Well another year rounds to a close and it has been almost a year since I started this blogging thing. So as to be completely original and not copy anyone else at all I thought I'd post my #lindyhop and #musicnerd highlights for the year.
I'm glad it has been such a great year for dancing for me. Next April I head off to Nepal to do volunteer work for 12 months so this blog will take a different turn (there won't be much about lindy to blog about); I might actually start posting more stuff about what I'm up to :)
So here we are:
Best Exchange - MLX Turn it up to 11
Now there's been a lot of love out there for MLX this year but that's cause it was freakin' awesome. Great venues, bands that were in the pocket and gun DJs who brought it. And every night was consistently good, which is rare at exchanges - usually there's one event that doesn't quite go off as much as the rest. What was really great this year was to see a whole bunch more Sydney folk there than is usually the case. Here's hoping that continues.
Best Workshop - Jazz with Ramona in Sydney
I don't usually take too many workshops (so this is hardly indicative of what's on offer around the traps), I've only done a handful this year, but this was great. A single day broken into 3 sessions working on Charleston and solo jazz. Ramona has such a relaxed and flexible teaching style - it felt she was acting more in the role of a facilitator than an instructor and that's the sort of situations where I feel I get the best learning outcomes. Sure it was ridiculously hard and I still have a whole bunch of things to unlearn, but I had a great time.
Best Social Event at an Exchange - Hullabaloo Wine Tour
I like Hulla, this was my second year there. It's also the second year that they've done a wine tour around the Swan Valley (though my first time on the tour). Good wine, good beer, good spirits, good food and chocolate = full of win! Plus getting to hang out with a bunch of other interstaters for a day was fab!
Best Band at an Exchange - Oz Big Band, MLX11
Perthies sure represented at MLX this year. In addition to the usual invasion of dancers we had an invasion of musicians as well with two bands being brought over for the event. The Saturday night dance featured Oz Big Band who really brought it playing a whole bunch of 'Greatest Hits of Lindy' like Corner Pocket, Blues in Hoss' Flat and more. Each track was solid and swinging done by a serious group of musicians who really held it together. Hoping I can see them again soon!
Best Live Music Gig - Big Jay McNeely with Adam Hall and (some of) the Velvet Playboys
This was a hard one. Between Tuba Skinny, all the great exchange music and plenty of other live gigs I've been to it has been a year of awesome music. The Big Jay gig just pips out the Legends of New Orleans concert (only cause the Opera House is a silly venue to have Jon Cleary, Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band rock it out). He comes out - not on stage - but through the crowd having to use his sax as a walking stick to get up on stage, and proceeded to play 2 honkin' sets of music leaving the other guys in the band (who weren't even half his age) trying to catch up.
I was talking to Adam Hall after the gig and he said that after the first set when a bunch of people were leaving Big Jay said to him "What are all these people leavin' for" to which Adam responded "They think you're only going to do one set". Well they got back out there and proved them wrong.
Most Surprising Live Music Gig - Big Village Christmas Party
I went to this show last week to see the Hi Tops Brass Band perform expecting to be a bit ho-hum about the rest of the hip hop but I was very pleasantly surprised. The MCs were fantastic and some quite comical too. There was a recently formed all-girl hip hop band called She-Rex (the guitarist that plays with the Sirens is a member) who knocked all our socks off. Then there was an act called Sketch the Rhyme which featured a bunch of MCs and a bunch of sketch artists with their work displayed on a projection screen. It was fascinating and hugely entertaining, they even threw in a game of celebrity heads. Towards the end of the night all these DJs started pulling out horns and guitars and belting out riffs in between laying down scratches. Last up was True Vibenation with three guys on horns throwing down honking riffs in between some great verse. A really cool night - there are some seriously talented musicians in Sydney.
Best New Album Release - Bernard Berkhout's Swing Orchestra - Let's Dance
Every track on this album is solid big band swinging goodness. I would play any and all of them at any dance and fill the floor. Gold!
Best New Australian Album Release - Christa Hughes and the Honky Tonk Shonks - Shonky
Combine the consummate showwoman Christa Hughes (who has had a long and varied career including being part of experimental rock band Machine Gun Fellatio and a stint as ringmistress at Circus Oz) and a bunch of the cats from the Cope Street Parade and you get one rollercoaster ride of an album. This album covers a bunch of popular artists ranging from the White Stripes to the Jackson 5 but all as a jazz/blues band. (I'm pretty sure the insanely talented Grant Arthur, who plays Sousaphone with the Cope Street and Banjo and Trombone in this band, did the arrangements) Well worth checking out.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Review: Where to buy music in Australia - Take 2
Though it's only been 6 months since my original post there's been quite a few changes on the music buying circuit so I thought I'd update and re-post it.
I've had a lot of people asking me lately where to buy swing music from so I thought I'd put together a post outlining the best places to purchase music from. I'll cover physical stores and buying CDs online as well as digital downloads. This is written from the Australian viewpoint - noting that many of the large online stores (for digital downloads) have geographic restrictions.
Props to Jesse and Spuds for starting this conversation on 'Hey Mr Jesse' and to various Australian listeners for their feedback to the show which pointed me in some good directions. If you're interested in swing music their show is a must listen. For the international readers Spuds put together a brief review of digital download sites that are available in various locations. They also regularly discuss the various streaming services available - which I don't.
Bricks and Mortar
For briefness I'll stick to Sydney, but there are plenty of retailers out there around the traps. If anyone wants to send me info about other cities in Oz I'll include them.
One of the best places to pick up CDs is at gigs. They're often cheaper than you can find in the store and you can be sure that the most amount of money possible is actually finding its way to the artist. And besides, what better way to preview the music than live!
Fish Fine Music - QVB, King St, Newtown and Balmain (which is moving to Leichhardt)
Fish has a good selection and breaks it up into a couple of categories (usually blues, jazz and nostalgia). They also tend to stock decent box sets. They are also more than happy to order stuff in (and it's generally much quicker than trying to buy off amazon). Their bargain bins generally have quite a lot of cheap compilations of jazz stuff. Good if you're looking to start a collection.
Birdland - George Street, Sydney
This is pretty much the only speciality jazz retailer in Sydney (they also run a website and mail order business). They're also only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They have a lot of Australian content and also stock a lot of vinyl and SACDs (for the audiophiles out there).
JB Hi Fi
The big ugly yellow retailer, but the only one with a decent variety of jazz CDs. Many of their stores do have separate jazz and blues sections, but the selection tends towards post 50's material and contemporary jazz. Their bargain bins are not worth going through. They can order stuff in, but if I'm doing that I'd rather go local.
2MBS Book and Record Bazaar - Moves Around
This second hand fair moves around town every couple of months and has books, sheet music, records and CDs. They do have a jazz section, but it pays to check pop music and classical for the occasional gem that goes astray. You can often get good out-of-print stuff here if you're prepared to spend the time leafing through the bins. Make sure you check the CDs though, some of them can be scratched or not in the case at all. It's also well advised to get there when the doors open on the first night as there's a bunch of music nerds that descend on the place looking to snatch up a bargain.
Plastic and Aluminium
I'm listing sellers with large catalogues here, but many artists sell their own and other CDs direct through their own websites. There's also many specialist labels and other niche distributors out there as well which are worth seeking out for stuff that's more off the beaten path.
Amazon
This is usually my first go-to for old stuff. They have a huge catalogue and also act as a distributor for many other resellers. You may even be able to find out-of-print stuff there through the resellers. However most out-of-print CDs and many emerging and unsigned artists are not available.
Unfortunately Amazon Mp3 is not yet available in Australia.
CDBaby
Though there's only a handful of CDs of old swing music here but this site is very popular with new musicians, particularly independents. If I'm looking for contemporary stuff this is my go-to. They also do digital downloads for many of the releases they carry.
Louisiana Music Factory
This store specialises in New Orleans and Louisiana music. They also carry a lot of trad jazz and all sorts of other stuff (Cajun, Zydeco etc.) If the artist is from New Orleans this store has it. The interface isn't as slick as Amazon or CDBaby but you can find it if you know what you're looking for. I like to make my New Orleans purchases from this store as I know more money is going back to the local community that way.
Mosaic Records
The store for high quality, complete box sets. They also do smaller compilations of particular artists. The audio quality is the best you will get and liner notes thoroughly researched and discographies complete with alternate takes. It's expensive and the releases are limited, but well worth it. Sign up to their mail list to find out what's coming up.
Jazz By Mail
Specialises in Trad Jazz and other early jazz (including the various revivals). It also stocks the catalogues of a number of specialist re-issuers including Arbors Records. They are also gearing up to do some digital downloads.
Amoeba
These guys are based in California and have three huge stores of music new and used. I found a tonne of out-of-print stuff when I was there. Although their online purchasing is fairly limited they do run a service where you can fill out a form on their website and they'll try and track down the CD or LP in store and send it to you.
Ones and Zeros
Now before I start this section I must profess that I buy all my music on CD. I like doing so because I get the liner notes with good pictures, prose and complete details. It's also an additional back-up if my electronic files fail. And even though you need specialised equipment to read them (a record can be played with a paper cone) I like having the physical product in my hand. As such I don't have any personal experience with these services. Many of them have a variety of payment options (credit card or store bought cards) and all offer discounts for buying a whole album.
There's really only 5 large online stores that have a good range of both contemporary and old stuff. I'm going to take my cue from Spuds on Hey Mr Jesse and test each by the availability of three artists: Count Basie, Billy Kyle and Nikki Yanofsky. To that I'm going to add a couple of Australian artists: James Morrison as the popular one and Pugsley Buzzard as the less common. I've also listed a couple of other sites - Bandcamp which focussing on indie artists is not directly comparable and emusic and Google music for completeness.
iTunes comes out on top, as it has by far the largest collection. They're all fairly comparable on price (most tracks being about $1.69 across all services) and naturally the local sites largely fail on the local musicians (ie. buy it from the musician direct).
iTunes
Apple - biggest collection, but you need to download iTunes to use it.
Total Collection: 14 million songs
General Price: $1.19-$2.19 per track
Count Basie: Lots (100s of albums)
Billy Kyle: Some (about 15 albums)
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Lots (about 15 albums)
Pugsley Buzzard:Yes (2 out of 3 albums)
Ovi
This is Nokia's offering and you don't need to own a Nokia phone to buy. There is a however an emusic-like subscription model for owners of a particular Nokia phone. It appears to be web-based and offers a downloadable player and browser.
Total Collection: 11 million
General Price: $1.49 per track
Count Basie: 268 albums
Billy Kyle: 12 albums
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: 10 albums
Pugsley Buzzard: Nil
Bandit.fm
Primarily tracks on the Sony label (includes vintage jazz labels Columbia, RCA Victor, RCA, Okeh) and bits and pieces from other labels. It's web-based.
Total Collection: 2 million songs
General Price: $1.69-$2.20 per track
Count Basie: 189 tracks
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Big Pond Music
You don't need to be a 'bog pond' customer to access this service and it's web-based.
Total Collection: 1 million songs
General Price: $1.10-$2.05 per track
Count Basie: 68 albums
Billy Kyle: 1 album
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: 2 albums
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Optus Music Store
Likewise you don't need to be an Optus customer to buy. It's also web-based.
Total Collection: Unknown
General Price: $1.69 per track
Count Basie: 279 albums
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Nil
Bandcamp
This falls into a similar camp to CDBaby as it is all about independent artists. In addition to showcasing independent artists this website allows you to listen to the entire album before you download it (no 30 second samples here) and you can download in a range of formats (including a number of lossless formats like FLAC). It has an impressive 2.5 million catalogue.
eMusic
If you've got it, you'll know about it. If you don't have it you can't get it.
Google Music
Not yet available in Australia (unless you do something fancy with a VPN). No word yet on a launch date.
I've had a lot of people asking me lately where to buy swing music from so I thought I'd put together a post outlining the best places to purchase music from. I'll cover physical stores and buying CDs online as well as digital downloads. This is written from the Australian viewpoint - noting that many of the large online stores (for digital downloads) have geographic restrictions.
