tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post7674735923398678433..comments2023-05-16T11:30:02.330+01:00Comments on Radio To Go: Ozzy as Brum Rock Tsar! Nooooooo.....Radio To Gohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03725758182840107219noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post-14380591267135862912013-10-22T08:29:06.532+01:002013-10-22T08:29:06.532+01:00Well put, Robin. Looking back on the history of Br...Well put, Robin. Looking back on the history of Brum Rock is an entirely different game from creating regional music "tsars" for today. For instance, Raymond Froggatt keeps the city and region alive in his songs - unlike Mr O - but it might not be appropriate to ask him either. It's just another example of academics and politicians wanting to rub shoulders with celebrity regardless of the consequences or the level of common sense involved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post-36241872003140235942013-10-16T22:55:46.505+01:002013-10-16T22:55:46.505+01:00Surely new talent and heritage activity are totall...Surely new talent and heritage activity are totally separate enterprises. Perhaps they only become linked if those seeking to advance them are intending to do so from the same funding streams and are in competition. <br />I see the value of both. <br />If presenting and developing new talent is profitable then it is as likely to flourish as a well done heritage project.<br />I also view the Ozzy for Tsar headline's as unhelpful for all the reasons you advance.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post-21287865260937250252013-10-16T20:51:17.786+01:002013-10-16T20:51:17.786+01:00I agree with your points around the worth of a Tsa...I agree with your points around the worth of a Tsar and the value of new talent. <br /><br />When I comes to music heritage though I would happily flog the ground under which a musical horse has fully decomposed if the business model made it worthwhile! <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post-64340787459960110382013-10-16T18:52:16.594+01:002013-10-16T18:52:16.594+01:00Brilliantly written and expressed. Cheers Robin.Brilliantly written and expressed. Cheers Robin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post-18109591012501350982013-10-16T16:58:50.716+01:002013-10-16T16:58:50.716+01:00I saw Nicola Benedetti on the South Bank Show rece...I saw Nicola Benedetti on the South Bank Show recently (which of course is no longer on terrestrial telly, source of another gripe) and she was all into getting music into schools and practical music making, not the poor excuse I see for music lessons (i.e. a CD player operated by someone who is tone deaf, just don't get me onto my soap box about that one).<br />You're right, it's the whole vibe thing not dusting off past glories, it needs to reflect what's happening now and the potential contained within any postcode beginning with the letter B. But, and I'm fairly sure we've had this conversation as well at BMN before now, it's the shortage of right sized venues that needs to be addressed as well and not building bloody apartments next to and closing down existing ones (which the same council has also done - bow your heads in shame councillors, if you were responsible for the demise of the Fiddle & Bone and threatened closure of the Hare & Hounds). I went out for a meal a few weeks ago with the kickboxing girls at what was The Jug of Ale, where Little Red Schoolhouse played many a time. And wasn't it Oasis who played there in the early days with a queue of fans round the block? Now an Indian restaurant. Okay, going off at a tangent now so I'm going to stop. <br />It's the venues, the vibe, the funding, the opportunities, the radio coverage, I fear there's a whole lot more that has to be done before appointing some guy as a music tzar to this city who has long since left the streets of Aston for the tree-lined boulevards of LA.Sue Nichollsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476699817870178740.post-13544525907964451212013-10-16T16:57:56.048+01:002013-10-16T16:57:56.048+01:00In my opinion, we don’t need ambassadors for music...In my opinion, we don’t need ambassadors for music, art or any form of creativity …. If they are civic elected or funding driven. <br />I agree - what are we celebrating and shouting about? Old legends. Do they really need a Tsar to shout about them as they are already household names across the globe – and for the most part, rightly so.<br />I disagree that we are the home of metal, but that’s just the musicologist semantics of the music anorak in me and I think it is lazy labelling that has led to such a claim. The argument that we are the home of Heavy Rock is more apt but even that is flawed…but anyway…<br />So what is it that this mysterious role would shout about? Music trail, heritage? <br />The problem with heritage and tradition is that they are culture in stasis. Birmingham has always been good at supporting creativity retrospectively and bemoaning it’s worth after it has made way for ‘civic’ development opportunities and land grabs, or promoted ‘city living’ with ‘rural living’ noise abatement orders.<br />Birmingham has always been good at innovation in music and the melting pot (to use a cliché) of cultural creative impetus has led to truly original sounds, genres and performances … exported, supported and celebrated around the world in the absence of meaningful support here.<br />Music (GB USP) - sort of had a music tsar role under the last administration in the form of Fergal. What was it he achieved again…?<br />We are not and never have been our own great ‘ambassadors’ so why do we need a figurehead to build it up, only for us to knock it back down? In fact why do we need one at all? In any city?<br />If you want to raise the profile of music in the region (If that is the aim) then stop closing venues, let people busk, relax music performance limiting noise abatement draconian laws…etc and stop trying to justify creativity by a measure of economic impact policy or cultural tourism… in fact just stop! and let it get on with it – especially if it is led by civic local authority or councillors (‘good intentions’ or self promotion is irrelevant)<br />It will lead to the same outcome discussion papers, meetings, mapping, discussion, arguing it’s financial impact, pitting it against manufacturing, agreeing to review it, hiring a consultant who has an industry background by virtue of owning a CD or having received funding to put out a CD, to evaluate the work (Not music) and map the region again and this will, surprise surprise, lead to something that demonstrates the need for more funding for that persons ‘unique’ skills to have a job over a 2 year funded ‘pilot’ and the cycle will begin again.<br />However, I am hopeful of a different approach that will truly support music and will follow none of these predictable repeats – that would be great, the musicians deserves that. In my opinion.Anthony Hughesnoreply@blogger.com