Different Day

New radio show

2008-09-18T14:59:00.003+02:00

Less time for blogging now, but please check out my new radio show:
http://www.fmbrussel.be/programmas/music_muziek_musique.aspx

(click where it says 'luister', below the word 'terug')

Each show (which is in English) is posted on a Wednesday and streams for one week.

Cheers,
Justin

New Hormones records

2008-02-24T23:02:00.002+01:00

The complete story of the first indie record label - New Hormones - is now online.

Click here for Morrissey in a Trilby, Nico reading Dickens, Pete Shelley in a skip, and most of all some fine, fine music.

"It was an adventure: set out with that map and see where you land."

2007-12-04T20:11:00.000+01:00

When did women start buying trousers with descriptions like THIS:

The editor
Magazine power player in the business of mixing substance and style. Has a 24/7 radar for anything sophisticated, of-the-moment, and smart. Deep-sixes everything else. Displays an uncanny ability to bring glamour to the grind. Spends days making decisions, knowing what's going on and filtering it for the masses while making it look impeccably, impossibly effortless.

WOW. A friend says they are very comfortable.

The annoying shape of things to come

2007-11-06T01:11:00.000+01:00

Man, those adverts on the international version of the BBC website are REALLY annoying. Airbus is the culprit, in case UK readers are wondering. You'll probably get to experience this world of pain in another couple of years, in any case.

A bottle of the Nigerian

2007-08-31T00:04:00.000+02:00

So Guinness sales are reportedly higher in Nigeria than in Ireland. Takes me back to the days of living above the Londis next door to Stockwell tube station (opposite The Swan, round the corner from Jack's off licence). My flatmate Dave and I would regularly partake of bottles of the Nigerian-brewed Guinness Foreign Extra, which always seemed to be available in Jack's in place of your common or garden Irish variety (one of many curiosities of the offy - others included a vodka mouth spray called Zulu 42). The Foreign Extra is made with sorghum instead of barley, consequently tasting much better than the regular version, at least to this jaded palate.

Music Muziek Musique

2007-08-13T03:11:00.000+02:00

Just back from the Sziget Festival. Call me old-fashioned, but...Big thumbs up to the Chems, Madness, Plump DJs and Palotai, Hot Leggs and the Magic Mirror, Orchestre National de Barbes, the Hare Krishna punks, Absinthe and Palinka in the Meduza, and especially Sarah, Bianca, Kiki and the VIP posse!
A nice way to end posts about music on Different Day. From now on they will appear on the blog of my new club venture Music Muziek Musique. Different Day will continue to house all other thoughts on culture. Cheers!

More Magma than Maxi Babydog

2007-07-31T23:23:00.000+02:00

Watching Beenie Man live at the Dour Festival the other week I was struck by the strange realisation that Dancehall reggae performed live has more time signature changes than the average Emerson, Lake and Palmer recital. It's that greatest hits-megamix thing that Dancehall stars go in for - four bars of one hit, followed by 8 bars of another, etc, etc. Jive Bunny with street cred.

This is Niche

2007-07-14T18:33:00.000+02:00

Disclaimer: I know nothing about Niche other than what I can surmise from watching a few videos and reading the comments on You Tube.

Niche (aka bassline) is a new genre of music sweeping the North of England and the Midlands.
Niche is a combination of UK Garage, Grime, 'Ardkore, and R&B.
Niche is named after a nightclub - Niche in Sheffield - continuing a fine tradition that includes House music (named after the Warehouse in Chicago) and Garage (named after New York's Paradise Garage).

Niche is not just in Niche - see also: Maximes in Wigan; Sheridans in Dewsbury; Malia, Greece.
Niche follows the classic North/South divide in UK clubland (think jungle vs. happy hardcore): a little less cool, a little more proletarian, certainly more utilitarian, a lot more fun.
Niche sometimes reminds me of Steve Walsh (Hello MC Bonez)!
Niche will be massive (like Manchester City). The Broomstick Song by Suspex will lead the way.
Niche will annoy the fuck out of a lot of people.
Niche is sik! (so I'm told).
Niche is dead (if an old man like me is writing about it).
Niche will never die!
Niche does not exist (says Billy CCS).

Genre-hopping

2007-07-14T17:47:00.000+02:00

Love this mashup of Grandmaster Flash's The Message and La Revedere by Vienna's Dunkelbunt (featuring the Amsterdam Klezmer Band). DJ Typsy Gypsy from Belgium's very own Balkan Hot Step Sound System is the man responsible. While we're genre-hopping, how about a dash of Congrotronics? Konono No. 1 are hosting a four-hour Congotronics extravaganza at the Sfinks Festival near Antwerp on July 28th.
Perhaps Turbo-Folk is more to your liking. Dara Bubamara is one of the leading practioners.
Changing continents, what about a dash of Hip-Life? High Life's refined sound lends itself well to the smoother, chart-oriented end of the rap spectrum. I could imagine Will Smith blending some Hip-Life elements into one of his hits in the same way that Paul Simon incorporated Township Jive on You can call me Al, or Eurythmics hinted at calypso on Right by your Side.
And then there's Niche (see above).

East German postpunk

2007-07-14T17:02:00.000+02:00

Ever wondered what postpunk from the DDR sounds like? An article on the very topic in Germany's excellent De:Bug magazine led me to this tasting menu for the CD that accompanies the book Spannung Leistung Widerstand: Magnetbanduntergrund DDR 1979-1990) ('Tension Power Resistance': tapeband underground East Germany 1979-1990 ) by Alexander Pehlemann & Ronald Galenza. These cassette recordings - taped and passed from peer to peer, usually no more than 40 or 50 times (what in the Soviet Union was called Magnitizdat distribution) indicate a vibrant underground risking arrest and imprisonment for their art.
My German is too feeble to be able to comment on the lyrics, but musically there are hints of the Residents, Young Marble Giants, John Foxx-era Ultravox, the Krautrock of Can, Neu! and the gang, the metal-bashing of Neubauten or Die Krupps, and other, unplaceable, but familiar, electronoise signals. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's crap: it's brilliant that it got made at all.

Tone Def: The Blair era in UK number one hits

2007-06-27T17:22:00.000+02:00

It started with Michael Jackson, then Gary Barlow (!), and ended with Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. In between there was an awful lot of dross and the occasional nugget. Here, should anyone wish to make sense of it, is the complete list of UK number 1 hit singles during Tony Blair's tenure as PM (thanks, Wikipedia). If anyone's partying tonight, you know what to play. Mark Ronson, Dangermouse, AN Other: how about a megamash-up mix of all these hits with a 4/4 beat? Stars on 45? Nah, mate, it's time for Stars on Shuffle Play...

(Date, title, artist, sales)
1997:
27 April
Blood on the Dance Floor
Michael Jackson
85,000
May 4
Love Won't Wait
Gary Barlow
92,000
11 May
You're Not Alone
Olive
75,000
18 May
You're Not Alone
Olive
74,000
25 May
I Wanna Be the Only One
Eternal featuring Bebe Winans
150,000
1 June
Mmmbop
Hanson
260,000
8 June
Mmmbop
Hanson
120,000
15 June
Mmmbop
Hanson
86,000
22 June
I'll Be Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
109,000
29 June
I'll Be Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
156,000
6 July
I'll Be Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
167,000
13 July
D'You Know What I Mean
Oasis
377,000
20 July
I'll Be Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
124,000
27 July
I'll Be Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
127,000
3 August
I'll Be Missing You
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
100,000
10 August
Men in Black
Will Smith
182,000
17 August
Men In Black
Will Smith
133,000
24 August
Men In Black
Will Smith
122,000
31 August
Men In Black
Will Smith
105,000
7 September
The Drugs Don't Work
The Verve
105,000
14 September
Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something about the Way You Look Tonight
Elton John
658,000
21 September
Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something about the Way You Look Tonight
Elton John
1,547,000
28 September
Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something about the Way You Look Tonight
Elton John
1,067,000
5 October
Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something about the Way You Look Tonight
Elton John
572,000
12 October
Candle in the Wind 1997 / Something about the Way You Look Tonight
Elton John
274,000
19 October
Spice Up Your Life
Spice Girls
321,000
26 October
Barbie Girl
Aqua
190,000
2 November
Barbie Girl
Aqua
239,000
9 November
Barbie Girl
Aqua
190,000
16 November
Barbie Girl
Aqua
165,000
23 November
Perfect Day
Various Artists
385,000
30 November
Perfect Day
Various Artists
275,000
7 December
Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh!
Teletubbies
317,000
14 December
Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh!
Teletubbies
230,000
21 December
Too Much
Spice Girls
252,000
28 December
Too Much
Spice Girls
218,000

1998:
4 January
Perfect Day
Various Artists
83,000
11 January
Never Ever
All Saints
54,000
18 January
All Around the World
Oasis
110,000
25 January
You Make Me Wanna
Usher
110,000
1 February
Doctor Jones
Aqua
102,000
8 February
Dr Jones
Aqua
117,000
15 February
My Heart Will Go On
Céline Dion
234,700
22 February
Brimful of Asha
Cornershop
208,321
1 March
Frozen
Madonna
197,000
8 March
My Heart Will Go On
Céline Dion
112,000
15 March
It's Like That
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins
246,796
22 March
It's Like That
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins
167,000
29 March
It's Like That
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins
136,000
5 April
It's Like That
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins
114,000
12 April
It's Like That
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins
128,000
19 April
It's Like That
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins
87,000
26 April
All I Need
Boyzone
80,049
3 May
Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade
All Saints
106,956
10 May
Turn Back Time
Aqua
75,000
17 May
Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade
All Saints
50,714
24 May
Feel It
The Tamperer featuring Maya
49,500
31 May
C'est La Vie
B*Witched
153,000
7 June
C'est La Vie
B*Witched
93,000
14 June
Three Lions 98
Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds
232,075
21 June
Three Lions 98
Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds
150,000
28 June
Three Lions 98
Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds
104,000
5 July
Because We Want To
Billie
80,000
12 July
Freak Me
Another Level
99,000
19 July
Deeper Underground
Jamiroquai
89,000
26 July
Viva Forever
Spice Girls
277,911
2 August
Viva Forever
Spice Girls
112,000
9 August
No Matter What
Boyzone
277,554
16 August
No Matter What
Boyzone
176,000
23 August
No Matter What
Boyzone
148,442
30 August
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Manic Street Preachers
148,000
6 September
Bootie Call
All Saints
116,000
13 September
Millennium
Robbie Williams
140,000
20 September
I Want You Back
Melanie B featuring Missy Elliott
86,000
27 September
Rollercoaster
B*Witched
156,800
4 October
Rollercoaster
B*Witched
112,000
11 October
Girlfriend
Billie
119,000
18 October
Gym And Tonic
Spacedust
66,000
25 October
Believe
Cher
107,000
1 November
Believe
Cher
205,000
8 November
Believe
Cher
287,000
15 November
Believe
Cher
165,000
22 November
Believe
Cher
139,000
29 November
Believe
Cher
126,000
6 December
Believe
Cher
114,000
13 December
To You I Belong
B*Witched
150,000
20 December
Goodbye
Spice Girls
380,000
27 December
Chocolate Salty Balls
Chef
220,000

1999:
3 January
Heartbeat / Tragedy
Steps
98,000
10 January
Praise You
Fatboy Slim
80,913
17 January
A Little Bit More
911
75,400
24 January
Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
The Offspring
140,000
31 January
You Don't Know Me
Armand Van Helden
118,500
7 February
Maria
Blondie
128,000
14 February
Fly Away
Lenny Kravitz
123,000
21 February
...Baby One More Time
Britney Spears
463,000
28 February
...Baby One More Time
Britney Spears
231,000
7 March
When The Going Gets Tough
Boyzone
213,000
14 March
When The Going Gets Tough
Boyzone
197,000
21 March
Blame It On The Weatherman
B*Witched
90,000
28 March
Flat Beat
Mr. Oizo
283,000
4 April
Flat Beat
Mr. Oizo
184,000
11 April
Perfect Moment
Martine McCutcheon
200,000
18 April
Perfect Moment
Martine McCutcheon
140,000
25 April
Swear It Again
Westlife
102,000
2 May
Swear It Again
Westlife
80,000
9 May
I Want It That Way
The Backstreet Boys
93,000
16 May
You Needed Me
Boyzone
142,901
23 May
Sweet Like Chocolate
Shanks & Bigfoot
251,000
30 May
Sweet Like Chocolate
Shanks & Bigfoot
141,000
6 June
Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
Baz Luhrmann
206,000
13 June
Bring It All Back
S Club 7
190,000
20 June
Boom Boom Boom Boom
Vengaboys
134,000
27 June
9pm (Till I Come)
ATB
270,000
4 July
9pm (Till I Come)
A.T.B.
108,000
11 July
Livin' La Vida Loca
Ricky Martin
131,000
18 July
Livin' La Vida Loca
Ricky Martin
125,000
25 July
Livin' La Vida Loca
Ricky Martin
96,600
1 August
When You Say Nothing At All
Ronan Keating
197,000
8 August
When You Say Nothing At All
Ronan Keating
100,000
15 August
If I Let You Go
Westlife
90,491
22 August
Mi Chico Latino
Geri Halliwell
132,000
29 August
Mambo No.5 (A Little Bit Of...)
Lou Bega
224,000
5 September
Mambo No.5 (A Little Bit Of...)
Lou Bega
175,000
12 September
We're Going to Ibiza!
Vengaboys
142,000
19 September
Blue (Da Ba Dee)
Eiffel 65
226,500
26 September
Blue (Da Ba Dee)
Eiffel 65
164,500
3 October
Blue (Da Ba Dee)
Eiffel 65
141,000
10 October
Genie in a Bottle
Christina Aguilera
172,000
17 October
Genie in a Bottle
Christina Aguilera
123,000
24 October
Flying Without Wings
Westlife
92,000
31 October
Keep On Movin'
Five
137,000
7 November
Lift Me Up
Geri Halliwell
139,000
14 November
She's The One / It's Only Us
Robbie Williams
120,000
21 November
King Of My Castle
Wamdue Project
148,000
28 November
Millennium Prayer
Cliff Richard
147,000
5 December
Millennium Prayer
Cliff Richard
158,000
12 December
Millennium Prayer
Cliff Richard
159,000
19 December
I Have a Dream/Seasons In The Sun
Westlife
213,000
26 December
I Have a Dream/Seasons In The Sun
Westlife
231,000

