Thank you for all you banking song suggestions following my original banking rant yesterday. In fact there were five new songs suggested by Marcy, Mickelodeon and Catwoman. I might have guessed that Catwoman’s would be from a musical. Anyway I will keep this one very short and I will end it with a poll including the five from yesterdays post and your suggestions. Get voting good people, obviously the bad people and anyone in the banking industry is also allowed to vote too. Personally I’m torn between the Clash and the O’Jays
“My Daddy was a Bankrobber” February 26, 2009
Welcome back dear readers, I thought I’d throw in a free bonus post for you today. I was just thinking about the latest published horror stories from the banking industry, notably that bunch of bwankers at RBS and I thought how about a list of top 5 songs relating to the banking industry;
So here is my view;
1 “BankRobber” – The Clash
2 “Loser” – Beck
3 “Stand And Deliver” – Adam & the Ants
4 “Take That To The Bank” – Shalamar
5 “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” – Simply Red
I can think of plenty more but I would love to know what songs you guys would include
Let’s think about it as well, these banking and finance companies run up some of the biggest debts in history and then come cap in hand to various governments for a bail out. Fair enough so far, I wouldn’t want to see hundreds of employees who toil honestly lose their jobs. But then the bank big wigs decide that they should be still allowed to take their enormous bonuses. The guy who got RBS into this position has a bigger pension that most can even dream of. Hold on a cotton pickin’ minute here, I’m a taxpayer that is MY damned money he and others are getting! OK some perspective if I committed benefit fraud to the tune of just a few hundred pounds I might well be spending some time in prison, oh I’m sure I could ask for a bonus but I would imagine the response I would get would be more painful and embarrassing than dropping the soap in the prison showers
OK rant over so let’s listen to the Fun Boy Three with “The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum” and fade out for a while!
Let’s get some comments going I’d love to hear your ideas for songs related to the current state of the banking industry
“And you sip your Napoleon Brandy, but you never get your lips wet”
Here we are again, my my doesn’t time fly? Probably not if it wants to take a suitcase on a Ryanair flight though!
Just to let you know I posted a brief update about the NME Shockwaves Awards last night. Want to know who won what? Well just read the post below this one 🙂
In other music news President Obama presented Stevie Wonder with the Library Of Congress Gershwin prize for services to music. This is presumably for all the fantastic work he has produced in his lifetime, well with the exception of “I Just Called To say I Love You” perhaps. Well done Stevie!
Anyway normal service will now be resumed with todays birthdays. February 26th 2009 is the 81st birthday of Fats Domino. Wouldn’t his name make a great meal name for a pizza for Dominos Pizza – The Fats Domino deep crust with lard, butter, chips, deep fried Mars Bars, pork scratchings and blueberries. Do you like the sound of that one? Incidentally can you guess where Mr Domino actually got his name from? Yep you’re right, his size. He wasn’t obese by any means and certainly not by todays standards. He weighed 224lbs (that’s 16 stone in English!) in 1950, but he was only 5′ 5″. His first hit was a song called “the Fat Man” which was effectively a song called “Junkers Blues” with new lyrics by Fats himself. He is perhaps remembered by most people for the classic “Blueberry Hill”, how many times have I sung that in the shower! I also loved the way Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard’s character in ‘Happy Days’ used to sing the refrain whenever he thought he was onto a good thing with a member of the fairer sex. Fats was at one time believed to have been one of the many who perished as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. To the extent that graffiti reading RIP FATS was painted onto his home. He was later found to be alive and well. So to celebrate his birthday here is Fats with “Blueberry Hill”
Fats really wanted some help to push the piano off the stage at the end of his set
The second of todays birthdays is that of the late great (those l’s and g’s are just ever present!) Johnny Cash he would have been 77 today had he not died in September 2003. After graduating from High School he worked for a short time in a car plant before enlisting with the US Airforce. He was stationed in Germany which is where he learnt to play guitar and write songs. He even formed a group with some fellow servicemen called the Landsberg Barbarians. His first published song “Hey Porter” was published in the US forces journal the ‘Stars and Stripes’ in the early 50’s. Early in his career he claimed that his ancestry was from the Cherokee nation, it turned out that this was not strictly true and his roots can apparently be traced back to 17th century Scotland. I’m half Scottish, perhaps we’re related, but I doubt it because I never have any cash! I acquired a taste for the music quite late on really, largely because my Mum and Dad loved him, so it wasn’t cool for me to like him as a teenager. But I absolutely love the stuff he did with Rick Rubin in the years before his death. So from that period here he is with the excellent cover of the Trent Reznor song “Hurt” This song makes me cry almost every time, OK so I’m a wuss, I can live with that!
