The Business of Love

Just stumbled across the below... it has triggered a wider train of thought about the role of my faith and a wider sense of knowledge and understanding about my work place and the role that I have in contributing to the make up of a "culture" -

The Business of Love

[If Paul] is right [in 1 Corinthians 13], then all things or systems that work against the principle of love will fail eventually. Sacrificial love, in other words, is the only sustainable operating force in the universe. We can complain that we simply cannot accept the assumptions proposed here; but Christians should not be able to operate, if we do indeed believe these principles, in some halfway land, on one hand claiming to believe the ordinances, but also functionally accepting the worldly systems at work as the only reality.


The medium of beauty in a business world is the workers that make the businesses run. It’s not the stock options or profit. They comprise far more capacity, and far deeper longing and invigorated promise for future generations than the system gives them credit for. So the question is not whether they are paid enough, or given enough work: the question is, does the workplace enlarge humanity, or endanger humanity.
Thus, we need to see the market not just as a tool to make money, but a complex labyrinth with a generative creative order. In such an ecosystem, we need to consider investments as a form of stewardship. Conversely, we may redefine investments as a way to create and sustain beauty, rather than gain power for ourselves. And true beauty, at her truest aim, is a humble stream that flows through the heart of a city, re-humanizing its inhabitants, and allowing them to breathe in what would otherwise be unbearable air.

Of Gods and Men

Went to see of gods and men again last night... was deeply moved, greived and encouraged.


The below is the final letter from Brother Christian...


Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to be a victim of the terrorism swallowing up all foreigners here, I would like my community, my church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to his country. That the Unique Master of all life was no stranger to this brutal departure. And that my death is the same as so many other violent ones, consigned to the apathy of oblivion. I've lived enough to know, I am complicit in the evil that, alas, prevails over the world and the evil that will smite me blindly. I could never desire such a death. I could never feel gladdened that these people I love be accused randomly of my murder. I know the contempt felt for the people here, indiscriminately. And I know how Islam is distorted by a certain Islamism. This country, and Islam, for me are something different. They're a body and a soul. My death, of course, will quickly vindicate those who call me naïve or idealistic, but they must know that I will be freed of a burning curiosity and, God willing, will immerse my gaze in the Father's and contemplate with him his children of Islam as he sees them. This thank you which encompasses my entire life includes you, of course, friends of yesterday and today, and you too, friend of last minute, who knew not what you were doing. Yes, to you as well I address this thank you and this farewell which you envisaged. May we meet again, happy thieves in Paradise, if it pleases God the Father of us both. Amen. Insha'Allah. 

Booked...

So its nearing half way through 2011 and at the beginning of the year I posted a to read list... heres how im going...


Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy - This was really a finish it off jobby... but since its 900 or something pages... im sitting at about 600... it has been collecting dust for the past 4 months though....
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens - Geniusly discovered the old audio book... am about half way through this one!

The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck - pending

On The Road, Jack Kerouac - yes yes and yes!!! this has bumped An equal music from the top of my favourite book list! I started reading it in prep for the states and then finished it in San Francisco which was just magical! One day I will do Sal's America!
Animal Farm, George Orwell - na-aahhh
Catch-22, Joseph Heller - not yet
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald - I got a copy of it for my birthday... its sitting by my bed! On page 3!
A Churchless Faith, Alan Jaimeson - yes! and it was ok> a cool mix of peoples stories
The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle - yes! and it was average! The first chapter was good...
Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright - ready and waiting by my bed!
Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell - I didnt read Jesus wants to save Christians but I did read Love Wins... which i thought was really... interesting!
Confessions of St Augustine, Augustine - Who knows if I will ever read this!

 

And I have read a few other books not on my list...

 

Resident Aliens - Haurwaus and Willemon

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Seriously Funny -Adrian Plass
Beyond Personality - C.S. Lewis
Love Wins - Rob Bell
Hand Me Down World - Llyod Jones

Blessed are the Cheesemakers...

One of my favourite classics is Monty Python's - Life of Brian. This film is pure brilliance! I actually find it hard to listen to the Beatitudes read without transporting myself back to the Sermon on the Mount re-enactment...

