NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME (2010)

I have moved

2011-06-09T16:11:00.002+02:00

It suddenly dawned on me that I never posted here that we moved!

Here is this year's nothings!!!

Disturbing the Sleepers

2010-12-09T13:10:00.002+02:00

The following is an article commissioned for a local magazine, but not used due to editorial change. It is published here in its submitted draft form.

I’m at the cover shoot for this edition of LMG – ten in the morning on a Saturday (what the hell?), and the guys from The Sleepers are faffing about with ropes and lights and what have you. Obviously they’ve been there for hours already, skinny bastards, looking spritely and fafferish, as if they’d just stepped out of a day-spa.

I try to manipulate the manic-looking guitarist Nic Roos into making me tea. Time goes by. And eventually I notice that the shoot is happening with just four guys in the frame. Odd.

When the band’s management eventually arrives, a question is asked, the penny is dropped, and a whole bunch of internal headscratching begins...

*

So it is in the summer of 2010, that two important musicians in the Cape Town underground rock scene have left their respective bands, and in so doing have left two very different voids to fill. One of the lads is a drummer – and his story will be told elsewhere. The other is a vocalist – a singer – Syminn Snodgrass, (former) frontman for the Sleepers.

The staff-deficient bands in question are going to have very different anxieties around how to replace their respective members. In the case of the drummer, the bands may be looking for someone who can carry the technical (and physical) load of the music.

But the vocalist is a different kettle of rarefied fish altogether.

To whit – try this pop quiz: What were the names of the singers for INXS, The Cure, The Pixies, and The Spiders from Mars? If you scored four out of four, you’re fairly up to scratch on modern rock trivia.

Now name the drummers (or bassists) in the classic lineups of INXS, The Cure, The Pixies, and The Spiders from Mars. If you got one, you’re in the equivalent of the rock n’ roll MENSA*.

And that, with no disrespect to drummers, bassists, keyboardists and guitarists, is the big difference between the muscle and the style; The musicians in the band may be the engine, but the guy (or girl) out front is that little ornament on the hood... the one that shows off your shine to the outside world, and hopefully the thing that turns heads as you cruise down that boulevard of rock n’ roll dreams (Look, just follow me on this, ok?).

Traffic lights

The Sleepers are standing at a traffic light, and they're waiting for something to happen. There is no ornament on the hood anymore. All that remains is the impatient rattle of a monster engine underneath it.

The Sleepers are like a v12 hemi – if you’ve ever seen them perform you’d know what that means. When the pedal hits the floor on this band, it’s the one of the sweetest-sounding roars you’re likely to hear.

It’s just that right now, that engine sounds like it’s slightly mistimed.

“You know, it’s funny,” says Adam Hill (the guitarist who normally stands on the right of the stage). “I’m usually very clear on how to express my feelings on matters. This, though, still feels very fuzzy to me...

“Bands sometimes tend to live life in a bubble. What they hope for in their musical life doesn’t always get reflected in reality. I guess reality hit very hard when Syminn left.”

*

Fellow musicians know enough to never ask about the reasons and details behind musical divorces. It’s like asking a separating couple what their bedroom life was like. No matter what the answer, it’s an offside question, because, quite frankly, it’s none of your business.

But you can ask what the feeling is once the room is empty.

Adam is appreciative of all that was good: “Obviously, we’ve lost momentum. Just having someone that has a clear idea of the way he works... Sy’s personal and lyrical contribution was a way to diffuse the complexity of what Nicolai and I do as musical input. We’ll definitely miss that.”

Slow-burners

Whoever was doing what, it was working. The Sleepers have oh-so-smartly slow-burned their way into a critical space that is hard to doubt. In that respect they’ve chosen their name well, because between you and me, they’ve surpassed many of their more – erm – obvious peers over the time they’ve been together.

They’re one of the most unique-sounding outfits on the scene, and one of the consistently best-performing, but they’re also one of the most overtly nit-picky about getting whatever they do precisely right.

Sleepers shows are increasingly well-attended, and particularly their Hallowe’en events have become a traditional annual highpoint for fans. Yet the band has a very obvious hunger that seems to grow with every new sub-project.

*

Amid all the goings on in Sleeper-land, there’s a new recording in process, just weeks after their free live EP “Luminaire One” was released to the web. It’s going to be a task to find this work ethic and those creative traits in a new “ornament”.

How would they begin to engage that process? For one, there will be tryouts. The plan, according to the band at the time of writing, is to embark on a period of open auditions over the December/January period. Syminn will be on hand to honour commitments up to and including Ramfest 2011, at which time the new voice will presumably step in.

Open minds, open roads

“We don’t necessarily want someone to emulate Syminn,” Says Nicolai (The guitarist on the left side of the stage). “I’d be more interested in someone who brought something of themselves, but was interesting and unique.

“It’s a tough thing to pre-think; do you bring in someone with experience? Or should it be somebody new and fresh? Collectively, I think we have quite an open mind, but hopefully it’ll end up being someone with experience, but who can also learn and adapt quickly.”

So it’s an open road, people. An opportunity is there for someone who fancies himself the shiny hood ornament of a bright red v12 hemispherical combustion low-rider band.

