All Change!

I was listening to the glorious X-Ray Spex this morning and Poly spoke to me. What is this blog if not a plastic bag full of bits and pieces, my online scrapbook of things I've collected, seen and done? Henceforth I am a plastic bag.

My mind is like a plastic bag
That corresponds to all those ads
It sucks up all the rubbish
That is fed in through by ear
I eat Kleenex for breakfast
And use soft hygienic Weetabix
To dry my tears

My mind is like a switchboard
With crossed and tangled lines
Contented with confusion
That is plugged into my head
I don't know what's going on
It's the operator's job, not mine
I said

My dreams I daren't remember
Or tell you what I've seen
I've dreamt that I was Hitler
The ruler of the sea
The ruler of the universe
The ruler of the supermarket
And even fatalistic me

Glitterati Safari

Now that I've been invited to the launch of a new magazine I feel like I've left my old, dull world behind and joined the shining glitterati.

Yes, that's right, I am proud to report that I will be attending the formal launch of 'Tranny Hag', the brand spanking new magazine conceived and, indeed, given birth to by the shy, retiring and not-at-all violent (unless there's a kangaroo in the room) Dawn Right Nasty.

As with every launch event there needs to be an added draw to make it just that little bit more special. On this occasion, it will be a screening of Peaches Christ fillums which I am *so* looking forward to seeing. Ahem.

Chameleon in Pig Ally

This evening we ventured to the Pigalle Club to see the ever delightful Boy George play a double set with Amanda Ghost.

I meant to book tickets for the November gig but a slip of the finger on the Interweb and you commit to things you never dreamed of. Such as a trip to the Pigalle on a Tuesday evening. I didn't know anything about the venue other than it was a supper-club type of place. Now that's ok as far as it goes, but when it advertises standing tickets I naively expect there to be somewhere to stand. Us standees either perched near the bar (with a poor view of the stage) or on a sort of sloping corridor which I assume is meant to cover the club under disability legislation by providing wheelchair access to the dining area - except when it's full of people waiting to see a pop star. I felt penned in and uncomfortable. I doubt it will become a favourite venue.

I know nothing about Amanda Ghost other than that she co-wrote that song. After her opening song I decided she was nice, chatty, lively, nice stage presence (even if she was playing to the cameras) and with an interesting voice. I was prepared to like her and add her to my list of people I watch out for. I wanted to like her but felt vaguely unsatisfied, a sort of promise unfulfilled. Her vocal style seemed to change a few times in different songs and most of the songs sounded like album tracks to me - there's nothing wrong with good solid album tracks but that doesn't mean they'll work live. And I don't think they did. I'd like to hear more, or possibly see her in a different venue?

Boy George was wonderful and effortlessly proved his pop star credentials when, with a wave of his hand and a nod, he got everyone up and dancing on the tiny dancefloor and inbetween tables during 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?' - that's a true '80s legend up there, y'know!

Most of his songs - old, new and covers - had a white-boy reggae vibe going on and one of the highlights for me was his version of Fleetwood Mac's 'Go Your Own Way' which sounded fresh and new. It wasn't a long set, but as well as 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?' he played 'Karma Chameleon' - is he mellowing? He looked good and seemed to be in fine spirits. Not entirely sure why he's playing the Pigalle with his band squeezed on the small stage but it was a pleasure to see him.

I liked the sound of his new single with Amanda Ghost - 'Time Machine' - clearly a commercial song that both him and Amanda sounded good on, probably playing to their respective strengths. Looking forward to hearing it properly when it's released next month.

Orange Outage

I've been a victim of Orange outage. Isn't it odd how you suddenly become desperate to look something up on the Internet or send a message to someone when you can't?

I've had lots of niggling problems over the months since Orange took over Wanadoo and had to reload the modem software more times than I care to remember. I don't understand this at all - all Orange did (as far as I'm aware) is take over Wanadoo so why should that result in so many problems with the service?

But I'm back now! And thank you to Orange for the note of apology but I'd rather it wasn't needed in the first place.

