Saturday, June 08, 2013

Liam Gallagher buys some slippers

It's okay, Liam Gallagher, it's okay:

He said: ''[Rock groups like] Palma Violets don't do it for me, and I'm not having that Peace, man. There's something about them that's not my thing.

''It's sad out there man, There's nobody to have a pop at any more, which is very f***ing disturbing. I like Emeli f***ing Sande. I think she's cool man. Bruno Mars' new single is mega, that ballady one on the piano.''
You're a middle-aged man. It's alright, Liam.

Maybe if you started to make the music you like, rather than a half-arsed attempt to sound like the music you made when you were young, you might start to be more comfortable in yourself.

Look, Liam: Elasticated slacks. Why not make an order, Liam? Go on.


Gordon in the morning: Voices off

Apparently all is not well backstage at the Voice, where Danny O'Donoghue has started to blame the acts for falling short.

Remember Leanne Mitchell? She won last time round, and her album sold - well, let's not get into the specifics, but shall we go with 'fewer than a thousand copies'?

Now, there's all sorts of possible reasons for this - perhaps the way the audience for the programme fell away during the first series, and then the way it took another eleven months for an album to appear, by which time any traction had vanished.

But Danny thinks it's Leanne's fault:

Leanne was mentored on The Voice by judge TOM JONES, but now Danny has blamed her for her chart flop.

The Irishman said: “That’s not my fault, that’s not the show’s fault, that’s not the BBC’s fault, that’s just her fault. You can take an artist like that and question their work ethic.

“I was told by Tom Jones, and by the label as well, that Leanne just did not want to work as hard as you have to work to be a pop star."
To be fair, Danny, your mentoree Bo Bruce has hardly set the world alight; an album that briefly nudged into the Top 10 and then plummeted to earth, and a number 93 single.

Danny hasn't finished:
“She wanted to come on a show and win a singing contest.

“That’s good for her, because she won the show.

“But it’s not good for the premise of the show.”
But... isn't the premise of the show that it's a singing contest?

What does the BBC site say about the show?
Sir Tom Jones, will.i.am, Jessie J and Danny O'Donoghue search for The Voice UK, an incredible singing talent chosen purely on the quality of their voice.
That sounds a bit like a singing contest.

And the BBC Press Office?
The Voice UK will see four critically acclaimed recording artists seek out the nation's best vocal talent.
The indie production company also says it's a singing contest:
The Voice UK is a vocal contest series featuring people with real talent and great voices. Only the very best singers make it through to the televised auditions and get the chance to perform in front of four celebrity coaches. Praised by viewers and critics alike, it’s become one of the most successful new television shows around the world.
So everyone involved pitches the show as being about finding the person who's best at singing. Nowhere does the "premise of the show" claim it's about trying to find a pop star, or the hardest-working person in showbiz.

That's Danny, then, criticising a person who entered and won a singing contest for not behaving like she'd won a totally different competition. Curious.


Thursday, June 06, 2013

Jeffobit: Joey Covington

Joey Covington, the drummer from Volunteers-era Jefferson Airplane, has died.

According to his personal website, when he announced plans to become a professional drummer, his father wasn't entirely supportive:

"So you wanna be a drummer son, huh? Okay, but you have to understand, there won't be any social security, and what about your medical?"
He muddled through, though.

Covington had drummed with Hot Tuna, the band parts of Jefferson Airplane had formed during a hiatus enforced by Grace Slick's surgery; he followed them back into the band when Spencer Dryden quit. He stuck around for Bark, but left the band while they were recording Long John Silver.

Covington's sedan left the road in Palm Springs on Tuesday afternoon, crashing into a wall. He died at the scene. Joey Covington was 67.


Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Gordon in the morning: Able was I, ere I saw Elba's hat

Remember that moment when Liam Gallagher tried to pinch Idris Elba's hat at the NME awards? Of course not, because it was two bored men at a minor awards ceremony, and even had you been that interested, Elba retelling the story a couple of months ago would have sated that interest.

Or we could talk about it some more. This morning, Gordon reveals Liam's side of the story.

I'm using "story" in a way that crackles with irony, by the way.

Talking about it for the first time, Liam said...
Yes, breaking his silence on the hat story after all this time. It's like getting cabinet papers from the Second World War released, isn't it?
Talking about it for the first time, Liam said: “I didn’t steal Idris’s hat, or grab it.

“I don’t go grabbing anyone. He messed my f***ing hair up, so I pulled his hat off and booted it across the room, and that’s it.”
You'll note the delicacy of language here - most people might think that taking someone's hat by pulling it off was grabbing it and stealing it, but apparently not. Somehow Liam was able to pull the hat without grabbing it; somehow he was able to take it from Elba without his permission, but without stealing it.

