Jarvis Cocker: Made of cake

Sheffield pop star Jarvis becomes one of the cake people

Sorry... what did you just say, Sheffield Star?

Bespectacled Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, along with Louis Tomlinson from One Direction, have both had their likenesses moulded out of cake, complete with edible painted icing.

This is to celebrate Yorkshire Day. And to be fair, the one on the right is meant to be Judi Dench and not Louis Tomlinson.

Catatonia, Kenickie & Pulp lead Sony Music Awards shortlist

Just time for a quick look at the Sony nominations - congratulations to Lauren Laverne, Jarvis Cocker and Cerys Matthews for their recognition. Seeing those names together makes the awards list look like the cover of Select magazine.

Also nice to see Danny Baker getting better treatment here than he got at Radio London.

Breakfast show of the year (10 million plus)

Breakfast – BBC Radio 3

Chris Evans – BBC Radio 2

The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show – Absolute Radio

KISS Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin & Charlie – KISS

Today Programme – BBC News for BBC Radio 4

Breakfast show of the year (under 10 million)

The Andrew Peach Show – BBC Radio Berkshire

BBC Tees Breakfast – BBC Tees

Sam & Amy – Gem 106

Steve & Karen's Breakfast Show – Metro Radio

Xfm Manchester Breakfast Show with Tim Cocker – Xfm Manchester

Best music programme

The Dermot O'Leary Show – Ora Et Labora for BBC Radio 2

Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service – BBC 6 Music

Lauren Laverne – BBC 6 Music

The Ronnie Wood Show – Somethin' Else for Absolute Radio & Absolute Classic Rock

Zane Lowe – BBC Radio 1

Best entertainment programme

Charlie Sloth – BBC Radio 1Xtra

The Danny Baker Show – Campbell Davison Media for BBC Radio 5 live

Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show – Absolute Radio

Greg James – BBC Radio 1

Kate Lawler – Kerrang! Radio

Best speech programme

Alan Robson's Nightowls – Metro Radio

Iain Dale – LBC 97.3

The JVS Show – BBC Three Counties Radio

The Listening Project – BBC Radio Documentaries with BBC English Regions & BBC Nations for BBC Radio 4

Witness – BBC News for BBC World Service

Best sports programme

5 live Olympics with Peter Allen and Colin Murray – BBC Radio 5 live

Keys & Gray – talkSPORT

Mary and the Minstermen – BBC Radio York

Not Just Cricket – TBI Media for BBC Radio 5 live

Rugby Nation - Town and Country Broadcasting for Nation Radio, Radio Pembrokeshire, Radio Carmarthenshire, Bridge FM and Nation Hits!

Best news & current affairs programme

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat – BBC News for BBC Radio 1

File on 4 – BBC Radio Current Affairs for BBC Radio 4

Newshour – BBC World Service News for Current Affairs for BBC World Service

Nick Ferrari at Breakfast – LBC 97.3

The Nolan Show – BBC Radio Ulster

Best coverage of a live event

Hillsborough: Truth and Justice – BBC Radio Merseyside

Judgement Sunday – Final Day of Premier League (Matchday Live) – talkSPORT

London 2012 : The Olympic & Paralympic Games - BBC Radio 5 live

Paralympic Sportsworld – BBC Sport for BBC World Service

Radio 1's Hackney Weekend – BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra

Best community programming

Ciaran's Cause – Real Radio North West

Crossroads – PRA Productions for BBC Radio 1Xtra

Make a Clean Break – Prison Radio Association for National Prison Radio

Walk for Harry – Free Radio (Birmingham)

Word Up – Prison Radio Association for National Prison Radio

Music radio personality of the year

Charlie Sloth – BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra

Christian O'Connell – Absolute Radio

John Suchet – Classic FM

Ken Bruce – BBC Radio 2

Lauren Laverne – BBC 6 Music

Music radio broadcaster of the year

Cerys on 6 – BBC 6 Music

Jamie Cullum – Folded Wing for BBC Radio 2

Johnnie Walker – Wise Buddah Creative for BBC Radio 2

Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie – Smooth Operations for BBC 6 Music

