Monday, 16 February 2009
The Wanderers by Sean O'Hagen
The first times that I saw U2 was when they were the support act in various small pubs in London 1980. Nothing special I thought. When 'Boy' came out I didn't mind it and even bought it.
Then they started losing me and I had the misfortune to see them headline a festival in Belgium in 85 and it was horrible. Bono in full preacher mode.
However when 'Achtung Baby' came out I really thought that it was an interesting development and tried to persuade a lot of my friends who also didn't like U2 that it was worth listening to.
Over the years since then U2 have lost me again and Bono still irritates me beyond belief.
Reading the article by Paddy Dread* above has at least made me curious as to what the new album sounds like.
*Paddy Dread was the name Sean gave to the cops when we all had our names taken when the police raided a gig by Test Dept that was to have taken place at the 'Titan' railway arch in Waterloo, London in November 1983.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Victorian bushfires update
My fellow blogger Bob from 'That Striped Sunlight Sound' (a wonderful Australian music blog) has posted an update about the bushfires as well as news about the floods that have devasted northern Queensland.There is a bonus to all this in that you can also grab hold of an interview with Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) broadcast on the 'ABC' yesterday where he talks of his experience with natural disasters as well as performing his song 'If It Rains'.
Go here.
NB: On the right sidebar is a Red Cross symbol, that if clicked will take you to the homepage of the 'Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal' (or click here).
Go here.
NB: On the right sidebar is a Red Cross symbol, that if clicked will take you to the homepage of the 'Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal' (or click here).
If you can spare a couple of dollars to donate it is certainly going to a very worthy cause.
نصرت فتح على خاں
“To be a qawwal is more than being a performer, more than being an artist,” he notes with a stern, but wise smile. “One must be willing to release one’s mind and soul from one’s body to achieve ecstasy through music. Qawwali is enlightenment itself.”'The Spirit of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan'
by Andy Carvin
Here.
I was lucky enough to see Nusrat perform at Womadelaide in 1992.
When he sang it was as though angels were coming out of his mouth!
I was lucky enough to see Nusrat perform at Womadelaide in 1992.
When he sang it was as though angels were coming out of his mouth!
BONUS:'Allah Hoo Allah Hoo'
Studio version and live version from Nusrat's last concert on May 4 1987.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Anarchists in love
Co-organiser Pinki.
I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy 
The moon over Melbourne
(Photo by TimN)There was a real smokey haze yesterday here in Melbourne and with it not only the smell of the bushfires but also a weird orange diffused light.
Just taking the dog for a walk I noticed that the moon also has this orange glow to it.
The photo above was taken about 5 minutes ago.
Friday, 13 February 2009
Throbbing Gristle USA tour in April
THROBBING GRISTLE 2009 USA TOUR
THURSDAY 16th APRIL
NEW YORK
Masonic Hall
Fort Greene Brooklyn
317 Clermont Ave at Lafayette Ave.
TG’s first ever New York and East Coast performances and their first in the USA since May 1981.
Brooklyn NY Event is now SOLD OUT!
TG thank you for supporting this event
Because of the demand for tickets and the unlikelyhood of there being another TG USA tour we
are looking into the possibility of playing a second New York area show on Sunday 26th April.
SUNDAY 19th APRIL
COACHELLA FESTIVAL
PALM SPRINGS
Empire Polo Field
81-800 Avenue 51
Indio, CA 92201
Admission:
$99 one day pass
$269 three day pass
www.coachella.com
Coachella Festival is a large scale music festival with live music all day.
TG will perform a 60 minute set from across TG’s history
in a 6000 capcity tented stage sometime in the early evening (on stage 7pm'ish/tbc)
TUESDAY 21st APRIL
LOS ANGELES
U.C.L.A
Le Conte Ave & Westwood Blvd
Westwood, CA 90024
TG will perform a live soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s 60min alchemical film
'In The Shadow of The Sun' ( filmwork 1974, TG soundtrack 1980 & 2006)
This event is TBC.
THURSDAY 23rd APRIL
SAN FRANCISCO
Grand Regency Ballroom
1290 Sutter St
San Francisco, CA 94109
TG will play one 75 minute set of material from throughout their history.
Admission: $30
Doors: TBC
Promoters: Goldenvoice
www.regencycentersf.com
Support : Erika M Anderson
SATURDAY 25th APRIL
CHICAGO
Epiphany Episcopal
201 S. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607-5301
TG’s first ever Chicago and Mid West American performances on their first tour in the USA since May 1981.
