With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Good evening this is the Intergalactic Operator, can I help you?” April 27, 2011

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:55 pm
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I have always been a big fan of space exploration and I remain extremely disappointed that the Apollo programme was ended way to soon. The last time a man set foot on the moon was 38 years ago in 1973. Since the first moon landing in 1969 only 12 men have set foot on any piece of land which isn’t the Earth. The big programmes since Apollo have been the Space Shuttle, which is very close to retirement, the International Space Station, now largely supplied by the Russians and SETI. The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence are the words that lend themselves to the SETI acronym.

For me the Shuttle was never a good replacement for the Apollo Programme and whilst it was and remains a brilliant act of international cooperation the International Space Station is hardly a mission to Mars is it? However the principles behind SETI have always meant a lot to me. An organisation and network set up with the aim of being there for any communication from alien civilisations is really exciting, isn’t it? If you’ve seen the Jodie Foster movie ‘Contact‘ then you’ll know how important and difficult it could be. do I believe that there are alien civilisations out there? Yes I do. How about you?

Anyway let me get back to the purpose of todays post; it appears that the SETI Institute has run out of money. Just how sad is that? Still as long as we leave an appropriate answer machine message we’ll be fine won’t we? I feel really let down that we have come to this. Can we not find a few billionaires with some spare cash to keep SETI in operation? read the report here in the Guardian.

So as I have said many times before this is a music blog so here are a few appropriate songs for this sad story, feel free to submit your own;

 

“And the future is certain, give us time to work it out” April 12, 2011

Filed under: Film,News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 10:51 pm
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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.

 

“Then preheat the oven to three fifty and give that spoon a lick” April 3, 2011

Filed under: News,Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:03 pm
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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

 

“For someday sons and daughters will rise up and fight while we stood still” February 22, 2011

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:59 pm
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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.

 

“I’m on a mission and it involves some heavy touching yeah!” February 9, 2011

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:10 pm
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Today, February 9th 2011 I would like to say a very big thank you to all my regular readers and all those of you who have just stopped by a couple of times. Also to those of you who comment, regularly or otherwise, I salute you! Why all this fuss I hear you say? Well simply because it is now the second birthday of my little blog. It has now surpassed any ambitions that I might have for it. I have made more than 260 posts and received more than 860,000 visits. If I’m honest 20 hits a week in the early days blew me away, but this level, well I can only imagine you search for something and luck brings you to this blog.

A picture of Lady Gaga’s rear end has been downloaded more than any other picture or file, to date 919 people have downloaded it, or one of you has downloaded it 919 times! Check it out below. The post that has been viewed the most times, with more than 68,000 views was published in the blogs first week back in February 2009. You can relive it by clicking here.

The most popular search terms that have arrived here are;

1     Lady Gaga            95,939

2     Pink Floyd 58,786

3     Kate Bush 42,253

4     Eminem 41,966

5     Slipknot                   39,670

6     Lily Allen 38,993

7    Michael Jackson 25,341

8    Beatles 24,572

9   Catwoman 23,220

10 Pink                            16,903

So finally a big thank you once again for your support and encouragement, I have also made friends of many other bloggers, check out my blog roll for many of them. So rather than the traditional happy birthday please enjoy Lady Gaga with “Love Game”

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
 

“Blades are long, clenched tight in their fist, aiming straight at your back and I don’t think they’ll miss” February 4, 2011

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 12:07 am
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This is quite a difficult post for me. Some months ago I tried to help out a good friend by finding them a job where I was working at the time. You understand, I hope, that giving names may cause them embarrassment and get me into trouble. Actually it is the former that bothers me most. Anyway the lily livered people where I was working decided that as they had seen my friend when she previously worked at the same place via a consulting company that they didn’t like her. Lily livered is a bit strong for one individual for whom I have immense respect, he bothered to tell me personally how he felt about my friend and that he didn’t rate them. Fair enough and to each their own, I didn’t agree with him, but at least he had the balls to voice his opinion to me.

However there was at least one other individual (personally I believe it was more than one) who decided to go straight to the top and say that they didn’t like my friend and that I should not be allowed to appoint them. I was informed of this but the names of the complainants were not given as ‘they had given their views in confidence’. Which obviously gave me no right of reply. so I was persuaded against my better judgement not to employ my friend. I then compounded this by not telling them the whole truth as to why there was no longer a job. I did this to spare their feelings.

What happened next was that my friend went back to the same place with another consulting company whereupon one of the sad two-faced losers that had actually expressed their liking for my friend during that previous debacle once again complained to the ‘powers that be’ that my friend should not be employed. I am not one to seek revenge, but I do believe in karma and if an opportunity presents itself for me to crap on this pathetic two-faced lowlife, believe me, I will. he knows who he is and so do I. He must be aware that what goes around comes around, but then perhaps he’s too much of an arsehole to realise.

Enough said, now enjoy two very appropriate songs;

 

“Look at you, the record stops will you run, or flirt ’til it hurts?” January 19, 2011

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 11:25 pm
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Let me give you a bit of a rant warning before you read this post, just so you know! It would appear that HMV are now in some significant degree of financial trouble. Whilst I have a dislike of faceless corporate record/ music stores, HMV is effectively the last national left in the UK. Even their range has fallen considerably in the last couple of years as well. So along with the ongoing and sad demise of the independent record shop and HMV’s precarious position just where the hell will future generations buy their physical music? Downloading will continue its inexorable rise, both legally and illegally, but for physical purchases what are we left with? We’re left with just a handful of small chains (Fopp etc.) and fewer and fewer independent stores. Although I do believe that Fopp were rescued by HMV who still have a stake in them. That leaves the likes of WH Smith and the Grocers (Tesco, Asda etc.) who all seem to operate an ‘if it’s in the chart we’ll stock it policy’. So that pretty much takes away all key channels apart from the internet and downloads for new bands and artists.

