SA Rocks

I think it’s time I tell you about my online shop, Babazeka. If you’ve been a fan of SA Rocks for a while now, you would have read about us here exactly a year ago when we first launched. We’ve come a long way since then, in fact, have recently re-launched a new shop interface and changed the way our system works too.

In a nutshell, Babazeka is a channel through which social upliftment projects, who produce handmade things, can reach a wider market. We display photo’s and descriptions of their products, show you pictures of the people who’ve put their time and energy into making them, and tell you the story behind the project that you’re supporting. It’s all about creating as much exposure as we can for the people in South Africa who have such amazing skills but who battle with getting their products out there.

Previously we were buying their stock up front, but this just meant that we couldn’t grow the business fast enough. The way we’re working now means that customers have to a wait a little longer for their products to be made, but it also means that we can support many more projects, especially more of the smaller guys.

Our range has grown a lot. We’ve got things like bags, cushion covers, jewellery, fun home decor pieces and only for a few weeks longer, christmas decorations.

More recently, I’ve been working on a range known as Babazeka Designs, whereby I’ve worked with crafters to design unique products for the site. This first range has a retro 70′s feel, where I’ve used bold patterns and designs, and a number of techniques and materials which were popular in this era, such as patchwork, leather and crochet.

You can read more about our experiences of growing the business on our blog, and can have a browse around our online shop here. I really hope you like what you see!

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The 2009 edition of John Platter Wine Guide has been released and more importantly, the 5 star wines have been announced!

To see the list of winners click here

A record 33 wines were chosen for the highest accolade – an indication that the quality of South African is improving in leaps and bounds.

There are some usual suspects on the list but some notable newcomers in vilafonte, Eagles Nest and Sterhuis.

I am particularly excited at vilafonte’s inclusion in the 5 star lineup as it represents a successful partnership between South African winegrowers and American winemakers – global partnership at it’s best.

Get your hands on one of the winners as soon as you can because soon they will be sold out – if not already!

Cru Master

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I have just completed the SA Blogosphere Census called SPEAK UP! presented by 24.com, Afrigator and Amatomu.

Interesting concept this census is. I was asked for my input before the census went live. I think that there are some interesting questions that are sure to yield some VERY interesting results at the end of it all.

There are some questions that worry me and I am sure will worry others such as the finances, users, pageviews and that sort of information. I was reluctant to give away some of the information but at the end of the day, I’m not pulling in a million people a day on the site and everyone knows it, so who cares!?

So, do yourself and the rest of us a favour and let’s end the debate about blogs, how many, how big, how much etc etc, head over to the PushPlay sponsored SPEAK UP! census and get started now!

I’d like to also suggest that you blog about the census and tag people who you think should take the census and blog about it too!

So I am tagging Mike, Matt, Tertia, Cherryflava, Charl and Chris.

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I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the Sanlam SA Fashion Week on Friday night. I managed to help a stunning South African design, Palesa Mokubung, make it to Greece this year for an international fashion week/show/thing.

Let me just say that Fashion week is manic. It was an absolute madhouse filled with fashionista’s, divas and more. All running around making last minute checks and double checks all the while trying to keep their eyelids firmly above their eye-balls (sleep deprivation is apparently par for the course).

So with all that known it is a wonder to see. People pouring their hearts and souls in to their designs and having very receptive crowds applauding when a wondrous design shows itself on the runway.

The entire event was an absolute please. I was extremely impressed with Palesa’s designs for her label Mantsho. It is clear to me why she is the only South African attending the international fashion week in Greece. She has an African flair second to none and combines the old with new. A small example that I can recall is a dress, very formal and old school combined with a hoodie to make they look hip and trendy. Her patterns featured a very Andy Warhol sort of feel with silkscreening look and colours to match. She was spectacular and so were her designs.

I also had the pleasure of meeting her after the show. She was humble, down to earth and extremely aware of her situation. She is going to be massive and she is going to be massive quickly.

Here are some photos and videos from fashion week and other interview done with Palesa.

Here’s a short video I shot on my new Nokia N95!

In closing let me just have one short rant. Where are the men’s designers, where are the men’s brands, labels and hot fashions? There were approximately two “stands” (by that I mean two or three jackets that I saw) on display on Friday night. The rest of the stuff was all women all over. I was there and ready to spend money. Tsk tsk.

All in all though, fashion in SA is hot and happening. What a great night and a great event.