SPECIAL TG EVENT
TG will play TWO sets,
A new live soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s 60min alchemical film
'In The Shadow of The Sun' ( filmwork 1974, TG soundtrack 1980 & 2006)
PLUS a second set of material from across TG’s history.
Admission: $50, or $20 later set only
Doors: TBC
Epiphany-chicago.org
Promoters: Empty Bottle www.emptybottle.com
Support : Emeralds www.emeraldsohio.com
THURSDAY 16th APRIL
NEW YORK
Masonic Hall
Fort Greene Brooklyn
317 Clermont Ave at Lafayette Ave.
TG’s first ever New York and East Coast performances and their first in the USA since May 1981.
Brooklyn NY Event is now SOLD OUT!
TG thank you for supporting this event
Because of the demand for tickets and the unlikelyhood of there being another TG USA tour we
are looking into the possibility of playing a second New York area show on Sunday 26th April.
SUNDAY 19th APRIL
COACHELLA FESTIVAL
PALM SPRINGS
Empire Polo Field
81-800 Avenue 51
Indio, CA 92201
Admission:
$99 one day pass
$269 three day pass
www.coachella.com
Coachella Festival is a large scale music festival with live music all day.
TG will perform a 60 minute set from across TG’s history
in a 6000 capcity tented stage sometime in the early evening (on stage 7pm'ish/tbc)
TUESDAY 21st APRIL
LOS ANGELES
U.C.L.A
Le Conte Ave & Westwood Blvd
Westwood, CA 90024
TG will perform a live soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s 60min alchemical film
'In The Shadow of The Sun' ( filmwork 1974, TG soundtrack 1980 & 2006)
This event is TBC.
THURSDAY 23rd APRIL
SAN FRANCISCO
Grand Regency Ballroom
1290 Sutter St
San Francisco, CA 94109
TG will play one 75 minute set of material from throughout their history.
Admission: $30
Doors: TBC
Promoters: Goldenvoice
www.regencycentersf.com
Support : Erika M Anderson
SATURDAY 25th APRIL
CHICAGO
Epiphany Episcopal
201 S. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607-5301
TG’s first ever Chicago and Mid West American performances on their first tour in the USA since May 1981.
SPECIAL TG EVENT
TG will play TWO sets,
A new live soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s 60min alchemical film
'In The Shadow of The Sun' ( filmwork 1974, TG soundtrack 1980 & 2006)
PLUS a second set of material from across TG’s history.
Admission: $50, or $20 later set only
Doors: TBC
Epiphany-chicago.org
Promoters: Empty Bottle www.emptybottle.com
Support : Emeralds www.emeraldsohio.com
There willl also be included in the event a TG signing:
to which you are welcome to bring along ONE ITEM from your collection for them to sign.
There will also be for sale special 'TG USA 2009' merchandising
(all new TG CD album, TG T-shirt specific to this event, TG Tour Enamel Badge, TG Tour Embroidered Patch)
to which you are welcome to bring along ONE ITEM from your collection for them to sign.
There will also be for sale special 'TG USA 2009' merchandising
(all new TG CD album, TG T-shirt specific to this event, TG Tour Enamel Badge, TG Tour Embroidered Patch)
Miss Atom 2009
Yes its that time of the year to choose the most glamorous female working in the Russian nuclear industry.Алёна Кирсанова has my vote (just for being near that water!).
All the participants here.
(Via 'Arms Control Wonk')
(There could well be a market for Russian brides that glow in the dark!)
For the winner of Miss Chernobyl 2004 go here.
UPDATE:
We have a winner!
Go here.
Hallucinate without the use of drugs
Turn on the full screen option and stare at the screen and when instructed look around wherever you are.
Try and look at your hand for example.
Try and look at your hand for example.
Brion Gysin's Dreamachine
Genesis P'Orridge, Marianne Faithfull & Brion Gysin from the documentary 'Flicker'.
Dreamachines at the October Gallery London for the Bryon Gysin exhibition 12 October 2008.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Brain-steak bikini
Serge Clerc comic strip 'Tales From The Cramps' (in French) from the pages of 'Metal Hurlantl' here.
Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road' scroll exhibition in Dublin
You can see the original manuscript scroll at University College, Dublin, Ireland until March 31.More details here.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Leonard Cohen donates $200,000 (AUS) to Australian bushfire fund
(Photo by TimN)Leonard Cohen,
you are one of the most amazing, inspiring and generous people to have ever walked this earth.
Full story from the 'BBC' here.
לא נראה כמוך שוב
אני להצדיע לך
(If anyone is interested Tim (whose photos of Leonard Cohen amongst others have graced this blog) has started a 'sheer joy of having seen Leonard Cohen on this world tour' group on Facebook. You can join it here.)
'Sam' becomes an international star
This astonishing photo was on the cover of yesterday's 'Herald Sun' here in Melbourne.
Koalas do not usually behave like that as they are so timid.
Koalas do not usually behave like that as they are so timid.
"SAM became the most famous koala in the world when firefighter David Tree stopped to give her a drink amid the devastation."
Pictures of Sam, travelled around the globe and featured in major newspapers including The New York Times, London's The Sun and on CNN.The image provided a much-needed picture of hope in a week filled with news of despair. Yesterday Sam was recovering in Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter.
Full story here.
UPDATE: this video has now surfaced.
Pictures of Sam, travelled around the globe and featured in major newspapers including The New York Times, London's The Sun and on CNN.The image provided a much-needed picture of hope in a week filled with news of despair. Yesterday Sam was recovering in Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter.
Full story here.
UPDATE: this video has now surfaced.
David Tree, the firefighter said he was in the middle of backburning at Mirboo North when he saw the stricken koala. “I could see she had sore feet and was in trouble, so I pulled over the fire truck. She just plonked herself down, as if to say ‘I’m beat’,” he said.
“I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles.
“The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that.”
Mr Tree and his brigade then received an emergency call-out to save a house, but minutes later Sam was picked up by wildlife carers.
“I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles.
“The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that.”
Mr Tree and his brigade then received an emergency call-out to save a house, but minutes later Sam was picked up by wildlife carers.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Can rhythm help heal?
Story from the 'BBC' here.
(Nice to see Topper Headon behind a drum kit again but this is what Mickey Hart has been saying for years!)
(Nice to see Topper Headon behind a drum kit again but this is what Mickey Hart has been saying for years!)
Monday, 9 February 2009
UPDATE: 108 are now confirmed dead in Victorian bushfires
"I knew something was not right. The sky went crimson with ash and I could smell all the smoke in the atmosphere.
It was like a thick, dense, dirty fog. There was smoke everywhere. It looked like Armageddon or something from a horror movie. I hope I never experience anything like that again."
Read this Brit's account of what Melbourne was like yesterday at the 'BBC' here.
More here.
It was like a thick, dense, dirty fog. There was smoke everywhere. It looked like Armageddon or something from a horror movie. I hope I never experience anything like that again."
Read this Brit's account of what Melbourne was like yesterday at the 'BBC' here.
More here.
Crazy & fuct up
Satellite image of the fires in Victoria."...One silver lining amid the devastation: the fires have not posed a significant threat to more populous areas, including Melbourne, as they sweep across rural outskirts of southeastern Australia...Still...the state is so dry from lack of rain that there are no safe areas. Wildfires are an annual event in Australia. But this year, a combination of factors has made them especially intense: a drought, dry bush and one of the most powerful heat waves in memory. Temperatures in parts of Melbourne reached 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last few weeks. Dozens of heat-related deaths have been reported.
By Sunday, the temperatures had dropped to the mid-20s in the area. Officials were hoping for some help from milder weather moving in. Droplets of rain had started to fall in some areas. Northern Australia, on the other hand, is grappling with a different problem. Sixty percent of the state of Queensland was flooded, officials reported, and residents were warned to be on the lookout for crocodiles in urban areas..."
From 'CNN' here.
From 'CNN' here.
SADDER UPDATE: 96 dead in Victorian bushfires
A fire truck is dwarfed by flames from a bushfire about 125 kilometres west of Melbourne on Saturday. (Associated Press)Story from the 'BBC' here.
"In Victoria, witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash on Saturday as temperatures of up 47 C combined with blasting winds to create furnace-like conditions.
Police said they were hampered from reaching burned-out areas to confirm details of deaths and property loss.
But Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon confirmed deaths at a dozen sites. At least 18 people were hospitalized with burns and eight were in critical condition, hospital officials said.
Police said they believed groups of bodies had been found in cars in at least two places — suggesting families or groups of friends were engulfed in flames as they tried to flee.
