The Murdering of the Sing Song??  

By Nod

Nikki Minaj, Rhianna, One Direction, Tiny Tempa, Little Mix, David Guetta and other Music artists of the day is all I hear on the radio at the moment. These artists / acts take up 80% of the airplay time on the mainstream radio stations.

Here I am not trying to make a point by talking about how Simon Cowell has murdered the music industry by dominating the charts with million dollar marketing teams and over exposure of similar acts or how the U2’s, Oasis’s, Green Days, Billy Joel’s, Dean Martins or Tina Turners of the past are better than the current stars of the music world. I am more asking a question?

Everyone will have seen this picture before, If not imagine this. Sitting in a real local pub on a Saturday night with a one man band in the corner.

One man who’s only instruments are his great voice, his Fender Stratocaster guitar and a drum machine banging out a lot of old sing song classics like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Drifters,  The Pogues, Roy Orbison, Garth Brooks, Frank Sinatra and The Waterboys to name a few.

After a few hours of playing all good resident acts will call up local singers because it is something of tradition and a dying tradition at that in Irish locals, due to publican’s or function rooms not allowing it.

Revellers of all ages would belt out all classic tunes everything from Traditional, 50’s ,60’s ,70’s ,80’s, 90’s and even some songs from the last decade but very little(Adele, some Take That (aka Barry Manilow) that got everyone involved. 

There where people dancing and singing would you believe not afraid to make a show of themselves! Great night was had by me

Back to the point about the music. A very large percentage of these songs I actually knew the words  from attending family’s party are where a good aul Irish sing song was had at the end. (If you don’t sing you better be a fast runner) or in my brothers case a good one line start merchant.

The empty bottle (acting as a microphone) would pass around from person to person and table to table with everyone joining in but very few skipping their turn to sing.

What I am trying to say is in the future will this dying tradition be extinct? Will people be singing Pound the Alarm or S&M and all that stuff because if that’s the case I hope to god I get to see a dodo soon enough…   Somehow I don’t think I will.

Internships Yey or Nay

Are there benefits of Internships? by Noel Dowling

Gone are the days when the schoolboy player signs an apprentice contact to have a chance of fulfilling his dreams as a professional footballer with a top club across the water.

(Things are chucked at them too early. Life has been made too easy for them. Things are done for them too much. And they believe they just have to turn up and they are going to be a professional footballer. It just doesn't work like that in football and in life) - Kevin Phillips

That brings me to the ongoing challenge for many people finding work; there is a huge debate about the merits of working unpaid as an intern or just someone looking to get work experience. Currently in the media there is much debate about this, with one side highlighting that it is pure exploitation and the other side arguing that this is the only way to get work experience and it is better to be working than not working at all times.

There is some truth to both arguments but in my view there are some things you need to consider if you plan to work as an intern.

Value:

Firstly, ask what the value is to you? Value is not just a pay cheque it can be experience, building a network or access to an industry you would otherwise never get, so think about what you gain from any role that you undertake.

The role itself:

It is important that there is a role with clear objectives and structure. If you have no structure and find yourself making the tea, filing endlessly and with little support from management, I would not be recommend it as a role to continue with. So ask in advance what the objectives are and how regular you will meet with your manager.

Opportunity:

Is there an opportunity to be part of something? Many start-ups have no cash; they start with a dream or an idea that may take months to come to fruition or maybe years. So while I am not advocating you work for free forever, or would even be able to – many lucrative opportunities have come from people being there at the start-up phase.

Kevin Phillips is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Leicester City. Phillips celebrates his 41th birthday in July 2014. Phillips was the Premier League top scorer in the 1999–2000 seasons with 30 goals for Sunderland, a tally which won him the European Golden Boot award.

He took a pay cut from his day job working at Dixons to get back into football with Watford after he had initially dropped out of the system at the end of four years with Southampton’s academy where he had famously been responsible for cleaning the boots of a young Alan Shearer. Less well celebrated were his shifts tidying the stadium and cleaning the toilets.

Modern-day starlets are treated somewhat differently – to the detriment of the national game.

Phillips’ England’s International career was restricted to just eight matches thanks to competition from Shearer, Michael Owen, Andy Cole, Robbie Fowler, Teddy Sheringham and others. (Not a bad list ehh)

(Money has never been the motivation it was fear of failure for me said Phillips)

He even took another pay cut after Sunderland were relegated to move back to Southampton as he wanted to prove his worth to himself.

The most important point is to ignore the general view and focus on you. From an employer’s perspective it is always better to be working than not working, even if this is just voluntary work. If you do undertake an unpaid role ensure you gain a strong reference if a job does not come about at the end of it. Furthermore it is not your fault if the job market is poor, but it is up to you to react accordingly

My Place of Work:

We have a proven track record in helping college and course leavers gain valuable work experience. Our manager’s will offer advice, guidance and give the right candidate the experience of working in a professional environment. More often than not the intern is giving every opportunity to grow and develop into a full time staff member or will always come away more employable.

Finally please note that even in jobs that you do not like you do gain experience and if nothing else, you now know the type of job you don’t want to do and that in itself is a good learning experience.

A bit of hard work never hurt anyone as my Granddad use to say. It didn’t work out too badly for Kevin Phillips in the end.