De La Soul back in the game

21/04/2009
Stuff, printed in the Herald, TV3

Hip-hop group De La Soul are heading to New Zealand to celebrate their 20-year career, and hope to get to know the New Zealand culture while they are at it. Stacey Knott chat to rapper Trugoy the Dove.

American hip-hop group De La Soul are coming to New Zealand to celebrate their "20 years in the game", says group member David Jolicoeur, aka Trugoy the Dove.

The New York-based rap trio will be doing their most comprehensive New Zealand tour to date next month, taking their positive-message hip-hop to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Wanaka.

The group, made up of Kelvin Mercer, aka Posdnuos, Vincent Mason, aka Pasemaster Mase, and Jolicoeur released their debut, ground-breaking album 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989.

Jolicoeur says this tour will reflect what the group has accomplished over their career to date, and they will be playing tracks from their 20-year catalogue.

After the release of De La Soul's first album, critics said the trio's style was a move away from the more negative "gangsta rap" of the time, and would mark a new way for hip-hop.

De La Soul's career highlights centred on working with their musical heroes, such as fellow New York group The Beastie Boys, and Gorillaz.

"The highlights are the relationships and working with people we admire ... we record with people we share ideals with," Jolicoeur says.

However, subject matter has changed as the group has aged. Themes like family and marriage now come through the music, but Jolicoeur says the important thing is that band members keep true to themselves in their music.

The tour also marks 20 years since De La Soul were sued for copyright breach in what became a landmark lawsuit in the United States.

De La Soul were found guilty of sampling music from 1960s pop group The Turtles for their single Me Myself and I. The case changed hip-hop music, as it meant all samples had to be legally cleared before an album could be released.

"We lost a lot of the creativity that is the sampling thing, it's a part of what hip-hop is ," Jolicoeur says.

The change in law also meant De La soul's second album, De La Soul is Dead, was delayed in release so the samples could be cleared.

However, with the band's typically positive outlook, Jolicoeur says De La Soul hold no grudges over the case. They supported copyright laws after the lawsuit, and artists should "deal with it", he says.

"There should be laws to protect artists. We don't know how they feel about it, it could be a song for their child or family ... we respect the laws, and have to play the game accordingly."

He says hip-hop is everything to the group, which reflects why they have lasted so long. "We live it, it's the thing we feel."

Jolicoeur is constantly writing and rapping, even if he has no intention of releasing his works.

"I have tons and tons of stuff that will never get out."

>While De La Soul have toured New Zealand before, most recently in 2006, this time they hope to see a bit more of the country.

"We have a day off. We would love to see the place, there is so much to see other than clubs - there is the beaches, and ... cultural things."

The group are interested in different societies and cultures, and hope to finally get a taste of New Zealand's.

"We always meet people from New Zealand, they know our culture, we want to get to know theirs."

Tour dates:

May 12 Wellington, San Francisco Bathouse
May 13 Wanaka, Lake Wanaka Centre
May 14 Christchurch The Bedford
May 15 Auckland, The Powerstation

Mt Albert candidates brave the weather

09/05/2009

On Stuff, OTD, TV3 sites

National and Labour candidates for the Mt Albert by-election, supported by their leaders, braved rain to put up their hoardings today.

National list MP Melissa Lee and Prime Minister John Key were at a Mt Albert residence to put a hoarding up, with about 50 people in support.

Mr Key said National would give the campaign "everything we've got and see how it goes".

"We've got a great candidate ... we have to acknowledge it's been a Labour seat for 63 years, it was won six months ago by 7500 votes, we're under no illusions about the sort of fight we are up against."

Ms Lee said she was "feeling great" about the campaign, and had already started door knocking.

"We are in the rain and cold to meet the people in Mt Albert to see what they are concerned about," she said.

Residents were concerned about the same things the rest of New Zealand was, she said.

She believed law and order was a big issue for people in the area.

"As a victim of a home invasion myself I understand exactly how they feel. I want to feel safe in my own home and on the street."

Labour candidate David Shearer and leader Phil Goff were also out putting up hoardings this morning.

Mr Shearer wanted to "get them all up and make a real impact."

He had also been talking to the people of Mt Albert, and said he had been getting good feedback.

"The vibe has been really good."

He said the big issues for the electorate were the Waterview Connection motorway, the "super-city", which people didn't understand, and the economy. Mr Shearer said he did not believe crime was such a big issue, but people did want "strong, safe communities."

Mr Shearer's campaign would be "old fashioned", with a lot of door knocking, he said.

-NZPA

Bad news for Waterview – here comes a motorway!

In Unison, May 14, 2009

A motorway that will run behind Unitec will stop criminals from South Auckland coming to rob Mt Albert, says National MP Melissa Lee.

This controversial statement was made last Wednesday at Unitec, where candidates for the up-coming Mt Albert by-election debated the proposed Waterview Connection; the final plan for it was released last week.

The Waterview Connection will complete Auckland's Western Ring Route and will be 60 percent underground with two tunnels and two motorways. It will go underneath Great North Road until it meets Blockhouse Bay Road where there will be a short stretch of motorway. It will then dip back underground before rising again after New North Road.

The Waterview Connection will mean 360 houses in the Waterview and Mt Albert area will be demolished. At the meeting, Ms Lee tried to tell the raucous audience about the benefits of the motorway.

While she “really feels” for the people who will be losing their homes for the motorway to be built, she says it needs to be finished. Ms Lee told the audience that people drive through Mount Albert from South Auckland to get to West Auckland.

The motorway could divert some of that traffic - and the criminals - away from the Mount Albert streets. This call was met with much booing from the crowd. ACT was the only other party at the forum that supports the motorway, but candidate John Boscawen presented an alternative route that he says would lessen the impact on the community. When Labour was in power, it had begun plans of a tunnel in the area, but this plan was rejected last week in favour of the motorway-tunnel plan. Labour candidate for the Mt Albert seat David Shearer, says Labour’s tunnel plan is the best option, and he will keep fighting for it.

The tunnel would have preserved the community he says, “but today we had the awful reality the 360 people will lose their homes, we will have a six lane motorway that will go right through the middle of the community.”

I believe we should be standing up for the communities instead of bulldozing their lives away.”

Mr Shearer felt the area was being targeted because it is poor. "If this motorway was being built for Paritai Drive or Remuera, we wouldn't be having this meeting."

He says the motorway will devalue property and be “a complete disaster”. Mr Shearer called for better public transport, which was met with huge applause from the audience. Green candidate and co-leader Russell Norman also called for better public transport as he is totally opposed to the “stupid motorway”.

He says that all around the world people are moving away from motorways, and National’s current plan is a “dinosaur approach” that does not take into account climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of borrowing the money to build it.

“Motorways do not work,” he says. The motorway will be congested from the moment it opens up because motorways attract more traffic, he says. He vowed to stand by Waterview residents who want to fight the motorway, and called for the need for “civil disobedience” to stop it from being built.

Julian Pistorius from the Libertarianz Party, which believe in the free market, seemed out of his depth at the forum, sticking to the same line that people should not listen to the politicians over this issue; instead they should leave it up to the free market. “No government has the right to violate property rights of people,” he says.

“This does not have to be rammed through by the force of government.” The audience were able to ask questions of the candidates, many of which were heated statements about the effect the motorway will have on the community, directed at Ms Lee. One irate Waterview resident said the government was “clogging up our beautiful city with goddamn motorways, Waterview is surrounded three ways by a marine reserve…we want public transport and rail.” While Ms Lee agrees there needs to be better public transport, she says there has to be roads, like the motorway, for the buses to go on. Work on the project is due to start in 2011 and should be completed within four years. It is estimated the route will cost approximately $1.4 billion.

'Jingle Kings' Cassette Release New Album

Friday, 20 March, 2009 - 04:03

Wellington indie band Cassette have just released their latest album The Jingle King. Frontman Tom Watson talks to STACEY KNOTT of NZPA about finding inspiration in break-ups and a statue.

Wellington, March 20 NZPA - A band member's incessant singing and a small statue solved the problem of naming a new album for Wellington band Cassette.

Singer and songwriter of the country/folk rock band Tom Watson says the band's second album The Jingle King was made quite quickly -- recorded in May last year, mastered in September and artwork completed this year.

The album's art is based on a statue Watson found in a second-hand store in Picton. He named it after a phrase coined when the band suffered cabin fever in the studio.

That phrase, The Jingle King, also became the album's title.

"(Drummer) Craig (Terris) started singing everything that people would say in an inane sort of way, and (bassist) Andrew Bain said to him, `what are you man, some sort of jingle king?'

"So he just coined this thing, so for the rest of our time in the studio everyone was the jingle king, it became the theme of the session," Watson says.

He says later discovering the statue in the Picton store was "divine".

