HW: Domain Names - Short Sharp Shock

[root]

Hi ya,

Dave Brock also said something to the effect "Hawkwind were never a
bunch of hippies the closest we came to that was Nik Turner"

I'm kinda of the opinion that Hawkwind at their best ARE just a bunch of
trippers/hippies, possibly why I really like 'Bring Me The Head' and
'Text Of Festival' so much, be that as it may.

What Dave Brock has done (and very well/ruthlessly) is keep the name
Hawkwind going.  But what is in the name?  It certainly is not the
line-up!   One thing I really like about Hawkwind (sorry I hear very
little after 1992) is that the studio stuff has developed over the years
from pure mayhem into something almost Gong like.

Live, Hawkwind are whatever their line up is at the time.  Dave Brock is
never a good 'front man' cause he just stands there and does what he
does.   Both Bob Calvert and Nik were excellent front men...  They have
stage presence (sorry Dave but I never see stage presence in you).
The best gig I've ever seen in my life was Not Hawkwind but I think just
Nik Huw Loyd and Harvy (I could be wrong it was at Woughton Campus 1st
synesyser fair Milton Keynes about 1983 if anyone has a tape of that I
pay you money no matter what the condition of tape is.)

The point of this is not to piss Dave Brock off (though it might well do
so) but give him a wake up call.   With a kings crown comes
responsibility, nothing is a given even for a king.   It is a very very
bad thing when a king declairs war on his most loyal subjects and it
seems to me that is exactly what he is doing regarding domain names.  If
hawkwind.com is/was owned by and run by fans then that fact should be
respected  (he can ask for stuff to be included/excluded but he has no
right to demand).  Today I discover that Nik has released a few cd's
playing on the name Hawkwind and I admitt that is a little naughty but
it also seems clear to me that anyone bothering to look at the covers of
these cd's will realise that they are Nik's not Hawkwinds.

There is a presidence here.  When the Sex Pistols split up Malcom
Maclaren tried to stop John Lydon using the name Johnny Rotten....  And
lost.   Nik's nickname (before Hawkwind Zoo) was Hawkwind.  Nik does
have a legitimate claim to that name and all credit to him for not using
it except as a means of publicizing his work.  I don't see him as in any
way trying to dupe people into thinking he IS Hawkwind in the sense that
Brock IS Hawkwind, but to remind people of the part he played and that
like it or not he is part of the Family.  I mentioned Gong above.  Gong
have no problem with ex/present members using the name Gong to promote
non Gong albums (Paris Gong, New York Gong, Mother Gong, Pierre Moulons
Gong etc) so why should Hawkwind have such a problem?

OK Hawkwind have a tour going on and in the middle of it Nik has a
reunion of ICU and a reunion of some ex-Hawkwind members called
Hawkestra.  There is no attempt to say it is the `real' Hawkwind or part
of the official tour, it is just a bunch of people who used to be in
Hawkwind presumably doing a few old Hawkwind numbers.  Where is the
problem?   There was no problem in '83 at Milton Keynes when Dave Brock
was absent and three people played as Not Hawkwind.  Indeed a Dave Brock
(hawkfan) single was promoted there.  So what is the big deal now?

If Dave Brock wants full control over an 'official' Hawkwind web site
then it is up to him to find a suitable vacant domain name and set it up
himself (hell if he wants to give me a couple of quid I'll follow his
orders to the letter myself... I'm very good at web design and very
cheap).   Perhaps hawkwind.org is free or hawkwind.net, even
hawkwind.gov ;-)  (who do you bribe to get hawkwind.mil?)   Again there
is a very famous presidence here if you think the similarity of domain
names is a problem....  the url bbc.com (It's something that obvious if
I'm wrong) sends you to a company in America not the Broadcasting
Company we all know and love.

All the Hawkwind fans I know (many) are just as interested in what Nik
is doing as in what Hawkwind/Brock are doing so it seems to me that
there should be no problem so long as there is no deliberate
mis-representation.    As far as the flyers I've seen go there has been
no mis-representation so like wheres the problem?

>> he is just, Dave. And with Dave, you get Dave. Nothing fake there.

                              TRUE TRUE TRUE

Come on Hawkwind, take a deep breath say sorry to the webmaster at
hawkwind.com and everyone will have more respect for you and hail Dave
Brock as the Once and Future King.

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I just threw my dinner up...   I see Grei Halliwell 'performing' in
front of the troops on the news.  Is that sick or what?

Suddenly I want to die of Anthrax Leprasy Mu!

Chris