ExDetectives at Silverlake Lounge

I enjoyed ExDetectives last night - a great set. Not that they had too much to follow - some indie en espanol from a band whose singer sounded amazingly like Enrique Iglesias (flat and Spanish) and a poor man's Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. The latter (Colorada & Belle) murdered Nancy & Lee's 'Did you ever', raped Pink Floyd's 'Breathe' and pillaged The Stones' 'Wild horses', all while dressed as Gene Autry and his wife and doing a 'comedy' routine.

Anyways, ExDetectives played a couple of new songs of which 'Where you turn' sounded particularly strong. The set was well balanced and 'Closing Bell' is a great way to close. My only slight reservation was the turgid 'Return' but at this point only wild horses could drag it out of the set. Perhaps Gene Autry could help...

Thom Yorke at the Orpheum Theater

Thom Yorke and friends put on a great show last night in front of a packed house which included the likes of Toby Kebbell, Rhys Ifans, Charlize Theron and husband Stuart Townsend. I resisted the temptation of approaching Kebbell in the bar and asking "Dead Mans Shoes - what the fuck is all that about?" although a post show "job's a good-un" (from Control) would have been more applicable.

Yorke and Co ran through The Eraser from start to finish and everything sounded amazing especially the title track, 'Black Swan' and 'Harrowdown Hill'... Flea's percussive bass added an extra dimension to the songs, and combined with Nigel Godrich's sparse synths the music had an early Simple Minds or Japan feel. However, the layered percussion throughout was definitely Radiohead flavored.

The encore (Yorke solo for 3 songs and then the full band back for 3 or 4) was a little after the lord mayors show but short of playing some beloved Radiohead songs I don't think they could have bettered The Eraser part of the show...

SLR & Brookline at The Dragonfly

I'd never been to The Dragonfly before but it's purple outside facade and velvet booths were familar to me - having been the location for the Hinged video for their song 'Crawl'... Hinged of course featured Sean Robertson... The Dragonfly (not unlike close neighbour Unknown Theater) has an unorthodox layout and disproportionately large stage...

SLR sounded good, bringing in 'Is a...' and a live debut for the brilliant 'Leave the light on' which closed the set at the expense of 'Venus de milo'... The sound for Brookline wasn't great but they played up to their usual high standards...

'You're Entitled to an Opinion...' by David Nolan

 'You're Entitled to an Opinion...' (The high times and many lives of Tony Wilson, Factory Records and The Hacienda) is David Nolan's excellent and comprehensive biography of Tony Wilson.

The book covers Wilson's life, or rather his extra-ordinary double-life; by day a TV presenter at Granada Studios, and by night boss of perhaps the most influential record label of modern times in Factory Records, and the most famous UK venue/club in The Hacienda. Apparently The Hacienda only started booking DJ's as they were cheaper than bands and the rest is history! The music side of Wilson's life has been documented elsewhere but it was interesting to read of his sometimes fiery relationships with his Granada TV bosses, his later jobs with Channel 4 and the BBC.

Also covered in depth are his personal relationships, first with Lindsay Reade, then Hilary Wilson, who bore his two children and finally Yvette Livesey. Hilary Wilson was knifed on her doorstep by a crazed fan, which perhaps explains her virtual non-appearance as a character in the movie '24 hour party people'. Yvette Livesey shared Tony's love for music and still runs the 'In the City' music conference.

Wilson contracted kidney cancer in his final years and the disease had spread to his stomach and lungs by the time a prognosis was made. There was hope with a new wonder drug called Sutent, but ironically the drug was not available in Manchester due to it's high cost. Wilson campaigned for it's availability, not just for himself but others who suffered from the disease. Interestingly, the NHS value the cost of one year of life to be 30,000 GBP. Eventually, the drug was purchased anonymously for Wilson but it was too late and Wilson died August 10th 2007.

The last chapter covers the famous FAC catalog numbers, which include FAC61 - A lawsuit brought by Factory Producer Martin Hannett to get the label closed; FAC99 - Dental work for Rob Gretton (Joy Division and New Order manager) and FAC501 - Anthony H. Wilson's funeral and coffin (complete with silver FAC501 plate.)

Cover versions

So The Charlatans' Tim Burgess just got a new tatoo, choosing to adorn his colar bone with FAC33. FAC33 was of course the catalog number for the debut New Order single 'Ceremony'. Both 'Ceremony' and B-side 'In a lonely place' were Joy Division songs that were never recorded before Ian Curtis died...

If you were to choose a Factory catalog number for a tatoo, I'm sure FAC10 (Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures') would be up there with the most popular. The seminal LP is 30 years old this year and to celebrate you can watch the pulsar wave form morphing away whilst listening to 'UP' here!

Just as good is the purple version I created for The Protagonist! website a couple of years ago:

Manic Street Preachers at The Avalon

Apparently, the Manics haven't been to LA for 10 years so there was very much an air of anticipation inside the Avalon last night! Indeed, the crowd were not disappointed by a brilliant show right from an impecable 'Motorcycle Emptiness' to an anthemic 'Design for Life'. The set was perfectly paced and included a couple of acoustic songs ('Small Black Flowers' and 'This is yesterday') midset before building to a deafening crescendo. Other stand out songs were 'Faster', 'You love us', 'Everything must go', 'You stole the sun from my heart' and a blistering 'Motown Junk' which was preceeded by a minute or so of The Small Faces' 'All or nothing'... Fantastic show - best gig I've been to for ages!

Happy faces...

The always entertaining and slightly mad The Happy Hollows featured on Pinpoint playing 'Faces' from the forthcoming debut LP Spells: