Musings on the byways of popular culture
A fantastic interview with “The Nugget” here. Fairly unlikable in the eighties but a real star now he’s discovered life outside snooker. And brilliant taste.
(Sticky Drama by Oneohtrix Point Never included for reference)
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/10/steve-davis-snooker-champion-radio-show-dj-interview
Venue:
Dome, Brighton
Date: 30/01/2016
Cards on the table, ISIHAC is in my opinion one of the greatest programmes that has even been broadcast on Radio, only John Peel’s show’s are equal (but totally different of course).
This is described as a greatest hits tour as this isn’t a radio broadcast but all the best bits from the last few years.
jack Dee was in ‘charge’ with regulars Barry Cryer, Tim Brook-Taylor joining him. The other two panelists were semi-regular Jeremy Hardy and newish player Miles Jupp. Other regular Graeme Garden wasn’t there and wasn’t mentioned. Also there was Pianist Colin Sell but I’m afraid scorer Samantha couldn’t make it, sending many excuses (via note) about why she wasn’t there.
All the usual games were in evidence, Uxbridge English Dictionary, Censored Song, Just a Minim, Pick-up Song, Letter Writing (Julius Caesar to Cleopatra), Sound Charades, Karaoke-Cokey, One Song to the Tune of Another and of course Mornington Crescent.
It was of course incredibly funny, Barry Cryer and Tim Brook-Taylor were absolutely brilliant but I felt that the heavy lifting was being done by Hardy and Jupp which isn’t surprising considering their ages.
Jack Dee held » Continue Reading.
Heard about this yesterday, very sad. I know he is barely a footnote in Rock history but I really like his album and Space Ace is a fantastic song.
And this is a lovely piece from The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/the-man-who-fell-from-fame.html?_r=0
Oscar Noms came out today, the usual suspects (but Mad Max was a surprise) but this is always a highlight of the day. Posters if they told the truth.
http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/feature/if-2016s-oscar-nominated-movie-posters-told-the-truth.php
The Amazon 12 days of Kindle has returned again and there are some bargains, but perhaps not so much this year.
Of interest for the discerning on here are Keith Richards, Patti Smith and Danny Baker for 99p or £1.99 and some of interest in the History section.
Have a lovely Boxing Day.
Year: 2015 Director: Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville
This is a documentary about the 1968 Television debates between liberal Gore Vidal and Conservative William Buckley centred around the Republican and Democratic conventions. These debates were an idea that ABC had because they didn’t have the money to cover either convention fully like CBS & NBC.
Both Vidal and Buckley were failed politicians, having both run for office earlier in the sixties and lost but otherwise had become successes as authors and social commentators. This finds Vidal just after the publication of Myra Breckinridge had become a cause célèbre, and Buckley cosying up to Ronald Reagan as he tried to define Conservatism for the future decades.
Both men came into the debates detesting each other and coming from polar opposites, Vidal gay ultra-left & Buckley Catholic establishment right-wing so from the first debate sparks flew and the animosity just grew until a flashpoint which shocked America and troubled Buckley until the day he died. That outburst probably set the tone for the political debates (or non debates) that we suffer today.
The film has plenty of wonderful archive footage especially the 1968 Democratic convention riots and is very enjoyable look » Continue Reading.
Year: 2015 Director: Frank Spotnitz (Writer)
Based on the Phillip K. Dick counterfactual novel this 10 part series is available on Amazon Video, but probably coming to Blu-Ray/DVD at some point next year. It shows world where the Allies lost WW2 and the Nazis and Japanese control most of the world (not sure about South America), Nazis control Europe and Africa & Japan Asia but they share the US (Nazis-East Coast, Japs-West Coast) with a ‘Neutral Zone in the middle.
The story revolves around Julia Crain, whose half-sister is involved with the resistance, Frank Frink her boyfriend with Jewish ancestry, Joe Blake a new recruit to East Coast resistance, Nobusuke Tagomi the trade minister of the Japanese Pacific states and Obergruppenführer John Smith an SS officer in New York.
Their stories revolve around some Newsreels which may or may not be real and add the Science fiction element of the story.
We really enjoyed this, the first episode ends with a cracking twist and the last with multiple stories coming together in a pretty satisfying way. And with other couple of twists that we didn’t see coming (but that may be just us!). It is fairly grim and complicated » Continue Reading.
An interesting article in The Observer today about one of our favorite subjects on here.
I’m not an obsessive about Hifi (I think) I know what I like but nearly half a million for a system! Perhaps after a lottery win, but probably not even then.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/29/lost-in-music-the-world-of-obsessive-audiophilia
Yes yes another list but this has had a lot of work put into it and is available as psychical item if you go into Resident or order online.
