A year has passed and gone (again)

It's that time of the year again.. End of year lists. An easy way for me to increase my blog-post quota by one... Click here to read what I thought of last year.

Album of the year

To be honest not much has really grabbed my attention this year apart from a Bruce Springsteen's Magic which is probably my favourite record and his best since The River. Great tunes which mixes political commentary with great pop-rock tunes. And it's a grower, even after an intensive few months of listening to it.

Also released this year which I adored was Wilco's Sky Blue Sky. A subtle recording which reveals more and more as time passes by. Like a fine wine really. I also bought the Hold Steady's recent album, Boys & Girls in America, which absolutely rocks, but I've already given them an award (see below) and don't want them to hog all the limelight.

Other albums of note include the Felice Brothers latest release, the Tailors album, Wakey Wakey - which I still listen to and love - and Babyshambles latest album, Shotters Nation which, I'm quite surprised to say, is brilliant.

Winner is.... Bruce Springsteen for Magic, for reminding me that old men can still release a vital, riveting and lively album (please take note Mr Dylan).

Concert of the year
Tough one this. I think the Hold Steady's second gig of the year that I saw at Camden's Electric Ballroom would have to be up there. As would their first gig. Wilco at Shepherds Bush was equally brilliant. Arcade Fire at Brixton was great too, although I ended up seeing them five times this year and was pretty bored by the end.

Travelling to Italy and Amsterdam to see Bob Dylan were other highlights, although not necessarily musically... it was more about the people I was meeting and the drinking. One thing is for sure the Milano crowd for Dylan were the nuttiest I've ever seen. They really are starved of good music out there.

Other concerts of note, the Magic Numbers doing a secret acoustic gig at the Windmill, my gig nights at the Windmill, and Metallica at Wembley. Because it was Metallica.

My final decision would have to be the Hold Steady at Camden Electric Ballroom. Because they made me fall in love with rock and roll all over again.

Next year I have a few concerts lined up already including multiple Springsteen nights in London and Helsinki, Two Cow Garage at the Windmill in Brixton and possibly the Broken Family Band.

TV Show of the year

Haven't really watched TV this year. I hate Dr Who, I hate Heroes and Lost and all that bollox. I enjoyed Skins (but can't remember if that came out this year or last). But there was one stand-out. The Sopranos ended in style. Absolute style.

Winner: the Sopranos. For remaining true to the spirit of the show and providing an unconventional and brilliant ending.

Film of the year

This should be easy. Shockingly, I only went to see one film this year... The Simpsons Movie. This wins by default, the two greatest words in the English language (obscure Simpsons joke for the fans there). It was hilarious though. I am going to double that count with a trip to the cinema tonight to see the film on Dylan's life, I'm Not There.

Winner: the Simpsons Movie.

Bob Dylan's Dream

This wheel's on fire

It's fireworks night in the UK tomorrow. Here's a public service video from the 1970s. Do you know where your kids are tonight?



This Wheel's on Fire

The seasons they are turnin'

Here in the UK we have a thing called the 'Silly Season' which is where the newspapers have no news to print and the only thing that is included in papers are stories about potential Shark sightings off Cornwall (as seen in the Sun this week which persists with the story despite scientists telling them that there was no Great White in the Sea off Cornwall).

Here in blogland the equivalent of Silly Season is where a blogger posts youtube clips to hide the fact that they have completely ran out of ideas and don't want to write about Britney Spears. Indeed, i've written about this before.

So here are two vids on YouTube. The first is a teaser trailer of the new series of Futurama. Possibly one of the most underrated cartoon comedy series. The writing and gags make it better than any Simpsons episode in the last four years, but all anyone wants Matt Groening to do is write stories of the little yellow family. They totally rip into Fox for cancelling the series.

The second is a video of Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back) speaking at a Comic Book convention or something and totally ripping the piss. He should do stand-up.

Enjoy!





Moonlight

Sing 'Amazing Grace' all the way to the Swiss banks

Yo! Yo! Yo! Internet. I've been away from my blog as I've really had nothing to say and/or been too busy to say it.

