Friday, August 28, 2009

RIP DJ AM

Adam Goldstein aka DJ AM was found dead in his New York apartment today - drug paraphernalia was found at the scene. The celeb DJ survived a plane crash last year with collaborator Travis Barker - the duo playing gigs as a DJ/drummer combo. Goldstein was 36...

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

RIP Ellie Greenwich

The singer, songwriter and producer was 69. Ellie wrote or co-wrote 'Be My Baby', 'Da Doo Ron Ron', 'River Deep, Mountain High' and many others. Her main songwriting partner was her husband Jeff Barry.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Where 2...

Frederick Turko's stunning photographs from last nights Where Social Space show can be viewed here...

Here are a few teasers:







Fred captures the spirit of an event by not only photographing the performers but also the audience...

DSS & SLR at Where Social Space

The evening started smoothly enough with Motel (Blake Hammon) playing some cool acoustic songs, including 'Pegasus' which is currently featured on the Little Joy Open Mic blog...

Motel


Just as stanleylucasrevolution were about to start we were subject to a police raid which lasted an hour. It was either caused by a noise complaint from a soon to be evicted neighbor, problems with the liquor license (was there one?) or lack of a music license... Anyways, after increasing doom and gloom from all and sundry the police disappeared, the owners started giving away free booze and the music continued on a promise that we would play quietly... We did, kind of... So SLR played a marginally quieter set than usual, culminating in a great version of 'Venus de milo' with much clapping along from a now ultra-enthusiastic crowd...

SLR


DSS divided his set into an electronic half and an acoustic half. The electronic half was great but the acoustic part was possibly the best thing I've seen David do... As well as the Nick Drake-like 'Machines' he sang 'City of the future' which despite forgetting the words was excellent, 'Brand New' and an amazing version of 'Eyes'...

David Shane Smith

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Factory: Manchester From Joy Division To Happy Mondays

There's something comforting about hearing a story retold again and again. Perhaps this is why religion is so popular but as an atheist I wouldn't know... I remember my grandmother telling the same half dozen stories over and over - who could tire of hearing that Ronnie Corbett was a cunt when she met him...

Anyways, the latest telling of the Factory Records story is a real cracker - probably the definitive documentary on Factory and one that is unlikely to be bettered now that Anthony H. Wilson is no longer with us...

Watch it here: Factory: Manchester From Joy Division To Happy Mondays

The young Wilson presenting Granada TV's 'So it goes'


Factory design guru Peter Saville


Joy Division in rehearsal


Steven Morris in action on 'Something Else'


The late Anthony H. Wilson


Producer Martin Hannett illustrates Gunchester...


New Order perform 'Blue Monday' live on Top of the Pops...


Wilson announces the temporary closure of the Hacienda...


The ever frank Peter Hook.


The Happy Mondays Sean Ryder

Depeche Mode at The Hollywood Bowl

I've given up trying to understand the vagaries of The Hollywood Bowl door policy with regards to alcohol, which ranges from anything goes, to no glass bottles, to no alcohol at all... As a result, we missed Peter, Bjorn and John drinking our wine outside...

Depeche Mode sounded good - no evidence of Dave Gahan's throat issues that caused a couple of cancellations last week other than a rather effete scarf that was more Martin Gore than Dave... Gore was given vocal duties on three songs, presumably to give Mr Gahan some rest. Depeche played all the usual favorites like 'Enjoy the silence' and 'Personal Jesus' and a few others that I should probably know the names of by now... Anyway, it was all a bit of a blur after downing a couple of bottles of wine!

Depeche Mode doing the crow...

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Back to the garden...

I'm going on down to Yasgur's Farm,
I'm gonna join in a rock and roll band.
I'm gonna camp out on the land.
I'm gonna get my soul free.
(Joni Mitchell - Woodstock)

They say a picture paints a thousand words... Well, much has been written about the 40th anniversary of Woodstock (August 15-18 1969) but for me seeing some of the iconic photography has been just as important as reading what cultural or political relevance Woodstock may (or may not) have had on the history of the good old U.S. of A...

The photos, such as those published on the Life Magazine website, have a vibrant color compared to the saturated footage we're used to seeing in the Woodstock movie. The most iconic Woodstock image is probably the photo of Bobby and Nick Ercoline taken by Newsweek photographer Burk Uzzle that was used on the cover of the Woodstock soundtrack LP.



The photo captured what it was like to be there — the slush and rain, the fatigue and the feeling of revolution, amid a haze of drugs. 40 years later Bobby and Nick Ercoline are still together! They are both 60 now and have two grown children, aged 28 and 30...

Friday, August 14, 2009

Dvdshnsmth at Cinespace

Cinespace is very Hollywood... Expensive parking, expensive door, expensive drinks, 3 stages and numerous bands...

