With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“I, I wish you could swim, like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim” July 13, 2009


Two posts in a row, wow I haven’t done that in ages! Just a few more ‘onthisdays’ today (July 13th) dear readers

Another entry for that bunch of pensionable rockers the Rolling Stones on this day in 1963 they played their first ever gig outside London. They appeared as the support band to the Hollies at the Alcove Club in Middlesborough in the north east of England.

Being in the Stones was becoming a bit of a drag these days

Being in the Stones was becoming a bit of a drag these days

On this day in 1965 Paul McCartney received five Ivor Novello awards at the Savoy in London, he arrived late as he had apparently forgotten about the engagement. John Lennon refused to attend, presumably in protest at something! Sticking with the Beatles on this day in 1969 the band’s single “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” was banned by more than 100 US Radio Stations because it contained what US Radio authorities saw as offensive in the line “Christ you know it ain’t easy”. Bloody hell these guys were easily offended weren’t they?

Despite being given a piggy-back from Paul John still couldn't be bothered to turn up at the Novello Awards

Despite being given a piggy-back from Paul John still couldn’t be bothered to turn up at the Novello Awards

July 13th 1997 saw Anthony Kiedis off of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers undergo five hours of surgery after a serious motorbike accident.I recently read Kiedis’ superb autobiography entitled ‘Scar Tissue’ it is one of the most brutally honest rock biographies I have ever read. He deals very openly with his addictions and relationships. I never knew much about him before I read the book and now I have immense respect for him. If you read no other music books, read this one! Incidentally in the book he describes how it took five doses of morphine to kill the pain from the motorbike accident, largely due to an intolerance built up from prolonged heroin use. Anyway here are the RHCP’s with “Scar Tissue” live from Slane Castle in Dublin, well not actually live this one hot minute but obviously live when it was recorded!

After his motorbike mishap Anthony took to riding bikes without engines, I wonder if he used stabiliser wheels too?

After his motorbike mishap Anthony took to riding bikes without engines, I wonder if he used stabiliser wheels too?

On this day in 1985 Duran Duran became the first artists to have a US number one single with a James Bond theme when they reached the top of the pile with “A View To A Kill“. Personally I thought that their performance of the song at Live Aid was abysmal, which brings us to………..

Andy Taylor and Simon LeBon argue over which one of them was the most crap at Live Aid

Andy Taylor and Simon LeBon argue over which one of them was the most crap at Live Aid

……… on this day in 1985 at 12.01 UK time Status Quo kicked off the Live Aid extravaganza which was largely put together by Bob Geldof and raised millions for famine relief in Africa. It was a joint event where Quo kicked off at Wembley Stadium, the US show was at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The shows were viewed by more than 1.5 billion people in 160 countries (that is quite a bit more than view my blog each day!). For me the best performances on the day were Queen, U2 and David Bowie (well I would say Bowie wouldn’t I?) Here is Mr Bowie with “Heroes” from that very show! Incidentally Bowie gave up one of his song slots to air a hard hitting video of the famine victims in Africa which was soundtracked by the song “Drive” from the Cars. It was truly heartbreaking. What were your own favourite memories of Live Aid? Were you there?

Chas and Di realise that they are a week early for the Polo and Equestrian finals when they see the Quo on stage

Chas and Di realise that they are a week early for the Polo and Equestrian finals when they see the Quo on stage

 

“Someday I’ll have a disappearing hairline, someday I’ll wear pyjamas in the daytime” June 5, 2009


Hello once again dear readers, like I’ve said before it is my aim to get back to more regular posting so here comes the second one for the Jumping month of June. I thought doing this post after a serious spillage incident on the train last week. There I was crammed into my tiny space (otherwise known as a seat) on the 7pm Kings Cross to York train with my nose in a good book (1983 by David Peace for those of you who asked!) Then lo and behold the coffee angel arrived in the aisle with the drinks trolley, now obviously I can’t resist a good coffee so obviously (a repeat word…… obviously) I had to order one, which I did, along with a Kit Kat. At the moment the Coffee Angel was about to place my drink on the pathetic excuse for a fold down table the train rocked (and not in a heavy musical way either) and faster than you can say Caffe Americano with a double shot I was the subject of a minor caffeine downpour. I thought it was rather amusing, my suit needed a dry clean anyway, but coffee angel was worried I was going to complain, but I didn’t and my reward was…….. a free Kit Kat and a fresh cup of coffee. Actually now Ive read that back it sounds dull enough to be condensed to 140 characters and posted on Twitter. But enough of that drivel during the rest of the journey I was moved to come up with a list of coffee related songs for this post. So without further adieu here they are and each one contains a frothy topping and a sprinkle of trivia.

