Suzi Quatro siempre impone estilo con su bajo

En la historia del rock  siempre han existido músicos que tenían tanto potencial que uno podría pensar que llegarían a ser tan grandes como Iron Maiden, The Rolling Stones o Metallica. Sin embargo, a veces el público no los apoya  tanto, lo que provoca que sus carreras se queden en el intento de la gloria absoluta.

A pesar del panorama en contra, su calidad musical es incuestionable y uno de los ejemplos claros  de este tipo de artistas que no llegaron al Olimpo de los dioses del rock,  lo encuentro en Suzi Quatro -antes de The Runaways y de dos graduadas de esta banda femenina, que tuvieron carreras con éxito respetable como Lita Ford o Joan Jett- esta bajista estadounidense salió a escena, tocando con una furia rocanrolera que cualquiera podría augurar que se convertiría en un ícono que podría igualar la gloria de la gran Janis Joplin.

Suzi cantaba con actitud y fuerza y esto se reflejaba en temas como “Can to can” o “Rock Hard”, su estilo te volaba la cabeza y era prácticamente la única mujer rockera al centro de una banda. En Estados Unidos no pudo tener el éxito que tuvo en Europa o en Inglaterra, sin embargo en México llegó a sonar mucho a finales de los 70’s e inicios de los 80’s, lo que me hace pensar que a veces el mercado estadounidense no es tan sabio como se suele pensar.

Aquí unos videos de su estilo sexy y agresivo, donde no le faltaban sus hermosos pantalones de cuero.

La primera vez que vi a Adam and The Ants, vi una actitud punk, pero que ya estaba combinada con el New Romantic,  realmente pensé que el cantante Adam Ant se veía tan sobrado que era sólo cuestión de tiempo para que conquistara Norteamérica y fuera la competencia directa de otro post punk como Billy Idol.

Su look de pirata combinado con maquillaje y esa voz  limpia pero chillona, era digna de un cantante explosivo, que igual pudo llegar a las alturas de un Michael Hutchence de INXS, pero tuvo la mala suerte de ser manejado por Malcom McLaren, el mítico manager de los Sex Pistols, que tenía como característica sólo sacar buen dinero de sus bandas cuando iniciaban y luego abandonarlas a su suerte.

Los escoceses de Simple Minds hubiera podido ocupar el lugar de U2, ya que llegaron a dominar las listas de Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido, como sus colegas irlandenses. La forma de tocar del  guitarrista Charlie Burchill competía sin ningún trabajo con la de The Edge.

También se preocupaban por los problemas sociales, siendo colaboradores de Amnistía Internacional y eran apoyados siempre por la crítica especializada. A pesar de su gran calidad musical, sólo se les recuerda por su sencillo “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, como si solamente hubieran sido una banda de un sólo sencillo.

El público se fue con U2 y dejaron atrás a Simple Minds,porque la banda de Bono se sacudió su estilo europeo y la banda del frontman Jim Kerr prefirió seguir experimentando pero con sus bases del Viejo Mundo.

Dokken fue una banda de hard rock que logró ventas millonarias en los 80’s,  contando con gran calidad en composición, estilo guitarristico y vocal, logrando grandes temas que musicalmente superaban a muchos de sus contemporáneos.

“Breaking the chains”, “Alone again”, fueron clásicos que tenían la fuerza clásica del hard-rock, sin caer en la clásica power ballad,  y que incluso hacía pensar a cualquiera que podrían evolucionar a territorios nuevos y frescos.

Tenían el espíritu de  Bon Jovi, pero sin llegar a ser excesivamente comerciales, pero tampoco entraban en la categoría agresiva de unos Skid Row. Sus diferencias personales entre el cantante Don Dokken y el guitarrista George Lynch, fueron el detonante de su separación, terminando olvidados por los fans, sin ocupar el trono que realmente merecían. 

Cinderella era una banda descubierta por el mismísimo Jon Bon Jovi, quien los recomendó con una disquera y de ser una banda desconocida de Philadelphia, lograron ubicarse como una banda importante de glam metal en Estados Unidos y el mundo.

Sus ventas millonarias y el estilo de sus canciones, lograron darle un aire fresco al hard-rock ochentero y eran de las pocas bandas que realizaban arreglos más elaborados en sus temas, al grado que llegaron a interesar al ex bajista de Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, cuando colaboró con ellos en su disco “Heartbreak Station”. Realmente pensé que llegarían más lejos, pero el público simplemente decidió concentrarse en el grunge.

