RIP Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson, founder of Factory records and the Hacienda, discoverer of Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays, passed away on Friday 10 August, 2007.

He was a true legend, a funny but dodgy geezer, the epitome of the "Madchester" mentality.

Bands I've seen

These are the ones I remember seeing... There's probably more... And this list doesn't include DJs who essentially just played records...

1200 Techniques
Acyalone
Afro Celt Sound System
Alien Ant Farm
Aphex Twin
Ash
Atari Teenage Riot
Basement Jaxx
Beastie Boys
Beasts of Bourbon
Beth Orton
Black Eyed Peas
Blackalicious
blink-182
Bliss
Blue King Brown
Body Count
Butterfingers
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Coldcut
Corduroy
Cosmic Psychos
Def FX
Depeche Mode
DJ Shadow
Downsyde
Faith No More
Fat Freddy's Drop
Fear Factory
Femi Kuti
Foo Fighters
Franz Ferdinand
Freestylers
Fundamental
Garbage
Gerling
Gnarls Barkley
Gotan Project
Grinspoon
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Happy Mondays
Headless Chickens
Helmet
Hexstatic
Hilltop Hoods
Hole
Hoodoo Gurus
Hunters and Collectors
Ice T
Iggy Pop
Infusion
Inspiral Carpets
Itch-E & Scratch-E
James Brown
Jamiroquai
Jarvis Cocker
Jebediah
Jet
John Butler Trio
Jurassic 5
Kosheen
KoЯn
L7
Leningrad Cowboys
Live
Lou Reed
Luke Slater Freek Funk
Lyrics Born
Machine Gun Fellatio
Magic Dirt
Massive Attack
Metallica
Midnight Oil
Ministry
Mudhoney
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Mylo
New Order
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nightmares On Wax
Nine Inch Nails
Paul McCartney
Pavement
Peaches
Pennywise
Pet Shop Boys
Peter Gabriel
Phoenix
Pixies
Placebo
Pop Will Eat Itself
Porno for Pyros
Powderfinger
Primal Scream
Primus
Prodigy
Queens of the Stone Age
Rage Against The Machine
Rammstein
Rancid
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Regurgitator
Resin Dogs
Roni Size’s Raprezent
Roots Manuva
Salmonella Dub
Scissor Sisters
Shihad
Silverchair
Skunkhour
Slipknot
Snoop Dog
Sonic Animation
Sonic Youth
Soulwax/2 Many DJs
Soundgarden
Spank Rock
Spiderbait
St. Germain
Stereo MCs
Stone Roses
Supergroove
Superjesus
The Avalanches
The Breeders
The Cat Empire
The Chemical Brothers
The Clouds
The Cruel Sea
The Crystal Method
The Cult
The Cure
The Dandy Warhols
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
The Donnas
The Flaming Lips
The Hard Ons
The Herd
The Killers
The Living End
The Offspring
The Presets
The Rapture
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Streets
The Strokes
The Tea Party
The White Stripes
TISM
Tool
Tricky
U2
Ugly Duckling
Urge Overkill
Violent Femmes
Ween
Wolfmother
You Am I

PC dead again!

FUCK!!!!

My PC at home is dead again.

This time it appears to be my fault.

Hopefully the power supply has just gone, but it's still annoying because I had a heap of stuff to put online as well as a heap of work to do!

FunkyJ.com now online!

Finally, after upgrades and roll backs of FunkyJ.com for the last 6 months, all of my 2006 interviews from Twenty4Seven Magazine, dB Magazine and inthemix are online!

So please visit FunkyJ.com, read them and then tell your friends! =)

I will work at getting the 2007 interviews online over the next week.

Apologies for the lack of formatting on the new articles - the solution to my problem has been to shut off the TinyMCE section of my website, so now I have to write everything in HTML... and I can't be bothered, so no bold or italics in the news stories for the moment.

At least there's line breaks! =)

Zombie Walk

News Flash:

Headline: Hordes of Zombies roam city streets

Dateline: Adelaide Sat 26 May

Hordes of the undead rose from the Adelaide Parklands to traverse the streets of Adelaide.

Whilst most were docile, some moved incredible fast and demonstrated rudimentary motor skills suchs as operating cameras and other technological devices.


No one is sure what their purpose was, but as the shambolic mass stumbled down Rundle Street, Rundle Mall and Hindley Street, the chant of brains could be heard continually, making this reporter suspect they were protesting the lack of intellectual stimulation that Adelaide has to offer the denizens of the underworld. (or the populous at large - Ed.)

As far as we know, no one was injured or turned into a Zombie during the walk, although there was one weird zombie preaching the word of the Lord to the others in an apocalyptic manner.

Unfortunately that zombie was obviously more braindead than the others, as he kept trying to cite the scriptures but clearly had no proper understanding of them. One choice quote was "Jesus died on the Cross for our Sins, that should have been you" which is a clear misrepresentation of the meaning of the Cruxifiction.

Unfortunately this reporter was too busy staring at the raver zombie's cute ass and considering if sex with the undead would be considered necrophilia to take a photo of preacher zombie.

Video footage of the event follows, where you can hear a little of the preaching of the braindead zombie ...



