Squalid Victorians

The National: Shepherd Bush Empire 8th Nov 2007
To west London (relax I’ve had my jabs) to a concert. I’m going to commit the crime we all accuse the rock press of doing, in that I had no clue what the National were like until they first struck up. It might seem odd but my friend A invited me along and I hadn’t been to gig in a while, so I went along. And boy am I glad I did. (To continue the clueless theme I haven’t looked up anything for this review so it will be short on song titles etc.)

We got to the venue late and saw only a bit of the support act Broken Family band who were good but didn’t really engage. One clue guys if you want to win crowd over maybe the bass player should stand up and look a bit more interested! Just an idea!

Bass how low can you go?

After the usual wait The National ambled on. I’d heard from A that the lead singer had a deep voice and was expected something like Stuart Staples from the Tindersticks but he sings slightly higher and is less pub singery. That being said he was quiet a character, a tall fair type who had a lot of Forrest Gump about him with strange stiff arms sort of like autistic kid at an air show. But for all this shyness and stiff clapping he could sing and move with the crowd impressively. I’ll need to hear the lp to get the lyrics clearly but at one point he seemed to be shouting “squalid Victorian” repeatedly, along with tales of having painted finger nails, astronauts and waiting for "the English" to arrive. The vocals went from light crooning to cathartic screaming it was truly impressive, he seemed to just let go.

"Now do some pointing.. "
The singing was backed by an excellent band, anchored by a tight rhythm section. Next was your standard looking but excellent sounding American indie guitarists and last but not least a keyboard/viola player. The later had the air of an adult Ed pottery teacher, but played his fiddle closer to John Cale than the devil came to Georgia, which was very good. Sadly he’d taken keyboard lessons from School of Rock jerking about as if his synth was badly earthed. The National's music was the whole post Joy Division, Elbow, Doves loud quiet raga thing and was stunning. I was really impressed. They must be doing something right as there wasn’t the annoying hubbub at the bar and even the morons texting and chatting in the crowd were reduced. So in conclusion the National are great and I must go and listen to their album now!

Here’s a idea for their next album cover a top café just of the Bush.

Just plain wrong

Call social services: an ongoing series!

from yahoo news Stripper turns up at school class.

Where in this whole sorry tale should people have said stop this isn't a good idea?

• The parent who thought she would disrupt her son's lesson by sending a "gorrillagram"
• The agency who thought it was OK to send a stripper etc to a school address
• The stripper as she was walking through the school gates didn't think "hang on this isn't right maybe I should ring the office to check"
• Didn't the class teacher say "hello can I help you, oh a surprise well it will have to wait until after the lesson, if it IS a Police matter you will have to talk to the head, please leave my lesson now."

Viva bobby Joe

Singles of the Week

It must be about time for some of my latest crate digging

(well gaffer taped shoe box) finds:

The Equals “Viva Bobby Joe” President 1969




The first one this week I bought because as a general rule I buy singles if they have a “the” band on the label that I’ve not heard of. So it was with this one “The Equals”. I’m afraid I didn’t know anything about them other than “Viva Bobby Joe” sounded a good title. It turns out they where relatively famous in 60’s for “Baby Come Back” and because their founder member was Eddy Grant who went on to have pop/reggae hits in the 80’s.

I quite like it; it’s very Mersey Beaty with a proto glam stomp at the start. Also the Bobby Joe of the title (I’ve just thought you don’t think it’s a rude code do you!) makes a quiet comically short triumphal tour all the way from “Blackburn to Liverpool”

A couple of Eddy Grant related things:
Apparently Eddy built his first guitar in woodwork which sounds rather romantic until you remember Brian May did exactly the same thing!

Also I was fan of Eddy’s work in the 80’s but was a little let down when I finally “went down to” the real “Electric Avenue”.

I don’t know quite what I expected I suppose I thought it was shack lined road in Jamaica full of Juke joints leading down to a balmy beach not a side road off Brixton high st strewn with cabbage leaves, first left after Iceland.

Just imagine how pissed off I was when I found that Amen corner is a bend in the road next to kebab shop in bloody Tooting!

For the fuller skinny on The Equals
Next up are :

Los Brincos “Mejor” novola 1966

This was one of the many hits from the “Spanish Beatles”. I like its Byrdsy 12 stringy feel and the Yankee Doodle fade out. I also like it being in Spanish it gives it a parallel 60’s feel as , the seemingly familiar is shot through a prism.

Sadly I will have to track down more of their stuff next time I’m in Spain as Amazon hasn’t been any use and even the nice people Exotica only had a 4 track ep which was a little pricey.

I haven’t found the lyrics to translate yet I’m afraid however Mejor which I think means “better” in Spanish as in “Best” rather than “recovered”

Getting things straight

David Cameron is a Tory boy posho bully:
There has been loads of talk lately about how well David Cameron and Tories are doing.

For instance there was coverage on the news of the Queen's speech debate last night. Where the political types all thought Cameron had done really well.
Is it just me or does Cameron always come across as a puffed up rich posh boy bully.

Let's get something else straight Cameron does not give a toss for the lives of most people in Britain. His life to date has been lived in a gilded bubble. If he gets into power he won't be working to make life better for the everyone he will be self serving and feckless and will line the pockets of his rich mates and backers.

