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Blackhead
Does it not strike anyone as tasteless that Sky News has Andy Mcnab on talking about the three hostages that were being held in Iraq, two of whom have been beheaded.

This is Andy Mcnab the ex-SAS author who, when he appears on TV, has his head blacked out. So effectively it's a man with no head commenting on two men who have been decapitated.

Well done Sky News. 10:36

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Ripping Stuff
I've just bought a nice big hard drive and decided it's time to rip my nice big cd collection to my computer for on the move iPod access.

Follow the exciting progress day by day on our exclusive counter on the right hand side bar. 08:21

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Indiana Jones and The Holy Foreskin
I'm sure this'll be the next Indy film. He has to stop Jesus' foreskin falling into the hands of the Nazis because they want to harness it's special powers for their own ends (d'you see what I did there).

Ultimately they want to clone Jesus but add an evil twist to his DNA so he'll work for them as the Nazi Messiah.

On second thoughts, sounds more like a South Park episode.

Further explanation here - Holy Foreskin, Batman 10:47

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Ding Dong/ Chewing Gum
I'm usually not one to listen to the same song over and over, there's always something else to move on and listen to. Right now, amazingly, there is two songs I'm addicted to and I just can't stop listening to them.

The first is Ding Dong by Nellie Mckay from her album Get Away From Me (clearly she's bizarro Norah Jones, she must be hiding the wee beard with make up). The album is a mess of styles but brilliantly so from show tunes, pop, jazz and even rap and they're all written by McKay. All over the map and with the kind of enthusiasm that only a show off 19 year old could have. On the cover in her red duffle coat throwing her arms in the air, she must be screaming 'Look at me!'.

Ding Dong is infectiously great though, loved it from the moment I heard it. From the sprightly piano, the ding dong bell of the title, the fact she appears to sing it as though she's Audrey Hepburn apart from one line when she turns into Greta Garbo, it's brilliant stuff. I could almost hear Parkinson jumping on some of this stuff and this song certainly if it wasn't for the stylistic jumping on the album and the liberal sprinkling of swearing throughout.

Chewing Gum in contrast is electro pop by a Norwegian called Annie and should be a huge hit except it won't be because it was number 27 in the midweek chart which is nonsense. It's produced by Richard X who was behind the Sugababes Freak Like Me and Rachel Stevens Some Girls and I can't stop singing the damn thing and in fact I went out and bought the single yesterday and I haven't bought one of those in years. Good lyrics too, likening the men in her life to chewing gum. She thinks they're just chewing gum, chew a while till the flavours gone and then chuck it away, while they seem to be under the misapprahension that they're chocolate. 10:40

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Brian Wilson - Smile
As most who care will know, Smile is finally getting a release at the end of this month. The Beach Boys great lost record, Smile has been the root of much myth making and many bootlegs containing the original sessions. Brian Wilson's reputation almost rests on this record as much as it does Pet Sounds. Imagine the movement based nature of Good Vibrations spread across a whole record with arty lyrics about America's history, nature and the elements. It's a record of over reaching ambition where, like Icarus, he flew too close to the sun and fell back to Earth.

This isn't a release of the original sessions which is what everyone expected would happen especially after the release of the Pet Sounds Sessions box and the few tracks that turned up on the Good Vibrations set. After that it seemed the ideal time to dust off the Smile sessions. Instead the new release is a new recording and a reconstruction of what Smile should have been, or at least what The Wondermints, Wilson's backing band think it should have been. I can't help but think that they've heard all the bootlegs that we have and that they've created their own Smile mix, the only difference being they actually got to record it with Brian himself. How much new input Wilson had into the structure I would question.

How should the record be judged though. Should it be judged along side the records that it would have been released beside 37 years ago or should it be judged alongside the releases of today as a new album. No doubt it will be judged against both. From what I've heard of it online it'll easily stand up against anything. It's been recorded very sympathetically when compared to the original sessions. This album could very easily have been a grave-robbing disaster especially when it involves rerecording not only unreleased tracks but also long time favourites like Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains. Thankfully Brian's band know what they are doing and bring the same care to the record as they brought to the live shows. Also, involving original lyricist Van Dyke Parks has helped with including some new lyrics and also recovering lyrics for songs that only existed as instrumentals on the available boots.

