The Holy Pigeon

Where to start....?

2008-06-11T23:59:00.002+02:00

The day hasn't dawned yet, and I'm growing in doubt that it ever will. The 'salvation' I've been looking to replace since the innocence of knowing that when I die I will be with Jesus has failed. I am 26. It's been 8 years or so. It's over. New part, new phrase.

Drugs.
Music.
Fucking.
Being angry, being alone.

Addictions. hopeless, but addictions. i am here. i know, Eckhart, I know. Be here, everything else is a distracting concept that robs you of the freedom. I wish I could focus more.

battle for truth like you battle for air.

enough.

Moments.

2008-05-24T01:13:00.003+02:00

Music. Meyoo-zeek. Moo-sic. What does this word mean.

Just returned from another busy Friday night -- this time interviewing Niskerone & Natalia, SFR, Hyphen and attending a dismal end at the Mercury -- and I'm exhausted. Kinda tipsy, but feeling clear. Feeling a little zombified by self-loathing, but that's normal huh. Moments of tonight...

* seeing natalia and wondering if i'd ever be good enough
* dancing to D&B and forgetting
* "well done, john" in the car on the way back from the interview. no glamour in this industry.
* feeling that deep-seated resolve to get friends with everyone and then turn around with "hey, i'm a musician too." until then, frustration at hearing others and their adventures. but whatever. i have all the success i need just knowing who i am.
* blaise at mercury pays no attention to me. if i had a future camera, i'd have stayed at home.
* home and dry.

so the usual, boot up because this little dell is my best friend, after all. i feel the need to concentrate on something. i am incredible. i am an amazing person, and i wish that i could walk into a bar and everyone would fall at my feet and offer me sex. i wish for these things, but i'm not worth it, am i? i'm a sensitive boy with a big fuckin act that helps me get through. curses, you fool. just be.

just be. i guess it's good enough. i could care less. a lot less. i love music more than myself. it's why i'm here. production, performance, publicity, promotion and progression of music.

Why I am here.

2008-05-22T15:08:00.003+02:00

My name is John Bartmann. I am a 26-year-old white South African man with two living parents, an older brother and an older sister. I work in the music industry, connecting bands with fans and vice versa through Overtone.co.za, the music editorial blog I edit.

Every evening for the past month or so, I've been working on attracting the money we need to stay afloat during the day, and returning to my room alone to make music by night.

I have not exercised in weeks. I have no money to join the others on their Monday night outings to Jamaica Me Crazy, and I've alienated myself from everyone except my workmates.

I drink around 6 coffees a day, and I have no girlfriend. I amuse myself through late nights making music and jamming with others as often as possible. I know loads of people who enjoy making music, and I connect with them as often as possible.

My pet hate is sitting around a table socialising, especially in a public place or for some or other social event (eg, birthday, mothers day, etc).

I have no religion, and I consider myself free of any attachments. There is nothing in my life that I could not drop and walk away from in 30 minutes.

The reason I am alive is to create music and film and whatever else pleases the senses, for the amusement of my own eyes and ears. That's why I am here.

I am a hard worker.

2008-05-20T10:15:00.003+02:00

Physically exhausted today, and operating on autopilot. This, after a 9am start, around 12 hours sleep, and an empty office. All these loops ringing between my ears:

"master reality"
"women are the devil and you will be lonely"
"get to work"
"you're lazy"
"be anxious about these meetings"
"you are a champion"
"you should never have left sharyn"
"you should have left sharyn earlier"
"you have no money"
"your teeth are falling apart"
"you must spend more time making music or you'll fail"
"you don't know how to make music"
"your housemates are the worst friends ever"
"run away"
"face your fears"
"exercise"

...etc. and so on, and so forth.

it's more irritating than anything else, and I'm a bit to tired to pay any attention to them. i just wanna get on with my day and create a revenue stream that i can use to employ people to do my job. that's where I'm at now. meetings tomorrow -- on my mind -- busy day today. it's gonna be a coffee stinker. i gonna surf again soon. and take a morning swim in the Long St baths.

I am here, now.
I am ok.
I am hungry for more.
I am sensible enough to balance my life.
I have hatred for nobody or nothing.
I am neither a champion nor a loser. I am this.
I am a hard worker.