More Photos and Videos at Ringo.com

The Most Poweful Person in the World

This is beautiful.

Updated Podcast

Hey all,

Finally updated my interview podcast!

I've got the following interviews up:

Kid Koala
Breakfastaz
Plump DJs
Stereo MCs
Roots Manuva
DJ Z-Trip
Coldcut
DJ Craze
The Roots

Unfortunately quite a few of them couldn't be put online (like my Andy C interview) because the recording quality was too bad.

I've got recording sorted now though and shouldn't have that problem again, and will start updating this much more regularly - interviews will go online 2 months after I publish them.

Subscribe Here

You can download individual episodes too.

If you want to subscribe via iTunes just click here
(or open the podcast menu in iTunes and search for FunkyJ)

As Promised... Hilltop Hood & the ASO Photos!

Pressure

Suffa

Debris

7000 people going off!

More at Ringo

Hilltop Hoods with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

I just saw the Hilltop Hoods with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Simply amazing!

They've always been top performers - I played at a gig with them about 7 years ago and even back then they were awesome, but to a home crowd of over 7000 people (which is some kind of record for a home crowd at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre) and with a 32 piece orchestra they were something else.

Also, as far as anyone is aware, hiphop has never been attempted with an orchestra outside of Springfield during the Lollapalooza tour

I did an interview with them the other week, and took some great pictures tonight, which I'll put online later.

I seriously reckon these guys are one of Australia's greatest bands, up there with AC/DC, Chisel, Midnight Oil, INXS, Crowded House...

Sure, it's totally different music, but the impact these guys are having on Australia is just as great as those other bands; they're selling shitloads of records, they're doing wonders for live music, they're inspiring so many others, and made Australian hiphop a legitimate art form.

If only they can make it overseas... They will do ok in Europe and the UK, but the US is really hard to break into, especially with hiphop...

FunkyJ.com temporarily down

You may have noticed that funkyj.com is "under construction".

This is so I can do some work on it like get my some interviews online and organise it all a little nicer. This will involve using a better CMS and figuring how how to use it...

Hopefully it will be all complete over the weekend, but this could be a week long job...

Utterly exhausted

Last night I was up until midnight playing LOTRO. Nothing unusual about that, that's my usual 'bedtime'.

But I woke up at 3am and went to the toilet, and as I walked into the bathroom the floor was all wet. At first I thought the cat had gone mental and peed there. It was a totally out of character thing for the cat to do, but hey, it was 3am and my brain wasn't fully switched on.

After I got out of the toilet I realised that the cat wouldn't have done that, so turned on the light to find my whole entire kitchen flooded, with water snaking across the floor making it's way towards my records and turntables.

I opened up the cupboard where the hot water heater is, and water was pissing torrents out the valves and along the top.

I searched frantically around the house for towels and buckets, and then began searching for the water mains. I live in an old 19th Century converted barn, and I assumed the mains would be on one of the properties we were linked to. I found a water mains tap, and turned it off, but that did nothing.

So I ring the land agent and then their after hours emergency service number and no body answers.

I ring Rheem and they tell me it will be about $200 for the first 40 minutes and a stupid amount thereafter. Meanwhile my kitchen is looking like an indoor swimming pool. I now know why they are called Rheem...

So, I try to twist a few knobs on the water heater, nothing budges. It's all wet and slippery and I'm not the world's strongest guy.

I find the release valve and think "A ha! I'll turn this on and just let the water empty down the drain. It's a waste, sure, but at least it's not going to flood the house!"

So I squeeze the valve and watch hot water pour out of the valve and go straight against the wall, run down the wall and join the other water from the leak, further exasperating the problem.

So, I think "---- this" and call Water SA - maybe they can help. The lady tells me that usually they could tell me where my mains water meter is connected, but the program they use to look that up has been down all weekend and won't be fixed until the morning.

So I call back Rheem and ask if I'll have to pay up front, and they tell me yes, which is impossible for me to do because I don't have that much money, not even on my credit card. So I ask if the lady can give me advice - I know there must be some kind of shut off valve, but she tells me she can't provide me with that information.

It's now 6am, I'm utterly exhausted, sleep deprived, soaked to the bone, and so worried about the water damage this massive leak is doing, I can't even swear at the bitch.

I basically pass out for an hour, wake up when my flatmate sms's me telling me she doesn't know where the water mains is either. She gets home, sees me and the house and starts laughing, then offers to help.

Then, at about 8:30 the plumber calls, and he tells me how to turn the water off on the water heater. But, as I mentioned before, I tried all the valves and couldn't budge any. I work at the one he told me to, and nothing.

So my flatmate goes to the mechanics around the corner, uses her wily womanly ways and gets a spanner. After about 10 minutes of trying to get between the valve and the wall, I get the water shut off.

The plumber arrives, takes one look at it, and says it needs replacing and they need to ask the house owner for permission.

Thankfully he said yes.

But now I am so exhausted. Physically from mopping and sponging and carrying buckets outside, and mentally because I've only had about 4 hours sleep...

In retrospect it's pretty funny, and if my brain wasn't so frazzled from so little sleep I would have taken pictures...

