Here's a confession: I didn't have Sky TV when I was younger either. When the BBC stopped showing The X-Files, I had to save up and buy the DVD box sets. I didn't have a big fancy camera like Rishi to take my snapshots with either...
Who are the stars of popular music pictured below?
How are their songs connected...?
10. The cast of Lost.
(Lost was another show I had to watch on DVD, Rishi!)
9. Don't suck old sweets.
8. Cabernet Sauvignon.
7. Keep drinking and you'll become one.
6. American G.I. gets lost in the subtext.
5. Deano takes it easy with a brand new key.
4. Proving Del Amitri wrong.
3. One Frou, near the top of Frank's New York ascent.
2. Straight out of The Bible.
1. Big Daddy, found near the Statue of Liberty.
Fortunately, you won't need Sky TV to get the answers - they'll be here tomorrow morning.
Below is another post stolen from my old blog, this one dated...
MONDAY 4 DECEMBER 2006
It's a review of a Billy Bragg gig at Holmfirth Picturedrome the previous Saturday (2/12/06). I might not have run it again but for the fact that Billy returned to that very venue this Saturday just gone (18/6/24), so I figured it would make for an interesting comparison...
"It's Saturday
night in Holmfirth - yeah!"
Hardly a rock ‘n’ roll capital, even of West Yorkshire, but it’s Saturday night in Holmfirth and Billy Bragg is rocking the mid-renovation rafters of the Picturedrome, not a venue at which I ever expected to see one of my musical idols perform. Still, it’s a rare pleasure that after the gig, I’ve only got a ten-minute drive home.
Five minutes these days: I've moved closer! I think they completed the renovations of the Picturedrome some time in the past 18 years too.
There’s a certain irony to watching the definitive working class hero (move over, Mr. L.) play a little Yorkshire town where the Green Welly Brigade rules; where – thanks to Compo and co. - locals are being forced out by wealthy comers-in; and where the average house price is now comfortably past £200k, far higher than anywhere else in the surrounding area. Just the weekend before, Bill Wyman came here to turn on the Christmas lights - and a multi-millionaire ex-Rolling Stone seems a much better fit in Holmfirth than a BNP-baiting Bard of Barking.
£200k would probably buy you a garden shed round here these days.
This is the second leg of the Hope Not Hate Tour, and Billy is more aggressive than ever in his anti-fascist stance, particularly since the BNP recently took seats in his hometown.
Billy told the same story about the BNP this time, with the update that they're no longer around. These days, his biggest threat comes from Nigel Farage. Although he was also gleefully anticipating the kicking the Tories are about to get in a few weeks time... and talking about his resignation from the Labour Party over Kier Starmer's stance on Israel.
I’ve never been all that politically driven myself, but I’d be more than willing to vote for any candidate who displayed half as much intelligence (his lyrics include words like ‘recidivists’ – I have to dictionary it when I get home), wit (“People said to me, Bill, you’ve got to go to Holmfirth - do you know what they filmed there? Most of the new James Bond film…”), and passion, as Councillor Stephen William Bragg. Some might say he’s preaching to the converted, and yes, it’s true that the few skinheads in the audience probably chose their haircuts through necessity rather than right wing statement, but that’s missing the point. As a performer, Billy both entertains and educates, yet not once do I feel lectured to. Inspired? Definitely. It’s the kind of gig you wish everyone could experience, because it recharges your batteries. I truly wish I had half his passion, his conviction, his commitment to social equality… but for a couple of hours on Saturday night, I do… and I’ll try to carry that with me into the weeks ahead.
Towards the end of last Saturday's gig, Billy spoke bluntly about the inspirational quality of his gigs (which he puts down to the passion of the audience as much as anything he does). He also spoke about the apathy and cynicism many of his generation now feel towards politics, and how us oldies should look to the youth to recharge our batteries. I'm afraid to say that apathy and cynicism may be all I have left - the inspiration I described above is not something I felt this time round.
Though famous for his outspoken political activism, a Billy Bragg gig never gets heavy. It’s an enviable trick, best summed up after an amusing monologue regarding his last American tour. “I’d just like to apologise to anyone who brought a friend along tonight to hear a trenchant critique of the Marxist dialectic… and here I am discussing the merits of watching talking cats on Youtube.” I suppose it must be a similar experience at a Mark Thomas gig… only Billy’s funnier.
