FRIDAY 29th May.... BUBBLEGUM BOOGALOO presents.....

THE FIVE ACES at The Voodoo Rooms Ballroom, Edinburgh.

Rockin kickin 60s r'n'b stomp type stuff

Not only is it their first gig this side of Scotland this year,
it's also Lenny Loves 60th Birthday shindig - how can you miss it?

Doors 9pm - First set at 9.30pm. FREE ENTRY.

Groovy retro tunes from DJ's Tall Paul (The GO-GO) until 1am.

Wanda is heading North... tickets here!

An epistle from Mr Spence...

FRIDAY 29TH MAY at the HALT BAR, Woodlands Road, Glasgow; 8pm; FREE ADMISSION

BLACK MEKON

THE BRUTES

THEE PHARISEES

BLACK MONOLITH (-some kinda mutation of Black Mekon!)...a very rare visit North by BLACK MEKON - spawned in Birmingham's legendary COLDRICE club, and featuring a member or 2 of the fantastic COPTER.

Support comes from the two premier local practitioners of garage punk 'n' rock 'n' roll, THE BRUTES, and THE PHARISEES. Don't be a dummy - be there... it's FREE & gonna be shitloads'o FUN!!!!

A VAN OEKEL-LIKE MOMENT...

While I figure out what to do with regard to getting this show back on the road, there’s nothing much to report. It’s what you might call a slow news day and there’s no real means of scaring up a story with the limited resources that are available right now. So instead, I'm just gonna use this time to catch up on my favourites. If anything shows up then the necessary will be done...

Oops... So Many Records has a new billet. Bookmark that right now!

The e-ma(i)lady lingers on… Friday pm to Monday am with nada computer access would ordinarily have resulted in trauma but recent events tempered that somewhat. Was progress made in other directions? Well not entirely but it did provide time to watch a couple of things that I might have missed otherwise. One was wretched – the Bobby Gillespie/Irvine Welsh thing. This allowed me to vent and fizz in equal measure and underlined why I don’t rate the work of either.

On the other hand “The Night James Brown Saved Boston” was/is an amazing. It’s still on I-Player and I urge anybody that can, to watch it . Detailing events the day after Martin Luther King was shot and how that particular city was saved from the decimation that went on in other locations, a really top notch exercise in the art of documentary.

Later on Saturday, I received my first houseguests of the 2009 season, Aira and Zack of the parish of SF. Headed into Glasgow to catch the Stag and Dagger appearances of St Deluxe and BMX Bandits at Stereo. Watching St. D, I was transported back to Berlin 1988 and that debut performance outside of the US by Mudhoney. They have that sort of dynamic and in terms of noise shapes, it’s all good. Not so sure about the songs to be honest but the band is still in relatively short trousers. No – they don’t wear cut-offs – I mean that they’re only starting out. When they begin to infuse this hooch with their own identities then the fur really could fly.

This Bandits was Duglas and Davie plus the St. D guys. All the D’s in terms of alphabet, but straight A’s in terms of delivery. There was a decisive raunch to the proceedings and an air of the Dolls/MC5 to the outcome. Duglas was in great form and Zack took some photos that will appear here at some point. I’ll have a look to see if there’s anything on youtube too because you really should have been there.

The Aliens (some former Beta band members) followed and embodied everything that blows about the perception of popular music in 2009. Imagine a rave ELP (that’s Emerson, Lake and Palmer) cut with Oasis and Primal Sheep, they’re not as good as that desc. might suggest but they think they are and unfortunately some other people in the room do too so we headed for The Pot Still and left the deluded fools to it. I imagine that the Optimo kids restored some order later on via some of their patented sonic fumigation.

After A & Z left on Sunday, I mithered about whether or not to go into Glasgow for the MFC screening but couldn’t muster the energy being that I’ll have to shell for a new computer set-up in the no’ too distant. I hope that whatever you got up to, and I know that a bunch of you are on holiday today also, went swimmingly too. My efforts this week will be toward restoring to some order to what passes for an existence around here of late.

