Aces High
- 31 Oct 07, 10:48 AM
I¡¯ve got a song in my head about a guy trapped in a collapsed cave in Albuquerque. His name is Leo Minosa, and he¡¯d been searching for loot in an Indian burial site, deep in the hills. His rescue operation has become a rolling news story, lashed on by an immoral journalist, and the area has been turned into a carnival site, complete with a cheap song that promises deliverance.
This is the gist of a magnificent 1951 film called . It¡¯s been in my imagination for a quarter of a century, and I¡¯ve recalled snatches of the song since then. Finally, it¡¯s been released on a double DVD set, smartly restored by Criterion. Kirk Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, the pitiless hack who stokes up the drama in the cave to enhance his own profile. His muscles are flexing, the eyes are pinballing and that Douglas jaw line is clenched with heroic regularity.
Billy Wilder is the director, and he gets deep into the moral disease. Like proper film noir, there¡¯s a double-timing wife (Jan Sterling) who also wants to escape this hick life. The final scene in the newspaper office is awesomely over-cooked, and we would have been disappointed with less. It¡¯s amazing how many of the scenes have stayed intact in my head since the first and only time I viewed this, in the days of black and white.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight
Harry in Paris
- 31 Oct 07, 08:08 AM
Its a beautiful day here in Paris, the sun is shining, the Seine is sparkling and my beloved and I are heading back into smoother waters. I'd like to say it'll all be plain sailing from here but let's face it men will always be from Mars, women will always be from Venus and sometimes I'm surprised the planets of the sexes are even as close as that.
Having just finished a delicious, if highly calorific, breakfast of strong black coffee and fresh, hot croissants from the boulangerie on the corner, I could not wait to tell you about last night - and don't worrry, it's nothing x rated.
No, last night we went to see Harry Connick Jr at Le Grand Rex, which was bulit in the early 1930's and as well as having a stunning art deco interior has the most comfortable seats of any venue I've ever been in. They are so squishy it would be very easy to nod off - but not when Harry's on stage.
This was his New Orleans tour, and joined by a 10 piece band of incredible musicians he played a mix of old 'N'Awlans' jazz standards and new songs he'd written himself, including one very powerful and moving post-Katrina ballad. He danced, he played, he sang and it was a true homage to the home town he loves so well.
His skill as a pianist and all round performer is breathtaking, but oh that voice....it could melt your soul, especially on the slow numbers when he really does sound exactly like Frank Sinatra - the phrasing, the timbre, the same languid, elegant, effortless style. For an encore he came out on stage with just the double bass player and sax and sang one of my all time favourite songs, Gershwn's 'Embracable You' ....it was so incredible I almost stopped breathing.
That was the first of several encores because if you think a Belfast audience is enthusiastic, Paris is all that plus a scary degree of persistance. They just would not let him go home. Three encores later, house lights on, 10 minutes of clapping and chanting "Arry, Arry, Arry..." and he actually came back on stage, changed into jeans and a casual shrt, having clearly thought he was on his way home. But no, this is Paris - they loved him, he loved them and finally he gave them what they wanted when he sat down at the piano and played "It Had to Be You".
It was a stunning night, and If you already have tickets to see him at the Waterfront Hall in a couple of weeks time you are very lucky indeed, and of you don't ....beg, steal, borrow, do whatever you have to, but do not miss that gig!!!
Festival Blog On the Run
- 30 Oct 07, 02:17 PM
I promise you that in the last two weeks I have not had one single moment to write this blog. I've hardly had a chance to sleep (bad for the nerves) or eat (good for the hips), let alone put finger to keyboard. It's just because of the time of year really, with the Autumn comes openings, exhibitions, book launches and, of course, the Belfast Festival at Queens which, for my money, has been fantastic this year. Mind you, as a presenter on Artsextra this is technically work for me, which is why I am doubly fortunate. Indeed, I often waken up in a cold sweat, in the middle of the night, worrying about what would happen if I ever had to get a real job!
One of the things I love most about Festival is the familiarity and the continuity. The highlights, the best shows, they stay with you forever. I can look back now to shows I went to as a student 25 years ago, from Michael Palin to the RSC, and the memory is as clear as ever.