The coffee was better in those days but clearly the coffee angels weren't!

The coffee was better in those days but clearly the coffee angels weren’t!

First cup, er sorry first up is “Starfish And Coffee” which is obviously a favourite breakfast menu of ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, Then Known As Roger Or Symbol And Now Known As Prince Again’ or TAFKAPTKAROSANKAPA for short. Prince’s sister is called Tyka, I wonder if her nickname was Chicken at school? Staying with Prince and a loosely related coffee theme, the diminutive one once wrote a song for Sheena Easton called “Sugar Walls” probably not the type of sugar you’d put in your coffee though. But there’s a prize to the first person to tell me what that song is about without the use of explicit language!

Prince had clearly overdone the froth on his Cappucino

Prince had clearly overdone the froth on his Cappucino

Second dose of caffeine is “Black Coffee In Bed” by Squeeze and written by the Lennon-McCartney of their generation; Difford-Tilbrook. They were joined by the rather talented Paul Carrack who in addition to Squeeze and as a solo artist has also had hits with Ace and Mike & The Mechanics. He has also played on sessions by many other bands including Roxy Music, The Smiths and the Pretenders. In a strange coincidence he also sang vocals and played keyboards on a relatively minor Mike & The Mechanics hit called “Another Cup Of Coffee”

You won't like him when he gets angry and Mr Carrack gets very angry if he has no caffeine

You won’t like him when he gets angry and Mr Carrack gets very angry if he has no caffeine

The next one of our Barista favourites is “One More Cup Of Coffee” from the wonderful Mr Zimmerman or Bob Dylan to his friends. The song is taken from Dylan’s ‘Desire’ album and is a duet with Emmylou Harris. The song was covered extremely well by Jack and Meg on the first White Stripes album and is occasionally covered live by Calexico. Also none other than Robert ‘Percy’ Plant off of Led Zep recorded the song for his ‘Dreamland’ album in 2002. The song was written at a corner table in the ‘Other End’ nightclub in Greenwich Village New York. I was kind of hoping it had been written in a coffee bar!

Bob tries to find inspiration over a coffee..... come on Bob, Noel Gallagher sat at the same table and wrote "Roll With It"

Bob tries to find inspiration over a coffee….. come on Bob, Noel Gallagher sat at the same table and wrote “Roll With It”

The next one of our old beans in this post is the excellent Canadian band the Crash Test Dummies. Their biggest hit in the UK was “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” but they also released a song called “Afternoons And Coffee Spoons” Both songs were taken from their excellent album ‘God Shuffled His Feet’ In 1995 they recorded a splendid cover of XTC’s “The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead” for the Jim Carrey movie ‘Dumb And Dumber’

In the early days the band even dressed as Crash test Dummies and it certainly didn't harm their pulling power judging from this picture

In the early days the band even dressed as Crash test Dummies and it certainly didn’t harm their pulling power judging from this picture

The next act to bring us a cuppa is Holly Johnson off of Frankie Goes To Hollywood with his solo single “Americanos” It was Holly’s second solo hit and reached number 4 in the UK charts. It also features on the soundtrack to the 1989 movie ‘Cookie’ which starred Emily Lloyd, Peter Falk and Jerry Lewis. I know that strictly speaking the song is not about coffee, well not even strictly speaking, it’s actually got nothing to do with coffee. But Caffe Americano is undoubtedly my favourite coffee so I had to include it here. I always drink it black (often with an extra shot) with no sugar and many coffee houses (in this case Costa Coffee) give this an acronym of BAM (as in Black Americano). This lead to me gaining the nickname BAM BAM Bill for a while. Maybe not a great nickname but at least it wasn’t Pebbles! Over the years I have also noticed that black coffee seems to be the drink of choice for the majority of Project and Programme Managers. Does anyone agree?

