Scary songs

His Master's Voice
Originally uploaded by jovike.

Huge comment thread on Jarvis Cocker's appeal for memories of unintentionally Scary Songs to which I have contributed Rolf Harris's 'Jake the Peg'. Rolf's performance on Blue Peter with three legs protruding from his long coat greatly alarmed me as a child.

Plastic Fantastic lists the Guardian's Laura Barton's favourite independent record shops; readers supply the rest of the record shops in the UK.

The Stranglers and the Finchley Boys - a three part article - were not as violent as they were often painted! I remember them from the Hope and Anchor in Islington and an Damned/Eater gig at my Finchley school in 1977. The poor old teacher who was supposed to be controlling this event was very circumspect, if not largely absent, during the festivities once this lot turned up mob-handed.

Stylus Magazine all about music, not cuneiform.

Shindig! magazine reviews the four CD boxset of the complete works of Fanny: First Time In A Long Time. I love Fanny - no really, I've got two of their albums on vinyl.

Lemmy is a charming fellow - I've shaken his hand twice at Hawkwind gigs - and he was the son of a vicar, after all. What Lemmy gets up to at home is his own business:

Then my solicitor sent them a letter saying, 'We are appalled by this accusation. Miss Wilson was not tied to the bed: she was hanging from the ceiling.' They didn't reply.

Two years ago Andrew Orlowski wrote about How the music biz can live forever, get even richer, and be loved.

The Perfumed Garden has many John Peel sessions in MP3 form, whereas John Peel Every Day is more keen on BitTorrent.

Funtopia is Mick Farren's weblog.

Greg Shaw obituary. He was a pivotal figure in the US music scene.

The Stop Ashlee Simpson Petition.

Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise is a weblog that mostly covers music.

Wendy James: The Racine World.

PSF is Perfect Sound Forever magazine. The Vinyl Anachronist: Part L: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the iPod.

Mike Patto was in 60s group Timebox.

Freeway Jam is a very cool music weblog. Hope they start updating again. There are also cool musicians who blog, it says here.

Extensive John Cale website: Fear is a Man's Best Friend. You remember - he was the cool one from the Velvet Underground. That's three cools. Some people say Lou Reed was the cool one. Not me.

Similarly extensive is the Kiki Dee Information Bureau - enough to fill a DVD! The timeline is worth exploring for the beautiful images of old fashions and record designs.

Martin Guy's Delia Derbyshire - An audiological chronology.

The Spirit of the Page site devoted to Robert Calvert has been relaunched to better reflect the zeitgeist.

Sean's Alexis Korner Discography. Did Alexis ever make a bad record? If so I haven't heard it.

LOL! Lol Coxhill's site features an interview with Buck Funk.

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage Unsung which reviews forgotten albums. On Julian's features there are MP3 streams too.

Amazing Doctor Who tributes discography - many memories! This is part of a bigger website as is the music from Danger Man, with cover scans and MP3 files.

Bad science: alternative therapy fans are like hi-fi freaks.

Independent music: There's a musical revolution going on.

Skin of the Moon

Skin of the Moon
Originally uploaded by jovike.

I was fortunate to catch this show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I bought the t-shirt just because I liked the Voodoo Vaudeville artwork and the woman who sold it to me recommended Skin of the Moon as very funny and "random" - well, I loved it. It all made perfect sense to me being a gentleman of a certain age; anyone who can dance the Timewarp and likes vampires, time machines and St. Trinians will love it too.

While queuing for the aptly-named Wildman Room, the Evil Master himself appeared before us in full makeup - I did a double take. (I felt sheepish to have been shocked, since I once shocked people in Canterbury when I wore a Robot of Death costume from Doctor Who.)

The beginning of the preformance in the darkened theatre was weird and scary and I hoped Espe would not run out screaming. Luckily we were in the back row behind two burly chaps which meant we did not share the fate of those foolish enough to sit in the front row.

