| CMU Daily - on the inside Friday 10th March |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Californian officials move to close Neverland
- Doherty case adjourned
- Pete 1 v Pete 2
- U2 postpone remaining tour dates
- Dylan set for Roskilde
- Benicassim bill latest
- Snow Patrol set for Eden
- Ozzfest US line up announced
- Encompass 2006 plans announced
- Palestinian artists ask Waters not to play Israel
- Mozza gets political again
- MMF to honour Eavis and Wenham
- MMF training events
- Equity firm increase HMV offer
- OFT call for competition commission to investigate supermarkets
- Nancy likes Sinatra show
- Stars take red seat for Shelter
- Frank Black new album due this summer
- Feeder hits album on its way
- Paisley leads Country Music Award nominees
- The Drones win first Australian music prize
- Scandinavian retailer launches download store
- Microsoft admit updates might bugger up WMP
- Schoonmaker bid wins Plymouth licence
- Bon Jovi praises Kaiser Chiefs
- Metallica to play Black Sabbath
- Captains Of Industry web revamp
- Robbie to duet with Wilkes
- Madonna says no to acting
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TOP BIT>>
Never let it be said that we're too precious to jump on a bandwagon here at CMU, oh no. And it is with that in mind that we can announce that from Monday we'll be running a new MySpace Of The Day feature on our CMU Beats website (www.thebeatsbar.co.uk). This is partly a desperate attempt to get some 'friends' for the CMU MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/cmubeats), which we only set up yesterday, so it is currently somewhat friendless. But it's also because we came to realise that pretty much everyone on the CMU team was using the MySpace community to check out new bands, and we figured that when we find good ones, it might be nice to pass that information on. So, what are the action points on this? Well, first, if you've got a good MySpace page that you'd like us to check out, email the link to [email protected] Second, if you'd like us to consider adding one of your tracks to the jukebox on the CMU MySpace page, then email [email protected] (obviously you'll need to own the track in question - we'll only stream it). Third, make sure you look out for the first MySpace Of The Day on the CMU Beats site on Monday. And fourth, and most importantly, all you MySpace junkies out there in CMU land, become our flipping friends: http:/www.myspace.com/cmubeats. Right, I'm off to figure out how you change the background colour.
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PRESS ROOM>>
CARLING LIVE 24... give 24 hours of your life to live music! ... Carling Live 24 is back with another incredible line-up, which we can reveal includes Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Ordinary Boys, Ian Brown, Dirty Pretty Things and Goldie Lookin Chain, plus many more artists still to be announced... Carling Live 24 marks the start of the summer for music lovers, bringing the festival vibe to the heart of the city, with great music and cold beer. Carling Live 24 will kick off at 7pm on Friday 28th April and fans with enough stamina can rock continuously through to 7pm the following day. Tickets will go on sale at 10am on Tuesday 14th March exclusively at http://www.carling.com.
Press info: http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/carling24
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HOT OFF THE PRESS>>
NEW LOOK ROCK SOUND APRIL ISSUE ON SALE NOW!
Panic! At The Disco grace this month's cover which has a new logo, expanded review and exposure sections meaning even more music for your money! Also, FREE giant Fall Out Boy and Aiden posters. Plus, a FREE Sound Check CD featuring 15 killer tracks from this Month's issue! Visit http://www.rock-sound.net. Available now priced £3.50 from WH Smith, HMV, Virgin, Tesco, and all good newsagents.
For details of how to advertise your latest editions here in the CMU Daily, email [email protected]
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RIGHT NOW IN THE CMU BEATS BAR>>
STUDENT MUSIC AWARDS - SAME SIX QUESTIONS
We've been busy throwing our same six questions to all thirty finalists in this year's 3 Student Music Awards, and today you can check out how Cath Lewis, Joe Seagar and The Haze all answered - it's all over there at http://www.thebeatsbar.co.uk. Go on, go and have a look, you know you want to.
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CMU FRIDAY TIPS
VIGSY'S CLUB TIP: Grace at Herbal
Ever trendy, always drum&bass friendly, Herbal will be hosting the mighty mighty Grace night on Sunday. Grooverider himself will be there with support from DJ Loxy and DJ Zinc, while MC Moose will be it all up. Upstairs, the back-in-the-day boy Normski plays some housey shebang and the like, with special though as yet unnamed guests. Shame it's a school night, but it'll be a great way to start the working week off badly...
