Real things

One of the big developments during my blog hiatus (other than the change of jobs and home), is that I now own a Kindle.

Initially I thought I'd only use it for holidays and long journeys, to save carting about multiple books. I thought that I'd still buy second-hand books and go to the library. But quickly, the Kindle replaced other books and became the only thing I read.

That means I'm stuck buying electronic book things from the evil tax dodging corporation, which isn't ideal. But it is a hard habit to break.

The same with music. Whilst we may own music on vinyl, CD and even some dusty tapes, I only listen to music on my iPod or 6 Music on the digital radio. 

This week Primal Scream released a new album.  Alongside dogs, striped dresses and Danish pastries, I can't resist a Primal Scream album. But rather than just download it, I decided to actually buy it. To buy the actual CD (admittedly not vinyl) in an actual real shop.

While I was in the shop (Fop), I also picked up another CD (Vampire Weekend's new one) and two paperbacks.  And I remembered how much I liked buying actual books in a shop.

So a return to happier, low-tech times?

Not exactly - the CDs have been transferred to the iPod and the paperbacks are still unread in the bag. 

But perhaps a (retrograde) step in the right direction?

Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa

Tuesday was the next instalment of the old men gigs, Primal Scream and MC5. Two gigs in one week! It is like I’m young again!

The Scream were good, perhaps not the best I’ve ever seen them but certainly not the worst. It was quite a short set consisting of several new songs (sounding quite good) and mainly stuff from XTMNTR.

Then the MC5 came on. “He wasn’t in them originally” pointed out the man next to me as a man in his forties came on stage “He’s far too young”. The original members (the MC3?) were quite obvious when they appeared. They were joined by a young(ish) lead singer who I’ve scoured the web for information on but still have no idea who he is, but he knew how to work the crowd. They go their “hit”, “Kick Out the Jams” out of the way a bit too early, and it did perhaps go on a bit too long in places (the drum solo wasn’t necessary) but you couldn’t fault them for energy.

Then what we’d really come for happened, Primal Scream joined the MC5 on stage. Suddenly each band member had a partner, so there was two singers, six guitarists (including the bassists), two drummers etc. It was like a musical ark!


It was brilliant. They were all enjoying it so much. Bobby Gillespie looked like all of his birthdays had come at once and was transformed from a 40-something into a delighted 12 year old boy. His bad dancing went into overdrive. The highlight was when they all played “Moving On Up” together which was so good.

Then, which I wasn’t expecting at all, John Sinclair, came on stage and did some poetry type thing over a jazzy saxophone. The OH said he would have preferred it if he’s just come on and waved, but I liked it, it fitted well with the evening of legends, given that Don Letts was the night’s DJ.

Totally Devoted

Is there anything that you love so much that you have lost all objectivity.? That you would defend to the death, defying all reason and can hear no other side of an argument to?

I don't mean things like "freedom of speech", "democracy" or anything else that we go to war over. I mean is there something that you are a fan of, but that, if you are honest, it has gone beyond that into obsession, fanatism?

The reason I've been pondering this is that in my little bit of freelance writing that I do, I made the mistake of mentioning a certain pop star and the site has since been bombarded with abusive comments and I wouldn't be surprised a death threat was imminent. I'm not going to mention the pop star's name here as it is obvious that these people receive notifications whenever and wherever he is mentioned on the web. All I said was that he was past his best and then the fanatics appeared quoting figures of record sales (since when has that been a mark of quality?) and alternating their messages of hate for me, with their messages of love for him (is he really going to be reading?).

What inspires such blind devotion?

I've given this some thought and there really isn't anything that I feel that passionately about (perhaps I'm missing out?). There are lot of things I love, but not to that extent. Actually, I even feel uncomfortable using the word "love". I love my family, the OH and my friends - feelings I have for a band, television programme, painting or book, aren't the same.

I really like the television programme "The Wire". There was an article in "Sight and Sound" about it recently that wasn't entirely glowing. I agreed with some of their less positive comments (namely the final season wasn't as good as the past ones), other criticisms I didn't agree with, but I've not written to the magazine to complain.