Baba Indaba song listing

2008-05-19T08:19:00.002+02:00

1. Sleeping Baby 1
2. Sunken Lounge
3. Mozambique
4. Sunday Mood
5. Umlungu
6. Somewhere Nice

sketches.

2008-05-17T23:22:00.003+02:00

just did a few basic sketches in a comic book style, pencil. it's about when john bartmann discovers pravda23 and receives the email in his computer inbox. digitized red lines in the eye.

when i make a mistake, i reach for CTRL+Z. uh-uh, boyfriend.

also, had a bit of a goodbye with cuth today. she lacked the courage to say whatever she wanted to say, so i left and got a drama sms and now, well, you know how it goes.

otherwise, everything cool. mailing off SAMRO forms on monday. hooking up with nic tomorrow for more pravda23/twinstar stuff. let's see how it goes.

no sin
no crime
only consequence

I refuse to allow anything to bother me.

2008-05-16T15:45:00.003+02:00

It's not worth it. Everything I am doing I am doing to the best of my abilities. There is no need to perceive a lack. Overtone is flying ahead, regardless of how much money and recognition we're earning. I have found my home. There is no need to ever report to a boss ever again, and I have the creative freedom to write what I like.

There is no need to worry about anything ever again. Everything is exactly as I wish it to be. There is no lack. There is nothing 'missing'.

Ok? :)

Working With Efficiency

2008-05-14T00:22:00.002+02:00

being a good musician is more about listening, and recognising the passion that goes into a work than it is about working and creating.

however, when being active, notice how you go about your work and minimize distraction. that way, you're aware of what is efficient, and can reproduce it with greater efficiency of energy in the future.

Streetbeat!

2008-05-13T18:02:00.001+02:00

Streetbeat made Urban Dictionary! Let's see how long it lasts!

Here's the link

Pepsi | Car Trouble | God

2008-05-13T10:37:00.005+02:00

Picked up car. R425. Yesterday it was R380. Already over. Getting some back from this commercial thing for Baba Indaba, but so very tight every month and it wears me out.

In good news, I'm not dead. Managed to cry this morning in the car, on the way to work. This, after my dad calls and reminds me to read my bible and pray. I'm sorry, folks. Reluctance. Why? Because God is not interested in me.

Got a 2L Pepsi. The label on the outside has a guy DJing and all these...well, Overtone logos. Some might say that's the voice of God speaking. Go for Pepsi, get them to sponsor free mp3 downloads. Who knows?

Kruder & Dorfmeister. Need to read that biography. They're something else, those guys. I'm actually lank stoked I got the chance to check it out. Here's the link, as a memory :: Richard Dorfmeister At Caprice: Pics

Peace.

1:54am. Past my bedtime

2008-05-13T01:54:00.002+02:00

But there's always time for one more blog, huh comrades.

anyway, just cracked the basic arrangement and some rudimentary mixing for Sleeping Baby 2, the second of three tracks I'm doing with Kez, and also a great opportunity to earn some cash. Check out the status of this one here:

Sleeping Baby 2 :: 12 May 2008

The evening comes upon me far more gracefully than last night's nightmare. I slept well, but only after two hours of talking to myself. Sleep always takes a while.

The Mauritian thinks I think too much. I know it, but hearing it from others is always a kick in the jeanpant. What was that thing Christine said earlier? Oh yeah, "was it sex or just broeknaai?" lol

Shit, that's one for the books. Later skater.

The Kuleshov Effect [v2.5]

2008-05-01T13:21:00.002+02:00

Track Listing:

1. Whole Tone Scale
2. Daydreaming
3. Cocktail House 101
4. Forgetfulness
5. Think
6. Sunday Mood
7. Umlungu
8. Somewhere Nice

Radio Will Kill The Internet Star

2008-04-02T17:26:00.004+02:00

Just another of many local bands who play for free.

South African music is shit for a reason. I'm the editor of a music blog (about 1000 hits a day, whoohoo). We've been around for a few months. I love heading to live shows, getting press accredited and meeting the handful of others in this country who do what I do. But today I feel like packing it all in.