Sunday 12 Mar, 9pm - 2am, 12-14 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, £6 before 10.30 £8 after, more info from http://www.herbaluk.com/
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CALIFORNIAN OFFICIALS MOVE TO CLOSE NEVERLAND
Officials in California have fined Michael Jackson the best part of $170,000 and ordered employees to stop working at his Neverland Ranch after finding that staff have not been paid since December, and that workers' compensation insurance has lapsed. As previously reported, the ranch has started going to pot ever since Jacko buggered off to Bahrain after last year's child abuse trial. Several employees reported Jackson to the California State Labour Commission over the unpaid wages, and it is the investigations that followed that unearthed both the scale of monies owed and the lapses in insurance payments.
The California Department Of Industrial Relations has ordered Jacko to pay his employees their back wages, estimated to be about $306,000, by next week, as well as a $100,000 fine as a penalty for defaulting on wage payments, and a $69,000 fine for failing to ensure his employees are insured. The authorities have told Neverland staff not to return to the ranch until Jacko's insurance is reinstated, adding that they will "pursue appropriate legal action" if Jackson doesn't respond to their demands within the week.
Dean Fryer of the California Department Of Industrial Relations has told CNN that he is investigating 47 complaints of unpaid wages from Neverland employees, adding that: "There have been ongoing problems with wages at Neverland, but we were surprised the ranch would let its workers' comp policy lapse as well. We were tipped by an employee filing a wage claim against the ranch for unpaid wages. We were told that the ranch had no workers' compensation coverage. We looked into our data bases and found that their policy lapsed January 10, and we moved forward to ensure the protection of employees by issuing a 'stop order.'"
There has been no official comment from Jackson's people relating to the orders, although it is known that his accountants have advised the ranch's employees that they should not report for work until the insurance matters have been resolved.
Perhaps Jacko and new best friend Sheik Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa could organise a charity single to support the unpaid employees of Neverland.
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DOHERTY CASE ADJOURNED
Pete Doherty appeared in court yesterday on those seven previously reported drugs charges, but was told that the case against him is to be adjourned, apparently because interview tapes relating to the charges were not available whilst a series of written statements were missing. He will now appear in court on 23 Mar.
Doherty was, of course, mobbed by photographers on his way in and out of court. On returning to his gold Jag, he decided to give us all something extra to write about and scrawled the words 'I love Kate 4 Eva' on the window of his car, thus proving his continued affection towards ex-girlfriend Kate Moss, who may or may not give a monkeys.
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PETE 1 V PETE 2
Talking of Doherty, the Babyshambles man has been labelled a 'fuckwit' by that other famous Pete, Mr Pete Townshend. Speaking at the launch of the previously reported new 'Hyde Park Calling' event, The Who man told reporters: "Peter Doherty is the ultimate rock 'n' roll nihilist, the ultimate rock 'n' roll fuckwit. It is important we acknowledge that this business loves to kill people. But I don't worry about him. Maybe it's not as bad as it looks. I don't know Pete but I know Kate quite well, and I think they know how to get help when they need it."
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U2 POSTPONE REMAINING TOUR DATES
U2 have been forced to postpone the last ten dates on their current world tour due to the serious illness of an unnamed band member's relative. No more specific details were provided, though tour promoter Arthur Fogel issued a statement to the press saying that the cancellation was "unavoidable", while adding: "Any fan of U2 will realise that this decision has not been taken lightly. We will announce further details as soon as we have them."
The affected concerts were due to take place in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, kicking off in Auckland on 17 and 18 Mar. The concert at Honolulu's Aloha Stadium had been the fastest selling event ever to take place there - tickets sold out within an hour after fans slept outside the venue in order to get the best seats as they went on sale.
Rescheduled dates are expected to be announced as soon as they can be organised.
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DYLAN SET FOR ROSKILDE
It's been announced that Bob Dylan is set to headline this year's Roskilde Festival as part of his Never Ending tour. Previously announced acts for the Danish event, which takes place from 29 Jun to 2 Jul, include Guns n Roses, Morrissey and Deftones.
