Quote ow:

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+1. Blair's a political genius, possibly one of the best PMs we've ever had. It's just a shame he wasn't on our side.

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Quote chris...:

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I take it these are big in Japan...?

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J-pop is HUUUUUGE there ... and K-pop (in Korea) probably/possibly outsells global hip hop by a long shot...

As annoying as those genres are.

I'm a little surprised that Lord Red of Bladdershire hadn't heard of Joy Division or New Order but he has a point...

In my travels, I can confirm that some bands enjoying good success here are barely known outside our borders. And stuff we've never heard of here are monstrously successful elsewhere (David Hasselhoff in Germany, for example - he's a god there it seems). And acts here that have no presence or relevance are massive in other markets (for example, X-Factor winner, Shayne Ward, who bombed enormously here, has a huge following in the far east). And so on.

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

HS, I don't think you're completely off topic. While there have always been incompetent self serving suits who somehow seem to slither their way into positions of influence in the last 15 year's I have seen just about every organisation I deal with, musical, educational, social services, housing has been infiltrated by salesmen with an uncanny knack of improving their own situation and being elsewhere when the brown stuff flies.

It may be that PH is just 5 years too late.

Our biggest problem at the moment seems to be that the current lot are trying to outBlair Blair but without, well, a clue.

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Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".

Quote Frisonic:

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Quote hollowsun:

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in much the same way that countries are governed by self-serving, self aggrandising, clueless arsewipes - because the people actually best qualified to do the job are the last people on earth who'd volunteer!

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As a slight aside, and generally I agree with your comment Hollowsun, but Italy's current prime minister Mario Monti is an exception to this rule. As the only credible person with the appropriate skills sets he was literally summoned by the President, who badly needed to get rid of Silvio Berlusconi last autumn (the latter being an excellent example of what you describe). Mario didn't want the job but accepted it purely out of duty (I know this to be true - my wife is kind of his surrogate daughter), stating he will undertake the task of administration but only up to to period of 24 months, by which time party politicians had better be in a fit state to govern. We'll see. America's President Ford was another. He wasn't elected either, rather being 'placed' by circumstances. Neither of those two men could have won an election for the simple reason that they wouldn't have wanted to. Yet they are/have been in their times, the best person for the job. Alan Greenspan said he was only half joking when commenting that anybody who desires to be a President of the USA should automatically be excluded from applying... Whatever you think about Mr Greenspan there is no denying he is probably the only person alive who has met as many American Presidents apart from the Queen of England and her husband. As for Mario, he's looking forward to getting back to his university. At heart he's just an academic (although I suspect Angela Merkel has thought up a few other things to call him this week...).

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Er...

Do you mean this Mario Monti?

Monti is a leading member of the exclusive Bilderberg Group. He has also been an international advisor to Goldman Sachs and The Coca-Cola Company. He has also been a member of the "Senior European Advisory Council" of Moody's and he is one of the members of the "Business and Economics Advisors Group" of the Atlantic Council.

All those groups are murky.

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I'm All Ears.

Quote hollowsun:

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Quote chris...:

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I take it these are big in Japan...?

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J-pop is HUUUUUGE there ... and K-pop (in Korea) probably/possibly outsells global hip hop by a long shot...

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Oh, no you're not going there again are you? We've been through this before.

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I'm All Ears.

Personally, I can understand someone not hearing of Joy Division. But New Order?

To try and veer back on topic, PH is broke and needs money. Thank God this isn't being subsidised by the taxpayer. Oh... wait...

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I'm All Ears.

From the article

As a mentor to students, he wants them to benefit from his own experience of how not to manage the business - with record labels and night clubs, such as Factory and the Hacienda.
"The way that Factory worked, it was full of very creative people who never looked after business - and that's why all those businesses crashed.
"They were based on very idealistic ideas, very creative, very naive.
"They only rumbled on because Joy Division and New Order's success paid for all our mistakes.
"In Factory and the Hacienda - and in many ways in New Order and Joy Division - we never really looked after business."

So to try and put his in a different context, would a crash-prone driving instructor get a job teaching people how not to drive?

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I'm All Ears.

Quote ken long:

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From the article

As a mentor to students, he wants them to benefit from his own experience of how not to manage the business - with record labels and night clubs, such as Factory and the Hacienda.
"The way that Factory worked, it was full of very creative people who never looked after business - and that's why all those businesses crashed.
"They were based on very idealistic ideas, very creative, very naive.
"They only rumbled on because Joy Division and New Order's success paid for all our mistakes.
"In Factory and the Hacienda - and in many ways in New Order and Joy Division - we never really looked after business."

So to try and put his in a different context, would a crash-prone driving instructor get a job teaching people how not to drive?

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You're being ridiculous. You know, of course, that this is meant in the context of 'learn from one's mistakes'.

