the impact of individual Beatles remasters was adversely affected by the release of the

One child grows up to be / somebody that just loves to learn

2009-09-14T16:24:00.001+07:00

We were down in Jalan Dhyana Pura, or as the ockers say 'drink street' (doncha love them..where would be without suburban Australia lowering the level of just about everything they see or touch to the base: eat, drink, fart and drink more. Oh, and of course, watch ball sports and yell inane things at people on screens who can't possibly hear them). Sadly, it's been of the curses of this gilded

I can’t seem to face up to the facts / I’m tense and nervous and I... can’t relax

2009-09-11T18:03:00.001+07:00

Just thinking aloud... Yes, I know that health care is kinda defining moment for our man Barrack in Washington right now..or at least that's what we're told a mere 8 months into his regime. Does that mean that it's over if he messes up this..8/48s in and it's all FUBAR??? No, of course not but clearly there is more riding on this than, say, gays in the military (as much as many of us would like

About a lucky band who made the grade....

2009-09-08T11:37:00.001+07:00

Ohh, ahhhh...fab new Beatles site, with buckets of new videos

We shall have music / We shall have rhyme

2009-09-06T10:07:00.001+07:00

Found down the the local pirate DVD emporium (I'm always bemused by the fuss over Pirate Bay when millions of dollars of high quality DVDs are openly sold in Pirate Megamarts with websites, online ordering and so on here in Indonesia every day without any noise. It's not unusual for a family to wander back to Perth with 200 movies).

Baby get yer rag on / We're going out tonight

2009-09-05T10:53:00.001+07:00

I feel vaguely guilty. I tweeted some silly off the cuff remark about dumb Americans, and the fuss from the loopy right about Obama's school address. Sometimes you just sit there with your mouth open, wondering if half the nation is simply taking the piss, just wondering in disbelief if these people are in any way to be taken seriously. But, yep, at that site linked, about half those who (

Driving down the forgotten road / I though I saw you crawling

2009-09-04T20:04:00.001+07:00

A couple more pages on my site devoted to The Suburban Reptiles, in particular the first few gigs, and the rather bizarre trip to Wellington in 1977. Of note on that page is the shot from Stuart Page of the Reps' Jimmy Joy, one of a series of quite incredible shots from Stuart, which those of us who were there all agree are some of the best shots we've ever seen of either this trip or the band.

Let your body groove to that happy happy music

2009-09-04T12:28:00.001+07:00

I'd forgotten how fantastic this was: Dalvanius Prime was one of those very mighty men who you'd never forget if you were truly lucky enough to have met him (as I was quite a few times..I regarded him as a friend and mentor). I have great memories of going, with Murray Cammick, to the filming of some mostly mediocre TVNZ soul tribute thing he was hosting in the mid

I got a feelin inside of me / Its kinda strange like a stormy sea

2009-09-01T18:05:00.001+07:00

Brilliant: You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind. We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've

If you don't have a dream / how you gonna have a dream come true

2009-08-30T22:46:00.001+07:00

A sweet confusion filled my mind / Until I woke up only finding everything was just a dream

2009-08-29T16:38:00.001+07:00

Last night Brigid and I enjoyed a bottle rather good New Zealand Pinot Gris, over dinner in Antique, one of our top 5 restaurants on this island over-run with rather good restaurants. And that is rather unusual. Not the eating part, we tend to eat out about 4 or 5 times a week and we've been to Antique so often over the past decade that we order things that Josuha took off the menu four years

You think you are but we know you're not

2009-08-16T22:19:00.000+07:00

The things you find in old boxes: July, 1977

Dial that beeper number / and call the packet man

2009-08-13T18:09:00.001+07:00

Sitting in a cafe on Saturday and the cellphone goes: Hello Hallo, Bapak Simon, ada paket (there is, or I have, a packet) (in a worked up way) Apa? Siapa ini? (what, who is this?) Ada paket (louder) Ada paket? Untuk saya? Dari? (what packet? For me? From?) Ada paket, ada paket, ada paket, ada paket (getting increasingly louder until he screams it) He then hangs up. I call the

What You see and what you get / Are two totally different things

2009-08-12T17:30:00.001+07:00

This week I’ve uploaded (or to be exact, asked to have uploaded) a 2009 remaster of the, if I say so myself, classic 1982 Screaming Meemees album, If This Is Paradise, I'll Take The Bag . We’ve added a few extra tracks, the singles and one off bits that helped define one of the biggest New Zealand bands of the 1980s, including See Me Go, the first NZ single to go to number one. It’s available on

You don't have to listen to me / That's the triumph of free will

2009-08-03T13:43:00.001+07:00

I'm quite enjoying this wacko Birther nonsense. Now it seems they've mocked up a fake Kenyan Birth Certificate chock full of mistakes that your average poodle would pick up: Dr C reports that Orly has filed a motion claiming that she has discovered another Birth Certificate for President Obama, this one from the Republic of Kenya[From Third Obama birth certificate appears in court « Native and

Mother, mother / There's too many of you crying

2009-08-02T19:31:00.000+07:00

When one considers millions and millions of kids the Catholic Church has mentally (and physically) tortured and left traumatised over the centuries, thinking that they're going to burn in (imaginary) hellfires for eternity if they don't play by the rules or have offended some make believe old man, this is rather rich: Social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace encourage teenagers

And I've been putting out the fire with gasoline....

