Jairaj: The quiet one

All my friends and most people who know me are aware of my fascination with the work, life and ethos of Bruce Springsteen. I am also very passionate about the life and times of a George Harrison. The quiet one, he was called. It was clear from the beginning that he was a supremely talented guitarist. Saddled with a group that included songwriting geniuses Paul McCartney and John Lennon, George struggled to develop and nurture his songwriting talents. Being the youngest of the lot did not help either.

But as the years went by, this struggle culminated in Abbey Road’s ‘Something’. Frank Sinatra called this song as the greatest love song ever written (some disagree, and say that Sinatra said that it was best of the last 50 years). This has been voted by many as also the best Beatles song.
Being a singer-songwriter is a gift. You write songs and make music, and in the process, create magic. Guthrie, Dylan, Lennon-McCartney, Springsteen, Cash, Clapton, Orbison, Morrison (Van. Not the drunken buffoon), and of course Harrison…

I was a fan of the Beatles since I can remember. My dad had a copy of Abbey Road made for my brother and me on a Paul Mauriat cassette. And I slowly discovered the ballads of the Beatles and other classics thanks to my old man. I became a fan of George after I watched ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. It’s a classic. Its humorous, its sexy and it straight forward and it has probably the best soundtrack in the history of cinema. In the film, one can see the sense of humor George lived by.

The opening chord on the title track just wakes you up man.

As a poet and songwriter, Harrison broke out of the huge influence of the leading duo with tracks like ‘Taxman’, ‘Here comes the Sun’ and ‘I want to Tell You’. After the Beatles broke up, Harrison found his best lines. ‘My Sweet Lord’ was a grand invocation to the supernatural, with a deeply Indian philosophy of wanting to ‘know’ and ‘see’ God.

The reason of writing this today, however, is got to do with a particular song I heard last night. It was the nth time, but it was different because I watched an interview of Guitar God Eric Clapton in which he said that ‘Isn’t it a pity’ was probably the most honest of all Harrison’s songs. Harrison’s songs were simple messages from the heart – pretty straight forward. And it did not get straighter than ‘Isn’t it a pity’.

Imagine a few deft guitar movements by the genius while reading this:

Isn't it a pity
Now, isn't it a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Some things take so long
But how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we're all the same
And because of all their tears
Their eyes can't hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Isn't it a pity

Isn't it a pity
Isn't is a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity
Forgetting to give back
Now, isn't it a pity

Pain - of the favorable kind

Nope - I'm not masochistic.
Last night I went to the University Gym at the SRC after a gap of nearly 4 months. I worked out my chest, arms (biceps and triceps), shoulder and upper back. I usually work out a body part a day, and work out alternate days. I also ran a few rounds on the tracks.
And today, as is always when I work out after a gap, my body is in pain. And this is kind of pain I can discuss with my buddies Puneet and Harsh (Jai & Veeru). I miss Bombay for a few reasons - one of them being Talwalkers. We had some good times there.
So, here I am with every part of my upper body feeling like I'm carrying a person around. And its bound to remain this way for a few days.
Rest today - and back to gym tomorrow.
To be honest, its the place that I am happiest. I love the challenge of weights and endurance - to push oneself to do just one more rep... or that extra lap.
And its in times like this I miss my buddy Puneet - who used to be the support behind me during those tough bench presses.
For now - its me battling the pain. The good pain.

Jack & Suzy

When I was a kid I used to look forward to the arrival of the Newsweek on Wednesdays. Mostly Thursdays. And sometimes Fridays depending on rain, festival or postman blues. And I would turn to the last few pages to check out stories on Newsmakers. These were times before the internet when all my necessary knowledge came from radio (thanks Ray McDonald) and Newsweek.

I find myself doing something similar these days. Nowadays, I look forward to the BusinessWeek... and a column on the last page called Ideas-The Welch way by Jack and Suzy Welch.

If you have any questions about business, company or career challenges, you can email Jack & Suzy. They will select the best for the week and put it up as a column.
In the May 15th issue, a grandfather from Milwaukee wrote in asking about what advice he should give his grandchildren regarding choosing career paths for themselves. The couple talked about the how geology was important in the 70's (boom in Oil & gas), investment banking and consulting in the 80s and the internet in the 90's. Today, they say, all arrows point towards biotech, nanotech infotech and their convergence.

