Blast Orders Please
- 28 Jun 07, 08:34 AM
The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Blast project has returned to Belfast and is currently sprawling, like a giant bug colony, across Custom House Square. Last year I worked on the Derry event and now I¡¯m taking a course in music journalism. It¡¯s not an occupation that leads itself easily to a teaching format, but I¡¯ll do what I can.
When I worked at NME, we had to de-programme the college kids with their journalist certificates. The academies had turned them into terrible squares. Our job was cultivate in them a sense of adventure, a bit of posturing, a hint of anarchy and the ability to type ¡°cathedrals of sound¡± without blushing.
I took great delight in watching the Cameron Crowe yarn, ¡®Almost Famous¡¯ a few years ago. While it didn¡¯t exactly fit with my experiences, I could remember many of the same moments. How a greenhorn kid from the sticks could hitch a ride on the rock and rollercoaster, with all the perks. How people could suddenly take your opinions seriously. And how you would strike up unusual friendships with famous figures ¨C relationships that were often founded on mutual self-interest. That said, I¡¯ve emerged from that caper with some very solid friends.
I always tell people that music journalism is badly paid and terribly fickle. But it¡¯s also tremendous fun, and if you¡¯re that way inclined, you really should give it a try. It really could be your type.
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Erm... did I see you blush around about the middle of typing that blog? I imagine that I did.
But S.B. remains silent: lost in reverie ¨C prancing and posturing anarchically along the castellated ramparts of mock-opera, spangly golden cloak entwined with Rick Wakeman's in a mutually self-interested yet reverently worshipful fashion. Ah, thems wos the days, my friend: when pop was tastic, bags were loons and organs were Hammond. Nice. ;p
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