What do stickers, lawsuits and SA music have in common?

Since erupting across universities in America in 2004, the story of Facebook - the online platform most couldn't imagine life without - is put into context, and contractual dispute, right before your eyes in a concise two hour movie!

Popcorn in hand, The Social Network feels like a web 2.0 lesson in law as much as  it is a vibrant unfolding of events even more enticing than an episode of your favourite soapie! And like Isindingo, its topical and current!

So where does an idea begin and end? When does an idea become intellectual property, when is it evolution of an idea and open to improved interpretation and hearty capatilism and competition?

The Social Network is released in SA
on 5 November through Ster Kinekor

These are some of the questions one considers as your heart and head is pulled between siding with the different parties involved. We're talking about Mark Zuckerberg, the guy who built Facebook - and the Winkel-Voss twins, who originally approached Zuckerberg to build their Harvard-based online idea. 


What we see of Facebook today has come a long way, and its definitely worth logging off for long enough to watch this film and to ponder what attracted you to it in the first place!

Find out what Jax Panik did today...
www.iamjaxpanik.com 

Elsewhere on Facebook (since this is a SA music blog afterall), I feel it is appropriate to point out the Jax Panik online pandemonium of late. Since releasing a new album in September, the Jax Panik logo has been spreading around the country in a guerilla sticker-bomb campaign with photos being sent in as Panik fans find the stickers in all sorts of locations! 


Like most ideas, the sticker-bomb campaign has been done before (and since this is a blog about 'SA music in London', it satisfies me to weave in that a few years back, the SA band Dorp, who were for many years based in the London, in fact plastered all manner of surfaces with Dorp stickers!) 






In the case of Jax Panik, they have taken a simple, yet potential-laden awesome idea and implemented it with precision and snowball-intent, thus allowing the beauty of online to then show, by popular demand, what people think! You need only look at the Jax Panik facebook group - which grew from 10,000 to 25,000 in a few weeks - to see how the Panik is spreading! (like what he did for Halloween today, you might have seen the face above across many profile pics... hmmm - the power of viral!)

So whereas Dorp had less online access at their disposal a few years back when sticker-bombing the old-fashioned way, from Jax Panik and me, and all my hundreds of online friends, we can now say thank you to Zuckerberg - or is that Winkel-Voss or the dude from Napster - for the virally fabulous, global online platform of friendship - and everything else public - that is Facebook!

Rock on online freedom of creativity!

x

PS. Since the film is not released yet in SA, below is the golden ticket that got me into the premier screening of The Social Network last week, courtesy of 2Oceans Vibe - and including free Coke and popcorn! Nice!

Hallowed night of South African rock...

Acoustic soft rock, electronic alternate rock or perhaps more leaning towards the heavier side of rock...

Which is your preference?

Well, tonight you won't have to choose! Tonight all three are lining up at a Halloween themed gig for only £6 at The Peel in Kingston!

We're talking Mann Friday and Dorp supporting Starseed! A triple line up of South African classic London rock acts!

I also had the pleasure of seeing Ani Difranco last night - a little bundle of guitar dynamite she is! So Im in the mood for more good music! Its always like that - the more you get out there and see live music, the more you promise yourself you'll do it more often! So I think, like going to gym, its all about keeping up the momentum of going to regular live gigs! And maybe we could even count moving to the music / dancing / tapping feet as a vague calorie reducing account!?

And on the topic of dancing - it is with much excitement that the esteemed Clapham Grand has been taken over on Fridays and Saturdays by a South African club owner- the same guy as the Poo Na Na chain if my memory serves me! Kicking off on 14th & 15th, it shall be a sparkly new experience with some new decor and bars as well!

And as we near the end of good old Rocktober, we shall rock it out tonight in style... and I shall welcome in November soon with news of whats hot and happening on the London gig scene with all things South African!

Rock out Rocktober!
x

Get ready for the launch...

Count down to weekend has begun, and so too has the timer on my internal '*&%!@ I-have-to-work-like-superwoman-to-get-all-my-work-done-before-I-start-my-dang-weekend!

But I can't wait for it to come, and I am now head down with my iPod on shuffle and some Freshlyground is playing in my ears! Aaah, a little bit of local is lekker on a manic Friday afternoon!

But for now, a weekend ahead of music awaits! Living it Live's launch party tomorrow night, wahoo! Livingston who I havent seen in far too long, and I expect to no doubt be wooed and wow'ed all over again since I went to every gig religiously for about a year! They are that good!


Then there's Dorp, Lightning Type and Darren 'Whackhead' Simpson who flew in from SA today. He will be doing a comedy slot tomorrow night too! A full night indeed!

Then Sunday will be hangovers and bonding with the couch after having a long lie in. And Sunday night is the amazing Nibs van der Spuy at Aardvark! Can't wait for that one, but in a whole diff way to tomorrow night. Will be an ideal way to end a weekend!

Phew, back to it!

Rock on weekend,
x

Mid-November blues...

Anyone out there got them too? Its just that time of year when things dont seem as bright, daylight is disappearing fast and one's workload to finish up before the end of year is looming.