Meanwhile, here’s some stuff you might care you partake of…

Start your summer season in tropical tiki style as SUSQUEHANNA INDUSTRIAL TOOL & DIE CO. returns to OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD this week for a last-Thursday-of-every-month hillbilly hop! THURSDAY, MAY 28th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD TIKI BAR & LOUNGE /538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in ol' Manhattan / Two balmy shows, from 8:00 sharp until 10:00 / No cover charge! And next week, across the mighty East River... WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3rd / NORTH FOURTH / A swell new Brooklyn venue! /160 N. 4th St. (between Bedford & Driggs) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn /One SIT & Die set at 9pm -- with The Dirty Teardrops at 8pm and JB Beverley & The Wayward Drifters at 10pm, plus DJs! / $6 cover / Sincerely, Michael

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

The Eastern Dando? (Thanks to Bill Gibson for this link)

The Rt. Hon Duane Sherwood is caretaking So Many Records… let him clue you in…

Hi, Just a quick note to let you know that for the next week or 2, I'll be manning the helm at the blog known as "So Many Records, So Little Time". normally run by Kevin Patrick, it takes a different 45 rpm single each day & presents the song as a file to listen to as well as the story behind the record, sometimes personal, sometimes historic.

While Kevin keeps mostly to the rock & roll side of things, I'll be doing strictly Jamaican singles from the '50s - 70's for my stint. It starts tomorrow (Monday) and continues until he wants it back, that could be 2 weeks max. I'll be sick of this by then anyway...

Hope you have a chance to check it out. Regards, Duane

With all that to contend with, and another instalment of Kicksville 66 up, you won’t be missing my piffle one iota.

1976 wasn't too bad either...

1975 again...

The joy that is Youtube; Blondie in 1975...

I don’t have time to do anything other than say that I’ll be off the e-radar until Monday. This computerlessness is, er, character building. I imagine. Anyway, haven’t had the wherewithal to trawl for new stuff so that five tracks malarkey is on ice until things get sorted.

Mr Ulf recommends Lissy Trulie

JD King recommends Polly Cupcake

I've had the Fur and Steve album for some weeks so until I get around to a proper summing up, check out their myspace.

There are two Billie The Vision shows in Germany left of their tour that I only just found out about. Osnabrück, Glanz & Gloria tonight (22nd) and Hamburg, Uebel & Gefährlich tomorrow (23rd).

Jon Savage is blogging!

... and keep checking that Kicksville 66 action! It really doesn't come any better than that. And on a related note, I'll leave you with this. (Thanks Don).

The best laid plans of the past week have been somewhat difficult to put into practice. I have managed to attend to other stuff that I’ve been putting off for forever. Last night for instance, the hedge at the side of the house was seriously pruned which should mean that I don’t have to touch it again this summer. Been doing my bit in the loft too, so incase you were thinking that I’m just sitting around watching TV or whatever then please be assured this is not the case.

This enforced lay-off is set to run for at least another week, perhaps a little more. It’s out of my hands. In the meantime though, more gardening havoc will be wreaked and the lord only knows what else. Might see St. Deluxe and BMX Bandits this weekend at Stereo in Glasgow, part of this Stag and Dagger thing, but even if I don’t then maybe you could? That's if you can buy tickets for individual venues?

Chris sent me a link to something that reminded me that Raw Power was then and this is now. Shake and vac appeal anyone?

Matt & Kim are in London at Old Blue Last on Monday June 1st. Circumstances prevail that I won't be there but you can find all the Eurodates at their myspace.

OK, I have 6 minutes to eat something and get back to the coal face...

Remember that Adiam Dymott interview I mentioned? It's out now and you can score a copy here for £3.95.

The website is in the process of being updated so I'll put a link up for that as and when.

Conventional mailers should contact:

35a Dalhousie Street, Glasgow. G3 6PW.

Subscription for 4 issues:

UK: £12/Rest of EU: £14/
Rest of the world: £16

This just in from Brother Craig Regan (The Barman)

Raw Power Live Redux with James Williamson!

Joey would have been 58 today. Are you going to the Party tonight?

This was snapped on the reunion tour of some Swedish proto-avant-punk combo. I can't recall the name of said outfit but maybe you know? The members do look familiar...? Hmmmm...

Thanks for the messages regarding the mighty LP. I'm still having difficulty with processing the reality of it. I'll make sure that any missives get to his family in due course.

