[Af_List] AUCKLAND (and larger horizons)

[bruce morley]

"Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right
person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in
the right way - that is not easy" (Aristotle)

As a professional freelance "commercial" musician, I have worked in all
genres of music (by which I mean WORKED, for money, and paid tax, etc etc
yadda yadda ), and now that I've reached (ahem) a certain point in life, I
find that I'm also playing a lot of music that isn't neccessarily commercial
/ available / widely-known / appreciated / etc etc yadda yadda.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that every passionate aficionado of
every genre, from rockabilly to to rockatronica, thinks that his is the only
one that really matters, and that if it his genre is difficult to pursue /
hard to find / doesn't remunerate etc etc yadda yadda, it's both a tragedy
and a conspiracy to keep real musical truth from the world.  Well, it's
often the former, but it's seldom the latter, because music contains many
truths. The aficionado's passion is commendable, but his resentment of
circumstance is misdirected energy.

We should ALL be sorry if Real Groovy goes. Those of us who know the vacuum
it filled in the first place also know that the two Chris's who started it
long ago, against the odds, deserve a bloody medal.  Market forces and the
arts are an uneasy mix at the best of times, as those of you grappling
constantly at that interface know.

A few more opinions:

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic
hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
There's also a negative side." (Hunter S. Thompson)

"Politics and the arts do not good bedfellows make, even in a democratic
society", and their mutual relationship gets worse under a fascist polity"
(Michael H. Kater)

"There is only one real sacrifice an artist can make, and that is to accept
the possibility of being forgotten. Once you've done that, it is possible no
longer to care" ("Pankratov", in "The Forger" by Paul Watkins)

"Technology simply allows more people to make bad music"(Rod Garza)

"There are so many people with so little talent making so much money" (Spice
Girl Mel C)

"We're all terminal in this business.  Unless you want to spend the rest of
your life working honky tonks for low pay, see that your pension is taken
care of" (Hal Blaine)

"The meaning of life is not exhaustively explained by one's business life,
nor is the deep desire of the human heart answered by a bank account" (Jung)

"Simply by sailing in a new direction you could enlarge the world" (Allen
Curnow)

"You are what you listen to" (Bruce Morley)

"The most simple process, that's the way it should be - you should be able
to play it, perform it, record it, release. Done!" (Midge Marsden)

"What the public likes is not always what the radio stations will allow them
to hear" (Bob Monaco and James Riordan)

"A culture is not to be judged by the number of virtuosos, but by the
general level of its people to make their own music" (Charles Seeger)

"We're the voice, try and understand it; make a noise and make it clear,
We're not gonna sit in silence" (Chris Thompson)

"I asked Hank Williams, 'How lonely does it get?' Hank Williams hasn't
answered yet" (Leonard Cohen)

"Musical compromise will never be the answer" (Stan Kenton)

"Music remains the only art, the last sanctuary, wherein originality may
reveal itself in the face of fools and not pierce their mental opacity"
(James G. Hunecker)

"Remember yourself" (Gurdjieff)

Interesting mess, isn't it...

"It's like sitting in the bar of the 'Titanic', arguing about the price of
the drinks" (Bruce Morley)

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