Crikey, you lot are a bit poisonous when you get started aren't you? It's like a load of footballers wives getting together in a Harvester and slagging off the fake tans on the overweight mingers at the bar.

At least give the guy a chance to get started or something before you crucify him!

I think we've got alot of failed musos on here who perhaps have an over-inflated perception of their own importance in the music world. This is how it comes across anyway.

Quote ken long:

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Oh, no you're not going there again are you? We've been through this before.

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We have indeed!

But sheer numbers there dictate (especially as J- and K-pop are also very popular in China)

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

who is Peter Hook?

Quote White Car Man:

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I think we've got alot of failed musos on here who perhaps have an over-inflated perception of their own importance in the music world. This is how it comes across anyway.

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Au contraire, I think we have a lot of working musos (et al) on here who struggle but survive (like in the real world) in a marketplace awash with self aggrandizing (spellchecker alert) individuals. We have seen behind the curtain and recognise empty sales talk when we see it. There's little enough money to spare, if some of it is to go to the likes of PH (no reason why not) then let him do something useful in return.

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Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".

What's a Harvester?

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Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".

Quote fletcher:

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who is Peter Hook?

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Peter Pan's arch enemy who took up playing bass when his career in brigandry started to fail!



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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Quote shufflebeat:

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What's a Harvester?

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

I've been to some parts of the world where they've never heard of England let alone Hookleberry Hound, much to our dis-appointment, since the USA came into being the English aren't as world famous as we thought

I remeber a small-talk conversation with an American woman who when I replied "I'm English", answered, "oh, you're from Scotland, that's great!"

thank you, I was wondering.

Quote ken long:

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Quote Frisonic:

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Quote hollowsun:

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in much the same way that countries are governed by self-serving, self aggrandising, clueless arsewipes - because the people actually best qualified to do the job are the last people on earth who'd volunteer!

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As a slight aside, and generally I agree with your comment Hollowsun, but Italy's current prime minister Mario Monti is an exception to this rule. As the only credible person with the appropriate skills sets he was literally summoned by the President, who badly needed to get rid of Silvio Berlusconi last autumn (the latter being an excellent example of what you describe). Mario didn't want the job but accepted it purely out of duty (I know this to be true - my wife is kind of his surrogate daughter), stating he will undertake the task of administration but only up to to period of 24 months, by which time party politicians had better be in a fit state to govern. We'll see. America's President Ford was another. He wasn't elected either, rather being 'placed' by circumstances. Neither of those two men could have won an election for the simple reason that they wouldn't have wanted to. Yet they are/have been in their times, the best person for the job. Alan Greenspan said he was only half joking when commenting that anybody who desires to be a President of the USA should automatically be excluded from applying... Whatever you think about Mr Greenspan there is no denying he is probably the only person alive who has met as many American Presidents apart from the Queen of England and her husband. As for Mario, he's looking forward to getting back to his university. At heart he's just an academic (although I suspect Angela Merkel has thought up a few other things to call him this week...).

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Er...

Do you mean this Mario Monti?

Monti is a leading member of the exclusive Bilderberg Group. He has also been an international advisor to Goldman Sachs and The Coca-Cola Company. He has also been a member of the "Senior European Advisory Council" of Moody's and he is one of the members of the "Business and Economics Advisors Group" of the Atlantic Council.

All those groups are murky.

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I do. The only group you mention is the Bilderberg, which is not murky except in the eyes of certain second rate journalists and academics who are peeked because they have never been invited to join it. Goldman Sachs and Coca Cola are companies. I don't know what Mario was doing for Coca Cola but I do know what he was doing for GS, which is advising clients who were active in mergers or acquisitions on how to keep their strategies on the right side of European competition law. Saved everyone time and money, especially the competition authorities. What your list astonishingly doesn't mention is that he was Italy's EU Commissioner for some years! And as such served as the Commissioner of DG Competition. It was during that time that he shot down the GE/Honeywell merger (GE were a client of GS at the time and were furious about it, but the fault was with the GE and GS, basically being arogant - Mario was just doing his job as he always does). That was when he got the nickname 'Super Mario' because he was so tough, which he is (but in a very quiet, forensic way).

At this week's EU summit he humbled Angela Merkel into making huge concessions on austerity measures for both Italy and Spain, a remarkable act of statesmanship and brinkmanship on Mario's part for which Ms Merkel will have hell to pay when she gets home. He is basically apolitical but if anything conservative on fiscal policy whilst slightly left of centre on social policy. Just a very talented, low profile straight guy. Which is why everybody wants to have him on their team. When he agreed to do the consultancy work for GS there were 18 other banks after him! I'm not going to bother telling you that much of what you read about GS is based upon pure fiction, especially that sensationalist rubbish Rolling Stone published about 4 years ago, because you have probably swallowed it hook, line and sinker. But I will ask you if you've ever had the true skinny on any news story and seen it accurately reported in the media? If you have that would be a first for me!