No doubt the events from this year that I'll be remembering a few decades hence include the unhinged but extremely amusing musical trio from Australia, the Kransky Sisters, the chance to see a production of Macbeth in the eerily atmospheric surroundings of Crumlin Road Gaol (and I'm delighted they saw fit to let me back out again), the weird and wonderful film director David Lynch on a double bill with, of all people, sixties singer songwriter and dippy hippy Donovan, and best of all, the stuning German cabaret singer Ute Lemper in the Grand opera House - that really was a world class performance, not to mention a couple of gorgeous gowns. This kind of interesting, unusual, eclectic mix is what a festival is all about.
Then there's the university itself, my old alma mater Queens. The Lanyon building always looks at its best when it's illuminated inside and out, and I can finally go into the Elmwood Hall without having horrific flashbacks to my finals. Oh, how many times have I stared at the elaborate plasterwork on that ceiling and wished I'd spent less time partying and more time studying.
The Belfast Festival has had huge problem over funding in the last year, but whatever it takes to keep it going, I really do believe that the city would be infinitely the poorer without it.
Now, I said this was a blog on the run, and I am literally about to run out the door and catch a plane to Paris for the Halloween break - not too shabby I know, but I will be sad to miss the last few days of festival and in particular the incompararble Blind Boys of Alabama, who are on tonight. Also, let me just share with you the fact that me and my beloved are going through a slight bumpy patch that needs some sorting out. Thank goodness my favourite film has always been Casablanca. If the worst comes to the worst I can always utter the immortal line "we'll always have Paris." Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted with despatches from the front!
Funky, Chilled Medina
- 29 Oct 07, 09:49 AM
My Monday morning anxieties have been eased by a fine album called ¡®Medina¡¯. The author is , a guitarist from east Belfast who specialises in acoustic jazz with audacious spaces, beautiful meditations and Arabic tones. This is his third album that I know of, and I can happily vouch for the salve of ¡®Uncharted Territories¡¯ and ¡®A Season Of Rainbows¡¯.
In the real world, I might be concerned about the tax returns, the politics of a family Xmas or the mind-bending complications of working from three different office spaces each day. But for now, McMordie is stretching time, never sweating the petty stuff and searching for the sublime. For someone who knows little about jazz, his record sounds like a North African ¡®Sketches Of Spain¡¯. He¡¯s looking for a tone, a motif and a connection. The legendary Davey Graham was one of the first to explore the potential between Arabic scales and acoustic guitar, and Paul seems keen to further the story.
Accompanied by Alan Niblock on double bass, Paul recorded the ¡®Medina¡¯ project at Rainbow Studio is Oslo. In this spacey environment, the pair are riffing and conversing, setting their creative compass for the road to Marrakech.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight
Kind Of Blue
- 26 Oct 07, 05:39 PM
On the show tonight: Paul Buchanan from the Blue Nile. Talking about the band¡¯s small but beautiful legacy - four albums in a quarter of a century, and modestly noting the way that his art has gotten into the fabric of people¡¯s lives.
He¡¯ll never win any awards at assertiveness training conferences, but Paul has kept his individual style intact for a long time, while others have buckled and co-opted. He¡¯s also big into his Walt Whitman and his Mahler and other such references that have given the Blue Nile a singular note.
I¡¯m also gonna be delving in the new Neil Young album, playing local music from Cara Robinson and getting intoxicated with the latest Gallon Drunk.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight
Uke Special
- 25 Oct 07, 10:37 AM
So I finally bought myself a ukulele. I¡¯ve been harbouring desires for a few months now, and finally I just walked in and bought an economy model with a hard case and an autographed postcard from Malika Dudley, Miss Hawaii 2006. I¡¯m looking at the gal¡¯s fingernails and they seem impossibly long to play chords on that miniature fretboard, but hey, my Mahalo model was actually made in China, so let's not be too picky.
Anyway, I¡¯m glad I don¡¯t have to skulk around music shops any longer. The real musos are always in there, holding massive guitars and playing augmented minor chords that require six fingers. When I asked to see their ukuleles, they would often snort dismissively. One shop kept talking about a mythical shipment that was coming in from Honolulu, but after several months, I suspected he was having a joke at my expense. Yet I kept my cool, and now I¡¯m part of that amusing club.
