With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“We’ll lay back and observe the constellations” August 9, 2012

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:54 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Occasionally I find a topic or some crap trivia that might fit into more than one of my blogs and this one is one of those. In addition to here in ‘With Just A Hint Of  Mayhem’ you will find it in my ‘With Just A Hint Of  Learning‘ blog! If you already regularly read both then please accept my apologies for subjecting you to twice the usual drivel!

Did you know that Starbucks is named after a character from Herman Melville‘s classic tale ‘Moby Dick‘? In the book Starbuck is the name of the first mate of Captain Ahab. It also possibly is in part a derivation of Starbo which was a mining camp located on Mount Rainier in the late 1800s/ early 1900s. One of the guys involved in the creation of the company was Gordon Bowker, he initially favoured the name of Ahab’s ship from Moby Dick, it was called the Pequod. However it was pointed out to him by business partner Terry Heckler that; “No one’s going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!”. Actually I wonder if he heckled him about it?

Anyway in the long run they settled for Starbucks which they saw as a name ‘evoking the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders’. Did you also know that Gillian Anderson‘s character Dana Scully in the X Files was given the nickname of Starbuck by her screen father after the character in Moby Dick.

There is also a music link here, well a couple actually. Electro boffin Moby is actually a descendant of Moby Dick author Herman Melville, apparently he is the great great great-nephew of the writer. Moby’s real name is Richard Melville Hall. Additionally a big US hit from 1976 was “Moonlight Feels Right” which was performed by a band calle Starbuck. Surely the latter (or latte?) would have been a better inspiration for the Starbucks name because they could have changed the lyrics to advertise. How about a quick chorus of ‘flat white, feels right’ everyone!

 

Reading Festival 2012 – The Preview August 7, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 10:39 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We are now just over two weeks away from the start of the 2012 Reading Festival. Since I moved north to York in 2007 this has become my annual pilgrimage back south where I meet up with my good friend and festival buddy extraordinaire Mr nick Horslen. Undoubtedly soon to qualify as the oldest rockers in a field in Reading (our combined age is definitely over one hundred!) we have attended the world’s number one rock festival for many years. Although I live nearer to the Leeds end of it I won’t be going there until I can only move by Zimmer frame as I have always seen Leeds as the snotty young brother of Reading.

I have mixed feelings about some of the headliners this year. The Foo Fighters are always awesome an I doubt that will change this year. The Cure, who headline the main stage on the Friday night haven’t played the Reading Festival since 1979 so I’d like to think they’ll have something special up their sleeves for this year. It’s Kasabian that really concern me, I find them a little predictable and almost Spinal Tapesque, like someone said today I’m going to invent a rock band. I may be convinced otherwise but for me they come across as Leaden Zeppelin, Slightly Dark Sabbath or Shallow Purple. I am sure that there are plenty of you out there that disagree with that opinion, so feel free to comment.

There are some great acts lower down the bill on the Main Stage that for me are ‘must see’ performers. Those are; Florence and the Machine, Paramore, Eagles Of Death Metal, Cancer Bats and the truly stupendous Enter Shikari. The Kaiser Chiefs are third on the Main Stage bill on the Sunday, which I find a bit surprising. They have been lacklustre at best lately in my opinion, what do you think?

I am disappointed that I will probably miss Justice in the NME/ Radio tent as they are on the same time as the Foo Fighters. But there are a number of other bands and artists that I want to see on the NME/ Radio 1 stage; notably the Horrors, the Joy Formidable, Hadouken, the Hives, At The Drive In (who are on at the same time as Kasabian) and most of all Graham Coxon.

On the other stages I will do my best to watch Less Than Jake, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Azealia Banks and Grimes. But of course I can’t ignore the often excellent BBC Introducing stage where Nick and I often pick a band with the wackiest name to see, but we are also open to recommendations too! So I’m currently considering Wet Nuns, Fish Tank, Dingus Khan and Attention Thieves.