"Relax" said Holly as he ordered coffees for him and his 'flat' mate Ronnie

“Relax” said Holly as he ordered coffees for him and his ‘flat’ mate Ronnie

I like a cup of coffee when I am deeply engrossed in a good book but Blur clearly prefer theirs in front of the telly! Well judging from their song “Coffee And TV” Vocals on the verses were from Graham Coxon and  Damon Albarn sang the chorus. the lyrics were all Graham’s and apparently deal with his attempt to give up alcohol. The video for the song features a milk carton called Milky which was created by ‘Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’ Blur were originally called Seymour, I’m not sure that works as well as Blur though. I have seen them live twice at festivals, once with Graham and once without. I certainly prefer them with Graham in the band. So it’s great news that they are reunited for a few gigs this year and possibly some new recording too.

Now either he's really excited or they're both seriously injured

Now either he’s really excited or they’re both seriously injured

The final coffee song in this post is one of my favourites, it’s by the minimally named ‘A’ from Leeds and it’s called “Starbucks“. The original members of the band included three brothers; Jason, Giles and Adam Perry. Since the band took a hiatus (is that code for breaking up?) Jason has worked with Matt Willis off of Busted and has also produced for McFly! Jason do us all a favour and get ‘A’ back together and stop working with these pop muppets! But to be fair Charlie off of Busted’s current band Fightstar are quite good! (Did I really just say that?)

With the proceeds of the single the band bought the worlds first Starbucks Jet Pack

With the proceeds of the single the band bought the worlds first Starbucks Jet Pack

So do you have any favourite coffee songs or indeed favourite coffees? Let me know by adding your choices in the comments

No it was just the earth moving for Milky in the Blur video

No it was just the earth moving for Milky in the Blur video

I will end this post by saying a big thank you to those wonderful people at ‘Dusk’ in York where I did many of my early posts in this blog. Excellent coffee, good food, free wifi (are you reading this Starbucks?) and great company. Check them out and if you know their web address please let me know

Dusk in York

Dusk in York

 

“You in your small corner, I stand in mine. Throw all the punch you want to, I can take them all” April 30, 2009


Hello once again good Blog Peeps, this is the first time I’ve posted two days on the trot for ages, so I’ll try and make it a good one.

Firstly I recently reacquainted myself with the wonderful ‘KissThisGuy‘ website aka the Archive Of Misheard Lyrics. You’re probably all familiar with that classic Hendrix misheard lyric which gives the site it’s name. The lyric comes from “Purple Haze” and if you click on the song title you will see that perhaps this wasn’t necessarily the misheard lyric we all thought it was. Incidentally if you’re not familiar with this and you wondering what the hell I’m talking about the original line was ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky’ and has apparently often been misheard as ‘scuse me while I kiss this guy’. There are some excellent misheard lyrics on the site my favourite has to be the one taken from “Centrefold” by the J Geils Band, are you ready for this? Are you sure? Really, really sure? You won’t be offended? OK then here it is ‘my anus is the centre hole’ Isn’t that excellent?

Jimi prepares to 'kiss this guy'!  ;-)

Jimi prepares to 'kiss this guy'! 😉

I’d like to finish this misheard lyrics piece with a comment about my Mum, she’s smarter than me in most things, but she has come up with some excellent misheard lyrics. My two favourites from her are Dr Hook’s “Sylvia’s Mother” where she heard ‘Sylvia’s mother’s dead’ rather than ‘Sylvia’s mother said’ and also Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World” where my Mum for some strange reason heard ‘Hiawatha was a bullfrog’ instead of the actual lyric of ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’ Hopefully you’re reading this post Mum 😉 In defence of my Mum, I’m not perfect when it comes to misheard lyrics either. I was perhaps aged 9 or 10 when I first heard Max Romeo’s classic reggae single “Wet Dream“. being a complete innocent in those days I actually thought the whole song was in some made up foreign language. So I heard phonetically ‘lygo lygo hushy girl hushy girl lygo’ when in fact Max was singing ‘lie down gal let me push it up, push it up lie down” As you can see I wasn’t even close 🙂 The song was banned from radio in the UK for being sexually explicit, although Max did explain once that the song was about a plumber coming to fix a leak, you know somehow I reckon he was telling porkies, what do you think?

Is Max's girl waiting for the plumber?

Is Max's girl waiting for the plumber?

