If you're in a struggling band maybe your biggest challenge is finding a place that'll let you play a gig live. So how would you feel if the place where you live has heaps of venues, but it's only the dreaded cover bands that can get a gig? Well there is such a place in Australia ... it's Darwin ... a town with heaps of tourists looking for some music, but not much original stuff on offer. This story was first broadcast on triple j on 05/09/2006
MP3 download (via hack podcast)
Note, I haven't listened to this yet...
And not getting gigs isn't why I don't like cover bands. My band never had a lot of trouble getting gigs (Melbourne has a heap of venues willing to give you a Wednesday night even if you're terrible). Organising them is hard, but getting them is easy. And I disliked coverbands well before I was in a band.
Why wait until someone is dying to learn about their life? How horrible.
My point being, no-one cares until it's too late.
The outpouring of love for Steve Irwin has been enormous, and yet a Sydney Morning Herald blog reminds us that only two years ago we "all", according to the media, hated him, for holding his baby during a croc show. They compared him to Michael Jackson.
But now that he is gone, all is forgiven. The media forget the bad and remember only the good.
This is as it should be, but...
Must we always wait until death to forgive, forget and tell people how much we love them and appreciate the things they've done for us?
Good news isn't a story until it can't be repeated.
You are given a choice:
The first option is fairly easy but hard to do well. If you're good enough you'll make money. You'll help people by saving them money.
The second option is almost impossible, and even if possible, takes a very long time with no hugs. But if you cure AIDS you'll be a hero. Maybe.
If you choose option one, you are a cover band.