Nick and I often meet some really interesting people at the festival and last year was no exception. In fact last year we met a great bunch of people, mostly South African, but with a smattering of Brits. One of the South Africans was a hilarious bloke called Jason Steyn. (Jason if you’re reading this let me know if you’ll be there this year). They shared their booze, we shared our food and supplied me with a Prince Charles mask! if those guys are back again this year and indeed if you want to meet me and Nick we will be just to the left of the front of the lighting/ mixing tower as you face the main stage, although obviously not if we’re at one of the other stages. You can’t miss us, Nick is very tll and grey haired and his festival nickname is Silver Dude. I am somewhat shorter, slightly older and have hardly any hair, my festival nickname is Billy Baldust. (Actually I just made that one up, but there will be a prize for anyone who comes up with a better one!

Anyway that’s enough wittering on from me. I would love to hear your comments on this post or indeed on any of my posts. I would also love to meet you at Reading and would be more than happy to give you a name check on my posts from the festival! Whetehr I see you or not I hope you enjoy yourself!

 

“I’ve seen all the frowns on the faces of the clowns” August 5, 2012

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 5:05 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

Regular readers will have noticed quite a few sports related posts on this blog recently, largely related to the London Olympics of course. However this is also a sports related post, but it doesn’t relate to the Olympics. I took part in the York 10 k Jane Tomlinson race this morning. Well I say race, but for me it was just a personal challenge. Many years ago I was doing two half marathons a year, many with my good friend Al Sloman. I also ran the 1986 London Marathon with Al, who is a blind runner. My last half marathon was in Wycombe in 1995 and I have now completed the York 10k three times. I did the Leeds 10k and Hull 10k last year too. Having done far less training than I had hoped and being somewhat porky at the moment I set myself a target of between 80 and 90 minutes. I was incredibly pleased to have finished with an official time of just over 68 minutes and I didn’t walk any of it! I also have a nice red t-shirt and a medal sponsored by the UK arm of Wal-Mart; Asda.

Howard Webb dresses for charity for the York 10K (or perhaps not!)

Clearly my performance wouldn’t have brought me even close to Mo Farah, but then I am considerably older than him! He probably had a better build up too. I arrived at the start at 8.20 (for a 9.00 start) with Catwoman, who was my chauffeur, coach and supporter for the day. I have a bladder that is smaller than a gnat’s eyeball so obviously I needed to empty it. The queue for the chemical portaloos was immense, but having joined it I wasn’t budging. So I was actually in full bladder emptying mode when the race started. But given I was always going to start with the less fast runners I still had plenty of time to join the slow pack. It took me 12 minutes from the starting whistle to cross the start line. Why was it a whistle and not a pistol? Well it was started by world-class football referee Howard Webb.

As is the norm the “Theme From Chariots Of Fire” was played before the race along with the British national anthem. Music can be inspirational so just how disappointed do you think I was when the PA was blasting out Cheryl Cole‘s “Fight For This Love” when I eventually crossed the start line. To make matters even worse that same slice of Cheryl’s special brand of crap pop was playing again! So as this is a music blog I will spare you anything by Cheryl and let you enjoy a few of running related songs and a song about Cheryl Cole née Tweedy.

 

 

“‘Svobodu Pussy Riot” August 3, 2012

Filed under: News,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 9:49 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I am sure that by now many of you are aware of the plight of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mariya Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich from the Russian punk band Pussy Riot. The three women are now on trial in Russia on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility. In effect what they did back in February this year was to perform an anti Putin song (a one minute punk prayer) in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral a Russian Orthodox church. I suspect that the underlying charge is that they simply pissed off Vladimir Putin, who clearly has an ego the size of a small planet. His behaviour in my opinion makes it seem that glasnost never existed.

One of the many things I love about being a Brit is my right to exercise free speech, which is really all Pussy Riot were doing. Clearly free speech doesn’t exist for Putin, unless it’s him speaking! A group of western rock musicians have written to the Times this week to ask Putin to make sure that the three members of Pussy Riot get a fair trial. they could face up to seven years in jail for their ‘so called’ offence.