Seven Nation Army

This was on J-TV a few weeks ago, but I think this is amazing!

I find this guy's voice to be absolutely enchanting. He sounds like he was plucked straight out of the cornfields along the Mississippi in the 1920s...

C W Stoneking's cover of Seven Nation Army

50 Reasons why Star Wars is better than Star Trek

Ok, I know I may be biased, after all, I am working on a Star Wars game after all, but this list of 50 Reasons why Star Wars is better than Star Trek is a tremendously funny and accurate list.

But really, you only need one reason why Star Wars is better, and that's this:

The Advertiser Editors have some bloody nerve!

I had to laugh at the editorial entitled “Free people must be allowed a free press” that was on the AdelaideNow website on April 28, 2007.

The gall of the Advertiser editors to claim that they are some kind of bastion of democracy is phenomenal. If they actually think that they need to stop smoking the crack they are obviously are on and come down from their ivory tower and actually participate in the local community, because it's obvious they have an over inflated perception of them selves and their newspaper.

I couldn't help myself - I had to write in:

You claim that “A free media, the freedom of speech and expression of opinion, is the heartland of any democracy”.

The moment News.Corp appropriated all of Adelaide's papers into one was the moment the “press” ceased to resemble anything remotely associated with the word “free”. Murdoch's constant and consistent meddling in political affairs in Australia, the UK and USA stripped his media of any claim to the democratic process. Add to that the Federal Government's recent relaxing of media ownership laws to allow Murdoch more control and your entire diatribe at the government and lawmakers becomes fallacious at best, diabolical at worse.

You claim that parliaments are “the epitome of half-truth and obfuscation” yet in the last few months the Advertiser has shown itself to be more than equal to that task.

You claim that we are “fed a diet of misleading and shrewdly crafted press releases” but who publishes these releases? Who constantly publishes unresearched feeds from PR people and foreign newspapers?

The story about Knut the polar bear still has not been corrected in ANY news corporation publications, although the ABC's mediawatch showed that elements of the story were completely false and the animal rights activists involved now fear for their life because you “copy and pasted” the article from AP's news feed.

Examples of this sloppy journalism on corrections has increased phenomenally in recent years and yet your responses to such places as mediawatch when queried on it are unapologetic in most cases, and downright rude in others.

I have a challenge for you – you research and report the truth properly according to the MEAA's code of ethics, and when you do screw up the truth of the story you print a prominently positioned apology, and we, the public, will help to fight to stop your freedoms being eroded.

But until that time to ask that we support you would be laughable if it wasn't such a disturbing and disingenuous use of the Advertiser's editorial.

My weeked...

Pretty laid back weekend. To wet to go anywhere really.

The rain is good for the farmers though I suppose.

My weekend pretty much consisted of going through my music collection and burning a heap of CDs to my hard drive and copying them to my iPod.

I discovered quite a few CDs were missing unfortunately =(

But I did re-discover some old music, as well as grabbed a heap of stuff I have on vinyl in digital form.

I also bid on a heap of cheap CDs on ebay.

Also played a shitload of Luxor2 on my Xbox360.

It's like a breakout clone but a million times better and more addictive.

OK... so it's *almost* done

OK, so my page has been re-arranged and made more readable and "user friendly".

I've added some cool things like my LAST.FM player, so you can listen to the music I listen to!

I've added the feed from MySpace and IGN where I blog about games and music respectively. I sometimes double up, but deal with it ;)

I've also got a Skype Button so you can see if I'm available for a chat.

I'm eventually going to rearrange FunkyJ.com and update it with my latest interviews as soon as I can. That takes a little more work as the CMS and Word don't play well together, and I've got to convert all my word docs to text, then cut and paste, then format them all... Yes, icky I know!

I'm thinking of changing to a whole new CMS, so if you've got any suggestions post them in the comments!

Ch..ch...ch...changes!

OK, I'm finally changing a few things about my blog and website over the easter break!

Hopefully everything happens without trouble!

Knut the cute polar bear

Remember that story about those horrible animal activists who wanted to have that mega cute little polar bear called Knut put down?

For example THIS STORY



The cute little fella was even in the Colbert (or should that be Colbear?) Report!

Well, the whole story is a fiction. A lie*.

There's a bear called Knut, and that's about the extent of the "truth" behind this story.

Thank the world for mediawatch!


But I just wanted to bring this up to say that journalists never do their jobs correctly. I know the reasons for this - lack of funds, lack of time, publishing deadlines - but I don't CARE about them.

In any other industry, if something similar happened, the people who took this story as truth and reported it from the AP feed would all be sacked.

Yet I'm betting in 90% of newspapers and websites you won't even see a correction, let alone an apology to all involved.

It's utterly disgusting that these people go about their lives, after ruining the lives of others, without any feelings of guilt or remorse after reporting a story so badly. The media has totally screwed this up, and are unapologetic about it, and it makes me so angry!

Please, to all my readers, all 3 of you, can you link to this post, to the mediawatch page, blog about it, email about it, just spread the word about this, and get the media to admit their mistake and apologise to the men whose lives have been threatened with violence because of this poorly researched story.