Photo by Mr Hägred

MONORAIL FILM CLUB

This Sunday, 24 May, the Monorail Film Club resumes with Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece, Wild Strawberries, selected and introduced by Stevie Jackson of Belle & Sebastian.

An allegorical 1957 road movie, it slips between present and past, dream and reality, exploring the external and internal worlds of its central character, Professor Isak Borg (played by silent cinema actor/director Victor Sjöström) on a poignant journey from Stockholm to Lund where he is to receive an honorary degree from his old university. He is accompanied by his daughter-in-law Marianne, who although pregnant, is planning to separate from her husband. En-route she and Isak meet a squabbling married couple and a trio of hitch-hikers, one of whom conjures memories of a long-lost childhood love.

Tickets from the GFT box office on 0141 332 6535.

It is with considerable regret that I report the passing of my friend, Lennart Persson. I know that some of you know him but for those who don’t then let me explain some. I don’t think that anybody would argue with the fact that he was probably the foremost music writer in Sweden. He lived and breathed the stuff and was that rare breed that never let ego get in the way of his resolute fandom. Starting out with Feber, it was my pleasure and privilege to be able to consider him part of this extended family. The few times that I was able to hang out with him were very precious.

Of course, until recently – I figured there would be many more.

He recently launched a website to collect the many strands of his professorial work and did me the honour of asking me to contribute to that. Lennart was the Dean of all cool things and always a staunch keeper of the rock’n’roll flame.

I spoke to him 2 or 3 weeks ago, just after sending him a copy of Barney’s Tom Waits book. He’d been looking forward to reading it and I hope that doing so, in some way, took his mind off what was happening. Another thing we shared was being fully signed up members of the Annika Norlin fan club. This guy’s taste was impeccable. All the way.

We had hoped that he’d make it out here to Kiltland this summer for a return bout of the Glesgae culture with his tag team companion Mr Hägred. Before fate dealt this mortal blow, he should be in London right now with Mr Ulf having watched Nick Lowe’s stonking Albert Hall performance last night. It’s a cruel reality indeed that takes him from us on that self same day.

Actually, if it wasn’t for Ulf then I probably wouldn’t have met LP anyway. I should mention a bunch of other stuff like Music and Konst, The Nomads, etc. but the technology precludes all that right now Lennart was a fella that made a difference. He set a high standard that so many are just not capable of. Myself included.

In addition to all this, he has a family and I can’t even begin to understand the depth of their sorrow. His wife Bera, his kids and the grandkids and I didn’t know this until yesterday but his mother is still with us. My thoughts are very much with them at this rotten time. At least he’s not suffering and if I know LP, he’s probably looking up Lux right now.

So long pal. You may have left the theatre but you will never leave our hearts and minds. Not ever. Lennart Persson - a “God Only Knows” guy if ever there was one.

Photo by Avy Carroll - Mr Hägred and LP in The Elvis Booth.

Please leave messages in the comments section and I'll make sure they get passed on.

Could be a couple of weeks before this home computer hoo-hah is sorted and the situation, if you’ll excuse the terminology, is cramping my style. This enforced discipline is causing some chaos but in the grander scheme of things is nothing more than an irritation.

Like something you should treat with ointment or a course of pills. I did get to throwing out some stuff from the archive. I developed a relatively ruthless streak to override my packrat mentality and dumped a big pile of stuff. And found some other stuff that’ll maybe find it’s way on here at some point.

Time is tight so if anybody in Madrid is around this weekend then those Coyotemen would be mighty pleased to see you. Meanwhile, I need to figure out what needs to be done in order for me to return to some kind of routine.

T'ain't no big thing in the beleaguered tapestry...

"How many "legendary" bands did you catch in their early days?" It's one of those one-upmanship questions populair among "collectors" or "fans". Me, I'd like to think I've seen it all ;-)

About 25 years of seeing 3 to 4 shows a week. One of the absolute worst was Nirvana right here in Utrecht when they supported Tad @ the Tivoli. Apparently this was one of their worst shows ever and I sold all my Sub Pop/Tupelo discs the next day. If only I knew...

Here's a video of Kurt & Co. playing the Tivoli.