It¡¯s hard to take life seriously when you¡¯ve got a little uke in your hand. The great stresses are diminished and the hilarity that comes with mastering another chord is hard to equal. My ultimate ambition is to play ¡®Frankly Mr Shankley¡¯ and perhaps ¡®Honolulu Baby¡¯, but for now I¡¯m leafing through a standard song book, checking out ¡®Careless Love¡¯, ¡®Â鶹ԼÅÄ On The Range¡¯ and ¡®Dixie¡¯.
The internet is a trove, and when I dug out the chords to ¡®Fisherman¡¯s Blues¡¯ my wife was astonished to recognise an actual tune. And of course the auction sites are full of rare instruments, some of them beautifully inlaid and accessorised. I¡¯m getting especially excited about the models made of genuine Hawaiian koa wood. Am I losing perspective already? I¡¯m only just started on the YouTube archive, but that¡¯s a life¡¯s work in itself.
There will be a ukulele special on my radio show rather soon. Stay tuned for further details.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight
Facebook Works For Me
- 23 Oct 07, 09:38 AM
My first commission is on the newsstands this week. A guy called Andrew from magazine tracked me down through that famous social networking site and used their webmail facility to ask me would I like to write something for the magazine. I used the same channel to tell him yes, I¡¯d be happy to and then he delivered the editorial brief down the lines. So now you can read the results in their issue with the Springsteen cover.
My piece sits in a section called ¡®My Record Company Hell¡¯. You see, I was once a press officer for Warner Records in London and had the misfortune to work for the likes of Motley Crue, Robert Plant and Brigitte Nielsen. So I dredged up all of the unhappy memories and hurled them at the Word team. Perhaps wisely, they took out a few of the names and the dodgy storylines, but I think it¡¯s still an interesting read. On some other occasion, I promise I¡¯ll write about the SS uniforms, the appalling farewell message and the day that Madonna¡¯s sister took me to lunch.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight
A Legend Awaits
- 22 Oct 07, 12:50 PM
Tonight I¡¯ll be at the Rotterdam Bar in Belfast, in conversation with . The idea is that we shoot the breeze for an hour, covering Henry¡¯s amazing career, including his stints with Paul McCartney and Joe Cocker, his appearance at Woodstock, his time with Hendrix, Marianne Faithfull and Janis Joplin.
We may not dwell on the heavy moments, the lifestyle and the career dips, but we¡¯ll surely cover his resurrection as an elemental Guitar Man, wreathed in knowledge, danger and on nodding terms with mortality. After this introduction, Henry will play a gig. Judging by his performance at Glasgowbury this Summer, it will be a deadly affair.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight
Them 'Tones, Them 'Tones...
- 21 Oct 07, 10:41 PM
Well, I never did present the Friday radio show standing up. My Â鶹ԼÅÄ consultant had proposed the deal but I was fatigued, it didn¡¯t feel right and hey, it was close to midnight. But I did try to get the links a bit more tidy, and I enthused more precisely, instead of wittering without an actual point. That¡¯s the best we can hope for just now.
Anyway, the playlist made me happy, and it was only fair to plug the new Undertones album, a couple of weeks in a row. Most of the songs are less than two minutes long, the O¡¯ Neill brothers play like circus knife-throwers and a song called ¡®Fight My Corner¡¯ is possibly the best thing I¡¯ve heard this year. I¡¯ve written a review for the Across The Line website. You can read it here.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Don't Touch That Dial!
- 19 Oct 07, 10:00 AM
On tonight¡¯s broadcast I will mostly be presenting on my feet. That¡¯s the advice given to me by a Â鶹ԼÅÄ radio consultant. He feels it may liven up my style, and he may be right. It works for Chris Moyles and I have memories of Hugo Duncan, bolt upright in Studio 8 Belfast, rocking his compact frame to ¡®Horse It Into Ya, Cynthia¡¯.
I¡¯ve never had a face-to-face critique of my radio programme before, so it was a very interesting moment. A charming fella from London called Matt had flown over to meet with myself, Rigsy and some of the Radio Ulster crew. I guess the understanding was that we could all improve our game, and I was certainly under no illusions about my style.
I think there are two kinds of radio presenters ¨C the personalities and the music fans. I would fit into the latter category. I just like to play the best tunes, and to impart some information between plays. I wouldn¡¯t consciously try to be John Peel, but he¡¯s certainly an influential model. The danger, Matt pointed out, is that you merely copy the legend, and sound like a bad tribute act.