Life of Brian

Im in the middle of reading an EPIC book... Its called Resident Aliens...* its not a Sci-Fi but a cosmically mind blowing provocative Christian assesment of culture and ministry...

Anyways here is a quote from the book...

Here [in the sermon on the Mount] is an invitation to a way that strikes hard against what the world already knows, what the world defines as good behavior, what makes sense to everybody. The Sermon, by its announcement and its demands, makes necessary the formation of a colony, not because disciples are those who have a ned to be different, but because the Sermon, if believed and lived, makes us different, shows us the world to be alien, and odd place where what makes sense to everybody else is revealed to be opposed to what God is doing among us. jesus was not crucified for saying or doing what made sense to everyone. People are crucified for following a way that runs counter to the prevailing direction of the culture…



* Please note as much as I bagged amazon.com... in previous posts... its still good for book reviews!

Music in the Clouds...

Personally I have only listened to the album in passing so am unable to comment on the creative element...
But what interested me more was the back end of the release and the 500,000 online sales Amazon generated.


One of the major successes of Gaga's album was 60% of recorded sales were digital. The record industry have been treading water for at least a decade now with the introduction of digital sales and the ever changing nature of the 21st century. After years of attempting to shy away from the 'digital world' labels and artists are beginning to understand the role that album sales play in the multifaceted business that is music. Touring, merchandise, endorsments and plenty of other clever revenue generators (and publicity) are what end up funding the product 'the music'. Seemingly backwards when you think about the systematic processes of art as we know it… (which one could beg to question is it really art when one applys a systematic process?)

Anyways in attempt to re-launch their cloud-drive amazon.com got friendly with some big people at Universal and made avaliable a digital download of 'Born This Way' for 99c… yep you heard right 99c. Cloud drive isnt exactly what I thought it was (I thought it was a digital downloads site) but instead the new branch of amazon acts as an online hard drive giving you 5GB of free space to store data. One can up the data limit but this comes at a significant cost (especially when one can create endless google accounts - messy but creative!)

So basically amazon bought the album at full price and onsold it at a rediculously cheap rate in order to drive visitation to the website. Success…? Who knows! Amazon (failing to comment) lost a predicted $3million on the campaign… At the expense of record stores who predicted their sales were down by 50%... But 500,000 people now have amazon cloud-drive accounts… who may use them again? Maybe not? Who knows.


A question I am lead to ask is… What place does the 'music' play in a world of marketing, publicity and sales… ? I don’t know the answer but I thought the below from the New York Times was interesting… "Mr. Carter, Lady Gaga’s manager, said the prerelease promotional campaign for “Born This Way” had been in full swing for six months. “If you look at ‘The Fame,’ ” Mr. Carter continued, referring to Lady Gaga’s first album, “it wasn’t marketing ploys that drove the success of that album. It was the quality of the content and Gaga’s willingness to go around the world and play for the fans, do the promotion, do the TV shows, visit the radio stations and the club D.J.’s. There’s a lot more of that than there are marketing ploys.”

 On a side note… amazon… im not much of a fan… their interface is clunky… their brand is dated… and as for innovation… see google… that’s how you create a super power!
 

V for 48 Hours

So basically Anna signed us up for the V 48 hour Film competition where we have 48 Hours to make a short film under 7 minutes.

It runs this weekend and I am super excited for this... we have an epic team of which my role is that of "foley artist".

Its gunna be carnage, its gunna be mayhem, theres going to be metaphorical tape spliced everywhere...

Bring it on...

Post Holiday Blues...

In the sense that I went to see Robert Allen Zimmerman on Saturday night and he rocked the Blues...

What a treat what better to come home from the most Entertaining 3 weeks of my life to be serenaded by the Man himself!

Instead of boring you with the intimate details of a show where I only knew 4 songs... (So the stats which I managed to work out... I own 6 Albums... granted 2 are greatest hits and Best of and another 1 is the soundtrack for im not there but within those 6 albums there are 9 CDs I feel that I am a reasonably educated Dylan fan... alas alas 4 songs and 2 were the encore... Better get myself up to speed on the rest of his 34 albums!) which you can adequatley read here!

I am going to tell you why I like Bob Dylan...