Musically, the band I've liked most consistently for the longest would be Primal Scream, but I will admit that whilst I like their last album, it wasn't as good as their second album, there is at least one album that I don't like at all and a few years back they went through a phase of being dreadful live. I realise they aren't to everyone's taste and I don't now expect to receive abusive comments from other fans on account of these opinions.

Differences of opinion, varying tastes make the world more interesting. And these fanatics are entitled to their opinions too. But its the lack of intelligent, adult debate, the lack of being able to see that someone might disagree with them that I find so hard to understand.

Scotophile

Many people declare themselves to be francophiles and occassionally I've heard people claim to be anglophiles, but today I've realised that I am a Scotophile. (Or is a Jockophile? Probably not)

Putting aside the cuisine (the very idea of haggis scares me), so many of my favourite things are Scottish. So I thought I'd make a list:

• Primal Scream (no huge surprise there as I have mentioned them umpteen times already and they have their own category on the blog!)
• Jesus and Mary Chain - I saw them again this week and they were still brilliant
• Malcolm Middleton and Arab Strap
• Belle & Sebastian
• Teenage Fanclub
• Deacon Blue (uncool but I love them and could happily singalong to the first two albums)
• Simple Minds (again not at all fashionable but who can deny the power of "Don't You Forget About Me)
• The song "The Second Summer of Love" by Danny Wilson
• Even The Proclaimers are better than most English pop
• The Loch Ness monster
• Glasgow
• Edinburgh
• Invereray
• Edwin Morgan - I've just discovered him (I'm somewhat out of the loop with poetry these days). He's way better than our poet laureate and his poem "When You Go" can reduce me to tears
• Ian Rankin, the man as well as his books
• "The Wasp Factory", "Complicity" and "Espedair Street" by Ian Banks
• Trainspotting, the book and the film
• The film "The Flying Scotsman" about cyclist Graeme Obree
• Jonny Lee Miller when he's pretending to be Scottish (as in the above films)
• Sean Connery
• Taggart
• Robbie Coltrane in Cracker
• This album "Ballads of the Book" which combines music with writers and poetry and looks fantastic and is on my 'to buy list'
  

I even like their politicians. While my Amercian colleague lusts over Alistair Darling (I kid you not), I have a bit of a thing for Alex Salmond and the SNP could have my vote.

Riding the Tube with Bobby G

People who don’t live in London often ask me if I see lots of celebrities around London, and I really don’t tend to. This may be because a) my eyesight isn’t very good, and b) I often struggle to recognise people outside of context in which I know them (for example I once walked past my own mother on the high street, obviously I didn’t recognise her outside of the confine of our house). It also might be down to the fact that I don’t really frequent the sort of places that the rich frequent.

But this morning, I saw Bobby Gillespie on the tube! Actually, the OH saw Bobby Gillespie and I initially doubted him. Unlike me he is often mistaking people for celebrities like the time he was convinced football managers Gerard Houllier and Sven Goran Eriksson were having a pint together in our local – they weren’t. But it turned out he was right. And he (Bobby G that is, not the OH) was getting off at the same stop as me! Fancy that.

I realise that Bobby Gillespie is hardly A list celebrity, but in my world, he is, having been in two of my all time favourite bands and I have described him as my ideal man on several occasions. So it was nice to start the day seeing him in the flesh - he looked ghostly white, knackered and was wearing dubious pointy shoes, but I still would have done it with him there on the concourse if he'd asked.

But I must admit I was surprised to see him on a crowded tube train at 8.30 in the morning. Surely he can afford a cab? According to some tabloid or other (as the OH informed me later) he was out partying with Kate Moss last (Bobby G again, not the OH) and was spotted leaving her place at 5am.

That still leaves quite a few hours unaccounted for though, unless he really struggled to work the ticket machine.