In total, 49 deaths were confirmed by Sunday evening, said police spokeswoman Leanne Quentin, and officials were still working their way into burned-out regions, meaning the toll could rise.
The fires were so massive they were visible from space Saturday. NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across southeastern Australia.
Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said police suspected some of the fires were set deliberately. He predicted it would take days to get all the blazes under control.
Victoria Country Fire Authority official Stuart Ord told Sky News about 1,190 square kilometres had been burned by early Sunday.
Marysville, a former gold rush town that was home to about 800 people, was almost completely wiped out, witnesses said. Video taken from the air showed street after street of burned-out homes in the town, about 130 kilometers north of Melbourne.
"Marysville is no more," Senior Const. Brian Cross told The Associated Press as he manned a checkpoint Sunday in nearby Healesville on a road leading into the town.
The 30 or so town residents who had not fled before Saturday's fire huddled on a sports field overnight to escape the flames and were brought out Sunday, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
No deaths were reported in Marysville, but police sealed off the town because they feared bodies would be found there.
Another of the hardest-hit districts was Kinglake, a normally sleepy region of farms and weekend-getaway spots, where at least a dozen people were reported killed. It was there that six bodies were found in one car.
Victoria Country Fire Service spokesman Hayden Lane said 640 houses had been confirmed destroyed — 550 in the Kinglake district — and that tally was expected to rise.
Residents reported the fire tearing through the region at high speed, burning everything before it.
Temperatures in the area dropped to around 25 C on Sunday, but along with cooler conditions came wind changes that officials said could push fires in unpredictable directions.
Dozens of fires were also burning in New South Wales state, where temperatures remained high for the third consecutive day. Properties were not under immediate threat.
Police said they detained and questioned a man in connection with a blaze but released him without charge.
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. Government research shows that about half of the roughly 60,000 fires each year are deliberately lit or suspicious. Lightning and people using machinery near dry brush are other causes.
Australia's deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and razed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia."
abridged from here.
"In Victoria, witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash on Saturday as temperatures of up 47 C combined with blasting winds to create furnace-like conditions.
Police said they were hampered from reaching burned-out areas to confirm details of deaths and property loss.
But Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon confirmed deaths at a dozen sites. At least 18 people were hospitalized with burns and eight were in critical condition, hospital officials said.
Police said they believed groups of bodies had been found in cars in at least two places — suggesting families or groups of friends were engulfed in flames as they tried to flee.
In total, 49 deaths were confirmed by Sunday evening, said police spokeswoman Leanne Quentin, and officials were still working their way into burned-out regions, meaning the toll could rise.
The fires were so massive they were visible from space Saturday. NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across southeastern Australia.
Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said police suspected some of the fires were set deliberately. He predicted it would take days to get all the blazes under control.
Victoria Country Fire Authority official Stuart Ord told Sky News about 1,190 square kilometres had been burned by early Sunday.
Marysville, a former gold rush town that was home to about 800 people, was almost completely wiped out, witnesses said. Video taken from the air showed street after street of burned-out homes in the town, about 130 kilometers north of Melbourne.
"Marysville is no more," Senior Const. Brian Cross told The Associated Press as he manned a checkpoint Sunday in nearby Healesville on a road leading into the town.
The 30 or so town residents who had not fled before Saturday's fire huddled on a sports field overnight to escape the flames and were brought out Sunday, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
No deaths were reported in Marysville, but police sealed off the town because they feared bodies would be found there.
Another of the hardest-hit districts was Kinglake, a normally sleepy region of farms and weekend-getaway spots, where at least a dozen people were reported killed. It was there that six bodies were found in one car.
Victoria Country Fire Service spokesman Hayden Lane said 640 houses had been confirmed destroyed — 550 in the Kinglake district — and that tally was expected to rise.
Residents reported the fire tearing through the region at high speed, burning everything before it.
Temperatures in the area dropped to around 25 C on Sunday, but along with cooler conditions came wind changes that officials said could push fires in unpredictable directions.
Dozens of fires were also burning in New South Wales state, where temperatures remained high for the third consecutive day. Properties were not under immediate threat.
Police said they detained and questioned a man in connection with a blaze but released him without charge.
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. Government research shows that about half of the roughly 60,000 fires each year are deliberately lit or suspicious. Lightning and people using machinery near dry brush are other causes.
Australia's deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and razed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia."
abridged from here.
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