Anyway enough of that vulgar frivolity and onto the usual dull and boring stuff, starting with a birthday. April 30th 2009 is the 76th birthday of Mr Willie Nelson, one of the few country stars that I can actually listen to. Over the years Nelson has proved himself to be an excellent songwriter, perhaps one of his greatest songs was “Crazy” which became the signature tune of the late great (see the l’s & g’s never go away for long!) Patsy Cline. He has also collaborated with many other artists including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Snoop Dogg and a former Real Madrid goalkeeper Senor Julio Iglesias with “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” Nelson’s guitar is named Trigger after Roy Rogers ever present and faithful horse. Willie has said that when Trigger becomes unplayable he will probably retire. Enjoy some Willie here (ooooooooooh MATRON!) with “You Were Always On My Mind

This is Willie Nelson's guitar, affectionately known as Trigger. It sure has been used!

This is Willie Nelson's guitar, affectionately known as Trigger. It sure has been used!

On this day in 1968 the ‘Cilla Black Show’ was launched by the BBC. Cilla apparently became the first British female artist to have her own show. The theme song “Step Inside Love” was written by none other than Sir Paul McCartney off of the Beatles!

Cilla has to duck to avoid the glass ceiling at the BBC

Cilla has to duck to avoid the glass ceiling at the BBC

And finally on this day in 1976 Keith Moon off of the Who paid nine cab drivers to block both ends of a New York street so that he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window. Now that is what I call rock n roll! They don’t make ’em like that any more do they?

keith had thrown almost everything out of his hotel room, except of course for the girls!

keith had thrown almost everything out of his hotel room, except of course for the girls!

 

“They told us tales, they told us lies, don’t they know they shouldn’t have told us at all” April 3, 2009


Hello again everyone how are well all then? I hope that you’re all ok because I have some very sad, bad, bleak news to impart. You really should be sitting down when you read this. Trust me it is the worst music news I’ve had to deliver since I started blogging, I know that’s only six weeks ago but this is really dreadful. So are you sitting comfortably? This is a bit like ‘Watch With Mother’ now isn’t it? Right I’ve been putting it off for long enough, now I have to tell you, stay in your seats. “Agadoo” by Black Lace is going to be reissued soon. See I told you it was awful news. It will be a 2009 remix and the video has been directed by Kevin Kennedy who used to play Curly Watts in Coronation Street, he also appears in it. He must need the money because this is a crime against music. The song was originally released in 1984 and made it to number 2 in the UK charts, held off the top spot by George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”. Click here to see just how bad it is, but be warned click at your own peril!

They should be arrested for those haircuts alone never mind that bloody song!

They should be arrested for those haircuts alone never mind that bloody song!

I have some other news too, not as bad as the first piece though. Apparently Ozzy Osbourne has had a premonition of his death. This is the quoted comment from Ozzy, “Some bird with some very rare virus is going to fly over my head. It’s going to shit on me and I’m going to melt on the floor” I presume he means a bird of the feathered variety. Can we also assume that it has nothing to do with drumming up publicity for the new series of ‘The Osbournes’ which will be called “The Osbournes Reloaded”. Reviews so far have completely panned it. perhaps he could do a deal with Satan and get that bird to shit on Black Lace instead?

Will it be the lesser spotted Sharin Bird that shits on Ozzy's head?

Will it be the lesser spotted Sharon Bird that shits on Ozzy's head?

Have you been following the coverage of the G20 summit? There is actually a music link here too, not the fact that Bob Geldof was pontificating as usual either. the Queen usually gives visiting world leaders and dignitaries a signed framed photograph of her and Prince Phillip, she receives a wide range of gifts in return. This week she received a video iPod from the Obama’s. It was preloaded with photos of the Queen’s state visits to the US in 1957 and 2007, some video and audio of Barack Obama’s speeches including the inauguration and 40 great show tunes. The Queen loves musicals apparently and the gift also came with a rare songbook which was signed by Rodgers off of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

And finally on the news front the two remaining Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will be taking part in a live public webcast later today, April 3rd (12 noon EST). The pair will be helping promote the David Lynch Foundation’s initiative to teach at least one million ‘at-risk’ youths to meditate. perhaps they’re seeking “Instant Karma” The pair along with many other rock luminaries have been practising Transcendental meditation for years. To take part in the conference visit davidlynchfoundation.org Later this evening McCartney and Starr will be joined by a cast of many at new York’s Radio City for a benefit concert to raise money for the David Lynch Foundation. Performers include Eddie Vedder (off of Pearl Jam), Moby, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Paul Horn, Bettye La Vette, Mike Love (off of the Beach Boys) and Jim James (off of My Morning Jacket).

