With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Hi people, this may be the last post for a few days, but then again it might not! If it is I’ll see you all again Monday or Tuesday, either way have a great weekend.

OK I know it’s not music related but one of this blogs regular readers has informed me that earlier this week she cupped the medals of an Olympian in her very own hands! Don’t be rude now I meant that she was able to hold Matthew Pinsent’s Olympic Rowing medals when he visited her place of work on Tuesday. The lucky lady is Karen McP. If anyone else has any celebrity stories they would like to tell me about then please do!

One of my favourite e mails of the week arrives on a Thursday and it comes from those wonderful people at Popbitch. If you like gossip, jokes, a good laugh and you’re not easily offended why not sign up for it? Here is a very inoffensive piece from this weeks mail. “Did you know Yazz’s The Only Way Is Up was a cover? Mississippi born soul and gospel star Otis Clay first released it in 1982. (just click on the song you want to hear to play) http://www.popbitch.com/home/popbits ” I copied this verbatim from the mail but the link also let’s you hear Jackie DeShannon’s original of Kim Carne’s hit “Bette Davis Eyes” Well worth checking out

This next link also came via Popbitch “Pirates In Somalia” click on the name to get to it. If you’re familiar with Weebl’s Stuff you’ll recognise the theme, but there is an element of political comment on this one too, let me know what you think

Hot off the press, well to be honest it’s a bit lukewarm really, but anyway if you haven’t seen the news yet, Michael Jackson is doing at least 10 shows at the O2 Arena in London this summer. I reckon that they will be;

1. Spectacularly good
2. Painfully embarrassing
3. Or that Jacko won’t show

What do you think? Click here for the BBC report on the announcement

So onto those all important birthdays, it’s March 6th 2009 and today is th 64th birthday of Hugh Grundy. He was the drummer with the rather spiffing 60’s band the Zombies. Hugh was part of the original band which was formed at St Albans Grammar School in the UK in 1963. The other members included Colin Blunstone who went on to success as a solo artist and Rod Argent who went on to form Argent. Before adopting the excellent name of the Zombies the boys had considered the Sundowners (nope I don’t like that) and the Mustangs (not bad!). They used to get to their gigs in an old red and white ice cream van. I wonder if they switched on the bell to let the fans know they were coming or whether they perhaps sold ice creams in the interval? Their first major gig was at the Watford Town Hall in Hertfordshire in 1963. In 1964 at the same venue they won ‘Herts Beat’ which nowadays would probably be called a battle of the bands. The prize was an audition with Decca Records, which they passed! Their debut single later in 1964 was the classic “She’s Not There” covered some years later by Santana. The Zombies version reached number two in the US but could only muster number 12 in the UK. Hugh went on to work in A & R at CBS after his time with the band. Here are the band with the classic “Time Of The Season”

let's be honest these aren't the scariest zombies you've ever seen are they?

The second and last of the birthdays today is that of the delightful Ms Kiki Dee, Happy 62nd Birthday Kiki. To her Mum and Dad she wasn’t known as Kiki though, she was called Pauline Matthews and she was born near Bradford in Yorkshire in the UK. When asked what they know about Kiki most people will say “that duet of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart she did with Elton John” I just asked Catwoman that very question and got pretty much that answer! Incidentally that was Elton’s first ever UK number one single when it hit the top in 1976. But back to Kiki as there is much more to her, did you know for example that she was the first white British Artist to be signed to Motown Records? Well she was and she released her first Motown single in 1970 although it wasn’t a hit. She later sign to Elton’s Rocket Records. Here is Kiki with my favourite song of hers “Amoreuse” from 1973. It was written by French singer songwriter Veronique Sanson.

Kiki tried to soldier on but it was quite clear to the audience that she had lost her microphone

On this very day in 1961 George Formby Jr died aged just 57. His father was a very famous musical hall comedian also known as George Formby. George Jr’s real name was George Hoy Booth and he was born in Wigan in Lancashire. Formby was a master of the double entendre which is a mainstay of much British humour. In the 1930’s his song “With Me little Stick Of Blackpool Rock” was banned by the BBC for being too rude! How very tame it all sounds now! here is the man himself with “When I’m Cleaning Windows”

The girls had come from far and wide to catch a glimpse of George's "little stick of Blackpool rock"

On this day in 1970 Charles Manson (yes the evil murderous one) released his album “Lies” on Awareness Records. However he was unable to promote the disc as he was serving a life sentence for his part in what have become known as the Sharon Tate murders. Manson spent some time in the 60s living with and recording with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. He recorded quite a few songs and some have been covered by contemporary artists like Guns n Roses and Marilyn Manson who as you may have guessed took the second part of his name from the infamous killer. Charles Manson claimed to hear a lot of messages in the Beatles White Album, particularly songs like “Piggies” and “Helter Skelter”. When U2 covered “Helter Skelter” on the Rattle And Hum tour Bono introduced it by saying he was reclaiming the song on behalf of the Beatles. I have decided to add no music or picture to the Charles Manson piece, I hope that you all understand

On this day in 2004 Lionel Richie’s now ex-wife went to court asking for
$300,000 per month in maintenance payments. This included;

• $20k per year on plastic surgery
• $15k per month on clothing, shoes and accessories
• $5k per month on jewellery
• $0.6k per month on massages

She obviously has a very hard life! With that kind of money I bet she was ready to go “Running With The Night” “Dancing On The Ceiling” “All Night Long”, she was certainly no “Penny Lover” and I reckon that money is much much more than “Three Times A Lady’s” normal pay. “Hello” did that make any sense.

Anyway here is Lionel with the Commodores singing my fave Commodores song and one which is another of the 50 songs in my top 10, ladies and gentlemen of the Blogworld I give you “Just To Be Close To You”

One of these men is a waxwork dummy, can you tell which one? 😉