But a few nights ago, my housemate and I were watching some telly (TV for you yanks). In the UK at the moment there is a tendency to have adverts with "normal" guys singing along to a famous tune or revised famous tune. The two that automatically spring to mind are the AA for their roadside assistance advert where they are all singing 'See You Again', and Halifax who take normal songs and add their own words to it.

They are complete and utter bull and always turn me off. I don't know why they do these adverts - they are annoying to the extreme and always make me leave the room or shout obscenities at the screen. Halifax even has a minor celebrity called Howard who has been made semi-famous by his singing. He briefly appeared in the Xmas special of the Office, for the fans of the show out there. His photo is above.

In one of the Halifax ones (yes, they have a number of them), they are covering some RnB shite for shite song and at one bit the dancers in the background (dressed in the Halifax uniform) start pounding their behinds in a fashion reminiscent of a modern MTV video. WTF? I mean, would you trust your hard earned money to a bunch of sexual deviants? Quite possibly the worst advert ever for a bank.

Some stuff I've been writing recently. There's a review of Wilco at Shepherds Bush Empire, a review of the Traveling Wilburys Collection, a review of a new band called the Outside Royalty who are wicked, and some random track reviews. I hope you all enjoy. Coming up are reviews of Art Brut at the Astoria and Bruce Springsteen's recent CD/DVD release.

Foot of Pride

Paint the daytime black

I couldn't resist. I just couldn't. I'm such a weak person. I had to find out how it all ended. And I did this morning via the net. I haven't seen the ending myself yet, but it appears to me to be the best possible ending for a series of the Sopranos stature. It will certainly remain one of the most talked about TV series endings of all time. I know some would have wanted a more conventional ending, but it really had to be something bizarre, weird and brilliant to live up to the previous 85 episodes. I have my own theories about what the ending represents and what it is all about but will wait until I see it for real before commenting.

I can't wait until they decide to show this to us in the UK or it is released on DVD. So farewell Tony and his family (genetic and criminal). I will miss you loads but will return to this series as an old friend probably for the rest of my life. It truly is the Shakespeare of television, there is no other series that can even get close.

I'd like to thank David Chase and HBO for a superb series. I wonder if he'll do another programme in the future? He obviously has the talent and now the clout behind him to do whatever he pleases, I hope that he'll come back with a TV series equally as strong, but I know deep in my heart that he'll never be able to touch the levels of genius that was the Sopranos.

She Belongs to Me

All the friends I ever had are gone

Adam and Joe did some of the best comedy on British television in the 1990s. Their show was famous for using toys to parody famous films and TV programmes. Find below the video of their parody of 'Friends', called 'Furrends'.

Enjoy!



Delia

And it's all over now, Baby Blue

The greatest TV show of all time is soon coming to an end. If you live in the US of A then the final series of the Sopranos is going to be aired on Easter Sunday (that's April 8th).

If you live in the UK and are addicted to the show, then do not search for "sopranos" on google, avoid all emails from America for the next three months and do not read the newspapers. It seems that we (avid UK based fans) will have to be very careful to not accidentally find out what happens. Seeing as More4/E4/Channel 4 will not pull their finger out and give this series in a respectable time-frame, we'll have to wait until the TV overlords decide that we are worthy enough to see this.

I mean what is all that about? Why can't we just have the show the day after the US airing or something? It would certainly stop those little nerdy pricks downloading it from the net, which seems to excite TV executives to a stupid degree. Hey, even better, why not release it on DVD first as soon as the series is over in the States? I know I'd pay £100 for that.

While we're waiting for it to make our way to our shores, why not get some food down our throats, Sopranos style? Regarding the plot line... my money is on AJ entering the "family" and Tony snuffing it. Only time or a misplaced click of the mouse will prove me right or wrong.

In other news I've written a review of the Playing Fields debut album and one of Craig Johnston's debut EP.


It's All Over Now Baby Blue

Next to come was the old gray cat, Uh-huh

I watched the most amazing programme of all time on television last night. No it is not ‘the Sopranos’ or ‘Match of the Day’ but ‘Meerkat Manor’.