I love the fact that he cant sing, that hes so far off the note the band has to change key for him (so maybe not that much but a bit) i love that his songs idolise 60s America, and the free generation that lived,  I love that he was harrased offstage when he did something different and "went electric", but then he kept doing it anyway and look at us now, I love that he revolutionised music as we know it, he challenged the conventional pop song by releasing 6 minutes of Like a rolling stone, I love his stand for non-violence and justice and the poetry written in his songs that reflect this, I love that despite the image he portrayed he met Jesus and was "born again" and the impact that this had not just on his music but on his life, i love the fact that he is a private man, that he isnt about the stardom and the fame, that he plays the music and that he is just a great old fella...

He has been called a "master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation..." and that is the 69 year old Legend that I witnessed on Saturday Night!

Day 3 @ Coachella

Phosphorescent

I went along to Phosphorescent based on 1 song I had heard of theirs, thinking they were a kind of cutesy acoustic type band… which they weren’t but they presently surprised me with a kind of country blend reminding me of whiskeytown’s earlier music. The band were more about keeping it real then being tight and solid, but I did really enjoy the music.

Twin Shadow

I spent some time just in the tent chilling, fell asleep to this band for a bit actually. The heat was just too intense!

Angus and Julia

I remember when I was working at EMI and Angus and Julia’s first EP came into my hands and I had to put together a bio about the brother and sister duo. Since then I have followed their journey to stardom now based in CA. Again like swell season I felt this show was one that should be indulged in and that the sound leaking from other stages did not provide the best setting for their quiet show. Angus also disappointed, being a whole lot more withdrawn than I expected and coming across as a total recluse who didn’t actually want to be onstage. Julia redeemed it though with a lovely onstage manner. She also played an epic trumpet solo in the middle of private lawns which was wow. I wondered how much the fan in the front row was paid to wave the australian flag for the entire show! 

Fistful of Mercy

Ben Harper… one man you could not not admire… What a star! Again a band I hadn’t heard of before but want to hear much much more of. Just making some sweet music really. I found the vocals of these guys sounded like Neil Young. The band formed when Dhani Harrison (Son of George) invited Ben Harper to play on his record, Ben then invited some guy he had met at a skate park to join them and bam… a band was born. They were just really dreamy and full of layers.

The National

The national are my 2^nd favourite band… but I think I have a lot of second favourite bands… I just love them heaps! I had heard them at an epic show in January so wasn’t expecting them to blow me away too much I was excited for Sam and Aaron and Anna who hadn’t heard them though… but they just jumped into my heart and broke it to pieces! It was another sunset experience with the moon rising up from above the palms which was again just beautiful. I stood there… danced, sung, laughed, cried… such a moving experience. They played several older numbers including a couple of songs off Alligator which was awesome and they really rocked them out. The horn section again was awesome and really made the performance. 

The Strokes

Im not a massive strokes fan but Anna was a huge fan and so I stood in the back for the gig… and man we just danced and danced. What a fun band they were.  Julian Casablancas was a bit of a looser… just came across as a dick, despite his awesomeness.

Kanye West

The finale of the festival and what can I say… To quote Mel Arnold – “Kayne – He is an art form in himself” and really words can not describe the show that Kanye turned on for us… “his true fans” check out these videos for some classic entertainment…

Kanye's speech

The opening of the show

Chariots of Fire...

Day 2 @ Coachella

Freelance Whales

I found these guys on youtube one time and quite liked their sound… a really cool combo of percussion vocals and banjo! They were cool. Vocally I love it when the whole band sings which they did. They also used the xylophone heaps and other percussion.

The tallest man on Earth

It was suggested by of one of Sams friends that we should check out this guy and… afterwards I wanted to marry the tallest man on earth because he was everything I hope and dream of… haha. His music was very folky and reminded me in a really bad way of me trying to compare artists of a cross between Ryan Adams and Damien Rice… in the style of Bob Dylan - which isn’t really what he sounded like but then kind of. He was just so raw and dreamy. The last song he performed was with a chick (speculation of if she was his wife or not but I like to think she wasn’t) which was just glorious.

Foals

I then caught the tail end of Foals… who were to be honest nothing special… they kind of just existed. Which is sad because I have heard so much good things about their live show… maybe one needs to hear the full set?

Two Door Cinema Club

I cant really claim hearing these guys as I left after a couple of songs (for good reasons including promises of a shower) They had such a solid sound and were really tight. I left wanting to check them out more which is always a good thing…

Broken Social Scene

I really like broken social scene… they just do something right. They were ok but just not incredible. They are the sort of band who I think I have huge expectations on in particular their ability to perform at a live show based on the amount of back up they have with a massive band. But in saying that their show was enjoyable, I don’t think their music is something one can hugely kneebop along  to or indulge in the effects and intensity of the music, so I basically lay down in the grass and dreamed away. There is something special about looking at clouds move to the beat. Kevin Drew was also a bit lame… chucking out one liners such as my mum always told me it was important to stay hydrated at festivals, make sure you guys drink lots of water…

Bright Eyes

This video in essence shows everything that is beautiful about Coachella. The sunset was to die for and bought so much more then beauty in was the death of the heat and the arrival of a place you could actually breathe. Bright Eyes… so I was already completely in love with Connor Oberst… something about his tortured genius and ability to make amazing music… But live these guys were just amazing. They played quite a bit of stuff of their new album which has some epic songs on it. I particularly enjoyed their song shell games, and their live rendition of Lover I don’t have to love was pretty heart wrenching. I think in essence the ability for Bright Eyes to be one of those bands that have the perfect ability to cross between dynamics. They also had one of the guys on stage playing trumpet and flugelhorn which won my heart. They had 2 drummers too which just makes for awesome! Connor Oberst I want to marry you…

Mumford and Sons

These were a major drawcard for the festival and one of my deciding factors to attend… and well I was blown away. Mumford and Sons have been a bit of a worldwide phenomenon and the Americans well they just love them, which I couldn’t work out really because they are so British. They opened with Sigh No More which has beautiful vocal opening. They then played hit after hit. They also played a couple of new songs which were just a treat! I often hate it when bands play new material because I don’t know it, but these songs just felt like I had played them on repeat already. The band also had such an energy… just pumping the music out. The horn section was also a total treat. Not playing horn lines but adding to the backline of the music. The tempo changes and dynamic build that the band has were also done so well live taking us from huge climaxes back down to quite patches. I think overall the band just seemed like nice guys and all I could do was fall further in love with them.

The Swell Season

I heard these guys a year ago in Auckland and would list it in perhaps the top 5 musical experiences of my life. Everything about Glen and Marketa is beautiful. At Coachella we made a mad dash from Mumfords Stage to hear them but was sadly disappointed. I think perhaps the fact that they were in between two stages which were both pumping bass paired with a noisy audience, it was difficult to hear them, they also had a really short set so it felt like we had been short changed and the set turned into a blur of confusion really.

Arcade Fire

So here was my pick of the weekend… 11 people on stage, some massive songs, an incredible front man and lady, and a bunch of die hard fans… made for the best gig of the weekend. I love arcade fire and just love them even more now… Win Butler is just a hero as was his wife Regine who managed to play every instrument on stage. They just played hit after hit after hit. Finished their set and then played 3 more hits. I am a huge fan of their latest album which they played quite a bit of but they also played some Neon Bible and Funeral and oh It was just a blur of 2 hours of me in a field dancing with my hands in the air enjoying the glory of epic music! They ended the set with Wake up where there was a massive balloon drop, these balloons were huge though. They dropped white and then when they were dropped they had lights in them and these were all set off at different times to changing patterns. We spent a while afterwards trying to work out the technology behind these as they somehow managed to put a wave of light through the whole crowd of them, which meant they were able to locate the positions of the fallen balloons? UFOs I say!  Ending their encore with Mountains beyond Mountains and then the closing of the strings of suburbs… awwww tear. A memory to hold in my heart always!

Day 1 @ Coachella

All the titles of the bands have links to Live performances some of them from Coachella... enjoy!

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

To kick off the music was Black Joe Lewis… We thought the name sounded cool and expected an old country/bluesy band…  which it kinda was however instead of Black Joe Lewis being an old white guy with a beard it was this young black guy who should have been rapping. It was fun music though they had a great horn section and were able to rock out the solos.

