Public Image Ltd in America

PiL have been unleashed on North America - enjoy or head for cover. The tour starts this week and runs into mid-May. Take a look at this great live performance of 'Rise' from the Jimmy Kimmell show last week:

Bananarama - 'Love Don't Live Here'

The new single from Bananarama, 'Love Don't Live Here' is available *now* - do the right thing and download it!

'The Little Dog Laughed' at The Garrick Theatre

"The little dog laughed and the dish ran away with the spoon..." yes, the title of the play comes from the old nursery rhyme which was recited at the end to sum up that a happy ending was needed - and was delivered.

'The Little Dog Laughed' was playing its penultimate night at the Garrick before closing tomorrow. It's the comic tale of a gay actor from Los Angeles who hides behind girlfriends he doesn't sleep with who phones up an agency for a rent boy while he's in New York after winning an award. He and the rent fall in love (-ish) but it's complicated by two sub-plots, one involving the rent boy sleeping with a girl friend (ie a friend who's a woman) who becomes pregnant, and the actor's agent trying to get him the lead in a screen adaptation of a play about men who fall in love. So, there are plots within plots and we need someone to help us through the twists and turns on the stage before us, and that's the actor's agent, in the shape of Tamsin Greig.

Tamsin's character is both narrator as well as actor, every now and then stepping out of the action to talk to the audience, and she plays it larger than life and very knowing. I liked the idea of the character-cum-narrator and she had great one-liners but she played it full-on 100% of the time rather than with any more subtlety. The two lads were a bit one dimensional as well, both skinny and interchangeable (especially when they stripped to underwear) and both had dodgy accents with every sentence ending on rising intonation. Chris commented at half time that they sounded like they were from 'Avenue Q' up the road and that summed them up perfectly. I quite liked the pregnant girl.

I enjoyed the show and I'm pleased to have seen the play but part of me understands why it's closing early.

Every now and then a rather heroic laugh drew attention to itself in the row just in front of us - Sir Derek Jacobi, who also came up to the bar at half-time, ramrod straight back and very neat hair. And that reminds me of a tip to pass on - there is a large bar upstairs at the Garrick with a balcony over Charing Cross Road and no-one seems to know it's there. The downstairs bar was crowded and the upstairs was virtually empty. I must remember that if I go back to the Garrick anytime soon.

Beverley Knight at The Royal Albert Hall

Last night we went to the long awaited concert by Beverley Knight at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets went on sale last autumn so it's been a long wait and when we got there last night we found we were in a box right at the side of the stage (I never understand the RAH seating chart), so we were close but didn't have the best of views.

To start off with, Mamas Gun were the support act. I first saw them back in 2007 when they supported Kiki Dee at the IndigO2, so it was nice to see them again. A smaller band and a tighter sound but they seem to have discovered extended mixes of their songs which wasn't a good thing. It was great to hear 'Put My Finger On It' and 'Pots Of Gold' again but the two extended versions of songs seemed to drag a bit. But it's good to see them again, especially supporting Beverley.

And then on came the main lady herself in a silver miniskirt-suit ensemble, lots of thighs and on impossibly high heels. But there's no mistaking that voice and that control of the stage, stalking it back and forth, never still. She's clearly on tour, very professional with a well-rehearsed band in matching black along with her usual trio of singers. Bev had three costume changes, all exposing acres of leg and sparkly high heels - she's in good form and dancing and singing her heart out, she must be incredibly fit. No sign of sounding winded at all, dancing and singing and giving us her all.

She played all the big hits you'd expect, old and new, so no-one would go home without hearing a favourite song. Favourites for me were 'Come As You Are' (the set closer), 'Beautiful Night', 'Black Butta', 'In Your Shoes', 'Gold' and 'Made It Back'. There was an extended version of 'Shoulda Woulda Coulda' that was, well, long, but the whole show was very professional and slick. And I think that may be partly why I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have.

