To end corruption in high places, don’t try to end corruption, end high places
– from Matthew Edgar’s blog, source unknown
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February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
 After a long night of theatre and very loud music I needed something before heading back to the flat. What else but a New York Subway sandwich with Jalapeno’s… yep. In Belfast. But don’t worry. When I was working in Manhattan I drank Guinness before going out for a Subway. Just like I do here. Fair’s fair. February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Yes, you can find some really great electric blues here. Not to sound like an agent for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board or anything… although a women friend of mine does work there. Rab McCullough’s band is simply on a level with the best you will find anywhere. He can compete with the best in the USA, and in fact has. He took 3rd in an international blues competition in Memphis a couple years ago. I stopped in to their gig at the Empire after the play since I’d not seen Rab in a couple months, and I’d just gotten an SMS message from a mutual former bass player of ours. Which is not at all to put myself in the same league as the unnamed bass player… This is not a huge city, nor is Northern Ireland altogether very large. But the place has more talent per square meter than any place I’ve ever been. And that includes Manhattan. I’ve lived in the Village too, and I agree there are more fine acts there than in Belfast. But then, there are 10,000,000 people in New York City… and 500,000 in Belfast. We’ve got you on per capita talent, no ifs ands or buts about it. February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
I have to add some comments on the play I was talking about, things that are simply “so Belfast”. The play was held in Culturlann, a lovely venue in the very heart of Republican West Belfast. You can buy books down stairs on the history of the IRA. John is a actor born on the Protestant side of town with certain preferences common to actors. He wrote a play about a British born actor who settled in Ireland and was closely related to the various figures of the Irish revolution. If you don’t understand how this all fits together, I am not surprised. You have to live and take part in Belfast for many, many years before you can hope to understand it. This is why I am usually smirking into my beer along with my native born friends when Americans come over and explain us to us. Belfast is comprehensible. You just have to keep your mouth shut and listen for awhile… something that all too many people find impossible to do. February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
One of the perks of the arts community is that you get invited to things without having to pay. Arts people take care of their friends because like themselves, their friends are always broke. Tonight I went to the night after opening night of a one man show by John Keyes, a marvelous actor. One of the top actors in Ireland actually. It was a very small crowd in a small venue… this is the trial run, the warmup before he takes it to London. John is the agent for a close friend of mine, and although I knew he was a top actor, I only knew him in a social environment and had not actually seen him doing his professional thing. I was awed. He wrote the play and performed the two acts. Solo. One man show. He didn’t need anyone else. From the first word to the last I was rivited. Well, almost. To digress… I used to do a great deal of theatre myself. Mostly tech, although I used to do work in musicals. I knew I was a mediocre actor. I pushed choreographers to new levels as they strove to find moves for three left feet… I got the parts because I could belt, pure and simple. Nonetheless, I decided that I was better off doing tech… and then someone talked me into producing a play. It’s that demon rum, something like that. Devil made me do it and it was a bad idea. I can only say that I did *not* commit homicide upon the director; I even went so far as to stop the cast from stringing him up from House One… and I never did theatre again. I was already losing pleasure in theatre because instead of watching the show, I saw the detail. I’d note the light cues, catch the flaws in the fields, nod my head at the use of a particular fresnel… in other words, the magic was gone. So to come back to our story… I was watching John in the midst of a brilliant monologue and caught myself analyzing the reflections of the straw gelled PAR reflecting off the grand piano strategically placed as a distant backdrop behind him… and caught myself before it was too late. That was my only slip of the night. I won’t give you a lot of detail, but the show is about Michael Mac Liammoir, originally from London, who was a founder of the Irish theatrical tradition. A man whose passport was signed by De Valera himself. The monologues and acting are brilliant. When John hits London, look for it. February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