Take heart, for music will lift the weary soul! And who better than South Africa's export happy rockers, Just Jinjer. Check out the South African today for the 1-10 of what's going down with Just Jinjer.


Also in this week's paper is an article on the new music management company, Living it Live and what can be expected from their launch party next weekend in Brixton - hosted by 94.7 Highveld Stereo's Darren Whackhead Simpson, and supported by some great SA London based bands... one of my London favourites, Livingston as well as Dorp who always impress. As well as Craig Viljoen, lead singer of SA band The Rifts.

So for a mid-week mid-November pick me up, head on down to Shepherds Bush Walkabout tomorrow and Thursday!

Rock on weekend,
x

Gig Giveback: Mann Friday finale

Its been a month since this SA Music in London gig blog was launched, and it has already sparked so many conversations, connections and cool ideas! South African Music has a lot of passionate supporters and endorsers out there, and each in our own small way, we can contribute to building the awareness of SA music that it deserves!

Ever thought about what you could do? Buying a CD or supporting a SA gig is great, but maybe you have something unique to offer to South African music?

But, time for some reflection and for those who didnt make it down to the Mann Friday Gone Fishing gig... all I can say is WOW! A Sunday night definitely well spent!

And some super footage for those who wish to reminisce the now defunct Friday boys, or to check out what you could have been doing instead of slouching on the Sunday couch, then check out this MF video footage!

Mann Friday's gig was everything I expected and then some! And all this for just £6? Cheap cheap for such a special occasion! It's been a while since I was up for a good party on a Sunday (school) night!

Arriving at The Clapham Grand in bright warm sunshine was the first good sign of the night ahead. Inside was a buzz of anticipation... Just Jinjer flyers being handed out, a feeling of Mann Fridayness in knowing that all the people there had been touched by MF's music at some point in their 4 year London leg... and a darkness inside The Grand that signalled night time / party time, and by no means was there a lulled Sunday-mode atmosphere!

Flyers and freebies littered the counter tops as people scrambled to collect funky Dorp EPs (actual records!) seemingly left lying around. Dorp did their thing, great as usual, tho one suspects that they downplayed their image for the occassion with none of their usual loud visuals. They performed well to a composed, sober and small crowd, with the most of the gig goers probably still lazing somewhere in the last of the afternoon sun!

By 740pm the buzz was building and Mann Friday came on stage, kicked ass, intertwined cover songs (a very good Robert Miles' Children rendition) and put on a hugely impressive performance! Clearly I wasn't the only fan with goosebumps that night!

Their monumental track-with-a-message "15 minutes of shame" came across with all the vigour, passion and implied political angst against the state of Zimbabwe with which one assumes it was first written! It was intertwined with the chorus of Michael Jackson's "It doesn't matter if you're black or white!" as well as the famous line (but by who completely elludes me) "We're not gonna take it, No! We're not gonna take it... We're not gonna take it.. anymore!"

Powerful stuff music.

A few emotional moments and personal mentions, closing with the gorgeous Gin & Tonic Sky (one of my faves)! Join the "SA Music in London" Facebook group and add to the Discussion Board on your fave Mann Friday song and lyrics!

Enough nostalgia now. The MF guys will return...! And until they do, there is a whole whack of other great SA music talent to support and discover!

Just Jinjer are next, so buy tickets fast! And following them is afro-jazz ensemble Freshlyground! Or if new singer/songwriters are more your thing, then head to Hammersmith on 11 Aug to listen to Samantha Horwill, the ex-lead singer of ex-SA band Jane Doe! Samantha is living in Brighton now, but will be launching her new smokey CD next Saturday! Check out this week's Live Music SA section in the South African for a review on her debut CD or follow this link http://www.southafrican.co.uk/living.aspx?ID=376

Sad stuff. Exciting stuff. New stuff!!

Rock on SA stuff!
x

Menn Gone Fishing...

For SA music lovers in London, Sunday will be a very sad day...

SA /Zim super group Mann Friday have made the decision to take an official band break. This Sunday will be the final gig!! Well, for a good while. Rumours of a 2hr set and special effects from visuals and added instrumental enhancements are going round... I just keep wondering what their very *last* song will be! And how many people will cry?

Maybe it seems strange to people who don't know Mann Friday's stuff, but there will definitely be people crying at this gig. Be warned, bring tissues and be part of this piece of SA Music in London history! And if you are not familiar with the guys, check out this promo video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is8WwhlwNs0

In their own words...

“There comes a time when you need to stop, inhale, and ask where, why, how? When it happens, it's almost a divine intervention, a tap on the shoulder from God saying – ‘Hey Dude, what's going on?’ And when it does, your heart nods in acknowledgement, and then your soul goes fishing! You leave behind the hustle and bustle and you reconfigure.”

Pick up a copy of this week's South African paper for the full story on these guys journey and what being part of Mann Friday has meant to them!

Visually-enhanced SA artists, Dorp, will be opening for Mann Friday! This combination is sure to be an electric evening! Doors open 5pm. Dorp on at 6pm and Mann Friday at 730pm. Tickets are a mere £6 and available on the door, or www.mannfriday.com (You can also listen to MF tunes by following this link!)

Be there! You won't be disappointed!
x