Just check out the bloke at the back of this photo of Coldplay (and there is lots wrong with them) taken at the Grammy's.Don't you just know that this is some record company executive who rails against us bloggers!
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
What is wrong with this picture? (#2)
Just check out the bloke at the back of this photo of Coldplay (and there is lots wrong with them) taken at the Grammy's.Don't you just know that this is some record company executive who rails against us bloggers!
Staff Benda Bilili
Je'taime (Sex Machine)
The fourth in the Congotronics seies from Crammed Discs is by Staff Benda Bilili (Look Beyond Appearances) who hail from the streets of Kinshasa and live in the grounds around Kinshasa Zoo. A group of four disabled musicians form the core of the band, backed by a younger, acoustic rhythm section and a hand made (wire, a tin, a bent stick and a radio mike) electric one string lute called the Satonge.
"I later learn that this lean, gentle-looking kid, who goes by the name of Roger Landu, invented the instrument he's playing with such dazzling virtuosity. The raw materials of the satonge consist of a milk-powder tin, a section of fish basket frame and a single electrical wire. A few days later, at our hotel, Roger makes up satonges to order and sells them to us for $20 (14) a pop... good business for a shegue, or homeless kid, who was surviving by busking for pennies in the Kinshasa central market."
Full article here.
Another good background article here.
Reviews of their excellent album 'Tres Tres Fort' here and here.
Crammed Discs have a lot of really good information on their releases and you can listen to a number of recordings.
Bonus (Audio):
'Avramandole - Sala Mosala - Staff Benda Bilili'
The fourth in the Congotronics seies from Crammed Discs is by Staff Benda Bilili (Look Beyond Appearances) who hail from the streets of Kinshasa and live in the grounds around Kinshasa Zoo. A group of four disabled musicians form the core of the band, backed by a younger, acoustic rhythm section and a hand made (wire, a tin, a bent stick and a radio mike) electric one string lute called the Satonge.
"I later learn that this lean, gentle-looking kid, who goes by the name of Roger Landu, invented the instrument he's playing with such dazzling virtuosity. The raw materials of the satonge consist of a milk-powder tin, a section of fish basket frame and a single electrical wire. A few days later, at our hotel, Roger makes up satonges to order and sells them to us for $20 (14) a pop... good business for a shegue, or homeless kid, who was surviving by busking for pennies in the Kinshasa central market."
Full article here.
Another good background article here.
Reviews of their excellent album 'Tres Tres Fort' here and here.
Crammed Discs have a lot of really good information on their releases and you can listen to a number of recordings.
Bonus (Audio):'Avramandole - Sala Mosala - Staff Benda Bilili'
Monday, 30 March 2009
Banksy's painting for the celebrity undie auction
With two bidding days left at the charity auction of star's undies in aid of asylum seekers in the UK, here are some of the results as they stand at the moment:Jah Wobble - £27.00
Tilda Swinton - £102.00
Fergie - £430.00 (that is the pop star NOT the Duchess!!!)
Johanna Lumley - £31.00
Nick Cave - £112.00
Jordan - £132.00
Steve Bell - £340.00(Yes, that is John Major's face.)
(I think if the organisers had thought this out more they could have attracted some serious money from Japan!)
Interesting that there have been NO bids on the Banksy painting as yet.
Update with one day to go:
Wobble's thong now stands @ £40.00
Wobble's thong now stands @ £40.00
Fergie's undies @ £430.00Still zero bids on Banksy!
Sunday, 29 March 2009
'Kangaroo' (SO funny!)
Check out more from Remi Gaillard here and here.
My thanx to Fucoid for pointing me in this direction.
My thanx to Fucoid for pointing me in this direction.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
In search of Sid
Sid dead!Jah Wobble put this documentary together (broadcast on January 20th 2009) on the life and times of a certain Simon/John Ritchie/Beverley, better known to us all as Sid Vicious for BBC Radio 4.
Interviewing amongst others Viv Albertine & Marco Pirroni, it tells the story of a truly mixed up kid who was destined to leave this world too early.
There were originally four Johns: Lydon (aka Rotten), Wardle (aka Wobble), Ritchie (aka Vicious) and John Grey.
John Grey was someone I knew back in those old days in London and I would love to get back in touch with again.
So if anyone knows who I am talking about and can get the message to him then please either get in touch with this blog or tell John to contact me or Richard Thomas, the old Fall manager (who knows who I am).
If you are reading this yourself John then as I say if you get in touch with Richard ALL shall be revealed or if you have a good memory then think back to the fact that I used to work in Honky Tonk in Kentish Town & against the grain we shared a love for KB's 'The Dreaming' & Trouble Funk or the night that your brother accompanied us to a Rip, Rig gig just off Tottenham Court Rd. and his behaviour didn't really mesh with my head full of acid, especially not helped when Deb (Woolf- my partner of the time, who went on to direct those vids for Wobble) seemed to take your brother's side on the tube home...or was that all just my imagination?
At one point just before I was leaving to go to Amsterdam I did ring and speak to your Mum to see if she could pass on a message if you were interested to go & see the Brotherhood of Breath at the Roundhouse but you were feeling a bit poorly at the time.
As I say if you or anyone who knows John sees this plese get in touch. it would be really nice to catch up after all this time.
Bonus:
Radio 4 Documentary 'In Search of Sid'
&
'The Making of Metal Box' from Pirate Cat radio LA/SF (features interviews with Wobble/Martin Atkins & Richard Dudanski)
Friday, 27 March 2009
Jah Wobble's Chinese Dub Orchestra - No, No, No (Live)
(Photos above by Tony Zimnoch)Duet of 'No No No' by Clea Rose and Gu Yinji.
Reviews here.I suspect that this will be in my top 3 CD's of the year come December.
Always been a Wobble fan but this is just superb.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
