Hope the powers that be don't mind me posting this, but Word-friendly singer songwriter David Ford is doing a charity gig at Band On The Wall in December. (Edit - Monday 21st)

It's a mix of his own songs, and some unlikely cover versions.

Tickets are a tenner, all proceeds go to charity (this year it's a programme bringing music lessons to inner city schools). I've been responsible for organising the Manchester leg for a couple of years now, and a good time is guaranteed.*

Tickets are a tenner
https://securemobile.ticketline.co.uk/tickets/13239815/david-ford-milk-a...

Maybe see some of you there?

Here's a couple of quick videos from previous years. One cover serious, one not so much...

* no refunds

I spent Saturday afternoon last backstage at a small festival, working. I've worked backstage at shows a few times and there seems to be a great myth around backstage, perhaps a result of the rumours of debauchery on the road from times past, while the reality is somewhat different.

It strikes me that people who have designs on being backstage are like dogs chasing cars. They know it's what they want, aren't quite sure why they want it, and have no idea what to do if they ever got it. I saw several people attempting to barter for passes, in a couple of cases because of their admiration of a couple of artists who either hadn't arrived or had already left.

It's funny how the notion of backstage is one of glamour, as opposed to the more likely sight of three inches of a roadie's cleft as he lugs a monitor about. Frankly, backstage is just a bunch of people trying to do their jobs. It just seems odd that people think of it as a weird, mythical place where exciting things happen.

So what caused the great myth of backstage? Is it just a relic from the 70s? Or am I just backstage at the wrong gigs...

I know this is old, but I've only just seen it and thought it was a great rant on the subject of the media and getting paid for your work, and seems particularly relevant in terms of the internet and the expectation of free content.

In the first of what I imagine might be a few offers that look 'a bit desperate', you can get 2 tickets for Hop Farm festival (feat. Mr P Weller) for just 10 of your earth pounds, as they're bundling them free with a waterproof anorak.

Original retail price of around £200 for the pair. Ouch.

http://www.mandmdirect.com/competitionterms1.asp?&a=resetsearch

(Product is here http://www.mandmdirect.com/products-PPQ-Limited-Edition-Splashmac-Rain-P...)

Aside : go see the Joy Formidable if you go, they're excellent.

This email was sent this afternoon to those brave enough or foolhardy enough to have purchased opening night tickets for MJ's O2 residency...

You really have to admire the way that they try and flog a hotel via their "official travel package provider" in the same breath as apologising for the inconvenience.

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Dear Customer

This afternoon Michael Jackson producers will be announcing the rescheduling and change of the opening shows in order to meet the challenges presented by such a large and technically complex concert.

Please allow us to apologise. It was not an easy decision to change the schedule but in the end we wanted to ensure that all of Michael's fans attending the concerts get the same quality in staging and level of entertainment.

We are writing to let you know that the 10th July concert that you purchased tickets for at the O2 arena has now been rescheduled for 1st March 2010. The tickets you receive will be printed with the rescheduled date and you will have the same seat originally purchased. You do not have to do anything as you will be automatically allocated the same seats and moved to the revised date.

We understand the inconvenience this may have caused and for this reason we have secured some excellent hotel deals for Michael Jackson fans travelling to London on these rescheduled dates. Please contact our official travel package provider Thomsonexperience at customerservice@thomsonexperience.com or call on +44 (0)20 74621563 for discounted deals on hotel beds in London. We can offer a 10% discount on all hotel bookings. Quote 'Michael Jackson rescheduled dates' in order to claim the offer.

If you cannot attend the revised date and want a full refund including booking fee, please contact us at Michaeljackson@Ticketmaster.co.uk or via our Michael Jackson Support line on 0844 277 9982.

Tickets will be dispatched closer to the event date.

Thank you for your understanding. Michael, who is directly involved with all aspects of the styling/choreography/band selection and rehearsals, is working around the clock to ensure this is the show to end all shows! We look forward to seeing you on 1st March 2010.

Regards

Ticketmaster - sent on behalf of AEG Live

Just spotted a date for Echobelly in Manchester in July. Going to give it a punt for old time's sake...

Bought a ticket this morning and was surprised to find an extra option for insurance - a couple of quid - which meant that if you were ill or otherwise unable to make the show, you could claim and get your money back.

This is all well and good, but I don't think they've gone far enough - I want them to insure against the following:

- Disappointing album released after tickets go on sale
- Generally feeling like you can't be arsed on the night
- Being sat next to someone who talks all the way through
- Artist over-refreshment / apathy
- Bob Dylan's off nights

What do *you* want them to insure against at gigs?

Except when he's moaning about his cleaner on Twitter...
http://twitter.com/timwestwood

"She uses the same goddam cloth to clean everything - annoys the hell out of me."

"And she mixes cleaning products together - smells like something's gonna explode! Must get her some rubber gloves."

"Same cloth for everything - I've tried tellin her but she just doesn't anything I say. Its mad frustrating. I gonna tell her right now!!!!!!"

Fall back on the Mister Muscle, Yo.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/...

The above article should cure you once and for all.

"AEG Live, the company behind the concerts, has agreed with Viagogo, an online ticket reseller, to sell hundreds of so-called premium tickets for each performance at the 17,000-capacity O2 arena, in East London, at about £500 each, compared with their face value of between £50 and £75.

The move means that both AEG Live and Viagogo stand to make huge extra financial returns, while reducing the availability and standard of seats to those fans trying to buy seats through the official, “primary” route, via the Ticketmaster website."

There's loads of things I love about AEG's attitude in the article, from the talk of "real fans" and "to ensure fans are able to purchase premium tickets and exchange tickets directly with other fans" - except of course those fans could never have bought those tickets to exchange because they never went on sale in the general pool.