David is ready to release his chicken over Ozzy's head

David is ready to release his chicken over Ozzy's head

Have any of you seen the BBC documentary ‘The Queens Of British Pop’? I saw part 1 this week and it was rather good. It featured Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, Suzi Quatro, Siouxse Sioux and the mighty Kate Bush. Click here for the link. yes I know Suzi is American but she did have her biggest success in the UK. As for Kate well on this day in 1979 she made her live debut at the Liverpool Empire. Kate is also the number one search term used which arrived at this very blog. More than 700 searches for Kate have found their way here. The next two are Pink Floyd with over 600 and Lily Allen with nearly 200 plus another 10 for Lily Allen Naked!

Kate has just released a Falcon towards Ozzy, perhaps it would have been easier to unleash the Hounds Of Love!

Kate has just released a Falcon towards Ozzy, perhaps it would have been easier to unleash the Hounds Of Love!

Here comes another blatantly shameless plug for my son Luke’s band Steal The Smile. They are playing at the Face Bar in Reading this evening so go and check them out. If you can’t make it get yourself over to their MySpace page by clicking here and let me know what you think of them.

I’ll end todays post with a couple of ‘onthisdays’ and the birthdays will return another time! Firstly on this day in 1975 Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes of a friend, Benita Diorio. Presumably not a close friend or perhaps he had the hots for her! Police arrived at Miller’s house to find Benita trying to put out the flames. Miller began fighting with some of the policemen and was eventually charged with resisting arrest.

Steve plays on despite the fact that his friend's wardrobe is on fire behind him

Steve plays on despite the fact that his friend's wardrobe is on fire behind him

And finally on this day in 1993 the Bluebells were at number one in the UK with “Young At Heart” The song had originally been released some ten years earlier. But this time around it was the beneficiary of a Volkswagen TV advertising campaign. Here’s one for you fact fans too, the song was co written by Siobhan Fahey off of Shakespears Sister and Bananarama!

The Bluebells contemplate drowning themselves after hearing that Agadoo is about to be released again!

The Bluebells contemplate drowning themselves after hearing that Agadoo is about to be released again!

 

“We were barely 17 and we were barely dressed” March 11, 2009


Hello dear readers and welcome to the 11th March, coming up there’ll be one birthday and four ‘onthisdays’. But just before those here is yet another blatant plug for my son’s band ‘Steal The Smile‘ check them out and tell me what you think of them, add them as a friend on MySpace too if you haven’t done so already, click their name for the link.

So in yet another attempt to post a short one (oooooerr missus!) here comes that birthday.

Today is the 59th birthday of Bobby McFerrin who had a massive hit in 1988 with the rather excellent “Don’t Worry Be Happy” (UK 2, US 1 that is it’s respective chart positions and not an international soccer score in case you were wondering). It was the first a capella song to reach the top of the Billboard charts in the US. The phrase “Don’t Worry Be Happy” comes originally from the teachings of Meher Baba. His teachings were followed at times by Pete Townshend of the Who

Bobby was having the worst bad hair day of his life!

Bobby was having the worst bad hair day of his life!

On this day in 1967 the music publisher Dick James announced that the Beatles song (well it’s Macca’s really) “Yesterday” had been recorded by 446 acts at that point. Considering the song was only released in 1965 that’s pretty good going It is now believed that there are more than 3,000 recorded versions. The song is believed to have been performed more than 3 million times in the last century according to the BMI. Paul McCartney gave the tune the working title of “Scrambled Eggs” before he wrote the lyrics. Here are two cover versions of the song, firstly from Dogpatch Debbie, it’s certainly different and then a great version from the late great (oh yes they’re back!) Ray Charles

Paul's audience were somewhat surprised when he decided to cover "I'm A Little Teapot Short And Stout"

Paul's audience were somewhat surprised when he decided to cover "I'm A Little Teapot Short And Stout"

On this day in 1978 there was some shocking news (geddit?). French singer Claude Francois was electrocuted while changing a light bulb when he was standing in his bathtub, presumably with water in. he had a UK hit in 1976 with “Tears On The Telephone” Claude is perhaps most famous for writing the song “Comme D’Habitude” which became a standard after English lyrics were written by Paul Anka and the song with those new lyrics was recorded by ole’ blue eyes himself Mr Frank Sinatra (or as I like to call him Frank Sinister). That song ladies and gentlemen is “My Way” Incidentally David Bowie (yet another DB reference) was the first person to write an English lyric for the tune but nobody took his words up! Here is Claude with “Comme D’Habitude” and here Mr Bowie explains his encounter with the song, it’s impact on “Life On Mars” and how he met Marc Bolan.

