The amazing Kim Clijsters won the Australian women's singles final! Since she has come back from retirement, she has gone from strength to strength. She says that this might be her last year on the tour. Having won her first Australian Open, she is looking to win her first French one and it could be her last chance if she does retire (again). I'd like her to stay a couple of years longer and win everything twice. (She's a year younger than me).
It was disappointing to see how badly Andy Murray played in the final losing in straight sets and being completely annihilated by Novak Djokovic. Not only was it disappointing (not taking anything away from Djokovic-he played amazingly well) but really weird on the most part as nearly every single point Murray lost, his body language and expressions would be like his whole world had just crashed down. Whereas most other tennis players seem to get over it quickly, he was so negative in that way, that he never looked like he was even in the match and I couldn't help but think that maybe there was a little bit of him that didn't want to win. I know this might not make sense. But sometimes it is in a persons' nature to set themselves up to fail. I remember my Business Studies tutor in high school writing in my leaving book "Do not let yourself down, you deserve to succeed". At the time, I wondered what he meant and thought why would anyone want themselves to fail?? But people do. It is only now that I have started realising this about myself. Literally, NOW. And it feels weird.
I'm not saying Murray failed intentionally. But I am saying that it seemed his lacklustre performance was because he wasn't mentally able to cope with it rather than physically. Before the match he said he would not step on the court thinking about previous failures (he has made the final of a major 3 times now) or go on thinking about the expectations of others. But these did look to affect him. Post match he said wanted to "get away from the court" and for a while "live a normal life".
Strangely enough for me, having a normal life is the last thing I want and maybe I have to overcome my own mental barriers to achieve this.
Sunday 30 January 2011
Sunday 23 January 2011
Idiots with authority part 2
I worked at the Manchester Apollo for just over 6 years. It was a really cool gig venue-not too big and not too small. As it was an evening job and it was mainly seasonal work, I would work at whatever day job I was doing at the time and then work there in the evenings for extra money. A lot of the times when I was out of a day job, I would do day work there. Having 2 jobs really wasn't as tiring as it may sound. Even though there would be many times when I would start my day job at 9am and then not be home until midnight. The thing about the Apollo was that for the first few years, it didn't even seem like a job. As I really like live music, it was brilliant working there and even when there would be artists on that I didn't like, the atmosphere would always be amazing. Because I was there that long and felt really comfortable whilst I was there, it kind of felt like a 2nd home. After about 2 years of working there, I became a supervisor and was in charge my own little bar near the front of the stage. This lasted for about another 3 years-until the introduction of the new bar manager. The Hooker.
I will get to how she got her name "The Hooker" later on.
When I first met The Hooker, I thought she was a bit odd looking. I try not to judge people when I first meet them but a lot of the times I tend to be right in what I think of them. The first thing I thought was that her presence made me feel uncomfortable. This wasn't because I was nervous about having a new manager-I just knew that this person wasn't going to be a good person. Her aura was giving me a lot of bad vibes. Oddly enough, I also felt that unintentionally, everyone also made her feel uncomfortable. This wasn't because she was new-it was almost as if she knew then that she was a bad manager and a bad person. She obviously wouldn't want anyone to know this so for the next few months she would be completely fake. By laughing at peoples' lame jokes, being overly "nice" and sucking up. It would really make me cringe. Now I know this could be classed as a completely natural thing to do as people want to fit in with the crowd. But it was the first step to becoming the evil conniving bitch that she became well known for.
As I was a supervisor at the time, things were ok . But I was the one that was being sucked up to. Anyone that actually knows me would know that I really hate this. I would much rather prefer someone to just....be themselves. Is that too difficult for them?? Anyway, this didn't last too long. Any person who has worked will tell you that being a good manager isn't about making friends, it's about getting the best out of your staff work wise. Eventually it seemed that The Hooker would be doing completely the opposite to this-hence her being a crap manager.
