It's been a couple of months since my last posts and I've been busy with a new band.
We played our first show in March and went down really well. Here's the first tune we ever played live, an instrumental called "Jummy Allen"
The band are myself on guitar, mandolin and vocals, Vince Gorman on guitar, cittern and bodhran, Dave Walker on double bass and Chris Clemo on cohon. It's a great sound even if I say so myself. My friend Teresa Brown guested with us and played a mean fiddle.
The band follows on from my 2007 "covered" album where I set out to play songs by one artist in the style of another different one. Here's our version of a well known 1980s song
Since then we've been adding songs to our repertoire and now have over an hour's worth ready to play, with a load more in rehearsal.
The other week we were featured artist at Stevie Jones' Open Mike night at the Artichoke in Moulton and he filmed a couple of minutes of one of my songs "Any Road".
We'll be playing a lot more shows in the coming months. I'm excited about the band. We're versatile and it's a real joy not to have to lug loads of amps and speakers and drums around. And it's also a pleasure to play without hurting your ears.
I am a big fan of Chrissie Hynde. Anyone who can make music that still sounds fresh and relevant after 35 years in the business must have something going for her. When she burst on the scene with her band The Pretenders in the late 70s she was already "too old" to make it, according to today's pop music wisdom .
She was also smart and nobody's fool. I can't imagine Simon Cowell or Simon Fuller wanting to take her on today.
Born in Akron, Ohio, she is one of those people who was there or thereabouts during many of the events that shaped rock music history. For example, she was at Kent University in 1970 when the National Guard opened fire on the students (which inspired the CSNY song "Ohio"). Later in the decade she worked at Mclaren & Westwood's shop "Sex" and auditioned for many of the early punk bands. She was very much an intergal part of the early punk rock scene.
When she finally formed her band "The Pretenders" it was far more than just a punk band. For a start, she wrote great songs, the band were great musicians and she had a style all her own, even if she sometimes reminded me of a cross between 60s singers like Francoise Hardy, and Cathy McGowan with the backcombed hair and eye makeup.
Her first single was a cover of a Kinks song "Sobbing". I must admit I heard it and wasn't that impressed, dismissing her as just another wannabee one hit wonder. I was wrong. Two things happened to change my opinion. Firstly, our drummer's sister Karla started singing with a local teenage band, and aged 16 auditioned and joined our band as keyboard/vocalist. We started playing Pretenders songs.
Secondly, The Pretenders released their first album and had a smash hit with "Brass in Pocket". Everybody started to cover her songs. Grace Jones did a stunning version of "Private Lives".
It's one thing to write hit songs for your own band, but when other artistes start covering your songs, then you are something special.
I was lead guitarist in our band Conspiracy, and I had to learn how to play the many and various hit singles that the Pretenders had in the late 70s/early 80s.
They were very clever and well put together songs. I particularly like this song "Kid"
I love that guitar solo. I'll come back to this song later.
The original band consisted of Martin Chambers on drums (who left for a while and is back again), plus Pete Farndon on bass, and James Honeyman-Scott on lead guitar, with Chrissie taking lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Boy could they rock. Here's some footage from an ABC tv show "Fridays" where they played live in the studio, and boy, they looked great and could really kick ass.
No lipsynch to backing tracks for Chrissie and her band!
I saw the Pretenders play live at the DeMontfort Hall, Leicester in the early 80s. At around this time she was involved with Kinks songwriter Ray Davies, and had a huge hit with his song "I go to sleep" (yet another song I had to learn how to play- by lifting the stylus on and off the record and playing each phrase over and over.)
This tour would be the final tour for this lineup of the band. Two members, Pete (bass) and James (guitar) had serious drug habits and Pete was sacked from the band in 1982. Two days later James died of heart failure associated with cocaine use.
Here's a radio broadcast of a live performance of "I go to sleep" recorded in LA in 1984
Thirty years on,and Chrissie and the Pretenders are still going strong. She'll be 60 next year, and she still rocks. She is one hell of a talented lady, fronting her band through highs and lows, and writing some great tunes. Here's the song she released soon after James Honeyman-Scott's death (and just a few months before Pete Farndon od'd on heroin and drowned in his bath)
Back on the chain gang. Keep on rocking Chrissie!
There's a score of great songs I could have included, and there's some great video of the band out there, so why not check her out for yourself? As she once sang
"I'm special, so special, I'm gonna have some of your attention baby, give it to me!"
In closing, I believe that the mark of a truly great song is whether it be played with minimal instruments.
Here's Chrissie and her guitarist playing "Kid" on acoustic guitars a couple of years. This is a great song, a great performance by a great artist.
Jeff Beck is in my top 2 guitarists of all time. (The other is Richard Thompson).
