Wow! I just came across this art deco themed keyboard courtesy of Datamancer. What a beauty, but wonder how it actually handles, but breathtaking, gorgeous in fact.
Check out the rest of their beautiful creations.
Definately not Dr. Dolittle
•April 18, 2009 • 2 CommentsWho is this from the Rex Harrison school of singing?
The singer, was a famous Oscar winning actor, who appeared in well over 100 films. He also recorded several albums throughout the years, one of which contained this ode to love, and to being young and foolish. Sometime I can really relate to.
So leave a comment on who you think it is and I’ll put you out of your misery in a couple of days.
The Original Hipster Dictionary
•April 9, 2009 • 27 CommentsAnyone under the age of 40 know what I’m talking about here?
Courtesy of my pal Bob Fergusson comes the “Slim Gaillard Vout- O-Reenee Dictionary”.
Slim Gaillard was an American jazz singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist, noted for his vocalese singing and word play in a language he called “Vout”. Hence the dictionary. Some of the pages are missing, but its worth taking a look to relive a classic bygone age (oh for a time machine) and revel in his ingenuity and creativity.
Iggy Pop on the Tom Snyder Show 1980
•April 1, 2009 • 2 CommentsI posted a couple of videos earlier this month about Iggy Pop selling car insurance in the UK. I questioned his motives, as the man, has for many including me, been a true rock n roll rebel, a leader who embodied a spirit that has unquestionably been all but squashed in recent years.
I came across this horrifying Iggy interview from 1980 with Tom Snyder. We did not get the Tom Snyder Show over in Scotland, only 3 channels back then. Taxi and Mash were about it and a lot of BBC original programming.
This is post Stooges, post Bowie/Berlin collaborations and unfortunately after watching it, I was struck by;
1. how lucky he is to still be alive
2. Snyder was slick, smooth but really pretty creepy, although wasn’t having Iggy Pop on your show in 1980 risky?
3. even selling car insurance in 2009 is a step-up from the obvious depths to which Iggy had plumbed
What do you think?
Hair can be such a Pill – The Answer
•March 23, 2009 • 2 CommentsHere’s the answer to the hair pill conversation. A movie I suggest you see.
It comes at the end of one of the finest British gangster films, the much underrated “Sexy Beast”.
Cast included Sir Ben Kingsley (who was nominated for an Oscar in this role, and who was robbed of the award), Ian McShane (of Deadwood and now Kings), James Fox and of course the ultimate thuggish geezer, the mighty Ray Winstone.
You can watch the clip here, won’t let me embed it here, thanks Fox!!
Hair can be such a pill
•March 19, 2009 • 6 CommentsHave you ever thought about being able to control your head hair growth with a pill?
There was an interesting piece on the “how often do I really need to shampoo my hair and is anyone working on producing that magical pill that would control it”, this morning on NPR.
Aside from Warren Beatty and the luminous Julie Cristie in “Shampoo”, it made me remember this wonderful piece of dialogue on that very subject from one of my favorite films.
Anyone know the movie I’m talking about?
No Country for Old Men?
•March 14, 2009 • Leave a CommentBefore you ask, no I am not thinking of going on a rampage in Texas armed with a cattle gun and dodgy haircut.
After my harrowing “how can you not have heard of Leonard Cohen, therefore I must be getting old episode,” been thinking more about the subject of getting older. Our society increasingly celebrates and rewards youth and beauty over experience and wisdom.
Odd thing is I don’t feel older, don’t have an aged frame of mind, but the getting older part seems to manifest itself indirectly.
For instance, developing my inner curmudgeon.
I have far less tolerance for crowds, lines, and loud, rude people. That makes me feel old. I don’t get out to as many shows these days, disappointed and annoyed with a large part of the crowd who are there to be seen. Or are too busy gossiping to their friends, taking each other photos with their device of choice, than actually listen to the band. For that matter showing a horrible lack of respect for the band, the artistes that feed and nourish our souls, and the rest of the audience there to hear them.
Is it all about the iGeneration and their iLives? Is this what it has come down to? Take my pix at Antones with Joey Burns singing in the background and fuck the rest of you trying to listen?
I don’t feel the same nagging sense of missing out on something that I’m not a part of. I like to stay home more, cook, laugh, listen and love with Kim. Stay in our sanctuary if you will. It’s strange, but I suspect these are symptoms of getting older.
Staying in the city does not make a person younger. Going to clubs and shows and parties does not make a person younger. Those things give us the illusion of time standing still, which it doesn’t. I think when we give in to our ages, where we are in step with time, rewards follow in different ways. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
New PJ Harvey & John Parish
•March 7, 2009 • 6 CommentsThe ever imaginative PJ Harvey has teamed up with John Parish again for another new album, A Woman A Man Walked By, available to us general punters at the end of March. The 10-song collection was produced by Harvey, Parish, and Flood.
I was able to obtain a copy of the one of the new songs from the record, Black Hearted Love. I hope it’s available on vinyl, as this track has that wonderful, relentless, almost lazy guitar fuzz that seems so effortless and obvious….after you’ve heard it.
Enjoy, and go buy/download the collection asap. Support those artists who make this world a better, more interesting place.
Iggy Pop sells insurance or himself out…in the UK?
•February 22, 2009 • 4 CommentsOuch, are none of our heroes safe?
My mum in Scotland just tipped me off that Iggy Pop is selling car insurance in the UK. I thought, hoped, she had him mixed up with someone else, but as soon as she got to the part where he’s got his shirt off, my heart sank. It was, is him. And here are the ad’s. Both of them. There may be more.
I know Iggy is from Detroit and the guy has to make a living, but car insurance? Another one bites the dust.
Who is left to carry the torch?
Birth of the Cool
•February 22, 2009 • 1 CommentVery excited about the Birth of the Cool exhibition at the Blanton Museum here in Austin, TX finally opening.
By celebrating the distinctive influence Californian mid-century modernism had on painting, architecture, furniture design, decorative and graphic arts, film, and music, this expo is eagerly anticipated and well worth a visit.
The Blanton describes it as “Through more than 200 objects, Birth of the Cool examines the dynamic community of architects, designers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians who overlapped and interacted in Southern California at midcentury. Among the international roster of creative artists who converged on the West Coast during this period were Chet Baker, Karl Benjamin, William Claxton, Louis Danziger, Charles and Ray Eames, Jules Engel, Lorser Feitelson, Greta Magnusson Grossman, Frederick Hammersley, Pierre Koenig, John Lautner, Helen Lundeberg, John McLaughlin, Gerald Mulligan, Richard Neutra, and Julius Shulman. Many of them made their way to the West Coast from various locations throughout Europe and North America; all played a germinal role in the development of this influential and iconic style of high modernism. In the spirit of “cool,” inspired by Miles Davis’s album Birth of the Cool, the exhibition explores the affinities among these innovators of art, design, and style working on the West Coast in the postwar era.”
It opened today and runs through May 17. Get out to see it and git sum kulture!
john
From The Other Side of the Mirror 
Recent Comments