It seemed like such a great idea and for a while it was, but at some point the pigs started walking on their hind legs. Using Animal Farm as a metaphor for the collapse of PledgeMusic might not be a perfect way to explain what happened for countless reasons, notwithstanding the perfect allegory that the book already is, but there are parallels. That is, if you unfussily consider the farm to be the big bad music biz and the musicians to be the exploited animals. And as many execs might […]
O’ Stockholm
The lakes are frozen, skaters overtake the stumbling walkers. Around the shoreline the arms of the trees are decorated with white wings. To venture off the path surrounding the lake is to wade knee deep in a soft grip that is both warm and cold, sinking into the landscape like a crippled ship. The sky flakes busy themselves around the street-lamps, swarming like blind moths, a million floating unique crystals. Stationery, to contemplate this unprecedented deluge, looking back into the forest, the fairytale beauty is overwhelming perhaps exaggerated by the […]
January Roadtrip
One day in Germany turned into one night in both Luxembourg and the Roman town of Trier. Having left England Wednesday for Cologne, a trip that had us almost miss our plane if it hadn’t been for the quick wits of the inimitable Boy D at the wheel and whilst in the air the snow fell so heavily that we were almost redirected to Munich, finally landing, one of the last to do so before cancellations of take-offs and many stranded passengers. An hour on the runway whilst waiting for […]
Hamburg: Strolling Down The Reeperbahn
We are standing on the Reeperbahn on a day of different weathers that chop and change from minute to minute between sheets of rain and rays of sun, gusts of wind and dark clouds swapping places with bright blue skies. We are on the way from the airbnb to the harbour, looking for breakfast between the sex shops and the tacky souvenir stores, crossing this most renowned strip that has been selling “entertainment” since the rope makers moved outside the city (Reeperbahn = ropewalk). Prostitution is legal in Germany and […]
Berlin, The Brandenburg Gate And Music You Can Sit Down To
Standing below the Brandenburg Gate, quickly stepping aside out of the path of the advancing quadriga, I wondered if the copper horses, chariot and the goddess of victory might trample me to death. Suppressed by the humidity, elbowed by the marauding tourists, shoved by the screaming girls and the groaning groups of men and keeping a good distance from the very scary naked man on the other side of the square, I realize that summer is really here and I have reached Berlin. This is also the site of the […]