But whoever takes Syminn’s spot will have to be willing to shine up good. The Sleepers do not do things by half measures, and they don’t seem to have any intention of skipping many more beats on their way down that concourse.

Not when there are heads that still need turning.

PS: * The singers were Michael Hutchence, Robert Smith, Black Francis/ Frank Black and David Bowie (or Ziggy Stardust, if you will); the respective drummers were Jon Farriss, Lol Tolhurst / Andy Andersen / Boris Williams, David Lovering and Woody Woodmansey respectively.

Where the hell have I been?

2010-10-28T08:32:00.001+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

Developing a new bloody portal is where... but the hump is mostly over, save for a few adjustments on the editorial process front...

The 'long tail' of readjusting to a new website can be tricky, as we've also acquired ownership of the news element of Entertainment, which is a major new consideration in everything we do. news is a major part of my job as well now, and I feel this is probably the best way to collapse the function into the (small) team of eds.

As music, I have a somewhat less structured content flow than movies, but not as seat-of-your-pants as TV and Gossip, whcih Sam, our editor on that desk, is a master at i have to say.

All that leaves less time to make fancy, schmansy blog posts that are properly spell-checked and cleverly constructed. I write this at the start of a new work day and hopefully I can do it every morning...

And also I'm picking up habits from some of my favourite blogger peers... like dropping Capital letters to start sentences - you can blame a couple of bloggers (see list to the right) for that.

let these be my free pages hence...

yes, you read right... free pages

Etymology 301: Gentoo

2010-09-22T10:30:00.000+02:00

The Karate Kid (2010)

2010-09-21T16:29:00.000+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

Morita immortalised the part of the wise, old Asian mentor, and Ralph Macchio, though prone to overacting a bit in places, was endearing and convincing as an awkward out-of-favour kid with issues (single mom, new city, etc).

Add to that John G. Avildsen's talents for emotive framing and that training montage, and you have a movie that's practically cinema's gift to Saturday afternoon TV.

The Karate Kid 2010, on the other hand, is at the outset a commercial enterprise, hoping to cash in on an audience that's likely never seen the original. For them, the movie will work well enough, even at a surprisingly generous running time of 131 minutes.

But for those of us who saw the original as part of a double feature at the Cineplex for about R5.50, it comes off as a slightly less honest translation of a book... where the Japanese are the Chinese, and the back stories of the characters are slightly unfocused in the employment of better film technology some 25 years later.

read more

5 Artists Every Idols Performer Must Hear

2010-09-21T16:26:00.001+02:00

Idols presenter ProVerb lists 5 artists that every entertainer in the business should be listening to.

Read the story here

The Expendables

2010-09-16T15:22:00.001+02:00

Image by Paul Lowry via Flickr

Never mind the plot. The basic idea of The Expendables is overpowering. Get some of the toughest guys from the action movie world together, build a plot that will involve lots of explosions – of both stuff and of people – and have some fun.

That it does, as everyone from Sly, through Willis, Rourke, Li and even Eric Roberts seem to really love being B-movie badasses. There's no need for them to act in this movie, because it essentially collides all their respective action movie roles into a flattened collage of popcorn and Coke.

But there's an unexpected flag in what should have been a straight sprint to the box office. The key fumble in the mix is that the subplot involving the big, tortured lug played by Dolph Lundgren is more intriguing than the main thrust of the story.

To paraphrase, in one scene, a bit of dialogue goes: "What's (Lundgren) doing?"
"He's hanging a pirate"
"No, really what's he doing?"
"No really, he's... hanging a pirate."

New writers are like happy pills

2010-09-10T09:32:00.003+02:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

One of the great pleasures of working in this business for me (the content production business) is when job shadowers get to do a task for you and what you get back is much more than what you expected.

Job shadowers are high school or varsity students who get to spend couple of days with us to see what we do. Usually, when they get to me I just give them an assignment and say "do this". Of course I try to give them a little guideline (I'm not evil).

In this case, I handed young Shirvonne my "Guide to writing our CD reviews" and a CD and said... read this, listen to this and write it...

DIFFICULTY: The CD I handed her was what i call an A-list review – meaning an artist that has following and is known, and will be read by fans.One Mr Tom Jones of Wales, and his new release Praise and Blame.

I'm going to take the credit for what happened... my guide, my teaching methods, my brilliant skills as a nurturer... all these things...

Because the result I got back was pretty darn decent for a first timer. Praise me. I am good. Seriously, though, great job Shirvonne. It may not be 1972 Rolling Stone yet, but hey, it's a pretty good kickoff to (hopefully) a career in varied writing platforms (not the kind you wear) and styles and formats.

And to get back to the point, it's great feeling when you can tell someone that the first time they've done something was a pretty good effort. Makes that part of the job worth it. Word (260).

Here's the review: Tom Jones - Praise & Blame

ProVerb on ProVerb

2010-09-08T10:15:00.006+02:00

Had a chat with local superstar ProVerb for Channel24 and got to ask him some cool stuff. He's a real nice guy and has his head pretty sorted. And a real friendly dude as well. Win.

If this video doesn't work properly here, check it out here:

Salt

2010-09-02T16:54:00.001+02:00

Director Philip Noyce has a talent for action flicks with a touch of political intrigue to them – The Jack Ryan movies with Harrison Ford are testament to this. Noyce has a knack for making a suspenseful action film move along at just the right clip, and never jolting the audience into hectic changes of pace or plotting.

