The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 04:48 PM PDT

AUG 6 — I turned 34 about two weeks back. It's okay, it doesn't sound that scary or old to me, or so I tell myself. Every birthday, I look around at the people I know and those I used to know, and then look at myself to see how I stack up compared to them. Getting old(er) sometimes does that to you. So it's definitely a good thing that the things I do to make a living (and for fun) are almost strictly things that young people do. Playing music and shows, going to gigs, going to the cinema and film club screenings, writing about and trying to discover exciting new Malaysian acts, these are things that keep me connected to the cool and young Malaysia. Everyone loves to joke about how young they look, so I guess I owe all those "you don't look 34 at all" remarks to the fact that I fraternize with the young a lot, so people automatically assume that I'm also young. Or, maybe I do look a bit young for my age. Being one of the older guys in the scene, naturally people from other bands will be asking me questions about all sorts of things. But as I and my band get older and older every year (my band is turning sweet 16 later this year), the one recurring question is, "How do you do it?"

How do we, after 16 years of still being at best only a band with its own little cult following, never attaining that mainstream breakthrough that is the dream of most bands, find the strength to keep on doing what we do with smiles on our faces and without even a hint of frustration?

And of course, how do we do all this without a manager, with me basically taking on those duties for the band? Believe it or not, even indie bands nowadays have managers to take care of the business side of things, mainly so that the bands themselves can fully concentrate on what they do best, which is making music. I still don't know how to answer these questions as what I've been doing all these years is to just basically follow what my gut tells me to, which naturally means that I simply don't take things too seriously.

What I do is I face things one at a time, and evaluate how best to deal with things when I encounter them. Quite frankly, there's not been much predetermined planning on my part with regards to the business aspects of the band. I try to keep it as economically simple as possible – spend as little as we can so that we'll have a better shot at not losing money when it comes to our albums and recordings. The less risk of losing money there is, the easier it is for us to loosen up and enjoy the things that truly matter — trying out new songs, playing around in the studio recording them, and rocking out at shows — basically the music itself. The only planning that does occur is on the artistic side of the band such as what sort of mood or theme the next album will have, what sort of sound we want to explore next and things like that. And then we come to the issue of playing shows. As you may have noticed if you've been following local independent music this year, shows are pretty scarce these days compared to just two years ago. Where there were sometimes four gigs happening in the same weekend back then, you'd be lucky to find even one happening every weekend this year in Kuala Lumpur. So this year has seen the number of shows drop dramatically, even for the bigger bands with managers in tow. When it comes to shows, I'm just thankful that we still manage to average around one show per week this year, which keeps the fun quotient in the band at quite healthy levels still. Again, what's happened with us is merely accidental on my part.

Growing up a little punk rocker, I've always believed in playing any and as many shows as we can, with the payment far from being the number one requirement as I believe each gig has its own sets of financial circumstances. So throughout the years we've played shows that paid really well right through to ones that barely paid at all, simply because we as a band believe that it's fun to play shows, and it's much better to play one than having nothing to do during the weekend, which probably explains why people are not intimidated to ask us to play their shows. Believe me when I say that we've played all sorts of gigs; even a school's Canteen Day in a classroom, and at the Akademi Tentera Malaysia! In the end I guess the key question is whether you know how to keep the tricky balance between keeping the ship afloat business-wise and that all-important element of fun, which I think you will forever have to readjust in order to learn to navigate. But try not to be too serious, because as the British like to say, a right serious git is no fun..

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search.

Ferguson v Mancini: Culture clash

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 04:43 PM PDT

AUG 6 — Manchester United v Manchester City: Alex Ferguson v Roberto Mancini. The men in charge of this weekend's Community Shield protagonists could hardly be more different.

Ferguson: the tough, intimidating, Socialist, in-your-face Scot. Mancini: the dapper, sophisticated, charming, silk-scarf-wearing Italian, young enough to be Ferguson's son.

