Stop calling me a drunk.

This isn't Shine. I'm not some hopeless alcoholic. A few beers a day isn't a crime. Unlike most of you, I'm still quite competent while wasted. The global classical music establishment is just like the local one: nobody wants to have to pay an actual licencing fee for my music, so they try to bully me into being the soloist. According to ChatGPT: since 2000, Gao Ping appears to be the only composer to have premiered a major concerto-scale work with the NZSO while also performing the solo part — and that was nearly two decades ago. This suggests that the pattern is typically for a specialist to perform the music. As I say, Salina is a truly world-class violinist. Nobody asks her to premiere pieces. NZSO people need to start seeing Joel as that specialist, not Jake. You need to start treating me as one of New Zealand's best composers. That's the reality. John Psathas doesn't live in Aotearoa anymore, but I still do. This isn't 'new music' - it's actually a reaction to how irritating those people are. The preludes require actual ability as a musician, not a bunch of random noises. - If my preludes aren't cheap, it's because they're world famous from my synth demos, three of which feature prominently in S01E05 of The Dakumentary. The cannabis scene is global, and several of you are keen stoners as well. I can't help that I became famous and you didn't, but I'm also wealthy enough to simply ignore the NZ classical music scene until the apologies are delivered. I'm entitled to around $40,000NZD for a piece that is literally being compared to the Rhapsody in Blue by everyone (including the NZSO). That means that we all think the piece is both sophisticated and likely to fill a hall to capacity. - If Owen Moriarty plays the piece, the NZSO will have a full house. If I play the piece, you'd be lucky to get half of capacity. You see it as a box-ticking exercise, but the audience says that this is like Lilburn's Aotearoa Overture, largely based on the cool film that I made to accompany it. The NZSO will not get to play the piece until I record it for my movie. If musicians desperately want to play it, then do the Shipwrecked scoring sessions. - No gigs = no gigs. I refuse to perform in Wellington until I get my pound of flesh, and even then I'm very unlikely to agree. Any future career in classical music begins with an apology hui in which the NZSM openly admits that they tried to rewrite my music long after I'd graduated. There are no NDA's in my settlement offer. There are no escapes. If you can't admit the truth, we'll push for criminal charges. You have to lose this war with me, so start from scratch with a reasonable fee that covers the music licence, then spend at least half of what you paid me on the soloist. If you can't do this, I can't licence the music. That is all. It's not performance anxiety: it's a conscious choice to refuse. Believe me, my lawyers expect NZSM faculty to face charges. That's what this is really about: trying to settle before the press run a story. Sorry, but it's too late. I have the medical records, and you didn't back down. The next step is to charge VUW and the NZSO with harassment. If we can't charge the institutions, we'll charge individuals. Accept the apology hui - under my terms - or accept a jail term.