In a certain regard, Salt is a little more ambitious than Jack Ryan's adventures. It doesn't – can't, really – appeal to a sense of "it could happen" like, say, Clear and Present Danger did. Covert ops in South America? Totally believable. Sleeper agents whacking the US prez? Wo'eva!

Instead, Salt is like the bus from Speed... once it leaves the stop, it never drops below 55. And despite the fact that you'll need a healthy dose of 'Brain Missing' to get into the movie, you'll find yourself nodding along amicably through most of it once you get on.

full review here...

My 'combat mission' on a Huey

2010-08-31T21:31:00.009+02:00

Today I hitched a ride on a Vietnam-era Huey, apparently the only licenced commercial Huey around, in Cape Town. it was Courtesy of Cadbury SA, who had arranged for local personality Good Hope FM DJ Guy McDonald to fulfil his lifelong dream to be a helicopter pilot. While he didn't actually take the stick, we were treated to a thrilling hour-long flip around the city by The Huey Helicopter Co. pilot Francois. Here are some photos, and you'll find a link below to a video of the thing...

PS: I'll try to pop some more photos up through the week...

Check out a video of the afternoon here...

Have to say, it might not be for everybody, but this is one of those experiences I can say will open up a view new perspectives... It was thrilling enough doing fairly quick strafing runs in windy conditions, but I can only imagine what it would have been like running into a 'hot LZ'. The mind fries...

Back to the page... a case for pen and paper

2010-08-30T21:07:00.003+02:00

Image by LucasTheExperience via Flickr

It’s two days early, but it’s Monday, so I figured, what the hell… On September 1 I start a new chapter of sorts, what with the old band retiring, my new job starting, and a number of other new things happening… so I decided to also commit to a daily blog entry. And with it, this little piece of totally random spaghetti…

My desk at work seems to be having battle of wits with my writing pad. There’s definitely a cold war going on, and my emotional state is the battleground. In other words, my office desk is an embodiment of an eighties pop song about dating politics.

Something strangely ironic is happening in relation to my writing both for work and for this blog. I find myself reverting back to note-taking the old-fashioned way – pen(cil) and paper.

I’ve been noting thoughts and ideas down to paper more and more lately, and it’s as if this methodology is slowing me down enough to actually properly organise thoughts… making for hopefully more sensible writing.

Another advantage is that you can take a pen(cil) and paper anywhere you like – to the kitchen, to the lounge, to the break room at work… and you don’t have to wait for a machine to boot up the right application to jot down a thought.

This is actually the source of the trouble. I can’t actually seem to do this at my desk. So I actually have to go walkies every once in a while to kill another tree.

A third (or is it fourth) plus is that I tend to erase less when I handwrite something on a piece of paper. Word processors have made it so easy to scratch a thought, and some may argue that there’s so much clutter in the world anyway, that the ability to erase something utterly is a good thing…

But I tend to feel that there’s value in your “first thoughts”. Even if you never use them as you initially got them, they serve a purpose for me – sometimes even to point out a direction I don’t want to go.

PS: The Journaling link below leads to a pretty interesting “sell” on keeping a journal, but also encourages you to take their “depression quiz”. It’s a women’s sight. Possibly Christian-themed. Just saying…

A special encore request

2010-08-28T12:18:00.000+02:00

Because it was Speedway who asked, we couldn't really say no, and because the last show was effectively a private fundraiser, somebody said we should at least afford the general friends and fam to catch it one last time.

I think we'll try to play everything here... well, as much as we can remember...

Classic: Crowded House - Woodface

2010-08-23T11:11:00.001+02:00

Cover of Woodface

Crowded House's third studio album is largely credited with catapulting them to superstardom. Not that Crowded House (1986) and Temple of Low Men (1988) were poor albums by any measure, But Woodface's yield of five enduring singles remains universally crowd pleasing today, some twenty years later.

Strange to think that whereas most great albums are made by a band under strain (in-fighting, 'creative differences', etc.), Woodface was partly borne out of Tim and Neil Finn's reconnecting after many years of estrangement.

Perhaps it's the resulting explosive songwriting collaboration between the Brothers Finn, or the signature production touch of Mitchell Froom (Mr Suzanne Vega to you), or one of those inexplicable 'something clicked' moments in a band's career; Woodface spreads its tight 48 minutes over a generous 14 tracks, the first seven of which offer a masterclass in writing the 3:30 pop song.

full article here

The A-Team (2010)

2010-08-19T13:55:00.002+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

It's a big ask to bring (a much-loved 80s TV vehicle) into cinema some 20-odd years later. Do you go for a nostalgia trip, or do you try to bring new audiences to your "franchise"? Director Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces) does the clearly insane and attempts to go both ways at once.

You almost won't mind the occasionally dodgy CGI, or the hilariously unlikely action scenes. Or even the endless montage-esque editing style (it's like the whole movie is a build-shit-out-of-spare-dialogue sequence).

Nope, you won't mind at all, because the actors seem to be having an illegal amount of fun hamming up the action and mugging for the camera, and nobody else in the cast really needs to do much more than let the movie happen around them - which, in the case of The A-Team, works like a charm. It's a chuckle-a-minute nod to old quirks and idiosyncrasies, and it's a bullet train of high-octane action, speed-of-light editing and big explosions.