We listened back to a couple of my shows. Without the music to support them, the links sounded terribly vulnerable. Like most presenters, I have some stock phrases that I use when I need a few seconds to think. These became glaring obvious when examined in this way. There¡¯s also a deadpan tone that creeps in. It¡¯s pure Peel, and again I blush when I hear it.
On the plus side, there are moments of genuine rapture when I¡¯m loving a song and explaining this feeling to my listeners. This is what people tend to pick up on my show. They hear something and then they buy it, and mostly they¡¯re grateful for the service.
Matt wanted to know about my audience. I said that they¡¯re essentially chilling out after a long week. Maybe they¡¯re doing the dishes or they¡¯ve just put the kids to bed. People I meet say that while Stu is playing the tunes, they might uncork a bottle of wine, take a bath or roll an aromatic cigarette. I told my coach that I had a composite picture in my head of all those things. But Matt said that I should keep the image of one person in my mind as I spoke.
So that¡¯s it sorted then. Tonight, I¡¯ll be thinking especially of you.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Gotta Hear This #3
- 18 Oct 07, 12:17 AM
When I hear this song, I¡¯m suddenly back at the Town & Country Club, Kentish Town in 1985. I¡¯m not long in London and there¡¯s a new club opened, called after a Little Eva song, The Locomotion. In those pre-Kylie days, it¡¯s a sign that proper soul music being served. The DJ is Wendy May Billingsley, and she¡¯s playing some tremendous tunes from the Stax and Motown labels.
In this fine old ballroom with a sprung wooden floor, I suddenly understand the value of soul. It¡¯s not simply something that cheesey old radio jocks play. No, the method is to get you dancing, and it keeps you up there, so long as Steve Cropper is on the guitar, while Booker T is on the keys and especially if bassist James Jamerson and drummer Benny Benjamin are doing the business.
One of my personal anthems from that club is ¡®Stoned Love¡¯ by The Supremes. I¡¯ll tell you the intense story about that some other time. The other tune that nails it is ¡®Walking Up A One Way Street¡¯ by Willie Tee.
Willie was a New Orleans guy, barely into his 20s, when he originally recorded the song as a B side for the Nola label. His background was in jazz, but he knew the money was in rhythm and blues. He had that Crescent City style about his, able to take great liberties with the pace and the melody.
¡®Walkin...¡¯ is about losing the girl and feeling bad. He¡¯s pleading with her to requite some of that passion, but it¡¯s a unilateral affair. He should be breaking our hearts, but somehow the record lifts you and the horn section carries the day. Recorded in 1965, the song isn¡¯t as sweet as Motown or as flinty as Stax. But it sure is memorable.
I come back to Willie Tee every so often, and I¡¯ve got a neat compilation, ¡®¡¯Teasin¡¯ you¡¯ that summarises his early days. It's nearly all good. A decade later and he would celebrate his home town by raising the profile of the Wild Magnolias and the Mardi Gras myth. He was lashed by Hurricane Katrina and just a month ago he succumbed to cancer. He didn¡¯t live an especially long or famous life, but he impacted on my heart, big style.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Pistols Half Cocked
- 14 Oct 07, 11:31 PM
For the best part of a week, those bold boys at the NME have been urging us to download a copy of the Sex Pistols tune, ¡®God Save The Queen¡¯. Their mission has been to give the old punk combo a number one record, something that was cruelly taken from them back in 1977 when Rod Stewart sat astride the charts like a satin-trousered titan. Many of us believed that The Establishment had fixed it in the year of Ma'm¡¯s Jubilee, but do we care enough to rectify things after 30 years?
Maybe not. While NME rounded up The Beastie Boys, The Kooks and Kate Nash into their rolling campaign, the record made a rather undignified arrival at number 42. Could it be that we all own the tune anyway, or simply that we don¡¯t care enough for a self-regarding media story?
Mind you, I did enjoy the experience of Vivienne Westwood on The Sunday Edition this morning, regally ginger and spouting declarations about free speech, despotic regulations and the nation¡¯s decline. Dame Viv roared about our bad reading habits and I half expected her to produce a wooden spoon, the better to beat some discipline into the fellow panellists. Tony Benn looked rather intimidated. Which was probably the point.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Boys to Men
- 12 Oct 07, 01:44 PM
As Take That take to the stage of the Odyssey Arena it¡¯s great to know that not only have they re-lit the fire under their own careers but rekindled the girlhood memories of thirty something (and older!) women everywhere.