When I was a kid I had a t-shirt with the Adam and the Ants logo on it

Terry Lee Miall, Brit drummer for Adam & the Ants

Adam Ant, (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) British actor and singer,

Edinburgh is a great, historic city full of castles, historic dwellings and pubs, winding paths, and a fair dose of urban grandeur. It also has CD shops. Among those CD shops it the small independent Avalanche, just a skip off the famed Royal Mile. Although much revered by the locals, it’s actually not a terrific shop at all. It has a bad selection of anything that I would have considered interesting. It does have a sister shop, however, in Glasgow under separate management. That shop is very impressive indeed. The city of Edinburgh has no less than three HMV stores. I hit the one closest to the center of town, on Princes Street in New Town.

Avalanche

Bad Lieutenant, Never Cry Another Tear. Bernard Sumner, bereft of New Order since Peter Hook broke it up, has joined a new band where a couple of guitarists and vocalists have thrown together to make some vaguely Britpop sounding music, with the occasional participation of drummer Stephen Morris of Joy Division and New Order. Altogether, it’s not a displeasing album as Sumner’s famously cool voice sounds quite a bit warmer than usual against the symphony of strings that make up the songs. Still, you would likely give it a pass if you weren’t as big a fan of these guys as I am.

Buggles, The Age of Plastic. The Buggles were the band led by Trevor Horn, who famously had the first music video on MTV with the lead single from this album, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” As mentioned here before, Horn went on to produce some extraordinary New Wave but he cut his teeth as a musician here, turning out some wonderfully weird but definitely danceable sci-fi tunes. You would likely be surprised at how much you like it.

Monaco, Monaco. When New Order went on hiatus through much of the 1990s, bassist Peter Hook teamed up with vocalist David Potts, who had performed with Hooky’s former band Revenge. Their first album Music for Pleasure produced the widely recognized “What Do You Want from Me?,” which is often mistaken for a New Order tune due to Hooky’s easily recognizable bass playing and Potts’ icy voice, which sounds similar to Sumner’s. The second album from the group, after which it broke up, is hard to find but well worth the trouble.

HMV

Adam and the Ants, Dirk Wears White Sox. The three albums that Adam Ant did with a band called the Ants were remastered and re-released in 2004. I’ve picked up the second and third, but here is the first, which proclaims the band’s artistic intentions by invoking the name of British actor Dirk Bogarde, who made powerful and artistic films throughout the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. The album is much darker than most of the familiar Adam Ant material and never produced a hit.

Blancmange, Mange Tout. The extraordinary New Romantic band Blancmange, mysteriously named after a gelatinous dessert, saw its three albums remastered and re-released in the United Kingdom in 2008. The band has reformed to record new material after releasing three albums in the ’80s–which is good because these are three terrific albums. This album, their second, bears some terrifically bright dance beats combined with the deep and distinctive vocals of Neil Arthur in numbers such as “Don’t Tell Me” and an ABBA cover “The Day Before You Came.”

Editors, In This Light and On This Evening (2CD). Editors vocalist Tom Smith is often accused of borrowing a lot from Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, but once you see the charismatic Editors frontman in concert, you’ll know two things: 1. His admiration for Curtis is honest and honorable, and 2. His band has risen far past being just a Joy Division knockoff. This album, their third, relies much more on synthesizers than their previous two, although keyboards have always been a big part of Smith’s performances.

Sonic Youth, Murray Street.
Sonic Youth, A Thousand Leaves.
Sonic Youth, Screaming Fields of Sonic Love.

Ugh, Michael Darpino, what have you gotten me into? Collecting Sonic Youth albums without a roadmap is sometimes bewildering. For example, I unintentionally purchased the compilation album Screaming Fields of Sonic Love because I didn’t recognize it for what it was–and being overseas I had no Internet connection for research on the fly. Still, with the purchases of Murray Street and A Thousand Leaves, I not only have two very strong entries in the Sonic Youth catalogue, I’m a mere five albums from owning every studio album, should that be my goal. These two albums seem to have a much more contemplative tone than some of their others and as such represent some of their more downtempo yet radiant material–almost as if they had punkified the Alan Parsons Project or something. They totally love Sonic Youth over in the United Kingdom and I was pleased as to the number of their albums you could find much more easily than in the United States.

Spandau Ballet, Gold. While I was in Scotland, I saw the reunion tour of Spandau Ballet. It was a terrific show! And in anticipation of it, I picked up this greatest hits disc that came out while I was there. Did I really need it? No, but it has 17 of the band’s videos at a pretty good price. Being a class MTV-era music fiend, I love owning videos. Spandau’s videos also represent the height of New Romantic fashion, even the costume changes from the more avante garde to the well-tailored suits.

