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MySpace or yours? Is MySpace a good bet in the music promo race?
A
capella
By Terry Noone
Independent album review/interview Sinewy solo selection Muscle Drum Music - By Simon Gordon
Live jazz Rockin' grandaddy Gil Askey and Friends By Michelle Le Cornu Six of us descended upon that jazz house of good repute,
Dizzy’s, to see ‘Gil and Friends’ (including pianist
Bob Sedegreen, bass player James Clark and Edward York on drums). I have
to say, when I did a quick average of the ages of the band members, I
suffered flash backs to an ill-fated night I spent fending off an Elvis
impersonator at the Coonabarabran RSL Club. But I was relieved when Gil
and the boys rocked the house with a combination of jazz standards, swing
and funk that won my heart and my feet.
Is jazz American or international? By J Neville Turner In 2002, ABC TV showed in prime time a comprehensive series
on the history of jazz. The director, Ken Burns, had already won renown
for his documentary on the American Civil War and another on baseball.
The series, however, sparked a lively and sometimes acrimonious
debate in Australia. Marsalis himself came in for some vitriol. One of
the critics was the noted Melbourne pianist, composer, arranger, impresario,
and music critic Paul Grabowsky. A renowned Sydney writer on jazz was
also critical.
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Gil
Askey : By Peter Haydon.
Gil Askey , now living quietly in Melbourne, is a genuine legend of the Motown era and beyond. Famous as the musical director for Diana Ross, he worked with many other artists including Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five and the Four Tops, not to mention Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Liza Minelli. Previously, he played with many of the stellar names in jazz, including Basie, Ellington and Miles Davis. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the classic 1972 film "Lady Sings The Blues" based on the life of Billie Holliday. Since 'retiring' to Australia, he has been working with Paul Williamson's Hammond Combo. He also teaches on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, where he lives. I spoke to Gil Askey recently and asked him what he was doing currently. Getting your recordings online By Terry Noone
On the other hand, iTunes is elitist but commercial – you can sell your work there – if you can get in. And that's where Tunecore comes in.
Eclectic/film music By Michelle Le Cornu
Send us your email, notes, memos, random thoughts, trenchant complaints. Tell us about your adventures, strugggles, disasters, disappointments and successes as a musician. Assessment of the year Hi According to my information, your magazine has been more naughty than nice this year, so no presents for you! Santa (via email) Dear Santa We don't want presents from a serial break-and-enter offender - half our staff are Jewish and the other half are Muslim. And the other half are Buddhist. So thanks but no thanks - Ed. We give preference to letters of 200 words or less, but try your luck anyway. We may edit your letters for reasons of space, or possibly because we're just a bunch of interfering bastards. Despite that, we welcome your feedback, comments and observations. You can use a pseudonym if you wish, but please include your real name, suburb/town and, if you are writing from outside Victoria, your state/country. Email us at musosunion@aol.com.
Got a problem or question
relating to the music biz? Ask Uncle Terry. Email Uncle Terry on musosunion@aol.com. Please provide your name and suburb (& state/country, if you're not a local yokel...) Horse waltzes round IR Dear Uncle Terry I do a fair bit of work in music theatre (musicals). Will the new Industrial Relations changes affect me? Harry the Horse Dear Harry, Musicals are an area where the employer/employee relationship is not usually an issue. Producers generally accept their responsibilities under the relevant award however, the changes may affect you in a number of ways. The federal Musicians' General Award will become the relevant award in nearly all cases, replacing state awards where they were applicable. This does not constitute much of a change since virtually all producers are members of Live Music Australia (the peak employer body) and so are already respondents to the federal award. You may well be asked to sign an "Australian Workplace Agreement".
These existed before but formerly, when viewed in their totality, were
not allowed to make employees worse off than they would be under the award.
THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE. Now, all AWA's have to adhere to is a set
of minimum standards that apply to all employees.
Set of slightly used calendars from Biffo’s Garage and Service Station, 1978 thru 2000. Beautifully illustrated with views of Victoria’s most picturesque used-car yards and old tyre piles. Collector’s item. $12 the lot. Call 5456 5667, but don’t tell my dad.
*** Found, one leather wallet stuffed with fifties. Lucky me!
*** Clad, Fumble and Wash, Solicitors, are seeking any living relatives of Sir Overtone Gimble Trad, late of The Treakle, Boulevard Avenue, Upper Pertwee. Please contact us at 5676 CASH. He’s really starting to stink up the place
*** Tired of working for a living? Yeah, me too! Ah, well! *** In loving memory of Jonah Krunk, husband of Lyall, father of Bemboid, Stale, Julie and August. We never thought you’d leave us
*** Budgey on the blink? Fido failing? Puss pusillanimous? Let McCorlione Brothers, pet planters and horticulturalists, give your beloved ailing animal companions a dignified exit. We are humanitarian and practical. Nothing is wasted. Call 6990 6570 now and we’ll send the boys around for a free quote and fitup.