It’s an animal documentary about a group of Meerkat’s (surprisingly enough). And it is more addictive than crack. It’s truly brilliant and showcases the amazing social interactions between these creatures. The commentary is also absolutely hilarious. Once over, you just want to find out what’s happening to these creatures.

I highly recommend it. Sunday nights 6pm, BBC two. Watch it and you will be won over. There are clips on the official fan site of Meerkat Manor, as well as games, etc..

Froggie went a Courtin’

When they tried to strangle Larry...

I don’t know why I love Curb Your Enthusiasm so much. It’s probably because it makes me laugh…but that’s the simple answer. I guess I like it because the protagonist (Larry David) plays an extreme version of himself. A man who questions everything, who hates being in the wrong and who ponders about the little things in life. Just like Seinfeld (the previous show he worked on), it’s a show about “nothing”. I also love it because the script is about 10 pages long per episode and most of the dialogue is improvised. In Curb, Larry asks important questions, such as is it only black muslims who ware bow ties? Why is it alright to say ‘fuck’ or ‘dick’ but not ‘cunt’? Why can’t you congratulate a father on the size of his son’s manhood?

I guess somewhere deep inside of me, I want to be that person. Here’s a quote and the clip from my favourite episode. Larry scores pitchside seats for basketball and manages to ingure Shaquille O’Neil. All of Los Angeles hates him, but his life changes for the better and everything works out fine for him. In this clip he goes to Starbucks and mocks their pretentious coffee. Brilliant stuff.

Larry: “What's in this latte?”
Starbucks employee: “Milk and coffee”
Larry: “Oh my God. Milk and coffee. I never would have thought of that. That's so brilliant”.
Larry: “I'll have a vanilla... one of those vanilla bullshit things. You know, whatever you want, some vanilla bullshit latte cappa thing. Whatever you got.”

Joey

But I did not trust my brother

There is only one story in the UK at the moment: Big Brothergate. It seems as if the entire country has now (finally) turned on Jade (and Danielle and Jo) who have been bullying India's most famous Bollywood star. There has even been a hint of racism, throwing a spanner in the works of the theory that Britain is a tolerant multi-cultural society. Christ it's been front page of the broadsheets and Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have been asked for their opinion on the matter. Even Will got all worked up about the issue.

The massive outcry has lead me to watch the highlights programme with Russell Brand. I previously never appreciated his humour but in the last two episodes he has, without prompting, quoted verbatim from speeches by Churchill and Solzhenitsyn's books, which surprised me. Of course he then spoiled it by following it up with a penis joke, but it leads me to believe that there is more to this guy than a hair style and a history of tabloid romps. He quite obviously is very clever and should host Question Time. Seriously, it would get the kids interested in politics again. Maybe.

Back to the Big Brothergate issue though, if they had followed my mate's suggestion, then it all of this could have been avoided. Still the massive furore will mean millions will vote to evict Jade the racist bully and Channel 4 will make an estimated £2 million profit from the text votes. In many ways Channel 4 is worse than the playground bully who beats up kids for their lunch money.

Afternoon update: BB has announced that all proceeds from the vote will go to charity and that there will be no crowd at the eviction. It seems like Jade will be getting off lightly without a public boo-fest. This is such a shame.

I Am a Lonesome Hobo

Soon you will be dancing the fandango

Christmas can be a very lonely time for single people, yeah sure you're with your family and all but it's still a bit of a shame that you have no special one to share your happiness with. So I guess it can be quite depressing. However, it is not as depressing as BBC TV's Christmas schedule.

I stopped watching Eastenders about three years ago, I calculated that watching the programme for four hours a week was costing me over 200 hours a year (or 8.67 days a year) of my time so I stopped watching it. However, my family are avid 'Enders fans so I was almost forced to watch it. Even over the Xmas period it was all depressing with Pauline Fowler dead, fights aplenty and just a general aura of East-end gloom. Why anyone chooses to watch this, I don't know. It's no wonder that people get depressed at Xmas time with this stuff on the telly.