Ultravox, U-Vox. The classic line-up of Ultravox featuring incomparable vocalist Midge Ure reformed in 2009 for some reunion touring, which will extend into 2010. At the same time, Ure’s Ultravox output of five studio albums and one live disc were remastered and re-released as well. Imagine my surprise to realize then that I had missed picking up this album, the fifth and final studio album that Ure made with the band! It contains a number of hidden gems of the Ure/Ultravox catalog–including the soaring and melodic “Same Old Story” and the somber and dramatic “All Fall Down”–making it a worthy purchase indeed.

This posting was inspired by a another blog I stumbled across ; it points out Bowie’s use of ‘The Sign’ at 65 (hidden 11) seconds in. Also notice the Masonic checkerboard floor, spiderwebs, and God knows what else….btw, that witch girl is pretty hot, eh?

The song Sorrow was not written by Bowie, it was written by the same team of writers who penned “My boyfriends back” in the 50’s;Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer ,who wrote it first for the McCoys, and then the Merseybeats, who took it to number 11 in 1965. They’re created a band in the 60’s called the Strangeloves ; and the Jewish trio from Brooklyn passed themselved off as “millionaire sheep-herders from Australia” ….(seems like there’s ALOT of millionaire Jewish sheep-herders around lately but they don’t usually come right out and announce it like that… anyways..watching the video it’s easy to see where Adam and the Ants took some of their inspiration from, in fact, Adam’s bandmates left him to form the group Bow-Wow-Wow, who had a hit with “I want Candy” in the 70’s.

The following text I lifted from the youtube video blurb:
While the Strangeloves managed to produce one garage band classic, their story is probably more interesting than their actual music. Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer were a trio of Brooklyn songwriter/producers who landed a number one girl group hit with the Angels’ “My Boyfriend’s Back.” When the British Invasion crested in the mid-’60s, they decided to get in on the act by recording as a group, billing themselves as an Australian outfit to cash in on the mystique being attached to foreign groups.

“I Want Candy,” with its crunching Bo Diddley beat, joyous chorus, and rambling lead guitar, was their great moment, reaching number 11 in 1965. Forced to put together a live act to support their disc, they made outrageous claims to hail from the nonexistent town of Armstrong, Australia, where they had made a fortune as sheepherders who had developed a cross-breed. They also made the Top 40 with a couple fairly gutsy follow-ups, “Cara-Lin” and “Night Time,” both of which were built around crunching claps, stomps, and drums. Also recording an album and several non-hit singles, most of their material unashamedly plagiarized the Bo Diddley beats of “I Want Candy,” with forgettable results. They withdrew from performing and recording to concentrate on writing and producing for the McCoys, although Strangeloves releases continued to appear until 1968. Goldstein went on to produce records for War in the 1970s, and Gottehrer produced efforts by Blondie, the Go-Go’s, and others. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Ant Music by Adam Ant / Adam & the Ants - I’m a sucker for music that can be classified as “happy”. This song totally fits that description. The tune is wonderful, the lyrics fun to sing along with and the band is great. Oh, and Adam was amazingly awesome to look upon. How many of us wanted to wear the clothes he and the band did? I would have killed for the vintage military jackets he had. Written about disco, this song still fits in so well, 29 (!!!) years after it came out. “So unplug the jukebox and do us all a favor. That music’s lost its taste so try another flavor. Ant Music.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPjfD8ulnpw

I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but it’s been cooling off and getting overcast in Austin as we head into the fall. I for one, could not be happier. We’ve had months of three-digit temperatures, the heat forming itself into my nifty foot tan and bleaching the plush Garfield on my car window. I celebrated by frequenting Cheapo Discs after work, adding some key titles from Daft Punk, Ariel Pink, Kate Bush, and Black Dice to my collection, along with snagging Air’s 10,000 Hz Legend, one of the funniest albums by a French pop group that boasts one of the prettiest songs Beck ever recorded (“Vagabond”) and my favorite song by the Gallic duo (“Radio #1″).

The punks of Jubilee; image courtesy of stephanievegh.ca

The electrically depressive weather and investment in discarding and collecting our culture’s trash recalls the late Derek Jarman’s Jubilee, a movie I watched last night with Kristen and Curran (we missed Susan, who also usually watches movies with us). I credit Curran, a future queer punk PhD, for introducing me to the movie in the first place and can’t wait to read about it in his dissertation. Released in 1977, it was Jarman’s second movie, and my first viewing of his feature work. I had a passing familiarity of Jarman, as he also made music videos for acts like Suede, The Smiths, and The Pet Shop Boys. For example:

In addition, apparently he and Tilda Swinton were good friends and often worked together, so I think I’ll start with Edward II. You can read Swinton’s touching, lengthy tribute to Jarman.