Props to Jesse and Spuds for starting this conversation on 'Hey Mr Jesse' and to various Australian listeners for their feedback to the show which pointed me in some good directions. If you're interested in swing music their show is a must listen. For the international readers Spuds put together a brief review of digital download sites that are available in various locations. They also regularly discuss the various streaming services available - which I don't.
Bricks and Mortar
For briefness I'll stick to Sydney, but there are plenty of retailers out there around the traps. If anyone wants to send me info about other cities in Oz I'll include them.
One of the best places to pick up CDs is at gigs. They're often cheaper than you can find in the store and you can be sure that the most amount of money possible is actually finding its way to the artist. And besides, what better way to preview the music than live!
Fish Fine Music - QVB, King St, Newtown and Balmain (which is moving to Leichhardt)
Fish has a good selection and breaks it up into a couple of categories (usually blues, jazz and nostalgia). They also tend to stock decent box sets. They are also more than happy to order stuff in (and it's generally much quicker than trying to buy off amazon). Their bargain bins generally have quite a lot of cheap compilations of jazz stuff. Good if you're looking to start a collection.
Birdland - George Street, Sydney
This is pretty much the only speciality jazz retailer in Sydney (they also run a website and mail order business). They're also only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They have a lot of Australian content and also stock a lot of vinyl and SACDs (for the audiophiles out there).
JB Hi Fi
The big ugly yellow retailer, but the only one with a decent variety of jazz CDs. Many of their stores do have separate jazz and blues sections, but the selection tends towards post 50's material and contemporary jazz. Their bargain bins are not worth going through. They can order stuff in, but if I'm doing that I'd rather go local.
2MBS Book and Record Bazaar - Moves Around
This second hand fair moves around town every couple of months and has books, sheet music, records and CDs. They do have a jazz section, but it pays to check pop music and classical for the occasional gem that goes astray. You can often get good out-of-print stuff here if you're prepared to spend the time leafing through the bins. Make sure you check the CDs though, some of them can be scratched or not in the case at all. It's also well advised to get there when the doors open on the first night as there's a bunch of music nerds that descend on the place looking to snatch up a bargain.
Plastic and Aluminium
I'm listing sellers with large catalogues here, but many artists sell their own and other CDs direct through their own websites. There's also many specialist labels and other niche distributors out there as well which are worth seeking out for stuff that's more off the beaten path.
Amazon
This is usually my first go-to for old stuff. They have a huge catalogue and also act as a distributor for many other resellers. You may even be able to find out-of-print stuff there through the resellers. However most out-of-print CDs and many emerging and unsigned artists are not available.
Unfortunately Amazon Mp3 is not yet available in Australia.
CDBaby
Though there's only a handful of CDs of old swing music here but this site is very popular with new musicians, particularly independents. If I'm looking for contemporary stuff this is my go-to. They also do digital downloads for many of the releases they carry.
Louisiana Music Factory
This store specialises in New Orleans and Louisiana music. They also carry a lot of trad jazz and all sorts of other stuff (Cajun, Zydeco etc.) If the artist is from New Orleans this store has it. The interface isn't as slick as Amazon or CDBaby but you can find it if you know what you're looking for. I like to make my New Orleans purchases from this store as I know more money is going back to the local community that way.
Mosaic Records
The store for high quality, complete box sets. They also do smaller compilations of particular artists. The audio quality is the best you will get and liner notes thoroughly researched and discographies complete with alternate takes. It's expensive and the releases are limited, but well worth it. Sign up to their mail list to find out what's coming up.
Jazz By Mail
Specialises in Trad Jazz and other early jazz (including the various revivals). It also stocks the catalogues of a number of specialist re-issuers including Arbors Records. They are also gearing up to do some digital downloads.
Amoeba
These guys are based in California and have three huge stores of music new and used. I found a tonne of out-of-print stuff when I was there. Although their online purchasing is fairly limited they do run a service where you can fill out a form on their website and they'll try and track down the CD or LP in store and send it to you.
Ones and Zeros
Now before I start this section I must profess that I buy all my music on CD. I like doing so because I get the liner notes with good pictures, prose and complete details. It's also an additional back-up if my electronic files fail. And even though you need specialised equipment to read them (a record can be played with a paper cone) I like having the physical product in my hand. As such I don't have any personal experience with these services. Many of them have a variety of payment options (credit card or store bought cards) and all offer discounts for buying a whole album.
There's really only 5 large online stores that have a good range of both contemporary and old stuff. I'm going to take my cue from Spuds on Hey Mr Jesse and test each by the availability of three artists: Count Basie, Billy Kyle and Nikki Yanofsky. To that I'm going to add a couple of Australian artists: James Morrison as the popular one and Pugsley Buzzard as the less common. I've also listed a couple of other sites - Bandcamp which focussing on indie artists is not directly comparable and emusic and Google music for completeness.
iTunes comes out on top, as it has by far the largest collection. They're all fairly comparable on price (most tracks being about $1.69 across all services) and naturally the local sites largely fail on the local musicians (ie. buy it from the musician direct).
iTunes
Apple - biggest collection, but you need to download iTunes to use it.
Total Collection: 14 million songs
General Price: $1.19-$2.19 per track
Count Basie: Lots (100s of albums)
Billy Kyle: Some (about 15 albums)
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Lots (about 15 albums)
Pugsley Buzzard:Yes (2 out of 3 albums)
Ovi
This is Nokia's offering and you don't need to own a Nokia phone to buy. There is a however an emusic-like subscription model for owners of a particular Nokia phone. It appears to be web-based and offers a downloadable player and browser.
Total Collection: 11 million
General Price: $1.49 per track
Count Basie: 268 albums
Billy Kyle: 12 albums
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: 10 albums
Pugsley Buzzard: Nil
Bandit.fm
Primarily tracks on the Sony label (includes vintage jazz labels Columbia, RCA Victor, RCA, Okeh) and bits and pieces from other labels. It's web-based.
Total Collection: 2 million songs
General Price: $1.69-$2.20 per track
Count Basie: 189 tracks
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Big Pond Music
You don't need to be a 'bog pond' customer to access this service and it's web-based.
Total Collection: 1 million songs
General Price: $1.10-$2.05 per track
Count Basie: 68 albums
Billy Kyle: 1 album
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: 2 albums
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Optus Music Store
Likewise you don't need to be an Optus customer to buy. It's also web-based.
Total Collection: Unknown
General Price: $1.69 per track
Count Basie: 279 albums
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Nil
Bandcamp
This falls into a similar camp to CDBaby as it is all about independent artists. In addition to showcasing independent artists this website allows you to listen to the entire album before you download it (no 30 second samples here) and you can download in a range of formats (including a number of lossless formats like FLAC). It has an impressive 2.5 million catalogue.
eMusic
If you've got it, you'll know about it. If you don't have it you can't get it.
Google Music
Not yet available in Australia (unless you do something fancy with a VPN). No word yet on a launch date.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Links of the Week: A Gender special
I've been thinking a lot about gender and sexuality issues particularly in the dance space so I thought I'd post a bunch of links I've come across.
ABC's Artscape follows a group of gay and lesbian ballroom dancers as they battle injuries and prejudice to compete in the gay games.
Dahlia Lithwick on slate.com looks at the lengths conservatives will go to to protect people in power no longer are they denying the claims of women who experience sexual harassment, they're now denying sexual harassment even exists.
Michelle Griffin in the Herald explores how even in today's workplace women are still the ones who face the more difficult choices around parenting and career.
On a related note Amanda Czerniawski has some interesting commentary on Sociological Images on the following laundry powder commercial
And finally the world's population supposedly hit 7 billion in the last month. Rob Brooks writes in the Conversation that if you're serious about population control, you should be serious about feminism.
ABC's Artscape follows a group of gay and lesbian ballroom dancers as they battle injuries and prejudice to compete in the gay games.
Dahlia Lithwick on slate.com looks at the lengths conservatives will go to to protect people in power no longer are they denying the claims of women who experience sexual harassment, they're now denying sexual harassment even exists.
Michelle Griffin in the Herald explores how even in today's workplace women are still the ones who face the more difficult choices around parenting and career.
On a related note Amanda Czerniawski has some interesting commentary on Sociological Images on the following laundry powder commercial
And finally the world's population supposedly hit 7 billion in the last month. Rob Brooks writes in the Conversation that if you're serious about population control, you should be serious about feminism.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Links of the week
I'm not feeling particularly inspired to write anything at the moment. But here are some interesting links this week.
I came across this excellent parody video (with thanks to Sociological Images) of Miss USA contestants asked "Should Math be taught in schools?". Check out the original evolution video here if you can stomach a quarter of an hour of airheadedness.
Also on Sociological images Brady Potts compares modern and old responses to disasters after some moron Republican said the response to Hurricane Irene should have been more like 1900. This is the storm that another Republican (and presidential hopeful) Michelle Bachmann says is a 'message from God'.
In related news New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is terrified that the Republican party is becoming the 'anti-science' party.
Bernard Keane at Crickey ponders that the latest protest movement (typified by the Tea Party and its Australian analogues) of middle-aged, conservative, white, middle- or higher-income men (ie. the most advantaged group of people in the world) is because they're feeling slightly less advantaged than they used to.
Meanwhile Empirica Research has released a study commissioned by the ACTU on wealth inequality in Australia. Some key findings:
I came across this excellent parody video (with thanks to Sociological Images) of Miss USA contestants asked "Should Math be taught in schools?". Check out the original evolution video here if you can stomach a quarter of an hour of airheadedness.
Also on Sociological images Brady Potts compares modern and old responses to disasters after some moron Republican said the response to Hurricane Irene should have been more like 1900. This is the storm that another Republican (and presidential hopeful) Michelle Bachmann says is a 'message from God'.
In related news New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is terrified that the Republican party is becoming the 'anti-science' party.
Bernard Keane at Crickey ponders that the latest protest movement (typified by the Tea Party and its Australian analogues) of middle-aged, conservative, white, middle- or higher-income men (ie. the most advantaged group of people in the world) is because they're feeling slightly less advantaged than they used to.
Meanwhile Empirica Research has released a study commissioned by the ACTU on wealth inequality in Australia. Some key findings:
- The wealthiest 20% own 61% of the wealth; the poorest 20% just 1%
- Most people believe that the wealthiest 20% own 40%; the poorest 20% own 10%
- And the ideal distribution is for wealthiest 20% owning 24%; the poorest 20% owning 14%
- These views are remarkably stable across all wealth categories.
- People believe the minimum wage is $1.60 higher than reality and most support raising it.
- Most also agree that Government should adopt policies which improve wealth equality.
