Music
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Down, again
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The power will be out to the server again this weekend, Friday evening through Monday morning (UK time). Get some fresh air! The song for the weekend is the bittersweet “Fourth of July”, written by Dave Alvin, performed by X on See How We Are (which seem to come up a lot around here).
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Travelling ten
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I’ve been a bit quiet the past week, so here’s a very random top ten from my just-completed trip to North America (New Jersey/New York and Toronto). In no particular order, except for number one: My sister’s wedding — Congratulations and Mazel Tov to Allison and Chris! The skeleton of the new Daniel Libeskind extension…
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Outlaws and geeks
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From David Gates’ review of ‘The Outlaw Bible of American Literature’: The Rebel Establishment complete with great quote and weirdly out of place tech reference (extra points if you get it): From Waylon Jennings’s autobiography, … the Platonic country-music anecdote, about Hank Williams: “Faron Young brought Billie Jean, Hank’s last wife, to town for the…
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The Way We Live Now
In 1987, at the height of the Reagan era, LA’s greatest punk (?) band, X, released what even then we knew would be their swan song, See How We Are. X were never ashamed of the poetry in their rock’n’roll, and in the title track they use it to remind us that the political is…
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Wilco
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I’m feeling… I’m feeling all rock’n’roll and shit. -Jeff Tweedy, Wilco, London Hammersmith Apollo, 14 March 2005.
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Nevermind
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Came home last night to the pop music punditry of “Classic Albums: Nevermind” on BBC2, a reverent eulogizing of Nirvana’s Nevermind. It reminded me of my own rock critic prehistory, when I actually wrote one of the first ever reviews: Nirvana recently did an all-ages show here in Chicago, which I guess means I’m supposed…
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Music of the day: Galaxie 500, On Fire
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Galaxie 500 (named after a car, I think) were a product of the hothouse late-80s US “College Rock” culture (they hailed from Harvard, I think); after On Fire and This is Our Music (title lifted from Ornette), they morphed into Damon and Naomi (occasional musicians and would-be publishing moguls, recently heard doing “While My Guitar…
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Pogue Mahone
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Thanks to the help of the aforementioned ringer, we went to see the Pogues play in Birmingham last weekend. For the most part, they’ve worn their age well; lead singer Shane MacGowan may be the exception, beginning to look more like Johnny Vegas, but sounding even more like the drunks and hustlers in his songs.…
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Big Eyed Beans from Venus
(First in a short series on Astro department Christmas parties) Just back from the Oxford Astronomy Department (where I proudly count myself as a visitor) Christmas/Holiday party. Aside from a fairly staggering amount of booze, featured entertainment was “Big-Eyed Beans From Venus”, a bluesy five-piece featuring students and postdocs from the astro group (and one…
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R.I.P. John Peel
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BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel passed away today. Even in the USA, John Peel was a broadcasting legend. We didn’t quite understand who he was, but the “Peel Sessions” that appeared for every obscure British (and American) band gave many of us our first taste of The Fall, of Siousxie and The Banshees, of…
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