portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008
Sunday, July 31, 2011
The Concert for Bangladesh Film Streaming Event
29th July, 11:59pm EDT — 1st August, 11:59pm EDT
On August 1, 1971, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar staged two concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden that brought together a star-studded cast of musicians to alert the world to the plight of the Bangladeshi people, victims of simultaneous floods, famine and civil war. The Concert for Bangladesh, which supported UNICEF's programs in the country was the first benefit concert of its kind.
Honouring the 40th anniversary of this historic event, The Concert for Bangladesh feature film will stream in its entirety in a free 72-hour online event
I have seen concerts stopped through violence, Ian Dury the second or third time we saw him at Oxford's New Theatre which was cancelled through Neanderthals fighting and more recently the Bob Dylan at the Roundhouse where drunken knuckledragging mouthbreathing bottomfeeding Blockheads soured the gig for me and my friend Stephen....we could have done with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters at those gigs.....came to dance?.... You betcha!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Now that's quite enough of that political brouhaha & Murdoch nonsense (Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, let's not forget) but lets get back to some music shall we and in honour of being back in touch with my dear childhood school friend Mike Bristow, who turned me on to all sorts of American back in teh late 60's music here's some Britpop just for him....well and you too! (Who ARE you talking to?ED)
An early set from Elbow chopped up & with covers by yours truly from the Beeb source of Glastonbury
2008 and the fantastic news that PULP were to reform here testing the water in Toulous earlier in the year....over on the music page is my collection of this fine fine reunion
"People talk as if they have fallen below their usual high standards. They were already in the gutter, it is just that they have sunk lower than anyone thought they could" Steve Coogan
So it's the last day for The News Of The World ("the world's biggest selling newspaper" sic?) after some of the most hypocritical, specious, venal, yellow journalism the country (note: not the world!) has ever witnessed. The only surprise is how come it lasted for 168 years and the answer is car-crash lowest common denominator journalism posing as 'investigative', as opposed to creating, nay luring the unsuspecting and nay even inventing, immoral unethical and plain psychologically disturbed writing or 'journalism' the country has ever seen, inventing some of the most heinous and specious examples of what is NOT 'investigative', in the sense of searching for truth, it is possible to imagine. As an example of how low the gutter actually is, this gross moral turpitude would have been impossible to imagine had it not been for Murdoch, Brooks, Mulcare, McMullan et al
no stench unturned, no gutter too low........
Now I should say, when I was a student in the 70's my wife-to-be and I bought all the Sunday papers and always included what I still call a 'comic', a red top, a tabloid, for fun, as it was, like the Sun with its invented 'Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster' nonsense that no-one actually believed ....did they?
Well the answer was 'Yes!' People did believe it and as soon as we worked out more sinister forces were afoot we dismissed it and refused to patently put more money in the purse of someone so corrupt it was nearly funny. Nearly......not any more.
the scale of the problem.......Glenn Mulcaire
deepens into the mire...this the man who thought it merely "frivolous" to be hacking the phones of friends and family of Milly Dowler and the families of Jessica and Holly, the girls murdered at Soham? The phones of the loved ones of soldiers who had died in Afghanistan. McMullan replied that he thought "it was quite routine"
But Murdoch is a strange phenomena isn't he. What IS in it for him? He's going to die with one of the worst reputations a man could have, more Machiavellian than Thatcher, more Chauvinist than Blair, more evil than Rachman or the murderers he purports to defend us against! Murdoch has for decades been up near the top of the list of the world’s most hated media barons. Journalists – those who don’t work on his papers, and many more who still do – hate him for the contribution he’s made to the trivialisation of their profession. The British intelligentsia hate him for hi-jacking their country’s political system. The American Left hate him for starting the staggering ignorant and inept, Fox News. The IRS hates him for dodging hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate taxes. Australians hate him for becoming an American. His ex-wives hate him for the fact that he regularly traded them in for newer younger models. Other media moguls (most notably Arthur Sulzberger Jr. of the New York Times Co.) hate him for publicly emasculating them. And in the last few years, while you can’t exactly call it hatred, even his advertisers have started to develop a distaste for him. Sic: Renault! Keep going boys, it's only money and you can't take it with you - go on take a risk and stand by your ethics and/or reacquaint yourself with some.
disingenuous to a fault, a relationship with the truth that borders on Münchhausen's, your paper always was "TOXIC"!