(PIC: Ye Olde A-Team... bigger than MacGuyver)

full review here...

Din;t Rolling Stone used to be music culture magazine?

2010-08-18T09:44:00.002+02:00

I ask because this is the latest cover of the ol' RS... and I'm just... I dunno.

I like True Blood - it's a great show. Most of me fwenz like it too cos they agree that it's dark and sexy and all the stuff certain other Vampire-themed films and tv shows aren't. There be no glowing undead in this show.

But - you know - it's a TV show, and its connection to music is at best tenuous.

Or maybe I'm wrong in still thinking that 'Stone is or was a music culture magazine? Maybe another childhood memory was nothing but a lie? Maybe nothing of what we remember about our formative years was anywhere near what they were in reality?

I feel lied to.

White Guys at Zula - the end of an era?

2010-08-16T12:44:00.008+02:00

Three More White Guys will be at Zula Bar in Long Street, Cape Town on Saturday August 21, 2010. We're doing to raise money for Camps Bay Prep.

This will be an interesting date, as it may well be the last - as in last - time this band pays its old set. I've long been lobbying for a change of direction in this band. It's been seven years and I think its time to try something new.

It may sound like a big deal to retire songs that are so ingrained and expected from a live set, but I really don't feel all that attached to them any more. Mostly, I think, because playing what audiences demand and expect for so long closes the door on so many other ideas and opportunities.

I think I, personally, have become sort of stagnant creatively, and coming from a time when I played so many different roles in so many different projects in rather varied 'genres', it's a bit soul destroying to feel like you've given up the effort to try something new.

So I've told the Guys, we need to retire this. Alternatively, the new material has to go to a new project. That's second prize, because I don't really want to start out at step one with a new group again.

Onward.

The Facebook event for this item is here.

The King of Fighters

2010-08-13T13:53:00.000+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

What's with combat movies and women? While the guys get to wear hockey masks, fur coats and leather jackets, the women have to settle for corsets, catsuits and impossibly short minidress-and- suspender combos. Even Chun-Li had tights, dammit.

Look, far be it from a guy to complain about Maggie Q and Francoise Yip (Canadian!) showing a bit of leg, but some realism would go a long way in a movie like this. Speaking of which (spoiler alert!), there are only two instances of blood in the movie – when Francois Yip gets semi-filleted near the start of the film (she survives), and right at the end, when suddenly everybody's showing the signs of about 75 minutes of non-stop ass-kicking. In between? Nothing. Not a bruise. Not even on the faux-lesbian couple who started the movie in towels.

full review here...

Friday the 13th

2010-08-13T08:00:00.000+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

What better way to celebrate today than take a look back at one of slasher horror's most enduring franchises? It's the Big Mac of the film business – cheap to make and cheaper to digest. Awful to the palate in general, but somehow always an option when you need to clog your mental arteries. Here's the story so far:

Friday the 13th ( 1980)
Mrs. Vorhees sets about knocking off horny teenagers because years ago her son Jason drowned. Because two Camp Chrystal counsellors were having sex instead of watching him. Kevin Bacon gets it in the chest. (Body count: 10)

Friday the 13th pt 2 (1981)
Jason is alive! And after killing Alice (who killed Mrs. Vorhees at the end of part 1), he decides to defend the camp from all and sundry. Five years later, cue (wait for it) a group of horny teenagers ready to die in inexplicably suspenseful ways. SH SH SH HA HA HA! (BC: 10)

Friday the 13th pt 3 (1982)
Jason heads to a farmstead, where he hides in a barn and counsels a number of hapless horny teens out of their misery. Significantly, he nicks a hockey mask off one of the kids, and a legend is born. Jason takes an axe to the cranium. (BC: 12)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
In a cunning twist, producers hint that this will be the last Jason movie ever. Jason has miraculously survived the axe to the head, as the unfortunate coroner would have testified had he survived the first ten minutes of the movie. Feeling homesick, Jason returns to Crystal Lake where – surprise! – a group of horny teenagers invades his space. Fed up, Jason seeks out the neighbours. Crispin Glover acts weird! Corey Feldman kills Jason! (BC: 14)

read the full article here...

Kylie - Aphrodite

2010-08-12T09:34:00.002+02:00

Not that Aphrodite is intolerably awful. It just isn't 22-plus-years-in-the-business good. All up-tempo and club-targeted with breathy, girly vocal lines about nothing really interesting bobbing around near the top, it's an album that's custom-made for a flashy stage show – you can almost hear them thinking in the studio: "This will look great on stage!"

The album's production reeks of Madonna's last Stuart Price-produced efforts (Confessions on a Dancefloor in particular), echoing that producer's muscular beats and basslines to great effect in places. For a number of reasons – lack of invention among them - Kylie's melodies don’t work as well, which really should be the case in pop that is as apolitical and candy floss as this.

full review on 24.com

YouTube - Terminator Salvation: Deleted Scene

2010-08-05T07:58:00.000+02:00

Came across this completely random piece of Interweb funny. And decided to add a new content element/tag to this blog... something along the lines of celebrating the great, funny or just plain ingenuous moments of the web that made us proud... to be Interweberiffic.

