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I watched an interesting movie recently that made me think about language, poetry, writing and the modern-day poet.

I love language. It’s part of the reason that I became a journalist initially. Language is the media that portrays a message, evokes an emotion, tells a story and more literally allows us to communicate with one another. However I have forgotten how to enjoy my obsession with language in the last four years or so. I went to varsity and language became a means to an end not the end result.

What I mean by this is simple, poets make language their result. Yes the message exists but it is enhanced through the language they use, the words they choose and the sorts of construction that they decide to make use of.

If you don’t know anything about poetry and wondered what all the high-faluted hype was about do yourself a favour and read up about poetry a bit. Then go and read Frost, Thomas, Cummings, Blake and Eliot for a start. These are the greats of the past and the definitive poets of “our time”. The reason I say “our time” is that these poets are not part of my time, my era or existence.

Here are snippets of some of my favourite poet’s writings:

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And another:

why must itself up every of a park
by E. E. Cummings

why must itself up every of a park

anus stick some quote statue unquote to

prove that a hero equals any jerk

who was afraid to dare to answer “no”?

Now tell me something. Who are the the poets of my era? Who wrote the great words of my time? Who told the stories that would define the present-day history?

I would like to suggest that musicians today have become the poets of yesteryear.

Here are some examples:

There’s always somebody taller with more of a wit
And he’s equipped to enthrall her and her friends think he’s fit
And you just can’t measure up though, you don’t have a prayer
Wishing that you’d made the most of her when she was there

They’ve got engaged there’s no intention of a wedding
He’s pinched ya bird and he’d probably kick your head in

Bigger boys and stolen sweethearts
Oh, you’re better off without her anyway
You said you wasn’t sad to see her go
Yeah, but I know you were though

Now you don’t know what she’s up to you can only assume
If she’s not in the front of the shops then they’ve gone to his room
Bet she’s gone ’round in her school stuff, bet that’s what he likes
I know you thought she were different and you thought she were nice

But she’s not nice, she’s pretty fucking far from nice
She’s looking at you funny rarely looking at you twice

That is a band I love, the Arctic Monkeys. The writing above, without the music, is poetry to me. It might not be an iambic pentameter. But Poetry, it is.

The next example is from Greenday, one of the definitive bands of my era and I think one of the definitive poetry sources of my time.

I’m the son of rage and love
The Jesus of Suburbia
From the bible of none of the above
On a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin
No one ever died for my sins in hell
As far as I can tell
At least the ones I got away with

And there’s nothing wrong with me
This is how I’m supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That don’t believe in me

Get my television fix sitting on my crucifix
The living room or my private womb
While the moms and brads are away
To fall in love and fall in debt
To alcohol and cigarettes and Mary Jane
To keep me insane and doing someone else’s cocaine

And there’s nothing wrong with me
This is how I’m supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That don’t believe in me

Above is part 1 of “Jesus of Suburbia”.

Next is one of my favourite songs from the last 5 years, The Foo Fighters and “Best of You”:

I’ve got another confession to make
I’m your fool
Everyone’s got their chains to break
Holdin’ you

Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Are you gone and onto someone new?

I needed somewhere to hang my head
Without your noose
You gave me something that I didn’t have
But had no use
I was too weak to give in
Too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again
But I break loose
My head is giving me life or death
But I can’t choose
I swear I’ll never give in
No, I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
Your trust, you must
Confess

So to answer my own question, where are the poets of today, the modern-day writers that define our present-day history, they are in music, in the popular form of communication today. Poetry is no longer in the mainstream as it was back in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, today it is music and the musicians, songwriters and definitive minds might just exist in our music.

For more poets of today I suggest reading:
Lennon
Dylan
Marley
Stevens
Matthews
Apple
Taylor
King
Nirvana (Kurt Cobain)
Oasis
Tupac Shakur
Chapman

Who would you consider poets of your era? Which poets do you read? What would you classify as poetry?

I absolutely love High Fidelity. If you haven’t seen it, what the hell is wrong with you?

Here’s a clip:

There are some definitive reasons that make me love this film. It integrates a few of my favourite things.

