There was one night, a few years ago, that Dan Baird was in town on the same night as J Mascis and The Fog. It became apparent that Ron Asheton would be playing with Mascis but I never dug Dinosaur Jr or Snr so why the fuck would I go to that on the off chance they might do a Stooges tune. Who figured it would be the blueprint to Iggy's pension plan? Truth is while I’d have liked to meet Ron and that I’ve come to dig J’s film score work, I plumped to vote “Baird” that night.

I took some shit let me tell you but my roots rock shoots wouldn’t let me betray the fact that an evening in this guy’s company is always bloody entertaining. He’s an entertainer, in addition to being a first class rock’n’roll act. “Fresh Out Of Georgia, Live Like A Satellite” (granted - the title is a little cringeworthy but them's the breaks) outlines that fact but good as it is, the atmosphere at a show is something else. This guy brings the authentic roadhouse with him everywhere he plays. The song “I Love You Period” is an all-time favourite as are some of his others and they’re pretty much all here.

The dynamic of “All Over But The Crying” is a particular example of why he deserves to be playing bigger places but be thankful that he isn’t. Because that way you’ll get the full force. No huge moat filled with security or hangers-on.

You get Tom Petty to Springsteen via The Faces and in some regards Baird is better than all of those. You get the impression that he’s doing things the way he wants to and that’s no mean feat these days. With the exception of the Quireboys guy crashing the party at the top of the set, this is a good primer for the real thing. Elektra is spelled wrong on the captions during the interview section, what is up with that? That sort of neglect to detail kinda gets my goat.

One viewing and I doubt you’ll want to miss his next visit to your neighbourhood. Some of this might qualify as “City Rock” even? "Battleship Chains" Steve, whaddaya say??

Now I can get into this thing... hopefully it'll let me post also... you'll hear the cursing wherever you are if it it doesnae...

Excellent interview with Jeremy Gluck by Jean Encoule at Mudkiss.

While you're there, mull around a while. It's a fun joint.

Can't find a poster but The Yum Yums are in Philly tonight and basically blazing a trail across East Coast USA over the coming week. Go see them.

On the other coast, tomorrow (Saturday) Girl Trouble celebrate 25 years of knocking out their primo rockin' ruckus. Wonderful folks, fabulous music.

Anybody know how to change a masthead on this blogger thing?

I feel like a change...

I just watched the Rockets Redglare documentary, courtesy of the good offices of Sir Martin Percival. Something I always meant to search out and the recent resurgence of the name via "Who Killed Nancy" made it sort of timely. It's no cakewalk in terms of entertainment and the guy was quite obviously damaged to put it mildly. The presence of Steve Buscemi and Jim Jarmusch in the film give it a pertinence. Indeed when Buscemi talks about working with the Fire Department reminded me of the Rev. Jon Hammer telling me about Michael McMahon's encounters with "Fireman Steve" at clubs in the eighties.

There are very few things that I can say that I'd watch at home rather than see on the big screen but I think this could be a major downer in a theatre setting. I've seen my share and even been involved in a few train wreck type associations in my time but this guy took that to a whole 'nother level. It as if he was doomed from the get go. Still, he seemed to remain fairly upbeat despite the varying degrees of degradation and squalor he chalked up.

I know some of you folks met or knew (of) him, did you see this? Did it paint a true picture?? I dunno, it sort of bummed me out and I don't need that right at this minute. The Sundance Q&A with the director really gives credence to Eric's rant from yesterday. Don't tell me you didn't click on that? He's got the number of the "special feature" phenom and no mistake.

I wish I had a copy of "The Wrecking Crew" to bring me back up. Talking of which, there are screenings coming up in Cleveland (Ohio not Tyne and Wear), Florida and Alicante. Details here. A couple episodes of Car 54 are required to restore some kind of faith in the human condition. Maybe a Honeymooners too. Thankyer and goodnight...

Update 21/3 - Just incase you don't scan the comments, here's first hand info from The Hound.

Found this via Angel's place. One of my favourite songs of all time...

It's practically Friday so let's just approach that quietly. While half the world is in Austin, I know for the fact that HS ain't there so we can just watch these great clips in the hope that they're gonna come out this way soon. Beware though "Arjeplog" cuts off pretty brutally. I was looking for Maia's appearance on TV last night to pre-empt the album but found these instead.





I'm planning a sort of write-o-thon this weekend. Let that be a warning.

It was another of those jump starts. A sleepless night followed by a sluggish reaction to having too much to do in too little time. Getting to be something of a habit and it really throws me off. A blast of the Adiam album (out in Scandanavia today!) brought me round on the way to work. The damage with regard to what the car needed wasn't quite as bad as anticipated but still leaves a dent in the old wallet that I could have done without. So anyway, I have some reading and stuff to catch up with. I'm also trying to get a beat on "City Rock"...

A few things to keep you amused then...