Johnny was desperate to figure out how to lengthen his guitar strap
The final birthday for today is that of Sandie Shaw, she is 62 today. I wonder if anyone will buy her some shoes for her birthday? Her real name is Sandra Goodrich and she used to work as an IBM machine operator in Dagenham, Essex in the UK before she found fame. She spent most of her early singing career singing in bare feet, she didn’t necessarily choose this option, but her manager Eve Taylor (who also used to manage Adam Faith) felt it would be an excellent gimmick that the press would pick up on, and that they certainly did! She was the first UK winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 with “Puppet On A String”. The following year she celebrated her 21st birthday with a party in the Madame Tussauds Chamber Of Horrors in London. I’m not sure if that is where she found him, but in March of that year she married fashion designer Jeff Banks. She spent quite a long while away from the limelight before a barnstorming return with an excellent cover of the Smiths “Hand In Glove” in 1984. Morrissey was a lifelong fan and had always wanted to work with her. So for Mozzer it was truly mission accomplished!
Sandie wanted everyone to leaf her alone
On this day in 1969 Peter Sarstedt was at number one with his classic song “Where Do You Go To My Lovely” The song was a joint winner of the Ivor Novello award in 1969 along with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” (at long last another Bowie reference!). His two brothers also had hit songs. His older brother Richard had a big hit with “Well I Ask You” as Eden Kane in 1961 and his younger brother Robin had a hit in 1976 with “My Resistance Is Low” Here is Peter with his classic “Where Do You Go To My Lovely” watch out for the intro too, I think that is Simon Dee. Does anyone know what happened to him?
Peter wondered whether anyone else could see the caterpillar that had found it's way onto his top lip
And finally on this day in 1997 songwriter Ben Raleigh died after setting fire to his bathrobe while cooking. He should have just ordered a Fats Domino Deep Pan from Dominos! He wrote many songs including “Tell Laura I Love Her” and one that I’m sure most of you know whatever age you are, “The Scooby Doo Theme” come on grab yourself a scooby snack and sing along!
All together now...... Scooby Dooby Doo Wher e Are You.....
NME Shockwaves Awards special!
As many of you know tonight saw the music fraternity out once again for an annual awards/ lovefest. This time the NME Shockwaves Awards, mostly seen as a good alternative to the Brits and indeed often called the Brats. It has been argued by some that the NME awards have become too commercial these days. never as commercial as the Brits though, surely?
Anyway the results for tonight are
Godlike Genius Award goes to the Cure, but then we all knew that didn’t we? seeing as how it was announced weeks ago. There is a great free CD of Cure covers with this weeks NME
Outstanding Contribution to Music goes to Mercury Award and Brit winners, the fabulous Elbow. Oasis won Best British Band, no real surprise there, but to me they sound a little old and tired these days, especially on the new single “Falling Down” what do you think?
Noel Gallagher also won best blog, hey I’m going for that next year 😉
The magnificent Muse won Best Live Band and also Best Album Artwork for their excellent live album “HAARP” Have you heard it? On top of those two awards Matt Bellamy also won the sexiest man award. I love the band but Matt doesn’t really do it for me in that way, but then again I’m straight. Ladies (and gay men) was Matt Bellamy a good choice for sexiest man?
MGMT won two awards; Best New Band and Best Track for “Time To Pretend” I saw them supporting Radiohead last summer and they were bloody good
Alex Turner was the recipient of two awards; Best DVD for the “Arctic Monkeys Live At The Apollo” and Best Video for The Last Shadow Puppets “My Mistakes Were Made For You” However he did lose out in the Best Dressed award to his girlfriend Alexa Chung
Even those nice boys the Jonas Brothers won two awards, mind you those were Worst Album (“A Little Bit Longer”) and Worst Band
Barack Obama rather unsurprisingly won Hero Of The Year, now that is one I certainly agree with.
His predecessor in the White House George W Bush also won a well deserved award, for the 6th year in a row too, the Villain Of The Year. I wonder who it will go to next year now that Dubya won’t be around?
The Killers deservedly won Best International Band with fellow countrymen the Kings Of Leon getting the Best Album gong for the superb “Only By The Night”
Hayley Williams from Paramore won the Sexiest Woman prize and yes I can agree with that. Another woman, Amy Winehouse won the Worst Dressed award. Was she really that bad?
One of Amy’s buddies, Mr Pete Doherty won Best Solo Artist, well do forgive me but has he done that much from a solo point of view yet?
Best Dancefloor Filler was the rather good “Dance Wiv Me” by Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris
The rest of the awards were; Best Live Event – Glastonbury, Best TV Show – The Mighty Boosh, Best Website – youtube.com (well at least that proves the vote wasn’t rigged otherwise it would have gone to nme.com!)
