Pretty shades of blue, green, and violet are all the rage for the holidays – and it seems they’re here to stay for Spring.

A cozy transitional color!  Goes with, literally, everything.

September 30th, 2009

They say you should never meet your heroes.

Sound advice.

Unless they happen to be firemen.

To be honest, I never actually thought it was a given. And anyway I know from experience it’s not; because <brag alert> Joe Strummer was the perfect gent.

Anyway, last weekend I found myself at a gig I’d been looking forward to all year – Gang Of Four at The Forum in KentishTown. The reason it was so anticipated was that I had been promised to be put on the door months ago, as my girlfriend is mates with the manager / promoter there (thanks Dan, I owe you several beers at this stage).

Dan had already sorted me and Naomi with a couple of really cool festival tickets over the summer, but I’d not yet been to The Forum this year (I did see Living Color there about eight years ago).

I had been eyeballing the Gang Of Four show since about March; and the fact it was the 30^th anniversary of their debut Entertainment! (stone cold classic – GET IT NOW), I was excited to say the least.

Just to put in context how much this band (who released their first album the same year I was born, bear in mind) means to me, here’s a little rock and roll history.

Obviously I wasn’t around for the original release; but for a band of their time, they’re probably the single biggest influence on the group who’s album became the reason I picked up a bass in the first place.

That reason was Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

That album blew my head open. It introduced me not just to the force of nature that is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but also to Rick Rubin’s career-high producing Midas touch (which still continues to this day) and the sublime talents of engineer / mixer Brendan O’Brien – another superlative producer in his own right.

The songs, the incredible performances and personalities coupled with the Zeppelin-esque recording process, all resulted in my favourite album of all time and a determination that I wanted to play music until I die.

“How does this relate to Gang Of Four?” I hear you yawn.

Well, Flea in particular, has said the original sound of the Chili Peppers was primarily influenced by Leeds’ punk-funk rogues. So much so that they got Gang Of Four axe-man, Andy Gill, to produce their first album.

Without wanting to put too fine a point on it – he made a bollocks of that album.

To be fair, it was never going to be Blood Sugar Sex Magik; but it could have easily been an underground classic.

There were a few factors involved also – last minute line up changes, the band’s inexperience, personality clashes etc.

Gill’s assertion that he “didn’t know what (he) was doing” on the Gang Of Four’s earlier albums probably didn’t lift the bands confidence either. One story, that the band left a pizza box (with a shit in it) on the mixing desk, speaks volumes.

“Typical.” was Gill’s only response to the incident, apparently.

So, based on this evidence, I have only myself to blame that I did not heed to the potential perils of hero contact.

The fact that the hero I approached on this occasion was also Andy Gill, gives me the distinct impression that I have all the foresight of a Darwin Award winner.

The after show exchange went something like this….

“Hey Andy. Sorry to bother you. Amazing gig. Thanks so much.”

“Are you Jurgen?”

“Erm, no…”

“What’s your name?”

“Niall.”

“Sorry, what?  Jurgen..?”

“Uh, no, it’s Niall.”

What followed was Gill (the man whom I called a legend, from the crowd, not half an hour previous) silently turning his back and offering me the limpest, lamest, reverse reach-around handshake in the history of uncomfortablism.

Maybe if I had introduced myself by my nickname (“Disko..? Really..?”), or indeed pretended to be this Jurgen individual, my interaction may have lasted more than five seconds.

Or maybe Andy Gill is just an uppity rude fuckwit.

Naomi and my now deflated self  left soon after – but not before I launched into an expletive ridden tirade as to why the original rhythm section were absent from the current line-up (my reasoning mostly centered around Andy Gill’s fuckwit credentials, as I’m sure you can imagine).

God bless Naomi and her powers of rant absorption.

And thank god I hadn’t directed it at Gill himself.

To be honest, as I (soberly) write this, it’s not really as soul crushing as I had worked it up to be on the night. I think what stung was the sudden gear shift from elated post-gig booze brain to an abrupt, uninterested dismissing.

