Sinister: rant in A minor

[Lawrence Mikkelsen]

Hey gang.

Am feeling a little mad today. I've been in front of my computer for the
last 9 hours making the sort of little cosmetic changes to my web site that
NO ONE will actually notice, in preparation for a job interview I have on
Tuesday.

I should point out this has been a crap year so far for me. My posts tend to
be chirpy, and I haven't really complained too much about the sorry state of
my life, but since finishing my academic "career" late last year I have had
a succession of pathetic soul destroying jobs whilst trying VERY VERY hard
to get a "proper" job in a web design firm. I'm sure a lot of listees know
the feeling - you're skilled and desperate to work, but because you don't
have "industry experience" (whatever the hell that means) no one will look
at you. I have had so many interviews this year, and have come so close so
many times, always to get knocked back because some "with more experience"
happens to turn up. I mean, short of whoring myself for crack, how do I get
that exprience???

It is crushing my soul.

Anyway, all this is a prelude to today'sost, which may, through no fault of
my own, end up a little on the ranty side.

***EBAY***
I am sick to death of people selling CD-Rs on eBay. I have absolutely no
problems with bootlegs per se, and don't really understand why record
company's are so uptight about them. If fans are willing to pay money for
something a record company isn't willing to release, I don't see the
problem. You're not taking money off the artist, because the artist would
have made nothing from it had it remained unreleased. To this end I am very
happy with the CD of the Bowlie weekender I bought from eBay a couple of
weeks ago - it cost me about  three times what I normally pay for a CD, but
the sound is excellent, and it's a great gig. And for someone who is
unlikely to ever see my favourite band live, it's a *relatively* small price
to pay in the long term.

What I *do* have a problem with is some poxy kid buying a "proper" bootleg,
and then running off multiple copies on their CD writer and guiltlessly
hocking them off on ebay on a weekly basis to the tune of US $50 or so. I
think this is an incredibly mean spirited thing to do. I mean, trade them,
make copies for free or sell them for the price of the disc and postage or
something, but I don't believe music fans should be making a profit off the
back of other fans. These people never menton that the albums they're
selling are CD-Rs. However, pretty much every one I've ever mailed to check
has either not bothered to reply, or has come back saying "of course it is -
there are no 'real' CD bootlegs of B&S" Which is of course complete
bollocks.

So from now on I'm going to start being a bit mean and complaining to ebay
about these sellers, given that selling CD-Rs is against eBays rules.

I think David Kitchen  used to do this ... but I suspect he may not have the
time any more.

***THE 80'S***
I HATE it when people slag off the 80's. The 80's was an incredibly rich
time for music, and just because top 40 stations didn't necessarily play
"the good stuff" doesn't mean it wasn't there. Unfortunately he (or she) who
wins the chart battle seems to win the war. Hence, the usual "best of the
80s" copilations are usually filled with Nik Kershaw and his ilk. I don't
know if anyone has thought about or noticed this, but it seems like even the
early 90's have now been forgotten. I was watching some American music
awards earlier this year, and they did a "best bands of the 90's" poll, and
Nirvana weren't even mentioned! Now I'm no great Nirvana fan, but as a band,
they (for a time at least) completely altered the musical landscape. I mean,
it's not like bands like Alice in Chains or The Stone Temple Pilots could
have had chart hits were it not for Nirvana. I'm sure we all know in our
hearts that the "best of the 90's" compilations which will start coming out
soon will be filled with Britneys and Christinas and Mandys, and there won't
be a Stephin Merrit, B&S or Pavenment song in miles. (sigh)

As a footnote, I attach a list of some great 80's bands. (In no particular
order ...)
The Smiths
Orange Juice
The Go-Betweens
Josef K
(early) Aztec Camera
The Pale Fountains
Felt
REM
The Triffids
Talk Talk
The Wedding Present
New Order
The Stone Roses (just)
The ENTIRE output of NZ's own Flying Nun label, most notably recordings by
The Chills, The Sneaking Feelings, The Verlaines, The Clean etc.

There. I could go on and on ..... but I'm starting to feel a little wired,
so I guess I'd better get some sleep.

Goodnight team .....

Lawrence Mikkelsen
http://www.akn.quik.co.nz/mikelsen/aboutme

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