Suzy Klein – BBC Radio 3 & BBC Radio 4

Speech radio broadcaster of the year

Danny Baker – Campbell Davison Media for BBC Radio 5 live

Eddie Mair – BBC Radio 4

Nicky Campbell – BBC Radio 5 live

Stephen Sackur – BBC News for BBC World Service

Victoria Derbyshire – BBC Radio 5 live

Radio journalism of the year

Becky Milligan – BBC Radio 4

Capital East Midlands News Team – Capital FM East Midlands

John Humphrys – BBC News for BBC Radio 4

Jon Donnison – BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service

Michelle Livesey – Key 103

Best use of branded content

Classic FM's Tasting Notes paired with Laithwaite's Wine – Classic FM

The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show with Wickes – Absolute Radio

Kerrang! Radio The Darkest Hour – Kerrang! Radio

Sky Bond - Absolute Radio – Absolute Radio

The World's Largest Pub Quiz with Bells – LBC 1152

Best promotional/advertising campaign

BBC Radio 6 Music Celebrates Kraftwerk – BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 & BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 6 Music Celebrates Punk Britannia - BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 & BBC Radio 4

Classic FM's More Music Breakfast Campaign – Classic FM

The Gothic Imagination – BBC Radio 4 & 4 Extra Presentation for BBC Radio 4

The Olympics – BBC Radio Xtrails, 5 live Station Sound, Fresh Air Production, BBC A&M, BBC Nations and Regions for BBC Radio

Best competition

500 Words – BBC Radio 2

Coca-Cola Fan Reporter – talkSPORT

Round Our Way on Xfm Manchester – Xfm Manchester

Talk To The Animals – Geoff Lloyd – Absolute Radio

Two Strangers Risk It For A Biscuit – Real Radio Scotland

Best station imaging

106 JACK fm (South Coast)

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 6 Music

Capital FM Network

Classic FM

Best music feature or documentary

6 Music Celebrates: 50 Years of the Cassette – BBC 6 Music

Black is a Country – Brook Lapping Productions for BBC Radio 4

Titanic: Minute by Minute – TBI Media (with BBC Drama) for BBC Radio 2

The Art of Garfunkel – BBC Radio 2

The Story of Ed Sheeran – BBC Radio 1

Best news feature or documentary

Adventures of a Blue Badger – Alfi Media Ltd for BBC Radio 5 live

Assignment/Crossing Continents: Uzbekistan – BBC Radio Current Affairs for BBC Radio 4 & BBC World Service

Lawrence of Arabia – Man and Myth – Just Radio for BBC Radio 4

The Bombardment of Homs – BBC Radio Current Affairs for BBC World Service

The Left to Die Boat – BBC World Service

Best feature or documentary

Belongings – TBI Media for BBC Radio 3

Bon Voyage – Julia Scott Productions for BBC World Service

Bruising Silence – Just Radio for BBC Radio 1

Dying Inside – Unique The Production Company for BBC Radio 4

Titanic: Minute by Minute – TBI Media (with BBC Drama) for BBC Radio 2

Best comedy

Isy Suttie: Pearl and Dave – BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme – BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4

Meera Syal's Asian Comedy Night - BBC Asian Network & Tonic Productions for BBC Asian Network

My Teenage Diary – Talkback (part of Freemantle Media UK) for BBC Radio 4

Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast - Fuzz Productions Ltd & Sky Potato Productions for British Comedy Guide

Best drama

Beryl: A Love Story on Two Wheels – Savvy for BBC Radio 4

Easter & Christmas Diaries – BBC Radio 4 & 4 Extra Presentation for BBC Radio 4 Extra

The Grapes of Wrath – BBC Radio Scotland

My Boy – Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 4

The Resistance of Mrs Brown – BBC Radio Drama London for BBC Radio 4

Best use of multiplatform

InStream from Absolute Radio – Absolute Radio

Letter From America - BBC Radio 4/Audio and Music Interactive for BBC Radio 4 & BBC World Service

