The Southern Man Song

I've been noticing one of the more frequent key word searches within the KiwiFolk site has been for "southern man". I was there (in my role as a Pog) at its inception and it's still one of the most requested songs in my repertoire.

I've written up the history of the song as it relates to the Pog Band but it would be good to hear anyone elses point of view. Particularly, it would be good to get some dates around those rugby games.

2007 Country Music Award finalists announced.

News release May 4,
Two relative newcomers and one of New Zealand’s favourite country duos are the finalists for the Best Country Music Album of 2007. Perennial Kiwi country favourites The Topp Twins join Wellington’s Warren Love Band and Johnny Possum’s Good Time Hootin’ Band from Christchurch as the three to compete for this year’s Tui award. The winner is to be announced at the Gold Guitar Awards in Gore in June and will also be acknowledged at the New Zealand Music Awards in October.Jools and Lynda Topp have been selected as a finalist for their album “Flowergirls & Cowgirls”. The Waikato-born and Auckland-based duo aren’t strangers to the music awards stage after winning the best Country Album Tui in 2001 for their highly successful ‘Grass Highway’ album.

Former busker Warren Love’s debut album “Warren Love Band” comes off the street, teaming up with some of country’s leading New Zealand musicians. They include Warratahs’ accordionist Al Norman and local music icon Wayne Mason, writer of ‘Nature’.Formed in 2005, Johnny Possum’s Good Time Hootin’ Band’s debut CD “Tickets” features old and new country favourites as well as an original single called ‘Bluegrass Saved the Earth’. Taking their cue from traditional country music roots, the band has included several standard tunes with new arrangements whilst also digging deeper into 19th century blues to apply the special Possum treatment.

New Zealand Music Awards spokesperson Campbell Smith says the finalists represent a cross section of country music in New Zealand.“Jools and Lynda are New Zealand’s icons, superb songwriters and entertainers.“Johnny Possum and Warren Love bring a fresh new perspective to country music with their modern interpretations and wonderful story lines.

Country music is very much alive and well in New Zealand as the standard of these finalists shows,” Campbell says.“It’s fantastic to see our Country artists producing great music, and when they come together in Gore at the biggest Country music festival in New Zealand, it makes for a very special occasion. ”The winners are announced at the New Zealand Country Music Awards on Friday June 1 in Gore as part of the Gold Guitar celebrations. Attracting more than 5,000 country music fans during the festival, Gold Guitar week is in its 34th year. For more information visit: http://www.goldguitars.co.nz More information about the Country Music Album of the Year Award is available at http://www.nzmusicawards.co.nz

About RIANZ: The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Inc (RIANZ) is a non-profit organisation representing major and independent record producers, distributors and recording artists throughout New Zealand. RIANZ works to protect the rights and promote the interests of creative people involved in the New Zealand recording industry.endsIssued for the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) by Pead PRRIANZ Best Country Music Album (Tui award)For more information including award criteria and history, and finalist information please contact:
Pead PR ContactBonnie Smail, Pead PR, Tel: 0-9-918 5581, Mob: 021 722 276, E-mail: bonnie@peadpr.co.nz Bonnie Smail( bus +64 (9) 9185581 mob 021 722 276Level 2, Carlton DFK Centre, 135 BroadwayPrivate Bag 99911, Newmarket, Auckland

Only in NZ

Deregulation of industries in our country over the last 20 years has led to a mixed bag of pros and cons. Truck-drivers can drive goods around the country and the railways struggle to stay afloat, you can watch the news on three or four or five different channels delivered by pairs of news announcers, one talking, one looking knowingly at the camera while a wallpaper of irrelevant video clips rush around in the background. With telephones, you get to choose your cellphone provider at least, while your 111 emergency calls get answered by someone in Auckland who thinks the Octagon in Dunedin is some kind of mosque. We have led the western world through Adventures in Deregulation and I have discovered two great deregulated activities that set New Zealand apart. One of them is distillation.

Look up stills, whisky, “how to make” on Google and New Zealand comes up all over the place. Why? Most of these sites have the disclaimer “Illegal in this country, information provided for citizens of New Zealand” (yeah, right) – where it has been, since the mid 90’s, legal to distill alcohol for your own consumption. God bless the good ship Deregulation and all who sail in her!

Another area where New Zealand comes up is in the relatively new field of “micro-broadcasting”. In the setting up and tendering of frequencies on the FM band, the NZ regulators saw fit to make several frequencies at the very top and the very bottom of the FM band available for anyone to use under the provision of the General User Licence. There are restrictions, the main one being that your transmitter is capped at the awesome output power of half a watt. The most common use of these frequencies seems to be for the likes of “hospital radio stations”, in-house conference coverage and the even smaller iPod-to-car-radio transmission, but if you tune your radio to these nether regions you’ll find plenty of interesting stations beaming out as hard as they half-watt can. In the world of micro-broadcasting, the first three principles of real estate are king: location, location, location. High is good, higher is better. Cities like Dunedin and Wellington are ideal.

So what?

So, for less than $3000 you can purchase a transmitter and aerial and set it up in your bedroom or garden shed, then with some old discarded 486 computer with a bit of free software and a couple of thousand mp3s on the hard-drive, you’ve got yourself a 24 hour radio station. Imagine – true folk radio: new releases, last week’s floor spots at the folk club, featured artists, nasty buskers and gossip… And you don't even have to log on to the internet!

Beware of Fake Shure Mics

From the Trademe site, a reseller points out the salient differences between the real SM58 and the typical fakes that abound.

"Be aware that there have recently been quite a few fake Shure SM58's on trademe, if you buy one of these you may as well just go down to Dick Smith and buy a $20 mic as that's all it's worth.

"If you have bought a SM58 on Trademe and are concerned that it's a fake then have a look at the pictures on this auction. In all these pictures the one on the left is genuine, the one on the right is fake. If yours is not identical to the one on the left in all aspects then you've got a fake.Take a look at the metal ring under the grille, if it is flat then it's fake. If it is contoured like the one on the left it could be real but it's still not gauranteed. And yes they even copy the warranty card too although this is different to the genuine one.

"If your mic comes with a cable packaged in the box then it is also sure to be a fake as real ones don't come with a cable. Most of the fakes are of the switched version so if you have a bought a switched one then be even more careful.Lets face it if it seems too cheap then it's likely to be a fake, no-one in their right mind is going to be selling a real SM58 for less than $180 unless it's stolen or fake, just look at the cheapest price you can buy in the US, add on the shipping and do the maths!!"

Other references:

http://www.electromusic.co.uk/Shure_SM58.html

reviews.ebay.com/Fake-Shure-Listings-Zero-tolerance-for-thieves...

reviews.ebay.co.uk/Fake-Shure-Mics-SM58s...

Shure Shuts Down Counterfeiters

YouTube - The Loudness War

YouTube - The Loudness War - An interesting look at how recording engineers and companies are fooling our ears, pushing up the perceived volume of tracks at the expense of the quality. This is considered 'necessary' to make your track 'radio friendly'.