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BENICASSIM BILL LATEST
Pixies, The Futureheads, Miss Kittin and White Rose Movement are the latest additions to this year's Benicassim Festival. They join previously announced acts such as The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode and Babyshambles on the bill for the Spanish event which takes place from 20 - 23 Jul this year.
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SNOW PATROL SET FOR EDEN
Snow Patrol have joined the line up for this year's Eden Sessions in Cornwall. The band appear on 27 Aug, joining previously confirmed acts The Magic Numbers and Goldfrapp who appear on 12 Aug and 25 Aug respectively. See http://www.edenproject.com/5770.htm for more details.
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OZZFEST US LINE UP ANNOUNCED
The line up for this year's US Ozzfest tour has been announced, with Ozzy Osbourne himself headlining ten shows, plus System Of A Down, Disturbed, Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil and another major act tbc all appearing. The second stage will feature Black Label Society, Atreyu, Unearth, Bleeding Through, Norma Jean, A Life Once Lost, Strapping Young Lad, the Red Chord, Full Blown Chaos, All That Remains, and Between The Buried And Me. No word yet on which band's set Ozzfest creator Sharon Osbourne plans on sabotaging this time round.
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ENCOMPASS 2006 PLANS ANNOUNCED
Details were formally announced last night of the second outing for London based cutting edge music festival Encompass, which will this year take place from 11-13 May. Once again Encompass will stage numerous showcase events in venues around Shoreditch featuring leading electronic and leftfield labels like Non-Stop, Tummy Touch, Warp, Loose Change, DC Recordings, Leftroom, Channel Zero, Factor City, Tirk, Innervisions, Compost, Tyke, Soma, Border Community, Samurai.FM and Ghostly. A day of workshops for aspiring artists and producers will then be held on the Saturday (13 May) at Shoreditch Town Hall. The idea is that music fans can enjoy a mixture of the showcases being staged in any one night - so with one wristband they can wander around different showcases being staged at The End, Cargo, 93 Feet East, Rhythm Factory, Sosho and 54 Commercial Street. More info at http://www.encompass-london.com, press info from ePM.
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PALESTINIAN ARTISTS ASK WATERS NOT TO PLAY ISRAEL
A group of Palestinian artists have written to Roger Waters to ask him to cancel a concert in Israel this summer, or at least to put on a similar concert in Palestine.
The former Pink Floyd man has surprised many in the Middle East by agreeing to perform in Tel Aviv later this year, because he has previously been quite vocal in his criticism of Israel's 370-mile network of fences and concrete barricades in the West Bank. Sliman Manour of the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art told Reuters: "How can someone who wants to look like a leftist in the world - fighting against the Berlin Wall, for open borders, and for love between people - come to Israel while they are still building their wall and hold a musical event?"
Waters, however, has told The Guardian that he will not cancel the appearance, and not because his opposition to Israel's foreign policy has waned: "I have a lot of fans in Israel, many of whom are refuseniks," he says. "I would not rule out going to Israel because I disapprove of the foreign policy any more than I would refuse to play in the UK because I disapprove of Tony Blair's foreign policy."
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MOZZA GETS POLITICAL AGAIN
Elsewhere in musicians disapproving of foreign policy news, Morrissey says he's not surprised the London Underground got bombed last year, considering the UK's recent foreign ventures. Though to be fair, I don't think anyone thought that the bombing was all that surprising - Londoners in particular.
Anyway, the singer said: "My view was, how would anyone be remotely surprised? It's an obvious retaliation against Blair's intentions. And you can't refer to these things as being terrorist attacks and yet assume that the actions of Blair and Bush are not terrorism. They're worse than terrorism; they're the actions of egotistical monsters. Bush views Iraq and thinks, 'Well, we will control this country eventually anyway so it doesn't matter how many people we kill.'"
In unrelated news, Morrissey releases a new album 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors' on 3 Apr.
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MMF TO HONOUR EAVIS AND WENHAM
The UK's Music Managers Forum have announced that Glastonbury man Michael Eavis and AIM chair Alison Wenham will both be inducted onto their 'Roll Of Honour' at this year's Music Managers awards event. The awards take place at the Park Lane Hilton in London on 19 Apr, and awards are made for things like Manager Of The Year, Producer Of The Year, Music Export Of The Year, while leading industry figures are added to that Roll Of Honour. Paul Gambaccini will host the event.
