A self indulgent post I'm afraid.
Wanted to share this fantasic song.
I have only recently discovered it and I can't stop playing it.
The video is also really cool and suits the song perfectly.
Eric Burdon looks fantasic.

Here's a clip from a recent Paul Weller concert I attended (and wrangled my way backstage as noted elsewhere on the blog).
This is a fine performance of 'Wildwood' despite the camerawork but what is that in his hand?
I'll tell you what it is, it's a bloody ciggy.
I'm not complaining about passive smoking here, I'm complaining that I couldn't get some first hand poison in me.
The venue is a non-smoking establishment as is every other building on planet earth these days.
I don't begrudge Weller his fag break but I do begrudge the fact that if I did same I would be hauled out of my seat and into the road.
Is there a smoking ban or not?
Who does the ban actually apply too?

What gives?

I went to see Paul Weller Tuesday night (in Sydney).
Concert was great, a good mix of stuff. Eton Rifles even made an appearance.
Anyway to the point.
Got chatting to a couple of chaps sitting next to me and they knew someone who knew someone who knew someone and handed me a backstage pass.
Now I make this sound quite blasé but I assure you nothing like this has ever happened to me at a concert and probably never will again.
So after the show I follow these guys like a little lost lamb not wanting to lose them into the sacred backstage area.
This comprised of three or four small rooms and one main space.
This was a smallish venue for Paul Weller I’d guess so not exactly stylish surroundings.
There were the things I would expect to see such as beers and sandwiches and tough looking minders wearing headsets standing around.
There were I would guess about twentyfive people there so not too crowded.

So was the greatest night of my life?
Was I having a ball?
That would be no and no.

I am at this point standing there like an idiot, not talking to anyone, not doing anything but feeling intensely awkward.
I suspect this says more about me than it does about this crowd.
I might add that I am quite drunk
Everyone else appears to know everyone else.
I am not part of this crowd and don’t I know it.
Paul Weller wanders past a few times and I can’t deny it was thrilling to be this close to a hero of mine.
So I skull a couple of beers and make my exit.

Now I have been mulling the situation over ever since and wondered what I should have done, should have said, how I should have acted.
How can you prepare for such an occasion when it was so unexpected?
Have I missed a golden opportunity?

Any other backstage tales?
Any thoughts?

Come on make me feel better.

Russell Crowe is apparently working on a Bill Hicks biopic and may well play the great man himself.
While I applaud Russell bringing the late great comic to wider attention is he the man for the job?

Here is Bill's own campaign for 'real rock':

What are the most misunderstood songs of all time?

Songs regularly played at weddings that in actual fact are about a scorned woman planning to murder her husband with a screwdriver?

Happily cutting some rug to a song describing impending doom and the end of the world?

Or does it really matter whether the song is 'understood' or not?

I am referring to talented artists either pissing it away or choosing totally inappropriate platforms for their genius.

Johnny Marr immediately springs to mind.
Since The Smiths he has basically been a gun for hire.
Bryan ferry?
Talking Heads?
Had a stint in The The which was probably his most productive and creative period.
The man belongs in a band (and not The Healers. Sorry Johnny).
I suppose he belongs in The Smiths and so does Morrissey.

A waste of a prodigious talent maybe?
Any other candidates for this unfortunate of categories?

'Two And A Half Men' is a 'comedy' show starring Charlie Sheen basically playing Charlie Sheen.
If you haven't seen it or it isn't shown where you are don't worry, your life is all the richer for it.
It is a steaming turd of a show. Deeply unfunny at every turn.
Now I am coming to the real point here. I read a report today that Charlie Sheen is paid $US825,000 per episode. Not per season, per fcking episode.
I'm sorry but this is yet more proof that the world has gone stark raving mad.

A bit of fun.
Don't take this personally but I suspect the majority of the Word massive like a drink.
Apologies for the formatting or lack thereof.....