First 10 for the refuseniks
1.Algiers – Algiers 2.Ones & Sixes – Low 3.Sometimes I Sit and Think, & Sometimes I Just Sit – Courtney Barnett 4.Carrie & Lowell – Sufjan Stevens 5.Mbongwana Star – From Kinshasa 6.Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness 7.Songhoy Blues – Music In Exile 8.Thee O Sees – Mutilated Defeated At Last 9.Blanck Mass – Dumb Flesh 10. Jacco Gardener – Hypnophobia
I’ve managed 21 out of the top 100.
I been looking for a decent streaming music solution and last weekend bought one of these. It’s a small puck shape about the same size as a Jaffa Cake with two ports, a 3.5mm jack and a mini USB for power.
I plugged it into a Sony bluetooth speaker (I know that I could stream over BT but it drains power v quickly and the sound quality isn’t brilliant) ran the Chromecast app (it’s on Android and Apple) it found it in a few seconds, I connected it to our WiFi and opened Google Music and started The White Album. It took about three minutes.
The sound quality was much better than BT, proper bass with room-filling sound. The Chromecast was a doddle to use and has been faultless during the week.
It works with Google Music and Spotify (the premium version) and iPlayer Radio but using the cast screen option in the app I’ve had Amazon Music going and played music from a WD 4TB personal cloud without a problem.
If you have some old active speakers with a aux input this is an easy way to make them wireless or you can plug them into an Amp with » Continue Reading.
What does it sound like?:
This the first solo album from Air-Man Nicolas Godin, I’ve never been much of an Air fan, the singles have been pleasant enough when I’ve heard them on the Radio but never actually shelled any money out on them.
This though is a totally different proposition. Fueled by Godin’s love of Bach and specially Glenn Gould. Based on The Well-Tempered Clavier (which being a classical numpty I didn’t know much about) this album ranges from Synth heavy prog, Take Five era Dave Brubeck, Wagneresque German Choral and Commodore 64 chip tune.
Made with French vocalist Thomas Mars (from Phoenix), Brazilian singer Marcelo Camelo, Italian author Alessandro Barrico, New Zealand guitarist Connan Mockasin and the choir from Macedonia’s F.A.M.E.’S. Project.
This may sound overblown and all over the place but it hangs together really well and is one of my favs of the year.
What does it all *mean*?
It means that I went straight to Glenn Gould’s four disc Well-Tempered Clavier which I loved, even the humming, which I had been warned about!
Goes well with…
As the record features so many styles it goes with pretty much anything
Might suit people » Continue Reading.
What does it sound like?:
If you don’t know you shouldn’t really be here. But this is Bowie’s first golden period, which already marks him out as special most artists don’t even have one. This box contains the post Anthony Newley albums Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Live Santa Monica ’72, Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture plus the 2003 Ken Scott mix of Ziggy Stardust and two discs of rarities Re:Call 1
All have been re-mastered in the last few years with Space Oddity, The Man who Sold the World, Hunky Dory and Pinups being new 2015 versions.
They do sound excellent, nice and punchy but not too loud (which seems the way some stuff is re-mastered these days) Space Oddity sounds particularly good to my suspect ears.
The Recall:1 discs are a nice edition to the set, especially as they contain Velvet Goldmine one of his best songs which wasn’t on an album. All the discs come in repro sleeves with any inserts that came with the albums back in the day. And there is » Continue Reading.
Loads of fans of Mr Wilson on here (as I am, more of his remixing than of his music but I must try harder I think!) and he is on the always fantastic Freak Zone tonight on the even more marvelous 6 Music at 8 o’clock.
Enjoy!
Plenty of music docs on BBC4 are just a bit meh but the recent Sinatra four-part documentary was a masterclass. Loads of wonderful clips and especially photos it is a brilliant film. Pretty much a warts and all feature, it doesn’t shy away from Frank’s dubious off-stage/screen life. But it is all the better for that.
Just the thing to celebrate perhaps the biggest pop (as in popular music) star of the 20th Century, this is not to be missed.
(But hurry episode 1 leaves the iPlayer on Wednesday.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJimkJIPqhQ
I loved this prog. Ian McMillan is brilliant as always, and it features Jonny Trunk who released a wonderful album of this stuff a couple of years ago.
More in comments below
And so the Beeb won’t get it’s weather forecasts from the Met Office anymore. This is because it now has to offer it’s contracts to tender to ‘secure the best value for licence payers’ which of course is great but sometimes I don’t want the best value I just want the best. Which the Met Office is.
Dutch and New Zealand companies are interested, I bet they are! Offer a cut price service that millions will watch because it’s on the BBC.
This is how the BBC will be dismantled, cut costs to the bone so the service suffers and when the quality and range of services have gone people will ask why do we need a public service broadcaster? And then it’s gone.
