this has always been a shitter, inner city dwellers really should come to expect being subject to all the noise.

pity-less.

New city residents need be be realistic about the fact that 'livin in the city' aint gonna be the quiet life that intended it to be. What do you expect to hear when you move close to a music venue? As for practise space for bands??/, I'm all for it? I need a place to play, does anyone wanna join me find an outlet for the music???

I thought the OMW in Newtown was still available as a rehersal space

Hey there,

The Church- I was under the impression they had to deal with the whole noise thing too, with those new top-floor apartments being added to the building across the road. There is no escape. The Wellington music scene is being attacked right at its very roots.

Any musician who ever got anywhere has at some point annoyed their neighbours- with their practising, with writing dud songs, being out of tune, singing too loudly in the shower, hitting the wrong notes, argueing with other band members... Do people generally think that musicians can pull it all from thin air? When it's done well, it sure looks like it! But not without working through the bad stuff first.

I was listening to talk-back radio in a taxi on the way back home from work, the subject being 'the artists benefit,' or dole for musicians. Most callers, under some delusion that all musicians are affluent, or that a working musician's life is not only profitable (?) but also quite luxurious (??), scoffed at the idea of making them eligible for tax-payer funding. 'Absurd.'' It's all a big bunch of noise anyway.''Slackers.'

Well, to paraphrase Bill Hickman, you know those musicians like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Buddy Holly, The Eagles... (insert Classic Hits FM playlist here...) -whose beautiful music has enriched and enhanced your lives throughout the the years? RRRRRRRRREAl f*ckin high on drugs. Loud. Annoying. Your parents couldn't stand them. But they practised and recorded it , and you liked it so much that you bought it, so that in the privacy of your own inner city apartment you can press play on your expensive Denon stereo whenever you f*ck'n well please...

I think it's the whole generation gap thing. People who are old/affluent enough to be able to afford inner city apartments and write city by-laws are not generally music makers. Their music collections they've had since they were 18, and playing them is their way of feeling young again, where as the 'racket' that todays musicians create only reminds them that they are old.

-Respect,

[ http://www.po-ha.com ]

I guess it is fairly easy when you're fired up to lay blame without much prior thought, and I apologise. To be specific, there are many people who are accountable for the attempted murder of Wellington's music scene. Lets begin with the complainants- Inner city apartment dwellers, surgeons, lawyers, councilmen and women- people with more money at their disposal than most people, who believe as a result that they are entitled to luxurious surroundings. And why not? If I was considering purchasing something as significant as my own home, I would go to great lengths to ensure I was getting exactly what I wanted.
Obviously the overall quality of the home is important, but to extend this example further, I would also obviously consider the effect location has on my home- a great home in and of itself is all well and good, but if it was nestled between a public garden and a library, or two tattoo parlours, I certainly would let this impact apon my decision to live there. It is actually inseperable from the purchase of my home. If I really liked the home but yearned for a different location, I can call a house-moving company to put my home where I want. On the other hand I could also call my prospective neighbours (with my list of demands ready), and attempt to convince them that my needs are more important than their needs, and that before I buy the property they need to make certain modifications, at their cost, to their properties.
In either case, it is based on the assumption that I would take the purchase of my home seriously enough to have considered the effect of neighbouring properties beforehand. What a lot of established music venues/rehearsal spaces around New Zealand are spending valuable resources on are people who have not made these considerations. As a result, the neighbourhood is being held responsible for the ill-informed and rash decision making of inexperienced home-buyers. These people seem to have the City Council on their side. Is this fair?

... next installment: "2. The Council"