I'd only known about early 80's "synthpunk" band The Units through their collaboration with Bill Nelson on their New Way To Move EP (1983). And since then I've not seen or heard anything from them... until now!
History of the Units is a recently released 21 track selection of their work. There's some cool stuff on it too. Sadly though, it won't sell many copies, and they'll remain an obscure itch on the backside of synth music history, but at least it's out there for people to stumble upon and enjoy.
Now tell me this music video isn't great! Found instructional film footage over Warm Moving Bodies...
Mick Jones and Tony James are back! From their forthcoming album - The Carbon Bubble, here's What's Up Doc? - a nice bit of thrash, accompanied by an excellent, fresh and funny animated video.
Carbon/Silicon - What's Up Doc?
I remember seeing Carbon/Silicon preview this song live at their Carbon Casino 9 gig in Hammersmith just before Christmas. At the time, it just passed over my head as a lot of loud concert noise. However, another new song, Unbelievable Pain, stood out as being something quite special. The Carbon Bubble sounds like it could be the album of the summer.
A good weekend to go to the flicks. What film to see? I had two in mind, The Wrestler - critically acclaimed and something I'd been looking forward to for a while, or the no doubt soon to be critically shat upon, remake of a really bad film, My Bloody Valentine 3D!!! Choices, choices, choices.
Friday night, and I just had time to catch a late show. Always being a bit perverse in my decision making, I decided to plump for the film that was sure to be bad, but bad in 3D!!! Despite being certain, guaranteed, trash, My Bloody Valentine 3D was sold out. I couldn't get a ticket and, slightly disappointed, went in to see The Wrestler instead.
Of course, I really wanted to see The Wrestler anyway and sat down in a near empty screen 2 with a tub of Chunky Munkey. Low budget, and shot in parts almost like a reality documentary, you get skilfully drawn into the life of fading Wrestler Randy 'The Ram' Robinson. Mickey Rourke was made for the title role. He brings the required physical and emotional character strengths and weaknesses to the screen with such perfection that it's hard to believe he's not the real thing. Equally impressive are the rest of the cast - Marisa Tomei as his aging stripper friend, and his fellow (actual) wrestlers, who provide a real sense of community in the film.
After Director Darren Aronofsky's expensive 'flop', the love it or hate it (I loved it) The Fountain, The Wrestler is on the surface a dramatic change in style. No special effects, just the blood and sweat of the ring. But it is similar in that it's a slowly paced, moving look at aging, loss and the threat of growing old alone. Give Mickey the Oscar now!
So why was the screening for My Bloody Valentine 3D full whilst just a handful of people watched The Wrestler? Why would anyone want to see a remake of one of the poorest 80's slasher movies over seeing an acclaimed award winning feature? Easy. The idea of seeing a scary 3D movie on a Friday night out is more appealing to most youngsters than watching a movie about a sad old wrestler. Going out to the movies is for me mostly about being entertained, having a laugh, enjoying a thrill, escaping from the real world. And that is why I too was drawn to My Bloody Valentine.
Saturday night. Back to the multiplex and another late show...
This time I'd managed to get my ticket for MBV in advance and was ready to take in the whole popcorn experience - well almost, have you seen the price of popcorn! £3.25 for a small bag!! Outrageous. Anyway, into the packed cinema. A good trailer for the upcoming Friday The 13th remake/re-imagining, an ad with some guy pulling a rat out of his mouth after taking fake 'Internet pills', the mandatory Orange Mobile ad and then it was time to put on the 3D glasses...
Well, what can I say? My Bloody Valentine 3D was good fun and better than I'd expected. The script and cast, including genre veteran Tom (Night of The Creeps) Atkins, were above par for an American stalk 'n' slash. And hey, what's not to like about a gas mask wearing Maniac Miner swinging his pick axe into people's heads? And into the audience too! Once you got used to it the 3D was quite impressive. I'd seen the excellent animated Monster House a couple of years ago that used this 'REAL D' 3D process, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it comes over in a live action film.
So who won the bout? 'The Ram' or 'The Maniac Miner'. Two totally different films. Two different experiences. The Wrestler will rightly be considered a classic piece of moving making, but MBV 3D gains points for entertainment value. The result is too close to call. A score draw. Perhaps there'll be a rematch? The Wrestler 2 vs My Bloody Valentine 2 3D! Coming soon to a theatre near you...
