I know that many people thought that Michael Jackson was a little odd, me included. However I suspect that his weirdness shielded some of the odd behaviours of his family. Jermaine Jackson couldn’t resist the temptation of lumbering one his offspring with a ridiculous name; Hello Jermajesty! But now he is playing the name game on his own name. He has allegedly applied to the courts to be allowed to change his surname from Jackson to Jacksun, apparently for ‘artistic reasons’. I guess he won’t be blaming that on the moonlight or the boogie but definitely the sunshine! I’d love to hear your views on Jermaine’s proposed change.
OK I know he may not have been a musical superstar but I was saddened by the news that Clive Dunn has died. He was aged 92, so not a bad innings compared to some. If your one of the baby boomer generation in the UK, like me, you will remember that he played Lance Corporal Jones in the classic comedy ‘Dad’s Army‘. Who can forget the refrain of “Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring” or “They don’t like it up ’em”.
Clive also had the UK Christmas number one with “Grandad” in 1970. The interesting thing for me is that I always thought he was much older, largely because of the parts he played. In fact he was only 50 when he was on top of the charts. That is younger than I am now. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and all his fans. RIP Clive Dunn.
This will be one of my shortest posts ever, I promise. I would like to say a big well done and sincere thanks to the American people for seeing sense and re-electing Barack Obama and not sliding to disaster with Romney. I’m sure that much of the world feels the same.
I nailed my colours to the wall the on this election quite clearly on an earlier post (click here to see that post) and I am so pleased America delivered. Enjoy Obama’s victory speech below and the song that was played as he took to the stage.
Does anyone fancy some stuffed Anaconda? Really? Well it’s quite mature, maybe 120 years and will only set you back £10,000. That’s a bargain if I ever saw one. Anyway I’m not talking about some strange delicacy to be eaten, I’m referring to Albert the stuffed Anaconda who lives in the Ansel Library at the Foreign Office in London. Well, when I say lives I really mean that he is hung from the wall. He has been dead for some time. He’s not just resting, he is indeed and ex Anaconda.
Albert was a gift to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office some time in the late 1800s after he had received the full services of a taxidermist. Albert was allegedly presented by a bishop, in what is now Guyana, to the Colonial Secretary sometime in the 19th Century. As such he is in fact a Foreign Office asset and therefore need to be maintained. This news came to light following a request by the Guido Fawkes website via the Freedom of Information Act.
In my opinion this money could easily have been spent somewhere else and Albert could have been scrapped, buried or given a seat in parliament. I find it incredible that in these times of austerity so much money could have been spent on a dead snake! We are living in a time where budgets are constricted with venom and politicians are rattled! Did the cabinet hold a COBRA meeting? What do you think of stuffed Albert? Could we not have made a few pairs of shoes for the homeless from Albert’s skin or bailed out our local Greek kebab shop?
Click here to read the story of Albert on the BBC. Of course this is a music blog so please enjoy a few snake related songs;
Last year I posted about the death of Jimmy Saville as did many people. At the time I felt that he had been a bit of an eccentric but now it is clear that he was a cowardly paedophile scumbag. In the last few weeks I have had thousands of people searching for Saville arriving at my blog. I just want to make it clear that I have no respect for him and the only feelings I have for him are that he died before he could be tried. If there is such a place I hope he rots in hell.
As usual the downfall of a celebrity brings about a whole range of jokes about that person, usually derivatives of those that have been used for others. One of the many that I have seen was “The Vatican has revealed that Jimmy Saville was only two sexual assaults from getting his own parish!” Now that one did appeal to my sick sense of humour. However what I read earlier on a BBC profile of Scumbag Saville, who was a lifelong Roman Catholic, was that 22 years ago “Pope John Paul II made Saville a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great . This particular honour is also called a papal knighthood“. So maybe that joke wasn’t too far from the truth after all. What do you think of what appears to be the real Jimmy Saville?
Clearly paedos hunt in packs! I hope Glitter is shitting himself now!