Having said that, they mentioned a friend of their's who was shoved into medical school, where she soldiered on. Today, that friend is taking photographs for a living - joyfully. Their 45 year old friend ditched a career as a neurologist with the words: Life is too short to spend every day doing something you don't love.
Jack & Suzy were kind enough to share this with that grandfather, and closed the column with:
'It took our friend 20 years to learn that simple truth. It would be quite a gift to save your grandchildren that time'.

Glory?

When I was in Std IV, we had our first class of Moral Science. This was the subject non catholics had to take (Catholics studied Catechism).

The first lesson was called Determination. I will never forget it. It had an illustration (accompanying the literature) of Mount Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary along with his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Sir Edmund Hillary along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first mountaineer to reach Everest's summit in 1953.


The lesson we learnt was no matter how daunting it may seem, every hurdle can be cleared with unflinching determination. Since 1953, many people have scaled the Everest, thanks to that very determination, and well... a little bit of help from advances in technology.

The latest I read was about New Zealander Mark Inglis, who became the first double amputee to reach the mountain's summit on prosthetic legs. Incredible indeed.

But what I read today was depressing. On the one hand, these climbers are challenging nature, their physical abilities and fate by scaling the peak of the World. On the other hand, they are bereft of what the foundation of their goal is – humanity.

Reports on 25th May claim that climbers left a young Englishman to die while pressing on towards the peak of the world's tallest mountain. The report:

‘David Sharp, 34, from Guisborough in England, died last week, apparently of oxygen deficiency, while descending after reaching Everest's summit. Several parties reported seeing Sharp in various states of health on the day of his death and working on his oxygen equipment.

One party included New Zealander Mark Inglis, who became the first double amputee to reach the mountain's summit on prosthetic legs. His climbing party stopped and one of its Sherpas provided Sharp with oxygen before the group continued its climb.

Inglis told Television New Zealand on Monday that Sharp had no oxygen when he was found but that his own party was able to render only limited assistance and had to put the safety of its own members first.’

Sir Hillary’s comments:

"Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain"

"There have been a number of occasions when people have been neglected and left to die and I don't regard this as a correct philosophy. I think the whole attitude toward climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top"

Hillary later told New Zealand Press Association he would have abandoned his own pioneering climb in 1953 to save another life.

Do the arguments (if any) of the climbers in defense of their negligence have any credibility? Is there any glory in achieving this goal? What would you do?

Da Vinci Code – Watch It!!

Yes. Two words I give it. Not ‘Thumbs Up’ or ‘Great Work’. Just ‘Watch it’. So I did last night.

First of all, I would like to make it clear that I am neither against the common belief that Jesus was divine & immortal, nor for the fact that the story depicted in the Da Vinci Code is partially true. I’m not a religious person.

God fearing, yes.

If someone made a movie on the Ramayan with a new twist to it, I’ll probably go watch that as well. What I do believe in is evolution… and that man came from apes, who came form birds who came form reptiles who came from amphibians who came from fish who came from multi cell organisms, who came from uni cellular organisms who came from the big drum of evolution.

So the scene is this. The Greatest Story ever told is being given a little jolt, one which ‘may shake the very foundations of mankind’. ‘Greatest story’ is again debatable. To my mind, no story can beat ‘The Mahabharat’. That’s a different debate though.

I have this habit of reading a few reviews before I watch a movie. I stick to Newsweek, Rolling Stone and CNN (Entertainment weekly). All three panned this movie. Wait, they killed this movie, and any hope it had in… hell.


A few lines from these reviews:

From Rolling Stone (1 star):

...There's no code to decipher. Da Vinci is a dud -- a dreary, droning, dull-witted adaptation of Dan Brown's religioso detective story that sold 50 million copies worldwide...
...Bettany's rabid overacting seems to inspire Hanks to take the opposite tack. Hanks remains disturbingly unruffled, even when he is framed for the monk's crimes...
...Also missing in action is the romantic spark between Robert and Sophie that Brown provided in the novel. All that Hanks gives Tautou is a fatherly hug and a kiss on the forehead...