Monday, 15 August 2011
DJ Sets - Canberrang
This past weekend was Canberrang - Canberra's Lindy Exchange and one of the jewels in the crown of the Australian Lindy Calendar. I had an awesome time over the weekend and managed to squeeze in two sets. I wanted to get them up now as a lot of folk were asking me questions about the songs; I might add some commentary later. Here they are:
Thursday Night: 10pm-11.30pm
Hotel Kurrajong
Seq - Name - Artist - Album - Duration - Date - BPM
1 - Red Top/Ella's Blues/C-Jam Blues/Blow Top Blues - Barbara Morrison - By Request: Volume 2 - 3:12 - 2009 - 141
2 - Open House - Lionel Hampton - Complete Victor Sessions 1937-1941 - 3:01 - 1940 - 133
3 - Ain't Nothing To It - Fats Waller and His Orchestra - Chant Of The Groove - 3:14 - 1941 - 127
4 - All the Cats Join In - Catherine Russell - Inside This Heart of Mine - 3:38 - 2010 - 117
5 - Afternoon Of A Moax (Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll) - Charlie Barnet - Cherokee - 3:23 - 1940 - 131
6 - You Don't Say - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 3:51 - 2011 - 139
7 - Bounce Me, Brother, With a Solid Four - Will Bradley and His Orchestra - Howdy, Friends - 3:17 - 1941 - 146
8 - Sermonette - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 3:40 - 2009 - 118
9 - The Frim Fram Sauce - Louis Armstrong - Meet the Girls - 3:14 - 1946 - 106
10 - All of Me - Billie Holiday - The Billie Holiday Collection: Volume 2 - 3:04 - - 106
11 - Whispers in the Dark - Brooks Tegler Small Groups - Uncommon Denominator - 2:30 - 2008 - 128
12 - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra - The Lionel Hampton Story - Midnight Sun - 3:24 - 1949 - 132
13 - Accentuate The Positive - Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers - Swingin' 'Round The Clock - 3:25 - 1944 - 137
14 - Booglie Wooglie Piggy (Live) - Glenn Miller - The Magic of Glen Miller All Time Favourites - 2:34 - 1941 - 142
15 - Shoo Fly Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy - Stan Kenton - Intermission Riff - 2:36 - 1945 - 124
16 - Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Topsy Chapman & The Pros - My One and My Only Love - 5:08 - 2001 - 117
17 - Preaching the Blues - LaVern Baker - LaVern Baker Sings Bessie Smith - 2:50 - 1958 - 105
18 - Kitchen Man - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 3:05 - 2008 - 101
19 - Splanky - Count Basie - The Complete Atomic Basie - 3:36 - 1957 - 121
20 - Mr. Rhythm - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 4:08 - 2011 - 131
21 - Perdido - Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra - Take the A-Train - 3:10 - 1942 - 127
22 - Uptown Sop - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 5:44 - 2009 - 115
23 - Down Home Blues - Barbara Morrison - By Request: Volume 2 - 4:57 - 2009 - 86
24 - Sugar Blues - Creole Syncopators - The Storyville Years - 3:55 - 2011 - 87
25 - Shake Your Tailfeather - The Blues Brothers - Motion Picture Soundtrack - 2:52 - 1980 - 160
26 - New Orleans - The Louisiana Gator Boys and the Blues Brothers Band - Blues Brothers 2000 - 4:01 - 1998 - 163
Saturday Late Night: 2am-3am
White Eagle Polish Club
Seq - Name - Artist - Album - Genre - Duration - Date - BPM
1 - Going to Chicago - Barbara Morrison - Live at the 9:20 Special - 5:33 - 2002 - 127
2 - Lavendar Coffin - Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra - The Lionel Hampton Story - Midnight Sun - 2:47 - 1949 - 137
3 - Silent George - Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra - Apollo Jump - 2:39 - 1950 - 134
4 - The Ball Game - Sister Wynona Carr - Dragnet for Jesus - 3:06 - 1952 - 140
5 - Shout Sister Shout! - Shout Sister Shout - Hit That Jive - 2:46 - 2006 - 141
6 - Bienvenue Dans Ma Vie - Nikki Yanofsky - Nikki - 3:50 - 2010 - 144
7 - I Don't Care Who Knows - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 3:18 - 2008 - 130
8 - It's My Lazy Day - Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio - Three Cool Cats - 3:40 - 2008 - 114
9 - Hallelujah, I Love Her So - Joe Sample & David T. Walker - Swing Street Cafe - 5:01 - 1978 - 124
10 - I Love Being Here with You - Barbara Morrison - Live at the 9:20 Special - 3:07 - 2002 - 155
11 - 16 Tonnes - Jacques Helian/Jean Louis Tristan - Swing Party - 2:30 - 1956 - 130
12 - Secret Love - Les Brown & His Band of Renown - Session #55 - 2:47 - 2001 - 118
13 - Volare - Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train - Jazz - 2:49 - 1962 - 120
14 - Look a There - Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart - Complete Columbia Master Takes - 2:17 - 1938 - 178
15 - Sister Kate - Gordon Webster - Live in Philadelphia - 5:23 - 2010 - 158
16 - Do Your Duty - Tuba Skinny - Six Feet Down - 3:48 - 2010 - 123
17 - Mr. Rhythm - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 4:08 - 2011 - 131
Thursday Night: 10pm-11.30pm
Hotel Kurrajong
Seq - Name - Artist - Album - Duration - Date - BPM
1 - Red Top/Ella's Blues/C-Jam Blues/Blow Top Blues - Barbara Morrison - By Request: Volume 2 - 3:12 - 2009 - 141
2 - Open House - Lionel Hampton - Complete Victor Sessions 1937-1941 - 3:01 - 1940 - 133
3 - Ain't Nothing To It - Fats Waller and His Orchestra - Chant Of The Groove - 3:14 - 1941 - 127
4 - All the Cats Join In - Catherine Russell - Inside This Heart of Mine - 3:38 - 2010 - 117
5 - Afternoon Of A Moax (Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll) - Charlie Barnet - Cherokee - 3:23 - 1940 - 131
6 - You Don't Say - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 3:51 - 2011 - 139
7 - Bounce Me, Brother, With a Solid Four - Will Bradley and His Orchestra - Howdy, Friends - 3:17 - 1941 - 146
8 - Sermonette - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 3:40 - 2009 - 118
9 - The Frim Fram Sauce - Louis Armstrong - Meet the Girls - 3:14 - 1946 - 106
10 - All of Me - Billie Holiday - The Billie Holiday Collection: Volume 2 - 3:04 - - 106
11 - Whispers in the Dark - Brooks Tegler Small Groups - Uncommon Denominator - 2:30 - 2008 - 128
12 - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra - The Lionel Hampton Story - Midnight Sun - 3:24 - 1949 - 132
13 - Accentuate The Positive - Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers - Swingin' 'Round The Clock - 3:25 - 1944 - 137
14 - Booglie Wooglie Piggy (Live) - Glenn Miller - The Magic of Glen Miller All Time Favourites - 2:34 - 1941 - 142
15 - Shoo Fly Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy - Stan Kenton - Intermission Riff - 2:36 - 1945 - 124
16 - Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Topsy Chapman & The Pros - My One and My Only Love - 5:08 - 2001 - 117
17 - Preaching the Blues - LaVern Baker - LaVern Baker Sings Bessie Smith - 2:50 - 1958 - 105
18 - Kitchen Man - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 3:05 - 2008 - 101
19 - Splanky - Count Basie - The Complete Atomic Basie - 3:36 - 1957 - 121
20 - Mr. Rhythm - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 4:08 - 2011 - 131
21 - Perdido - Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra - Take the A-Train - 3:10 - 1942 - 127
22 - Uptown Sop - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 5:44 - 2009 - 115
23 - Down Home Blues - Barbara Morrison - By Request: Volume 2 - 4:57 - 2009 - 86
24 - Sugar Blues - Creole Syncopators - The Storyville Years - 3:55 - 2011 - 87
25 - Shake Your Tailfeather - The Blues Brothers - Motion Picture Soundtrack - 2:52 - 1980 - 160
26 - New Orleans - The Louisiana Gator Boys and the Blues Brothers Band - Blues Brothers 2000 - 4:01 - 1998 - 163
Saturday Late Night: 2am-3am
White Eagle Polish Club
Seq - Name - Artist - Album - Genre - Duration - Date - BPM
1 - Going to Chicago - Barbara Morrison - Live at the 9:20 Special - 5:33 - 2002 - 127
2 - Lavendar Coffin - Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra - The Lionel Hampton Story - Midnight Sun - 2:47 - 1949 - 137
3 - Silent George - Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra - Apollo Jump - 2:39 - 1950 - 134
4 - The Ball Game - Sister Wynona Carr - Dragnet for Jesus - 3:06 - 1952 - 140
5 - Shout Sister Shout! - Shout Sister Shout - Hit That Jive - 2:46 - 2006 - 141
6 - Bienvenue Dans Ma Vie - Nikki Yanofsky - Nikki - 3:50 - 2010 - 144
7 - I Don't Care Who Knows - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 3:18 - 2008 - 130
8 - It's My Lazy Day - Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio - Three Cool Cats - 3:40 - 2008 - 114
9 - Hallelujah, I Love Her So - Joe Sample & David T. Walker - Swing Street Cafe - 5:01 - 1978 - 124
10 - I Love Being Here with You - Barbara Morrison - Live at the 9:20 Special - 3:07 - 2002 - 155
11 - 16 Tonnes - Jacques Helian/Jean Louis Tristan - Swing Party - 2:30 - 1956 - 130
12 - Secret Love - Les Brown & His Band of Renown - Session #55 - 2:47 - 2001 - 118
13 - Volare - Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train - Jazz - 2:49 - 1962 - 120
14 - Look a There - Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart - Complete Columbia Master Takes - 2:17 - 1938 - 178
15 - Sister Kate - Gordon Webster - Live in Philadelphia - 5:23 - 2010 - 158
16 - Do Your Duty - Tuba Skinny - Six Feet Down - 3:48 - 2010 - 123
17 - Mr. Rhythm - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 4:08 - 2011 - 131
Sunday, 31 July 2011
DJ Set - Canberra Social
I was down in Canberra for work last week and managed to make it out to the social on Thursday night. I ended up DJing the first set - here's what I played:
Name - Artist - Album - Duration - Date - BPM
Blues for Stephanie - George Gee and His Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra - Swingin' Live! - 4:55 - 1998 - 137
Don't Get Around Much Any More - Gordon Webster - Live in Philadelphia - 4:14 - 2010 - 145
The Beaver Bump - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 3:35 - 2011 - 155
Dark Eyes - Fats Waller - Fats Waller Performance: Radio Recordings from 1931-1943 - 3:22 - 1931 - 163
The Right Idea - Charlie Barnet - Cherokee - 3:13 - 1939 - 184
Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Lionel Hampton - Complete Victor Sessions 1937-1941 - 2:52 - 1937 - 134
I Don't Care Who Knows - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 3:18 - 2008 - 130
He's Smilin' Too - The Cope Street Parade - The Cope Street Parade - 3:41 - 2010 - 117
Bucket's Got A Hole In It - Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - This Kid's The Greatest! - 2:51 - 1953 - 121
Fortunate Love - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 2:54 - 2011 - 132
Keep On Churnin' - Wynonie Harris with Todd Rhodes Orchestra - Eat to the Beat - 2:54 - 1952 - 144
Don't Roll Those Bloodshot Eyes at Me - Pugsley Buzzard - Chicago Typewriter - 3:36 - 2008 - 156
You Better Watch Yourself, Bub - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 2:57 - 2008 - 167
You Can Have My Husband - Tuba Skinny - Six Feet Down - 3:50 - 2010 - 140
Moan You Moaners - Palmetto Bug Stompers - Live @ Dba - 4:46 - 2009 - 126
Sister Kate - New Orleans Moonshiners - Frenchmen St. Parade - 3:31 - 2011 - 116
T'Aint What You Do - Billy May and His Orchestra - Oscillatin' Rhythm - 3:00 - 1957 - 166
All Right, Okay, You Win - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 4:41 - 2009 - 140
Name - Artist - Album - Duration - Date - BPM
Blues for Stephanie - George Gee and His Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra - Swingin' Live! - 4:55 - 1998 - 137
Don't Get Around Much Any More - Gordon Webster - Live in Philadelphia - 4:14 - 2010 - 145
The Beaver Bump - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 3:35 - 2011 - 155
Dark Eyes - Fats Waller - Fats Waller Performance: Radio Recordings from 1931-1943 - 3:22 - 1931 - 163
The Right Idea - Charlie Barnet - Cherokee - 3:13 - 1939 - 184
Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Lionel Hampton - Complete Victor Sessions 1937-1941 - 2:52 - 1937 - 134
I Don't Care Who Knows - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 3:18 - 2008 - 130
He's Smilin' Too - The Cope Street Parade - The Cope Street Parade - 3:41 - 2010 - 117
Bucket's Got A Hole In It - Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - This Kid's The Greatest! - 2:51 - 1953 - 121
Fortunate Love - Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators - Harlem Mad - 2:54 - 2011 - 132
Keep On Churnin' - Wynonie Harris with Todd Rhodes Orchestra - Eat to the Beat - 2:54 - 1952 - 144
Don't Roll Those Bloodshot Eyes at Me - Pugsley Buzzard - Chicago Typewriter - 3:36 - 2008 - 156
You Better Watch Yourself, Bub - Catherine Russell - Sentimental Streak - 2:57 - 2008 - 167
You Can Have My Husband - Tuba Skinny - Six Feet Down - 3:50 - 2010 - 140
Moan You Moaners - Palmetto Bug Stompers - Live @ Dba - 4:46 - 2009 - 126
Sister Kate - New Orleans Moonshiners - Frenchmen St. Parade - 3:31 - 2011 - 116
T'Aint What You Do - Billy May and His Orchestra - Oscillatin' Rhythm - 3:00 - 1957 - 166
All Right, Okay, You Win - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 4:41 - 2009 - 140
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Treme, Lindy Hop, New Orleans and the Mythology of Rebirth
This is part review, part lindy blog and part personal reflection. But mainly its me talking about stuff I don't know nearly enough about, so feel free to tell me I'm full of shit.