I recall seeing Bev at the ICA last year which was the first time she'd played some of the songs from her new album, "100%" so that might've been why they sounded fresh and new and, well, not raw, exactly, but not slick. It was also more of a gig when we could get close to Bev rather than be restricted by the seating plan. And, sadly, having a couple of Italians in front of us that insisted on talking and laughing throughout until we asked them to be quiet, after which they smirked at each other and danced energetically with arms in the air to obscure the view. Not the happiest of concerts, but they rarely are at the Royal Albert Hall. It might be a prestige venue, but it's not designed for a rock or soul performance.

Bev was excellent and it was great to see her and great to see her commanding a venue like the Royal Albert Hall but I hope she plays somewhere else the next time she does a gig in London. My photos are from the ICA last year.

Malcolm McLaren

It is with some surprise and shock that I heard that Malcolm McLaren died today in New York after battling cancer for some time. Malcolm is forever immortalised in the history of punk music and rebellion and fashion in the '70s and '80s and he has his moment in social history. That moment probably coincided with the Sex Pistols releasing 'God Save The Queen' in the summer of 1977, the Jubilee year, and all the fuss that was unleashed in the media.

I won't claim to think about him often but he looms ever near John Lydon and The Sex Pistols and, whenever I've seen the Pistols or PiL, John has a word to say about him. I wonder if he'll change when he hears the news?

Malcolm also played his part in introducing us to scratching and African music in the early '80s with 'Buffalo Gals' and 'Double Dutch' and then to opera with 'Madame Butterfly'. I'm not sure what he got up to after that, but I expect the many obituaries over the next few days will tell me.

Malcolm deserves to be recorded in The Plastic Bag - it wouldn't be here without him. I hope he's looking down on us waiting for the next outrage to erupt with a wry smile on his face.

UPDATE: There was a nice tribute to Malcolm on the BBC1 News at 10 programme tonight.

UPDATE2: From JohnLydon.com: "For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and i will miss him, and so should you" - Johnny Rotten

Online Social Networks

Social networks are one of the more interesting phenomena of the Internet Age. Do you understand them? I must admit that I don't.

AOL has announced that it's selling Bebo and that made me start thinking. I used to go to Internet safety meetings with Bebo, Facebook and MySpace people back in the mid '00s when they were coming into being and thought they were interesting concepts that wouldn't catch on. OK, I was wrong. I've been on Facebook since those early days and still don't 'get' it. I use MySpace to keep up to date with the doings of my favourite bands. I joined Twitter a couple of years ago and have only just started twitting or tweeting regularly in an attempt to 'get' it. It's certainly useful to keep up to the minute with news and stuff, but what else?

That made me think of Last.fm, one of the music-based networks (and you can see my most listened to albums in the quilt in the right-hand column to this blog). I suppose I'm a bit narcissistic about Last.fm - I don't use it to interact with other music lovers, I use it to keep track of what I'm listening to. It doesn't tell the whole story since it only records those songs I listen to online or through my iPod, not the music I play on my stereo, but it's pretty representative. I'm not sure how to use it as a social network, really.

But I do find it fascinating to look at band pages and see how many times they're played - I'm listening to Garbage at the moment and I was surprised to see that they've been played over 22 million times by nearly 1m listeners (I've played them 102 times in the last 2.5 years). I find that rather astonishing. But I've no intention of interacting with any other Garbage listeners to try to understand that - that's too much like hard work for me.

Rather than being a passive recipient or observer of online social networks I ought to start engaging more. So watch out!

Amanda Palmer - 'Do You Swear To Tell The Truth ...?'

Amanda has just given the world a free new song, 'Do You Swear To Tell The Truth The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth So Help Your Black Ass'. Naturally I downloaded it instantly and you should too. Do the clicky thing here and donate some money for the privilege via Paypal. It has the lovely refrain of "... and I've already spent too much time doing things I didn't want to...", something we can all probably relate to.

The reason for this gift to the world? Amanda is finally free from Roadrunner Records and can now make music and give it away if she wants to. So she has done just that. Read her 'freedom' blog here. I'm happy for Amanda, this is good news indeed. Now, all we need is for the Evelyn record and tour to be a roaring success and then for Amanda to head into the studio and record a new album... and then tour it.

Oh, and give me another great big hug, of course.


Punk cabaret is freedom!