From EW (C+):

...Hanks, playing this prof on a crusade, has to sandwich Langdon's brainy passion into the crevices between mediocre action scenes. He looks glum and, frankly, a little lost...
...The surprise, and disappointment, of "The Da Vinci Code" is how slipshod and hokey the religious detective story now seems. It's a challenge, to be sure, to cram Brown's litany of signs and symbols, his intricate meditations, into a two-and-a-half-hour film, but Howard, working from Akiva Goldsman's script, fails to build intellectual excitement into the quest.
As a novel, "The Da Vinci Code" has a resonance that lingers. It may be less history than hokum, but it's a searching product of the feminist era, when even many true believers have grown weary of the church as an instrument of moral reprimand and male dominion. The film is faithful enough, but it's hard to imagine it making many converts.

I’m not getting into the Newsweek bit for this one!!

OK… any guess on the motives that went behind these criticisms? I’d say pressure from the top, or even pressure within. Its unfair when a work that involves art (film-making, not the Danesh Kumar variety, is an art) is not given its due.
To call Tom Hanks expressionless, glum and lost is stretching it a bit too far. Two guys in Hollywood who make even crap scripts look good are Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks (Man on Fire, Castaway... for example). I’m not a great fan of Tom Hanks, although I can watch Forrest Gump everyday of my life. He may not have the range of a Robet deNiro... I still think that we are all lucky that people like him make movies. Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia, The Green Mile...

Next, I did not think that the movie was dreary , drong and dull witted... infact I was into it from the word go. I read on CNN.com that invitees at Cannes actually sneered and laughed during certain scenes in the movie. Come on, if you can’t take someone’s opinion on a parallel look at your religion, leave the hall. If a movie shakes your faith, your faith isn't strong enough brother. I am one of those 50 million assholes who bought the book. I am also one of the many who could not finish it as well. I liked the plot… but I hated the narrative. I simply think Dan Brown underestimates the intelligence of his readers. Page 348 is where I stopped. The movie edited out the unwanted narrative, and scores its first big point there.

Paul Bettany was true to the character. While reading the book, I had a picture of this guy in my mind. And Bettany cracked that. I pictured Harrison Ford as Langdon though!!
The romantic spark that critics missed was unnecessary. There was no time for romance between Robert and Sophie. Its hard to fall for the flesh when you are being shot at, bleeding, running from a crazed cop and a monk on the rampage.
As for the fatherly hug and kiss sequence – face it man. Assuming you, my dear visitor and reader, are a man. Also assuming you met this cute girl and just realized that she is the only direct descendant of JC, would you feel like tasting her lip stick? Making love to her in the church courtyard? This is where I think the reviewers let their bias/pressures take over them completely.

As for the script failing to build intellectual excitement, how many of you watched Fahrenheit 911? Its an intellectual stimulus of Presidential proportions. Yet Michael Moore was snubbed at every decent award ceremony. And people re-elected Dubya for a second term. Did the purpose of intellectual excitement work there?

You all know the plot… if you missed that in the last few days, you are seriously in trance. My advice: Watch the movie. Its worth every dollar you pay for. But hey, my audience is primarily the pirate community, so its worth every second of your free time.

THE SOUTHIE'S DHOTI AND HOW TO RATTLE IT (OR HOW TO DIDDLE YOUR MUNDU)

Other men gird their loins, Southie men gird their dhotis.

Underestimated by the rest of the world as a mere garment, a foolish extension of the loincloth, it's only the Southie male who knows that the dhoti can be much, much more. (Bringing to mind the opening line of Love Story. "What do you say about a one-and-a half-metre tundu ...."?) Well to start with, the Southie's dhoti is a piece of minimalist art. No clumsy acres of cloth to be feverishly gathered and pleated. No frenzied crawling between and around the legs. Just a pithy bit of pristine whiteness, enough to go around the waist once, with some left over for the two ends to overlap - barely. It's also a free spirit, secured by just one firm tuck at the waist, the rest left to hang free, unrestrained.