Ellen DeGeneres, ex-Idolmaker

2010-07-30T22:17:00.001+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

Ever since Ellen DeGeneres joined American Idol, some critics have been saying that she isn't qualified as a judge because she doesn't have appropriate skills or knowledge of the music industry. I could say that of most record executives. Or of the industry as a whole.

Because if record executives knew what they were doing,you wouldn't be purchasing CD albums in record stores any more. You'd be walking into "CD Stores" and asking for a digital compilation of songs - singles - that would make up a custom disc (or flash drive). But I digress.

Point is, looked at in a certain way, DeGeneres is actually perfectly qualified as a judge for American Idol, because she's potentially what all of us are - a consumer. At worst she's not able to really let performers have it when she hates them. At best, she's nowhere near as cynically industry-serving as any other judge might be.

And it seems as I write this that they've settled a deal with J-Lo to replace her. And Idol just feels a little more like America's Next Top Model.

Barney Simon's Radio Revolution

2010-07-29T16:32:00.003+02:00

Each of the discs has undeniably different appeal to social sensibilities, though this is more than likely accidental – the fact is that the Afrikaans and English artists seem to have generally different motivations in their music. Disc one feels more like a long drive up the coast to discover your country. Disc two is background music to a loud house party attended by your college mates.

At any rate, the result on the compilation is another fascinating way to experience SA rock as a microcosm of the country's varied "markets". Radio revolution allows the listener to hear just how compatible they really are in their differences. Fans SHOULD indeed be listening to all these artists on one radio station.
more...

Macy Gray - The Sellout

2010-07-29T16:29:00.001+02:00

Image by ViaMoi via Flickr

If there is a worst moment on The Sellout, it's the guitar solo on "Kissed It", which is blamed on Velvet Revolver, who serve as backing band for this track. Here and there are a couple of lazy lyrics or melodies, but these hardly dominate the album.

Not when there are laugh-out-loud moments like on the retro-funky "That Man" (..."I was so happy 'bout the love that I found till I went to the library and I saw him – mm mmm – Say oh yeah, oh, yeah I want THAT man!").

Indeed, the tunes and their structures are sort of clichéd, but that makes them excellent singalongs for groups of galpals driving their top-down Renaults down freeways to winelands, or the beach, or to clubs like Tiger Tiger, whatever gangs of women in their 20s do these days. Scary.
more...

Faye Wong is quite the hotness

2010-07-26T12:51:00.004+02:00

I have to say that I'm not usually as overly-drawn to Asian women as some of my friends are (in an internet fantasy kind of way, that is), but I've just looked at a story about Faye Wong, the "Queen of Mandopop", and my goodness! At forty, this lady is quite the hotness! Even for me, Mr. Dead-From-The-Neck-Down-This-Past-Year!

And she's not a bad singer, either. Heard the theme from Ginal Fantasy VIII, "Eyes On Me", and it has far more dignity and is far more listenable than anything Celine Dion's ever done.

So yeah: Faye Wong 2 - 0 Everybody Else Named Celine Who Has Ever Done a 'Love Theme' From a Movie or Video Game.

Delidave vs eracode - Straight Outta Kloof Street

2010-07-18T22:26:00.011+02:00

In Cape Town, as in any city, we have a number of youth subcultures. We have our legions of sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads... and even a couple of Ferris Buellers. And in the city centre, there's a particular area around Kloof Street that could be seen to be the trendy, upwardly mobile part of town in terms of socialising, eateries, fashion, and trendoidism.

If you spend some time Kloof Street and the immediate surrounding area, you're likely to spot a particular species of local. I would find it hard to describe to you if you'd never spent time here, but that's where my friend - we shall call him Delidave - comes in...

See, Delidave mentioned in passing that he had an idea for a spoof/homage of the original "gangsta rap" music made famous by the likes of NWA. Dave had taken a fancy to the song Straight Outta Compton in particular, and showed me a few lines of a lyric he'd been working on that would 'parody' not the song.

Except that he was going to talk about the Kloof Street Trendoid. Which I think is hilarious. As it turns out, the song also doubles as a great tourist info guide. Which is also hilarious. Put more succinctly, and in the spirit of the piece:

So check it out. Delidave come down one day talkin crazy 'bout some idea he got for an ho-mage like to the original dope pimp rhyme stuff from back in the day. Sayin' how he gonna come at it with a NWA shout out n' all. I'm down with that, and I offer to lay down some production level Industrial Sound and Magic from my eracode project. Result:

Straight Outta Kloof Street (Delidave vs eracode) by eracode

More eracode music on iLike

Delidave vs eracode
Straight Outta Kloof Street
(delidave)

And Delidave's inspiration, the otherwise incomparabale NWA - Straight Outta Compton.

A mildly irritating dream on Elm Street,

2010-07-16T15:11:00.005+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton
Director: Samuel Bayer

It’s a shame nobody’s ever thought about killing Freddy by making him watch one of his own movies. This "re-imagining" might have done it. The technical shortcomings of the film are one thing (Lights, anyone? Did no-one think to hire any lights?), but the basic execution of a horror flick without horror or self deprecation is unforgivable. No surprises then, that it’s from Michael Bay’s production house.
more...

