the x- president Vaclav Havel has died, 75. He was interesting political figure, i watched a clip on youtube where he said it was as if he fell of a bridge into the job, also saying he’s neither left or right. more artist than politician. its quite hard times for Czech’s with this, at the moment Vaclav Klaus is president, he is a conservative politician and not much liked.
x czech president Vaclav Havel
December 20, 2011http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlJS-l97eyU
December 20, 2011price rise in organic nuts
December 16, 2011I noticed that the price of organic nuts has gone up more than 20 percent in the supermarket in the last month. The amount of crowns that i get for one US dollar has been fluctuating a lot lately, from around 12, to now 19 within a six month time frame for one US dollar. This is ok for the big business’s as they can carry a lot of stock, and are able to use derivatives to protect a supply price. Yet smaller shops, are going to find these fluctuations difficult, and in the end are going to be less competitive. I think after the x-mass time, prices are really going to rise. Inflation is going to hit hard here.
EMI music publishing suck
December 3, 2011
A while back i complained to privacy about APRA rights organisation for music artists in Australia for giving an email i wrote them 10 years ago to EMI music publishing. EMI music publishing then provided the mail to another company in the US, who then provided the mail to ASCAP, as evidence of a co-write. Yet i never co-wrote any song, with any artist, nor signed any document to say i did.
Anyway, privacy Australia got back to me a year latter, to let me know that it was legal for that email to be used against me, as a non-member. The thing i wonder now is, if i have made APRA aware that i don’t want my information used that way, can they continue to use the information as they have. The decision of privacy Australia means that some of my tittles will remain under control of EMI music publishing from EMI’s point of veiw, producers are claiming they had a hand in writting the songs. Its a silly situation, its like the plumbers of your home telling you who can use your toilet.
Copyright laws are totally dis-functional in a world with the net and a computer, changes in technology make the publishing and recording industries re-dundent. For sure artist’s need to be advised of the potential dangers/consequences of assigning their rights to an exclusive contract. Especially with such co-ruption in the way the exclusive rights of an artist not with a publisher are managed.
The actual email is not really of any consequence, as APRA don’t issue rights to copyright. Although the chairman of the board of APRA, who is also the head of EMI music publishing is braking laws to make my situation difficult.
paris pool
November 30, 2011
I was at the hacker space in Prague, htttp://www.brmlad.cz and met Amir Taaki, he’s formed this new form of currency with a bunch of tec heads. The idea is brilliant, it creates the means of an un-controlled decentralized form of transferring funds from one person to another. Right now, even in its early stage, it allows the possibility to transfer funds from one country to another with-out the banks taking such a big cut. Within a couple of years, i reckon more and more people are going to be using this currency.
Pardubice
November 23, 2011Tea house gig tonight was good, a nice bunch of people in Pardubice. Although none of these tea house gigs are packed, and i’ve played some of these songs a lot, the songs seem to be getting more dimensions. In the last couple of months i’ve also been getting some guitar tips from a good guitar player in Prague, Justine Lavish, although i have not been a good student, as i don’t practise as often as i could, the process has paid off. He’s being telling me that the real impact of guitar comes from the right hand (that’s the strumming hand), i’ve been thinking a lot about that with this tour. As i know some of the songs so well, its easy to get into this action a lot.
also: The guys from the tea room dobro chiovna were at the gig tonight, this is a bigger space nearer the centre of town, they invited me to play a gig on the next tea tour, Feb 2012. This tea house is nice, yet its a little out from the centre.
Photo Miroslav Kminek
touring around
November 23, 2011Busy the last weeks, playing shows in Brno, Karlovy Vary, Litomysl, Decin, been good to play shows in so many different places, so close together. Catching trains to most places, and bus’s sometimes. Knowing exactly how to get to a venue when i arrive, saves a lot of time and hassel, makes these tea house gigs fun. Tonight i played a show in the Svitovy, only a few people.. yet good audience, Tomorrow night i’m playing songs in Pardubice.