Well Sony may be cashing in on his forthcoming Superbowl half-time appearance with an unnecessary "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Greatest Hits" and Bruce may end up playing at Glastonbury this year (Noooo!), but things aren't all that bad...
There'll be a new album proper in 3 weeks time, and more than likely another tour starting in the Spring. Geez, I'm still a bit feeling a bit Bruced-out and broke after seeing so many shows on the last tour - However, my enthusiasm is starting to build up again thanks to a newly surfaced, fan made, DVD release called 'The Lowlands'. Capturing 10 songs from Antwerp and Amsterdam last year, it's been nicely shot on a HD camera and dubbed with a fine audience recording. Really fun to watch - especially when Bruce and the band dig oldies like this one out of the E Street vaults...
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - I'm A Rocker 23rd June 2008, Antwerp
That's got the old 'Bruce Juice' a flowing! OK, so I'm A Rocker is from my favourite Springsteen album, but any song that mentions James Bond, Columbo, Kojak, Mission Impossible and the Batmobile has to be classic in my opinion!
Following last year's 'Six Strings For Sara', Bill Nelson has written and produced another new song to aid a children's Cancer charity.
The suitably tuneful 'A Million Whistling Milkmen' is available now and can be downloaded in FLAC or mp3 formats. All proceeds from the song's sale will go to the Sara's Hope Foundation.
BRRRAPP! Ah, that's better. 3 days of stuffing myself silly over Xmas and I can only just manage to move off of the sofa. FFFRRRAAPFT!
It's OK though as I've been sitting down enjoying my Christmas presents - An electrical box with 'Blue Rays' in it or somethin' (sounds a bit like a porno), a couple of 'hilarious' books of footy annecdotes, and a large tin of crumbling shortbread biscuits - helpfully washed down with some Mulled wine. CHOMP CHOMPLE SLURP GLUP
My best treat of all though has been...
The Completely MAD Don Martin (Mad's Greatest Artists Series)
This large, very heavy, two volume set is just gorgeous, and incredibly funny. I may have mentioned it before that, as a kid growing up, my sense of right or wrong was pretty much defined by reading Marvel Comics, and that my sense of humour was fashioned from reading MAD Magazine!
MAD had great artists and writers like Sergio Aragones, Mort Drucker and Al Jafee, but it was "MAD's MADDEST Artist" Don Martin that stood out for me. His wacky genius hit my giggle button everytime and I spent hours trying to copy his artwork and drawing his characters - their strange ears, big noses, bent feet and the gawky way they walked - his use of onomatopoetic sound effects, brilliant and bizarre.
I remember creating a short strip about an intrepid Buck Rogers style space hero called 'Otho Bludge'. Otho had to save his girlfiend 'Vera Lynn' from I don't know what. Anyway, it was rubbish and full of bad puns - my poor attempt at being Don, but it made it to my school magazine and I think a couple of people liked it. Don Martin was my inspiration but sadly I had no real talent to take it further.
Don Martin was the funniest comic book artist of his time, and part of my soul. Thanks Don. I thoroughly recommend this amazing collection of his work.
HHIBA! DYMMWIWA? Late nights at work and the curse of Facebook has meant that I've neglected this blog for a long time. It's not like there's been nothing happening! The Credit Crunchie, Harry Redknapp, Nelsonica, Light of Day, great gigs from The Godfathers, Carbon/Silicon and The Hold Steady, and hey Ben Folds was pretty good as well!
Time has just flown by, and now it's Christmas already. Hey kids, have you checked your Parents' wardrobe for presents yet? You never know what you might find. Just remember - Santa can be so good for you...