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I will be attending a very interesting debate on Wednesday. It is being held and hosted by Epiphany.

Let me quickly jump back for a second. I have recently joined Zoopy.com as the GM of Gauteng and have spent the last week or so in Cape Town. Along the way I met some fantastic people, one of whom is Max Kaizen.

Max is a contributor here on SA Rocks and we have been threatening to bump in to one another for a while now. Eventually, Tuesday night we managed to get in touch with one another at Asoka in Kloof, CT.

Firstly let me just say what an absolutely fantastic venue Asoka is. Great jazz, cool people, mixed crowd, good cocktails and good company made the evening top notch.

But back to the Unexpected Business Case.

Max and I got talking about SA, as it happens fairly often with me. Then she mentioned a debate that is taking place in JHB on Wednesday and I couldn’t refuse the chance to attend.

Here’s the press release:

The UNEXPECTED business case affecting SA’s best and brightest
-a provocative public debate - why staying may be smart strategy
at the South African Business Schools Expo,

Sandton Sun, Johannesburg
Wednesday, 3 September 17h00 – 19h00

JOHANNESBURG – Amongst the financial doom & gloom, xenophobia, political incompetence and exit strategies traded over dinner; a question must be asked:
“Is there a business case for using South Africa as a platform in a global economy?”

Think tank engineers, Epiphany in collaboration with Huddlemind, executive education specialists, will be facilitating a dynamic debate at the South African Business School Expo to interrogate the perception that South Africans have to go elsewhere in the world to “make it big”.

Respected industry leaders: Branko Brkic (Editor, Maverick), Mike Stopforth (CEO, Cerebra), Paul Jacobson (New Media lawyer, Jacobson Attorneys) and Joshin Raghubar (Aspen Global Leadership fellow/ CEO, iKineo) present their opinion on the flight of human capital out of South Africa; and how the changes in technology, media, global economics and local politics have opened up gaps that the swift and smart can take advantage of now.

This is not a lecture by talking heads. Epiphany is tackling the question in a fresh way, through provocative public debate with powerful thought leaders – not only from the expert panel – but the audience too. Among them, social media powerhouse Nic Haralambous (editor, SA Rocks) will be on the floor to offer rich perspectives on opportunities most of us miss in our misery. The group session will be facilitated by David Donde (journalist, GQ and presenter 567/702).

Are there practical strategies to leveraging world-scale success from the bottom of Africa? There are companies and industries booming despite the downturn.
What are they doing that may be a little unusual?

This session is highly recommended if you’re considering a great trek of your own, or rapidly losing some of your company’s best and brightest.

Tickets are R250 (including admission to the Expo) available online (click here) at www.epiphany.usgeni.us
or contact Max Kaizen 082 832 6434 or max@usgeni.us

And for a bit more on each of the participating personalities:

Branko Brkic
Described as the guardian of the higher mind, Branko is the owner of Business Century, publisher and editor of business magazines Maverick and Empire.

David Donde
David will be facilitating the session for Epiphany. He is a talkshow host on 702/Cape Talk and journalist at GQ on cars and lifestyle. He is a founder of Origin Coffee Roasting (singularly the best artisan roasted coffee in the country). Recognised as a global expert on the matter, David does talks on coffee; but also on branding, fair trade economics and the collapse of the middle market. He voices his strident opinion out in the web at daviddonde.com

Paul Jacobson
Paul is a new media lawyer working in Johannesburg. He has a general commercial legal practice, Jacobson Attorneys and focusses on new media and the law. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council on The Open Knowledge Definition Project, Sub-Committee 71L (Document description and processing languages) and is the legal advisor to a number of non-profit organisations. Paul speaks at universities and conferences globally about new media and the law and writes about these issues (and others) on his blog.

Joshin Raghubar
Joshin serves as a director of the Cape Information Technology Initiative (CITi). Chairman of the Bandwidth Barn which is Africa’s leading non-profit business incubator and accelerator for technology businesses. He has also recently joined the board of the South African Chamber of Commerce in America. Has has recently become a Global Leadership Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (African Leadership Initiative). Somewhere between all of this, he is also CEO of marketing and communications firm iKineo.