Roll on the 27th!
 10:21

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Honest
I walk into the library taking back a pile of CD's I've had out. Placing them on the counter the librarian goes through each one checking the discs are inside and scanning them into the computer.

Then she gets to the two CDR's at the bottom.

"Oh, didn't want to see that", she says as I whip them back into my bag.

"Erm, they aren't copies of the CD's. Honest"

"Yeah..."

"No, really they're not. They're full of mp3's I've downloaded illegally from the web. This iPod in my pocket that's where I copy all the CD's I get from the library"

This happened on Monday. Well, except for the last sentence. 10:33

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Ginger Geezer
The fine line between genius and madness is never more pronounced than when reading about the life of Vivian Stanshall, writer, artist, musician, depressive and alcoholic.

In many ways it's delightful to read of this highly creative man with his love of languange and his dedication to the act of creation. Hand in hand with this though is the understanding that this was a man with all his receptors open all the time, his brain fizzing on overdrive. The problems seem to have started after an American tour with the Bonzos in 1967 and there is speculation that he may have dropped acid on this *ahem* trip and come back a changed man. Like many of the most sensitive artists who tried the potent acid of the time this appears to have affected him greatly. His brain already highly active and with no thick skin between him and the world something radically changed. One only has to point to Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett to see the effects that LSD could have on a sensitive mind.

Suffering from depression Vivian was then prescribed Valium before Doctors understood the problems this could cause. He spent the rest of his life addicted to tranquilisers and this combined with his large alcohol intake made him a difficult person to get along with. From tragedy sometimes comes absurdity and humour though and there are so many episodes in his life that at the time were probably tragic but in hindsight contain great humour.

In the late 70's he started living on a houseboat and at one point had to go to hospital with a dislocated shoulder.

"Mr Stanshall, I have bad news for you", says the director of the hospital, "your boat has sunk".

Vivian thinking they were speaking metaphorically and were suggesting there was no hope for him replied "Nonsense, I'm as fit as a fiddle!"

"No, no, you don't understand, your boat has sunk"

Another tale has Vivian laid up with a hurt leg. When he says to a friend he is coming to visit, the friend suggests he get himself a crutch to help him walk. Vivian immediately steps into the back garden with an axe and chops down a small tree. Instant crutch. Sticking a sock and football boot on the end he's ready for the off. Unfortuntely when he gets to his friends neighbourhood he knocks at the wrong door.

The door is opened by a Jewish woman in her Sixties who is confronted by the site of "a wild-eyed giant reeking of rum, wearing octagonal glasses, a long knotted red beard and a nightshirt covered in moons and stars". And oh yes, a tree with a football boot on the end as a crutch. Vivian roars "Where's, Pete!" at which point the old lady screams in terror and Vivian collapses on top of here before getting up and staggering off leaving her in a heap.

Such a fine line between comedy and tragedy.

I'm most of the way through Ginger Geezer by Lucian Randall and Chris Welch and it is a fine read and an interesting insight into someone who is seen as one of the last great English eccentrics. This is true in so far as he led his life as a true artist, always creating art and always enjoying creating scenes in public to see the reactions of those around him even when it might lead him into danger (trawling round Soho with Keith Moon both dressed in Gestapo uniforms springs to mind). However we as the public can have our view of the funny eccentric, his wonderful voice, songs and writings but for those around him and for Vivian himself real life was often difficult and tragic and as much as he can be an inspiration, he can also be pitiful and self destructive.

I'm near the end of the book and I can see that Vivian's situation and health is deteriorating and knowing what I know of the events surrounding his death this is going to be diffcult to read.

Tragedy. Genius. Self-Destruction. Sensitivity. More often than not unfortunate bedfellows. 10:20

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