> > > >The Star Ranking Hangover Guide
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >~ 1 star hangover *
> > > >
> > > >No pain. No real feeling of illness.. Your sleep
> > > last night was a mere
> > > >disco
> > > >nap which is giving you a whole lot of misplaced
> > > energy. Be glad that you
> > > >are able to function relatively well. However, you
> > > are still parched. You
> > > >can drink 10 bottles of water and still feel this
> > > way. Even vegetarians are
> > > >craving a
> > > >Cheeseburger and a side of fries.
> > > >
> > > >~ 2 star hangover **
> > > >
> > > >No pain. Something is definitely amiss. You may
> > > look okay but you have the
> > > >attention span and mental capacity of a stapler.
> > > The coffee you chug to try
> > > >and remain focused is only exacerbating your
> > > rumbling gut, which is craving
> > > >a full on English breakfast. Last night has wreaked havoc on your
> > > >bowels and even though you have a
> > > nice demeanor about the
> > > >office, you are costing your employer valuable
> > > money because all you really
> > > >can handle is aimlessley surfing the net and
> > > writing junk e-mails.
> > > >
> > > >~ 3 star hangover ***
> > > >
> > > >Slight headache. Stomach feels crappy. You are
> > > definitely a space cadet and
> > > >so not productive. Anytime a girl walks by you gag
> > > because her perfume
> > > >reminds you of the random gin shots you did with
> > > your alcoholic friends
> > > >after the bouncer kicked you out at 1:45 a.m. Life
> > > would be better right
> > > >now
> > > >if
> > > >you were in your bed with a dozen donuts and a
> > > litre of coke watching Good
> > > >Morning with Richard and Judy. You've had 4 cups
> > > of coffee, a gallon of
> > > >water, 2 Sausage Rolls and a litre of diet coke -
> > > yet you haven't pee'd
> > > >once.
> > > >
> > > >~ 4 star hangover ****
> > > >
> > > >You have lost the will to live. Your head is
> > > throbbing and you can't speak
> > > >too quickly or else
> > > >you might honk. Your boss has already lambasted you
> > > for being late and has
> > > >given you a lecture for reeking of booze. You wore
> > > nice clothes, but that
> > > >can't hide the fact that you missed an oh-so
> > > crucial spot shaving, (girls,
> > > >it looks like you put your make-up on while riding
> > > the bumper cars), your
> > > >teeth have sweaters, your eyes look like one big
> > > vein and your hair style
> > > >makes you look like a reject from the class picture
> > > of Moss side
> > > >secondary school circa 19'76. You would give a
> > > weeks pay for one the
> > > >following -
> > > >
> > > >1. Home time
> > > >2. A duvet and someone to be alone.
> > > >3. a time machine so you could go back and NOT have
> > > gone out the night
> > > >before.
> > > >
> > > >~ 5 star hangover, aka Dante's 4th Circle of Hell.*****
> > > >
> > > >You have a second heartbeat in your head which is
> > > actually annoying the
> > > >employee who sits next to you. Vodka vapor is
> > > seeping out of every pour
> > > >and making you dizzy. You still have toothpaste
> > > crust in the corners of
> > > >your
> > > >mouth from brushing your teeth. Your body has lost
> > > the ability to generate
> > > >saliva, so your tongue is suffocating you. You'd
> > > cry but that would take
> > > >the
> > > >last of the moisture left in your body. Death seems
> > > pretty good right now.
> > > >Your boss doesn't even get mad at you and your
> > > co-workers think that your
> > > >dog just died because you look so pathetic. You
> > > should have called in sick
> > > >because, let's face it, all you can manage to do is
> > > breathe... very gently.

I came across this on YouTube and it got me thinking about collabarations and which ones worked and which didn't quite come off.

I have chosen Keith Moon (Stop heckling at the back, it wasn't going to be Rick Buckler was it?). I am biased as The Who are my favourite band bar none.
This is 'Summertime Blues' from the Monterey Pop Festival.
Keith Moon is actually more interesting to watch than the rest of the band. I don't think that would be true for any other band in history.
Moon appears to be all over the shop, drifts out and then comes back in and the song never loses it's way.

And here's 'Animal' from The Muppets. Spot the difference.

The 80's.
"God weren't the 80's embarrasing?"
Actually no they weren't and they look better with each passing year.
Yes there was some music that is best forgotten.
MC Hammer will never be cool, not now, not in fifty years time.
But, and I'm not going to list everything so as to keep this short.....okay just a few:
The Teardrop Explodes
Echo And The Bunnymen
The Smiths
New Order
Depeche Mode
House Of Love
My Bloody Valentine
Orange Juice
The Style Council (I loved them ok??)
Plus many other artists that should have been just as well loved but slipped through the cracks.

Excuse me while I give my rose tinted specs a quick wipe down...

The most unfunny "comedy" programmes in history.
I'll start with three:

'Allo Allo'
Nothing to say. There IS nothing to say.
God help us.

'Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em'
Possibly the most irritating programme ever broadcast.
Watch Frank Spencer get himself into yet another hilarious predicament.

'Hi-Di-Hi'
"Hello campers"!
Goodbye campers I say.

Has any artist lived and worked so steadfastly by his principles as Paul Weller. The man is as stubborn as a mule.

Wore a suit at the height of punk.
Split up one the most successful groups of the period despite everyone telling him he was mad including his own manager who also happened to be his dad.
Formed The Style Council who were one of the most eclectic groups ever in the history of rock. 'JerUSAlem' anyone?
Did 'Live Aid' despite, I suspect, every fibre in his body telling him not to. Because it was a 'good thing' to do and it was. None of his contempories would touch it with a bargepole less it spoil there 'cred'.
Made a 'house' record that killed The Style Council stone dead.
At the beginning of the nineties he was down and out.
What did he do? He wrote 'Into Tomorrow' which is an amazing back to basics rock song.
After 'Stanley Road' he was back as a fully paid up member of being a rock star.

Did he kiss anyones arse? no
Did he do anything other than what he wanted to do at the time? no
I reckon nearly all artists have regrets about their career.
I doubt Paul Weller has any.

Anyone else?

Cop shows have always been around in one form or another but which are the classics?
I have my two favourites to bore you with:
The Sweeney
What can you say about The Sweeney? It's the bloody Sweeney init!
Apart from the violence, hard drinking, smoking and birds it almost verges into "Terry & June" territory between Regan & Carter.
Storylines are great with first class actors that you always know from "somewhere else".
And the music.....the music is just fantastic. Funky hammond while Regan breaks someones nose, Rhodes piano while Carter wakes up from last nights bender.

Hawaii Five-O
What I have noticed on recent viewing is that Steve McGarrett treats his team like complete imbeciles and he never ever raises his voice. He doesn't have too, he's Steve McGarrett.
The locations are fantastic and again the music is just out there.

And just quietly they both have the greatest opening and closing credits ever.