A statement from the artist management trade association confirmed the Roll Of Honour additions, reading thus: "The MMF is pleased to be able to announce that Michael Eavis, the legendary organiser of the world leading Glastonbury Festival, will this year be inducted to the Roll of Honour. Alison Wenham joins him for her impressive and groundbreaking work at the Association of Independent Music".
Eavis responded by telling reporters: "It's quite thrilling to know that after 34 years of organised chaos, I am deemed worthy of this award!", while Wenham responded thus: "I would like to thank the MMF for this award. Recognition from managers, whose astuteness and lack of sentimentality is rightly legendary, is very warmly appreciated."
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MMF TRAINING EVENTS
Talking of the MMF, they've got two training events coming up on music publishing agreements which might not be the most exciting of topics, but will cover some pretty important stuff for any songwriters or managers of songwriters. The first on Monday 20 Mar will cover 'Creator/Publisher Relationships & Agreements', and the second on Tuesday 21 Mar will cover 'Publisher/Sub-Publisher Relationships & Agreements'. They both take place from 6.30pm - 8.30pm at the MCPS-PRS HQ in London. Admission for MMF and MPA members is £30 including VAT, for AIM, APRS, BACS, BPI and MPG members it's £50, while for non members it's £60. If you don't know what any of those initials stand for, I'm guessing you're a non-member. More info from http://www.mmf-training.com
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EQUITY FIRM INCREASE HMV OFFER
HMV has confirmed that private equity house Permira Advisers Ltd has raised the price of its proposed takeover of the record shop and book selling chain (they own Waterstones too, of course).
As previously reported, Permira made an offer of 190 pence per share last month, but that was quickly turned down by the retail chain's senior management, who said the equity firm had undervalued their business. At the time insiders at Permira said they wouldn't increase their offer, though most investment types expected that actually they would.
And indeed they did. In a Regulatory News Statement, HMV yesterday confirmed the latest offer is 210 pence a share, itself a reported raise on a 208p offer made and rejected last week. The new offer would value the company at £845 million.
Permira is yet to comment on HMV's statement, so the specifics of any offer remain unknown. The equity firm is yet to get access to the music retailer's books (that's their accounts, not the Waterstones best sellers list), so the chances are they themselves are as yet unclear on some of those specifics.
As also previously reported, HMV has become a takeover target ever since it admitted increased competition from supermarkets and online retailers were affecting its revenues, especially in CD sales. If Permira were successful in their bid for the retailer it is likely they would try to increase profitability through streamlining, with a view to selling the company at a profit within five years.
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OFT CALL FOR COMPETITION COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE SUPERMARKETS
And talking of increased competition from those nasty supermarkets, the Office Of Fair Trading has asked the Competition Commission to investigate the position of the major player supermarkets amid accusations that, while there are four of them, together they act unfairly, and in doing so are putting independent traders out of business.
The OFT's decision to order the investigation has been well received by the independent traders that find themselves struggling to compete with the supermarkets, which includes independent record shops (and, as we have seen, not so independent record shops). But insiders say those traders shouldn't expect too much.
Firstly any investigation will take at least two years, so even if it did propose legislation to curtail the major supermarket chains, nothing will happen for sometime yet. And perhaps more importantly, most of the OFT's concerns relate to property (ie supermarkets purchasing land just to stop competitors opening supermarkets there, or selling land with so called 'restrictive covenants' in place that prevent subsequent buyers from building supermarkets there), so many of the concerns of independent traders might not even be considered.
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NANCY LIKES SINATRA SHOW
That new West End musical about the life of Frank Sinatra has opened, and has met with the approval of daughter Nancy. The show, which features previously unseen video footage of Sinatra, as well as some of the singer's best known songs, was supported by the Sinatra family, who granted the producers access to their private archives and home movies.
Nancy Sinatra, taking to the stage following a standing ovation, said: "What a great night. London is the absolute best place for this. Bravo to the cast, the crew, the entire company, the orchestra, everybody. You brought the magic back. The heart is there, the humor is there. Excuse my language, the balls are there. Everything is there."
