It is with great sadness that I bring you the news of the death from cancer of Poly Styrene aged just 53. She remains a true punk icon and an inspirational figure. The music world has lost someone who was a true original. Poly, whose real name was Marianne Elliot-Said, came to prominence in the wave of UK punk bands that broke through in 1977. X Ray Spex was their name and they left some classic songs which crop up on my iPod shuffle quite often; “Oh Bondage Up Yours”, “Germ Free Adolescence” and my personal favourite, “The Day The World Turned Day=Glo”. You can see some of those in a short while. Her most recent solo album was released just last month. You can read the news on the BBC and the NME. My condolences go to her family, friends and fans.
Dizzee enjoyed dressing as an 18th Century poet whilst promenading with a powerful female. Thatcher hasnt aged well has she?
Hello people, I have some assorted bits of music related news for you in todays post. Some old, some new and some strange. Beginning with Dizzee Rascal, who according to the UK tabloid press has an addiction. But not to drugs, drink, sex or gambling, but to 18th century poets. He is very much into his Wordsworth, Byron, Blake and Keats. Mr Rascal, formerly known as Dylan Mills, is hoping that classical English poetry will have an influence on his next album. Sounds interesting doesn’t it? Read about it here in the soaraway Sun and be careful your phone isn’t tapped!
Simon makes one last appearance on Page Three before he departs for the USA
Most of you probably know that Simon Cowell will be leaving the UK version of X Factor to launch and take part in the US version. It still seems most likely that he will take Cheryl Cole with him, providing the Americans can understand her one assumes. My only wish is that the opportunity is taken to get rid of Louis Walsh. What do you think and also who would your ideal fantasy X Factor judging panel consist of? My vote would be Lily Allen, Keith Richards, Jeremy Paxman and Nick Clegg. The latter choice is largely because there should always be one idiot on the panel and surely he will be out of a job soon won’t he?
Clearly Liam was buzzing about the new Beady Eye Bee Side
You’ve probably all heard of the post Oasis band Beady Eye, which is basically Oasis without Noel. I have listened to their album and it’s not bad, it’s hardly ‘Definitely Maybe’ or ‘Morning Glory’ but it’s ok. Anyway this isn’t a review but a rather strange piece of news about Liam Gallagher. According to a report in the NME (click here to read it) he likes to warm up before he goes on stage by listening to Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”, let’s pray he doesn’t do a cover version of it! What song do you use to get pumped up before work? For me it’s often “Complete Control” by the Clash or “Do Anything You Wanna Do” by the Rods.
Billie Joe auditions for a part in the new version of Snow White
Tom Hanks is currently preparing to produce a film adaptation of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ album. The director is likely to be Michael Mayer who was the director for the ‘American Idiot’ Broadway musical. Could this be this generation’s ‘Tommy’? Only time will tell. Click here to read the NME report. What album would you like to see turned into a film? I would definitely vote for David Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’
And finally how small do you think the world’s smallest working guitar actually is? Well you’re probably wrong. It is in fact no bigger than a human blood cell and obviously impossible to be played in a conventional way. It has to be played by having lasers directed at the strings. Read more about the Nano Guitar in the Guardian by clicking here.
OK I know i's not actually Friday today, but that's not really the point is it?
Just a few morsels of news for you with this post, ok for a couple of these ‘news’ might be stretching it and ‘olds’ might be a more apt description. Especially this first one. Many of you will have no doubt heard of Rebecca Black. She is the young lady who recently released what many consider to be one of the worst songs and worst videos ever. There has been an awful lot of nasty, vicious, vitriolic comment about her song. So other than saying I really don’t think the song or video are very good I will try not to add to what has already been said. The key thing that concerns me about this sad affair is that the poor girl recorded the song for a vanity music label; the Ark Music Factory. So now everyone can be a singer, just pay a few grand, or indeed get your parents to stump up the cash and you will get a song, a guest rapper, a vocoder and a naff video. sounds great doesn’t it? But surely you need talent as well? But in these days of X Factor and Idol that probably isn’t the case. Now that in my opinion is a really sad state of affairs. the one saving grace for Rebecca (apart from the millions of YouTube hits) is that the proceeds from any sales of her song “Friday” will go towards the earthquake relief in Japan. judge for yourself, if you haven’t already, by watching the video below. I would also love to hear your opinions on vanity record labels.