Pathetic, and the kind of behaviour that would have people up in arms in any other industry.

And no, I'm not a Jacko fan who missed out, but I do go to a hell of a lot of live shows. My thought on the solution to this is very, very simple - it'll never work, but it's simple...

Don't buy them. Tell your friends not to buy them. Go to fan sites and organise a boycott. Leave them with a house full of empty 'premium' seats and no option but to sell them at a reasonable price or have Jacko staring out at a half empty venue.

Give them the proverbial middle finger. It's idiots actually buying them that allow them to get away with it. So don't.

Just noticed that Elvis Costello is playing a few shows around the country with the Brodsky Quartet, yet bafflingly his website makes no mention of it at all?

The shows aren't listed on his web site, Ticketmaster aren't selling tickets, nor are SeeTickets, but the various venues are!

Anyway, sounds like an interesting night out and thought I'd let the Word massive know, in case it had passed everyone else by too. Show are in Basingstoke, Manchester, Glasgow, London and Birmingham that I've found so far...

Earlier this morning, I decided that perhaps I wouldn't be bothering with Madonna's second leg of her European tour, given that prices ranged up to £175, which recession or not has the distinct odour of the piss being taken.

I later realised that she was a mere amateur when it comes to urine extracting ticket prices when I came across a date for Beyonce in Sheffield...

£1,265.00. Let me take a moment to repeat that. One Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty Five of your earth pounds. Now granted, for this you get a front row ticket and an encounter with the lady herself (insert your own joke here about the kind of encounter with Beyonce you'd be wanting for over a grand) but is anyone else amazed that someone is even attempting to charge this for ONE evening's entertainment?

This price is per person, so an eye-watering £2,530 for the two of you. Presumably plus fees - I didn't dare look at the check out screen.

http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/1F00423CE8A15B34?artistid=945147&maj... in case anyone fancies it.

Anyone seen anything more ridiculous?

Having just seen the announcement, I know that the other half will soon be pointing me in the direction of the Eddie Izzard tour dates just announced for the end of the year. I'm not his biggest fan but would be willing to give it a go - except that my local date is at the MEN Arena, a soulless concrete shed that even the most charismatic rock band has trouble bringing to life.

The worst comedy evening of my life was sitting in a seat that was pretty much situated somewhere in the back row of that venue's car park watching an ant-sized Izzard perform a few years ago. A trip back more recently to see Bill Bailey (albeit a lot closer) proved the theory - comedy doesn't work in an arena, and nor can it be made to work simply by employing big screens.

Arena comedy misses the point of the whole live comedy experience for me, which is the connection between audience and comedian. There's going to be no interplay between the heckler in Block 999, Row Z, Car Park Tier and Mr Izzard because he's physically in a different time zone to the performer. Doesn't matter how funny they are - there's no connection, might as well just wait and buy the DVD.

So although I will humour the GLW in the morning and buy tickets, I'm sure I'm in for another evening of hopeless disappointment. Am I being too cynical?

I know this has been mentioned here before, but there's been some classic work since.

For those not 'in the know', Microsoft Songsmith is a piece of software that automatically generates background music while you sing along. It was heralded by this quite astoundingly awful commercial.

The commercial 'went viral' as they say. People with acapella versions of classic songs got hold of it. The results transcend the originals in every way...

Roxanne by The Police:

Creep by Radiohead:

There's more, but you get the picture...

Just spotted this on Ben Folds' web site... who would have thought - an album that isn't compressed to shit and is sequenced so that it builds. What a novel thought - it's a shame he didn't have the courage to release this as the official record, but I'll be interested to hear it... although I'm debating whether to spend the £30 for the pleasure!

--

We're giving away a new 2 disk set to all current members of my fan club, The People's Front Of Judea and to anyone who joins the fan club before Feb 15th.

As you may have noticed, records have been getting louder and more compressed over the last ten years or so. Many like a loud record, many do not. The official version of "Way To Normal" is very loud and this was the intention. Loud records sound good on car stereos, iPods and on the radio. Quieter records are more dynamic and while they don't compete so well on a mix tape, they often sound better on good audio equipment.

Many of my fans are audiophiles and there have been requests for an alternate less compressed version of Way To Normal to be made available.
Although I stand behind the official version of this album and have the utmost respect for the producer and engineers involved, I'm a populist at heart and saw no reason not to provide a slightly different approach for those who prefer more old fashioned dynamics along with a sequence that builds.

And so we have "Way To Normal: Stems and Seeds" - two disks. One disk is a remix, remaster, re-sequence of "Way To Normal" along with the now legendary (in our own minds) 'fake' tracks, the Japanese version of "Hiroshima", the Conan Rehearsal of "You Don't Know Me" and the Piano Orchestra version of "Cologne" - a total of 20 tracks.

The other is a disk of files, called stems, which will pop up in Garageband and allow you to mix the album yourselves. Just click on the file of the song you want to mix and you'll quickly understand how it works.
If you'd like to turn the drums off or down, or if you want to use loops or turn that damn singer off and sing it yourself, its all possible. We've included extra loops with the song "You Don't Know Me" hoping someone could maybe come along and make a hit out of this fucking song.

Yours,

Ben Folds

This copyright warning appears on around the edge David Ford's new EP...

"Ignore those whiney little bastards who complain about illegal copying of music. Hell, since radio went to shit, how else do you get heard? So be my guest, copy and share this music."

On a similar note, I spotted that Ani DiFranco's records say
"Unauthorised copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing"

Nice to see some artists who understand that sometimes it works in their favour...