Music For A Found Harmonium

They like found it man, yeah they found it.

Do you ever wake up and quite reasonably say to yourself, I freakin love Ennio Morricone?

Podcasting (who polices the internet?)

I have been in talks with Aidanovic about a date for our second attempt to start our radioshow for ISM or RedLeeroy or both etc. I have some software installed, and also a mic on route. This should be a piece of cake. My only concern is licensing, although as Mike Skinner would say, I have a "you think I care air" purely because i would feel that playing music over the interplace cant really be policed unless you are a limewire or a Napster. And unless ones popularity grows beyond all expectations then a short sharp warning before any escalations would normally suffice. To avoid immediate deletion from somewhere like Itunes, would hosting be needed? lets just say, all that is sorted about this venture is the presence of beer and our collection of Mp3's.

You Decide.

Was trawling around blogs/forums reading about drummers and found some amusing comments, one in particular filled me with distress.

I was just thinking to myself how overrated Led Zepplin is and although John Bonham is really good, Carter Beauford is just better because he has so much more style. But then I realized I don't really know anything about Led Zepplin (I'm not even sure if I'm spelling the name right) and that I base my opinions off of the few times I am forced to listen to that trite garbage, but for anyone who actually knows what they're talking about and isn't completely biased. Is John Bonham really that good? I mean, I know he can do the tripelet bass thing with one pedal but to me its like, big deal. If you used two you would sound better still. All of his drumming sounds to me like Carter's drummer on Everyday (for the most part which is lame).

Now I went onto YouTube and found Carter Beauford, and while saying he is not talented would be idiotic in itself, so say that he produces anything better than Bonham or Baker is laughable anyway. To read responses to this chaps post click here. Also to have a look at Beaufort go here. I had never heard of him before but here he is anyhow.

So then I moved onto Bonham. Moby Dick being his most well know drum solo. Now this is some special stuff, by any standards of rock drumming, Bonham is described by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the perfect model for all hard rock drummers that have followed him High praise indeed. A great video cut with moments from his life can be found right here. His famous drum solo, first entitled "Pat's Delight," then "Moby Dick," would often last for half an hour and regularly featured his use of bare hands to achieve different sound effects. In Led Zeppelin concert tours after 1969, Bonham would expand his basic kit to include congas, orchestral timpani, and a symphonic gong. Bonham is also credited (by the Dallas Times Herald) with the first in-concert use of electronic timpani drum synthesisers (most likely made by Syndrum) during a performance of the song "Kashmir" in Dallas, Texas in 1977. Many modern rappers would later heavily sample his drumming and incorporate it into their compositions, such as the Beastie Boys, who sampled "Moby Dick," "The Ocean," and "When the Levee Breaks."

Ginger Baker was originally on Jimmy Page's wanted list when forming Led Zeppelin, I think he was originally more blues influenced than Bonham, but could play rock and roll drums with amazing skill, as this clip shows.

On my meanderings I did find this, and although I had been loving drumming and its protaganists for years I have never seen anything that impressed me as much as this particular piece of film. Buddy Rich in full flight

This is only scratching the surface of finding the Best Drummer ever, check some of these and delve deeper.

Elvin Jones
Alphonse Mouzon
Max Roach
keith moon
Michael Shrieve

Best Drummer ever? - You decide.

Possibly The Best Maddest Out-Of-Control Thing I Have Ever Seen. R.Kelly Has Fully Lost It

George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars.

Monsieur Sebastien Tellier C'est Bon

Well went to see the above mentioned musical mentalist last night, not that familar with his work but we were treated to a mix of rock and roll, melodic chugging builders of tracks, think basslines, (while backed by very competant musicians), poetry, piano melodies, haunting solo vocal arangements and unsually also his comedy stylings. Apart from the excellent live skills of his band he also drank red wine which he deemed 7-Up, and whiskey which he deemed apple juice, he introduced his keyboard player as Simon the paedophile and when someone shouted Sarkozy from the crowd he self flaggellated himself with a sweat soaked towel, he insulted his mother but telling us how short and fat she was, and also informed us as to how when naked he was a beautiful person. If all this was not enough to make this an unforgettable night, we were treated to his own version of what was a fusion of jazz ballett and modern dance in slow motion and topped off by kissing and licking his microphone and the hand of Simon. We left with smiled on our faces searching for superlatives to describe the night - however the sentence we settled upon was "that was really enjoyable".

The Amazingly True Coincidence of Chris Isaak (or Blue Hotel)

On a recent sojourn to the wonderful and limitless city of London to see our heroes of North London, my good friend Ovak and I were taking in some of the sights and sounds of St James' Park behind 10 Downing St. Among such topics that were discussed was the blatent sharing of yellow or pink womens undergarments. (I was proved wrong on the return to the park entrance - they turned out to indeed be yellow) and of course modes of transport that would allow us not to expend any more energy that was needed in the growing heat.

So we lay on the grass recharging our bodies and sipping bottles of water. Eventually we decided to move on and see where our ramblings would take us, before we left Ovak went into the nearby cafe to replenish our water supplies, I waited outside and observed the local people coming and going in the sunshine. As I leaned against the wall I saw a gentleman who bore a striking resemblance to the popular music provider - Chris Isaak. It was obvious to me that it was not the afore mentioned Isaak but a man who shared a few of his facial characteristics.

So our journey took us further through London (passed the yellow undergarments) as we laughed and joked about accosting Isaak and through verbal wordplay tricking him into revealing his identity.

Ovak : "hello Chris"
Chris Isaak : "I am not Chris Isaak"
Ovak : "ahhhha, we never said anything about Isaak - so we must now assume that you are said Isaak"

These humourous imaginary exchanges went on for a while until we shifted gear into reflexive racism or the "here's your mate" line which is used for all quasi non normal approaching individuals.

Our day in London came to a close and we headed for Healthrow Airport with sadness at departing a great city that had provided us with a great weekend. The flight was uneventful and we disembarked and fumbled in our pockets for our documents as we approached passport control. As I managed to locate my passport I slowed almost to a standstill to re-zip my bag and throw it back on my back, I looked ahead and chuckled to myself as another Chris Issak lookalike sat on a bench to my left. Then the staggering realisation of what was happening became apparent. This was not a Chris Isaak lookalike, this was indeed the real Isaak, I caught his gaze and cracked a small smile, he half nodded in acknowledgement, I tapped Ovak on the shoulder and pointed, his face dropped with a look of utter suprise and disbelief. We scuttled forward towards passport checkpoint looking over our shoulders with complete disbelief, here was the very man we had joked about less than 3 hours previously.

To quote a great thinker of our time and to try and somehow explain this inexplicable event I shall finish with this : A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

As we strolled down Camden St with one thing on our minds........................Burgers! We passed the d.j. from the evenings earlier almost religious experience ,all we had was a casual but still thrilled "hey man great gig".We turned again and before there was a moment to start contemplating toppings on beef patties there he was,turning the corner meandering towards us with a bottle of champagne in hand,THE REVEREND BIG DADDY KANE !!!!!
Fuck ME

The Wonder of it all

I was blind but now I can see.