The Listening Project – BBC Radio 4 and BBC Nations & Regions

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw – BBC Radio 1

Radio 1's Review Show – Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 1

Station of the year (under 300,000)

KL.FM 96.7

National Prison Radio

Touch FM

Station of the year (300,000 to 1 million)

BBC Radio Humberside

BBC Tees

JACKfm Oxfordshire

Station of the year (1 million plus)

BBC Newcastle

Fun Kids

Metro Radio

UK station of the Year

BBC Asian Network

BBC Radio 5 live

Classic FM

UK radio brand of the year

Classic FM

KISS

Smooth Radio UK

Bookmarks: Jarvis Cocker

Jarvis reviews the Hunter Davis collection of John Lennon's letters for Guardian Review. In the course of it, he explains why Britpop trying to be The Beatles was a bad idea, and worries about the way everything any Beatle touches becomes an artefact:

To be fair to Davies, he does admit in his introduction that he has "rather expanded the definition of the word 'letter'". This still does not quite prepare the reader for gems such as "Degs, No Fucking George, Yer Cunt, Jack" (letter 238: Memo to Derek) or "Fred, Lights in kitchen (bulbs), Honey Candy, Kitchen Air Con is 'On Heat' (Something Wrong), Cabbage, Grape-oil (ask where), Onions, Peas (NB the Korean Shop Shells Them!), Sesame Oil, Tomatoes, Berries, Yoghurt, Hamburger Meat (for the cat!)" (letter 255: Domestic list for Fred). The Post-It Notes of John Lennon, anyone? I like mundane reality – you could say it's my specialist subject – but there's no getting away from the fact that the second of those two examples is a shopping list. Are we really so bereft of new ideas that we now wish to study the equivalent of someone's Ocado profile?

[Buy: The John Lennon letters]

Sony Awards 2011: The winners

Congratulations to Jeremy Vine, who adds 'interview of the year' from the Sony Awards to the distinction of being the only thing on Radio 2 ever to have been the inspiration for a joke on The Daily Show. That Gordon Brown interview was quite a thing.

(There's room to debate if the award was really for the interview of the work of the webcam, of course.)

Prizes tonight also to Danny Baker - let's hope people don't fall into the trap of thinking this is a sympathy vote for having had cancer, but truly a recognition that there's no finer broadcaster in the realm. He managed to make the slim conceit of a month of programmes from the roof of Broadcasting House work, dammit.

Ronnie Wood took the Music Radio Personality prize. Typical, huh, pop stars coming onto the radio and forcing out people like, erm, silver prize winner Jarvis Cocker.

These are the winners in full:

Breakfast Show of the Year (10 million plus)
Gold: 5 live Breakfast - BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: The Chris Evans Breakfast Show - BBC Radio 2
Bronze: The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show - Absolute Radio

Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million)
Gold: The Graham Mack Breakfast Show - BBC Wiltshire
Silver: Juice FM Breakfast Show with Adam and Leanne -107.6 Juice FM
Bronze: Simon James and Hill - Kerrang! Radio

Best Music Programme
Gold: Simon Mayo Drivetime - BBC Radio 2
Silver: Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show - Absolute Radio
Bronze: The Radcliffe and Maconie Show - Smooth Operations (Productions) Ltd for BBC Radio 2

Best Specialist Music Programme
Gold: Jazz on 3 - Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 3
Silver: MistaJam - BBC Radio 1Xtra
Bronze: Another Country - BBC Radio Scotland

Best Entertainment Programme
Gold: The Frank Skinner Show - Avalon for Absolute Radio
Silver: Westwood - BBC Radio 1Xtra
Bronze: Real Radio Breakfast with Ditchy & Salty - Real Radio Northwest

Best Speech Programme
Gold: The Infinite Monkey Cage - BBC Radio Science for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Victoria Derbyshire - BBC Radio 5 live
Bronze: A History Of The World In 100 Objects - BBC Radio Documentaries for BBC Radio 4