Pompeii: Lost In Time

I saw a fascinating article on the BBC website this morning about a new exhibition at Pompeii of the plaster cast remains of the dead townsfolk and animals after the volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago. It reminded me that I visited Pompeii on a school trip when I was 15 or 16. It struck a chord today because we visited in the run-up to Easter and spent Good Friday in Rome - I bought a big Easter Egg wrapped in coloured cellophane, something I'd never seen before. It was also my first foreign trip and first aeroplane flight.

I did Latin 'O' Level at school (don't worry, I didn't pass) and it was based on a new syllabus from Cambridge (I think) that involved learning Latin and learning about Roman culture through a series of short booklets that told the story (in Latin) of the family of Caecelius, a senator of Pompeii immediately before the eruption of Vesuvius. I think back on the lessons as some of the most boring ever (sorry, Mr McLeod), the different conjugation of verbs and wotnot, and I spent a lot of time day-dreaming, but I was fascinated by the ancient history. So I jumped at the opportunity to visit Pompeii and badgered my parents into letting me go on the basis that it would help with my Latin exams (it didn't).

I remember the coach to the newly opened Luton airport and the the cabins on the camp site near Naples, wandering round the streets of Pompeii and visiting the brothel to see the wall-paintings (well, I *was* a teenager) and visiting Vesuvius and going inside the crater. I picked up a piece of volcanic rock that I kept for years but have no idea what came of it. We then went to Rome for a few days and stayed in a sort of bed and breakfast place that specialised in school trips, big bedrooms with bunk-beds, ornate and with big windows. I recall visiting the Colosseum and the Vatican and looking up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel knowing it was important but just thinking, 'nice'. I didn't know enough about Pompeii or art or history to really appreciate where I was or what I was seeing. I would have a different response today.

I'd love to go back to Pompeii and see the exhibition. I think I'd see it with very different eyes. My Latin would be just as bad as it was back then, but I'd have a guidebook so I don't think I'd worry. I wonder what happened to Caecelius in the curriculum? Is Latin still taught in ordinary schools these days? I should know really...

I've no idea where my photos are from that trip. I think I'd borrowed my Mother's box brownie camera from the '50s which I found when we cleared the house a couple of years ago (my Dad kept it for some reason). Other than memories, the only thing I've still got from that trip is a small wooden music box that plays 'Close To You' by The Carpenters that I bought for my Grandma but kept for some reason (maybe I got something better for her?). It's on the top of a bookcase in my hallway and still works.

'No 1 Boy' by The Rezillos

I've just discovered my new favourite song of all time - the latest single from The Rezillos, 'No 1 Boy'. Fay is sounding as fab as ever and looks like she's having fun rolling round with a mirror ball. I didn't realise they were back together but listened to 'Can't Stand The Rezillos' the other day and started exploring The Revillos catalogue, and, amazingly, here they are with a new single! Unfortunately, it looks like Jo Callis has just left the band (again). Still, this is pretty fab! Take a look at the video and then do the downloady thing from Amazon or iTunes - bounce around and enjoy!

Time: Dr Who

It's Good Friday so I spend it recuperating from a long week and watching 'Dr Who'. The new Dr Who makes his debut tomorrow but I spent the evening saying goodbye to the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, watching the last two episodes and 'Dr Who Confidential'.

There are different ways of measuring time and one of them is by which Dr Who was yours. *My* Doctors are the two that straddled the '70s - Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker - after which all Doctors were inferior (obviously). And then Christopher Ecclestone became the face of the new Dr Who and David Tennant made us love the show again. And I do. I particularly liked the last series of the Doctor with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, which was inspired casting.

Tonight was a double-bill of the Christmas and New Year episodes that say farewell to David Tennant and hello to the new Doctor, Matt Smith, plus the final 'Dr Who Confidential' with interviews with cast and crew of the series. It was quite sad, saying goodbye to the characters that have populated Saturday evenings for the last four years (and in the case of Sarah-Jane, several decades) and this is the first time a Doctor has been able to say goodbye to his friends on regeneration. It was strangely moving.

Tomorrow we'll see the first episode with Matt Smith as the Doctor. Will he be able to pull it off? We'll see.