Friday, August 2, 2013

Where no wrinklies fly*

Andrew Bolt has led a miserable and frustrated life, which explains why he became a conservative grouch. You see, being a prominent columnist and TV compere is second-best and nothing like what he hoped to achieve with his life, which was to become a professional drummer. That is not the Professor's opinion but that of groovers with their own music website:
You might not know, but Andrew Bolt was once in a band.

Apparently a passable drummer at the time, Bolt used to play all manner of engagements with his band in his final years of high school and, surprise surprise, he apparently did so in order to receive financial gain....

....In his piece this morning, Bolt referred to musicians as “lounge lizards”. Such a negative term to use for people trying to make a living the same way he did way back when and his use of it reeks of bitterness.
 On another page at the site, Dave Faulkner, a former member of the Hoodoo Gurus, tries to think, but all that comes out is feedback:
Andrew Bolt's glib dismissal of the need for any involvement by the government with the multitude of issues that currently face our live music industry says more about how out of touch he is with the real world and modern Australia than anything else. This is a country whose people support live music to the tune of a billion dollars a year, netting our economy $650M million which goes towards paying the equivalent of 15,000 full-time workers annually. Just how big does an industry have to be before a blowhard like Andrew Bolt thinks it is one worthy of attention from the Australian government?
So, the music industry generates lots of jobs and money, and that means that -- like wow, man --  it needs taxpayer support.

It is a long time since the Professor was a hep cat, but no matter how late it might have been or how stinky the bong water had become, the youngsters of yore could not have been so stupid. Could they?

And don't forget, come September 7 (or whenever). Dave Faulkner will have the right to cast a vote, just the same as people whose brains have not been shaken loose by thunderous amplifiers.

* If you get that, you're older than you think.

UPDATE: How did an older generation ever have this much fun without government support? There was more hair (and fewer chins) back then, but a young and welcoming Bunyip is briefly visible in front of the stage at about 1.40 into the clip. Dr Yowie, dirty bugger, didn't make the cut. He would have been down at the creek, pursuing his lifelong interest in anatomy.



13 comments:

  1. Most men visible have a hat on. Let me guess: you are one of the Men Without Hats? (It's a Safety Dance - but that was 9 years later..)

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  2. Professor, in a tight electoral race, the fact that Rudd, a.k.a. President Jong Il, a.k.a. the Little Shit, is the king of the low-information Gen Y voter should not be taken lightly. As confirmed this week, Jong Il has imported the people who mobilised the minorities that got the Magic Negro re-elected in 2012. Labor has been re-issuing Democrat social media propaganda via email to mobilise activists for the past three months (see below).
    While Australia is a compulsory voting jurisdiction unlike America, about a million (out of 14 million) registered Australian voters simply didn’t turn out in 2010 and the number of eligible voters has increased by about 900,000 since then (extrapolated from the population increase from 21.5 million to 23 million). Da Yoof are the least engaged of all and Jong Il now proclaims himself their leader, so a few more million dollars on government propaganda about the need to register and vote should reap handsome rewards. In a tight race, it will make a difference, which could be decisive.
    The number of moochers – those who live off the gubbermint as public servants or welfare parasites – is now approaching half the population who now expect the rest to provide the money to look after them. That’s almost the trigger point for a spiral into national out-of-control debt, spending and bankruptcy. As in Obama’s America, all the moochers require is the promise of Free Stuff™ to lock in their vote behind the Big Government candidate Rudd.
    Appeals to commonsense and for spending restraint and low taxes do not work with this constituency, which includes musicians, who, perhaps more than any other group, are aggressive advocates of entitlement. Because music. Because shutup.

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  3. The argument by Faulkner would make O'Brien of 1984 fame green with envy. The bigger we get, the more subsidies we need! Truly breathtaking!
    Doublethink at its best.

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  4. The Old and Unimproved DaveAugust 3, 2013 at 8:06 AM

    You want to talk about someone with a right to be grouchie, get a certain surf life-saving member of the Coalition drunk and see what home-truths come out in the course of the evening...

    "Mate, personally us Liberals are getting sick and bloody tired of hauling out financial dopes who refuse to swim between the flags and constantly get out of their depth. Maybe we'll just sit the 2013 Federal election out, and you mugs can re-elect the ALP and the Greens with majorities in both Houses. Yeah, once you get into the Kevin 13 rip, you'll end up in bloody New Zealand...or the economy will seem like it, at any rate."

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    1. In an alternate universe that suggestion might be worth a try. After seeing the shambles resulting from a Labor government, the alternative government decides to sit the next one out, trusting the Australian public to come to it's senses, ensuring a steady hand on the till for the next fifty years. A big gamble, for sure, but the Australian public came to its senses after 3 years of ridiculous waste and incompetence, and was wiser for the experience.


      ..........Except at least 40% of Australians post-1970 are as stupid as your average Arab, and it is getting worse.

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  5. Hehe, funny looking people in the YouTube clip, especially at the 1:40 mark. I remember that 1974 Sunbury clearly. I was 12 and my neighbour had a Moke with "Sunbury or Bust" scrawled in dust on the back. It turned out that he actually got busted. He worked for CBA bank and had set up a fake account which he's falsely deposited into, this is before use of large scale computer systems and CCTV. On the trip from Sydney to Sunbury he stopped at CBA branches and made what he thought were a series of anonymous withdrawals.

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  6. Deep in the African jungle, a safari was camped for the night. In the darkness, distant drums began a relentless throbbing that continued until dawn. The safari members were disturbed, but the guide reassured them: "Drums good. When drums stop, very bad." Every night the drumming continued, and every night the guide reiterated, "Drums good. When drums stop, VERY bad." This continues for several days until one morning the drumming suddenly stops and all the natives panic and run screaming. The man asks the guide what's the matter? The guide looking very frightened says: "When drums stop, VERY, VERY bad," he said. "Why is it bad?" asked a member of the safari. "Because when drums stop, bass solo begin!"

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  7. Ans to cryptic title: 3AK.

    Circa 1971?

    Gobsmacked of Gippsland.

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    1. And just a few years later they went to the Beautiful Music format. Utterly discombobulating. Imagine Ted Whitten going to Glenferrie Oval.

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  8. James Baker, the Hoodoo Gurus original drummer who had at least a high profile if not remunerative careers as a solo artist too, is my brother in law's gardener. James no doubt inhaled, injected and ingested in other ways, going by his manner. And good on him. So have I - albiet not as much as him. I love rock 'n' roll decadence as much as the next New York Dolls fan, but it should be strictly private enterprise.

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  9. Australians were a spectacularly poorly groomed people back then

    When was shampoo introduced to this country? I don't recall seeing washed hair as a child until I visited France.

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    1. Your experience is obviously from Collingwood. Out in the sticks in the '40's and 50's it was customary to get your hair washed at least once a week whether you wanted to or not. Arguing with a mother bent on getting soap in your eyes was a losing deal.

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  10. Sorry Pro B, but I am now interested in the lady at 1:06 :)

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