In fact, I now feel a little guilty about the Mark Chapman death-stare (and wink for some reason, according to Naomi) I threw him as I left the place.

Andy, if you’re reading this – don’t worry; I still love ya, soda pop.

But you’re no Joe Strummer, buddy.

Disko

X

Epilogue :

The next morning I found myself (still pissed) in the Italian deli next door to Naomi’s place.

She had very considerately woken me at half nine to go get a couple of paninis.

As I swayed bleary-eyed at the counter, I turned around and saw Channel Four News’ Jon Snow enter for a Sunday morning coffee with his paper (presumably just to make sure  other journalists are still not as badass as himself).

Thoughts of the universe balancing out the bad karma visited upon me the night before swam round my brain; vying for position amongst slightly less  celestial concerns about whether to get a Milka Bar on the way home.

“If there’s anyone in the world who’d love a slurred declaration of admiration at a quarter to ten on a Sunday morning -  it’s TV’s Jon Snow!”, I reasoned to myself.

Thankfully, at this point my inner Lilac Milka Cow looked up wearily from its grazing and mooed :

“Go back to bed, gobshite.”
Soundtrack : Grand Pappy Du Plenty – Red Hot Chili Peppers

These gorgeous shades of burgundy, plum, and maroon are EVERYWHERE for Fall.  Some of my favorite pieces:

As some of you folks may have figured out by now, I am a huge fan of both funk and black rock. Funk gets quite a bit of attention and credit, but not nearly enough attention is given to black rock. Consider this my small, but heartfelt contribution to the cause of black rock and rollers everywhere.

In my opinion, one of the baddest, most underappreciated black rock bands ever was Mother’s Finest. These MFs were the real deal.

And then there was Living Color. This song got some good play, as did Living Color, but once again they simply did not receive the acclaim that they should have.

And of course there has always been Parliament Funkadelic, who (thankfully) received considerable acclaim and recognition, though more for their funk exploits when, in fact, their rock contributions were easily as strong if not more so. Check out Eddie Hazel, Funkadelic’s original lead guitarist for Funkadelic. This brother was the SHIT…

But the father of them all? The Voodoo Child himself…

SHAMELESS PLUG: Read my wife’s blog @ The “D” Spot Redeux

I’m tired, sunburnt and my ears are ringing, but I’m alive. I actually did not get to interview Slayer, and my photo pass was revoked for whatever reason, but they show was good. Review this week. News to come today. I hear the new Living Color song is streaming. Whoooooa!

Living Colour ROCK! also, American COWBOY HAT!

The 80’s were a pretty cool decade in general (at least, for some things ), bringing us a lot of cool stuff (like Pac-man and Back to the Future!). However, without a doubt one of the most underlooked achievements was the Black rock/funk/metal band, Living Colour. I mention race, because most of the mainstream music made by African-Americans in the USA during the 80’s and 90’s was either NWA’s gangster rap, and most of the mainstream rock music was made by white dudes with bouffant hair (I’m looking at YOU Poison!)

Straddling across this black/white and rock/rap divide was Living Colour. (They’re not the first black “rock” stars mind you, Jimi Hendrix was ripping it up and representin’ it 20 years before… but many people (myself included) would say he’s more psychedelia and blues than the metal and hard rock rock)

Fusing a very idiosyncratic style stompy funk, hip-hop and jazz with metal, Living Colour has had an indelible influence on modern rock music… without them I wonder if we’d have bands like Rage Against the Machine or Red Hot Chili Peppers?  I’d say Living Colour are a bit more intense than RHCP but less angrier than Rage Against the Machine… but I like Living Colour a LOT MORE than either of those bands (hey, personal preference!)

It’s fantastic when you get what is traditionally a white idiom, i.e. rock music, done by a bunch of black musicians who decide to bring  groove and rhythmic swagger into the mix, so it’s pretty cool! The only other rock band that I can think of that swings this hard is funnily enough, AC/DC.