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

O yes, a bloggy all about my favourite subject - Me - for a change (ahem), with a liberal use of subtitles to help you focus on the subject under discussion. I know my readers appreciate pointers in my sometimes rambling blog entries.

iPod

I have a new iPod and I love it! My previous iPod was a 'mini' (henceforth to be known as Little iPey) and I loved it - a perfect size, easy to shove into a shirt pocket and holding just over 1000 songs. A miracle of design and entertainment. Wonderful.

And then the evil Apple Empire started taunting me with the new models it's just brought out. They were shinier. And they hold photos in glorious colour. And videos. I am weak, I know that. I succumb to temptation at the drop of a hat so had to get one. But, should I get the 30 or the 80 gig model? That translates as 7,500 or 20,000 songs? Well, as every man knows in his heart of hearts, size matters, so I went for the 80 gig. 80 gig of memory in that little thing is larger than most laptops.

Of course, now I have to load music onto it and, despite spending every waking minute copying and loading CDs I only have 3,815 songs on it so far. This is going to take forever. I have 605 photos on it and have downloaded 6 videos. I don't think I'm ever going to fill it up. Maybe I should've just got the 30 gig model after all.

I have just loaded 'Desolation Boulevard' by Sweet and am currently copying 'Electric Warrior' by T.Rex. Next in the pile of CDs beside the poota is P!nk followed by Lou Reed & John Cale. I don't actually have the Gorrilaz on mine - that's a stock photo.

Milestones

I achieved two milestones yesterday. As you might recall, when I started going to the gym with my personal trainer I couldn't do some exercises due to my back. Well, blow me, but I can now. A mixture of strengthening and flexibility exercises means that I can now do push-ups. Ok, so that's hardly earth shattering, but it's important to me. It means that the band of muscle around my middle is strong enough to protect my back when I put some pressure on it. That's good news.

The second milestone is my weight. Over the last couple of years in particular I've become what's known, in technical language, as a fat bastard (that's "fattus bastardus" for those of you with Latin 'O' level or GCSE). That's part of my whole health problem. I've never been too bothered about weight - it's more about waist size with me. After my strenuous workout yesterday I thought I'd try the scales in the changing room. I haven't weighed myself for a couple of weeks so imagine my delight at finally breaking the 100kg barrier - not by much, but I'm now in double numbers rather than triple at long last!

Debauchery

I've had a week of champagne, Guinness and Merlot-fueled debauchery - with cheesecake on the side. That is bad. Also very inconsistent. How can I be sufficiently strong-willed to say 'no' to having parmesan on my delicious pasta al arrabietta at the Val Tarro but say 'yes' to cheesecake for pudding? Hmmmm. Maybe it was the bottle of Merlot I'd polished off in the meantime... I must be strong and disciplined. Pepsi Max is my friend. The photo is me quaffing champagne at the RVT, courtesy of Chris.

Pills 'n' Spills

Sorting through my tablets this morning I realise I need to go back to the doctors for a repeat prescription. It also made me realise that I'm becoming very lax. I've started to forget to take them.

I forgot to take any at all on Monday - I can partially understand that, what with the stresses of the CfP event. I felt it on Tuesday as well, a rather strange feeling that I couldn't shake all day. On Wednesday I forgot to take my morning tablets and the same on Friday. I'm a three in the morning but five at night kinda guy. I really should carry some round with me for when I forget to take them.

That smacks of complacency to me. Because I'm not in pain then I forget to take the tablets. But if I don't take 'em, the pain returns to remind me to take 'em. Vicious circle. Discipline me lad, discipline!

'60s v '80s

I'm listening to The Four Tops as I type - they did some great tunes, happy and upbeat and had great voices. This reminds me of Chris's new DVD about The Temptations. The Four Tops v The Temptations? I couldn't choose between them - both have given us some fabulous songs. I loved watching the Temps DVD - some of these young wrappers and hippity hop people should watch it to see what cool really looks like.

I've also rediscovered The Thompson Twins this week when I invested in their greatest hits CD. I'd forgotten all about them until recently and that prompted me to sample them on iTunes and then go out and get the CD. Not in the same class or as immortal as bands like the Tops, but not bad!

