Levi Stubbs

I heard the sad news today that Levi Stubbs has died, aged 72. Levi sang lead vocals on all those fabulous Four Tops songs from the '60s - 'Reach Out, I'll Be There', 'Bernadette', 'Standing In The Shadows Of Love', 'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)' and so many others.

I don't have many musical memories of the '60s but the Four Tops feature in one of them. I recall being bundled into the car to drive to my Dad's sisters' house in Wardley where my five cousins lived, all girls and mostly 5-10 years older than me. One liked Tom Jones and played his records endlessly, and two of them loved the Tops. I remember hearing 'Reach Out' and 'Bernadette' played several times and that memory's stuck with me. I have no idea what the year was, probably late '60s I should think.

Until the last few years I only had a few Four Tops songs on Motown compilations but I've been exploring their music more recently. And I'm so pleased I did - so many great songs and Levi's great voice shining out front. Play a Tops song tonight in tribute to Mr Stubbs.

Boy George - 'Yes We Can'

There are five remixes of this on iTunes all waiting patiently for you to do the downloady thing... go on, press the button...

Justin Bond - 'Lustre' at the Soho Theatre

Last night we went to see Justin Bond's new show, 'Lustre' at the Soho Theatre. It started late due to the early evening show over-running and it was the night after the press show - Justin said he wasn't on top form and it showed every now and then, but was still hugely enjoyable.

The show opened with some atmospheric chanting over the speakers as the lights dipped and then on came Justin with Our Lady J at the piano and we were treated to songs and chatter with Justin's mad flights of fancy all vaguely around the theme of 'trans' (as in transgender). Justin can be a very calming person to listen to provided you go with the flow of his personal stream of consciousness and don't worry too much about where you're going, and I like his selection of oddball songs that turn into high cabaret in his presence. But Justin, where on earth did you get those frocks? Flattering is just one of the many things they aren't...

Our Lady J was on piano throughout Justin's performance, providing backing to the songs and occasional tinkling through the chatter. She also had her own solo spot and sang an amusing song about her 'Pink Prada Purse' and the gun she keeps inside it (for emergencies only, you understand, like killing potential boyfriends before they become boyfriends and can hurt her). She's an excellent piano player - not just plonking away at the keys but stroking them and coaxing them into sonic adventures. I was most impressed. And she is unfeasibly tall, probably emphasised by the teeny, tiny sparkly black mini-dress and acres of leg.

Also on the bill was a small waif and stray from Brooklyn with sleeves torn off his shirt who did his turn from the balcony and part-way down the stairs to the stage before vanishing. He goes by the name of Novice Theory, looks about 15 but has a big voice and accompanied himself on an accordion. Like Our Lady J, he can really play and writes the wordiest songs I've heard in a while. And he's really good. He only sang one song in the show but scoot on over to his MySpace page to listen to a selection of his songs (with piano, not accordion). I think his songs and delivery are excellent and will be happy to see him again - I'm cursing myself for not buying his CD after the show.

Each night Justin has a local guest to do a turn and last night it was Dickie Beau who came on stage in a clown outfit and left wearing a basque. He did two atmospheric songs, simple, stark electronica with his desolate voice, ending with opening a glitter-filled umbrella which must be his signature piece. I enjoyed the songs but it felt like they were part of a longer performance cut short to fit into the slot.

Justin was all over the shop with tales of pagan festivals leading to the current economic crash, possibly voting for Sarah Pallin since she reminds him of his mother, not knowing when his friends are seriously mad (as in ill) because they're wierdos anyway and how trans people are the best since they can be one thing or another or neither if they wish - they have the power to transform. Every now and then Our Lady J played a phrase from Bambi Lake's 'Golden Age of Hustlers' that made me think they were going to play it but they didn't, it just popped up for a few seconds and then vanished.

Our Lady J and Novice Theory both had CDs for sale after the show but Justin didn't - he really ought to get his finger out and get into a studio for a day. I've seen three of Justin's shows now, and one Kiki & Herb show, and I prefer his solo shows, free of the Kiki persona. In these digital days it's not that difficult to record stuff for posterity - and to improve the profit margin. I'd buy a CD or two.

Ballroom Blitz!

"Are you ready, Steve? uh huh
Andy? yeah
Mick? ok
All right fellas, let's gooooooooooooooo!"

