Paul Weller - 'That Dangerous Age'

Now, far be it from me to post a new single from Paul Weller but I seem to be doing just that. I quite like this new song, 'That Dangerous Age', to be released on 12 March, followed a week later by the new album, 'Sonik Kicks'. It's a three minute pop song with a bit of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. The backing vocals have a Ray Davies sound to them. What do you think?

Public Image Ltd + 20 Years

The first new music in 20 years is due from Public Image Ltd in the next few months. First of all we'll get the 'One Drop' four-track EP on 21 April as part of Record Store Day and then the 'This is PiL' album on 28 May on the PiL Official label.

John says,

"'One Drop" is a reflection of where I grew up in Finsbury Park, London. The area that shaped me, and influenced me culturally and musically, a place I will forever feel connected to. But within this I am also saying it doesn’t matter where you come from, we all go through the same emotions especially the disenchanted youth of today, yesterday and the future. Bearing in mind the Olympics are in London this year and who knows what that could bring for London and our country."

You can listen to it on Pitchfork or The Quietus.

Naturally enough, they're doing some shows to promote the record and have already announced shows in London (sold out), Brighton and Leicester. The London gig is small (at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of BBC Radio 6's anniversary) so I'm hoping for another London gig to be added to the roster as well as others around the country.

All the PiL albums and John Lydon's solo album have just been reissued in re-mastered format so now is a good time to be a PiL fan. I just want to see them live again and playing the new music. In recent years I've seen them at The Electric Ballroom and at Shepherd's Bush and loved every minute. I need to see them again.


Update:

PiL has announced two gigs at Heaven in London on 1 and 2 April and offered a pre-sale this morning at 9am. I will be seeing PiL on 1 April - see you there!

Might I Say 'Ouch'? And Yay For Hoodies

I've got an ongoing argument with a slipped disc - most of the time it's fine but every now and then it slips a bit and causes me no end of grief. It's doing it at the moment and has been having fun at my expense for the last few weeks. I have my walking stick to help me get around (it's black with silver stars around the bottom half of the stick) but I find it very tiring using it. The longer I'm on my feet the worse the pain and the slower I walk - I've been passed by various snails and tortoises and by old age pensioners whizzing by. Yes, it is embarrassing.

Hobbling around with a stick has it's advantages - I haven't stood on a train or bus for weeks. It's quite interesting seeing people's responses to someone in difficulty and having a symbol of disability in my hand (ie Mr Stick). People holding doors open for me, letting me move first, giving up seats for me, all of these are good and humane things. Me being me, of course, means I don't always want doors held open for me because it makes me try to hurry up and get through them quickly so that nice people aren't inconvenienced. In reality, hurrying up can cause pain so I'd much rather you let the door close so I can push it open at my own pace. But thank you, nice people.

I was deeply grateful to the young hoodie that stood up so I could sit down on the Tube the other morning going to work. The others in the carriage, mainly in suits (both men and women) didn't move in the slightest. Yay for hoodies is what I say! It's very embarrassing when old folks give me their seats but I'm not proud. Well, not at the moment, anyway.

The selfish gene kicks in sometimes with people being incredibly selfish. They want what they want and that's all that matters. They want to get on that bus or train first and that's exactly what they do. They want to sit down and that's what they'll do even when they're in the seats reserved for disabled people. It's your problem if you're too slow to get that seat first. That's why I say yay for hoodies.

This afternoon I was out on an errand, slowly walking along the pavement, being very careful when crossing roads, letting cars and vans go first so there's no risk. I can't speed up if something heads towards me and suddenly stopping and changing direction physically hurts. So I take it slow and easy, watching out for traffic and other pedestrians, keeping out of harms way.

I started crossing a road with no traffic signalling to turn in or anything. Then, out of nowhere, a people carrier appeared out of the blue, braking suddenly and impatiently waiting to pull out into the main road. The fact that a hobbling figure with a walking stick was trying to cross the road didn't seem to enter the drivers' mind. It was a yuppy mummy with one small child in the back, a huge car with space for half a dozen and obviously in a hurry. I had to stop, slowly turn, and then walk around the thing. Then she just sped off before I'd finished walking round the damn thing. The most annoying thing was that it then meant I missed the bus because of the time it took to walk around her ridiculously big car. I thought harsh language long and hard at her.

