RIP - Sir Jimmy Saville

Many thanks to The Chairman for indicating that the ongoing, long term pisser that was viewing this claptrap in Firefox or Safari appears to have been rectified. Gracias to those of you that persevered during this, would love to take credit for the fix but I had less than nothing to do with it. Perhaps a big boy or girl did it and ran away? Whatever happened, it hopefully makes the browsing experience a little less irritating. This weekend is one hour longer. Praise be.

Will you use yours wisely or just fritter it away like I probably will?

Hello,

This Sunday's Monorail Film Club is perfect creep you out cinema.
David Greene's "I Start Counting!" has in recent times become become so underground we didn't think the GFT would be able to source a print but they've somehow managed to get their hands on it. It's part mystery, part horror and has Jenny Agutter pre-Walkabout in it. The score is by Basil Kirchin and the title song is completely amazing.

Wynne (Jenny Agutter), is an adopted schoolgirl who has a growing crush on her older foster brother George (Bryan Marshall). At the same time a series of local sex attacks on young women is haunting the town and becomes the main gossip in Wynne’s school. Wynne’s obsession with George intensifies with the discovery of a bloodied jumper and his unexplained trips out in the evening, which she suspects relate to the sex attacks.

Introduced by Stephen Pastel.

Café Cosmo will be open for drinks and informal chat after the screening. As ever we recommend booking tickets in advance from the GFT box office on 0141 332 6535.

I Start Counting! - Director David Greene - Cast Jenny Agutter, Bryan Marshall

UK 1969, 1h45m, 15 - Sunday 30 October, 7.45pm.

Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. gets creepy! Well, more creepy, at least – with a Halloween themed fright fest at Otto’s Shrieking Head!

*THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD / 538 East 14th Street (just west of Ave. B) in Manhattan, land of the undead /Two blood-curdling shows, from 8:00 sharp until 10:00 /With DJ “Son of Scratchy”, salty snacks from beyond the grave – and no cover! /And, in the slightly less grisly future...

*WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9th / RODEO BAR / 375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in ol' Manhattan / Two seasonal sets, from 8:30 sharp 'til 11pm or so / No cover! /

Bewitchedly yours,
Michael
Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

The Yazoo Squelch Audio Society has released Andy Shernoff's "Are You Ready To Rapture". Cub (at least I think that's what it sez) reported A. Dahlmann broke the story during his first night out in NYC where the lucky blighter also caught the man's Lakeside Lounge show with Scott Kempner.

Flipside is an unreleased cut with Joey on the song "Make Me Tremble".

It's available in Europe here. If anyone closer to home needs one then let me know and I'll get them direct from the man himself during Nortonpalooza.

Join Line and Andrè live on Radio New York International at 7.30pm (EST) with Pop Detective head honcho Mark Hershberger, Dave the Boogieman and Barry Dreyfus!

Them Dahlmanns will be talking about "All Dahled Up" and DTB will play tracks from it!! Hit this link at the specified time and you'll be transported to Planet D.

Photo: Line + Darlene Love at Underground Garage 500 just the other night.

RIP - Edmundo Ros

The bunker is in partial disarray. As is my heid.

Still, one of the main things to steam my bean is the reportage of a certain shite band selling out 150K tickets and getting ready to hoover up another 75K with a third steee-rike. And of course, Eblurt is already awash with tickets. I hope the sellers clean up because I have less than nada sympathy for anyone that would consider spending a penny(bathroom reference is a handy coincidence) on these bastards. None of this is good for my blood pressure.

Of course I'm also cranky that I'm not waking up - or still up - In Madrid.

There's a Veronica Falls instore at Monorail tonight. Think I might toddle across there to a place where the mention of a certain Mancunian band is worse than the worsest curseword.

Friday again. The big event draws ever closer and there is a happening of great magnitude going on today too.

Those Quattros are pulling up at the Wurlitzer in Madrid to shake up that veritable rock’n’roll church in celebration of “Hank”. I can feel a big black cloud gathering over this napper of mine as stage time approaches. I’m sure BB mentioned something about a beautiful, rich woman adopting me when I put together the bio blurb but I realise these things take time… ha ha. So they’ll just have to enjoy themselves without the old dweeb hanging round this time.

The normal end of the week high has been put on a peep with various guff that's going on here but I'll bounce back. There is good reason behind that statement but let's not tempt fate.

Someone should be going after the Las Vegan promoter by all accounts but ahead of our Nortonpalooza funfest here's a little Jordan/Loney action. With wir very ain Brother Don on bass (or is it Larry David?) - praise be!!

I never heard this before... thanks to Ritchie via fb. And while you're at it - make a line at Screaming Apple to score The Dahlmanns vinyl.



And another clip for a cut from MacCon2 - details soon...

Well, it was to have been a big surprise. October 29th was to have heralded a return to the ring by Ben's new turbo-charged version of "The Weasel". However, Amazon UK let the cat out of the bag so punish them by ordering your copies directly from Recess.

The tracks are...