Claude always wore Lynx anti-perspirant and it certainly seemed to work for him!

Claude always wore Lynx anti-perspirant and it certainly seemed to work for him!

Also on this day in 1978 Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell” album began a 416 week run in the UK album charts and selling 2 million copies in the process. Mr Loaf is actually called Marvin Lee Aday, his Meat Loaf name allegedy came from an incident when he stood on the foot of his high school football coach. Jim Steinman wrote the ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ album and many claim that it shows his love of Bruce Springsteen, Phil Spector and Wagner. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren. The album supposedly still sells around 200,000 copies per year even now. Is there anyone reading this that doesn’t own the album? Here is Mr Loaf himself with the classic “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” ably assisted by Ellen Foley.

From the look of it Meat Loaf should have taken Claude's anti perspirant advice

From the look of it Meat Loaf should have taken Claude's anti perspirant advice

And yet again in 1978 the debut single from the wonderful Kate Bush, “Wuthering Heights” Kate was only 15 when EMI’s interest was sparked by a demo tape of hers was passed to their A & R man Bob Mercer by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Gilmour actually plays guitar on the song too in particular that wonderful solo on the fade out. The company spent nearly 3 years on developing Kate as an artist. Sadly with the awful rise of X Factor and Idol shows that kind of thing is almost unheard of these days. She undertook, dance, vocal and mime classes. Her mime teacher was none other than Lindsay Kemp, who also taught David Bowie his mime skills (there you go, yet another Bowie reference). “Wuthering Heights” was originally scheduled for release in November 1977 but the company deemed it to be not radio friendly, it was eventually issued in January 1978. The song was inspired by Emily Bronte’s book of the same name, Kate is a big Bronte fan and even shares her birthday, July 30th. (Kate in 1958 and Emily 140 years earlier in 1818) Here is Ms Bush with that wonderful song and yes “Wuthering Heights” is certainly one of the 50 songs in my top 10

Kate's Atage Musical version of Lady Godiva never really took off

Kate's Stage Musical version of Lady Godiva never really took off

And finally here’s another picture of Kate, simply because I’ve always had a thing for the delectable Ms Bush 🙂

More Kate Bush........ because I can!

More Kate Bush........ because I can or perhaps more likely because I'd like to 😉

 

“We don’t care about no government warning” February 28, 2009


hello everybody, well I have some interesting news on our recent ‘Lily Allen Naked’ experiment. As you may recall we were trying to see whether anyone would arrive at the blog using ‘Lily Allen Naked’ as a search term. It seems that there are millions of sites allegedly offering pictures of Lily in the buff. So the experiment didn’t work, but strangely enough, there was a search term used Thursday which led someone to my blog. Don’t worry guys it doesn’t tell me who it was but I’ll guess it was Tom or Jes. The search term was ‘Chris Allen naked’ Does anyone know who Chris Allen is? I certainly don’t, there are plenty of Chris Allens that show up when you Google the name but I don’t know which one someone wanted to see naked. So any insights from you dear readers will be much appreciated.

Anyway if you have arrived at this blog with a desperate desire to view the talented Miss Allen naked, just so you’re not too disappointed here is Lily…….errr…… in the pink!

we'll drink a drink a drink to Lily in pink in pink in pink!

we'll drink a drink a drink to Lily in pink in pink in pink!

And as a special bonus here is Lily with “The Fear“. Check out her new album too, it is rather good!

Another piece of hot news (well perhaps just lukewarm by the time that you read it) Damon Albarn has confirmed that Blur will be headlining one night at Glastonbury this year. I’ve seen them live twice and they were great both times although so much better with Graham Coxon. It’s great to see Mr C back in the fold.

Graham really hoped the photoshoot would be over soon, he was busting for a pee.

Graham really hoped the photoshoot would be over soon, he was busting for a pee.