And the Tory MP quoted in the article can eff right off.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/23/met-office-loses-bbc-weather-forecasting-contract
For people of a certain age this is sad news. An impression that everyone did in the seventies (along with others that people tend not to do now!)
But On the Buses was rubbish!
Good old Radio 3’s Tom Service pointed me in the direction of Arvo Part when he popped up on Radcliffe & Maconie on 6Music and I’ve been loving it. But where next? What’s the next step in contemporary Classical?
Year: 1949 Director: Carol Reed
This is a review of the new Blu-ray 4K restoration.
I think that most people know the story of The Third Man. Divided Vienna, Black Market Penicillin (in fact Black Market everything) , the loyal Anna, the everyman Holly, the evil Harry Lime, a man so bad he isn’t in the gutter he is literally in the sewer and of course the Cuckoo clock. Add the Dutch angles, the decent(ish) Major Calloway, the mainly German speaking wonderful supporting cast and one of the best soundtracks in Cinema history from Anton Karas and this is a perfect movie.
This new edition is sparkling (as much as a film this dark in places can be) and clean as a whistle. The soundtrack is clear and as good as a 66 year old film will ever get.
The extras include audio commentaries with Guy Hamilton (who chased Welles all over Europe when he didn’t turn up on time) and few docs including a really interesting one on the restoration plus interviews with Graham Greene and Joseph Cotton. Also included is a neat and informative booklet, some really nice art cards and a small poster. And the set » Continue Reading.
Author:Mark D Beazley (Editor)
To compliment the wonderful presents I received last month I decided to take it a bit further and purchased the above book.
Voted for by readers of Marvel this the top 27(?) stories of the first 75 years of Marvel. Starting with Captain America#1 published in 1941 and going up to Hawkeye#11 released in August 2013 this book contains a ton of classic stories many of which are my favorites.
Leaping forward to the first appearances of The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Spiderman and The Avengers and into the period I remember best of the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies including the classic FF story ‘The Coming of Galactus’, The Avengers ‘Behold…..The Vision and a trio of the best Spiderman stories ‘If This Be My Destiny’, ‘Spiderman No More’ and probably my favorite ‘The Night Gwen Stacy Died/The Goblins Last Stand’ with it’s heartbreaking and hopeful ending, one of the best in any literature IMO.
It then moves quickly forward to focus more on The X-Men with ‘Days of Future Past’ and the stunning ‘God Loves, Man Kills’. With plenty of stories I hadn’t read before but have become favorites of mine, ‘The Death of » Continue Reading.
This has been alternating with the new Sleaford Mods on my virtual turntable. It’s great stuff, recommended for fans of Jane Weaver.
I’m loath to post this but after today’s Green Paper announcement by the Government I afraid to that it spells the end of the BBC as we know it. This is a purely ideological decision driven by the misguided idea the the Beeb is a hot bed of left-wing views designed to overthrow the Tories.
The Tories want a smaller BBC so the commercial rivals can have the playing field clear to scoop up the big shows and viewing figures, but they still want a ‘popular’ BBC but not too popular.
Of course the BBC isn’t perfect, but for 40p a day (a lot more and lot cheaper than Sky/BT/Virgin but people still moan!) it is an incredible bargain.
When we lose it (which I think we will) then we’ll all be sorry because we’ll never get it back. And then it’s the NHS next.
Author:Roy Thomas/Paul Levitz
I was lucky enough to get these for my 50th birthday and after a couple of weeks of intense study I’ve managed to read enough of these to form an opinion.
They are both just astounding, fantastic, brilliant. Both cover the first 75 years in the life of the two most important comic publishers ever.
Starting with the origins of Marvel/DC, back when Marvel was Timely Comics and DC were National Allied Publications and moving into the Golden, Silver & Bronze ages both books (and indeed both companies) follow a similar path. Recounting the ups (the superhero booms of the 30s, Second World War & early 60s, the Horror and Romance boom of the 50s and the return of Horror in the early 70s) and many downs (mainly the regular take-overs and near bankruptcies, battles with the Comics Code Authority and disputes with artists and writers)
But the main reason to own these books is the reproduced art which is stunning. All the greats are represented Kirby, Ditko (my two favorites), Kane (Bob & Gil), Infantino, Shuster, Romita, Buscema and loads of others.
Add the quality of the printing, the binding and the fact » Continue Reading.
A very frank and interesting interview with Mr Ward here. Let’s hope they do work it out and he is happy to join the other three.
http://thequietus.com/articles/18274-black-sabbath-bill-ward-interview
For the non-Amazon haters on here (I make no judgements!) a bit of a bargain on there at the mo. The BBC box set of Be Bop Deluxe is only £6 and bit for 3 CDs and a DVD. Plus the mp3 instantly.
Form an orderly queue, or don’t!
