- 54-46

'Put your hands in the air sir
And you will get no hurt mister'

Fred Toots Hibbert

I don't use marijuana but I consider the continued illegality of the substance to be, quite frankly, ridiculous. everyone and their dog knows that alcohol is much worse for you. Just let people get on with it if that's what they enjoy. Getting imprisoned for marijuana possession takes the piss, although it did lead to two of the greatest songs ever made.

Imagine if someone like the Beatles or Stones were still performing...

The lyrics of Fred Toots Hibbert's '54-46 that's my number' and '54-46 was my number' describe Toots' time in prison for an arrest for possession of said drug. 54-46 was Toots' prisoner ID number during his servitude, and the original recording was made shortly after his release.

If you're not completely overwhelmed by these two tracks then there's something wrong with you.

Toots and the Maytals - 54-46 that's my number

Toots and the Maytals - 54-46 was my number

- HD Radio breathes life into local radio stations

A lot of us fans of old JP radio shows are fairly used to the sound of tinny, wishy-washy distortion, which can come as quite a shock to those of us from the, ahem, younger generations, who are used to all things digital. High Definition is a real buzzword at the moment and not without good reason. Just as you'll be finding with your TVs round about now, a lot of stations are gradually making the switch over to the HD format. The same is also true for radio, eventually we'll all need to get ourselves a HD radio receiver. Imagine how good those Peel shows would have sounded had we been able to tune in via HD for all those years?

What does all this mean, I hear you ask. Basically, local radio stations will be available to us as ever they have been; the American market seems to be gearing up ahead of schedule if the info I found on the HD radio website is anything to go by.

So, what is the point? Well, I've never had a problem with low quality radio frequencies, but eventually you've got to accept that times are changing, and maybe even for the better. HD radios look like they're going to have some pretty cool functions. Unlike our old mucker JP whoı went to such pains to give us as much info as possible about artists, my experience of hearing new songs on the radio, expecially here in Turkey, usually involves never finding out who the artist is until months later, if ever. HD radios could solve this nightmare with iPod Tagging, which basically means you'll be able to stick your ipod in the radio and tag the songs you like, thus being able to find out who's singing. I'm starting to feel very old all of a sudden! Times they are a certainly changing if this funky Polk iSonic ES2 is anything to go by.

- 3 Track Demo Out Now

So, I finally sent my demo CD to those lovely folks at Dandelion Radio. I thought about this long and hard, after all I abhor the music industry and think it sucks the life out of so many who choose this as a profession. My music has always been solely for my own personal pleasure, I've never sought to gain from it in any way other than in the satisfaction of having produced something that I thought was pretty cool.

I've certainly gone to great lengths not to use this blog as a tool for promoting what is in essence my hobby, not even listing my myspace page anywhere on it. Never the less, a part of me would like others to give my stuff a listen and say, 'hey, that ain't bad', or not of course. So, here's your opportunity to slaughter me and my efforts...

The Entrailicus 3 Track Demo:

- Urban Sprawl
- The Future II
- French Influence



File size.12mb

Comments, as ever, are welcomed.

- Bloody Shoegazers: Moose Session, 1991

Shoegazing was really crap, let's be honest. Were you a shoegazer in the early 90s? If so, I hope you're turning red with shame as you read. I most certainly was not, although I was partial to the music of My Bloody Valentine and Ride in particular. Rumour has it that Moose were the ones who started the whole bloody thing, thanks to vocalist Russell Yates reading lyrics taped to the floor at one of their early gigs. 

A Shoegazer, yesterday

While we're at it, if you've somehow managed to go through life witholut having heard 'Soon' by My Bloody Valentine, stop whatever you're doing right now and click on the video clip below. I won't try and describe how bloody awesome the song is as I'd fail, just be warned that this will make you reevaluate everything you thought you knew about music...

MBV, they don't make 'em like this any more

Anyhows, back to the Moose session, which, according to my no doubt inaccurate sources, was recorded in June, 1991 and broadcast soon after.