Going back to being intimidated, it seemed like it was most of the staff who had been there a long time that most intimidated The Hooker-me being one of them. Slowly but surely, she used her "feminine" charms to even higher authority and started to get rid of people who had been there a long time. Normal staff who had never really done anything wrong. For example one girl she got rid of because she wanted to go out with her ex boyfriend-no real reason was even given as to why she got rid of her. But it was clearly because she was intimidated by her as she was probably seen as a threat. When she did go out with this guy (he happened to have a bigger nose than Pinocchio on a bad day), she promoted him to a supervisor! Eventually I knew that she wanted to get rid of me and it wasn't going to be easy so she tried to make life at The Apollo as miserable for me as she could so I would leave. She yelled at me once when I started giving breaks to people-even though some of them had worked nearly 6 hours without having one-her boyfriend not being one of them of course. I recall Pinocchio having an extra long break in fact.
We eventually started arguing and having a lot of disagreements. Alcohol and money would go "missing" and she would never take responsibility for this and would always try to blame other people. Also, when my bar was quiet, I would go and wander around seeing if anybody else needed help. She was such a crap manager that I took it upon myself to do this. She didn't like this and one time when I was away from my bar, she decided to take £50 out of the til without telling me. Of course, my staff behind the bar wouldn't bat an eyelid if a manger takes comes to the til and takes money out of it as it could be a cash lift or for change or something. So at the end of the night when I cashed up my til, it was £50 down. Exactly £50 which I thought to be strange. Naturally I searched the other staff members and found nothing on them. Repeatedly asked them what had happened for it to be so much down. They of course didn't know anything and I went up to the office after a lot of stressing out and told The Hooker that it was £50 down. She then started yelling at me and then eventually told me that she took it to teach me a lesson not to leave my bar. I just flipped out and called her "A Fxxking Hooker" and stormed out of the room. The next day I was demoted, put on a different bar and that's when it all started. I would now and again be able to supervise but only if I was good and only if I sucked up to her.
One day I was really ill but came into work anyway. For some reason I got put on a different bar and I cashed the tills up at the end and remember couldn't waiting to get home. The next day, The Hooker told me the tills were £50 down (conveniently exactly £50-sound familiar?) and that I couldn't be supervisor anymore! Funny how when I cashed up, the tills were right, when The Hooker double checked, it was "£50 down." I really despised this woman. Strangley enough, she seemed to be getting uglier as time went by (I remember reading in another Roald Dahl book called The Twits and there is a bit that says "if you have ugly thoughts then you will look ugly) and hairier. Yes, that is what I said. Hairy. She seemed to be growing her own field on her face. She started getting rid of other people-normally the people who were unwilling to kiss her arse and so I knew my time was coming soon. It's weird to think how much time and effort I put into that place only to end up being treated like crap. I really should have left when she started being a bitch and when I didn't enjoy it anymore. But the problem with me is that I am so stubborn and I didn't want to let The Hooker beat me and leave the place. Unfortunately, a lot of the people who I became close with had left or even been fired. I didn't really have many people who would stick up for me. Then came the day when The Hooker got finally got what she wanted.
It was Diwali and during the day I had gone out for a couple of drinks. 6 hours later when I was completely sober, my shift started. I'd mentioned to someone after they asked how my day was that it was Diwali and I had been for a couple of drinks at midday and that I knew we were short staffed today so I still came in when I should have had it off. The Hooker heard this and 15 minutes into when my shift had started accused me of being drunk! Unbelievable. So I got escorted out of the building in a humiliating way. I was suspended for about 3 weeks before being fired. Like I said, I had nobody left who would stick up for me. A few weeks later I got some revenge by writing the following letter, making about 50 copies and sealing them all in Christmas cards and getting someone to take them in the building for me (sorry Christian but I didn't trust anyone else). Before I did this, there were rumours going around that I was going to do something like sabotage the electrics at a gig or hijack the beer delivery. However I am not James Bond. Here is the letter:-
Hmmm, reading stuff. Sometimes it's good to read stuff.
This time, it really IS over. In a good way!!!
Can't really say it's much of a surprise as the bar manager has been trying to get rid of me for ages. It's no secret that we NEVER got along. I wonder why?? A clash of personalities?? (Although she's hardly even got one). Maybe it was an INDIAN thing (we are a strange bunch sometimes and are hard to understand). Or maybe it's because she's jealous because my facial hair is better than hers?? I recently switched from Mach 3 to Fusion. Maybe she could try that?? Or perhaps a Flymo lawnmower would be more appropriate for her??
