Crowdies play Sydney

Having initially missed out on tickets for Crowded House's gig in Sydney, I was pleased to pick some up on Ebay at only a small premium on the face-value. I'm now clutching two tickets to the gig at the Enmore and enjoying their latest release - Time on Earth.

I've long been a Crowdies tragic. When Split Enz broke up, I simply transfered my affections to any and all of its offspring, but particularly to Neil Finn. I first saw Crowded House in Hamilton in 1990 (or '91). They were supported then, as they will be tonight, by Don McGlashan (then early in the formation of the Muttonbirds). I've seen them several times since but I didn't see their Farewell to the World gig in Sydney (1996). I regret that as I had the dosh having decided not to move to the UK. I bought a good suit instead - it was a great suit, but I wish now I'd jumped on a plane.

Like any fan, I was upset by Paul Hester's suicide. His larrikanism has been much commented on. It was a major part of the way the band performed. I wonder what they'll be like without him, without his cheek to balance Finn's intensity? I remember seeing Crowded House in New Plymouth in '94. It was an afternoon gig in a football field. Half way through the show, Paul insisted on a race around the crowd. Two races in fact, one for kids, one for adults. He called it as if it were a thoroughbred race. It felt like some sort of Christmas holiday camp activity day.

There'll be a singalong, there always is, it's a Enz tradition the Crowdies have kept up. I'll post a review of the gig for anyone who's interested. It'll be positive, almost certainly, and free of any pretense of objectivity. The only risk is that they don't play my cluster of favourites, but if McGlashan sings There is No Depression in New Zealand, well that'd be just grand.

Grooves for the weekend

Each week Ben Watt makes his hour-long radio set available online at buzzin'fly radio.

Listen to it.

Watt's buzzin'fly label is quite simply the best around in house/deep-house from the UK and Europe and he DJs regular spots in London. He's also often in Australia. I saw him a year or so back at a club off Oxford St, Sydney - it's possibly the last time I went to a dance gig in fact (over-night babysitters are in short supply).

Watt previously was one half of Everything but the Girl with his wife Tracy Thorn.

I read Watt's book, Patient, recently. It's a pretty frank narrative about his near-death in the late '90s just as ETBG were taking off. The copy I had is signed by Watt himself - a friend was one of his nurses (she was one of the nurses who looked after Rik Mayall too).

As you slide into the weekend I recommend Ben Watt; it's the last thing I do on a Friday evening as I sup a Gin.

Heard it here first

Top Aussie song: Under the Milky Way.

You heard it here first, August 21st 2007, in fact.

I don't agree but.

The top song to come out of Australia is Hunters and Collectors Throw Your Arms Around Me (didn't make the top 20) but perhaps the Church are second. Silverchair's Straight Lines and the Go Betweens Streets of Your Town are in my top 5 also. Crowdies get 6 songs - you could argue they're not an Aussie band but you can argue that both ways so it's a bit pointless.

Over at Larvatus Prodeo there's a suggestion that Kylie's Arse ought to be at the top. This lyric's compelling:

I'm a son, I love my mother.
Love my brother like a brother.
But for me there is another.
Funny how things come to pass.
I must make a confession.
It has grown into obession.
Even if it was clad in hessian.
I'd still love Kylie's arse.

Young pretenders...

This is not a comment on the Wallabies, John Key or Kevin Rudd; it's about Christine Aguilera and the rest of the woohoohoos who lay claim to R&B or jazz bona fides.

Unlike Amy Winehouse, what is offensive about the woohoohoos is their inability to see the lyrics as the focus of any given song but instead see them as jumping off points for vocal gymnastics. Aguilera's treatment of Lennon's 'Mother' (on the latest Make Some Noise compilation) is awful compared with the brilliant Amy Winehouse's, uniquely updated, version of Me and Mr Jones.

Aguilera seems to think of lyrics as awkward corners; annoying interruptions to be carefully navigated before the real deal; the straights, where the throttle is let-out, diaphragm expanded and full noise, full volume, full whohoohoohoohoohoo...

So un-hip it's a wonder your bum doesn't fall off...

Somehow I've managed to avoid being an Arthur Dent in this MotherJones guide to all that's hip in music... fortunately I'm in love Arcade Fire (and quite like Peter Bjorn and John).