So, I kinda can’t get over Jubilee. It was kind of amazing, but I don’t think I have a real handle on its plot. I can tell you these things. Queen Elizabeth I is transported to 1977 England, around the time of Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee and the country’s considerable economic downturn. From there, the movie preoccupies itself with mixed-gender group of punks linked in varying degrees to one another. They’re played by real British punks of the era (Jordan, Adam Ant, Toyah Wilcox), real queer British punks of the era (Linda Spurrier, Ian Charleson), and one quintessential American queer punk icon (the inimitable Wayne/Jayne County). They live in squalor. They steal cars. They play board games. They quote from historical tomes. They attempt to have pop careers, if only to destroy The Top of the Pops. They love each other, sometimes; that is, when they aren’t killing or getting killed by police.

As a document of its era, the movie is pretty significant. Brian Eno composed the score. Siouxsie and The Banshees appear on the telly. Adam and the Ants audition for a record company. While a bunch of kids attend a disco orgy, The Slits smash up a car. And Jayne County sings to herself in one amazing green room.

And yet it had a theatrical release in the UK, which I can’t imagine how that happened but can fully believe people’s non-plussed response to it. I mean, how do you process the scene where Amyl Nitrate (Jordan) performs her pop “hit” “Rule Britannia” for record mogul/madman Borgia Ginz, played by the phenomenal Orlando?

That said, I found the movie constructively, at times rapturously, difficult. How else to feel but to gape at all of the strong female punks, many of whom abide by defiantly non-normative beauty standards who take pride in their pock marks, acne, fleshy thighs, and cellulite dimples? Or Adam Ant’s feminine beauty? Or the sculpted, smoothed, Greco-Roman-bodied men who one imagines Jarman cast with a loving eye? Or the romantic impulses of the mixed-gender queer trio — two of whom identify each other as brothers? Or the upsetting deaths of the movie’s queer characters (including a particularly brutal, seemingly pointless murder of County — talk about killing your idols!)? Or the blinding whiteness, which, by absence, brings to mind England’s issues with nationalist, segregational racial politics? Or the fast-and-loose timeline? Or the preoccupation with classic art and literature amid and outside London’s urban decay? Or queering up the interactions in such a way so as to trigger punk’s oft-obscured homophobia (apparently Sex proprietrix/designer Vivienne Westwood issued a homophobic missive in response to the movie).

But if punk taught us anything, messy can be beautiful, good, and constructive. This is a movie that revels in this idea. Do make time for it. Just presume that you’ll need to see it twice.

Var på en supermysig efterfest igår och värden satte på en låt som bara fick mig att rysa…Min första LP med Adam and the ants kom tillbaks till mitt minne.
Jag älskade den här gruppen som liten och sen har de tyvärr fallit lite i glömska..fram till igår vill säga.
Lyssna och njut!!

Dog eat dog

Después de unas cuantas recopilaciones tranquilitas, esta tarde-noche me he decidido por algo más movido. Esta vez he elegido el Let’s Go Crazy de Prince para empezar y he ido enlazando canciones hasta que la lista fue lo suficientemente larga como para grabar un CD.

Hay temas nuevos, clásicos, unas cuantas versiones y alguna rareza. Los intérpretes son Prince, Adam And The Ants, The Vaselines, Beck, Yo La Tengo, Gordon Gano, P.J. Harvey, Florence + The Machine, Lou Reed, New Order, David Bowie, Faker, The Japanese Motors, Lloyd Cole, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Sondre Lerche, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Aztec Camera, Cake, Paul Weller, Graham Parker, Frank Black y El Vez.

Haz clic para descargar la recopilación "Hot Hot Summer!!"

Como siempre, haced clic en la portada de la recopilación para descargar las canciones y la carátula en pdf.

AQUÍ podéis ver el listado de temas que he incluido. Espero que os guste.

P.D.: La portada del disco es de una foto que hice en Oslo, junto al Ayuntamiento, el 9 de agosto de 2005.