*** Pale, shy young man seeks life. Unlikely to find one
A Christmas carol (used by permission) To coin a cliché, what a year it has been! The government has been pursuing terrorists with monomanaical determination, while practicing terrorism on the domestic workforce and, lately, the federal-state relationship with its new IR laws. As the bushfires rage, we ask ourselves, "Wot's it all about then?" Enter the benevolent grandfatherly figure of Gil Askey, to impress us with his past and give us hope for the future. Meanwhile the Clinkerfields ask us to spare a sober thought (difficult in this season) for the misery of grassroots touring musicians and their dislocated and put-upon families. Disclaimer:
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Prairie penguin poser Debate exists over whether Garrison Keillor is funny. The joke about the penguins is the test. In the recent movie showcasing Keillor's talents, A Prairie Home Companion, the joke goes like this: Two penguins are standing on an ice-floe. One says to the other, "you look like you could be wearing a tuxedo." The other says, "What makes you think I'm not?"
If he really believed this, he must have thought so in an intellectual
kind of way, because I didn't actually see him smile. Frogs in space By Theo Schulsospekz
Astonishing revelations of nothing in particular Reviewer: By Grant Kanione
There is a magical, incantatory element to this kind of approach to the music review; it is as though the writer were performing a Gnostic ritual that to an outsider may be as opaque as a brick wall but to the initiate and the adept invokes an entire shared worldview. HARMONY
Part 11 in
a series by Welcome back (are you getting sick of this greeting?) or, if this is your first visit welcome! First visitors are advised to check out previous “Harmony for the Compleat Idiot” columns. (There is a harmony column in each of the nine previous issues of The Dues). Your homework from last time was to work out the notes in all 12 of the
major seventh chords. Let's look at them in both letter name form and
in musical notation (check the last few issues if the term "musical
notation" causes confusion or anxiety.) How to get a properly-paid gig Part
8 in a series by I suggest newcomers go back to the last seven issues of The Dues so they can catch up. Last time we were discussing promo packages and demo recordings. For more information about the do's and dont's of recording, see the article by "The Songsmith" that started in the last edition of the dues and is continued in this edition. We will move on to other elements in the promo package. Preparing for a recording Second in a two-part series By The Songsmith Continued from How to prepare for a recording – part 1 in Issue 10 of The Dues. In the first part of this series, I listed the mistakes I see most often
that affect the cost and quality of recording, and made some suggestions
about how to avoid some of them. Most of these problems arise from the
imitation of "star" techniques as we have learnt about them
from our musical heroes – unfortunately these things don't apply
so well to us at the entry level of recording. |
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Now
Rupert Murdoch has a acquired
a long tail to match the horns. he thinks MySpace will be good for him
- but will it be good for you?
In
the 50s and 60s, vocal group arranging and performance reached a stunning
high water mark. The Hi-Los, Double Six of Paris, Swingle Singers and
Singers Unlimited performed music of astonishing virtuosity and harmonic
complexity. This high water mark has seldom been reached since. One relatively
recent example that does come to mind is US group Take 6. 
Drummer
Ashley Davies found himself in completely new territory when he decided
to make a record on his own. In fact, he never intended to make a record;
it was born simply out of frustration and restlessness during a break
from the duo with guitarist and long time musical collaborator, Matt Walker.
However, after messing around in his practice room, playing some of his
favourite grooves, Davies slowly began piecing together his first solo
record. 
If
I could have a cool rockin’ Granddaddy, it would be Gil Askey. While
no one’s sure of his exact vintage, one would guess from the stories
he tells, the folks he’s met and the places he’d been that
he’d be around 80 years old. But for an old bloke, he’s got
a lot of puff, and his trumpet keeps the house swinging.
Everyone
wants to sell their music online. The internet world is seen as a way
in which to bypass the traditional roadblocks of record compay and distribution,
and go direct to the eager customer with your works of deathless genius.
There are two icons of online distribution – My Space
and iTunes. MySpace is demoncratic but unprofitable –
you can put your tunes up there but you can't (directly) sell them, although
you can create a "presence" (see our 
Girl
walks into a video store, hears music playing, likes it. Girl asks guy
behind counter who the composer is. Guy tells her it's another guy who
works at video store. "Nice one", thinks girl. "This guy
is really talented, I wonder who knows about this?’ Girl leaves
the video shop and guy runs after her with CD of music she likes. Girl
is journalist for “The Dues”.
I've
run that joke by several people at different social gatherings. I'm yet
to get a belly-laugh, though one person stated that he thought it was
funny.
Spiral
Frog has stitched up a deal with Universal to supply music to
its free download site. The spinning amphibian is the first attempt at
a legal download site whose income stream will come from ads. How low
did Universal go in the price negotiation and will the record co. or the
artists carry the can if the frog doesn't fly? 
The
most curious irony about this review, confoundingly thin on content related
to music appreciation as it is, is that it works. And it does so by approximating
in its language the intensity of meaning found in poetry, whilst simultaneously
defying a search for any meaning whatsoever among its 378 words.
"
(in chord symbol notation, "major" means major seventh only!!)