It’s not always easy to tag one’s music with the right genre tags, especially as the use and description of genre has become more refined, more specific and more niche… so I did a gag about it.
Archive for the 'cartoon' Category
04
Sep
11
tag gag for the day….
The Paper Scissors are one of the local Sydney bands that I’m into -I’ve bought their latest CD and all, but I’ve wimped out of gigs lately, possibly because being in my late 30′s I’m a bit of an old fogey -I’m tired of standing through 2-3 support bands to see the main act (buying pricy beers and all), and then the main act finishes past midnight and it’s a headache to get home by bus… The previous gig I saw was Sonny Rollins at the Opera House -not cheap (but not too expensive) and finished at a manageable 10.30…
I think I’m tending towards just appreciating recorded music, since that’s what I’m striving to produce not having a band… Hopefully the future will have more of a ‘cottage industry’… I’m starting to get into Soundcloud and listen to similar ‘struggling musos’ around the world.
14
Aug
11
difficult words
One of my favourite blog reads is the Lefsetz letter (http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/) but having spent so many years in Asia there are always a few terms I need to look up… For instance I hadn’t realised that a ‘purveyor’ is a person who ‘provides’ or ‘supplies’. Another term: the ‘hoi polloi’ is a Greek term that literally means ‘the many’, but has come to mean in English ‘the masses’ or ‘common people’…(technically if you say ‘the hoi polloi’ you’re saying ‘the the many’, but it sounds right in English anyway…)
06
Jun
11
Munhwa Experience
On another blog I also do cartoons with a martial arts theme, but sometimes these blogs share the same characters, such as the ‘Happy Cappa’. You can check it out on http://munhwaexperience.wordpress.com/
22
May
11
Beware the record contract…
Another of my carts portraying the music executive as the contractual bogeyman
19
May
11
The Short of the Long Tail
I’ve been finishing my reading of Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” recently (bought it a year ago on special, started reading then got sidetracked). I know it’s a bit out of vogue now but I think it still has a lot of valid and valuable arguments and it bats for the hobbyist content creator such as myself.
I’m actually writing this post because of an inspiring round-up of his at the end of chapter 9 where he talks about the ‘dangers of Hitism’ and the cynical mindset that affects society in general regarding the entertainment industry. To give a couple of examples: The belief in society that everyone going into the music industry ‘wants to be a star’, or they’re ‘in it for the money’. The former attitude is further reinforced by the likes of the Idol franchise, and the latter by the image of hiphop stars and producers, and a gleaning through Billboard might not help either.
Does that mean that success in music (i.e. talent etc…) and success in the music business are almost unrelated? Is it all just about a self-indulgent grab for money, fame and attention?
The dangers and tyranny of ‘hitism’ doesn’t mean that people going into the industry are necessarily like that, but that the public perceives it to be so. Anyway, the positive point of the longtail is that many artists can make a comfortable living without being a part of the ‘hits’ culture, through online niches and the wonders of social networking. There are still hits, but the non-hits don’t necessarily mean misses. Since the attention of the mainstream media only has room for a handful of stars like Lady Gaga etc, I still recommend this book for all kinds of content-creators.
Don’t settle for the 360 record deal when 480′s are out there! Forget T-shirts.
When merchandising, why not make a home brew?
If you’re gonna have a band, you need one member to be deep and philosophical, to inspire the lyrics and music and take the listeners to the deeper, esoteric levels…
29
Aug
10
My latest cartoon on twittering…
14
Aug
10
Pretentious cartoon…