Anyway lets’ get back to todays trivia megamix starting with the birthdays. First of those is Cindy Wilson from the B-52’s who was born on 28th February 1957 and is 52 today. Cindy was born in Athens, Georgia in the US, this fact fans is also where REM came from. Cindy’s older brother Ricky is also in the band. I guess most people assume that the band named themselves after the B-52 bomber (like U2 naming themselves after the U2 spy plane). However this is not the case, B-52 was also the nickname in the southern states for the ‘Beehive‘ hairdo and Cindy and Kate Pierson of the band sported that style of hair. But I suppose as the hairstyle is named after the nose of the plane they were indirectly named after the plane after all! Incidentally the bands hairstylist La-Verne was even among the credits on their first eponymously titled first album in 1979. Cindy left the band in 1992 (although she rejoined in 1998) and for their US tour that year was replaced by Julee Cruise (whose biggest hit was the theme to the stupendous ‘Twin Peaks’ TV series from David Lynch). Although somewhat strangely for a one off fundraiser for the Democrat presidential candidate Jerry Brown Cindy’s place was taken by Kim Basinger. As a reminder of just how good they were (indeed still are) here are the B-52’s with “Rock Lobster

Cindy and Kate thought they'd been stung by their hairdresser, $50 and nowhere near as high as Marge Simpsons hair

Cindy and Kate thought they'd been stung by their hairdresser, $50 and nowhere near as high as Marge Simpsons hair

The last of the birthdays is that of King Monkey Ian Brown, former front man of the Stone Roses and now a very talented solo star. Ian is 46 today. He is just a few months younger than Roses guitarist John Squire and they were brought up just a couple of doors apart and went to Altrincham Grammar School together. They had been called ‘English Rose’ after a track on the Jam’s ‘Setting Sons’ album. They were booked for some Swedish gigs after Brown befriended a Swedish promoter while hitching around Europe and wanted a new name. Apparently they considered the name ‘Angry Young Teddy Bears’ before settling on the ‘Stone Roses’ a combination of their previous name and part of the name of one of their favourite bands the Rolling Stones. Somehow I don’t think their acclaimed status would have been the same had they adopted the ‘Angry Young Teddy Bears’ moniker. What do you think? While you’re pondering that one here are the boys with “I Wanna Be Adored

The Angry Young Teddy Bears all received Painting By Numbers sets that Christmas. What a load of Pollocks!

The Angry Young Teddy Bears all received Painting By Numbers sets that Christmas. What a load of Pollocks!

On this day in 1968 Frankie Lymon was found dead at his mothers house of a suspected drugs overdose. He was just 25. As the lead singer with ‘Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ he became the youngest UK chart topper in 1957 aged just 13, when they reached the summit “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” He then became the youngest headliner at the London Palladium in 1958 aged just 14 while promoting their UK hit (which I believe failed to chart in the US) “I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent“. Frankie retained the youngest UK chart topper record until 1972 when ‘Little’ Jimmy Osmond went to number one with the dreadful “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool” aged 9.

Frankie and the boys were looking forward to their appearance on Sesame Street to teach everyone about the letter 'T'

Frankie and the boys were looking forward to their appearance on Sesame Street to teach everyone about the letter 'T'

On this day in 1970 Led Zeppelin played a gig as the Nobs in Copenhagen after Eva Von Zeppelin, a relative of the Airship designer Ferdinand Von Zeppelin threatened to sue if the family name was used in Denmark. Later that same year Led Zep were voted Best Group in the New Musical Express (NME) readers poll, which broke a run of eight successive wins for the Beatles.

the hotel hairdryer was never strong enough for those Led boys

the hotel hairdryer was never strong enough for those Led boys

This day in 1998 saw ‘Cornershop’ sitting at the top of the UK singles chart with the excellent ‘Fatboy Slim’ remix of their superb song “Brimful Of Asha“. the Fatboy loved the song so much that he did the remix for free. The Asha in the song’s title is Asha Bhosle a Bollywood Playback singer. Indian films have relied heavily on song-and-dance numbers attributable to Broadway musicals. Almost always, the singing was performed by background singers while the actors and actresses mimed. Bhosle has sung more than 12.000 of these songs. Two other Playback singers, Lata Mangeshkar (Asha Bhosle’s sister) and Mohammed Rafi are also name-checked in the lyrics.

Once again Tjinder had fallen asleep at the mic

Once again Tjinder had fallen asleep at the mic

The next two aren’t strictly ‘onthisdays’ for February 28th, but it’s not a leap year so here are a couple from 29th February. Firstly on 29th February 1980 the glasses that Buddy Holly had been wearing when he died were discovered in a police file in Iowa where they had been for 21 years. The Beatles name is in part an homage to Buddy Holly and the Crickets and in one of lifes full circles Paul McCartney now owns the publishing rights to Buddy’s song catalogue.

