Coincidentally I Fought The Law

Despite the rubbish organisation , I reallly enjoyed the Evolution Festival , managing s to see Pete Molinari , Mama Rosin , CW Stoneking , Billy Bragg and Iggy and The Stooges , as well as getting some gorgeous pizza and spending time with my good friend Karen , her fun husband Gary , and lively children Natasha and Angus. Anyway between acts I heard a vaguely reggae version of "I Fought The Law" , though not quite reggae.

On Monday I trawled HMV's sale and bought some CDs , one of which was "Great Expectations" by The Jolly Boys. Guess what , it was their version , how much of a coincidence is that, and it only cost me three quid, ridiculous , but a wonderful album. Here's the song in question:



And if you fancy trying HMV go here:

Georgio was Italian and Marilyn Likes Greggs Pasties

Just picked up this months Mojo and was surprised to learn two new facts.

Firstly Marilyn Manson is a fan of Gregg's Pasties !! The purported quote is "What's that place in England , Greggs. They make the best pasties" . Don't know if they get pastie in America , can you imagine Greggs getting Marilyn to advertise . Though the natural projection is Homer Simpson - "Mmmmm Pasties".

The second is that Giorgio Moroder is Italian!! Always assumed he was German with a surname like that, and the fact that he worked out of Munich and was far more influential than the oft namechecked Kraftwerk in the spread of electronic pop music. How influential was Donna Summer's "I Feel Love":



on his own "From Here To Eternity":



And he even did Kiss!!



I rest my case....

Contactless

Contactless Reciept

Pasties on Credit!!

Used my contactless card for the first time today in a McDonalds Drive Thru. It's far too easy and efficient . My god if a Charver got hold of it , he could have a field day , Gregg's , McDonalds Labrini - thi list is luckily limited.

Still worrying you don't have to even sign or PIN anything!!

Heart As Big As Liverpool

Just visited Liverpool for the first time in ten years ,and the place is looking very well , though suffering from a dearth of decent record shops.. Probe is still going in a natty location next to the Bluecoat Chambers. This has given me the excuse to include mine and John Peel's two favourite songs about the place. First up is Pete Wylie's "Heart As Big As Liverpool" , this excellent video would have met with Mr Ravenscrofts Approval I'm sure:
Watch it here
Another one:



2nd is Amsterdam's "Does This Train Stop On Merseyside" , and wonderful song and I've included Ian Prowse' solo rendition at The Anglican Cathedral followed by a documentary about the song. The album is well worth buying as is anything by his previous band Pele!!:



And Here's The Documentary:

Get The Picture?

Holiday Sunset

It's not that long ago that advances in photography , to me , was a 36 picture film reel , which I took my pictures on , hoped they'd turn out ok , then happily drop them into Boots or Jessops , or Max Spielman's and then wait a couple of weeks to see the results. Then you could also get them put onto CD which was really impressive. To get a digital camera that came anywhere near your common or garden film camera would set you back the best part of a grand.

Two Horses

Nowadays you can pick up very good digital cameras for around £50 and get the instannt gratification of seeing immediate results, and the luxury of discarding the rubbish. Last week I took 175 photographs and videos which took up a gigabyte of storage . i cand sift through and adjust , picking oout the best ones, or what I think are the best.





However I really don't know what I'm doing , it's a case of point and hope for the best. Professional photographers know what they are doing , and are able to guarantee the best results whereas I just hope for the best. Mark Johnson is and excelelnt example of someone who know's what he's doing and examples of  his work can be found on his website www.shineyblack.co.uk.

Ed Alleyne Johnson - Legend

I was in Chester today , thought I'd wander round and see if I could find an independent record shop. They have an HMV but so does everywhere else. Anyway, heard The Who's Baba O' Reilly playing , but it sounded different. Turns out it was a street violinist , and he was amazing . On closer inspection noticed he had a CD for sale , then noticed the name. Ed Alleyne Johnson of New Model Army fame , as well as a slew of amazing solo albums, Ultraviolet is part of my collection.