1. John Cusack is a phenomenal actor.
2. Quirky and fast conversation, dialogue and monologue. Brilliant.
3. Music and opinion about music.
4. Jack black as a supporting actor is incredible.
5. Scepticism and slight insanity.
6. The feeling of a cult hit, underground culture and subversive messages of disdain for society and pop norms.

If you haven’t seen this film, rent it. Now.

I attended a 1st birthday yesterday. I gave the child in question a strange birthday present for a first birthday. I gave him his very first two music albums. That got me thinking about the music that I would try to educate my child with one day.

So here is a list of the 20 greatest albums that will help to educate your child, one day:

#20

Elvis, 30 #1 hits

#19

The Beach Boys, Today!

#18

Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman

#17

Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge over troubles water

#16

Cat Stevens, Early tapes

#15

Elton John, Goodbye yellow brick road

#14

The Foo Fighters, In your honour (Disc 1)

#13

Nirvana, MTV unplugged in New York

#12

Marvin Gaye, Let’s get it on

#11

Aretha Franklin, Lady soul

#10

U2, The Joshua Tree

#9

Greenday, American idiot

#8

Fatboy Slim, You’ve come a long way baby

#7

Jamiroquai, Emergency on planet Earth

#6

Dave Matthews Band, Under the table and dreaming

#5

Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

#4

George Michael, Older

#3

Bob Marley, Legend

#2

The Beatles, 1962 - 1966

#1

Queen, Greatest Hits I & II

OK, so I cheated on #1 and gave you a double hit. But Queen, it gets no better.

I’ve thrown in some way back classics, some soul, some funk, some punk, some rock, some now and then and some never to be repeated again.

These are my 20, not necessarily the best 20 ever in the world, just my 20. This is very subjective. But if I ever have a child, I want him/her to know these bands, groups or individuals. In my life, they defined me and my taste in music.

So thanks to Jayx for this little idea. I am not fond of tagging on blogs, I hate writing ten things, 5 secrets, 50 ideas blah, blah, blah. BUT I do love music and I am extremely interested to know what bloggers listen to and what they regard as classic, eternal music.

So I am ammending this post to ask ten other bloggers to post their TOP TEN albums that they would educate their kids with.

Here goes:

Jayx
Matthew
Justin
Vincent
Paul
Rafiq
Sheena
Coda
Grant
Mike
Gregor

(OK it’s more than ten, so shoot me).

I hope you all respond and post your top ten albums!

What I mean by the headline is this: Is Timbaland the shiny gleaning, gloss covering the logo’s, brands and sounds of today’s musicians?

I think so. I think the trend of web 2.0 is strong online as the trend of Timbaland’s sound is in music. And you know what? It’s pissing my off. Have a look here for a YouTube list of Timbaland stuff.

Madonna is the latest victim:

Let’s have a look and listen to some other artists who have fallen prey to the sights and sounds of Timbaland (and his accomplice Justin Timberlake):

Nelly Furtado:

Omarion:

Visit this link - embedding disabled.

The Pussycat Dols:

Timbaland himself:

And another:

50 Cent:

Now it may appear that I am berating this trend. I’m not. I’m saying that Timbaland is the pervasive artist/producer that everyone wants to get their hands on, understand, duplicate and be a part of. Just like web 2.0.

Hell, for someone of Madonna’s stature to work with Timbaland and JT must mean something is being done right. Or it means that Madonna can’t innovate anymore and she needs Timbaland to reproduce his innovation for her.

Much like web 2.0. People innovated and other followed suit with reproductions, Facebook took the MySpace model and made it better for some, there is Bebo, Linkedin and many, many, many others. Much like Timbaland in fact. You have him and his sound and then you have many other producers trying to duplicate his sound and vibe.

Britney Spears is the perfect example. Not sure who produced this song, but it’s got a Timbaland feel about it:

So in a nutshell what I am saying is… where is Timbaland 3.0? I am over Mr 2.0, let’s bring on the new vibes, the hip trends, the music innovation. Timbaland did a great job, but everything he does sounds the same and now every mimic is sounding like Timbaland and doing an average job of it.