A couple of the major labels (Sony and Universal) are looking to spice up interest in the singles market by releasing singles on the same day that they begin airplay. Read about it by clicking here. This will certainly allow songs to rise up the charts, just like those hazy old days of my youth, rather than enter high and then crash and burn after a couple of weeks. This will clearly help downloads, but will it help sell the physical product? If the only place you can get that product is on-line (Play.com etc) then I don’t think it will.

Sadly I believe that we are truly heading for a time when digital music will outstrip every other form. Sure, vinyl is making a bit of a comeback, but it will never match the digital form with most of todays generation. OK you might think I’m a boring old fart and you are entitled to your opinion. But I am not advocating a wholesale return to vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks and CDs. What I am concerned about is the ongoing demise of the record shop. We cannot let the grocers take a stranglehold on our music, which is just so wrong on many levels. With Woolworths and Borders now dead and HMV potentially heading the same way we must support all the remaining small chains and independent record shops. So next time you are tempted to buy a CD on impulse in the supermarket resist the urge and find your nearest proper record shop. I know that you may pay a little more, but these people offer excellent service and they are a million times more knowledgeable about their ‘product’ than pretty much anyone on the supermarket checkout. But if you are a music aficionado who works on a supermarket checkout then please accept my apologies. So you know what to do, boycott music from large grocers and get it from a proper record shop, trust me it’s a better experience all round!

 

“If I could reach the stars I’d give them all to you” January 16, 2011

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 10:45 pm
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Upon reaching the ripe old age of 50 a couple of years back I made myself a short list of things I wanted to do before I pop my clogs. There were five things; Ride a motorbike, learn to play the guitar, have something I’ve written actually published, spend a couple of hours in a flotation tank and be hypnotised for some past life regression. Thanks to my delectable  fiancée, who most of you know as Catwoman, I have now achieved three of them, all birthday presents in fact. I spent a day at the Harley Davidson Centre in Wales in 2009, but I won’t be taking up riding! I took an initial few guitar lessons in early 2010, but work got in the way as I could never get home in time for my lessons. But I do have a very rudimentary skill. This weekend I underwent past life regression hypnosis. Now in many things I am quite cynical, but with things like reincarnation I do have an open mind.

The experience, given to me by Catwoman for my birthday, surpassed all my expectations. I wasn’t put into a deep trance, but some of the things I experienced were incredible. Were they actual past lives or were they part of my imagination driven by the vastness of my unconscious mind (I’m not bragging here, everyone has one!). I don’t know, but I do know it was an amazingly thought-provoking and exciting experience. I am still an atheist with no-balls, which is how an old boss of mine described agnostics! Anyway I won’t go into too much detail about it here, but feel free to get in touch if you’d like to hear more. But I am happy to say that I wasn’t Napoleon or Caesar!

But apart from the guitar lessons none of this is about music so I thought I’d add a few past life related songs. I hope you enjoy them.

 

“They take some brain away, then turn my face around” January 8, 2011

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 11:43 pm
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Bowie was an early adopter of the guitar string floss method

OK perhaps a tad late, but it is still just about 8th January where I am. Anyway I would like you all to join me in a quick chorus of Happy Birthday for David Robert Jones, better known as David Bowie to most of you and possibly even the Dame to longstanding NME readers. I became a Bowie fan in September 1972 after that now legendary performance of “Starman” on Top Of The Pops. Many, many people had their Bowie epiphany from this performance, understandably too, it was otherworldly and alien. Even now it is quite a striking performance, especially subtle touches, like Bowie draping his arm around Mick Ronson‘s shoulders. It might all seem quite innocuous and tame nowadays, but in 1972 it was so very far out there.

That performance was shown on a Thursday night and two days later I raided my piggy bank and purchased four Bowie albums on cassette; “Space Oddity”, “The Man Who Sold The World“, “Hunky Dory” and “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars“. After about 18 months I had worn them all out! I first saw Bowie in 1976 and have now seen him 8 times in total, although if the rumours are to be believed we may never see him in concert again. However if you’re reading this David, can we at least have another album or two?

I have another piece of very slightly related Bowie news. My good friend Nick Horslen appeared on BBC Radio Berkshire earlier this week to do an interview about his life as a business coach, small business supporter, charity volunteer and many other things. He chose a few songs to play during his slot, notably Mr Bowie’s “Heroes” alongside “Harvest For The World” from the Isley Brothers and “We Can Work It Out” by the Beatles. He interviewed really well and I would also like to thank him for the excellent shout he gave this very blog. You can still hear the interview on the BBC iPlayer for a few days at least. Click here for the link and wind it forward to around 2 hours and 4 minutes and you’ll be able to listen to Nick’s interview on BBC Radio Berkshire’s Phil Gayle Show.

Now take some time out to enjoy a couple of Bowie classics and a couple that don’t get played much. Happy 64th birthday Mr Jones!

 

2010 in review January 2, 2011

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 12:32 pm
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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 490,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 21 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 143 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 245 posts. There were 402 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 45mb. That’s about 1 pictures per day.

The busiest day of the year was September 13th with 6,362 views. The most popular post that day was Janie Jones.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were alphainventions.com, search.aol.com, 74.125.67.100, facebook.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for lady gaga, eminem, pink floyd, kate bush, and pink.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

“We are starlight, we are golden” February 2009
9 comments

2

“You wave your hand and they scatter like crows” April 2009

3

“If you’re 555, then I’m 666” March 2009
21 comments

4

“I wanna say, I wanna tell you, about the young ideas, but you turn them into fears” February 2009
2 comments