Is it just me or does this little piece of news seem a little weird to you as well? Lady GaGa has become the first living person to have more than 10 million FaceBook fans. But even stranger for me is that she is only in sixth place overall. The top 5 are Texas Hold ’em Poker, Michael Jackson, Mafia Wars, Facebook and the US TV show Family Guy. She recently overtook Barack Obama who languishes on a measly 9.8 million. I’m really pleased that Farmville doesn’t get a mention though. You can click here to read the story on the BBC’s Newsbeat.
Actual proof that Elmo is in fact a skinned Ewok
Whilst we’re talking strange here is another great story from Newsbeat; Elmo off of Sesame Street sings Beyonce and Alicia Keys whilst being interviewed by the delightful Natalie Jamieson. Click here to read it. I think I prefer his Beyonce to his Alicia. Does anyone really say Hubba Hubba anymore? Apart from Elmo obviously. Did you know that before he got his big break providing vocal arrangements and backing vocals for David Bowie on the ‘Young Americans’ album a certain Mr Luther Vandross wrote and sang for Sesame Street?
'Nuff Said!
And finally on this tour of some slightly odd stories we move on to Justin Bieber. The young Canadian’s Twitter page has been the subject of what I think is an excellent prank. With no restriction on the eligible countries his ‘fans’ were asked to vote for a country he should visit. Imageboard (wtf?) website 4Chan nominated North Korea and in the past couple of days the land of Kim Jong Il has moved from 24th place to 1st. Voting closes on July 7th, so come on, you know what to do, get on over and vote for North Korea!
There have also been some altogether more nasty hacks on his videos and such. These caused his YouTube videos to link to porn sites and spurred completely unfounded rumours that he was dead and that his Mum would be posing for Playboy. Click here for the story on the Beeb
Kim Jong Il (will he ever be known as Kim Jong Well?) contemplates the visit of Mr Bieber
So here we are on another UK Public Holiday weekend and guess what? It’s raining. Someone once said to me that there is an easy way to tell when it’s summer in the UK. Do you know how? Well it’s quite simple really, the rain is warm! So here I am stuck indoors so I thought I’d put together a slightly random post that captures a lot of the stuff I have been meaning to blog about for a while, so here goes.
Firstly way back on the 13th May I finally got to see my son Luke play a gig with his band Steal The Smile. They were the second band on that night in the FaceBar at Reading. The band on before them were, and I’m being nice here, in need of an awful lot more practice. Apologies to the bands that followed, but we left for some scoff at TGI Fridays! Steal The Smile played a great six song set which included some of their older and newer stuff along with the obligatory Blink 182 cover. I can tell you that all the boys in the band are looking forward to seeing Blink at the Reading Festival in August. It was a real pity that Steal The Smile were once again badly let down by a promoter in that they had to hang around for three hours for a sound check that never actually materialised and by the time they played there were nowhere near as many people as there could have been. The band wasn’t paid for this gig, but I bet the promoter was! What is it with promoters, and I use the term loosely here, who simply book a venue and some bands and do bugger all else? Is it a stupid assumption that promoters ought to promote? I think not! So if there are any good promoters out there (i.e those with brain cells that at least run into double figures) then get in touch with the boys and book them! You can find them on Facebook and MySpace. Keep visiting too, as there is a revamp being lined up and possibly a lot of new stuff!
Steal The Smile live at the FaceBar in Reading May 13th 2010
There were a couple of quite amusing moments during their set. Firstly the sound guy was trying to speak to them over the sound of the music and clearly couldn’t make himself heard. It did make me wonder how much he actually knew about sound! So finally Luke just gave the instruction “Articulate” like a rock n roll Dalek, needless to say there was still no response from Mr Sound. The other part was just before the final song when Luke said “This is the point in the show where I usually tell the audience how beautiful they are. But with a large part of the audience being my Dad it seemed a bit strange” Johnny then made a point of telling me that he thought I was beautiful, hmmmmm I worry about the drummer! Finally on Steal The Smile for now, it’s not too late to get hold of an exclusive free song from them, just click here for a previous post of mine to get your mitts on it!
Next up Glastonbury has lost U2 this year thanks to Mr Hewson’s back problems, which were apparently quite serious. Anyway there is a little silver lining in that their replacement will be the Gorillaz. In their current incarnation the Gorillaz contain not one, but two, former members of the best band ever; the Clash! yes Mick Jones and Paul Simonon are both in the touring band and bizarrely wearing sailors hats as part of the new album Plastic Beach’s nautical theme. I think I may have to get a hold of some tickets for their tour later this year. Read the BBC article on the revised Glasto line up here. Below you can watch the video for the first single from Plastic Beach, it’s called “Stylo” and features Damon Albarn, Mos Def and Bobby Womack
On May 24th there was the news of the tragic death of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray aged just 38. I have taken some stick from many Slipknot fans in the past for using an incorrect picture of them without masks, but whilst that has been a bit of fun and banter I am sure all fans of the band are pretty upset and hurt by his death. To lose a music hero is not pleasant, I know how I felt on hearing about the death of John Lennon, Bob Marley and Joe Strummer. So my sympathies go to Paul Gray’s friends and family and to all Slipknot fans around the world. In his memory here are the band with the video for “Psychosocial”
Yesterday saw the sad news that Gary Coleman the diminutive star of the US sitcom ‘Diffr’nt Strokes has died. He had kidney problems all his life which meant he never grew above 4 feet 8 inches. His most famous catch phrase from the show was “What you talking about Willis?” Willis being his older brother in the show. Hed was clearly popular in the music fraternity too as the testimonials on the NME report of his death show. Kind words from Blink 182, Janet Jackson and Katy Perry
And finally for this post, have you seen the new Miike Snow video, for his song ‘The Rabbit’? It’s really strange. It has a bearded kid and a re-enactment of a 2 Live Crew album cover. Click here to see it. Let me know what you think of it
It’s clear to me that there are hundreds or maybe even thousands of bands playing and recording around the UK who remain unsung and unsigned while the industry falls over itself to sign the next X Factor style pop muppet. people this is WRONG! It is up to you to stand up and be counted, it is up to you to make the choice, you need to take action! So put down your tabloid, stop playing on the Wii (or whatever else you use), stop playing with yourself and get out there and support some real music support bands that write and play their own songs. But do it now, otherwise you WILL be blamed for the wall-to-wall shitstorm of Jedward, Joe McElderry and other pop wannabees that poisons the airwaves.
Not everything in life is black and white but Steal The Smile are in this photograph
So where can you start your campaign to get some real music? Let me reintroduce you to a band I have blogged about before; Ladies, Gentlemen and those of you who aren’t quite sure which you are yet I give you the mighty STEAL THE SMILE. These boys are aiming to put the punk back into pop and I for one believe that they can do it! Every generation has something that shakes up their musical world; The 50s had Elvis, the 60s had the Beatles, the 70s had punk, the 80s had Rave, the 90s had Britpop and frankly the noughties had nothing, so we are well overdue something or someone to do the business for the ‘noughteenies’ Will that something be STEAL THE SMILE? I don’t see why not.
By day they are mild-mannered Supermarket Workers and Marine Engineers amongst other things, but by night these guys ROCK!
Not only that but I have a very, very exclusive giveaway for you courtesy of Luke, Henry, Johnny and Oli. It’s a track that has so far not been heard outside the STS inner circle. It’s called “Two Years On” and you are just a click away from owning it. All I ask is that you support the fuck out of these boys!
The boys are currently preparing some new stuff for their MySpace page which will include new layouts, new tunes and new pictures. So watch this (My)Space people!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 