And finally, after much debate, this is what The Wicker Man as re-imagined by The Muppets would look like. Maybe.

Nice execution though

Off standard topic but help appreciated

Having a cultural weekend with family in London. Decided to brave the British Museum on Sunday morning and was looking to have breakfast somewhere relatively close by.

As a number of the esteemed community here are both metropolitan but also of good taste would appreciate any recommendation..

Having seen the discussion of different versions of Angel Eyes recently if anyone wants a new 15 min disco remix for free than go to

www.bestival.net

where to support Roxy's appearance they are giving it away if you sign up for an email. In that context here is a clip I captured at their IOW performance in 2005 - the set closer, so the last notes of live Roxy until this summer.

Sad to see further evidence of the decline of the NME this morning with headlines that Muse and Kasabian grab the NME awards.

These are acts that the NME of legend would have surely despised, particularly the comic turn of Kasabian.

Is there no corporate balls at IPC towers? Surely they can see that the relentless arse-kissing pursuit of corporate promotion spend to prop up the spiraling circulation declines is, at best, papering over the cracks and also damaging whatever brand there is left.

The NME established a reputation for a cynical, sneering, JCR-intellectual take on music with occasional forays into other culture and politics. It found its audience and a loyal one at that. Does that sort of audience really no longer exist? Irregardless there are many others chasing the breathless hair-product, cider and mobile-fuelled world of 'great!heres a new track!great!tell your mates!twitter!great'- surely they are not going to see a return that makes them happy from joining the pack.

The Telegraph, as ever in touch with the street, informs us today

....there has never been a better time to snap up a historic French property..

smug gits

So just in case you were thinking of waiting, leaving it to next year - don't delay!

Sorry but surely they are a joke - their performance on The Brits last night being a case in point.

1)The stage prop for 'Fire'? Some Fire
2)The song - its a joke pastiche 'classic rock' soul-rocker. Its just cringe-making if those horns and backing vocals are meant for real
3)The rawk posturing
4)But best of all...Serge's '..move on you gotta move on rap..' at 3:20 on the clip below

I rest my case

The accepted fact with Frank Sinatra tends to be that his Capitol recordings of the 1950's were his artistic high-point and that the periods before - his recordings with Columbia - and after on Reprise do not hold a candle to this era.

As a whole maybe but there are some real gems in the Reprise years - some that are just a bit obscure and out of the mainstream to add extra appeal - its a long way from 'New York, New York'.

One of my favourites is 'Watertown'. A concept album, produced and co-written by Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons, it tells the story of a man whose wife has left him and taken the children. Not much more than that..but it is heavy with the despair, desperation and loneliness that he feels. It feels heartfelt, is incredibly moving and as performed by Sinatra is beautiful.

Couldnt find any supporting video for it but did find this remarkable performance by Nina Simone of 'For a while'..(..'I forget that I'm not over you, for a while' goes the cheery refrain..he really does need to get out a bit more)

Anyone else care to share favourite Sinatra?

Per the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8507885.stm

Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said: "Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed.
"The get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price strategy, is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future."

It is not clear whether Warner will remove its music from existing services or decline to do deals with new outlets.

Could this be the beginning of the end for non-subscription supported services? Wouldn't be surprised - couldn't really see how it was long term in the labels interest.

Just downloaded this

Nice fat electro funk groove, good to hear Bobby Womack. Not sure it sounds like a big pop hit but like it.

UFO, that series famous for great Dinky toys, funky theme tune and 'interesting' not-at-all-sexist women's uniforms (but is also quite dull, humourless and wooden if you actually sit down and watch it), is apparently being prepped for a $130m Movie Trilogy!

Read here
http://forbiddenplanet.com/pages/matthew-gratzner-new-ufo-trilogy/

Don't hold your breath say I, but its a gratuitous excuse for a picture of those, no doubt, very practical moonbase suits.

Was listening to the Radio 4 Film Programme podcast on the train this am. Some bloke was warbling on about District 9 (thought that was last year) and opened by saying (in the standard 'I'm in the know tones') that is was so good that it was not a big Hollywood blockbuster etc etc....

Can't stand knee-jerk snobbery

The resort to 'established' truths that mark you as that person just a bit better...you are a person of taste and intellect. You are apart from the great unwashed mass and your taste is so informed and refined.

