Did you ever hear of Carl Sigman?

I hadn’t until recently when The Chairman hooked me up with a copy of “Carl Sigman Songs”. A 3 cd set of material he wrote over a long, illustrious career. This has been put together by his sons to celebrate their father and they’ve got a lot to be proud of. I’ve been digging this stuff for weeks now. Always escaping back to it when I’d simply had enough of the countless mp3’s I get sent by acts that quite simply aren’t up to the task of writing anything approaching a real song, let alone perform one.

Maybe that’s a bit harsh but once you’ve tasted the primo stuff and all that…

How does this grab you? “Pennsylvania 6-5000” (Glen Miller), “It’s Square But It Rocks” (Count Basie), Buena Sera (Louis Prima), the theme to Robin Hood (The Richard Greene TV show), “Ebb Tide” (Sinatra/The Platters), the fantastic “The Day That The Rains Came Down” (Jane Morgan), “It’s A Marshmallow World” (Darlene Love) and “It’s All In The Game (The Four Tops) to take but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

When he passed away, in September 2000, Carl Sigman was 91 years old. I guess they call that a good innings. What a legacy to leave. Irrespective of things not being like they used to be in some kind of rose-tinted rear view mirror, this consistent quality of work is surely a benchmark. I can’t even begin to tell you how captivated I am by these songs. They capture an era that came before anybody could pastiche, or beat the life out of a song in the name of faux authenticity.

Things weren’t sullied by bean counters or would be experts. This was a job of work. And that job was to write songs and have them recorded. Did they think they would last? Probably not, but so much of this man's work has entered the dimension of “the standard”. He kicked off his career in 1936 when he co-wrote “Just Remember” with Johnny Mercer. From 1940, he penned words and music of songs that were covered by artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin, Elvis, Louis Armstrong and Dean Martin. Relative youngsters are probably familiar with “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)” by The Specials? Mr Sigman came up with that one in 1950.

When all is said and done, and the production is laid on thick with a dirty great trowel – it all comes back to the song and this man is responsible for a shed load of the greatest ever written. Carl Sigman had the chops and there’s not much coming out in today’s crop that will stand the test of time like this. I’ll cut out now, before I start to sound too much like my granny.

“Majorsongs… one of the top US music catalogues” strikes me as an understatement.

(Sincere thanks to Michael and Randy Sigman for kindly acquainting me with their dad’s work)

Does this look like fun or what?

This is the closest that Glasgow has been to a SXSW type stramash since "In The City" dropped by several eons ago. Do you have the stamina? There are some good acts involved. Drop by the website and figure out what works for that schedule of yours...

(Click on the image to open it in a legible size)

Not sure whether to see "Let The Right One In" and "Religulous" today or tomorrow. The world is my proverbial lobster or some such crustacean and the weather is holding up too. Down hill must surely be just beyond the immediate horizon.

It's been reported elsewhere but incase you haven't seen it, those New York Dolls have a show at the 100 Club on May 14th. Maybe some of you kids from other countries fancy it? It's just like the old days down there. In the venue I mean - not "The London", Rock On has long since left Camden as has Compendium Books and all the other haunts. Any of you guys heard the new Dolls record? The title track is on their site/myspace and it sounds puh-retty good.

Let's see how it all plays out this sabbath then. I used to be indecisive and well, still am.

Before I head for the kitchen, there's another JD King yarn on the go at his web hangout.

I've made a smidge of progress today. Both with the state of the drive and with filing records. Nothing too drastic but something.

Was reading the Lefsetz thing where he was getting all moist about “twitter”. This is the same guy that’s putting the boot into Record Store Day for whatever reason. Something to do with the internet? It generally is with him. Greetin’ faced is how we’d describe him here in Scotch-land. I’m guilty of being the same (stop smirking) myself but recently this guy has taken the art form to a whole new level. To tear something like RSD a new one is his most flaccid tirade yet. I actually find his attitude to this somewhat wretched, as I do his attack on (Elvis) Costello for something that has less than sod all to do with anything.