Back from my hols, with a new job and my PC muthafuddaboard temporarily coming back to life - I guess I've got no excuse not to continue on with this blog... So much rubbish to write, so little time and so few readers... Hell, here's a 15 second run through to bring things up to date since my last post:
Start new job. Take a well earned holiday! Jump on a plane - > Austin - "Don't Mess With Texas"/ Millions of bats/ Fantastic Fest: The Tingler!/ Estomago/ The Good The Bad And The Weird/ Austin City Limits: David Byrne/ Bobby Bare Jr (twice!)/ John Fogerty/ CSS/ Gnarls Barclay/ Beck and The Foo Fighters -> Dallas: 'JFK blown away'/ Longhorns -> NYC - Happily drunk in a Brooklyn bar watching Biden vs Palin/ Up close in Jesse Malin's intimate new Bowery club whilst his 'spoken word' + songs concert goes on and on and on for the cameras.../ -> Back to Blighty. Back to work :-(
Sigh, the clocks go back soon. Darkness and the recession are coming. Nothing much to look forward to now except Christmas... Hold on a minute, there's Nelsonica 2008 in York on November 1st - better than Christmas for Bill Nelson fans! Yay!
Bill Nelson - Mr Magnetism Himself (1979 b-side) New video by YooToober 'Zobiemoro'
Due to starting my new job a week later than originally planned, I've decided to come up to Bowness-on-Windermere for a few days
It's been raining, grey and grim at home - an ideal time perhaps for a quick getaway to southern Europe and some guaranteed sunshine... So being here in the Lake District - the wettest place in England - may not have been the brightest of ideas? Well, just staring out over the beautiful expanse of Lake Windermere on my arrival made the 5hr drive up the M1 & M6 worthwhile.
Yesterday, due to the rainclouds, any idea I might have had about doing some high level fell walking was soon washed away. However, I did manage to wander lonely as a (rain) cloud, taking a lovely 7 mile low walk around Borrowdale, just below Derwent Water.
In the afternoon, dried out, I drove to Honister Slate Mine and went underground on a very interesting guided tour, wearing a hard hat and head torch - not a trip for claustrophobes but fun for everyone else. After coming out of the mountain I was met with sunshine and a rainbow arcing across the far hills.
Invigorated, I jumped into my car and motored down the magnificent Honister Pass, surely one of the most stunning drives in the world, and then on to the gorgeous Buttermere and Crummock Water before heading back to my B&B in Bowness.
Today it has been really wet. A constant downpour. Keep your mouth closed or drown type weather. Undaunted, I went south to Ulverston, the birthplace of Stan Laurel, to visit the Laurel and Hardy Museum - a tiny but interesting little place.
It's an old building, just 3 small rooms covered in memorabilia and containing an even smaller little cinema playing a loop of classic L&H shorts. Well worth the trip. Apparently, the eccentric museum is going to be moving soon to a larger, newly built location. This may help attract more tourists and increase souvenir sales but I feel a lot of the existing charm may be lost.
'and my hard drive is corrupt'! Spooky how this happens just a few days after I was looking through PC World magazine at some sexy new kit.
Bollocks! Can't get my desktop to boot up... I'm impotent. Got a techie round, hopefully he'll be able to do something for £40/hr, but I doubt it. Let's see, my last backup was about a year ago... nightmare!
Backup your stuff kiddies ASAP. Now I'm back to my old dusty white box and Windows Me for the next few days...
Update: a day later and the old box died too! Coincidence? I'll just have to make the occasional post via my nokia n800 for the time being...
There I was on Saturday evening feeling really low. How could I get so depressed over the result of a football match? Arrrgh! Oh God it was bad. I needed to get away. As darkness fell I scoured the 'Internets', searching for an escape...
Sunday evening, 300 or so miles away from White Hart Pain. I was in Falmouth. Sunshine glimmering across the blue water of the natural harbour. A Cornish '99', a stroll along the beach, then Pollock & Chips washed down with a bottle of 'Doom Bar'. Sublime. Depression passed, weather fine, outlook good (until the next home game at least).
Well, last night to be precise - Tokyo Police Club entertained a young crowd at ULU, London, on the last UK show of their current tour.
It's been a year since MustyMC and I saw them play in the hot and sweaty confines of the Camden Barfly. I can remember thinking then that 'these guys are going to be big'! Well I guess they are getting there slowly - a good first album proper and ULU is a step up size wise, but last night it was hardly close to full and the crowd were a bit lacklustre. Maybe it was just down to it being summer and not term time. Calling the youth of today - TPC need more students!
