Levi Stubbs' Tears

Excremental

I've just spent two unhealthy weeks searching for hidden pipework in our garden, the result of a blocked loo, only to find buried beneath the concrete floor of the downstairs lavatory a never previously emptied tank. As we moved here fifteen years ago, and the toilet was probably installed no later than the early eighties, when the house was a bar, I did consider calling in a team of archeologists rather than a bloke to empty it. Certainly Howard Carter had an easier time locating Tutankhamun's tomb than I did working out the logic of this curious approach to sanitary engineering. That's Showbiz.


Top of the Plops.

1. Sh*tstirrer - Peter and the Test Tube Babies
2. Waste Not Want Not - The Pretenders
3. Everytime I Go Around Here - Frank Black
4. Down In The Sewer - The Stranglers
5. She's So Loose - Supergrass
6. Houses in Motion - Talking Heads
7. Oh! Sh*t - Buzzcocks
8. Do It Clean - Echo and the Bunnymen
9. Ramrod- Duane Eddy
10.Paranoid Man In Cheap Sh*t Room - The Fall

Kicker Conspiracy

Not a late period George Best, but an unpublished photo of the boy Peel himself. He's in action during a Radio One versus ? match at Prenton Park, home of Tranmere Rovers, circa 1982.
Other photos from the same event show a nearly full compliment of old school Radio One 'brutes' as John Peel himself styled them- Dave Lee Travis, Mike Read, Jimmy Saville ( in a mercifully non- playing role ) Mike Smith, Paul Burnett...

Wish you were ( still ) here, John. The world is colder and greyer without you. Walk on.

One wonders if any future members of Half Man Half Biscuit, hardcore Tranmere fans , we're present?

The photo appears courtesy of Miles Cork who was there, an avid collector, Liverpool fan, and expert on No1 singles. Copyright.

Stars of track and field you are beautiful people.

Musicians keep cropping up during the current Beijing Olympics.

So far there's been a bronze medal in the swimming for chain smoking 'Different for girls' singer Joe Jackson, and a strong contender in the 100 meters, now apparently residing in Trinidad and Tobago is Richard Thompson, formerly of Fairport Convention.

Has anybody else spotted a Big Bopper in the super heavyweight division at the boxing arena, or perhaps Del Shannon will be a Runaway success in the track and field events. ( Boom, boom )
Del's real name? Charles Weedon Westover-Ross.

Belle and Sebastian - 'Stars of Track and field'

Everybody's Stalkin' *

Howdy Pop Pickers,
sorry to have left such a long silence,( as though anybody actually cares, ) however I've ' been away ' as the euphemism amongst former convicts goes.
The current advertising campaign for the big UK switch over to digital television transmissions features a man and his robot. They're seen out on the road spreading the enlightenment about binary based visual entertainment. That their quest to evangelise the British Iles is set to the Fred Neil song ' Everybody's Talkin' ' set off a few " echoes of my mind."

Fred Neil

The song is famous for its inclusion in the 1969 United Artists' film " Midnight Cowboy" directed by British director John Schlesinger and starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voigt,
- and so far the road movie element of the original has provided the theme for the ad.

Does this mean that one of these chaps has plied his trade as a male prostitute, and that the other will be seen in the final advert of the series , dead , propped against the window of the vehicle wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt ?

A man can have a dream.

There are also a couple of John Lennon connections on the soundtrack- The version of " Everybody's Talkin " is sung by Nilsson.
The Beatles in general had enthused about Harry Nilsson,who also wrote a few hits for the Monkees funnily enough, and Lennon produced the " Pussy Cats " album. He's best known otherwise for his version of the song by the ill fated Badfinger " Without you", a Welsh band signed to... Apple Records. If you want the full story click the link to the Wikipedia entry.
The other connection is with Elephants' Memory, they were a New York band who provided two tracks for the soundtrack and also did their own version of the 'Midnight Cowboy' theme. ( Composed by Yorkshireman John Barry. ) Later they hooked up as Lennon's backing band for the 'Sometime in New York City' album.

As for Fred Neil, he was a folk singer and songwriter who wrote, amongst many others, the song " Dolphins ". At the start of the Seventies he pretty much turned his back on the music world, and went to work with... Dolphins. He died in 2001.

* apologies to Badly Drawn Boy for nicking his title.



Nilsson singing 'Everybody's Talkin' ' in 1969 on Beat Club, West German tv.

indoor fireworks can still burn your fingers...

No money, and a long way from major bus routes?
There is no longer any need for you to miss out on the festival experience. Do as I did during the recent Glastonbury Festival, and follow my step by step guide to festival bliss :

• Pitch a tent in your living room in front of the telly, there are several stages available to view on the BBC if you have a satellite dish and the 'red button ' facility. ( no not the one that unleashes Armageddeon Time.. ) if you feel you're too close to the action, try looking the wrong way through some binoculars.
• To add to the ambience, don't empty your lavatory all day, and when you do- try using a hoover instead of flushing.
• Don't leave the car outside the house, park it several miles away, preferably across some fields.
• Lose your money/insulin/ ventolin inhaler, the panic and oxygen starved highs that can be achieved far out stretch any illegal drug 'trip'.
• The lack of mud indoors can be a drawback, but a few hours heavy gardening between transmissions can soon restore the organic feel to your clothes , hair and general attire.
• Eat badly and drink too much.

By the way I thought Elbow were on top form. Good to see 'friends' of my blog ( ha, ha ) The Ting Tings celebrating their meteoric rise on the John Peel Stage.

Something of the night ...

Robert Mitchum in 'Night of the Hunter'

1. The Night has a Thousand Eyes –Bobby Vee
2. The Night of the Lotus Eaters– Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
3. Bremen Nacht – The Fall
4. Hard Days Night – The Beatles
5. Friday Night, Saturday Morning – the Specials
6. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning – Madness
7. All day and All of the Night – The Kinks
8. The Night that Minnie Timperley Died – Pulp
9. Last Night I Nearly Died ( But I Woke Up Just In Time ) – Duke Special
10. Night Vision – Super Furry Animals

original concept and suggestions by 'Pyrenees' Dave.