Speak the Culture Poland: the power of punk

In the course of compiling the latest book in the Speak the Culture series, on Poland, I’ve been learning about punk music’s role in the fall of the Eastern Bloc.

Punk, as we all know, was anti pretty much anything. Anti-convention. Anti-establishment. Born in the US and UK (each claims sovereignty: Stooges or Pistols?), it was raw and exciting; and had a serious influence on western culture, in particular music and fashion.

But really, once the dust had settled – after all the swearing, spitting and smashing – punk didn’t realign the establishment to any great degree. It didn’t bring down governments. At least it didn’t in the West. In Poland, however, punk rock – and its calmer sibling, new wave – played a role in ending years of Soviet rule.

With marshal law, strikes, shortages and inflation, life in Poland in the late 1970s and early 80s was grim. With little collective or personal freedom, the frustrations of a younger generation were epitomised perfectly by punk. The underground bands that emerged, led by a Warsaw group called Tilt, gave the youth a voice; to be heard – at gigs, festivals and demos – alongside the intelligentsia and the workers who were slowly eroding the control of the Soviet authorities.

Bands had to pass their lyrics in front of the censor; if the words met with approval, the artists could enter the recording studio. Many bands simply altered their lyrics for live shows, aware that the security services in attendance at most gigs would have little understanding of what they were singing. Audience members would record the shows and then circulate illicit audiotapes.

The anarchic lyrics of Polish punk and the way in which it brought Polish youth together were all part of the momentum that led to democratic elections in the country in 1989; elections that helped initiate far wider change in Eastern Europe.

Five important Polish bands from the 1980s
Brygada Kryzys. Punk band formed from the ashes of Kryzys and Tilt by frontman Tomek Lipiński. They were banned after refusing to headline a state-organised concert.
Republika. New wave band that used rich metaphor to get round the censor.
Maanam. Post punk, new wavish band fronted by female singer Kora. One particular song (and album), Nocny Patrol (1983) captured the mid 80s mood.
Kult. An underground rock band whose direct lyrics found censorship but which went on to achieve great success in the post-communist era.
TSA. Hard-to-ignore band that brought together the accoutrements of hard rock (long hair, sweaty torsos, etc) with invective for the regime.

Speak the Culture: Poland will be published in May 2012

Three strikes and you're still in

The most remarkable thing about Paul Rackham’s story, as told in No Time To Waste published by Thorogood this month, is just how many times he’s pulled himself up by the bootstraps.

In the first instance, growing up in a poor household in rural Suffolk, you could say he had nowhere else to go but upwards. He wheeled and dealed from an early age, graduating from catching and selling rabbits to building an empire of contracting and construction companies, which he duly sold for a handsome profit in his late 20s.

But what about the second instance, where, having lost his fortune in the property crash of the early 1970s, he started again from scratch (indeed, worse than scratch – with a million pound deficit), forming a second wave of companies, again with an interest in construction and property development.

Or perhaps the third occasion, when, after losing 3.5 million pounds when another company sale went sour, he switched his attentions to waste management and recycling, establishing a business that would eventually sell for more than 500 million pounds.

Paul Rackham is living proof that fortunes are earned not won. If he can do it three times, surely the rest of us can manage once at the very least? Anyone with even the tiniest entrepreneurial ambition will find No Time to Waste an inspiring read.

Pity the poor old big Publishers!!

The news that the organisers of the Man Booker prize are examining whether or not to allow Amazon to enter books for the prize has incensed those with most to loose.

Some of the bigger publishers are against such a move. Long-established publishers don’t like the fact that Amazon cuts out literary agents, publishers and bookshops in the traditional route to market. They even question whether books published by Amazon are more like vanity publishing than serious literature. They also raise the issue of an Amazonian monopoly in online book-selling and in downloads.

Please!

First of all, the big, established publishers have been quite content to dominate the existing routes to the market by, for example, meeting and paying the, in my view, discriminatory and excessive charges demanded by booksellers, like Waterstones, to stock titles and display them in prime locations (both within the stores themselves and across the network of branches). Also, the book buyers in the chains and supermarkets favour the large publishers, with juicy deals and discounts cementing their arrangements. Added to that, cosy relationships with reviewers compounds the closed shop aspect. It is difficult for small publishers to break in.

Excuse me, therefore, whilst I show no pity for the big publishers. Their cries of unfairness and monolopy leave me unmoved. So too do their accusations of vanity publishing, when I know for a fact that these days it applies throughout the publishing world.