*I'd go further and say it's a dirty smear campaign against Animal Rights and those who support them, and then by extension the Leftist and Green movements, but that would make me seem paranoid...

Future Music Festival

I must admit I was a bit dubious when I first heard about the Future Music Festival. Dance music festivals organised by out-of-towners tend not to do as well as our home grown shows like Enchanted and Stardust. People not from Adelaide tend not to recognise Adelaide’s fickle musical nature.

There were quite a few attractive women

Sure, the line up was huge, but other events, Two Tribes for example, had impressive line ups and yet never attracted too many people in Adelaide. Add the fact that it was on the same weekend as the Fringe Opening and Womad, and one could be excused for thinking that it might not do as well as it would in other states.

However, I am more than happy to report that Future Music Festival was an absolute success. The set up at the Garden of Unearthly delights was excellent, one of the best set ups I’ve experienced in Adelaide. I’ve heard varying reports about the numbers, from between 4 and 6,000 people, but the place was busy and bumping from the moment I got there. There was even a line up to get media passes!

MC Conrad

First up was dnb maestro LTJ Bukem, and there is nothing better than listening to MC Conrad’s dulcet tones wax poetically over Bukem’s cruisy dnb on a nice, sunny day. Although Bukem’s label Good Looking Records hasn’t released an album in years, Bukem plays new stuff unlike any other dnb DJ on the scene today. The crowd were really enjoying it, with most dancing on the slight incline of the park, and a few kicking back under the shade.

MPK & Patch

Being a breaks lover, I spent the rest of my time in the So Co Cargo area. Patch and MPK played a wicked set of harder dancefloor dnb to an eager home crowd, playing Pendulum and other crowd favourites; although I thought it was unfortunate that the only 2 dnb acts on for the day clashed.

Ali B

Ali B stepped up, and started playing some bass heavy breaks. He had some sound problems, apparently his monitor wasn’t working too well, but that had little effect on his mixing. I didn’t know many of the tunes, although I spotted some Stanton Warriors, Bassbin Twins and Drumattical Twins in there. Towards the end of his set he got a little funky, playing Slyde amongst others, and this seemed to fill the room a little more.

JDS

JDS stepped up next, and I didn’t know what to expect. I’m not a fan of his signature tune ‘Purple Funky Monkey’, but his set consisted of much harder, more dancefloor breaks orientated tracks that just grooved along. If I knew only a few of Ali B’s tracks, I knew even less of JDS, but that doesn’t bother me and didn’t seem to bother the crowd either. I’d much rather hear new music and find out what it is after the fact.

Princess Superstar

During this time I wandered about, and caught a bit of Princess Superstar on another stage. I actually enjoyed what I heard her play, but I’m sure I heard one of the tunes she played at least 3 times on that stage during the entire day as I wandered past. Maybe I’m just getting old and it’s all starting to sound the same to me.

Rex The Dog

Much to my disappointment, Rex The Dog wasn’t a synthesizer playing German shepherd, but instead a rather first-class (but merely human) performer playing on synths and turntables. He played lots of really cool, techno-electro breakbeat driven stuff which the crowd really got behind. Chris Lake followed and there was barely breathing space in the small So Co Cargo area, but that made Chris’s bump and grind techno funk even more enjoyable.

Chris Lake

But if there was a crowd for Chris Lake, there was a horde for Carl Cox! One of the biggest names in dance music for the last 10 years, Cox always goes off in Adelaide and this was no different. Playing off a Mac notebook on what I assume was either Serato or Final Scratch, the big man of the music scene simply smashed it!

Carl Cox

I was simply too smashed to continue the night (I had been at Womad all weekend too) but the Future Music Festival was a huge success, and the promoters did an amazing job. The sound was clear and crisp wherever you were, and although there were many people, it never felt claustrophobic. I look forward to next years event!

More cuties

More photos at inthemix.com.au

Huge weekend! Updates soon!

Had an absolutely HUGE weekend this weekend!

Womad on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, Grif's birthday and Marissa's wedding on Sunday, Future Music Festival on Monday...

All with about $50 to my name, so I didn't drink excessively (except at the wedding reception) or do anything else that involves spending money...

I'll update soon with photos and fuller reviews later this week.

Also have to look into this Picasa thing... apparently it's been integrated with blogger for better photo blogging, which will make things a little easier, but with Ringo, Flickr and my own gallery (neither wich has been updated in months!), do I really need another photo site???

I have no PC at home!!!

A couple of Mondays ago I turned on my PC and both drives failed. My main drive, and the raid back up, both came up "degraded".

So, for the last week I've only had access to the net at work, and I've been so busy at work that I've had no time to blog, or even comment on other's blogs.

Should be getting it all back next week, but 2+ weeks without a PC shows me how reliant I've become on computer technology.

Big Day Out 2007

Another year, another big day out, and another disappointing Boiler Room line up. Sure, all the acts that played this were top notch, but I don’t know, maybe the all-dance events like Good Vibrations, Field Day and Parklife keep scoring all the crowd pullers, but I wasn’t too impressed with the Boiler Room this year and spent a good deal of my time seeing bands.

