I was in studio today working on a track with Chris, and he played me some music from a group he is busy recording. I was blown away! They are called NICE and that name is definitely an understatement of the quality, musical and lyrical depths, and unique style of this young group. Support them now before they blow up and it becomes a trend! Then you can say “I supported them way back when!”
NICE music!
August 20, 2009
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music | Tagged: chris tait, jackjohnson, john mayer, music, new music, NICE, south africa | 
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Posted by capetownbrown
Day 268: 18 August – Fear Monster
August 18, 2009I just thought of something today. I am most definitely sure it is not the first time this has been thought of by someone, in the every same way I thought of it. I am also sure it has been expressed many more eloquent ways than I am capable of. But it struck me all the same, and I want to share it. I realized something.
Fear is like a pet monster.
We all have different levels of fear, about different things in life. Some fear rejection, others fear acceptance. Some fear public speaking, others fear solitude. Some fear “the other”, others fear self. Some fear the exposure of things in the light, others fear the darkness.
Some of our fears are valid, and experience based, others are irrational uncertainties we have allowed to spiral out of control.
But no matter what the fear is, as long as we entertain it, we are giving it a place of residence. That fear becomes our very own pet fear monster. And like any pet, the fear monster thrives, or dies based on our maintenance of it. And this maintenance of that pet fear monster, its means of survival or extinction, comes out of how we engage with the object of our fear.
Surely denial of fear, along with avoidance of the object of the fear, only gives nourishment to the fear monster. It eats it up, grows, becomes more powerful, acts more rabidly, and becomes less and less easy to contain. Our fear monster becomes like a raging Rottweiler, foaming at the mouth, barking behind the fence, scaring those who pass by. After a while, even us as the pet owners lose control, and that fear monster literally eats us up alive!
But maybe that fear monster should not be seen as a pet at all. Maybe more of a pest; like a disgusting rat that managed to burrow its way into the walls of our house, only taking from us, spreading disease, and giving nothing positive in return. But depending on the size of the fear monster, mere once off poison will most likely not do the trick to rid our lives of this vermin. We have to work more long term.
We have to stop feeding it, and cease giving it the nutrition it needs to survive. We have to starve it.
Without doubt, this is a process of challenging it, engaging the object of fear, putting our self in a place to confront it and even be beaten by it at times, to stand back up to it again and again, over and over again, and then a bit more.
The fear monster will starve, be malnourished, a bony being with no meat, weak, feeble, delicate and tired. The fear monster will have no strength to stand and absolutely be powerless over us.
But we have to determine whether our fear monster is a pet, or an unwanted visitor. And depending on the answer to that, we need to treat it accordingly.
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Posted by capetownbrown
We Will Serve Ourselves
August 18, 2009I have only recently gotten involved in the local “film industry” here in South Africa, so any of you who have been here long and think I am talking complete nonsense are welcome to correct me!
What I have come to realize is there is no film industry in South Africa.
This may sound strange to people who are continuously inconvenienced by closed streets in the summer due to a film shoot. And it may be old news to others. But for me it’s a new revelation.
I wrote a book, that a friend and I turned into a script. I was trying to raise money on Facebook to “make” the film, knowing it wasn’t that easy, but also knowing that getting the name out would be a start. I also passed the script around to a few local production companies.
Though I haven’t signed anything yet, there are a couple of production houses who are interested.
All of that to say…
In this process, I have realized what I previously stated: South Africa does not have a film industry. Sure, South Africa has a booming service industry, as we see many overseas ventures being shot here; local production companies have even done line production on some of the biggest blockbusters of our time.
But there are still very few, to no, films being made by South Africans, with South African money, for South Africans, distributed in South Africa.
I am interested in ways of building this. I am curious to hear ideas.
Can the local Corporates give more money, like the collage of logos we see at the start of Brazilian films?
If the local cinemas and video shops are not more accommodating with distribution can we work out more grassroots, pioneer ways of distribution, like putting up screens in community halls?
Much like community radio stations have a ratio of local/international music they must play, favoring local by a higher percentage, can we see that Cinemas (or at least certain ones) do the same with local/international film ratios?
Honestly, I don’t know ways to build the industry necessarily. But what I do know is that there are many beautiful South African stories, of all genre types, to be told, by South Africans, for South Africans, within South Africa. And I also know the line production service infrastructure for shooting films is more than here. We just need to work on the funding and distribution side of things. Right?
I believe the South African film industry has the potential to grow to the point where America pays big money to get South African made films playing in their cinemas, right next to the Hollywood blockbusters.
What do you think?
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Posted by capetownbrown
