This really looks like it will be worth checking out. Sarfraz Manzoor is a very entertaining and talented writer - he did an excellent piece for The Guardian a couple of weeks ago about how "Crazy Frog" is the natural descendent of Bob Dylan...!
(For those of you who are, as yet, thankfully uninfected by the appalling Crazy Frog, it's not this guy, but it's a mind-numbingly obnoxious example of artificial music at its worst. It's a remix of the 80s track "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer - which was pretty artificial in its own right - and has the dubious distinction of being the first ringtone to go to Number One in the British singles chart.
In short, be afraid. Be very afraid.)
One thing that worries me, though, about the BBC's blurb for Sarfraz's show is that among the "celebrity Springsteen fans" it names Tony Blair.
For the love of God, haven't we realised by now that this transparent excuse for a stick-figure statesman will say anything - anything - if he thinks people will like him for it.
It can surely only be a matter of time before he quits and moves to the US, where he can make a ton of money on the lecture circuit and from his lucrative soon-to-be directorships at Halliburton and United Technologies, and where he can be surrounded by people who will line up to kiss his ass every day.
You guys are welcome to him.
Sorry. Back to Sarfraz Manzoor... I'm really looking forward to hearing what Nick Hornby has to say. Nick, author of the simply brilliant "High Fidelity", is a genuine Boss fan. A while back, he wrote a nice book called "31 Songs", which is superbly entertaining, even if you're not a hard-core music devotee.
His number one song? The one he describes - correctly - as simply the greatest rock and roll song ever written?... why, this, of course.
Had a nice email this morning from my friend Bob who works at the Seattle Times. He says he's forming a band which will play only Kinks and Clash covers. He's going to call them The Kalashnikovs. Cool!
It's a beautiful day here today. Won't last though. This starts on Monday, and that's usually the signal for our weather to go completely to hell.
Think I'll take the kids to see this tomorrow. They have a childrens' workshop performance in the afternoon, and we'll be outdoors. Although like most things these days, I'm not going to actually tell them where we're going until we get there.
Their pre-disposition for sitting at home and watching crap appears virtually limitless. Every so often, though, they manage to turn me on to a gem of a show - something that is simply sublime in its chaotic, noisy anarchy.
This is one such show. Absolutely hilarious. Funniest thing I've watched in a fifteen-minute package for months. Real shame it's out of production and they're only showing re-runs.
Finally, just when we thought we'd had enough celebs for a while, this happens.
Interestingly, the original headline on that Reuters story was "Tom Proposes To Katie, Eiffel Tower Involved Somehow". Clearly someone on the desk thought it wasn't respectful enough.
Also, weirdly, the AP story announcing the impending nuptials was slugged URGENT. Oh please....
And - this would be laughable if it wasn't... , oh alright, it's laughable: the media name for the couple - in the fine tradition of "Bennifer", is apparently - yuk - "TomKat".
Gah!
(For those of you who are, as yet, thankfully uninfected by the appalling Crazy Frog, it's not this guy, but it's a mind-numbingly obnoxious example of artificial music at its worst. It's a remix of the 80s track "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer - which was pretty artificial in its own right - and has the dubious distinction of being the first ringtone to go to Number One in the British singles chart.
In short, be afraid. Be very afraid.)
One thing that worries me, though, about the BBC's blurb for Sarfraz's show is that among the "celebrity Springsteen fans" it names Tony Blair.
For the love of God, haven't we realised by now that this transparent excuse for a stick-figure statesman will say anything - anything - if he thinks people will like him for it.
It can surely only be a matter of time before he quits and moves to the US, where he can make a ton of money on the lecture circuit and from his lucrative soon-to-be directorships at Halliburton and United Technologies, and where he can be surrounded by people who will line up to kiss his ass every day.
You guys are welcome to him.
Sorry. Back to Sarfraz Manzoor... I'm really looking forward to hearing what Nick Hornby has to say. Nick, author of the simply brilliant "High Fidelity", is a genuine Boss fan. A while back, he wrote a nice book called "31 Songs", which is superbly entertaining, even if you're not a hard-core music devotee.
His number one song? The one he describes - correctly - as simply the greatest rock and roll song ever written?... why, this, of course.
Had a nice email this morning from my friend Bob who works at the Seattle Times. He says he's forming a band which will play only Kinks and Clash covers. He's going to call them The Kalashnikovs. Cool!
It's a beautiful day here today. Won't last though. This starts on Monday, and that's usually the signal for our weather to go completely to hell.
Think I'll take the kids to see this tomorrow. They have a childrens' workshop performance in the afternoon, and we'll be outdoors. Although like most things these days, I'm not going to actually tell them where we're going until we get there.
Their pre-disposition for sitting at home and watching crap appears virtually limitless. Every so often, though, they manage to turn me on to a gem of a show - something that is simply sublime in its chaotic, noisy anarchy.
This is one such show. Absolutely hilarious. Funniest thing I've watched in a fifteen-minute package for months. Real shame it's out of production and they're only showing re-runs.
Finally, just when we thought we'd had enough celebs for a while, this happens.
Interestingly, the original headline on that Reuters story was "Tom Proposes To Katie, Eiffel Tower Involved Somehow". Clearly someone on the desk thought it wasn't respectful enough.
Also, weirdly, the AP story announcing the impending nuptials was slugged URGENT. Oh please....
And - this would be laughable if it wasn't... , oh alright, it's laughable: the media name for the couple - in the fine tradition of "Bennifer", is apparently - yuk - "TomKat".
Gah!
posted by Steve at 2:21 PM
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