I've seen Billy play live a fair few times over the years, and he often speaks at gigs about how there are two types of Billy Bragg fans - those who connect with the politics first, and those who are more fired up by his clever, witty relationship songs. I've always belonged to the latter camp, and this time round I felt a bit short-changed. Serves me right for going to see Billy three weeks before a General Election, I guess.
As for the music…? Spot on. “Levi Stubbs’ Tears” will always bring a lump to my throat, and his briefly adopted “Johnny Clash” persona – singing ‘Pinball Wizard’ to the tune of ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ - is a stroke of genius. Ending the night with a sing-along ‘New England’ – “let’s do a verse for Kirsty!” – sends everyone home with a smile. On losing all but the lowest register of his voice whilst touring the US, his manager allegedly consoled him, “Don’t worry, Bill – no-one comes to hear you sing.” We do though, of course we do – we just get so much more besides.
Maybe I've reached the age where I do just want to hear Billy Bragg sing. I had a half-baked notion after the gig on Saturday that he should do two gigs in future - one for the politicos and one for all the sad-sacks like me who just want to hear him sing The Warmest Room, Tank Park Salute and Handyman Blues. Sadly, we only got one of those this time... though it still brought me to tears.
More random stuff that I've been listening to and feel I ought to write about...
Bilk are from Chelmsford. The lead singer's nasal Essex accent remind me of Jonny Itch from The King Blues, if you remember them. They have a similarly in-your-face 21st century punk style, but they're not as political. They mostly just sing about girls, having fights, and taking the wrong drugs. Oh, and a little bit of social commentary...
I spend too much time, getting too deep I'm laying in this single bed, but I can't sleep There must be more to life than tinder swipes And posting shit on Instagram for meaningless likes Where I'm from there's teen mum's sipping booze Whilst the babies takes twos from her B&H Blues The boys are in gangs The girls push prams To spend all their money on some shitty fake tans
Since he produced the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? in the year 2000, T-Bone Burnett has become a legend of the Americana scene. He also put Robert Plant together with Alyson Krauss, and going further back in time was a huge factor in the success of Counting Crows, Los Lobos and Gillian Welch.
Before all that though, he played played drums on this...
...and he played guitar on Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. After that, in 1976, he joined with two other stragglers from that tour to form The Alpha Band. They released three albums which iffypedia tells me were "particularly notable for their intelligent cultural critique". Which might be why I've getting into their songs, although I've no idea what this one is about...
I'm not sure whether they still publish the Encyclopaedia Britannica, or whether it's just been replaced by the aforementioned iffy website, but if they do, and you manage to snag yourself a copy, I imagine you'll find a picture of New Yorker Joanna Sternberg under the entry for either "lo-fi" or "bedroom recording studio"...
The Tyla Gang were on Stiff Records in the 1970s, which is how I came across them on a Stiff compilation I've been working my way through. Lead singer & songwriter Sean Tyla was also the driving force behind Ducks Deluxe. Here's their song about Styrofoam, which I wasn't surprised to discover was the only song about Styrofoam in my collection, although I do have an album by these guys...
I don't know why, but I was compelled to investigate if anybody else had ever written a song about this particular brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam, and I was rather horrified to discover this...
...at which point I went back to the Tyla Gang for succour.
Finally for today, Richard Hawley has a new record out. He's one of those artists whose work I'll buy without having to listen to it first, because he's never let me down. Nothing's changed there...
I
believe I've passed the age of consciousness And
righteous rage I
found that just surviving was a noble fight I
once believed in causes too I
had my pointless point of view And
life went on no matter who was wrong or right
So far in this feature, I’ve looked in detail at all manner
of negative emotions, including sadness, anxiety, low self-esteem and paranoia.
But there’s one emotion I’ve danced around confronting face on, possibly
because it’s the one that scares me the most – in other people and in myself.
Anger.
