Friday 26 February 2010

Drinking my wine & digging my earth


The BBC have commisioned 8 pitiful series of Two Pints Of Lager & A Packet of Crisps in the last ten years.

Today it looks like a cert that 6Music & the Asian Network are hitting the bricks to "shrink overall services and focus more on quality over quantity." This sort of logic really makes me feel like drinking alone in the rain with visions of rusty blades.

My initial reaction was "Come on villagers, light your torches, we have to trudge down so foggy London Town and raise the devil out of BBC director general Mark Thompson with big sticks.". But i fear the villagers would amount to a dozen part time librarians in cagoules.
I'll sign the petition anyway, you never know, someone might even look at it.

Here's a song i learn't from someone on 6music, Maconie's Freakzone? Marc Riley? Don Letts? Not sure, could have been any of em...











'How Much Are They?'-Holger Czukay Jah Wobble & Jaki Liebezeit

Oh, hang on, Snog Marry Avoid is on in a bit...

Monday 22 February 2010

"You can't learn nothin' whilst you're sleeping Joe..."



I bought a reissue of Dale Hawkins 'L.A., Memphis, & Tyler, Texas' on 19th January 2009 at 14.38 from The Rough Trade shop on Talbot Road, Portobello, London.

It was memorable. Not memorable enough to remember the date & time of purchase, thats on the receipt still in the case, but its one of those rare records that i got on first listen all the way through and kept coming back to to listen to as a full LP again & again.


Didn't know much beyond Susie Q until i read some attractive reviews for the reissue, and still don't to be honest, don't need to, this was enough.

Dale past last week, and i've been listening again. Every song on that LP can stand as his own epitaph, but i've gone for his advice to any old Joe Schmo down on himself. Maybe originally written as i soother to himself, but now seems like a decent farewell.

Class act.




Joe'-Dale Hawkins(from LA, Memphis & Tyler,1969)

Saturday 20 February 2010

Back From Seeing The Wizard

A slight sojourn there. A little falling out with BT can go a long way. Then i got a call from Alan Moore who asked me to write a 6-page 50 year history of Rock N Roll in Northampton for his new underground reader 'Dodgem Logic'. This task was not without some elbow grease, enough to nearly ended me. Not quite. No, actually very enjoyable. The second issue is out now, and is full o' sweet treats.

Yowzah yowzah yowzah! BUY BUY BUY!

DODGEM LOGIC ONLINE

Then there was a party to launch the thing which looked like this:




At which the boss actually unveiled some tunes he's been knocking up with "close personal friends of mine" The Retro Spankees & Downtown Joe Brown, here's a clip off youtube of the Greenbaum booming 'Johnny Fortunate':





Then i ate some turkey and got drunk for a month.

Then i sobered up whilst dj-ing for 5 strippers (they call it burlesque, but that seems to be just a case of frills) at this:



Then i wrote this blog & played this song for you:

So there we go. Hope you're swell.