, Best Venue – London Astoria and lastly the Philip Hall Radar Award – The Big Pink
Check out the pictures and post awards party news at the NME
“I wanna say, I wanna tell you, about the young ideas, but you turn them into fears” February 25, 2009
Hello again folks, well it looks like the ‘Lily Allen Naked’ experiment didn’t work. There were twice as many views yesterday than normal, but most of these were views of the gig review I posted in addition to yesterdays usual post. So I guess that means gig reviews and fart jokes can impact the views on this blog but the suggestion of a picture of Lily Allen naked can’t. So does that conclude the ‘Lily Allen naked’ experiment? Maybe it does except to say that we might possibly go for a ‘Lily Allen naked experiment at a future date. Although the fact that this paragraph now contains the phrase ‘Lily Allen naked’ five times might make a difference for today. Confused? I’m not surprised!
So on with the show, kicking off with a couple of birthdays. First up for February 25th is that it would have been the 66th birthday of the late great (still there aren’t they those old l’s and g’s) George Harrison the youngest of the Fab Four. Sadly though he succumbed to cancer on 29th November 2001. George wasn’t the first Beatle to release solo material, that was Paul McCartney, however George was the first to release an album on the Beatles Apple label with “Wonderwall Music” the soundtrack to the film ‘Wonderwall’. This also went on to become the title of one of the top Beatles tribute bands Oasis’ songs “Wonderwall”. If anyone has any idea what a Wonderwall is please send your answers on a postcard, or more preferably in the blog comments facility. There may even be a small prize available for the best answer! George was also the first Beatle to have a solo number one with “My Sweet Lord”. The story of the plagiarism legal battle he faced from the writers of the Chiffons “He’s So Fine” over “My Sweet Lord” is well documented so I won’t dwell on that here. However a little known fact about the song is that Harrison originally gave it to Billy Preston and in fact it was lined up as a potential single for Mr Preston. Seen as a more ‘junior’ writer within the Beatles Harrison had also originally given the wonderful “Something” to Joe Cocker before the moptops recorded it for the Abbey Road album.
George wondered how long it would be before John and Paul would let him play with a big boys guitar
Incidentally “Something” was written about George’s wife Patti who later went on to marry his friend Eric Clapton. Clapton wrote both “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight” for Patti. This must make her the only person to have so many classic songs written especially for her surely? In spite of the fact that Patti left George for Eric the guys stayed great friends right up to Harrisons death.
In the 60s George really took Flower Power to extremes
In 1974 Harrison set up his own label ‘Dark Horse’ it’s first signings were Ravi Shankar and the band ‘Splinter’. Apart from Harrison himself the only act to have a hit on ‘Dark Horse’ were Splinter who charted with the song “Costafine Town“. Have a listen to it, I think it’s aged quite well, what do you think? George produced two Splinter albums under the not well disguised name Hari Georgeson. This became the name that the NME used for him throughout the 70s too
George soon realised that what he thought was just a frog in the throat was in fact far more serious
Here is George with the criminally underplayed “When We Was Fab”
The last of todays birthdays is that of Stuart “Woody” Wood of the Bay City Rollers, it’s his 52nd birthday. The band had been around for a while before Stuart joined in January 1973, the same time as lead singer Les McKeown joined the group. The band’s rise to the heights of ‘Rollermania’ began in 1974 with “Remember (Sha La La)” and peaked in the UK in 1975 with their two number ones “Bye Bye Baby” and “Give A Little Love”. They also hit the top spot in January 1976 in the US with “Saturday Night”. Most of their sings were either covers or written for them by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, however in December 1975 they had a hit with “Money Honey” which was written by Stuart Wood and fellow Roller Eric Faulkner
Woody was sure he had requested a mirrored ceiling, but decided he'd have to put up with a mirrored floor instead
On this day in 1963 saw the first release of a Beatles single in the USA when “Please, Please Me” was issued on the Vee Jay label. I would imagine that a copy of this single might be quite valuable, largely because the name of the band was spelled wrong as the Beattles. The boys went on to capture all the top 5 places in the US singles chart for one week in 1964
How things might have looked if the Beatles had arrived in a more modern age
And (almost) finally for today the Jam signed a £6,000 contract with Polydor Records.The band (Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) came together at school in Surrey and went on to play chart and r & b covers across pubs and working men clubs across Surrey and surrounding area. As punk began to break in 1976 they rode the wave like many others, but were never really a punk band in my opinion, a great band nonetheless. They started to get gigs at the Marquee and the 100 Club in London and in 1976 they auditioned for Terry Slater of EMI and were turned down. Perhaps not on the scale of Decca turning down the Beatles but still a big mistake. Their audition for Polydor’s Chris Parry came about after Chris was urged to see them by one Shane McGowan, then leading the ‘Nipple Erectors’ but later more well known as front man of the Pogues. They were a part of the Clash’s short lived ‘White Riot’ tour in 1976 but left following an argument with the headliners. It took them just 11 days to record their first album on which all the songs were written by Paul Weller who was just 19 at the time. Their first single was the album’s title track “In The City” Click the song title to see the band performing the song at the 100 Club in Oxford Street in 1977. Weller disbanded the group in 1982 to follow a new direction with the Style Council and then later to massive solo success. Breaking a great band up at the height of their success may have seemed like the wrong thing to do at the time, but it certainly never harmed Mr Weller’s career. Buckler and Foxton now tour as what in my opinion are little more than a tribute band ‘From The Jam’
Paul and Bruce practice for their advanced guitar Ninja exams
Catwoman and I saw Paul Weller at the Manchester MEN Arena last year and he was fantastic, he even included a few Jam and Style Council songs in his set. If you haven’t heard his current album ‘22 Dreams‘ shame on you. Go and rectify that issue NOW! In the meantime click on the album title to hear a BBC4 sessions version of the title song
paul steadfastly refused to wear a red nose, even for Comic Relief!