Lastly floating voters who are they? And should they be allowed to breed, drive cars, have bank accounts ( I almost said vote doh!). Should the opinion of a grown up who hasn't formulated a world view by the age of say 25, be taken into the account.

There must be thousands of these spineless morons who amble up to the polling booth still unsure who to vote for. They are the people who presumably take 10 minutes to order in Pizza Express, or who have brain haemorrhage's at the pick and mix counter in Woolies. There would be some crumb of comfort in this if these floaters didn't when they eventually decided base their decisions on "oh no that Brown 'es got a funny mouth, I couldn't vote for 'im."

So to help these mindless types here's a handy cut out and keep guide!

How to Vote: whatever you think of Labour or the Liberals, David Cameron is a self serving prig who is guaranteed to ignore our needs and those less fortunate, when he's in power unless you are multi millionaire.

Pizzas: Siliciana or Fiorentina

Pick and Mix: Have what you like but make sure you get some chocolate eclairs, cola cubes and something covered with mouth puckering sour sherbet .

Good News!

A New Arrival!






My family got a little bit bigger last night (by just over 9llbs) with the happy arrival of Maeve. So congratulations and much love to S and especially G (who did all the work!).


Just looked up the meaning of Maeve and if my niece lives up to her Irish namesake my brothers in for a jolly time, as the mythological Maeve was one of the original wild fighting Irish women, good stuff.


Ps. I like the pic of Ancient Maeve on this old Punt note aren't Euros bland.

Pointless point of view

The Chinese authorities are building a huge version of the London eye?

WHY?

The pollution in China is so bad you'll not be able to see anything!

Plus 70 years of communism means all you will see is bland ugly tower blocks! I was skeptical about the London eye but it's main virtue is that the view from the top (especially for locals) is worth seeing. Places like York and Brum that have them what's the point? In York you can see the Minster not a rare site as you can see it 30 miles way in Leeds! As for Brum hardly the prettiest place in the world for all it's virtues.

The only thing the Chinese wheel will be good for is to watch in real time as Beijing expands over the horizon.

Top Town Action

Spent a few days up in Yorkshire what follows isn’t post ironic or gosh look culture beyond the north circular just a list of good things to do if you are in God’s own county. Some are worth making a longish detour for:

Go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park:
Set in a dramatic and striking valley a couple of miles from my old school, the YSP was set up to provide a setting for the work by local “boy and girl” Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth (amongst others).





A few years ago it got a pep up with lottery money for a new visitors Centre (it got the obligatory fancy café and shop but also some excellent gallery space too.

At the moment the YSP is hosting a retrospective of the work of Andy Goldsworthy work. See my little film (for some pics I took when they weren’t looking fight the power).

I must admit I’m not totally taken with Goldsworthy’s work. It’s obviously very popular and the exhibition is thorough and the park is the perfect setting for his “environmental” art. I just find him a bit of a one trick pony and outside the nice patterns with natural elements (twigs, stone, sheep shit and snow) I can’t find much else in it. If it forces people to look at nature a new so be it but it leaves me cold. I fear one of his chief appeals for the British public is the old "he is a very clever man it must have taken him a long time" school of art appreciation. This shouldn’t stop anyone going along to the YSP and deciding for your self.

The art work I did like was by James Turrel an American who works with light. I tried to write about his work but this piece from the paper says it really well. His work is beguiling and incredibly beautiful and for much more engaging and emotionally fulfilling than Goldsworthy’s work but well that’s art for you.

Go to the Theatre:
After the plastic arts we took in some of the performing variety at Barnsley's Lamplight theatre. The Lamplight is set in a converted youth club behind the town hall and is a surprisingly well run little theatre. A very comfortable studio auditorium of about 60-70 seats, hosting productions by mainly amateur local actors. We saw "Up and Under 2" by John Godber. A seemingly stereotypical choice for Barnsley, a play about Rugby league (except it is a mainly “football” town) the non-professional cast carried it off really well especially in the second half. I just felt the whole thing was under written with some strange changes in tone almost mid sentence in some cases.
The lamplight puts on a range of mainly mainstream work but its audience obviously loves the place so long may they prosper.

Go to Barnsley market:
If you ever gone out of your way to go to a French or Italian food market you should do your self a favour and visit T’ market. It looks a bit grim (that’s 60’s brutalism for you) but if you are after northern fare this is the place: a cornucopia of pies, black pudding, excellent meat and superb fish. There's tripe (brown and white) complicatedly named bread rolls, marvellous cabbages, a home brew store and some stupendous crabs. A must.
Sorry no pictures I rather shot myself in the foot with this rant on this one doh!


Go to see the mighty reds:
Sub titled “ all quiet on the Preston front”
lower league football isn’t unfortunately about "glory"as ex Tyke Danny Blanchflower once said it’s a more a life long meditation on the vale of tears in which we all live, leavened from time to time with the occasionally victory (Barnsley 1 Preston North End 0).


Barnsley try to play attractive football with only their lack of skill getting in the way and were saved by our marvellous goalie Heinz Muller (the only non porn star German I’ve ever cheered for!). Other highlights are our mascot Toby Tyke and the pies (which were bloody lovely)