I've just finished watching the first season of Treme on DVD (it's finally out here*). It's by the same producers and some of the same directors and actors as The Wire (which I haven't seen the but plan on doing now). The writers do a masterful job of weaving of weaving together reality and fiction. A lot of musicians feature in the series playing themselves not just their instruments (like Kermit Ruffins - the HBO website has a fairly complete list of songs and musicians featured). A number of characters are also loosely based on local personalities. It's a character driven show, which is strange as I normally don't go for character pieces, but the HBO format allows for deeper examination of these characters than in your standard series and the fantastic acting makes them thoroughly believable.
I've just finished watching the first season of Treme on DVD (it's finally out here*). It's by the same producers and some of the same directors and actors as The Wire (which I haven't seen the but plan on doing now). The writers do a masterful job of weaving of weaving together reality and fiction. A lot of musicians feature in the series playing themselves not just their instruments (like Kermit Ruffins - the HBO website has a fairly complete list of songs and musicians featured). A number of characters are also loosely based on local personalities. It's a character driven show, which is strange as I normally don't go for character pieces, but the HBO format allows for deeper examination of these characters than in your standard series and the fantastic acting makes them thoroughly believable.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Links of the week
I'm working on a couple of posts that are a little bit more substantive - but I ain't there yet so here's some links this week. It's also a carbon tax free zone (more on that later).
You would think that getting a group of former jihadists, neo-Nazi skinheads, Irish extremists and US gang members together for a conference would be something you'd only see in a Bond movie. As it turns out, Google is interested. Shawn Donnan explains on Slate.com
If you haven't heard of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, chances are it's because you only read News Limited Newspapers. Jonathan Holmes on Mediawatch sums it up and looks at the Australian implications.
And some very thought-provoking articles about gender and social media:
You would think that getting a group of former jihadists, neo-Nazi skinheads, Irish extremists and US gang members together for a conference would be something you'd only see in a Bond movie. As it turns out, Google is interested. Shawn Donnan explains on Slate.com
If you haven't heard of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, chances are it's because you only read News Limited Newspapers. Jonathan Holmes on Mediawatch sums it up and looks at the Australian implications.
And some very thought-provoking articles about gender and social media:
- Recently no-longer-anonymous blogger Amy Mullins talks about how people act online when they perceive you as male on ABCs Unleashed. Check out her blog here.
- Randall Monroe (of XKCD fame) discusses how Google + forces you to publish your gender for all to see.
- Lisa Wade on Sociological Images looks at how some people call bullshit on public advertising by posting on it - and sharing the images. (Lisa is also a Lindy hopper and has a number of posts on race and historical videos taken out of the context of the time) The anonymous subversion of the public advertising for a different purpose is intriguing - it reminds me of an installation piece done by Sydney (now Hong Kong) artist Julia Burns.
- New Scientist reports on a tool that analyses text and determines whether the writer is female or male (and it's right 85% of the time, which is pretty darn suprising). This blog post scores neutral 96%, Amy Mullins' most recent article scores 56% male.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Djd Set: Devil City Swing, Sunday Night
Devil City Swing has got to be one of my favourite exchanges. So I was thrilled to be playing a set there. My set was Sunday night at the last venue (The Grand Poobah). We were late getting into the venue so I couldn't have music playing when people arrived. The first couple of songs were essentially the sound check as the system was set up. As it was the last night I knew that folk would be sitting, chatting and drinking (though clearly not enough as the venue didn't go through till as late as they could have) as well as dancing so I tried to play tunes that would work for both listening and dancing.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Godwin's Law
Christopher Monckton. Godwin's Law.
That is all.
I would like to go to one of his talks, but only if the venue is licensed so I can play the fallacy drinking game. I'd probably wind up with alcohol poisoning though.
That is all.
I would like to go to one of his talks, but only if the venue is licensed so I can play the fallacy drinking game. I'd probably wind up with alcohol poisoning though.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Links of the week
Late last week the winners of the Seattle Vintage Jazz Dance third annual Swing/Jazz Dance Music Video Contest were announced. The first place winner is fantastic:
I've already written about the 'working families' phenomenon. Now the Sydney Morning Herald's economics editor, Ross Gittins, explores how poverty (lack of income) is just one of the features that creates social disadvantage.
Sue Hoffman on The Drum argues that temporary protection visas actually increased boat arrivals, particularly of women and children.
With the final election results in and Antony Green back in the country he's posted a bunch of statistics on his blog.
And Ben Goldacre in The Guardian notes "how often children are able to spot bullshit, and how often adults want to shut them up".
I've already written about the 'working families' phenomenon. Now the Sydney Morning Herald's economics editor, Ross Gittins, explores how poverty (lack of income) is just one of the features that creates social disadvantage.
Sue Hoffman on The Drum argues that temporary protection visas actually increased boat arrivals, particularly of women and children.
With the final election results in and Antony Green back in the country he's posted a bunch of statistics on his blog.
And Ben Goldacre in The Guardian notes "how often children are able to spot bullshit, and how often adults want to shut them up".
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Links of the week
This week Ross Garnaut released an update to his climate change review. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing there's an excellent summary (and he pulls no punches on what the coalition should be doing) on The Drum.
Someone has made me a search engine. (Alright - it's for all nerdy types out there but it is way cool)
Massimo Pigliucci on Rationallyspeaking.org asks some questions about the US Prison system and why we lock people up. This is despite violent crime in the US going down - which could have interesting causes as Kevin Drum writes on Mother Jones. Do we need to be asking the same questions in Australia? There are currently about 30,000 people in Australian gaols. That's only 0.1% of the population but the number of people in gaol is growing at almost double the speed of population growth, even though in Australia violent crime is also down.
I often forget living in the city with its bright lights and pollution how beautiful the nights sky can be. As an example I've come across this video of time lapse photography at the Very Large Telescope in Chile. It's pretty amazing. Check out Phil Plait's blog for some commentary.
And if you've ever wandered what it would be like to be on a starship tumbling through space you can stop - because we are, as this edited version shows wonderfully.
Someone has made me a search engine. (Alright - it's for all nerdy types out there but it is way cool)
Massimo Pigliucci on Rationallyspeaking.org asks some questions about the US Prison system and why we lock people up. This is despite violent crime in the US going down - which could have interesting causes as Kevin Drum writes on Mother Jones. Do we need to be asking the same questions in Australia? There are currently about 30,000 people in Australian gaols. That's only 0.1% of the population but the number of people in gaol is growing at almost double the speed of population growth, even though in Australia violent crime is also down.
I often forget living in the city with its bright lights and pollution how beautiful the nights sky can be. As an example I've come across this video of time lapse photography at the Very Large Telescope in Chile. It's pretty amazing. Check out Phil Plait's blog for some commentary.
And if you've ever wandered what it would be like to be on a starship tumbling through space you can stop - because we are, as this edited version shows wonderfully.
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Why I like Lindy Hop
Today would have been Frankie Manning's birthday. For those that don't know, Frankie was one of the key inventors of the Lindy Hop (he invented the air step and choreographed the famous Hellzapoppin' routine) and the key figures of the revival. He was still dancing at 94. Check out this short documentary "Never Stop Swinging" for more. Frankie continues to be an inspiration to lindy hoppers everywhere.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Review: Where to buy music in Australia
I've had a lot of people asking me lately where to buy swing music from so I thought I'd put together a post outlining the best places to purchase music from. I'll cover physical stores and buying CDs online as well as digital downloads. This is written from the Australian viewpoint - noting that many of the large online stores (for digital downloads) have geographic restrictions.
Props to Jesse and Spuds for starting this conversation on 'Hey Mr Jesse' and to various Australian listeners for their feedback to the show which pointed me in some good directions. If you're interested in swing music their show is a must listen. For the international readers Spuds put together a brief review of digital download sites that are available in various locations.
Bricks and Mortar
For briefness I'll stick to Sydney, but there are plenty of retailers out there around the traps. If anyone wants to send me info about other cities in Oz I'll include them.
Fish Fine Music - QVB, King St, Balmain and Newtown
Fish has a good selection and breaks it up into a couple of categories (usually blues, jazz and nostalgia). They also tend to stock decent box sets. They are also more than happy to order stuff in (and it's generally much quicker than trying to buy off amazon). Their bargain bins generally have quite a lot of cheap compilations of jazz stuff. Good if you're looking to start a collection.
Birdland - George Street, Sydney
This is pretty much the only speciality jazz retailer in Sydney (they also run a website and mail order business). They're also only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They have a lot of Australian content and also stock a lot of vinyl and SACDs (for the audiophiles out there).
JB Hi Fi
The big ugly yellow retailer, but the only one with a decent variety of jazz CDs. Many of their stores do have separate jazz and blues sections, but the selection tends towards post 50's material and contemporary jazz. Their bargain bins are not worth going through. They can order stuff in, but if I'm doing that I'd rather go local.
2MBS Book and Record Bazaar - Moves Around
This second hand fair moves around town every couple of months and has books, sheet music, records and CDs. They've starting having a 'jazz' section, but it pays to check pop music and classical for the occasional gem that goes astray. You can often get good out-of-print stuff here if you're prepared to spend the time leafing through the bins. Make sure you check the CDs though, some of them can be scratched or not in the case at all.
Plastic and Aluminium
I'm listing sellers with large catalogues here, but many artists sell their own and other CDs direct through their own websites. There's also many specialist labels and other niche distributors out there as well which are worth seeking out for stuff that's more off the beaten path.
Amazon
This is usually my first go-to for old stuff. They have a huge catalogue and also act as a distributor for many other resellers. You may even be able to find out-of-print stuff there through the resellers. However most out-of-print CDs and many emerging and unsigned artists are not available.
Unfortunately Amazon Mp3 is not yet available in Australia.
CDBaby
Though there's only a handful of CDs of old swing music here but this site is very popular with new musicians, particularly independents. If I'm looking for contemporary stuff this is my go-to. They also do digital downloads for many of the releases they carry.
Louisiana Music Factory
This store specialises in New Orleans and Louisiana music. They also carry a lot of trad jazz and all sorts of other stuff (Cajun, Zydeco etc.) If the artist is from New Orleans this store has it. The interface isn't as slick as Amazon or CDBaby but you can find it if you know what you're looking for. I like to make my New Orleans purchases from this store as I know more money is going back to the local community that way.
Mosaic Records
The store for high quality, complete box sets. They also do smaller compilations of particular artists. The audio quality is the best you will get and liner notes thoroughly researched and discographies complete with alternate takes. It's expensive and the releases are limited, but well worth it. Sign up to their mail list to find out what's coming up.
Jazz By Mail
Specialises in Trad Jazz and other early jazz (including the various revivals). It also stocks the catalogues of a number of specialist re-issuers including Arbors Records. They are also gearing up to do some digital downloads.
Amoeba
These guys are based in California and have three huge stores of music new and used. I found a tonne of out-of-print stuff when I was there. Although their online purchasing is fairly limited they do run a service where you can fill out a form on their website and they'll try and track down the CD or LP in store and send it to you.