Why? Because I realise how insignificant writing on the Internet is, and how little impact my daily, weekly, monthly efforts at creating a live entertainment scene must seem. I realise how ridiculous these words must seem, stuck away in a corner of the world so small that I judge my efforts by an 'Entertainment' subcategory called 'By Posts' on Amatomu.co.za, the supposed weblog index of South Africa. It's not really that we're below a multitude of other sites with less interesting content that gets me. It's that relying on other sites to index me begins to act as a value barometer, and I'm losing faith in posting videos with crap audio that nobody watches.

I have seen it, felt it and believe in it. I think that we're all so terrified of leaving our houses that we're missing out on arts and culture. Not just the stuff that I'm into, but the late-night shebeens, the jazz spots nobody outside of Mitchell's Plain has heard about, and the Afrikaans morning market music shows that happen far awaw from here.

This place is awash with culture! And talent! How far do you have to look to notice something new about South Africa and your region every day? I learned the other day that there's a mosque on Signal Hill in Cape Town. I've seen the diversity, I've seen the talent go unrepresented. I have seen good people who deserve to earn a lot more than they do put their hearts and souls into performance and upward mobility, and they've had no help. So what do I do? I sit here every day and post their Facebook messages. I call them back from my own phone when they send please call me's and invite them to our meetings.

I'm a very talented musician. The kinda guy who creates magic instead of just performing a bunch of songs. Yeah. That's me. And even with a completely unique approach towards performance and production of music, I still refuse to try and make a career out of it in this country. What can we do? I'm tired of asking that. I don't know. Keep going? Have another coffee? Every time I read a blog post or article about Ramfest or Oppikoppi, one side of me celebrates that there is the post-event coverage and thus the demand for it. The other side just bawls at how insignificant our music culture has become, and I guess has always been. But it's not that. It's that I feel disconnected from it. Familiarity has retarded me.

We're consumers of music, no longer listeners. We share MP3s, and that's fine, but we've stopped listening. The average MP3 collection has been dumbed down into such broad categories - rock, hip hop, jazz, etc - that now we just sedately nod and tell our friends, 'I like indie rock.' And this is the goddam reason that South African musicians are copying everyone else instead of cultivating new ideas -- new musical ideas, yes, but also new ways of releasing music, new, inspiring ways of engaging with the people. Ideas specific to this place and time.

Go! Write songs about how much you love or hate tourists. Eye contact! It's live, and you're alive now, listening to it, not processing it through your memories of the over-compressed MP3 you liberated from your buddy. There is no substitute for a live performance. The techno-art of sound engineering is defined as an attempt to reproduce the live sound. Most concerts I go to are like a fucking m3u Windows Media playlist.

I dunno about black people, coloured people and whatever goes on past Athlone, but I'm fucking over my scene. I can't go watch more music without being inspired. I saw a group last night in a small venue in the suburbs playing to 30 people like they were playing to 10,000. They just had this energy about them. It's not a dumb, get-pissed-and-play kinda thing. It's an honest, fun-loving sweat. I couldn't believe it. Lead the way, band.

Maybe I've just seen enough for a while. Maybe the soul has moved on to other places, other pursuits. Maybe I'm too old or experienced to enjoy the bullshit that comes with a night out. I. WANT. TO. SEE. PASSION.Man. Normally I go into intellectual mode when I write about music, but this is just an outburst. Why are we not sourcing and creating more outdoor venues in Cape Town? I suppose we're scared of being robbed. Where are the crazy, free-spirited musicians amongst us? Where are the personalities of the sport? Working jobs so they can afford to practise. Last year I wasted hundreds of rand and time trying to organise weekly jam sessions in my circle. Yeah, everyone's got a different excuse. At one point, I had a myspace up, was telling all my mates, paying for the venue, buying fucking beers for chrissake, and still the ethos is apathetic and the passion dormant. Only because there appears to be no way forward right now.

Oh but there is. Leave the country. It really is the best idea for a musician in South Africa, and I endorse it thoroughly. Yeah, I know being a musician and performing is a job, no matter where you are. It can be a chore - I'm not trying to glamourise it here. I just think that bands are fighting way to goddam hard to get an inch of representation in this town, and I propose to either make all South African music really expensive (and therefore valuable, by some backward method of thought) or give up on it all together. There's a trickle of MP3 sale going on. We're disconnected from our government. The only MBE you'll get for songwriting in this place is a Mr MBEra, who wants half your royalties. It's fucking true. NORM and RISA and SAMRO and AIRCO are organisations with their hearts in the right place, but are actually doing precious little to enforce SA music radio quotas and distribute dues.