I Don't Fancy Yours Much

I caught a bit of that Ewan McGregor travelling on his motorbike programme last night and I was reminded that the only time I’ve ever found him attractive is in Trainspotting. This is bizarre, perhaps worrying, but by no means an isolated incident as my taste in crushes has always been somewhat off kilter. They have fallen into three main categories:

The Dodgy Mancunian
I could say it is a musical thing, growing up on a diet of The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Joy Division, but that wouldn’t be strictly honest. Because as much as I have admired after Ian Brown and Johnny Marr, the first man from the north west I desired was Terry Duckworth, the errant son of Coronation Street stalwarts Jack and Vera Duckworth. Terry was always a wrong ‘un but for some reason I found him rather attractive. The passage of time has made me realise that I was clearly wrong.

The next manifestation was Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, early days Happy Mondays I must point out when he had floppy hair, an arrogant swagger and the drug use hadn’t quite become abuse. Little did I know that he was going to evolve into a human slug like creature and I would bear the shame of once having fancies him on top of pity for him that it all went so wrong.

The Surly Scot
My love of Primal Scream and their frontman Bobby Gillespie has been well documented here, I’ve previously confessed to a liking for Ian Rankin but there lurks a dark secret. I really fancy Duncan Bannatyne, the dour, sour Scottish businessman from Dragon’s Den. There’s not much more to say about this really – I’m ashamed and embarrassed but there it is out in the open.

The Older Man
I have never ever been out with anyone older than me. Every partner has been around my age but usually a matter of weeks younger than me. And yet in the world of dream men, there have been quite a few of advanced years. As a child, I loved Gregory Peck which is understandable in that in his prime he was a fine figure of a man, but I also loved him as he was at the time, snow white haired. Then there is Anthony Hopkins. Again nothing wrong with him but at the height of my Anthony Hopkins phase, I was about 19, my friends all like Brad Pitt and the two of them were starring together in Legends of the Fall. I had to decline an invitation to see it as I was embarrassed that I’d be swooning over the wrong one.

However, the worst case of this love is my affection for the sadly deceased Paul Eddington. I loved him first in Yes Prime Minister and then in retrospect in The Good Life. IMDB describes him as a ‘tall debonair actor’ but it was his bumbling visible awkwardness that I loved. In real life he was unassuming and wanted his epitaph to be ‘He did very little harm’. I like that and I still like him, but now he’s gone I have to make do with Geoffrey Palmer.

All of this brings me onto the latest improbable crush. I’m still watching Prison Break despite the fact it is patently ridiculous and the reason for this is not the so-called star Wentworth Miller who is undoubtedly a very attractive being but now leaves me cold. My reason for viewing is Alexander Mahone (William Fitchner). He was the best thing in the second series, by virtue of being the best actor in it by a mile but in the third series, he’s toned, tanned and constantly shivering and sweating, a man on the brink of nervous collapse but he’s the one for me.

So now I’ve humiliated myself (believe me, I'm blushing here!), share your own guilty desires, please.

Get Yourself Connected

We went to the festival for the music, so here it is.

Friday

Andy Votel (DJ Set) - he turned up very late, which gave the DJ before an excuse to play 'Slave to the Rhythm' by Grace Jones, which is unacceptable. Votel played a lot of good stuff that nobody else has ever heard of, which is kind of the point, but makes writing about it difficult.

The Aliens - A band comprising a couple of ex-members of the Beta Band and Lone Pigeon. They were ok, but really haven't developed a distinctive sound of their own yet. Apart from the song Robot Man, everything they did sounded like something from the 60s, which normally I don't mind, but really I could pretty much sing 'Jean Genie' in its entirety over one song, and another was just 'Comfortably Numb'.

The Jesus & Mary Chain - the main reason for going and they didn't disappoint. Despite recent reports, I was pleased to see that Jim Reid did not look like Pete Postlethwaite. Yes, they're older (but aren't we all? Most people at the festival were over 30) but they didn't sound old which was the main thing. The OH expressed some disappointment that the whole crowd didn't sing along with 'Snakedriver' as he was looking forward to hearing thousands of people singing "I've got syphilitic hetro friends in every part of town".

