Buffy @ Retro Record Bag

What a funny old day I've had. An early visit to the diabeatnik doctor for more tests and more pills (I'm now on five different ones in varying amounts and frequencies each day), an appointment at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in mid-September for my back and more tests on Monday at St Georges's. This is >so< much fun!

Then thought I'd try seeing how easy it would be to get to work and regretted it, quite painful and took a while to subside after dosing up with tablets in the office. Still, cleared a lot of emails and discussed the way forward on few urgent bits of work.

I'd meant to do my 1975 set at the Retro Record Bag thingy tonight but, after this dire morning, decided to cheer myself (and the Retro punters) up with a Buffy Sainte-Marie set instead! So on my way out I grabbed five CDs. Most Buffy tracks wouldn't work at the Retro, being either too slow or too quiet for the noise of the bar, so I'd decided to open with 'Look at the Facts', a nice upbeat song to start with and close with 'I Been Down', again a nice upbeat song with some powwow singing, both tracks from 'Sweet America'. I get up to the DJ booth, open the CD case and it's empty - the CD is still in my stereo at home.... bugger!

Ever inventive, my Buffy setlist became:

Better to Find Out For Yourself (from 'Illuminations')
Sweet, Fast Hooker Blues (from 'Buffy')
Fallen Angels (Reggae Mix) (from the 'Fallen Angels' single)
Generation (from 'Buffy')
Native North American Child (from 'Native North American Child: An Odyssey')

I really wanted to play some Buffy powwow but at least I have another opportunity - 'Sweet America' was released in 1976 ... my next setlist but one.

I wasn't on top form this evening and my back wouldn't settle so I left not long after 10pm, regretting being out on the one hand but also pleased that I did - that's the first time in over two weeks that I've been more than a mile or so from my front door and it was nice seeing and chatting to my DJ compatriots (even if my set was, again, the best and most inventive of the evening). I'll sleep well tonight.

And then, returning and logging on to do this blog (and a version of it for the Buffy email list - they deserve to know that Buffy's been played in central London) and finding the glorious and long-awaited news about SLADE re-issues (see below).

Buffy and SLADE in one evening - my cup runneth over!

SLADE - Feel The Noize!

At last! The news I've been waiting for for so long:

http://mailinglist.stroemoe.com/Mailinglist/New-Release.htm

The first four albums will be released on 21 August, followed by a 4xCD boxset in September, with more releases every few months. And the CDs will include the 'B' sides from all the early '70s singles. How happy am I? A bungee-jumping rhino couldn't be more excited!

Calm, calm, om mane padme hum... August is so far away...

SLADE News

The Slade wires have been buzzing today with the glorious news about re-mastered albums. The latest from Crazeeworld (link opposite) is:

Union Square Music's new Salvo label are re-releasing the entire Slade catalogue, starting in late August with the first four releases, and continuing at various intervals until next summer. The music has been remastered to great effect and the packages will include new sleeve notes and many previously unseen photos.

The first four will be: Beginnings / Play It Loud (2 albums on 1 CD), Slayed?, Old New Borrowed And Blue and Slade Alive! (A 2CD live anthology which includes Slade Alive!, Slade Alive Vol Two., Slade On Stage and Alive At Reading '80).

The re-mastered albums will contain bonus tracks. A b-sides collection, a box set and re-vamped Flame DVD are also reportedly in the pipeline.

I was listening to 'Old, New, Borrowed and Blue' last night and there are some killer rock tracks on that album as well as the more well-known singles.

Happy Monday

Monday's been a good day for a change and I like good days.

I received my Mary Tyler Moore Season 3 DVDs today and watched the first disc. That's a good thing. This is such a class series in comparison to most sitcoms and works for me. I need MTM to issue 'Rhoda' on DVD as well.

I received my long hoped-for Bambi Lake CD - My Glamourous Life As A Broadway Hostess- extra-speedily from America. The CD is a bit patchy but includes 'The Golden Age of Hustlers' so I'm happy. It's the only song of hers on the album, the rest are versions of 'show tunes' but they work to illustrate her tale.

I hear that SLADE albums will be re-issued with bonus material at long last - glorious news if true.

I find over 150 videos of the Dresden Dolls on YouTube (including a great version of 'Good Day') and learn how to add videos to this blog so it will, in truth, be all singing and all dancing in future.

I slept right through Sunday night without waking up in the wee small hours to take pain-killers for the first time in about 3 weeks.

Things are looking up!

SLADE - "Mama Weer all Crazee Now"

I received the following message on the international SLADE mailing list:

"All the old Slade-albums are to be re-released later this year. The albums come with bonus-tracks such as B-sides and the interviews from Melanie and 19. The album sleeves are beautiful with lots of info and rare photos. The first re-releases should be in stores within a couple of months."

O wow.

The Dresden Dolls - "Sing"

Biscuit Tin

Up early again and can't make too much noise on a Sunday morning so I'm browsing on the Interweb and thought I'd stop off here for a few minutes.

Big Trouble

Watched 'Big Trouble in Little China' last night and Chris looked to be in pain throughout. He has this odd notion that films should have a plot or story and that, unless in a recognised arty film, that scenes should tell a narrative. None of which applies to 'Big Trouble'! Special effects, mayhem and human demons with super powers does it for me.

Bambi Lake and CD Baby

I mentioned my fascination with Bambi Lake in a blog last year and have now tracked down a CD of her music which I have (of course) purchased. 'The Golden Age of Hustlers' is a very poignant song and I want it. It was on the CD Baby site in America, not one I've come across before but it seems to be run by some delightfully charming people. Rather than just sending a 'we've put it in the post' email they sent me the following eccentric message:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, June 21st.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.

Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

I'm also quite touched that the 'from' name in the address bar is 'CD Baby loves Owen'. What nice people.

Last 10 iPod

And to round off, here are the last 10 songs played on my iPod:

You Can Cry On My Shoulder ~ Brenda Holloway

The Coast Is Always Changing ~ Maximo Park

Sweet Little Vera ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie

Laura ~ Scissor Sisters

Satan's Butterfly Ball ~ Boy George

Roll Away The Stone ~ Mott the Hoople

The Lifeboat Party ~ Kid Creole and the Coconuts

Setting Sun ~ The Chemical Brothers

Identity ~ X-Ray Spex

My last emergency Cybill

I recently got the DVDs for the first series of 'Cybill' and have been waiting for the right time to lie back and enjoy them. Today was that day.

I did my physio exercises, made a nice mug of earl grey, positioned myself (in a supportive way) on the couch and pressed >play< ... and laughed myself silly!

For those of you who need a reminder, the blurb tells us that:

Cybill Sheridan (Cybill Shepherd) is a working actress in her forties, living in natural disaster-prone Los Angeles, striving to find meaningful roles and maintain a living in an industry that worships youth.

Keeping everything in perspective are her two daughters (Dedee Pfeiffer and Alicia Witt), two ex-husbands (Alan Rosenberg and Tom Wopat) and a best friend (Christine Baranski), who is the best at turning lifeÕs little predicaments into hysterical and humbling one-liners.

This four DVD box [three actually] set contains all 13 episodes from series one and features guest appearances by Tim Matheson, Erik Estrada, George Hamilton, Morgan Fairchild, Neil McDonough, Bruce Davison, Jonathan Frakes, Peter Bogdanovich, Kevin Sorbo, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elliott Gould and Burt Reynolds plus many more...

I don't often laugh out loud at things on the telly but 'Cybill' has that unknown magic ingredient that tickles my funny bone. I watched the first two discs back to back and decided to save the last disc for an emergency 'cheer-up' at some point in the future.

I went onto the wondrous Interweb , answered some work emails and accidentally went onto Amazon and lo and behold, series two will be available in August. Might I need an emergency Cybill before August? Probably, but I've got series three of the Mary Tyler Moore Show winging its way to me even as I type, and that should see me through any emergencies, so I took the hard decision. I used my emergency Cybill - and I'm pleased I did! What a great show that was!

Pills, Potions and Pummelling

Back to the docs this morning for the results of the tests last week and the news is mixed to say the least.

My x-ray is showing gaps in my spine where there should be none so I'm being referred to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to see a consultant, which is good news, but I have to wait 10 days to pick up the referral letter from my doc to take to the hospital requesting an appointment. Why? Who knows. I'd much rather go to St George's in Tooting but it, apparently, has a 4 month waiting list for orthopedic first appointments.

My blood tests (courtesy of the vampires last week) indicate that I've joined the Diabeatniks Club so I was given more pills for this and an appointment to see the 'diabetics doc' next week. I'm hoping that it was a blip when I had the blood test, so we'll see.

The blood tests also indicate that things aren't entirely hunky dory with my innards so I'm booked for an ultrascan to check that out in mid-July (the earliest appointment for a scan at St George's). I'm going to become an expert on the NHS in very short order at this rate.

This evening, however, I had my first pummelling of my back and bum by Mandy, my newest best friend who is the physiotherapist at Holmes Place health club up the road from me. The first task is to open up the tense spine and bum muscles to get some movement and relief from the spasm that occurs when the slipped disc presses on the nerve running down my left leg. Ouch. The first treatment was fine and I feel better for it but she said I'd really feel it tomorrow and I've got to keep a note of the effects and where it hurts to tell her when I see her again next week. I'm *so* looking forward to tomorrow... And I have exercises to do as well.

So there you have it, my latest health bulletin. Basically, I'm falling to bits!

Brenda Holloway at 60

Happy birthday to the great Brenda Holloway, a lost Motown goddess. Brenda never really made it big but she should have with her effortlessly powerful and versatile voice.

Brenda had her first hit in 1964 with 'Every Little Bit Hurts' (which has been covered by loads of people from Petula Clark to the Clash) and supported the Beatles on tour in America in 1965. She had a few hits over the next few years and still earns a living from writing 'You've Made Me So Very Happy' with her sister Patrice (covered by Blood, Sweat and Tears and a host of others).

She was only with Motown for a few years before retiring, getting married and singing in the church choir but her voice was kept alive on the Northern Soul scene and she started recording again in 1987 and a collection of her re-recorded classics and covers, along with new material was released in 2003 ('My Love Is Your Love'). A few years earlier she released 'It's A Woman's World,' an album of new material.

It's her Motown years that provide the evidence for the richness and power of her voice and this work is collected on her 'The Motown Anthology' which supposedly comprises all her Motown recordings, including those not previously released. I say supposedly because it doesn't include my favourite Brenda track, 'Trapped (In A Love Affair)' which is available on another Motown compilation of rare tracks from the '60s. The collection shows the wide range of material she could tackle but this also suggests a lack of direction - if she'd had the proper direction who knows what she might have achieved? Still, it's an excellent collection and everyone should own a copy.

I've never seen Brenda. I had the chance to see her at a Northern Soul convention in a holiday camp in Great Yarmouth a couple of winters ago but couldn't face the thought of it. She should be on at the Royal Albert Hall or the Royal Festival Hall. Or even the Jazz Cafe. I live in hope.

In the meantime I'll be listening to my CDs and joining in on the choruses, from the glories of 'When I'm Gone' and 'You've Made Me So Very Happy' to the whimsical 'Land of a Thousand Boys' and 'Play It Cool, Stay In School'.

Happy birthday Brenda!