MORE PREVARICATING AND MAYBE SOME MARCELO RADULOVICH

Current mood: YOU KNOW...
Category: YOU KNOW... Music

I'm trying...

Yes, I'm trying hard to return to my former work ethic of hard nosed reviewing, musical cock sucking and cynical slandering, but i think i'm undergoing my first job crisis point just now..

You know how it is: You get a new job and for the first few weeks you're overwhelemed by it: "FUCK!!" you think as you open a new box of paperclips "I love my job! It's SOOOO interesting and there's people here! And occasionally we talk!! And have you seen Jane/John at the water cooler. God s/he's hot!!" etc

Then, you go through a spell (usually (for me at least), between months 1 and 3) where you realise that despite all the promise and the apparent marvellousness it's just another friggin job! The paperclips are just normal paperclips and Jane/John is in fact a good deal rougher in every conceivable way than you're eyes had first thought...

And you have to get on with it and fake a smile, or leave and go back to your ten joints a day or your £2 bottles of wine and 12 hours of televised sport..

Well, my main problem with jobs has always been that I can't apply myself very well when this initial sheen goes and i end up back at home with the hangovers 'And you go out on your own and you leave on your own and cry and you lie and you want to die' (sic).

Yes. The longest I've had a job is 4 years and that was working on my nuclear book and i haven't even got paid for that fucker yet. Meanwhile, the longest normal paid job I've held is a miserly 6 months (to the exact day - one has to be symetrical if at all possible)

Basically, when push comes to shove in these situations, I fall over...

Anyway. I loved this music writing job to start with. People send you free Cds and you jump the queue to get into gigs, and women/men look at you as if you've suddenly grown a hotel called the 'Desirable Night' on the side of your face and everything is easy peasey...

Now, a few months on, I'm still enjoying all these things, but I'm starting to worry about my grubby little soul again. I worry about my soul far too much - it's what comes of a religious upbringing.

You see, I'm now having to bullshit on a regular basis or loose my jobs and more and more often i'm choosing to loose my jobs and therein lies the problem...

For example: I've just turned down a recommendation for a music PR job working for Shirley Bassey and Marillion.

Now, the idea sounded wonderful, but I've watched these PR people up close on more than one occasion and i haven't much liked what I've seen.

Sure, on the outside PR types are nearly always beautiful and wonderful people. In fact I became briefly obsessed with this tall and slim black haired PR girl when I was watching Mika perform for the Culture Show. I was following her around the room like she was Bill Drummond and Gandhi in one and I was imagining going to Elton Johns birthday party with her on my arm and it was a beautiful, beautiful fantasy...

But when you touch base, you know she's gonna hate her job and the smile is fake and she's got the makings of a good coke habbit and then she'll leave you for the drummer of The Fratellis and you'll get a coke habbit to try and impress her back and then you'll start flirting with the bass player of The Fratelli's etc etc...

Well shit I might never have got this particular job, but whereas I wouldn't mind saying or doing whatever Shirl tells me too do (with bells on), Marillion would be a different matter..I've heard their album and it's not good, but the PR people have to say

"Please don't pre-judge Marillion before giving this album a fair listen. I can honestly assure you that there are some seriously great tracks on it, such as 'See It Like A Baby', 'Faith' and 'The Last Century For Man"

No shit! This is cut straight from the press release and I did what it said and listened with open ears, but the album and these songs are about as far away from great as pigs are from goldfish...

Shit, I can't be a PR man and this is essentially what the job of a music writer is in this guff and spin infested time. PR is a mugs game, no matter how you look at it...


One other wierd thing I've noticed about doing music writing is that people are now seeing me differently to how they were before i started.

As I've pointed out on my profile, I'm doing this for 2 years and 3 days to get a little verve and confidence back on my writing after bashing my head against the wall with the forementioned nuclear book. I am definately not and don't ever want to be a critic or a music writer forever and when my internship's up, I'm going to go back to creating and recreating myself and to hell with the consequences...

But for now and for obvious reasons, music 'creative' business decision people are seeing me as one of them! And some bands and artists are seeing me as one of the evil fuckers who makes or breaks their dreams and I couldn't give a fuck for that sort of role quite frankly..

I'm not naive and my xperience up to now means I know all too well how this creative business model works and it's ugly: I took 150+ rejection slips /letters /phonecalls /emails and I know it's all a part of the game and it will always be that way no matter how much Alan 'CHE GUEVARA CHUCK D' McGee trumpets the many 'radical changes' of myspazz - I also know which side of the fence is greener...

Anyway....I'll stop rabbiting and rambling on about my soul and it's discontents for now and try and force myself into a good days work for a good days no pay..

Don't fret Marcelo, your review is gonna be happpening and I'm gonna write beautiful things about your bass booty music and your consumate musical skill. And Horton, I've chased the Frink people up, they've taken their hands off their ears and 'the stars' review will be up shortly on frinkmsuic.com and the single review on CD times...

RARARARARARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Currently listening : The Sunlandic Twins By Of Montreal Release date: By 12 April, 2005

10:05 - 10 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Bubbles	Great blog PG. Likewise, I have very rarely stayed in any position for more than a year or two in my trade, it's all so fucking monotonous. I have a general dislike for people anyway and seeing the same fuckers over and over and over again really does my head in. I wish I could see their good points instead of ther bad. Tossers I'm based outside an office and I'm dealing with clients on a daily basis and yearn to tell them all to get fucked and shut the fuck up moaning. I think an arse licking PR job is about as good for you as it is for me, especially fucking Bassey and Marillion!!! Posted by Bubbles on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 14:05 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Giovanni	Well thanks very much.. I have all sorts of problems with people, that I won't bore you with them here and now.. Incidentally, after writing this I'm thinking that if i'm gonna be a proper music whore and make money I should just get the most whorish job i can and stop all this whinging. Shit, if i want anykind of credability i should go write intelligent poems about love in Venice, not write about other peoples music.... Posted by Paul Giovanni on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 14:31 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	John David	"or leave and go back to your ten joints a day or your £2 bottles of wine and 12 hours of televised sport.." paul, that was an awesome blog post! actually, this doesn't sound so bad. like yourself, i welcome that sort of lifestyle over a regular job. i just spent nearly 8 years of my life working for big business money here in america at the expense of doing other more artistic ventures. by year 3, i was for all practical matter comatose & didn't feel much like myself anymore. how i managed to wade through 8 years without turning into a homicidal maniac is beyond comprehension. but after a few years of good earnings and 60 hours per week of office-space blues, i am happily freelance & working less for less. my quality of life has dramatically improved! i finally have time to work on writing, and I find my outlook improving after that first joint of the day...the earlier the better!! by noontime, on most days my biggest obstacle is the choice between vodka, cachaca or whiskey... i am emotionally & phsyically back into my happy spot. it's been such a long time... i must admit that i sometimes miss the daily interaction with hot office worker bees. there's a crude sexuality happening between all those skirts, ties & formal business card exchanges. but the only thing that really got me off was the size of my paycheck when compared to what i would have earned at the fast-food joint. well paul, i hope you can keep it all together without being subjugated back into the corporationist life. it's such a dreary world, full of sadness and forlorn faces who only brighten with the thought of happy hour & the occasional 3 day weekends... Posted by John David on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 15:31 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Giovanni	Thanks very much... The thing that always gets me is the repetition...It comes down to details like having to change my route in to work and then having to have a different lunch everyday and when those things aren't helping I hand in my notice or I'll just walk out one day on a whim and get myself a bad name...I'm so easily bored it's embarassing I had a spell watching Sky Sports for 12 hours + a day and it was great. My girlfriend hated me for it, but i informed her I was working on developing my strategic abilities and have since made a bit of money on the back of my sporting knowledge... I wasn't joking about the startegy either. I find i have to watch or listen to either cycling football or cricket for a few hours a day or else the level of my life game drops badly....Today it's Australia Vs New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup... I've done some sports writing that's viewable here if you're interested in that sort of shit anyway...I'll be moving onto it full time when the music writing burns my ass too much... Posted by Paul Giovanni on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 15:54 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Elizabeth	mes avis: - paperclips are not what they seem, and i have only ever used them for the purposes of removing dirt from my fingernails, or constructing KILL-THE-BOSS weaponry. - variation adds more spice to life than green chillies do to an ulster fry-up - "public relations" generally equals 100% twat so you're doing good. don't lose the spirit. Posted by Elizabeth on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 19:58 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Giovanni	Yes...Variety is the spice of life and I have no desire to live mine any other way. PR is essentially professional lying and though I'm a good lier, I'm not quite in the pro category... I'm doing OK, but sometimes i'd prefer it if my soul shut the fuck up... Posted by Paul Giovanni on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 23:41 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Marcelo Radulovich	Ah, jobs, the office... going to a place to work in a team with total strangers, I remember those days. Somehow I've managed to stay away from corporate work for the past 5 years or so, the result has been feast or famine, but, a lovely thing to work at home nonetheless, get to set my own hours, which is always good. No worries about the reviews my friend, they'll come when they come. Cheers Marcelo Posted by Marcelo Radulovich on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 01:36 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Giovanni	You see?? This is why this man produces such good music!...He's been out of the office for 5 years and he understands waiting...The review will be done and it'll be all the better for the wait and the timing...:+) Posted by Paul Giovanni on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 02:10 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	they came from the stars, i saw them	you could p.r. for us if you want. on the plus side....well, there are always hot girls in the front row of our gigs.... on the down side you'll be talking mainly to yourself, and there's no money until we get some, so you could be waiting quite a while. still, sure beats working - i haven't done any particularly 'proper' job for around 10 years, and i've got to say that apart from the miserable depression caused by having nothing better to do than stalk ex-grilfriends on myspace and google "stars, unstoppable kite, review" ("there are currently 3 matches for your search, and one you don't even want to read") not working pisses all over sucking satan's cock day in day out. Bosses are all shit bastards. full stop. Posted by they came from the stars, i saw them on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 12:59 [Remove] [Reply to this]

Paul Giovanni

I'd love to and am PRing for you and my efforts are set to increase - the hot girls are irreleveant.. I'm used to talking to myself, and money and me don't get on, so I'm used to waiting.. The stars are most certainly a product of a hell of a lot of work and so am I....I love the right sort of work... The only reasonable use of the internet is for stalking ex girlfriends - That and wasting time when we should be working on our masterpieces... xxxxxxxxx Posted by Paul Giovanni on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 22:23 [Remove] [Reply to this]