Uh oh, here comes the annual New Zealand Music Awards ceremony!
I greatly admire many of our local musicians and songwriters, no doubt about that. I greatly do not admire the notion of lining them up and handing out some meaningless slab of sculpture which states that this muso is better and more deserving than that one over there.
The promotional material did lots to soften my view. Fronted by someone in need of a shave, and dressed in a circus outfit. He is the host, oh no, woops, I mean ringmaster. Tee hee, how very innovative. Sheer comic genius that. And who are the three offsiders? Young blond skinny white thing. I wonder how she got the role. One skinny pale white guy, and another very very skinny pale white guy. Or is he just excessively tall? Rampant sizism and racism.
Like the baby boomers themselves, who really developed these things to where they are now, the New Zealand Music awards ceremony is racking up the years, but has it really grown up and matured at all? This awards ceremony should go the way of Kiwi beauty pagents-on a one way trip to the refuse station.
Oh dear, I suppose I could actually watch it this year, and keep the venom locked away until after the event. The closest contested individual category is usually 'dickhead of the night'. Closely followed by 'embarrassement of the entire event'. Maybe this year will be different. After all, New Zealand music has apparantly come of age.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sir HM Tribute?
Who else is completely over the media coverage of Sir HM? And I accentuate, the media coverage. OK, so I have a few little issues with the enormous, week long farewell ceremonies which accompanied his death, but the man is resting in peace now, so I need to pay my dues.
The superlatives which flowed his way were somewhat over the top in my opinion. Why do we do this when someone passes away? The media reminded me many times daily that the entire country was in mourning. Well...not really. Prominent, and not so prominent New Zealanders were very quick to annoint Sir HM as the absolute and undisputed king of New Zealand entertainment. Well...there are others, actually. And many of them write their own material.
I'm not wishing to diminish the contribution he has made to the New Zealand musical and cultural landscape whatsoever. He was truley a great entertainer, who endured and crossed cultural and musical boundaries. I just ask for perspective here. I think my next entry better be on the living....
The superlatives which flowed his way were somewhat over the top in my opinion. Why do we do this when someone passes away? The media reminded me many times daily that the entire country was in mourning. Well...not really. Prominent, and not so prominent New Zealanders were very quick to annoint Sir HM as the absolute and undisputed king of New Zealand entertainment. Well...there are others, actually. And many of them write their own material.
I'm not wishing to diminish the contribution he has made to the New Zealand musical and cultural landscape whatsoever. He was truley a great entertainer, who endured and crossed cultural and musical boundaries. I just ask for perspective here. I think my next entry better be on the living....
Sunday, August 9, 2009
The tragedy of suicide
A few weeks ago, my attention was drawn to the news of the discovery of the body of a middle aged professional man, who appears to have fallen to his death in the Sumner/Taylors Mistake area. This death was made more personal by the fact that it was the husband of one of my wife's work collegues. Talking to my wife about him, it would appear that this man had it all, and was one of life's great success stories.
A few day after this, I noticed in the 'situations vacant' that a leading Canterbury health organisation was seeking to fill a newly created position of "Suicide Prevention Officer". Clearly, one of the largest health providers in Canterbury realised there was a problem out there. Apparantly middle aged, well off white guys are the target audience for this one.
The seemingly unecessary death of Crowded House drummer Paul Hester a few years ago is something that I still think about frequently. I never met the man, and wasn't in his circle of people by any means. I did follow his career closely as a life member of the Split Enz fan club however, so gained some small insight into the kind of man he was. Again, he appeared to be living a wonderful life. He had made it to the very top of what he did, and had many creative outlets on the go. Again, something obviously was terribly wrong.
Personally, I have found the aftermath of Paul's death perplexing. A song about his death appeared on the latest Crowded House 'comeback' album, and friends and former band members have quietly acknowledged him from time to time. But, generally, information has been very scarce. As a fan, I suppose after all these years, I just want to know 'why?'. What made him go to such extreme measures? What support structures were in place? From this far away, even after all this time, what he did just doesn't make sense.
He didn't die of a drug overdose, or in a place crash, or from natural causes. He took his own life, leaving two young children behind. Even as I write this, that stirs up many diverse emotions, some of them very ugly ones. There is much talk about closure when someone dies, but when suicide is the cause, people still seem uncomfortable with it. Paul's death, for me, remains unfinished.
I sure hope this suicide prevention officer makes a big difference in Christchurch, and gives those thinking about taking their own lives some real, meaningful options. If only because I am slap bang in the middle of the age group at most risk!
A few day after this, I noticed in the 'situations vacant' that a leading Canterbury health organisation was seeking to fill a newly created position of "Suicide Prevention Officer". Clearly, one of the largest health providers in Canterbury realised there was a problem out there. Apparantly middle aged, well off white guys are the target audience for this one.
The seemingly unecessary death of Crowded House drummer Paul Hester a few years ago is something that I still think about frequently. I never met the man, and wasn't in his circle of people by any means. I did follow his career closely as a life member of the Split Enz fan club however, so gained some small insight into the kind of man he was. Again, he appeared to be living a wonderful life. He had made it to the very top of what he did, and had many creative outlets on the go. Again, something obviously was terribly wrong.
Personally, I have found the aftermath of Paul's death perplexing. A song about his death appeared on the latest Crowded House 'comeback' album, and friends and former band members have quietly acknowledged him from time to time. But, generally, information has been very scarce. As a fan, I suppose after all these years, I just want to know 'why?'. What made him go to such extreme measures? What support structures were in place? From this far away, even after all this time, what he did just doesn't make sense.
He didn't die of a drug overdose, or in a place crash, or from natural causes. He took his own life, leaving two young children behind. Even as I write this, that stirs up many diverse emotions, some of them very ugly ones. There is much talk about closure when someone dies, but when suicide is the cause, people still seem uncomfortable with it. Paul's death, for me, remains unfinished.
I sure hope this suicide prevention officer makes a big difference in Christchurch, and gives those thinking about taking their own lives some real, meaningful options. If only because I am slap bang in the middle of the age group at most risk!
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