Seriously! Do these people know nothing about the politics of Afghanistan?

HERE

Jesus H Fugn Christ!
The English never beat them. The Russians didn't and neither will the Yanks!
Yes it has a hell of a lot to do with the terrain but....
I don't even know where to begin to explain.
HOMEWORK FOR TODAY:
Do some research.
The recent (fraudulent) elections have managed to antagonise even some of the most pro-western tribes.
How do you manage to upset THAT many people at once eh?
(...you then also decide you also want to curtail the opium production?)
As was pointed out here, you're spending $30 to every one dollar re: Pakistan, which of course is where most of Al-Queda are.

'The Economist' says:

"In late 2001 there were two powerful forces facing each other in Afghanistan: the mainly Pashtun Taliban, and the mainly Tajik and Uzbek Northern Alliance. But America wanted to unite the country, so, as usual, we went looking for a "third force". Hamid Karzai fit the bill because he was ethnically Pashtun but anti-Taliban (and foreign-educated and urbane). But for the same reasons that he didn't fall into either of the two main camps, Mr Karzai was weak. He wasn't Taliban, but he wasn't really Northern Alliance. He was "untainted" only because he didn't have his own army. And this is always the problem with third forces. If they were strong, they wouldn't be the third force; they'd be one of the first two forces...

It would be entirely possible for America to mount a COIN campaign in support of our favourite Afghan strongman. But in Hamid Karzai, we didn't pick our favourite strongman. We picked our favourite weakman. That's why we're in trouble."

نازنین افشین جم (Heroine)

Nazanin Afshin-Jam

Keyhan (a state run Iranian newspaper and government mouthpiece) has called Nazanin Afshin-Jam a "whore" for her humanitarian and anti child execution activities. It then discusses that the Islamic fascists throw this particular insult at activist women to belittle them because in their sick minds any women who doesn't obey the opposite sex and acts and talks the way she likes is a prostitute!
(Mona's Dream)

Icon

Nick Drake

Hell awaits for illegal file-sharers

In the war against albums being illegally uploaded on to the internet before they are released, David Tibet of the underground band Current 93 may have struck a minor, if resounding, victory. "This is a promotional CD," announces a little girl on the promo copy of Current 93's new album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain. "Anyone illegally selling, copying, uploading or downloading this material is condemned to eternal hellfire. Happy listening, God is love." Then Tibet – a devout Christian with strong views about the impending apocalypse – intones "murder" over a guitar riff heavy enough to terrify Satan. It makes you wonder whether a casual upload is really worth being cast into Hades for.

@'The Guardian'

WTF?

The axolotl is a Mexican neotenic mole salamander. Neotenic means that, as adults, it holds onto traits seen in juveniles.
More weird looking animals
HERE

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/9-weirdest-looking-animal_n_317907.html

RePOST - Happy Birthday Bobby Ace!

Bob Weir is 62 today.

Here is the Grateful Dead acoustic set from the Melkweg in Amsterdam on this day in 1981.

Back in the 80's I worked in the Milky Way bookshop.
Sounds like a really cool job?
From a distance of 25 years, it seemed that the only customers were very stoned hippies wanting copies of the Kabbalah.

Peter Tosh - Legalise It (Live)

Australians use more cannabis than Europeans

It was estimated more than eight per cent of the population used marijuana at least once a year, and this rate was only matched by North America and our trans-Tasman neighbours.

"Australia, New Zealand and North America have traditionally been the countries which have among the highest rates (of cannabis use)," Professor Louisa Degenhardt of the University of NSW said. "That has been something demonstrated repeatedly in surveys of young people and surveys of the general population."

Europe was next in terms of annual usage followed by the Middle East and Asia, while usage rates were rising across Africa but from a low base in some countries.