The Invisible Man felt stupid for getting himself stuck in the Hall of Mirrors at the Fun Fair

The Invisible Man felt stupid for getting himself stuck in the Hall of Mirrors at the Fun Fair

Also on 29th February 2000 Eric Clapton received a 6 month driving ban in the UK for driving at 45mph in a 30 mph zone. So not such much of a slowhand after all are you Mr C? What’s your favourite Clapton song? This is mine, it’s “Layla” from his days as Derek and the Dominoes, although I really don’t like the unplugged version of it. Contrary to popular belief the signature guitar riff on that song came from Duane Allman and not Mr Clapton.

Eric was pleased that he had a friend like JJ to help him get to his gigs while he was banned from driving

Eric was pleased that he had a friend like JJ to help him get to his gigs while he was banned from driving

So dear reader if you have read this far, you have reached the end of todays post and I salute you! 🙂

 

“Everything you think do or say, is in the pill you took today” February 15, 2009


Good morning/ afternoon/ evening/ night everyone. Incidentally it’s morning for me, I so wanted to sleep but I couldn’t so I’m up before 7am on a Sunday morning. Is that an age thing perhaps? Do I need less sleep now I’m older? OK so before I start I recently borrowed the DVD of ‘Wall-E’ and finally watched it last night, now that is a superb movie. If you haven’t seen it yet shame on you! Here is the Peter Gabriel song “Down To Earth” from the film.

-)

I love this little dude 🙂

OK so now let’s get back to business as nearly normal, starting with a few birthdays. Brian Holland of the classic Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland is 68 today, 15th February. He is one of the Hollands in the team (obviously…doh!) along with his brother Eddie and Lamont Dozier. The guys wrote at least 25 US number one singles in a phenomenal career. Check out the Four Tops with “Reach Out I’ll Be There” probably my favourite HDH song. When they left Motown, somewhat acrimoniously in the 60s they went on to set up Invictus Records and wrote another string of hits. It has been alleged that the songs they wrote for the ‘Chairmen Of The Board’, one of Invictus’ most successful groups, would have been recorded by the Four Tops had HDH stayed with Motown. Listen to “Give Me Just A Little More Time” and tell me if you think it would have worked as a Four Tops song. I’m sure it would! And here for the hell of it is the Kylie Minogue version…. and why not?

2 x Hollands + 1 Dozier = Classic Motown

2 x Hollands + 1 Dozier = Classic Motown

The second and final of the birthdays today is that of Denny Zager (off of Zager and Evans) who is 65 today (according to my books, but Wiki says 18th February), will he live until the year 2525 we wonder though! Yep the Zager and Evans duo could almost define the “One Hit Wonder” phrase (it’s such a shame that Robbie W didn’t stop at one hit!) with their classic 1969 hit “In The Year 2525” The song was at number one in the US charts when Apollo 11 reached the moon in July 1969.

Zager and Evans - "In The Year 2525"

Zager and Evans - "In The Year 2525"

On this day in 1968 the Lennons and Harrisons arrived in India to study meditation with the Maharishi. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr arrived 4 days later. Ringo left shortly afterwards claiming that it was like a stay in a Butlins Holiday Camp. John Lennon went on to write about their experiences with the Maharishi in the song “Sexy Sadie” from the White Album. He apparently changed the title from it’s original “Maharishi” to “Sexy Sadie” at the request of George Harrison. It was also the last song that Lennon wrote on that trip to India

The Fabs in Rishikesh, India with the Maharishi (aka Sexy Sadie)

The Fabs in Rishikesh, India with the Maharishi (aka Sexy Sadie)

On this day in 1961 the Marcels recorded the classic (yes I know yet another classic!) “Blue Moon” Click on the song title to hear the song and watch a most bizarre film accompanying it, it even features Spongebob Squarepants! But back to the Marcels, the group were named after a popular early 60s hair style the Marcell Wave and the lead singer was the wonderfully named Cornelius Harp. That has to be one of the best names in the history of rock!

The Marcels

The Marcels

And finally for today a couple of bands for you to check out and I would love to know what you think of them. Firstly a band I went to see on Tuesday night this week at Fibbers in York. It’s the second time I’ve seen them and they are rather excellent, they are called “Lights In The Sky” check them out on MySpace www.myspace.com/litsband

Also check out Steal The Smile too, they are my son Luke’s band, they’ve written some excellent songs and are looking for gigs, so if any promoters are reading this get in touch with them! Check them out on MySpace www.myspace.com/stealthesmile