I know I must be an annoyance to other people, moving more slowly than they'd want me to and blocking their access sometimes and for that I'm sorry. But what annoys me is the unthinking selfishness of some able-bodied people who will do what they want irrespective of who else might be within their vicinity. Stopping suddenly to avoid someone rushing towards me hurts. Changing direction suddenly also hurts. I can cope with that but I don't need it increased by my trying to avoid you bumping into me.

The result of today's adventure is a slightly sore lower back (which is slightly worrying) and a numb but tingling left foot (which is more worrying). The pain level seems to have passed into numbness. I'll see how it feels in the morning. I'm waiting for an MRI scan so the wise doctors can see what's happening with my spine. That probably won't be for a few weeks yet and won't be the answer, but will be progress.

If you see a doddery bloke with a black walking stick with silver stars around the bottom then please say hello but keep out of my way - I may look slow to you but I'm probably operating at Formula 1 speeds for me.

London Ambassadors Module 1

I've mentioned before that I'm going to be a London Ambassador during the Olympic Games in the summer. The job is to hang out in tourist hotspots and help them enjoy London and the Games, so there will be groups of Ambassadors at places like airports and rail stations, around Olympic venues, Trafalgar Square and around the river. My patch is the Southbank, around the London Eye, the Royal Festival Hall and National Theatre, an area that is packed with tourists all year round.

On Friday I met up with around 40 other Ambassadors for our first training session. This session focused on information about the role, what's expected of us, what we should and shouldn't do and a few group exercises on how to deal with a wide range of questions from visitors to London from around the UK and around the globe. The second training session will be in a month or so and will be about customer care. The final session will be on-site to get familiar with our patch, local security arrangements and what the facilities are. We also had sight of the uniform...

The first thing we were asked was not to take any photos of the uniform - there've been no leaks so far and I'm not going to be the one to leak it. I was expecting the worst but it's really not too bad and will certainly make us visible. I actually quite liked it. I'll need to buy some black shoes or trainers (I don't do black footwear) but that's no hardship.

I've known I'll be an Ambassador for months now but the session on Friday somehow makes it seem more real - the Olympics are only six months away now. There are 8,000 Ambassadors and we've all been allocated a time and location to do our bit over the period of the Olympics and Para-Olympics. The thing I was pleased about was the enthusiasm in the room from people from all sorts of backgrounds who just want to get involved in this once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the greatest show on Earth. And it's all happening in London.

'Coriolanus' and Ralph Fiennes

I went to see the new film version of 'Coriolanus' by Ralph Fiennes a week and a bit ago. This was either a labour of love for Mr Fiennes or a vanity project and I can't quite work out which.

'Coriolanus' is a powerful tale of pride and fall and you expect to see high drama but this film seemed to be largely a monotone with little light or shade to highlight the high drama - with few exceptions it was at full throttle throughout and, although that can be very exhilarating, it can also be rather dull if not handled correctly.

Featureless landscapes and dull, concrete cityscapes have their uses but they were unrelenting here. It's supposed to be set in modern Rome with armies shooting and killing each other, savage hand-to-hand combat, blood and gore aplenty and, I have to admit, I just gazed on in bewilderment expecting the 'real' film to start at any moment.

I was terribly disappointed by it. That wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for at all. Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler played it at the same level, at fever pitch intensity throughout and that just loses me. The only light and shade came from the excellent Vanessa Redgrave who rules all the scenes she was in - clearly it's a well written role and perfect for someone like Ms Redgrave but it also served to point a finger and snigger at the two dimensional portrayals of the other actors. The worst scene in the whole film was near the end when Ralph is shouting at Gerard and calling him 'boy' and a close up resembled his portrayal of Lord Voldemort in a 'Harry Potter' film - c'mon people, it's obvious, delete the derogatory 'boy' and the scene might work. Instead, it whisked me away to Hogwarts.