I bought Beck's album "Blow by Blow" in the mid 70s and it stillsounds fresh today, no doubt due to the production by George Martin, but mostly because of Beck's awesome guitar talent.
Both Beck and Thompson are able to play instrumental solos without once resorting to riffs, fillers or cliches.
This is Jeff Beck filmed at Ronnie Scott's a couple of years ago. I'm knocked out by his bass player Tal Wilkenfeld who looks about 14, but was 21 when this was filmed.
Watching Beck and Thompson play guitar makes me want to give up. Ive been trying to play this song "Cos we've ended as lovers for more than 30 years but I can't get the variety of tone or attack that Beck manages effortlessly.
I've also been playing bass a lot, but seeing Tal strut her stuff, and look like she's having so much fun- well, I better take up kazoo.
461 Ocean Boulevard was one of my albums of the seventies. I havent heard it in years. I was reminded of this track today so I searched on Youtube and here it is in all its simple glory.
I happened to watch West Ham Utd get beaten by Wolves earlier this week. They are in a mess. Whatever your football allegiance, you have to admit that if they go down, they will fall a long way, further than Leeds Utd. If they stay up, they may survive.
This is David Sullivan and David Gold's press conference when they took over the club. Listen to them. The cupboard is bare. There will be no money coming in for years. The previous owners have borrowed and borrowed, using season ticket income for the next two seasons. Any money they get for selling players will only go to service debt.
It's like UK Plc in miniature. West Ham owe more money than most people can imagine, but it's nothing compared to what UK Plc currently owes. UK Plc doesn't have any assets. It no longer owns any part of the infrastructure. It owes trillions. The only thing going for it is its AAA credit rating, which is a bit like Premier League football status. Lose that, and you go into freefall.
I watched a bit of the budget yesterday. In the end I gave up in disgust. Such lies, amounting to treason.
The electorate are in denial. They don't want to hear about how bad it really is. Like West Ham supporters, they feed on past glories and believe that the good times are just around the corner.
It may just be that Labour pull it off and get re-elected. It may be that West Ham surive and live to fight another day. However, the debt is still there. It won't go away.
I can easily envisage a press conference in the near futuure where the new Prime Minister and his Chancellor sit down and tell it like it is, just like Messrs Sullivan and Gold did.
No I can't. For all their unsavoury background in pornography and sex aids, Sullivan & Gold are more honourable and more honest than any politician sitting in the house. And I never thought I'd ever think that. Dream on people, the good times are just around the corner.
The public sector Unison has recently launched a video that claims that cuts to public spending will hit front line services. This is called the Washington Monument Syndrome. Defined on Wiki as
"Washington Monument Syndrome, also called the "Mount Rushmore Syndrome", is the name of a political tactic used by bureaucrats when faced with reductions in the rate of projected increases in budget or actual budget cuts. The most visible and most appreciated service that is provided by that entity is the first to be put on the chopping block. The name derives from the National Park Service's habit of saying that any cuts to its projected increases would lead to an immediate closure of the wildly popular (and not very expensive to maintain) Washington Monument.
The Taxpayers Alliance have issued their version of Unison's video. It shows that public expenditure can be reduced without harming front line services
Check it out here
The Marx Brothers began their careers during one of the craziest periods in US history- the prohibition era. It's now acknowledged that alcohol consumption went up during the "dry" years, and it allowed organised crime to control the supply and reap the profits. The US government had to reinforce the ban and had no revenue from liquor sales to pay for the enforcement.All brought on following an outbreak of grundyism.
The same this is happening today re the smoking ban. People still smoke as much and much of it is contraband. So the government has all the hassle of upholding an unjust law with none of the revenue. Added to that is the fact that pubs are closing down everywhere and the government is losing VAT and tax revenue that way.
And all because of a few Mrs Grundies who hate the idea that people might actually be enjoying themselves and put every obstacle in their paths to stop it.
So when he sang this song back in 1932, did all the Mrs Grundys realise he was taking the piss out of them?
Just listen to the words of this song that's less than a minute long.
*Wikipaedia defines Mrs Grundy as "a feared dispenser of disapproval"
I know other bloggers have posted this, but it deserves to be seen. Here's UKIP's Nigel Farage asking the question that's on everyone's lips
And thanks to Wrinkled Weasel, here's part of what he said
"I don't want to be rude, but you know, really, you have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk."
To loud protests, Mr Farage continued: "The question that I want to ask and that we are all going to ask is: who are you? I had never heard of you; nobody in Europe had ever heard of you. I would like to ask you, Mr President: who voted for you? And what mechanism - I know democracy is not popular with you lot - what mechanism do the peoples of Europe have to remove you? Is this European democracy?"
"Sir, you have no legitimacy in this job at all, and I can say with confidence that I can speak on behalf of the majority of the British people in saying: we do not know you, we do not want you, and the sooner you are put out to grass, the better."