It is NOT the Guardian or the competition that has finally brought down this one staggeringly ignorant 'rag' but the public it so disingenuously purports to reflect & represent. The hacking of the phones of murder victims who the public took to their hearts just as they were breaking, stands alongside the intellect and moral values of the idiots who supported the actions of Raoul Moat! Psychotic, sociopathic, moronic, self serving, venom driven specious bile to sell another paper for a few pence more. Money for rope...............
The truth will out...........
Here's your tune of the day..........down here on Radio Swappers
Some notable highpoint from the history of this bastion of the ''free-press' this embattled noble pillar of truth and the most laudable journalistic moral tone and highest ethical standards.......
Notable entrapments er, I mean reports
* Caroline Cossey, an extra in For Your Eyes Only, was outed as transsexual. By her accounts, she was so upset that she contemplated suicide afterwards. (1981)
* Roman Catholic Bishop Roderick Wright, who eloped with a parishioner. (1996)
* Prince Harry underage drinking and drugs. (January 2002)
* Mark Oaten and his relationship with a male prostitute. (January 2006)
* Max Mosley's private sado-masochistic sexual acts with five prostitutes (2008). The News of the World posted a secretly filmed video on their website, and alleged that it involved Nazi role-playing. Mosley took legal action, and the High Court ruled in July 2008 that the News of the World had breached Mosley's privacy and awarded him £60,000 in damages and £450,000 in legal fees. The judge also ruled that there was no basis for the allegations of Nazism.
* Accusations that snooker star John Higgins had accepted bribes to throw frames in snooker matches. (2010)
* Spot fixing with the Pakistan cricket teams in the test series against England.
Notable Campaign
Anti-paedophile campaign (2000)
The paper began a controversial campaign to name and shame alleged paedophiles in 2000 following the abduction and murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's decision led to angry mobs terrorising those they suspected of being child sex offenders, which included several cases of mistaken identity, including one instance where a paediatrician had her house vandalised and another where a man was confronted because he had a neck brace similar to one a paedophile was wearing when pictured.[sic] The campaign was labelled "grossly irresponsible" journalism by the then Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, Tony Butler. The paper also campaigned for the introduction of 'Sarah's Law' to allow public access to the Sex Offenders Register.
Phone hacking scandal
In 2006, reporters at the paper used private investigators to illegally gain access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts held by a variety of people of interest to the newspaper. In 2007 the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, pleaded guilty to illegal interception of personal communication and was jailed for four months; the paper's editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks earlier. In 2009/2010, further revelations emerged on the extent of the phone hacking, and how it was common knowledge within the News of the World and its News International parent. According to a former reporter at the paper, "Everyone knew. The office cat knew," about the illegal activities used to scoop stories. On 17 January 2011, The Guardian reported that Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator paid by the paper, testified that he had been asked by the newspaper's leadership to hack voicemail accounts on its behalf. In April 2011, attorneys for the victims alleged that as many as 7,000 people had their phones hacked by the News of the World; it was further revealed that the paper's owner, Rupert Murdoch, had attempted to pressure Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour Party MPs to "back away" from investigating the scandal. Three journalists on the newspaper were initially arrested: Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck on 5 April and James Weatherup on 14 April. The newspaper "unreservedly" apologised for its phone hacking activities during April 2011. On 4 July 2011, it was disclosed that potential evidence had been deleted in spring 2002 from the hacked voicemail account of Milly Dowler, then missing, but later found to have been murdered.