Maybe this is why Gordon thinks we're in any way interested in this tale, given that it appears to have rewritten the laws of physics and the physics of the law.
“You don’t touch a man’s haircut, man, especially if you’ve got a red bobbly hat on. So let’s get that one straight. He f***ed my hair up — so the hat got it."
I know that Gordon promised Justice Leveson he checks and checks again his work, so I really hope that he read that quote back to Gallagher before committing it to print.

But was Gallagher foolish to take on Elba?
When asked if he was intimidated by Idris’s considerable bulk, Liam added: “I don’t give a f***. I didn’t know who he was.

“I still don’t know who he is and I don’t give a f*** who he is.
Hey, let's not laugh at Liam's lack of a grasp on popular culture. He has cultural references.
Liam added that Idris’s headgear reminded him of the daft woolly hat-wearing ITV soap character Benny Hawkins and said: “It’s not f***ing Crossroads, is it?”
Benny from Crossroads? There's one for the teenagers.

Benny's last appearance was 25 years ago, which I guess makes him more contemporary than Gallagher's music.

Given that he's brought him up, and it's more interesting than the bloody hat, let's end with this, shall we?


Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Gordon in the morning: Clobber

Must be a quiet day, even in made-up celebrity news circles, as there's a big chunk of Gordon's pages given over to a frankly bizarre trawl through the archives for photos of two famous people wearing similar coloured clothes:

DJ NICK GRIMSHAW and HARRY STYLES keep it simple in jeans, tees and trainers – it’s got us seeing double despite the age gap.
Two young people wear jeans and t-shirt. But one is a handful of years older. CRAZY TIMES.

They're going to try and build a paywall around this sort of thing. A paywall.


Monday, June 03, 2013

Sky Broadband casts itself as wheezy cat; Pirate Bay proxies as mice

Sky Broadband has started to block access to Pirate Bay proxy sites, in a bid to inspire the creation of other Pirate Bay proxy sites ("defeat unlicensed file sharing once and for all").


Gordon in the morning: Sticky backed plastic

What the hell is this horror, from The Sun?

No, it's not someone who looks like Noel Gallagher being sought through a dodgy e-fit; instead, it's the team at The Sun trying to imagine what Noel Gallagher would look like wearing a Blue Peter badge.

They're going to be charging to look at stuff like this soon, you know.


Sunday, June 02, 2013

Quadron Quarter-past Quartet: Baby Be Mine

Finishing up, then, it's a cover of one of the few songs from Thriller to not make it out as a single in its own right:



[Concluding the Quadron Quarter-past quartet.]


Quadron Quarter-past quartet: Pressure

This was recorded at the Eagle Rock Arts Center on Quadron's first tour of the US, earlier this year. Warning: Might be kinda acoustic.



[Part of the Quadron Quarter-past quartet. Concludes in an hour]


Quadron Quarter-past Quartet: Hey Love

For the Hey Love video, Quadron worked with choreographer Fatima Robinson. Coco told Okayplayer what that was like:

It was super-scary. She’s super, super dope. She has this strong energy around her and she’s so talented and down to earth. She thought the idea I had for the song was super cute and she was just down for it. She taught me how to kind of feel my body, which was awkward. When she did it, I was like “Can’t you just do it?” She’s so great. I was trying to be serious about my movements. I think I really want to work more with her. I feel just the one or two days with her I got so much more comfortable.
And this is what it came out looking like:


[Part of the Quadron Quarter-past quartet. More in an hour]


Quadron Quarter-past Quartet: Jeans

Over there on the right, I'm suggesting you might want to buy Avalanche by Quadron.

But do you?

Here, to celebrate Sunday, is four chunks of Quadron, delivered at quarter past the hour. Because theme overkill.

First up, from their Live@Google set, it's Jeans.



More to come at fifteen past twelve.


This week just gone

The most-read stories from the first half of the year:

1. Neil McCormick's Telegraph piece looks strangely familiar
2. Liveblog: Brits 2013
3. Liveblog: Eurovision 2013
4. Robbie Williams fell short as a mod
5. Watch (through fingers): Kimberley Walsh at the National Television Awards
6. NME's best singles of 1993
7. First Night: David Bowie's Five Years
8. Ding Dong ding dong: Thatcher dies
9. RIP: Nic Potter
10. Cowell gets nothing from the BAFTAS

This week, these were interesting:


The Pastels - Slow Summits


Download Slow Summits



BEF - Music Of Quality & Distinction Volume 3


Download Music Of Quality & Distinction



CocoRosie - Tales Of A Grasswidow


Download Tales Of A Grasswidow



Frankie & The Heartstrings - The Days Run Away


Download The Days Run Away



Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle


Download Once I Was An Eagle



Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs - Clarietta


Download Clarietta



The Woodentops - Before, During, After: 82-92


Download Before, During, After