Wednesday, December 26, 2007
I Don't Believe It!
Three hours after that last post, just a week after I got it, that new ipod Classic died. Nearly full charge, I had it in my pocket. It had powered off after playing a song, and an hour or so later when I went to use it again, it wouldn't start. Nothing. Black screen, not even a spinning disc. Back to the store! And I'm going camping tomorrow, dammit.
My Bad Apple
Last week my ipod died, just two weeks out of warranty. It was a 30g 5G video model, and with the Christmas holiday coming, I was really going to miss it. So I took it into the retailer, Dick Smith Electronics to see if I could get it serviced.
Dick Smith's sales assistant told me that since it was out of warranty, there was nothing I could do. That just wasn't good enough. So the next day, armed with a copy of New Zealand's Consumer Guarantees Act, and some information from the Consumers Instutute on reasonable lifetimes for electronics. The manager really gave me the runaround, I argued for over an hour, even getting the national service manager on the phone. Eventually they agreed to service it here in Dunedin, so I wouldn't have to wait their minimum 15 working days for a repair in Auckland.
A few days ago I went in to check on progress and they told me what I suspected - it needed a new hard drive. They were going to repair it, but decided to replace my unit anyway. So I got a brand new 80g classic for pressing my consumer rights. There are some slight snags: It has problems charging in the car when connected to my itrip, and if I want to play video through the TV I need to buy a new AV cable, but it's nice to have so much capacity. I've got my whole expanding music library on there now. Yay for consumer rights!
Dick Smith's sales assistant told me that since it was out of warranty, there was nothing I could do. That just wasn't good enough. So the next day, armed with a copy of New Zealand's Consumer Guarantees Act, and some information from the Consumers Instutute on reasonable lifetimes for electronics. The manager really gave me the runaround, I argued for over an hour, even getting the national service manager on the phone. Eventually they agreed to service it here in Dunedin, so I wouldn't have to wait their minimum 15 working days for a repair in Auckland.
A few days ago I went in to check on progress and they told me what I suspected - it needed a new hard drive. They were going to repair it, but decided to replace my unit anyway. So I got a brand new 80g classic for pressing my consumer rights. There are some slight snags: It has problems charging in the car when connected to my itrip, and if I want to play video through the TV I need to buy a new AV cable, but it's nice to have so much capacity. I've got my whole expanding music library on there now. Yay for consumer rights!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Dark Horse
That's the name of the new lineup! Roslyn is away with family, so Mike, Lindsay, Nick and I popped down to the Empire last night to let rip with some solid blues. We had a ball, and it seemed the punters did too. Our old mate Boog Roberts was there too, so we got him up on harmonica for a couple of numbers. Great fun.
Hopefully Nik will harness his graphic abilities for the band, so stay tuned for some Dark Horse visuals!
Hopefully Nik will harness his graphic abilities for the band, so stay tuned for some Dark Horse visuals!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Top Blues Albums No.1
While we wait on band news, I thought I'd start a little series on my most influential Blues albums. This isn't really a list of all time greats. I'm not sure I'm is fit to judge the world's most influential. This is just a list of the ones that made me the bluesman I am. It'll be more of a chronological list rather than any order of importance. So first up it's these guys:
I'm almost (but not quite) ashamed to say my blues journey started here. Believe me, I wish I could tell you it was the day I met Dr Feelgood, or shook BB King's hand or snuck into some seedy blues bar at the age of 15. Instead, I was about 17 when I hear a radio ad on a tape of a recent top 40 from Capitol Radio, London. The ad was for the Blues Brothers movie. I'd been fooling around on harmonica, and didn't really know anything about blues music. But this radio ad had clips from "Sweet Home Chicago" "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and "She Caught The Katy". I was hooked, I had to hear the rest of those tunes, but it took more than a year for me to see the movie or hear any of the albums.
When I did see it, in Invercargill, 1981, people left the movie in droves. I thought they were nuts. I was mesmerised. It took a while to gather pace, but my blues habit started with that ad. As for the album, well, The Blues Brothers is an all-star band, and the soundtrack is a killer list of blues, soul, gospel and rock. I still rate it as a very warm introduction to the deep world of blues. I think I played those tunes I heard in that radio ad in my first gig in my first blues band, and they'll always be on my master set list.