Bit of further reading from a true investigative newspaper, The Guardian, that was even-handed enough to publish David Wooding's piece of handwringing. He's NofTW's 'Political' Editor stating that the demise would trigger a crime wave! No longer able to report crime and uncover criminal activity for us, now you join them for YOUR criminal activity and lowlife, unbelievably corrupt, sordid behaviour................ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/09/news-of-world-last-edition
Anyone remember the Six Five Special? One of my first introductions to music that grabbed me by the lapels and stood me up and spun me round and opened my eardrobes!
:o)
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
This week I are been mostly listenin' to.....................
and while we're about (Who's "we"? ED) let's re-visit an all time favourite......
................oh , yes and turn it up to 11, yes?
THat not enough for you? ( who ARE you talking to? ED)
Po' Boy.......
a hero of mine to lower the temperature a tad.............
OKAY? what again? oh you want to listen to Nick Cave again? (Now you've lost the plot completely, ED) Better than the album version!
'Impossible to speak'........perfect song........Ladies and Gentlemen I 'Salute' you! ;o)
Saturday, July 02, 2011
I guess a fairly technical post here but I have re-done the WONDERFUL Martha Wainwright set from NPR in 2006 - the new version is better mixed and has covers and such by yours truly. It is really one of my favourite live sets from this wonderful artist. The set in support of Neko Case, is just a peerless mini-concert featuring 8 songs and the quality is great! If you didn't download it yet go get it and if you had the previous version get this one and replace the old....I have achieved better balance with 'Audacity' and faded some pops and clicks without altering the closeness and the authenticity of the original. Enjoy!
Martha in 2006 copyright ShakeFrog
Martha Wainwright
performing live at the 9:30 Club, WASHINGTON DC - April 9, 2006
- I lifted this from the Neko Case concert and Martha was very much starting out, finding her feet in awe of The McGarrigles and her more successful brother Rufus** but boy she made up for lost time for this listener with the first album and her second 'I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too'
- an extraordinary jewel of a performer
Track list
1.Factory
2.The Day is Short
3.Far Away
4.So Many Friends
5.Ball and Chain
6.This Life
7.MBFA*
* WARNING - those in the know will know what BMFA stands for - Contains VERY Strong Language - DO NOT DOWNLOAD if easily offended. Otherwise it is for Father's everywhere! Towering piece of work and legitimately shows how to use obscenity as it should be used!
** From NPR
Martha Wainwright recently released a self-titled debut CD after previously appearing on albums by her father, Loudon, and her brother, Rufus, both established and relatively well-known musicians. Martha's mother and aunt are folk singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle.
Uncut magazine says Martha's songwriting "combines something of her mother's grace, her father's wit and her brother's artful, cabaret-pop sophistication, delivered with a rock 'n' roll passion that is all her own."
"I was insecure and fearful of making the leap because the bar is set so high with the McGarrigles and Rufus and Loudon that I didn't want to fall flat on my face," Martha says. "I also think I needed to go through a certain amount of life experience to know for sure that this is what I wanted." For this reader staggering self effacement and listen to the concert and see if you agree. Now I love Loudon Wainwright III, I enjoy Rufus and have most of his albums and I dig the McGarrigles but this for me is a unique woman writer and singer singing songs of self exploration in a way I have not heard anywhere else and with here her voice at his haunting best. go get it here............
Martha at NPR 2006
From the first album and here on David Letterman show 'When The Day Is Short'....staggering performance
Factory from the First Album.....I adore this song .......and it's singer
the notorious song from the first album.......but what a song!
dedicated to all B.M.F.A's out there
again from Letterman......Leonard Cohen's 'Tower Of Song' from the cover tribute film and album 'I'm Your Man'
mini-interview and 'Bleeding All Over You' from 'I know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too' fine second album......
Had to include this Oxfam Re-Mix with Jim Kerr 'Promised You A Miracle'