Talking Heads - Digging for Crist!
The BBC reported today that David Byrne off of the Talking Heads has settled his case against former Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist after the politician used the Talking Heads song “Road To Nowhere” to attack his opponent in the race for the senate. personally I am really pleased that Byrne took Crist on. What do you think? Read the story on the Beeb by clicking here.
Bono wonders whether he should have put his $558m in the hotel safe rather than trousered it in the pocket of his Speedos
It has now been confirmed that U2 have achieved the highest grossing tour ever with their 360° tour which began back in 2009. They still have 20 dates to go too, but they have already grossed $558 million. That even allows for missing a few dates, including Glasto last year, due to Mr Hewson’s back problems. Are they really worth it?
Dunc with Dad, Dame Dave
Richard Rich and Max Tannone have put together a brilliant free EP based on mixing hip hop sounds with the soundtrack to Duncan Jones (son of David Robert Jones) excellent movie ‘Moon’. Click here to download all the tracks. It’s called the Selene Project and has nothing to do with song strangler Celine Dion, it’s spelled very differently people!
Finally I was honoured to accompany the delectable Catwoman (aka Catherine Lee, my fiancée) to the studios of Radio York on Saturday where live on air she reviewed the newspapers. Once again she did an excellent job, you can still hear the show for three more days by clicking on Radio York’s Julia Booth’s page here. You can also check out the website for her excellent Virtual Assistant company, Kaleidoscope Business Services by clicking here and she would also love you to comment on her rather spiffing series of blogs.
Well hello again dear readers it’s been 2 and a half weeks since my last post, that is probably the longest I have ever gone without posting, so hopefully I can make up for that in the next couple of weeks. As long as work doesn’t get in the way at least.
Thom auditions for the new series of Vision On
This post is a motley collection of the amusing and strange that I have picked up or seen and heard during that long lay off. Have you heard the new Radiohead album? You must have by now surely. I like it but I don’t think it’s as good as ‘In Rainbows‘. There have been many suggestions that as ‘King Of Limbs’ is quite a short album there will be a part 2 coming soon. I certainly hope so. Anyway if you are a fan you will no doubt have seen the video for “Lotus Flower” with Thom Yorke‘s crazy dance. This has spawned many versions of the video which put Thom together with completely different songs, many of which are rather amusing. Click here to see some of the best.
In a recent article in the Guardian’s Lost In Showbiz section it was revealed that Mark Feehilly off of Westlife is a big fan of artist Leigh Bowery. That really does seem weird to me that a member of one of the blandest boybands ever is into a performance artist who has been known to throw shit at his audience. But then again Westlife have been pushing shit songs at their audience for years now so maybe it’s not that weird. Click here to read the rather excellent piece.
The new Westlife tour has been sponsored by Ferrero Rocher and Leigh Bowery has designed the stage costumes........ oh ambassador you spoil us!
Have you ever wondered how well ambient music and cop radio go together? well wonder no more, this is a mash-up of recordings taken from the LA Cop radio frequency and some superb ambient style music. I really love this, what do you think of it? Click here to listen, you can also listen to similar sounds from different North American cities.
A scene from an Isaac Hayes concert, although the costumes were probably from a 70s porn movie!
And finally for this post, ever wonder about the genesis of the wah wah pedal? ever wondered what music would be like without the pedal? Well click here to see how the wah wah came to be and obviously there would have been no “Theme From Shaft” or indeed any 70’s porn soundtracks without it! Check out two very different Isaac Hayes classics below
Firstly let me apologise because I have partaken in a few measures of alcohol this evening. But in simple terms I’d been out to a gig, more of which soon, and needed something to eat when I got back to my hotel. So I ordered some pasta, which frankly wasn’t the best. However what struck me was the two rather loud blokes on the table next to me. For the whole of my meal all I heard in their high volume voices was how money was the king and how much they had and would make. I so wanted to confront them, but decided that silence might be a better option.