It made me squirm. It made me flinch at the blood and gore. But I didn't admire it, like it or think it's a good film. It's 'Coriolanus' by numbers and I expected more.

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra

Amanda Palmer's been busy recently what with going on tour with Neil Gaiman before Christmas and more recently with Bran Viglione as The Dresden Dolls but she'd now got some 'me' time. She's just released a new, re-recorded version of 'Polly' (she contributed a version to the Nirvana tribute album last year) which is available through her Bandcamp page for 50c + donation. She's also released a rather harrowing video to go with the song.



Of greater importance is the news today that Amanda is heading back into the studio to record a new album! She's recording it with her band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, that supported her on her tour last summer (and I saw at Heaven in September). She's recording it in Australia in a few weeks time after a couple of weeks of rehearsals and a week of live shows to get the songs just right. She reported that she had about 20 songs to choose from, many not played live before. She also says that there'll be synthesizers on the record.

I'm really looking forward to this record, her first full album since 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' in 2008. Since then she's released some singles, the UkeleleHead record and 'Down Under' (and 'Down Under' has some excellent songs on it) but not a full album. I'm also assuming there'll be a promotional tour and lots of new merch.

Amanda's started talking about us, her fans, as her record label since she doesn't have one at the moment and doesn't seem to want one after her Roadrunner experience. She'll be crowd-sourcing what she needs for this record and I, for one, will be happy to contribute and buy pre-sales and whatever else. I assume that, since she's not tied to record label schedules that she can probably release the album in whatever format she wants, whenever she wants, so I'm expecting a summer or autumn release (that's my assumption, not Amanda's) even though not a single track has been recorded.

I'm really looking forward to this.

'She Stoops To Conquer' and 'Travelling Light' at The National Theatre

I've been falling behind with my blogging so I'll lump these two together to compare and contrast, 'Travelling Light' on the big Lyttleton stage and 'She Stoops To Conquer' at the Olivier.

'Travelling Light' is billed as a funny tribute to the early Eastern European pioneers of cinema that became the movers and shakers of Hollywood. If that's what it had been then I might have enjoyed it more but I thought it was pointless and it didn't go anywhere. It had that big stage to play with but it stuck to the front few yards of the stage. Mind you, it wasn't helped by me nodding off to sleep for most of the first half (I know, the shame) but I didn't miss what little plot there was since it was easy enough to follow. The one thing I didn't understand was why Anthony Sher had a classic 'Fiddler on the Roof' accent but no-one else in the cast had an accent. What was that about?

Something altogether grander was 'She Stoops To Conquer', a classic play that I've never seen before. I thoroughly enjoyed this one without a drooping eyelid in sight! It's a tale of mismatched love, of manners and morality, of city versus country, age and youth - well, it's about everything if it comes down to that. Clearly, it's a great piece of writing by Mr Goldsmith but it's also a great cast and a great production - I'd find it hard to fault anything about this production (other than our hero channelling a manic Rik Mayall now and then).

I was particularly taken with the performances of the 'core family', of Sophie Thompson as the mother and Steve Pemberton as the father, David Flynn as the wastrel son and Katherine Kelly as the highly intelligent and saucy daughter. They were all excellent and I loved Sophie's trick of doing a deep curtsey and then needing a hand to stand up that she carried through into the bows at the end. That was a nice touch.

So, in my book, the score in that match is 1-0 to 'She Stoops To Conquer'.

Madonna - 'Give Me All Your Luvin''

If you're interested you must have seen the new Madonna video by now. It's had nearly 6.5m views on YouTube alone so far, and that's pretty damn good for a single weekend. I first saw it on Saturday and couldn't help but break into a grin. This is Madonna with a great pop song and a fun video. Her tongue is stuck so far into her cheek it's impossible to gauge. It makes me look forward to the new album due out in late March. Enjoy!

