No Rock And Roll Fun

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

McFly album: Now on a par with a catalogue of deck shoes

We could see the free Prince album giveaway - clearly, nobody much was going to pay for a Prince album, but might have been just curious enough to take a free copy with the Mail On Sunday.

But now, the Mail has done a deal to give away a free McFly album:

Tom Fletcher told the BBC: "We get to put [the album] into almost three million homes, which is an incredible opportunity for us. Hopefully the three million people will all enjoy the music and they'll decide to see us when we go on tour."

It's a lovely dream; we do like to picture three million people turning up eager to see McFly, like some sort of Jarrow March.

But we'd not picture there being much of a crossover between the McFly target audience (if such a thing still exists) and the sort of people who take the Mail On Sunday, and really the exciting opportunity is to put three million discs straight into landfill. At least if they did the giveaway through the Observer, the readers would recycle them.

Other types of sunglasses are available

An email alerts us to the nifty deal done by IPC to get the NME picture galleries sponsored by RayBans.

RayBans used to be a cool youth brand twenty years ago, you know; now, they're riding off a fading reputation. Can't see any synergy between them and the NME there.

Still, there's nothing wrong with a bit of clearly-labelled sponsorship, so long as it's kept separate from the editorial and there's no suspicion that plugs are being scattered through the actual business of the paper, eh? The three plugs for the brand are entirely valid.

At least there's a faint stirring of conscience:

And as much as we'd love to hate this kind of corporate stuff, we have to admit that those Ray Bans are pretty darn nice.

... and so long as you get a positive mention of the sponsor in while you try and salve your better nature, it's all okay, yeah?

Glastonbury: Still unsold tickets

Twenty four hours before the hardcore start to pitch tents, there are still Glastonbury tickets left unsolde:

"There were about 3,000 left this morning," Mr Eavis told the BBC News website on Tuesday.

"But they are going out slowly. We did about 800 yesterday so we'll just about scrape home without losing my shirt."

Well, yes - his shirt is safe:

Mr Eavis said the charities that receive money from the festival - Water Aid, Oxfam and Greenpeace - were likely to lose out as a result of any unsold tickets and the rising cost of staging the event.

Even Glastonbury is feeling the pinch of the rising oil prices - those wind turbines don't take up all the slack, you know.

The latest weather forecast: cloudy for Friday and Sunday, light rain for Saturday.

Barat's out

With Amy Winehouse released under doctor's orders - and being snapped smoking a fag as she drove away from the hospital - it's better news to hear that Carl Barat has also been discharged:

"I am feeling much better, almost as good as I ever do. It's not as bad as I thought, it appears that the pancreatitis was probably caused by a combination of the medication I was talking (for congestion that I still get after my ear operation) and maybe the odd drink too many.

"I was discharged from hospital at the weekend, which was liberating. I have been told to take it easy this week and I shan't be over exerting myself, which may be difficult as the LP is out next week and there are rehearsals to be had. Anyways, as long as I behave I should be right as rain (back to full health) before you know it."

We love that he explained the meaning of 'right as rain' - presumably in case there were any Baltic web moderators reading.

Wood withdraws paintings

We know that Ronnie Wood's reputation as an artist is that he's not that bad, in a helps-he's-famous way, but it doesn't help enough when you ask people to shell out cash for his work.

Wood was trying to flog a picture of himself and Rod Stewart on eBay, but has withdrawn the lot after it only managed about half the reserve. Mind you that was five hundred quid, so it's not like people were totally turning their noses up.

Perhaps if he'd only done Rod...

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet

Juliana Hatfield continues her exploration of her back catalogue - reaching Congratulations:

I found a way to throw in the word “jellyroll” because I wanted to — was always trying to — vie for inclusion into the rock and roll continuum, which started back with all the blues guys who sang about “jellyroll.” And then there was Lou Reed. I wanted to be included in that club. The rock and roll boys club. For the same reason, I named my first album “Hey Babe.” Like Lou Reed sang. It all comes back to Lou Reed, doesn’t it?

Gordon on the radio

Gordon Smart is currently on Today, trying to knock down the suggestion that female celebrities get a rougher ride than male celebrities. He offered the suggestion that he wrote about Pete Doherty as much as Amy Winehouse - although, if he was being honest, he'd have admitted that Doherty was covered more because of his connection with Kate Moss (and, recently, with Amy) than in his own right - Doherty was promoted to tabloid regular status because he was Moss' boyfriend, not because he was Barat's brother in arms.