I won¡¯t get a chance to see them this time round, but I did go to the gig they played in Belfast last year and they were fantastic¡.and that was in the early days of their comeback. I have some friends who were at last night¡¯s concert and today, despite being hoarse and hungover, they were like trilling teenagers, hormones racing ¨C either that or they were having hot flushes, at our age it¡¯s hard to tell the difference.
As for the lads themselves, they may be more of a middle aged man band than a boy band these days but, by all accounts, they still have all the moves. Indeed someone I know very well, whose anonymity I am going to preserve here for the sake of her professional reputation and describe her simply as ¡°sources close to Take That¡± was very ¡°phwoarrrrrr!¡± about how they were looking backstage, particularly Gary Barlow. To quote my source ¡°Small, but perfectly formed and very well toned!¡±
And better yet, no longer is this just any old former boy band ¨C it¡¯s an M&S former boy band. Yes, Take That are the male equivalent of Twiggy, Erin O¡¯Connor and co, modelling this season¡¯s new look. Now, I can see why Marks & Spencer would want them and why they would want to do it, but I¡¯m still not entirely convinced that it isn¡¯t rather ¡®uncool¡¯. Let¡¯s be honest, love him or hate him, you can¡¯t ever imagine Robbie modelling a ¡®Marksy¡¯s¡¯ cardie.
They do look very mean, moody, sexy and unshaven in the big in-store displays though, and the reality of whether they¡¯re still cool and desirable or not will be if those posters start to go missing. I can see it all now¡. dozens of women of ¡®a certain age¡¯ wandering out into Donegall Place with strange, rectangularly shaped hips because they have Take That posters shoved down their knickers. God help the store detectives.
PS: Would somebody please nick me a Howard!
The Light Brigade
- 12 Oct 07, 01:11 PM
The new exhibition is all about illumination. Unveiled at the in Lisburn on Wednesday night, ¡®An Interruption In The Way Of Things¡¯ is a challenge to look again at the interplay between light, water, glass, earth and air.
We see lenses and spheres, vapour trails and refractions. Her work is mounted on thick Perspex and projected on curved surfaces. Children are wondering around the gallery space, their minds quietly blown. More discriminating art heads are nodding sagely, while family members are royally chuffed.
Beyond the science and the attractive patterns, Heather is aiming for a wider realisation ¨C to see the little epiphanies, half hidden in the humdrum places. It this respect, she¡¯s hurling us zen parables, looking for a satori to shine from the commonplace.
Her husband, Peter is happily present. We normally see him on stage in his Duke Special role, where he too likes to advocate plenty of watchfulness and intensity. In this respect, his song ¡®This Could Be My Last Day¡¯ is almost a companion piece to Heather¡¯s work. Another good result for Team Wilson.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Rainbow Worriers
- 10 Oct 07, 10:06 AM
Normally I don¡¯t get too excited about musical downloads, but when the new Radiohead album wibbled down my wires there was a feeling of fun and conspiracy. Many thousands of other people were doing the very same thing. There was no record label or a middleman to collect a slice of the money. In fact, you could literally dictate your own terms.
I paid a decent amount, considering that these are unsampled goods. But it was nowhere near the fee they¡¯d normally charge you at the online store. The new, exceptionally awful Annie Lennox album costs a tenner to download ¨C more than the physical artefact costs in the supermarket. And they wonder why the industry is banjaxed?
So now I¡¯m the owner of ¡®In Rainbows¡¯. I¡¯ve burnt it onto CD and made a little paper sleeve. And I¡¯m currently listening to the tunes. I¡¯m recalling how we journalists were invited to a preview of ¡®Kid A¡¯ in a converted stable in Camden town, as computerised spotlights strafed the room, mournfully. Why schedule a mere record release when you can provoke an event?
¡®In Rainbows¡¯ isn¡¯t an immediate sack of laughs. Thom has that neurotic halt in his voice as the tunes hurtle upwards and your ribcage stiffens. There are jazz excursions and moderne drum sequences. There¡¯s a wash of dread over the proceedings that sends you back to ¡®Amnesiac¡¯ and ¡®Kid A¡¯, which I personally wasn¡¯t hoping to hear.
