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typo

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Blog Entries posted by typo

  1. Songstuff

    By typo ,

    nice to see how songstuff is coming along. new features being added etc.

    as a music site it's really pretty cool, and it's good to see site crew active on the forum.

    i thought it about time i acknowledged this in my blog!

  2. What Is Art

    By typo ,

    i see endless debate of what art is. "this is art"

    art is in the eye or ear (or nose?) of the beholder.

    we live in such a polarized society of either / or with little room for the maybe. media drives this, opinion making, taste making. fact is, it's generally a lot of crap. it's just someone else's opinion, no better or worse than your opinion.

    good art? i guess that brings in other subjects like technique, vision etc but still is that not dealing with someone else's opinion? there's a difference i suppose between the opinion of those who create art, those who study art as non artists and the general public, but those opinions are contextual. each views the art from their own abstraction. doesn't matter if the media is visual, or aural, touch, smell or taste or some combination.

    so is art something that simply pleasantly stimulates the senses? stimulates the brain? provokes reaction? do you have to choose?

    no. you don't. no matter what the press try to say or make you believe.

    art isn't taste. we can all see something we don't like yet know it is art.

    art defies definition. at least accurate definition.

    nearest i could come up with is "an expression of creativity by a group or individual"

    hmmm. no mention of the perspective of the viewer/listener.

    so perhaps art is not in the eye of the beholder, but in the eye of the artist?

    entertainment is in the eye of the beholder

  3. Been A While

    By typo ,

    been a while since i posted in my blog (shame on me), i figured it was about time.

    while i'm here i'll ask a question:

    how much of your music is your own personal therapy?

    ok maybe one more :

    how much of yourself, your feelings, do you put into your songs?

    i ask cos i always put a lot of my personal feelings in my work. i lay it on the line. put myself out there.

    when i look around most writing is about either non-emotive issues, or at least not challenging in any way. they lack the meat to the bone (often the bone too). if they do deal with emotive issues they tend to be about those issues at arm's length. you know, happening to someone else, or lacking that personal response or reaction.

    are writers afraid of expressing themselves?

    more afraid of expressing themselves because of the fear of rejection? because it makes them feel weak?

    maybe it's just me.

  4. Air Guitar

    By typo ,

    I must be in a minor rant mode.

    Air Guitar. WTF is that all about? Please tell me they don't think they look cool? I would have thought family and friends would have done the decent thing, slapped them on the back of the head and simply said "MUPPET!".

    Ok, it started in the 70s/80s with headbanging on the dance floor, but competitions? It's like volunteering to wear a t-shirt saying "Asshole" on it.

    Why is this in the fun category? Because,a lthough horrified, I can't stop laughing at them. Well I can, but lets just say every time I see it I can't NOT laugh!

    Too all air guitarist wannabes I'd say, learn the real instrument. It's way cooler.

  5. Improving Band Pages

    By typo ,

    i was looking around band web pages on songstuff and other sites and i was shocked at the state of both band pages on music sites and band home pages with their own domain. i've started looking at the standard of web pages in an attempt to improve the quality, and user experience of those page and to try and bring in more traffic.

    band page review topic

    if you'd like me to look at your page, read my initial posts in the topic and post up your url. please also review the last site reviewed and post your own comments if you want me to take the time to look at yours in any detail.

  6. Xfactor

    By typo ,

    i dunno about you but shows like XFactor piss me off.

    there is some real talent on show, but the format almost cheapens it. i wouldn't go as far as to say that these phone in shows are rigged but i've seen enough to believe the audience is manipulated via clip selection, singing order and a lot of other bits and pieces.

    that aside, the prizes are contracts. i'd love to see the terms! something along the lines of "we own your ass". maybe that's all there is!

    only a short moan this time!

  7. Air Guitar (again!)

    By typo ,

    i've just seen some more on the TV. these dudes are nutters, and to be honest so are the people who cheer them on from the crowd, tho i'm guessing they are probably just the same people waiting their turn lol.

    I just DON'T GET IT!