@'The Australian'

VIDEOGIOCO - Donato Sansone

LCD Soundsystem cover Alan Vega on new single

The new 12” released for Record Store Day will contain a cover of 'Bye Bye Bayou' originally recorded by Suicide singer Alan Vega on his 1980 debut album.
You can listen to it
HERE

A conundrum!

HERE
(Thanx Fifi for pic!)

Israel 'must answer' for Gaza war

UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza

Israel condemns UN Gaza report

Key excerpts: UN Gaza report

The Palestinians have urged the UN to act to punish Israel for its offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter.

The move reverses a Palestinian decision to defer action on a UN report that accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during the conflict.

Israel rejected the report as biased during a UN Security Council debate.

Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged "credible" investigations by Israel and the Palestinians into allegations of war crimes during the conflict.

@'BBC'

The Two/Fifteens - Rockthedub Mix (October 2009)

"The production duo The 2/ Fifteens formerly known as The Amps... (who have had their productions featured on projects like the We Got The Remix edition of Mood Muzik 3, Mick Boogie & Terry Urban's Viva La Hova and other releases) have reemerged with a mix for Rock The Dub prepping for the Spring release of their independent EP Effective When Used..."
Download
HERE

London bus (tells it like it is!)

A great recording of the entire performance of 'Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' from the Royal Festival Hall the other night over at 'Ripped In Glasgow' (mp3). There is a FLAC of the same recording available at 'Dime'. (Thanx Tufty & Moggieboy for that!)
This is a truly superb recording that captures every nuance of the choir, string and brass sections as well as obviously the band themselves...

The Naked Rationer 1941

"Young Dutchman walking down city street, naked save for a fedora and shoes as he dares punishment by the SS while protesting clothes rationing by the occupying Germans."
The epitome of style - a true gentleman wears garters and a fedora whilst fighting the SS!
He's definitely got balls!
Via 'Vintagephoto'

Jesca Hoop

I am pleased to report that i have completed my second record. I should say we really. We , and more specifically defined as, Tony BErg, Shawn Everett, Blake mills, stewart, Nicole eva emery, QUinn, Joe Karnes, Z berg, Patrick Warren and myself finished my record. On the morning after the last tracking session i hopped on a plane to manchester where i have been living now for the past three months. The mixing was done by Shawn everett there in LA. After he was done with a mix or two he would send it to me via usendit and i would take notes afterwhich i would skype him and we would discuss changes that needed being made. This was a great excuse to spend some time via skype with some of my favourite people in the world... Tony Berg and Shawn Everett.
this record will be available this fall
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse ... =498647152

Hunting My Dress

angel mom
whispering light
hunting my dress
tulip
the kingdom
feast of the heart
bed across the sea
four dreams
murder of birds

Snöblind

HERE
Sofia Jannok

Parliamo Glesca? Firm seeks translators

A translation company is looking to recruit Glaswegian interpreters to help business clients who are baffled by the local dialect.

Today Translations placed an advert in The Herald newspaper on Tuesday seeking speakers of "Glaswegian English".

Successful candidates, who could earn up to £140 a day, must understand "vocabulary, accent and nuances".

The firm said, so far, 30 people had applied for the positions - some of them in Glaswegian.

SOME GLASGOW PATTER Baltic (very cold) Boost (head off) Buckie (tonic wine favoured by youngsters) Cludgie (toilet) Eejit (idiot) Hampden roar (score) Hee haw (nothing) Hen (term used to address a woman or girl) Laldy (enthusiastic participation) Maw (mother) Midden (rubbish tip) Pure (very) Moroculous (drunk) Messages (shopping) Scooby (clue, ryhming slang - Scooby Doo) Shoot the craw (leave in a hurry) Stooky (plaster cast) Swatch (look) Toaty (small) Ya dancer (fantastic) Yersel (yourself)

Today Translations spokesman, Mick Thorburn said: "Over the last few months we've had clients asking us for Glaswegian translators.

"After some consideration we've decided this is a service we would like to offer.