The whole way the saga turned out has been pretty disgusting, especially after CONSTANT HUMILIATION. The GOOD NEWS is that I don't have to work with any two-faced scummy DINGBATS, or any people who think that they're more than they actually are. (you know who you are you idiots-stop DELUDING yourselves) and most of all, NO MORE HOOKER! WHOOP!
There have been good times (not been any for AGES) and there have been bad times. There have been some pretty messed up times too, one of many examples being the time on the Mars Volta gig when I was put on the rear stalls bar and "money went missing" and then the very next day I was demoted. How fucking convenient. Obviously all just a blatant lie. Sick twisted and disgusting. Unfortunately, lately, there have been too many sick, twisted and disgusting things there. Like favouritism - one rule for some people, another rule for other people and then a whole separate rule for me. NOBODY GETS TREATED THE SAME. In my book, that would be classed as -unprofessional-
I can't even say that I'm going to miss the place. Lately it's been one of many things that's been making me EXTREMELY UNHAPPY. BUT! Now that I'm not there, it's definitely a step in the RIGHT DIRECTION.
I guess this time it really is GOODBYE FOREVER.
Peace, Love and AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooo
Mukesh!
Now apparently, The Hooker managed to get most of the letters but a few got passed around to the staff. I got told that The Hooker was "very upset". I remember my beautiful friend called Jenni who said to me that it was brilliant as "every time she (The hooker) looks in the mirror, she will check for facial hair and think of the letter for the rest of her life."
I will get to how she got her name "The Hooker" later on.
When I first met The Hooker, I thought she was a bit odd looking. I try not to judge people when I first meet them but a lot of the times I tend to be right in what I think of them. The first thing I thought was that her presence made me feel uncomfortable. This wasn't because I was nervous about having a new manager-I just knew that this person wasn't going to be a good person. Her aura was giving me a lot of bad vibes. Oddly enough, I also felt that unintentionally, everyone also made her feel uncomfortable. This wasn't because she was new-it was almost as if she knew then that she was a bad manager and a bad person. She obviously wouldn't want anyone to know this so for the next few months she would be completely fake. By laughing at peoples' lame jokes, being overly "nice" and sucking up. It would really make me cringe. Now I know this could be classed as a completely natural thing to do as people want to fit in with the crowd. But it was the first step to becoming the evil conniving bitch that she became well known for.
As I was a supervisor at the time, things were ok . But I was the one that was being sucked up to. Anyone that actually knows me would know that I really hate this. I would much rather prefer someone to just....be themselves. Is that too difficult for them?? Anyway, this didn't last too long. Any person who has worked will tell you that being a good manager isn't about making friends, it's about getting the best out of your staff work wise. Eventually it seemed that The Hooker would be doing completely the opposite to this-hence her being a crap manager.
Going back to being intimidated, it seemed like it was most of the staff who had been there a long time that most intimidated The Hooker-me being one of them. Slowly but surely, she used her "feminine" charms to even higher authority and started to get rid of people who had been there a long time. Normal staff who had never really done anything wrong. For example one girl she got rid of because she wanted to go out with her ex boyfriend-no real reason was even given as to why she got rid of her. But it was clearly because she was intimidated by her as she was probably seen as a threat. When she did go out with this guy (he happened to have a bigger nose than Pinocchio on a bad day), she promoted him to a supervisor! Eventually I knew that she wanted to get rid of me and it wasn't going to be easy so she tried to make life at The Apollo as miserable for me as she could so I would leave. She yelled at me once when I started giving breaks to people-even though some of them had worked nearly 6 hours without having one-her boyfriend not being one of them of course. I recall Pinocchio having an extra long break in fact.