Presenting director David Leveaux with a bottle of whisky, she commented: "I guess this one would be to Frank but he would drink it to you. He would say 'I love you all very much, may you live to be 100 years'. And - these are Frank's words - may the last voice you hear be mine."
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STARS TAKE RED SEAT FOR SHELTER
Richard Ashcroft, Hard-Fi, Kaiser Chiefs, Fightstar and Jarvis Cocker are all to feature in a new photographic exhibit run by homeless charity Shelter. The show features shots of the bands sitting in a distinctive red chair, as well as images of other celebrities and members of the public. The event has been organised to highlight the plight of British children living in substandard housing conditions.
The free exhibition opens at [email protected] on London's South Bank on 29 Mar and continues until 2 Apr. Richard Ashcroft says: "Over one million children in this country face a bleak future trapped in overcrowded, unfit or emergency housing which is wrecking their lives. A safe, secure home is just a distant dream for them."
For more info about the charity see http://www.Shelter.org.uk.
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FRANK BLACK NEW ALBUM DUE THIS SUMMER
Frank Black is to release a new a new double album this summer, a follow up to the Pixie man's 2005 solo effort 'Honeycomb'. The new long player 'Fastman/Raiderman' will be out on 19 Jun. Black is planning to tour the album later this year.
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FEEDER HITS ALBUM ON ITS WAY
Feeder have confirmed that their hits compilation 'The Singles' will be out on 1 May, preceded by the release of a new single 'Lost & Found' on 24 Apr. The hits album features twenty tracks, three of which are new, the aforementioned single release plus 'Burn The Bridges' and 'Save Us'. The band are working on their next studio release, which is due out at the start of 2007.
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PAISLEY LEADS COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD NOMINEES
Country star Brad Paisley is leading the nominations for this year's Country Music Awards. The three times US album chart topper has six nominations, top male vocalist plus album, single, song, event and video of the year.
Brooks & Dunn and Sugarland have each been shortlisted for five awards, whilst American Idol winner Carrie Underwood gets four nods. Other nominees include Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Gretchen Wilson and Lee Ann Womack. The ceremony takes place in Las Vegas on 23 May.
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THE DRONES WIN FIRST AUSTRALIAN MUSIC PRIZE
The final of the first Australian Music Prize took place in Sydney this week, and Melbourne band The Drones were named as the overall winners from a previously announced shortlist of eight.
As previously reported, the AMP is basically an Australian version of the UK's Mercury Music Prize, with a panel of 60 music types, including journalists, artists and industry people, picking what they consider to be the best album from an Australian band in the last twelve months. 300 albums were eligible for the award.
The independently signed The Drones seemed surprised by their win, and told reporters that the Aus $25,000 prize money would come in very helpful. The Australian newspaper quotes bass player Fiona Kitschin as saying: "When you haven't got the big record company bucks behind you, you sort of just have to get out there. That is why the $25,000 will come in really handy, just to work on getting known. The money will go to just touring and fixing broken instruments and stuff like that. One of the guys broke his guitar string the other day and we've got broken pedals and things. It can be really expensive."
FYI - the final eight up for the prize were as follows:
TZU - Smiling At Strangers
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Ben Lee - Awake Is The New Asleep
The Devastations - Coal
Tex, Don and Charlie - All Is Forgiven
The Go-Betweens - Oceans Apart
The Mess Hall - Notes From A Ceiling
The Drones - Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By
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SCANDINAVIAN RETAILER LAUNCHES DOWNLOAD STORE
Scandinavia's number one electronic retail chain, Elgiganten, which is owned by the Dixon's group, has announced it has launched a download service.
The new digital music platform, powered by back-end download people 24-7 MusicShop, will try to capitalise on the 200,000 odd unique users that already visit the electronics firm's existing website each week.
Jimmi Frederiksen of Elgiganten told reporters: "We have so much interest in digital media players that it's a natural extension of our service to offer music entertainment".
Whether Dixons will follow suit with something similar over here remains to be seen.