"Usually, the role would involve translating documents but in this case its more likely to be assisting foreign visitors to the city whose 'business English' is not good enough to understand the local dialect."

Mr Thorburn said successful candidates may have to sit in on business meetings.

He added: "We're not necessarily looking for people who are particularly skilled in linguistics, just candidates who can help out clients who may struggle with native Glaswegian."

Today Translations said that depending on the volume of applications, it expected to contact the successful clients in the next few weeks.

Earlier this year a bus driver was recognised for teaching his Eastern European colleagues at First Glasgow bus company to understand Glaswegian slang.

James Lillis said: "When new employees come to Scotland and hear the Glasgow accent, it can be a problem. Drivers have to learn to understand what is meant when a customer says, for example, 'Gie us an aw day tae the toon' (Give me an all day ticket to the town)."

@'BBC'

How could I have forgotten?

The milk snatcher's birthday was yesterday!
Don't forget that when she finally dies there will be a BIG party in Trafalgar Square and I shall certainly be having a celebratory drink or two!

How ill is Khamenei?

1. This may be a very interesting few days, it appears Khamenei health in real question. May just be too frail to carry on? #iranelectionabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
2. had false reports Khamenei death before, i'm vry cautious, but my instict - no evidence - is that he is not long 4 ths world #iranelectionabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
3. Source: Qom ldrs prepare 4 fight 2 gain power in wake of Khamenei condition being serious. No way 2 100% confirm reports coma #iranelectionabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
4. Mixed reports Khameni, some sources claim it is very serious, but one caution that he had a minor episode and is recovered #iranelectionabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
5. There may be some truth to reports that Khameni condition not good, but no confirmation of Coma. #iranelection #iranabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
6. Several sources Khameni collapsed yesterday and is in private clinic with son and doctors. No way verify his condition. #iranelectionabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck

The Duke & The King: Union Street (warm-up)

Jason Pierce @ RFH

Photos by Crazybobbles @ Flickr

Spiritualized @ RFH, London

Jason Pierce performing Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Photograph: Jim Dyson/Getty

Released in 1997, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space is the key text in Spiritualized's canon. It was the album that synthesised all of frontman Jason Pierce's influences (from gospel to free jazz) and preoccupations (drugs, religion, the agony of love). Performed in its cacophonous entirety at the Royal Festival Hall, in a suitably extravagant arrangement – aside from Pierce and his six-piece band, there is a mini-orchestra of strings and wind players, plus a 12-person choir – it still dazzles, although at this scale its imperfections also feel exposed.

There is a thinness to Pierce's songwriting: dwelling on his acrimonious split from the band's then keyboardist, Kate Radley, he seeks no complexity in his emotions. The affecting fragility of Broken Heart is undermined by the fact that what Pierce expresses is the lavish melancholy of Hollywood movies. In All of My Thoughts, Pierce luxuriates in his misery. And sometimes, that pleasure in pain becomes sadistic. Electricity is a screech of nerve-shredding noise, while the black screams in the seemingly interminable closer Cop Shoot Cop create the impression that hell has opened up. No wonder Pierce applauds the audience: we're passing an endurance test just by staying in our seats.

But at its best, the show offers a kind of transcendence. With its disjointed rhythm and odd texture, Stay With Me eschews sentimentality yet captures a lifetime of romantic experience. Initially woozy, I Think I'm in Love slowly envelops the audience in a pulsating, repetitive groove. When it ends, you feel exquisitely transported.

@'The Guardian'

1973 Catholic church logo

The 70s were definitely a simpler time, but today this logo for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission looks like an admission of guilt.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/11/the-11-creepiest-unintent_n_316963.html?slidenumber=3#slide_image

George Best by Paul Trevillion

Paul Trevillion
You are the Ref
(This takes me back to the days of 'Shoot' magazine!)