And finally finally, now I really mean finally this time! Here is probably the most infectious and annoying clip I have seen for ages, it’s a cat dancing to the “Peanut Butter, Jelly Song” just play it once and it will stick in your head for hours!
Soft Toy Emergency – York City Screen 23/2/2009 February 24, 2009
OK people here is the second in a series of reviews of gigs that I happen to have turned up at. Last night I was at the City Screen Basement Bar in the city centre. The headliners were the excellent ‘Soft Toy Emergency’, but more of them later. Let me start with the three support acts, all very different in their own way.
First up was ‘Going Backwards Forwards‘ and they were very good with some great songs, particularly “Casino Royale”. The singer has a great voice too
Next was ‘Kasima‘ for me these guys were like the bastard offspring of an unholy union between Razorlight, the Kings Of Leon and Bruce Springsteen. I mean that in the best possible way too, they were excellent!
‘A Man Is Slapped‘ was second on the bill. Now on paper I really would not have believed that this would have worked, but it did……..and how! This guy using synthesized vocal loops recorded live to build up his own electro wall of sound was truly excellent. Even his MySpace/ Facebook plug was clever
And so onto the headliners, ‘Soft Toy Emergency‘. In 1974 Rolling Stone journalist and critic Jon Landau saw Springsteen and was moved to write “I saw rock and rolls future and it’s name is Bruce Springsteen” Last night I didn’t see rock and rolls future in the wonderful ‘Soft Toy Emergency’ but I certainly saw it’s present, it’s now! This band certainly have a great future. Somewhat unfairly compared to the Ting Tings by some they are quite a different animal. Electro + Pop + Rock + Punk + Party + Disco + Style + Fun = Soft Toy Emergency a band that know how to excite an audience and do so with massive energy and an aura of cool. If they appear near you in the future do whatever you can to get tickets; sell your mother, your pets, your car, your house or your pants! Just make sure that you see them!
“I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade”
OK I’m going to open with a little experiment, the other day when I included a link to a fart joke on this blog I had three times the amount of the usual daily views I had been getting, many of which came from people searching ‘fart’ on t’interweb. I’m not going to get into why you would do that, it’s to each their own right? Anyway the experiment is that todays blog text will include a phrase which I suspect many people may search on, so here goes! Lily Allen Naked!!! Well let’s see how many views come to the blog based on that shall we? I would like to thank Tom W for coming up with that idea, top thinking mate! Incidentally if you arrived at this blog to see Lily Allen naked I’m sorry to disappoint you, but here is a picture of her anyway!
Lily wondered where she had hidden the torch again
In case you didn’t see any news yesterday, Mr Springsteen has been confirmed as the Saturday headliner for this years Glastonbury Festival. That was the slot which was somewhat controversially filled by Jay Zed (copyright Karen McP) last year. well I say controversial, I mean Noel Gallagher was somewhat aggrieved by it! The strong rumours for the Friday and Sunday nights are Blur and Neil Young. Here is the Bruce news on the
Beeb
It’s also big congrats to ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which swept up at the Oscars yesterday, winning eight in total including best film score and also best individual song for “Jai Ho“. Incidentally one of the other best individual song nominees was featured on this very blog just a few days ago, that was “Down To Earth” by Peter Gabriel from the wonderful ‘Wall-E’. How many of you have seen ‘Slumdog Millionaire’? I thought it was a superb movie. Funny, moving, serious, feelgood, great music, all in all a great combination of the best of everything. What did you think of it?