I see that they are going to be supporting Geek-fathers Weezer on tour later in the year, hopefully that will help raise their profile. Cheer it on.
Oh, give us your vote Give us your vote If you know what's good for you Your English Is Good/Nature Of The Experiment/Cheer It On
"In the future, a man returns home from war only to discover that his town is now dead, in more ways than one. Fortunately, he finds comfort both in some undead monsters, and a very, very special album."
Written, edited & directed by Daniel Fox and Terence Krey. Nice job. It's better than the official Radio Nowhere video! Plus it has the Gonk!
Tonight I caught The Hold Steady giving a free in-store performance at Rough Trade East, in the old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London.
As they began to play I was up against the right hand speaker - whoa! It was painfully loud. Rather than stand there with my hands over my ears, I gave up what I'd thought was a prime position and moved round to the side. I was slightly behind the action with a restricted view, but I could enjoy the songs without my ears bleeding and my brain vibrating against my skull...
The band ran through a short sharp 11 song set to promote their new critically acclaimed album Stay Positive. For some reason I've not found the album to be the immediate knockout that Boys and Girls in America was. Up until tonight it has been slow to grow on me. However, hearing the new stuff live does make all the difference, and now I'm really looking forward to seeing The Hold Steady's next proper show in London @ The Roundhouse on October 8th. 'We Gotta Stay Positive'!
I managed to grab a tad (pun intended) of video with my little Sony, one of the quieter moments - it's just a shame I was on the wrong side for Tad's excellent guitar solo!
Lord, I'm Discouraged - The Hold Steady
Stuck Between Stations (end clip) - The Hold Steady
Setlist: Constructive Summer/Stuck Between Stations/Magazines/ Yeah Sapphire/One for the Cutters/Lord, I'm Discouraged/ Sequestered in Memphis/Navy Sheets/Joke About Jamaica/ Stay Positive/Slapped Actress
I skipped breakfast and boarded the 8:30am Whale Watch boat heading out of the harbour towards the Stellwagen Bank marine sanctuary. I'd say that around 90% of my fellow passengers were from Korean and Japanese tour groups. It was a very smooth ride but one or two people were unfortunately staring into their sick bags right from the start.
I'd made this trip twice before on previous visits to Boston. The first time back in '99 was an amazing revelation - there were whales everywhere - numerous humpbacks, minkies and dolphins, splashing and jumping all around the boat. The second time, a few years later, was however a bit of a damp squib in comparison, with maybe 3 whales obscured in light fog. I mean it was OK, but I knew that with a bit of luck this third trip might be better...
And sure enough, it was. When the boat reached Stellwagen Bank it was like entering humpback town. It's hard to say how many there were, but I think we saw perhaps 10-15 different humps breaking the surface. I managed to take a bit of video with my little sony - it's OK, just a couple of minutes captured from the whole event, but it inadequately represents the size and grace of these majestic creatures. Squashing the video resolution down into YouTube distances you from the experience even more. You really have to the whales in high definition real life.
It was a good 3 hour trip. As my fellow passengers enthusiastically took photographs, it occurred to me that maybe a few of them might be thinking about what they wanted to eat for lunch. I always find that being out at sea makes me hungry too, and as we headed back to Boston I was looking forward to some fish and chips and a nice cold beer.
Two new Carbon/Silicon tracks (featuring Gary Kemp) are available now as free downloads: Maybe that's the Meaning of Life and The Inconvenience of Truth. Get your mpfrees here
Friday: I arrived in Boston from NYC by Greyhound bus and flopped onto my bed at the very nice Royal Sonesta hotel right on the Charles River. I needed to quickly figure out how I was going to get to the Bruce Springsteen concert the next day. The problem was that it was at the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, about 40 or so miles away from downtown Boston, and there was no means of getting there by public transport. I guess it's a bit like trying to get from London to a concert in Milton Keynes with no car, trains or buses.
When I bought the ticket I knew that the stadium had a station next to it for 'event trains' i.e. there was a train service for events at Gillette Stadium. As I was to find out, with no help from the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority), the event train was not being provided for this concert!! Nightmare! Everyone going would have to travel by car - 50,000+ people is probably 20,000 cars, and at $40 to park the Stadium's going to make a hell of a lot of money!
I was stressed out. The nearest train and bus services were miles away and not running after the show's end. I was quoted $120+ each way for a taxi (if I could get one) and around $170 an hour for a 'car service'. I guess if I'd had my driving license with me I could have hired a car and paid the parking, but it wasn't an option. So, I decided to see if I could get a ride with a fellow fan who was going to be driving there from Boston. I posted my request to a Springsteen message board and crossed my fingers. At this stage I was seriously considering just eating my ticket and not attempting to get to Foxboro at all. Thankfully someone came through with an offer of a lift (thanks Howie!) and I could relax and enjoy my evening.
Saturday: Having previously arranged my transport for the night, I was able to take an interesting 90 minute boat trip up the Charles River that focused on its locks and bridges. It's always great to watch a bridge open, especially ones like this giant monster or the swing bridges around Manhattan. The rusting metal, the weight, the giant gears grinding. It seemed to me like a kind of Victorian steampunk.
Now on to the evening's entertainment. The striking open-ended design of Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, is weird but very pleasing on the eye. As we arrived the heavens opened. Torrential rain fell and lightning bolts crashed down all around us. Whoa! Everyone was cleared from the pitch as the tropical storm passed overhead. I was thinking about the next day's headline - '50,000 fans fried in stadium strike!'. Fortunately the severe weather soon died down and the concert could go ahead, albeit an hour late. Another curfew busting post midnight finish was on the cards.
At 9:20pm Bruce and the band started to race through another marathon set that was to include a sign requested Little Latin Lupe Lu, a passionate Tunnel of Love, the inevitable Who'll Stop The Rain and a very rare appearance of that almost forgotten Born In the USA single I'm Goin' Down. It was great fun.
By all accounts it was a good show. I enjoyed it, but this time, standing to the side of the stage rather than in front of it, watching the screens and the crowd, I found myself a little detached from the performance. Sadly, I've not got any great video or pictures of the event - just this crap phone photo looking towards the back of the stadium during Glory Days...
Setlist (courtesy of Backstreets): Summertime Blues/Tenth Avenue Freeze-out/Radio Nowhere/Lonesome Day/The Promised Land/Spirit in the Night/Tunnel of Love/Little Latin Lupe Lu/Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?/Hungry Heart/Who'll Stop the Rain/Youngstown/Murder Incorporated/She's the One/Livin' in the Future/Mary's Place/The Rising/Last to Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands. Encore: I'm Goin' Down/Jungleland/Born to Run/Glory Days/Dancing in the Dark/American Land/Rosalita (Come Out Tonight). Boston Globe Review
Sunday: My last day of this short trip. I was up early to catch a Whale Watch boat from the harbour - more of which in a later post.
Then, after one of the best plates of Cod and Chips ever, it was just a case of heading for Logan airport and my flight home via Newark. Of course it wasn't that simple, another thunderstorm hit the east coast and that meant I couldn't meet my connecting overnight flight back to Gatwick. Nightmare! So, powerless, I reserved a spot on a flight out the next day and started to look for a hotel room... Then for the second time that weekend someone pulled through for me - a nice lady at Continental managed to squeeze me onto an American Airlines direct flight back to Heathrow; 'grab your bags and run'! Result!
I'm now shaking off the jet lag from a short jaunt across the pond; just 3 days in New York and then 3 in Boston. My aim was to take a break from the pain of job hunting and rejuvenate myself with a couple of E Street Band concerts. It was a trip that would add more pointers to my insanity. 'Broooce'!
July 29-31 New York/New Jersey Not the best of months to be a tourist in NYC. The streets of Manhattan were sweltering. Underground it was worse. Down on the sauna-like subway platforms it felt like I was following a trail left by Arne Saknussemm. Welcome relief from the stifling heat was however provided in the cool air conditioned trains.
Tuesday: After arriving and installing myself in a nice cheap-ish hotel on the upper east side, I headed out across Central Park, past frisbee catching dogs and the humans and turtles alike sunbathing down at the lake.
I'd come to New York to see Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band play but I'd not got a ticket. Doh! So, moving around town I was stopping off at Star*ucks watering holes and using their Wi-Fi hotspots to try and score a ticket via the net. No joy! There were hundreds of tickets available online, but only at vastly over inflated prices from arseholes on eB*y and Stubh*b. W@nkers!
