Daniel's blog

Declan de Barra Tuesday 19.00

2008-04-28 21:28:37

Indie Kids wear the Star of David but can´t spell Democracy

2008-04-06 11:49:00

Thanks to Jan for getting the Fugazi qoute. The implicit "tomorrow" qoute was from Shakespeare´s Macbeth btw. Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28. Now THAT is art, kids.
Anyhoo... even though Play/Rec bands keep breaking ground in Europe, not everything is all fine and dandy all of the time.

Today´s quiz is a serious one: Tipper Gore, Taliban and AntiDeutsche Bewegung. What topic could possible tie the wife of former U.S. President (well, the elected president at least) Al Gore, the fundamentalist Afghani cavemen, and the bizarre "leftist" German group AntiDeutsche Bewegung? The answer is simple. They share a common love for ...?

Clue: Support Freemuse in their fight for reason in this world.

I´m eh... back

2008-03-25 22:47:48

My last entry was three months ago, so I won´t even try to recap. Get your ass to Apparatet tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow... My bad. I meant to say tomorrow and thursday (but you´ll get bonus points in the quiz if you got the qoute - not exactly modern, and not exactly music, but give it a try)...Anywho, I´ll see you at Apparatet at those Lack and Little Jimmy Reeves shows. There FREE so no lame excuses.

Today´s quiz: Your etiquette / Your rules of interaction / what are you waiting for? [...to the fourth verse. my favourite]: This one wants the art / this one wants the politic / everybody wants their own damn station ...

Band, Title, Track, Label?

"Work, the most important thing is work"

2007-12-10 00:33:00

"Work, all that matters is Work" - Quote of the day. Story of my life these days.

I´m thinking of starting a competition. I was thinking, if you can guess today´s quote, I´ll buy you a beer at Play/Rec´s annual Christmas Party, or throw in a free ticket maybe. Which rock star/poet credited the abovementioned credo to which artist? But then Google makes quizzes like this all too easy... Well, I suppose it´s a way of testing to see if I have an audience.

Anyway, I´m working full time at my day job for the time being, due to different circumstances, and there are a lot of balls in the air at the Play/Rec office at the moment. I´ve got no private life. Hell, I was working at the library Saturday and the Play/Rec office Sunday. I need a weekend.

The Beta Satan / Lack split release is stirring up a lot of attention. There´s a new Barra Head single, not to mention all the hard work going in to preparing the launch of their album. On top of that, there´s "A Play/Rec Kind of Christmas" coming up. Put together it sometimes feels more like work than fun. But when I begin to feel sorry for myself, that´s when I think twice. The releases that we´re working on now - by Beta Satan, Barra Head and Lack - are by far the best releases I´ve ever worked on. Listening to them I´m reminded of the reason we started this thing called Play/Rec to begin with. This music is so powerful and important that the world needs to listen. It´s my job to make it listen.
Does that seem quasi-religious to you. Well, as I said, this is powerful stuff. And I need to drink less coffeine, I guess. Goodnight.

Election Time

2007-11-11 11:48:00

Finished writing the new Beta Satan and Lack bios + a onesheet for radio hosts and reviewers today. Send-outs should be tomorrow but I don´t have the time. I´m going to a meeting at the Main Library monday. They´ve offerede me a new job in their PR department. I´ll be doing what I already do for Play/Rec (only the City´s salaries are better). That is: Writing press stuff, updating their website (http://www.bibliotek.kk.dk) and setting up - if not exactly gigs - readings and seminars with writers. I´m looking forward to this but my mind is also on other things.

In two days my son turns two years old. I hope we can celebrate his Birthday along with one other thing: A new government. My hopes for that second wish are low though. Polls and statistics all point to "Four more Years". I´m depressed by the mere thought of such a disastrous outcome.

Here´s an argument I try to pitch to as many people as I can: Politics are politics. You can agree or disagree on them. I strongly disagree on almost every topic with the current government. I think their ideas regarding immigration and integration stink. I believe they´re deliberately destroying the public social security & health systems by consequently worsening the working conditions for the people who work in public service, because of an ideology that puts private business over public life anytime. Speaking of public service - what the fuck is going on with Danmarks Radio? In short, I think their policies on enviroment, transportation, law enforcement, public health care, social security and immigration/integration STINK. But, as I said, that´s all politics. You can agree or disagree. What you CANNOT under ANY circumstances forget or forgive is the FACT that our prime minister LIED to the public to get our little country involved in the insane band of comrades known as "the coalition of the willing". I know politicians excagerate, circumvent the truth...well: Lie. Even the ones on my side. That´s what they do and we expect them to do so. But LYING on something so huge as the reasons to invade another country. That´s unforgivable in my book. Go vote, for fuck´s sake!