The Go! Team - we just saw the last two songs of their set. I hate them with a passion. Their music is ok, some of its quite good, but they are just too upbeat for me, and the woman's inane chatter drives me mad. "Tonight, we are going to do the live version of this song". Stating the bleeding obvious woman, what else were you going to do playing live?

Beastie Boys - I must say I was rather disappointed with them. I don't know what more I was expecting (I've seen them twice before so kind of know what they do) but following the majesty of the JAMC, they sounded a bit like a novelty act. The best bit was Mike D threatening to storm the castle and take on the Duke, and claiming that their DJ had made the streets safe to walk by killing the Loch Ness monster.


Saturday

1990s/Fire Engines/The Only Ones - We fully intended to see these groups, and I really wish we had, however we got caught up in a conversation with a fisherman/farmer called Graham in the pub. He hadn't heard of any of the bands on the bill except Bjork (who he mispronounced) and who quizzed us about the festival and life in London as if we were aliens. Big wave to Graham if he's reading, which of course, he won't be, because he doesn't own a compter.

Bats for Lashes/Vashti Bunyan - we saw the end of the former, waiting for the start of the latter, but left after two songs of Vashti as frankly she was poor. She had a huge choir on stage with her, and didn't seem to be singing much herself. Both acts were a bit wet really.

Teenage Fanclub - There's nothing to not like about the Fannies (as a few people still call them). They call melodic power power, they play very well and I seemed to know all of the words to most of their songs, despite not having bought an album by them for about 12 years.

Modest Mouse - the OH stayed at the main stage to watch Mogwai and I braved walking across the site on my own to see Modest Mouse, and I'm really glad I did. They now have Johnny Marr playing guitar for them, after he replied to an ad looking for a Johnny Marr-like guitarist. Johnny Marr is the most beautiful person on the planet. This is a fact. He's also pretty good on the guitar and I think most people were there to see him, which most be difficult for any band he joins. I wasn't just there to see him (I've gone beyond walking through mud because I fancy a guitarist) -I do actually like Modest Mouse. They played a great set and played my favourite song 'Bukowski' which I really didn't think they would.

Echo & The Bunnymen - another band we didn't actually see. Ordinarily we would have, but they were up against Primal Scream. A lad from Bath said he was going to watch them because he'd 'probably never get the chance to see them play to so few people again' - this argument didn't persuade us - I can understand the rational if it is seeing them in a small venue, but not just because they aren't as popular as another band. I feared McCulloch would take it personally.

Primal Scream - I cannot remember how many times I've seen Primal Scream live, but I do know that this is the most sober I've ever been, even though I was sipping a mojito throughout their set! It started ominously when someone in the crowd soaked Mani with a pint of lagar and Mani called a halt to everything and invited the coward who'd thrown it to come up stage and have a proper fight. Unsurprisingly nobody stepped forward. Besides this minor setback, they were on good form. Bobby was upbeat and danced like a fool. The songs from the last record sounded pretty good, but it was the old stuff that was the best. They ended with 'Damaged' 'Loaded' and 'Movin' On Up' - all brilliant. Bizarrely, they didn't play 'Kowalski' which we'd heard being soundchecked all day.


Sunday

Idlewild - We saw them do a soundcheck on our walk into the town. I'm not a fan really but it sounded pretty good.

Paul Hartnoll's Ideal Condition - They were excellent and they did a version of Orbital's The Box with instruments. But (and this is hardly their fault), I don't really want to hear Orbital stuff anymore - it makes me too nostalgic for a time that has passed.

Polyphonic Spree - one of the highlights of the festival. They set up behind a big red ribbon which Tim de Laughter cut through in a heart shape. They know how to put on a show. They started off in their new black military uniforms but they were still singing songs about the sun. Then they went off and changed into their robes, and did a cover version of Nirvana's Lithium (see below & fast forward 3 minutes). Near enough Gospel music. I had to put my sunglasses on as I was very near to crying (and I wasn't alone).


The Bays - Really really good dance music. We couldn't stay for all their set as we had to watch Big Star.