There is no demand because there is no exposure. But people are going offline. I think. I reckon there's only so much information you can reap about someone from the Internet, and even then it's still a quality of information that is often intimidatingly presented: paying online for an MP3 is a scary process, lemme tell you. Seeing the same band's colours and logos and pics repeat themselves over Myspace, Facebook, Reverbnation, LoadtheShow, Amie Street, iTunes, Beatport, etc, is scary. It's like the part in your shopping trip where you're judging the cheeses by price, not by quality. It's simple.

How impressed you are by a show is purely a matter of how often you've heard the music. Nobody at the back of MyCokeFest could actually see Matthew Bellamy's face. On the screen, yeah, but that's just another digital copy. It's not live music. So it's hearing the songs you've come to know over the years that impresses you, not the power and might of the songs or even the lighting rig. Without the familiarity, it may as well be an Andalucian village flamenco. You only get to know songs by hearing them, but nobody streams web radio while cooking dinner. NO. We listen to the radio. Or, more accurately, we don't listen to radio. I don't listen to radio.

Because there's no place for me in this country. No place for a guy who doesn't feel like he's African, but doesn't feel like he's fucking American, British or even some quasi-'global' world child. So now what do we do? I don't know. Yet. But sooner or later we're gonna have to start creating things on our own terms. Our own, outsourced-office-day-job, R100-a-week-is-too-much-for-live-music terms. We're gonna have to figure out a way to a: get our own, underground stuff played on the radio, b: get more gigs sponsored by top-end brands and drop the price altogether and c: create a demand for music with soul, not the sausage-factory shit-pop that gets forced on us. Did you know they have formulas for radio play? Stuff like the opening lyrics to a song must be in the first 30 seconds, the chorus in the first minute, the song no longer than 4.45, etc.

Would you even know the soul of music when you heard it? Do you listen or consume? Either one's fine, there's no right or wrong. But I guarantee you that in the back streets of this city's suburbs, there is a force of musicians and creatives struggling to find their outlet. And that's fine. If that's the way it is, so be it. It's just that I can't give up on this because a: I am a musician when I'm not bitching, and b: I sense that there's a hunger for it that is simply outweighed by apathy. If some madman were to go running down Long Street campaigning for change in South African radio, he'd be alone.

So turn on the radio and hear why the local scene is, for the most part, nothing worth writing home about. Or on your home page about. The shit that gets played. I'm not suggesting we reverse the cultural imperialism, thank you 'media degree' for that bullshit phrase. What I mean is thank God for American and European music, because the majority of it is well produced, marketed more strongly and through listening to it, you're silently making friends and building conversation fodder with people thousands of kilometres away (which is weird, when you think about it.) I'm just suggesting that in the shadow of the beast, those of us with something real and passionate to offer have SOME fucking outlet for our creative efforts! Where am I supposed to get exposure in this place? The Internet is cluttered, and you notice that so few people actually use it when you open your eyes. I hand out CDs of my music to everyone, not because I'm trying to get noticed, but because I need to get this shit off my chest! Man. I got played in a Israeli podcast a year ago, and it made me wanna keep making music forever. Just the idea that what I have is of creative value to someone is enough, and you can shove the royalties back up SABC's ass, or better yet, give them to me so I can afford to sit in this office chair and keep saying this kinda shit. I dunno about you, but I have a soul.

office chair realisations

2008-02-21T10:53:00.002+02:00

Computers are the Swiss Army Knives of the urban soldier. Some of them even do fit in one's pocket now, but moreso in the sense that they fulfil every function that a young professional such as my self may require, save eating, sleeping and that other thing we all do.

I keep spasmodially saving this document in my old friend, TextPad. TextPad and I have spent many hours in our undramatic, master-slave relationship. Many hours of original feature writing, rehashing of extreme sports stories, ugly confessions and office chair realisations. Whatever gets me through the fact that I'm sitting in a chair staring at a photon tube.