Best Sports Programme
Gold: Fighting Talk - Worlds End Television for BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: Sportsworld - BBC World Service Sport for BBC World Service
Bronze: BBC Radio Humberside Sport: Grimsby Town Relegation - BBC Radio Humberside

Best News & Current Affairs Programme
Gold: Victoria Derbyshire - BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: LBC Nightly News - LBC 97.3
Bronze: Newshour - BBC World Service News & Current Affairs for BBC World Service

Best Breaking News Coverage
Gold: 5 live Drive: Birth Of The Coalition - BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: West Cumbria Shootings - BBC Radio Cumbria
Bronze: The Last Days of Raoul Moat - Real Radio North East for Real Radio

Best Live Event Coverage
Gold: The Ryder Cup on 5 live - BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: Great North Run Coverage - Metro Radio
Bronze: 102.5 Clyde 1 at T In The Park 2010 - Radio Clyde for Clyde 1

Best Community Programming
Gold: Warning: May Contain Nuts - BBC Radio Berkshire
Silver: The Brixton Hour - Prison Radio Association for National Prison Radio
Bronze: Divided We Fall - Mannmade Productions for Preston FM

Best Internet Programme
Gold: Answer Me This! – Answer Me This Podcast.com
Silver: Night in Hackney - Hackney Podcast
Bronze: Flaps Podcast - Flaps Podcast.com

Music Radio Personality of the Year
Gold: Ronnie Wood - A Somethin' Else production for Absolute Radio and Absolute Classic Rock
Silver: Jarvis Cocker - BBC 6 Music
Bronze: Chris Moyles - BBC Radio 1

Music Broadcaster of the Year
Gold: Zane Lowe - BBC Radio 1
Silver: Mark Radcliffe - Smooth Operations (Productions) Ltd for BBC Radio 2
Bronze: MistaJam - BBC Radio 1Xtra

Speech Radio Personality of the Year
Gold: Danny Baker - Campbell Davison Media (for BBC Radio 5 live)/ BBC London 94.9
Silver: Nicky Campbell & Shelagh Fogarty - BBC Radio 5 live
Bronze: Stephen Nolan - BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio Ulster

Speech Broadcaster of the Year
Gold: Jeremy Vine - BBC Radio 2
Silver: Victoria Derbyshire - BBC Radio 5 live
Bronze: Anne Diamond - BBC Radio Berkshire

News Journalist of the Year
Gold: Matthew Price - BBC Newsgathering for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Real Radio Yorkshire News Team - Real Radio Yorkshire News for Real Radio Yorkshire
Bronze: Norman Smith - BBC Political Programmes for BBC Radio 4

Best On-Air Contributor
Gold: Annabel Port - Absolute Radio
Silver: Ed Palmer & Simon Buschenfeld, Heart Network Comedy - Heart Network
Bronze: Steve Levine - Magnum Opus Broadcasting Ltd for BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music

Best Interview
Gold: Jeremy Vine interviews Gordon Brown - BBC Radio 2
Silver: John Humphrys interviews Julian Assange - Today for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: Neil Fox interviews Robbie Williams - Magic 105.4

Best Use of Branded Content
Gold: Alex Masterley on Classic FM with Towry - Classic FM
Silver: 95.8 Capital FM: Cadbury Spots v Stripes - Global Radio for 95.8 Capital FM
Bronze: XFM: Lost Takeover - Global Radio for XFM London and XFM Manchester

Best Single Promo/Commercial
Gold: Capital's Summertime Ball Mash-Up - 95.8 Capital FM
Silver: Eastenders - BBC Radio Cross Trails / Redbee Media for BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Local Radio and BBC Regional Radio
Bronze: MFR Christmas Toy Appeal 2010 - Moray Firth Radio (MFR)

Best Promotional/Advertising Campaign
Gold: The FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa on talkSPORT - talkSPORT Creative for talkSPORT
Silver: Capital's Summertime Ball - I Can't Wait To See.... - 95.8 Capital FM
Bronze: The Winter Olympics on the BBC - Fresh Air Production for BBC Radio XTrails
on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Local Radio