You know why she pisses me off? Because I really like her sound, her voice and her music. But I hate the bitch.

I hate the fact that she is a druggy. I hate the fact that in spite of there being actual evidence that she is a user and has purchased drugs that nothing has happened to.

How does an institute like the Grammy Awards allow a known flipping drug user to not only perform but win awards? There should be rules against this.

Winehouses’ mother was pictured hugging the “star” after she won the awards. Wasn’t the mother the one telling fans not to support Amy? Hypocritical idiot. Stick to your guns. I will not purchase or support the Winehouse industry of taking money and blowing it up a nose or vein. I refuse.

With all the media coverage of her addiction, abuse, rehab and marital woes, what has now happened with her winning Grammy’s is that her actions have been condoned and she has become a “role model”. What the fuck is wrong with people in the limelight? Are the Grammy’s baked or using what Winehouse is using? Cause they must be in order to let her on stage, perform and receive 5 awards.

This is the number 1 song of 2007 according to Rolling Stone Magazine. I love Rolling Stone. I am not sure where this winner came from but hell, let’s be honest, Jay-Z rocks the shit out of anyone, anywhere, any genre. So I think he is a deserved winner.

The top 5 were:

“Roc Boys”
Jay-Z

“A Few Words in Defense of Our Country”
Randy Newman

“Umbrella”
Rihanna

“D.A.N.C.E.”
Justice

“Four Winds”
Bright Eyes

My top 5 would not read as above at all. In fact, I’ve only heard two of the top 5 above.

Here’s my take on things. I’m listing ten artists, in no order that deserve recognition in my opinion:

30 seconds to mars

Foo Fighters

This is my top ten for the year. Varied, diverse and all incredible muso’s.

Here are the mindless lyrics that Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas wrote:

Baby where’d you get your body from?
Tell me where’d you get your body from.
Baby where’d you get your body from?
Tell me where’d you get your body from.
I got it from my mama.
I got it from my mama.
I got it from my mama.
I got it got it got got it…

If you pretty, make some noise.
If you pretty, make some noise.
If you pretty, make some noise.
Make some noise, make some noise.

This is the biggest load of shit that I have ever read, heard or listened to.

This dude really pisses me off. “Music” like this really pisses me off. Notice the immense repetition in the song lyrics? That’s thanks to lack of formidable writing skills. Will.I.Am definitely isn’t much, of anything really.

I, for one, am not fond of maitstream music. It’s nice and I can recognise the value of it when I’m at a club or with friends or something froo-froo like that.

But it is really pissing me off lately that radio stations have finally seen the light and recognised under-ground rock, pop, funk, heavy metal, hip-hop, emo, alternative or any other genre. Why I am pissed off at the “new discovery” by the radio stations is because radion stations have a tendancy to kill a song long before it deserves to be killed.

Why is it necessary for stations to play 30 seconds to mars every hour on the hour? Hell, why is it necessary for radio’s to play them at all. They were mine. Now they are dead because the radio killed them.

“Video killed the radio star”

- Methinks not. Here’s my version:

“Radio killed the underground star”

And to be honest, radio is killing the die-hard listener. I get upset when a hear a tiny tot of twelve singing the tune of a Papa Roach song. They are not mainstream.

Don’t get me wrong, I grasp the concept of mainstream equalling money for the band, but many of the bands I love have my money and I paid for them to be mine. Not some tiny-bopper-pimple-faced-wanna-be-gothchild.

Rant Over.

This is some of the best news I have heard on a musical front in a while. I was bummed when they split and took a break and to be honest Rob Thomas never really had an effect on me without his band behind him - or maybe in front of him as it may be.

Here is the new song from my favourite band when I was a teen. They make an immediate impression on me and it proves to me that the music they make wasn’t a flash in the pan in my life but was truly great!

Have a listen, what do you think?

This song merges two of my favourite topics; music and politics. I am glad that MB20 has taken a serious look at life and the world and they are making bold and brave statements. Brilliant. Welcome back.