Cee Lo Green

Everybody loves the hit Fuck You performed by Cee Lo Green… I thought hey this should be awesome live. Had watched the performance at the Grammys with Gwyneth Paltro and it totally rock out and then listened to some of the other tracks online and found out that Cee Lo Green was also ½ of the brain behind Narls Barkley (think crazy…) so I was quite excited to hear him live… expecting a big band solid sound and an awesome time… firstly he went on about 25 mins late (not the thing to do at Coachella) and was onstage with a high school chick band. The girls seemed so fake and like they had been taught to shake their hair and rock the stage… it was quite a joke to be honest. The music was terrible and as for Cee Lo Green man that guy what a disappointment. He just swaggered across the stage mouthing off. But wait theres more. He came across quite pissed off and after playing 2 songs said he only had time for one more… he said F*** this… are you all F***ing pissed off at this f***ing S***… if you are then hold your middle fingers in the air (seriously I was in fits during this time) and proceeded to play the hit… with an audience of fist pumpers… giving the stage the fingers.

The song was pretty bad, there was a whole lot of fake instrumentation, I don’t even know if the girls were playing? The song ended and it was clear he wasn’t leaving the stage… next thing we know the keyboard starts playing… the intro to… Don’t stop believing… NO KIDDING. Cee Lo gets through the first line and BAM sound gets cut… he looks super angry as the girls continue to play but you cant hear anything and he is escorted off stage… so the audience… immediately reacts with a disappointed and affectionate boo towards the sound desk… and we are left wondering how much was a set up?

Ms Lauryn Hill

So I don’t really know any of Lauryn Hill’s music but Sam convinced me to stick around for it and lets say she was everything Cee Lo Green wasn’t! What a performer. She had a full brass band on stage (sousaphones included) as well as a supportive group of back up vocalists. Even though I didn’t know any of the songs I felt I had loved her for years and was able to dance the evening away! What a treat. Soul singing at its best!

Cold War Kids

We then headed over to the smaller stage for Cold War Kids. I discovered these guys about a year ago (Thanks Jess Armstrong) and while I didn’t love them immediately there was something that kept drawing me back. I think the music is quite intelligent with clever time, key and tempo changes. I thought hey yea lets check them out… and WOW I was pleasantly surprised by their awesomeness live. The band also came across really well which I liked, seemed like nice guys. Sam also thought that one of the guitarists went to his school? They played a bit of new stuff which I am not usually up for but I really enjoyed it, it seemed a bit more mellow but still upbeat. He played a couple of songs at the piano which were quite cool. I think I also really appreciated the lyrics, they were so deep and insightful. The other winning factor for this set was that it was at sunset… which was breathtaking. 

Cut Copy

I wanted to hear the aquabats and ended up catching the back end of Cut Copy’s set. What a great time. These guys were really solid and seemed really tight.

The Aquabats

The aquabats… takes me back to my days of ska and the good times it brings. These guys are a total fun band but they pulled out all the stops that makes Ska the funnest music out! They all dress up as aqua super heros… wearing lycra wet suits, swimming caps and goggles.  They had a full visual show which was made up of movie clips from all over the place, with cartoon batman style POW WAM BAMs included. They also utilised props on stage which were so lame but awesomely lame. One of my favourite songs was BFF Big Friends Forever and they had a bunch of blow up people onstage. They also bought a huge blow up dinosaur as well as Cave men onstage which they managed to save the world from. Just a fun time! Got my skank on!

Kings of Leon

Im going to be honest… I like to hate on Kings of Leon. I think it’s the rockstar music that just goes nowhere and doesn’t do anything amazing for me… but I thought hey ive got nothing better to do I am going to humble myself and sit in the back… and man was I wrong to doubt their ability to perform. They were amazing. Huge sound, so tight and you could just hear that they had been performing live for a while and knew what they were doing. A lot can be said for a well experienced band. I really really liked their old stuff had a real country blues feel to it. What was also cool about the crowd was that there was room to just sit back lie down and watch the stars. No one can underestimate how life changing live music is under the stars… awesome! and ive never screamed the word SEX so loud!

The Chemical Brothers

We stuck around for these guys who came on about an hour late, we ended up staying for about 4 songs which I really enjoyed. Again such a solid experienced sound. They also had a really cool visual show – which was actually kinda creepy with a weird clown and then a horse that kept running at you.