Well it’s been a long wait but Felix Baumgartner has done it. he has jumped from a balloon some 128,000 feet above the earth. He has broken a record that has been held since 1960 by Colonel Joe Kittinger. Felix appeared to have a spot of bother at the start of his jump when he was spinning over and over for a short while. He reached a top speed of more than 700 miles an hour. Click here to read the BBC report of his successful jump. I also found it a little interesting that he jumped over Roswell, site of the alleged crash landing of an alien spacecraft in 1947.
To celebrate Mr Baumgartner’s success I thought that you might like to listen to some jump related songs.
It’s all doom and gloom these days isn’t it; well according to rock’s best known pensioners it is. “Doom And Gloom” is the title of the new Rolling Stones single. Can we still call them singles if there is no physical product or even a B Side? Anyway the song is one of two new recordings that will be included on yet another Stones hits compilation coming out soon, that album is called ‘Grrr!’
“Doom And Gloom” is a template Stones rocker that has a whiff of ZZ Top about it. But it is really growing on me. Have you heard it yet? What do you think of it? Inevitably now that the tickets for Glastonbury 2013 have sold out the headliner rumours have moved up a gear or two and the Stones are getting quite a few mentions. Personally I think they would be a great choice. Anyway take a listen to “Doom And Gloom” and tell me what you think of it.
I always get a bit of a good feeling when a favourite song, or even one that I recognise is mentioned in a story, do you? My favourite author Stephen King does it quite often. Now there is a regularly updated site called Small Demons that have compiled a list of the songs mentioned most often in works of fiction. Click here to read about it in the NME. Here is the top 20;
1. The Beatles – ‘Hey Jude’
2. Elvis Presley – ‘Heartbreak Hotel’
3. Led Zeppelin – ‘Stairway To Heaven’
4. USA For Africa – ‘We Are The World’
5. Abba – ‘Dancing Queen’
6. Carl Perkins – ‘Blue Suede Shoes‘
7. The Beatles – ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds‘
8. The Beatles – ‘Eleanor Rigby’
9. Nirvana – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
10. Queen – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
11. Los Del Rio – ‘The Macarena’
12. Michael Jackson – ‘Beat it’
13. Creedence Clearwater Revival – ‘Proud Mary’
14. OneRepublic – ‘Apologize’
15. The Beatles – ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
16. The Beatles – ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
17. ‘Lili Marleen’ (first recorded by Lale Andersen)
18. Michael Jackson – ‘Billie Jean’
19. Bob Dylan – ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
20. Rolling Stones – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
I get why some of these would appear, but USA For Africa, “Macarena” and “Apologize”? What’s that all about? “Hey Jude” has been mentioned in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. The Beatles have a probably unsurprising five titles in the top 20 with Michael Jackson the only other artist with more than one with his two entries. I suppose an entry for the Fab Four‘s “Paperback Writer” would have been quite apt wouldn’t it? Click here to see a longer and nicely pictorial list.
It is now 50 years since the first James bond film ‘Dr No‘ hit the screens and the new one, ‘Skyfall‘ is due out very soon. This means that there is all the usual interest in the new Bond theme. This time it is the turn of Adele. As is the case with most Bond movie themes the title is the film title; “Skyfall”. I think that this song is a grower. It’s probably never going to be my favourite Bond theme, but it is a long way from being the worst. My least favourite is “View To A Kill” from Duran Duran and my favourite is Carly Simon with “Nobody Does It Better“. What do you think of Adele’s “Skyfall” and what is your favourite and least favourite Bond theme?
With all the Beatles activity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of “Love Me Do” BBC local radio stations polled 12,000 listeners to find out what their favourite Mop Tops song was. Incidentally I also joined those 50th anniversary celebrations with my post, click here to read it. My top ten would be very different. I also think that wheeling out Macca to maul “Hey Jude” at every opportunity this year (Jubilee, Olympics etc.) has really turned me off the song. But strangely that hasn’t been the impact for those who voted as it was their favourite! Here is the top ten;
My favourite Beatles song of all time is “Don’t Let Me Down”, followed closely by “In My Life”, “Revolution” and “Girl”. None of which made this top ten. I would certainly include “Eleanor Rigby”, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” as well. What are your favourite songs from the Fab Four? Here are my top 4 followed by the poll winning “Hey Jude”
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 