Anger, can make you old
Yes it can
I said anger
Will make you sick children,
Anger - destroy your soul
I knew this was going to be a big one, and I knew it was
going to take some serious investigation to understand and… well, we’ll have to
see whether management is possible. That’ll come further down the line, I
guess. Let’s start with an attempt at understanding. And who better to help me
get to grips with this most unpleasant and destructive of emotions than our old
friend, sweary Dr. Faith? Her book Unfuck Your Brain certainly made my grey matter less opaque, so I
figured she might be able to offer similar insight with one of the follow-ups…
Almost straight away, Dr. Faith pointed me in another
direction, towards the work of Dr. R. Douglas Fields, a neuroscientist who
sought to find an answer to the anger inside him after he beat up a pickpocket
who tried to steal his wallet while he was on holiday in Barcelona. When I read
about his research, I couldn’t help but be reminded of this guy…
Since his creation in 1962, the Incredible Hulk has remained
one of the most consistently popular comic book characters because he appeals
to our most primal emotion: the desire to have a big tantrum and smash the shit
out of everything when life isn’t going our way. Unlike most other superheroes,
the Hulk doesn’t want to save the world, avenge the death of a loved one or
help those less powerful than he is. All he really wants is to be left alone.
As I tell my clients, “you are allowed to be crazy, but you aren’t allowed to act crazy. Being irritated as fuck
because someone jacked the parking spot you were waiting for? Totally legit.
Going postal over it? Not so helpful. Not so helpful to everyone around you,
not so helpful to greater society, and – for purely selfish reasons – not so
helpful to you.
As we've discussed in previous installments of this series, emotions are just the brain's way of sending us information designed to make us take action. However, our brains were designed for the primitive world - a world where everyone thought and spoke like Hulk, and fighting or fleeing were pretty much the only responses available if we were faced with saber-toothed tiger or another neanderthal from the tribe down the track who carried a bigger club. Sadly, we don't live in those times anymore, much as our brains might like to think we do...
Technology has evolved faster than humans, so we have
bodies adapted for simpler times. Instead of hunting, gathering, cuddling, and
napping, we are crossing more terrain on a daily basis, interacting with more
people, and taking in far more information than we are built to manage. It’s a
continuous overload.
How do we deal with that overload and stop Hulking out at every little thing that doesn't go our way? That's what I'm going to try to figure out over the next few weeks (though it could actually take months - there's a lot to digest). Because I don't want to be angry all the time, for the reason Bill Bixby explained in the simplest terms possible, back when I was a kid. "You won't like me when I'm angry." And we all want to be liked, right?
For a brief time in the last century, the word "wizard" was used to denote something that was truly excellent. How many of the Wizards below fit that description, I wonder. Let's find out...
WIZARD #1
Our first Wizard dates back to 1970. This Canadian band got together after working together on a kids TV show called Crackers. Discogs tells me they "only managed one single before self-destructing in 1972." Guitarist George Bowser would go on to achieve "international success" as part of the duo Bowser & Blue. In 1997, they had a big "hit" with Polka Dot Undies.
Florida-based psychedelic band from 1971 who got good reviews but sold very few records. Considering they named their sole LP "The Original Wizard", you get the feeling they knew they were using a pretty popular band name.
By far the most famous Wizzard of all, and the only one I could think of when I started this particular excavation, is the one led by Roy Wood, responsible for one of the biggest Christmas hits ever. After walking out of ELO because he couldn't get on with their manager, Wood formed Wizzard in 1972. They only lasted three years, possibly because keyboard player Bill Hunt kept smashing up the pianos at every venue they played at, and that proved rather costly.
Yes, this Wizzard has 2 Zs. But they're not the only ones...
An Iowan Wizard from 1975. Sadly, I can't find the A-Side, with its tempting title: Get Off Your Duff. One of the songwriters is called Stratt Flett, a true rock n roll name if ever I heard one. This lot may have changed their name to Bystander.
Californian 3-piece "power trio" who released one album, with a pressing of only 500 copies, in 1979. Through the wonders of the interweb though, we can still hear their music today...
Also from 1979, though these guys appear lost to antiquity. Which is a shame, because discogs tells me they were power poppers, and I can never get enough power pop.
I'm equally disappointed to not be able to find Rockduster, the single by a 1984 Wizard from Cincinnati. I mean, come on, who doesn't need a Rockduster to help housework be more interesting?
WIZARD #7
More heavy rockers, this time from Pittsburgh in 1980. Clearly, they were Sabbath fans.
Early hair-metallers, by the sound of it, from Hayward, California in 1983. They released one album, called Marlin, Grog, Madman & The Bomb, and this was the big single. I wouldn't have turned it off in 1983. When I hear a track like this, and I look at the band photo above, I imagine their dreams of stadium-conquering glory... and I feel a fleeting moment of terrible sadness. It's a cruel world.