Big Star - I was so worried this was going to be bad, but it wasn't. We were stood right at the front - thank you to the OH for standing through this, even though he doesn't really know them. They were pretty good and played Ballad of El Goodo' which was great. I was slightly disappointed that they didn't play some of my favourites (She's a Mover, Get What You Deserve) but I'm still really pleased I saw them. They made a few good jokes about Teenage Fanclub too.

LCD Soundsystem - Very disappointing. They didn't do 'Losing My Edge' or 'Jump into the Fire'. We should have gone to see Hot Chip instead.

The Ultimate Supergroup (pt 2)

Now for my choices:

Starting with the easiest part - the drummer. It may be a huge cliché but I think it has to be Keith Moon. He inspired a Muppet for goodness sake! He was also the best looking member of The Who by a mile so imagine how good this band is going to be if even the drummer is attractive!

I’ve already said I’m happy with Hendrix, but if I had to choose another, then it would be Johnny Marr. I’ve seen Morrissey live and he played a few Smiths songs, and whilst they were good, without Marr there was something missing. I’m no musician so struggle to describe how good he is, but even other guitarists struggle to explain his greatness. Noel Gallagher said it was Marr that first inspired him to learn guitar and then said words to the effect of ‘Johnny Marr – he’s so good, that even he isn’t that good’

Keyboard is difficult as I’ve struggled to think of many. Someone on the radio had suggested whoever is the keyboard player from Kraftwerk and whilst their influence on dance music cannot be denied, they’ve always left me cold so I’ll be leaving them out. As a reformed Doors-fan I’m not letting Ray Manzarek near the line-up either. So I think it would have to be Rob Collins, from the Charlatans, which I’ll admit is a hugely personal choice. The moog sound was an important element of their early songs, and I don’t think they were ever as good after he died. Kurt Cobain was supposed to be the voice of my generation, but I can remember just as clearly finding out that Rob Collins had died – I was in the brief period between finishing university and starting work, and somehow it felt like it marked the end of an era.

My group is definitely having a bass player, but I’m torn between Peter Hook and Mani. Hooky’s low-slung bass is iconic and being in New Order and Joy Division means he’s played on some of the best records, but then Mani’s been in The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. I think Mani might just edge it because a) Peter Hook looks too much like the OH’s dad, and b) I’ve met Mani a couple of times over the years and he is great bloke & can be relied upon to give a great interview.

The singer presents an even greater problem. As the line-up is so far all male, I did consider a female vocalist – Martha Reeves, Dusty Springfield,, Shara Nelson, even Dolly Parton – all have sublime voices, but I’m not sure they’d work with rest of the band. Grace Slick might work but she's gone down in my estimation since I'd found out she had rejoined the band when Jefferson Airplane mutated in Starship.

Other contenders: Frank Black (Pixies) but you’d need Kim Deal was well; Mick Jagger in his prime but I fear he’s sullied the image by not having the good grace to retire; Morrissey perhaps but then it would really just be The Smiths reformed.

I like my frontmen to have swagger, which rules out the wet-boys fronting most recent bands. Everything they’ve done since the first album has been unremarkable, but really I do think Liam Gallagher is a good frontman – he has that arrogance – unfortunately Oasis are the band of choice of a generation of louts so I'm not picking him. Before my brain melts entirely, I'm going to pick Arthur Lee (Love) - he had a distinctive voice and was a bit of a lunatic, not afraid of a bit of self-mythologising.

So there you have it (eventually). Who would you pick?

Walk on the Mild Side

Because it was sunny, today I decided to go for a walk, along by the canal and then to the shops. I took my camera and Ipod with me. The Ipod was set to shuffle so I didn't pick the music, although I suppose I put it on there so I did at some time pick it.



Here's what I saw and what I listened to on the way.