2000:
2 January
I Have a Dream / Seasons In The Sun
Westlife
34,500
9 January
I Have a Dream / Seasons In The Sun
Westlife
34,738
16 January
The Masses Against The Classes
Manic Street Preachers
76,000
23 January
Born To Make You Happy
Britney Spears
91,000
30 January
Rise
Gabrielle
77,501
6 February
Rise
Gabrielle
85,500
13 February
Go Let It Out
Oasis
180,000
20 February
Pure Shores
All Saints
199,084
27 February
Pure Shores
All Saints
154,000
5 March
American Pie
Madonna
139,000
12 March
Don't Give Up
Chicane with Bryan Adams
74,470
19 March
Bag It Up
Geri Halliwell
106,000
26 March
Never Be The Same Again
Melanie C featuring Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
144,000
2 April
Fool Again
Westlife
82,772
9 April
Fill Me In
Craig David
165,000
16 April
Toca's Miracle
Fragma
187,859
23 April
Toca's Miracle
Fragma
116,000
30 April
Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)
Oxide & Neutrino
70,700
7 May
Oops!...I Did It Again
Britney Spears
124,000
14 May
Don't Call Me Baby
Madison Avenue
93,000
21 May
Day & Night
Billie Piper
104,000
28 May
It Feels So Good
Sonique
195,306
4 June
It Feels So Good
Sonique
109,000
11 June
It Feels So Good
Sonique
85,000
18 June
You See The Trouble With Me
Black Legend
81,500
25 June
Spinning Around
Kylie Minogue
82,000
2 July
The Real Slim Shady
Eminem
86,000
9 July
Breathless
Corrs
80,869
16 July
Life Is A Rollercoaster
Ronan Keating
94,400
23 July
We Will Rock You
Five and Queen
77,500
30 July
7 Days
Craig David
149,000
6 August
Rock DJ
Robbie Williams
199,307
13 August
I Turn to You
Melanie C
121,000
20 August
Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor
202,600
27 August
Music
Madonna
115,000
3 September
Take On Me
A1
82,000
10 September
Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
Modjo
142,000
17 September
Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
Modjo
78,000
24 September
Against All Odds
Mariah Carey and Westlife
112,000
1 October
Against All Odds
Mariah Carey and Westlife
78,500
8 October
Black Coffee
All Saints
60,000
15 October
Beautiful Day
U2
65,471
22 October
Stomp
Steps
48,250
29 October
Holler / Let Love Lead The Way
Spice Girls
106,000
5 November
My Love
Westlife
112,252
12 November
Same Old Brand New You
A1
60,500
19 November
Can't Fight the Moonlight
LeAnn Rimes
113,500
26 November
Independent Women Part 1
Destiny's Child
109,000
3 December
Never Had a Dream Come True
S Club 7
144,000
10 December
Stan
Eminem
199,000
17 December
Can We Fix It?
Bob The Builder
215,000
24 December
Can We Fix It?
Bob The Builder
360,000
31 December
Can We Fix It?
Bob The Builder
90,300

2001:
7 January
Touch Me
Rui Da Silva featuring Cassandra
68,473
14 January
Love Don't Cost a Thing
Jennifer Lopez
67,879
21 January
Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)
Limp Bizkit
49,487
28 January
Rollin'
Limp Bizkit
47,435
4 February
Whole Again
Atomic Kitten
69,286
11 February
Whole Again
Atomic Kitten
85,295
18 February
Whole Again
Atomic Kitten
101,919
25 February
Whole Again
Atomic Kitten
113,090
4 March
It Wasn't Me
Shaggy featuring Rikrok
345,498
11 March
Uptown Girl
Westlife
292,319
18 March
Pure And Simple
Hear'Say
549,839
25 March
Pure And Simple
Hear'Say
242,000
1 April
Pure And Simple
Hear'Say
81,000
8 April
What Took You So Long?
Emma Bunton
76,317
15 April
What Took You So Long?
Emma Bunton
64,818
22 April
Survivor
Destiny's Child
104,062
29 April
Don't Stop Movin'
S Club 7
178,985
6 May
It's Raining Men
Geri Halliwell
154,811
13 May
It's Raining Men
Geri Halliwell
78,000
20 May
Don't Stop Movin'
S Club 7
63,500
27 May
Do You Really Like It?
DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies
148,594
3 June
Angel
Shaggy featuring Rayvon
178,645
10 June
Angel
Shaggy featuring Rayvon
101,000
17 June
Angel
Shaggy featuring Rayvon
76,000
24 June
Lady Marmalade
Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink
109,405
1 July
The Way To Your Love
Hear'Say
75,514
8 July
Another Chance
Roger Sanchez
72,534
15 July
Eternity / The Road to Mandalay
Robbie Williams
70,186
22 July
Eternity / The Road to Mandalay
Robbie Williams
64,000
29 July
Eternal Flame
Atomic Kitten
141,994
5 August
Eternal Flame
Atomic Kitten
70,000
12 August
21 Seconds
So Solid Crew
118,135
19 August
Let's Dance
Five
84,782
26 August
Let's Dance
Five
52,000
2 September
Too Close
Blue
83,886
9 September
Mambo No. 5
Bob The Builder
102,056
16 September
Hey Baby (DJ Otzi song)
DJ Otzi
90,748
23 September
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Kylie Minogue
306,648
30 September
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Kylie Minogue
180,000
7 October
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Kylie Minogue
122,000
14 October
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Kylie Minogue
104,000
21 October
Because I Got High
Afroman
129,613
28 October
Because I Got High
Afroman
109,000
4 November
Because I Got High
Afroman
77,060
11 November
Queen of My Heart
Westlife
139,344
18 November
If You Come Back
Blue
87,600
25 November
Have You Ever
S Club 7
143,324
2 December
Gotta Get Thru This
Daniel Bedingfield
108,799
9 December
Gotta Get Thru This
Daniel Bedingfield
80,000
16 December
Somethin' Stupid
Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman
190,000,
23 December
Somethin' Stupid
Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman
210,455
30 December
Somethin' Stupid
Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman
120,421

2002:
6 January
Gotta Get Thru This
Daniel Bedingfield
52,500
13 January
More Than a Woman
Aaliyah
32,081
20 January
My Sweet Lord
George Harrison
66,567
27 January
Hero
Enrique Iglesias
101,056
3 February
Hero
Enrique Iglesias
98,388
10 February
Hero
Enrique Iglesias
82,000
17 February
Hero
Enrique Iglesias
100,000
24 February
World Of Our Own
Westlife
75,143
3 March
Anything Is Possible / Evergreen
Will Young
1,108,659
10 March
Anything Is Possible / Evergreen
Will Young
377,074
17 March
Anything Is Possible / Evergreen
Will Young
100,000
24 March
Unchained Melody
Gareth Gates
850,535
31 March
Unchained Melody
Gareth Gates
228,477
7 April
Feels So Good/No One's Game
Galz
102, 321
14 April
Feels So Good/No One's Game
Galz
83,500
21 April
The Hindu Times
Oasis
116,321
28 April
Freak Like Me
Sugababes
85,500
5 May
Kiss Kiss
Holly Valance
143,408
12 May
If Tomorrow Never Comes
Ronan Keating
147,610
19 May
Just A Little
Liberty X
153,219
26 May
Without Me
Eminem
165,500
2 June
Light My Fire
Will Young
177,000
9 June
Light My Fire
Will Young
62,000
16 June
A Little Less Conversation
Elvis vs JXL
243,000
23 June
A Little Less Conversation
Elvis vs JXL
133,000
30 June
A Little Less Conversation
Elvis vs JXL
82,000
7 July
A Little Less Conversation
Elvis vs JXL
58,000
14 July
Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)
Gareth Gates
241,000
21 July
Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)
Gareth Gates
105,000
28 July
Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)
Gareth Gates
67,000
4 August
Colourblind
Darius
111,000
11 August
Colourblind
Darius
62,000
18 August
Round Round
Sugababes
79,000
25 August
Crossroads
Blazin' Squad
53,000
1 September
The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)
Atomic Kitten
144,000
8 September
The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)
Atomic Kitten
67,000
15 September
The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)
Atomic Kitten
46,000
22 September
Just Like A Pill
Pink
49,000
29 September
The Long and Winding Road / Suspicious Minds
Will Young & Gareth Gates
132,500
6 October
The Long and Winding Road / Suspicious Minds
Will Young & Gareth Gates
65,000
13 October
The Ketchup Song (Asereje)
Las Ketchup
105,000
20 October
Dilemma
Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
200,000
27 October
Dilemma
Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
129,000
3 November
Heaven
DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do
119,000
10 November
Unbreakable
Westlife
90,000
17 November
Dirrty
Christina Aguilera featuring Redman
74,000
24 November
Dirrty
Christina Aguilera featuring Redman
47,000
1 December
If You're Not The One
Daniel Bedingfield
74,500
8 December
Lose Yourself
Eminem
71,000
15 December
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
Blue featuring Elton John
87,000
22 December
Sound Of The Underground
Girls Aloud
213,140
29 December
Sound Of The Underground
Girls Aloud
128,000

2003:
5 January
"Sound of the Underground"
Girls Aloud
56,000
12 January
"Sound of the Underground"
Girls Aloud
34,471
19 January
"Stop Living the Lie"
David Sneddon
108,000
26 January
"Stop Living the Lie"
David Sneddon
45,500
2 February
"All the Things She Said"
t.A.T.u.
90,000
9 February
"All the Things She Said"
t.A.T.u.
57,000
16 February
"All the Things She Said"
t.A.T.u.
45,500
23 February
"All the Things She Said"
t.A.T.u.
40,500
2 March
"Beautiful"
Christina Aguilera
59,500
9 March
"Beautiful"
Christina Aguilera
42,500
16 March
"Spirit in the Sky"
Gareth Gates and The Kumars
273,508
23 March
"Spirit in the Sky"
Gareth Gates and The Kumars
117,000
30 March
"Make Luv"
Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham
111,000
6 April
"Make Luv"
Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham
66,500
13 April
"Make Luv"
Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham
43,000
20 April
"Make Luv"
Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham
32,500
27 April
"You Said No"
Busted
41,000
4 May
"Loneliness"
Tomcraft
36,617
11 May
"Ignition (remix)"
R. Kelly
70,000
18 May
"Ignition (remix)"
R. Kelly
72,360
25 May
"Ignition (remix)"
R. Kelly
67,000
1 June
"Ignition (remix)"
R. Kelly
60,415
8 June
"Bring Me to Life"
Evanescence
56,524
15 June
"Bring Me to Life"
Evanescence
47,500
22 June
"Bring Me to Life"
Evanescence
36,000
29 June
"Bring Me to Life"
Evanescence
34,300
6 July
"Crazy in Love"
Beyoncé
72,500
13 July
"Crazy in Love"
Beyoncé
46,500
20 July
"Crazy in Love"
Beyoncé
34,600
27 July
"Never Gonna Leave Your Side"
Daniel Bedingfield
36,500
3 August
"Breathe"
Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul
47,312
10 August
"Breathe"
Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul
49,200
17 August
"Breathe"
Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul
44,000
24 August
"Breathe"
Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul
40,000
31 August
"Are You Ready for Love?"
Elton John
56,923
7 September
"Where Is the Love?"
Black Eyed Peas
94,308
14 September
"Where Is the Love?"
Black Eyed Peas
90,308
21 September
"Where Is the Love?"
Black Eyed Peas
79,000
28 September
"Where Is the Love?"
Black Eyed Peas
70,000
5 October
"Where Is the Love?"
Black Eyed Peas
65,000
12 October
"Where Is the Love?"
Black Eyed Peas
55,000
19 October
"Hole in the Head"
Sugababes
58,500
26 October
"Be Faithful"
Fatman Scoop / Crooklyn Clan
62,500
2 November
"Be Faithful"
Fatman Scoop / Crooklyn Clan
51,400
9 November
"Slow"
Kylie Minogue
43,000
16 November
"Crashed the Wedding"
Busted
55,000
23 November
"Mandy"
Westlife
70,000
30 November
"Leave Right Now"
Will Young
117,702
7 December
"Leave Right Now"
Will Young
83,000
14 December
"Changes"
Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne
86,000
21 December
"Mad World"
Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules
227,547
28 December
"Mad World"
Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules
167,000

2004:
4 January
Mad World
Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules
45,761
11 January
All This Time
Michelle McManus
118,000
18 January
All This Time
Michelle McManus
60,570
25 January
All This Time
Michelle McManus
35,040
1 February
Take Me To The Clouds Above
LMC vs. U2
68,800
8 February
Take Me To The Clouds Above
LMC vs. U2
49,339
15 February
With a Little Help from My Friends / Measure Of A Man
Sam & Mark
42,800
22 February
Who's David?
Busted
30,000
29 February
Mysterious Girl
Peter Andre
107,870
7 March
Toxic
Britney Spears
102,576
14 March
Cha Cha Slide
DJ Casper
57,280
21 March
Yeah!
Usher
87,350
28 March
Yeah!
Usher
49,616
4 April
Five Colours In Her Hair
McFly
49,511
11 April
Five Colours In Her Hair
McFly
37,000
18 April
Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)
Eamon
153,287
25 April
Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)
Eamon
99,783
2 May
Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)
Eamon
80,000
9 May
Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)
Eamon
55,732
16 May
F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)
Frankee
79,563
23 May
F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)
Frankee
49,500
30 May
F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)
Frankee
36,500
6 June
I Don't Wanna Know
Mario Winans
61,303
13 June
I Don't Wanna Know
Mario Winans
47,800
20 June
Everytime
Britney Spears
54,000
27 June
Obviously
McFly
42,000
4 July
Burn
Usher
49,334
11 July
Burn
Usher
31,400
18 July
Lola's Theme
Shapeshifters
52,000
25 July
Dry Your Eyes
The Streets
54,500
1 August
Thunderbirds / 3AM
Busted
70,665
8 August
Thunderbirds / 3AM
Busted
36,290
15 August
Babycakes
3 Of A Kind
55,000
22 August
These Words
Natasha Bedingfield
68,745
29 August
These Words
Natasha Bedingfield
41,000
5 September
My Place / Flap Your Wings
Nelly
54,729
12 September
Real To Me
Brian McFadden
34,435
19 September
Call On Me
Eric Prydz
68,138
26 September
Call On Me
Eric Prydz
46,370
3 October
Call On Me
Eric Prydz
34,432
10 October
Radio
Robbie Williams
41,700
17 October
Call On Me
Eric Prydz
23,519
24 October
Call On Me
Eric Prydz
21,749
31 October
Wonderful
Ja Rule featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti
23,706
7 November
Just Lose It
Eminem
63,312
14 November
Vertigo
U2
51,917
21 November
I'll Stand By You
Girls Aloud
57,957
28 November
I'll Stand By You
Girls Aloud
29,992
5 December
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid 20
292,594
12 December
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid 20
287,849
19 December
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid 20
231,492
26 December
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid 20
231,929

2005:
2 January
Against All Odds
Steve Brookstein
26,400
9 January
Jailhouse Rock
Elvis Presley
21,262
16 January
One Night/I Got Stung
Elvis Presley
20,463
23 January
Goodies
Ciara featuring Petey Pablo
21,128
30 January
It's Now or Never
Elvis Presley
21,887
6 February
Like Toy Soldiers
Eminem
29,496
13 February
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own
U2
30,359
20 February
Get Right
Jennifer Lopez
49,928
27 February
Over and Over
Nelly featuring Tim McGraw
41,528
6 March
Dakota
Stereophonics
40,378
13 March
All About You/You've Got a Friend
McFly
158,000
20 March
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
266,844
27 March
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
261,031
3 April
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
130,700
10 April
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
99,636
17 April
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
69,000
24 April
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
57,810
1 May
Is This the Way to Amarillo
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
47,945
8 May
Lonely
Akon
87,695
15 May
Lonely
Akon
59,772
22 May
Lyla
Oasis
75,124
29 May
Axel F
Crazy Frog
149,466
5 June
Axel F
Crazy Frog
120,246
12 June
Axel F
Crazy Frog
72,281
19 June
Axel F
Crazy Frog
52,084
26 June
Ghetto Gospel
2Pac featuring Elton John
56,016
3 July
Ghetto Gospel
2Pac featuring Elton John
54,820
10 July
Ghetto Gospel
2Pac featuring Elton John
39,627
17 July
You're Beautiful
James Blunt
38,951
24 July
You're Beautiful
James Blunt
46,443
31 July
You're Beautiful
James Blunt
51,671
7 August
You're Beautiful
James Blunt
44,875
14 August
You're Beautiful
James Blunt
35,671
21 August
I'll Be OK
McFly
45,814
28 August
The Importance of Being Idle
Oasis
47,235
4 September
DARE
Gorillaz featuring Shaun Ryder
26,661
11 September
Don't Cha
Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes
85,021
18 September
Don't Cha
Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes
65,120
25 September
Don't Cha
Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes
44,897
2 October
Push the Button
Sugababes
78,282
9 October
Push the Button
Sugababes
64,489
16 October
Push the Button
Sugababes
46,783
23 October
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
Arctic Monkeys
38,962
30 October
You Raise Me Up
Westlife
97,288
6 November
You Raise Me Up
Westlife
58,175
13 November
Hung Up
Madonna
105,128
20 November
Hung Up
Madonna
59,969
27 November
Hung Up
Madonna
40,254
4 December
Stickwitu
Pussycat Dolls
43,989
11 December
Stickwitu
Pussycat Dolls
31,311
18 December
JCB
Nizlopi
81,660
25 December
That's My Goal
Shayne Ward
742,180