The other Xmas programme I watched (well again, I was forced to watch by my family) was the final of Strictly Come Dancing. If ever there was a candidate for euthenasia then it is Bruce Forsyth. He sang a special song at the end as well. So as well as being famous for being a game show host he can now claim to be the heir to Frank Sinatra. Bloody awful. Anyway back to the dancing. They get 'celebrities' to do ballroom dancing, the public votes on which one is best and proceeds go to charity. The funniest bit in the show was where both couples were dancing to 'Perfect Day' by Lou Reed. Funny as hell to see this on prime time television, when the song was originally about scoring and doing heroin. It's great to see that the BBC have hijacked this song and that the irony is lost on almost all of the viewing public.

Anyway, what i'm trying to say is that Xmas TV was shite this year.

Romance in Durango

A year has passed and gone

It’s that time of the year again. Lists. I hate them but it seems like every blog in the world has them, so I guess I’ll do the same. Here are my personal highlights from the world of entertainment in 2006.

Best Concert: And the winner is…..Bruce Springsteen.
Despite my security scare, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, I had a wicked time at these concerts. These were quite simply, breathtaking gigs which were better (gasp!) that Dylan or the Stones (my other two favourites). He was on fire on stage, blitzing through amazing songs written over a hundred years ago with a seventeen piece Rock 'n Folk band. What a man, what a band and what a concert (or two concerts if you want to get technical). If you ever have a chance to see him live do. I would quite happily sell a kidney just for 10 minutes watching the Boss in person again.

Honourable mentions go to: Arctic Monkeys at Brixton Academy, the Raconteurs at Lowlands and the Charlatans at Brixton (always good for a laugh). Oh! and the Stones as well.


Best CD: And the winner is….Not sure yet.
Tough one this, there have been some good tunes in 2006. The Arctic Monkeys was good, although I haven’t listened to it in ages. Despite initially dismissing this as a record which will not last, I’ve listened to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins', Rabbit Fur Coat loads in the last few weeks. Amazing record and a lovely, sensual and real voice. I’ve also loved Tapes 'n Tapes debut album the Loon, which technically was a 2005 album. So I’ll have to go with… Jenny Lewis. However, I change my mind about this kind of thing all of the time, so perhaps it’s all irrelevant.


Best film: And the winner is….The Departed.
Martin Scorcese is absolutely amazing, nearly everything he does is ace. The Departed is no different. It is also the first film where I’ve not shouted ‘Matt Daaaaamon’ (see Team America) when he came on the screen in the cinema, because even he looked cool. The rest of the cast is great with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Di Caprio, Mark Wahlberg and Ray Winstone. Brilliant soundtrack as well. Watch this now, and then buy it on DVD when it comes out and make all your friends watch it. If this doesn't win an Oscar then the whole ceremony is some kind of a sham (I know that it is and I also know that it probably won't, except for 'best crew canteen', or something like that).


Best TV: And the winner is….The Daily Show.
I started watching this when it came on TV in the UK on More4 this year. Great programme - political satire at its best and most rude. Like Have I Got News For You, but on cocaine. Brilliant stuff. Also there’s so much in America to be rude about that they never run out of ideas. Great to see that there are some Americans who are still normal and who see Bush as a buffoon. To be fair before the programme came on air over here in the UK, we only thought that Michael Moore was really anti-Bush.


Bob Dylan's Dreams

About the TV, God and all the pain that it invokes

Family Guy is one of the best cartoons out there. It takes the piss out of almost any subject matter - many find this offensive I find it hilarious. It features, among other characters, a talking dog and a baby who is hell-bent on world domination and a little camp at the same time. Here's them taking the michael out of Zinedine Zidane. Just click the play button in the middle.



I've also written a review of the Fratelli's album, Costello Music. I didn't like it very much. Thanks to whoever uploaded that clip from Family Guy Season 6, which isn't out in Europe yet.

TV Talkin' Song

Hear ya got a brother named James

While travelling back from Leyton FC’s abysmal 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Metropolitan Police’s football team (fuckin’ pigs!) my mate Steve came up with the perfect idea for television.

Get the Big Brother house, insert all of the guys from Jackass and Dirty Sanchez and let it rip for eight weeks by giving them cheap cider. Guaranteed entertainment. Far better than putting celebrities in there who ultimately do nothing but sulk and bitch or ‘normal’ people who are so socially dysfunctional that it’s uncomfortable to watch. Just let the Jackass/Sanchez dudes be themselves for eight weeks in a confined environment. It's got hit written all over it.