On tracks like ¡®House Of Cards¡¯ you suspect that there¡¯s a critique of the age in the surprisingly balmy grooves. It¡¯s only fair. The tune is actually reminiscent of ¡®Going Back¡¯ by The Byrds, and Yorke lilts the phrase ¡°infrastructure will collapse¡± like a despairing Jeremiah.
¡®All I Need¡¯ is a love song with a tragic warp. The author says he feels like an insect and you¡¯re immediately thinking about Kafka. And so we crawl off to the record¡¯s closing statement, a meditation on death, the afterlife and analogue recording platforms. Let¡¯s hear it for ¡®Videotape¡¯. It¡¯s most definitely art and the band play to the extremes of their ability. But does it actually mean something to me? Not yet, it doesn¡¯t.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Man The Lifeboat
- 8 Oct 07, 01:48 PM
Another top event at The Lifeboat in Belfast last Saturday. It¡¯s not exactly a club but a great deal more than a bar with excellent tunes. Do they have a word for something like this? Whatever, we had much fun and the unseasonably fine weather meant that everyone stood outside and socialised with gusto.
As ever, the music was delivered with care from David Holmes and Stuart Watson. I especially loved ¡®Cheree¡¯ by Suicide, plus Bowie¡¯s wondrous ¡®A New Career, A New Town¡¯. And there was a special poignancy to hear ¡®Decades¡¯ from Joy Division, a lament for the young men and their weighty lives. Many of the people at this session have outlived the intensity of youth, but that doesn¡¯t mean the music fails to touch them. Oh and that new Panda Bear album is awesome.
Terri Hooley was there, bear-hugging and sentimental with the brandy. Gary Lightbody was enthusing about the Burning Codes performance earlier in the night, one of the many Oxjam gigs in town. David Holmes and a core of Sugar Sweet veterans were keeping the faith while Ciaran McMenamin and Ciaran Gribben were making new pals.
Inside, the big screen was showing the 1959 movie from John Cassavetes, Shadows. Without the dialogue, the improvisations were even stranger. By the end of the night, Performance was spinning its garbled route and Belfast¡¯s more discerning barflies were grinning relentlessly.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Marshall Law
- 6 Oct 07, 12:37 PM
These days, you can get a mid-range digital camera that packs more technology than the original Apollo moon landing. The megapixels are immense, the automation is total and it¡¯s only a matter of time before one of these creations can order you a pizza with a side order of garlic bread.
Some of these features may be useful if you¡¯re a news photographer, wanting to fire of a 50 frame burst of a celebrity leaving the wrong house at an inopportune time. But for most of us, the gizmos are bewildering, and the process leaves you feeling distant. That¡¯s one of the reasons why I keep looking at this image of camera.
As far as I know, it¡¯s a Leica M4, all battered and brassed. In its day, it was probably quite expensive, and yet it has none of the fancy stuff like autofocus, metering or even automatic winding. But it does offer a near-silent shutter, an all-seeing viewfinder and impeccable quality lenses. Leica obsessives can bore endlessly about old-school German engineering. Annoyingly, they are often correct, as some of the greatest images of the last century were taken with this kit.
Anyway, Jim Marshall took some amazing photos of jazz musicians before falling in with the west coast rock and roll set. He pictured Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. He gave is the unforgettable image of Johnny Cash with his finger raised. He shot Jimi Hendrix at rehearsals for the Monterey Festival in 1967 and Jimi was tickled because his middle name was Marshall, and this was also the name of his amplifiers, man.
I¡¯ve just picked up a second hand copy of Jim Marshall¡¯s ¡®Proof¡¯ and it¡¯s a wonderful book. To the left of each image there¡¯s a contact sheet, showing 36 shots from the roll of film that delivered the classic frame. Almost every picture on the roll is a keeper. While today¡¯s snappers will fill their memory cards with mediocre pixels, Jim had the eye, the rhythm and was purely decisive.
Anyone got a Leica, going cheap?