I LOVE THIS SONG!!! I love her accent. The song is by Kate Nash and is called Foundations.

“They are much Fittah” - imagine the pome accent with that.

This is a very cute and cool song. Very catching and well sung. It probably wont change the world but hey, I think it’s different and makes me smile. Simple.

I am a huge fan of Pink. Those of you who are laughing at me, hold off and watch this video:

This video rings true in more countries than America and could be directed at more presidents than Bush.

I appreciate it when artists take a stand against something that is destroy our culture. They have the power to change things and the power to make a difference. I just wish that more of them would rally together and release singles along the same line, with a similar message at a similar time. Even just as an experiment to see what kind of impact that would make.

I can only image what would happen if Greenday, Christina, Beyonce, U2, FooFighters, Fall Out Boy, PDiddy, Snoop, Eminem and the rest of them all released and anti-Bush campaign (not that kind of bush, calm down).

I will say it again and again and again…’cause it’s true.

Which is a nifty title change when talking about Guns N’ Roses (GNR). Normally these lovely gentlemen are not pulling out of anything if you know what I mean.

In case you are wondering what I am talking about, GNR have pulled out of the My Coke Fest event that has been bloody advertised for the last forever. It has also been advertised with GNR as the headlining band for so long that I don’t even know who else is playing. This morning I heard Gareth Cliff on 5fm saying that it doesn’t really matter that much anyways, there are still so many great bands. Then tell me, why have they been punting GNR so much over the past 2 months?

5fm has also been running a competition that if you win you go on tour with the bands here in SA, as well chat to them, party with them etc etc etc. Most of the entries that I have heard this past week have revolved around GNR. This morning one person enters and focuses on Hoobastank (another international band playing) and they win immediately. This really bugs me, what about all the poor other people who entered but weren’t aware of the GNR issue? Now they get screwed out of the only band they wanted to see and they get screwed out of the competition.

Computicket is offering full refunds for dissatisfied customers. If you are unhappy then let someone know!

I went to Melville last night to see a friends cousins band, Collective Unconscious. I really felt the need to blog about this because this band was phenomenal. Not only was the song writing great, the lead singer’s voice brilliant and the basis amazing but the drummer got off his stool (no pun intended) and played lead guitar on an acoustic song. To top it all of this a three member family band. The Drummer is father to the bassist and the lead singer and guitarist. The lead singer and song writer, Vincent is a mere 15 years old while the bassist is an astonishing 13 years old.

Below is a video of one of their songs. If you are Johannesburg over the next while try catch Collective Unconscious live and loud:

TechAttacks are not necessarily attacks on software or websites that I dont understand. TechAttack #2 is a look at a program that has revolutionised the way I get music.

I have spoken about Last FM before in Music 2.0 and an update, with regards to finding new music and integrating myself in to a community where music is the master. Well once I have found and listened to the music that Last FM finds for me I make us of Limewire to download them.

Limewire is quick and easy to instal, its easy to search and find music and easy to download. Search areas include Album, Song, Band, Genre type and License type. You can also use it to search for and dowload Images, Videos, Programs and Documents. Downloading times vary depending on the available connection with a file. T3 is the fastest connection (not sure what that stands for. kinda makes me think of Arnie and the metal face) then you have T1, cable/dsl and modem. Find the file you are looking for, double click and save away! Here is a screenshot of my Limewire as I search for the band Live

Limewire also makes use of “swarm” downloading, which means that the file is downloaded from multiple sourced simultaneously. Very cool, very fast, very effective. I like, Alot.

Now I know all the copyright issues surrounding this program, I get it, the music industry suffers. I also know that it isn’t the big “cash cow” bands that are affected by this, it’s the little bands who are just starting out that get screwed. Technically. I believe that bands have much to gain by using the web as a resource to create a fan base. The perfect example is Myspace where bands are launching albums and singles to the Myspace community before anyone else. Brilliant idea I think. A good example is a band that I found through Ange on myspace called Cartwheel Club, just launched and have thousands of listens per song.

I think that programs like LimeWire need to make the music industry big wigs wake up and smell the 2.0.