So without further delay let’s kick off with a birthday. Today is the 24th February and it is the 62nd birthday of Rupert, not the bear, but Mr Rupert Holmes. His biggest hit was “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” which was a massive hit in the US where it went to number one. Obviously at that particular moment we had a bit more taste in the UK as it only managed number 23 here! Rupert was born in Northwich, Cheshire in the UK although he grew up and has lived most of his life in the US. His Mum was English and his Dad American. It may seem unreal now but at the height of his Pina Colada driven success Rupert toured the world and the Marcos government in the Philippines even had to provide with a military escort when he was there. There is a very special distinction for “Escape” that as far as I am aware in US chart history didn’t happen before and hasn’t happened since. “Escape” reached number 1 in December 1979 then fell to number 2 in the first week of January 1980 (replaced by “Please Don’t Go” by KC and the Sunshine Band, before jumping back to the top spot the week after. It thus became the only song to end a decade at number one and climb back the following decade a real 70s/ 80s hit. Now that would be an interesting argument for the DJs that work 70s and 80s clubs (we have one of each in York). Maybe it wouldn’t though, because in my experience most DJs in those type of clubs are a long way from good! But of course I would say that as I am a very good Mobile DJ! I’m still taking bookings for this year if any of you are interested. Highlights in the coming months are weddings, 40th Birthdays, 30th birthdays and indeed a 70th birthday! I am happy to do gigs all over the planet, but please be aware that if the travelling distance from York in the UK is significant then so will the price be 🙂
Rupert didn't quite appreciate the difference between cufflinks and handcuffs
Of course having discussed Pina Coladas I couldn’t leave you without the recipe, so just
click here! Mr Holmes has also said at various times “whatever else I do in my life my tombstone will be a giant pineapple!”
On this day in 1973 the final live appearance of the Byrds took place at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey. The Byrds are one of the acts, along with Jimi Hendrix, who recorded classic interpretations of Bob Dylan songs. The most famous of those Byrd songs is probably “Mr Tambourine Man” which you all know was written by Bob Dylan, but did you know that their version was produced by a chap called Terry Melcher, who is Doris Day’s son? Some radio stations apparently refused to play the Byrds “Eight Miles High” claiming that is was completely drug related. Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark who wrote the song said that in fact it was about their experience of flying in a plane at 40,000 feet. How wrong can one be? 😉 My favourite song by the Byrds is probably “So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star” which was written by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, supposedly about the manufactured and overnight success of the Monkees. The song was also groundbreaking in that it featured an African musician, Mr Hugh Masekala on trumpet. The observant among you will have noticed that there are two Byrd song links on this piece…… enjoy!
Upon arrival at the Police Station the boys realised that they had been framed
This day in 2004 saw the death of Estelle Axton who had helped to create Stax Records. She set up the Satellite Record label with her brother Jim Stewart. They were contacted by lawyers in 1960 and told that the name was already in use. They changed the name to ‘STAX’ which comes from the first two letters of each of their surnames. I guess ‘AXST’ just didn’t work out! Estelle was heavily involved with the selection and development of many artists on the label including Booker T & The MGs, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas and the wonderful Mr Otis Redding. Stax was to Memphis what Motown was to Detroit. It is also interesting to note that whilst Stax specialised in soul, r &b and predominantly black music it’s two founders were white. This must have been seen as quite a brave move considering segregation was still widespread in the US in the late 50s/ early 60s. Here is the late great (see they’re still around) Otis Redding with the rather excellent “Try A Little Tenderness” from the Monterey Festival in 1967
Estelle Axton with her brother Jim Stewart
The rather splendid Stax Records logo
And finally on this day in 1958 the classic song “Get A Job” by the Silhouettes was number one in the USA. It was recorded in October 1957 and is seen by many as the definitive doo wop song. It went on to sell a million copies and has been used in some great movies too. Notably ‘American Graffiti’ which starred a young Richard Dreyfuss and one of my favourite movies the excellent adaptation of Stephen King’s novella ‘The Body’ which was filmed as ‘Stand By Me’. The song is quite appropriate for many of us now too, given the current economic climate which those clever marketing people have re branded and made into the commodity we now know as ‘The Credit Crunch’ which in layman’s terms remains a recession surely?
The boys were frequently caught bragging about their many fishing trips
“She could kill you with a wink of her eye” February 23, 2009
Well here we are again on a Monday morning, what the hell happened to the damned weekend? Why is it only two days? Three or four would be better wouldn’t it?
Anyway in yet another forlorn attempt to keep this post short, I think I know I’ll fail in that aim, let’s kick off with some birthdays. Firstly 23rd February 2009 is the 65th birthday of talented guitarist Johnny Winter. He was one of the numerous acts to play the Woodstock Festival in 1969, playing a nine song set which included his brother Edgar on two songs. Here is a clip of him from that very set at Woodstock. The rather splendid US band the Smashing Pumpkins recorded an instrumental homage to Johnny called “Tribute to Johnny”, in which they tried to emulate Winter’s unique guitar sound. The song was originally intended for their excellent 1995 album ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ but was rejected and eventually turned as b-side on their “Zero” single. Ill health means that Johnny is only able to play whilst seated. Both he and his brother Edgar are albino, to find out a little more about this go check out Wikipedia here.