HM Government is the biggest advertiser on UK TV and radio. They spend our money lecturing us on how we shoudl conduct our lives. They spend an absolute fortune on it.
My blog's been a bit heavy on Youtube videos lately, but this is worth 90 seconds of your time.
The video is produced by The Taxpayers Alliance.
I saw a brief glimpse of the military version of this on tv a few years ago and was intrigued. just what was it?
This may only be an evolutionary backwater in the development of long range transportation, so it may never see the light of day again. And it's Russian.
But it looks cool. I want one.
First posted by Raedwald, and picked up by Guthrun at Looking for a Voice, here's a speech by Dan Hannan MEP complaining about the 27 European Commissioners, and how they are appointed to decide European policy without having to submit to the electorate. His particular gripe concerns Baroness Ashton, a woman who has risen to the top of the greasy pole without once ever stood in a election. She is the European Foreign Minister. The French don't like her because she doesn't speak French.
Listen to Dan Hannan's speech (reading the subtitles) and marvel at the delicious irony. The MEP campaigning to end the corruption that lies at the heart of Europe, and Europe's foreign minister not being able to understand it.
Priceless!
One of my Facebook friends announced that she's now a friend of Joe Dolce, so I became one too. Ten or more years ago I was so sick of the Princess Diana funeral moneymaking rip-off, that I speculated what if.....
Not for me the conspiracy theories concerning her death. Oh no. What interested me was the conspiracy theory concerning her funeral.
Dying young isn't a bad career move. Look at what it's done for Michael Jackson. Or Elvis. Or Freddie Mercury. Or John Lennon. I mean, if Lennon was still alive, we wouldn't have to put up with bloody "Imagine" in every popular music poll, with Bohemian bloody Rhapsody at number 2.
No, dying young can help you sell an awful lot of records.
So, no sooner had Diana's body been brought back to England when they began sorting out her funeral. And it seemed that everyone knew that her favourite song was candle in the bloody wind, a song that dates from when she was a little girl.
Her favourite song was "Candle in the wind".
Really? I mean, they didn't just make that up did they?
What if.....?
What if her favourite song was Joe Dolce's classic "Shaddup ya face"? Can you imagine Joe with his mandolin in the Abbey, regaling the great and good with the immortal lines
"What's a matter you, hey?
Got no respect hey?
Whatta you thinka you do?
Why you look so sad?
It's not so bad
It's a nice place
Ah shaddup ya face!"
Geert Wilders is on trial in Holland for defaming Islam. The Apostle Paul once wrote "Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?".
Islam is a dangerous religion. It is not a religion of peace, despite what they say. It is anti-women, anti-gay, anti-Jew and anti-Christian.
Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who made a film that dared to speak these truths. he is now on trial.
I urge you to watch this film. He speaks in dutch, but there are subtitles.
Here's a youtube video of Euro MP Geoffrey Bloom expressing in 90 seconds what we all feel about the global warming scam. Please note the cheering at the end.
Callmedave is firmly in the pocket of the globalwarming scammers. So are Labour. If you want to see a change in the way our once magnificent country is run, then I see no alternative but to vote UKIP this year. Our MP Philip Hollobone is a good honest man, one of the very few. Douglas Carswell and John Redwood seem decent enough as well. I'm sick of spin. I'm sick of political parties being led and run as if they were PR and advertising agencies.
We can't go on like this.
I had a lot of fun touring with Nicki Gillis in 2009. We're doing it again in 2010, during June and July. Here's footage of the band performing the old Everley Brothers song "Price of Love" at a festival in the UK last summer.
here's another video taken at a different festival. This time it's our version of the Eurythmics "Thorn in my side"
We've still got a few spare dates, so if you're looking for a great band for your venue, give us a call.
I've been a fan of Richard Thompson all my adult life. The first "proper" concert i went to back in 1967 featured fairport Convention as the opening act, and from then on I've been a fan. His guitar playing has the ability to send shivers down my back, and also to want to pack it playing altogether. He is the standard by which I measure my progress as a player, and 40 years on I'm as far away as I ever was.
Last year he toured the UK with his "1000 years of popular music" show, and I couldn't go for one reason or another. I may have been on tour myself, or more likely been broke, but I do have the dvd of the show, featuring Richard on guitar and vocals, aided and abetted by Judith Owen on vocals and keyboard, and Debra Dobkin on percussion and vocals.
I found this video on Youtube of a recent concert performance.
I was reminded of the song when I visited Wrinkled Weasel's blog site today. The original version of this song is by Julie London, and he was waxing lyrical about her. This version features Judith Owen on vocals, but it appears that the cameraman has a fixation with Richard Thompson, so we hear her and see him. The guitar arrangement is the original Barney Kessel one I believe.