Paul McCartney keeps it real, Sharleen Spiteri kills the cat - wk 26, 2010

2010-07-09T14:37:00.007+02:00

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Titles click to full reviews

Paul McCartney
Good Evening New York City
Actually, (I'm Down) more than suggests that Paul McCartney is still just a lad who loves rock n' roll. The up-tempo rockers are his obvious delight – cue Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter, and a superb I Saw Her Standing There, featuring a walk-on Billy Joel, obviously taking a break from the backstage jol. But the highlight by far is a rendition of Paul's Bond song Live and Let Die. It’s the one point of the show that looks like money's been spent on it, delivering energetic performance, a crap load of pyro, and a suitably shocked (and singed) front row.
****

Sharleen Spiteri
The Movie Songbook
The collection opens with big-ass pop and disco arrangements Xanadu and If I Can't Have You, dropping suddenly into a jazz-combo version of God Bless the Child, and then onto a classical pop-bent with Sounds of Silence. What follows is a smorgasbord of variously-approached "classics" that vacillate between "mildly disappointing" and "rage-inducing sacrilege". What's new, Pussycat? Here's what's new – a trip to the vet, who has a nice needle to show you!
*

When the kid calls you 'nigger'...

2010-07-08T15:28:00.003+02:00

On an exploratory 'webwalk' I came across an interesting blog called 'Black Woman Thinks'. Specifically, an older post (link below) drew my attention .

It concerns the author's contemplation of a response when she came across a small child, whom she heard utter the word 'Nigger' in her direction.

I sometimes feel it needs to be said that as a black person, feelings are deep when it comes to words like this. Because, of course, a word is more than just a word. A word is a whole lot of history within itself. And it's a whole lot of true-as-bob real-life ideology that exists in the hedgerows of your neighbours' houses.

In SA we had/have several of our own, and faced with a few in my lifetime, I recognise the dilemma. A child only really knows what it is told by its closest elders. How do you / I respond to that? Awkward and complicated to say the least.

For my part, I'll give this a bit of thought before I commit an outright opinion. I suspect it will be one of my longer posts when it does happen.

In the meantime, your thoughts on this interesting situation are appreciated...

Black Woman Thinks...Religion, Politics, Race, Atheism and more...: A Little Girl called me a 'Nigger' Today...

U2 - 360° At The Rose Bowl

2010-07-07T16:14:00.000+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

In a way, this is more (Bono's) show than the previous concepts have allowed. Edge, Mullen and Clayton are doing more musical work, the visuals above the stage are more complimentary than key, and the design of the stage demands a far more energetic addressing of the crowd.

And so our Bono is in fine prancing form, proving himself the master of mugging, the king of playing to the crowd. At times, he seems miles removed from the band on some remote walkway, while the other three (especially "sullen Mullen") look on with trademark meditation.
****
Full review...

Macca saved my life. Maybe

2010-07-07T11:29:00.001+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

I've just written up a review for Paul McCartney's Good Evening New York City DVD. And I was reminded to respect my musical elders, because music is the most accurate and honest chronometer of our modern lives.

I've been a fan of Macca's work ever since I was a little boy. Besides the Beatles, of which I knew the catalogue by heart before I was age 10, one album that found its way onto the player at my house regularly was Band on the Run. Loved that entire album start to finish, much to my mother's irritation.("Well no one ever left alive in nineteen hundered and eighty five will ever do...")

It still amazes me, after all these years, how Macca's music is so deeply ingrained into my psyche and into my emotional memory. Even as a songwriter, I find myself vascillating when I think a song is either too much like a Macca or too little to be considered worthy. His work truly is the benchmark of pop music songwriting.

Which inevitably leads to a question of "what's your favourite macca song?" Honestly it's too hard to pick one, but I must admit that one song gets me in the throat every single time I hear it: "The Long and Winding Road." (croak) Sorry, there's something stuck in my throat.

Pass the Dutchie

2010-07-06T13:21:00.002+02:00

When I leave work, I walk towards the train station from Greenpoint. Which is not an unpleasant walk on a fine afternoon.

Today, however, it was particularly cool, as it has been a few times this month. N24 is slap bang in the middle of the World Cup Fan Walk here in Cape Town, and as I left work, the walkers had started walking... the walk.

The Cape Town Fan Walk has been universally praised by visitors and locals alike. I've done it myself, heading to Cape Town Stadium in sheeting rain, and the mood of the people was unbelievably festive. Dancers dancing, drummers drumming, singers singing, and vuvus... er.. vuvu-ing (I guess).

Anyway, I walked against the human traffic today, as I was heading for a bar on the opposite side of town. i decide to whip out me cam and take a couple of random pics.

Of course you'll notice a whole lot of orange being worn. No prizes for guessing who Cape Town was supporting.

I asked a friend why they thought this was so:
"Dude, Uruguay beat us (South Africa) in the opening round, and they got our guy unfairly sent off; Suarez cheated, dude (the infamous handball incident against Ghana);and the ref that disallowed Lampard's goal... where was he from?"

er... Uruguay?

"Fo Sho!"

Anyway, I digress...

Imagine it: Cape Town, estimated 300 000 people in the streets. Football, and not a single miserable face among the lot. Thank you everybody for an AWESOME 30 days.