Ali's Waltz - Beth Orton

86 TVs - I Am Kloot






Movin' On Up - Primal Scream

Eating Glass - Bloc Party







Guiding Star - Teenage Fanclub

Limassol - Maximo Park






I.D. - Kasabian

One Chance - Modest Mouse









Good Times - The Stone Roses

Somebody's Daughter - Beth Orton





Hold It Down - Senseless Things


Inner Meet Me - Beta Band





9 to 5 -Dolly Parton

I Can Feel It in the Morning - Grand Funk Railroad






Come Together - Ike & Tina Turner








I got the bus home.

Music was my first love...

After the not very good Flaming Lips gig last year, I really did think I might never see another live band again. We considered going to Glastonbury again this year (quite a few of our friends are going) but then we realised we didn’t really fancy it that much – in my case I was mainly worried I’d be missing out on something. In the ‘are we too old for this festival lark’ conversation I talked about which bands we would actually want to see live – it wasn’t a very long list and many of the bands on it didn’t seem that likely to actually play anyway.

But then a few weeks ago I saw an ad in the Observer (how civilising and middle class we are now!) for the Connect Music Festival. The line-up was pretty close to my list of who we would go to a festival to see – Primal Scream (obviously), Jesus & Mary Chain (reformed with Bobby back on drums!), LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip and this bit I was stunned by, Big Star! All in the grounds of a castle by the a loch which looks stunning.



But there was still the issue of it being a festival which involves camping, tents and all sorts of other unnatural things ("if we were meant to camp, God wouldn’t have given us hotels", has always been my motto). I contacted every hotel, B&B and caravan park within the area but they were all booked already. So we were faced with the choice of camping or not going. So we are camping but deluxe camping, where the tent is already prepared for you complete with airbeds and new sleeping bags, so all we have to do is turn up. To soften the blow, we are staying a hotel in town the night before and then one night in Glasgow on the way back. Since we’ve bought the tickets, Polyphonic Spree and Modest Mouse (also from our list) have been added to the bill. I'm almost not dreading the camping now.


Then this week the line-up is announced for Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown - and he had Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators playing, supported by Clinic. Two more from the list! How good this will be remains to be seen as Roky has had a rather difficult past but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not sure how much this counts as being back into music as most of these are reformed groups rather than new bands but I'm genuinely excited by it all.

I'm also quite keen on seeing Macbeth at the Open Air Theatre this summer, but I think I might have used up all of the OH's good will towards obscure cultural outings for a while.

Cultural Review of 2006

What an poncey title that is!

Album of the Year
Primal Scream - Riot City Blues (rather predictable but I hardly bought anything that was actually from 2006). My most listened to album this year was Big Star #1 Record/Radio City, but these were recorded in the early 70s.

Film of the Year
Probably Capote (although this might be coloured by the novelty of seeing it on New Years Day in a cinema in New York). Also really liked Good Night and Good Luck.

Theatre Production of the Year
Avenue Q (I saw it twice admittedly I didn't pay to go either time, but it still takes alot for me to see something twice)

Television Programme of the Year
The Wire Season 4 (a bit of a cheat as we watched it on DVD as it hasn't made it over here yet). I also watched a hell of a lot of Law & Order SVU, watched Celebrity Big Brother for the first time and the Apprentice.

We love Colin Murray

Its not just me, my OH loves him too.

I think he's joining the elite list of men that the OH wouldn't mind me running off with. Ian Brown, Bobby Gillespie Russell Brand and Lee Gorton, ex-singer from band Alfie being the others - the latter he actually once conspired with Badly Drawn Boy to fix me with/pimp me out to - a bizarre moment in our relationship and a rather name-dropping tale at that.

Anyway back to Colin Murray. I wasn't really aware of him until Glastonbury 2005 coverage and the Primal Scream interview, which is my favourite ever television moment, as I've no doubt mentioned before (now available on youtube). I've heard him a few times more recently on Fighting Talk (OH choice of listening, not mine). But this week, we have been listening to his new late night show on Radio 1 and it is brilliant.

According to an article in the Guardian, he wanted to be moved to what is normally considered the graveyard shift so he would have the freedom to play the music he likes, which is by and large the music I like! There are also lots of silly features for listeners to get involved with.

To borrow, the OH's description of him:

"He is a top man adept as disguising himself as a buffoon"

What more could you want?