We eventually started arguing and having a lot of disagreements. Alcohol and money would go "missing" and she would never take responsibility for this and would always try to blame other people. Also, when my bar was quiet, I would go and wander around seeing if anybody else needed help. She was such a crap manager that I took it upon myself to do this. She didn't like this and one time when I was away from my bar, she decided to take £50 out of the til without telling me. Of course, my staff behind the bar wouldn't bat an eyelid if a manger takes comes to the til and takes money out of it as it could be a cash lift or for change or something. So at the end of the night when I cashed up my til, it was £50 down. Exactly £50 which I thought to be strange. Naturally I searched the other staff members and found nothing on them. Repeatedly asked them what had happened for it to be so much down. They of course didn't know anything and I went up to the office after a lot of stressing out and told The Hooker that it was £50 down. She then started yelling at me and then eventually told me that she took it to teach me a lesson not to leave my bar. I just flipped out and called her "A Fxxking Hooker" and stormed out of the room. The next day I was demoted, put on a different bar and that's when it all started. I would now and again be able to supervise but only if I was good and only if I sucked up to her.
One day I was really ill but came into work anyway. For some reason I got put on a different bar and I cashed the tills up at the end and remember couldn't waiting to get home. The next day, The Hooker told me the tills were £50 down (conveniently exactly £50-sound familiar?) and that I couldn't be supervisor anymore! Funny how when I cashed up, the tills were right, when The Hooker double checked, it was "£50 down." I really despised this woman. Strangley enough, she seemed to be getting uglier as time went by (I remember reading in another Roald Dahl book called The Twits and there is a bit that says "if you have ugly thoughts then you will look ugly) and hairier. Yes, that is what I said. Hairy. She seemed to be growing her own field on her face. She started getting rid of other people-normally the people who were unwilling to kiss her arse and so I knew my time was coming soon. It's weird to think how much time and effort I put into that place only to end up being treated like crap. I really should have left when she started being a bitch and when I didn't enjoy it anymore. But the problem with me is that I am so stubborn and I didn't want to let The Hooker beat me and leave the place. Unfortunately, a lot of the people who I became close with had left or even been fired. I didn't really have many people who would stick up for me. Then came the day when The Hooker got finally got what she wanted.
It was Diwali and during the day I had gone out for a couple of drinks. 6 hours later when I was completely sober, my shift started. I'd mentioned to someone after they asked how my day was that it was Diwali and I had been for a couple of drinks at midday and that I knew we were short staffed today so I still came in when I should have had it off. The Hooker heard this and 15 minutes into when my shift had started accused me of being drunk! Unbelievable. So I got escorted out of the building in a humiliating way. I was suspended for about 3 weeks before being fired. Like I said, I had nobody left who would stick up for me. A few weeks later I got some revenge by writing the following letter, making about 50 copies and sealing them all in Christmas cards and getting someone to take them in the building for me (sorry Christian but I didn't trust anyone else). Before I did this, there were rumours going around that I was going to do something like sabotage the electrics at a gig or hijack the beer delivery. However I am not James Bond. Here is the letter:-
Hmmm, reading stuff. Sometimes it's good to read stuff.
This time, it really IS over. In a good way!!!
Can't really say it's much of a surprise as the bar manager has been trying to get rid of me for ages. It's no secret that we NEVER got along. I wonder why?? A clash of personalities?? (Although she's hardly even got one). Maybe it was an INDIAN thing (we are a strange bunch sometimes and are hard to understand). Or maybe it's because she's jealous because my facial hair is better than hers?? I recently switched from Mach 3 to Fusion. Maybe she could try that?? Or perhaps a Flymo lawnmower would be more appropriate for her??
The whole way the saga turned out has been pretty disgusting, especially after CONSTANT HUMILIATION. The GOOD NEWS is that I don't have to work with any two-faced scummy DINGBATS, or any people who think that they're more than they actually are. (you know who you are you idiots-stop DELUDING yourselves) and most of all, NO MORE HOOKER! WHOOP!
There have been good times (not been any for AGES) and there have been bad times. There have been some pretty messed up times too, one of many examples being the time on the Mars Volta gig when I was put on the rear stalls bar and "money went missing" and then the very next day I was demoted. How fucking convenient. Obviously all just a blatant lie. Sick twisted and disgusting. Unfortunately, lately, there have been too many sick, twisted and disgusting things there. Like favouritism - one rule for some people, another rule for other people and then a whole separate rule for me. NOBODY GETS TREATED THE SAME. In my book, that would be classed as -unprofessional-
I can't even say that I'm going to miss the place. Lately it's been one of many things that's been making me EXTREMELY UNHAPPY. BUT! Now that I'm not there, it's definitely a step in the RIGHT DIRECTION.