I would like to take this opportunity to applaud all the signatories of the letter who include; Jarvis Cocker, Pete Townshend, Martha Wainwright, Neil Tennant (off of the Pet Shop Boys) former Smith Johnny Marr, Kate Nash, Corinne Bailey Rae, Alex Kapronos (off of Franz Ferdinand), Cornershop and The Joy Formidable. I urge you to write to the press, your politicians and Putin himself to protest against this travesty of justice. Alternatively pop along to the nearest Russian Embassy and play your collection of  Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts and Bikini Kill tunes at maximum volume until they see sense. Why those three artists? well Pussy Riot have referred to them as some of their many influences.

In a Levada poll 43% of Russians said that they thought the potential punishments wer far too harsh whilst only 17% said that the punishments fit the crimes. I presume that means that 40% are either too stupid or too scared to have an opinion or they are related to Putin. How can you trust a man who clearly plays the system in any way he can to make sure he stays in charge indefinitely. On top of that he has allegedly had Botox injections to keep his ‘youthful’ appearance along with his unappealing habit of stripping to the waist to show how masculine he is! The old story of the Emperor’s New Clothes springs to mind here!

Maybe he needs to get Pussy Riot to record his entry music

In a rough translation of their one minute punk prayer Pussy Riot apparently said something like’ pray to the mother of god to chase Putin out’ . They also allegedly changed the words to a christian hymn from ‘holy, holy, holy, Lord God’ to ‘ shit, shit, shit of Lord God’ So I say to Mr Putin ‘Svobodu Pussy Riot’, embrace the modern world, promote freedom honestly, stop being a bully and do it now! Otherwise I believe you will be chased out, probably not by the mother of god but certainly by the majority of the Russian people!

Anthony Kiedis shows his support for Pussy Riot

 

“And you know I’m so wired up I don’t need any more tea in my cup” July 30, 2012

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 9:06 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This post is my 501st, so I thought to myself what can I do to celebrate such a milestone? Actually the 500th post would have been a better one to celebrate but I missed that with all the excitement of the Olympics clouding my view. So is the number 501 meaningful in any way? well yes it is; it’s the score that most darts matches count down from. So does that help me come up with a theme for a celebratory 501st post on this blog? A darts theme on a music blog? Is it possible? Can it be done? Will this idiot stop rambling and get on with it? Well indeed I will. Welcome to my special darts themed post to celebrate issue 501! Let me add that when I say darts-themed I do mean that in the loosest sense possible!

So I thought I’d choose three darts related songs, one to represent each of three darts used in every turn at the oche. With the first dart I have hit, rather obviously, Darts the group. This band had quite a bit of chart action in the late 70s. They had a run of seven consecutive UK top 20 hits from 1977 to 1979. This included three that stalled at number two, sadly this meant they never reached the top spot. Those nearly number ones were; “Come Back My Love”, “The Boy From New York City” and “It’s Raining”, all from 1977. Their cover of the classic “Duke Of Earl” was produced by none other than Roy Wood off of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Another glam period connection is that Rob Davis the guitarist from Mud was briefly a Dart. That was before he went on to reach amazing heights as a songwriter including song such as Kylie’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”. The song I have chosen from Darts is one that also sums up summer so far in the UK this year; “It’s Raining”

For my second dart I am selecting Franz Ferdinand, the band as opposed to the famous Archduke. Their first single was released in 2003 and was called “Darts Of Pleasure“. Interestingly it was released on the Domino label, another popular pub game. Alex Kapranos of the band has said in interviews that the song is actually about seduction and that the darts of pleasure that hit you are in fact words. It was written by Kapranos and band colleague Nick McCarthy. The single peaked at number 44 in the UK charts in 2003. however their follow-up, the festival friendly “Take Me Out” was a smash. It was their biggest UK hit reaching the heady heights of number three. It also made the top twenty in Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, along with a creditable number 66 on the US Billboard chart. So now you can enjoy “Darts Of Pleasure”