Amanda

Just so that you don't think I've forgotten my heroes by doing a bloggy with no mention of them, here's some news about Amanda Dresden Doll.

Amanda has a new MySpace site - whokilledamandapalmer - and here is a delightful new photo of her at Glastonbury over the summer. We are so privileged to be offered the opportunity to lick her legs.

VauxhallVille

Why do I never have my camera with me when I need it? My first trip to VauxhallVille this evening and I have no photographic record.

I thoroughly enjoyed it - pole-dancing bears, boxing kangaroos, a mostly-naked glitter lady, violent confrontation and simulated sex on the stage, being drenched in water and champagne and dowsed in glitter. What more could one ask for on a Thursday evening?

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I took up Dawn Right Nasty's invitation to join her at VauxhallVille. I stipulated that there would be Guinness but no fighting kangas and that was it. Everything else is open to negotiation. And what a fun time I've had.

Nathaniel De-Ville hosted the extravaganza, eventually striping off and burning his Calvins as a protest about the insidiousness of gay marketing. Followed by the glorious Bearlesque troupe, Lucy Fire and the boxing kangaroo (who Dawn beat to the floor for the pleasure of winning a bottle of champagne). Chris, of course, knew the leader of Bearlesque (he knows everyone) but didnt know he did this act so his face was a picture.

Highlights of the evening were Bear Nigel singing 'Like A Prayer', eventually being crucified on a sparkly mirror cross, the Bear Leader, Freddy, doing a flashdance sequence and being splashed in water (which flooded our table in front of the stage as well), Lucy Fire stripping and biting into deep red roses that spurted 'blood', and Dawn trashing the kangaroo! Paul ended up covered in glitter from all three acts - that's the price for sitting too close to the stage.

It was a fine fun evening and I want to go again. Soon!

Patrice Holloway

You might not have heard that Patrice Holloway has passed away. The news on the Motown grapevine is:

########

On Sunday October 1, 2006 Patrice Holloway died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, Patrice was a Singer, Songwriter and younger Sister of Brenda Holloway. As you may or may not know, Patrice co-wrote "You Made Me So Very Happy" with Brenda. Funeral arrangements are being made for Saturday October 14 @ The Inglewood Chapel/Cemetery.

If you would like to send Cards or letters, please send them to:

SANTEL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP,
Inc. c/o Brenda Holloway
16041-G Johnston Road
Suite #113
Charlotte, NC 28277

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Patrice sang on many '60s Motown songs and backing vocals on albums by many other artists (such as Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'country' album), was an original Pussycat in the animated 'Josey and the Pussycats' series and was Brenda's sister.

Brenda Holloway visits the UK every year or so, mainly to play at Northern Soul reunions. Patrice's contributions to Brenda's and other works have never been fully appreciated. At least she will go down in history as co-writer of 'You've Made Me So Very Happy', which is a very great song.

Farewell Patrice.

Tina Weymouth's knickers

As so wisely suggested in the comment in the previous entry, I should treat myself. So I have. Pomegranate seeds and Guinness - yumboscrumdidly indeed! Not together, obviously. I would have preferred a real pomegranate but the little Sainsbury's up the road didn't have any but it did have little plastic cartons full of seeds.

I love pomes, but only in the autumn. Me Mam used to buy them for us when we were kids and back then you could only really get fruit when it was in season, so late September/October was always (and will always be) pomegranate season for me. It just seems wrong to eat them at any other time of the year (unless in foreign climes, of course).

And Guinness... well, I'm being baaaaaad....

Was supposed to be going out tonight for a celebratory meal up in town but I'm just too tired. Not much sleep on Sunday and the stresses of the event yesterday are showing - and I didn't take any of my pills yesterday and I've been feeling it today. I was falling asleep on the train coming home tonight, y'know, that awful doziness when your head starts nodding and then you jerk awake expecting the whole carriage to be looking at you? And, of course, I had a gym session with my personal trainer so I managed to get through that ok but I'm feeling it now. An early night, I think.