As this picture proves Johnny had a very laid back playing style
Today is also the day to wish Steve Priest, the Sweet’s guitarist a happy 59th birthday. He was born in Hayes, Middlesex in the UK just a few miles away from where I was born and grew up. I now live 200 miles away in York while Steve lives a little further away in California. Who do you think got the better deal weatherwise? An early incarnation of the Sweet was called the Sweetshop, whilst they released a few singles they all failed to hit the chart. The classic line up of the band (Steve Priest, Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker and Andy Scott) came together in 1970. “Funny Funny” written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman became the bands first hit in 1971. Despite the fact that the band were all competent musicians and thanks to Messrs Chinn and Chapman they were not allowed to play on any of their RCA singles until “Wig Wam Bam”. They were seen by many as just another bubblegum pop band, although many of their B Sides and live gigs belied this and showed their love of and skill at playing harder rock. Steve Priest and Andy Scott are now the only surviving members of that classic line up and both still tour with their own versions of the band. Imaginatively called Steve Priest’s Sweet and Andy Scott’s Sweet! Here are the boys with “Ballroom Blitz” from 1973, Steve is the guy who does the rather camp speaking part in the song!
The Sweet like brickies in drag! Mr Priest is the one on the bottom left
The last birthday today is Rob Collins keyboard player with the Charlatans. He would have been 46 today but sadly he was killed in a car crash on 23rd July 1996 in Rockfield, Wales during the recording sessions for the band’s 5th album. The Charlatans first gig was at Vic’s Club in Northwich, Cheshire in the UK. Following that gig their manager was able to secure them five support slots with the then new cult heroes the Stone Roses played between November 1988 and April 1989. It was Rob Collins distinctive Hammond Organ sound that underpinned many of the bands songs. Apparently he bought the organ from a local church. Here are the boys with the rather splendid “Weirdo” which Catwoman swears is about me!
Rob Collins RIP
On this day in 1974 Suzi Quatro was number one in the UK charts with “Devil Gate Drive” her second number one. From quite a young age Suzi (born Susan Kay Quatro) had aspired to a career in music. She left school in 1964 and immediately formed a band called the ‘Pleasure Seekers’ with her three sisters Arlene, Patti and Nancy. As with the Sweet earlier in this post and Mud from a previous post, many of her early hits were written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Fans of the US sitcom ‘Happy Days’ may also remember Suzi’s appearances on that show as Leather Tuscadero in 1977
Suzi had failed to notice the small ladder in her tights as she went on stage
It was on this day in 1979 that Dire Straits played their first ever US show when they appeared at the Paradise Club in Boston. The single of the title track from 1985’s “Brothers In Arms” album was the first commercially available CD single. 400 copies were pressed for release in November 1985. The album went to number one in both the UK and the US. Here is my favourite Dire Straits song which was also their first UK hit, “Sultans Of Swing”
Though they were excellent guitarists those Dire Straits boys never really mastered the Hank Marvin/ Shadows dance steps
And finally on this day in 2003 the UK tabloid ‘The News Of The World’ reported that Michael Jackson had undergone scores of painful operations to strip his body of black skin until he appeared white. They also reported that surgeons at a Santa Monica clinic eventually refused him any further treatment. An ‘insider’ told the paper that Jacson had been anesthetized on a weekly basis to have his skin peeled and bleached. Is this a true story? Maybe, but bear in mind the track record of the UK tabloid press in making up stories before making up your mind. Here is Michael with “Black Or White”
looking at the man in the mirror Michael finally realised that he may have overdone the plastic surgery
Well that’s another day nearly over folks, enjoy the rest of it and I’ll be back tomorrow
“Cold fire, you’ve got everything but cold fire” February 22, 2009
Welcome to Sunday everyone, I hope you’re having a good weekend. I am, in fact I am slightly hungover today, but hey that’ll pass soon enough….. well I hope so anyway!
So on with the show then, today, 22nd February 2009 is the 36th birthday of Scott Phillips, drummer with Creed who had a US number one single with “With Arms Wide Open” in 2001. It also reached number 13 in the UK charts. It won a Grammy for best rock song too. He also played keyboards on Creed’s album “Weathered”. He is currently a member of Alter Bridge along with two other former members of Creed, Mark Tremonti and Brian Marshall. Creed were often dismissed by critics as a Christian rock band, however they were never signed to a Christian label, nor indeed did they play Christian venues. A number of their songs certainly suggest a strong interest in religion, but for me whatever their beliefs they were a damned good band. The rumour mill suggests that Creed may be getting back together this year. What are your thoughts on band reunions? I think some are great and some are dire, for example in my opinion the reunion of both the Specials and Blink 182 this year is excellent, however the reunion of Limp Bizkit………….. WHY?????