So, come on big publishers, man up and face competition in the Man Booker.

Neil Thomas

Money for Nothing

The recent news that a company (Booktrack) is to release e-books with soundtrack enhancement has set me thinking about ways to improve our own e-book offering.

Apparently Booktrack have music and background noises crackling fire, birdsong, rain and footsteps in their version of Sherlock Holmes’ “Speckled Band”. The speed that you read and the points you reach in the text trigger the chosen sounds/music.

Naturally, this development has delighted some and alarmed others. What do you think?

Here at Thorogood, rest assured we will be in the vanguard of electronic publishing development. Suitable music such as “Money Makes the World Go Round” from “Cabaret” will obviously feature in our Finance titles; Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top” will underpin our Leadership titles; and perhaps Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” will be the background to our Employment Law titles.

“Money” from Pink Floyd , or “Money, Money, Money” from Abba could provide musical inspiration for our Selling a Business titles and The Beatles/George Harrison’s “Taxman” can play-in our Tax Planning titles.

Seriously? No!!! You won’t be getting sound effects on our business ebooks now or in the future! (Well never say never.)

You really would have to be in ‘Dire Straits’ to invest in putting music sound tracks into e-books as you really would be spending your “Money for Nothing”!

Neil Thomas

Bibliotherapy

Bibliotherapy!?

Look, be honest, have you ever heard of ‘Bibliotherapy’?

When I first came across it, I thought it sounded absurd. I read about it in a magazine where some ‘expert’ was advising on books that could be selected for the ‘client’ to read which would suit that person’s taste, library and what is happening in his/her life.

Daft? Well apparently Bibliotherapy has a history – dating back to the 1920s where treatment of war-damaged servicemen or life-damaged individuals included specially devised reading programmes.

I am sure we have all prescribed ourselves a nice long escapist page-turner to counter boredom, sleeplessness, emotional trauma, wet afternoons and tedious journeys. We have probably listened to a friend’s symptoms and, despite not being ‘qualified’, have suggested or book or two to perk them up or occupy them. Did we see ourselves as bibliotherapists?

Now, of course, I will no longer describe myself as a publisher. I am a Bibliotherapist. I would invite you to let me have some brief details about yourself and I will tell you which of Thorogood’s books you will have to buy (and read!). In fact, I think I will create a new niche ‘business bibliotherapy’ activity for Thorogood to exploit this opportunity.

By way of illustration here, I could offer a few examples of typical ‘client’ requirements and my solutions:

1. Do you need to take stock of who you are, what you are capable of doing and how you could improve your business and personal life?

Buy Me-Time: Life Coach Yourself to Success by clicking on the link below:

Click HERE Me Time: Life Coach Yourself to Success

2. Do you feel jaded as a manager and want a quick fix of common sense ways to improve how you operate?

Buy The Best of John Adair on Leadership and Management by clicking on the link below:

Click HERE The Best of John Adair on Leadership and Management

3. Are you struggling with low self-esteem as a manager because you haven’t done an MBA?

Buy The Shorter MBA: A Practical Approach to Key Business Skills by clicking on the link below:

Click HERE The Shorter MBA: A Practical Approach to Key Business Success

4. Do you feel that time manages you and you can’t seem to address important decisions at work because of all the other demands on your time?

Buy The Concise Time Management and Personal Development by clicking on the link below:

Click HERE The Concise Time Management and Personal Development

5. Are you now the boss, but are afraid to admit that your leadership skills are preventing you from operating at the top level?

Buy Leadership for Leaders by clicking on the link below:

Click HERE Leadership for Leaders

6. You have been appointed a director of your company but you are afraid to admit you don’t really know what that means even though you know that there are legal responsibilities involved?

Buy The Company Director’s Desktop Guide by clicking on the link below:

Click HERE The Company Director’s Desktop Guide

I am sure you are getting the picture now. Actually, I am really getting into this and I could go on and on (and well might in the future).

Perhaps bibliotherapy might not be such a bad idea after all! You might well be tempted to shout “rubbish” or “it’s just simple common sense” or “you can’t con me” or “this is nonsense”.

But, if you believe in the power of books to change someone’s life for the better, then can you come up with a better word than ‘Bibliotherapy’?

And do you think I have a new career as a ‘Business Bibliotherapist’?

Neil Thomas

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