As players, they were both forwards… but that's where the similarities end. During an unremarkable career in Scotland in the Sixties, most notable for two moderately successful seasons with Glasgow Rangers, Ferguson was an old-fashioned bruiser, happiest when the ball was in the air with two defenders and the goalkeeper standing in the way, ready to be knocked over.

Mancini, who won two Serie A trophies and no less than 11 cup winners' medals with Sampdoria and Lazio, was almost the opposite in his role as the textbook "second striker", linking play with the midfield and acting as a foil to a more prolific central striker — most successfully alongside Gianluca Vialli.

Their managerial careers have followed very different lines of progression, as well. A relatively undistinguished playing career meant that Ferguson had to start at the bottom, serving his apprenticeship with East Stirling and St Mirren before being given his chance with a bigger club, Aberdeen.

He then stayed with the Dons for eight years before joining Manchester United, where he has stayed put for a quarter of a century. Thirty-three years, two clubs.

Mancini, by contrast, started at the top with Fiorentina, and has since changed clubs with a rapidity that would appear alien to Ferguson — in a little over 10 years in management, the Italian is already with his fourth club, and has never stayed anywhere for more than four years.

It doesn't end there. Ferguson and Mancini also seem to possess completely different mentalities about how the game should be played.

Whereas Ferguson's Aberdeen and United teams have always been attack-minded, positive, almost reckless in their desire to score goals and put their opponents under relentless pressure, Mancini is a far more cautious, defensively oriented beast, primarily concerned with not losing games before he's prepared to start considering how they might be won.

So there we have it. Two strikingly different backgrounds, personalities and footballing instincts, both playing a central role in the ongoing territorial dispute in England's second biggest city.

Who has the edge? Surely Ferguson, due to his greater experience and proven ability to claim major honours in England. But Mancini is catching up. He has youth and ambition, and United are in his sights.

It's far easier to do the shooting than it is to be shot at, and City are the club in the ascendancy, on the rise. United are simply trying to stay where they are, and we all know that every empire must eventually fall.

Until recently, there wasn't even a question of which club could claim to be the bigger. City fans were forced to restrict themselves to tenuous claims that the majority of Manchester inhabitants supported their club, with the bulk of United fans coming from other parts of the world. They even found a small degree of comfort in the claim that their old Maine Road ground possessed the tallest floodlights in the country. "Big wow", as we used to say in the Eighties – but that was all City fans had to play with. In footballing terms, they were miles behind.

Now, of course, things are different, and for the first time in many, many years, the question of which club will enjoy the most successful season is a legitimate one.

It's not all about the managers, of course — Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure will have something to say about the settling of the dispute, as well. But the men responsible for buying and selling players, picking the teams, motivating their squads, making tactical preparations, creating a winning environment, and much more besides, are Ferguson and Mancini. On their shoulders lies the ultimate responsibility for success and failure.

Any comparison between the two managers of Manchester wouldn't be complete without pointing out one more distinct difference: job security.

Ferguson, having turned his club's fortunes around and delivered trophy after trophy for 25 years, is about as un-sackable as any manager could possibly be. The prospect of Ferguson being dismissed is so remote as to be almost unimaginable.

Mancini, on the other hand, has to be fully aware that winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Champions' League at the end of last season has granted him little more than a temporary reprieve. His club's inordinately wealthy and equally ambitious Abu Dhabi-based owners want trophies, and they want them now. If Mancini doesn't provide them, they'll find someone who will.

And don't you just know that Ferguson is fully aware of that fact? From his lofty perch as the untouchable guru of football management, he will surely throw a handful of provocative, goading taunts, in the supercilious manner that only Ferguson can pull off, in the general direction of his younger Italian rival as the season unfolds.

"I've won the Premier League; I've won the Champions' League. Let's see what you can do, wee laddee." You can almost hear him saying it. After all, his "noisy neighbours" theme is sounding a little worn out, so he needs a new angle.

Let the mind games begin.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Sabtu, 6 Ogos 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

0 ulasan:

Catat Ulasan