Ed Alleyne Johnson - Superb

Had a crack on with him , bought the new CD Arpeggio. then took the video below. There's a lot of his stuff on youtube, but if you get the chance see him, if not buy the albums, Enjoy!!

Mathew Street - L2

Yellow Submarine in Cavern Walks

Beatle Boots For Sale

In the middle of the Mathew Street redevelopment in Liverpool is the Cavern Walks shopping area , which is a lot better than I imagined , with some boutiques , eateries a couple of Yellow Submarines and a Beatles display naturally, I was expecting something quite horrible , but one of the cafes was even serving "scouse", which is good.

Gold Disc Wall

In Mathew (I sure it should have 2 "t"s) Street itself you have the new Cavern Club , the site of the old one , a Beatles shop , more displays and two very good wall installations. The first is a display of all the number ones achieved by Liverpool bands , in the form of gold discs , unfortunately though you get The Beatles and Frankie Goes To Hollywood , you also get Atomic Kitten!!

A section of the name Wall

The Beatles Bit

The second is a very simple idea , but still a brilliant installation , it's a wall and every brick is engraved with the name of a band that's played there , The Beatles themselves receiving individual name checks . A slight sour note on this , they have a gold plaque detail two acts who had their bricks removed , it would have been better to remove the bricks and say nothing. Well worth a visit for anyone with even a cursory interest in pop music history.

Is Ted Baker A Scouser?

Was Probe - Now Ted Baker

Ted Baker Customers aren't that bright

Just visited Liverpool for the first time in 30 years and was a little surprised to see the old Probe Records site was now a Ted Baker shop. This was on top of Littlewoods metamorphosing into Primark!! On further wanderings Ted Baker seemed to be everywhere , shops , concessions , advertising you name it , which begs the question is Ted Baker a scouser.

Obviously the clothes are de riguer for you average charver or scally,

The new Probe

Happily I found Probe were still thriving at a site next to the Bluecoat Chambers , so all was not lost.

Survival Sunday - Quite Incredible

An amazing last day in the Premiership, West Ham were deservedly relegated , nothing that Trevor Brooking could do this season , also Birmingham have gone down another club with dodgy overseas owner though I feel for Alex McLeish. Blackpool went as well , they've been a breath of fresh air but the Premiership doesnt deserve such an entertaining side.

Manchester City got third place after Arsenal self destructed.

Manchester United took their 19th Title as a precursor to next Saturday's Champions League final at Wembley against Barcelona. Roll on next season.....

Eurovision - Youre A Kidding

Suddenly it's Eurovision night again. In recent years we've lost Terry Wogan , due to the continued block voting of the Eastern Bloc countries , so have gained Graham Norton , which will be entertaining. Apparently voting has been changed to make results a little less predicatable , with France in with a good chance , and the UK represented by Blue.

The other thing that has made it less entertaining is the insistence of artists singing in English. What we want is singing in the native language , so we can laugh at the dodgy translations on teletext or whatever the new digital equivalent is!!

I somehow doubt we'll see a new Abba , but , hopefully it should be fun. Oh aye and Ireland have Jedward . I'd still rather have "My Lovely Horse"!!

Modern Music Is Rubbish

Or is it? I buy and listen to a lot of music and people tend to regard the stuff they get into between the ages of 14-18 as the classics. I've for the opinion that 95% is rubbish whenever you listen to music , and the 95% is usually the staple of local / commercial radio . However I was sort of surprised to see there's currently five albums released which I have to buy. Two of these are compilations , so I don't know whether they count , but what the hell.

Having said that we've already had "Let England Shake" by Polly Jean Harvey , and awesome album musing on war and it's consequences , then Noah and The Whale's "Last Night On Earth" a superlative album about coming out of the heartbreak of a break up , Wire's "Red Barked Tree" whic is , well classic Wire , purchased from the amazing Folk Devils in Whitby .I can't comment on the new albums but think that everyon in this list is worthy of your attention , all on the carousel at the top of this post. Listen and enjoy , and I reckon that music is still as vibrant as ever:

• Let England Shake - PJ Harvey
• Red Barked Tree - Wire
• Last Night On Earth - Noah and The Whale
• Catching A Tiger - Lissie (2010 but just found it )
• Rome - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
• Let Them Talk - Hugh Laurie
• Essential - Martin Carthy
• The Good The Bad and The Dread - Dreadzone

Money - that's What I Want

"If you want to know what God thinks of Money , look at the sort of people he gave it to" - Dorothy Parker




Another short post after just reading about money in general and how important it is to our society.
Also how the top money people are seemingly bulletproof against any outside organisation.
If you average man in the street ends up owing more than he can afford to pay , whether though outside forces or his own mismanagement - banks can take his house, goods whatever and he can even lose his job , which is his way of generating money.