Mike Stopforth
Mike is perhaps one of the most quoted people on social media in South Africa, helped set up Afrigator, is the brains behind Cerebra, and co-founded the 27Dinners. He’s an acclaimed public speaker, columnist and tells the likes of Toyota, Standard Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Samsung Mobile, ABSA, Converse and Calvin Klein what they should be doing online. For kicks he is an associate of the Institute of Technology Strategy and Innovation (ITSI), the Center for Complexity Studies

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Anthea Garman (once a lecturer of mine at Rhodes University) wrote a fantastic post on Thought Leader this week. I don’t want to add too much commentary but felt this post to be a necessary one for the readers of SA Rocks.

Here are a few snippets, but I really do suggest you read the entire post and leave your comments.

Third was Jody Kollapen, chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, taking stock of how little progress we’ve made in internalising human rights, how little progress we’ve made towards that lofty and important goal that “South Africa belongs to all who live here”.

Fourth was Dr Abdulkader Tayob talking in very nuanced and textured ways about the 300 years that the Muslim communities of South Africa have negotiated life here and engaged in various forms of politics, and hearing him carefully push his questioners to think more thoroughly about their black-and-white opinions and to be more willing to understand the complexities of Islamic ideas and thinking.

So, I conclude, the years of legitimate government have lulled us into a silence. Now that we see around us very significant signs of danger, we know (from past experience) that we — the ordinary citizens — have the power of speech and disagreement and that we should use this power.

And here is Anthea’s resolve:

I resolve from now on to end my silence. And to assert: I’m a South African, I belong here, this is my government and my country and there are certain things I do not want done in my name. I resolve to talk, to start conversations, to listen, to seek to understand and to do the work to get into and through complexity and complication. But I don’t think this country is being served any longer by those of us just watching events unfold.

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SA is not short of bands. SA Rocks has started to attract these bands and I love it. At least once a week I’m being e-mailed by bands and promoters with new sounds, funks, vibes, feelings and more and I love it.

Music is a strong part of my life, everyday it motivates me and moves me to do more, create, love, live, thrive and anything else. Everything I do involves music. So from my side send them on, if you know of anyone who is looking for some exposure for their band or a friends band, send them to my way!

The Slickers (love the name) are the latest band to contact me asking for some exposure. I am always more than happy to assist.

Here’s the press release:

If you haven’t yet heard the musical genius of Jozi band The Slickers, prepare yourself for the best arrangement of American alternative rock with a definite “British” sensibility and attitude.

Strongly influenced by his passion for British music, lead singer and songwriter Billy White delivers original vocals, strong melody and hook-driven choruses synonymous with the Britpop sound.

This, coupled with Verny’s guitar delivery, arrangements and production, gives the added dimension of an American influence. It’s the Arctic Monkeys fused with the art-rock of Blur, delivered with a rock sound one might expect from The Stone Roses. Not many bands can pull off this bittersweet sound with such aplomb, but it’s the maturity and depth of talent within The Slickers that makes their sound so original and authentic.

The band is made up of five members, Billy, the singer songwriter, Jp on lead guitar, Anton on bass and Roger on drums. The fifth member, Verny (on lead guitar), is a founding member of the double platinum selling band “Just Jinger” and no stranger to success.

“I am proud to be a member of The Slickers, and believe that the band has what it takes both with the talent of its musicians, and strength of its original compositions to attain great success both in South Africa and abroad. Our growing fan-base who support us at all our live performances are testament to the success which lies ahead for The Slickers,” says Verny.

For more information on how to obtain a CD or catch one of their gigs, go to www.eleven.org.za or www.myspace.com/slickersthe

Here’s what I think:

I dig their vibe, the sound is different, to say the least. There seems to be a bit of britpop influence floating around as well as an old school 60′s twang that rears it’s head in the rhythm guitar in the track “I feel fine”.

This is such an overused and rarely-understood phrase but The Slickers have a very eclectic sound. I want to say Nirvana, Foo fighters, The Parlotones all infused in to one sound when I listen to “Normal”.

The sound is listenable, interesting and different and I love that. I also love bands that try to pay homeage to the old masters with a ting or twang here and there.

I do have criticism that centres around some basic SA music insights. The sound feels too simply, under-produced and rough. This could be attributed to a lack of funding in production, it could be an intentional goal of their sound but I think that if/when a band tries to sound rough and raw they need to produce it in such a way so that it sounds unintentionally purposed, Like the Arctic Monkeys.

All in all I would/will buy this album if it’s out there. I think you should too.

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I have returned from the Million Man March (MMM) at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Let’s get this out of the way off the bat: There were not a million people. All the nay-sayers have been proven right but I hope they are wishing that they weren’t proven right and instead contributed their body to the numbers.