P.D.2: El clásico del cine mudo The Golem (1920) ha sido restaurado y ¡¡Frank Black!! ha compuesto la banda sonora (realmente es una colección de canciones sobre la temática de la película). Como primicia, aquí podéis escuchar The Flower Song

Bazooka Joe were the British Punk band before British Punk even existed. With The Sex Pistols as their support act, the Bazooka boys tore up the London Pub/club circuit in the 70s catalyzing a change within British music that eventually saw Punk take its place as Rock’s no.1 rival within mainstream music worldwide.   I interviewed  ex- Bazooka bassist Chris Duffy to find out what it was like to be a founding father of punk….

ME: Hi Chris. So tell me a bit about what it was that Bazooka Joe set out to do…

CHRIS: I wasn’t actually there when Bazooka Joe were formed. The band was the brainchild of John Ellis (later of The Vibrators,) Stuart Goddard, ( to become Adam Ant,) and Danny Kleinman. I was seventeen years old and had been playing in a shitty blues type band that I can’t even remember the name of, when I got a job photographing Kleinman’s girlfriend.  It was around this time that Goddard quit and so I offered to step in as bassist.

ME: They say you boys were responsible for the birth of the punk music movement however, looking at the Bazooka Joe photo, I don’t spot any of the angst or anarchic qualities usually associated with Punk.

CHRIS: Its funny, we never set out to change anything or start anything. We weren’t politically driven or angry, we were just boys who enjoyed playing music. We enjoyed the camaraderie of it all; writing music together, getting drunk together and picking up girls together. It’s easy to reflect upon a time and apply labels to various cultural factions. We were playing in a time when Punk didn’t even really exist, our role in establishing Punk was therefore not a literal one it was more  conceptual. We represented a generation who were bored.   The 60’s were groundbreaking and exciting. They had The Beatles, The Stones, Dylan and Hendrix. By ‘66 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were around, but after this came a period of what I like to call, ’smoke and mirrors bands,’ where emphasis was less on musical content and more on bigger performances. It was a post-hippy era of self-indulgence and the music industry was saturated with flaccid, mediocre Glam Rock bands such as The Sweet for example. Junk.

ME: So you started with Junk and made it Punk?

CHRIS: Ha. Well yes, I suppose so. Our reaction to the banality of the musical situation in Britain was “Punk.” We were driven by a logic that said “Fuck all of that music. We’ re a new generation and we think it’s a load of bollocks.” We wanted to define our own generation.

ME: Whilst all of this was kicking off in England there was a similar uprising in the U.S with the formation of bands such as The Ramones. Did this in anyway influence the direction of your music?

CHRIS: We were definitely influenced by bands from across the atlantic but it was mainly older Do-wopp stuff such as Sha-Na-Na and American Rock & Roll stars like Frankie Valli. Our look was pretty Grease Lightening at the start, we slicked our hair and wore leather biker jackets. Like The Ramones though, we looked at our clean cut influences and tried to give them edge when applying them to our own music. This was all in about ‘74, Punk didn’t really happen until ‘75 and it hit the public in ‘76.

ME: So you never jumped on the Westwood/ McLaren mohawk and saftey pin bandwagon?

CHRIS: Well yeh, of course we did to some extent. But that was all a bit later on. We used to play to audiences packed full of hardcore punks at The Vortex, those who couldn’t afford the real Westwood stuff would come in bin bags safety pinned together. I remember thinking I was going to die one night. Everyone used to spit at you whilst you played, it was a sign of adoration. We used to come of stage covered in golly. It was amazing though, there was a huge amount of energy.

By 1977 when Punk was in full swing, Bazooka Joe disbanded. By this point the band had become less niche and had acquired a cult following, so it is unsurprising that their musical influence managed to transcend both genre and generation. Ex-members saw that Bazooka Joe played their role in the music of the greats, such as The Pistols, The Vibrators and Adam and the Ants. The Bazooka influence also infiltrated the musical output of numerous lesser known Punk bands as well as the Ska scene with bands like The Specials and The Police looking to their music for inspiration. Madness also covered one of their songs; “Rockin’ in A Flat,” on their debut album One Step Beyond. British rock did not go untouched either, with bands such as The Stranglers and The Jam picking up on the Bazooka vibe. Whether or not they consider themselves to be responsible for the creation of the Punk sound, it is clear that Bazooka Joe were an important stimulus for British music at a time when it needed a kick up the back side. Their spot at the top of NME’s Punk family tree is one that I believe, is truly deserved.

Bazooka Joe

For more on the history of Punk Rock visit Noise for Heroes – www.nkvdrecords.com

-SW

Ohh yess.