A recent court case jailed a guy for insider trading , can't say I have a problem with that.

Yet with the banks through own , greed and mismanagement (selling mortgages to people who couldnt pay back the loans etc), effectively go bankrupt they are bailed out governments , as the financial system cant be jeopardised.

Then they have the gall to to award themselves bonusses and in the case of RBS / Halifax spend YOUR money on those atrocious adverts.

I don't know what I would have done , but if we own the banks cant we do something about it?

"Wealth is more desireable than poverty, if only for financial reasons"
- Woody Allen

The Times Rich List

What is it with lists and the obsession with peoples money. Most rich people have had the money given to them on a plate in one way or another , politicians, wide boy bankers , some royals and eastern bloc bankers spring to mind. There are a few multi millionaires I do respect though , who have got their riches by hard work and a big slice of luck . Luck does play a huge part in success, but hard work , planning , acumen have to be in there.

So the people I do have time for are Richard Branson and Chris Blackwell who started importing specialist records and kicked onwards and upward with their Virgin and Island imprints. Alan Sugar who made his fortune with Amstrad and is now a media personality , though I don't think the Apprentice represent the real Mr Sugar. The there's Felix Dennis , publisher and poet and finally George Soros who knows markets inside out and makes his money exploiting flaws in the system.

The Football Season Draws To A Close

Yesterday The Championship , Leagues One and Two and the rest completed their programmes. Preston were reelgated two weeks ago by a combination of bad luck , bad refereeing  in their last games on Phil Brown and bad management under Darren Ferguson . To be fair Darren cleared out the dross , gave youth a chance , brought in some good players and presided over one of the greatest nights in North End's history in the magnificent 6-4 defeat of Leeds . Would I give away that to stay up? My answer is no because that night will be etched in every North End fan's memory forever.

The other thing is , given who is coming down from the Premiership , West Ham and possibly Wolves , Wigan , Birmingham or Blackburn , the Championship will be even more difficult next season , so League One football give's Preston a chance to regroup , get back to winning ways and maybe even win League One.

The Premiership kicks off with Wolves against Adrian Chiles' beloved West Brom who are effectively though not mathematically safe from relegaton . That should be a hell of a black country derby!!  Arsenal then visit Stoke , with Aaron Ramsey set to play on the ground where his leg was broken. Arsenal could mathematically still be champions if Manchester United and Chelsea manage to screw up their run ins , and they meet  in the final match of the day , awin for United all but sealing their hold on the title , while a win for the Chelsea blows it wide open and will put them top. Arsene Wenger would probably prefer a draw , but he still has the menace of the visit to the britannia Stadium to contend with.....

Foo Connection

Was talking with a friend about the Foo Fighters and telling her how good they actually were , though sh aint a fan of Nirvana. Anyway just thought of how Learn To Fly and Wheels remeinded of Tom Petty's Learning to Fly . See what you think!!

Foo Fighters: Learn To Fly



Foo Fighters: Wheels



Tom Petty: Learning To Fly




Enjoy - I do!!

Kindle vs Paper - Round 1

This is a short post , basically a joke my mate Chris (the author of the Ape of Wrath blog) told me that he heard in a Comedy Club:

 

Suit on train platform with his attache case , laptop bag (on trolley) , answers his mobile phone and drops his Kindle which hits the platform edge on and shatters into a million pieces. Guy next to him drops his paperback copy of "Great Expectations" , bends down , pick it up dusts it off , and says "No Damage Done!!"

Sill not convinced , and still like my paperbacks