'New' Michael Jackson single a 'mistake'

The looming threat of terror that comes from the far right

@'The Independent'

Dylan's Early Christmas Present

News of Bob Dylan’s album of Christmas songs shocked fans. But his official historian-in-residence, Sean Wilentz, detects not a single ironic or parodic note in Christmas in the Heart—just a sincere homage to American Christmases past.
@'Daily Beast'

From extraction to consumption: Oil, an exhibition by Edward Burtynsky

State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) oilfields, Baku, Azerbaijan, 2006

Highway, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2003
A great photographic essay
@'The Guardian'

Elvis Costello - Veronica

Pretty certain that this was shot in St Kilda by John Hillcoat

and the video for 'I Wanna Be Loved' (which I can't find) has EC in a photo booth which at the end pans out to Flinders Street Station.
There is some trivia for all you Melbourne folk!

Elvis Costello - Accidents Will Happen

The first animated music video by Annabelle Janckel & Rocky Morton who went on to bigger things with Max Headroom.

Elvis Costello - Live at Amoeba! (June 22, 2009)

Going to see Costello tonight!

(Art by TimN)

A surprise!
(Thanx Loki)

Cloud over Moscow

Preview of Tom Wait's new live album

The extraordinary Mister Tom Waits is hereby formally announcing the opening of his first ever official web site as well as the upcoming release of his long rumored much speculated about live album “Glitter and Doom” due out November 24th.
To visit the new site, simply go to: www.tomwaits.com or just click here. Besides a sumptuous assortment of facts, images and sounds relating to the strange and beloved entertainer, you can also preview the first eight songs of “Glitter and Doom” for free!
Glitter and Doom is a two disc collection of tracks from Waits’ recent Glitter and Doom tour of the US and Europe. The first disc recreates an evening’s performance with 17 tracks are selected from 10 cities. The second disc is a bonus compendium called TOM TALES, which features the comic bromides, strange musings, and unusual facts that Tom traditionally shares with his audience during the piano set. The topics range from the ritual of insects to the last dying breath of Henry Ford.
The album features all eras of Waits’ as he shifts from an array of characters: carnival barker, preacher, country singer, soul balladeer; cabaret singer and storyteller. Backed by a versatile band, Waits departs from the songs’ original incarnations. The songs instrumentation and rhythms are rearranged and reimagined. There are swampy tribal rhythms, ominous hymns, gypsy flavored ballads, searing rhythmic r&b, and blues boogies.. As expected, the songs are about hanged men, woebegone sailors, sword swallowers, fugitives, shamans, ghosts, dance instructors and prison guards. Enjoy.

Psychick Warriors ov Gaia - Exit 23 (The Drum Club Remix)

NOOOOOOO!

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, the era defining music will see a new incarnation in the form of a music/theatre production to open in Fall 2010 on Broadway.

The original music will become the backdrop to an immersive story about a mysterious character known only as 'The Spaceman' and is currently being written by Tim Rice and Ben Elton. It will feature two original songs from Elton John.

Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Release Date: November 16

Label: Sony Music


“This album is so precise and everything on it sounds amazing; it's arranged so nicely. Jason Pierce is a genius”
Ben Goldwasser, MGMT

“I had a job cleaning a private golf course from 4am to 6am. My boss was a fucking idiot.
What got me through that job was listening to [Ladies and Gentlemen]”
Guy Garvey, Elbow


Spiritualized will re-issue their classic album ‘Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’ on Monday 16th November on Sony Music.

The album release co-incides with the upcoming live performances of the entire album; part of All Tomorrow’s Parties ‘Don’t Look Back’ series, as previously announced. The band were approached two years ago to perform the album live on its 10th anniversary. It took a while for J.Spaceman to finally agree to the idea. ‘It was a decision made at altitude’ he says referring to being on top of Mt. Buller in Australia at the time. The live performances will see the regular band augmented with strings, brass and choir.