Italian synth-pop dude from 1985 who clearly didn't grasp the correct use of brackets. He released a double A-side single with Skizzo And The Incredible Samurai Gang, if you're interested.
Just to keep George happy, here's some psychedelic rock from New York City Wizard aka Gandalf The Grey aka Chris Wilson. This was released in 1987, though the tube of you suggests it could have been recorded anytime between 1972 and then. I'm presuming this is a song about buying a comic because it says it has Free Transfers inside, and then being most disappointed when you get home...
German "Melodic Power" band from Bocholt who formed 1989. They seem rather obsessed with Norse mythology, or maybe they just read too many Mighty Thor comics when they were kids.
I was 19 in 1991. Probably the age that many of my peer group started going to nightclubs. I didn't, because I'd seen The Hitman & Her, so I was convinced that this was what all nightclubs sounded like, all the time.
These guys were from Italy, but they could have been from anywhere.
Spanish Euro-Trance / Euro-House ensemble from 2003. Close your eyes and imagine what it sounds like... guess what: you're right! And you saved yourself 6 and half minutes.
Italian heavy rock band from 2014... although they don't sound (or look) too far removed the Wizards we heard at the beginning of this week's list. The more things change...
There were dozens more Wizards listed in discogs - enough to fill Hogwarts, though many were just producers or musicians who've not released records under their own Wizardly name. And there were a few bands called The Wizards too, but none that made me want to run out and compile another post.
Which Wizard casts a spell on you... and which would you happily see turned into a toad?
Here's one final Wizard to close today... aka the old Fantastic Four & Spider-Man villain Bentley Wittman. His nefarious partner The Trapster was originally called Paste Pot Pete. Now there's a band name waiting to happen, if ever I heard one!
King Cnut could not hold back the tide, and I cannot hold back society's full-throttle descent into dystopia. All I can do is watch helplessly from the sidelines, and nod my head sagely when others hold a mirror up to the madness.
I was reading an interview with the directors Anthony and Joseph Russo, the men responsible for some of the most successful Marvel movies in recent years, including the last two Avengers movies. They were asked why they thought Marvel had taken a bit of a kicking at the box office recently, was it so-called "super-hero fatigue"? Apparently not. Instead, the Russo Brothers put it down to what they call a "generational divide".
There’s a big generational divide about how you consume
media. There’s a generation that’s used to appointment viewing and going to a
theatre on a certain date to see something, but it’s ageing out. Meanwhile the
new generation are ‘I want it now, I want to process it now’, then moving onto
the next thing, which they process whilst doing two other things at the same
time.
I think it's a reflection of the current state of everything. It's difficult right now, it's an interesting time. I think we're in a transitional period and people don't know quite yet how they're going to receive stories moving forward, or what kinds of stories they're going to want.
When I read this, I wanted to cry. (You'll have noticed: I want to cry a lot these days.) But Mr. Russo wasn't quite done...
We have never collectively, globally, processed our
conversation so intimately and quickly as we do now. I think that creates
problems, where we over-process and don't care about context anymore. We
communicate through memes and headlines, with nobody reading past two
sentences, so everything's 100 characters or less – or 10-second videos on
social media you swipe through. I think that the two-hour format, the structure
that goes into making a movie, it’s over a century old now and everything
always transitions. So, there is something happening again and that form is
repetitive. But it's hard to reinvent that form and I think this next
generation is looking for ways to tell their own stories that service their own
sort of collective ADHD.
It almost sounds to me like he's given up. Like he's saying, "I'm an old guy," (well, he's a year older than me) "I'm ready to accept that youngsters are doing things differently these days and the only stories we'll have in the future will be 10 second video chunks or 100-letter tweets. Stick a fork in me, I'm done."
Thankfully, not everyone appears so ready to be put out to pasture. About the only sensible idea I've heard in the run up to Election Day is the proposal that the next government are considering banning smartphones for all under 16s. Of course, it won't happen... and it'd be impossible to police even if it did. And maybe it's too late to shut the barn door, that horse has already bolted. But still... old man shakes his fist at the sky.
When I was a kid, I thought that an oxymoron was an idiot with spots. Then I went to an English lesson and learned that an oxymoron is actually "a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction". Like Biggie Smalls, above... or Fatboy Slim, who introduced yesterday's post.
Here are ten songs that feature oxymorons in their titles...
10. What do you get if you cross a Folksinger and Man U?
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