Yes, we know the web is killing music (sales) in terms of stores. That’s like a ripe plook on your schnoz that’s just about to burst but we must apply balm to those outlets that are left. If, for no other reason than the sheer joy they’ve given us over the decades. Some will survive and although it’s pretty tough, the hardcore hardware dealers are a fairly resourceful bunch themselves. It’s all a fairly romantic notion, I know. The ensuing generations have no experience of the finer aspects of hanging around in record shops. I could get all nostalgic at this point but will spare you that for now.

I was feeling pretty mellow before I read his pish. His angle on things used to entertain me but now the Apple groupie bit coupled with the continual mantra going over and over and over the same fucking thing has me reaching for the unsub link. His recent rankling of Gene Simmons bought him some time but even that was kind of sullied by his own seemigly creepy supercilious agenda. He has some answers but not them all. I do like clicking on songs that he recommends though, these are (almost) always horrible.

Anyway, RSD is presactly one week away, this time next year there will probably be less of them than ever. Celebrate this vanishing breed and pray that there’ll be a spike – something like the cinema industry experienced – when people started to go to those places again. There’s nothing like a cinema screening and there’s similarly nowt like going to a proper shop to pick up your music. Not Tesco, not Asda, not HMV. And as handy as Amazon or wherever may be, give that a rest, at least next Saturday.

If you have a store - or work in one, and you’re doing something to mark the occasion then please send details and I’ll compile a wha’appen, where in the middle of the week.

The Sonics "Way Out West" set from Gothenburg will be aired on Sweden's P3 Live this coming Monday (13th).

(Thanks to Kjell for the nod on this one)

It is with some relief that I can report that - I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO THE SALT MINES UNTIL ONE WEEK FRAE MONDAY! Don't like shouting in cap's like that but that was me getting carried away for a second. I haven't had one entire week off where I had next to nothing planned in a long, long time. Will I use this relative freedom wisely? Quite probably not, but you never know.

The "hotmail" wasn't working earlier but it seems to be now. Intermittent problems with all things internet seem to be ongoing. It doesn't matter really, other than if anybody thinks I'm not getting back to 'em. It's not necessarily my fault. Much as I try to keep on top of these things, maybe I have been a little tardy of late in some aspects of communication. At the same time, this caper with having to be reachable at any given second is not something that fills me with any great joy. Anyways, first things first.

A most excellent Eastertime to all our visitors wherever you happen to be dropping in from. Expect further bulletins in due course.

It ain't GF around here until approx. 12.30 but the wind-down is on, Mr Spence has managed to get this show back on the rails at the eleventh plus hour... have a braw Easter weekend, whatev you're getting up to.

FRIDAY 10TH APRIL at PIVO PIVO,
15 Waterloo Street, Glasgow; 8.30pm; FREE!

THE BRUTES
THE FNORDS

The first Glasgow show of the year for THE BRUTES, with support from multi-gender garage surf punkers, THE FNORDS.

Good Friday's gonna be VEEERRRY GOOD this year in Glasgow!!!

Admiral Stefan Conrad on the second instalment of Sophisticated Boom Boom on the cyberwireless tomorrow night between 7 and 9 CET. That's 6 til 8 here in the UK... good gear of the musical variety guaranteed.

The very Rev. JD King has posted another one of his fine yarns on his website. Go there and get acquainted with it in due course. All you need do is click this link.

There's 5 more hours to do at the coal face and then I have a week to try and restore order to various aspects of what passes for an existence. Part of this involves what goes on here in the blogosphere. Probably.

Also, I have Comedy Central free until May 4th so I'm making the most of that. South Park and Sarah Silverman tomorrow, after SBB of course. 'til then...

CULTURAPOP!

The Autographs on Revolver, found this via Ms Mona's B-Girls tip on fb earlier...

Hard to comprehend that it's just about a year since The Sonics blew through London. I imagine that a bunch of you kids will be taking in the LBB festivities over the impending weekend? No such gallivanting for me but I have a pass out from the salt mines for a week. At this point, there are plans to extricate myself from a number of ruts but that could all go south or down the pan, depending on how you like to describe what will likely amount to procrastination. So long as I keep away from futzing about on facebook then that’ll be something…

A schlep to Glasgow and Edinburgh could be on the cards, actually – it’s the MC Lars show on Wednesday. Couple movies, couple pints of Guinness mayhap? Just the two mind. Some gardening depending on the weather... I'm sure you get the drift. All subject to change.