Having said that though, the Herd were the first band I saw, and testament to the draw of hiphop, especially in Adelaide, they had the Boiler Room packed and pumping in the early afternoon. They have such energy and vitality on stage, and bringing John Schuman out for their cover of Redgum’s “I Was Only 19” was a very pleasant and welcome surprise.

The floor thinned out considerably for Digital Primate, which was a shame because he was really good. Playing his own tunes, with his rappers jumping up next to him and kicking some delicious rhymes, he was better suited for a later time slot. Also at this time I decided to get a drink. What a farce that was! Lining up for 30 minutes in the hot sun just to get tickets to go line up again for a drink? From a logistics perspective I can see why they did it – only a few places that deal with cash so no money goes missing from the bars, but from a punters point of view the idea is almost as stupid an idea as trying to prevent people wearing the Australian flag.

Spank Rock surprised me. I knew MC Spank Rock was a no show, but I expected the Spank Rock DJs DJ Devlin and DJ Darko to be far more hiphop orientated than they were. They only did a couple of their own tunes and played a lot of dance orientated stuff in mashup style, mixing up Mylo and AC/DC and the Rocky Theme, with Pacerock hyping the crowd rather than rapping to the music. They reminded me of the Nextmen or Z-Trip, and I really wonder how different they would have been if Spank Rock had made it.

I went for a wander after this, managing to catch My Chemical Romance, who, I grudgingly admit, were rocking the crowd far beyond my expectations. I’ve never really listened to them, and what I’ve heard on the radio I can’t say I like them, but I didn’t run away with my fingers in my ears screaming “You Suck!” at the top of my lungs like I have to other bands in the past.

Making my way back to the Boiler Room for Peaches, I was not disappointed by her on stage shenanigans. Sucking water out of fake boobs during Shake Your Dix, ripping off her tight black jumpsuit to reveal porn style electric pink underwear, she dominated the audience with her sexy style and on stage presence. And I love how many instruments they swap for every song – I much prefer to see people playing samplers on stage than relying on DAT backup tape.

Needing a rest, I wandered over to the Lilly Pad, and managed to catch King Kapisi, New Zealand’s king of hiphop. I don’t care what people say about Scribe, King Kapisi wipes the floor with him. Better rhymes, better attitude, just simply better.

After Kapisi came Afra & the Incredible Beatbox Band. And my word, they are aptly named! Beginning with the Shadow’s Apache, made famous by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, the proceeded to box out various beats from Michael Jackson to James Brown, and classic hiphop like ‘Let Me Clear My Throat’. The Japanese rapping was pretty cute too, and these guys are the best beatboxers I’ve seen to date. Although I’m seeing Rhazel next weekend, so my opinion is open to change.

After Afra, I went and checked out the Streets, who played far too much of their slow stuff, so I went to see Jet instead. I must admit in the past I’ve not liked Jet, thinking them to be too derivative, but seeing them live really made me appreciate their sound a little more.

Speaking of sound, Muse blasted some awesome rock, but not knowing too much of their stuff I sought out something I knew and could bop along to. Enter You Am I, another Australian band I have never given much credit to, but on the smaller Green Stage they seemed much more intimate and comfortable than last time I saw them.

Tool kicked off their set with probably the only Tool song I could identify as them, but I stuck around for a while and enjoyed the heavy rock, until hunger got the better of me and I went to grab some food. Here I was subjected to the wailing of Her Latest Flame, which made me glad I don’t go out to see local bands anymore. I understand you’re an angry teenager, but do you have to scream about it? Listen to the other bands on the line up – Tool and Muse didn’t produce eardrum busting yelps!

After dinner, it was time for the Violent Femmes, and I was happy as a pig in mud dancing and singing along from the first note of ‘Please Don’t Go’ to the last I heard, ‘Add It Up’. I loved the fact they played ‘Country Death Song’, one of my all time favourite Femmes tunes, and Brian Ritchie was great on the Xylophone for ‘Gone Daddy Gone’.

Leaving the Femmes before the end of their set was a heart wrenching decision, but I had a job to do. I had to go see Crystal Method to see if they’d disappoint me for a fourth time. In the past they’ve been average or simply downright crap. The ease I got into the Boiler Room confirmed my suspicions that the Crystal Method aren’t as popular as past BDO closers, but I grudgingly admit they played an alright set. Recognising their own remixes of Prodigy, New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, along with their own ‘Born Too Slow’, and capping off with their squealchy and tough ‘Keep Hope Alive’, they exceeded my expectations, but my expectations were pretty low.

All in all it was another great Big Day Out, but there was nothing absolutely mind blowing this year, like two years ago when I heard Wolf Mother for the first time.

To see the bigger versions of these photos, go to www.ringo.com

All in all it was another great Big Day Out, but there was nothing absolutely mind blowing this year, like two years ago when I heard Wolf Mother for the first time.
To see the bigger versions of these photos, go to www.ringo.com

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years!

My resolutions are pretty simple - Get fitter, eat heathier, save some money, work on my mixing more, and get paid for more of my writing.

Oh, and the usual, get my license and get laid more, neither of which happened last year.

James Brown is Dead: Long Live the Godfather of Soul!