I guess this time it really is GOODBYE FOREVER.
Peace, Love and AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooo
Mukesh!
Now apparently, The Hooker managed to get most of the letters but a few got passed around to the staff. I got told that The Hooker was "very upset". I remember my beautiful friend called Jenni who said to me that it was brilliant as "every time she (The hooker) looks in the mirror, she will check for facial hair and think of the letter for the rest of her life."
Tuesday 4 January 2011
Idiots with authority part 1
If there is one thing that I have learned during my whole working life, it is not to let-never to let a person who is in a higher role than you to treat you like crap. No matter how much you need the job, no matter how desperate you are for the money, there is no way a person should stay in a job if a manager or supervisor or anyone above them is making them feel worthless. I understand that people do have commitments and children etc, but in this country, the government seems to love giving people money if they don't have a job so things will be fine. If you really don't like a particular person that is of higher authority and you choose to stay in the job, then it will just make you miserable. You will go home each day from work feeling small and it will affect you for the rest of your day. You will become moody and behave in a way you normally wouldn't. The last thing anyone wants to do when they get home from work is to have work on their mind or to have someone from work on their minds who has pissed them off in some way. I know that most people in any job will moan about higher authority. But I am talking about when they make you feel like you want to kick them in their faces or something worse. Some people with authority think that they can take it and shove it down your throat and in some cases the smaller the authority, the bigger the shove can seem to be.
I am going to give just 2 examples of managers that I have dealt with in the past. Just 2 examples for now. Both were "women" and both happened to be beastly, sick, grotesque excuses for human beings.
The first one was when I was working in a cinema about 6 years ago. People at work used to call her Hitler however I thought that was a bit too extreme. My name for her was Trunchbull (the headmistress from the book Matilda, I will never watch the film as the book is one of my favourite books of all time and wouldn't want anything to ruin that) the 2nd. The only way I could describe Trunchbull the 2nd is that she seemed like she had spawned from a wild boar and an ape. When we first opened the cinema, there were about 60 staff members-it went down to 30 as most people left because of her. She would make people feel so small by yelling at them in front of other staff and customers too. I remember her making a few people cry by shouting at them. One time I wasn't due to be in-or so I thought as the had rota changed and nobody had bothered to tell me-she rang me. I explained that I hadn't been told that the rota had changed but I had to come into work anyway. When I did come in, she yelled at me in front of about 20 people, shouting with flecks of saliva spluttering from her big mouth onto my face. I calmly told her not to get so excited and she then proceeded to ban me from watching a film for free (the only perk of the job) for 3 weeks. I had done nothing wrong! Over the next few months there were tons of occasions when this kind of incident took place. I told myself that I wasn't going to be like all the other members of staff and give in, I was going to be strong and fight this beast with all that I had. I was a good worker damn it. One time on the concessions stand on a Saturday evening where there were supposed to be 6 people serving, there were just 2 including me.
It got ridiculously busy for about 2 and a half hours, throughout the time I kept wondering where the hell the rest of the staff were. Masses and masses of people were wanting to be served shouting that they were "going to miss the start of the movie" and "jumbo coke, jumbo coke, jumbo coke" was all I heard for the next 3 days. Eventually after it quietened down, me and my colleague were congratulating each other on a job well done and I leant on the back of the counter completely exhausted and considering myself to be a hero of some sort when Trunchbull the 2nd came to the counter. Thinking she was going to congratulate us for working so hard, she actually yelled at me.... for leaning. "CUSTOMERS DON'T WANT TO SEE SLOUCHING, STOP BEING SO LAZY" My reaction was to yell back, "I HAVE JUST BEEN DOING 3 PEOPLES' WORTH OF WORK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD." Needless to say that this angered the beast and she proceeded to ban me for another week from watching films. I then decided to leave and that I was going to hand my notice in and that somehow, someway I needed to get my own back. The beast had won too many battles, but not the war.