2006:
1 January
"That's My Goal"
Shayne Ward
132,284
8 January
"That's My Goal"
Shayne Ward
54,152
15 January
"That's My Goal"
Shayne Ward
31,724
22 January
"When the Sun Goes Down"
Arctic Monkeys
34,992
29 January
"Nasty Girl"
The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Diddy,Nelly, Jagged Edge & Avery Storm
27,482
5 February
"Nasty Girl"
The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Diddy,Nelly, Jagged Edge & Avery Storm
24,854
12 February
"Thunder In My Heart Again"
Meck featuring Leo Sayer
36,185
19 February
"Thunder In My Heart Again"
Meck featuring Leo Sayer
33,635
26 February
"Sorry"
Madonna
36,928
5 March
"It's Chico Time"
Chico
51,000
12 March
"It's Chico Time"
Chico
29,000
19 March
"No Tomorrow"
Orson
17,694
26 March
"So Sick"
Ne-Yo
28,287
2 April
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
31,703
9 April
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
194,179
16 April
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
118,714
23 April
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
76,114
30 April
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
69,202
7 May
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
50,163
14 May
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
42,968
21 May
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
40,000
28 May
"Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley
37,682
4 June
"I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker(With Flowers In My Hair)"
Sandi Thom
39,797
11 June
"Maneater"
Nelly Furtado
48,724
18 June
"Maneater"
Nelly Furtado
42,859
25 June
"Maneater"
Nelly Furtado
34,537
2 July
"Hips Don't Lie"
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
32,584
9 July
"Smile"
Lily Allen
39,501
16 July
"Smile"
Lily Allen
35,228
23 July
"Don't Stop Me Now / Please, Please"
McFly
36,496
30 July
"Hips Don't Lie"
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
29,109
6 August
"Hips Don't Lie"
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
33,400
13 August
"Hips Don't Lie"
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
28,638
20 August
"Hips Don't Lie"
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
28,955
27 August
"Deja Vu"
Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z
29,365
3 September
"SexyBack"
Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland
49,556
10 September
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"
Scissor Sisters
66,757
17 September
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"
Scissor Sisters
56,044
24 September
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"
Scissor Sisters
42,310
1 October
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"
Scissor Sisters
32,338
8 October
"America"
Razorlight
32,753
15 October
"Welcome To The Black Parade"
My Chemical Romance
33,883
22 October
"Welcome To The Black Parade"
My Chemical Romance
29,201
29 October
"Star Girl"
McFly
54,802
5 November
"Put Your Hands Up For Detroit"
Fedde Le Grand
34,391
12 November
"The Rose"
Westlife
44,305
19 November
"Smack That"
Akon featuring Eminem
35,119
26 November
"Patience"
Take That
61,978
3 December
"Patience"
Take That
38,337
10 December
"Patience"
Take That
37,894
17 December
"Patience"
Take That
30,833
24 December
"A Moment Like This"
Leona
571,992
31 December
"A Moment Like This"
Leona
128,077

2007:
7 January
"A Moment Like This"
Leona Lewis
29,000
14 January
"A Moment Like This"
Leona Lewis
23,500
21 January
"Grace Kelly"
Mika
30,500
28 January
"Grace Kelly"
Mika
38,500
4 February
"Grace Kelly"
Mika
77,500
11 February
"Grace Kelly"
Mika
55,000
18 February
"Grace Kelly"
Mika
43,000
25 February
"Ruby"
Kaiser Chiefs
38,000
4 March
"Shine"
Take That
41,000
11 March
"Shine"
Take That
27,000
18 March
"Walk This Way"
Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud
80,000
25 March
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"
The Proclaimers Feat. Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin
85,903
1 April
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"
The Proclaimers Feat. Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin
56,000
8 April
"I'm Gonne Be (500 Miles)"
The Proclaimers Feat. Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin
48,000
15 April
"Give It to Me"
Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake
27,760
22 April
"Beautiful Liar"
Beyoncé featuring Shakira
37,500
29 April
"Beautiful Liar"
Beyoncé featuring Shakira
35,000
6 May
"Beautiful Liar"
Beyoncé featuring Shakira
28,000
13 May
"Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania"
McFly
30,693
20 May
"Umbrella"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
34,164
27 May
"Umbrella"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
38,482
3 June
"Umbrella"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
60,650
10 June
"Umbrella"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
48,370
17 June
"Umbrella"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
39,038
24 June
"Umbrella"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
32,200

Greenland Pop

2007-06-18T00:29:00.000+02:00

Picked up the Fujiya & Miyagi album Transparent Things over the weekend, one of many fine offerings from Herbert Grönemeyer's Grönland Records.

Green Pop

2007-06-17T23:50:00.001+02:00

A couple of days before the Belgian general election I headed down to Cirque Royal for Vert Pop, a fundraiser for the French-speaking community's green party, Ecolo.
The star turn of the evening was Mani from the Stone Roses/Primal Scream (and latterly of Freebass with Andy Rourke and Peter Hook, who himself DJd at Vert Pop 2006). Mani, who nowadays also plays every Monday on Manchester radio station, 96.2 The Revolution, spun a sharp mix of mostly 60s/70s soul and late 80s/early 90s hip-hop, interleaved with Big Beat, punk classics and the Prodigy. Top one!
Also taking tuns behind the decks were 'the Belgian Bono', Tom Barman from Deus, Richard23 of Front 242 and rising local star Darko (Statik Dancin'). A live set from UK mash-up arrivistes iPunx was rather lame - two blokes in boiler suits and miners' helmets prancing around to a largely pre-recorded backing.
Much more engaging was the evening's other live experience, Convulsions in the City, a show mixing gymnastics, acrobatics, contemporary dance, audience participation and grungey rock. Not entirely successful (mainly due to the slightly dated, if powerful, music), Convulsions in the City is striving towards something very special indeed.

Everything for everyone

2007-06-09T21:03:00.000+02:00

Last week at a roundtable I attended in Helsinki, Google's country manager for Finland and Sweden, Petri Kokko, pointed out that, if current data storage trends continue, by 2015 an iPod would be able to hold every piece of music ever recorded; by 2018 it could carry every single movie ever recorded.
Aside from the obvious 'wow' factor, how should you respond to such a prospect? What does it all mean?
If downloadable music and online communities such as MySpace and last.fm have reduced the need for ordinary music fans to consult expert tastemakers, perhaps the fully-loaded iPod of 2015 implies a return to expertise. Without the advice of people who have experienced this music already, how could one hope to make any sense of all recorded music being instantly available on one small device?

Pushing the button

2007-05-30T21:53:00.000+02:00

Awesome show by the Chemical Brothers at 013 in Tilburg last night - a real sensory bombardment. The visuals were something else!

From Brussels with Love (again)

2007-05-10T00:20:00.000+02:00

Check out my interview for Up Front magazine with James Nice from LTM records about his reissue of the classic les Disque du Crepuscule compilation, From Brussels with Love.

D.I. [finally] Go Pop

2007-05-09T23:41:00.000+02:00

The arrival of Leigh the lodger (the erstwhile Victor S) has fired my musical synapses to the extent that I've been trawling my archives like some demented shuffle play sensei. One semi-forgotten treasure that came to the surface of consciousness was the band Disco Inferno, the group that, above all, inspired Simon Reynolds to coin the term Post-Rock (in a 1994 piece for The Wire if memory serves).
As a big fan of the Renmeister, of course I went out and bought D.I. Go Pop and played it fairly regularly for 18 months or so. Wasn't quite so keen on Technicolour, although it too has its moments (particularly 'When the story breaks'). By the time that album came out [1996], the band had split, seemingly washed up as the tide of Britpop broke.
Listening to Disco Inferno again now, they sound less knowingly futuristic than simply modern. You could even imagine them getting some chart action today (what's good enough for Hard-Fi, etc). Time for the return of Ian Crause and co.?

Sound Pillow

2007-05-09T23:27:00.000+02:00

Five euros in Stockline will get you one of these:

Sound Pillow (TM, patent pending):
Sounds like a dream!
A breakthrough sensation in personal audio!

Use the standard speaker jack to connect to virtually any audio source - Walkman; CD: Tape Player: TV: Radio.
Relax with your favorite audio selections without disturbing your favorite person. Sound Pillow(TM) is for your ears only. So, ease back and drift away with - Music; Meditation; Instructional Tapes; Recorded Literature.

Sound Pillow (TM) is ideal for:
Relaxation; Bedtime Stories for Children; Nighttime TV Viewing; Auto/Air Travel; Hospital and Nursing Home Patients; Personal Clock Radio Alarm.

Unique Sounds, Tiburon, CA 94920 USA

A night at the gardens

2007-05-08T20:08:00.000+02:00

Went down to the Botanique last night for a triple-header as part of the annual 'les nuits Botanique' festival.
First up was the happy clappy discord of Barbara Morgenstern - truly awful. A voice as flat as a witch's tit, songs that meander like a lost coach driver stuck in city traffic, pointless live drumming, cringeworthy between song banter: Babs has got it all. It speaks volumes when the best thing about her show was the cool red and white stripey skirt she was wearing.
After a slow start Mouse on Mars were infinitely better musically. Their visuals were weak, however: a single back projected film that had to be regularly restarted. Looking at a JVC logo for 20 seconds every 20 minutes is hardly conducive to getting lost in music. You may ask,'are the visuals important?' If the alternative is staring at two men in their late 30s standing behind a desk, then yes, they are very important indeed.
You certainly couldn't accuse Planningtorock (aka Janine Rostron) of forgetting about the visual side. PTR has developed a kind of weird cabaret act juxtaposed with oddly catchy electronica. Something like an arthouse Goldfrapp. Not quite sure what it's all about, but there's definitely something to be said for a six-foot tall woman dressed in white wearing a strange hat/mask and singing 'I'm a Bolton Wanderer'. Sammy Lee eat your heart out!

Another Saturday night in Brussels

2007-05-06T14:09:00.000+02:00

FLYER-BXL-WINDOWS
Originally uploaded by MonkeyGone2.

...9pm: Hit the Grand Place where Hooverphonic are playing a free gig as part of the city council's Iris Festival (the yellow iris is the symbol of Brussels). The place is rammed and the band, Belgium's answer to Morcheeba or Moloko, seem to be going through the motions a bit. But the combination of loud music, warm weather and a beautiful square overcomes any misgivings.
...10 pm: Slipping out the back of the square just before the encore, we make our way to Windows, for sets by two local bands inspired by 60s Americana: Monsigneur Lafayette et ses Virtuoses and Eddy Tornado et les Scandaleux.
The monsignor and gang play psych rock of the Seeds/Os Mutantes variety. A six piece (including a guy playing bongos and theremin), they really got the place moving: an extremely tight, well drilled and skilled combo. Cool outfits and facial hair too. As my mate Leigh said, if they were 10 years younger and in London you could imagine a scene forming around them.
I've written about Eddie and the Bhoys before. Since the last time I saw them, they have dropped the burlesque (no maked visen with billy club), dropped the Sham 69 cover, added a double bass on some tracks and generally got a whole lot better. Twirl your partners, ladies and gentlemen.
...12.30 am: Off to the Zebra bar to catch the end of a live set by Aschka (aka Debbie) and the DJing skills of Sensu. Some people say he is the best DJ in Belgium. I don't know about that, but he certainly has skills. A recent conversion to Dubstep seems like a good way of taking the Brussels club sound beyond its minimal torpor.
1.30 am: A private party downstairs in Biberium. The birthday girl has already gone and we are left with the stragglers and a tech house soundtrack. Another whisky coca, s'il vous plait.
2.45 am: Washed up at Celestin, the bar that opens 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This time there isn't a fist fight between Albanian gangsters going on (unlike my previous visit, but then that was at 8am). It ain't what the Dutch would call gezellig, and the R&B soundtrack can get a bit wearing, but it's a great place to end the night. Cheers!

The riff that keeps on giving

2007-04-24T23:48:00.000+02:00

From David Essex's Rock On to the Stone Roses' Fool's Gold via Eric Random's Skin Deep.

Close-up on Midlake

2007-04-23T02:00:00.000+02:00

Awesome show by Midlake at the Botanique last night (Saturday). The band were on great form and the venue - la Rotonde - is conducive to the creation of a very special atmosphere indeed. Being two metres from the band and almost at eye level was rather different from my previous gig - Bob Dylan at the Forest National on April 6th - where, if it hadn't been for Dylan's unique voice, I would have had no idea who it was on the stage 200 m away.
Midlake previewed one new track, the excellent Children of the Grounds, which takes the Van Occupanther sound and adds more rock guitar. By the time the band is touring Europe to promote the next album they could easily be playing venues of the size of the cavernous Forest National (or at least the Ancienne Belgique). Another reason to treasure the opportunity to see them in such an intimate space. Ta, Stuart.

This town ain't big enough

2007-04-18T21:43:00.000+02:00

Earlier: eating a hamburger and drinking a perry in a Wild West Saloon, Kenny Rogers on the jukebox.
Now: Clattering away in a billiard hall-cum-cybercafe, Dido on the radio.
The joys of small-town Sweden!

Pods & Blogs II

2007-04-18T00:14:00.000+02:00

In the end, Radio Five Live's Pods & Blogs show last week didn't include my interview about the Blogging4Business seminar (see earlier post). Fair puppies, I guess. However, one thing that struck me, both at B4B and listening to a stream of Pods & Blogs last night, was how 'the blogosphere' seems to operate like a giant tips file for real journalists to follow up, but one that is also public at the same time, with all the dangers that implies. Consider a report on P&B from one Mark Graber, the man behind a blog called Balkinization. Graber has posted a tale of a profesor refused entry to an American Airlines flight, allegedly because he ended up on a terrorist watch list for criticizing Bush policies on the Iraq War. Whether the story is true or not, Graber fails to apply the principles of good journalism (check facts, ask for a response from the other side, etc) before recounting the tale. For many other bloggers, it also seems to be a case of post first, ask questions (invite comments) later.
The 'amateur journalist' aspect of the blogging game was really brought home to me by a guy from Microsoft who was a panellist at B4B. This man, who blogs under the name Office Rocker!, explained how many tech bloggers had been engaged in furious debate over the rights and wrongs of being given laptops by Microsoft to try out a new operating system. Real journalists deal with this kind of thing all the time. The purity and naivety of those bloggers is both quaint and ridiculous.

Four minutes of fame

2007-04-17T23:50:00.000+02:00

While chatting with James 'Aerial Telly' Donaghy earlier today on the occasion of his birthday, I learned from Jim that he has been approached by a literary agent about writing a book. When I questioned whether this meant his late 90s magnum opus, Loving the Alien, would finally see the light of day, he said he would only release that work, which features a character not dissimilar to yours truly named Timmy Hudson, "when there's a nuclear attack."