Carnival Of Schadenfreude
Fox News
Queen Kong
Muscle Mary
The Parasite Murders
No Reason To Lie
Under The Bus

A short, sharp boot up the jacksy to those who threw the guy under the mode of public transport namechecked on the EP closer.

Integrity intact, Ben has emerged bruised but somewhat unscathed from the brush with unbridled stupidity that set his plans back after SxSW. Everything happens for a reason, or so they say. His ex-bandmates really should have stuck by him - instead they provided the fuel for him to pick himself up to pen a couple of middle finger anthems that may otherwise never have been written. It's an ill flippin' wind people...

At the time of writing, word of this release having a "hidden track" based on Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" were unsubstantiated.

The Quattros are playing at my favourite-est venue on earth on Friday and I can't attend.

But maybe you could attend and represent me?

Premiere coming up at GFT in December. Full details soon.

I never heard this before but it's frickin' tops. Thanks to Mike Buck via the facebag. At least it's been good for something today.

Most likely not safe for work

RIP - Betty Driver

The Barracudas in Madrid on 2nd December. Another one that'll have to go ahead without me. Dammit. But hey, Wreckless Rigby will be here so I'm VERY happy about that. This is all based on surviving Nortonpalooza of course.

Under any normal circumstances, I would have deigned to attend one or both of these Los Plantronics shows in Englandshire but this is not possible. If you're in the vicinity then please roll up and represent me. Cheers.

Support this habit!

Crazy Clown Time!

Recent and ongoing events are making me re-evaluate stuff. Whether or not it’ll be possible to action any of these findings remain to be seen but we’ll see. I was recently made aware of this by Sir Francis Macdonald and hadn't heard it before but it seems very apt.

RIP - Donna Rose (Reeves)

I'm stunned to learn of the passing of my friend Donna.

Luckily for me. I got to see her for an hour or so last October in Camden when she was over visiting Barney Koumis and seeing Mack Stevens at Hemsby.

Qina, Tony and Vanessa and I hooked up with her for an aperatif. She joked that her husband - the one and only Brother Randall - would be jealous that she was meeting "a Scientist".

Donna was a trooper and not one for taking prisoners. She and Randy were - shit ARE - one of those great couples. They used to send me videotapes that I treasure to this day as I do the Robert Tilton T-shirt they did when they ran his "fan club". To top it all off, the road trip we did from Dallas to Springfield, Mo via Memphis and Black Oak (Arkansas) is indelibly stamped on my heart and soul. My brother just reminded me that my nephew Jamie was born when I was out there on the "In Search of Elvis" tour in August 1992. After that leg, I made my first visit to San Francisco to that historic meeting with another great rock'n'roll couple.

Randy recently told me to get my arse on a plane for the premiere of "Spinal Tape" in Dallas. Sadly I couldn't due to circumstances on this end but here is another example of how you should never hold back.

So long Donna. You made a difference to everybody you ever came into contact with. Not too many people can pull that one off.

Photo: Donna and I outside Elvis' gaff - August 1992

Once upon a time, well a little over two years ago, I met two kids in Spain that were about to set out on an adventure entitled “The Dahlmanns”. You know that I’m not one for expectations but the bar for this one was set ludicrously high but why wouldn’t it be? I mean, all the signs from the shows to the demos and the bush telegraph action suggested that big things were possible.

However, I was way less than prepared for what they’ve actually delivered.

Why what is left of the record business isn’t chasing them and pelting them with wads of money begging them to come on board and help save its sorry backside is beyond me. This isn’t some poxy indie scratchings assembled in a spotty youth’s room. Nope, this one harks back to a time when making a record was an event or rather when an album was a clunker free zone.

Eleven songs, each a teen pop anthem that weaves through stellar pop to glam punk with essence of folk rock and even country. Everything but the kitchen sink boiled down to create an effervescent classic that is capable of instilling genuine euphoria in a grizzled, cynical old Hector like me. Maybe you won’t recognise what’s happened to your face but that expression that will crack across yours is undoubtedly a smile.

“All Dahled Up” isn’t a record that requires to be accompanied by a thesis, or that should be explained. My f-f-fascination with Lines lyrics is my problem. On the face of it she writes like Jackie DeShannon and sings like a punk rockin’ Helen Shapiro. Blimey is right.

The cadence of Line’s voice is really quite exceptional. There’s a velvet clarity verging on being folky reeling around the ability to belt it out. Not once over the course of this piece does she bellow like one of those caterwauling over-singers (Expression © David Scott) that seem to plague us.

If something this plain good and pure and true can’t catch fire then there is simply no hope. End of. However, whatever... the pop thrills that radiate from “ADU” at least attest to the fact that it is still possible for rock’n’roll of this calibre of to be made.

So it appears that fine pop produce is making like the proverbial corporation bus (do they still have those?). Nothing for ages then two rattle along in unison and I can see a third a little way in the distance but I can’t tell you about that just yet.

Recently on farcebook, I alluded to the fact that I believed that this is equal to, if not better than the first Blondie album and I stand by that claim whether you agree or not. Actually, between this and the new Quattros opus – I’m finally getting the inkling of what it might feel like to be a proud parent or maybe doting grandfather is closer to the mark. But without any of the mess.