Best Competition
Gold: Beat The Star - Heart West Midlands
Silver: Pink Custard Days - Wyvern
Bronze: Magic's Mystery Voices - Magic 105.4

Best Station Imaging
Gold: Kiss 100 - Kiss 100 & Pure Tonic Media for Kiss 100
Silver: The Absolute Radio Network
Bronze: talkSPORT - talkSPORT Creative for talkSPORT

Best Music Special
Gold: The John Bonham Story - TBI Media for BBC 6 Music
Silver: The Man Machine - USP Content for BBC Radio 2
Bronze: Lenny Henry's Musical Journey To South Africa - Just Radio Ltd for BBC Radio 4

Best News Special
Gold: Raoul Moat - The Final Hours - Real Radio North East for Real Radio
Silver: The Reunion: Hurricane Katrina - Whistledown Productions for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: World Stories: Afghanistan's Dancing Boys - BBC Audio & Music Factual/Uzbek Service for BBC World Service

Best Feature
Gold: Heel, Toe, Step Together - Falling Tree Productions for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Between The Ears: The Haunted Moustache - BBC Radio Documentaries for BBC Radio 3
Bronze: Wireless Kenny Everett - Howlett Media Productions for BBC Radio 2

Best Comedy
Gold: The Jason Byrne Show - BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 2
Silver: Just A Minute - BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Return Letter To Richard Branson - BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4

Best Drama
Gold: Every Child Matters - BBC Radio Drama Manchester for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Murder In Samarkand - Greenpoint Films for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: RIP Boy - Red Production Company for BBC Radio 4

Best Use of Multiplatform
Gold: BBC Introducing - BBC Audio & Music for BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 3, BBC Local Radio and BBC Radio 2
Silver: Absolute Radio's Mobile Apps - Absolute Radio
Bronze: A History of the World In 100 Objects - BBC Radio 4 interactive for BBC Radio 4

Station Programmer Of The Year
Gold Moz Dee, talkSPORT

Station of the Year (Under 300,000)
Gold: Central FM (103.1 FM)

Station of the Year (300,000 - 1 million)
Gold: BBC Radio Derby

Station of the Year (1 Million plus)
Gold: 105.4 Real Radio North West

Digital Station of the Year
Gold: Fun Kids
UK Station of the Year
Gold: talkSPORT

The Special Award - Annie Nightingale

The Gold Award - Jenni Murray

Sonys for 6 and Asian Network

The idea that Frankie from The Saturdays presented Jarvis Cocker with a rising star award is no more strange than the suggestion that it is, somehow, in the national interest for George Osborne to be in the Treasury with a booster seat and a talking calculator.

Yes, it's the Sony Awards, and although there are prizes for Adam And Joe (comedy) and Jarvis (aforementioned rising star), there wasn't very much applause for 6Music, and doesn't really conjure an image of Mark Thompson putting his head in his hands and asking "what have I done?" Good at comedy and giving Jarvis a show - while both good things - aren't quite what 6Music is primarily designed for, and not really the focus of the save the network campaigns.

Nihal's prize for the Asian Network - best speech programming - has a bit more heft to it, because it treats AN as really having a bit of breadth and influence.

Mind you, the whole awards ceremony is suspect, given that the Bono Elvis poem thing won a prize - despite everyone in the entire world having had their ears removed in shame after hearing it.

Zane Lowe won two prizes, and not for the first time, and Scott Mills is apparently better than Chris Moyles.

Winners in full over on the Sony site.

No fresh Pulp

Almost nobody would have read the story in The People this weekend which claims Pulp were going to play Glastonbury next year. In case you're one of the few people who did, it wasn't true anyway:

Speaking to the Guardian, the Pulp singer said that he could "categorically" state that "Pulp have no plans to get back together. Someone asked me if I fancied playing at the 40th anniversary of Glastonbury, I said yes, they twisted that into a 'Pulp re-form' story. It's not true."

