Just as predicted by Victor S on the last Thousand Beer Show, the 'New and Interesting' Heavy Metal (NIHM - pronounced 'neem') scene is starting to take shape. Finland has selected Death-by-Hair-Metal outfit Lordi as its representative at next month's Eurovision Song Contest (the band, which looks like GWAR but sounds like Bon Jovi, prefers the sobriquet, 'horror metal'). Australia's Wolfmother, who namecheck Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Motown and Ride, are already huge in their homeland and their British fanbase is growing fast.
Just realised that my one and only appearance in the pages of the NME was ten years ago this week. Oasis were on the cover (natch) and me and four mates were pictured with Terry Staunton somewhere on the news pages after we won a national student pop quiz co-sponsored by the NME and that very rock'n'roll beverage, Coca-Cola (I still have the trophy - a bottle of coke encased in glass - gathering dust on a shelf). The text alongside the photo described us as a "curious looking bunch of studes". It's a school of thought I suppose.
News that David Blaine has resurfaced [sic] in order to perform another of his lame pieces of stunt magic prompted such comments among my (magic) circle of friends as, "I thought that cock had given up", "maybe his breathing apparatus will" and "I would pay to see him disappear up his own arsehole." Truly, not since the mockney zenith of Jamie Oliver has such scorn been heaped on one tedious 'entertainer'.
Continuing its run of bad press, the city of Nottingham has been named and shamed as the place in the UK where you are most likely to be burgled. Following on from lurid reports about gun crime in the city, you would think it was a pretty desperate place. As someone who lived happily in Nottingham from 1992 to 1999 and was never once burgled (despite living in inner urban areas including Old Meadows, Sneinton and Forest Fields), I have to disagree. It's actually one of the best provincial cities in England, with a vibrant nightlife, lovely river, two crap football teams (;-) and many other attractions. I recall being told back in 1992 that the city had a high burglary rate because of its large transient population (i.e. lots of students). That would be the reason why it continues to lead the way in burglaries today. Any attempt to forge a link with gun crime (anyway on the decrease) should be roundly disabused.
Saw a great live promo show by The Streets for radio station Studio Brussel last night (thanks Stuart). Mike Skinner, 'Fat Leo' and band were clearly enjoying their work as they rolled out several tracks from the new album, 'The hardest way to make an easy living', interspersed with old favourites such as 'Blinded by the lights', 'Turn the page' and 'Let's push things forward'. The 45-minute set in front of 150 people (we were close enough to smell the brandy Skinner was drinking) proved that The Streets can cut it live as well as in the studio. The playfulness of the two singers/MCs and their interplay with the audience was a joy to behold: from Leo Ihenacho teasing one couple with a twisted rendition of 'Don't Cha' ("Don't cha wish your boyfriend was hot like me, don't cha wish your boyfriend licked your pussy like me"), to 'Don't mug yourself' segueing into 'I bet you look good on the dancefloor', to Mike Skinner having one of his trainers thrown into the crowd. After a breakneck rendition of 'Fit but you know it', the frontman ended the evening by throwing himself onto the obligingly outstretched arms of his audience from a balcony a good 15 feet above, having threatened/promised to do so earlier in the set. A nice way for the band to end their short promo tour and a promise of excitement for anyone catching them live in the coming months. Don't believe the backlash hype, The Streets are still raw, real and really rather good.
The website of BELINTOURIST, the state tour operator of Belarus, is a rather curious proposition. While Lukashenko and cronies respond to their opponents with tear gas and baton charges, Belintourist attempts to sell 'Europe's last dictatorship' as "the country of unlimited tourist opportunities" and "the country which one could not help falling in love with!" Key attractions include a tour of 'The Stalin Line', the remnants of a network of fortifications built along the border of the USSR to protect against German invasion (and like France's Maginot Line, utterly useless against the mobile warfare of the Wehrmacht); and 'medical tourism' at the ELEOS rehabilitation centre ("the part of grandiose joint project of the State and Orthodox Church") - treatments include out-patient surgery, hirudotherapy (treatment with leeches) and "alternative methods of tonsilitis and laryngitis treatment". Forming a trinity of tourist weirdness with Stalin and the quacks are The Beatles. According to BELINTOURIST, "Since 2004 the city of Minsk is the official partner of THE BEATLES MOVEMENT in the world granted for its valuable contribution in promoting THE BEATLES as a phenomenon." The 'partnership' consists of a Beatles Cafe, "The only Beatles Cafe in all former USSR countries" and, since 2004, an annual Beatles Festival ("always sponsored by Siemens"). Performers have included Liverpool-based Beatles tribute band, The Blue Meanies. This year's event is scheduled to take place in Minsk on May 20th. "Imagine all the people living life in peace." John Lennon wasn 't joking when he called that song "communism with a sugar coating".
The second episode of The Thousand Beer Show is now online. It features reviews of The Earlies and Merz at the Paradiso in Amsterdam; thoughts on Zatte beer from Amsterdam's artisanal brewery, Brouwerij 't IJ; pub talk from Antwerp on metal, Tuscany, Belgian beers and Frans Maes; Victor S's theories on metal as the new fertile ground for alternatice music; and on the folly of pursuing the centre ground in politics. Special guests are Paul Robinson, Warren Richardson and Dennis Braat.
Check out Jonathan Watts's report from 'the world's biggest city', Chongqing, on Guardian Unlimited. Captures all the essentials of China right now. For the transcript of the piece, click here.
Two very different fugitives who fled to Belgium have been making the headlines in the past week. First up was Arsenal and England footballer Sol Campbell who recently disappeared halfway through a Premiership match. According to the British tabloids, Campbell decided to lie low in Brussels after this incident. He is set to return to first team action this week. Less likely to be returning to action is Yalçin Özbey, a former member of Turkey's far-right Grey Wolves organisation who is accused of murdering Abdi Ipekçi, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Milliyet in February 1979. Özbey is alleged to have carried out the crime together with Mehmet Ali Agça, the man who shot Pope John Paul II. Özbey is currently being held in Brussels's Forest prison after being arrested on March 8th for handling stolen goods. Özbey, who claims to have renounced his former life, has been living in Brussels since 1997, running a hardware store and later a nightshop. His past may catch up with him however, as he faces the prospect of being extradited to Turkey to stand trial for the murder of Ipekçi. Özbey is not the only notorious foreign criminal to have found Belgium to his liking as my previous post on Clark Olofsson, 'Return of an anti-hero' illustrates. And Campbell is not the first stressed public figure to hide out over here either, his disappearing act being highly reminiscent of that of actor, author and wit, Stephen Fry, who walked out halfway through a West End run of Simon Gray's play, Cell Mates, and was next sighted in Bruges. I can see why all four chose Belgium - it's a a low-profile kind of place where people respect each other's privacy; ideal for going underground.
Union St. Gilloise fans performing a drunken rendition of their terrace anthem, "If the Bhoys are United" (thank you Jinny Pursey) at Union's clubhouse last night. The occasion, a fun gig featuring punk power trio The Zoophils and the surf rock of Eddy Tornado et les Scandaleux.