Not Going to a Go-Go

2007-04-12T00:55:00.000+02:00

Listening to the sublime, 'The Frog and the Princess' from Grace Jones's 1985 'Slave to the Rhythm' album the other day, I started thinking about Go-Go, the Washington DC take on funk that was briefly fashionable in 85/86 (a number of renowned Go-Go musicians played on the Jones LP). Looking at the entry for Go-Go on Wikipedia, I was surprised to learn not only that this style of music is still being made, but that it is a source of tension between the black community and law enforcement agents and municipal officials in the US capital and surrounds. In March of this year, so the story goes, nine Go-Go clubs in Prince George's County, Maryland, were shut down because of the number of police calls they were generating.
Earlier this decade, Go-Go also spawned a stripped down sub-genre called Bounce Beat. Examples of both contemporary Go-Go and Bounce Beat can be heard via the Washington Post website. And one advantage of downloading these files into Quick Time is you can play around with the speed and pitch control, giving Little Miss Muffit by TimesUp a 1992 'Ardkore style makeover in the process.

Spezialismus

2007-04-08T13:37:00.000+02:00

You can tell something about a place from the specialty shops it attracts. In Munich the other week I was kinda surprised, but in an 'oh yeah, it makes perfect sense' kinda way to see a high street shop selling fire extinguishers.
And what better proof that the English are 'a nation of shopkeepers' than a shop selling cash registers? I used to pass one on my way home every day when I lived in Nottingham. Any other examples anyone?

My Marriott Cake Hell

2007-04-05T01:18:00.000+02:00

Fascinating day at the Blogging4Business seminar in London today (even managed to get myself interviewed for BBC Radio Five Live's Pods & Blogs show - starting in about 30 minutes, I'm told).
One highlight of the event came when one delegate recounted the tale of how two months after posting a blog entry titled 'My Dell Laptop Nightmare', she was contacted by Dell customer service and the offending item replaced. When the event caterers today ran out of desserts I jokingly suggested writing a blog post titled "My Marriott Cake Hell' and seeing how long it would be before the free gateaux arrived. I'm waiting...

Guillaume the Weird Human Jukebox and other delights

2007-03-20T01:09:00.001+01:00

Guillaume the Weird Human Jukebox and other delights
Originally uploaded by MonkeyGone2.

This picture shows one of the many wonderful sights (no sound alas) from the final evening of Cinema Nova's 10th anniversary celebrations. Guillaume, an engaging young man who I had previously known only as a bartender at Recyclart, entertains the crowd with his 'Weird Human Jukebox' show. Customers choose songs from a list of 166 tracks that Guillaume has memorized by tapping the song number into a calculator and paying the requisite 20 cents (10 cents for Beatles songs) through the slot of the barricaded ticket booth. He then plays whatever they have paid for, from Bert Jansch to Jacques Brel, Johnny Hallyday to Sun Ra (I plumped for 'Space is the Place', performed with a gusto not heard since Edward Barton years).
Inside the cinema itself, the evening began with Pierre Bastien and his Mecanium (a mechanical orchestra made of lego), soundtracking a movie by Dutchman Karel Doing. After a short break and a beer, we returned for Spaceheads (Andy Diagram and Dick Harrison, former cohorts in the ten-years-ahead-of-their-time Manchester alt pop combo, Dislocation Dance), with visuals from London-based filmmaker Greg Pope.
Spaceheads, who play a kind of dirty jazz electrobeat that occasionally touches on John Hassell or Miles Davis (circa Tutu) territory, but always remains defiantly itself, distinctly other, battled British train chaos to get to the show. And we were glad they did. As Andy Diagram mixed live trumpet loops (including basslines created by tuning his instrument down two octaves) with Dick Harrison's upright yet fluid and very funky drumming, Greg Pope took a drill to the celluloid spooling through the projector, to create a series of scratches on the film stock that, together with the powerful music, made for a very psychedelic and fittingly experimental, yet accessible, end to a fine evening.

Jimmy, donnez-moi les Gimmix!

2007-03-11T14:20:00.000+01:00

In Mancheter a couple of weeks ago, you could barely walk 10 metres without seeing an ad for Artois Peeterman, a new addition to 'La Famille Artois'. As a Belgian resident I was both surprised an amused to see these ads. Surprised because I had never heard of Artois Peeterman before. Amused because the citizens of Leuven, the lovely city from which Stella Artois and its new offspring hail, are Dutch-speakers, not francophones. Brits ignorant of Belgium's language divide will doubtless sup up this marketing froth. In Flanders, questions would be asked in Parliament.
The food and drink industry in the UK loves a gimmick. This rule holds true all the way from Heston Blumenthal down to crisp manufacturers searching for one more novel flavour to tempt jaded snack munchers. In the booze sector, new variants of successful brands are the norm, from bottles of Fosters lager 'with a twist', to Stella's new children (Artois Bock is the other addition to the family, as this press release explains: http://www.artoischampionships.com/1/home/default.asp). It's all about market positioning: Stella, one of the three bog standard lagers sold everywhere here in Belgium (the others are Maes and Jupiler), used to be promoted as being 'Reassuringly Expensive' in adverts in the UK. Makes you wonder whether how much depth there is to the new-found interest in slow food, organic farming, etc? Just another gimmick being sold to people with no real knowledge of how food and drink is actually produced?

What Freddy did next?

2007-03-11T14:04:00.001+01:00

IMG_3572
Originally uploaded by MonkeyGone2.

Property developer Frederic Nicolay is one of the key shapers of Brussels nightlife. After revamping Place St. Gery in the city centre from 1996 onwards with bars such as Zebra and le Roi des Belges, more recently he has tuned his attention to Place Flagey in Ixelles, opening the hugely successful Cafe Belga beneath the renovated former RTBF radio studio dubbed Flagey that is now a concert venue, cultural centre and recording studio.
So, where's next? Well, if I were Mr. Nicolay, I would take a short drive up the hill from Place Flagey toward the European Parliament. Place du Luxembourg, the square outside the Parliament building, is always rammed on a Friday evening when the sun is out. But between Flagey and Luxembourg there is another, somewhat forgotten square, with great potential as a nightlife destination: Place Raymond Blyckaerts.
Slightly set back from Rue Trone, the rather rundown square is well connected to the Brussels bus network, close to the Elsenhof cultural centre, large enough to hold plenty of people and has two cool quirks: a great monument to the 19th century Belgian Romantic painter, Antoine Wiertz, and a now empty 1970s Danish Tavern, Andersen.
The kitsch-cool exterior of the tavern is still intact. With a little renovation and a similar mix of hip music and events as Cafe Central in St. Gery, Andersen could soon be a destination for those travelling between/escaping from the nearby haunts of Place Flagey and Place du Luxembourg.
Once Andersen is established as an anchor, other hip bars, restaurants, etc will spring up in its wake, turning this currently sleepy square into a buzzing hive of activity. That's the theory at least. To misquote Nick Drake, time, time will tell us.

Wrong on so many levels

2007-03-05T02:11:00.000+01:00

Wandering into my local Delhaize Shop'n'Go minimart the other day, my eye was taken by an item in the chiller cabinet that simply beggared belief. Called 'fruit of the day', it consisted of two kiwi fruits sliced up and packaged in a large plastic tray with a plastic film lid. The retail price was Euro 2.59. Two kiwis 'packaged' in their regular furry skin cost Euro 0.64 in the same store. So, a 400% mark-up and totally superfluous packaging. Well done Delhaize!

What opposites attract

2007-02-17T22:32:00.000+01:00

The number of results returned in English by www.google.com for a selection of antonymous concepts:
White - 685,000,000
Black - 50,700,000
Food - 581,000,000
Drink - 194,000,000
Hunger - 42,200,000
Thirst - 12,900,000
God - 404,000,000
Devil - 101,000,000
Gentile - 13,900,000
Jew - 19,500,000
Jesus - 158,000,000
Mohammed - 27,700,000
Buddha - 26,500,000
Islam - 94,600,000
Christianity - 50,400,000
Capitalism - 24,300,000
Communism - 16,500,000
Love - 954,000,000
Hate - 266,000,000
Cock - 45,000,000
Cunt - 12,300,000
Silence - 95,800,000
Music - 971,000,000
Drive - 491,000,000
Walk - 252,000,000
Dog - 258,000,000
Cat - 380,000,000
Tea - 167,000,000
Coffee - 206,000,000
Celibate - 1,600,000
Promiscuous - 7,280,000.

One-line travel reviews

2007-02-17T14:37:00.000+01:00

Tourist boards around the world try and sum up the charms of their city/country/region in one pithy line ('Glasgow's miles better', etc). But two can play at that game. How about these for one-line travel reviews from a friend in SE Asia:
Banda Aceh: an island full of religious nut-jobs.
KL? Full of pot bellied expats and transexual hookers...

Bla-Bla and all that

2007-01-27T19:21:00.000+01:00

An eventful week at the coal face and elsewhere. On Wednesday evening I was down at the Ancienne Belgique to see Jarvis Cocker on his first solo tour. Jarvis is still a great entertainer (funny, endearing, and able to come up with with a sharp turn of phrase and a catchy tune), but there is something not-quite-right about Cocker without Pulp. I guess it's like seeing John Lennon post-Beatles, or Morrissey post-Smiths: still great but not as great. Irvine Welsh kinda summed it up in Trainspotting (the airgun scene in the movie).
On Thursday, through a friend of a friend I blagged my way into Bruxelles Vibes, a two-and-a-half-hour live telecast from The Bank, one of the local Irish pubs. The program, which was transmitted live by Internet broadcaster, labelletv.net, was an edition of the Bla-Bla Wilson TV Show, a variety show hosted by Wilson Claude Balda. Interspersing interviews (with architect-designer Antoine Pinto, novelist Alice Jolly, photographer Jock Fistick and broadcaster Benoit Moulin, among others) and music (including Ellen Demos, Rafter, Monday Justice, Swingmasters and Da Hush), and all tied around a vague Burns Night theme (kilted bagpiper and male/female mime duo with tartan scarves and all), the show was fast-moving and enjoyable, even for someone whose French is as moderate as mine. And hats off to the stage manager for sterling work in such a cramped space.
Tomorrow, The Fratellis.

Different Day: In Millman Territory

2007-01-17T19:20:00.000+01:00

Different Day: In Millman Territory

Astral meditation

2007-01-15T00:47:00.000+01:00

Sad to hear that Alice Coltrane passed away last week. Her Astro jazz recordings from the late 60s and early 70s are great - s0me of the best fusion ever recorded. Journey in Satchidananda in particular is a track I never tire of hearing.

You don't have to be a 'loonatic' but it helps

2007-01-12T00:40:00.000+01:00

Once in a while while surfing the web, you come across a site that is such inspired folly you don't know whether to applaud or call a doctor. One such is bigflares.com, a labyrynthine online ode to bell-bottomed trousers. The detail is remarkable, even extending to a 'linguistic study' that gives the name for flares in more than 50 languages, including Esperanto, Creek, Thai and Cockney (!), as well as the usual suspects. The flare statistics calculator is another feature that puts Big Flares in a whole other league of monomania than the average fansite.

Six pack or wine rack?

2007-01-12T00:31:00.000+01:00

Non-native speakers can sometimes inadvertently come up with great new words and concepts in English. Take my Dutch friend Erwin: earlier this evening he accidentally coined the neologism 'wine rack', when he thought that one of my female colleagues who had been talking about 'six-packs' and then started talking about her wine rack, was still talking about abs! Once everyone had stopped laughed, we realized what a great, and wholly appropriate phrase a 'wine rack' is to describe a big belly developed through copious vino consumption.

Cardiff's twin selves

2007-01-07T00:32:00.000+01:00

Spent an enjoyable couple of days back home in Wales between Xmas and the New Year. One of the highlights was an afternoon recording voice parts for some new episodes of Grammarman comic, the brainchild of my school friend, Brian Boyd. Brian, who lives in Bangkok these days, created Grammarman and his retinue of friends and enemies as a fun way of teaching English to non-native speakers. I played several parts in the latest episodes, which are due online shortly, including the villain Luther Lexis. Other parts were taken by several old friends and acquaintances, with another old mate, Jules Davies, providing the sound engineering expertise. That we had a blast I hope will be apparent to all listeners.
Later that evening we all headed down to the centre of Cardiff. Stepping out of the taxi on Mill Lane, I didn't recognise where we were for a couple of seconds, so greatly has the street changed in the last few years. For years, virtually the only business premises on Mill Lane was a sex shop. Today, that Private Shop remains (owner David Sullivan won't give up his freehold), but it is surrounded by a dozen or more bars, pubs and restaurants. We ensconced ourselves in the comfortable upstairs corner of the Iota Bar, later heading to a Hippo Club Reunion Night at Wish (Hippo's was a popular haunt in the late 80s/early 90s) for a selection of classic house and trance fed to the floor by DJs including John the Dentist.
Cardiff's status as one of the UK's coolest cities (Dr. Who, Millennium Stadium, the bay, etc) is a far cry from the city I knew and grew up next to. Fifteen years ago, there was one half-decent record shop (Spillers), one goodish club (Tom Tom's), the occasional quality band at the Students' Union, and that was about it.
Although rougher round the edges and significantly less fashionable, for a small town boy like me, Cardiff was still the big city and a trip there was a day to be savoured. One of the small pleasures of an otherwise hellish one hour journey on the X51 bus was seeing the names of Cardiff's twin cities at Culverhouse Cross (home to the HTV Wales studios and little else during my teenage years, rather than the retail behemoth of today). Those places - Nantes in France, Stuttgart in West Germany, Xiamen in China, and Voroshilovgrad in the USSR - seemed impossibly glamourous and remote. Having visited Stuttgart twice, I have to say that it is one of my favourite German cities (the place where the grape meets the grain); Nantes and Luhansk (as Voroshilovgrad once more became in 1990) remain mere dots on the map, but a few months back I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit Xiamen.
Located in Fujian province in sub-tropical southeast China, the city's climate certainly doesn't compare to that of southeast Wales (even if you can also spot the occasional palm tree in Cardiff and environs). Like Cardiff, however, Xiamen has a fabulous harbour. A trip on the ferry over to Gulangyu Islet is well worth the effort. The islet houses 20,000 residents, a couple of museums, some beautiful small beaches, a traditional Chinese garden and a wealth of colonial architecture (In 1541, Xiamen, then known as Amoy, became the first port in China to trade with Europeans, giving the English language the words tea and ketchup in due course. Later the city was one of five ports opened up to foreign trade by 1842's Treaty of Nanjing). Gulangyu also has a very large statue of Zhen Chenggong ('Koxinga'), the general who captured Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662.
Surprisingly, given Xiamen's proximity to Taiwan, and the noted antipathy between the PRC and the Republic of China, I saw no signs in the city or its surrounds of a large military presence. Likely the sabre-rattling in which the 'Communist' government occasionally indulges is simply that: sabre-rattling.
Like its Welsh twin, Xiamen is a dynamic city (in 1980 it became one of the first places in China to be declared a Special Economic Zone). There are few signs of the city's Cardiff links, but I did spot one in the Hollywood Snack Bar at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Hotel Harbourview: A Welsh flag on the wall, signed by visitors from the principality. For a photo of this and other images of Xiamen, click here.

4D

2007-01-06T16:03:00.000+01:00

On a train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal station, I overheard a very funny conversation between a young man and woman from Yorkshire about guys who wear jeans and denim jackets. The bloke started recounting the tale of an acquaintance who liked to wear denim shirts as well, a style he called 'triple D'. Is this the non plus ultra of denim fashion? Not quite, beyond 'triple D' lies another dimension. And what is 4D? Jeans, denim jacket, denim shirt and 'Denim' aftershave. Truly only for the headstrong!

