My name is Ben Craven and I create cinema for the ears...

Just back from seeing Guy Pratt at the Sit Down Comedy Club in Brisbane.

Guy is of course a bit of a hero of mine, being the bloke who had the nerve to play slap bass over songs where Roger Waters previously hadn’t. And then twenty years later, Guy chose not to.

Seriously I love the energy of those precious few live performances of Echoes from 1987, and I still remember double-taking when I heard his solo on One Slip. And check out what he did with Any Colour You Like in 1994. That was a revelation.

Guy also makes it cool to like disco.

Anyway the show was hilarious (like his book) and the bass interludes were fantastic.

(On the minus side, it never ceases to amaze me how some people can spend good money on tickets, take a table right at the front of the stage, and proceed to talk to each other through the whole show!)

Guy was right decent enough to have his photo taken with this happy chappy from the front row, whom he reckoned didn’t look like Comic Book Guy. Which must be one of the nicest compliments I’ve received from anyone.

This is the future of the music industry.

There’s no immediate need for record companies. The fund raising doubles as the marketing campaign. And it’s targeted directly at the specific audience, ie. fans. Like me!

I realise Amy’s not the first person to do this. But I’m just delighted to see it working now for someone whose music I actually listen to!

Pete is a god.

I’m a few weeks late on this one. Which is a testament to how unsurprised I was when it first happened, that I decided it was par for the course.

In fact it was only a story today about Bono calling Chris Martin a wanker that reminded me.

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Some of you might remember my old list of Robert Fripp-inspired music industry guidelines.

I figured it was time to revise them, in this exciting new world of economic crises, declining album sales, the demise of the long tail, the expectation of free music, and the continual fade of major industry players into irrelevance as they hand out awards to each other.

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