A Donkey on the Edge

Have started using the old ipod again (8gig just doesn't do it) and bumped into this:

Architects may come and
Architects may go and ...
... When I run dry
I stop a while and think of you

Simon & Garfunkel signing about Frank Lloyd Wright. Wonderful:-)

Good to see Serge the Concierge doing his bit to promote the Alex James talk on Thursday.

Remember, get those cheese names to Billy before midnight tomorrow to grab your tickets:-)

You know, Billy and I have been really struggling to keep The Lecture List afloat for some time now, and we're doing it because we believe in it (the problem of course is it's impossible to get funding for a thing with no revenue stream...)

Anyway, people keep signing up and we know a bunch of people use it which is of course great. I mention this because every now and then (like when Billy got very drunk and bought Madona's tights) something fun happens that gives us a wee boost.

One such boost came our way just now when we were shopping for stuff for Clementine's birthday treasure hunt in Ceret and Billy checked his mail in the local internet café. To cut a long ramble short, Alex James told Ohna, Billy's wife that we could have some tickets to a thing he's doing next week and we just got confirmation from the publisher that it was OK to offer the tickets as a competition on the Lecture List.

So there you go, if you want some tickets, get yourself over to the Lecture List and answer the question:-)

Alex James | a bit of a blur is at Blackwells next week. The competition for free tickets is on the home page

OK, so could someone be real nice and do some explaining re the translation of Je t'aime, moi non plus in the Karen Elson/Cat Power version on Mr. Gainsbourg revisited

Specifically, I need an assessment of the slider position between irony and sloppy. Or, in other words, is the translation brilliant as it literally (almost) follows the original text which introduces both quirkiness and humor (and has the phrasing benefit of of having Elson pause on "come")?

Is "I retain myself" from both Power and Elson's mouth sort of extremely kinky which is of course in keeping with the original...

...or is it crap?

I'm sending myself back to irony school because I love the track and love the crappy translation, but as I'm always the last one to get the joke around here i thought I'd better check;-)

Tucking into the mega opus "Mood Aberdeen" created by Sean Wilke for Nick's 40th birthday.

It's a huge thing, more than fifteen hours of solid jazz, expertly intertwining the classics with the obscure. Am currently in "Fitdee". Thanks again Sean:-)

ed: the following added 16/7/2007

There's a man out there who can't listen to jazz anymore... I'm adding the playlist below to cheer him up.

Mood Aberdeen. A moment in Sean and Nicki's life expressed in six movements:-)

I knew nothing of jazz until I met Nicki and she started playing me the tapes Sean and Harry and duncan had lovingly crafted for her. Sean's playlist below sort of captures that moment of wonder for me and I hope it might give a fresh taste to those in need...

Hey, Andy's done another redesign and he's uploaded a song too :-)

Flicking through coverflow this afternoon found a copy of RunDMC's Raising Hell which I thought I had deleted ages ago.

Damn that's a good album (just had "walk this way")

James Governor's MonkChips: You gotta love the French: Killing the DMCA and stamping on roach motels

I love James' writing. He describes the French as equal opportunities troublemakers -- très fin, mon cher;-)

David Byrne Journal: 1.10.06: DRM

CDs from the big five run the risk of damaging your computer, opening you up to security risks, and you can’t rip the music onto your iPod. Stop buying CDs now. At least until they guarantee us that they will never try this shit again.

I gives me a warm glow when heros behave like heros :-)

I can't vouch for her music as I haven't listened to it, but Jade Leary has just released an album over on the LetterXshop which is unusual in that it respects the rights and fair-use needs of its buyers by avoiding any DRM.

The album includes a number of downloadable extras like hi-res album art. I hope Jade does well as she's embracing a new kind of marketplace where vendors listen to "digital-lifestyle" consumers and give them what they want without trying to control or constrain them.

So I participated in a Katrina relief charity initiative a few months ago and had largely forgotten about it when what should pop through the letterbox but an enveloppe from Verve stuffed full of lovely jazz cds.

Am currently listening to new grass a recording made in New York in 1968 and it's mad and insane:-)

Can I just add that I'm not a big playlist composer and tend to enjoy albums as a structured whole. This makes using Coverflow all the more enjoyable. Currently running the technology preview and so far so good.

Sitting here on a Sunday when I should be playing with Nicki and Clemmie trying to wrangle the information architecture of a corporate brand site into some sort of sensible, digestible expression and listening to Belle and Sebastien's If You're Feeling Sinister (label) and had forgotten how incessantly bleak and beautiful it is:-)

A friend of Billy's wanted this word spread:

Dear All

I would be grateful if you would do two things for me to mark one John Peel’s passing:

As in the spirit of the original Festive Fifty, please send me your top three tracks (singles or LP tracks) in order 1 2 3. Please ensure you send both name of track as well as artist/group

Send this email to a bunch of people, asking them to send their top 3 to me at geoff.curran@btinternet.com by midnight 17th December

I will collate the answers and put out a definitive Festive Fifty at www.festivefifty.net on 24th December this year

I know this sounds a little…….but my love of music was fuelled by Peelie and having read the Mick Wall book, it brought it home how much he gave us and I would like to give a little back myself. If you think this is bollocks, then please do not reply but do me a favour, send it on as there are plenty of people who will not feel that way.

Cheers

Geoff

Will have to have a think... The hardest part with these things is remembering an awesome track that wasn't released in December 2004 if you know what I mean.

I've just spent the evening in a dark, smokey room in London packed with sweating, jumping crazy people punching that air in time to "I fought the law".

Marquee club, 23rd May 1977?

Nope, punk-rock karaoke night upstairs at The Garage (whose downstairs bar is apparently worth the visit even without a selection from the Undertones) and I totally recommend it--even those under 40 wil enjoy this:-)

For the record, I made a complete disaster out of Pete Shelley's What do I get? And YES, I'd do it again:-)

Well, until about five minutes ago, I had absolutely no idea that Levon Helm and Robbie Roberston played with Bob Dylan.

Rick Danko, Helm, Robertson and Garth Hudson went on to become The Band

It's funny, I've been tidying up my iTunes library and tracking down some of the more obscure cover art. On a couple of occasions, I've come across reviews of Miss Kittin albums and amusingly, even the more metropolitan reviewers censor the lyrics slightly. Which is kind of daft really, as electroclash lyrics are pretty much verbal genitalia...

Salon writes of the First Album -- link fixed June 2008, MK's not a big web-standards chick;-)

It contained the single "Frank Sinatra," on which Hérve, backed by cheesy 1980s synths, conjured one of the more succinct images of fame and power, deadpanning, "To be famous is so nice, suck my dick, kiss my ass."

It's a crazy song which I love because it reminds me of Paris discos in the late seventies. It'a long time ago and I only remember bits. I have this memory of Pliny's older sister Leslie shooting these monumentally silly films on 16mm with two gorgeous women looking very Nina Haggen-ish. Don't remember where we were, but I remember playing this one very Kittin-ish track over and over while we were shooting... Ohna showed us some 16mmm footage from college the other day--very weird but nice, wonder what Leslie's up to these days...

Anyhoo, here are some more of the lyrics

Mother-fuckers are so nice
Suck my dick, lick my ass
In the mix we have sex, every night with my famous friends

Oh, and on the same note, foolishly bought the new Stephane Pompougnac partial album preview (Costes 8) and it sucks. Must really listen more carefully before clicking the magic iTunes button:-(

Listening to Missy's The Cookbook and damn. I keep rewinding a track called Can't stop

damn...