I haven't see DSS play for a while, hence a brand new set of songs... Well, kind of... Familiar were the ever evolving 'Shampoo' (now featuring some heavenly sampled choirs right out of The Protagonist! armoury) and my personal favorite; 'Liquor Store'. Apart from a song David uploaded from an open mike the previous night at the Scientology center, everything else was new (to me at least...) All magnificent as you would expect - all blips, clicks and staccato early Beck type raps...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

RIP Les Paul



Lester William 'Les Paul' Polfuss was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar. He was also a renownd jazz guitarist...

The Les Paul guitar is a staple for the heavy rock sound of guitarists such as Slash:

RIP Rashied Ali



The legendary jazz drummer (born Robert Patterson) was best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Ali was 74...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Factory (The Story of the Record Label) - Mick Middles



They say never judge a book by it's cover and this is certainly the case with Mick Middles 'Factory (The Story of the record label)'... Or at least the title is rather misleading - seeing as nothing is actually released on Factory until around page 140. What we actually have is Middles (a Manchester based music journalist) recounting the pre and post-punk Manchester scene from the 70's onwards. Legendary local bands such as Slaughter and the Dogs, The Distractions and Albertos y Los Trios Paranois thru to The Buzzcocks, Warsaw/Joy Division and Factory stalwarts A Certain Ratio and The Durutti Column are covered in detail. As the book progresses more coverage is given to Middles associations with Joy Division and New Order... Indeed, 'Factory...' is actually an updated version of the imaginatively titled 'From Joy Division to New Order' which was released in 1996.

Only in the final third of the book do you feel you're actually reading about Factory Records, and there are some fascinating details about Factory's (mostly self-imposed) financial difficulties. For example, allowing the Happy Mondays to record the follow-up to 'Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches' in Barbados (where they became partial to crack) and letting New Order record Technique in Ibiza - the two albums costing Factory 1 million pounds... Later, Factory were in the ludicrous position with New Order of owing Bernard Sumner 500K for New Order/Electronic but being owed 500K by Peter Hook (Revenge) and 500K by Steve Morris/Gillian Gilbert (The Other Two). In addition, Factory were losing money on the Hacienda having taken out a bridging loan in Germany at 8% above base rate and being caught with their pants down as the property market crashed. With drug wars in Manchester putting off potential mortgage providers, and interest rates up and high as 15%, Factory were now paying 23% for the Hacienda... As negotiations about a London Records takeover stalled, Factory went under owing around 2 million pounds.

Middles also covers the London Records subsidized 'Factory Too' - a period not well documented elsewhere and it was interesting that both Oasis and Pulp were passed over due to lack of financing...

Monday, August 10, 2009

RIP Willy DeVille

Willy's band Mink DeVille were the house band at CBGB's during the mid-70's when the venue was the center of the New York punk scene. After the band split in 1985 his solo career embraced many styles of traditional American music... The singer was 59.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

RIP John Hughes

The writer/director was involved in many iconic projects such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Weird Science and Sixteen Candles. The 59 year old died of a heart attack while taking a morning walk in Manhattan.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Futurism begins at home...

To me, it was better to quote Futurism verbatim, for example, than to parody it ineptly. It was a more honest, more intellectual and in a way more artistic approach. It was so literal and so obvious that it never crossed my mind that people would think that I invented this work. But some did. People were shocked because they thought that I had created an original and were disappointed to discover that it was reinterpreting a previous work. I think they were missing the point. Peter Saville

Stroboscopic vs Unknown Theater:



For the Unknown Theater event I wanted a poster representing unity and strength - bands I knew and liked coming together to take on the world... In the end we got a pimp who looks like Hendrix, a few hookers and a drunk middle aged Russian couple groping each other on the dancefloor... The original design is by Ernst Keller for two exhibitions at the Zurich Kunstgewerbemuseum in 1931.

ExDetectives vs Stroboscopic at the Airliner:



The name of the venue (The Airliner) got me thinking about vintage airline posters and I found the Aeroflot poster and a bunch of other cool designs...

ExDetectives - Closing Bell EP:



I loved the Automobile-Club de Suise poster as soon as I saw it. Despite being a road safety poster (protegez l'enfant - protect children) it had quite a sinister feel, almost like the bike was trying to get the kid. The band name ExDetectives always had a film noir feel to me, the reduced two color design I used for the cover feels both retro and modern...

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Trashcan Sinatras at Cafe Du Nord

Brookville sounded better than at The Troubadour - less nervous maybe and benefitting from a smaller venue. Andy Chase's singing was better and whilst he will never be a great singer he could at least be in the same bracket as other 'flat' singers like Ian Brown or Tim Burgess...

The chilly San Francisco air also suited Trashcan Sinatras as they were back to sounding their best after a disappointing show in LA. After starting with a more than welcome 'Hayfever' before concentrating on the new LP 'In the Music'... After pretty much playing the whole LP again they played four from 'Weightlifting' including the pretty harmonies of 'Usually'... The band returned for a long encore finishing with 'Send for Henny'...