Musings on the byways of popular culture
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We’ve almost certainly done this before, but since the passing of Aretha, where the list starts, surely, what songs do we all know that spell out something, letter by letter, in the lyrics? We all know the obvious, 70s D I S C O and D I V O R C E, but where are the more obscure ones? Any big words? Which song has the longest word/phrase? Two from me to start.
C L A S S I C
B L U E C O L L L A R J A N E
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I’ve just returned from Baja California, Mexico, on what I would probably say is the world’s best whale watching trip, all 12 days of it. We were taking on the boat one night, and music came up… So, oh Massive, what songs do we know that mention our whale and dolphin friends (specific species or just generally) in the lyrics and/or title? If I may start with Yorkshire scamps Terrorvision, and one of their finest. https://youtu.be/An59zXVEFFE
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Ladies and gents I’ll be in central Oslo over New Year for 3 days, with the FPO and our (female) mate. Any things I/we should definitely see or do? Are there any public NY celebrations in squares or parks? Is alcohol as ruinously expensive as I’m led to believe? Do I need cash or are Norwegians as card mad as Swedes? Any other general tips? (Apart from “Wrap up warm/Get your vest on” etc…) Can you get Jools’ Hootenanny on TV? (OK, don’t worry about that one…)
Any thoughts gratefully accepted.
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Venue:
Markthalle, Hamburg
Date: 05/07/2017
OK Afterworders, we all know that the first band on at Live Aid was ‘ver Quo, yes? Bonus points if anyone knows who was first on at Philadelphia? Yes, it was the Hooters, a band so ignored in the UK and long forgotten that they’re a bit like Iceland. 99% of people have never been, and 99% of the people who have, have only been to Reykjavik. As a test, see if you can name any other City in Iceland? As a further test, even if you’ve heard of them, how many of you own a Hooters album? The defence rests, your Honour. Philadelphia’s finest, The Hooters are in fact, still going, especially popular in Germany, and, here’s the thing, I utterly absolutely and fantastically love them. Ostensibly, they’re the band who harbour the uber hit song writers Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (One of US, Time after Time, Private Emotion, Old Before I Die, Gimme a Stone and a fair few others) and they play a kind of music that is somewhere between roots, rock, folk, reggae and ska, with mighty tunes, the kind of choruses you can’t stop humming and a joy » Continue Reading.
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A friend of mine’s brother has just died in sad circumstances. On looking at his house, it appears that is is, to quote my mate (who isn’t overly technically musical) “Full of old hi-fi type things. And I mean, full. There’s dozens of things in there, I don’t even know what some of them do.” From the brief description I have, it looks like there are a fair few fairly serious hi-fi separates. Clearly, this is a house clearance job for a specialist, to ensure that my mate gets fair value for the said bits of kit, but neither he nor I know where to start, who to trust etc.
Do any of you splendid chaps and chap-esses know of such a reputable person or firm that we could have a word with regarding all this?
(Location is Notts, BTW)
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Venue:
Graham’s living room
Date: 20/04/2017
My first experience of a “living room” gig, fortunately one of my favourite front men, on his own, with a great new album to plug, only about ¾ of a mile down the road, near where we used to live. Enough to call a halt this week on my usual Thursday evening “world to rights” session with Smudger of this parish. Craig was tuning up when I arrived, but the natives appeared friendly so I repaired onto the back yard/lawn, where a succession of very friendly, interesting and likeable people (from reasonably far and wide (and West Bridgford)) came, mingled and went. Showtime, and everyone siphoned in through the French doors, to exhortations to “come closer”, so, cushion in hand, I did. Immediate stage left, leaning on (while sat down) some kind of flight case, a sofa and a CD rack. I got comfy about 3 songs in… Craig called us to order and began a guitar only (as he was all night) “God In Chicago”, during which you could’ve heard mice farting next door. Wonderful in all respects. Preludes, Jester and June, Tangletown and Be Honest followed from the new album, with » Continue Reading.
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At work today, one of my early emails was from our esteemed national trade association, who send a daily email which is basically a digest of the day’s mainstream news stories covering our industry.
There’s a bit of a preamble every day, which among other things normally covers celebrity birthdays.
I quote from today’s email…
“Finally, happy birthday to Tippi Hedren, Dolly Parton, Michael Crawford CBE, Janis Joplin, Richard Lester, and Katey Sagal. “
I wonder if the author even knew who Janis Joplin was, or if he did, wondered why she’d been a bit quiet lately…
I’m sure the Massive will have other stories to tell.
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A few years back, I went to see Aimee on the 4th July, at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Fabulously, she opened with this, a beautiful ballad featuring some excellent grammar in the chorus, and the lyric “and when they light up our town I just think what a waste of gunpowder and sky”.
Any other date specific songs/lyrics?
