Why Marijuana Will Save the World

Yes, that's right - rejoice in the reefer, because according to some crazy kids, it's pretty much the be all and all of existence and has the potential to undo the environmental havoc we have caused over the years...

From the Murray Basin to the Amazon, there's no limit to the potentials of the humble weed - from architecture to food (but not in a hash cookie type of way)

I interviewed an industrial hemp grower for 2ser on Razor's Edge (hey, it's community radio, I'll shamelessly plug it...download the podcasts...you may even learn something...a Nimbin resident who can't stop extolling the virtues of the doobie (how many other slang terms for marijuana are there??) in terms of saving the economy, the farmers, and the world at large...you go girl!

Here's how, according to some dude who needs a publishing contract, pot will save the world!! Hallelujah for hemp!! Here's his website (his name is Jack, if that provides him with any more credibility...

I you don't believe me, or want to follow this somewhat quirky movement, here's some literature to get you started on your journey to saving the world....with hemp....CLICK HERE
Anyways...It will explain just how hemp is responsible or global civilisation, how convincingly - I cannot ascertain.

So, you know, spark up - hey, you're doing it for the planet after all!!

Why Music is a Corporate Whore

Well, Media Watch broke the story about the controversy embedded in the climate change capital and their cozy relationship with The Age (wow, I can't believe there's something about Melbourne that I now truly hate...)

Furthering this thought, something that I have wondered about ever since last year's Splendour in the Grass festival, and the "carbon neutral" costing that is now whacked onto (already bloody hefty) admission prices for all those bloody PoMosers (in other word, post-modern posers) who love the thought of being environmentally friendly, and thus, heaps cool.

However, my qualm revolves around the fact that to get to Byron Bay, one needs to expend numerous emissions of a carbon nature, and how the hell does an extra $5 on a ticket price reconcile this? And what about the festival itself? What, is it bloody well running on solar powered amps or what?

And now, you have no choice! Now, I don't want to look like a corporate whore (but in any case, it may well be true, if only I had enough moolah), but I attended Richard Branson's glorified advertising bonanza, oh, oops, I meant the V Festival, and this crappy carbon neutrality thing is already included in the (already exorbitant) ticket prices, and this h

In light of this, dearest Jade, (ex-editor of The Dwarf, current ed. of A Fine Line) let me run with this hot-headed train of thought, and even published it in the December issue of A Fine Line, so here it is, somewhat brought down a level, anger-wise...

So here it is...

CARBON NEUTRAL - AT WHAT COST??

It seems that lately, carbon has become the latest buzzword. We talk of the imprint in our “carbon footprint”, and think of ways in which becoming “carbon neutral”. The problem with this term, many argue, is that there is no possible way to neutralise or offset one’s carbon emissions

But it seems that as much as the capital world used to blame ideas of environmental consciousness as conspiracies against consumption, they are only now too happy to jump on the proverbial bandwagon. Now, it seems that money can buy the way out of anything: even, as the case may be, the degradation of the natural world and the piece of mind that comes with the title of “carbon neutral” too can be attained for a price.

Not to be outdone in any way, the music industry too has felt an obligation to stand up for the rights of Mother Nature. It seems to have started with Coldplay’s album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, the first album to be classified as carbon neutral.
On a local level, national festivals and tours by the likes of Splendour in the Grass and the John Butler Trio have placed a carbon neutral levy on ticket sales, assuring patrons the notion of carbon neutrality. However, is it all too easy to claim that the carbon emissions at major music festivals can really just disappear from forking out a couple of extra bucks here or there? When one considers the potential environmental impact of the travel ticket holders must endure to arrive at particular venues, not to mention all the electricity consumed by the various bands and their equipment, it seems hard to fathom that a couple of dollars added on to the original ticket price could make much difference.

