A Happy Christmas To All Readers

OMG, Black Box Recorder have reformed and teamed up with some guy from Art Brut to record a Christmas single called 'Christmas Number One'. This is the best news ever. The song sounds great if you listen to it in fits and starts over a 56K modem.

When Journalists Attack

I went to a talk last night by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. He has broken so many astonishing stories in the course of his career that his fellow journalists look like total slackasses in comparison.

In his talk he said many interesting things that I should maybe talk about in my other blog. He also came across as a rather amiable fellow and nothing like the grumpster he is sometimes reported to be. Or at least he came across as amiable during the talk - when it came to the Question and Answer session another side of Mr Hersh emerged. The scene was set when he interrupted a stream of consciousness ramble by some Socialist Worker guy with a curt "Sorry, do you have a question?", and when the guy came back with something plainly a statement Hersh disdainfully said "Well, I disagree" and took the next question. Seymour Hersh is a hero to us all.

Pride and Integrity. Manly.

President Vladimir Putin is on holidays in Siberia. Joining him are Prince Albert II of Monaco (above, centre) and Sergei Shoigu, Minister for Emergency Situations (above, far right).

Dmitry Astakhov took these pictures. For more of them, see Vladimir Putin Goes Fishing.

Bad Loser

From an ILX thread on New Wave by The Auteurs. Which reminds me, I am meant to be working on a Best of Luke Haines compilation.

The Psychic Princess

Princess Martha Louise of Norway reports that she has psychic powers and an ability to talk with angels. "It was while I was taking care of the horses that I got in contact with the angels," the BBC reports the princess as saying. Her Astarte Education organisation can assist other people's communications with these protecting spirits.

World's greatest ever obituary

"Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies."

It continues.

A friend posted me the link, and she received it from this keen Telegraph reader.

Man, Prince, or GOD?

Nick Squire of the BBC reports from Vanuatu, where some of the locals worship Prince Philip as a God.

"He's a god, not a man," claims Chief Jack, of the village of Yaohnanen.

Could this be why Vanuatu is the happiest country in the world?

"Quit your jibba jabber, Time Fool!"

I am meant to be i) writing a research proposal ii) reading about the goals of different political actors in Morocco iii) writing a zine for Frank's APA (so that you will have intellectually stimulating material to read here in the future iv) attending to many other important tasks. Instead I am reading MR. T vs. THE CYBERMEN. It is the ultimate battle between the Robots of Silver and the Man of Gold.

Concert: Luke Haines (Whelans)

Let me talk about the support act first. They were called Cowboy X, and a worryingly high proportion of the thin audience seemed to be here to see them. They are one of those she-sings, they-play-instruments bands, and on this outing at least they came across as a bit lame. I put this down to weak tunes and a singer who is not actually that brilliant (in contrast to the musicians, who seemed quite good at piling on the music). Still, they did a non-embarrassing cover of P.J. Harvey's 'Dress', probably one of my top ten favourite songs ever; with proper songwriting maybe Cowboy X might amount to something.

Hainser was playing on his own, taking us on a trip through his musical career, playing songs from The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder, and his more recent solo recordings. Now, I had heard previously that Haines was something of a grumpy bollocks, but tonight he came across as a very amiable fellow indeed, cracking wry jokes between the songs and generally giving the impression that he was glad we had come out to see him. Still, when he played, there was an undercurrent of bitter nastiness to what he did. The Black Box Recorder tracks were particularly interesting, as this was my first time hearing him rather than lovely Sarah Nixey singing them. 'England Made Me' suited well the new nasty delivery. Haines also revealed that i) he had not written the talky bits in 'Child Psychology', ii) that he was not really that taken with them, but iii) he had written the "Life is unfair - kill yourself or get over it" chorus, considers it to be his masterpiece, and was somewhat disappointed when the 'Child Psychology' single peaked at #85 in the charts.

The newer tunes impressed me enough to buy his new album, which is called Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop. I like it. There is a song about Gary Glitter on it. Haines was at great pains to point out to us that some of the lyrics were in Glitter's narrative voice and do not represent Haines' own opinions; uncertainty on this point had led to some unpleasantness when he recently played Liverpool.

So yeah, Luke Haines, legendary figure in music, never received the success that was his due despite releasing loads of great records. Maybe I will throw together a compilation of great tunes by him for the education of the masses.

Late breaking news: John Moore, absinthe importer and sometime Luke Haines partner in crime has a blog: John Moore

"what's the problem, man?"

New Yorkers puzzled by strange smell

Competitive Yoga

Apparently there is some talk of making yoga a sport in the next Olympic Games, or so says Kathy Phillips in a grumpy article about the state of yoga today. There is an element of yoga rockism to her scoving at Geri-yoga, but I think she is right to salute real-deal yoga as a path to psychological harmony rather than flat tummies. I also salute her love of yoga classes focussed on inversions rather than endless up-dogs and down-dogs.

Yoga has been on my mind a bit lately, and I have been thinking that it is time I re-embraced the path of bendiness. I have maybe been fortunate in my teachers, in that I do not really recognise the yoga chancers that Phillips goes on about - the classes never seemed like a pile 'em high exercise. So shout outs to Lisa, Greg, and Rani.

Mogadishu

This evening I went to see Luke Haines, formerly of bands including The Auteurs, Baader-Meinhof, and Black Box Recorder. He was very good.

Vicars are funny

Or so claims an article triggered by some shite Rowan Atkinson film.