What I found quite amusing was that for someone who bragged endlessly about his riches the main protagonist was wearing a very cheap suit. He was also sexist and racist and let’s face it, a bit of a twat. He told the guy he was with that money would make women do anything and that it imbued great strength in everyone. But the funniest thing for me was that they were staying in the Britannia Hotel in London Docklands. Now no disrespect to anyone, but if I was rich I would certainly stay somewhere else. But I’m not, so I can’t.
Basically they were both obnoxious arseholes and what I think sealed that for me was that they challenged their bill. It was only £4.50 as they had an allowance to cover the rest! Now tell me is that greed or stupidity?
I won’t finish there, obviously, as this is a music blog. So here are a few related songs that I hope you enjoy;
Well I’m afraid I have some sad news to impart, Steal The Smile are sadly no more. As many of you regular readers know, this is a band I have championed often in this blog. I got to a few of their shows and they are still regularly played on my iPod. They were a bloody good band who had a lot of potential. I feel quite confident that we will hear more from the boys in other guises in the future.I’m particularly looking forward to hearing more from luke, but then he is my son 🙂
So it’s the Smile are dead, long live the Smilers. Guys thanks for the music and the shows and good luck with any future musical ventures. You can still find them on MySpace and Facebook.
In the meantime the boys have kindly offered a few of their recently recorded tracks for download, click here to obtain your copies. “Jealousy” and “Dreamer” are very tight and accomplished slabs of power pop punk. Send the link to everyone you know, let’s send the boys out with a bang and not a whimper!
A random selection of news for you in this post dear readers. In a follow-up to one of my earlier posts about a number of music stars playing some very rich gigs at private parties for the Gaddafi family it has been reported that Nelly Furtado will be given the money she by playing for the Gaddafi’s in 2007 to charity. Top marks to Nelly in my opinion. Click here to read the story.
It was announced recently that the 100 Club has a saviour so it won’t have to close. That saviour, who is now the venues sponsor is Converse. Personally I think that is a great move, I have possessed a pair of Converse All Stars for most of the last thirty or so years. As a teenager I went through a white pair, a blue pair and a red pair. I have now settled on a very safe black pair, which I replace annually. I feel I’m in good company as the All Star was worn by such luminaries as Kurt Cobain and the Ramones.
Lady Gaga meets and eats Baby Gaga
I recently discovered a great clip collection of 101 bad covers of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance“. Click here to see it. In other Gaga news a London company has started to produce ice cream made from human breast milk. Click here to read the story. It has been named Baby Gaga. How many of you Little Britain fans just said or thought ‘bitty’?
Syd's psychedelic Baby Gaga 99 with flake caused his feet to grow incredibly large
Just how big a fan of Syd Barrett are you? Big enough to own the Syd Barrett Colouring Book perhaps? Well they are already extremely rare along with the first in the series which was the Joy Division Colouring Book. Click here to see the Syd book.
First a haunting, now levitation. What next? Exorcist style head spinning and green vomit?
Apparently Pete Townshend off of the Who has had a ghostly visit comparable with Dickens ghosts in ‘A Christmas Carol’. He claims that Les Paul appeared to him in a hotel recently telling him to rethink his guitar smashing which showed he had no respect for the instrument. The ghost of Les told him that if he didn’t do this he would suffer for the remainder of his life. Click here to read the story.
So in his recent speeches the evil dipshit that is Gaddafi has blamed the uprising in Libya on a number of things. Firstly hallucinatory drugs, the BBC and now Osama Bin Laden. What or who will be next in line for blame? Surely he won’t blame it on the sunshine, or the moonlight? But perhaps he will blame it on the boogie.
Incidentally most western leaders need to accept some responsibility, notably Tony Blair who met and shook hands with Gaddafi, surely in the knowledge that Gaddafi had always had the blood of his people on his hands. Quite a number of music celebs have helped in a small way to prop up and legitimise the Gaddafi family by playing private gigs for them. Stand up Lionel Richie, Beyoncé, Timbaland and Mariah Carey. Read about that in a rather amusing essay from Alex Petridis in the Guardian by clicking here.