I got up this morning and something was different. Just for a brief moment, I looked at my hands and remembered that I'm busy watching these hands grow old, wrinkly and eventually, they will die, along with the rest of this body. For a fraction of a second, I was alive, feeling my body. Then it all got swept away.

I have no major realisations. Just right now. I've gone through this all before. I cleared out all my music equipment and packed it away last night. When I read my journals, it's like a rapidly oscillating, moody description of someone who seeks the salve for his insecurity in emotional cold storage.

I repeat my routine. Shoes, scratch fungus-nads, shorts, go for a run. Bright sunny day, sometimes windy. Plough back up hill, catch breath and stretch. Go to work. Sit in chair reminding myself that I'm 'fulfilling my destiny as a musician.' What if I don't want to be a musician anymore? For real? I'm 26 in a few weeks. What if I've had enough and just let this all go? What if instead of unpacking my gear, I sell it all and find something else to do?

I could say, 'who knows' now, or I could say, 'I want this'. These are the decisions that make a man. I guess.

Some kinda ballad.

2008-02-20T16:40:00.000+02:00

a young man demanded his priest for the truth
the old man replied with an all-knowing stare
and held underwater the head of the youth
saying, 'battle for truth like you battle for air'

i've tumbled whiskeys obedient-eyed
and held onto fruitless glass after glass
and every moment of boredom resigned
has been one of yearning for which i've not asked

an army of answers of certainty born
may shear in triumph the ill-fated ears
of listening quesions, but will soon transform
from answers and triumphs to armies of years

and if the white wings of the angel of death
make this very night with their presence ablaze
and bequeath unto me one final request
i'll say, 'take me from this miserable place'

the end.

everything is hatable.

2008-02-20T09:11:00.003+02:00

oh god i'm fucking hating things this morning. why? because like a tit i bit off more than i could chew and made a stupid fuckin decision. i formatted the work computer to 'fix a virus' (which turned out to be me accidentally kicking the reset button plug at my feet). in the process, i have lost all m y mail contacts, and am now unable to install the drivers for the network adaptor=no internet.

this i am typing from my laptop, where i'm desperately trying to get things going again. but all in all, looking forward to having mel walk in, having to explain, then to tristan, then hopefully get bailed out and spend the rest of the day fumbling to catch up all this wasted time.

idiot. idiot. idiot. yeah. and went to see a movie last night against better judgment, and now i'm creatively frustrated ahead of my railway house gig tonight. everything is fucked.

oh yeah, and feeling a bit of the 'why bother' too. i mean, after all, it's a nice job and all, but i'm realy struggling to sit in this shitty little office each day doing something without a perceivable reason. For me, the taste of coffee -- that's a reason. not the distant idea of some position of illusory power within this music industry. no matter how the size, shape and form of my life changes, it's not gonna make a difference to what i want most: the moment of sharing my creative freedom with others.

morning surf and monday bright yellow vibes

2008-02-04T10:54:00.000+02:00

Hey, just got me an ego boost from Emile, who not only joined Pravda23 on assbook, but also posted a picture of this pub called 'Pravda' in Ireland. [As I typed the word now, my finger slipped onto the '2' out of habit.] hehe.

so, after a weekend with shaz and a morning on the beach, i think i'm now ready to quit wasting time and get to work...as if catching up with myself is ever a waste of time. gonna skip footie tonight and just remain at home to get the M3P finished. i think it's about time i got my three-track mp3 EP finished.

forgetfulness
driving in the rain
deep in the salami

tonight, tonight....

The Tunnels of My Mind

2008-01-31T09:00:00.000+02:00

In early today, but still didn't manage to unlock. Not taking time right now, despite early start. Discussing advertising cash projections. Feeling kinda 'with it', played some guitar this morning -- The Tunnels of My Mind. Loving that song. Looks like the spell has lifted for now, until it all comes crashing back. But for now, let's just stay with it. And get the coffee going. Chat later.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

enthusiasm = "full of God"

2008-01-23T13:16:00.000+02:00

I AM DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT. THAT'S WHY I GET FRUSTRATED AT TIMES. IF I COMPROMISED TODAY, I COULD BE SUCCESSFUL TOMORROW. BUT THEN WHAT?