Mick Rocks!

I'm at the gallery -its been very quiet, but I have just spent two enjoyable hours 'in the company of' Mick Rock, the rock photographer, who now has a show on XFM. It is the second time I've heard his show and it is much better than the usual 'same shit, different hour' on the station.

Over the course of two hours, he played these records that I loved:

Primal Scream – Dolls
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion
David Bowie – Jean Genie
Bob Dylan – Can you please crawl out your window
Roxy Music- Love is the Drug
Television – The Blank Generation
Flaming Lips – Do You Realise
T-Rex –Telegram Sam
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World
Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue
The View – Wasted Little DJs

He also played some Scissor Sisters, Muse and Snow Patrol, but I won't hold that against him. He mentioned Snow Patrol being a great laugh again this week - I'm still not convinced by this and think he doth protest too much.

In between records, he tells anecdotes about bands he's worked with - its all very interesting and doesn't come across as just name-dropping (as it would if anyone else did it). He also used the word groovy and he still sounded cool.

Unlike when my OH described himself as 'hip' recently!

The Return of the Last Great Rock n Roll Band

Yet another amazing Primal Scream performance on the tv last night. Not so much the music (although they are sounding back on form) but mainly the interview. The lovely Colin Murray was interviewing them again, although it wasn't live and I noticed he wasn't left on his own this time.

It started innocently enough but then Colin Murray suggested that they should corrupt Lily Allen as she is very young. To which, Bobby replied "Backstage earlier, she came in my room while I was having a wan.." At which point it cut away - edited, but not quite quickly enough.

This was the highlight of my otherwise awful weekend and really just another excuse for a picture of Bobby Gillespie. I still find him unfeasibly attractive, mainly while he keeps his sunglasses on, so its less obvious that the hedonism is taking its toll (but then I used to fancy Shaun Ryder right up until he turned into a slug a few years ago - I have a weakness for the wrong type of men which I really should have grown out of years ago, like eating the lemon slices out my drinks in public which I still do).

Their website has a series of podcast (how modern!) interviews conducted by Murray. The first is on the site now and I'm severely torn between going home to listen to it or doing what I'm supposed to be doing, which is going to the theatre to see some Chaucer.

Top 5

Shamelessly stolen from the lovely Lucy on her blog (although I've omitted one section that she has because it was too difficult).

Top 5 favourite albums:

Primal Scream – Screamdelica
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
Beth Orton – Trailer Park
The Chemical Brothers – Surrender
Death in Vegas – Contino Sessions

Top 5 favourite recording artists:

Primal Scream
The Smiths
Velvet Underground
The Chemical Brothers
The Stone Roses


Top 5 songs that make me jump around my bedroom:

The Delays- Long Time Coming
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (not actually jumping but swaying my hips in a very New York way)
Big Star – Get What You Deserve
Happy Mondays – WFL
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Bang

Top 5 songs that make me go 'fuck yeah!'

Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name
Primal Scream – Loaded
The Ramones – Chinese Rock
LCD Soundsystem – Jump into the Fire
Flowered Up - Weekender

Top 5 songs to cry to:

Neil Diamond – Songs of Life
Johnny Cash - Hurt
The Charlatans – Telling Stories
Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman
Lamb - Goreki


(I appear to be stuck in a bit of musical rut - not much from this century here)

The Last Great Rock n Roll Band

Primal Scream

They are a proper band, a gang that look out for each other.

They've written some great songs and their style has evolved.

They've got a political conscience but not just for popular safe causes (a la Bono and Chris Martin) .

They've taken a shed load of drugs, but they've had fun doing it (take note Pete Docherty - its meant to be fun!).

And of course, they have Bobby Gillespie (still my ideal man) and Mani (the nicest bloke in music) who together were responsible for the funniest piece of television I've ever seen - Glastonbury 2005. Guaranteed never to be repeated. 'Hey hey, we're the junkies' sang Bobby before going on to do a set that was at times shambolic & petulant, but still the best thing on all weekend.