Mar 17, 2011 |
I was in at the university today for a meeting with the other award leaders on the Masters programmes in our department. We were talking about (among other things) upcoming events for the Professional and Academic Cultures programme we run alongside the specific modules for the degrees themselves, and there’s some good stuff coming up.
The ‘Come Dine With Me’ event last week was really popular, and our students (who come from all over the world) brought dishes to share. We’ll definitely be doing that again.
Also, next week, Dave Harte is going to be talking about student use of social media which will be an interesting topic on a number of fronts – and there’ll be a screening and discussion of the film Catfish.
In the meantime, I’m preparing next week’s class for Music as Culture, in which we’re going to be talking about the different cultures and cultural understandings that exist within the record industry itself.
Of course, it was St Patrick’s Day today, and as Craig (pictured above) – a good friend who also happens to be one of my MA Music Industries students – was in the library today working his way through a pile of reading, we took half an hour out to pop to the pub on campus and have a pint of Guinness.
It’s the rules, you know.
Jun 12, 2010 |
Things to do in Dublin
I spent the last 48 hours in the Republic of Ireland. I was there as one of the keynote speakers for the IAMIC (International Association of Music Information Centres) Future of Music Conference, held at Dublin Castle.
It was an interesting event – not least for me because it was the first time I’d shared the bill with Swiss ‘Media Futurist’ Gerd Leonhard – known (among other things) for his support for a ‘Music Like Water’ blanket licensing model that treats music recordings on the internet as if they were a utility, rather than a product.
It’s something I’ve disagreed with for a long time, and have written about in the past – but this was a chance to both challenge Gerd on it, and synthesise a lot of my ideas that have been developing over the past couple of years, with respect to media ecology.
(more…)
Jun 29, 2008 |
I’ve just spent four days in Belfast hanging out with musicians, sleeping on their couches and spare beds, going to gigs, doing a spot of consultancy and speaking at a music industry seminar. As you’d expect in Ireland (and under those circumstances) there’s no shortage of stories to tell.
I thought I’d start with one told to me by Walter the Goon from the band John Shelly and the Creatures. It explains the origins of the band’s name in a bar in Berlin some years earlier.
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I stayed the night at Walter’s house, watched a bit of Glastonbury on TV, ate Chinese food and drank American beer. The next morning, we did the full Ulster Fry breakfast including farls, strolled through the Botanic Gardens and finished off with a pint of Guinness at a very traditional establishment, before I jumped on the bus back to the airport.
NZ readers might be interested to learn that John Shelly and the Creatures were the support band of choice for the Brunettes when they played in Ireland.
Lovely man – and very hospitable. If you ever want to go freeloading in other countries, my tip is to seek out musicians. Here’s what the band sounds like. The single ‘Angeline’ is coming out in September.
[audio:angeline.mp3]
