oh, go for it then

this past weekend i was working the summersonic music festival. i've been helping out since the first one, which was in 2000, i think. i've done all of them apart from 2002 when i was in new york working on something else.

i'm very used to the festival now and i can pretty much do it on auto pilot most of the time. i do all sorts ranging from passive interpretation to saving the arses of artists and getting their shit together (they shall remain nameless till i publish my memoirs......... not) to having immense jolly, gay, perverted fun in a coalmine.

amidst all this jolly, gay, perverted fun, the past weekend, tony wilson passed away.
in relation to it, i got to hang out with johnny marr, who is now in modest mouse (modest mouse, you're fucking great, keep up the insanity!!!!!!!!!) and he mentioned that he saw tony wilson about 3 weeks ago for an internal get together and that he was shocked to see him age. i only met tony wilson once at midem, maybe in the early 90's. i probably exchanged a word with him, too scared to talk to the man back then.

i do often think though, what would of happened, if i didn't buy that blue monday 12" in 83? or, if i didn't buy speak and spell in 82? or senses working overtime in 82? what would of happened to my life and perspectives?

then i think about the now, do the kids that buy music now take us that seriously? or do we take our jobs with some sense of being and purpose? are we merely swindling the kids of their pocket money, because they haven't figured out a way to download for free? lots of blurry, unclear thoughts. link to reality check. i was having a conversation about this with c last week. she was pointing out my lack of enthusiasm. a lot of people do, actually. i am enthusiastic, but i'm not really intent on showing it to the rest of the world. call me an elitist snob or whatever you want, but if you don't get what i do, and i don't really intend to explain it to any great detail (it is boring). i just usually end up wasting energy doing it. but, if someone shows some interest like my new friend a did with guitar cables, then i will spend many a late night hours talking about things i have found.

the music business as we have known it to be, is well fucked. but you know something, we dug our own grave to an extent. we lost it. we lost the chain in a a very simple creative to production process, we lost sincerity, a sense of community, lost to the lure of money, lost core values. rumour has it that rick rubin is hiring a lot of good people to make a comeback of columbia. we need to be humble about this again, go back to the days before the music business was run by spreadsheets and ageing former lawyers who could not make it in any other profession. now, we can be creative with a spreadsheet.

out of pure desperation ("aaaaaarrrrgh, the world is crumbling in front of me, britney, why are you so damn ugly????") record companies who don't know fuck about selling t-shirts of booking shows (dude, before you start doing that shit, let's start from the basics) want "360 degree deals" (360 my fucking arse, you can have 12 degrees), or, "the $ is in touring" so short sighted, greedy fucks book their bands in bloody every festival there is during summer and saturate the scene, put the talent on ridiculous slavery schedules, you fly them across the world, next day have them 2 shows in a row, then they fly half way across the world again and do 7 shows in a row.......... the guys are so tensed up that any minor problems gets amplified. dude, think about it. 9 shows in 11 days, and you're practically flown across the world during that time. like, the body needs rest? ever thought about that? like, to "save costs" you sacrifice health? and if prolonging, sanity? have you ever thought about that if you need proactive help from the "locals", the locals as in myself actually need a bit of time to understand each other and have a relationship? especially for neurotic but capable arseholes like me? yes, we do deal with the same stage, backline, pa, and all that bs, but the whole thing is driven by humans that have physical conditions, feelings and moods, that need to be considered, ever thought about that, yer fucking twat with the fake cuban cigar? if not, good luck with music2.0, cos when your soliders in the trenches walk away, you're the one that has to be the merch boy/girl. or you'll find some 18 year old intern that wants to hang out with the band for 3 minutes and leaves because their facebook is more interesting that reality.

aaaaaanyway, i am kind of relieved in some ways to see the music business crumble now. why? cos people who are in it and remain will probably be there for a reason that exceeds their self reasons. money is important, organization is important, a sense of community and structure is important. however, we still need to maintain that venom, that fire. that indescribable sense of immense gay silly jolly fun that we get when we all fucking click as a ball.

tony wilson, i hope you raise havoc whereever you went.
i sold my blue monday 12" years ago when i turned cd, man, that was a mistake.

[don't watch this if you're pc sensitive]