The office is quiet and there's nobody in at present. It's fantastic. I'm busy this week. I'm excited about just going home tonight and working on Driving in the Rain. I know it's been in the pipeline a while, but I am prepared to finish it tonight.

I played the keyboard at Zula last night. I'm playing there every Tuesday now. I'm looking for more gigs. I will play solo, yes. I will do what it takes. I'm taking this further. I'm doing this. I just want to perform my music. At the moment, that's the engine, and the only salve to my occasional frustration.

Back to work now, but it's been good catching up.

I will not aspire to my expectations. I will expect my aspirations. Because I have a deep-rooted self-belief that nobody has ever been able to rob me of.

A shade short of shy

2007-11-30T02:54:00.000+02:00

Spoke to Francois van Coke ahead of their CD launch tonight. Unnerving. How do I still manage to see these guys as supermen, and not as fellows? Manifest, Prav.

Anyhow, other than that, I've been absolutely cooking Overtone lately, thanks to a healthy amount of support from people like Shaz, Pierre and my family. I see this time for what it is: an orgyistic indulgence in my creative side. I manage to write something different on every event I go to, as well as create the crudely edited videos (please, God: a line feed and Final Cut!) and the usual shebang of photos and hard work. Even wrote a follow-on piece of music for the Afrika Burns vid, which subsequently got pulled by Viacom International. Still wanna find out why.

Emailing everyone and anyone, and also intending well for this industry. Everyone gets so fired up over free mini-samoosas, but the hard work often falls by the wayside of the well-meaning ideal. I must keep my feet on the ground, and not forget that this is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.

I must also get my music time back. 4-7, John. You're gonna go crazy. It happens every time. Take it. Demand it. Allow it.

Moving into offices tomorrow! Got pravda23.com registered. Getting published in blunt. Making progress on guitar (through learning to enjoy it). Got a sheet music book when I left Teamtalk, learning to write again.

Creative revival.

2007-11-19T17:51:00.000+02:00

It's the same thought again and again: no matter how intensely I cover The Beams, Bed on Bricks or any number of familiar local bands, we have to begin representing this country on a widespread level.

I have to get my fingers into the music that's being made on the Northern Suburbs, the Cape Flats and in the townships. This is my sole aim at the moment. I will begin here, and move outwards. It begins with attending the gigs, meeting the people and spreading the word.

There is a site that covers all. I want to plug gigs all over the show. I wanna be part of this country's creative revival.

I know there will be a time when I look back at these days and realise that all the while I was following some invisible urge, working towards some invisible end-point.

Take pleasure in your faults

2007-11-11T11:37:00.001+02:00

Listening to In Rainbows. Can't decide if the whole album really is a visit to the days of old, when vitality ran through the veins of the five, or if they're just having a wank.

Anyhowser, the week of 'leave' from the desk job has been a schizophrenic mash-up. Family meetings and the wedding versus the Table Mountain Blues Summit last night and getting really pissed on Thursday night for Ben's homecoming. Spent my first day at the Overtone office a few days ago, left really late but feeling that we'd broken the ice. Who knows where it goes, really.

"John's a frustrated musician," says my mother over the table to another host of unfamiliar people I am obliged to get to know. It's true.

Also got loads of catching up to do. Pivotal right now is finding a place to rehearse. A place where I can set up my gear and make some noise; a place where I can invite deserving, hard-working musicians to collaborate. A place like the Long St rehearsal rooms. So, gotta contact Simon about that, when he's not too busy with the Kolo Novo Movie Band.

Freshlyground was great. There were a few minor pitfalls, but nothing that cannot be praised on the whole. Good feeling getting in there with them. Since then, it's been liasing with The Beams about their upcoming, self-titled EP and nailing the aforementioned TMBS.

I've been digging into the Encyclopedia of Rock & Pop lately, a behemoth of a book with loads of interesting anecdotes and pics, arranged by date from around 1950 to 2002. Wicked resource, even if it does end on Eminem.