So a couple of weeks later I handed my notice in. I had a casual job in the evenings, but this wasn't going to be enough money for the next few months but I couldn't stay at the cinema anymore. On the last day I still wasn't sure what I was going to do. I wanted to see how she felt when being humiliated and so decided to go on the tannoy system. Make my feelings known about Trunchbull the 2nd to the whole cinema world as well as doing impressions of her (animal noises like a baboon as that is what she sounded like). The microphone was next to the cash office where the beast was in and I was on it for about 90 seconds until she came charging out. I ran. You have to understand how this beast was. Constantly angry and scary and when she came running after me I dread to think what she would have done to me if she caught me. Maybe rip me apart with her teeth?? She chased me outside and then I turned and faced her. We argued for about 15 minutes and I told her what a bad manager and a bad person she was-she then started to have tears coming out of her eyes and for one brief moment, I felt sorry for her and then I remembered the amount of times she made other people cry for no reason and this was for them! During the following 2 weeks I had people coming up to me in the streets, people I'd never met before telling me what I did was great-I think so too.
Part 2 of my examples of bad managers will be soon. This "woman" was hairier than me and in some ways , was more evil than The Trunchbull.
I am going to give just 2 examples of managers that I have dealt with in the past. Just 2 examples for now. Both were "women" and both happened to be beastly, sick, grotesque excuses for human beings.
The first one was when I was working in a cinema about 6 years ago. People at work used to call her Hitler however I thought that was a bit too extreme. My name for her was Trunchbull (the headmistress from the book Matilda, I will never watch the film as the book is one of my favourite books of all time and wouldn't want anything to ruin that) the 2nd. The only way I could describe Trunchbull the 2nd is that she seemed like she had spawned from a wild boar and an ape. When we first opened the cinema, there were about 60 staff members-it went down to 30 as most people left because of her. She would make people feel so small by yelling at them in front of other staff and customers too. I remember her making a few people cry by shouting at them. One time I wasn't due to be in-or so I thought as the had rota changed and nobody had bothered to tell me-she rang me. I explained that I hadn't been told that the rota had changed but I had to come into work anyway. When I did come in, she yelled at me in front of about 20 people, shouting with flecks of saliva spluttering from her big mouth onto my face. I calmly told her not to get so excited and she then proceeded to ban me from watching a film for free (the only perk of the job) for 3 weeks. I had done nothing wrong! Over the next few months there were tons of occasions when this kind of incident took place. I told myself that I wasn't going to be like all the other members of staff and give in, I was going to be strong and fight this beast with all that I had. I was a good worker damn it. One time on the concessions stand on a Saturday evening where there were supposed to be 6 people serving, there were just 2 including me.
It got ridiculously busy for about 2 and a half hours, throughout the time I kept wondering where the hell the rest of the staff were. Masses and masses of people were wanting to be served shouting that they were "going to miss the start of the movie" and "jumbo coke, jumbo coke, jumbo coke" was all I heard for the next 3 days. Eventually after it quietened down, me and my colleague were congratulating each other on a job well done and I leant on the back of the counter completely exhausted and considering myself to be a hero of some sort when Trunchbull the 2nd came to the counter. Thinking she was going to congratulate us for working so hard, she actually yelled at me.... for leaning. "CUSTOMERS DON'T WANT TO SEE SLOUCHING, STOP BEING SO LAZY" My reaction was to yell back, "I HAVE JUST BEEN DOING 3 PEOPLES' WORTH OF WORK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD." Needless to say that this angered the beast and she proceeded to ban me for another week from watching films. I then decided to leave and that I was going to hand my notice in and that somehow, someway I needed to get my own back. The beast had won too many battles, but not the war.
So a couple of weeks later I handed my notice in. I had a casual job in the evenings, but this wasn't going to be enough money for the next few months but I couldn't stay at the cinema anymore. On the last day I still wasn't sure what I was going to do. I wanted to see how she felt when being humiliated and so decided to go on the tannoy system. Make my feelings known about Trunchbull the 2nd to the whole cinema world as well as doing impressions of her (animal noises like a baboon as that is what she sounded like). The microphone was next to the cash office where the beast was in and I was on it for about 90 seconds until she came charging out. I ran. You have to understand how this beast was. Constantly angry and scary and when she came running after me I dread to think what she would have done to me if she caught me. Maybe rip me apart with her teeth?? She chased me outside and then I turned and faced her. We argued for about 15 minutes and I told her what a bad manager and a bad person she was-she then started to have tears coming out of her eyes and for one brief moment, I felt sorry for her and then I remembered the amount of times she made other people cry for no reason and this was for them! During the following 2 weeks I had people coming up to me in the streets, people I'd never met before telling me what I did was great-I think so too.
