Quaint ramblings and occasional reflections of a journeying Aussie musician...

25 February 2007

Media Watch 2

....forgot to mention last time a cuppla things....

....so, as I've said before, the lappie has taken over my entire life and I really don't know what I'd do without it.....we got broadband wireless in the flat (where has this been all my life!?) and so lately I've been sitting up a little too late on the nights in watching google video and youtube....

....I'm never gonna watch TV again! It's too good, there's too much stuff, no sitting through ads, it's all only 10 mins long etc.....there's a certain bent to the stuff I've been watching which I'm sure you'll pick up........just type in the phrases, you know how it works....

* Keith Olbermann on MSNBC - some of his Special Comments criticising Bush and the administration are excellent.....this is a guy in a suit who obviously loves his country, frequently talks of the lessons learnt from its history, and is articulate and intelligent in saying that the US government is doing WRONG THINGS in Iraq....

* His seeming arch nemesis, Bill O'Reilly - what a horrible person! hugely biased, arrogant and rude to his 'guests', often factually wrong, and somehow still has some sort of commanding reporting position at Fox, which is basically the TV advertising department of the Republican party, something I've only just learnt through the excellent documentary Outfoxed (check that one too)....

* Some full shows to check out - Iraq for Sale, Loose Change 2nd Edition Uncut, The Power of Nightmares, Robert Newman's History of Oil...and whatever Daily Show with Jon Stewart that can be found is well worth a laugh.....

...so of course any heads up from y'all ou there about anything else I should be checking out of a similar persuasion, I'd be glad to hear it - drop a comment here or zap me at my new email address - mikeguymusic@hotmail.co.uk - laters....

23 February 2007

Media Watch

At 3AM on a Friday morning in London, the gloooooooorious Nation's Capital, Mike has been checking out, of late....

BOOKS:

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton - Good Aussie reading, some positively beautiful imagery, makes me think of all those dry yellow fields swaying under a.....whatever!

Free Play by Steven Nachmanovich - more about THIS one soon, picked it up from the footnotes of 'Effortless Mastery' by Kenny Werner, covering similar material but am finding it in many ways to be much more stimulating and inspiring....on those doubtful days of late where contemplation of one's musical existence reaches unbearable zenith, I pick up this book, read a couple of pages and I'm like RIGHT, baked beans until retirement, I'm an artist forever! And then I pick up a phone bill or something....

MUSIC:

Bundeena, Bernie McGann - Oz saxophone national treasure - I get the impression sometimes that players seem to only like music (or think that others like music) that involves the particular instrument that they play i.e, trumpet players only listening to trumpet music, and I've come across this in various people's record collections, but not so here. Nevertheless, I'd kind of forgotten about this until I saw a great gig with UK trumpet player Tom Arthurs the other night at Vortex, and so went back to this particular side, with only bass and drums....a pure treat, ARIA award winner and all....

Robert Glaspar, Canvas - I came home the other Sunday afternoon from lugging my keyboard to the end of the Northern Line for £20 and for various reasons felt like giving up, the whole thing, going and getting a 'real' job earning something allegedly 'real' like money....then I put this on and thought I have to be part of this music, not just a listener, there is hope....wikkid outing from latest US pianist on Blue Note, gorgeous originals la la la.....

Michael McDonald, What a Fool Believes - Did a funk gig with a sax player the other night and we started talking about 80s music, so much attitude, so I opened up the Standards Real Book to one of it's highlights, a chart of this song - the opening piano part isn't just piano, it isn't even 80s piano....it IS the 80s! When I hear this music and particularly that really high style of singing that was around in late 70s early 80s, I start thinking of the toy department in my local Woolies back in the hometown (i.e, piped music), but when you get into it, this song has awesome lyrics, tells a great story. And of course Michael McDonald is of course an awesome singer, having done BVs for, that's right, Steely Dan....

And of course that brings me to an honourable mention of a couple of music websites I've come across lately, namely acquisition.com (mega fast free downloads of anything you can think of)....just like to add here that although free downloads are killing the music industry, I think we're all guilty of it a bit, and I sure didn't think twice bout a couple of songs here and there from Lionel Ritchie or Michael Jackson whose careers I'm sure won't be drawn and quartered by such action....

.....have a go too at pandora.com, which creates a radio station based around the musical characteristics of a particular artist or song of your choice....chekkit!....

15 February 2007

The Good Life

...January, and indeed February, are dead times. After the hullaballoo of the silly season and the turn of another year, the first two months of the calendar are either time to lie around in the sweltering heat or stay indoors from the freezing cold. And so, coupled with a sudden change in employment circumstances, your correspondent finds himself of late with a whole lot more time on his hands, time to think, time to practice, time to dwell....
So in continuation from the last entry, the work permit worked out fine. Two weekends ago, a quick jaunt to the City of Light and a fax later bought me another six months here. We'll see how we go...
....Today's foray from the flat took me to neighbourhood of Old Street, a huge crossroads being the meeting point of the City of London and the East End. A similarly aged friend of mine remembers cycling down streets in nearby (now trendy) Shoreditch that hadn't been rebuilt since the Battle of Britain, and in a way the surrounding area still looks a bit the same in parts. My mission was offices of the national ballet organisation whose name I've already forgotten, to inspect and pick up some copies of music for a potential gig playing for classes at a local specialised high school. I took the plunge and bought both books, it'll be a bit of sightreading which is always good and some more work could come from it.
I stumbled past a bar with posters in the window - that's right, today's Valentines Day. Oh well, no concern here I thought as I trudged along.
And then, a sudden memory of someone I used to be with, someone who's life force was so strong it swept you along with it, kept you coming back for more, and now the absence of that feeling, and where it left me....
On the way back home I dropped in to my local Bangla store for a couple of jars of Mr Naga but alas, they were all out! You mean other people in this town are crazy enough to eat that stuff? This is nuclear powered chilli paste we're talking about here, interdimensional capabilities. Next week I suppose....
.....Back to the flat, to the piano, to those same nagging thoughts about my situation and it's various conditions.....
....NO! I won't let this happen, not again.....
....Time for some sugar. I learnt this a while back on a drunken late night recording session - slumped in some ridiculous self-centred brood, a friend whisked me to his back shed at three in the morning to record an accordion sounding part on some old contraption he'd bought from Vinnies or somewhere....unphased by my sudden mood slump, he plied me up with toast layered with loads of honey and a cup of tea with about five sugars. It didn't solve my problems but it gave me that little kick along to get me out of my anti-reverie and oompahing away in his backshed recording studio in the freezing Canberra winter....
....So that's what I did. I lined up a hot chocolate. I put some washing on. I listened to some Marvin Gaye. I went and found stuff to do. And it worked. It's a process of digging yourself out of it, and after what seems like such a long time, I know that I'm getting better at it, little by little....