A particular example is the '..its not a big Hollywood blockbuster..they are not for me..huh-huh-huh...I prefer small/independent films..so much better.' The expected response is the complicit nod and an unsaid admiration at your really quite cultured taste.

How can any opinion of any product be valid if it resorts to such sweeping generalisations?

We are probably all guilty of it - but guess what

1. Small, independent (music/films) are not by definition better
2. Big, glossy, 'commercial' ('Oh dear...not for me') are not by definition bad

It all depends.

For me Up was easily the best film of 2009. I have seen some sniffy comments to the effect '..corporate, cynically assembled and gimmicky ...not for me'. Does that actually address the film itself or is that just a resort to that badge of what makes you, you believe, a person of taste.

I've done 3 episodes of the new phenom and I reckon thats enough for now

I've shrugged off the excitable C4 promotion and found a way to move past the '5 tracks in the Top 75' thing. I am also honestly not affected by the fact that the music is based around more mushy versions of the same X-Factor friendly oeuvre or that it is so patently pleased with itself. Also the reviewers who are saying 'its great' quoting their favourite line by the female Coach ('my favourite character!!!!'..noone else's....) have not influenced my decision. And really the light predictable plots and slightly creepy sexual tones haven't played a big part.

No,its the incidental music.

I couldn't really deal with Seinfeld because of that annoying 'bow-be-be-bow-bow' bass line everytime SOMETHING FUNNY of even better FUNNY/IRONIC happened - everyone please think this show is great at this point and boy we really are!!!

Same thing here - there were two of them in particular used throughout the show. One was the Swingle Singers type 'barrump-pa-pa' bits and the other was a little sassy soundtrack motif, both saying 'wasn't that great/cute/funny or best of all slightly IRONIC'.

I've had enough. No longer will I be a part of this 'water cooler' moment. I'm off.

The Guardian has 2 pieces today on Trilogy - a review and a feature- " Nic Green's three-part interactive arts project investigating what it means to be a woman"

For the un-informed - and admittedly I am only informed because I was sitting in a Doctor's waiting room with little else left to read - " This is not a dry academic feminist treatise: it is a joyous piece of accessible, experimental ­theatre so disarmingly direct and passionate it makes you want to join the dance"

Pesonally, I think I might decline the dance as everyone onstage appears to be a) naked and b) a woman

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jan/13/trilogy-review

Other highlights are ".....Laura Bradshaw has a live telephone call with her mother; another woman remembers her gran; and in the piece's extraordinary central section the company create an intricate chessboard of movement set to extracts from the film Town Bloody Hall, the 1971 New York debate about women's lib chaired by Norman Mailer." ....Actually, by now, I am now wandering about joining that dance...

In the illuminating interview with its creator it is interesting to learn that "...she recently moved into a house in east Ayrshire with her partner, theatre-maker Peter McMaster, two members of the Trilogy cast, and an environmental activist, to attempt a sustainable way of life: digging discarded wood out of skips for heating, sourcing food locally and so on. What fascinates her is the inter- relatedness of social problems..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jan/13/trilogy-nic-green

You couldn't make it up

The sad passing of Teddy made me think of how much I love any song with a gruff soul singer laying down the law to the laydeez..

A particular favourite here is Lou Rawls 'I'll See You When I Git There'

He gives full voice to his feelings about what is going to happen this evening at his 'castle'

1. He'll be there when he 'git's there but
2. 'Be ready'
3. Remember he's 'worked hard'
4. He's ready for 'Good Lovin'' and of course
5. Make sure 'you have got everything you need from the store cos I don't want to go out no more'

What's the chance that
a) He never left the message
b) Within 5 minutes he was back out at 'the store' or
c) It fell on deaf ears as she was round at Teddy's

Any other similar tunes?

Just chucked the latest CD into the mac to import to itunes and it has no track info

Is that because it relies on a user entering the details that then get used as the default by Gracenote or cddb? If so someone could actually put a whole heap of rubbish in there and until some sort of moderator picks it up, track 1 could be called 'wee' by 'Mr.Poo'

Anyway, selfishly, Ill wait till the info magically appears

(Id remember the first PC I got and the amazement when you put your disc in and it came up with the info..glorious)