    Maybe if they called it "Look Like A Twat".....

  8. Excuse Addicts

    By typo ,

    Musicians are excuse addicts.

    Why do I say that? simple. get your average musician, get them to play for you, or play one of their songs. what do you hear? generally a long explanation prefacing their performance explaining that their fingers don't work right on Tuedsays, the fact that the song isn't complete yet, how they are emotionally traumatized by the death of their pet worm... then the first muttering of some music. quickly followed by an indepth discussion of how this isn't their instrument, but just one that was lying around, or they need new strings, and on it goes

    at some point music may or may not be played.

    why do musicians deprecate their song, and their performance well before it is heard? it's an apology, which on presentation doesn't bode well.

    I've even seen some bands doing it at gigs!

    never, and i mean never explain your music, unless you are having a deep meaningful on a one to one basis! it sounds like an excuse. lets be honest.... it is!

    reducing expectation may make you feel like you have a cushion against the world, saving you from feeling like a turkey if all goes wrong, but that misses the point.

    the same protective cushion you wrap yourself in also diminishes a song before it is heard.

    let your work/performance stand on it's own merits

  9. Who Are We Really?

    By typo ,

    people are all actors. they play a role whenever they are with someone.

    what do I mean? ok, for a start we have an inner and outer self. we are who we are between our own ears (generally), but all we ever present to the outside world is a facet of ourselves. that which we want someone else to see. that can change from person to person, situation to situation.

    we play a role in work, we play a role at home, we play a role with friends. we all have our deep dark secrets, we all have fleeting thoughts of terrible acts in the name of revenge, or sexual thoughts that come unbidden into our midst. do we share these? rarely. or at least some people get presented with one bit of the jigsaw while another is presented with different things.

    above all this is why we each struggle to assess people. over time we gather experience that may modify our opinions of others. we try to glimpse those other facets, to build a more complete picture.

    some people seem to have real problems understanding that other people are as multi faceted as they themselves are. they believe that which they are presented with. it's how conmen get away with plying their trade, or perhaps how some people partner the wrong person.

    over the years i've become more and more aware of the different facets of my own personality. the awkwardness of two facets in conflict is excruciating. imagine your most debauched drinking buddies and your mum, auntie hilda and your next door neighbor in the same room with you, perhaps with no sense of who the other is. each knows a piece of you, and a piece of your world. sure you're gonna hope your drinking buds have some respect, but at the same time it's easy to find yourself in conflicting situations

  10. Record Labels

    By typo ,

    I've seen lots of bands waste time waiting for labels to find them. I think you are doing the right thing in trying to meet them to make contact, but I would recommend a couple of things:

    Get with the schmooz crowd. Great getting contacts at expos, but you need to get invited to industry events, launches and parties. that's where a lot of initial business is done. Best way to get invites is to become part of their social crowd. that means getting to know them, most likely through the gigs of other bands. so target the top bands in the area and get to know them and their managers. that way, you are hanging out with them when the label guys arrive and, importantly, they will introduce you to each other. this is perhaps the most valuable part in the whole process.

    another good way to get to know the top bands in your area is find out where the big bands rehearse, and when. then start booking yourself in at those times. you'd be amazed how many label employees and top musicians/artists will turn up at the best rehearsal studio in the area. same deal with the best recording studios.

    once you are in the schmooz crowd you will naturally be invited to new parties, launches and other events. you get guest list tickets too. you will be amazed at just how many opportunities will be opened up to you, and possibly more valuable, insider industry information such as terms of recent deals, who is looking for what etc.

    So, go to gigs, pick the top rehearsal studio, and top recording studio. remember, the people who run the last two also have contacts and if you get to know them, not only will you get first consideration for top rehearsal spots, special rates, favors etc, but you'll get introduced to other bands and a&r men occasionally and get yet again some insider info.

    good luck

  11. When The Music Stops

    By typo ,

    I remember the fun and excitement, when as an young teenager I followed bands, stunned by their sheer vibrancy. I was taken places I would never have anticipated and shown things I didn't know existed. Above all I was given an identity of sorts, and I found that I was comfortable with who i could be. The bands seemed to exist on another level entirely, living a somehow gifted life, charmed. Untouchable. I believed every word I was fed.