Effectively, in the end, Gordon accepted the charges:

"[T]here will be a male slant on things I write... of course we reflect stereotypes in the way we write."

... but then he could hardly do otherwise, could he, with his acres of bangers and trumpeting of "shagger of the year". What he might have said is that the column was more-or-less dealing in the same stereotypes when Victoria Newton was the picture above the stories, but it didn't seem to occur to him.

Chest-to-chest: Papa Winehouse against the business

From emphysema to "a little bit of emphysema" to not having emphysema at all: what an amazing recovery Amy Winehouse has made a wonderful improvement.

The latest intervention has come from her US publicist:

A publicist for Winehouse later said [Mitch] had misspoken "out of his concern for her."

"She is not diagnosed with full-blown emphysema, but instead has early signs of what could lead to emphysema," Tracey Miller, her U.S.-based representative, told The Associated Press on Monday.

Yes, because who would be in a better place to judge the true state of someone's health? The father who took her to hospital and was at her bedside while doctors tried to work out what had caused her to collapse, or a New York based spokesperson.

Still, bloody lucky that it's not "full-blown" emphysema (a medical term we've not come across before) - can you imagine the insurance implications for the record company if they had to send someone with emphysema out to promote records?

Gordon in the morning: A rash of puns

If we didn't know better, we'd assume that this morning's Bizarre had been knocked out by someone for whom English was a third, or maybe fourth, language, as bad pun piles on top of bad pun.

Sarah Harding in a bikini? Why, she's "tan-tastic" and - because you can see her belly - "tum-thing's up".

Coleen McLoughlin planning to display her wedding dress? That would make her a "troophy wife", then.

Paris Hilton photographed at a masked ball? She's got "no hiding face", then.

Yes, no hiding face. No, we don't know what a hiding face is, nor why putting a mask over it means that it isn't there. Perhaps they've overdosed on Doctor Who.

Talking of which, Billie Piper makes an appearance with an actual - sort of - story; she fears that the topless scenes in Diary Of A Call Girl might have ruined her chances of a Hollywood career:

“Someone said the other day, rather viciously, ‘What A-list stars get their tits out?’

“And then I started thinking, ‘Oh, my God, what have I done? I’ve ruined my future career.’”

Yes. It's not like you can think of a squillion Hollywood movies where the female lead does naked squirming, is it?

To be honest, Billie, it's going to be less likely that going topless harmed your career. It's more the choice of role - after all, who is going to hire an actor who's played a blogger on-screen?

Monday, June 23, 2008

Allen's alright, says bloke who gave her a job

Despite the poor viewing figures and lukewarm critical reception, Danny Cohen is sure that giving Lily Allen a job presenting TV was a good choice:

"Sometimes I think, well what do you want, critics? We try to nurture new talent and then people lay into them. I think people have been tough on Lily.

"She is incredibly talented and charismatic, and I tend to agree with one or two critics who have suggested that she might not have had the same level of criticism if it had been a man presenting."

Well, yes, it might be a bit hard on you to complain had you done something more inspired in the search for new talent than gone "oh, let's get someone who's already famous for doing something else and get them to present a show..." - it's not like you spent weeks auditioning newcomers and watching showreels before discovering a fresh face, is it?

And, perhaps, she'd have got an easier ride if she'd been a bloke. Just maybe. (Although being a man didn't help Eagle Eye Cherry much, did it?) But certainly, if she'd been any good doing a show that was half watchable, she'd have been given an even easier one.

GCap screws up... thrice

Perhaps it's all the thought of mergers and networking, but GCap radio stations seem to keep getting themselves into trouble with Ofcom. A couple of weeks ago, a slew of their stations were ticked off for failing to play the music they'd promised; this time round, Ofcom have had to consider a complaint about the surprisingly enthusiastic commentary about a car dealership on Mercia FM:

“…I’m going to get myself over to Coventry’s new Sytner Car Garage on Holyhead Road, between now and Sunday, and pick myself up a brand new BMW M3 saloon
… it’s all very sparkly. They’re unveiling this new M3. Get yourself down there before
Sunday and have a look at all the new nice shiny cars they’re showing off. We’ll be
out and about … giving out prizes, giving out leaflets, explaining what’s going to be
down there. So come and find us in and about Coventry and get down to Sytner on
the Holyhead Road… ”

GCap suggested this was just an enthusiastic young team member making a slip; Ofcom were less forgiving:

We do not believe it is reasonable to say that there was editorial justification to refer to the garage and its products in such exuberant terms simply to describe the Thunder Co-ordinator’s intended location.

More surprisingly, listeners in the West Country were surprised to hear this trail on GWR at breakfast time:

“Easter bunny here. If you laugh at my big teeth again, I’ll knock yours out. Happy f(*)cking Easter, you fatmotherf(*)cker”.

The presenters had bleeped out the vowel sounds in the words and - for some reason - thought that would be good enough.

Oddly, Ofcom seem only to be bothered about the swear words themselves, not the concept of the Easter Bunny threatening violence - which, surely, is a little extreme for a family radio programme?

Oh, and for good measure, XFM played a track with "shit" and "motherfucker" in the lyrics.

Still, at least GCap aren't as terrible as the error made by First Baltic Music Channel - another one of those overseas services which are regulated by Ofcom as they play out from the UK. Indeed, their slip was so bad, it might be the first time Ofcom has considered a complaint from another nation's media regulators, as the Lithuanian TV regulator issued an objection to this scrolling text message, which went out three times:

“To the Aryans! Happy New Year! Love, happiness and success in the New Year! From the Skinheads”

First Baltic Music's response is quite surprising:

Baltic Media Alliance said that all its programmes comply with the Code. It said that
the moderator who allowed the text message to be broadcast had checked the
wording of the message with Microsoft Word’s dictionary which stated that “Arian”
was a “follower of the ancient Greek Christian theologian Arius” and that a “skinhead”
was either a nickname or a British description for a closely-cropped hairstyle. It said that neither one of these terms breached the Code. It said that moderators have a
short time in which to check and consider any message to be broadcast and that in
instances where there is uncertainty, moderators are instructed to check the meanings of words through the Microsoft Word dictionary.

So, it was all Bill Gate's fault for not making the Microsoft Word dictionary a little more explicit about racism, then. Ofcom's judgement suggested that compliance might require a little more effort than merely hoping Word would underline racist bigotry with a squiggly purple line.

Switch off analogue radio, says digital radio team

The Digital Radio Working Group - appointed by government to think deep thoughts about promoting digital radio in the UK - have called for analogue to be switched off altogether.

Well, yes, that's one way of persuading people to buy digital radios.

But they turn out to be in no great hurry - they're suggesting the switch-off of FM should be completed by 2020, or three full years after the robot ants make us our their slaves. This far-distant future vision is compounded by the belief that, along with some talk of trying to get European harmonisation, the main way radio will be listened to a decade or so hence will still be DAB:

"We believe that, at least for the foreseeable future, the UK market must adopt DAB as the main digital radio broadcast platform. The UK DAB market is well developed and we believe it is not sensible, at this stage, to switch to technologies which are not compatible with the more than 7m DAB sets already sold."

It would make far more sense, then, to hobble on with DAB for a few more years yet, and then realise that the smart money is on IP radio delivered through internet connections of one sort or another. Still, then we can convene a group to recommend DAB switch-off in 2045.

Everything is just noise

We could be scabby about the new Verve single* but, in the spirit of fairness, you could make up your own mind: Love Is Noise is streaming off of their MySpace now.

Zane Lowe claims he was blown away after thirty seconds, although nothing happens at the half minute mark that hadn't already been happening.

* If we were going to be scabby, we'd suggest it was the sort of song a band who knew they once wrote tracks that were better than anyone would have ever expected trying to desperately remember how it is they did it; it's like watching someone who won a lottery jackpot trying to win it back after they'd burned through the cash, confusing a lucky break with innate talent.

And didn't the United Nations mandate that if love is anything, it's a Big Scary Animal?

Karma: 'come in' not on

Boy George's plans of a tour of America have hit a problem - the whole drugs business is causing him visa problems:

"There are a number of public figures who are openly using drugs and they have no problem with immigration and I have seriously turned my life around and I feel great right now and this is just another reminder of how bad things were," he said.

"I committed a crime and I happily paid the consequences and I should be allowed to move on and get on with what I do best and that is performing and making people dance and cry!"

Making people cry? Has he started giving the audience chinese burns?

It's true that people who are known to be drug users might come and go through America's airports with nothing more than a spot of laboured autograph signing. But, generally, they haven't managed to get involved in a whole police investigation swinging round rent boys and your own coke and god knows what else was going on; and, normally, while applying for visas won't have recently been arrested on charges relating to false imprisonment on this side of the Atlantic.

Glastonbury forecast

Good news, bad news: the Sunday is now being predicted to be dry - partly cloudy. Saturday is down to be foggy - so pack your, um, foglights. Friday, on the other hand, is showing light rain. It might not be cracking the flags, but Glastonbury might be about to swerve the mud.

Lily Allen takes on the BNP

Yes, yes, it's very easy to mock Lily Allen's crunchingly bad song about racism. Very easy indeed, in fact, given the lyrics:

You're just some racist
who can't tie my laces
your point of view is medieval

- making use of the little known fact that kneejerk hatred of other races also renders you incapable of tying a shoelace when it's someone else's feet. It's not believed, reassuringly, that simply being unable to tie someone's laces without going round behind them and putting your hands through their legs, in itself, a sign of racist views.

We presume that 'you can't tie my laces' is meant to mean something along the lines of 'you're not fit to lick my shoes', although it doesn't.

Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes, easy to mock, but she has sort-of called out the BNP on this one:

"This song is not a direct attack at anyone, it was originally written about the BNP in the UK but then I felt this issue has become relevant pretty much everywhere."

Given that the song - called Guess Who Batman - includes the lyric "fuck you, fuck you very much" it's hard to see how it isn't direct, and calling the BNP medieval and either unfit, or unable, to lace up Allen's pumps seems to be a bit of an attack. "I've written a song telling the BNP to fuck off, but not in an attacking way" is a strange position, suggesting reserves of courage not quite as deep as those of conviction. Being fair, though, when organisers of Love Music, Hate Racism gigs get death threats, you can understand her keeping a cautious eye open.

Amy Winehouse might want a further opinion

Having done a round of the papers over the weekend to collude with reports that Amy Winehouse was seriously ill, at death's door and had only a month to live, now Mitch Winehouse is popping up to say that, despite that, Amy is going to play Glastonbury:

Mr Winehouse told BBC Newsbeat that his daughter will be able to fulfil her commitments.

“She will be well enough to be at Glastonbury, not could be,” he said. “She's well enough to be at Glastonbury now.”

Although if she is, it's not clear why she's in hospital.

Now, we can't pretend to be experts on emphysema, but given that it's a lung problem which causes shortage of breath, does it really make sense to bus her off to a farmyard and/or park to stand around in the cool night air bellowing to be heard above thousands of cheering people? Especially a few days after being released from hospital?

Surely nobody would be putting her career - and a slot on a telecast Nelson Mandela birthday gig - ahead of her health, though, so we'll have to assume that, yes, she is well enough.

Amazon preps Euro downloads

It can't come soon enough - Amazon executives are, reportedly, in London - and not for the weather. The rumours point to the long-awaited launch of Amazon's DRM-free mp3 download store on this side of the Atlantic. No timing yet, no formal announcement, but the inevitable just crept a little closer.

Beatles leap iTunes, straight to video games

Having spent the last forever grumpily sitting out the digital download world, PaidContent are reporting that the Beatles are in talks to bring their back catalogue to video games.

Bagsy me not Ringo!

Darkness at 3AM: Giggling at the seriously ill

Oh, tee hee hee - Amy Winehouse is seriously ill, and - snurkle! - could be dead within a month. Ho ho ho.

No, it doesn't seem to be particularly funny, but the 3AM Girls are determined to see the funny side, with a sideways look at a Amy's illness:

Call an Amybulance!
MEDICS ON RED ALERT FOR WINO'S MANDELA GIG

Haw! And if she dies - giggle - they'd need to call the Amytakers, wouldn't they? Snork!

Gordon in the morning: Is he on leave?

It'd be unlikely that Gordon Smart could keep up the standard he's achieved week in, week out, without taking a little break every now and then, and at the moment there's a sense that his involvement in his own column consists of little more than allowing his photo to sit at the top of the page.

Let's hope he's on leave, because if he's at his desk signing off on headlines like Wish Roo Were Here, he's desperately in need of a holiday. This is over the top of a story which sees the probably best uninvaded privacy of the wedding of the woman from the Asda adverts and the ruddy-faced footballer enters the honeymoon period.

That's the actual honeymoon period, not that couple and paparazzi have come to some sort of mutual agreement. We know the coverage has been grinding on for so long now nobody cares, but since Wayne Rooney is a vital part of the honeymoon, and the picture shows him and Colleen enjoying a quick gamble, isn't "Roo" actually there? Am I missing something?

The couple went to see George Michael:

German tourist Lars Lamade, 37, said: “It was a real shock to see Wayne Rooney at a George Michael concert. I recognised him straight away. He and Coleen loved it, they stayed right until the end."

It was a shock? Why, exactly? Surely it might have been mildly surprising but it's not like it was, say, a You've Got Foetus On Your Breath gig, which might be a strange place to see Rooney. Or maybe if it was Cup Final day and the Manchester Uniteds PLC were playing in it, it would be shocking to see Rooney watching a run through of Listen Without Prejudice Volume Two. But an off-season gig by the sort of name you'd not blink to have seen listed under 'favourite artist' in the now-defunct SuperFocus column of Shoot!? Not too shocking, is it?

More evidence that Smart is off somewhere with a pedalo and the latest Louise Bagshawe novel is the appearance of the word conundrum in a ho-hum bit of fluff alongside a picture of Russell Brand with a woman.

Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie is planning to launch an offensively over-priced whisky:

The Macallan currently sell the most expensive whisky — for around £20,000 a bottle.

But this is small change for ambitious Guy.

The source revealed: “He plans to stuff the current top prices with his brand.

“He reckons there are plenty of rich businessmen and rock stars who would pay six figures for the world’s best whisky.”

They might - god alone knows, there are many people who seek new ways to rub people's noses in their pile of cash ("I don't like to rub my money in people's faces, it wrinkles the notes, so I photograph it and rub the pictures in people's faces" as Laura Solon put it) but is there any kudos in pissing your cash away on whisky made by 'the bloke who makes the same awful film over and over again'? Wouldn't Ritchie be better offering to make the vinegar for Barry Norman's Pickled Onions?

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Capital of Culture Update: There's more to Beatlepool than the Livers

If we cast our mind back to the point of spending a small fortune on the Capital of Culture, it was to show the world that there was more to Liverpool culture than the Beatles. So far - if you ignore the coverage of the financial disasters - it's been marked with Ringo at the opening, McCartney at Anfield, and a guest appearance from Yoko. And Beatles topiary.

Now, then, they've added the "first ever" Beatles Day, an event marking the, erm, 44th anniversary of, um, the first time they returned home after playing America. Let's face it, we've all been on the edge of seats wondering exactly what they'd be doing for such a significant anniversary.

There are plans that the day will generate money for charity, which is fair enough, but really it's more like a confirmation that the official view of the city is that, pretty much, it's Beatles or nothing. Imagine if all the council and local media effort that goes into bolstering the Macca-Lennon myth had been spent on finding a way to keep the Picket where it should have been and the rehearsal spaces in the heart of the city.

[Thanks to Jim M for the link]

Cathal Coughlan Weekend: Dusty In Here

Moving into Cathal Coughlan's solo era, now: here he is, covering the Go Betweens, in Dublin:

[Part of Cathal Coughlan weekend]

Levellers headline Glastonbury

That should keep Noel Gallagher happy at least. Although they're only headlining the Leftfield, erm, field. And it's on the Thursday - before the official start of the festival. But, still, all those people who moaned on about Jay-Z will doubtless turn up to watch, won't they?

Showbiz Zoe puts Winehouse in a chair

The Sunday Mirror's Showbiz Zoe Showbizoe has some alarming news about Amy Winehouse:

Frail Amy Winehouse has been struck down by the deadly lung condition emphysema - and she could be in a wheelchair within a MONTH if she doesn't stop smoking crack cocaine, her dad revealed last night.

And needing an oxygen mask all the time, too.

Mitch Winehouse is happy to detail his daughter's health problems in full, gory detail - because somehow that would help her overcome her addictions:

"After lots of tests they found a lump in Amy's chest. A scan has shown it's not cancerous and there are no traces of cancer in her blood. But they might need to double check.

"There is a chance she might need a biopsy. If they need to cut the lump out then that will mean a massive and painful operation and a lot of recuperation.

At the moment that doesn't look likely.

"When they told me she had a lump, I was very, very worried. At times Amy seems nervous about it but she doesn't panic until something's 100 per cent."

Luckily, though, Mitch has no such compulsion about waiting until things are confirmed before putting in a call to the Mirror Group.

Rav rattles Madge marriage again

We'd imagine Rav Singh expects us to hear the voice of eve-of-war Neville Chamberlain as we read the opening of his latest dispatch:

I'M afraid I have more bad news to bring you about the MADONNA and GUY RITCHIE marriage crisis.

More bad news? It's hard to imagine, isn't it? Let's steel ourselves, shall we?

Now Madge's little brother CHRISTOPHER CICCONE has jumped on the bandwagon and written a tell-all book, Life With My Sister Madonna.

He'll spill the beans on a few secrets — including the state of her marriage.

A bookworm source said: "It's going to be brutal. We've heard about the fall-outs. He'll tell just how bad it is."

A "bookworm source"?

Erm... except didn't Madonna and her brother fall out years ago? So how exactly he will he be able to share any insights into the state of her marriage now? Isn't he - like Rav Singh - going to have to rely on hearsay and guesswork?

And what, exactly, is there to say?

We couldn't pretend to be surprised that the News of the World thinks a murky long-lens shot of Rod Stewart kissing Penny Lancaster's nipple is 'news' - man kisses wife intimately - but we're beyond confused as to why they think this is necessary:

HAVE YOUR SAY HERE

What sort of debate do they actually expect to be generating here? "I rckn rod sld hv strtd wth teh other nipple"?

Cathal Coughlan Weekend: Only Losers Take The Bus

If non-fans recall The Fatima Mansions, we'd guess it would be for this song - Only Losers Take The Bus - rather than any of the others. It wasn't a top 40 hit or anything, but it got played on Snub TV and we remember it making a deep impression on the people we were flatsharing with at the time. Not a good one, mind. But deep.

[Part of Cathal Coughlan weekend]

Heather Mills learns to love again

The first cut is the deepest, although rubbing twenty-four million quid into the wound can help, we understand. But now, Heather Mills is supposedly back on the dating scene - at least according to the News of the World:

HEATHER Mills has a hunky new toyboy, the News of the World can reveal.

Given that previously her relationship was with Paul McCartney - a man of parts, certainly, but never a "hunky toyboy" - we're not sure the "new" in that sentence is required.

The "hunky toyboy" is some holiday rep from a hotel she stayed in - the paper doesn't seem think there's anything unusual about Mills, a woman it's portrayed as having a chronically expensive lifestyle, staying in a hotel where they have holiday reps working. He's called Jamie Walker - and at 36, is only five years younger than Mills which hardly qualifies him as toyboy.

Walker has been briefed, clearly, for when the story breaks:

"I'm under strict instructions not to talk to you about this.

Badly briefed, as it turns out - isn't going "I've been told to say nothing about this" confirming that there's a this not to talk about?

And, as if to ram the point home, Jamie then coughs:

"But I guess you already know it all then. Just be nice about me."

Yes. Asking the News of the World to be nice about you. That'll work.

The paper rustles up a friend to spill some beans about their courtship:

"He name-dropped that he had bumped into her showbiz neighbours like Fatboy Slim and Nick Berry."

Who wouldn't be impressed by someone saying they'd seen Nick Berry in the street? That would certainly prove to someone who fucked and fucked over a Beatle that you're from the same stellar background.

Being a Murdoch paper, it has to mention the dark past of Miss Mills, and the words are put into the same friend's mouth:

"Jamie said Heather told him all about her past life working in the glamour industry and as a prostitute," added the friend. "He says it doesn't bother him."

How modest of the NOTW to pretend that Jamie would need to be told about Heather's history rather than just assuming that he'd have read about it in the papers. Having said which, the "prostitute" claim is surprising, given that Mills has denied she was any such thing. The paper will have to hope that she is so busy with her toyboy of the same age to spot they've renewed that particular claim.