“It’s got to be more tangible than that.” Says Falls Festival director, Simon Daly on the potential for festival organisers to do their bit.
The Falls Festival occurs annually on camping sites in Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania. Since 1999, the organisers have been ardently working towards doing all they can to maintain the sites that they use. This includes incentives such as a conveyer belt to sift through recyclable materials.
“If just one item from those bins is non-recyclable waste, then the whole lot is deemed contaminated,” Daly explains. “So with conveyer belts, we can ensure that everything that can be recycled will be.”
Also new are the self-composting toilets, which, in Marion Bay, are all you get, no port-a-loos for these guys! “100% of the toilets at Marion Bay are composting.”
Daly believes that the next step is to get the bands involved, but sees the festival as an overall positive experience for the average environmentalist who doesn’t wish to tread heavily on the earth. “We use the time to really get in there and educate a lot of like-minded people.”
The Falls Festival has also encouraged its attendees to pay a surcharge of “a couple of dollars”, according to Daly, to offset the carbon emissions related to their travel. In fact, just over a quarter of all patrons opted to do so.

There are problems with such terms as “carbon neutral” and “carbon offsetting” being offered in that consumers are being led to believe that they are in fact, cancelling out their environmental impact altogether.
Not true, says Professor Christopher Dey from the University of Sydney, who has recently penned a research paper entitled: “Carbon Neutral: Sense and Sensibility”. He argues that….
Others agree that such incentives are just ploys taken on from major corporate giants.

The move by UK band, Coldplay to create their “carbon neutral album” seems to have been the origins of music’s involvement in environmental activism, which has since been taken on by the likes of major tour promoters and bands.
However, Aussie hip-hop outfit, Combat Wombat have been conscious of the carbon impact that national touring can involve by adding to their tour bus a vegetable-oil fuelled engine. “It is very efficient,” says Combat Wombat’s Monkey Marc of the bus’s capacity to run. “We actually get more miles per gallon on veggie oil than we do on diesel.”
Not only does this system benefit the environment, but also funds.
“All the oil we get is old so it’s all recycled and free. We’ve done just over 20 000 kms around Australia for basically nothing.”
But is it really even plausible for anyone to just chuck in an old frying pan and fill up the tank?

We are constantly fearing the imminent environmental armageddon and we want to act responsibly as individuals, while still enjoying things such as live music and travel. The question which seems difficult to resolve is how this should be done. It seems all too easy to boil it down to a system where one person can pass off their own environmental activities by paying a few dollars, but for all those penny-pinchers out there fear not. It seems more productive, in cases such as Combat Wombat and the Falls Festival, to get out and get actively involved. Then, maybe you’ll rest easier about the well being of Mother Nature.

Why The Presets hate my guts...

I just want to say, sorry Kim, I was so bloody hungover that day...but no excuse, it was the WORST bloody interview I've ever done, and I love these guys so much, though thankfully not as much as Cut Copy, and they're also heaps better looking than old Kim and Jules...

WARNING: If ever you interview an electro-pop muso (oh sorry, "artist") don't tarnish their egos by implying that it's all just about laptop pop

PRE-SETTLED

“Are you asking me out on a date?” asks an incredulous, Kim Moyes of The Presets, at one point in the conversation we’re having about the guys’ new album, Apocalypso.

I would certainly be lucky to get a night out with one half of the latest “it” bands, as these hard-working lads seem to be doing a gig practically every night. What, with shows jam packed from here to overseas and more to follow throughout the year, it doesn’t seem a date would be able to fit in the diary.

“We are exclusive Qantas Club members,” he agrees of his extensive schedule. “we kept getting offered festivals, tour supports and gigs and stuff.”
It’s obviously paid off, with the guys becoming somewhat of a hit across the shores.
“It’s going sort of well over there,” Moyes modestly concedes. “the album’s going to be brought out in the States and then the UK and Europe.”

Apocalypso is the highly anticipated follow up to The Presets’ debut, Beams, and is very much characteristic of their previous release of catchy ballads noir.
“We’re a pretty intense couple of dudes, we’re a pretty dark band” says Moyes of their style. But still: “we’ve always made music to party to.”

From their debut into the musical world with such hits as, “Girl and the Sea” and “Are You the One” (“That’s kind of an ironic question, cos there is no one, just lots of potentials…”) the guys look set to follow up their previous successes with their latest release.
From their latest ambient single, “This Boy’s In Love”, to others such as “Kicking and Screaming”, the album encapsulates what is now recognised as The Presets unique sound.
“People would get too much of a shock if they buy the record and discover four golden country greats.”

So after gaining a familiar sound, and a strong following, Moyes and fellow bandmate, Julian Hamilton have worked out the winning formulae to success, and drive this outward confidence forward in Apocalypso.

