Glispering Prize!

If you've been reading everybodystalking for any length of time you may recall that I did some voiceovers and incidental music for a documentary called 'Next tooth one mile' by Los Angeles filmaker Cassi Glisper.

Well, 'Next tooth one mile' just won Best Documentary at the International Film Festival of Ireland. Congratulations Cassi and everyone associated with the documentary!

Cassi with the Mayor of Clonmel at the awards ceremony...

RIP Jim Carroll

The New York punk poet, musician and author has died of a heart attack, aged 60. Carroll became a heroine addict aged 13 and documented his teenage years in his book The Basketball Diaries, later made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Guitar heroes...

In a week when The Beatles legacy was brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century by the release of The Beatles: Rock Band!, it seems not everyone is happy with their digital band-mates being immortalized in a game. Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl just released the following:

This is a statement regarding Nirvana, Guitar Hero and the likeness of the late Kurt Cobain.

We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate – we have no control whatsoever in that area.

While we were aware of Kurt’s image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn’t know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in “re-locking” Kurt’s character so that this won’t continue in the future.

It’s hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists’ music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better.
 
Cobain - judge for yourself...

Drugstore cowboy...

Interesting story about a bitter feud between Damian Hirst and graffiti artist Cartrain. Cartrain used Hirst's image of a diamond encrusted skull in some of his work and was hit by a barrage of legal letters... Cartrain took revenge by stealing a box of pencils from Hirst's installation piece Pharmacy... Read the full story from the Independent here...

The Pharmacy installation:

If Hirst and Pharmacy sound familiar you may have been to the Notting Hill bar/restaurant called Pharmacy - designed by Hirst and opened in 1997. I went there once or twice and it was a hip place although somewhat sterile and cold... The bar came into dispute with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, which claimed the name, the pill bottles and the medical items on display, could confuse people looking for a real pharmacy. The name itself was breaching the Medicines Act 1968, which restricts the use of the word pharmacy. The bar's name was subsequently changed to Army Chap, an anagram of pharmacy and closed in 2003...

Pharmacy Bar/Restaurant in Notting Hill:

My opinion? Hirst needs to get over himself. For a start he is recycling his own 10 year old ideas for the Pharmacy installation. He should also read what Peter Saville wrote about appropriation/plagiarism:

In this post-modern era, the notion of plagiarism didn't come into it. If Jeff Koons took a photograph of a Nike ad and put it in a gallery, at the time nobody called it plagiarism. He was obviously making a statement about Nike and the art market. 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.

SLR and Railroad to Alaska at Octane Alley

Octane Alley is a sports bar in a strip mall next to a Vons supermarket. Despite this it's actually a pretty cool venue! The band room is separate from the main bar, although the two TV's at the bar and the sports projected onto the walls were an unnecessary distraction, as were the flames painted on the walls behind the stage! However, the PA sounded great...

SLR sounded brilliant as Sean dashed through a short set which featured 'Sunlight into Space', the beloved 'We still love them', 'Spanish Boots' featuring Dana guesting on guitar, 'Venus de Milo' and finally 'Demolition 45' with Justin Suitor joining Sean for the tongue-twisting coda...

Mr Suitor was soon back on stage with Railroad to Alaska who also sounded brilliant. As they were riffing through their set I was thinking this is so not the style of music I listen to! However, the reason it works for me (aside from the brilliant musicianship) is that the band don't look like a rock band - they look like regular indie hipsters! That and Justin Suitor is a star - his transformation from a shy friendly guy into a cross between Jimmy Page and Robert Plant is startling! He also has the best hair in rock, with guitarist Jeff Lyman a close second!

Apologies to Brookline and Free Lions for missing their sets - I wanted to get back and see Laura before she left for Ireland early Sunday...

Wire Train, Translator and Romeo Void at the Knitting Factory

Three of 415 Records finest embarked on a short California tour starting at LA's The Knitting Factory. Romeo Void (or Debora Iyall and friends as it was billed) started off the evening in spritely fashion and it was great fun. It's easy to see how Iyall's voice (particularly on songs like 'Never say Never') was a massive influence on Britpop's leading ladies like Justine Frischmann (Elastica) and Louise Werner (Sleeper)... The set started out in semi acoustic fashion with Translator's Dave Scheff joining on drums as they worked their way up to a brilliant 'Never say Never'.



I must admit I missed out on Translator in the 80's - they didn't get the exposure in Europe that a number of strong support tours afforded Wire Train. Not dissimilar to early Wire Train, Translator are all chiming jangly guitars and driving basslines - singer Steve Barton an anglophilic cross between Howard Devoto and Terry Hall! Not sure whether Translator play together a lot but they sounded great - everything held together by Scheff's rock-steady drums.



It's been about 5 years since Wire Train last played live - for the pilot of VH1's Bands Reunited. The current reunion (hopefully longer than the three dates on this tour) sounded an all together more planned affair, with the band running through songs from the recently released 'Snug' LP. 'Snug' was rejected by MCA in 1993 for being "too weird" and stayed unreleased for many years. It doesn't sound at all weird now, although you can just imagine the execs at MCA shifting uncomfortably in their chairs when listening to the first track 'Who gives a shit'... The best songs from 'Snug' last night were 'Superstar' and 'Enemy', the latter featuring some fine soloing from Jeff Trott. Aside from 'Snug', WT played songs from all their LP's including the iconic 'Chamber of Hellos' and 'Last Perfect Thing' - their UK hit from the early days of MTV. They finished with one of my favorite tracks '17 spooks'... Great show, and with the tracks from 'Snug' sounding really fresh, this was so much more than an 80's nostalgia trip. Who gives a shit? I certainly do!

RIP Jake Brockman

The former Echo & the Bunnymen keyboard player has been killed in a motorcycle accident age 53. The crash is a tragic repeat of the 1989 death of Bunnymen drummer, Pete De Freitas.