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:
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":
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!!
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!!:
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.
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!!
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.