RIP James Brown 1933-2006

"The pope told me that I should never come to church, because I can do more out there (on the street)… Music is the soul of the people. That’s why I’m the Godfather of Soul. I wouldn’t want to be anything else — wouldn’t want to be a king, or an emperor. I just want to be with the people." - James Brown

James Brown was a musical genius and his influence is found in all genres of modern music; without him there wouldn't be any music worth listening to.

A consummate performer and prolific artist, his music will live on through soul, funk, and hiphop, all which owe their success to this wonderful artist!

I'm so, so glad I went and saw him earlier this year in Melbourne, and although I've only got a few blurry photos, his stage presence, even at 73, will live with me forever.

Blogger Update

So, I've gone ahead and updated this blog to the new blogger software, and editied previous posts and removed the tags and used the blogger software itself to tag my posts.

So far I like it.

The "labels" should be called "tags", but for now I'll let that pass.

I'll have some kind of "tag list" or "tag cloud" up and running as soon as I figure out how to do it.

I'm also looking at getting the RSS feeds from MySpace and IGN into this blog too.

Christmas Gift Idea #25

Want to buy me a Christmas Present and don't have any idea of what to get me?

I really want a new radio, and this one is great for Boob lovers! (and really, who isn't a lover of boobs!)

This battery operated radio is AM/FM and uses the rubber feel nipples for tuning & volume control.

It is a a definite "Turn On"!!!!

I'm TIME's Person of the Year!

Time Magazine's Person of the Year is You!



Yes, You. And me, and everyone who has published online.

I think it's a fantastic idea, although the idea of putting a mirror on the cover is strangely reminiscent of the Dude from the Great Lebowski film.



However, in Crikey, Christian Kerr, a media journalist, hits out at them.

He claims that TIME is running scared of 'new media', which crikey counts themselves as, and this is a way to get people to buy the magazine.

He says the idea of having a mirror on the cover was stolen from some 1970s band's record cover - and fair enough, it's not a new idea, but come on, can he be a little more 'new media' and use a popular culture reference most of us will know, like for instance, the Big Labowski?

Anyway, I sent them a letter, and it got published. Here it is:

Re. "Old media needs to take a look in the mirror" (yesterday, item 17).

OK, I know it was a Monday, but why is Christian 'need to change my first name to Wayne' Kerr so cranky about the Time article?

Sure, the "traditional" media is under threat, but they also do have a point, although technically they're 3-5 years too late.

As someone who has been involved with the Net since its fairly early days in the early 90s, I have noticed that the utopia of a free media and information promised in early scholarly articles hasn't come from wanker academics or journalists like Kerr, but from ordinary slobs like myself.

I was the one responsible for leaking the Ratbag sellout of Midway* to the major news sources via my blog. I was the one who got the Hilltop Hoods recognised by Melanie Safka (my review is on her website).

Sure, it may not be uncovering Howard's illicit liaison with Bob Hawke's wife or anything mindblowing like that, but it DID get international attention, something impossible ten years ago.

And that's Time magazine's point.

If Kerr is too up himself to accept this, maybe he should write his own blog in his own time and with his own money like the rest of us, instead of riding the coat-tails of an organisation that has to beg for subscriptions to a newsletter full of pompous asses and half truths!

* sellout as in buying us out then closing us down

New Mix Online!

New Mix Online!

Here's the MP3 of a mix I did the other weekend.

It's called "How I Rock", which isn't me blowing my own horn (Ok, well maybe a little ) but actually came about after I mixed 'The Smiths Tune' (which samples 'How Soon is Now') with 'When I Rock'.

It's a little less hard than I normally like to play, but I've been playing a lot of early night sets recently so have adjusted my style to suit the crowds. And this sound is tending to go off in Adelaide at the moment.

The recording is a bit dodge. It's not too bad in quality - so I thought I'd upload it and give you'll a listen - but it could be a lot better.

As to my mixing, well, I would be lying if I said I couldn't be happier, because I can always be happier with a mix, but to date it's one of my best and cleanest mixes. It's pretty damn good if I do say so myself!

Here's the Track Listing:

Slyde - That's It
Stanton Warriors - Dip & Get Low
30hz & Baobinga - Know Ya
Plump DJs - Soul Vibrates
General Midi - Good To Go
Cut & Run - The Smiths Tune
Split Loop - When I Rock
Stanton Warriors - Hope Time (Rogue Element remix)
Jay Cunning & Smithmonger - Never Stop (Split Loop remix)
Drumattic Twins - Pumped Up Funk
Azzido Da Bass - Dooms Night (Stanton Warriors remix)

Download "How I Rock" now!


And now I've finally hooked up my old PC to my dex, providing I can count on the audio card (it's a bit dodge but think it's a driver / software issue) I should be able to record more of my mixing and post it online.

So Bolt doesn't Like Borat

So, Andrew Bolt and some wanky socialist don't like Borat?

Here's my response:

I confess I haven't seen the movie, but I have seen enough of Cohen's Shows to realise what this movie will be.

If people are too ignorant to get the joke, to know about Cohen and Borat because they can't be bothered thinking about anything outside their own little window, sucks to be them.