And then go listen to some great music. There´s plenty out there.

Here´s today´s quote: "Did you see Bush on TV, trying to debate? Jesus, he talked like a donkey with no brains at all...It was pitiful...I almost felt sorry for him, until I heard someone call him ´Mr. President,´ and then I felt ashamed." - Hunter S. Thompson

Last week - work, music and agony

2007-10-30 11:32:00

Last week was crazy. Two gigs and the announcing of our Beta Satan / Lack 7". Plus the day to day stuff we´re dealing with at the moment. Working out promo strategies and distribution for the upcoming Barra Head and Lack albums. On top of that I broke my finger. Or so I thought at one point. The index finger on my left hand - I´m left-handed - swelled to twice it´s size and was just hanging there completely useless for 3-4 days. Turned out it was a severe concussion. I still have no idea how or when I hurt it.

Although I organised the gig I didn´t see the Gravy + IIHH show Saturday. Family obligations. Big Birthday in Aarhus. But from what I hear people had a nice time. Actually none of the "inner circle" Play/Rec people were able to attend. So people had to step up to the plate, and they did, luckily. I did see the show wednesday though and it reminded me why we keep doing what we´re doing. It´s not the economy, stupid ;-)

In fact it turns out the city council turned my funding application down. So we´re coming out with a big loss. Well, fuck them too. Daniel Higgs was awesome. I like all kinds of different music but there is just something awe-inspiring about how one man with a simple instrument - a friggin´ banjo in this case -and the power of his voice can mesmerize a room full of people.

Daniel Higgs and his driver spent the night on my floor. I love putting bands up in my flat. You get the most fantastic talks and experiences this way. Over the years I´ve spend some great times sharing thoughts on music, life - and everything in between - with various visiting artists. Sometimes it´s chaos. Like the time Saturday Looks Good To Me and Speedmarket Avenue were visiting. 15 people all in all that we had to put in only two flats. We dumped the people who really wanted to sleep at my friend Jan´s place and the rest of them came to my place to party. Unfortunately that was the majority, so my living room was pretty packed. The good thing is noone cares about matresses if they´re drunk. That´s about two years ago now. Actually my girlfriend claims that night to be the date of conception of our son. Rock mythology, my friends. It´s hard to beat and I have no prove against it.

Back to Higgs. I wanted to ask him a thousand questions but I was in my role as the polite host and he needed the sleep. My friend Thomas who helped out at the venue had a long conversation with him about life, art, religion and stuff, though. Thomas is a painter and he´s actually started making a portrait of Higgs. You should check it out.

Today´s qoute: Higgs´ lyrics are all too long for me to put them out here but let me give you a last lines from the song Creation Story taken from the Lungfish album Rainbows From Atoms, Dischord78v, 1993:

It was music that gave the shove / and resolved in music / we shall breathe / it was children /that crafted a parent / and resolved in children / we shall live.

An Introduction

2007-10-16 23:17:13

I have no idea how people find the time to read let alone write these things...

Being a former student of Literature I recommend Borges, Bukowski or even Blixen over blogs any day. But now that we´re here let´s give it a try.I presume if you got this far you´re really interested in Play/Rec... and li´l me. So I´ll tell you a little bit about myself and then I´ll hit you with a commercial.

I´m 31 years old and live with my girlfriend and our incredible little son who is almost two years now in Nørrebro, Copenhagen. That´s as standard as it gets for Play/Rec people these days. I´ve got a BA in Literature and at the moment I´m getting ready to write my final thesis making me a candidate (post grad) in Modern Culture & Communication in six months or so. Emphasis on ´or so´.
I´m paying the rent with the little money I earn from my part-time job as a custodian/guard at the City´s Main Library. What I´m really spending my time on though is Play/Rec. My main focus is PR.

That is, I do or oversee bios, press releases, one sheets, our newsletter and a bunch of other stuff.
I´m also - with Mikkel being away on paternity leave - the main booker and promoter behind Club Play/Rec . Get ready, here come the commercials:

I´m currently busy preparing the launch of a yet-to-be-named hush-hush-ultra-secret release (I´ll give you a vague hint ) and sorting the last details for the upcoming Club Play/Rec gigs. DON´T MISS ´EM!

OK. That got us started. "You´ll be hearing from me, baby. From the Tower of Song".