Quite simply, one of the greatest singles, like evah! And if you're the one person left in the multiverse that hasn't heard it, then scoot over to Sweet's Last.fm page and give it a listen. Now! And then bounce round the room like a thing demented!


Yes, this means I'm loading 'S' onto my iPod at long last...

Patrice Holloway

Patrice Holloway died on 1 October 2006. For some reason I went searching for information about Patrice online yesterday and found very little, either information or photos. That's a great shame, but there's a very informative biography of Patrice on Spectropop called, 'Requiem For A Pussycat'.

Patrice was a name on the Northern Soul scene with her few, very rare singles. Even now, with the Motown compilations from the vaults, there's still very little available and I only have eight songs by Patrice.

Patrice sang backing vocals for loads of people including Joe Cocker and Neil Young and is name-checked for vocals on Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'Moonshot' album. She sang lead vocals on some of the songs recorded by Josie & The Pussycats - Patrice was a Pussycat and the first ever leading black character in an animated series. I can't find any Pussycat's songs to download but I'm sure they'll turn up at some point.

Patrice also wrote and co-wrote songs, most famously 'You've Made Me So Very Happy' with her big sister, Brenda Holloway. That song's been recorded so many times that I should think virtually everyone reading this blog will be familiar with it. Patrice recorded a duet with Brenda - 'Come Into My Palace' - which is available on Brenda's double compilation, 'The Motown Anthology'. Both Holloway sisters had great voices but lived in Los Angeles when Motown was based in Detroit so didn't receive the attention they deserved.

Courtesy of the magic that is YouTube, take a listen to 'Stolen Hours' which, as far as I know, isn't available on CD...



... and here's a Josey & the Pussycat's song with Patrice on lead vocals, 'Every Beat Of My Heart'. Enjoy!

Amanda Palmer - 'Sing'

I found a series of clips of Amanda Palmer's concerts in June this year with the Boston Pops in Boston. The quality leaves something to be desired but I'm grateful that they were posted since they give a feel for what the concerts were like. Brian Viglione joined Amanda on stage to sing 'What A Wonderful World' as a duet and also played guitar in the following clip. Here's the marvellous 'Sing' from 'Yes Virginia' and it's spine-tingling when the audience joins in towards the end.



As Amanda says, 'You motherfuckers, you'll sing someday!'

Hellboy II

It seems likes ages since I've been to the pictures so we took advantage of being in the West End to see one of the last screenings of 'Hellboy 2' before it vanishes from the big screen. I didn't really have any expectations of it other than lots of cartoon violence and special effects and I wasn't disappointed.

I liked the sub-text of another world of magical beings existing alongside our world that we simply can't see (and a troll market under Brooklyn Bridge) but the film didn't really explore this and moved quickly from one special effects laden fight sequence to another. Naturally, I enjoyed it! Who wants to think when there's a goody and a baddy slugging it out on screen while everything around them gets trashed? And it's set up nicely for another sequel when Hellboy becomes Helldad.

The thing that did surprise me is that Luke Goss - yes, from Bros - plays the main baddy, the elf prince, and he was good, if totally unrecogniseable!

Kirstyfest 2008

I went along to Soho Square with Chris today to attend the seventh Kirstyfest, a celebration of the life and music of Kirsty MacColl. Kirsty died in a diving accident in December 2000 off the coast of Cozumel in Mexico and her mother, Jean, set up the Justice for Kirsty Campaign to seek a full investigation of the accident and appropriate legal action taken. Every year since then, fans of Kirsty gather at the bench dedicated to her in Soho Square, remember her and then go to a local hostelry to raise a glass to her memory. Chris is one of the original fans who raised the funding for the bench and kicked the whole thing off.

I became a fan of Kirsty with the release of the 'Kite' album in 1989 and have fond memories of Kirsty's version of 'Days', the lead single from the album. I knew about the earlier releases and work with Tracy Ullman, but wouldn't say I was a fan until 'Kite'. She had a lovely voice and wrote great songs and, of course, sings with The Pogues on that eternal Christmas song, 'Fairytale Of New York'. One of her most enduring songs is 'Soho Square' in which she sings about an empty park bench in the square, hence the reason for the bench and meeting in the square on the Sunday closest to her birthday each year.