Other things that happen, a couple of months back i help this band re-do their album lyrics, the producer wanted a totally different direction on a couple of the tunes, was a crazy situation, the singer wanted all the songs to be hers, yet then when the songs radically changed, she agreed that she liked the changes, yet then 20 minuets latter would say that she hated the changes. It was not a fun situation, was like being caught between a cat and dog, a huge drain of energy. Anyway, i spent 3 days with that, yesterday i see that the band has found a Czech guy that lived in US for 8 years, to have another go with the lyrics. I’m not sure how its going to turn out, yet i spose they are starting again without my changes.
Its not easy with songs that are already started.. lyrics, and a melody. To fit a text into a melody already created that is basically in concrete, and for the song to have a meaning that can fit with the singer and still have a good sense, its a lot of work and a total pain. The whole situation was upsetting for me, and then for the singer to tell me that she want use any of my texts, and find someone new, was exhausting. Yet that’s the way it goes.
The thing with many/most bands in Czech, is that even some bands that are touring with the big acts, cause their is such a small amount of income around, most continue to make a career out of something else. Things are not so profesional, i spose i should have expected it.
show in Mohlinice
November 6, 2011
last night i played music in Mohlinice, small town quite close to Olomouc, played at the tea house, its on the town square. This is the first show of a tour I do around Czech, in the next month i’ll play tunes in arond15-20 different spaces around Czech, mostly tea houses. I’m gonna try and write something about each town/place i do a show.
Mohlinice is quite small, most of the people here work for two German companies that manufacture motor parts. Town was a little down beat though, yet maybe it was just the weather was that way today, the train arrived when it was dark last night. Was worried i would not be able to find the tea house, yet it was easy. Mostly pubs, and panel buildings painted in oranges, pinks and yellows.
Bubenska Street Prague
October 18, 2011
While in Prague in the same day i bumped into Eric Balaire a couple of times. I showed him around the building where i have some storage space, and he took some pics. Now i’m using some of them for promotion. Eric works as a photographic assistant in LA, and has been tripping around Europe the last couple of months, spending most of his time in Hungary. Thanks for the images, hope travels are going good.
video clip for blue car
June 3, 2011honey and hay fever
June 1, 2011For many years i’ve had a horrible problem with hay-fever. For years i have taken stuff for the problem, and it always has a side effect, and its a chemical. Anyway, i read on the net that you if you take honey in high doses prior to spring and during spring and summer, then the hay fever is not as bad. So this year i tried it. My hay-fever has not arrived in a bad way yet, i’ve had a couple of mild attacks, yet nothing like i normally get and it seems as soon as i have honey in the morning with my tea, any sign of itchy eyes or anything goes away. Maybe its placebo, yet normally at this time of year, i’m trying to scratch my eyes out if i don’t take something for this, my day is a big problem. Last year and the year before I could not go on a train out of Prague without taking some chemical. I remember a trip to Klatovy when it was so bad i could hardly breathe or play a music show, was a real horror. Anyway, I was at the cottage on the weekend in Czeska Trebova, and nothing. I found this article in main stream press with a quick search now. For sure the effect has to be less, for anyone. And honey is not owned by some patent, nor is omega 3. So i hope it lasts for the rest of summer, when the grass is seeding more, is when it really hits its peak with my problem.
into the stars
May 12, 2011Japan Meltdown
April 2, 2011With the blue sky outside and the nice spring weather here in Prague, its hard to imagine the world that we are climbing into after this melt down. Yet it seems its kind of grim, from the information i’m finding on the web. It looks as if the global food chain is going to be hit by radio activity, what does this mean? well everything is probably slightly radio-active these days anyway, yet with heaps of the stuff in the atmosphere from the melt down in Japan, its going to be hard to avoid coming in contact with more radioactivity, levels in water and food are going to go up all around the world. It might be bellow lethal levels at the moment and maybe always, yet over prolonged periods of time, we are all going to be getting much sicker in the long run, from the radio-activity. Its a kind of grim situation. The positive things that could happen, people could become more localised with the food that they buy, so smaller organic farming and trading among people in food products might happen. The only things that i have found out so far that any person can do to minimise risk, is to put a reverse osmoses water filter on the water and take some kelp tablets. And also have a bowl of miso soup.
live recording
April 1, 2011
czech bureaucratic process
March 18, 2011
lately i was thinking about the system here in Czech as often it gets a little on my nerves, with each bureaucratic process, all the needed information, I’m kind of used to it though. My conclusion is that a lot of it left over stuff from communism, the system treats the person providing the service as being guilty and the person using the service as being guilty, so its upto the person providing the service and the user of the service to prove otherwise, in each transaction. well it often seems that way.
