wander thru jasmine wander thru honeysuckle facade of doors that dont lead anywhere cabins on a set with no inside or out i imagine the rain that falls on the graveyard i imagine the sunlight upon merman pools i contain the rain and the sunlight i contain nothing just a furtive imagination the inside of the car is quiet we watch the rain and silently know day my how my arm is handed along shouldering fingered thumb you see my mind took it all apart my soul watches on i stop outside a picture on a theatre a man starts talking like he knew my life i walk the wrong way if i wanna get to the future i should be out there in pergolas across our lovely land a fondue of blonde fondness fusses over me my guitar is a lawnmower my voice is a hammer my tight pants on a letter box my father said steven youre a bit daft i was there for the long hall dad i say but my dad is gone in newtown i walk through an endless weird shop black skulls open up like clams living flowers torturous clawing stem oh my another winged genius rampant and resistant a forest of clothes i fight my way through aisle after isle stuffed faux animals with sad black eyes why invoke this feeling of doom? death intermingled with life i mean c’mon they are opposites arent they i’m not so sure anymore in empty frames i catch glimpses of paintings of god when i look through glass i see trees bending over brooks on a wooden pencil case a scene from a 1950s childrens party oh i jump in that scene and i stay there forever yes thats me on that green lawn thats me […]
lime n limpet green
wander thru jasmine
wander thru honeysuckle
facade of doors that dont lead anywhere
cabins on a set with no inside or out
i imagine the rain that falls on the graveyard
i imagine the sunlight upon merman pools
i contain the rain and the sunlight
i contain nothing just a furtive imagination
the inside of the car is quiet
we watch the rain and silently know day
my how my arm is handed along shouldering fingered thumb
you see my mind took it all apart
my soul watches on
i stop outside a picture on a theatre
a man starts talking like he knew my life
i walk the wrong way if i wanna get to the future
i should be out there in pergolas across our lovely land
a fondue of blonde fondness fusses over me
my guitar is a lawnmower
my voice is a hammer
my tight pants on a letter box
my father said steven youre a bit daft
i was there for the long hall dad i say but my dad is gone
in newtown i walk through an endless weird shop
black skulls open up like clams
living flowers torturous clawing stem
oh my another winged genius rampant and resistant
a forest of clothes i fight my way through aisle after isle
stuffed faux animals with sad black eyes
why invoke this feeling of doom?
death intermingled with life
i mean c’mon
they are opposites arent they
i’m not so sure anymore
in empty frames i catch glimpses of paintings of god
when i look through glass i see trees bending over brooks
on a wooden pencil case a scene from a 1950s childrens party
oh i jump in that scene and i stay there forever
yes thats me on that green lawn thats me waving so “gaily”
we used to say
once upon a time now today i forget when
i buy a five headed elephant and a saraswati grooving with a swan
i put my goddess up on her pedestal
i hang my self on your own petard
i look in amazement at bulletproof jacket and alligator leather
then time is gone
a wave of traffic disgorges me home
stumble out with packages from a wardrobe
i fall through the ceiling in a dream
when we’re approaching true south
afternoon says he’s sad
these shabby grey damp clouds have ruined my sky
and then the blew wind persists like thanatos
a magistrate appears
we take a dim view of this darkness …he begins
why thats preposterous ! screams a voice in my head
gentian violet you come here like a shot arranged in sky and what-not i am master of all i purvey i am a cellar of dream i am merchant of feeling i peddle tricks to ward off catastrophe of minor matter today i have so many todays yesterdays are all taken now too bad we had something you might have liked
a floral doom
gentian violet
you come here like a shot
arranged in sky and what-not
i am master of all i purvey
i am a cellar of dream
i am merchant of feeling
i peddle tricks to ward off catastrophe of minor matter
spring herself is upon the earth persephone in rags down by the shore dolphin rider , fawn of the sea the myriad glimmers in farther eye the hawk and the comet bearing down upon us all groan under prophecy destiny and fate what can the future ever bring but surely death but spring rides a white dear …… in salons by the shore let therefore celebration begin coloured lights bright in night along away down this is our spring to be held unto summer summer waiting in these swan wings summer all azure and at first maybe unsure but spring is everything at least….or so i sing …..
