With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“And she know why she came here, and she know where her clothes suppose to be” November 29, 2010


For a few months my blog has been getting thousands of hits from people searching for Lady Gaga, but seeing as how very media savvy she is I understood that. But over the last two days I have also had hundreds of hits from people searching for Colonel Gaddafi‘s nurse. I mean I have posted about Gaddafi’s all female security guards before and nurse has come up a few times, most recently in the Gregory Isaacs obituary when I gave you “Night Nurse” So that one stumped me for a while, well until I read the Guardian’s report on the latest Wikileaks exposure. Apparently Gaddafi’s personal staff includes a 38 year old Ukrainian nurse, one of a team of four, who ‘know his routine’ This is all according to the US mission in Tripoli, who also described the 38 year old nurse, Galyna Kolotnytska, as a voluptuous blonde. The obvious allegations appear to centre around a more than medical liaison. So does that mean that Gaddafi is in fact the Arab world‘s Berlusconi? Who know? Who cares?

Read some of the Guardian’s coverage here.

"You want my nurse you kiss me first little man!"

But I must say all the Wikileaks stuff does make rather interesting reading and apart from hits to my blog there is also a genuine link to Lady Gaga as well. The alleged source of these and other leaks is Bradley Manning a US soldier who was working as an intelligence analyst. He has been in solitary confinement for 7 months and his trial is expected to start soon. He allegedly downloaded all the material while stationed on an US Army base just outside Baghdad. He claimed it was ‘childishly easy’. Apparently he took a CD-RW labelled Lady Gaga into work and then pretended to listen to Miss Germanotta on headphones, apparently even going as far as lip-syncing her songs. But what he was really doing was wiping the disk and uploading thousands of diplomatic files.

I wonder what Gaga herself thinks about it all. We probably won’t find out for a while as she has retired from social networking to support Alicia Key’s initiative to raise money to combat AIDS in Africa. Many celebrities have signed off of Twitter and Facebook and the like until a certain amount has been raised for African AIDS charities. You can support the charity, which is called Keep A Child Alive, by clicking here. Donate people, you know it makes sense!

I thought I’d finish with a moderately appropriate song, ladies and gentlemen I give you “Freek-A-Leek” from Petey Pablo. Geddit?

 

“‘Cause there’s no prescription for me she’s the one, the only remedy” October 25, 2010


RIP - The Cool Ruler

People of cyberspace, I have some very sad news to share; Reggae legend Gregory Isaacs passed away today aged just 59. He died at his London home after a long illness having been diagnosed with lung cancer a year ago. Many of you regular readers will know that I have always been a big reggae fan and Isaac’s wonderful “Night Nurse” remains a favourite of mine. Mick Hucknall off of Simply Red recorded a cover of the song in 1997 with Sly and Robbie. In my opinion it was just a formulaic cover of a classic and doesn’t hold a candle to the original. Strangely the original was never a UK or US hit although it garnered massive radio and club play in 1982. The ‘Night Nurse’ album reached number 32 in the UK album chart.

He recorded with many Reggae greats including Rupie Edwards, Byron Lee and Prince Buster. He also formed the African Museum record label and shop with Errol Dunkley in 1973. One of his first big solo songs was “My Only Lover” which many consider to be the first ever lovers rock tune. He was a regular at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival, appearing every year up to 1991. His last album was ‘Brand New Me’ in 2008.

Read about him here at the BBC and the NME. Then listen to (and watch in a couple of cases) some classic Gregory cuts below. “Slavemaster” is one of the best.

Peace and love to his family, friends and fans.