Because the Southie knows that a dhoti is not just something to wear but to wield, much the way a skunk does his stink ora bimbo her cleavage.And so as Time dawned on mankind (somewhere between Mohenjo and Daro), the art of dhoti rattling came to be, the art of how to swagger, strut, scare, conquer and tame - all with a piece of cotton as bland as your granny's khichdi. Which is why, like Sharon Stone's hemline, the Southie's dhoti is built to have theunfettered freedom to rise or fall, fold over or flap across, even cleave open to lay bare the magnificence of Southie machismo.Naturally, this means that the Southie dhoti spends very little time being full length - i.e modestly covering its wearer from waist to toe - and a lot of its time being folded up to reveal calves, knees, thighs (and sometimes - gasp! - even more depending on how things are going).

Now before you leap to any rash conclusions about the Southie male's secret exhibitionist tendencies ("we'd have never guessed with all that vibhuti!") let me tell you that without knowing how and when to fold or unfold your dhoti (while wearing it, naturally) there's noway you can rattle it. (Nor diddle your mundu.) It's a bit like trying to wrestle without a partner or to tango without feet. And depending on your dexterity and timing, you can deploy your dhoti to play popular male sports like mine-is-bigger-than-yours, my-daddy-can-beat-up-your-daddy-not-to-mention-what-he-can-do-to-your-mummy and you-can-take-it-and-stick-it-up-you-know-where.Needless to say, the art of dhoti rattling has been stitched into the Southie's Y chromosone and there was a time when every good Southie boy worth his weight in mulgai pudi learnt it much before he learnt how to manage rasam on a banana leaf. Alas, with the invasion of the pant and the pyjama, it's now a dying art in the cities, but is still alive and well where paddy is lush, the coconut tender, the jackfruit ripens like prickly, pregnant hippos and the air is laced with the fragrance of black hair gently wallowing in coconut oil.


Now though it is said that there are as many ways of diddling a dhoti (or wiggling your veshti) as there are recipes to make your idli batter rise, here are the few basic moves common to all schools:

1. The Buffalo Bhoothalingam Draw (Inspired by the Bucking-Bronco Kick.) Used to answer the Call of the Testosterone. And when the call comes, to the swelling of the chest and the quivering of the moustache, (maybe even the clash of a few cymbals), in one lightning motion, you shoot out a leg backwards to kick the lower end of the dhoti upwards into a waiting hand. And before anyone can say Karaikudi Kunjukunju Mudaliar, the dhoti will lie trussed up at loin level and you are all set to defend the honour of gramam, gotram or garage mechanic. Can be accompanied by dialogues like "Yenna da, rascal!" or words to thateffect, but the more stylish practitioners prefer to let the dhoti do all the talking.(If your dhoti is already folded up, just go in reverse making sure that when you unfold it, you don't yank the whole damn thing off. It requires years of practice to know and find the location of that little bit of dhoti that will do the trick.)

2. The I'm-the-King-of-Kondalampatti Klutch. Equivalent to pissing on territory and therefore normally used to fix who is the dominant male in this part of the jungle. At the sight of a threat, shoot out leg (always backwards), kick dhoti (always upwards) and instead of folding the whole thing up around loins, just hold up one end (sometimes both if the threat is severe) in hand to part the dhoti like the waters of the Red Sea and make way for two hairy (hopefully), muscular(hopefully), aambley payyen legs which will then proceed to walk all over everybody. In days of yore, this was much more effective when done striding through paddy fields with a minion scurrying behind holding aloft a huge black umbrella to protect your beautiful black complexion from being ruined by the sun.

3. The Gird-of-the-Loin. Used before the commencement of anything from climbing a coconut tree to signing that corporate merger. (Also very useful while riding anything with two wheels - other than a woman, that is.) It signals that you're now open for and mean business. A variation of the Bhootalingam Draw, minus all the thunder and lightning and how high you fold the dhoti is determined by the complexity and seriousness of the task at hand. (WARNING: To be deployed without underwear only when unaware of presence of polite/female company and/or when answering an urgent call of nature.)

Which leaves us with just a couple of unanswered questions.

The first - if the Southie's dhoti spends so much of its time aping a miniskirt, what comes to mind is a question has so often haunted humanity about the Scottish kilt. What underwear? Well let's just say that it has never been Venky's secret. Because the Southie, never knowing how high his dhoti may ride, chooses his under-the-dhoti-wear remembering the Girl Scout motto. "Be prepared". Hence the popular choice – despite the invasion of the briefer VIP or the even more dashing Jockey -continues to be what is called "drayers" - knee-length boxers in dashing stripes or shorts in basic khaki - covering all matters that must remain private no matter what your dhoti may do in public.And the second question is.... You know what they say about the Southie's dhoti - that it's like a coconut. Known to fall off but no one has ever seen one do so.