Foot of Pride

To tell about my troubled mind

Some things that have troubled my mind this weekend...

How is it that Bruce Springsteen can write such amazing songs about New Jersey? He turns this industrial wasteland into a romantic, beautiful world inhabited by the most amazing misfits and characters. Now essentially the UK equivalent would be Teesside. Anyone who’s been to Teesside will know how impossible it would be to turn it into a romantic place and the only characters you'd find there would be heroin addicts, prostitutes and fat unemployed chavs.

Who in the hell would want to buy a Baywatch series one boxset for £49.99? I mean the only reason you would want it is for the boobies, and you can get Pamela Anderson’s sex tape over the internet if you look hard enough. And for free!

Is there a more beautiful guitar solo than at the end of Ashes of American Flags on Wilco’s live CD Kicking Television ? It is a lingering, melodic beautiful, restrained solo which you never want to end and fits the song perfectly. I could listen to that solo all day long.

Walkin' Down the Line

So the radio didn't work so well

For the thousands of henotbusybeingbornisbusydying readers out there in Berkshire, Heartfordshire and Bedfordshire, I was on BBC Three Counties radio for my work today. Had a five minute or so interview with the presenter at lunch time.

Other media appearances in my life include being on the news on television when they built a by-pass around my village in East Sussex. I was also part of a close-up in a television debate for William Hague when he was trying to get his message across that he wasn’t a joke (they applied make-up to his head, so the bright lights did not reflect on TV). This was before the 2001 election. I also have had my head appear in the crowd behind an action shot of Bono and The Edge. It was part of an Observer Music Monthly piece and I happened to be in the crowd in one of the photos of their London gigs.

But this is the first time that I have been the only focus. Next step is television, maybe Big Brother will take me next time?

Talkin' World War III Blues

Always on the outside of whatever side there was

The sopranos is the best thing on television. As i've said before. The best line of last night's episode was Tony speaking to his psychiatrist, Dr Melfi:

Every day is a gift ... it just doesn't have to be a pair of socks

Joey

Forty-one years to wear the ball and the stripes

I can't seem to embedd this video for some reason. But this is well worth a look if you are a fan of the White Stripes and/or the Simpsons. Check out the video.

Little Sadie

King of the streets, child of clay.

Why the sopranos is the best television ever.

I, and many others, are of the firm belief that the Sopranos is the greatest thing to have ever graced the small screen. You want to know why we think that? Its for the following reasons:

1) The acting. Some superb performances. The acting from Gandolfini is, as would be expected, great. Some nice acting from the psychatrist (who played the wife in Goodfellas) and Steve Van Zandt (who is also a member of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street band and a rock and roll entrepreneur).

2) But as much as the acting is great, the casting is better, inspired almost.

3) The cameos are good but not too over the top. Frank Sinatra junior plays a card game, Steve Buscemi becomes instantly brilliant as Tony's cousin in series five.

4) The dialogue is where it really excels. The humour, the violence, the mannerisms are all there and all perfectly measured.

5) The plot. It builds over time, they are not obsessed with having a cliché ridden crescendo at the end of every episode (see 24 and lost).

6) It is almost Shakesperian in complexity. The Sopranos can be watched over and over again and there are still elements which reveal themselves, themes which have been in place and built upon for more than five series now.

7) The Soundtrack is absolutely fine. The songs are always great and well chosen for the particular moments. The two soundtracks are well worth a listen.

8) The violence is real. Not Die Hard fake OTT fighting but reality, cold, brutal and shocking. It is all the better for this.

I am a firm believer that the Sopranos will be watched again in hundreds of years as the classic turn of the century drama. More than a drama it will be viewed as art. And I do measure my words there. ART. There quite simply is no other mainstream or not recent television drama which comes close to the complexity and beauty of this series.

Read some more of my stuff. You can find out what happended at Primal Scream's new record launch party here on Sunday night. You can read about Bruce Springsteen's Seeger obsession here and you can read all about English World Cup songs here. Plus you can watch some cool videos here.

Joey