read this following document carefully heres what happens to nearly EVERYONE ive ever known in the biz the whole record company mechanism is prone to this kind of thing we are all being diddled! http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120919jamestaylor
read this following document carefully
heres what happens to nearly EVERYONE ive ever known in the biz
the whole record company mechanism is prone to this kind of thing
i been in the moosic biz for 32 years now and people keep telling me that i dont understand it usually i find the people telling me that are the people who are withholding my dough i have the bizness acumen of a wet sponge i admit it but lemme toss around a few ideas here first of all the music biz is one of the only if not the only bizzes in the world where the guys at the very centre of it are the guys making the least most nights at a gig you can be sure everyone there is earning more than the players i aint talking about pink floyd or brooce springsteen either im talking about the other 98 per cent (incl myself) the first bit o money i ever made was in 1980 when i signed a fifty/fifty publishing deal for 500 bucks the company i signed with are still hanging on to me but in 2015 i will be able to slip out after 35 years of them dipping into me all because of that one stupid day in 1980 when i needed the 500 bucks izzat fair? eventually a manager got it changed to a 75 25 deal ie i get 75 cents of each dollar i make n they get 25 wow thats a lotta money they collected for me over the years and they did alright from their measly advance so long ago at the same-ish time the church signed a deal and we were off making albums that never recouped their cost ie the album cost say 150 grand to make plus a few 100 grand vids so you can never sell enough to get any money thats been pretty standard for almost all albums i have had 4 or […]
i been in the moosic biz for 32 years now
and people keep telling me that i dont understand it
usually i find the people telling me that are the people who are withholding my dough
i have the bizness acumen of a wet sponge
i admit it
but lemme toss around a few ideas here
first of all
the music biz is one of the only if not the only bizzes in the world
where the guys at the very centre of it are the guys making the least
most nights at a gig
you can be sure everyone there is earning more than the players
i aint talking about pink floyd or brooce springsteen either
im talking about the other 98 per cent (incl myself)
the first bit o money i ever made was in 1980 when i signed a fifty/fifty publishing deal
for 500 bucks
the company i signed with are still hanging on to me
but in 2015 i will be able to slip out
after 35 years of them dipping into me
all because of that one stupid day in 1980 when i needed the 500 bucks
izzat fair?
eventually a manager got it changed to a 75 25 deal
ie i get 75 cents of each dollar i make n they get 25
wow thats a lotta money they collected for me over the years
and they did alright from their measly advance so long ago
at the same-ish time the church signed a deal
and we were off making albums that never recouped their cost
ie the album cost say 150 grand to make plus a few 100 grand vids
so you can never sell enough to get any money
thats been pretty standard for almost all albums
i have had 4 or 5 record companies go bust and take all my/our royalties with em too
including carrere in england
stunn in NZ
thirsty ear in america(boy i’d like to catch up with that c**t in a dark alley)
and another mob who bought 20 thousand MATS from me n marty
then distributed em n got the dough n then went bust!
in 1984 i signed a pub deal with my then manager
when we quit with him
he sold the catalog on
and i was acquired and disposed of a few times
in the middle of the nineties a big pub firm did this to me
they sent my money round n round the world
each branch in each country would apply a handling fee
until they whittled a cheque that had been about 10 grand a six month period
down to $250 a six month period
this was perfectly legal
in fact it was a STANDARD PRACTICE until a few years back….
the said manager commissioned us at 20 per cent of the gross
which meant that in 1988 when we were earning around 100, 000 gross a week
he was getting 20, 000 grand a week while the band was on 800 bucks a week
which is still what the church pays itself
800 bucks a week (when we are on the road)
off the road=nothing
(in fairness we do occasionally divvy up small mounts if a tour does well)
so theres some real non -indexation of wages for ya
1988 800 bucks a week, 2012 800 bucks a week
when we left the guy in 1990
he jumped up n down and got even more money out of us
he claimed were unpaid commissions
but he never ever presided over a tour that made money
they all lost money a small fortune (he made while we lost!)
but arista records picked up the loss
and tacked it onto a minus position we could never escape from
i remember ringing up the slimy philistine hopeless manager and saying
“how come you get 20 grand a week n i get 800?’
he said
YOU DONT UNDERSTAND SHOWBIZNESS!
ha ha ha
so i still aint never been paid for any of those albums…only my songwriting royalties
(and then only if i was lucky!)