So the second question is - how does it stay up? There are many whispered rumours. (And there are those who have been known to use a belt, but they are charlatans really, shunned and denounced by the real Makappuwamis) Some say that it is coffee, strong enough to put the hair on your chest and keep your dhoti on. Some say a daily dose of rice and buttermilk, enough to just distend your stomach to the required rotundity. Others say it's avvakai pickle, hot enough to sear your dhoti into your middle....The truth is no one knows.

My bet?

Testosterone.....

(FOOTNOTE: Now there may be some of you whose brow may be furrowed on account of my not having mentioned the lungi. I have just one word for it. Disgusting. A raucous, loutish, revolting genetic aberration that will never berecognized as a legitimate relation by any true aficionado of the Southie's dhoti.)

Contributed by Sandeep Menon. Arsenal Fan. Loves well endowed women. Proud Mallu.

Autostitch!!

Thanks for the autostitch Kingsly!!

Below is Seminyak, Bali.


And here is my young friend, the pride of the Carron family, Issa.

My Tryst with Credit Cards in 'Can Orready' land

'You can orready apply orready. Can. The Bank will send you a note if we accept your application. Can?'

Can not!!

One of the prime reasons I want to get back to Bombay is because of the way Singaporean Bankers have treated my countless applications for a credit card.

Applying for a credit card??

In India, squeaky voiced high school drop-out girls would harrass me and everyone I knew to apply for new cards. They went to the extent of even filling your application for you, and offering you years of free membership.

For the record, I had 3 gold cards in India...

Now for sunny Singapore!!

Cut to Orchard Road on a Sunday. Citibank has put up a stall with Clarice Chan (fat and big chested), the sales person trying to sell cards to passersby. I am in need of a credit card. I have only a NETS card, which is not accepted in night clubs and cannot be used on the internet. I walked up to her. She did the check: Income, Visa, etc etc and I fit the bill. I went through the application process, and in a week, got to know that it was rejected.

Same with DBS and POSB - where I have my savings account.

My most recent application is with OCBC Bank.

And to top it all, people with half my income (but Singaporean Can) have creit cards.

Banks have a right to refect applicatons. But if all the mentioned criteria are met, what causes the rejection? I just don't get it? A foreigner in Singapore requires atleast $5000 a month as income. How many Singaporeans with credit cards make that money? This distinction is what pisses me off. (Singaporeans require a salary of just $2500 per month to apply)

So, if you have any ideas how I can change my fortunes, please let me know. Its tough when your girlfriend knows exactly what you buy and where you go!!

Barcelona - European Champions

Last night I watched the Finals of the European Championship, hoping to watch some good football from Arsenal's Henry and Barcelona's Ronaldinho. And, more importantly, hoping that the better team would win.

Barcelona deserved to win the Finals. By far. They were consistent throughout the season, and more importantly, they were also the Spanish League Champions. Arsenal on the other hand, managed to scrape into the top 4 of the English League in the last week. To think such a team would be Champions of Europe was not proper. My buddy Sandy Menon may disagree. But stats say something different.

Also, they are too relient on Henry.

So, the finals is over with, and Barcelona are celebrating their success.

Lots of Singaporean papers are talking about the refereeing that caused Arsenal's demise. True, their goal keeper was sent off. But this is football, and the rules state clearly that you cock up like this - you go to the bench. Morever, Arsenal won the first goal!! And that too after Emmanuel Eboue tumbled threatrically under a challenge from Carles Puyol. A clear case of diving. Henry takes he kick, Campbell provides his head, and the net provides the shelter for the ball.

Is there any honour in winning a goal off a free kick won off a dive?

And Arsenal can't stop complaining about Eto's goal.

The score should have read 3-1. Why the first goal was dissallowed is strange.

Anyway, the better team won.

Now, lets look forward to a World Cup thats got its usual share of magic... and hopefully less divers.