Let’s get to some info then. It’s been a weird day with some kind of fug implanted where my common sense, such as it is or was, usually lives. This could make sense or not. Oh yeah, and this has nothing to do wit ICP or juggalos or whatever their crew call themselves…

Maybe some of you folks would like to try out Freekly?

I guess it works along the lines of when you order something from Amazon and it suggests other gear you might like? Anyway, it's a tie up with Rocks Backpages and it will deliver yer actual "rock writing" to your portal of choice.

I don't use iTunes or an iPod so I can't tell you if it does what it sez on the tin or not.

It does have an ever growing archive to draw upon though so it's potentially a very good source of information indeed. Particularly for future generations who are yet to discover that before the days of cut and paste, there was actual opinion and sometimes even passion involved with all this malarky.

I've also started to post on the RB blog. The idea is to float stuff on there that might not have made it to the pages of what's left of the inkies yet. We'll see, there's a lot of good stuff in there too so why not have a rake around. It goes like this, you head over to RBP via this link.

You’ll see an ad in the far RH column offering you an invite for a week so click on that and do the bizzo. Let me know what happens after that because I’m not tooled up for the full bhuna.

For those of you in the US, Eddie and the Hot Rods are headed in your direction! Click on the poster to enlarge and find out when they're hovering close to your zip code.

GLASGOW RHYTHM AND BLUES FESTIVAL - MAY 2009

A ton of shows happening over the coming week and months all over. I'm kinda pushed for time right now so maybe I'll try to round those up and, should you be in the 'hood of any of them then feel free to make the necessary arrangements...

In NYC...

It's more off-color action this week with Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. -- working blue at the honky tonkin'est joint in town, the Rodeo Bar!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8th / RODEO BAR /
375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in Manhattan / Two big & bawdy sets, from 10pm sharp until 12:30am / No cover -- and free peanuts! /

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

in LONDON...

Thomas Phobic Esq sez... "I have tickets for sale for our up and coming gig at The Dirty South on Saturday 18th April.They cost £8 but I'm selling my allocation for £6 quid each - the £2 is supposed to go to us but feck it, theres a credit crunch (is that some kind of biscuit??)

You will be entertained by: CATFIGHT, WONK UNIT, your favorite well mannered deptford guitarslingers, THE PHOBICS, The Wonderful BERMONDSEY JOYRIDERS, featuring Garry Lammin from Cock Sparrer and Keith Boyce from The Heavy Metal Kids and, playing a rare London gig - PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES.

The shindig starts at 7:30pm and the bar is open til 2am so come early, stay late and enjoy a smorgasboord of rock n roll delights. It will cost more on the door - so act now and save money for drink. Thank you for your kind indulgence."

in OSHAWA, CANADA...



Rob from Crummy Stuff checked in...

Hello everybody... Don't miss The Blue Coupe/Crummy Stuff show on April 17 at Chicago's in Oshawa...

Members of Blue Öyster Cult, Alice Cooper Band and Teenage Head all sharing the stage...

There is a good chance a certain Teenage Head member will join Crummy Stuff on stage for some rock classics!!

Let the music play, Rob.

And that's about yer lot for now, much more gig info to be processed and relayed in due course. I'm off to check out the new BoB and to have my tea. Not necessarily in that order though.

RIP - Mike McCann (Cannibals 82 -84/Disi & The Rathole Sheikh)

(Thanks to Gildas and Patrick for the info)

Here's a cool end to the weekend. Mr. Paul Cangelosi kindly dropped me a line to say that the Girl Trouble anniversary show sets are right there on the interweb for your downloading/listening pleasure!

All you got to do is click here and scroll down to the sonic paydirt. Of course it should be a triple vinyl release but until then, this will do nicely. I'm listening now and really wish I'd been there. A couple of the finest shows I ever saw by anybody was spent in their company way too long ago. They've still got it alright!