Alternative Timelines Part 1: The Dutch

2010-07-06T12:19:00.007+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

The Dutch have weird and wonderful connections to South Africa. History being what it is, there's a perceived connection between the Dutch colonisation of the Cape, the language settling here, the adoption of the evolved language by the you-know-what government and the 1976 language-sparked uprising.

On the evidence of Cape Town during the World Cup, I think those connections are now mostly regarded in the light of "whateva!" Or perhaps we've just relegated those thoughts to the dungeons of history. So...

...with tea and cake to our Dutch friends, who play Uruguay tonight in Cape Town...

VOICE: It is the dawn of time...

Pre-history – Some people without flags...

1487 – Bartholomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope and opens the Dias Tavern in Caledon Street. He was Portuguese, so there will be no further mention of him in this article.

1652 – Jan van Riebeeck (pictured), coach of the Netherlands football team, arrives early to inspect facilities. JvR opts not to return to The Netherlands, instead establishing Ajax Cape Town as a feeder team to Holland’s most famous club, FC Willem II. Interestingly, the BBC omits this from the timeline of Cape history.

1653 – Scientists (and sailors) found a new species at the Cape of Good Hope: Coloureds.

1666 – The Castle of Good Hope is commissioned. It has five points, which become known for regular fights between local gangs The Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys.

1679 – Simon van der Stel escapes his wife and becomes first Governor of the Cape. Stellenbosch, the famous wine region, is named after him. Need we say more?

UPDATE: Netherlands 3 -2 Uruguay *Hup*

To be continued...

Exes can be complicated

2010-07-06T10:28:00.002+02:00

I watched the movie It’s Complicated last night and decided that it’s a lot of what Sex and the City SHOULD have have been, if SATC wasn’t such a load of ostentatious pretence.And crap.

“Complicated” has flaws, obviously, (Kids, what’s with the neutralising? Somebody needs to act out here!) but at least it seems more considerate of a real-world quandary – the one where a person often wonders if the long-term relationship that ended... really ended.

In the movie Meryl Streep starts up an affair with her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin in Jack Donaghy mode), who has since remarried. The angst that ensues is endearingly kind-hearted, but needless to say ...complicated.

And, not too put too fine a point on it, I can relate to particular scene when Streep visits her shrink and lists all the reasons she’s afraid she went along with it.

For a long time after I divorced, I kinda struggled with questions around whether it was truly done. And if the occasion arose where I was in the situation described above, would I go there? And if I did, would I be truthful to myself about why? It’s complicated.

Add to the mix a potential new suitor (a superb and against-type Steve Martin), and you’ve got a fairly decent premise, a rare older-cast centric story, and a not-very forgone outcome. Like.

PS: I am happy to say that after all is said and done, I now have a great relationship with my ex-wife D, who I consider still to be one of the fine people. That we are friends is great honour and also a great achievement on both our ends. It can happen.

Acting on impulse

2010-06-29T08:22:00.009+02:00

I was faced with a choice at a difficult age
would I write a book... or should I take to the stage?
- "Left To My Own Devices", Pet Shop Boys

I’ve learned that acting is a real challenge. William Shatner’s autobiography was key in that realisation. It’s not that he said it explicitly, but in reading his anecdotes, detailing the rigours of delivering the scene despite all kinds of personal and professional distractions, I resolved that you have to give respect to actors for showing up knowing their action.

That’s not to say that all actors are good actors. Or even consistent actors. Or sane actors (Nicolas Cage, we need to talk about that Oscar.)

But a professional actor is trained in a specific craft, one which is nearly nullified by the modern entertainment paradigm. Hell, I’ve tried acting on camera few times.

There was this one time... I was cast in a French movie. In French! (“The horror! The horror!” Or in fact: "L'horreur! L'horreur!"). I doubt the Academy noticed.

In my scene I had to drunkenly stumble up to a camper in a desolate part of the woods, piss on it, be surprised when a couple emerged from within, exchange a few words with them (they asked me to help them push the camper out of the brush), and see them off. Easy, yeah? Not so much.

THIS was my mark which I had to hit after a 25-metre stumble; THIS was my bottle that I had to hide in my pants when I took the leak. THIS was the direction in which I had to turn my head when I refused to help them at first... and did I mention I had to act like a New Zealander? In French?

Actually, I think they may have decided to cut me out of the movie altogether.

Never mind, I learned my lines. I took direction from the director who was very patient with me. I don’t really have performance shyness so that wasn’t the issue – but I discovered that there’s a hell of a lot to remember when you’re acting a scene.

So I was not led astray by my moment of self-attributed celebrity. And if I was for but a moment, it was because I asked for a cup of coffee and the AD had it in my hand thirty seconds later. I had arrived! And then I was told to back to go my mark to await direction.

But I am, for all intents and purposes, a lover of the traditional concept of theatre (if there is such a thing). I love watching classically trained actors at their best. And I suppose it's not surprising that I use a lot of borrowed concepts when I'm on stage myself.

I'm not an actor, but I feel that musical performance is acting too in most respects. I think certain things can transfer, even if the brand of pop performance I do is largely by the seat of the pants.