It is now 12 years since ‘Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’ made a profound impact in the summer of 1997, both critically and commercially, with its psychedelic soundscapes and heart-rending lyrics. It has influenced a whole range of musicians ever since. It was NME’s album of the year for 1997 and reached No.4 in the official charts. Originally packaged as a giant pill offering a written prescription, the concept was creatively inspired reflecting the depth of emotion and trauma laid bare on this truly remarkable work.

The album will be released with new artwork on special limited edition formats with bonus content. These bonus tracks were in storage and subsequently forgotten about until Jason Pierce moved house and discovered the ‘lost’ recordings from 12 years ago. The tracks give a valuable insight into the artist’s work-in-progress – demos, instrumental versions, sessions mixes – and highlight an aim for perfection prior to recording the definitive version.

The formats include:

The Collector’s Edition. This will include 12 x 3” Mini CD’s of the complete full album track-by-track, an homage to the original release. This will be accompanied by 2 bonus discs (as per tracklisting below). Only 1,000 of these sets will be made, making these extremely limited.

The Special Edition will include the original album in the legendary and unique pill pack style packaging, alongside the 2 bonus discs. This Special Edition will also will be a limited, one-off release.

The original album with new artwork and a revised version of opening track ‘Ladies & Gentlemen’ (now including “Can’t Help Falling In Love” as originally intended for this album), will also be released as a Standard 1CD Version.

Track Listing is as follows:

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
1. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
2. Come Together
3. I Think I’m in Love
4. All of My Thoughts
5. Stay With Me
6. Electricity
7. Home of the Brave
8. The Individual
9. Broken Heart
10. No God Only Religion
11. Cool Waves
12. Cop Shoot Cop


Bonus CD 1
1. Ladies And Gentlemen (A Cappella)
2. Ladies And Gentlemen (Demo)
3. Ladies And Gentlemen (Strings)
4. Ladies And Gentlemen (Kate Telephone Call)
5. Ladies And Gentlemen (Moles Studio Mix 7)
6. Ladies And Gentlemen (Original Oratone Ideas)
7. Ladies And Gentlemen (A Cappella w/ Lead Vocal)
8. Come Together (Instrumental Demo)
9. Come Together (Demo In Lower Key)
10. I Think I'm In Love (Original Demo Idea)
11. I Think I'm In Love (Demo)
12. I Think I'm In Love (Drums/Wah)
13. I Think I'm In Love (A Cappella)
14. I Think I'm In Love (Vocal Demo Jan 96)
15. I Think I'm In Love (Gospel Choir Session)
16. All Of My Thoughts (Demo)
17. All Of My Thoughts (Strings)
18. Rocket Shaped Song

Bonus CD 2
1. Electricity (Demo)
2. Electricity (January 96)
3. Electricity (June 96)
4. Home Of The Brave (Demo)
5. Home Of The Brave (Panned Vocal)
6. Beautiful Happiness
7. Broken Heart (Demo)
8. Broken Heart (Strings)
9. Broken Heart (Vocal Harmony/Angel Corpus Christi)
10. Broken Heart (Early Vocal)
11. No God Only Religion (Demo)
12. No God Only Religion (Horns)
13. Cool Waves (Demo)
14. Cool Waves (String Session Mix)
15. Cop Shoot Cop (Demo)
16. Cop Shoot Cop (Dr. John 'The National Anthem)
17. Cop Shoot Cop (String Session Mix)

Spiritualized are set to perform the album in its entirety at the following venues:

12 / 13 October
Royal Festival Hall – London
SOLD OUT

14 December
Apollo – Manchester
£25 + booking fee via 0844 4777677 / giggsandtours.com

16 / 17 December
Barbican – London
£32.50 + booking fee via www.barbican.org.uk

19 December
Sage Centre - Gateshead
£32.50 + booking fee via www.tickets.thesagegateshead.org

Icon

Albert Ayler

RIP Brendan Mullen

@'LATimes'