Which brings me round to Tina. I arrived home to see a lovely big padded envelope waiting for me - it can only be two things, either the live Buffy CD or the Tom Tom Club CD, 'Live at the Clubhouse'. It was the latter and I'm bouncing along to it as I sit here typing. I've been meaning to get it for ages and finally ordered it through the Tom Tom Club website.

I can't think of the Tom Tom Club without remembering that most odd evening when I saw them with Chris and Dawn Right Nasty a few years ago at the Great Eastern Hotel as part of the CBGB's night. They were excellent and I was an instant convert - the energy flowing off the stage in nice bouncy waves was astonishing and they seemed to be having such fun on the stage. Tina took off her warm CBGB's knickers and threw them into the audience ... they landed right in my hand. They now adorn Right Nasty Mansions. It was nice seeing Tina and Chris in the corridors earlier in the evening with Tina walking up to Dawn and giving her a great big hug - what nice people they are.

It was such an odd evening though - I'm all for occassionally mixing with freaks and wierdos but the people at the CBGB's night just seemed not very nice City media kids with too much money and no feel for what punk was about but they'd bought the right tee shirt and had the right make-up. A very odd crowd.

Oh, I've also started a new job. Apparently I got it on Monday but didn't find out till today (I was inconveniently out of the office). It's sort of the same job as I'm already doing working with mainly the same people, with the same boss and, broadly, the same kind of responsibilities - I simply discharge them differently or something like that. Exciting, huh? I'll expect congratulatory drinks in due course, thank you.

PS: just so you don't get the wrong idea, Tina was wearing other knickers underneath the CBGB ones...

Computers for Pupils 'Launch'

I've been working on it for one and a half years and we finally 'launched' Computers for Pupils today, the initiative to put computers into the homes of disadvantaged kids. It's been a long time coming but we got there. It was with a mixture of relief and trepidation that I headed up to the London Hilton Metropole Hotel on Edgware Road - relief that day finally arrived and trepidation that something would go very publicly wrong. And nothing went too wrong at all, even my stint on a Q&A panel in the afternoon where I got lots of questions about funding went ok (I always get loads of questions about funding). Phew!

I left home at 6.45am (an unheard of hour unless a holiday is involved) to get to the hotel to check all the arrangements in the main conference room and the various seminar rooms we'd hired. The aim was to make the day very practical for the various local authority and school representatives attending, lots of small seminars for discussion and learning, but this, of course, made the logistics more complicated. I'm incredibly grateful to the various people who gave up their time to prepare for and lead the seminars - I've been very lucky in the people we've been working with and I must do something in return for them. We even had some school kids on the stage telling us how important home access to computers and the internet is and they were excellent - a highlight of the day.

But it was worth it in the end. The mix of a speeches, seminar sessions and Q&A seems to have worked. The feedback we've already had is almost entirely positive so I'm pleased about that. We still all need to follow through of course - a nice event is one thing but I want to count the computers that go into the homes of disdvantaged kids under this initiative. I hope going without lunch was worth it!

Buffy Sainte-Marie - A New Album

Imagine my joy and delight to receive a personal email from Buffy yesterday ['eeek' - that's the sound of me opening the email - and 'thunk' - the sound of me falling to the floor in delight].

After seeing the news of a new album on the Buffy Yahoo group I shot off an email to her to check whether the news was right - it's been 10 years since her last album, after all. I wasn't necessarily expecting a reply but, bless her, she responded within a couple of days. And it's true!

Buffy says she spent August recording at her home with Chris Birkett (her co-producer on 'Coincidence' and 'Up Where We Belong') and that there's lots of different styles of music as on previous albums. Chris Birkett goes back to Hawaii in November to work on the album and she hopes to have it ready for the spring.

I've just looked on Chris Birkett's website and he says there are guest performances on the songs from people like Dr John and Taj Mahal (Buffy did some guest vocals a year or so ago with Taj Mahal's backing band).

What can I say? New Buffy songs! A new Buffy Album! I'm hoping for promotional activity and - deep intake of breath - a tour ...