But to be serious for a moment I believe that he needs to shoulder all of the blame on himself. He also needs to step down, run away or even kill himself. Personally I don’t care wich, but he sure as hell needs to stop murdering his own people. I still find it hard to believe that so many politicians in the west fell for his lies. The western press made us all see him as a figure of fun rather than the scum bag murderer that he really is.
I found a really excellent anti Gaddafi site recently, it’s called Gaddafi Duck, click here to check it out. Hopefully when his time comes he will not get the chance to duck! Another idea occurred to me; maybe we should secretly replace him with a pop star. This could be done in such a subtle way that some people might not even notice, ladies and gentlemen let me present to you Lady GaGaddafi!
She's already got the uniform as well!
I bet that all the bible bashing fundamentalists and believers in the Mayan Prophecy are wetting themselves over all the things that have happened lately. Floods and earthquakes in the southern hemisphere, massive solar flare activity, murder and mayhem in the Middle East and North Africa and dictators falling like dominoes. Have the end times started? Well personally I don’t believe so. In fact I think all that stuff is utter bollocks, but to each their own I suppose.
So after this little rant (well it is a rant of sorts) let’s finish with the Beatles.
There was an excellent science story in the news this week, not only that but it gives me an opportunity to bring you a couple of my favourite songs! It’s about a dinosaur, the story not the songs! The remains of the beast, in fossil form obviously, were found in a quarry in Utah. It’s been name Brontomerus from the Greek words Bronto which means thunder and Merus which means thighs. Yes this animal will now forever be known as Thunder Thighs. It has been blessed with that name because it would appear that it probably had the most powerful legs in the whole dinosaur community.
Just a brief note to any chubby chasers who have arrived here whilst searching for the object of their carnal desire, you’re in the wrong place fellas! You need to go elsewhere to sate your appetites! You can read about it on the BBC by clicking here. So how does this allow me to bring you one of my favourite songs? well back in the 70s there was a trio of female singers who all possessed quite a few curves and they too were known as Thunderthighs. Their parents named them Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou and Casey Synge.
You may not realise it but they appeared on some classic songs in the 70s. noticeably two of my favourite songs; “Roll Away The Stone” from Mott The Hoople and also “Walk On The Wild Side” by Lou Reed. They provide the “sha la la la push push” refrain for the Hoople and the “do do do, do do, do do do” vocal for Mr Reed. The spoken bridge on “Roll Away The Stone” however was not provided by one of th Thunderthighs girls, but by Lynsey De Paul. She also wrote Thunderthighs first single in their own right “Central Park Arrest” which reached number 30 in the UK charts in 1974. Of course being a big fan of David Robert Jones I should add of course that the Lou Reed song was produced by none other than Bowie and Ronson!
So without further ado go ahead and immerse yourself in some prime tasty 70s cuts!
Incidentally if you are a chubby chaser who has stayed the course and reached the end of this post just click here and you will be rewarded. However I would strongly advise non chubby chasers to steer well clear of this link!
It would appear that a few frivolous posts about dictators in the past appear to be picking up quite a bit of search traffic. I can only assume that those of you searching for information about people like Kim Jong Il and Gaddafi are actually looking for something a little more hard-hitting than the type of amusing (hopefully) trivia you have found. So firstly let me apologise for that. Secondly I would like to add that I fully support all those people currently fighting for their freedom from oppression in North Africa and the Middle East. In particular I am incensed by the terrible loss of life currently being meted out by Gaddafi and his henchmen
Would I have the courage to stand as the Libyans, Egyptians, Tunisians and those in Bahrain have done and continue to do? I’m not sure that I would, but maybe if my circumstances were different I might. I have massive respect and admiration for everyone who has stood up for their rights at the risk of their lives. It is very frustrating to watch all this unfold knowing that there really isn’t much I can do. This blog certainly can’t change things and despite what many of us might have thought, music won’t change the world either.
But right now that’s all I have so here are a few songs that might be relevant and hopefully illustrate my support for all those currently on the front line against tyrant bullies like Gaddafi.
