Dead Pop Heroes No. 6

The one and only Ian Dury, if only for writing this...

Regards,


djp

Dead Pop Heroes No. 5

This just in on Joe Dolan. Scarily, Joe's Wikipedia entry was updated within hours of the ann0uncement.

Regards,


djp

Dead Pop Heroes No. 4

The incomparable Bernard Edwards...

Regards,


djp

Dead Pop Heroes No. 3

Let's hear it for John Entwistle. Who?

Regards,


djp

Dead Reggae Heroes

Augustus Pablo and King Tubby.

Regards,


djp

Dead Pop Heroes No. 2

And then there's Jeff Buckley.

Regards,


djp

Dead Pop Heroes No. 1

Aujourd'hui, voici Billy Mackenzie.

Regards,


djp

(B)eMusic

Being the cheapskate bastard that I am, I usually check out eMusic on a daily basis for their free daily download. I will generally download anything other than R&B/urban/hip-hop. A guy has to have some standards after all...

However, today I noticed that the free download track had already been made available for free some weeks ago. You'd think with all the music on the internet nowadays that it would be impossible for eMusic to repeat themselves. This is obviously not the case.

Yours (B)eMused,


djp

Shave and a haircut (without the shave)

I'd left my hair grow for over six months - just before going on holidays in June of this year - and today I finally decided to cut it myself. It had gone all lank and greasy, and while I'm not averse to washing my hair, it was getting to the stage where I'd have to wash it every day, which would be a nuisance. So I'm back to a nice tidy crew-cut, a bit longer than I used to have it.

I'd never grown my hair very long before, and this was longer than I'd ever had it. So I can count this as one of my "100 things to do before I die". Not that I've been keeping a strict count, don't you know...

Regards,


djp

Odd-shaped balls

I had a dream last night that I was picked for the Irish Rugby team (don't ask how that came to pass - I have no idea and neither do the IRFU).

Anyway, I found myself in the Irish dressing room on match day. The atmosphere wasn't great. There were all these rules that I was breaking out of total ignorance - "Don't talk too loud, Eddie hates it before a match"/"You can't sit there, that's Bod's spot"/Hey, mind Rog's bag!" That type of thing.

Naturally, with that type of vibe, coupled with the fact that I have never played rugby in my life (and against the All-Blacks, probably, no less...), I was feeling rather jittery and was not at all enjoying myself.

Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, I had a very strong need to find a tradesman to tarmac the drive. I had no idea who to contact. I asked around the dressing room. Most of the guys were deep in pre-match concentration and either totally ignored me or told me (quite rightly, I felt) to fuck off.

Only Paul O'Connell gave me the time of day. He said that Peter Stringer had loads of contacts in the building trade and he gives me Strings' mobile number (where Strings was, I have no idea - he was definitely picked for the match but was nowhere to be found).

I dialled the number and introduced myself. "Hi, Peter, you don't know me but I'm on the team for the match today..."

"Oh right", said Strings, sounding a bit distracted.

"Paul O'Connell tells me you might know a guy who's good at tarmac..."

"What?!" came the incredulous response. I have no doubt he was wondering who the hell was this clown at the other end of the line. But I had no choice but to repeat myself and press onwards - if I was going to be sharing the park with Strings, then I was going to have to act like a man.

"Ah", Strings said eventually, "right. I know a guy. He's not cheap, but he's good and I reckon he's available." He gave me the guy's name. It took a number of attempts as the line was very bad. I got it down eventually but I wouldn't vouch for the accuracy of the spelling.

"Have you a number for him", I asked. He had to think about this for a while. The line went quiet, so I asked him again. "Hould tough, pal, I'm thinking - right".

So he gave me a number. I had to ask him to repeat it a few times, as I couldn't hear all the numbers and I wasn't sure about the format.

"Look, I have to go", String said at last. "I've got to get to the match". "Right", sez I, "I'll see you later".

I gazed down at the piece of paper on which I had written the number. There was an obvious look of puzzlement and bewilderment on my face, as Paul O'Connell came over to me and asked was everything OK.

"This number - I'm not sure that it's a valid phone number", I said. "Here, let me have a look", said Paul. We both perused the paper for a moment, and then the penny dropped for us both simultaneously.

"It's not a phone number at all..." I said. "...it's a VAT number!" said Paul.

We looked at each other and shook our heads.

"Tcheh! That's Strings for you", Paul laughed.

Regards,


djp

A bit of an achievement

Last Friday, for the first time ever I reckon, I composed and recorded a song in a morning. The drums were supplied by my friend, Ian C Stewart, and I recorded bass, two guitar parts and vocals myself. I made up the vocals pretty much on the spot over a couple of takes. I haven't worked anything remotely like that fast in about 11 years, when I did a few songs on 4-track.

Keep an ear out for "Burst Me Stitches" in the coming months...:-)

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 01/12/2007

1. (-) - Hello? Is This Thing On? - !!!
2. (3) - Teddy Picker - Arctic Monkeys
3. (-) - Mixed Bizness - Beck
4. (-) - Moanin' The Blues - Hank Williams
5. (-) - Where White Boys Dance - The Killers
6. (-) - Sulk - Radiohead
7. (1) - Getting Involved - Scott Brookman
8. (2) - Suicide (live) - Thin Lizzy
9. (-) - Schubert - Excerpt from Adagio - Quintet in C - Barrington Pheloung
10. (-) - One Love - Bob Marley & The Wailers

Regards,

djp