I’ve read the posts on the recent EU regulation that nowhere in Europe should a workplace exceed 83db and did not think a great deal about it until tonight when I was standing up near the stage at an electric blues gig. There is a section of the bar near the speakers that is “musician country”. Everyone there is either a head or part of the family. It struck me somewhere arount the 3rd or 4th pint that the decibal level where I was standing was a bit beyond 83. Well, let’s face it. it passed 83 when the first chord was struck and went up from there. For myself, I’d hardly noticed it. If I’m due for hearing loss, the damage was done and finished with over 20 years ago standing in front of a speaker stack with my Hagstrom III cranked up to eleven. 83db? Is for wimps! Which got me thinking. Where is the EU going to find someone with the pure balls to walk up to a rock band and tell them they are playing too loud for EU law? Thinking back to my own self in a younger and wilder format, I know exactly what would happen. I’d have stopped playing long enough to beat the crap out of him. Jail? Who cares? For most young musicians trying to make it jail would be warmer, cleaner and have better food that they can afford. Artists live on the fringe. Many bloggers comment on artists who have “made it” and that they are socialist. That might be true when they’ve got the gig with real dosh… but for most artists politics is just words. The enemy is whoever threatens your art. Would you like to imagine what songs will be written if the EU starts trying to shut down punk rock bands? And can you imagine what the regulation enforcers will look like walking out of a gig with a drum stick rammed up their arse? February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Although I make my living (sometimes and poorly) doing internet infrastructure, my true home is in the art’s scene. It may be hard for those who have not live the life of the artist to understand the world of the actor, the musician, the fine artist… but no matter how long or how well I program machines, that is my true home. The entry into the arts world is not an easy one, and not one for those who are weak of heart or who do not truly love their art for its’ own sake. I’ve paid my dues over decades and it lets me move freely in the arts world, and most particularly in that global brotherhood of musicians. There is an assurance in knowing you could be dropped anywhere in the world and inside of an evening get yourself sorted for a place to crash and pointers to where the craic is. I’ve been out on such a night and have decided I should compose several short stories rather than write one long and disjointed article. Due to the format, you are reading the introduction last… so just pretend you started here. February 15th, 2002 | Comments are closed
As Sandline International proved in Sierra Leon once when they dramatically improved the security situation before their good work was largely undone by the amoral drones in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, private military organisations can be a valuable and stabilizing factor in many parts of the world. It is interesting that there are progressive elements in the British government who see this. Not surprisingly many socialist Labour MPs are horrified at the thought of non-state owned military formations even existing, as if somehow only being a state makes the use of force moral. Yet if the 20th century showed anything, it is that nations are far more likely to use force to murder their own citizens than to fight foreign wars. Third world armies in particular are notorious for endemic human rights abuses and rather than protecting the societies that fund them, in fact pose the primary threat to them. Highly professional modern mercenary outfits could give many small nations the best of both worlds: first world capabilities without third world problems. Also the hiring nation is not forced into being a neo-colonial supplicant that results from accepting British, American or (particularly) French military ‘assistance’. Similarly for countries like Britain or the US to contract out certain military operations is not just a return to practices that were common in the 19th century but give more ‘casualty sensitive’ nations like the US a good way to bring stability without making worthy objectives hostage to opportunist politicians looking to boost their exposure with every returning flag draped coffin. Companies like Sandline and Executive Outcomes are almost certainly the face of low intensity warfare in the future regardless of short term opposition because they make such eminent sense.  February 14th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Over on the Von Mises Institute site, there is a
Read the whole review. Highly recommended. February 14th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Let me commend to you an admirable article by Dinesh D’Souza in the U.S. technology and investment publication Red Herring, on how technology helped abolish slavery and emancipate women, called Technology and Moral Progress:
D’Souza makes many valid points and Red Herring is well worth a regular read for those interested in what is going on in tech but who don’t want frivolity. The link to their site can be found in the sidebar. February 14th, 2002 | Comments are closed
 February 14th, 2002 | Comments are closed
As there was quite a lot of interest last time I showed one of these, here is the latest one.  This is a snapshot of where Samizdata visitors came. Also in the last 72 hours we have had e-mails from Brazil, USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Israel and Australia. February 14th, 2002 | Comments are closed
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