Friday 26 June 2009

I cut myself on angel's hair and baby's breath

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This will be the briefest of posts despite the multitude of topics I wish to touch on as of late

Firstly i want to express how greatly upset I am at the passing of Michael Jackson. I feel genuinely shaken, I wasn't a massive Motown/Jackson fan admittedly but Michael was the 3rd highest selling artist of all time, his album Thriller the best selling album in world history. You've got to have respect for achievements of such grandiosity.

This might be one of those moments that are forever referenced back to by the question 'where were you when you heard of Michael Jackson's death?' For my part I was stood outside the Priory Club in Doncaster having a few words with Damien from Fucked Up. His reaction was 'Oh well, you can't kill the king of pop! You just can't kill him, he'll be back.' Stoic words..

Fucked Up went on to announce his death on stage, saying he had 'Beat It', which everyone got a kick out of obviously. I'm in no doubt the humour was muddied by the crowds collective conscience knowing the world had just lost one of it's all time great entertainers. Fucked Up meant no disrespect by it I'm sure, guitarist Young Governor's jaw dropped on stage when he learnt the news, incredulous as we all were.

Thriller Pictures, Images and Photos


Secondly i remembered watching an old ratty video documenting one of Nirvana's early tours of the UK. So I unearthed it from the bowels of YouTube just for anyone who hasn't already seen it.

One quick nugget of pop culture trivia for you, It was infact Nirvana's Nevermind that knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the US number-one slot on January 11, 1992.

Thursday 18 June 2009

Blessed are those who bash your Children's head against a rock

When i was researching Dälek's new album Gutter Tactics i stumbled across Jeremiah Wright's full speech that the two hip hop artists had used to center the album's introduction.

It struck a chord with me. I'm not rigorously anti-American, i'm not rigourously anti-Religion, I never set out to cause meaningless offense over meaningless prejudice, I just like to question what is force fed to me. To quote René Descartes - 'I think therefore I am', but perhaps in this case we should expand on that. 'I question therefore I am' sounds better suited.

In a sermon delivered shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Wright made comments about an interview of former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck he saw on Fox News. Wright said:

"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out — did you see him, John? — a white man, he pointed out, ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true — America's chickens are coming home to roost.."

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye... and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

"We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arawak, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism! We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism! We bombed Grenada and killed innocent babies, non military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard-working fathers. We bombed Gadhaffi’s home and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against a rock! We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy. Killed hundreds of hard-working people; mothers and fathers who left home to go that day, not knowing that they would never get back home. We bombed Hiroshima! We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye! Kids playing in the playground , mothers picking up children after school, civilians – not soldiers – people just trying to make it day by day. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans, America’s chickens are coming home to roost!"



Everyone, every Tom, Dick & Harry has got something to say concerning global affairs. Everyone who's unemployed, every housewife, every Mick from down every pub and until God tells us otherwise it's our right. I'm just glad there are people still around who are able to do it so damn eloquently.

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Barack Obama & Jeremiah Wright

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Last Protocol - In The Van

This marks the first time I've been asked to review something, what a milestone.

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Last Protocol on Myspace
Last Protocol on Last.Fm


It's alarmingly obvious like a fist to the nose that Last Protocol are desperately keen to play their music, for everyone and anyone willing to take an interest. In a day & age where bandwagon acts plug away without depth or anything substantial to say, passion and meaning are surely valued commodities on the circuit - which this Lincolnshire Ska Punk band come armed to the teeth with.

Made up of four secondary school friends with a penchant for Punk they released 'In The Van' a seven track EP last April to really kick things up a gear. Vocalist Will Turner oozes so much charisma he should be given his own Double-O title and syncs together with lead guitarist Shane Bailey in a clinical but colourful manner, delivering briskly infectious hooks and grooves. 'Whats Wrong (Sammy Delonge) follows a character close to their hearts and 'Sleep Is For The Weak' deals with the frustration of insomnia. Both tracks come packaged as buoyant bites of sunshine Ska flecked with the odd uplifting saxophone riff. Track one 'Silver Tongue' is cryptic in it's lyrics but barefaced in it's desire to get your feet tapping, this is real revival stuff. The boys even throw in a cover of Radio by Rancid, surely a nod to the Californian punks who inadvertently brought the band together.

The band completed by bassist Will Tootell and drummer Ed Robinson - is quite frankly hot out of the womb yet instantly the passion is there, in time their musical chops will develop to bring out their full potential and as an avid music fan I'm psyched to see them evolve.

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Monday 15 June 2009

Insane times with Black Haven @ Hull House Show

A quick video my mate Josh found of the sick gig Black Haven played with Closure and Swamp Thing in Hull last month. This is just Black Havens set, I think we're stood in the right hand doorway with Josh holding a camera and me looking pretty vacant.

Thursday 4 June 2009

The most arrogant in town

I became so incensed by recent comments in the media that i decided to write a letter to various publications in the hope that they'll print it. It concerns Sean Smith of The Blackout and just writing this helped me get some of that piss and vinegar out of my system.

'I've never really payed much attention to Sean Smith from The Blackout, whenever i've seen him I've passed him off as one of those bubblegum rock stars who's a bit too keen to soak up the teen adoration, however i have given their new album a listen. Recently i've clocked him twice or maybe three times taking pot shots at Kurt Cobain & Nirvana in print and needless to say it's made my blood boil! It boggles my mind how the lead singer of a band with very little depth, nothing important to say and who makes no attempt at challenging the listener can badmouth one of the greatest song writers in history. We've got h2o singing that nowadays it's all 'fashion before passion' and as much as i want to defend my generation i find it hard to when current flagbearers act as arrogant and disrespectful as they do.
I realise this is a negative letter and thats not like me at all but sometimes you've just got to get stuff off your chest you know what i mean?

Josh Turner
'

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