Oscillation

"I spend half my time daring to dream, kidding myself on. The rest of the time, I just hate myself for being naïve."

Blue Friday - I Want To Choose When I Sleep Alone

I wish Martin Rossiter would record some more.

All over the place

The other night, whilst scrolling through the higher numbered Freeview channels, I happened upon the closing minutes of Austin Powers, International Man Of Mystery. I remember going to watch that at the cinema and no-one in the audience laughing but it's not that bad, just a bit hit and miss where the hits are great and the misses aren't terrible. But one part of the film that is definitely worth a look is the closing credits, especially for the Powers-fronted band Ming Tea performing a mildly frantic 60s pastiche called BBC. I love it, not least because the smouldering Sixties siren with the cool-as Rickenbacker is none other than ex-Bangle Susanna Hoffs. Sigh. And it's a bloody great song. Here's the video, see what I mean.

The next day, I was listening to the BBC - John Humphreys on Radio 4. He described some Tories as "rebel MPs" but that just made me think of this:

So whilst I was singing along to "Elementary like A, B, C; easy as one, two, three" I couldn't help but segué (in my head, at least) into this:

From there, it was a short mental hop to older Michael's Man In The Mirror, and from there to the Lego Batman Movie. Yes, really.

As you can see, I was all over the place... which is also the title of the pre-fame, debut album from The Bangles.

And that's numberwang.

The power of a voice

R.I.P. Douglas Rain, the much-imitated yet inimitable voice of HAL.

Blue Friday - Carnation

No intro necessary for Woking's finest.

Can't beat a good YouTube find

Period Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash and Sting, all being interviewed about Quadrophenia by (bizarrely) the singer from Darts.

Tired

So tired.

He plays guitar

A lazy blog post, in lieu of a proper gig review.

I went to see Johnny Marr again last night. He was excellent, again, and makes complex and beautiful guitar playing seem effortless. There were times last night when he seemed not just contemporary but ground-breaking, ahead of the curve - no mean feat for a 55 year old. And yet he was equally at home dipping into his back catalogue: Smiths obsessives will be pleased to hear he played Bigmouth, Headmaster Ritual, Last Night I Dreamt, How Soon Is Now and There Is A Light; for fans of Electronic, he also played Get The Message and a frankly colossal version of Getting Away With It.

Also noteworthy was a brilliant use of lighting, perhaps the best I have seen in that venue.

Anyway, my perch didn't lend itself well to recording any videos - the last thing the internet needs is more poorly shot gig footage, after all. But I did manage to take some photos, some of which aren't terrible. Here they are. As ever, click to embiggen.

Remember, remember...

I've been looking for an excuse to post this slice of excellence for a long time. What better reason than the fifth of November?

Blue Friday - Miss Misery

Famously used to soundtrack the closing scene of Good Will Hunting, this is Miss Misery by Elliott Smith.