I went through a HUGE Adam Ant subphase while I was going through my post-punk/new wave phase in high school. Needless to say I am still in love. I was informed earlier today that No Doubt covered an Adam and the Ants song on an episode of GOSSIP GIRL a few months ago. I don’t know how I feel about that. Anyway, I guess I don’t really have much else to say today, I only wanted the excuse to post that video because I still have a massive crush on Adam Ant (go ahead, judge away). Despite the indian paint and Napoleon getup, he was one good-looking boy. But dear GOD don’t look at him now. I looked up a recent photo of him just now and almost cried. 

Well, I’m off for a late night sushi dinner with some girls I work with. I’m so excited, you have no idea!!

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  @deathoftheparty .speaking of uncle adolphs must-ache you ought to see der untergang you cinephile. www.downfallthefilm.com9:33 AM Jun 18th from mobile web

  “the last time christ was in a temple he destroyed it”8:01 AM Jun 18th from Ping.fm

  .two films.the element of crime by lars von trier.the field by jim sheridan.each show a dead donkey in the water.neither was balaams donkey.7:56 AM Jun 18th from Ping.fm

  .my usual two nips of açaí in the morning.followed with a bowl of kashi and a hot cup of kava.woke in white knee-highs feeling very dirky.7:33 AM Jun 18th from Ping.fm

  .charles bukowski and paris hilton. http://www.greyfade.com/blo…7:10 AM Jun 18th from Ping.fm

  .velvet is blue and velveeta should not be.6:31 AM Jun 18th from Ping.fm

  @lily_talent .the music industry will get into you before you get into the music industry.12:47 PM Jun 17th from mobile web

  .testicles are great in the sack.12:32 PM Jun 17th from Ping.fm

  .at the lake your lover accidentally poked me with their penis.in the ovaries.12:18 PM Jun 17th from Ping.fm

  .you think the grass is greener on your side of the fence.that your garden is better than mine.but only with that green thumb up your bum.11:31 AM Jun 17th from Ping.fm

  “This was that Earth of which we have heard, made out of Chaos and Old Night.”10:11 AM Jun 17th from Ping.fm

  .what a fool.some apparent GANGSTER just strolled by pushing their bastard baby in a pram singing some shit about do or die g for life.fake.8:45 AM Jun 17th from Ping.fm

  .for once my arm is more important than my face. www.myspace.com/barredforlife8:09 AM Jun 17th from mobile web

  www.goodreads.com/vjesci www.goodreads.com/vjesci www.goodreads.com/vjesci www.goodreads.com/vjesci www.goodreads.com/vjesci7:40 AM Jun 17th from mobile web

  .mastodon recently released a record titled crack the skye.it should have been a concept album about michael kennedy.crack the ski.7:00 AM Jun 17th from Ping.fm

  .i have much too much thyme on my hands.10:51 PM Jun 16th from Ping.fm

  .flattery is the art of pulling sex out of your mouth and fellatio is the art of pulling it back in.10:42 PM Jun 16th from Ping.fm

  @rikkisimons .do the douche bags belong in the crew or do the crew belong in the douche bags?10:22 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

  “For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.”9:45 PM Jun 16th from Ping.fm

  @YepItsThere .you ought to put jesus christ bukkake http://is.gd/13Wyr and piss christ http://is.gd/13WzG on cloth.6:23 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

  @kojiihelnwein http://twitpic.com/7k2pu – .i count none but sunny hours. http://twitpic.com/7k3aa11:21 AM Jun 16th from TwitPic

  http://twitpic.com/7k1qb – .bukkake carrot cake.february seventh.11:02 AM Jun 16th from TwitPic

  .prick more anus. www.rickmoranis.com8:33 AM Jun 16th from Ping.fm

  @peaches_g .desperately seeking slaughter on the subway? .eating animals should include a complimentary case of live aids.6:31 PM Jun 15th from mobile web

  .faggot? .who is this fag and what have they got?10:58 AM Jun 15th from Ping.fm

  .more than a mouthwash.if you swallow.10:24 AM Jun 15th from Ping.fm

  .it is a smalls world after all.biggie would agree.8:18 AM Jun 15th from Ping.fm

  .242 followers now. www.front242.com8:05 AM Jun 15th from mobile web

  @jameszahn .just discovered your lists of doom thru @william_control.you ought to invite @Nick13Official & @deathoftheparty & @JKBroadrick.7:53 AM Jun 15th from mobile web

  .invited willy wonka for dinner again.wonka brought dessert.blueberry pie.claims it was made from a single blueberry.tastes a bit strange.9:25 PM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

  .and the strength of that one lord tennyson.is as the strength of ten liam neesons.7:07 PM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