yeah guys
all those records you bought
very little if any at all came down the line to me
it still isnt
if this happened in any other business there would be an outcry
but we musicians are not very good at anything other than music
now
imagine this scenario if you will
(this is all imaginary from here on in)
some old veteran band eventually bumps into a very generous patron
now the patron doesnt wanna just hand out money to the band
that would be hopeless
but what he wants is for them to finally get some financial relief
some of the members were living below the official poverty line at the time
ie 35,000 grand a year in aust
so a couple of members of imaginary band go looking for a way to do it
they find some much younger guy who is a fan of this imaginary band
hes got a little label going and theyre impressed he aint some evil suit like in the old days
the kind and generous sponsor dips his hand in pocket a provides a “shitload” of money
for younger guy with his little penis..er sorry..i mean label to buy back said imaginary bands catalog
and put it on his honest john label called mom n pop records
wow at last n finally our heroes will get some $!! YAY!!
but guess what?
oh damn i bet you guessed
mr mom n pop still aint paying the old boys
hes a fan yep
he dont wear a suit, nope
but the boys still aint getting nothing
even tho quite a bit is coming in
i bet in this imaginary world and imaginary band too
that you would not expect mr younger mom n pop guy would also take 50 per cent
whoah! no way…i mean that would mean hes earning 3 times more dough
than stevie mainman who is the geeza WHO DREAMED THIS WHOLE FUCKIN TRIP UP!
(in this imaginary example natch)
hes pocketing dough from records
hes pocketing dough from kind imaginary patron
but he aint paying the guys properly (read ;AT ALL!)for records they made 25 years ago
when he was just a little snotty nose kid
jesus…the irony!
stevie mainman does a quick knee jerk calculation n figgers out
AT THIS RATE HE WONT SEE ANY DOUGH UNTIL HES IN HIS EIGHTIES!!!!
boy no wonder the imaginary anger
so he decides to take the law into his own hands
he decides fuck copyright fuck libel and fuck everybody else
its time he finally made some frickin money outta his own music himself
(luckily he had taught himself to sculpt in the meantime or he woulda been broke!!)
this mainman guy realises he has some powerful allies
allies that grew up listening to his sweet music and are not impressed
and allies that maybe are anxious to see things put right at all costs
well mainman got nothing to lose (literally by now)
also hes released a few solo records and sold a few hundred copies
and hes AMAZED to see how much money a few records can make!
and when he thinks of mr mom n pop he gets real real angry n bitter
and confused
he blurts out this
he blurts out that
he leaves his band who are wonderful musicians n friends
but who seem to labouring under some delusion that they know what they are doing
after all
in our imaginary world they got mainmans band hitched to mr mom n pop
who now
as per usual
aint giving our tired old veterans their just desserts after all this time
mr mom n pop seems to be taking from both sides
(or thats how it seems to our hotheaded imaj. hero)
anyway
i hope you enjoyed my theoretical example of how your whole lifes work can go wrong
besides do musicians even need to be paid when they obviously are having such a good time anyway?
who cares if agents, managers, publishers and record company guys are getting all the cream?
(despite the fact they cant sing, write or play a note!!)
alright
well there you go
judge for yerselves!
ps
and watch this
the turtles (who sang on most of marc bolans hits explain the biz….)