They’re very talented guys and they make some really cool songs that are very listenable and very funky! Plus dreadlocks are hella cool!

Just in case the embedding doesn’t work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxjo28Jmy_c

Living Colour – Love Rears It’s Ugly Head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ5SVDYBNrY

Living Colour – Cult of personality

p.s. I’ve been using the American spelling for colour, because that’s what is on their album! I’m not compromising the original spelling of band name because of misguided notions of spelling and nationalism! TAKE THAT BRITAIN!

p.p.s sorry looks like I was wrong! sorry about that guys, should’ve double checked the info, turns out the spelling is British! Thanks for the corrections!

The color of food, to me, is absolutely beautiful.  Now that I have been cooking things on my own, how food looks home made compared to processed meals just completely blows my mind.    The color of food seems so important to me now.

An example would be, I remember I had a Lean Cuisine a few months back with asparagus.  It was very dark and tasted rough and rubbery.   Yesterday, afternoon I cooked asparagus for part of my lunch and it looked completely different.  It turned into this bright bright green, was crisp and delicious.  I think how food looks can be a good warning of how it’s going to taste and how good for you it is. 

What inspires me is the color of food.  Remember when we talked about making everything into a work of art… Fresh vegetables and fruits are just naturally a work of art.  Any nutritionist would tell you that if your making your own meals, make sure you have a variety of colors.

If your sitting there thinking to yourself “but I hate vegetables”, have you ever had fresh vegetables.  Even further, have you ever had fresh organic vegetables.  Here’s an experiment for everyone.  Next time you go to the grocery store, pick up a regular tomato and an organic tomato… which one is more appetizing?  You can really do that with any food in the produce section.

NEW RULE TO LIVE BY:

LIVING COLOR:  The food on your plate should be colorful. 

LIVE IT UP!!

Drea

(imagen de Jeanne Botes vía Decor8blog)

Te traigo esta imagen, de la creativa estilista de interiores Jeanne Botes, para convencerte del impacto que el color tiene en la decoración. ¿Se te había pasado alguna vez por la cabeza mezclar el naranja con el turquesa o el rosa con el rojo? Te doy un buen truco: cuando vayas a elegir colores, piensa en un campo con flores. ¿Necesito decir más?

 Dos mesas pequeñas delante del sofá, especialmente en un cuarto informal, añaden encanto y personalidad.

Funny ass shit!  Bringing it back!

Saw this on Jim Treacher’s blog and it somehow reminded me of our new president. Wonder why?

Loved this song.  Saw Living Color open for the Stones at Ga. Tech’s Grant Field with a bunch of Macon boys in the ’80’s. Good times!

HHHT’ettes,

As we crawl ever closer to that fateful Friday night with forecasts predicting smashed faces and torn calf muscles (I know I know, sounds amazing right?), I give you ladies some goodies from some well known ladies men (is that supposed to be one word?).

First the father of 5, the Newest of Dangers and the Tru3st of Magic, the Mighty Mos Def.

I know since 2000’s Black On Both Sides, many people have hoped for Mos to return to his glory days and once again pair up with the Premiers, Hi-Teks and Ron Carters of the world in hopes of producing another classic soul/hip-hop record.  However, since 2000, he’s decided instead to go progressively left with every release (yes he had a Rock album beFORE Lil Wayne, and yes it was wicked.  And yes, he got some of the best to ever do it on the record – including Doug Wimbish who’s not only a member of the legendary Living Color, but probably best known for his bass work on Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’), and although some may not like where he’s headed, you gotta respect a man for stickin to his guns.

Anyways, this is apparently his 2nd single off the (yet to receive a release date) Ecstatic – and me likes…lots. – courtesy of the good people at IllRoots.

Mos Def – Quiet Dog

Next you have another man who’s also known for going left (but not only for his music).