Ones and Zeros
Now before I start this section I must profess that I buy all my music on CD. I like doing so because I get the liner notes with good pictures, prose and complete details. It's also an additional back-up if my electronic files fail. And even though you need specialised equipment to read them (a record can be played with a paper cone) I like having the physical product in my hand. As such I don't have any personal experience with these services. Many of them have a variety of payment options (credit card or store bought cards) and all offer discounts for buying a whole album.
There's really only 4 large online stores that have a good range of both contemporary and old stuff. I'm going to take my cue from Spuds on Hey Mr Jesse and test each by the availability of three artists: Count Basie, Billy Kyle and Nikki Yanofsky. To that I'm going to add a couple of Australian artists: James Morrison as the popular one and Pugsley Buzzard as the less common. I've also listed a couple of other sites - Bandcamp which focussing on indie artists is not directly comparable and emusic for completeness.
iTunes comes out on top, as it has by far the largest collection. They're all fairly comparable on price (most tracks being about $1.69 across all services) and naturally the local sites largely fail on the local musicians (ie. buy it from the musician direct).
iTunes
Apple - biggest collection, but you need to download iTunes to use it.
Total Collection: 14 million songs
General Price: $1.19-$2.19 per track
Count Basie: Lots (100s of albums)
Billy Kyle: Some (about 15 albums)
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Lots (about 15 albums)
Pugsley Buzzard:Yes (2 out of 3 albums)
Bandit.fm
Primarily tracks on the Sony label (includes vintage jazz labels Columbia, RCA Victor, RCA, Okeh) and bits and pieces from other labels. It's web-based.
Total Collection: 2 million songs
General Price: $1.69-$2.20 per track
Count Basie: 189 tracks
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Big Pond Music
You don't need to be a 'bog pond' customer to access this service and it's web-based.
Total Collection: 1 million songs
General Price: $1.10-$2.05 per track
Count Basie: 150 Tracks
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: 2 albums
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Optus Music Store
Likewise you don't need to be an Optus customer to buy. It's also web-based.
Total Collection: Unknown
General Price: $1.69 per track
Count Basie: Lots (maybe 100 or so)
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Nil
Bandcamp
This falls into a similar camp to CDBaby as it is all about independent artists. In addition to showcasing independent artists this website allows you to listen to the entire album before you download it (no 30 second samples here) and you can download in a range of formats (including a number of lossless formats like FLAC).
eMusic
If you've got it, you'll know about it. If you don't have it you can't get it.
Props to Jesse and Spuds for starting this conversation on 'Hey Mr Jesse' and to various Australian listeners for their feedback to the show which pointed me in some good directions. If you're interested in swing music their show is a must listen. For the international readers Spuds put together a brief review of digital download sites that are available in various locations.
Bricks and Mortar
For briefness I'll stick to Sydney, but there are plenty of retailers out there around the traps. If anyone wants to send me info about other cities in Oz I'll include them.
Fish Fine Music - QVB, King St, Balmain and Newtown
Fish has a good selection and breaks it up into a couple of categories (usually blues, jazz and nostalgia). They also tend to stock decent box sets. They are also more than happy to order stuff in (and it's generally much quicker than trying to buy off amazon). Their bargain bins generally have quite a lot of cheap compilations of jazz stuff. Good if you're looking to start a collection.
Birdland - George Street, Sydney
This is pretty much the only speciality jazz retailer in Sydney (they also run a website and mail order business). They're also only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They have a lot of Australian content and also stock a lot of vinyl and SACDs (for the audiophiles out there).
JB Hi Fi
The big ugly yellow retailer, but the only one with a decent variety of jazz CDs. Many of their stores do have separate jazz and blues sections, but the selection tends towards post 50's material and contemporary jazz. Their bargain bins are not worth going through. They can order stuff in, but if I'm doing that I'd rather go local.
2MBS Book and Record Bazaar - Moves Around
This second hand fair moves around town every couple of months and has books, sheet music, records and CDs. They've starting having a 'jazz' section, but it pays to check pop music and classical for the occasional gem that goes astray. You can often get good out-of-print stuff here if you're prepared to spend the time leafing through the bins. Make sure you check the CDs though, some of them can be scratched or not in the case at all.
Plastic and Aluminium
I'm listing sellers with large catalogues here, but many artists sell their own and other CDs direct through their own websites. There's also many specialist labels and other niche distributors out there as well which are worth seeking out for stuff that's more off the beaten path.
Amazon
This is usually my first go-to for old stuff. They have a huge catalogue and also act as a distributor for many other resellers. You may even be able to find out-of-print stuff there through the resellers. However most out-of-print CDs and many emerging and unsigned artists are not available.
Unfortunately Amazon Mp3 is not yet available in Australia.
CDBaby
Though there's only a handful of CDs of old swing music here but this site is very popular with new musicians, particularly independents. If I'm looking for contemporary stuff this is my go-to. They also do digital downloads for many of the releases they carry.
Louisiana Music Factory
This store specialises in New Orleans and Louisiana music. They also carry a lot of trad jazz and all sorts of other stuff (Cajun, Zydeco etc.) If the artist is from New Orleans this store has it. The interface isn't as slick as Amazon or CDBaby but you can find it if you know what you're looking for. I like to make my New Orleans purchases from this store as I know more money is going back to the local community that way.
Mosaic Records
The store for high quality, complete box sets. They also do smaller compilations of particular artists. The audio quality is the best you will get and liner notes thoroughly researched and discographies complete with alternate takes. It's expensive and the releases are limited, but well worth it. Sign up to their mail list to find out what's coming up.
Jazz By Mail
Specialises in Trad Jazz and other early jazz (including the various revivals). It also stocks the catalogues of a number of specialist re-issuers including Arbors Records. They are also gearing up to do some digital downloads.
Amoeba
These guys are based in California and have three huge stores of music new and used. I found a tonne of out-of-print stuff when I was there. Although their online purchasing is fairly limited they do run a service where you can fill out a form on their website and they'll try and track down the CD or LP in store and send it to you.
Ones and Zeros
Now before I start this section I must profess that I buy all my music on CD. I like doing so because I get the liner notes with good pictures, prose and complete details. It's also an additional back-up if my electronic files fail. And even though you need specialised equipment to read them (a record can be played with a paper cone) I like having the physical product in my hand. As such I don't have any personal experience with these services. Many of them have a variety of payment options (credit card or store bought cards) and all offer discounts for buying a whole album.
There's really only 4 large online stores that have a good range of both contemporary and old stuff. I'm going to take my cue from Spuds on Hey Mr Jesse and test each by the availability of three artists: Count Basie, Billy Kyle and Nikki Yanofsky. To that I'm going to add a couple of Australian artists: James Morrison as the popular one and Pugsley Buzzard as the less common. I've also listed a couple of other sites - Bandcamp which focussing on indie artists is not directly comparable and emusic for completeness.
iTunes comes out on top, as it has by far the largest collection. They're all fairly comparable on price (most tracks being about $1.69 across all services) and naturally the local sites largely fail on the local musicians (ie. buy it from the musician direct).
iTunes
Apple - biggest collection, but you need to download iTunes to use it.
Total Collection: 14 million songs
General Price: $1.19-$2.19 per track
Count Basie: Lots (100s of albums)
Billy Kyle: Some (about 15 albums)
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Lots (about 15 albums)
Pugsley Buzzard:Yes (2 out of 3 albums)
Bandit.fm
Primarily tracks on the Sony label (includes vintage jazz labels Columbia, RCA Victor, RCA, Okeh) and bits and pieces from other labels. It's web-based.
Total Collection: 2 million songs
General Price: $1.69-$2.20 per track
Count Basie: 189 tracks
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Big Pond Music
You don't need to be a 'bog pond' customer to access this service and it's web-based.
Total Collection: 1 million songs
General Price: $1.10-$2.05 per track
Count Basie: 150 Tracks
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: 2 albums
Pugsley Buzzard: Yes (1 out of 3 albums)
Optus Music Store
Likewise you don't need to be an Optus customer to buy. It's also web-based.
Total Collection: Unknown
General Price: $1.69 per track
Count Basie: Lots (maybe 100 or so)
Billy Kyle: Nil
Nikki Yanofsky: Yes (1 album - only release)
James Morrison: Nil
Pugsley Buzzard: Nil
Bandcamp
This falls into a similar camp to CDBaby as it is all about independent artists. In addition to showcasing independent artists this website allows you to listen to the entire album before you download it (no 30 second samples here) and you can download in a range of formats (including a number of lossless formats like FLAC).
eMusic
If you've got it, you'll know about it. If you don't have it you can't get it.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Swing dancing analogies: A chocolate teapot
I've observed with interest the recent multiplication of swing dancing analogies. Perhaps it's the rise of the swing dancing blog, or there's more people thinking about dancing but I'm beginning to think that it's getting a bit much. Some of them are cute, some of them show the nerdiness of Lindy Hoppers and yet others can get the user into hot water.
Don't get me wrong, I like analogies and they have their uses. But that's the problem. An analogy is a comparison used to explain a difficult concept, by stripping out the complexity and comparing it to something within the bounds of common experience. Back when I did science and math tutoring they came in handy to take concepts and ideas beyond experience (like electricity - electrons flow around a circuit like water in a pipe) and make them easier to understand.
But here's the catch. Dancing is something that is within the bounds of regular experience. You can see it and feel it. Even though some things can be difficult to get I can't see how trying to wrap your head around something involving boxes, springs or flashlights helps the matter. The concept being proposed can be more complex than what it's trying to explain. A writer will then spend more of their time trying to explain the analogy than they devote to the original concept.
Much of the time I feel that analogies are being used to make a point and fair enough. It can be hard to get heard in the lindysphere these days so anything to get your point across is a plus in this marketplace of ideas.
Remember, though, that analogies will always fail. There's only so far they can be stretched. This is the opportunity for real understanding. When my student asked "what happens when all the electrons (ie water) runs out of the pipe?" they can learn that the electrons don't "run out" but are conserved in the system.
That's where the true success of an analogy is: its failure.
Don't get me wrong, I like analogies and they have their uses. But that's the problem. An analogy is a comparison used to explain a difficult concept, by stripping out the complexity and comparing it to something within the bounds of common experience. Back when I did science and math tutoring they came in handy to take concepts and ideas beyond experience (like electricity - electrons flow around a circuit like water in a pipe) and make them easier to understand.
But here's the catch. Dancing is something that is within the bounds of regular experience. You can see it and feel it. Even though some things can be difficult to get I can't see how trying to wrap your head around something involving boxes, springs or flashlights helps the matter. The concept being proposed can be more complex than what it's trying to explain. A writer will then spend more of their time trying to explain the analogy than they devote to the original concept.
Much of the time I feel that analogies are being used to make a point and fair enough. It can be hard to get heard in the lindysphere these days so anything to get your point across is a plus in this marketplace of ideas.
Remember, though, that analogies will always fail. There's only so far they can be stretched. This is the opportunity for real understanding. When my student asked "what happens when all the electrons (ie water) runs out of the pipe?" they can learn that the electrons don't "run out" but are conserved in the system.
That's where the true success of an analogy is: its failure.
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Links of the week
Chris Moody in Mother Jones talks about how ideology trumps facts. He explains how people deny facts when they are in conflict with their beliefs. It's no wonder then that climate sceptics don't change their minds, but it does happen as Brian Merchant finds out at Slate.com. The key? They need to change their minds on the politics first; the facts second.
The anti-intellectual attitudes evident in the climate change debate may have a root in working class 'boganism' in our public schools as Geoff Strong explains in the National Times.
Dan Cass examines on The Drum the culture of hate speech in climate politics how this could both shut down legitimate debate and pose real physical dangers to green activists and politicians.
And ever fancied telecommuting by blimp? Tobita Hiroaki and colleagues at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo have made it possible:
The anti-intellectual attitudes evident in the climate change debate may have a root in working class 'boganism' in our public schools as Geoff Strong explains in the National Times.