"...but in the back of my head i heard distant feet
Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat."
- - "Left To My Own Devices", Pet Shop Boys

Rewriting the world: A Foreword

2010-06-28T13:14:00.000+02:00

On the morning of June 11, 2010, the morning of the FIFA World Cup launching in South Africa, I walked the streets of my native Cape Town, my insides feeling like jelly. I was so astonished by the atmosphere on the streets (it must have been about 7 in the morning), I wrote a short editorial piece for my publication, which was published by 9:30.

The editor told me that she’d publish it because despite being sentimental (something which our columns most often are not), it was pretty moving. I decided to interpret that as... “Damn, man, you nearly made me cry.” That was the first time I really felt like what I had to say had resonated purely and absolutely with someone from a completely different background as me.

The feeling was reinforced when commenters on the story resoundingly agreed with its sentiment – another phenomenon that never happens on our forums. Again, this was and remains very meaningful for me, considering that the world cup was trashed unapologetically by most readers of a certain class...

Let me sidestep here and say that, as a black man of my particular age in South Africa, I am angry and sad about a great many things. I am not a reactionary, nor hysterical, but damn, my countrymen can be idiots. And many times over the course of a lifetime, there’s an inclination to let it all drop over the side of the ship and be done with it. But my experience of that day – June 11, 2010 - came to me as a gift.

Several times that day I was forced to hold back a torrent of tears that rose up from the pit of my stomach. Several times I failed to do so. Those tears came for several things. For success, for failure, for happiness, for sadness, for memory of what we’ve achieved in my country, for sadness at a continuing selfishness that hurts us all, for bafana bafana, for my family, for the women I’ve loved, for friends I left behind, for football, for education, for dreams, for struggle. All of it.

But mostly... mostly... for the idea that for that beautiful, morning, I felt like I belonged here in this country, on this continent, on this planet.

That is a feeling I've wanted all my life. The reasons that I do not feel that as often as I should was the launching point for this blog in disguise - I needed a friend to tell me that in her own unique way. I never knew it before... or maybe I just never realised it. So no more fitting in. It's time I rewrote the world the fit me.

And that’s really what I was writing about. Below I’ve “borrowed” my published column from channel 24.co.za. For the responses and such, go here.

I hope you continue to read the blog regularly.
A

We ARE the World
Published June 11, 2010

I had to get off the bus a kilometre from where I normally do, and walk the rest of the way to the work this morning. The line of buses stretched way beyond the fanzone on the Grand Parade in Cape Town, and even as the sun was struggling to break the horizon, I could see that this would be a long wait.

This morning vuvuzelas and car horns were blasting - and still are as I write this - making it just a little harder to concentrate on work. It seems like every resident of Cape Town has invested in this most maligned and celebrated Mzansi paraphernalia.

This morning I heard that Madiba's granddaughter had died in a car crash on the way from the World Cup Kickoff Concert last night, and my thoughts went out to a man I consider to be a father in the African sense - how overjoyed on one hand he would have been to see a World Cup come to SA; but how bittersweet it will now be for this tragedy. Madiba, we are with your family in these times, as you have been with ours for so many years.

But this morning, I also felt like I felt that morning of April 27, 1994. This morning I felt like we - all of us - were actually feeling a true sense of joy and goodwill towards one another. Standing in that line on the way to vote back in '94, we looked at each other in much the same way. I saw in people's eyes then, as I did this morning, a dream realised. It's not that democracy had arrived, or that the World Cup was here, but that we felt happy about one common thing. Just one thing.

In this lifetime, it's idealistic to hope that so many of us can feel happy about a universal political ideology, a religion or even a share price. But in music, and also in sport, we come close. The World Cup is not just about football. It's about feeling - even for a moment - that we live in one world. And that at least for thirty days - at least for one day - at least for 90 minutes, we are citizens of planet Earth.

All of us. All.

Serena Manesh, Dan Sartain si - wk 24, 2010

2010-06-25T14:07:00.040+02:00

Titles click to full reviews

Dan Sartain
Lives
Various points on Lives are vivid sound swatches of familiar rock n' roll touch points: think an all-stars album consisting of Jack White, Dick Dale, the rhythm section out of Calexico, Nick Cave on helium, and the Cramps on valium. Sure there's less punkish attitude than most of those artists (who could honestly have more attitude than Lux Interior?), and yet somehow there's enough musical zip to buy into the big picture, because as a whole the album brings forth authentic nostalgic viscera – much like Mad Men the TV show does.
****

Serena Maneesh
No.2: Abyss in B Minor
Like any good 4AD record – and there are plenty of them dating as far back as the mid 1980s – the remainder of No 2: Abyss in B Minor is a sonic hotpot of wildly delicious and colourful noise. Beautiful, even, you may say, if your palate tends to swing the way of left-centre faves Lush or medium-range Swans or even Alison Goldfrapp meets Beck on PCP.

***

Image via Wikipedia

Slash
Slash
Andrew Stockdale [pic] of Wolfmother provides the standout on "By The Sword", bizarrely channelling Ray Davies, Robert Plant and David Byron all at once (actually, the song is a bit of a Zeppelin rip, but not in a bad way). That's high praise on an album that kicks off with Ian Astbury in standard GOD-OF-ROCK form, and where even Fergie isn’t as bad a trainwreck as you’d expect.
****

NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME (2010)

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Serena Manesh, Dan Sartain si - wk 24, 2010