It leads me to wonder where our little pond fits into the whole ocean. There are those legendary gigs -- the Woodstocks, the Cavern A&R sessions, the Sex Pistols at that school hall in 24 Hour Party People -- you know the ones. The ones that just spark something off. Something dormant gets woken. If I could be at one of those in my life, I'd be happy. Especially if I'm there, pen in hand, camera around wrist. Or, even better, up on stage.

I've also made a rare, headstrong decision -- I don't want to be the centre of ignorant attention. I'd rather be in the background of intelligent attention. In other words, I want to make music for musicians, not for everyone. In fact, I take pride in hearing musical laymen claim that my music is weird or sucks. Thank you, little one.

So, where do we fit in? What can we offer that is not imitation? Something African? Is that our ticket? I dunno. I'll speak to Dan Caleb about it sometime.

Roll me over, back to work again.

History of SA -- Music of South Africa.

Racking up points

2007-10-31T18:23:00.000+02:00

Come on Mr Jordan: You know you want to...

The SA Music Quota Coalition, like so many of these fragmented local organisations, have their hearts in the right place. The concept? Get more SA music on the radio. The trumpcards? Johnny Clegg, Jo Day, Robin Auld. The strategy? Get noticed through a lengthy letter to the minister of Arts & Culture (Pallo Jordan) and get people to sign up on their site.

Criticism? Boring site, and only 2527 members since May 2003. Check it out and you decide what to make of it.

I see potential. Bit by bit, the fragmented music society is shifting into gear, and artists and management are talking to each other. I mean, that's the natural progression, but how do we get them to all really start talking?

Free live performances, for one thing. How do we do that? How do we get Overtone to offer people free shows by reputed artists? Hey, if they're gonna sell their music for free on LoadTheShow, why not?

Strategise. Slowly. Carefully.

2007-10-28T12:20:00.000+02:00

I'm afraid I don't have time to update any typical industry news today, because I've got my hands full with the new darling children of post-RWC 2007 South Africa.

One has to walk a fine balance between treading lightly and bashing down doors to get five minutes with Freshlyground in this town. Admittedly, they're South Africa's biggest band, but I'm just not satisfied with anything less, I'm afraid.

In the meantime, Overtone is cooking. I'm basically doing absolutely everything I can to get editorial content on that site. I keep reminding myself that we're getting there, that it takes time, that it's all process. I am shaking the feeling that this is all a waste of time, because I know that it's filling a need which nobody else seems to be filling. I sound like I'm begging my friends, but I realise how fucking rad this is gonna be when it pans out. And then, it will pave the way for me as an artist.

Bigger Than Rugby

2007-10-25T09:44:00.002+02:00

Inhale deeply.
Ok.
Prime Circle are coming to South Africa.
Exhale.

...along with alt rock trophy-bearers Korn (cool site), Good Charlotte, 'Best UK Live Act' Kaiser Chiefs (hey, they even mentioned something about pigeons!), vocal superman Chris Cornell and some band called Muse or whatever.

Now: a buddy of mine who manages Cape Town alt rockers Southpaw and is planning to get the band on the bill for the March 24th concert comes up to me yesterday in our frightfully boring office space.

"Would you let them play for free?" I asked.
"Definitely! With that kind of exposure, for sure," he answered with a grin.

The debate is ongoing: For R600 a ticket, can Big Concerts afford to throw the local acts a bone when festival newbies like Southpaw are gonna fight to offer quality music for free anyway? I, personally, sympathise with bands forced to organise their own flights and costs out of pocket.

But moreso with an industry that is somehow expected to compete on a first-world level. Especially when organisers - ordinary people like you and me - get caught in the crossfire from cookie-soft 19-year-olds expecting their boyfriend's band to 'just get paid.' This is a 13-year-old country, after all.

But we're getting there. And by that, I mean keep an eye on Overtone.co.za. Smiles and coffee.

Today's cooing:

Listened to the new Amon Tobin yesterday - The Foley Room. Somewhere between having your neural pathways play hide-and-seek and an outdoor tea and vodka party where everyone's knocking over the cast iron chairs.

hooked up with Dan Caleb last night: the guy's working at the biggest studio in Cape Town. He also wrote this amazing African song for this chick he wants to bang. She's keen. Asked him to help out with The Kuleshov Effect.
The Springboks parade through the city today! RAAAAAAHRRRRR!!!!!