Dan Cass examines on The Drum the culture of hate speech in climate politics how this could both shut down legitimate debate and pose real physical dangers to green activists and politicians.
And ever fancied telecommuting by blimp? Tobita Hiroaki and colleagues at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo have made it possible:
I want one.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
What is the new 'Middle Class'?
The post-budget articles in the newspapers are making me sick. Making out families on $150,000 a year as though they're on struggle street is pretty dirty, when folk in that situation are better off than most of us.
Matt Cowgill has written an excellent piece trying to find out what the middle class (middle meaning median, not average) actually is. It's been picked up by ABC's The Drum as well.
I've looked at how big the supposed 'working families' demographic is before, but let's explore what this 'middle class', that Government budget savings will affect, is really like.
My source - "Household Wealth and Wealth Distribution, Australia, 2005-06" from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (I know it's a little old but it's the latest issue of the product).
I'll be looking at the top 20% of households by gross income. These are households making more than $100,000 a year - including plenty of families making substantially less than those examined in the papers.
Share of Wealth and Income
Now this top 20% of households controls 45% of the income in Australia and 60% of the wealth. This is nearly double the income and triple the wealth of the next highest 20% and 10 times the income and 60 times the wealth of the lowest 20% of households. This may sound bad but it's better than the US where the top 20% controls 61% of the income and a whopping 85% of the wealth (and the top 1% of households 34% of the wealth).
The median income of this group is $130K a year, more than double the median income for all households and nearly 10 times that of the lowest group.
The median net worth of this group is $635K, double the median for all households and three times that of the lowest group.
Income Source
This group is fairly similar to the next highest 20% in that they both get their primary income from wages and salaries, although there appears to be a very small number that claim their primary source of income is government pensions and allowances - perhaps The Australian found them. However about a quarter of this group gets 1-20% of their income from pensions and allowances. Unfortunately the stats don't break down further but I'll assume the contribution will mostly be closer to 1% than 20%.
Tenure Type
Most of this group, 57%, has a mortgage the highest proportion of any income group. Makes sense - mortgages are expensive so the highest income bracket will be able to have more of them.
Family Type
Nearly half of this group (and more than twice the average) have kids under 15, the highest proportion for all income groups. Makes sense - kids are expensive so the highest income bracket will be able to have more of them.
Also less than 4% of this group are lone person households, close to seven times less than the average. To get into this income bracket you need a combined income. This is also borne out in the stats - these households have an average of 2.3 employed persons and one child under 15 (again, almost twice the average).
Location
Three quarters of these households live in capital cities which is higher than the average (about 63%).
Summary
So this group of top 20% in household earnings does fit the postcard. They're likely to have a mortgage and kids with both parents in work, get the majority of their income from work and live in a capital city. But this is a group that as a whole controls a majority of the household wealth and close to a majority of the household income.
This group does get some government benefits, less than that of the next highest income bracket, but their biggest advantage is that they earn more and possess more. If this group actually depends on government assistance then the rest of us are screwed.
Matt Cowgill has written an excellent piece trying to find out what the middle class (middle meaning median, not average) actually is. It's been picked up by ABC's The Drum as well.
I've looked at how big the supposed 'working families' demographic is before, but let's explore what this 'middle class', that Government budget savings will affect, is really like.
My source - "Household Wealth and Wealth Distribution, Australia, 2005-06" from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (I know it's a little old but it's the latest issue of the product).
I'll be looking at the top 20% of households by gross income. These are households making more than $100,000 a year - including plenty of families making substantially less than those examined in the papers.
Share of Wealth and Income
Now this top 20% of households controls 45% of the income in Australia and 60% of the wealth. This is nearly double the income and triple the wealth of the next highest 20% and 10 times the income and 60 times the wealth of the lowest 20% of households. This may sound bad but it's better than the US where the top 20% controls 61% of the income and a whopping 85% of the wealth (and the top 1% of households 34% of the wealth).
The median income of this group is $130K a year, more than double the median income for all households and nearly 10 times that of the lowest group.
The median net worth of this group is $635K, double the median for all households and three times that of the lowest group.
Income Source
This group is fairly similar to the next highest 20% in that they both get their primary income from wages and salaries, although there appears to be a very small number that claim their primary source of income is government pensions and allowances - perhaps The Australian found them. However about a quarter of this group gets 1-20% of their income from pensions and allowances. Unfortunately the stats don't break down further but I'll assume the contribution will mostly be closer to 1% than 20%.
Tenure Type
Most of this group, 57%, has a mortgage the highest proportion of any income group. Makes sense - mortgages are expensive so the highest income bracket will be able to have more of them.
Family Type
Nearly half of this group (and more than twice the average) have kids under 15, the highest proportion for all income groups. Makes sense - kids are expensive so the highest income bracket will be able to have more of them.
Also less than 4% of this group are lone person households, close to seven times less than the average. To get into this income bracket you need a combined income. This is also borne out in the stats - these households have an average of 2.3 employed persons and one child under 15 (again, almost twice the average).
Location
Three quarters of these households live in capital cities which is higher than the average (about 63%).
Summary
So this group of top 20% in household earnings does fit the postcard. They're likely to have a mortgage and kids with both parents in work, get the majority of their income from work and live in a capital city. But this is a group that as a whole controls a majority of the household wealth and close to a majority of the household income.
This group does get some government benefits, less than that of the next highest income bracket, but their biggest advantage is that they earn more and possess more. If this group actually depends on government assistance then the rest of us are screwed.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
The Canadian Election: Why they need preferential voting
I like Canada and I like elections (it's my largest tag word at the moment, which I should really do something about). Canada had an election a couple of days ago hence I shall discuss.
For a country considered fairly liberal the political system is somewhat backward. The Senate is not elected (and there have been some moves to abolish it) and they use a first-past-the-post voting system. In a country with three main parties on the left and one on the right (at the moment anyway) this is a rather daft way to go about things. I have long maintained that the Canadian electoral system gives the Conservative party more seats (or ridings as they are known) than they deserve.
This election gave me an opportunity to put that theory to the test. At the time I scraped the data off Elections Canada most of the vote had been counted and this was the results:
(A note on parties. BQ is the Bloc Québécois who campaign only in Quebec on a secessionist agenda with left leaning policies otherwise, the Liberals are liberals with a little l and formerly Canada's primary left leaning party. The NDP are the New Democrat Party, social democrats and the new opposition. The Greens also won their first seat)
This has given the Conservatives a majority government for the first time in a while (they went into the election with a minority government). This is also something a lot of my Canadian friends are unhappy about.
So would preferential voting have made a difference? I spent a couple of nights crunching numbers to find out. I'm going to assume the introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV), a form of preferential voting. There is currently a referendum on this in the UK on which there is excellent Australian coverage.
The alternative vote is also known as optional preferential voting which is used in most Australian states and territories. The BBC explains it well here. It aims to elect the most preferred candidate. Basically it works by allowing voters to express preferences for more than one candidate. You mark 1 on the ballot paper to vote for your most preferred candidate and then you can add as many more numbers as you wish (or just leave it at one).
The papers are counted on the one votes. If a candidate has more than 50% of the vote they are elected. If not then the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and their papers redistributed according to preferences (if no further preferences are indicated then those votes 'exhaust'). If a candidate still doesn't have 50% of the remaining votes (the exhausted votes are not counted in this total) then then next lowest candidate is excluded and so on.
Most of the time AV will elect the same candidate as FPTP. Where it can have an impact is where votes are split between two similar candidates, as is the case in many ridings in Canada between the NDP and Liberals. Using the data I undertook a simulated distribution of preferences. First I counted up all those ridings where the candidate had won with more than 50% of the vote. In these ridings AV would not make any difference.
For the remaining 163 ridings I distributed preferences on the following assumptions:
Under AV the conservatives would only get 129 ridings with a further 12 possible. The Liberals and NDP would have at least 160 between them. 4 ridings could go to either the BQ, Libs or NDP and would be decided on Conservative preferences. 2 ridings were influenced by high polling minor parties or independents making them impossible to predict. The 24 uncertain ridings would depend on the rate preferences are exhausted (particularly in the left vs right contests) and how preferences from the Conservatives or BQ flow to the Liberals and NDP.
Under AV the Conservatives would not have won a majority. They could still have governed from minority, however unlike in the previous parliament the NDP and Liberals would have the numbers to form a coalition. Here's a list of the ridings I've predicted that would be different under AV:
Would this have been the actual result? It's very hard to predict what would have happened in reality. It's likely that the rate of exhausted votes would be higher for Conservatives and lower for voters on the left, depending on the how-to-vote campaigns of the parties. The reduction in strategic voting would also have different consequences (the Greens and other minor parties would probably have gotten higher votes) and could have led to an increase in votes for the left as these candidates would have been less concerned about vote splitting.
What does seem to be the case is that the Liberals should have the most interest in AV given the numbers of seats they'd pick up. First Past the Post would seem to be preferred by the Conservatives, while there's still only one party on the right.
What are the prospects for AV in Canada?
Some of the provinces used it in the period between 1920s-1950s, however none have used it since. British Columbia tried twice to introduce a complicated form of preferential voting similar to what is used in Tasmania, but the referenda weren't successful.
There will certainly be some discussion about it after this election but the reformists argument will be split between some form of AV and some form of proportional representation. Just like the vote on the left....
For a country considered fairly liberal the political system is somewhat backward. The Senate is not elected (and there have been some moves to abolish it) and they use a first-past-the-post voting system. In a country with three main parties on the left and one on the right (at the moment anyway) this is a rather daft way to go about things. I have long maintained that the Canadian electoral system gives the Conservative party more seats (or ridings as they are known) than they deserve.
This election gave me an opportunity to put that theory to the test. At the time I scraped the data off Elections Canada most of the vote had been counted and this was the results:
| BQ | 4 |
| Conservatives | 167 |
| Liberals | 34 |
| NDP | 102 |
| Greens | 1 |
| Total | 308 |
(A note on parties. BQ is the Bloc Québécois who campaign only in Quebec on a secessionist agenda with left leaning policies otherwise, the Liberals are liberals with a little l and formerly Canada's primary left leaning party. The NDP are the New Democrat Party, social democrats and the new opposition. The Greens also won their first seat)
This has given the Conservatives a majority government for the first time in a while (they went into the election with a minority government). This is also something a lot of my Canadian friends are unhappy about.
So would preferential voting have made a difference? I spent a couple of nights crunching numbers to find out. I'm going to assume the introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV), a form of preferential voting. There is currently a referendum on this in the UK on which there is excellent Australian coverage.
The alternative vote is also known as optional preferential voting which is used in most Australian states and territories. The BBC explains it well here. It aims to elect the most preferred candidate. Basically it works by allowing voters to express preferences for more than one candidate. You mark 1 on the ballot paper to vote for your most preferred candidate and then you can add as many more numbers as you wish (or just leave it at one).
The papers are counted on the one votes. If a candidate has more than 50% of the vote they are elected. If not then the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and their papers redistributed according to preferences (if no further preferences are indicated then those votes 'exhaust'). If a candidate still doesn't have 50% of the remaining votes (the exhausted votes are not counted in this total) then then next lowest candidate is excluded and so on.