His act simply wouldn't work on people who weren't ignorant. But there's so many people in the world who are so shallow and close minded that his act will continue to work for many, many years.

Maybe if we had a better education system, better global outlook, and a better society overall, Cohen's humour would be what you claim it is - cruel and manipulative.

But the fact so many don't question him, don't challenge him when he's being racist, sexist and homophobic - enough people to get a successful series and movie made - is the really sad part of his act.

If you have trouble recoginsing the predudices of people in the film, maybe it's because it's your own predudices coming into play.

You claim it is 'courteous people' being made fools - no it isn't.

These people go along with him - for whatever reason - and never once do they say "hey, you're out of line" or "stop doing that" or "I don't give a fudge where you come from, stop insulting those people". Never once do they challenge him, and many go along with him. That's worse than fooling people in the first place. Who is more fool?

The Nazi's killed millions because people refused to speak up against what they knew was wrong, and Cohen is pointing out even many years later people are just as ignorant, even with our internet and globalization.

Hopefully Borat will make people more aware of what they do and how they act. Then Cohen has done what he wants to achieve, and that's a damn better outcome than feeling warm and fuzzy because of portaloos.

Oh, and those "Frat Boys" aren't the innocent fools you make them out to be...

"While Cohen and his production team certainly have a knack for finding and taking advantage of the, shall we say, socially questionable citizens of the "U.S. and A," it's hard to imagine that this suit has much merit. First off, a quick look at Seay's Myspace pictures suggest that "gettin' drunk and havin' a good time," are pastimes he regularly engages in -- not behaviors that the producers likely duped him into. Second, he, along with everyone else in the film, signed an agreement relinquishing any rights to take action. Third, the scene in question is so despicable (even though Seay appears less awful than his two frat brothers) that it's hard to imagine any judge or jury feeling sympathetic to his cause." (link)

Save the Glass House

Personally I'm not a great fan of the Glass House, but I find it incredibly strange thatthe ABC axed it given the amount of viewers it attracted week after week.

In the current government climate, I think shows that send up news, politicians and celebrities is important.

This show was NOT a news program, so it doesn't need to be "balanced or unbiased".

If you think it's unfair that the Glass House has been taken off air, there's a petition online to save it...

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savetheglasshouse/index.html

Funny comic

Pretty much sums up the way I'm feeling at the moment...

How real are the commentators?

I was thinking about something whilst looking at Andrew Bolts blog today - How many of those people are REAL people with real desire to know more and debate the issues Bolt puts forth, and how many are news corp stooges and cronies?

Likewise with the AdelaideNOW blog, which is full of praise for the new layout?

I don't like the new page because the stories are different from the Advertiser, meaning if I want to read the front page I have to go buy the paper, which I refuse to do. I'm not paying for one or maybe two stories. Also, you used to be able to read the paper and stories from up to a week previously, but I can no longer find that functionality on the website.

Sure, I can go online and read other sites, but when Adelaide only has one news source, it kind of makes it a little hard to find stuff about us from an Adelaide perspective. But that's besides the point.

Anyway, on Sunday there was a story by Amanda Blair, an ex Adelaide radio jock, about how DJs and radio hosts are aware that most callers to the station are fake.

And it got me thinking... how do we know these blog commentators aren't fake?

The posts are moderated anonymously, and there's nothing to tie people to their posts like other sites like Kotaku or even a web forum.

I added a comment to the AdelaideNow website, and hopefully Rod, the editor, can answer...

Hey Rod,

Just like to get your opinion on something...

Given that the fake radio caller thing has been blown wide open by the Sunday Mail (well, for those listeners too stupid to realise the truth beforehand anyway), I'd like to know what guarantees do we have that people responding to these blogs aren't just newspaper people posing as 'concerned readers'.

Because the posts are moderated before we see them, I feel that this is very open to abuse, much like the Radio calls.

Surely a registered user database would be better than anonymous posting coupled with anonymous moderating.

Adelaide Now Sucks Even More

Can Adelaide's newspaper get any worse?

Top story on "Adelaide Now", the web portal for our newspaper, The Advertiser, is Top tipster admits it's all for Show, the story of six year old Henry Stevens being the top of not his class, not his sport, but of the footy tips.

The fucking footy tips!!!

He's a headline for you. FOOTY TIPS ARE BULLSHIT!

Sorry to burst little Henry's bubble, but there is absolutely no skill involved in being on top.

How do I know this? How can I make such a bold claim?

Because in both my footy tipping competitions I'm (on or near) top and I THOROUGHLY DISLIKE footy! Click HERE to see the ladder if you don't believe me...

I don't watch it. I don't follow it. I don't support a team. I don't know any players' names and every week I have to try and remember which team is on top and what colours they are.

I'm all for feel good stories, but come on Advertiser... there's so much else which is newsworthy in this state that the story of a six year old kid who wins footy tips should NEVER be the leading story.

Another day, another wanker... This time it's Piers Ackerman

What is it with these so-called journalists? When I can do a quick two minute google search that basically tears their stories and opinion to shreds, it really makes you question how the fuck they got employed in the first place...

