The Answer

“If this is the answer, I don't need to know
Keep it close now, keep it close, don't let it show
If this is the answer, go settle your scores
Or buy me a time machine then you could have it all
Then you could have it all
Then you could have it all”

The Answer – Villainy

I write a lot about how easy it is to get close to our New Zealand bands. But how close is close? You can get so close you can see them play regularly. You can get right up the front at small, local gigs. You can run into them on the street much more often than an international artist. But can you get so close you can ... touch them?

Yes. Yes, you can. Between my friend Zena and I, with whom I attend most of my concerts, we have touched members of Villainy, 48 May and The Leers, and everyone who currently plays in Luger Boa. This touching has been in the form of a handshake or slap or a hug if we are that lucky, but most of it comes from a delicate physical contact art we like to call brushing.

Brushing – that is, two human beings just touching each other as they pass by - became a thing for us during Clap Clap Riot’s album launch gig last June. Zena and I were standing in roughly the middle of the crowd watching the gig, when suddenly a young man brushed his way between the two of us. Normally someone brushing past you at a gig or in a pub is a bit of an annoyance. This particular time was, however, exciting because we quickly released the man who had brushed us what none other than talented Luger Boa guitarist Johnny Lyon. Zena and I were beside ourselves with excitement at being touched by a rock star, and thus the concept of brushing was born. We put it into practise at Villainy’s gig in October and brushed ourselves silly with awesome Kiwi musicians. Consider yourself lucky – I am about to give you the key tip for maximising your brushing experience.

Brushing is quite a handy little trick with New Zealand bands as many gigs are held in small pubs, and band members will often come to the bar to grab a drink before heading backstage. It’s best if you position yourself between the bar and the backstage room, preferably with a half empty drink. Thus, when the particular band member makes their way back stage, you can finish your drink and move towards them and “accidentally” brush them as the two of you pass. This same technique can be applied when strategically going to the bathroom, outside for fresh air or moving closer to the stage. If you remain inconspicuous while you are carrying out your brushing, then congratulations – you are doing a far better job than Zena and I ever did.

This weekend Wellington is going to come alive with the annual Homegrown festival. You can bet your bottom dollar Zena and I will be hanging around the Jim Beam Rock Stage waiting for all our favourite bands to play. We feel long overdue for a Luger Boa gig, are looking forward to saying farewell Midnight Youth in style, cannot wait to see more from our latest favourite rockers Villainy and are amped for Shihad to headline. And, we are looking forward to all the brushing this young woman and her best friend can handle. Look out Clap Clap Riot – it has come to my attention while writing this blog you have not been the target of our brushing technique.

Skyscraper

“You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am
Like I'm made of glass
Like I'm made of paper
Go on and try to tear me down
I will be rising from the ground
Like a skyscraper”

Skyscraper – Demi Lovato

You can squeeze an awful lot into one month. There’s more or less an entire moon cycle, public holidays and anniversaries. If you think back over what you do for an entire month – from working around 20 days, going out three or four weekends and, if you’re like one of my group of friends, going to our monthly end of month dinner. But on top of all this different months represent programmes in our society which aim to increase awareness around issues. For example, this month in America is African-American History Month, American Heart Month, Children’s Dental Health Month, Ethnic Equality Month, Wise Mental Health Consumer Month, Women's Heart Health Day and Eating Disorders Screening Program Month.

The latter of all of those coincides with – or could be the inspiration for – the anniversary of the death of Karen Carpenter. Karen’s death was the one of the first to bring eating disorder illnesses to society’s attention thirty years ago, and since many celebrities have come out confessing their own issues with diet and exercising. Included within these is Demi Lovato, who publically told her personal struggle story and how she battled with bulimia. She says the release of her song Skyscraper was her way of crying out for help and trying to fight back against her bullies.

The eating disorder issue is far too big for me to tackle in one blog – and probably far too big to tackle in one month – but I have one point to it. From what I’ve read and seen, there seems to be a cycle. Both Karen Carpenter and Demi Lovato appear to have at least partially blamed the profession they are in for triggering their disorders, as they felt they had no control over their lives and turned to controlling their diet. However, these are two women who have so many fans looking up to them and trying to be like them – especially Lovato – and I shudder to think how many people have been “inspired” to control their own diets. I hope more Demi has overcome her issues and inspired millions of girls to fight back against their personal problems.

These are, as always, only musings. I find this an interesting topic because of the way it affects society, and the way it has worked its way into pop culture. Take songs like Skyscraper, or Through Glass by Stone Sour or countless movies about teenage struggles or indeed a month dedicated to raising awareness, which bring to light the brutal problems some people struggle with. 

Love Song

“I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you tell me it's
Make or break in this
If you're on your way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If all you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better
Reason to write you a love song today”

Love Song – Sara Bareilles

Merry Valentine’s Day, my friends!