Most of the time AV will elect the same candidate as FPTP. Where it can have an impact is where votes are split between two similar candidates, as is the case in many ridings in Canada between the NDP and Liberals. Using the data I undertook a simulated distribution of preferences. First I counted up all those ridings where the candidate had won with more than 50% of the vote. In these ridings AV would not make any difference.
| BQ | 0 |
| Conservatives | 107 |
| Liberals | 2 |
| NDP | 36 |
| Greens | 0 |
| Total | 145 |
For the remaining 163 ridings I distributed preferences on the following assumptions:
- Roughly 50% of the votes would exhaust (which is the usual rate in Australia)
- Preferences from the Greens would flow to the NDP
- Preferences from the Liberals would flow to the NDP and vice versa
- Preferences from the Conservatives would flow to the Liberals
- Preferences from the BQ would flow to either the NDP or the Liberals.
| BQ | 0 |
| Conservatives | 129 |
| Liberals | 50 |
| NDP | 104 |
| Greens | 1 |
| Uncertain | 2 |
| LIB/NDP | 6 |
| BQ/LIB/NDP | 4 |
| CON vs LIB/NDP | 12 |
| Total | 308 |
Under AV the conservatives would only get 129 ridings with a further 12 possible. The Liberals and NDP would have at least 160 between them. 4 ridings could go to either the BQ, Libs or NDP and would be decided on Conservative preferences. 2 ridings were influenced by high polling minor parties or independents making them impossible to predict. The 24 uncertain ridings would depend on the rate preferences are exhausted (particularly in the left vs right contests) and how preferences from the Conservatives or BQ flow to the Liberals and NDP.
Under AV the Conservatives would not have won a majority. They could still have governed from minority, however unlike in the previous parliament the NDP and Liberals would have the numbers to form a coalition. Here's a list of the ridings I've predicted that would be different under AV:
| Riding | Province | FPTP | AV |
| Edmonton - Sherwood Park | AB | CON | ? |
| Vancouver South | BC | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| Nanaimo - Alberni | BC | CON | ?CON/NDP |
| Newton - North Delta | BC | NDP | LIB |
| Vancouver Island North | BC | CON | ?CON/NDP |
| Elmwood - Transcona | MB | CON | NDP |
| Winnipeg North | MB | LIB | ?LIB/NDP |
| Winnipeg South Centre | MB | CON | LIB |
| Madawaska - Restigouche | NB | CON | LIB |
| Moncton - Riverview - Dieppe | NB | CON | LIB |
| Labrador | NL | CON | LIB |
| Dartmouth - Cole Harbour | NS | NDP | LIB |
| South Shore - St. Margaret's | NS | CON | NDP |
| Ajax--Pickering | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Bramalea--Gore--Malton | Ontario | CON | NDP |
| Brampton West | Ontario | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| Don Valley East | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Don Valley West | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Eglinton - Lawrence | Ontario | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| Kitchener Centre | Ontario | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| Etobicoke - Lakeshore | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Etobicoke Centre | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Mississauga - Brampton South | Ontario | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| Mississauga - Streetsville | Ontario | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| Kitchener - Waterloo | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Richmond Hill | Ontario | CON | ?CON/LIB |
| London North Centre | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Mississauga East - Cooksville | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Nipissing - Timiskaming | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Ottawa - Orléans | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Pickering - Scarborough East | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Sault Ste. Marie | Ontario | CON | NDP |
| Scarborough Centre | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Willowdale | Ontario | CON | LIB |
| Portneuf - Jacques-Cartier | Quebec | NDP | ? |
| Ahuntsic | Quebec | BQ | ?BQ/LIB/NDP |
| Lotbinière - Chutes-de-la-Chaudière | Quebec | CON | NDP |
| Lévis - Bellechasse | Quebec | CON | ?CON/NDP |
| Montmagny - L'Islet - Kamouraska - Rivière-du-Loup | Quebec | CON | NDP |
| Haute-Gaspésie - La Mitis - Matane - Matapédia | Quebec | BQ | ?LIB/BQ |
| Honoré - Mercier | Quebec | NDP | ?LIB/NDP |
| Lac-Saint-Louis | Quebec | LIB | ?LIB/NDP |
| Papineau | Quebec | LIB | ?LIB/NDP |
| Pierrefonds - Dollard | Quebec | NDP | ?LIB/NDP |
| Westmount - Ville-Marie | Quebec | LIB | ?LIB/NDP |
| Bas-Richelieu--Nicolet--Bécancour | Quebec | BQ | ?NDP/BQ |
| Richmond - Arthabaska | Quebec | BQ | ?NDP/BQ |
| Desnethé - Missinippi - Churchill River | SK | CON | ?CON/NDP |
| Saskatoon - Rosetown - Biggar | SK | CON | ?CON/NDP |
| Palliser | SK | CON | NDP |
| Yukon | YK | CON | LIB |
Would this have been the actual result? It's very hard to predict what would have happened in reality. It's likely that the rate of exhausted votes would be higher for Conservatives and lower for voters on the left, depending on the how-to-vote campaigns of the parties. The reduction in strategic voting would also have different consequences (the Greens and other minor parties would probably have gotten higher votes) and could have led to an increase in votes for the left as these candidates would have been less concerned about vote splitting.
What does seem to be the case is that the Liberals should have the most interest in AV given the numbers of seats they'd pick up. First Past the Post would seem to be preferred by the Conservatives, while there's still only one party on the right.
What are the prospects for AV in Canada?
Some of the provinces used it in the period between 1920s-1950s, however none have used it since. British Columbia tried twice to introduce a complicated form of preferential voting similar to what is used in Tasmania, but the referenda weren't successful.
There will certainly be some discussion about it after this election but the reformists argument will be split between some form of AV and some form of proportional representation. Just like the vote on the left....
Monday, 25 April 2011
Links of the week
This week I wanted to share a few videos.
First is an amazing collaboration between the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and a dancer by the name of Lil Buck who does bone bending. I'll let the video speak for itself.
First is an amazing collaboration between the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and a dancer by the name of Lil Buck who does bone bending. I'll let the video speak for itself.
A friend linked this video of Glenn Crytzer's Blue Rhythm Band at DCLX - they are swinging hard. Don't forget to check out Glenn's blog and buy his bands' CDs.
The following video is the battle between Glenn Crytzer's Blue Rhythm Band and the Jonathan Stout Orchestra also at DCLX. It's a pity the camera doesn't show the audience because they have pretty much all stopped dancing to cheer on the musicians. One of the musicians recounts his experience of it on his blog.
This video has been doing the rounds but I have to share it again. Electro-swing band Caravan Palace perform live with the Ninjammerz in front of thousands of people at the Montreal Jazz Festival:
Tim Minchin's 9 minute beat poem "Storm" has finally been turned into an animated short. Enjoy:
And finally some politics: Adam Clancy on The Drum notes that though the price of electricity and petrol are going up there's plenty of things that are going down.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
NSW State Election Contests: The Wash
It's taken some time but all the results are finally in. Time to review the contests I previewed.
The Legislative Council
After what ended up coming down to what Green's candidate Jeremy Buckingham described as a 'neck and redneck battle' the final results are in. Thankfully Pauline Hanson, despite getting a surprising portion of the first preference vote didn't win a seat. The results were:
Liberal/Nationals - 11
Labor - 5
The Greens - 3
Shooters and Fishers - 1
Christian Democrats - 1
This was in line with what the polls predicted with the Greens performing well enough on preferences to pick up an additional seat and the CDP taking back the Family First seat that was the result of Gordon Moyes defection.
Pauline Hanson picked up 2.4% of the primary vote and came very close to winning. This performance surprised many, but if you examine her last tilt at the LC the combined Hanson/One Nation percentage of the vote was 3.4%. Although her personal support appears to have picked up since 2003 (where it was 1.9%) it's likely these were stolen from those who voted for One Nation at the time.
John Hatton unfortunately didn't pick up many votes, receiving a similar number to the Fishing Party, Family First and the No Parking Meters Party. Most of his votes exhausted so he didn't help elect anyone really.
The Side Contests
Marrickville - Labor retained by the skin of it's teeth - an 0.9% margin. It was always going to be close. If the Greens can continue to swing towards them, with an impressive 35.9% of the primary vote, they'll probably take it at the next election.
Balmain - In rare 3-way contest the Greens did manage to take Balmain (though with a lower primary vote than in Marrickville - 30.7%) and hold it with a 3.5% margin against the Liberal Party.
Wollongong - Despite a massive swing against it (24.3%) Labor managed to hang on against the Independent Gordon Bradbery with a margin of just 1%.
Sydney - Clover Moore managed to retain Sydney - except where she held it before with a 16.6% margin against Labor she now holds it with a 3.1% margin against the Liberal Party.
Lake Macquarie - Greg Piper easily retained the seat, although as in Sydney the 2PP vote is now against the Liberals.
Newcastle - In what was probably the best Labor performance in the State the sitting member Jodi McKay lost only 0.6% of the primary vote, however the Independent challenger was decimated delivering the seat to the Liberal Party
Dubbo, Tamworth and Port Macquarie - All fell to the Nationals which wasn't a surprise
Hornsby - Independent Nick Berman put in a good show but not good enough to beat the Liberal candidate.
As a side note it was interesting to see the number of safe Liberal seats where the Greens out-polled Labor on first preferences. This happened in at least Davidson, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Manly, North Shore, Pittwater, Vaucluse, Wakehurst and Willoughby. The two candidate preferred vote for many of these seats is going to need to be reviewed - in some cases these seats may become Liberal vs Green (depending on exhaustion of preferences).
The Swing
It was almost certainly historic and we know what the results are on the primary vote (roughly - there's still votes to be counted). But it's going to be another couple of weeks before we know the final swing. Watch this space.
The Legislative Council
After what ended up coming down to what Green's candidate Jeremy Buckingham described as a 'neck and redneck battle' the final results are in. Thankfully Pauline Hanson, despite getting a surprising portion of the first preference vote didn't win a seat. The results were:
Liberal/Nationals - 11
Labor - 5
The Greens - 3
Shooters and Fishers - 1
Christian Democrats - 1
This was in line with what the polls predicted with the Greens performing well enough on preferences to pick up an additional seat and the CDP taking back the Family First seat that was the result of Gordon Moyes defection.
Pauline Hanson picked up 2.4% of the primary vote and came very close to winning. This performance surprised many, but if you examine her last tilt at the LC the combined Hanson/One Nation percentage of the vote was 3.4%. Although her personal support appears to have picked up since 2003 (where it was 1.9%) it's likely these were stolen from those who voted for One Nation at the time.
John Hatton unfortunately didn't pick up many votes, receiving a similar number to the Fishing Party, Family First and the No Parking Meters Party. Most of his votes exhausted so he didn't help elect anyone really.
The Side Contests
Marrickville - Labor retained by the skin of it's teeth - an 0.9% margin. It was always going to be close. If the Greens can continue to swing towards them, with an impressive 35.9% of the primary vote, they'll probably take it at the next election.
Balmain - In rare 3-way contest the Greens did manage to take Balmain (though with a lower primary vote than in Marrickville - 30.7%) and hold it with a 3.5% margin against the Liberal Party.
Wollongong - Despite a massive swing against it (24.3%) Labor managed to hang on against the Independent Gordon Bradbery with a margin of just 1%.
Sydney - Clover Moore managed to retain Sydney - except where she held it before with a 16.6% margin against Labor she now holds it with a 3.1% margin against the Liberal Party.
Lake Macquarie - Greg Piper easily retained the seat, although as in Sydney the 2PP vote is now against the Liberals.
Newcastle - In what was probably the best Labor performance in the State the sitting member Jodi McKay lost only 0.6% of the primary vote, however the Independent challenger was decimated delivering the seat to the Liberal Party
Dubbo, Tamworth and Port Macquarie - All fell to the Nationals which wasn't a surprise
Hornsby - Independent Nick Berman put in a good show but not good enough to beat the Liberal candidate.
As a side note it was interesting to see the number of safe Liberal seats where the Greens out-polled Labor on first preferences. This happened in at least Davidson, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Manly, North Shore, Pittwater, Vaucluse, Wakehurst and Willoughby. The two candidate preferred vote for many of these seats is going to need to be reviewed - in some cases these seats may become Liberal vs Green (depending on exhaustion of preferences).
The Swing
It was almost certainly historic and we know what the results are on the primary vote (roughly - there's still votes to be counted). But it's going to be another couple of weeks before we know the final swing. Watch this space.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Links of the week
Although the result in Balmain has finally been sorted, the race for the last seat in the NSW Legislative Council is still ongoing. Antony Green tracks the progress. I'll post my wash up of the results when this contest is finally decided.