"He's sitting in a throne with an axe in his hand, he has a skull for his head and he has this Egyptian woman kneeling by his side."

The statue is a "lampoon of a classic man," Watson jokes.

"Suddenly it made perfect sense for him to be on the album and the album be named The Jingle King.'

The miniature jingle king was photographed for the album sleeve to accompany an elaborate story Watson describes.

"A friend of mine wrote a story for the sleeve of the album which details the story of how the Jingle King came to produce our record using all sorts of torturous methods.

"We took photos of him overseeing the project and me and Craig being slave-driven. It's taken on a life of its own. We wanted to have some fun with it."

He says the idea of power from the statue is a comical twist on the themes of the album, which include a relationship break-up.

While Cassette's music is more of the shoe-gazing, guitar-driven persuasion, the artwork lends itself to a more quirky feel.

Watson hopes it will attract people who haven't heard of the band.

"If they see this photo of a skull covered in smoke they might at least listen to it out of curiosity."

While Watson and Terris are the founding members of Cassette, they had help recording the album from Phoenix Foundation's Luke Buda, Fur Partol's Andrew Bain and SJD's Dave Fraser.

The album was recorded by Lee Prebble, who has also recorded the Black Seeds.

Watson says though The Jingle King is a better quality recording than fans will be used to, Cassette has not changed in terms of song- writing.

He wrote the songs after a break-up, and all the songs are about relationships to some degree, but the theme can be hard to spot at times.

"All the songs I wrote were from coming out of a relationship...but it's more ambiguous.

"Relationships are a microcosm of all your friendships, you go through those things (the hard parts of an intimate relationship) with most people but it's not quite so heavy."

Watson has already started writing for the next album, and plans to remain in Wellington for the near future.

"We are really happy in Wellington, it seems to be really easy to get our music-making done.

"We are certainly interested in touring overseas but haven't made any big moves to make that happen.

"We are happy just making our music, recording it and touring it."

Tour dates:

Happy, Wellington, March 20

Al's Bar, Christchurch, March 26

Carey's Bay Historic Hotel, Dunedin, March 27

Woodstock Lodge, Catlins, March 28

Woodstock Lodge, Catlins, March 28

Pix available from Charlotte Ryan 021 888 372, charlotteryan@xtra.co.nz

NZPA AKL sk gt

Get ready to pay for your bad behaviour, naughty student!

March 1 2009, In Unison

Cheating in an exam could now cost you one thousand dollars.

Late last year, Unitec combined and slightly rewrote the general (dealing with things like harassment and wilful property damage) and the academic (dealing with things like plagiarism) discipline statutes for students.

Now called the Student Disciplinary Statue, the document is the basis for what happens when a student is accused of misconduct. It lays out the wide range of what determines misconduct, from causing racial disharmony, damaging properly, plagiarism, cheating on an exam, using someone else’s login details, interrupting a lecture, to getting into a fight.

It also lists the penalties that can be handed down if a student is found guilty of misconduct; these can range from a written warning, a fine up to $1000, being kicked out of your course, to being banned from using Unitec services. USU Education Coordinator Dr Louise Allen says the statue is too vague as it lacks guidelines for which misconduct warrants which penalties. Unitec Executive Officer Glenda Jacobs will advise on the misconduct process on a case-by-case basis.

In the formal process, the relevant Head of Department, Executive Dean or a manager from a service, called the deciding manager, will decide the students penalty if found guilty of misconduct. For something comparatively minor, like miss-referencing an assignment, section seven of the statute recommends an informal resolution.

But in the formal process, the student can be handed more than one penalty off the list, Ms Jacobs says.

“If a student cheated in an exam, they might get a zero for the exam and fail the course (two different penalties in the list), because sometimes getting zero for the exam won’t fail the course.” She says it is important students read through the document. “If students don’t read it they are putting themselves at a disadvantage.”

The statute lays out the process complaints go through, if a student is found of misconduct, they will be notified, given the opportunity to respond, and then their penalty will follow. However, if the student feels the penalty is unfair, they can appeal, taking the case to a panel.

The panel will be made of the student and their support, the deciding manager, as well as a HOD or a senior lecture not associated with the student to avoid conflicts of interest and bias, Ms Jacobs says.

The panel can include, though does not have to, a student representative.

Dr Allen feels this is not good enough. There should be a mandatory student representative on the panel, either from the USU staff or executive, who can keep a check on the process, she says.

The statue needs to be re-looked at with USU involvement.