Wednesday: Frustrated, I decided to relax a little, just slip back into tourist mode and enjoy the city. I took the subway down to Brooklyn Heights and made what's now become my traditional walk back over Brooklyn Bridge. My usual DVD, CD buying frenzy then took over before I sat back with a 'small' soda the size of a dustbin, and enjoyed the fun and stunning visual beauty of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
Thursday: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band were going to be playing a third night @ Giants Stadium, on their New Jersey home turf. The concert was sold out and I had no ticket... My best hope was to try the drop line at the stadium and see if there might be a return. I arrived at 10am and became the 7th person in the queue. I was in for a long long wait out in the 90 degree heat with no guarantee of getting into the show.
By late afternoon the queue had grown to several hundred people, all hoping that they might get lucky and be part off the 55,000 capacity audience. The sun blazed down, and shade was at a premium. Sunburn and heat exhaustion were becoming a problem. As I stood there on the concrete by the stadium fence, fans with tickets were arriving in their thousands, setting up tailgating parties in the vast parking lot. They had music blaring out and were enjoying their barbecues and cold beer. I was wilting. Water, beer everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
Event staff numerically wristbanded us in queue order and we were told that chances of getting a ticket were not good, and if any were available they would not be given out until just before the show start at around 8pm. So what's a few more hours to wait eh? In for a penny in for a pound. As it turned out the show start was delayed to around 9:30pm due to a major traffic incident involving a propane gas container, and this meant that the ticket office didn't start releasing tickets until around 9pm! All my fingers and toes were crossed.
Fortunately, I ended up with a great seat on the floor. I was in line with the back of the General Admission standing area ('The Pit') where I could see Jesse Malin and 3 of the Seeger Sessions Band 10 yards to my right, packed in like sardines. The lights dimmed. A colliape played The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze as the E Street Band took to the stage, and then Max Weinberg started hitting the drums...
Summertime Blues - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 31st July 2008, Giants Stadium, Meadowlands, New Jersey
It was of course a fantastic show - a Jersey special. At 30 songs, 3 and a quarter hours long, it finished at around 12:45am and tested the physical endurance of the crowd. After queuing in the hot sun for over 10 hours I was absolutely knackered. I must have been nuts. My feet were aching and I was fit to drop just 12 songs in, but Broooce and the energy of the crowd kept me going until the end. I've now seen 3 shows at Giants and each time the atmosphere in the old stadium has been tremendous. Song highlights for me included Blinded By The Light, a sweet Pretty Flamingo, Incident On 57th Street prompted by a sign requesting it 'For Your Old Bald Fans', and the ever powerful Because The Night which had Nils Lofgren embellishing his stunning spinning guitar solo with a John Otway-like forward roll!
Setlist (courtesy of Backstreets): Summertime Blues/Tenth Avenue Freeze-out/Radio Nowhere/Prove It All Night/Two Hearts/The Promised Land/Spirit in the Night/Light of Day/Brilliant Disguise/Pretty Flamingo/Blinded by the Light/Cadillac Ranch/Candy's Room/Night/Because the Night/She's the One/Livin' in the Future/Mary's Place/Incident on 57th Street/The Rising/Last to Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands. Encore: Jungleland/Born to Run/Bobby Jean/Dancing in the Dark/American Land/Jersey Girl/Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).Star-Ledger review.
Shagged, I got back to my hotel at 3am, took a cold shower to cool down and then crashed out, grabbing a welcome few hours of sleep before getting the bus to 'Bosstown' on Friday morning...
This time I'd managed to get my ticket for MBV in advance and was ready to take in the whole 
It's an old building, just 3 small rooms covered in memorabilia and containing an even smaller little cinema playing a loop of classic L&H shorts. Well worth the trip. Apparently, the eccentric museum is going to be moving soon to a larger, newly built location. This may help attract more tourists and increase souvenir sales but I feel a lot of the existing charm may be lost.
As they began to play I was up against the right hand speaker - whoa!
The band ran through a short sharp 11 song set to promote their new critically acclaimed album 
I'd come to New York to see 
