The Afterword

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John Taylor vs. Mark King

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Yep, a head-to-head with two of Britain’s finest plank spankers, him out of Duran Duran and that bloke from Level 42. At first sight there’s no contest. King is a master virtuoso who clearly has his slap-chops down pat, JT is that pretty bloke who sort of tries to funk it up. Well, think again, mother lovers: JT is one of the most underrated players this country has produced in recent times. He’s got funk, and some sexy syncopation action going on. King, on the other hand, is clearly very good at what he does, but doesn’t it all get a bit samey after a while?

I found this a little while ago. It’s the bass line from Rio, isolated. It’s quite a weird listen as it doesn’t really seem to go with the rest of the song, but somehow it does. I like the fact that it’s been played live, as may be evidenced by the numerous mistakes. It’s a nice little exercise for all aspiring bass players. Get this down, and you’re on your way.

‘Alibi’

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Author:Joseph Kanon

The setting for Alibi is 1946 Venice. It’s survived the war and occupation without any physical damage. Adam Miller, who had been investigating war crimes for the American Army in Germany, comes to Venice to visit his mother. He’s suspicious of her new suitor, Gianni Maglione, a suave and aristocratic doctor who may be after his mother’s money. Adam also falls for a Claudia, a Jewish woman who suffered her own atrocities during the war, and she claims that Maglione is a war criminal. As Adam starts asking questions, he unfolds more secrets, guilt, and intrigue that most of the city’s residents would rather let lie. He find that even though Venice retained her beauty throughout the war, many of its citizens paid a heavy price.

This book was first published in 2007 and has recently been re-published in a glossy Donna Leon-type cover, which is how I came to find it in Waterstones last week. Joseph Kanon also wrote ‘The Good German’, so he has previous good form, and The Alibi doesn’t disappoint. Without giving too much away, the plot revolves around a murder and given that we know whodunnit, the fun is in finding out » Continue Reading.

Jimmy Page In The New Mojo

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A billion-word piece on the making of ‘Physical Graffiti’, which as we all know is the greatest piece of living art ever created by anyone ever. The usual sycophantic bollocks, which purports also to look at the ‘craziness’ surrounding its making. Strangely enough there is no mention of JP’s 14 yo FPO.

Cough up, Germany!

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I think this is fair enough. I’m surprised that Obama hasn’t had a quiet word in Mrs Merkel’s ear and reminded her that Germany did very nicely out of the rest of Europe after the war, and it’s payback time.

It isn’t even as though this has come out of the blue. As the text says, an international conference ruled that Germany needed to pay Greece war reparations as well as paying back a loan that the Greeks were forced to pay the occupying Nazis during the occupation. So far Germany has paid back nothing.

The outstanding sum would cover Greece’s deficit. Germany’s leaders, so it seems, are ignoring the whole issue.

I’ve put my name to it.

http://www.change.org/p/angela-merkel-pay-greece-the-billions-you-owe-as-restitution-for-the-atrocities-committed-in-greece-by-germans-during-the-second-world-war?recruiter=15758621&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-action_alert-reason_msg&fb_ref=Default