Afterall its a beautiful game. And there should be no place for divers in it.

Of Terrible Neighbours and Foul Smells

My good friend Ani refers to my neighbour as a weird looking guy with a wide grin. The wide grin, dear folks, arises when he is in front of a plate full of his wife’s microwave cooked food. And boy IT STINKS!!

Ok, to begin, I must introduce you to this specimen. I first bumped into this guy late July 2005 when I first moved into 07-47 Graduate Hall. He was living in 07-4x with a female companion, an ugly, miserable cow. His wife.

I met him in the elevator, and in true hill billy courtesy enquired about his wellbeing. Turns out that I can’t understand a word this guy says – and it puzzled me. He looked very Indian to me… and his wife looked typically 1^st generation Indian from Singapore-Malaysia (most of them look defective). The guy spoke with an Oxbriford (Oxford – Cambridge – Stanford) accent. Like I have done many times in the past with others, I asked this chap where he hailed from. The answer baffled me further.

Turns out this wet fungus-infested trench-coat was from my beloved Bombay. And to imagine he belonged to the same tribe as the ‘Minister of Cool’ Arjun Sankalia. Yes. Gujarati from Bombay. I let it be.

A couple of days went by before it started to hit me. It turns out that Mr. & Mrs. Smith invested in a microwave oven. And her mother taught her to cook one dish.

One fucking dish that stank.

And they would cook this everyday, and night. Their window faced mine at a very acute angle – and the pungent fumes found their way right into my room. Sometimes they cooked this genocidal dish for 3 hours in the weekend. 3 foul hours!!!

And cooking is not allowed in rooms here. Yet, Mr. & Mrs Smith do so.

I once spoke to him about this issue… and to my horror, realized that he was not just ugly and filthy, but downright nuts. This chap is pursuing some sort of PHD in applied astro engineering. He used his skills to explain the science behind the pattern of wind flow and the effect it had on open and closed doors & windows.

They make a great pair. They love Hum Aapke Hain Kaun – I guess that their favourite album. There was a time they played that on repeat mode. Imagine listening to ‘bhabhi tum khushiyon ka khazana… ‘ and that geriatric bitch Mangeshkar shrieking ‘Hum aapke hain kaun…’. Back to Back. Over and over and over …

At 29, do I need this?

And a few days I play my favourite Bruuuuce album, and Eugene Lee sends me a note. More about that later. For now, if you see Mr. & Mrs. Smith, please throw a rock at them. You can’t miss his grin, ape like face and his turnip looking wife. He roams around with a baygon at lobby 3, level 7.

Of Piracy, iTunes & Variable Pricing

Often I get into arguments with my associates (and sometimes friends) regarding piracy of music and related stuff. Frankly, there is nothing to argue. But, it’s ok to entertain the stupid comments made by them. Ignorance is not always bliss. You should hear them.

For starters, I am someone who respected the intellectual property, effort and passion of recording artists even before I joined the Recording Industry in 2003. So, its not the Industry that made me change my mind, but the very fact that I believe that one has no right to something that he/she does not own.

Basically, my counterparts are who ‘we’ refer to as the ‘Lost’ generation. Nope. I’m not referring to the popular drama series. I’m referring to the product spawned by napster, kazaa and industry slackness. This is the generation that will never pay for music. They believe that music is meant to be free. I once spoke to a ‘self confessed live-for-the-music’ woman who told me that the proliferation of pirated music on the internet is what artists want!! You know, you just have to hand it to these people.

Recently, Red Hot Chili Peppers lashed out at a music pirate who leaked the funk-rock band's upcoming album ‘Stadium Arcadium’ onto the Internet, and urged fans not to download it illegally. The band's bass player, Michael "Flea" Balzary, said he and his colleagues would be heartbroken if fans downloaded the album. "For people to just steal a poor sound quality version of it for free because some asshole stole it and put it on the internet is sad to me," he said. "I can not put in words how much this record, 'Stadium Arcadium,' means to us, how sacred the sound of it is to us, and how many sleepless nights and hardworking days we all had thinking about how to make it be the best sounding thing we could and now, for someone to take it and put it out there with this poor sound quality it is a painful pill for us to swallow," Balzary added.

So much for the theory that artists want their music to be heard by as many people possible.

