Latest Entry
Let's talk cat. Let's study dad.
- 6 Jan 09, 09:11 AM
The holiday reading was considerable, if not profound. I had a chortle at the reliably bad gags in Harry Hill's Whopping great Joke Book. I also read Harry's barmpot fiction, Tim The Tiny Horse. And like many media sorts, I sifted through Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story Of Success. He's like an intellectual fan dancer. You get occasional flashes of something, but a lot of posturing and suggestion.
And I'm still not sure about the conceit that playing for punishing hours in Hamburg clubs made The Beatles into stars. Why didn't it work for Rory Storm And The Hurricanes? And why didn't an endless workload turn all those drab Irish showbands into world-beaters? Methinks that creativity is somewhere else.
But my most illuminating read was How To Talk To Your Cat by Jean Craighead George. You see, myself and Noodles haven't been getting on so well. We've got a mutual disrespect thing going on. But at least now I appreciate his innate selfishness, and I can follow the subtle movements of whiskers, tail and ears. The book was a family hit, and it's encouraged the household to analyse the behaviour of dad. These actions include:
Scratching his chest when he is happy.
Rubbing his head when he is thoughtful.
Rubbing his eyes, vigorously, at inopportune moments.
Raising his shoulders when he's being assailed by sales persons and dodgy tradesmen.
Sighing loudly in cars for no apparent reason, which makes the driver think that there's something badly amiss.
The study continues.
Recent entries
And You May Ask Yourself, How Did I Get Here?
- 4 Jan 09, 10:40 PM
If you're feeling some January angst and wondering how life has dealt you a perplexing steer, then have a look at this career history from the New York photographer and esteemed blogger, Dave Beckerman. I'm a big fan of the guy's work, who most deals in black and white in the classic reportage style. He definitely has the vision, the humanity and the sense of poetry. He's delivered dozens of impressive frames, but my current favourite is this snowflake image that's magnificently timed and composed. It's like the universe has revealed itself in a micro-second, and Beckerman has the savvy and the self-possession to catch it. His career path is ungainly and rather mad, but I'm so glad that he's currently where he ought to be.
Playlist 02.01.09
- 3 Jan 09, 09:44 PM
If you like the idea of pundits wittering on about their musical tips for the year ahead, then this feature in the Irish Times may have some value for you. I'm not intimate with all the names, but I do like Passion Pit, and the upcoming EP is florid and delightful. The upcoming Andrew Bird album is also going to make his parish happy again.
Playlist 02.01.09
BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM
Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster
Fridays, ten - midnight
Lewis Lymon And The Teenchords - I'm So Happy (Castle)
The Hold Steady - Magazines (Rough Trade)
Thin Lizzy - Running Back (Vertigo)
Passion Pit - Live to Tell The Tale (Columbia)
Ryan Adams - Go Easy (Lost Highway)
Candi Staton - In The Ghetto (Capitol)
Amy Lavere - Pointless Drinking (Archer)
Andrew Bird - Fitz And The Dizzy Spells (Bella Union)
Tom Rush - No Regrets (Rhino)
Miss Lana Rebel - Road Song (Wantage)
Amadou & Miriam - Sabali (Because)
The Loves - The Ex Girlfriend (Fortuna)
Dick Gaughan - Lough Erne (Topic)
Woodpigeon - 7th Fret Over Andres (Endoftheroad)
U2 - Stuck On A Moment (Island)
Eileen Rose - Jeannie Steps Out (Evangeline)
The Lowly Knights - You Can Tell A Man By How He Lifts His Hands (We Collect Records)
Antony And The Johnsons - Epilepsy Is Dancing (Rough Trade)
Rachel Austin - Love Won't Fall From Heaven (white)
Nick Lowe - Let's Stay In And Make Love (Proper)
Andrew Bird - Oh No (Bella Union)
Van Morrison - Brand New Day (Warner)
Calexico - Writer's Minor Holiday (City Slang)
Passion Pit - Better Things (Columbia)
The Gaslight Anthem - Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (Side One Dummy)
The Handsome Family - So Much Wine (Loose)
Revolution, '09
- 1 Jan 09, 07:58 PM
Onwards into 2009. I reckon it will be an important one. I don't normally bother with written intentions, but let's try some of these out.
1. Lip up, fatty. The gloom is going to be unshakable for maybe six months. Some of it real but much of it vaporous. This will be my 24th year in the music industry and I've seen many varieties of pessimism and defeat. But there's always a way through it and the resourceful people will get their rewards when the mood rebounds. Some great talent will define itself this year. Also, the creative and social uplift in the NI music scene should continue to grow, at least for a while. Another reason to keep the chin steady and the intentions decent.
2. Music is your radar. When you serve music well, it always seems to repay the energy. When you follow the dollar signs, the vanity or the politics, it tends to diminish. It's a simple law, but mess with it and you will cop the results. Therefore the challenge is to love the great music, be wary of false goods and to keep the mojo nourished.