Anoraksia Nouveau, sir?

2007-01-04T14:36:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I bought Sally Shapiro's album, Disco Romance. Really rather wonderful, the Swedish 'disco princess' combines a classic 80s-style electronic backing (think Modern Talking meets Inner City) with the sort of winsome, lovelorn pop beloved of post-C86 low budget indie groups such as Tallulah Gosh, Shop Assistants and the complete roster of Bristol's Sarah Records. She even has a song called Anorak Christmas, ffs! Canada's fabulous Russian Futurists mined similar territory on his recent album Me, Myself and Rye (although with added Breakbeats and a hint of Elton John's 1970s take on '50s Americana, particularly on my favourite track, Let's Get Ready to Crumble). Two's company, but is it a movement? Your thoughts on the back of a Field Mice t-shirt.

The Hardest Working Legacy in Showbiz

2007-01-04T14:17:00.000+01:00

The death of James Brown will mean a glut of reissues and tracks such as Sex Machine, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag and It's a Man's, Man's , Man's World back in the charts. It will likely also inspire other performers to offer their take on Brown's legacy, whether through straight covers, pastiche or a reinvestigation of The Godfather's well-documented influence on hip-hop and dance culture. Expect to hear new acts working in Funky Drummer breakbeats and Say it Loud samples throughout the next 12 months. With New Rave rockers, Klaxons already touted as one of the bands to watch in 2007, new versions of Brownian motion will be all the rage this year.

Tipping points

2006-12-27T12:48:00.001+01:00

Travelling back to South Wales later today to visit family. Doubtless while I'm there I will pop into Spillers Records, which, when I was a youth, was the only oasis of alternative music in a sea of Our Price and HMV mass-market medicocrity (my first purchase at the shop: Bummed by Happy Mondays on cassette). Sadly, Spillers (incidentally, the oldest record shop in the world), is now threatened with closure as the latest round of redevelopment of the city centre into a shopping, drinking and dining 'destination', will see the shop's rent jacked up to an unaffordable level. I will be putting my name to the petition to save the shop, although, with the rise of download culture and MySpace, the future of traditional record stores everywhere must be in some doubt. This article from Adam Webb highlights how the role of the indie record store as a source of recommendations of little-known and unheard music to the hip and wannabe hip has been usurped by online social networking sites. But, the stores are fighting back, as the comments from Rough Trade's Stephen Godfrey illustrate.
Of course Rough Trade, unlike Spillers, is also a record label and one of its new tactics is to offer limited edition downloads (a contradiction in terms, but something that at least brings a frisson of mystery back to the hunt for cool music). Still, there is something rather magical about walking into a record shop and chatting to the shop assistants about the latest releases, a feeling that an online store, no matter how good, cannot replicate. Good luck Spillers!

Aschka at Zebra

2006-12-21T20:13:00.000+01:00

Was at the Zebra Bar in Place St.-Gery last Saturday for the live debut of Brussels electronica maven, Aschka. Recovering quickly from some early technical problems when a power surge caused the soundcard preferences on her laptop to change, Aschka (aka Debbie) delivered a really nice set of original tracks that combined elements of minimal with hints of early Warp.

Electrostatik

2006-12-10T23:39:00.000+01:00

Last weekend caught the return after a six-year touring absence of Sun Electric. The German electronic duo were playing the third anniversary bash of DJ Darko's Statik Dancin' night at Recyclart here in Brussels. The guys, who I was lucky enough to meet backstage, recreated the sound of albums such as Kitchen with a completely different set of equipment - Apple Mac laptops. The enjoyable set, which the band explained was something of a work in progress, included a couple of new tracks, and was well received. Hopefully some more shows and recordings will follow.
Also performing live on the night was Thomas Fehlmann, the veteran Berlin-based ambient and minimal pioneer. Fresh from revatilizing the sound of The Orb on the latest album, Okie Dokie..., Fehlmann showed his mastery of the full frequency range in the course of an hour-plus set, shaking the walls and drawing a great reaction from the packed venue.
Darko bookended the whole event, opening proceedings with KLF's classic 'ambient house' album, Chill Out, and ending the night with floor-filling IDM. As well as being one of Brussels' hottest DJs, Darko also runs the record label, Lucy Lee. The first release on the imprint, back in January 2005, was the Steal This EP by the ultra-cool French band, The Penelopes (who, check September 06 in their diary, appear to be managed by Jean-Marc Barr, ffs!). Last month, the Penelopes' debut album, The Arrogance of Simplicity, hit the racks, and very good it is too: an engaging mix of contemporary dance sounds, 80s goth rock and hints of Pulp, Stereolab and Nick Cave. A chic look and the patronage of the likes of fashion designer Agnes B could see The Penelopes joining the likes of Air and Daft Punk in crossing over to a hip Anglophone audience.

Postmodern pentathlon

2006-12-02T20:19:00.000+01:00

It seems that the media's interest in 'weird sports' such as pie-eating, air guitar and gurning shows no sign of abating.
But in this multi-tasking age, surely being a champion cheese roller, or the world's best wife-carrier is no longer enough. I propose a new challenge to find the top all-round 'athlete' of the age, a 'postmodern pentathlon' testing a range of skills. Taking place over two days, the event would begin with a psychologically challenging round of 'paper scissors stone'. Next up would come the air guitar battle, followed by the pie-eating contest. Day two would kick off with a no-holds-barred 'gurn off', the whole shebang ending with a wife (or husband) carrying race, the starting positions of the contenders being determined by the points accrued in the previous rounds. First to cross the line wins.

Webless wonder

2006-12-02T14:36:00.000+01:00

A computer without web access? It's like a car without a steering wheel. Yet US-based firm AlphaSmart has just launched a laptop without Internet capability for parents worried about their kids' 'driving' habits. According to the press release, the Neo, dubbed "The Anti-Myspace Lap Top", is "a parent's new best friend". "Students are able to stay on task without Internet distractions or prying eyes of predators—no Myspace, no Instant Messenger, no chat rooms," the PR continues.
I imagine the Neo will be fairly successful in the Bible Belt, but at what cost? Neil Young had it right when he sang: "There's crime in the city, but it's good to be free."

Back to the '90s

2006-11-29T00:28:00.000+01:00

Travelled up to Amsterdam for the latest instalment of London Calling. The Paradiso's showcase of new British indie talent has been held at least once every year since 1992, with alumni including Blur, Travis, Bob Sinclair, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs.
Me and Victor S were chiefly interested in seeing Jamie T, but, thanks to some last minute re-scheduling on the part of the organizers, instead of playing at 23.40 in the small hall, he was on in the main hall at 20.00. Upon discovering this fact when we strolled into the venue at 20.29, we raced into the main room just in time to see T's Goonies t-shirt and hear him saying thank you and goodnight (!)
Heading upstairs for the Pigeon Detectives, the small hall was so rammed we had to make do with standing by the door, unable to see the band properly. The songs were catchy enough, but the group were too much the Arctic Monkeys wannabees for my liking.
Back in the main hall, all the detail and subtlety of the Guillemots was lost thanks to an appallingly muddy sound. Pretty soon they were losing the audience too. A shame.
During the Maccabees' set, I leaned over and said to Victor S, "It's like London cold calling". He concurred, berating the group for being copyists of copyists (e.g. the singer's 'Ian Curtis dance', cribbed from The Rakes). The Maccabees had no stage presence and no songs to remember: the room was packed. Go figure.
Back in the main hall, Bromheads Jacket restored a little of our faith in proceedings. A charismatic frontman and good tunes, albeit coming from a seam that plenty of indie groups have already succesfully mined over the last couple of years.
I knew nothing about the band The 1990s (not even their name when they started playing). Nor did many other people, judging by the moderate crowd in the small hall. By the time they finished their set, I (and many others) wanted to know a whole lot more. This three-piece from Glasgow (guitar, bass, drums and harmonies) were simply excellent. It turns out that two of the band were in The Yummy Fur with Alex from Franz Ferdinand. There was a touch of FF's angular funk in the '90s sound, but names that sprang to mind more readily included The Modern Lovers, BMX Bandits, Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Forrest ("See you at the lights" is strangely reminiscent of the verses of "Rock the boat").
The Automatic come from Cowbridge, just five miles from my home town. To give you an idea of what kind of place it is, consider this fact: The Daily Mail voted Cowbridge the second most fashionable place in the UK for the over-50s to spend a Saturday afternoon (Bath was no. 1). The Automatic thankfully sound nothing like Daniel O'Donnell. In fact, they are an excellent, hard rocking live act (better than on record). A fierce mosh pit and loads of stage diving and crowd surfing were testament to the band's appeal. A wicked cover of Kanye West's "Gold Digger" (complete with funky flute) showed that there is plenty more to come from these four lads.
Back up in the small hall, Mumm-Ra took to the stage with cockiness aplenty. When your lead singer looks like Gareth Southgate's love child, you need a lot of front. This six-piece from Bexhill-on-Sea has plenty of great tunes too, many in the vein of Ash or Feeder. If "Out of the question" isn't a huge hit on its re-release (it got to number 45 last month), something is seriously wrong in the world.

Kaliningrad: skies and limits

2006-11-22T00:41:00.000+01:00

Big sky, Kaliningrad
Originally uploaded by MonkeyGone2.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to visit the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last week. The collapse of the USSR was particularly troublesome for the province, which, found itself cut off from 'big Russia' in 1992. Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad, which had been a heavily militarized region that was closed to foreigners during the Soviet era, suffered extreme economic hardship as many businesses went to the wall. Serious outbreaks of HIV/AIDS and TB and the sense that Kaliningrad had been forgotten added to the gloom.
Today, Russia's 'extreme west' remains something of an enigma, an anachronism and (for the EU) a problem, but it is also beginning to be a place of opportunity. Kaliningrad's status as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with more favourable tax and investment rules than other parts of Russia, has led to many manufacturing businesses shifting production there. The BBC's Laura Sheeter provides some details here.
Kaliningrad airport may be more reminiscent of those serving small communities in Finland and Sweden than a major international hub (I arrived by Fokker twin-prop from Copenhagen), but a trip to Victory Square in the centre of the capital indicates the revival of the province's fortunes. As well as the cranes on the skyline (see photo), a new shopping centre has sprung up and a new cathedral - Christ the Saviour - was completed in September.
Aside from Victory Square, Kaliningrad's other major tourist attraction is the Koenigsberger Dom, a 14th century cathedral that houses the tomb of Immanuel Kant. The celebrated philosopher spent almost his entire life in the East Prussian city of Koenigsberg. When the Red Army rolled into the ruins of this easternmost German outpost in 1945, it set about expelling the population. Over the next 40-odd years, many physical reminders of Kaliningrad's German heritage were also removed. Thankfully many still remain (the architecture is a curious mix of modern international, Soviet and Prussian).
One of the oldest buildings in the city, a former German fort, is now a restaurant. Both food (fish, red caviar and eel) and vodka were very good. According to my host, Kaliningrad is one of three regions in Russia where the vodka is particularly notable (the others being Baikal/Irkutsk and Vladivostock). He was somewhat disparaging of the vodka in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Driving two hours east to the town of Neman I was surprised at how good the road was. Having found the roads of western Poland very hard going during a visit four years ago, I was expecting those in Kaliningrad to be as bad, if not worse. In fact, once you get past the checkpoint set up to prevent Chechen terror attacks on the city of Kaliningrad, the road surface of the main highway is fine (on a par with eastern Germany). The road even turns into a dual carriageway in places.
The roads in Neman were a little more rough and ready, but the town of 12,000 people, which had an unemployment rate of 97% in the late 1990s, is back on its feet now, with a recently built hotel and bank, and a multimillion dollar investment program at Neman Pulp and Paper Mill, the town's main employer. The mill was brought out of bankruptcy at the turn of the decade by a company from St. Petersburg.
Neman backs on to the River Neman, the border with Lithuania. While walking close to the river an alarm sounded. "That means that someone has crossed the border illegally", my guide and interpreter explained. Although smuggling still goes on, the smugglers face a much tougher task since the river became the frontier with the EU, as Laura Sheeter notes.
Crossing the border is also a problem for legitimate trade and travel, however. One local businessman explained to me that it once took him two hours to get into Lithuania via the road bridge at Sovetsk (10 km from Neman). Crossing the land border between Russia and Finland takes 15 minutes. Shipments of goods can be held up at customs for one to two days. A transit tax applicable to some shipments passing through Lithuania can also offset the benefits of producing in the SEZ. This additional tax burden is one reason why the dream of turning Kaliningrad into 'the Hong Kong of Europe' will not be easy to realize. But for the Kaliningraders with new jobs, cars, shops and restaurants to appreciate, life is already a whole lot better now than it was in the 90s.

For a selection of photos from Kaliningrad Oblast, click here.

Reasons to be Grizzly

2006-11-17T08:09:00.000+01:00

Caught most of a great set by Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear at the Ancienne Belgique's upstairs ABClub last weekend. The quartet of highly accomplished musicians (two guitars, bass, drums, electronics, flutes, effects pedals and other 'colouring', combined with delicious multi-part harmonies) produce a warm, meandering yet highly melodic combination of Americana and electronica, backed by a '60s psychedelic lightshow (rotating purple oblongs and so forth). A glib one-line description of the fabulous track 'Knife' would be something like "Radiohead playing the Everly Brothers", while 'Colorado' put me in mind of the little-known but sublime late '80s landscape rock of Hugo Largo. Signed to Sheffield's Warp records (a label still mainly known for its techno and electronic roster), Grizzly Bear can cut it on disk too, as the new album, Yellow House, testifies.
In an unfortunate postscript, the band had to cancel the rest of their European tour because much of their equipment was stolen from their van after the show. Some thieves have no taste. Let's hope the Grizzlies are back on the road again soon.

A former Soviet Akcent

2006-11-10T00:10:00.000+01:00

A new art gallery recently opened across the road from my office here in Brussels. Called the Akcent Gallery, it specializes in "Modern and contemporary art from former Soviet countries". I popped in there for the first time today to see a very interesting small exhibition called 'Accents of Socialist Realism' (my favourite canvas: a 1975 work called 'Woman crane driver'). The gallery, on Chaussee de Vleurgat, is run by a friendly Ukrainian expat called Anzhela Prazdnichnykh. Anzhela explained to me that the next exhibition will be of paintings from Georgia. Here's looking forward to it.

Accents of Socialist Realism is at the Akcent Gallery, Brussels until November 23rd.

Because Coke Light's for girls

2006-11-09T23:46:00.000+01:00

News from Canada: Three cigarette manufacturers are to stop describing their products as 'light' or 'mild' by July 31, 2007. Maybe they'll follow Coca-Cola's lead and Ottawan smokers will be asking for 20 Benson Zero come August. Or maybe not.

Here's Grace (and 1,223 other Joneses)!

2006-11-04T12:31:00.000+01:00

Great to see Grace Jones back on stage (and, as a Welshman, even greater that it was in Cardiff). Maybe that long-awaited new album will finally come to fruition now? Here's hoping.

