by cameron | Nov 8, 2006 | Podcast
[display_podcast]
So tonight I went to see Lou Reed play a gig in Redwood City, an hour by train outside of SF. It was HUGE!
As some of you know, back in Jan 2005, as we started TPN, I published my dream list of people I’d like to interview on my podcast. At the top of the list was… Lou Reed. Next was Noam Chomsky. Well I got Noam out of the way about a year ago. And tonight…
While I was standing in line I started chatting with some of the other folks in the line, and eventually realized that if I can’t get a chance to actually interview Lou Reed, I can at least interview his fans! So I pulled out my iPod asked the people who they were, where they came from, what they did for a living and why they were going to see Lou. I kept doing the interviews while we were sitting inside the theatre, waiting for the show to start. I also recorded 99% of the show, but that’s just for my personal collection. 🙂
In the interviews I met a fine art photographer, a sci-fi author, a landscape gardener, the manager of a comedy club, a psychiatric nurse, the president of a search engine optimization company… and a german. A fair cross-section of Lou Reed fans. I’ve always suspected Lou Reed fans are more intelligent than your average rock fans.
By the way, the show was brilliant. No drums, no keyboards, just Lou on guitar and Rob Wasserman and Fernando Saunders both playing bass! The set list included mostly tracks from Songs For Drella Magic And Loss and The Raven. There was one VU song, a brilliant version of Femme Fatale, and one encore from New York. During the show, Lou announced that the Democrats had taken back the House of Reps and he, along with the crowd, clapped and cheered for about five minutes. Lou made a comment about how convenient it was that Saddam was sentenced the day before the US Elections and then said how he’d like to see George Bush hung. I think the election result must have buoyed his spirits because he did TWO encores – the first was a new track called “Gravity” and the second was “Dirty Boulevard”. Anyway… this show is about the fans, not a review of the concert, but let me just say that it was awesome. And today there was news that he is touring Australia again next month!! And will be performing the entire Berlin album!! Rock on.
Enjoy.
by cameron | Nov 8, 2006 | Uncategorized
I know what you’re thinking – Flickr is all about photography, so how can it equal the death of photography?
Hear me out.
I was on the Caltrain this afternoon, heading down to Redwood City where I had a meeting and then a Lou Reed concert to attend, and I realized I hadn’t taken my camera with me. Immediately I thought – ah well, it doesn’t matter, someone else will take photos of the concert and I’ll be able to find them on Flickr within hours.
Sure enough – check these out.
Now I could have bothered lugging my camera around. But why? Those photos are exactly what I would have taken and he probably did a better job. What’s the point of 1000 photos of the same thing?
Here’s an example – pick your favourite holiday destination. Pick something iconic about the place that you would normally want to photograph when you were there.
Now search for that thing on Flickr. Find a pretty good photo? So what’s the point of taking your own?
Now, of course, you might be the kind of person who wants to have photos of yourself standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, just in case no-one believes you actually did go to France, or perhaps to prove to yourself you really did go when the Alzheimer’s kicks in.
But really… do you need photos of yourself? What percentage of photos taken on holidays contain people versus icons? I wonder.
By the way, when I was standing in line at the concert, and sitting inside the theatre waiting for the gig to start, I interviewed a bunch of people. It was a lot of fun, I met some great people and it should make the gig tax deductible, right? It’ll be up tomorrow.
by cameron | Nov 8, 2006 | Podcast, Uncategorized
Allow me to vent for a minute on something few of you will care about – Van Halen. Long time viewers will know that I grew up listening to VH and pretty much decided to be David Lee Roth when I grew up (something I never really got over but now I’d be happy to get him to do a podcast on TPN… Dave, the offer is still open man).Â
Confirmation today from the Van Halen camp that Michael Anthony aka “Michael Fatteny” as we used to call him (a reference to his generous girth) is no longer in the band and has been replaced on bass by Eddie’s 15 year old son Wolfie! Gah! So now the band is Eddie, his son and his brother Al on drums.
Now, losing Mike on bass is bad enough – those of you who aren’t VH fans probably think that all bass players are the same, but Mike has always been a key ingredient to the VH pie. He’s a master on the instrument, provides the dog-whistle-soprano back-up vocals, and of course comes across as the only truly nice guy in the whole outfit. And how is Wolfie going to drink Johnny Walker from the top of his bass? At 15? Although if he’s got his dad’s genes, I doubt it’ll be a problem….
As bad as losing Mike might be, the worst part of all this is that rumours that DLR might be back on vocals is unlikely if they can’t even make peace with Mike. Apparently the problem between Mike & the brothers VH is that he’s still mates with Hagar and plays the occasionaly gig with Sammy at Cabo. Mike’s been with the band since the beginning, around 75/76, that’s 30 years, if you don’t count the last year of them sitting on their rich asses. And they have dumped him because he’d rather play gigs with Sammy than sit around getting even fatter? So you have to surmise that if Eddie can’t get over that, there’s no way in HELL he’s going to tolerate working with Dave again.
So my chances of EVER seeing DLR out front of VH in this lifetime are pretty much zero minus something. Thanks Eddie. Thanks a lot. By the way, hope you enjoyed doing that porn soundtrack cuz I think that’s pretty much where your career is headed now dude.
by cameron | Nov 8, 2006 | Uncategorized
Richard Geasey, who works for Austrade, is based in Seattle, and who I unfairly gave a slightly hard time on G’Day World 162, has started a blog. His job is to help Aussie companies export their product to the Unites States of Amorica. After some harrassment from Buzz and I at ANZA, he has started a blog which I think will become a terrific resource for Aussie business people wanting to know more about how to get here and what to do when you get here. Let’s face it – the official government sites are so dull and lifeless they will kill you. We need folks like Rich to tell it as it is. Quickly and painlessly. Good on ya mate.
by cameron | Nov 8, 2006 | Uncategorized
Of course the big news over here at the moment, isn’t the Congressional elections happening today, but the way BORAT took out the #1 spot at the Box Office over the weekend.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. It was directed by Larry Charles, one of the masterminds behind Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage. And how many of you remember Mahir Cagri, the guy who stormed the net back in 1999, the days of the Dancing Baby? He claims he was the original inspiration for Borat and he intends on suing Sacha Baron Cohen.
Cohen, meanwhile, is in negotiations to make a film based on his character Bruno. Last night at the Cup drinks we were talking about this clip where Bruno takes on the Frat Boys during Spring Break. It’s a classic.