3. Manage the perspective. As long as the family is close and the bills are paid, it will never be wholly disastrous. There was an excess of drama in 2008. Less this time, hopefully.
4. Look after the health, refresh the head and don't think that an over-adrenalized system is normal. All oversights in recent months.
5. Don't over-analyse. As Mr Morrison once declaimed: "It ain't why, it just is".
6. Fun and frivolity. Some of the best ideas are birthed in a spirit of play. So while the work ethic is needed in 2009, so too are the major laughs and the absurd suggestions. Comrades, I'll see you at the barricades with my tickling stick.
Urban Hymns: The Broadcast
- 23 Dec 08, 05:42 PM
Don't forget, Boxing Night on Radio Ulster, a chance to hear a recording of the Urban Hymns event at May Street Church. Starting at 10pm, the event features Foy Vance singing 'Hallelujah' and Duke Special delivering a powerful 'Why Does Anybody Love'. You can witness Bronagh Gallagher turning into Aretha Franklin and pulling the entire audience to its feet, while there's a stunning rendition of the Nick Cave song, 'Into My Arms' by Rea Curran.
At the core of it is the Inishowen Gospel Choir, who truly rocked the house. I can also commend Joe Echo, Ken Haddock, Gabriel Makamanzi and Burning Codes. All wonderful ingredients for this two hour bonus. Have a top Xmas, good people.
Playlist 19.12.08
- 21 Dec 08, 04:40 PM
I didn't sweat the list, to be honest. Many of the big songs essentially selected themselves. There was illness and pressing deadlines, but still the selection has the main ingredients of an annual Friday Late Show round-up. I'm promised myself to spend more time listening to good tunes in 2008, and hope to nuzzle up to more Primal Scream, Amadou & Miriam and Peter Broderick over the hols. Oh, and I must find the Randy Newman album, which was splendid but now AWOL.
The monthlies have gone a bit mad on the Portishead album. I didn't get it. A major oversight?
Playlist 19.12.08
BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM
Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster
Fridays, ten - midnight
Eli Paperboy Reed -Take My Love With You (Q Division)
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (Rough Trade)
Paul Weller - All I Wanna Do Is Be With You (Island)
Vampire Weekend - M79 (XL)
Glasvegas- Geraldine (Columbia)
Jenny Lewis - Carpetbaggers (Rough Trade)
Primal Scream - Uptown (Sony BMG)
Oppenheimer - Kate Blanchett (Fantastic Plastic)
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (Bella Union)
Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card (Proper)
Teddy Thompson - In My Arms (Verve)
Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan (Lex)
Elbow - Grounds For Divorce (Fiction)
Amadou & Miriam - Mastedeladi (Because)
The Gaslight Anthem - Meet Me By The River's Edge (Side One Dummy)
Nick Cave - Dig Lazarus Dig (Mute)
Henry McCullough - The Burial Ground (There Wolf)
Bon Iver - Creature Fear (4ad)
Duke Special - What Does Anybody Love (Universal)
TV On The Radio - Halfway Home (4ad)
Martha Wainwright - Comin Tonight (Drowned In Sound)
Panama Kings - Young Blood (We Collect Records)
Billy Bragg - Sing Their Souls Back Home (cv)
David Holmes I Heard Wonders (Mercury)
Peter Broderick - With The Notes In My Ears (Bella Union)
The Ages Of Shuttleworth
- 19 Dec 08, 09:28 AM
I first saw John Shuttleworth around 1988 at the King's Head in Crouch End. The singer and many of the people in the crowd - including a young Reeves and Mortimer - were dressed as Seventies dads.There were flared trousers and sideburns, synthetic materials and an excess of beige, tan and burgundy.
John was all innocent delight, tapping the automatic settings of his Yamaha keyboard and musing about his chances of writing a Eurovision hit. We heard 'Pigeons In Flight, 'Up And Down Like A Bride's Nightie' and several other classics. It was hard to tell where the irony ended and the actual joy began, but maybe that was unimportant. Shortly after the gig, the creator of John appeared without the make-up. It was a fresh-faced Graham Fellowes, who had previously invented the punk rock loser, Jilted John.
It's the Black Box, Belfast, almost 20 years on and John Shuttleworth may require less time in make-up now. Graham and John are approaching a similar age (assuming that the latter has not grown older) and the observations about middle age are more poignant now. Likewise with the mostly male audience, who are also in that zone. Some of them may even own sheds, or at least covet after one. And they probably all understand the little fussy ceremonies that men do when they're trying to have control over a life that's forever evading them. It's a short hop from 'Two Margarines On The Go' to Thoreau's famous line that men lead lives of quiet desperation. Tonight, we felt that chill realisation. And we laughed, uproariously.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