Despite the Greens poorer than expected performance in the State election Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann argues what the party needs to do to become a party of government in a generation.
Sean Nicholls in the National Times argues that that Barry O'Farrell's honeymoon may almost be over. Although much has been made of the restructure of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water there has been very little media interest in the broader departmental reshuffle. The only department that remains untouched is Transport with many other departments are undergoing changes as big as that of DECCW and some senior public service executives have already been given the sack. (If you feel like some reading the full administrative order detailing the restructure is here) In particular few commentators have worked out that the majority of the public service will be spending the next few months implementing the restructure as opposed to policies and programs. This has very real implications for a government trying to look like they're achieving results. It's telling that the big ticket items in Barry O'Farrell's 100 Day Plan are to be implemented by the departments that are undergoing fewer changes.
More on the climate change debate. Paul Griffiths and Mark Colyvan on The Drum examine how difficult it is for the public to work out who is speaking with the authority of science. Also on the Drum Darren Osborne shows how science actually works - your opinion should follow the evidence, not the other way around - in preliminary results of a new analysis of global temperature data. On the front of solutions New Scientist reviews research suggesting that large scale implementation of wind power could have unintended consequences and Jessica Irvine in the National Times discusses how the economics of a carbon tax is supposed to work.
Despite the Greens poorer than expected performance in the State election Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann argues what the party needs to do to become a party of government in a generation.
Sean Nicholls in the National Times argues that that Barry O'Farrell's honeymoon may almost be over. Although much has been made of the restructure of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water there has been very little media interest in the broader departmental reshuffle. The only department that remains untouched is Transport with many other departments are undergoing changes as big as that of DECCW and some senior public service executives have already been given the sack. (If you feel like some reading the full administrative order detailing the restructure is here) In particular few commentators have worked out that the majority of the public service will be spending the next few months implementing the restructure as opposed to policies and programs. This has very real implications for a government trying to look like they're achieving results. It's telling that the big ticket items in Barry O'Farrell's 100 Day Plan are to be implemented by the departments that are undergoing fewer changes.
More on the climate change debate. Paul Griffiths and Mark Colyvan on The Drum examine how difficult it is for the public to work out who is speaking with the authority of science. Also on the Drum Darren Osborne shows how science actually works - your opinion should follow the evidence, not the other way around - in preliminary results of a new analysis of global temperature data. On the front of solutions New Scientist reviews research suggesting that large scale implementation of wind power could have unintended consequences and Jessica Irvine in the National Times discusses how the economics of a carbon tax is supposed to work.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Links of the week
I'll review the results of the State Election once the fallout from the LC and Balmain are known, probably by this weekend. In other news:
Gavin Atkins on The Drum and Adam Brereton on New Matilda document last week's anti-carbon-tax rally. Jeremy Bass writing in the National Times is concerned that it represents the rise of 'astroturfing' in Australia.
Also on climate change the ever predictable Chris Berg responds on The Drum to Jonathon Holmes' piece on Media Watch suggesting that the Commercial Broadcaster's Code of Practice requires the talkback radio shock jocks to have a more balanced coverage. Elsewhere the National Times examines the question: Should we have an absolute freedom of speech?
Meanwhile Massimo Pigliucci examines on Rationally Speaking whether the bombing of Libya amounts to a 'just war'.
Gavin Atkins on The Drum and Adam Brereton on New Matilda document last week's anti-carbon-tax rally. Jeremy Bass writing in the National Times is concerned that it represents the rise of 'astroturfing' in Australia.
Also on climate change the ever predictable Chris Berg responds on The Drum to Jonathon Holmes' piece on Media Watch suggesting that the Commercial Broadcaster's Code of Practice requires the talkback radio shock jocks to have a more balanced coverage. Elsewhere the National Times examines the question: Should we have an absolute freedom of speech?
Meanwhile Massimo Pigliucci examines on Rationally Speaking whether the bombing of Libya amounts to a 'just war'.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
NSW State Election Contests: The Swing
This is the final in my series of NSW State Election Contests posts, previewing the interesting contests for election watchers beyond the obvious conclusion of the poll. I'll be back after March 26 to make more commentary. In this post I'll examine the swing.
What is the swing?
For those Lindy Hoppers out there I'm not talking about this, I'm talking about what is mooted to be one of the largest swings in Australian electoral history. The swing is a crude measure of the change in the two-party preferred vote since the last election. It is supposed to measure the change in preference of the electorate for one side of politics over the other. However it does have a number of flaws. It's not an entirely useful concept as in a multiseat parliament where each seat elects one candidate, the swing may not necessarily predict the outcome of the election particularly for close elections. It also doesn't reveal complexities in voter trends, such as the recent rise of the Greens, or shed much light on local contests with independents.
However as a single number to tell you how the election fares up for the major parties it's the best figure out there.
A brief comparison of past swings
Antony Green has an excellent post on his blog about past swings in Australian electoral history. Here's a few records since 1950 (prior to 1950 it is difficult to determine a 2 party preferred vote):
Polling
There are four main polling companies that gather data for the NSW Election (although there are others). Two of these are commissioned by the two major newspaper organisations in Australia (Nielsen by Fairfax, published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and Newspoll by Newscorp published in The Australian), another poll is done by Essential Media a social marketing and communications firm and the fourth by Galaxy Research another PR and communications research firm.
Here are the last four polls done by each firm. They all differ in their timing and methodology and the additional questions asked. I've listed the primary votes of Labor, the Coalition and the Greens and then the two-party preferred vote (2PP) as well as the swing.
Nielsen - Published 16 February - Swing 18%
Labor 22%
LNP 53%
Green 13%
Labor 2PP 34%
LNP 2PP 66%
Galaxy Poll - Published March 4 - Swing - 16%
Labor 23%
LNP 50%
Green 14%
Labor 2PP 36%
LNP 2PP 64%
Newspoll - Published 14 March - Swing 15%
Labor 26%
LNP 50%
Green 11%
Labor 2PP 37%
LNP 2PP 63%
Essential Poll - Published 18 March - Swing 17%
Labor 24%
LNP 54%
Green 12%
Labor 2PP 35%
LNP 2PP 65%
This sort of polling generally has sampling errors of a few percent so there's no clear trend up or down in the data. What is clear is that even the lowest swing is pointing towards what will almost certain be a record in NSW and likely a record nationally too.
Applying these results broadly suggest a result along the lines of:
Coalition: 65-71 (including 16 Nationals)
Labor: 13-19
Greens: 2
Independents: 7
Though as I outlined in my previous post, some of the independents are in for a tough fight whilst some Labor seats could be had by independents. A statewide swing doesn't tell you much about these local contests.
Some might suggest that at least part of the swing is due to other factors. I'll talk about two that are sometimes discussed:
Incumbency
It is suggested that incumbent candidates receive an advantage in elections. It's difficult to determine what the average advantage is, but it's usually assumed to be between 1 and 2%. With so many Labor members retiring at this election (18 vs 7 Coalition MPs) you might assume that this could affect the magnitude of the swing. However in a 93 member house the effect would be less than a half of a percent and not influence the result. It could lead to the loss of a seat that Labor would otherwise be able to retain if the seat with a retiring member is held by a margin close to the predicted swing, though only Campbelltown would fit this description.
An increase in the Green vote
An increase in the Green vote (assuming it's coming from what would otherwise be Labor supporters) would reduce Labor's primary vote and potentially its two party preferred vote through exhaustion of preferences. However given that the Green vote appears to have collapsed almost back to it's 2007 figure of about 9% (possibly from left voters switching back to Labor in a futile attempt to boost its primary vote) it's unlikely that the small increase in the Green vote will increase the swing by much.
Conclusion
Aside from a record breaker, there's nothing terribly exciting about the swing in this election. The 'Bazslide' (you heard it here first) is going to go down in the history books. I'll know what I'll be watching on election night - the Legislative Council and the local side contests.
What is the swing?
For those Lindy Hoppers out there I'm not talking about this, I'm talking about what is mooted to be one of the largest swings in Australian electoral history. The swing is a crude measure of the change in the two-party preferred vote since the last election. It is supposed to measure the change in preference of the electorate for one side of politics over the other. However it does have a number of flaws. It's not an entirely useful concept as in a multiseat parliament where each seat elects one candidate, the swing may not necessarily predict the outcome of the election particularly for close elections. It also doesn't reveal complexities in voter trends, such as the recent rise of the Greens, or shed much light on local contests with independents.
However as a single number to tell you how the election fares up for the major parties it's the best figure out there.
A brief comparison of past swings
Antony Green has an excellent post on his blog about past swings in Australian electoral history. Here's a few records since 1950 (prior to 1950 it is difficult to determine a 2 party preferred vote):
- Last NSW Election - 3.7% against Labor
- Record at a State Election - 14.6% against Labor in Victoria in 1955
- Record at NSW Election - 9.1% to Labor in the 1978 Wranslide
- Record at NSW Election for change of Government - 8.3% against Labor in 1988
- Record at Federal Election - 7.4% against the (dismissed) Labor Government in 1975
Polling
There are four main polling companies that gather data for the NSW Election (although there are others). Two of these are commissioned by the two major newspaper organisations in Australia (Nielsen by Fairfax, published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and Newspoll by Newscorp published in The Australian), another poll is done by Essential Media a social marketing and communications firm and the fourth by Galaxy Research another PR and communications research firm.
Here are the last four polls done by each firm. They all differ in their timing and methodology and the additional questions asked. I've listed the primary votes of Labor, the Coalition and the Greens and then the two-party preferred vote (2PP) as well as the swing.
Nielsen - Published 16 February - Swing 18%
Labor 22%
LNP 53%
Green 13%
Labor 2PP 34%
LNP 2PP 66%
Galaxy Poll - Published March 4 - Swing - 16%
Labor 23%
LNP 50%
Green 14%
Labor 2PP 36%
LNP 2PP 64%
Newspoll - Published 14 March - Swing 15%
Labor 26%
LNP 50%
Green 11%
Labor 2PP 37%
LNP 2PP 63%
Essential Poll - Published 18 March - Swing 17%
Labor 24%
LNP 54%
Green 12%
Labor 2PP 35%
LNP 2PP 65%
This sort of polling generally has sampling errors of a few percent so there's no clear trend up or down in the data. What is clear is that even the lowest swing is pointing towards what will almost certain be a record in NSW and likely a record nationally too.
Applying these results broadly suggest a result along the lines of:
Coalition: 65-71 (including 16 Nationals)
Labor: 13-19
Greens: 2
Independents: 7
Though as I outlined in my previous post, some of the independents are in for a tough fight whilst some Labor seats could be had by independents. A statewide swing doesn't tell you much about these local contests.
Some might suggest that at least part of the swing is due to other factors. I'll talk about two that are sometimes discussed:
Incumbency
It is suggested that incumbent candidates receive an advantage in elections. It's difficult to determine what the average advantage is, but it's usually assumed to be between 1 and 2%. With so many Labor members retiring at this election (18 vs 7 Coalition MPs) you might assume that this could affect the magnitude of the swing. However in a 93 member house the effect would be less than a half of a percent and not influence the result. It could lead to the loss of a seat that Labor would otherwise be able to retain if the seat with a retiring member is held by a margin close to the predicted swing, though only Campbelltown would fit this description.
An increase in the Green vote
An increase in the Green vote (assuming it's coming from what would otherwise be Labor supporters) would reduce Labor's primary vote and potentially its two party preferred vote through exhaustion of preferences. However given that the Green vote appears to have collapsed almost back to it's 2007 figure of about 9% (possibly from left voters switching back to Labor in a futile attempt to boost its primary vote) it's unlikely that the small increase in the Green vote will increase the swing by much.
Conclusion
Aside from a record breaker, there's nothing terribly exciting about the swing in this election. The 'Bazslide' (you heard it here first) is going to go down in the history books. I'll know what I'll be watching on election night - the Legislative Council and the local side contests.
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