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Strictly project and just for fun

Quote ow:

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I remeber a small-talk conversation with an American woman who when I replied "I'm English", answered, "oh, you're from Scotland, that's great!"

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So sorry you were mistaken for being Scottish. That must have been awful OW. Are you better than that?

Better at geography.

Quote fletcher:

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who is Peter Hook?

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He use to do comedy with Dudley Moore

Quote Frisonic:

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At this week's EU summit he humbled Angela Merkel into making huge concessions on austerity measures for both Italy and Spain, a remarkable act of statesmanship and brinkmanship on Mario's part for which Ms Merkel will have hell to pay when she gets home. He is basically apolitical but if anything conservative on fiscal policy whilst slightly left of centre on social policy. Just a very talented, low profile straight guy. Which is why everybody wants to have him on their team. When he agreed to do the consultancy work for GS there were 18 other banks after him! I'm not going to bother telling you that much of what you read about GS is based upon pure fiction, especially that sensationalist rubbish Rolling Stone published about 4 years ago, because you have probably swallowed it hook, line and sinker. But I will ask you if you've ever had the true skinny on any news story and seen it accurately reported in the media? If you have that would be a first for me!

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Are you saying every high powered organisation is clean and honest? Are you saying that there was never a plot to overthrow Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Are you saying there were no sinking of ships to start wars or that one of the Rothschild's didn't lie about Napoleon winning to lower stock values?

Haven't you read the news lately, in this country, about the corrupt media and banks, or is that just sensationalism too.
One good egg doesn't mean the whole batch is.

Quote Music Manic:

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Quote Frisonic:

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At this week's EU summit he humbled Angela Merkel into making huge concessions on austerity measures for both Italy and Spain, a remarkable act of statesmanship and brinkmanship on Mario's part for which Ms Merkel will have hell to pay when she gets home. He is basically apolitical but if anything conservative on fiscal policy whilst slightly left of centre on social policy. Just a very talented, low profile straight guy. Which is why everybody wants to have him on their team. When he agreed to do the consultancy work for GS there were 18 other banks after him! I'm not going to bother telling you that much of what you read about GS is based upon pure fiction, especially that sensationalist rubbish Rolling Stone published about 4 years ago, because you have probably swallowed it hook, line and sinker. But I will ask you if you've ever had the true skinny on any news story and seen it accurately reported in the media? If you have that would be a first for me!

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Are you saying every high powered organisation is clean and honest? Are you saying that there was never a plot to overthrow Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Are you saying there were no sinking of ships to start wars or that one of the Rothschild's didn't lie about Napoleon winning to lower stock values?

Haven't you read the news lately, in this country, about the corrupt media and banks, or is that just sensationalism too.
One good egg doesn't mean the whole batch is.

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Nope. Just that Mario Monti is a good guy and when I see people slag him off because they are off on one in general I defend him. Is all. People assume that everyone in high office is flawed. As we discussed earlier in this thread, most have flawed reasons for wanting to be in high office in the first place. But there are exceptions. I cited President Ford (USA) as another example. He wasn't elected either!

BTW yes I do think much of what is in the 'corrupt' (your word - I wouldn't disagree) media is just sensationalism. Which is why one must be wary about which witch is being hunted, by whom and what their motives are. As for bankers, today offers plenty of media attention. I don't know him personally, wouldn't want to, but I have it on good authority, over many years, from people who do that Bob Diamond is a nasty, arrogant, probably narcissistic (in the true meaning of the word) although not actually psychotic piece of work. But now that he has resigned and is free to say what he likes/knows I for one am looking forward to his little 'tete a tete' with the Treasury Select tomorrow (they are probably a bit nervous). The boot will not be coming off his foot but another one might well be squarely placed upon the regulators. Not that the media will accurately report that!

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Strictly project and just for fun

I see The Guardian ran a feature on New Order yesterday...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/sep/06/new-order-unexpected-rebirth-b estival

...in anticipation of their headline slot at Bestival.

http://2012.bestival.net/line-up/artists/new-order

Quote:

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Sumner tells a very New Order story about being asked, in the 80s, to adapt the song to advertise Sunkist. Gretton, a man of staunch socialist principles, was in hospital and the money was great so they said yes. "The lyrics were something about when you're drinking in the sun, Sunkist is the one," says Sumner, laughing. "I was like, '[ ****** ] hell, I can't sing that.' So Hooky wrote down £100,000 on a piece of paper and put it on the mixing desk and said: 'Try singing it now.' So I sang it, and then Rob came out of hospital and was like, 'What have you stupid bastards been doing while I've been in hospital?' and put the kibosh on it straight away."

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They don't seem fond of Hook nowadays.

Quote:

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To boil it down to its basic elements, if someone's horrible a lot of the time, you're not sad when they're gone, you're glad.

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Hooky interview

New interview with Mr Hook.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale