Despite what you may think, I don’t really watch an awful
lot of TV. I have a selection of shows
that I watch on a weekly basis but on the whole that’s it. However what I do watch, I tend to love and
stick with. True Blood, Weeds and a show
that is rapidly becoming a mild obsession of mine, Flight of the
Conchords.
Now if you have never witnessed or heard of Flight of the
Conchords (which is quite possible), let me explain…
Flight of the Conchords are a two man New Zealand ‘novelty’ band that
have also created a TV show parodying themselves. You with me so far?
The TV show is a very low budget musical comedy about the
two guys (Brett & Jermaine) living in New York trying to make something of
the band . They have hired a manager in
the form of Murray, who works for the New Zealand consulate in New York. A job that gives him plenty of free time to
mismanage them.
As well as Murray the band have a fan. Yep, that’s right, one fan, Mel and a friend
(of sorts) who part owns the local pawn shop.
Any and every member of the cast can (and will) burst into
song at any given moment which in my world, is just magic! The songs tend to parody
a particular artist or genre. We’ve had Prince, Bowie, Pet Shop
Boys, Opera and an entire episode based on West Side Story.
Rather obscure and entirely weird, most people look at me
sympathetically when I mention this love of mine. So you can imagine how happy I was to hear
that Brett has just won an Oscar for best song!
OK it’s not a Conchords song BUT it is a Muppet's song which is almost as
good and it's a vindication of sorts!
The song, "Man or Muppet" is a gem and rather addictive so I won't post a link to the video or you'll be singing "am I man or am I Muppet" for the next few weeks.
Anyway there really isn't much point to this post apart from the share my love of the Conchords and try to force you to check them out. I leave now with one of personal favourites from the show, "If You're Into It":
Well ladies and gentlemen, it has been a while hasn't it? I am in fact still here and still breathing. Life*, Work** & sheer laziness*** have kept me from keeping you informed of my comings and goings. With that in mind then it's clearly got to be something really special to have lured me back onto my poor neglected blog and boy would you be right. Yes world, It appears I have a new musical love.
If you know my father (and I know some of you do) you'll know 4 things about him:
His hair is just crazy (to the point of madness)
He's amazing (to the point of madness)
He's fair (to the point madness)
He can sense whether something is great, or shite, in about 2 seconds flat
Now I'm not claiming to have inherited all of these characteristics but two I definitely have. Point 4 thankfully is one of them. I know virtually instantly if I'm going to love or hate something, especially when it comes to music. As an example, when I was 18 I once bought three albums by an artist based on a 5 second snippet of song I heard on a TV programme. After listening to them, I was vindicated and in fact still own (and listen to) the three albums today.
I can't even count how many times my husband has scolded me for spontaneously downloading albums in the middle of things, based on snippets of songs I've overheard. I stand by it though. I've rarely, if ever, been wrong! My latest find however is a real corker.
Sky Arts played sets from most of the major festivals this year and one of the sets included a couple of songs from soul rock band Vintage Trouble. After about 30 seconds I turned to Bryan and decreed that they were good. A few minutes later I had acquired the album and my great taste in music was celebrated by one by all (well, me and Bry mostly). Also, as luck would have it they were coming to Cardiff in Dec and better than that tickets were £9. Bloody marvellous!
The concert was on Monday 19th December at the Glee Club and my God was it good. Put quite simply, this was one of the best gigs I've ever been to.
The BEST concert I've ever been to was Prince. An absolutely mind blowing performance from one of the greatest (irregardless of whether you love or loathe him) musicians in the world. Stiff competition for a band from LA that's been together for less than 2 years. In all honesty though, they're not too far behind!
The lead singer Ty Taylor has a voice that simply makes you want to lick everything in the room. Note perfect and smoother than a cashmere codpiece he damn near hypnotises you. Nalle Colt on guitars is a marvel. There's a guitar solo towards the end of 'Run Outta You' that makes you want to drop to your knees ( in prayer people, in prayer). Richard Danielson on drums and Rick Barrio Dill on Bass are also just incredible.
Thanks to the drunken dancing of one of our little party of 5 (I'm too nice to mention names) we managed to secure a surprisingly large dance floor for such a small venue and took full advantage of it. In fact I danced so hard I couldn't actually bend my knees for a full 24hours after. Physical injury, a sign of a good concert if ever there was one.
I always feel it's a great privilege to see great talent on the way up. I have no doubt that Vintage Trouble are going to become huge. Next time we get to see them in Cardiff I expect the band (and venue), will be much bigger.
A friend who had already seen the band said to me "I thought they were great musicians with great stage presence, but I
didn't think that their songs are as good as the ones in their record
collections". A rather smart and funny comment I thought and yes, I can see there's some truth to it. The band have some very clear influences and with those in mind, some bloody big shoes to fill. Give them a few years though. I've no doubt they'll get there. I for one shall be watching them very closely.
Now as to the second quality i've inherited from my dad. I'll let you decide.
I leave you now with Vintage Trouble on Jools Holland. Enjoy!
Well last week my hubby and I (and a couple of eager friends) went to Clwb Ifor Bach for our first Silent Disco. A fabulous night of manic dancing, name that tune and mime was had by all.
I'll be honest, it was little weird initially. Walking into a quiet, crowded room of people pulling some (quite frightening) moves on the dance floor is quite a spectacle! Fun but weird. Anyway it didn't take long to get into the groove and soon we were all up making arses of ourselves like the rest of them.
The only thing wrong was the heat. Clubs generally, are sweltering places. I understand that. This however, was in a world of it's own! I don't know whether it's down to all extra electronics required for the 'silent disco' or what but the heat was unreal.
Sweat was literally puddling on the floors and tables by the time we called a halt to the evenings frivolities. When we oozed down the stairs and out to the fresh air we realised everyone had been suffering the same. Little groups of people where standing outside sucking in great wafts of air. No one looked in disgust at our soaked clothes and dripping faces as they all looked as bad as we did.
All in all though it was a tremendous night. We'll definitely be going back. This time however we'll be prepared for the heat. I wonder if it will show my age if I bring one of those little battery powered fans?! Hmm.
Creepy men oiling their way towards you on the dancefloor is something almost every girl has to deal with at some point in their lives. That's why this video by The Loney Island has me laughing and cringing in horror at the same time.
I can't decide if I love it or hate it so i'll let you decide . . .
Well Monday night I went to see My Chemical Romance at the CIA in Cardiff. Terrified I was going to be the oldest member of the audience I emo’d up and after a liberal application of eye liner I felt ready to face the crowd.
As it turns out I wasn’t the only grown up there. There were plenty of us. Granted most of them did seem to be chaperoning their ‘yoof’ but for my own self confidence I neatly ignored that fact.
The Blackout
The concert was very good. Not much interaction with the audience but they came, they performed well and they left. I suppose you can’t really ask for much more. I’m not a huge fan but I do like some of their tracks and if I’m perfectly honest, after a busy couple of months I really needed to let my hair down. So I did and had a cracking, wild night.
The highlight of the night though was undoubtedly Welsh band ‘The Blackout’ who were supporting. They played their wee souls out and barely stopped chatting with the crowd. They even had us all kneel down which is an interesting vantage point for a rock concert!
On a rather different musical note, I’m going to see a singer/songwriter called ‘Teddy Thompson’ at the Glee Club tonight. If I’m honest, I have no idea who he is or what his music is like but tickets were reasonable and there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of mystery on a Wednesday night.
Personally I’m hoping for a mellow, eyeliner free evening. I’ll keep you posted.
Well I have finally come round to what the rest of the world already knew; Glee rocks. I knew I would love it because everyone that knows me has been telling me to watch it since day one. So finally, I did.
Glee is everything you would expect from a show based around a high school glee club. It’s camp, musical and comic. In fact it’s everything most musicals are and as a huge fan of musical theatre that’s fine by me.
Season 2 kicked off this week in the UK and it promises to be just as much fun. With more impromptu singing than before, the first episode had me practically bouncing for joy.
My absolute highlight of the whole series however has been when Jesse met Rachel by the Stephen Sondheim section (if only!) of the library:
"I picked the Stephen Sondheim biography section for our clandestine meeting place because only he would be able to express my melancholia."
As a girl who has spent years raving about Sondheim only to be met with the inevitable response of “Who?” I whooped with joy at that moment!
Another particularly unusual thing about the show is the fact that I am not remotely attracted to any member of the cast! This is highly strange for me. Ok, so most of them are high school kids which I shouldn’t be looking at anyway but there is the odd adult chucked in there for good measure and yet still no stirrings. Congratulations to the casting director for managing to find a completely asexual group of people! It’s given me a whole new viewing experience.
So while the show loosely weaves plots around its chosen song and then tries to wedge some sort of moral in there for good measure, I don’t care. It’s smartly written and has great music. I could do a lot worse in this dark, miserable January than a show that makes me laugh, sigh and most importantly, makes me gleeful.
I believe I have reasonable taste in music. Mine is a fairly eclectic collection (isn't everybody's?) but I've managed to spend most of my life without falling for allure of 'chart music'. However suddenly i'm starting to feel the call of none other that the popiest of pop music, my teenage nemesis, boy band music! Yes, I'm starting to REALLY like Take That!
During my teenage years Take That started their reign over my peers and I scoffed every single one of them for their shameful taste in music. Boy band?! Pah, how could anyone find that remotely appealing. They looked like ken dolls and had about as much charisma as Ken too in my opinion. Needless to say there were no Mark or Robbie posters on my walls, I didn't have a stash of Smash Hits piled up in the corner of my room and I didn't know the dance moves to Could It Be Magic. Then, long overdue in my opinion, Take That disappeared into the ether and my friends returned to normal.
Now many years later the boys are back. I balked at their return and proclaimed it would be a disaster. If they where crap first time around, how bad would be this time?!
However it seems I may have spoken a little too soon as I'm growing rather fond of the boys! I still find the lot of them as appealing as Mr Bean but the music seems pretty good this time around! Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age or maybe, just maybe, they've got their act together.
I'm truly loving the new song 'Flood' and I can't even hear 5 seconds of 'Rule The World' without wanting to stick the movie Stardust on (which the song is the theme too). Incidentally, Stardust as a movie is not bad wee film, however it's not exceptional either, yet somehow every time I hear that song it makes me think it's the best movie in the world and I must watch it. Inevitably, when I do finally submit and watch it, I'm always disappointed!
Anyway I've tried to cure myself of this new affliction but I just can't. I've recently been catching myself singing along to not only the new songs but the crap old ones as well! Is this a consequence of my getting older, am I just a sick sick person or have I been put under some sinister spell by the not so fab five?! I'd really love to know.
I’m over the moon at the moment. Today tickets went on sale for the second round of the 30 Seconds to Mars Into the Wild Tour. I saw the band (and the gorgeous lead singer Jared Leto) earlier on in the year and come November they are returning to Cardiff for part 2.
The concert in February was fantastic. Without doubt it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to and it caught me by surprise as I honestly wasn’t expecting it.
I’ve been not so quietly crushing on Jared Leto since he first appeared in ‘My So called Life’ many years ago. Any girl my age worth their salt will remember sighing deeply at the telly as the beautiful but dumb outsider Jordan Catalano wooed Claire Danes by performing with his band.
My So Called Life
As beautiful as the boy is however I always held a belief that he was probably a bit of an arse. As it turns he may well be an arse. In fact there is tale of him wandering through an award show party simply approaching every women in the place with the classy chat up line ‘Wanna fuck?’. Not exactly suave now is it? To be fair though men, if you looked like him, you probably wouldn’t need much chatter to get by. Girls are a sucker or a blue eyed boy.