I DO like the fact that they are willing to have their albeit idiotic thoughts opened up to people to comment on, and wish more would partake in the fun.

Piers Ackerman has yet another jab at the ABC over of all things Playschool. Maybe they should have a Playschool for fat, old journalists.

Here's my reply to him... a bit more vehement than my response to Bolt, so less likely to be published.

It says on your blog page that you're one of Australia's best journalists. If this is the case then God help the media!

You're simply an idiot. This has got nothing to do with the ABC and everything to do with your pathetic and on going ABC bashing. When will you stop beating a dead horse?

This change has been happening in ALL children's programs, and isn't just a leftist change. Take a look at how Sesame Street has changed.

A simple search on google will find that it's being used to spread pro-American propaganda through Muslim countries (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3200699.stm) to the changing of cookie monster to promote healthier eating by singing "Cookies is a sometimes food" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4432415.stm)

But then a simple google search is probably beyond your capabilities.

Andrew Bolt's brilliant journalistic mind...

Andrew Bolt on the Herald Sun is bashing the 'left wing bias' in today's media.

Very admirable, but he totally misses the point.

On his second post about the Lebanese taxi apparently bombed by Isreal being a hoax (and talk about beating a dead horse) He says "Well, we know now beyond doubt, thanks to Zombietime, that the story was completely false".

I had to post a comment, and I'll be interested to see if it's published. Here's what I wrote:

Um, no we don't.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the real truth. Mr Bolt is a lazy, inept journalist.

Here we see his absolutely brilliant journalistic mind at work: Take one source and treat it gospel truth.

The Zombietime people just look at photos and surmise the outcome. It is hardly irrefutable proof that what occurred is a hoax.

To really tell if this occurred, you'd need to travel to Lebanon and interview people from both sides of the conflict, interview observers and witnesses, analyse the metal around the hole looking for burn residue.

But if you are happy to report a biased, unfounded and quite possibly false piece of photographic comparative analysis as truth and demand an apology from other sources who report a different truth, then that's your problem, not mine.

However, you're the one being paid as a 'journalist'.

Then again, you're not really a journalist, are you Mr Bolt?

Just like owning a guitar is not enough to make you a rockstar, you're just being paid by a newspaper to put your words on a page...

Why is there no Australian religion?

I was listening to my last.fm reggae station and whilst reading about some of the artists, I decided to look up more on the rasta movement.

This got me to thinking about religion in general, and to why there is no Australian founded 'religion' as such.

The Rasta movement began amongst the poor slaves in Jamaica and is their expression of religion against that of the white man.

Similarily Kwaanza, was set up by a Black person in America to celebrate black diversity in the holiday period.

Even Scientology and the Church of Latter Day Saints can be seen as being created to address flaws in previous religions that do not address the specific actuality of being American.

And the different sects of the Christian faith such as the Lutherans evolved to address different interpretations of the bible.

So, why is there no Australian religion?

Sure, there's the Dream Time of the Aboriginals, but as a nation we don't respect them or their culture, so it's understandable that no one really takes any serious notice of that.

But why, when our nation was founded by convicts, many of whom where politically and religiously persecuted, has no real religion developed that is distinctly Australian?

Sure, our constitution states that "The Commonwealth of Australia shall not make any law establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth", but that hardly dissuades people to make up a religion.

If I was, say, an Irish Catholic (and apparently my ancestors were) and I was shipped here because I stole of loaf of bread, I would reject both the State and the Religion of that state.

The Christian God didn't help me, a poor Irish person just trying to provide for his family, from being caught and then being shipped to a strange land where the seasons are backwards, the sky is different, it doesn't snow, and the animals all look fucking weird.




I mean look at the Platypus... if that thing isn't enough to make you reject God if you're an 18th Century convict with no education then I don't know what else could!

With a mess of cultures and religions and backgrounds all in the one place, I'm surprised that, unlike America which has a ridiculous number of stupid religions popping up all the time, a distinctly Australian religion hasn't emerged.

So I was talking to God the other day...

So I was talking to God online the other day...


Me:
Hi God, Wassup?
God:
Hi there . I am a Christian.
Me:
you're a cunt
God:
Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a cunt? Maybe.



And later in the conversation:

Me:
fuck you
God:
Why are you so mean?
Me:
coz you're a cunt
God:
Good reason. Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a cunt? Yes.

Interview with DJ Krust

Interview with legendary dnb producer DJ Krust on his new album and the dnb scene in general.

read more | digg story

Interview with Bass Kleph

Stu Tyson aka Bass Kleph is rising up both the Australian and International breakbeat ranks as one of the hottest producers in the scene...

read more | digg story

Vote for Funky J in the inthemix50!

The search is on again for Australia's favourite DJ!

Vote for Funky J in the inthemix50! Just click the graphic below!

Dating...

Why do lots of women on dating websites list "astrology" as a hobby and therefore think that this is something guys would want in a future partner?

Do they really think men are interested in that crap?

....


Err... not that I've ever looked at a dating website apart from research purposes...

Tags:

• dating
• astrology
• women
• why

More Beer!

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Tags:

• alcohol
• beer
• personality
• quiz