Songbook PDF
March 1, 2011This pdf has a couple of bugs, yet this is basically the way the songbook shall be printed. Each page of the book has a link where you can listen to the tune, as the tunes get recorded in better than sketch format, they’ll be able to be downloaded . Took more time than i thought to get this done, so i start with print stuff.
new track in studio
March 1, 2011After ages of staying out of the studio, i make a small production. I recorded it with Geoff Tyson. I’d like to record more, yet not possible at the moment. What i have done with this track is get other players to put tracks down, the plan is to get friends i’ve met on travels to add parts to the song and then get it recorded.
use of Data
February 26, 2011
I was angry at the lady who works on the Czech trains today, it reminded me to find out about data use issue. So i email letter bellow.
letter…
I was wondering about a privacy issue for trains.. and data the Czech train company records, and who to contact as to how that data is used, and if the Czech railways have the right to collect data the way they do?
story..
For the last couple of years i’ve had this train pass that gives a discount.. the thing is that Czech railways through pricing mechanisms are forcing me to buy a 50 percent discount card. When I buy a ticket using this pass, the company scan the ticket at both payment point (if you have 50/100 percent discount) and also on the train, for 25, 50 and 100 percent discount cards. I notice in Western Europe countries the card is not scanned on the train, i wonder if its allowed under EU laws, to scan the pass? Also who has access to my data, I don’t recall signing any contract, when buying the pass?
Also the 50 percent discount card, is not marked as a 50 percent discount card, where as it is in other countries. This means I have to have the card scanned at buying point, and it’s totally illogical, just adding one more process. My thoughts are that the train company is doing all it can to collect more data, rather than making a better service.
I wondered if the Czech train company is able to collect data this way, under directives the government sign?
travel
February 20, 2011On short weekend tour in Austria, Germany and Swiss, i try to write something each day. I got up early today, around 4 and caught the train to Linz, from there onto Feldkirich, not as much snow on the ground as last time i trained it through. Tonight I play at April Cafe nice cafe, on Saturday in Lindau, and on Sunday in St Gallen.
shoes in lindau
January 25, 2011
a shoe story: I was in Lindau at cafe 37, where i play some tunes next month.. so, I started to talk to the man next to me at the cafe, he was born in Lindau and back for a re-union. Anyway, he must have noticed that my shoes are not so great. It turned out that the man had a company that makes heaps of shoes in Germany, www.trippen.com , this is probably the best company of shoes i have ever seen. Not that i’m much shoe person, i tend to be fixed to price when looking for shoes, its hard to find cool shoes at a good price. Anyway he must have had some empathy for me, being in a bad pair of shoes, or maybe i just had slightly homeless/shoeless look about me, as i sometimes do. So anyway, he gave me a pair of shoes. When i got back to Prague,i mailed him, i looked on the site, and found a pair of shoes i like, called the Kafka ones. It was cool, the shoes i like most, fit the city i live in. I think i probably would have saved for a pair anyway, after hearing the philosophy of company and ideas. The company has shoes for men and women in all styles.. its nice when I can meet someone that has something to do with something that i’m wearing. I try to buy stuff often from people that i know, yet sometimes i’m lazy. Its good, this company sells shoes all around the world, yet all the shoes of this company are made in Europe, and its a small company.
also: it was interesting to hear about China and manufacturing, one thing i never much considered, is that in 10-15 years time, manufacturing in China is not going to be so different from Europe, from price point of view. So companies that choose to stay with making stuff in Europe, are more competitive for the long term, and have better quality. As labor in China is only going to go up. look at the website, its got a lot of shoes. www.trippen.com