Arse or not though, the boy can perform. The concert was spectacular. Jared Leto launched himself into the crowd on many occasions and they relocated the stage all over the place so no one was ever too far from the band for too long. The band also nattered with the audience between almost every song and had tonnes of people onstage for the finale. So a fab night all round.
I’m hoping November will be just as spectacular. Also, as Jared stared directly at me in Feb, let’s see if he’ll remember me . . .
Thursday the 10th June saw me, my husband and some friends standing in Coopers field, Cardiff waiting for Florence & The Machine to come on stage. As excited as a kitten, I'd been looking forward to this concert for quite a while.
Since listening to the album 'Lungs' at the end of 2009 I've been rapidly falling in love with Florence Welch. I'm afraid as well as a wonderful ethereal voice and legs that don't seem to end, Florence also has a wardrobe I would give my right eye for.
The concert was held in a large, open circus tent and it was a little claustrophobic as around 30,000 fans tried to inch towards the stage. Thankfully we'd claimed our spot reasonably early and had a relatively good view.
I freely admit to being a bit of an odd concert go-er. While a view is wonderful, I seem to spend most of my time with my eyes closed just letting the music wash over me. The sound at Coopers field was, as expected for such a large gig, pretty shite. However, we were close enough to be able to feel the music and hear it reasonably well. Anytime poor Florence spoke however, I don't think any of us heard a word. Still, lets be honest, I wasn't there to hear how she'd spent her day. I was there to hear her sing and sing she did!
The concert kicked of with 'Howl' which is one of my favorites from the album. A savage song, about carnal lust which I just can't get enough of:
"The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground"
This raw, animalistic sentiment is in a lot of her songs and when you consider her porcelain appearance, you'd be forgiven for thinking the concert would be a rather tame affair but far from it, the girl performed with a wild fury that really befits her lyrics.
Florence also performed a new track which sounded fantastic. I think it was called 'Strageness', although to be fair, with the poor sound I could be completely wrong.
Other personal highlights included, Girl With One Eye, Cosmic Love, Dog Days Are Over and Rabbit Heart. All of which built to a rather orgasmic climax.
The only negatives of the night were the crappy sound and the claustrophobic heat. I left craving a bottle of water, longer set list, 2nd album & another concert!
A quiet little reception, snow patrol playing softly in the background. An attractive man walks in & sits in the chair opposite you. You risk a glance from your paper & your eyes meet momentarily. A flirtatious smile flits across your lips as the music fades. It appears to be reciprocated & you blush gently. You both hold your gaze for a moment longer.
Suddenly, the music comes back on blasting the Divinyls 'I Touch Myself'. You quickly look back to your paper & remind yourself you're happily married anyway.
Well after several listens to the third & much hyped 30 Seconds To Mars album, I feel that I am now finally in a position to comment on it.
It's not really very good.
Not the harshest criticism the band has received for it's latest release, i'm sure, but still I think it's a fair review. It's not bad that's for sure, oh no I would never go that far. It's just not that good either. Despite the massive production on some tracks it still manages to feel like something produced by a band that got themselves a brand new Yamaha keyboard for Christmas. A really good yamaha, top of the line and all that, not like the ones you and I would have been gifted, but still, the result is the same.
What's worse though are the rather awful lyrics. Now as a supposed EMO band I give them a pretty easy ride on the lyrics front anyway, but this is just appaling. Cliche after cliche seeps from every pore of this album. Here's an example. Have a gander at the snappy opening to Search & Destroy:
"Grab your gun. Time to go to hell. I'm no hero. Guilty as charged. Search & Destroy"
Rather obscure and entirely weird, most people look at me
sympathetically when I mention this love of mine. So you can imagine how happy I was to hear
that Brett has just won an Oscar for best song!
OK it’s not a Conchords song BUT it is a Muppet's song which is almost as
good and it's a vindication of sorts!