For my last dart I had no other option in my opinion other than Dexys Midnight Runners. In 1982 the band released a cover version of Van Morrison’s song in praise of the late, great Jackie Wilson; “Jackie Wilson Said” (I’m In Heaven When You Smile)” The song reached number 5 in the UK charts, Morrison’s version was never a hit in the UK but did make the US top 75. Dexys played the song on the BBC’s Top Of The Pops show in 1982 and the screen behind them displayed a picture of darts player Jocky Wilson rather than supreme soul singer Jackie Wilson. For many years it was thought that this was a cock-up on the part of the Top Of The Pops production team. However Kevin Rowland has subsequently revealed that it was the band who asked for a picture of Jocky Wilson. Apparently they often referred to the song as Jocky and if this is true it just goes to prove that underneath that supposedly serious demeanour Mr Rowland has a damned good sense of humour! So here is my final dart, hitting a double top to win with a classic from Dexys!

 

“How can you decline such grand designs?” July 26, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 6:19 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So many people will be writing about the Olympics in the coming weeks so I thought I’d get my mention out-of-the-way in advance of the opening ceremony. Personally I have been a little bored with the journey of the Olympic flame, especially after discovering that there are thousands of torches and not just a handful. The constant news stories about the whereabouts of the flame; ‘the flame has now passed through the arse end of nowhere carried by A N other’ have left me completely underwhelmed. How do you feel?

however, the good news is I am really looking forward to the opening ceremony. Has Danny Boyle arranged the weather? Will David Beckham kick a flaming football? Will Olly Murs spontaneously combust to light the flame? I really don’t care, I’m sure it will be one of the most spectacular Olympic openings there have ever been.

Anyway in the spirit of this being a music blog here are a few of appropriate tunes for the Olympics (starting with one of my favourite songs of all time) and while I’m here I want to wish the GB team all the best and I hope they win more medals than they have ever done!

We’re all looking forward to women’s beach volleyball aren’t we?

And finally how about a Billy bonus of another song from the rather excellent and sadly missed Gene!

 

“It’s got a basket and a bell that rings” July 23, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 11:24 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Big congratulations to Bradley Wiggins who yesterday became the first Brit to win the Tour de France in the whole of its 108 year history. I hope this is an excellent spur for the Olympics too. For most of the Tour Bradley was unassailable, particularly the time trials. But there was also some brilliant team work and support from Team Sky. Even the French seem to have taken to Bradley with some pundits referring to him as Le Wiggo.

Bradley is a big Paul Weller fan apparently and this is a music blog not a cycling blog so here is a Paul Weller song for the talented Mr Wiggins, followed by a few cycling related songs. Enjoy them and feel free to suggest your own bike related music.

“Sunflower” – Paul Weller. I chose this for two reasons; first it’s one of my favourite Weller songs and secondly the sunflower is yellow just like the leader’s jersey in the Tour de France.

“Tour De France” – Kraftwerk. The German auto-bots are big cycling fans and keen cyclists too.

“Bike” – Pink Floyd. A great track, quaintly English and very Syd Barrett

“Bicycle Race” – Queen. This one was probably the obvious choice and who can forget all those naked women on bicycles? I was a teenager at the time, so I couldn’t!

 

“But I ain’t losing sleep and I ain’t counting sheep” July 18, 2012

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:45 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some recent research by Ofcom the UK’s communications industry regulator has provided some really sad news. We now communicate more using text and e mail than we do actually speaking on the phone or face to face. More people interact with each other via texts and social networking sites than speak to each other.

I find that very disappointing. Whilst a lot of my communication at work is via e mail I still regularly use the desk phone or mobile phone. I als prefer to meet someone in person when I can, especially as in most cases they are in the same building as me. Does this news ultimately mean that evolution will lead to human vocal cords shrivelling away and becoming as useful as an appendix?

You can read the news story here on the BBC site. As usual and as I have mentioned many times before this is a music blog so now I need to share some, hopefully appropriate, songs with you. But I should warn you that I have even more sad news……. one of them is by Cliff Richard!

“We Don’t Talk Anymore” – Cliff Richard. This was Sir Cliff‘s tenth UK number one and his first since “Congratulations” his Eurovision entry from 1968. It was produced by the Shadows rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch.

“Don’t Speak” – No Doubt. This was the biggest single taken from the bands 1995 album ‘Tragic Kingdom‘ and was a UK number one early in 1997. It reached number one in at least twelve other countries.

“It’s Oh So Quiet” – Bjork. The song was written in German and the first English version appears to be by betty Hutton in 1951. But in my opinion Bjork has made it her own!

 

“See the blind man shooting at the world” July 17, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 9:51 pm
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Apologies for being a bit slow off the mark with this post but I couldn’t let the passing of one of rock musics true greats go without a mention on this blog. Many of you are no doubt aware that Jon Lord aged just 71 lost his battle with cancer that he had fought for sometime. Leicester born Lord is probably most famous for his role as keyboard player in Deep Purple. he also co wrote many of their biggest songs, including “Smoke On Water” and “Child In Time“. He was one of the co-founders of the band back in 1968 and a constant member along with drummer Ian Paice from 1968 until 1976. Lord’s wife Vickie is the twin sister of Ian Paice’s wife Jackie.

He also played with the Flowerpot Men and Whitesnake. He came to London in the late 50s with an ambition to become an actor and whilst he did get a few bit parts he continued a parallel career as a musician. He was a member of various jazz and blues combos including the Artwoods, who were led by Ronnie Wood‘s older brother. He also played as a session man on a number of recordings, notably “You Really Got Me” the Kinks‘ 1964 UK number one.

Lord was effectively Purple’s leader for their first few years. This can be evidenced by the fact that their first major chart success with “Hush” a cover of a Joe South song doesn’t contain a guitar solo but an organ solo from Jon Lord. He also became a renowned classical composer and worked with some of the best orchestras in the world. My thoughts go out to Jon’s family, friends and many fans around the world. RIP Jon Lord Rock Legend, rock on Jon! I would like to end with some of the words used by his family and friends to announce his death; “Jon passes from Darkness to Light”

 

“I know a place where you can get away, it’s called a dance floor” July 15, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 10:02 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you have read, seen or heard the news headlines recently you might be forgiven for thinking that Madonna (aka Her Royal Madgeness) was changing her name to Sue. But don’t worry it’s not true, well not as far as I know at least. But she is currently being sued on at least two fronts.

Madge disses frogs legs, I think!

Firstly she is being sued for the use of a sample from the Salsoul Orchestra‘s “Ooh I Love It (Love Break)” which was released in 1977. Is this something she has used on her current album ‘MDNA’? No it’s apparently sampled on her 1990 smash “Vogue”. It has taken 22 years for VMG who represent the Salsoul Orchestra to figure this out. VMG have claimed that the reason it took so long is that the producer of Madonna’s song, Shep Pettibone deliberately hid the sample. Here is their statement; “The unauthorized sampling was deliberately hidden by [Madonna] within ‘Vogue’ so as to avoid detection. It was only when VMG specifically looked for the sample, with the technology available to it in 2011, that the sampling could be confirmed” VMG served legal papers over the issue last year and again in February of this year.

Marine Le Pen is clearly a big fan of Vogue as she ‘strikes a pose’

The second litigation relates to an image used in her recent Paris show. The video screens showed a picture of the leader of the National Front, France’s far right party, Marine Le Pen with a swastika superimposed onto her face. That image was also closely followed by an image of Adolf Hitler. It wasn’t the first time the images have been used on the MDNA Tour, so clearly it wasn’t contrived just for the Paris gig. I think this one could get quite interesting. What do you think?

This next video proves that Madge needs to nip things in the bud or she’ll end up with a real bum deal!