Three films: Red, White and Blue

2006-11-03T21:53:00.000+01:00

With some time off work, I've had the chance to check out a few films this week.
'Kidulthood' by Menhaj Huda was shown as part of the Image a Nation film festival, organized by the British Council here in Brussels - what is it with us Brits and pisspoor puns?) After some Kafkaesque problems in obtaining tickets and the surprise revelation that the director would be introducing the movie (great work, publicity people!), we settled down to enjoy the film. Well, enjoy probably isn't the right word for this tale of teenagers in an inner London state school (seems to be set in the Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area). There's bullying, suicide, underage sex, drug use and abuse, casual violence, prostitution and a party, all in little more than 24 hours.
Essentially, it's a modern take on the rites of passage movie (a kind of Kids UK, to get all Larry Clark for a moment) with a cool Grime soundtrack (The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, etc - the bit where 'Jus' a rascal' kicks in is particularly cool).
The performances are strong (including Noel Clarke - as Sam - who also wrote the screenplay) and the situations ring true, even if the story follows quite a formulaic path. The Imdb ranking is only 4.6 out of 10, but I would give Kidulthood at least a 7.
What more needs to be said about 'An Inconvenient Truth'? If you are not changing your behaviour now, you are a fool. The material is explosive enough to make even the biggest cynic take note, but hats off to director Davis Guggenheim for keeping the scent of musty lecture halls far from mind.
Having missed 'The Constant Gardener' in the cinema and not having bought into the 'City of God'-is-the-greatest-film-ever hype, I was in an 'impress me' frame of mind when I slotted the DVD into the player. Two hours later I was throughly impressed. So much so that I watched the film again the following day. A gripping story, brilliantly filmed and acted.

Still strange after all these years

2006-11-03T21:38:00.000+01:00

"Planes circling, ready to strike. A thousand yards and we'll be over the first — eight hundred yards... six hundred... four hundred... two hundred... There they go! The giant arm raised..."
After stepping into a Brussels taxi at around 1 a.m. the other night, it took me a couple of minutes to realise what I was hearing: Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air's 1938 radio version of H.G. Wells's 'War of the Worlds'.
This broadcast is legendary for the panic engendered by its realism. Even today, the piece, when it catches you unawares as it did me in that taxi, has a verissimilitude that entrances the ear. The response:'What on earth is going on?' A truly brilliant work of art.

Jokes on a Coach

2006-10-31T17:09:00.000+01:00

The success of Snakes on a Plane suggests a popular craving for simple ideas well executed. A recent press trip that involved a coach journey from Munich to Salzburg suggested another. How do people pass the time without laptops, games and iPods? By telling each other jokes.
Comedy has embraced the reality genre in a number of ways - faux-documentaries (The Office, People Like Us), first person narratives (Peep Show), CCTV scams (Trigger Happy TV), but control has always been in the hands of an auteur or auteurs. The great unwashed are the source material for the comedic genius, never the source of that genius themselves. Which is, of course, nonsense. There are hilarious people in every pub, school and workplace. And most humour is viral - the same jokes spreading by word of mouth in playgrounds, canteens and on coaches all over the place. Stick a camera crew on a National Express or Greyhound bus and ask people to tell each other jokes and there would be enough material for a six-part series within days. 'Did you hear the one about the TV executive and the no-brainer? ...'

Looking for freedom

2006-10-27T17:20:00.000+02:00

LA resident Michael Clark has responded to the pending construction of a border fence between the US and Mexico by setting up a website - www.borderdirt.com - to conduct a worldwide vote on the issue and to sell commemorative border dirt from the proposed site of the wall for $9.95. "This is world history in the making. No more open border with our friendly neighbor to the south. No more 'Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.' It will be officially them and us...this wall is kind of an Anti-Statue of Liberty," says Clark.
He adds that, "On the one hand, I hate to see so many immigrants come across the borders and exploit our schools, hospitals, health care and job market without paying taxes, but on the other hand, we have to do something. The current plan just isn't working, but I don't want to live in a country that spends a billion dollars of our tax money on a wall that, by the way, has no historical precedence for working! The Great Wall of China didn't keep out the Mongols, the Berlin Wall didn't keep out the Western powers and I'm skeptical that this wall will keep out immigrants."
Clark and a group of volunteers will tally the votes in January and send the results to Presidents Bush and Calderon and every member of the US Congress.

'I am the Walrus' may take a little longer

2006-10-15T14:41:00.000+02:00

A band from Cornwall has translated two Beatles songs - 'Something' and 'She loves you' - into the Cornish language. Wonder if sell more than 400 copies, the approximate number of fluent Cornish speakers?

Kim Jong-Koresh

2006-10-12T23:37:00.000+02:00

Governments trying to deal with North Korea might as well throw away the standard diplomacy textbooks and take a look through Norman Cohn's The Pursuit of the Millennium and reports about the Waco siege. Years of isolation have turned the country into a cult in the shape of a nation state. That, more than anything, makes Kim Jong-Il and cronies a very scary proposition. A rogue 'nucular' power with the ability to make the Jonestown massacre look like a picnic.

Writing about walking while listening

2006-10-07T00:21:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago, while glancing through 'Connect', the in-flight news magazine of SN Brussels airline, my eye was taken by an [anonymous] piece about the joys of walking round Stratford-upon-Avon while listening to Duke Ellington's Shakepeare-inspired LP of 1957, 'Such Sweet Thunder'. The bard and Sir Duke is certainly a sweet combination, although I'm not sure they fit quite as snugly as the author of 'Such Sweet Thunder's sleevenotes suggests when writing, "It is, of course, idle to speculate upon what might have happened if Ellington and Shakespeare had been contemporaries, but there is no doubt that Duke, who calls himself an 'amateur playwright' is a very professional showman. And there is no doubt that the bard had rhythm in his soul."
Nevertheless, it was great, at 27,000 feet, to see an article positing the combination of an interesting walk with appropriately interesting music. When, in the early 1990s, artists such as the KLF ('Chill Out'), Ultramarine ('Every man and every woman is a star') and Jah Wobble and Brian Eno ('Spinner') were throwing such ideas out of left field, I wonder did they think it would take a decade and a half before the notion would be mainstream enough to intersect with the world of the business traveller?

If you got the zeitgeist...

2006-10-01T23:42:00.000+02:00

I've heard nothing finer this year than Jamie T's new single, 'If you've got the money'. Reference points include The Clash, The Streets, Arctic Monkeys and Matisyahu, but T's brew has a heady flavour all of its own. Sup up!

Chance encounters in rural Sweden

2006-09-24T19:55:00.000+02:00

12:49 am: Waiting for the last bus to Karlstad at Kristinehamn station when a tattooed guy in his early 20s races up on a mountain bike. He begins a frantic explanation in Swedish, before I interrupt in English with, 'I'm sorry I don't speak Swedish." The young man is surprised but continues in English: "Have you seen a girl with blonde hair, she might have an upset face?" I say "no, sorry I haven't. "I've had a row with my girlfriend and she walked off," he explains. "So she hasn't been here? That's good."
After reflecting a moment, he asks, "What are you doing here?" "Waiting for the bus to Karlstad" "Yes, but what are you doing in Sweden?" "I am a journalist, I am here for work." "Really? That's cool. I am a sound engineer." "What, like a studio engineer?" "Yeah, I have been doing a show with a band tonight." "Wow." "Well, I'd better keep looking for my girlfriend." "Good luck. If I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her." "Ok, thanks, have a good time in Sweden."
1:07 am: The bus arrives, it is two minutes late. After boarding, the driver begins saying something in Swedish. Again I apologize for not speaking the language. Switching to English, he repeats his apology for being a couple of minutes late: "There is a problem with the back door."
Some minutes into the journey, after the only other passenger has got off, the driver asks: "Are you British or American?" "British", says I. "I am going to England tomorrow. To Frimley, in the South." "Oh yes, Frimley. In Surrey.""Do you know the Cheddows?" "I'm sorry?" "The Cheddows? Hank Marvin?" "Oh, The Shadows, yes, yes."
"I go to England every year at this time - to Shadow Mania," the driver proudly explains. "Aha." A pause. My trump card. "I used to know a guy who played in a band with Jet Harris." "Sorry, I didn't hear, the engine is very noisy." I stand and say louder, "I used to know a guy who played in a band with Jet Harris." "Oh, yes, ok, Jet Harris."
After 20 minutes of silence we reach Karlstad. We pull into the station. 'Goodnight," says the driver. "Tak, goodbye, enjoy Shadow Mania," I respond. He grins and drives off into the bus depot as I walk the few hundred metres to my hotel.

Pimp my handset

2006-09-20T14:11:00.000+02:00

Receiving this press release from the Swedish company Handheld Europe made me wonder why the market for 'rugged devices for tough environments' remains a niche. After all, the popularity of the SUV and hiking footwear among sedentary city-dwellers suggests that there are enough poseurs with the cash and desire to turn field devices (laptops, handsets, PDAs) into mass-market commodities. Rio Ferdinand probably has his already.

Inside the vortex

2006-08-29T20:15:00.001+02:00

Back home after 10 days inside the vortex of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
I was principally there to support Brussels's fledging 121 Theatre (performing the UK premiere [in English] of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's wonderful play, The Visitor, a piece I have now seen seven times, and whose luminous text shines even brighter with every viewing).
Though only written in 1993, The Visitor has already become part of the Francophone theatrical canon and, if there is any justice in the world, will become similarly feted among English-speaking theatre-goers over the next few years.
In total I took in more than 20 shows in total at this year's Fringe, seen as follows:
August 19 - Art
August 20 - Puppet Up; Spank! (You love it!)
August 21 - True West; Abigail's Party; Wil Anderson
August 22 - The Pearl; Did you used to be RD Laing?; Rich Hall
August 23 - The resistible rise of Arturo Ui; Reginald D. Hunter
August 24 - The Dumb Waiter
August 25 - Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Qu'ran; Get Carter
August 26 - Raith Rovers vs. Cowdenbeath; Killing Time; Late Night Live
August 27 - Charlotte the Destroyer; The Deluge; Knots
August 28 - Midnight Cowboy; Harry Benson: Fifty years of photojournalism.
Aside from The Visitor, two great pieces of physical theatre - Knots and The Pearl - stood out from the crowd. Making up the numbers: The final scene of True West (where did they find that mother?) and all but the opening of The resistible rise of Arturo Ui.
Comedy highlights were many and various: Puppet Up (adult improv antics from Jim Henson's sons and co.); a short but deliciously sweet guest set from Tim Minchin at Spank!; the tireless and hilarious Wil Anderson; seeing a legless Phil Nichol perform onstage at Late Night Live at the Underbelly just hours after winning the if.commedies award (the new name for the Perrier).
Other highs: The Jazz Bar; Haggis pakoras - and lows: the weather; seeing the hard work and good work of many performers rewarded with mediocre audiences.
Walking to the train station this morning, the flyerers and street performers had melted away, leaving only memories and newspaper cuttings as proof that the whole thing (which, when you are inside the vortex, feels like the only thing) had ever happened.

Picking bones

2006-08-18T21:28:00.000+02:00

In preparation for 10 days at the Edinburgh Festival, I've spent the last seven being a serious culture vulture.
It all started last Friday with a trip down to Recyclart, the alternative club located in Bruxelles Chapelle railway station (which is still used, if irregularly, during the day). Every July and August Recyclart stages a series of gigs and club nights dubbed Fridays Holidays. Having missed 'Duran Duran Duran' the previous week (you'd have to go some to live up to a name that good), the August 11/12 line-up began with two local bands playing outside (the dreadful improv of I H8 Camera followed by the slightly better Creature with the Atom Brain (at their best operating somewhere in the hinterland between The Cramps and Sepultura, at their worst, a bunch of musos with a Shockabilly album and an effects rack).
Things started to hot up at midnight when we moved indoors to the station concours ) for the 'Kill all Hippies' club night. The Franco-Belge no-wave/disco primitif of Lawrence Wasser was pretty rewarding and the image is great - spangly tops, jump suits and face masks, topped off with bunny rabbit ears and tails. The masks are especially cool - covering just the cheeks and nose they have the effect of making the band look like identical mutant triplets.
The Ludes are a big noise with those looking for another Libertines or Arctic Monkeys. They're not as good as either, but they're still good. Despite some shocking sound problems, they still got the audience rocking to tracks such as 'Mr. Benson' and 'Dog don't bark'.
The Longcut were the final band but I didn't stick around. The records sound like Northside playing New Order. (I caught a bit of their soundcheck while avoiding I H8 Camera and, fittingly, they were playing the intro to Joy Division's 'Transmission').

Sunday and Monday evening were spent at the Markt Rock festival in Leuven, a three-day event centered on the famous university city's Oude Markt (old market), a beautiful 17th century square. The Sunday line-up included Postman (average funky hip-hop from Holland), Bjorn Again (a 90s joke that doesn't know when it isn't funny anymore) and Bloodhound Gang (surpisingly they have more than two songs. Even more surpisingly, they were pretty good, even coming up with a series of amusing captions (in Dutch) about Flemish culture). Top of the bill were Iggy and The Stooges, although, because everyone else had run late, I only caught the first four numbers before having to catch my train. What a quartet though - 'Loose', 'Down in the City', '1969' and 'I wanna be your dog'. Great stuff.
Heavy, heavy rain on Monday meant a delayed start from Brussels (would you get soaked for the Stereo MC's [sic]?) Arrived just in time to see Daan, a falsetto-friendly disco/rock/electronica hybrid fronted by Flanders's answer to Jarvis Cocker. I had never heard of, let alone heard him/them before, but was quite impressed.
Top of the bill though, was that most theatrical of pop groups, the Pet Shop Boys. With an excellent new album to showcase, and the magical setting of the Oude Markt (Neil Tennant called it 'The most beautiful place we have ever played'), the Boys and their backing singers and (brilliant) dancers put on an excellent show.
The stage set and lighting were brilliant - the main part of the set was a series of foldable interconnected wooden frames with scrims for projecting images onto. A simple yet ingenious construction that allowed all manner of creative possibilities, without slowing the pace. The set and lighting were complemented by some neat costume changes - Tennant began 'Psychological' dressed as a Victorian undertaker and ended up (for 'The Sodom and Gomorrah Show', 'Integral' and 'Go West') as a Five-Star General. Lowe, of course, wore the same flourescent green (Walter Van Beirendonck?) hoodie throughout and didn't utter a word.
'It's a sin', 'Opportunities', 'Rent', 'Shopping', 'Left to my own devices': Most of the Boys' biggest and best hits were given an airing. By the end, an initially lukewarm crowd was clapping in unison and hollering for more.

My week of culture was rounded off by a trip to the movie house to see Michael Mann's 'Miami Vice'. I never liked the TV series, so, unlike many people it seems, I was glad the film didn't try and replicate that tedious formula. It's a good, not great, action movie was some high-quality cinematography and a decent plot. Jamie Foxx is good and I really liked the character played by Gong Li (a nice update on the gangster's moll archetype). I think Colin Farrell is crap and his mullet and 'tache combo made him look like a mechanic from Pittsburgh who wore his Armani suit like it was a pair of beige chinos and a polo shirt. Not cool. Yet, despite him and some confusing editing, I still enjoyed the film.

The Testimonial Game

2006-08-12T23:13:00.000+02:00

Received an email earlier this week about a forthcoming concert in Belgium by The Celtic Tenors (and Deidre Shannon). Now, this type of Opera Light isn't really my cup of tea, but I was grabbed by the testimonials, reproduced below:

“The best singing group I have ever heard. Their version of “Danny Boy” quite honestly brought tears to my eyes”. Bill Clinton. Dublin Castle 2002.

“Bono arranged for them to sing at my birthday party. It was a wonderful surprise. Nane and I absolutely loved them”. Kofi Annan. Dublin, December 2004.