It is one of my least favourite days of the year. It’s not because my own Valentine’s Day currently involves sitting on the floor watching Miranda with a bowl of ice cream and caramel sauce alongside my two best friends following our date at Nandos and the closest thing to a Valentine’s gift was a bar of chocolate my workmate bought me and the closest flowers consisted of instructions to water the cactus a colleague was leaving behind after his last day. I mean, it’s not like I’m a lonely singleton or anything.

I actually like the idea of having one day to celebrate romance; it’s much like we have one day for more commercial occasions like Mother’s day and Father’s day, and much like we celebrate traditional holidays such as Christmas and Easter. What annoys me about Valentine’s Day is the sickeningly sweet gestures one is expected to give to another. Call me ridiculous, but I want to receive a rose every day of the year except Valentine’s Day, and I want to go on some sweet date any day that isn’t the 14^th of February.

I feel Sara Bareilles hit the right note with this song. It is said to be written as a defiant response to her record company who wanted her to produce a marketable love song. Considering Valentine’s Day is all about marketing and commercial exploitation to people who, let’s be honest, don’t really want to give their other half box of heart shaped chocolates wrapped in pink paper, I feel the song and the day go hand in hand. I mused over this last year with Ronan Keating, and I still stand by what I said about ditching the commercial side of the day and focusing on the tradition. The day is meant to be a celebration of the early Christian Saint Valentinus of Martyrology, who incidentally was rumoured to have been imprisoned for performing forbidden weddings, thus going against all the tradition which should be have been involved with love and weddings.

As you see, the idea of Valentine’s Day is a conflict for me; I’m torn between liking the thought of giving and showing love, and hating the idea of giving ridiculously cutesy verging of vomit inducing gifts of little use (another teddy bear, anyone?). However, if you were lucky enough to receive a wonderful and thoughtful Valentine’s Day gift, do tell me what you got – and how much it meant to you.

Do You Hear The People Sing

“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!”

Do You Hear the People Sing – Les Miserables

It will probably come as no surprise to you my love of music stretches well into the musical scene. After all I am an advocate of nearly every type of music – except dubstep. God, I hate dubstep. However, musicals get a big tick for me. I both love to see them live and love to listen to just the music - I have a playlist dedicated just to musicals on my iPod despite most needing a plotline to make sense. From Grease to Rocky Horror Picture Show to Mamma Mia and, of course, every Disney musical ever, the stage singing sensation makes me happy.

I finally got around to seeing the new Les Miserables movie last week and I’m using this blog post to sift through the good, the bad and the utterly fabulous. One of the biggest talking points was whether the actors could portray these classic characters and all they had to suffer through. To me, Hugh Jackman made a very believable Jean Val Jean and nailed the thinking-outloud-singing parts. Russell Crowe as Javert was a good choice with his evil eye and professional manner – though I thought he struggled on some of the higher singing notes. Sacha Baron-Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter were the perfectly deliciously evils as The Thenadiers, and I cannot fault any of the Revolutionary Student Group choices, especially the youngster playing Gavroche.

I had a problem with all three of the lead females though. I thought the actual choices of Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfreid as Cosette and Samantha Barks as Eponine were fine and their singing was very good. But I can’t help feeling they were all portrayed far too modern compared to the rest of the film. The pretty dress Fantine wore at the start which took away from the hard times working in the factory and Eponine’s lack of looking like she lived in a rough time really bugged me.

As I said before, I’m a fan of the musical and a bit of a traditionalist. There were two parts of the film which I feel they just didn’t do right. Firstly, if you saw any other version you’d know Jean Val Jean rips open his shirt at the end of Who Am I to reveal his prison number 24601 which Javert stares at, realising he’s found his man. This version didn’t do it and I felt it lost its authenticity a bit ... and because I, like most girls, wanted to see Hugh Jackman take his shirt off. Secondly, there were swapping around of lines in the songs – the worst being in At The End Of The Day which does NOT go I am the mayor of this town / I run a business of repute. Finally, the new song Suddenly did nothing for me except fill in a bit of time between leaving the pub and arriving at the Paris gate. 

Majority of the singing was done brilliantly and this can be put down to all the actors singing live during filming, but I had to give Do You Hear The People Sing the blog title this week. I have a particular fondness for the barricade scenes and I thought the movie portrayed them brilliantly. I love the rebelliousness of the revolutionary student club and the way they care so much to make a change, but still managing to be just the young people they are with their jokes and attraction to women. Their songs drove me into emotion fits: I got slightly enraged during The ABC Cafe / Red and Black, had a giggle during Little People and cried during Empty Chairs at Empty Table as my heart broke for poor Marius. Do You Hear the People Sing was done the best for me with a mix of passion and pride and a touch of hesitancy at the thought of taking on the French police, and I even let it slide that it was done as a chorus rather than split into the traditional singing three parts.

I could do on and on about the film and into the wonderful chorus scenes and camera angles and so on, but I’ll wrap it up here by saying this: Les Miserables is first and foremost a brilliant story, no matter whether a big budget Hollywood film or a school production group takes it on. If you haven’t seen any version, this movie is a good one to start with because it is done superbly and with a lot of care and respect for the classic French story.

PS. Marry me, Marius?