  .you are such a shitty comic your best material is oozed out in the loo.6:12 PM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

  Λ: I have an ear infection. V: .you must have heard a sermon this morning.6:04 PM Jun 14th from mobile web

  “You know there’s a smell of sulphur and brimstone about you! A smell of hellfire!”5:29 PM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

  .and the bricks that built this broken home.are the bricks that broke these broken bones.3:36 PM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

  .the rush album fly by night should be credited to RUbbiSH.no one would notice.1:01 PM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

  listening to “Daddy Cool – Boney M.” ♫ *http://blip.fm/~87f756:20 AM Jun 14th from Ping.fm

The June edition of my new monthly radio show for Brighton community radio station Radio Reverb 97.2 FM- Writers’ Hub – aired on Sunday 14 June.

My main interview is with Brighton scriptwriter Sarah Naomi Lee, a BBC radio producer who’s first lucky break into Radio 4 broadcast was with her radio play “I Can See You”. I got a tremendous response from local writers about this month’s theme – thanks to Bridget Whelan for helping promote this.

Readings:

• An extract from A Good Confession, by Bridget Whelan
• An extract from The Sewerside Chronicles, by Tim Lay

Submission on this month’s theme: MUSIC

• Neal Pearce
• Yassin
• Josie Darling
• Sally Latter

A link to download the Writers’ Hub June 2009 show to come shortly!

More information about the show…

Sarah Lee’s radio play “I Can See You” tells the story of a mixed race woman who has three voices inside her head: a Jamaican man, a white English woman – and the sadly recently deceased Michael Jackson, who passed away yesterday.

Sarah talks to me about the process of writing the script and how she got it on air, as well as some interesting facts about MJ.

She also discusses what music switches her on to writing – tracks played includeAlabama3’s hit song “Woke up this morning” from “The Sopranos” soundtrack and The Smiths’ “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”.

Bridget Whelan’s A Good Confession, which came out in hardback in November 2008,  tells the story of an Irish single mother, struggling to bring up her children in 1960s London, who meets and falls for a priest, to whom she accidentally confesses her troubled love to.

The book is coming out in paperback this summer so watch her website for more details.

Tim Lay’s The Sewerside Chronicles, which was published in August 2008 and has become a cult hit on the literary underground scene, charts the rise and fall of Che Capri’s underground fashion label, co-run with best friend Travis, in deepest darkest Devon.

After a stretch of runway success, the business plummets and to salvage their slipping fortunes, their friends pitch in their soundsystems, DJ, MCs and creative talent to put on raves.

The novel covers Glastonbury to May Day riots in London to the counter culture skateboard scene in 2000.

Both authors read extracts from the book.

Nearly unplayable records + lost classics + strange grooves + forgotten b-sides + fucked-up pop + dance not dance + electronic rock.

SLOW BURNING & FUNK:

-JARVIS COCKER -Angela (Pilooski remix)
-MUNGWUMP-tellakian circles (runaway remix)
-ADAM AND THE ANTS-the human beings
-HELL-wonderland
-JUSTINE AND THE VICTORIAN PUNKS-Beautiful dreamer
-SPOOKY-Digital readout
--FUZZ-Contact
-GARY BECK-drifting
-DARK, DAY-no, nothing, never

!THANKS CHUCK-P…….!

Generally, the relationship between ants and plants is a great example of biological mutualism. Myrmecophyte plants–otherwise known as ant-plants– often provide home for several species of ants. The plant shelters ant colonies in …[More..]


Biology News Articles

Wow, feels like I haven’t done a blog in ages. Two weeks is a long time.

Hopefully the video blog was enjoyed, if not ‘endured’, by some of you. If it wasn’t enjoyed by any of you don’t feel a great urge to let me know.

So, the last two weeks? Well I guess they’ve been pretty busy.

I took a holiday from both work and writing. It was just long enough to make me miss both and be ready to get back into the so called ‘real’ world and back onto the grinding treadmill of full time employment.

I guess this may as well be a recap of the last two weeks then. They’ve been busy and quite eventful for a number of reasons.

After retaining my title as ‘King Of Skegness’ then winning the title of ‘Emperor of Skegness’ by getting the number 1 spot on another Star Wars machine in Ingoldmells, I enjoyed late night Fish & Chips followed by a celebratory ice cream on the beach in Ingoldmells. It was around 11pm and pitch black on the unlit beach. It was a calm evening though so I could relax and enjoy the sound of the sea, the taste of the fish, chips & ice cream and the even sweeter taste of total victory.