Very smart marketing. I particularly love Kofi's testimonial, with its references to his wife and to Bono. The only thing that could top this would be an endorsement from the Dalai Lama that mentions Nelson Mandela, Sting, Bob Geldof and Aung San Suu Kyi (!)

Terry and Gerry

2006-08-10T22:05:00.000+02:00

The debate over who should replace David Beckham as captain of the England football team - 'John Terry or Steven Gerrard?' Answer: Gary Neville - was resolved today in favour of the Chelsea FC skipper.
All that talk of Terry and Gerrard brought to mind the long forgotten 80s indie band, Terry and Gerry, Peel session stalwarts when I first started listening to the man. Trying to find some of their music online to refresh a very vague memory of what they sounded like has proved rather harder than expected: A broken link to their own site, nothing on iTunes, nothing on the file sharing networks, nothing on Last.fm (where even a group as obscure as Pink Industry is represented). This description makes it sound like they were crap anyway. Any evidence to the contrary is admissible.

All this blogging has got to stop

2006-08-10T22:04:00.000+02:00

What on earth is this? 'Christmas Brownies land in Iraq'? Why is the Associated Press, one of the world's most successful news agencies, trying - rather ineptly - to become part of the blogosphere? A series of lame diary entries with no 'comments' function is not a blog, but why is it necessary for an organization such as AP to even consider 'blogging' anyway? This kind of sub-[insert name of any 24-hour rolling TV news channel] fare is both boring and counter-productive. A good news report needs no dressing up in the (soon to be un)fashionable clothes of the blog.
While I'm ranting about blogs and the mass media, I also have to say things were better when online newspapers didn't give anyone an instant right of reply to their op-ed pieces. If I want to read the ravings of (often semi-literate) cranks and ideologues I will go and look for them on their own web pages. If I want to read articles selected as being of interest by trained journalists I will do that too. Oil and water still don't mix. The main effect of the blogging/journalism crossover (apart from degrading English spelling and grammar still further) seems to be to turn print journalism into an extension of the 'news for news's sake', '24-hours-and-nothing-to-fill' world of rolling TV news. Sometimes less really is more.

Green Apollo and carbon pay t'ing

2006-08-07T00:08:00.000+02:00

Sir Martin Rees, president of Britain's leading scientific institute, the Royal Society, has called for a research drive into green energy "to rival the Apollo moon project". Prof Rees makes the valid point that a single-minded, well-funded international research effort is necessary to develop green energy sources to the point where they can replace fossil fuels. Rees also refers, with some justification, to "a worrisome lack of determination" among G8 leaders to push the development of alternative energy sources. At the World Bionergy conference and expo I attended in Jonkoeping, Sweden at the end of May, there was huge interest in taking biomass-based energy (both solid and liquid fuels) mainstream. But in the countries where bioenergy has made the greatest strides (Brazil and Sweden), government intervention has played a key role. Interestingly, China's leaders are starting to wake up to the environmental problems caused by the country's industrial growth and have included targets for bioenergy generation in the latest (11th) five-year plan.
Prof Rees proposes a carbon tax on companies to fund his 'Green Apollo' programme. Carbon taxation of one form or another is certainly in the minds of policy-makers, and at the individual, as well as the corporate level: The UK's environment minister, David Miliband recently floated the idea that all British citizens could be given an annual carbon allowance and a swipe card to monitor usage. Such a scheme would be a hard sell politically, and also difficult to enforce, particularly if not replicated by governments elsewhere. If it went ahead Miliband's scheme would also pave the way for carbon trading among individuals, a strange thing to ponder.

Faces against war

2006-08-03T00:54:00.000+02:00

Jordanian Flickr-ite Jad Madi invites you to join his online photo petition, Faces against war.

Town poets

2006-08-03T00:11:00.000+02:00

Reading the website of Flemish newspaper 'De Morgen' earlier this week I learned about a Dutch-language phenomenon of which I was previously ignorant: town poets.
According to the report, the town of Diest has just appointed the first female town poet ('stadsdichter') in Flanders. Under the terms of her two-year contract, Ina Stabergh has to write between six and 12 poems per year about both daily life in the town and specific neighbourhoods.
According to this listing, Diest joins 25 other towns and cities in Belgium and the Netherlands in having its own poet. An annual stipend of EUR 5,000 is paid to the laureates of Groningen, Antwerp and Assen. Roermond's town poet picks up three K.
Although noteworthy, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to discover the existence of these town poets. As I've mentioned before, Belgium is big on arts funding (as is its northern neighbour). Poetry also seems to be held in high esteem judging both by the number of times I have been exposed to the work of Flemish surrealist Paul Van Ostaijen in my Dutch classes and by the fact that local Dutch-language community centre, the Elsenhof, organizes frequent poetry evenings (I even took part in one myself a couple of years ago, reading RS Thomas as part of a Welsh poetry theme).

Solar cooling

2006-07-27T01:11:00.000+02:00

Just like a magnifying glass can focus the suns rays to create a spark, so the sun's rays , or more precisely the heatwave currently burning up Europe and North America, can focus creative sparks to offer a ray of hope in this climate change hell.
Take electric fans and air conditioning - we want, we NEED more of both in this oppressive heat that, according to some forecasts, could be an annual occurence by 2040. Unfortunately, most air con systems contain CFCs and both they and fans require an awful lot of power, which, in the current electricity generating regime, means more fossil fuels being burnt. Solar powered air con exists - the first solar powered recording studio in the world recently opened in London (everything from the air conditioning to the mixing desk runs on the sun's energy) - but it has limitations. Surely it is imperative that more money is invested in developing such technologies. Ditto for solar or perhaps clockwork powered fans. Air con is a rare luxury in Europe, but one that increasingly feels like a necessity. In the US, it is already standard in many homes as well as offices, but the environmental impact of those air conditioning systems has been largely ignored by lawmakers. The carrot of new business opportunities for inventors and entrepreneurs could be effectively combined with the stick of legislation that restricts the use of sytems that harm the environment.

An irie combine harvester

2006-07-27T00:50:00.000+02:00

This article on the BBC website about the demise of Top of the Pops got me thinking about an appropriate memorial to the show. If the idea of Bob Marley and The Wurzels rubbing shoulders sums up the essence of ToTP, why not create soundclashes inspired by specific episodes of the show? '22nd October 1977' (or whatever the actual date of the Marley/Wurzels confab was) could feature a roots reggae rendition of 'I've got a brand new combine harvester'; an episode from 1991, Bryan Adams remixed in the style of Altern 8. One track for every year of the show, Bill Bailey to coordinate the project. How's about that then?

Time out in London and Guildford

2006-07-23T21:53:00.000+02:00

Thursday evening: Arrive at London Waterloo on the Eurostar from Brussels. Take the 188 bus to Bricklayer's Arms. 'Check in' to my mate Steve's apartment in the Jam Factory, a housing and office complex on the site of the former Hartley's Jam factory in Bermondsey. Cross to the other side of Tower Bridge Road for dinner in The Hartley, an award winning gastropub. I have a prawn cocktail followed by a lamb and parmesan burger with a side serving of old English mustard. The grub is nice but not spectacular, the venue trendy, but not achingly so. Two criticisms: no air con (a complaint that applies to 90% of venues in London) and a rather bland selection of beers (Boddingtons is the only ale and there are no artisanal brews).

Friday: Stroll from 'Sobo' - as estate agents and style mags have taken to calling the gentrified, bohemian edge of hard-as-nails Bermondsey (the acronym stands for 'South of Borough', don't you know?) - via the remnants of the antiques market on Long Lane to Borough Market. Walking round the place that launched the farmer's market revival on a beautiful sunny morning is a lovely experience. Pick up some Red Leicester cheese straws, a Melton Mowbray pork pie and some freshly squeezed orange juice before popping into the Monmouth Coffee Company for an ice filtered Sumatran brew.
The market backs on to Southwark Cathedral, a charming early 12th century gothic building that contains the tomb of king Henry IV’s poet laureate John Gower.
Crossing the road and walking past Vinopolis, the remains of Winchester House and the replica of the Golden Hinde, I follow the Thames Path westward before crossing into North London via Southwark Bridge, taking in the view of Docklands, Tower Bridge, Swiss Re and St. Paul's.
Reaching the Millennium Bridge, I cross back over the river and take a detour round the third floor of Tate Modern. Surrealist films from the 1920s and the sculptures of Louise Bourgeois were the things that connected best on this visit - next time, who knows?
Continuing along the South Bank, I pause for some lunch at a cafe attached to the National Theatre. My arrival coincides with one of the events in the Watch This Space season - a performance by Moya (African-jazz-folk and roots rhythms from Swaziland). The sweet voices of the two female singers aid the digestion of a cheese sandwich washed down by a dandelion and burdock flavoured drink.
After lunch, I head over the Thames again via one of the Golden Jubilee Footbridges and make for Fitzrovia, where I have a five o'clock rendezvous with some old friends. Passing through Trafalgar Square, I pay the National Portrait Gallery a brief visit. A BP sponsored portrait competition is on display. Works by Gregory Cumins, Jon Jones and Andrew Hilling stand out.
I head through Leicester Square and China Town, followed by a spot of browsing on Oxford Street. Feeling peckish I recall a fish and chip shop close to Pollock's Toy Museum on Scala Street. The food tastes good, although it is just too hot to really appreciate battered cod and chips.
Meeting my mates on Mortimer Street, we have a few pints outside the Crown and Sceptre on Great Titchfield Street, an old after work haunt and one of the nicest pubs in the area, especially when the sun is shining.
I'm staying overnight in Guildford, so my friend Nick and I decamp to the Surrey commuter town. It's a surprising place: "A bit of a Jekyll and Hyde town" as one of Nick's pals put it. By day, a well-heeled piece of archetypal Middle England, by night, a pissed-up regular on security cam documentary, 'Booze Britain'. Appropriately, while sitting outside the Royal Oak pub I take the opportunity to sup a Cheeky Vimto for the first time. Known as a favourite of Charlotte Church, this combination of port and the Vodka-based alcopop Blue Wkd does indeed taste like the fruit-flavoured drink Vimto, long a favourite of children in the north of England.
Guildford is also popular location with film and TV location scouts. The town's appearances range from 'The Omen' (the final scene takes place at Guildford Cathedral) to 'The Bill' (the plodding feet of the famous end title sequence were filmed on Guildford's cobbled High Street, hard to imagine given the steepness of the gradient - it always looked flat to me on the telly).

Saturday: Heading back into London around midday I meet up with another old pal at the Duke's Head in Putney. This charming riverside pub does a very tasty Ploughman's Lunch and still charges only 30p for a pint of lime and soda. Bargain.
Check in to the Portobello Hotel. I'm offered a discount as the lift is broken. My room is small but very comfortable, with a large Bang & Olufsen TV. I wander down Portobello Road and have a drink in The Duke of Wellington (aka Finch's), an old stomping ground from the days when I worked at the Music & Video Exchange on Notting Hill Gate. Later I decide to take advantage of the evening's membership of the Cobden Club offered to all guests of the Portobello Hotel. The lack of air conditioning in this former working men's club is a drag on such an oppressively humid evening. But the decor is grand and the bourbon-based cocktails I sample (including a house special 'Grape Crush') are, as they say in Ireland, grand too. The upstairs disco (tedious rare groove and men with goldie lookin' chains round their necks) and reading room (with oohh, maybe 10 books!) are not so grand.

Sunday: After an excellent continental breakfast I check out and head into Hyde Park. It's still very warm and very cloudy, so I take a break in a deckchair (£1.50, pay when asked) next to the Round Pond. I carry on towards one of my favourite London spaces, the Serpentine Gallery. Thomas Demand is the featured artist. I was previously unfamiliar with his work (photographs of domestic and office interiors that upon closer inspection reveal themselves to be photos of sculptures made from paper and cardboard) and am impressed. Demand has also decked the gallery out in wallpaper with an ivy motif that he designed in collaboration with a manufacturer that uses a traditional block printing motif.
Demand's wallpaper also finds its way into this summer's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, a bizarre clear plastic and white fabric dome created by architect Rem Koolhaas and structural designer Cecil Balmond. This temporary building is the sixth to be erected outside the gallery since the pavilion concept, a scheme that enables some of the world's leading architects to build a structure in Britain for the first time, was launched in 2000.
After enjoying a '99 Flake from an ice-cream stand, I round off the weekend by buying some books ("A short history of tractors in Ukrainian", Jared Diamond's "Collapse" and, for my fiancee, Alison Weir's "Isabella") and DVDs ('Peep Show - series one', 'The Machinist', 'Glengarry Glen Ross' (only £2.99!) and some episodes from 'Minder' (series four, natch)). Having shopped, I drop to the ground in Soho Square, enjoying sandwiches (Wensleydale and caramelised carrot chutney) and crisps (salt and vinegar squares) from Marks & Spencer in the sunshine and the shadow of the British Board of Film Classification and the headquarters of the Football Association.

A people apart

2006-07-20T00:28:00.000+02:00

Saw this fascinating report on the BBC website revealing that evidence from the gene pool suggests that the Anglo-Saxons may have instituted a form of apartheid in what is now Great Britain between the 5th and 7th centuries AD.

Who got Merced?

2006-07-19T01:01:00.000+02:00

The nominees for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize have been announced. A pretty good selection, although I would have liked to see Goldfrapp and the Mitchell Brothers getting their dues. Nice to see Scritti Politti in the mix however - 'Boom, Boom Bap' is a great song.

Dour not dour

2006-07-19T00:29:00.000+02:00

Spent Sunday close to the French border at "Europe's alternative music event" - the 18th Dour Festival. Baking hot weather may have turned the site into a dustbowl, but the atmosphere was mellow and the six-stages offered nuggets of gold among the pans of silt. My itinerary took in The White Birch, Constantines, le Klub des 7, Guerilla Poubelle, Absynthe Minded, Les Wampas, Gravenhurst, Brakes, Andrew Tosh, Luciano, Two Gallants and Bell Orchestre (featuring members of Arcade Fire). The highlight was Two Gallants, a really fantastic live band (Tyson Vogel could well be the best drummer I have ever seen). Luciano's uplifting roots dancehall reggae (and his handsprings) brought the crowd to life in the late afternoon, while it was sweet to see Andrew Tosh and his long-lost brother duetting on their father's anthem 'Legalise it'. Les Wampas were bizarrely affecting and surreal as only French rock can be (a singer who invites women from the audience to dance on the stage then encourages them to all jump on top of him, calling out (en francais) from beneath the pile of bodies, "What a beautiful death, crushed to death by girls!"). You had to laugh.
Gravenhurst offered a drop of that very English afternoon tipple, psychedelic Indie rock. Distilling two parts (Syd Barrett's) Pink Floyd with one part Flying Saucer Attack, the group's mellifluous drones and feedback reminded me of watching Sunday League Cricket - long swathes where you are happy to snooze or read a newspaper, interspersed with the occasional runmaking stroke. The polite applause that greeted the end of each number would not have sounded out of place at Lord's as a David Gower cover drive sped off into the outfield.

Deep-fried theatre

2006-07-17T22:48:00.000+02:00

The Guardian's critics have selected their shows to watch at this year's Edinburgh Festival. As with any such list, it's a bit of a curate's egg and probably not intended to be definitive. Nevertheless, it's interesting - and a little disappointing - to note that the theatre picks consist of adaptations of hit books ('Platform', 'My name is Rachel Corrie') and of cult classic movies (the 'cinema on stage' of 'Get Carter' or 'Midnight Cowboy'), with a bit of Shakespeare ('Troilus and Cressida') thrown in for the traditionalists. Is the stage so devoid of powerful new voices of its own? I don't believe it for a minute, but the proof of the pudding will be in next month's eating. I'm at the festival from August 19th to 28th: I'll let you know how it tastes.