an open letter to stephen judge Stephen i do not recant i am furious with your insulting royalty statements i intend to put your royalty statements online for the whole world to see with annotations by an american record biz auditor and as i wrote to you personally if you dont sort this out i have some very interesting new allies who are prepared to help me get to the bottom of this once and for all i am so fucking sick of being ripped off and underpaid you are the final straw that broke this camels back let me make this plain i am leaving the church because of you and also because i am unhappy with the bands internal business attitude but definitely its mainly you and now your ludicrous response so if i dont receive my adequate share of the pie i mean regardless of what you say stephen you made about 30 or 40 grand for that period and we got a hundred dollars each (300 extra for my solo albums) keep denying that if you like but the statements will be here ,on facebook and anywhere else very soon IF YOU DONT DECIDE TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND PASS SOME OF THE MONEY YOU COLLECTED ON TO THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS MUSIC! 20 or 30 years ago when you were just a little kid we made these records! and i still aint never been sorted out properly stephen, im as mad as hell and i aint gonna take it! re; sydney morning herald i was flustered i was trying to ameliorate a bad situation i shouldnt have backtracked i will not again i will not back down i am going to have satisfaction or my day in court steve kilbey, in canberra […]
an open letter to stephen judge
Stephen
i do not recant
i am furious with your insulting royalty statements
i intend to put your royalty statements online for the whole world to see
with annotations by an american record biz auditor
and as i wrote to you personally
if you dont sort this out i have some very interesting new allies
who are prepared to help me get to the bottom of this once and for all
i am so fucking sick of being ripped off and underpaid
you are the final straw that broke this camels back
let me make this plain
i am leaving the church because of you
and also because i am unhappy with the bands internal business attitude
but definitely its mainly you and now your ludicrous response
so if i dont receive my adequate share of the pie
i mean regardless of what you say stephen
you made about 30 or 40 grand for that period
and we got a hundred dollars each
(300 extra for my solo albums)
keep denying that if you like but the statements will be here ,on facebook and anywhere else very soon
IF YOU DONT DECIDE TO DO THE RIGHT THING
AND PASS SOME OF THE MONEY YOU COLLECTED ON TO THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS MUSIC!
20 or 30 years ago when you were just a little kid
we made these records!
and i still aint never been sorted out properly
stephen, im as mad as hell and i aint gonna take it!
re; sydney morning herald
i was flustered
i was trying to ameliorate a bad situation
i shouldnt have backtracked
i will not again
i will not back down
i am going to have satisfaction or my day in court
i had a great exhibition thank you sam thank you rajini and scott at futura thank you always to my art steering committee which is holly, eek and kiabgoa ok whats next…? still on the agenda in various states of completion are jack frost dvd church 1990 tour dvd compleat lyric book an album in the works with hu dost… a new kilbey/kennedy record called YOU ARE EVERYTHING boy this is our best believe me our best so far martin kennedy has the market cornered on this kinda thing i think you guys gonna enjoy this record i am very very happy with how this is turning out i can only imagine how good it will be when simon polinski has done his thing…. i have rediscovered the painkiller 2 tapes and i am working on them i guess i’ll stick vocals n stuff on it and edit it down a bit its pretty psychedelic ….. i will be appearing in melbourne 13 october talking about gods myths n my music this will also feature a guest appearance by martin kennedy i will playing in canberra solo this friday night dunno what my set will be….gonna have to dust off my 12 string n figger it out anyway thatll keep ya going for a while i hope love sk
time does not standstill
i had a great exhibition
thank you sam
thank you rajini and scott at futura
thank you always to my art steering committee which is holly, eek and kiabgoa
ok whats next…?
still on the agenda
in various states of completion are
jack frost dvd
church 1990 tour dvd
compleat lyric book
an album in the works with hu dost…
a new kilbey/kennedy record called YOU ARE EVERYTHING
boy this is our best believe me our best so far
martin kennedy has the market cornered on this kinda thing
i think you guys gonna enjoy this record
i am very very happy with how this is turning out
i can only imagine how good it will be when simon polinski has done his thing….
i have rediscovered the painkiller 2 tapes and i am working on them
i guess i’ll stick vocals n stuff on it and edit it down a bit
its pretty psychedelic …..
i will be appearing in melbourne 13 october talking about gods myths n my music
this will also feature a guest appearance by martin kennedy
i will playing in canberra solo this friday night
dunno what my set will be….gonna have to dust off my 12 string n figger it out
Art Rock’n’Roll – the church will play two very unique side shows in conjunction with but separate to the Simple Minds/Devo tour of Australia and New Zealand in November/December. More details to follow but the shows are on sale from Monday 1st October 2012 at Corner Hotel in Melbourne on Wednesday 28th November (online) and Sydney Factory Theatre Thursday December 6th (by phone 02 9550 3666 between 9am and 5pm). Visit our calendar for venue information Tickets $45 plus booking fee. Supports TBA Time 8pm
Art Rock’n’Roll – the church will play two very unique side shows in conjunction with but separate to the Simple Minds/Devo tour of Australia and New Zealand in November/December.
More details to follow but the shows are on sale from Monday 1st October 2012 at Corner Hotel in Melbourne on Wednesday 28th November (online) and Sydney Factory Theatre Thursday December 6th (by phone 02 9550 3666 between 9am and 5pm). Visit our calendar for venue information
