Sir Paul McCartney, The Who, free festival, Michael Moore, Franz Ferdinand and Gareth Gates...
Intro...
Welcome to today’s slice of stuff. Read on for details of a special Who DVD, news of a free festival in the North East of England that might actually be worth going to, Michael Moore’s latest war with ‘the man’, Franz Ferdinand proving they are the hardest band on the circuit right now and Gareth Gates passing an extraordinary exam. But first up who’d have thought that Sir Paul McCartney would be a noisy neighbour?
Listen To What The Man Said Paul...
They seem to have finally found a use for the Millennium Dome – the world’s biggest rehearsal room. Good news if you are Sir Paul McCartney bad news if you live in close proximity to the site. Actually it turns out that it is bad news even if you live some distance away.
Environmental Health officers in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets received an angry call from resident Eric Pemberton complaining about a racket he could hear that was upsetting his cat(!). It turned out that the noise was coming from The Dome which sits across the River Thames in the district of Greenwich.
Pemberton said: "I thought someone was listening to a ghettoblaster in one of the other flats. I had the windows closed and the front door just open enough to let the cat in and out. It took me a while to realize that this bass was coming from the Dome on the other side of the river
"I rang up the environmental health officers at the council and they told me 'It's Paul McCartney,' I said 'So what? He doesn't pay my (taxes), and if it was me that was doing this I would have been prosecuted.'
"I thought it was quite unacceptable and even my cat was disturbed."
McCartney's spokesman told Press Association: "We love animals and so we're sorry about Mr. Pemberton's cat."
Deaf, Dumb and Blind...
Fan’s of the rock opera ‘Tommy’ can buy the remastered version on DVD come 14th June. The film was made in 1975 and starred The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltry as ‘the deaf, dumb and blind kid’ who ‘sure plays a mean pinball’. Quite.
Despite to crap subject matter the film is actually pretty good I reckon. It features cameos from Elton John and Tina Turner as well as the fantastic soundtrack (obviously) which can now be enjoyed that bit more as it has been completely remastered for your pleasure.
But wait, there is more! Also bundled with the film is a bonus disc featuring interviews with surviving members Pete Townshend and Daltry, plus director Ken Russell.
This package is surely a must for all the fans out there and a kooky Christmas present for that strange cousin you have who claims he is into his music.
Free Festival For All...
There will be a free mini-festival taking place in Teeside at the end of the month and it is actually worth going to. Over 100 bands are set to take the stage at the snappily titled Middlesbrough Music Live festival and a fair number of them are good!
If you turn up on 31st May you can catch the likes of Electric Six, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and The Ordinary Boys. If you like the look of that trio and fancy nabbing a good spec you are advised to get there early as last years event attracted around 30,000 people.
Not fussed about the line-up so far? OK, what about this lot: Dogs Die In Hot Cars, The Glitterati, Bloc Party, Kasabian, Razorlight, Kosheen, The Features, The Dead 60’s, The Open, My Red Cell and demented Welsh bastards Goldie Lookin’ Chain.
Still not satisfied? Then why don’t you get in touch with the organisers and tell them who you want to see? No seriously...
Festival promoter Graham Ramsay said: "Every year, a huge number of the bands we book come from suggestions from the public...we’d love people to e-mail and tell us who they want to see, and we’ll do our best to book the most popular suggestions."
Visit the official website for details.
Nothing Dodgy for Walt...
Controversy seems to follow Michael Moore like the smell of pissy biscuits follows elderly women on public transport and his latest film is no different. ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ is an unashamed attack on American President George W. Bush which is why the film-maker is having trouble getting the picture distributed.
Miramax were going to bring the film to the big screen but their parent company Walt Disney Co. are having none of it. Apparently Disney have reservations over being associated with anything dodgy (yet auld Walt himself had his head cryogenically frozen and their theme parks feature grown men in mouse suits hugging small children – hmmm).
To be fair I can understand why they may want to distance themselves from the film as it rips President Bush for the way he handled the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Oh and Moore manages to connect the Bush’s with Osama bin Laden's family. Nicely done.
So it looks like the film is going to be shelved...well it did until Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein decided to buy the film from Miramax and then get a third-party to distribute it.
A recent statement, Miramax said: "We're very happy that Disney has agreed to sell 'Fahrenheit 9/11' to Bob and Harvey. Bob and Harvey look forward to promptly completing this transaction."
So we finally get to see if Moore can convince us that Dubbya is a cunt. Yeah right, like any of us need convincing?
Take me out(side)...
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who are the hardest indie band of them all? Right now Franz Ferdinand have got to be up there after they took on the might of Eminem’s heavies. Turns out that the skinny Glaswegians aren’t as feeble as they look.
It is reported that FF frontman Alex Kapranos was urged to move along by one of Marshall’s bodyguards as the bottle blond rapper was rehearsing for a TV appearance on German channel RTL. Kapranos then naturally inquired on whose authority he was being ordered to leave before a scuffle broke out.
Kapranos said: "I walked past a chink in the curtain and Eminem was doing his rehearsal. This bouncer went. 'Hey you, keep walking', or something like that. Because of the attitude he had, I said, 'Say's who?' And this 28-stone guy is like, 'Says me'. Then it was such a like comedy moment.
"He came lumbering toward me like those old kind of wrestlers and we kind of collided and I thought I was going to go flying, but I just ended up being enveloped by all this flab. And then we just parted gently.
"Next thing, everybody round me just went nuts and I think Glen (Franz tour manager) knocked his hat off and Nick punched him in the face and then all these like security guys came and pulled him away. It was like school or something."
So there you have it, 28-stone bouncer or not the message is clear; don’t fuck with those skinny art-school types from Glasgow – they are fucking nails mate...
C-C-C-Congratulations...
Sometimes quality content for this little blog is a little difficult to find, other times the thing seems to write itself. Everyone likes an easy ride so imagine my delight when I read today that stuttering fuck Gareth Gates has passed exams to become...wait for it...a qualified speech therapist! There is a God...
Gates shot to fame when he came second in dubious talent show Pop Idol two years ago. He pulled the heartstrings of grannies and housewives across the country with his ‘little boy lost’ grid and his inability to complete a sentence when he was nervous.
At the time many believed that the stutter was just a big act...many more, myself included, didn’t give a shit.
But now the 19-year-old has overcome his stutter and is now qualified to help others less fortunate than himself.
Apparently he has been using something called the Maguire speech improvement programme which teaches people how to use breathing techniques to cure speech problems. It is unknown at this time whether the same techniques can be used to get rid of hiccups.
Gates said: "I am r-r-r-really chuffed I will be able to t-t-t-teach, as it helped me so m-m-m-much."
Nah, he didn’t stutter but it is a nice cheap shot!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home