Apparently the final count was 5000 and there abouts. But on the plus side there were over 15 countries with media representation at the march and broadcasting in one way or another. That is good news.

I have been a part of events like this all over the world and I think that I overestimated this one. I arrived with my brother, John, at about 7:30. We parked close and waited for the masses to arrive.

In amidst of the waiting I managed to get some face time with the incredibly humble Desmond Dube, organiser of the MMM. What a great man. He has the ability to make you feel welcome and inspired. He greeted my, I introduced myself and showed him the SA Rocks T-shirt that I was wearing and he was immediately warm to me and give me a hug hello. He thanked me for my work and praised my deep love for South Africa. When you hear people thanking you out loud it really is quite rewarding.

I left Desmond to his devices, which included interviews with what seemed to be e-tv and other TV stations.

At this time it’s about 8am in the morning and there is an inconsistent and slow trickle of people coming in to the Union Building grassed area.

Then at about 10am I think it was, The Times gave me a ring and did a podcast with me about the vibe and attendance and such things:

Click play to listen to the podcast!

At the time of writing this post the podcast had been viewed 1100 times! Not too bad I think.

Things started to get a bit interesting as the day developed. The DA showed a strong presence and tried hard to market themselves effectively throughout the day. Azapo arrived and tried to show their presence, unfortunately that was short lived as they downed their protest tools and chilled out.

My main gripe the entire day was with Altec Netstar and their brand punting the whole day. I was approached by 6 different sales people informing me about their new product called the gaurd-something-or-other. I was a bit offended, being sold to while protesting crime. They really missed the point of the march. It was not an event to punt a product to people. Not at all. Bad move. I wont be buying their product any time soon.

I did a mini-vodcast with a couple of people and managed to get Helen Zille herself on camera speaking to Bongani from Carte Blanche. Nice work I think.

One of the most impressive things that I saw the entire day was the presence of St Mary’s school at the march. Their Matric class was present in full force, full school uniform and voices warm. They showed great spirit and intention. I interviewed the headmistress of the school and she was steadfast in her convictions. She also mentioned to me that the entire St Mary’s school marched in Waverly to show that they own their area, not crime. Great stuff.

And here is a video of the girls from St Mary’s showing us how to protest peacefully.

Below are some of the photos that I took throughout the day. There were many more, but these were the ones worth placing online.

I also twittered (live blogged) the entire day to some mixed responses. Some of the more interested tweets are listed below:

At The union buildings. Very empty. Hope it fills up. Already spoken to desmone dube.

#millionmanmarch ppl streaming in. Vibe is great! Music, support. Loads of political parties unfortunately missing the point

Just did a short podcast with the times. Nice one, numbers slowly increasing. 1hour 2 go.

Live coverage started on sabc. Helen zille just arrived

Numbers here very sad but not focusing on negative. Ppl here have been fantastic.

Desmonds opening line “can a comedian do it?”

‘we need to remove those who cannot hear the cries of the people’

victims of crime speaking. Sad stories. Everyone in crowd nodding in agreement. Sad that we can all relate.

‘crime is robbing us of eachother’

‘crime is the government not servicing its people’

‘we cannot allow criminals to mess with our freedom’ minister booed off stage. Perfect treatment.

One of the most incredible things that happened to me at the MMM was realising that I am making a difference. This blog is actually being read (even though the stats say that it’s anothe thing to realise it in the real world). It is being read by all sorts of people! I found this out at the MMM. People came up to me, asked about the shirt and told me that they read SA Rocks every day, once a week, in the inbox or on the MMM website. To hear people (and see them) face to face telling you that you are making a difference, that they read your website without you asking them to and that they support your efforts is moving and mind blowing. It must be one of the greatest rewards for a blogger – to have “Real life” people telling you that they know who you are. What a great feeling, a very rewarding day all round. I feel like I made a difference and I feel like standing together with 5000 other people is better than standing alone. Whether it was 1 million or not, I don’t feel alone anymore.

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For some reason this kept slipping my mind. But not today.

I have finally seen the SA Rocks dedicated page in SA Promo Magazine.

If you’ve never read SA Promo I think you should start. It’s a magazine for South Africans living all over the world but has useful and interesting information for South Africans all over.

I was asked to write something from SA Rocks for the magazine once a month. I jumped at the chance to take part in the project and hope that the great people over there let me continue to contribute to the magazine.

Have a look:

I have blogged about them before so read the post if you want a short bit of history.

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