My two words to the intelligent lady mentioned earlier: Fuck You

Okay, so the lost generation wants free music. They also condemn the record industry for everything they can think about; including unavailability of digital music (they probably haven’t heard of iTunes or Soundbuzz… more reasons why I think they are truly lost!!). They think the music companies make too much money anyway – that they squeeze the last dollar out of the customer and artist as well. So, a little bit of downloading from the internet or file sharing should not affect them right?

To them and to others who may be interested… what value does a music company actually add to the process? To the business – that’s what it is. A business.

Music companies have two areas where they add value. One is the editorial side of the business: finding and nurturing talent. The second is the marketing of those artists, bringing them through a massive number of different channels and promoting their music.

Both these activities cost a bit of money. And that’s where the profits (if any) are being pumped into.

Something else that I was hoping would not happen…

On May 2, Apple won the pricing battle against the four largest record companies (Universal, SONY BMG, EMI & Warner) in a behind-the-scenes battle to charge different prices for songs on iTunes.

So, downloads remain at 99 cents.

Apple Computer said that it has renewed contracts with the record companies, ensuring that songs will still be sold at 99 cents each. The record companies had been pushing Apple to allow different pricing for tracks, especially the ability to charge higher prices for new material from top-selling artists.

The companies were forced to accept Apple CEO Steve Jobs' pricing because the iTunes music store has so much influence over the U.S. download market. The iTunes music store accounts for 80 percent of paid downloads.

(Some labels were considering signing short-term contracts with Apple now and then bringing up the issue again in the near future.) Online music sales increased 194 percent last year to 352 million units, according to the report.

So did Steve (holier than thou) Jobs arm-twist the music companies into accepting this structure? Does he really think that the digital music market is too young to risk alienating people with higher prices? (True, people have started paying for downloads... but are they as price conscious as he thinks they are?) He has a supporter in Jimmy Iovine (The man with a plan!! One of my gurus, more about him in a later post).

The issue is not what the proper price for a song is. People have often interpreted the Music Company’s wish for a variable pricing as a way to increase prices/ profits. Variable pricing means that some prices would fall, some would stay the same, and probably very few would rise.

Their concern is that when everything is the same price, it becomes commodity-like. (Now, you don’t need a fucking MBA to know that). So, they hope that while tracks remain on iTunes at 99 cents, tracks with lyrics, tracks with videos and all kinds of additional things should start appearing with upward pricing. There will be experimentation while the price of a single track remains at 99 cents.

For now, prices will remain at 99cents for the big 2006 hit ‘Bad Day’ by Daniel Powter as well as the 1966 classic ‘The Sound of Silence’ by Simon & Garfunkel. Even MC Hammer. Imagine that happening in any other business!!

Bali with Fred & Family

I love Bali.
Its Beautiful.
Its Clean.
Its not Expensive.
Its not Sleazy (not a place for Mr. Speed!!)
And I had great company.
Party scene was good.
The night clubs had great music - cutting edge dance and techno!!
The girls are pretty.
Simbilaan Simbilaan Simbilaan
Fred and I got Graced
Football with the locals...
I will go there next year with Renu for sure.

Post No.1

Post No.1 is dated 15 May, 2006.
A month past my 29th birthday... am I ready to make aspects of my life and my thoughts an open book?
OK, to start off with. Its been a great year so far. 2 albums from the Boss, and we can expect a full fledged album with the E Street Band folllowed by a world tour this autumn.
But talking about that would mean we take the thunder out of the current Seeger Sessions Tour... Bruce's smallest concerts (in terms of venues and audiences) but with the largest band he has ever travelled with - yes people, 18 band members.
The tour is running through Europe now, wowing audiences. Bruce is taking 200 year old American folkies to europe and winning super sing-alongs from audiences - awesome.
I have decided that I will visit Europe and watch Bruce Live with The E Street Band later this year. Barcelona or London or Milan - 2 of the 3 mentioned are surely in.
For now, its 2 weeks of hell trying to cope with work and impending exams for term 3 of my MBA - something I fear I may be switching off from!!
Layters!!
And to anybody who cares to know, if you give me an inch, I swear I will not take more than that. But if you give me a mile, I will spit all over it!! That goes to Speed.