Hat tip: whoar

Sousaphone

I know the bags under my eyes probably won't go away. They're not temporary, I'll not recover the sleep I've lost. I've realised this is a small but significant badge; perhaps I'll sleep when she's 3? But Don, Don you've aged mate. You taught me trumpet (WTF is a sousaphone?) and that moment when I told my big brother than my music teacher was the lead singer for Blam Blam Blam...

Ahhh fuckit, you're still lyrically, stylistically, fashionably cool.

And Don, the gig you did at the old theatre in Wellington, the gig for the opening night of Jackson's Frighteners, fantastic.

Downtown train

It's bedtime and I was thinking about who I'd like to sing me to sleep; Tom Waits or JJ Cale?

You think I should've had a woman? Whatever...

Here Tom Waits sings a lullaby. Here JJ Cale does too. Can anyone find the Waterboys doing A Man is in Love?

mo' better blues

I've linked to this before, I'll link to it again.

'mo better blues.

Branford Marsalis trio from the Spike Lee movie featuring the late Kenny Kirkland.

Night all.

Continuing the theme

When I was about 16 I decided to replace some of my Father's jazz favourites with Cds. He'd very carefully looked after his vinyl for years but it was time. Marbecks was the authoritative place to go in Auckland and I wandered into their Queen St jazz shop and rather pretentiously approached the counter with my unbelievably cool question...

"Do you have any Ahmad Jamal, maybe Live at the Pershing?

...... blink

......... blink.....

............ supressed derisory snort...

"Have you looked in the Ahmad Jamal section?"

Burrrnnn!

I've recovered from that point and I've now taken my Father to see Ahmad Jamal at the Sydney Opera House (with Mrs backin15 and my stepmother in 2005). It was one of the best performances I've ever seen but more importantly it was thanks. Thanks to the artist but also thanks to my Father for the introduction.

For your pleasure: Surrey with a Fringe.

How to make my Dad check out my blog

Joe Morello's definitive moment. Paul Desmond was there too.

I regret, seriously regret, giving up playing music to do six subjects at School Cert. It was a significant error of judgement. I was about a year away from making the transition from awkward little guy on the bus with extra bag to the man-with-the-saxaphone-plan... I perhaps would have been the first in Mangere but...

The Purdie shuffle

I was watching a doco about Steely Dan recently which included footage of Bernie Purdie and his famous Purdie shuffle... see if you can play along...

Is it Tim or Neil?

Tim Finn's playing the Enmore tonight to spruik his new album, Imaginary Kingdom. I saw him at a record release last year and I have to say I was a little disappointed - I'm not one of the Finn-fans that seem to need to prefer one Finn over the other and have seen Tim solo on a number of occassions and really enjoyed him.

The SMH story promoting his gig sadly confuses him with Neil - after first saying he is occasionally overshadowed by Neil... check out the little map that accompanies the story.

Musical meme

Sometime back, a friend visiting from the UK made a comment about my CD collection that got me thinking about how and when I've heard something distinctly different compared with what I was listening to around that time.

Usually friends, television or a good review/recommendation puts you on to a band but occassionally you discover something yourself - I know it's really only the illusion of discovery but it's still exciting to be one of the first of your social circle to be listening to a particular sound and to introduce others.

So this is a music meme, list your five self discoveries in the order of most recent to oldest discoveries with bonus points for official websites and links to videos (official, pirated or dodgy camera-phone concert footage).

My top five self discoveries are:

1. 2003. Meshell Ndegeocello. I first heard Ndegeocello's Peace beyond Passion at a cafe in Newtown, Sydney. This album remains one of my top 10. Stunning voice, incredible bass player with funk-style titrated directly from Bootsy Collins. Check out Leviticus: Faggot

2. 1988. Living Colour. Unbelievably, I was introduced to Living Colour while watching Entertainment Tonight - that tacky US entertainment show of an entirely beige palette. Nonetheless, they previewed a band reputed to be the first Black heavy metal band (I'll let others argue that point). Classic tracks include I want to know (from the Vivid album) and Fight the Fight (from Time's Up). This link is to a live version of Open letter to a landlord.