TRACKLIST

-Susanne
-In Every Dream Home A Heartache
-Je Reve
-Do You Remember?

LINE UP

Damien Warburton (Drums)
Jeremy Tishler (Bass)
Moose Mckillop (Guitar)
Russell Yates (Guitar, Vocals)
Timbo Gane (Guitar)
Laetitia Sadier (Vocals-Je Reve Only)

File size: 24mb

- 1976 Festive 50 Heartbreak #1: War's 'Low Rider'

So it begins...

Inevitably, asking you to trawl through your memories and choose 3 tracks from 1976 was going to cause problems, i.e. some of yous would end up picking songs from '75. In a rare case of me actually researching for the blog, I've come up with the first such case of 75ism. ın this case, it's War's classic 'Low Rider'. According to this quote which I've lifted blatantly from Wikipedia,

"The lyric takes the cool image of the low rider — the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars — and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle."

November 1975 sadly...

It's a bloody great track, never the less, and so is getting aired now.



If you're one of those select few who chose this, feel free to get back to me with an altyernative.

- My Tiger My Timing

My Tiger My Timing do Myspace

My tiger My Timing are a newish band from London, Anna from whom got in touch with me a while back asking me to give them an airing on the blog. Described as 'helping to usher in a new era of intelligent dance music' and as 'offering a refreshing mix of danceable experimental hypno-pop', they use afro-beat in an appealing and innovative way. I like the cut of their gib and recommend you give 'em a listen.

They have three tracks available for your downloading pleasure:

- This is not a fire

- I cant stop

- Conversation starter

More information on the band is available on their myspace page.

- Most Embrassing Moments

I just received this via email and thought I'd share it with you...

A radio station in Australia ran a phone-in competition to find the Most embarrassing moment in listener's lives. The final four were:

4th Place
While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy and started to run amuck. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she didn't start behaving herself, right now, she would be punished. To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, 'If you don't let me go right now, I will tell Grandma I saw you kissing Daddy's willie last night.' After this enlightening exchange, the silence was deafening. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank, with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard as the door closed behind me were screams of laughter.

3rd Place
It was the day before my 18th birthday. I was living at home, but my parents had gone out for the evening, so I invited my girlfriend over for a romantic night alone. As we lay in bed after making love, we heard the telephone ringing downstairs. I suggested to my girlfriend that I give her a piggyback ride down to the phone, since we didn't want to miss the call & we didn't have time to get dressed. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, the lights suddenly came on as a whole crowd of people yelled 'SURPRISE'. My entire family parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousins as well as my friends, were standing there. My girlfriend and I were frozen on the spot in a state of shock and embarrassment for what seemed like an eternity. Since then, no one in my family has planned any surprise parties.

2nd Place
A lady picked up several items at a discount store. When she finally Got up to the checkout, she learned that one of the items had no price tag.
The checkout girl got on the public address system, which boomed out across the store for everyone to hear, 'Price check for Tampax supersize.'
But it got worse. Someone at the rear of the store apparently misunderstood word 'Tampax' for 'Thumbtacks', and replied in a business like tone, his voice booming over the same public address system: 'Do you want the kind you push in with your thumb or the kind one you belt in with a hammer.

1st Place .
And the winner is…

This happened at a major Australian University , during a biology lecture. A professor was discussing the high glucose levels found in semen. A young woman raised her hand and asked, 'If I understand you correctly, you are saying there is as much glucose in male semen as in sugar?' The professor responded, yes, that's correct adding some statistical data. Raising her hand again, the girl asked, 'Then why doesn't it taste sweet?' After a stunned silence, the whole class burst out laughing. The poor girl turned bright red, and as she realised exactly what she had inadvertently said, she picked up her books, and without another word, walked out of the class. However, as she was heading for the door, the professor's reply was a classic. Totally straight faced, he answered her question. 'It doesn't taste sweet because the taste-buds for sweetness are on the tip of your tongue and not in the back of your throat'.