Chris Cresswell has a sure comic touch and works well with Colin who is probably a woman. He has assembled a fine company and they should be given their own TV channel.

A highlight of the show is the 'notorious puppet oracle' Baby Warhol - have a question ready. I thought of a really good one the next day. Oh yes, and they played a bit of a Hawkwind song too so that's most of my buttons pushed.

If you are going to Edinburgh you must see this! *****

And the bar upstairs is still open after midnight, what more can one ask.

Voodoo Vaudeville.

(This text is also on my Flickr Stream with the tags: "Voodoo Vaudeville" "Chris Cresswell" burlesque weird wacky sexy saucy kinky twisted cabaret spanking vaudeville theatre comedy wicked puppet maid apeman dominatrices Warhol charming outrageous witty surreal romp "Edinburgh Festival" Fringe Edinburgh Hawkwind "time machine".)

Bye bye, Ivor

ivor
Originally uploaded by jovike.

Comic genius Ivor Cutler died on Friday. John Junkin died today. Oh no, and Linda Smith has gone too.

Ivor's sessions on the John Peel show were a joy. His honesty and economy of language remain refreshing, as does his careful pronunciation. I would always be there with my cassette recorder, possibly missing a night in the pub to catch his latest radio session in the 1970s. I knew where he lived in Camden Town but I never visited.

On my desk is a plastic bird on a spring, labelled with dymo: 'Fremsley' named after one of his poems.

Ivor's entry on Wikipedia is a bit thin. That will probably change in a few days. (Update: it did.)

Ivor on Flickr: the beautiful kindnesses.

Hawkwind Christmas Party

Hawkwind Christmas Party ticket
Originally uploaded by jovike.

You'll never guess where I was last night! Hawkwind's Christmas party was a special gig at the Astoria in Charing Cross Road. Support was Spacehead, whom I missed by spending too long chatting in Borders over the road, and Man, the "Welsh Wizards". Man and Hawkwind did a US tour together in 1974. Yes, a long time ago, and now Martin Ace's son Josh is in the band on rhythm guitar with his father on bass, and someone called Richards on lead: very good. Richards also sounds a bit like Deke Leonard singing, it's the Welsh accent you see. They stomped through faithful high-energy versions of C'mon, Romain and Spunk Rock.

Hawkwind did a lot of crowd-pleasers as it was a party with only a couple of tracks from the new album, maybe because Lene Lovich and Arthur Brown were not present. Following a poll on hawkwind.com, the set included 7 by 7 and Upside Down (which I have never heard live before) with vocals from Mr. Dibs, also Brainbox Pollution and Psychedelic Warlords. Amazing! Robotic dancers in neon paint came on for Angela Android and reappeared, gambolling or capering as appropriate throughout. Hawkwind's lightshow has at last gone half digital, remaining an analogue hybrid. I've long thought they should use something like G-Force as a backdrop: well now they are, but still combined with glimpses of the the space art, film and graphics accumulated over the decades. Magic.

Really great music with Dave Brock playing a lot of guitar instead of noodling with the synthesiser. Alan Davey energetic as ever, Richard Chadwick on good form. (Who the saxophonist or keyboard player were I know not.) When the double live CD comes out, buy it.

Clayson and the Argonauts

Alan Clayson is performing on Saturday and Monday evening in the capital, and reforming the Argonauts after twenty years for a concert on the 3rd of December.

Update: great gig! Dark suited, the group played all the complex numbers with gusto. At 51, the bassist was the youngest. Alan Clayson himself, with a shock of white hair, has lost little of the brio and fine enunciation that I saw him display thirty years ago in a gig at the Torrington, North Finchley. I got the CD: recommended, especially if you like Robert Calvert with whom he shares a WWII nostalgia.

I'm feeling old myself now, having to take off my glasses to read the tiny print in the extensive liner notes in the CD. He's written lots of rock books too.

(Who was the support band? they were good, like to get some of their stuff.)