Bez off of the Happy Mondays is a Beekeeper. He says that he finds it ‘a great, soothing, calming, restful thing to do’. I’m sure that you all wondered, as I did, whether the appropriately name Sting keeps bees. Sadly he doesn’t, but he is the patron of the Bees For Development Trust. The organisation helps to establish and promote sustainable beekeeping around the world.
Cover me in honey and throw me to the tantric lesbians
US TV company NBC are putting together a drama about the Beatles. Will it be any good? Well currently they don’t have the rights to use any of the Fab Four’s songs so I’m beginning to think that the show might not be very good!
Joni Mitchell wrote “Woodstock” despite never actually making it to the iconic festival held on Max Yasgur‘s farm in 1969. Joni said that ‘the deprivation of not being able to go’ provided her with ‘an intense angle on Woodstock.
Guess who sings backing vocals on Morrissey‘s “Piccadilly Palare”? It’s only that Suggs bloke (a.k.a Graham McPherson) off of Madness isn’t it! The song also featured Andy Rourke off of the Smiths on bass guitar which according to Wikipedia is the last time any former member of the Smiths played on a Morrissey track. The song reached number 18 in the UK charts in 1990. It made it to number 5 in the Irish chart and stalled at number 2 in the US Modern Rock chart. The song can also be found on the Morrissey compilation album; ‘Bona Drag‘
Jerry Garcia off of the Grateful Dead played pedal steel guitar on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young‘s “Teach Your Children”. The canny troubadour from the Dead didn’t want any cash payment. In exchange for that session Jerry asked C, S, N & Y to teach the Grateful Dead how to harmonise.
One of my most favourite Motown songs is the Jackson 5‘s “I Want You Back”. It’s a great song and it feels like it was made especially for the group. However it seems that whilst the Jackson boys made the song their own it was actually written for Gladys Knight and the Pips. I wonder what their version would have sounded like? Gladys had discovered the Jackson 5 and brought the group to the attention of Motown. But it is usually Berry Gordy‘s Motown teacher’s pet; Diana Ross that gets the credit for that.
Marvin Gaye co-wrote the wonderful “What’s Going On?” with Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson of the Four Tops. Berry Gordy infamously called it the worst piece of music that he had ever heard. However Obie thought very differently and he offered the song to Joan Baez, but she turned it down.
I love Rick James‘ classic funk single “Super Freak”, although perhaps not as much as Mr Baggy Trousers himself, MC Hammer did. Anyway did you know that Melvin Franklin of the Temptations provided backing vocals on “Super Freak”. Well you know now! Do you also know that Melvin is in fact Rick James‘ uncle? You know that too now!
I realise that I’m a couple of days late with this post but I couldn’t let the passing of such a musical giant as Bobby Womack go without saying anything. The first music genre I really got into was soul music. I recall reading about the likes of Bobby Womack in Blues & Soul magazine in the early 70s. My lifelong friend Glen Voisey and me used to frequent an excellent, though long since defunct, record shop at Rayners Lane called The Bop Shop. They had racks and racks of second-hand vinyl and I remember buying Womack’s “Harry Hippie” and “Across 110th Street” on 7 inch vinyl without previously having heard either track. Initially I had just read how great the man was. I was not disappointed; “Across 110th Street” remains one of my favourite songs. How can anyone not love “The Poet II” album?
Bobby was not only a great singer and guitarist (Jimi Hendrix was a fan of his playing) he was also a great songwriter. Other people recorded some fantastic interpretations of his songs. Notably for me is Millie Jackson’s version of “If You Want My Love, Put Something Down On It”, which he wrote with his brother Cecil. The Rolling Stones clearly valued his talent having a big hit in 1964 with “It’s All Over Now” a song written by Bobby and Shirley Womack and recorded by one of Bobby’s early groups the Valentinos. Womack was also a great interpreter of other people’s songs too, his version of “California Dreamin'” is testament to that. Bobby has recorded and released great music for more than 50 years. he has worked with the likes of Sam Cooke back in the 60s right through to Damon Albarn with the Gorillaz and his last solo album “The Bravest Man In The Universe” released in 2012. Bobby will be sadly missed and my thoughts are with his family, friends and his legions of fans. Bobby Womack RIP
Apparently Jennifer Lopez a.k.a J-Lo has her bottom a.k.a bum, arse, ass, rear, backside, posterior, derriere insured for $16.3 million. What a cheek! That is a spanking big amount! She must have done it for the craic! As you can see one of the reasons that I decided to post this information is to allow me to include some rubbish bottom related humour. Feel free to stop arseing around and contribute some of your own bottom related humour and bum puns good people of the blogosphere.
I would also like to know when the insurance company would pay out on that policy. If the said buttocks are damaged perhaps or I suppose they could be stolen. just imagine the reward poster for the latter!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 