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MICROSOFT ADMIT UPDATES MIGHT BUGGER UP WMP
One for fans of IT problems now. Microsoft have issued a technical bulletin that admits that three recent Windows updates may cause performance problems for Windows Media Player 10. The problems associated with the updates may disable rewind, fast forward or search functions or, more simply I suppose, might just freeze up the whole player. Wonderful. Two of the updates were released last October, the third last month. The problems only seem to relate to content streamed to the Windows Media Player in a certain way - and as such the IT firm's solution is for the companies streaming the content to make some alterations at their end - news that the said content companies are sure to relish.
This report shows one of the problems faced by content companies who rely on the technology of another (mainly Microsoft) to deliver their product. Napster boss Chris Gorog surprised some at a recent Reuters event when he admitted some frustrations in having a download service that relied to a certain extent on Microsoft technologies - he told the conference: "There is no question that their execution has been less than brilliant over the last twelve months".
Of course the solution to those kind of problems, as I'm sure Apple boss Steve Jobs would like me to point out, is to have one company providing the software, hardware and content service. Because we all love that scenario, don't we?
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SCHOONMAKER BID WINS PLYMOUTH LICENCE
The media company fronted by former EMAP man Tim Schoonmaker and backed by Australia's Macquarie Bank has won its first UK radio licence - in Plymouth. OfCom's decision to award the Schoonmaker-led proposal the new licence makes Macquarie the second non-UK company to enter the British radio sector following those changes in the rules on media ownership a couple of years back. Canadian media giant CanWest last year won a licence to launch a new station in the Solent.
Responding to the news that his 'Diamond FM' proposal had been successful, Schoonmaker told reporters: "We are looking forward to bringing a quicken-your-pulse radio station to the people of Plymouth" - which possibly doesn't bode well for the blood pressure of the good people of Plymouth.
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BON JOVI PRAISES KAISER CHIEFS
Jon Bon Jovi has praised Kaiser Chiefs, implying that they are the new saviours of rock music, or something.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Bon Jovi said: "For a while I was worried that it was all over, that rock was going shut down. It was so sickening to see some of these people like J.Lo, having number one albums and movies and I'm thinking, 'What the fuck?' Then out of the blue Kaiser Chiefs come along. I like Franz Ferdinand too."
"I think we're going to be OK," he added. So you can all stop worrying. Phew.
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METALLICA TO PLAY BLACK SABBATH
Metallica are to perform a number of Black Sabbath tracks when Ozzy's band are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next week. In a message on their official website, Metallica said: "Not only will we be inducting Sabbath, we are going to make a humble attempt at playing some of their songs live in front of the gathered masses, including, most humbling of all, the four members of the band themselves. For all of us in Metallica, Black Sabbath are a major influence not only on our music, but on our lives, and as you can imagine, we're psyched to join Bill [Ward], Geezer [Butler], Ozzy [Osbourne] and Tony [Iommi] for the induction ceremony."
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CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY WEB REVAMP
Looking to kill time today? Well, why not check out the revamped and relaunched websites of Captains Of Industry, the label behind An Emergency, TEAM, Hell Is For Heroes and Gay For Johnny Depp, among others. The new site, which includes a free downloadable label compilation, is online at http://www.captainsof.com
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ROBBIE TO DUET WITH WILKES
According to Robbie Williams is planning to duet with his best mate, TV presenter Jonathan Wilkes, on his upcoming world tour. Wilkes, who released a single back in 2001, 'Just Another Day', which got to number 24 in the UK charts, will also be on warm up duty on the tour, which kicks off in South Africa next month.
According to The Sun a 'source' said: "Robbie and Jonathan are inseparable. They are really close pals and do everything together. Jonathan is a trained singer and has earned his stripes working up and down the country in musical theatre. Jonathan is giving up his TV career to focus full-time on making it in the charts again."
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MADONNA SAYS NO TO ACTING
Break out the champagne; Madonna has promised never to act again. The singer, whose painful acting roles included appearances in top flops 'Body Of Evidence', 'Shanghai Surprise' and Guy Ritchie-directed turkey 'Swept Away' feels that her presence on a set means that any film she gets involved with is doomed from the start: "What film can survive people saying it's going to be a bomb from the second it's announced?" says the singer, "making movies is such an effort, and to do that over and over again, with the possibility that I am going to get the shit kicked out of me - and they really enjoy doing it - I mean, it doesn't make sense. I have sort of let it go."