Things not to do when drunk (number 273)

2006-07-17T19:23:00.000+02:00

Miss your ferry and steal a fisherman's trawler!
Boat owner Paul Jones's OTT reaction is also priceless:
"I couldn't believe it. The police are giving a green light for people from Ireland to simply grab the nearest boat and try to sail home if they miss the ferry." Yeah, right, like everyone will be doing it next weekend, Paul!

Super Size Me II

2006-07-15T20:48:00.000+02:00

If Morgan Spurlock is stuck for inspiration for a follow up to Super Size Me, he should take to the road. Using this journey planner on the McDonald's website he could take a trip from the site of the firm's original hamburger stand in San Bernadino, California to its head office in Chicago, Illinois, stopping at every one of its burger joints en route.
If that sounds a little dull, how about a coast-to-coast trek from the headquarters of the National Rifle Association in Fairfax, Virginia to the Museum of Creation and Earth History just outside San Diego, driving in an SUV and stopping at every McDonald's on the way? Can Michael Moore mapread?

A bigger Arena

2006-07-15T20:27:00.000+02:00

News from the Midlands: The work of James Donaghy of Aerial Telly infamy will soon be gracing the pages of Arena magazine. At last Jim is getting the audience his talents deserve (and no, that isn't a snide putdown of the Arena readership, it's a compliment, wiseass!)

TDF

2006-07-12T00:24:00.000+02:00

Looking forward to the first mountain stage of this year's Tour De France tomorrow (sorry, later today now). With all the pre-race favourites barred, injured or unable to ride, who knows what might happen. For a good, opiniated take on the race, check out Cosmo's Cyclocosm blog.

What I decided was...

2006-07-10T02:18:00.000+02:00

... To catch the tram up to Laeken for an afternoon of folk whimsy at Brosella (lovely venue - the Theatre de Verdure, a landscaped amphitheatre with space for 500+ people to sit) and then take the metro downtown in time for Milleniums (lots of energy) and Baba Zulu with the Mad Profesor (fab music, risible lyrics) ay Klinkende Munt. Jolly fine it all was too.

Oorlog voor oren ("war for ears")

2006-07-10T01:16:00.000+02:00

As proof that music festivals really can have an impact on the 'real world', the announcement by dEUS frontman Tom Barman that he would be organising a day of concerts for tolerance and against racism in Belgium later this year (dubbed 0110 after the date they will take place, October 1st) has sparked a full-on campaign of intimidation by the leaders of the far-right Flemish nationalist party, Vlaams Belang.
Last Wednesday VB leader Filip Dewinter published an open letter to artists who have agreed to take part in 0110, saying that they are being manipulated and misused by Barman, who has openly stated in the past his desire to organize an anti-VB concert. He also pointed to the timing of the concerts, just one week before local elections in Belgium, as evidence of Barman's political intent.
When this letter failed to have the requisite effect (0110 concerts are set to go ahead in Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and possibly, Charleroi, and will feature many of the biggest names in Belgian pop - Axelle Red, Flip Kowlier, Clouseau, etc) the VB decided to fight dirtier: Francis Van Den Eynde, the leader of the the racist party's parliamentary faction, wrote an open letter to Helmut Lotti in which he revealed that the very popular singer, who is slated to appear at the Ghent concert, was a member of the VRJ (youth wing of the former Vlaams Blok, the outlawed predecessor of Vlaams Belang) and son of a Vlaams Blok activist. Van Den Eynde also accused Lotti of betraying the one million Flemings who vote for Vlaams Belang.
One blogger suggests that for the next step in its intimidation campaign, Vlaams Belang could call for its followers to boycott the music of all the acts taking part in 0110. A little tolerance is a dangerous thing it seems.

Mind blowing decisions

2006-07-08T13:34:00.000+02:00

The Belgian festival season is in full swing, creating some wonderful dilemnas about what to do of a weekend. Today, for instance, do I take the train down to Bruges to catch Buffalo Tom, (Canada's favourite TM) The Tragically Hip and Gnarls Barkley? (The Cactus Festival also offers the chance to throw bottles of piss and shout 'get back to your Berkeley drum circle' at the risible Groundation).Or do I stay here in Brussels and go to one or both of the two free music fests on offer: Klinkende Munt in the New Grain Market - mongrel ('Zinneke' in Brussels dialect) sounds from the likes of local band Millenniums and dub legend Mad Professor with Turkey's Baba Zulu; or the Brosella folk festival in Laeken, featuring Eliza Carthy, Clannad's Moya Brennan and The Wicker Band, a group formed especially to bring the soundtrack of Scottish pagan horror classic 'The Wicker Man' back to life! Choices, choices.

Old dog teaching new tricks

2006-07-04T00:59:00.000+02:00

Since it's the Fourth of July, I'm gonna start this post by paying tribute to an American legend: James Brown. "Mr. Please Please Please" and his 20-strong team of musicians, singers and emcees put on a fabulous show at Couleur Cafe last Friday night (preceding the equally wonderful Burning Spear on the main stage).
Brown may be in his 70s, but he still has most of his moves and all of his old charisma. Learning his trade during the 'showbusiness' era of the 50s and 60s has stood the 'Godfather of Soul' in good stead: How many other performers today would have the chutzpah to make their stage entrance 20 minutes into their show? How many others have a backing band capable of holding the audience's attention for those 20 minutes?
Once onstage, Brown and cohorts ran through most of the man's greatest hits ('Soul power', 'Sex machine', I feel good', 'It's a man's, man's, man's world', etc) as well as covers of 'Soul man'and 'Hold on, I'm coming' during a riproaring hour and three quarters. I can honestly say that I have never seen or heard a better audience reaction at any of the hundreds of concerts I have attended. Quite simply, James Brown tore the roof off the sucker.
Rock Werchter the following day could never live up to those heights, but Franz Ferdinand and Goldfrapp certainly gave it their all. Arctic Monkeys, by contrast, seemed a little jaded. And they weren't helped by playing at 3pm on a boiling hot day. Nonetheless, the band still had the audience up and frugging wildly, even if it wasn't quite the 'voice of a generation' experience the hype promised.

The apostate's windbag

2006-07-03T21:43:00.000+02:00

Since Victor S has been taking a break from blogging following his move to Amsterdam (a hiatus he assures me is set to end shortly), it falls to me to pass on the latest cultural happenings from the Apostate Windbag. Music: The Spinto Band and Midlake; Political theory: Mike Davis's 'Planet of Slums'; pintage: "Just a Perrier".

Get yourself seen

2006-07-03T21:21:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Stephen from Euro-Correspondent dotcom for drawing my attention to the fact that sixty years' worth of public information films from the UK government's Central Office of Information can now be seen online here. There are some real gems, including my personal favourite, the Pedal Safety Song. Cycling Proficiency Test, here we come!

Big Sam's Big Night Out

2006-06-30T00:47:00.000+02:00

Back from three days in Wiesbaden, a charming German spa town lacking only air conditioning. Even in this bourgeois and somewhat genteel place World Cup fever was in the air. And Big Sam was in the area, discussing tactics with Phil Gartside and other Bolton backroom staff outside a restaurant on Goldgasse on Monday night. Mr. Allardyce was kind enough to have his photo taken with my mate Murray and a couple of other eagle-eyed Premiership followers. And if he was rather more interested in a nice glass of red wine than the borefest that was Ukraine vs. Switzerland, well who can blame him?

Betty Bras

2006-06-29T22:27:00.000+02:00

Bumped into Lydia Languish (aka Maureen) at a barbecue the other day. Check out her quirky blog-cum-teeshirt emporium here.

A harvest of 'hogs'

2006-06-16T17:06:00.000+02:00

On a recent trip to Luxembourg for an international one-act play competition, the peace of the charming town of Ettelbruck was routinely and alternately shattered either by a) packs of weekend bikers (lawyers, doctors, etc) roaring up and down the main street on their Harleys, or b) farmers racing from field to field in large tractors, harvesters and other pieces of farm machinery in a desperate attempt to get as much work done as possible on the first sunny day for weeks. Luxembourg, is a rather strange and gnomic place at the best of times, appropriately known only for its banking industry and EU bureaucrats, so the surreal experience of watching bike after bike, tractor after tractor tear past our al fresco dining table was both utterly surreal and yet totally in keeping with the spirit of the place.

If it ain't broke...If it is, why fix it now?

2006-06-09T00:38:00.000+02:00

In its infinite wisdom Fifa has decided once again to use football's showpiece event as a test ground for rule changes and a new match ball with an unpredictable flightpath. No doubt the same kind of chaos that we saw in the early rounds of USA '94 awaits in Germany over the next few weeks.

Dismantling Catenaccio

2006-05-28T14:26:00.000+02:00

My erstwhile coursemate at Nottingham Trent University, Christian O'Connell, has got the gig to present ITV's quirky, sideways, irreverant look at the World Cup hosted by a comedian. This time the show is called World Cuppa. I'm sure it will be amusing enough, but I sincerely hope that among his many guests Christian finds space for our deeply entertaining former lecturer, Con Lodziak. Some years prior to becoming an expert on critical theory and author of such tomes as 'Manipulating needs' and 'The myth of consumerism', Lodziak wrote a cash-in guide to 'Understanding soccer tactics' for the 1966 World Cup. Could you picture Jamie Redknapp being led from a discussion of the merits of a libero to a discussion of the merits of Theodor Adorno's negative dialectics? It would be a truly surreal and hilarious sight. Chris Morris would do it. Have you got the balls, Christian?

Berti Votes

2006-05-28T14:18:00.000+02:00

I found this fantastic picture of the German footballing legend (and maligned ex-coach of Scotland), Berti Vogts judging a beauty contest whilst searching for a suitable World Cup-themed image for a magazine cover. It's a fabulous shot: so many layers of signification. Great for a caption competition too.

Same Same but...

2006-05-24T00:41:00.000+02:00

While in Thailand I kept seeing a TV ad for the latest single by a pop group called Same Same. This duo, Clint and Bob Moffat from Vancouver (imagine identical twin cousins of Greg Rusedski) were, according to the Same Same website, "Members of one of the world's most successful pop/rock bands in the 90's [sic], The Moffatts." One of the world's most successful bands I have never heard of, but hey, who's splitting hairs?
Same Same is a clever name, not only because the duo are identical twins. As anyone who has spent much time in Thailand, China or other parts of the Far East knows, 'same same but different' is a popular 'wrong but right' local variation on standard English that is used to describe two things that are similar or, when ordering food, to give two people the same meal on separate plates or in separate bowls as opposed to sharing one dish. ('Same same but different' t-shirts are also very popular with 'farang' (western) tourists in Bangkok - I even brought one back myself.)
The Same Same single getting the heavy promotion was a tracked called 'Farang Ja', the first ever duet between a Luk Thung (Thai traditional music) singer and a farang vocalist. The Thai singer in question is Arpaporn Nakonsawan, a woman who has sold more than 32 million records.
'Farang Ja' is part of a carefully thought out marketing strategy by Same Same's label, Sony BMG. The debut album is being released in six countries, but the release has been staggered to "allow the band to travel from country to country for promotion," says the website. Thailand and The Philippines set the ball rolling, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia, with Taiwan and China finishing things off. The album includes a duet called "Without you" that has been recorded in five different versions, each with a different Sony BMG artist singing in her native tongue while Same Same sing in English (although their harmonies have been recorded in whichever local language is necessary for each of the different markets). Reminds me of when The Beatles used to sing in German before their huge success made English the de facto international language of pop. As China flexes its muscles on the world stage maybe Mandarin will take over that role in future?

Billy Mitchell's dad? No, Mitch Mitchell's brother

2006-05-22T23:45:00.000+02:00

"Who's George Mitchell?" An innocent question and one you wouldn't expect a well-educated American would have to ask. You know, George Mitchell, the Mitchell Accord? The Good Friday Agreement?? Peace in Northern Ireland??? "I thought Bill Clinton was responsible for all that." Apparently that is the way 1998's Good Friday Agreement between Ulster's Loyalists and Republicans was presented Stateside. Now while the process certainly would never have gained any momentum without pressure from the top, it was Senator Mitchell of Maine who put in the hard yards to get a result. If Slick Willie got the glory at home, it was the glory of a star running back waltzing in for a touchdown from the one-yard line after his unsung half-back team mate has put in the hard yards.
Mitchell's role in brokering the Good Friday Agreement was overlooked by the Nobel Prize Committee too, the Peace Prize in 1998 going to Northern Irish politicians David Trimble and John Hume instead. Fair Puppies, as they say in Ilkeston, but you'd think the Maine man's Wikipedia entry might big up his negotiating achievement in one of the world's sectarian trouble spots. Think again. Mitchell's role in Northern Ireland merits just five linez. A possible investigation into Barry Bonds' alleged steroid abuse that the ex-Senator may-or-may-not head up later this year is worth nine. 'The Mitchell Accord? What's that' indeed!

'The bit where he walks across the screen'

2006-05-22T00:55:00.000+02:00

It was also great to catch up with another old mucker in Thailand: Alexander Reynolds. When we were at journalism college in Clerkenwell I don't think either of us ever expected we would one day be watching Hazell DVDs together in Bangkok (Which bit do you like best? 'The bit where he walks across the screen')! In between writing for the Torygraph, Alex is training for some upcoming professional Muay Thai (Thai boxing) bouts and working on a book about US jails, which, if the bits of the draft I read are anything to go by, will be extremely entertaining. Cult film fans may be interested to know that it is the same Alexander Reynolds who penned 'Carpet Garden Flowers', the darkly funny tale (based on a true story) of Notting Hill coke scum trying to bury a comatose diabetic drug dealer in their garden. In a prescient piece of casting, the ill-fated Holby City star George Calil (whose even more ill-fated girlfriend, Laura Sadler, fell to her death while high on cocaine) took a lead role in the short. The film's other lead, the fantastic Guyanese singer/actor Sol Raye, sadly passed away a couple of months ago. 'Carpet Garden Flowers' may not be his usual cup of tea, but it stands as one of Raye's many fine legacies to the world of entertainment.

Grammarman

2006-05-22T00:46:00.000+02:00

It was good to catch up with my old mate Brian Boyd in Bangkok last week. Brian's latest venture is a rather nifty idea, a comic strip for English students called Grammarman (yes, he's a superhero who fights bad English!). Already syndicated to newspapers in Malaysia and Argentina as well as Thailand, Grammarman could be appearing in book form soon. Watch this space.

Play for Today

2006-05-21T16:36:00.000+02:00

A sonic shuffle for 2006:

Pink Floyd – Cirrus Minor
David Bowie – Black Country Rock
Royksopp – Clean sweep
Goblin – Profondo Rosso (album version)
Cabaret Voltaire – Spread the virus
Radio 4 - Enemies like this
Twisted Sister – We’re not gonna take it
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – War
Working Week – Venceremos – we will win
Aswad - African Children
Big Audio Dynamite – V. Thirteen
Bollock Brothers (feat Michael Fagin) - God save the Queen
Mekons – Millionaire
The Rakes (feat Lethal Bizzle) – 22 grand job
Sugababes – I bet you look good on the dancefloor (Arctic Babes mix)
The Streets – When you wasn’t famous
Finitribe – 101 (sonic shuffle edit)
The Chameleons – Second Skin (live at the Gallery club, Manchester, 1982)
The Smithereens – Behind a wall of sleep (live)
The Supremes – Where did our love go?