2009-08-01T14:58:00.000+07:00

Swine Flu mania seems to continue unabated with the unavoidable conclusion that it's just, uhhhhh, the flu or a variation thereof, and the millions expected to die are still just getting a sniffle and then mostly coming right, while Tamiflu is doing rather well indeed, being conveniently overlooked in the rush to panic, panic, panic. I suspect we are all going to look back on this with some

All you gotta do is win

2009-08-01T10:35:00.001+07:00

This is kinda interesting but less than surprising is you've read Lawrence Wright Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript). In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained 'intimate relations' with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, "all the way until that day of September 11." These '

And they think that they have got the battle won / I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done

2009-08-01T08:38:00.001+07:00

Madness, just complete madness...and the Islamic nutters are worse how?

And then the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all

2009-08-01T07:44:00.001+07:00

Fascinating piece on the decline of the monolith from Redmond: Today that is simply no longer the case. Microsoft has lost all but a sliver of this entire market. People who love computers overwhelmingly prefer to use a Mac today. Microsoft’s core problem is that they have lost the hearts of computer enthusiasts. Regular people don’t think about their choice of computer platform in detail and

I'm going to ask you if you want to be a chorus boy / You can mime the tragedy while we all sing along

2009-07-29T19:31:00.001+07:00

A month and bit away, you forget.... at the office today the power on the second floor, which just happens to be my one, all went down even when it's on it's such a low wattage that we continually blow it all the time by just plugging in something like a fan we paid some guy US$800 as an unofficial 'fee' in May to upgrade it in 'a few days'. He now won't take our calls but the guys who

How do you do....

2009-07-29T09:58:00.001+07:00

Big hat tip to Stuart Page, Johnny (who knew him well), does Elvis: And Elvis does Johnny:

Give your soul to somebody soon........

2009-07-28T16:00:00.001+07:00

Brigid says that arriving at Auckland's airport always feels like arriving at the farm after any time spent overseas. Of course that's rather unfair but it did make me laugh at the time, and mostly it's defined by the cheery folks from MAF, in their overtight walkshorts, or the Waikato families waiting for cousin Reena or Aunt Mini. And to be clear this ain't a criticism or a snide way of saying

And I Want You To Be Happy But I'd Rather You Were Mine.....*

2009-07-27T14:55:00.000+07:00

Going thru old cuttings I found this (abridged) review of the Screaming Blamatics Roadshow written by a Tim Brown for Salient: When one considers that he was writing about Blam Blam Blam, The Newmatics, and The Screaming Meemees at their prime, and the songs he was dismissing include such iconic titles as There Is No Depression In NZ, Marsha, See Me Go and Riot Squad, one wonders if Mr. Brown

Mama see mama say

2009-07-17T16:40:00.001+07:00

Received today: From the Desk of John Freeborn Chambers 56 Elizabeth Avenue se10 0dx London, United Kingdom. Email: barr.johnfreeborn@gmail.comTel : +447023035974 Attn Friend, I am Barr. John Freeborn Liburne, one of the solicitor to late Micheal Jackson and i am based in the united kingdom. I want to use this opportunity to tell you about Micheal Jackson

I could make him squirm...

2009-07-08T12:15:00.001+07:00

The joys of rummaging around: the above are a couple of rarely seen photos of the Suburban Reptiles, the second being a shot from a proof sheet of the first official photo shoot, taken by myself in Onehunga May 77..just hunting for the negs now. And the full, never released take of The Suburban Reptiles' 78 track Rosie available here for the first time.

Time Keeps on Slipping.....

2009-07-05T12:16:00.001+07:00

As far as I know this is the only shot of Freebass playing at Cause Celebre, or for that matter anywhere. The Take Me Back gig has forced me to dig around a few old boxes of bits and pieces and I've found all sorts of stuff that I'd either forgotten or thought I'd lost. One of which was the one-off Karen Walker Box jacket whcih I wore last Saturday night and could've sold a dozen times or more.

Go East Young Man

2009-07-03T09:56:00.001+07:00

Singapore, 1959. I'm the one on the left, with my brother Alister.

Wild Thang / I think I luv you

2009-07-03T06:38:00.001+07:00

Take Me Back...the images are up here, but here are a few tasters:

Well your teeth are clean / but your mind is capped

2009-06-18T10:47:00.001+07:00

Good god....am I surprised though? Ahh.....no... The 5,440-meter Suramadu Bridge linking East Java to the arid island of Madura, which was kicked off with much fanfare by the president on Wednesday last week, is now missing 42 maintenance lamps, as well as some assorted nuts and bolts. The missing lamps were reported by the project’s contractor, said AG Ismail, the head of the National