LORD ROCHESTER/THE MAD SCENE/THE INEPTORS plus Dj: Chris Fast/Wednesday 15th April/Henry's Cellar Bar/Morrison Street/Edinburgh/doors at 8pm - £5/4

Lord Rochester return fresh from London's 'Big Beat Bonanza' festival playing stripped down Bo Diddleyesque rock'n'rumble in tartan jackets! Featuring Russ 'Wildebeest' Wilkins, Saskia 'Sally Skull' Holling and Tim 'Mystery Juice' Matthew. Expect an LP real soon.

The Mad Scene play a warm up before 'Homegame' Fence Collective festival in Anstruther. From Brooklyn, New York they are a Velvets/Television Personalities/Syd Barrett inspired cacophony and amongst them lurks Hamish Kilgour of New Zealand's Flying Nun legends 'The Clean'

The Ineptors are the recently renamed 'Preston Pfanz and The Seaton Sands', Edinburgh's premier Surfbeat and R'n'R instrumentalists

Also in Edinburgh, two screenings of The Monks: Transatlantic Feedback doc at The Cameo. Friday 17th and Saturday 18th (the timings aren't on the site yet, it's late - I know that). So if you missed the recent Glasgow stint then get yourself along to one of those...

I'm experiencing some e-mail turbulence this am. Pain in the arse. Anyway, I'm off now to see Spinal Tap on the big screen (on a double bill with Anvil). A perfect Sunday afternoon pastime methinks!

John Cavanagh has this info for you lucky folks in "the London"...

"I'm sending this to friends who either live in London or who might be interested in Delia Derbyshire. Quite clearly, I understand many of those I 'invite" won't be able to attend, but I hope you're interested to know of this new film. I supplied interview material I recorded with the late Delia Derbyshire and also recorded a bit of voiceover for the film.

Here's some info about the film: The Delian Mode explores the life and work of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire, the woman behind the distinctive Doctor Who theme music created at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the early 1960's.

The film delves into Derbyshire’s unique approach to sound recording and manipulation while supporting a slowly growing recognition of her as an influential figure in the history of electronic music.

Participants include Brian Hodgson and Dick Mills of the now defunct BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the founder of Electronic Music Studios (EMS) Peter Zinovieff, musicians Peter Kember (Sonic Boom), Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Ann Shenton (Add N to X) as well as other friends and colleagues of Delia. Directed by Kara Blake/
Duration: 25 minutes

Yellow Room, Spirit Level, Southbank Centre - The film will be introduced by Peaches at 6.30 and will screen on a loop until 9. Admission is free.

I decided against the haircut. And the rain meant that I could procrastinate with regard to pulling weeds outta the drive. Some headway was made in filing away 45's but that's all come to a grinding halt because I've brought a pile of stuff down to play. So I can do that while I futz around on here. Perfect. At the moment, The Screaming Blue Messiahs are reverberating at some considerable volume. I was inspired by hearing them on NoFoSo this morning and I'm thinking that this combo should have been bigger than U2. Come to think of it, everybody should be bigger than them but you get my drift. And if you don't then you can suck on the proverbial dummy...

A major regret of mine was not being able to see through the publishing of JD King's "Like A 45 at 33" collection of short stories. Each and every one was solid gold and if there are any enterprising publishers out there looking for that commodity then you should cyberscamper over to his site to check out a brand new piece that he's posted there. Also, if there are any bands who are looking to have a boss jacket adorn some kind of physical release, then JD is yer man. His wares are there to be poured over after you've dug the wordage.

Ever wondered what punk rockers in Glenrothes get up to? Nip on over to Newtown Products to find out.

Oh, Side one of "Gunshy" (pronounced "Gun Shy") is just about done so it'll be kettle on and flip it over. Oh, and I need to scan that Larry Wallis "Police Car" sleeve. Telling you, it's all flippin' go...

Robbie Fulks has 50 new songs available for your downloading pleasure right here...

He's also headed for Sweden, details here. (Thanks to Ms Amy Allison for the nod on this one)