Phil Goff schmoozes with Westies

March 1, 2009, In Unison

Unitec students need to watch out for changes the National Party may make to their student loans, opposition leader Phil Goff says.

Last week Mr Goff and a group of Labour MPs visited the Waitakere campus, as well as the streets of West Auckland, to talk to people and get back into the pubic light as recent polls show their support is slipping.

Labour will be “vigilant” in making sure student loans remain interest free under the National government, Mr Goff says.

“I think that’s a real threat and students can’t be complacent about their ability to preserve interest free student loans.”

In its election campaign last year, Labour promised a universal student allowance, but with their defeat the plan was not introduced.

“I think it’s sad the students won’t get the universal student allowance which is an acknowledgment of the importance of learning,” Mr Goff says.

The MPs visited a first year nursing class where Mr Goff told the students how important they will be in the workforce when they graduate in three years.

Student Tevita Hala’api’api talked to Mr Goff about his course and found the MP “very encouraging” he says.

The MPs also meet with Unitec management to discuss enrolments and how Unitec is coping in the recession.

Dr Ede says enrolments are up and at this stage Unitec is not concerned about needing to turn anyone away, unlike Auckland University of Technology who said last week they may need to start rejecting applicants with their increasing enrolments in the recession.

Unitec offers many trade courses and Mr Goff says apprenticeships, which are usually cut in the time of a recession, need to continue so New Zealand will have qualified people in the workforce when the recession ends.

Labour want to persuade firms to take on apprentices now, so when apprenticeships end, the workers will come out skilled and the economy will be on the up, he says.

If students are denied apprenticeships, New Zealand will have “the worst of all possible worlds. Nobody will be taken on now and when the economy is on the upswing there won’t be the skilled labour to enable it to achieve to its full potential, or the individuals to achieve to their full potential,” Mr Goff says.

In Unison jazzes up a boring forum, gets on the news

Monday, 1 June, 2009

In Unison

A lamington smeared on a candidate’s head and a controversial comment about taking a gun to the media were the high-points of a political forum held at Unitec last week.

Unitec and the USU held the forum in The Hub last Monday where candidates for the Mt Albert by-election tried to convince the 30 or so students that showed up and the various committed party supporters why they should vote for them.

National List MP Melissa Lee, ACT list MP John Boscawen, Labour candidate David Shearer, and Green Co-leader Russel Norman spoke at the forum. The candidates were asked what they would be doing if they were not in politics, what they believed the big issues for Mt Albert residents were, and why they were running for the seat.

All candidates spoke about the Waterview Connection and the Super City. Ms Lee talked about law and order, Mr Boscawen talked about living standards in New Zealand, while Dr Norman spoke about roading and public transport.

In the midst of talking about the Super City, the ACT candidate’s bald head was smeared in lamington.

Frustrated People Before Profit by-election candidate Malcolm France surged forward from the crowd and slammed the cake on the ACT MP’s head. Mr Boscawen kept speaking with the cake on his head until someone came forward from the crowd and picked it off, to throw it back in Mr France’s face.

Later when the floor was open to questions from the audience, In Unison brought up a controversial email they had received from Melissa Lee.

The email was in response to some light-hearted hip-hop culture related questions for a profile. In response to which accessory she would prefer between a gun, a fur coat, a big diamond ring, or a grill, Ms Lee answered “I think a big diamond ring would be the most useful accessory during the rest of the by-election to knock some sense into the media (although a gun is tempting...)” At the forum In Unison asked Ms Lee why she had said she would like to take a gun to the media, when the media was only reporting on the things she had said.

Ms Lee denied writing the email and said she did not know what the question was about, she later told the magazine the email was unapproved. She said she had answered some of the questions in the email, but not the specific gun related one.

Ms Lee, who has already been under fire from controversial statements to the media, blamed an over-enthusiastic volunteer for sending the email.

National media took a liking to In Unison’s query, and the event was reported that night on TV3 News, as well as radio stations, Stuff.co.nz and The Herald.

Later that day, over-compensating for the “unauthorised” gun comment, one of Ms Lee’s media team sent through a new answer, which stated “I think an appropriately sourced fur coat would be handy for keeping warm with all the doorknocking I am doing. Something I could then donate to one of the groups in the electorate helping support those in need.”

In response to another question about grills, Ms Lee answered “All politicians need to know when to keep their mouths closed. So I have put my grill away for the rest of the campaign.’’

Time and headlines will surely tell if this last statement holds true.