“All Dahled Up” will be available on CD from Pop Detective and on vinyl from Screaming Apple by the end of this month and hopefully shows in support of this momentous occasion will be forthcoming also. As soon as I know, you’ll know.

Photo by Pål Andreassen

I finally got to read Caryn Rose’s “B-Sides and Broken Hearts”. It’s an excellent snapshot of a world that quite possibly doesn’t exist anymore. Or if it does then sadly there’s all too little evidence of it doing so. In this case, familiarity does not breed contempt other than the fact that whenever these kind of obsessions are covered in print they seem to be compared to “High Fidelity”.

Dunno about you but I always preferred the film which is sacrilege in some quarters. I can reason this not least because it starts out with “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and MX-80 Sound’s “Hard Attack” appears in the front of one of the shop racks. We know these people is what I’m trying to say.

And I know exactly when I got the news about Joey and that sets the scene for this entire thing. Luckily I was with people that did understand the enormity. Lisa Simon wasn't so lucky. Some of this is pretty moving. I’m less inclined to go along with the premise that Pearl Jam ever made a listenable record. But hell, she even includes references to The Replacements version of “Black Diamond”. “B-Sides...” really is a superb haven and I wouldn’t be surprised if Santa is toting a number of these for lucky girls and boys that might enjoy a stay in this particular kind of universe.

It’s all about the passion that somehow seems to have gotten lost in recent times. The best book about music since JD King’s as yet criminally unpublished “Like A 45 at 33”.

All the details you need to snag a copy (or indeed copies) are here.

Groovie goings-on. A prime example of the inevitable.

(thanks to Brother Don for the link)

Another Friday, another raft of good intentions at this point in time. Saw “The Skin I Live In” last night and was a wee bit underwhelmed. I heard it was “uncomfortable to watch” but really it was an extended episode of “Tales of the Entirely Expected”. They yardstick being that if I can see the “twist” coming then it must be pretty bloody obvious.

Still, it’s well-assembled and Elena Anaya is hubba plus so no real harm done. Almadovar is a master craftsman to be sure but this lacked atmosphere despite the components themselves being exquisitely composed. I don’t know about art but I know how many beans make 10 when I start to fidget.

Been making a lot of stupid mistakes this last week or so. When I went to donate blood the other night I made a total horses arse of filling the form out. Things like this irritate the beejesus out of me. I’m jonesing for The Wurlitzer and a general dose of Spain methinks. Who’s going to the Norton bash? Please advise…

Got a bit of a deadline going for an important upcoming cultural artefact that I'll tell you about in due course. Also the scoop on "All Dahled Up" is just about ready to roll.

RIP - Charles Napier

RIP - Bert Jansch

(Thanks to Brother Don for the link)

Viv Albertine

Thursday November 3rd – The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh (with The Tango Rhums)

Friday November 4th – Beat Generator Live!, Dundee
(with The Creeping Ivies, more support acts to be announced)

Saturday November 5th – Secret Show, details to be announced closer to the time

Sunday November 6th – Mono, Glasgow (with Aggi Doom)

Viv Albertine, ex-guitarist and main songwriter for highly influential, all female punk, and indeed Post-Punk band, The Slits, plays her first ever Scottish solo dates in November. A founding member of The Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious, a band of legendary proportions in the punk scheme of things, but who never wrote a song or played a gig; and latterly of The 49 Americans, and Adrian Sherwood’s Dub-influenced collective, New Age Steppers. Viv retreated from Rock’n’Roll to study film-making in 1982 after the demise of The Slits, then working mainly as a director, mostly for television, throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s. Her freelance directing work included stints with the BBC and the British Film Institute

In 2009, she began performing as a solo artist, playing venues around London showcasing new material.. In March 2010 she released a four-song debut solo E.P. titled Flesh on Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label.

She additionally recorded a cover version of David Bowie's Letter to Hermione for the Bowie tribute album We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie which was released on September 6, 2010.

Viv Albertine's debut solo album is scheduled for release in 2012, her first major recorded work in 25 years, and she is currently writing a book, to be published in tandem with the album release.

I'm having some computer problems so it seems like a good time to leave you with the latest David Lynch protege... I guess that it's not particularly safe for work either visually or sonically. Ain't them the breaks.

Maybe a wee recap is in order. The weekend disappeared faster than one would have hoped but the twisted turns weren’t completely devoid of entertainment.

Saw a couple of movies… “Fright Night” – a remake – isn’t too bad and is savvy and stupid enough to entertain. Mid way between an episode of Buffy and True Blood lite. It’s pretty good Saturday afternoon mind candy. Not a classic but neither is it an utter waste of two hours.

Which is more than can be said for “Cowboys and Aliens”. True tripe but not of a very high order. Liked the premise but is there some kind of union agreement where all monsters are modelled on a cross between Stripe and “Alien” (a la the original Ridley Scott-fest). Gave that guy Daniel Craig a chance and he blew it – unless his part was playing a lump of wood. In that case C+A is oscar material. Even as mindless pish goes, this was pushng it. Shame really because of the two, I didn’t expect this to be the clunker.