I remember there being a certain amount of hype about the Strokes but, by then no longer reading the inkies, most of it passed me by. I did, however, remember thinking they looked like a proper gang from their […]

What IS true is that Mike Myers made his start on Timmy Mallett’s Wide Awake Club, and befriended comedian Neil Mullarkey around the same time. Mullarkey makes a number of cameos in Myers films (as a customs agent […]

If you’re not happy with the conduct of the police involved, it can be helpful to contact the IOPC. It’s a long process but can stop police officers acting like this in the future, and the dog officers in this cas […]

Very nice chap, I guessed in his mid 20s, sold me a car the other week. Charming, knew his stuff, happy to do business with him etc. As he filled in the paperwork, we got to talking about insurance premiums. His […]

Not my joke, just a favourite:

Q: What does a Grateful Dead fan say when they run out of drugs?

A: What is this awful music?

Or there’s the Nines, which involves XTC/ex-Jellyfish alumni and is very McCartney:

This one is an Andy Partridge co-write:

It’s not up-to-the-minute new, but I always recommend The Davenports:

Or for a more Jellyfish/MOR vibe, The Sonic Executive Sessions:

The dreaded ‘Down on my knees/Begging you please” crops up in:

Layla by Derek and the anti vaxxers (sorry, Dominos)
Take Me in Your Arms by Phil Collins
Unsurprisingly, Down on My Knees by Bread
On Ben […]

Stingo’s worst:

“I have only come here seeking knowledge
Things they would not teach me of in college”

Just remembered another reason to laud Mr Watts – his sense of style. He answered a set-questions quiz in, I think, Q magazine like this:

Q: What have you got in your pockets?
A: Handkerchief in top jacket […]

This is my favourite. From 2:25 to when he comes back in at 2:42, it’s masterful buildup. And I bet any other band who’s covered this song has played it too fast.

I mistrust any drummer who doesn’t like […]

A friend at work, who shared a love of the same stuff (Crowded House, Squeeze), banged on about DA and, after initially dismissing them as music for divorced alcoholics (he was both) I had an epiphany listening to […]

Saw then on The Pops in 1979 and that was it. I wanted to own an electric guitar and join a band that looked like a proper gang. I was only seven so it took another 10 years. Very few acts can beat those first […]

(Not) Was (Not Was)
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bitty McClean
Fat Boy Slimposter

For your honky-tonkin’ badass music, you can’t beat Sarah Shook and her gang:

To quote Mark Radcliffe’s ‘Showbusiness’: “I always fancied the blonde one out of ABBA. Bjorn, I think his name was.”

Indeed, but the same period and (checks Wikipedia) the follow-up single. It’s not a watertight theory, but I’ll still sail it round the duck pond.

There’s always at least one copy of a CD that always gives me a chuckle: Westlife’s Where We Belong.

I always thought it was her statement after the secret police from ‘The Visitors’ had locked her up and were interrogating her. As in: ‘I live a very boring life and did pretty much the same thing every day, befor […]

Most performers can have the 27 law applied to them – before that age, they are yet to settle down properly and are in a certain white heat of creativity. There are exceptions, of course, (Leonard Cohen) but by […]