Michael Eugene Archer, a.k.a. D’Angelo has had a rough few years.  From his much publicized arrests to his sudden ‘change’ in appearance, it seemed as though he was well on his way to Axl Rose’dom and that there would be no more of this Yoda (a term used by the Soulquarians for the ‘Chosen Ones’).  However, recent reports from the Roots’ ?uestlove says that D’Angelo has not only pulled himself back off the ground, but is back in shape, in good spirits and has been recording with Q-Tip, Raphael Saadiq, Pino Palladino, Roy Hargrove, James Poyser and pretty much everyone else that helped to make the Musical Bible we know as Voodoo. Anyways…there’s always a chance that D’ will fall back into his Sly Stone routine again, but with the release of a new single (available on iTunes), new websites and a new deal with Clive Davis on J Records, I feel optimistic.

So to tide you over until then…a goodie ?uestlove leaked awhile ago.  You may have heard it, but just in case….here it is.

D’Angelo – Really Love

The show’s in 2 days people.

Morelius.
Capone 10.
King Charles.
And myself (Triple).
It WILL be brought.

HHHT4 – see ya there.

Review by Mike Gange

Brought to You in Living Color

by Marc Robinson

Wiley, $77.50, 236 pages

One of media guru Marshall McLuhan’s famous quotes says a fish does not recognize it is in water until the water changes. McLuhan’s colourful metaphor would very aptly apply to television today; we don’t realize how much the medium has changed until we look back on where it has been.

In brief two and four page vignettes and thousands of photos, Robinson chronicles hundreds of NBC’s shows and stars. Many have been unparalleled success stories, like Seinfeld and Cheers, both of which ended their series while in the Neilson Top Ten. Other little items make for interesting reading, too. In April 1992, for instance, The Cosby Show almost did not go to air for its finale, because of the previous day’s acquittal of four white police officers in the Rodney King beating. Bill Cosby even taped a public service announcement that aired immediately after the show, asking viewers “to pray for a better tomorrow, which starts today.”

According to Robinson, several NBC comedies have become cultural icons for whole generation of fans. Saturday Night Live debuted in 1975, hit great heights, fell out of favour, and became a hit once again, favorite viewing for a hip, urban, edgy audience, the first TV generation, he says. Frasier similarly made a connection with viewers faced with caring for their aging parents, trying to recover from divorce or launching a new career. It proved to be genius to have Frasier, the oddball intellectual on a show about barflies, the character to be spun-off from Cheers.

Although out of favour with viewers now, the mythology of the tough-guy cowboy is explored by Robinson, too. Like the burning map in the opening credits, the show Bonanza burned its way into North American consciousness as the Cartwrights did their weekly civic duty. On many occasions, Bonanza scripts went beyond good versus evil, as the show explored issues like alcoholism and racism. Bonanza is largely credited with helping to establish the credibility of colour television; Sunday night viewers were told for 14 years that “Bonanza was brought to you in living colour.” Over the years, NBC also had its share of other cowboy shows, including The Virginian, Tales of Wells Fargo, Laramie and Wagon Train. While this list seems long, it is really only a fair part of the westerns on TV at that time, for during the 1958-59 TV season alone, there were 31 westerns on TV.

Mike Gange teaches media studies and journalism at Fredericton High.

Vivid

Na mesma tendência de personalização de ambientes, a Philips apresenta os primeiros produtos da linha de luminárias Imageo. São modelos que remetem a velas de verdade.

A Imageo Candle é um conjunto de três peças com Leds que podem ser recarregadas numa base ligada à tomada. Para acendê-las, basta invertê-las para o sentido vertical. Elas podem ser utilizadas como objetos de decoração em diversos ambientes da casa e também ao ar livre. O preço sugerido é de R$399.

A seguir pode-se conferir na prática a utilização destes dois quitutes iluminados:

Living Color:

Imageo Candle:

A recycled juice lid will be the finishing touch to a painting created for the HeART of the Community in Rehoboth Beach.  This years theme is of “Living Color”.   I came up with an abstract painting of gouache and acrylic to represent birth and earth.  Once completed I will post the image.     Jody