“We’ve sort of worked on the idea that we had a couple of years ago and sharpened them up.” Moyes says of their new musical insight. “Certainly after touring and playing in front of people for a couple of years, you get a really strong sense of what works and what doesn’t work in front of a crowd and that informs the way you write your music.”

Having been touring with the likes of Duran Duran and Queens of the Stone Age during the V Festival, the stellar lineup sounds like it would be most artists (not to mention fans) wet dream.
Moyes, however, remains one cool customer. “I don’t have any great desires to play with anyone. They’re just a bunch of old bands.”

When pressed for gossip, he is dismissive, admitting that they’re just not the band for after parties anymore. “When I do a festival or a gig, I get there an hour before I have to play and then just leave straight away.” Says Moyes. “We just do it so much and have been for such a long time that now all we want to do is just get home and go to sleep.”

And therein lies some of the reluctance felt by Moyes in this embarkment into mass celebrity.
“We’ve definitely worked very hard for all of this, and then its like: ‘how the fuck did this all happen?’” he admits. “Why did we want this? At the time it seemed like such a great idea and now all I can think about is dinner and sleeping.”

Further dispelling the myth around rock stardom he adds: “I thought it was going to be drugs and girls and parties and champagne and expensive cars, but all it is is perpetual tiredness and constant hunger”

This may ultimately be the price that must be paid when you life mainly revolves around touring but it’s still about the music, and the show must go on, even for the fatigued.

“Now our album’s out we go into rehearsals for a couple of weeks, then we go to the States in June; then we come back and do a big album tour around Australia, then probably back overseas to do a bunch of festivals we’ve been offered…” On and on he lists their up and coming plans for the year, yet there is definite excitement in his voice in the prospect of introducing the world to Apocalypso.

“There’s something on there for all situations in people’s lives. I hope people take it on and have a really good time with it.”

And if Moyes’ anticipation is anything to go by, Apocalypso will be the album that transcends time, even being a catalyst in the creation of history.
“I hope they can look back in a few years when they’ve got kids and they can go through their collection and go ‘wow what’s this great record, who’s this?’ And they can go, ‘well this is The Presets, this is how I met your father.’”

Told you so (and judge yourself by the photo)... guess what? we never got round to that date...

Why I'm Just Like Bono....

After attending the extravaganza that was U23D at the overhyped IMAX theatre in tacky Darling Harbour (can you sense the resentment I was already facing..?) I was told that I'm the Bono reincarnate...Well hey, those 3D glasses are pretty cool...

I wouldn't usually pay $25 to get in anywhere (the music world is nothing but capital scum, nowadays, but that's a whole new post altogether! And yet, here I was, paying this very amount to, essentially see a movie...

When it got to the stage where Bono's wearing a stupid bandana with nonsensical letters and crude religious symbols (you WISH you were a jew, mate...) i was inwardly groaning...when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was slowly and robotical;ly being recited I inwardly hurled up my entire overpriced QVB meal...

There was one stage during the "gig" where Bono grabs a fellow U2er (The Edge, maybe?) and plants a smacking big kiss on his lips...now, the homophobics out of the hundreds who attended couldn't really stand the sight of this (especially not in 3D) and an audible gasp escaped them...I was hoping that this was more of a godfather kind of way, as in a perhaps untimely ending (or maybe a horse head under Bono's silken sheets..)

But this isn't some gasbagging rant on how much i hate bono, or U23D (although i do and did..), it's about my supreme likeness to said frontman...

It's all embedded in another GLORIA JEAN'S scandal...and you thought their support of Hillsong and Mercy Ministries was the extent of it...well actually it's pretty commonplace now: it seems that most major coffee franchises now do remote communities in the likes of PNG and Tibet out of business with their importation of crud beans (a scandal in itself..)

So by the end of the night, my friend (no names, let's just call her, G-Banger) floating in an ethereal cloud of U2 bliss (but I think even the Human Rights stuff was a bit much for her) she proposes a coffee at none other than evil GLORIA JEAN'S, to which I must explain my objections.

At this, her eyes lit up:

"Migs!" she cried in delight. "You're just like Bono"

I'm ready for the kiss of death...