3. Mid '80s. The The. I first heard the album Infected (really cool people knew the earlier albums Soul Mining if not Burning Blue Soul) and was hooked. Here's a great link to, I think, a recent live gig - about a third of the way through is the very song I first heard, Heartland (lyrics here).

4. Mid '80s. Robbie Robertson. First heard on Radio with Pictures, Karen Hay was the host so it can't have been much after the mid '80s (1986 I think). Somewhere down the crazy river remains one of my favourite tracks.

5. Early '80s. Waterboys. Ok, this is a little outside the rules I set 'cause I stole a video tape from my brother without realising what was on it. I first heard This is the Sea - can't find that but can find A Pagan Place.

10 greatest guitar riffs

Browncardigan links to this site that shows you the tab/sheet music for a selection of the 10 greatest guitar riffs - gotta say that, although they were never my cup of tea, Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O Mine is pretty cool.

One for crasster I suspect.

Regrets

I like the saying that you only ever regret the things you didn't do, rather than those you did.

I regret not getting on a plane and flying to Sydney in late November 1996 to see the final Crowded House concert. Hard to believe it was ten years ago. Sorry that a reunion isn't possible. Vale Paul Hester.

Thanks TVNZ for this interview with Neil Finn - good to hear a new solo album isn't far away (I could review the launch gig for Tim's latest effort which I attended at the Basement in Sydney a month or so back but I can't bring myself to say what I really thought).

Get over it Murray

I've never been on the inside of National and so have never understood Murray McCully's influence; frankly, he's always seemed pedestrian to me. This latest outbust hardly convinces me otherwise.

Is Murray keen to align himself with the Monarchists? Why, 'cause National needs more support from rural NZ and old aged pensioners? Perhaps, giving him some credit, he's decided that William's likely to take the throne soon thereby newing the Crown and making it sexy with young women?

National might have some legitimate grievances with the music industry, they appear to have few if any vocal artistic supporters, but I can't see how bagging Dave Dobbyn, who quite frankly would have to be one of the most popular muso's in NZ, is going to help.

National clearly needs to renew the front bench 'cause Murray sounds like the 'narky old man nextdoor, hardly the image that'll attract votes in the major urban centres.

Watching, listening, reading

I've noticed a fewer bloggers regularly report on things they're reading or watching and so on. I guess I've tended to just talk about the issues I'm interested in rather than what I'm doing but I've found it quite interesting to learn what others, who's writing I enjoy, are reading or listening to. So in this spirit.

Watching: we recently finished watching the first series of Love My Way. Outstanding television drama with excellent acting and compelling story lines. I'll not spoil it by talking about the plot but I will we cried intensely during the last few episodes. I genuinely don't think I've cried that much in years.

Reading: Cocaine: An Unathorized Biography by Dominic Streatfeild. I have read a lot of books about drug culture, including Marching Powder by Rusty Young which I thoroughly enjoyed and strongly recommend, this is a bit different. Its biographical in so far as it examines Cocaine's pharmacology, its history, its economy and, of course, its use. Streatfeild's writing is also very good.

Listening: Modern Times by Bob Dylan. Still unbelievably good despite being in his 60s. This album reminds me of Paolo Conte, JJ Cale and Tom Petty. I'll not speculate as to who has influenced who.

Power walking pop by Ok Go

Ana at Spareroom has put me on to Ok Go, a four piece with a thing for treadmills. Check it out their video from YouTube.

Annoying questions you can't answer

Even more annoying than having the latest Shakiraguilera song stuck in your head (what are you doing listening to FM anyway?) is the inability to recall a song that you know you know, or at least ought to know from your youth (you almost certainly were listening to new FM).

It's annoying on two fronts. First, you can't remember it. Second, what if you're wrong? How will you ever know? Confirming that something doesn't exist is a whole lot harder than confirming that it does.

That said, I'd like to help out Cheezy, a Brit-blogger with an interest in kiwiana. Cheezy recalls a song, Buzz Off, about which he thinks he knows a few things but can not yet confirm it's existence.

He knows it was sung by a Maori duo and that it ended with the line "buzz off". He thinks it was around about 1982 and was on a talent show of some sort (now they were tragic). What Cheezy wants, and what I now want too, is to recall the details and lyrics thereby restoring his/my claim to kiwiana pop-culture expertise.

Help!