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
Poetry for life
- 4 Oct 07, 12:13 PM
Poetry is for life, not just National Poetry Day. Look, don¡¯t try to hide it, I can hear you yawning from here. And no wonder. How many of us associate poetry with long afternoons in school when you thought you were literally going to die of boredom. Talk about being scarred for life! Of course a big part of the problem is total lack of relevance. What 14 year old really cares about daffodils ¡®flutttering and dancing in the breeze¡±, and how many of you had to learn that poem by Byron, The Destruction of Sennacherib. ¡°The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold.¡± What¡¯s all that about and why would you care?
The good news for me is that eventually I did learn to love poetry - Robert Frost, Seamus Heaney, Shakespeare¡¯s sonnets and Pablo Neruda. Poetry is one of those things you grow into. It¡¯s all about emotion and experience and how we look at the world around us. Because of that can I urge you today, National Poetry Day, to pick up one of those poetry anthologies you see in bookshops, you know, kind of a poetry¡¯s greatest hits, and you¡¯re bound to find something in it that you can completely relate to. Just look at this poem by Jenny Joseph. How many of us ladies don¡¯t want to grow old disgracefully? I certainly do. So be warned, this is what you can expect!
When I am an old woman,
I shall wear purple - -
With a red hat which doesn't go,
and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension
on brandy and summer gloves and satin sandals,
And say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
and gobble up samples in shops
and press alarm bells
and run with my stick along public railings,
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit!
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go,
or only bread and pickles for a week,
and hoard pens and pencils
and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
and pay our rent
and not swear in the street,
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner
and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me
are not too shocked and surprised
when suddenly I am old,
And start to wear purple!
Beirut, Babyshambles, Balderdash
- 3 Oct 07, 08:17 PM
If the new album was a piece of household furniture, it would be an ashtray. Piled high with butts and party detritus, barely functional, unclean and sorry. Of course, Pete Doherty still wants us to believe that there¡¯s a kind of beauty in this disorder, that he¡¯s Baudelaire in Ben Sherman.
His new record really is irksome. I¡¯m tired of the junky vernacular, the lack of consonants and the shrugging distain. Significantly, he¡¯s got a picture of Chatterton on the cover, another lousy poet who copped a bit of fame after dying young and troubled. Unfortunately, Docherty is leaving behind a trail of increasingly drab records. His legacy can no longer be a couple of fascinating excursions with the Libertines.
On the contrary, I¡¯m getting a real bang out of the latest album, ¡®The Flying Club Cup¡¯. Like its predecessor, Gulag Orkestar¡¯, it¡¯s a soundtrack to an imaginary film, with Zach Condon cranking up the strings, the accordions, horns and the obligatory ukulele. He¡¯s sings about impossible love, powerful liasions and glowering vistas.
So to return to the original metaphor, what kind of furniture would this record be? Oh, a malacca rocking chair, elegantly frayed. With a hint of frankincense and draped with a brocade antimacassar. Or something. You gotta have it.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
At Â鶹ԼÅÄ With The Broken Social Scene
- 1 Oct 07, 05:34 AM
Back from Toronto, fuzzy-headed but inspired. On the last night, I saw Broken Social Scene play two shows at Lee¡¯s Palace. Ordinarily, a single gig would have sufficed, but this is the most important act in town and there¡¯s no point passing on that extra chance. In rock and roll terms, it¡¯s like seeing the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore, or Happy Mondays at The Hacienda. It¡¯s a band completely of its time, in its natural habitat.
I sent back a review for the ATL website, which conveys some of the excitement of the night. Kevin Drew has masses of charisma, and he managed to keep the old scenesters happy without turning it into a self-serving clique. This is important because the BSS¡¯s extended family is currently invigorating the mainstream. Kevin¡¯s girlfriend is , high in the UK and American charts with ¡®1234¡¯ and a feature of the new iPod commercial. The song¡¯s co-author is Sally Seltmann, aka, , another signing to the mighty label, and her new album is also class. Other ongoing A&C acts include from Montreal and from Wilton, Ontario.
My last day in town was bookended by a trip to the Little Italy district to meet followed by a tour of the a music academy that has schooled Kevin Drew and some of the other BSS crew. The project is 18 years old and the boss, John Harris is a charming and passionate figure, another factor in the city¡¯s good musical health.
I'm planning a Toronto special on my radio show, this Friday, October 5. I think it's gonna be a memorable one.
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
The Â鶹ԼÅÄ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