Creed had now moved wholesale into the decorating business
The last of todays birthdays is that of James Blunt, who is 35 today (although some sources suggest 32. Someone once remarked that it was no coincidence that his name rhymed with another but much more derogatory word than blunt. I’m not sure I’ve figured out what that word is so for now let’s just say he’s a bit of a runt. Although strangely enough his real name is in fact Blount, James Hillier Blount to be precise. I’m sure that you all know him much too well. For me the first time I heard “You’re Beautiful” I thought this is an ok kind of song, but then it was absolutely played to death by radio and in pretty much every clothes store in the land too. Personally I prefer the Weird Al Yankovic version entitled “You’re Pitiful” (click the title to hear it) and just to show that I am completely unbiased, after all this is James ‘The Runt” Blunt and not Robbie Williams, here is James with his song “1973” You may be aware that James served in the British army for six years, notably as part of the peacekeeping force in Kosovo in the late 90s. But did you know that he was also one of the Guards for the lying in state of the Queen Mother after her death in 2002, he was also a part of her funeral procession. I know that last point will interest my Mum, but I’m really not a fan of the Royal Family at all!
In spite of his apparent wealth James still couldn't afford a full set of clothes for his lady
On this day in 1960 the Percy Faith Orchestra began a nine week stint at number one in the US chart with “Theme From A Summer Place” which also reached number two in the UK chart. This piece of music is very much a guilty pleasure of mine, I remember hearing it on the radio quite a few times when I was young and it is indeed on iTunes on my laptop, it hasn’t quite been promoted to my iPod just yet and it’s not in the 50 songs that make up my all time top 10 either. The music was written as the theme for a 1959 movie called, can you guess, “A Summer Place” The film starred Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue, Sandra went on to be immortalised in the song “Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee” in the Grease movie. Percy was a renowned band leader and often branded as a leading light among producers of ‘easy listening’ music. He was Canadian and died aged 67 in 1976
After months of practice Percy still couldn't get the "YMCA" dance right
On this day in 1969 Tyrannosaurus Rex (soon to become T Rex) featuring the late great (those l and g’s have been quite busy this week haven’t they?) Marc Bolan were headlining at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in the UK. The support act was one Mister David Bowie who performed a one man mime act. But perhaps the less said about Mr Bowie’s acting the better! Anyway Bolan and Bowie were good friends for quite a few years before either of them found fame. In fact at one point in the sixties they shared the job of painting Ken Pitt’s apartment, he was their manager. Bolan had success before Bowie and helped out his old friend by playing guitar on Bowies single “The Prettiest Star“. This single is still a sought after collectors piece. It’s a good song too, in fact Bowie rerecorded it for the Aladdin Sane album in 1973
Bolan and Bowie together for what became Marc's last ever TV appearance before his untimely death in September 1977. Look closely and you'll notice that is was also before any work on Bowie's teeth too
On this day in 1975 Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel achieved their only UK number one single with the excellent “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)“. I just had another idea for a special edition blog, how about songs with parentheses (that’ll be brackets to the less well read amongst you, to anyone else they’re the little curly things at each end of this sentence). “Make Me Smile” has been used for two UK national TV advertising campaigns; Carlsberg Lager in 1995 and more recently for Marks and Spencer in 2005. It remains one of the most played songs on UK radio. I finally got to see Mr Harley in concert in 2005 at the Royal Opera House in York, he was very good, I would certainly see him again given the chance.
Steve wondered why all the other boys dressed in blue
And finally on this day in 2002 the drummer Ronnie Verrell died aged 77. He worked with many different people including Tom Jones, the Strawbs and Phil Everly. But most people have probably heard him without even knowing it, for Ronnie is the man who provided all the drum licks for the Muppet Shows in-house drummer, Animal! Here is Animal himself drumming for Rita Moreno on “Fever“, an excellent clip from the Muppet Show
Animal drummer for the Muppet Show House Band
The late great Ronnie Verrell stunt double drummer for Animal from the Muppets
Has anyone ever said that you resembled one of the Muppets or perhaps a cartoon character? Well a number of people have said that I look something like Sam the Bald Eagle from the Muppet Show. I don’t have blue skin, so is it cos I is bald? This link goes back to my youth and more recently even Catwoman made the same remark. Anyway here is Sam the most handsome and intelligent Muppet!
Sam The Bald Eagle or perhaps it really is William? Answers on a postcard, or maybe in the blog comments
I hope you enjoyed yet another day of full on trivia bombardment and until we meet again tomorrow I bid you farewell good trivia fans 🙂
“But Abigail Blast you sure are changing fast!” February 21, 2009
Welcome to Saturday people, unless of course you’re reading this later or something, in which case just “Hello, Good Evening and Welcome! (Copyright – David Frost!). In order to try and keep the promise I made yesterday of keeping this post short (although to be fair I failed abysmally on that yesterday) I’ll at least keep the intro short.