Tom Phobic wishes it to be known... Hi kids, Well the credit crunch has fecked us all rightly, I'm potless, all my shares are worth nothing and the yacht and apartments in New York, Bermuda and Deptford have been repossessed. My team lost the Carling Cup and I'm getting balder as well. Already in 2009 Big Ron and Lux have been snatched away from us, and thats sad brothers and sisters it really is. Still, as Phil Spector once said "Look after Rock n Roll and it will look after you" and thats what we're gonna do - just for all you out there in myspace land. We've a gig to tell you about and without further horsesh*t here tis' - Saturday 21st March at THE MARLBOROUGH - 67 SEDGMOOR PLACE, CAMBERWELL, SE5 7SE with the very wonderful ZOMBIE MET GIRL.

And that's yer lot for now. There's more but it's gonna take some compiling. I'm going to try and knock the hour before I go to work thing on the napper also.

One last gem to leave you with here.

Ladies and gents... Mr Norman Carl Odam otherwise known as...



Thanks to Mr Ulf for the link...

I've been inundated with mp3's and info on stuff that's happening at SXSW. I imagine it's reaching full swing? Most of it is is tosh but check out this Get Hip shindig. Also Matt & Kim are there for one show, good luck with getting into that. It'll be jumpin'. Sir David Alvin is playing the Doug Sahm tribute wherever that is amongst the hubbub.

I woke up discombobulated today and that's been the modus since. After the carry on with the heating last week and make no mistake, I'm grateful for the fact I have that, let alone have it back - this week's huckle is the dreaded car service/MOT. I just dropped it off and be wondering (spell that – d-r-e-a-d-i-n-g) what size of hole this'll bury me in. The added bonus of my road tax being due will possibly result in my having to switch the heating aff. That's not spelled wrongly, incase you were wondering. I just reverted to the vernacular or localese. Not sure why.

Just watched the Lefsetz/Simmons oratory set-to and now I’m even more depressed. True, I could have turned it off but for some reason I stuck with it. Time is precious and you can’t get it back so I’m signing out and looking to Maia Hirasawa’s new set of songs to maintain the ballast. I know it’s a fine thing and if anything can sweep those cobwebs away, then these will.

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I just listened to the Richard Holloway programme on Radio Scotland. He was talking to the amazing Una McLean and they brought up the subject of Scots comedian, Lex McLean (no relation). Lo and behold, I found this on YouTube...



Lex died in 1975 and I guess almost no episodes or clips have survived so it was a trip to find this and two more. And then I also found some Chic Murray so that's an entirely different rabbit hole. See you around 2pm...

On the radio thing, Una tells a story about Lex playing Ayr that pretty much sums up everything some of us stand for. Amazing stuff. It seems as though this isn't available on the listen again feature yet. Maybe later. Here's the link to the page just incase.

The Brij is back! Brijitte West that is...

RIP - Freddy Frogs

(Gracias to Brian for the heads up)

“Adiam Dymott” is the album I’ve been eagerly awaiting since I first heard “Memory Loss” last summer. The condition of the same name that I intermittently suffer from started way earlier. Kicking off with “John Denver”, it’s evident that this expectation has not been in vain. 10 nuggets of loud, crunchy pop magic crossed with a spiritual hip hop persuasion await anybody who enters here.

Each and every cut is wilfully commercial. Taken individually it’s actually 10 one-sided singles backed up ready for take off. I imagine that you’re already familiar with “Miss You”. If not then you’ve not been visiting here much.

Out on Razzia this coming Wednesday, Ms Dymott has taken that classic Roxy Music swagger, added a heady dose of shake appeal and delivered something undeniable. There’s an upbeat twist to the relatively downbeat subject matter of the song titles. “Today Was Just a Downer” will make yours anything but.

The percussive attack of “Black Cloud” (maybe some mad mental Indian Chief?) is phenomenal. Imagine the finer elements of "Exile on Main Street" and think of how they might have benefitted from a “Wall Of Sound” treatment. When the bright white lights hit the audience at the point of guitar ignition then it’s gonna be pandemonium. I hope to be right down the front at just such a stramash before long.

"Holiday Inn" (not the Stereo Total song) closes things with an almost “Auld Lang Syne” meets Sam Cooke refrain with a big rolling BCR anthemic guitar lollup. Runrig vs Sigue Sigue Sputnik even. It takes the pace down a notch and fires up the emotional quotient. Absolutely fucking beautiful, if you excuse the vernacular. There could well be tears, depending on how liquored up any given crowd gets.

Don’t encourage Boner or any of these other "names" that are out to fleece you, you need something that will be a little familiar but presented in a way that’s so bloody infectious they’ll need to develop a balm for it. And even that will only work temporarily.

The album is streaming on her myspace, just hit the link at the start there...

Ease yourself into Saturday with the Ian McLagan clip here. If we could all go to a shindig where the band sounded like this tonight then we'd be doing better than alright.

This looks like a fun night oot!