I'm almost (but not quite) ashamed to say my blues journey started here. Believe me, I wish I could tell you it was the day I met Dr Feelgood, or shook BB King's hand or snuck into some seedy blues bar at the age of 15. Instead, I was about 17 when I hear a radio ad on a tape of a recent top 40 from Capitol Radio, London. The ad was for the Blues Brothers movie. I'd been fooling around on harmonica, and didn't really know anything about blues music. But this radio ad had clips from "Sweet Home Chicago" "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and "She Caught The Katy". I was hooked, I had to hear the rest of those tunes, but it took more than a year for me to see the movie or hear any of the albums.
When I did see it, in Invercargill, 1981, people left the movie in droves. I thought they were nuts. I was mesmerised. It took a while to gather pace, but my blues habit started with that ad. As for the album, well, The Blues Brothers is an all-star band, and the soundtrack is a killer list of blues, soul, gospel and rock. I still rate it as a very warm introduction to the deep world of blues. I think I played those tunes I heard in that radio ad in my first gig in my first blues band, and they'll always be on my master set list.
Name Struggle
Okay, after more time that I care to contemplate, the struggle for a good stable band lineup may be over. The struggle for a new band name has just begun.
Practices have been going well. I'd like a band new name to give us a fresh identity and a feeling of cohesion, but finding one that works for everyone is impossible. I'm sure if you've been in the same position you'll know how hard it is. Your name is important, especially in a blues-based band. You want some sense of pedigree. You want some stand-out. You want it to be user-friendly and not easily mangled mis-spelt or mocked.
We've been through scores of names in the last week. Nothing has stuck yet. I thought we were there with The Revelations, but there was some reluctance. We're close though. Stay tuned for an announcement, hopefully some visuals soon after.
Practices have been going well. I'd like a band new name to give us a fresh identity and a feeling of cohesion, but finding one that works for everyone is impossible. I'm sure if you've been in the same position you'll know how hard it is. Your name is important, especially in a blues-based band. You want some sense of pedigree. You want some stand-out. You want it to be user-friendly and not easily mangled mis-spelt or mocked.
We've been through scores of names in the last week. Nothing has stuck yet. I thought we were there with The Revelations, but there was some reluctance. We're close though. Stay tuned for an announcement, hopefully some visuals soon after.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Changes
Ok, I think we might just have the line-up we need to really get to work. A few weeks back Lindsay was doing business with a chap in his photographic studio and discovered he was an experienced - and more importantly, free - drummer. After a jam with him, I'm pleased to say we've added Nik Sweeney to our lineup. I'm sorry to have to let Mark go, we all love his drumming and he's a lovely guy, but without more of a time commitment from him, Circus Animals just wasn't going to get anywhere. He was very gracious and understanding when I told him, which was what we all expected. We hope to jam with him in future and expect he'll sit in on some tunes with us when we get gigging around town. Best of luck with your other projects mate.
So, onward! Nik hasn't played a lot of blues, but is a versatile and intelligent drummer. He's already picked up the subtleties of the less-is-more style of blues drumming, and his enthusiasm is pretty uplifting too. He's also a graphic designer. Along with Lindsay's photographic business, I'm expecting the band to start presenting some visual images as sharp as our sound!
So, onward! Nik hasn't played a lot of blues, but is a versatile and intelligent drummer. He's already picked up the subtleties of the less-is-more style of blues drumming, and his enthusiasm is pretty uplifting too. He's also a graphic designer. Along with Lindsay's photographic business, I'm expecting the band to start presenting some visual images as sharp as our sound!
White Ribbon Day
Another little gig just to whet our appetites. We played four or five tunes in the Octagon for the White Ribbon Day concert on Nov 25. 
The hardest part was getting everyone together for a practice first. Our drummer Mark spreads himself kind of thin. Anyway, it went pretty well. If only we could get enough practice time to get a really tight set together and get gigging! Watch this space.
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