Part 2 of my examples of bad managers will be soon. This "woman" was hairier than me and in some ways , was more evil than The Trunchbull.
Sunday 2 January 2011
Music, Acting, Performance and People
I recently went to a live music venue to watch a band play. An unsigned band. Manchester has pretty much always been about up and coming acts and it is a great city in the fact that there are so many live venues for artists to perform in any day of the week.
Although lately, the past 3 years or so, as much as I hate saying this, it seems to be that less and less people are actually watching live musicians. In some cases, it is almost as if people are waiting for the live bands to finish before they even want to enter the building and then they will just end up dancing and cavorting to whatever music might be playing. Not that there is anything wrong with dancing and cavorting, but why go to a live music place and then not see the musicians that are playing??
I understand when you go to see signed musicians and how frustrating it can be when you really want a ticket only to find that they have been sold out when you know that there are a lot of touts who buy as many tickets as they can and then sell them on to the real fans for a profit. Having worked at a major gig venue myself, I already know that there is nothing you can do to stop this. It is such a shame. It is like if you finally get signed as a musician and get a massive fan base, it is really difficult to be able to play for them all. And from the fans' point of view, you have to fork out a small fortune to people who do not even care about the music industry to watch a band you like. Although I do like watching live music, these are some things that I really don't like.
One thing that I really hate is when people join bands because they think it's cool. People that have no passion and no soul whatsoever. It is just a thing that really annoys me. If you happen to look cool whilst you are doing your thing then fair enough, but people who actually pick up an instrument and then suddenly think that they are Gods gift to the universe is just pathetic. What makes it worse is that their "groupies" (these are people that just follow certain bands around and basically just need to get a life) also think that whoever they are following are Gods gift too and think that they themselves are cool because they can sing along to the songs when in reality they are all just losers. This can make the performers so arrogant. It isn't good to watch and I find it quite off putting.
Whilst I was in college, I went to the theatre countless times and watched tons of performances. Apart from college shows, I also found that a lot of actors I saw would also generally be really snooty and up themselves. Whether their acting was good or not, they for some reason thought that they were some kind of wonderful breed of people that seemed to know everything. Plus there is so much bitchiness in the acting world. I remember going for a part once and got talking to some guy who lived in Manchester like I do. It took me 2 hours on the train to arrive at the destination for the audition and as this guy drove, he offered me a lift back. Anyway, we did our pieces and mine happened to be a lot better than his. He ended up storming off and I never did get the lift home he offered. Ironically, I didn't even get the part. But then neither did the overweight idiot.
Not to stereotype everyone (I know what it is like to be stereotyped believe me and it just goes to show how idiotic and narrow minded people are), I also found that theatre goers can be quite snooty too. Now I really don't know why this is the case as I cannot understand it. It is a strange thought that people who watch the theatre can be up themselves. I feel like i need to reiterate that I am not talking about everyone who go to the theatre, I am just talking about the majority of people who I have come across whilst in the past going to the theatre.
It gets really weird when I think about going to the theatre now-although I haven't been in ages, as a person who did Drama for 5 years, I still would have an interest in going but do think about what the people on stage would be like and what the audience would be like too. As for going to watch a band, the environment can be really strange. The last one I went to was an indie place where nearly all the guys were wearing ties (they were trying to be cool) and all the girls looked the same (fake tan, hair extensions and general grossness). Most of these people actually came in the building after the bands had finished playing and there was nothing unique about anyone. I also found that I was being given strange looks by a good few people. Why?? I don't know-I think it was because I didn't have a tie on-ironically whilst I was in college, I did go through a stage where I wore ties a lot. I would get weird looks for doing that. So I wear a tie, I get weird looks, I don't wear a tie and I still get weird looks. Pretty much a no win situation.