    I worshiped those bands, and I felt inspired. I had been playing music for years at that point, and now playing guitar in a band was all I could see. I wasn't interested in being famous, that was kind of a side effect of playing good music, playing lots of gigs and selling records. It was about the music, and the lifestyle.

    A few years later I was playing in bands myself. The first ones were more of a racket. covering Freebird, Smoke On The Water, Paranoid etc. The usual rock suspects in the early 80s. We struggled to be cool, a sad reflection on our heroes. So I worked on. I finally got confidence to play my songs (I had been writing for several years), and to front a band. The band grew more popular and we stepped closer to fame, danced with the press and began to believe our own hype.

    Eventually a manager came along. By that time I was already wide awake to the differences between my teenage view of the music scene and what the reality was. Drugs? Yes. Groupies? You bet. Life was a constant party. An ocean of indulgence, and boy did I swim. The band argued all the time. (sound familiar?) At some point we stopped making music for the love of it and started playing the part of being a band.

    It's sad how we can be so deluded. I looked at bands through the eyes of a fan, and I believed that somehow the bands I liked had held on to their sense of self, had kept their feet on the ground and never sold out to hype. When I crossed the line and started getting fans of my own I thought "fan-f*cking-tastic!". Before long I was believing our own hype, but I had a growing sense of being uncomfortable. Deals on the horizon, 5 gigs a week for 2 years (or there abouts). We all started to believe the hype.

    At some point I stopped and looked around. I had brushed a fan off with some moldy excuse, and I caught myself. For the first time in a long time I looked around. I was hanging with musicians. I was playing music. Music I had invested so much of myself in. A scene I had believed in. A band of friends who did nothing but fight about trivial shit. A scene full of bands like that. i had seen fans brushed off by all sorts of bands. i had heard them talk of fans like they were cattle. Ridiculing them. Distancing themselves from the fans. Music was no longer the inspiration, it was the vehicle. An identity in crisis.

    I've heard so much BS over the years about keeping your feet on the ground, but the music industry is full of egotists, and shallow sycophants. The "Yes" men win the day all the time. You here it so many times it gets you hook line and sinker before you even get a whiff that you are in trouble.

    This is the music industry. No longer is the music good enough. Commercialism has won the battle. "Here's lies Rock and Roll. Missed but not forgotten. It was a hell of a party!"

    If you are planning on a career in music, put your naivety in a box and forget about it. Forget your grandiose ideas about changing the world and having your name written down in history. The music world is all smoke and mirrors, bullshit and cocaine. Musicians don't stand a chance. It's a job after all, but one where you are a 24 hours a day performer, living up to some bullshit image, playing the part of a band.

    When the music stops, you look around and what do you see? Party wash outs. People with f*ck all to show but wounds, and songs they are sick of they can't listen to. For a while past glories haunt your life, you get stopped in the street, people still look at you in bars and restaurants thinking, is it?

    I may sound bitter, but actually I'm not. I'm glad I walked away from a good deal. I'm glad I rediscovered who I was before I drowned. I'm glad that I finally didn't believe the hype.

    You know it took years for me to play music in any kind of serious way. I was so sickened by the scene, what was the point?

    Well after a lot of searching, and a lot of running, the answer was simple.

    The music.


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  12. Just another day on planet earth pondering the ins and outs of life.

    Today I'm pondering why some women feel driven to pluck their eyebrows, only to either draw them back in, or for the more afflicted tattooed back in. Is it just me or is that seriously whacked?

    Not content with that, some adherents of this particular path draw them back in up to 1 inch above the top of their natural eyebrows. Why? They look permanently surprized, if not more than a bit stupid. Maybe it is in eager anticipation of old age. By 90 their foreheads will have sagged enough for them to be back at their natural place again.

    Come on, seriously, it's not a good look.
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