So without further ado, let’s get straight into todays birthdays. Firstly February 21st 2009 would have been the 76th birthday of the late great (two days in a row, those l’s & g’s are in danger of overuse) Nina Simone. She died aged 70 in 2003. She was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in North Carolina in the US. Like many of her generation she began her musical career in church where she made a classical piano recital aged just 10. At one point during her piece her parents were told to move from the front row to allow some white people to sit down. Nina has said that she refused to play until her folks were allowed to retain their front row seats. She has also said that this may have been where the seeds of her civil rights activism were sown. She took the stage name Nina Simone so that her mother, who was a very strict Methodist Minister wouldn’t know where she was playing what she saw as the “Devil’s music” Nina is Spanish for ‘little girl’ and was a nickname a previous boyfriend had given her. Simone came from the French actress Simone Signoret. Here is Nina with a jolly good version of the Beatles “Revolution” with some rather spiffing lyric changes
It was at this point that Nina realised the surprise jumping out of the cake simply wasn't going to work
The second of todays birthdays is that of Vince Welnick who would have been 58 today, but sadly he committed suicide in 2006. Who he? Well he was the keyboard player with the Tubes so that gives me the chance to indulge myself by providing the link to a clip (or two) of that excellent band! He also played with the Grateful Dead after leaving the Tubes in the late 80s. In 1973 they were the opening act on the bill for the New York Dolls, Iggy Pop and also Led Zeppelin. In 1983 they were also the support band on a number of David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight tour gigs, although sadly not at the Milton Keynes show where I saw him on that tour in 1983. Most of the band, although not Mr Welnick, adpoted some great stage names including Fee Waybill, Quay Lewd and Prairie Prince. Strangely enough the first two names were adopted by the lead singer whose real name was in fact John Waldo Waybill, which to me sounds like a made up name anyway! OK so as promised a couple of links of the Tubes in their prime! Firstly with their stab at disco with “Prime Time” followed by the absolutely stone cold classic “White Punks On Dope” from a late 70s edition of the BBC’s ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’. Fraser if you’re reading this, this ones for you mate!
Mr Waybill figured that if he could work out how to lower the mic stand he could wear his comfy flat shoes
The third and final birthday for today is that of James Dean Bradfield singer and guitarist with the Manic Street Preachers. In case you were wondering, the James Dean part of his name arose because his Mum was an avid movie fan, he has apparently said on some occasions that it might have been worse had she named him something like Clint Eastwood Bradfield. Presumably Marilyn Monroe Bradfield might have been difficult during his youth as well! The late great (definitely back those ‘ole l’s & g’s)Richey Edwards was a key member of the band up until his disappearance in 1995, providing many of the bands lyrics. His family formally declared him dead late last year. In another twist he also left behind a notebook of lyrics for each of the Manics remaining members and many of these will be used on the bands new album which is due for release later this year. In the meantime enjoy the Richey era Manics with the rather brilliant “Motown Junk” from 1991.
The Manics after the white jeans sale at Primark
On this day in 1976 the late great (now they’re just showing off!) Florence Ballard of the Supremes died of cardiac arrest aged just 32. She had left the group in 1967 and lost an $8 million lawsuit with Motown Records. She was living on welfare when she died. In my opinion both Flo Ballard and Mary Wilson were much better singers than Diana Ross. I also doubt that Flo or Mary would have recorded the absolutely abysmal (in my humble opinion of course) “Chain Reaction”! Here are the original Supremes, including Florence Ballard with “Where Did Our Love Go“, definitely not Motown Junk!
The Supremes (left to right) Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross
On this day in 2001 Robbie Williams was attacked and thrown from the stage during a gig in Stuttgart, Germany after a man managed to climb on stage and push him into the security pit. He was later arrested and taken to a secure psychiatric unit, obviously I mean the pusher and not Robbie, although one does live in hope! Well come on I haven’t said anything bad about Robbie for a few days have I? Just to show I care here’s a video of Mr Williams…………. er falling over on stage in Leeds in 2006!
Robbie was really hoping that swallows didn't eat nuts
Finally on this day in 2004 Les Gray, the lead singer of Mud, died of throat cancer aged just 57. Mud’s first TV appearance was on BBC TVs ‘Basil Brush Show’ I hope they played “Dyna-mite”……. BOOM BOOM! After they signed to the RAK label in the early 70s and also teamed up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (who wrote many hits for other acts too, including the Sweet and Suzi Quatro) they had a string of UK hits including three number ones “Tiger Feet”, “Lonely This Christmas” and a acapella cover of Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy” Click here to listen to a megamix of four of Mud’s 70s hits (Dynamite, Rocket, Tiger Feet and Oh Boy)
"If our biggest hit was Tiger Feet why do we have leopard skin trim on these suits?" asked the Mud boys
OK that’s all for today folks, thanks for reading this far, or indeed reading this stuff at all. See you next time!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 