The Dresden Dolls & Richard O'Brien - 'Time Warp'

My punk cabaret raggamuffins of choice, The Dresden Dolls are touring down under at the moment and have done Oz and Tasmania and are now in New Zealand. Amanda Palmer was wandering round Auckland yesterday and popped into a juice bar for refreshment. A bloke noticed her eyebrows and asked her if she was going to see The Dresden Dolls that night. The bloke turned out to be Richard O'Brien who is opening his own show in Auckland. So he joined them on stage and here's the result - 'Time Warp'!



This made me smile and I couldn't help but grin when Brian channelled Little Nell for her lines in the song. Amanda doesn't know it but her job is to make me happy and she's doing it nicely. Magical things happen around her and she generously shares the magic. Thank you.

Gabba Gabba We Accept You, We Accept You One Of Us

Are you one of us? Were you there in the '70s when Glam rocked, disco danced and punk rebelled? Three great musical traditions in one short decade.

Someone I follow on Twitter had a fifty-something birthday today, Older Than Elvis, and she wasn't happy. She started me thinking though, and I realised that every now and then I still think that people who are 50 are old and then I remember that I'm 51 and I don't consider myself old at all. One rule for me and one rule for everyone else.

I'm still seeing and doing new things, experiencing new things (hey, I baked cakes for the first time two weeks ago!). I haven't settled into the kind of routine I saw my parents enter and, presumably, every generation before them. I'm not old, but I'm older. I still think in terms of 'when I grow up' (and only sometimes I'm joking), when I settle down, when I buy the cottage in the country or by the sea... and it'll probably never happen.

I'm deeply proud of some of my heroes. I was browsing through some old blog posts to find something about the Blood Red Shoes and found my post about Siouxsie playing at Shepherds Bush four years back and noted then that I said I was proud of her. It's an odd thing to say, that I'm proud of someone I don't actually know, but I am. Those old punks are still doing things. The onus is on us to still be worthy of them.

One song that always gets me going is 'Quickstep' by The Adverts from their 'Crossing The Red See With The Adverts' album that includes the line, 'Pretty soon you're gonna see what punks can do...'. And we all did - you changed music, you changed culture, you changed me.



Young people are beautiful, all of them. And so are older people. We are all beautiful. Look into my eyes and guess what wonders they've seen, Look at my feet and wonder which paths they've wandered. Have you seen what I've seen? Have you done what I've done? Have you sat in a theatre with tears running down your cheeks with emotion or pogoed all the energy out of you to ear-splitting music?

Yasmin Limbert tweeted last week asking about things to do before you're 50. I replied seeing the orange/pink dawn over the Ganges at Varanasi. I could have added wandering down jasmine-lined country lanes in Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka. Or danced with ghosts at Karnak? Or be taught to use chopsticks by an old Japanese couple in a restaurant in a little town outside Siem Reap in Cambodia. Or be shown how to see the rabbit in the moon in ruined temples at Kandy? I could add lots of things. I've seen wonders.

I wouldn't have seen those wonders - or appreciated them - if I was 20 or 30. Wisdom may not come with age, but experience certainly does. So does death, sadly.

I was strangely affected by the death of Poly Styrene last year, one of the great heroes of my youth and a hero of my older age by releasing 'Generation Indigo' last year. Poly came back to us in a flash of glory and then left to join Krishna. I never met Poly and I wish I had.

I also never met The Ramones but I saw them play back in the day. The founding Ramones all sadly died, but Tommy Ramone is still going and I had the joy of meeting him and shaking his hand when he supported Buffy Sainte-Marie in New York a few years ago. I *had* to go up to him and say I enjoyed his set as Uncle Monk, I just *had* to.

For me, the real punks were always just being themselves, not what anyone else thought they should be. And that's a key message for all of us. Don't be homogenised, don't be the same as everyone else. Walk your own road and be you. You might not be terribly radical but that doesn't matter. I always wear mis-matched socks as a choice. I'd rather not wear socks at all, but the weather doesn't always allow that. I have glitter in my bureau to comb into my beard when needed. I can see ballet one night and raucous punk the next night. That's all part of me.

Be you. Are you one of us?