It's both a sad get together and a happy one, smiles and laughter and a small tear, thinking of a life cut short. Jean was there along with Kirsty's sons, and they came along for a drink afterwards. The event is organised by Claire these days and a good thing she's made of it too. We took over the function room of the Spice of Life pub, set up with mics and amplifiers, Kirsty's songs playing in the background and, every so often, people getting up to play and sing Kirsty songs. People turn up form all over the world, from as far afield as San Francisco. Four women from Norway turned up to sing Kirsty songs that they'd translated into Norwegian and they did a very atmospheric version of 'Angel', one of my favourite songs - if it was available I'd certainly pay to download their version. There was a very good turn out and the room was packed - it must've been very good business for the pub on an otherwise quiet Sunday.

It says a lot about Kirsty that nearly eight years after her death her fans and admirers still make the effort to get together to celebrate her life, in, it seems judging by today, increasing numbers. I was heartened to see a lot of young faces there today along with the older stalwarts, which suggests that she's still attracting new fans. Music can touch us all in different ways and Kirsty's music is often the sound of fun and joy as well as sadness and thoughtfulness.

Alegria Alegria, happiness and joy ...

Amanda Palmer at Koko - YouTube

I've found a few videos of Amanda live at Koko on YouTube that I thought I'd share:

'Guitar Hero'



'I Google You' (scroll in to 2.45 for the start of the song, but I like to hear the chat too)



'Umbrella'

British Gas

O, the fun I've had this week - laugh? I could cry. Or, more likely, shout. And I would if it would have any effect.

My gas boiler broke down last weekend, so I've had no heating or hot water since then. I rang British Gas to get someone to come out and fix it under one of their "customer care" contracts that costs close to £400 per year. Because last weekend was so cold then lots of people are switching on their heating and finding problems, so the earliest they can arrange an appointment is Wednesday between 12.00 - 6.00pm. OK, I will sit at home and wait for the engineer for 6 hours. He eventually turned up at 7.25pm but didn't have the right parts so would have to order them and arrange another appointment.

The second appointment was for Friday between 8.00am - 12.00pm and the engineer turned up at 11.45am. With the wrong part. Ooops. So he arranges another appointment for Saturday morning, this time between 10.00am - 12.oopm. The engineer turns up at 10.15am (well done for that) and has the right parts but can't do any work because there's no gas supply ...

Friday saw lots of activity in my street and outside my house as another bit of the gas supply industry dug up the road, shouted and swore a lot, a couple of them played keepy-upsey with a football in my drive way and then damaged the main gas supply pipe for the whole road. Ooops again. They were still trying to repair it at 1.00am last night (I know because the generator to provide light was incredibly loud and heard quite clearly in my flat). I had no idea whether it's fixed or not this morning but it turned out that the supply pipe was fixed but gas has been switched off to this house until engineers can turn off and then on all the individual supply pipes in each flat. I am now waiting for this to happen.

I have also rung the "customer care" contract people to arrange for the engineer to come again to fix the boiler and was offered either between 8.00am - 6.00pm on Sunday or on Monday between 8.00am - 12.00pm. Since I'm going out tomorrow afternoon then it'll have to be Monday.

Of course, I haven't itemised all the phone calls I've had to make, how many different departments I've been passed around or the different companies I've spoken to (British Gas charges me for gas used but another company supplies it and another company again seems to do the maintenance... it gets complicated). The engineers all seem nice enough people, and they would be since they're standing in front of you, but the call centre people are irritating rules-is-rules types. As with most things, it's the system that's wrong.

So far, I've spent about 16 hours sitting waiting for the gas man to arrive or sitting here while he's done some (incomplete) work and I now have to wait around over the afternoon for another engineer to come and switch the gas back on. Then, potentially, another 4-5 hours on Monday. And can I claim any compensation for this or claim loss of earnings? Of course not!

The "customer care" people are almost eager to tell you the address to write to for complaints which makes me assume they're so used to this that it's water off a duck's back and any complaint will get a bog standard reply. I can't simply cancel my contract with them since I'll be charged the full amount (it's in the small print) so it's lose-lose all the way for me.

Update: 4.05pm and I now have gas again. That's taken 6 hours from first talking to the engineers about reconnecting the gas supply to the house. Now I just need to wait for Monday to have the boiler fixed and I'll be back in business.