So what puts me off performing?? Well, it is admittedly nerve racking performing songs that I have written myself, imagine being in an environment where you are performing to a load of idiots in ties and to a load of girls who look like cheap prostitutes?? But i am a bit of a hypocrite as I always go on about how you have to win people over if you are a live musician and not play for whoever would like your type of music-I actually honestly don't even know if anyone would like the songs I play. As for acting-I really do feel that I would now prefer to be on stage as myself rather than someone else. Unfortunately, in the environments that I am currently in-I feel like nobody knows anything about me at all.
Although lately, the past 3 years or so, as much as I hate saying this, it seems to be that less and less people are actually watching live musicians. In some cases, it is almost as if people are waiting for the live bands to finish before they even want to enter the building and then they will just end up dancing and cavorting to whatever music might be playing. Not that there is anything wrong with dancing and cavorting, but why go to a live music place and then not see the musicians that are playing??
I understand when you go to see signed musicians and how frustrating it can be when you really want a ticket only to find that they have been sold out when you know that there are a lot of touts who buy as many tickets as they can and then sell them on to the real fans for a profit. Having worked at a major gig venue myself, I already know that there is nothing you can do to stop this. It is such a shame. It is like if you finally get signed as a musician and get a massive fan base, it is really difficult to be able to play for them all. And from the fans' point of view, you have to fork out a small fortune to people who do not even care about the music industry to watch a band you like. Although I do like watching live music, these are some things that I really don't like.
One thing that I really hate is when people join bands because they think it's cool. People that have no passion and no soul whatsoever. It is just a thing that really annoys me. If you happen to look cool whilst you are doing your thing then fair enough, but people who actually pick up an instrument and then suddenly think that they are Gods gift to the universe is just pathetic. What makes it worse is that their "groupies" (these are people that just follow certain bands around and basically just need to get a life) also think that whoever they are following are Gods gift too and think that they themselves are cool because they can sing along to the songs when in reality they are all just losers. This can make the performers so arrogant. It isn't good to watch and I find it quite off putting.
Whilst I was in college, I went to the theatre countless times and watched tons of performances. Apart from college shows, I also found that a lot of actors I saw would also generally be really snooty and up themselves. Whether their acting was good or not, they for some reason thought that they were some kind of wonderful breed of people that seemed to know everything. Plus there is so much bitchiness in the acting world. I remember going for a part once and got talking to some guy who lived in Manchester like I do. It took me 2 hours on the train to arrive at the destination for the audition and as this guy drove, he offered me a lift back. Anyway, we did our pieces and mine happened to be a lot better than his. He ended up storming off and I never did get the lift home he offered. Ironically, I didn't even get the part. But then neither did the overweight idiot.
Not to stereotype everyone (I know what it is like to be stereotyped believe me and it just goes to show how idiotic and narrow minded people are), I also found that theatre goers can be quite snooty too. Now I really don't know why this is the case as I cannot understand it. It is a strange thought that people who watch the theatre can be up themselves. I feel like i need to reiterate that I am not talking about everyone who go to the theatre, I am just talking about the majority of people who I have come across whilst in the past going to the theatre.
It gets really weird when I think about going to the theatre now-although I haven't been in ages, as a person who did Drama for 5 years, I still would have an interest in going but do think about what the people on stage would be like and what the audience would be like too. As for going to watch a band, the environment can be really strange. The last one I went to was an indie place where nearly all the guys were wearing ties (they were trying to be cool) and all the girls looked the same (fake tan, hair extensions and general grossness). Most of these people actually came in the building after the bands had finished playing and there was nothing unique about anyone. I also found that I was being given strange looks by a good few people. Why?? I don't know-I think it was because I didn't have a tie on-ironically whilst I was in college, I did go through a stage where I wore ties a lot. I would get weird looks for doing that. So I wear a tie, I get weird looks, I don't wear a tie and I still get weird looks. Pretty much a no win situation.
So what puts me off performing?? Well, it is admittedly nerve racking performing songs that I have written myself, imagine being in an environment where you are performing to a load of idiots in ties and to a load of girls who look like cheap prostitutes?? But i am a bit of a hypocrite as I always go on about how you have to win people over if you are a live musician and not play for whoever would like your type of music-I actually honestly don't even know if anyone would like the songs I play. As for acting-I really do feel that I would now prefer to be on stage as myself rather than someone else. Unfortunately, in the environments that I am currently in-I feel like nobody knows anything about me at all.
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