That was a great weekend and a stupendous moment in my own personal history.

The following day (Sunday) Mum & I went to the local car boot sale where I got the games ‘Jenga’ and ‘Ker-plunk’ plus the movie ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ on DVD all for a pound each.

That’s right; £1 for each of these awesome things! Amazingly the games didn’t have any pieces missing and the movie plays fine.

This epic win~! was closely followed by another one; going to the pub for Sunday lunch .

I’d seen the advertisement for the ‘£3.95 Carvery’ from the car as I’d driven past several times in the last two days.

“£3.95 for a carvery?” I thought. “Can’t be very good for that price.” I concluded.

I was wrong. VERY wrong.

It was fookin awesome. One of the best I’ve ever had, in fact!

Add to that the fact the pub had their TV’s on a channel playing only 80’s music and I was a happy (and very full) boy/man/person by the end of my jam roly poly and custard!

Musical highlights while eating were ‘Wishing’ by A Flock Of Seagulls, ‘Take On Me’ by A-ha and, as if to bid us a fond farewell as we left the pub ‘Prince Charming’ by Adam & The Ants.

Any subsequent Sunday dinner would have to go some to top this one.

Actually, come to think of it Jen’s Mum easily equalled it the following week!

It was quite funny while we were eating that a family came in and sat at the table next to us with a little girl no older than 7 or 8. All she wanted to do was play with the brand new doll she’d got in a carrier bag (perhaps from the same car boot sale, who knows…?). She couldn’t have been less interested in eating a big plate full of dinner, but that’s what her (rough looking) parents and grandparents forced her to do.

I mean, how dare a child actually want to play with her new toy instead of piling a plate 10cm high with carvery dinner. Seriously, I was a combination of amazed and disgusted at how much food the dad/grandad of this lot got on his plate.

Amusingly the little girl ate only the meat and left the rest of her dinner in favour of playing with her new doll (the parents eventually relented & let her excitedly tear it from the box).

As we left the pub we walked round the corner to visit one of Mum’s friends and saw this same family looking at some of the caravans for sale on the front of the park.

I heard (very UNamusingly) someone, who I assumed to be the mother of this little girl, say to anyone within earshot that the caravan she was looking through the window of was “fucking beautiful”.

I get very uncomfortable with grown ups swearing in front of kids. The sad thing was that this little girl didn’t even react to her mum saying this right in front of her.

That, combined with giving her a telling off and making her cry for wanting to play with her new doll in the pub, made me wonder about the parenting skills of the people she calls mum & grandad.

After the ‘Sunday Dinner Food Coma~!’ had been overcome and mum’s friend had been visited I drove home in the afternoon to meet up with Stu & go to the Just The Tonic comedy night for Richard Herring. Despite witnessing some quite spectacularly fuckwitted excuses for driving on the way home I arrived back safe and the gig was excellent, as Herring always is.

His latest set is called ‘The Headmaster’s Son’ (he was literally this himself). This being the third time I’ve seen him live I thought it would be more of the same style but with new material. I was wrong.

I’ve never seen him own a room so well as he did that night. From the opening line he was just on fire. He held the audience’s attention so well and was so funny he actually had to heckle himself as nobody could find fault with his act.

The pinnacle of the night came, fittingly, at the conclusion of the set where, after discussing what his life as a schoolchild may have been like were he not ‘The Headmaster’s Son’, he performed a great Gollum-esque duelling conversation between today’s 41 year old version of Richard Herring and that of the 13 year old version.

A lot of comedians try to leave on a huge crescendo of laughter after building the set toward the final 5 minutes. Herring did all the building throughout a fantastic set but when the end came, after the duelling monologue between the two ages of himself he looked back on his life and, rather touchingly, ended the set with some reflection on how it probably didn’t make that much difference after all that his dad was also his headmaster and that the 41 year old version of himself had achieved all the things his teen self had desired, despite the teenager accusing the early 40’s version of being a sell out. Highest recommendation to see.

Visit www.richardherring.com for tour dates and more info.

So, after a quite stunning Herring evening it was back to work for 3 days and then off again until yesterday!

This weekend was awesome for all the reasons above and many more. I think the enjoyment of doing the video blog, turning the high score thing into a quest (that I maybe take far too seriously) and the great weather all combined to make a short but highly enjoyable mini-break in one of the best seaside resorts in the country.

Good times, like fine carvery dining, don’t come from spending the most money or going to the most exotic location, they’re wherever you find them.

Part two of the recap (including an all new installment of the ’fence dispute’), tomorrow…