I've just plugged this into my tabloid story generator, and it's suggested this story really is:

RELAXED MUSCLE TO HEADLINE SUNDAY AT GLASTONBURY 2010.

Glastonbury 2009: In other Glastonbury news...

This is Fake DIY's crack Glastonbury squad disappear from Tweetdom, although Jemima Kiss was saying it was hard to get a data connection there this year.

That'll be all the iPhones. Thank god the 3GS hadn't had much time to propogate.

NME is reporting that Jamie Cullum did a 'tribute' to Jackson as part of his set:

Midway through his performance, the crooner climbed up on top of his grand piano to lead his band through a jazzy version of 'Thriller'.

Clearly reacting to the news of Jackson's death quickly, Cullum relied on a printed out lyric sheet before breaking the song down with some human beatboxing towards the end.

In unrelated news, staff at an exclusive LA funeral home reported that one of their corpses has asked to be hurried to his grave as "he had one fuck of a lot of spinning in it to get done."

Cullum had turned up earlier in a guest capacity with Spinal Tap - along with Jarvis Cocker, presumably canceling each other out.

Bruce Springsteen filled time before headlining tonight by helping out fellow New Jerseyites The Gaslight Anthem on the John Peel stage. It's a nice gesture, but the entire world is hoping they don't feel the need to return the favour.

It's not eulogy, it's me: Madonna, Macca and Dammers

When the famous talk of the recently dead, it's normally not about the corpse, but all about them. Madonna's claims this morning that she "can't stop crying" is designed to say nothing about Jackson's life, or his death, and everything about how empathetic Madonna would like us to think that she is.

So, too, is Paul McCartney's statement about Sir Paul, really:

"It's so sad and shocking. I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.

"I send my deepest sympathy to his mother and the whole family and to his countless fans all around the world"

I worked with him, he was so talented and everything, so naturally I worked with him.

Not sure about the "boy man" bit. Given Jackson's predilections, that sounds a little unfortunate.

Jerry Dammers response is a lot less attention-seeking:

"The thing that sometimes seems to get overlooked about Michael Jackson is what an absolutely phenomenal singer he was. He had one of the greatest gospel shouts of the 20th century, quite possibly the last of it’s kind. The outros of some of his songs especially, such as “Gotta be starting something”, were ecstatic, and, or, full of pain, like the one about the environment, which Jarvis Cocker attacked him for. I like Jarvis, but I personally didn’t really understand the reason for that."

He was a great singer. For a while, anyway. Dammers' focus on the music does him well, until he starts to get on to Earth Song - a song so meaningful, apparently, that he can't even remember the name of it. And Jerry never really understood why Cocker took the piss out of a Brits performance which cast Jackson as a mesiah-figure surrounded by adoring children of all nations? Really? You never understood that, Jerry?

Downloadable: Jarvis Cocker

Over on You Ain't No Picasso: mp3ed up and ready for listening, Angela - the first fruits of the new Jarvis Cocker album.

Rough Trade want you

I'm not sure that Rough Trade are quite a desperate for new acts as NME.com makes it sound:

Rough Trade label chiefs make demo plea

It's just they're sticking out a box for bands to drop CDs into at the Jarvis Cocker powered 30th anniversary shows - which seems to be a gesture, rather than a plea.

Everything will be listened to, it's promised - although they carefully don't say they'll listen all the way through.

Let him waste your time. Well, not waste, more pass. In a pleasant way.

Jarvis Cocker is headed out on tour:

Sheffield Academy (November 25)
London Shepherds Bush Empire (26)
Edinburgh Picture House (28)
Manchester Academy (30)
Birmingham Academy (December 2)

The plan is, apparently, for support to come from various of Jarvis' Rough Trade colleagues. As in his record labe, not that sort of rough trade. Although the two might not be mutually exclusive.

Ditto, Cocker together for charity

It's good to remember that when Beth Ditto isn't mangling queer history or handing out well-meaning advice - that is, when she concentrates on the dayjob - she can turn in a cracking performance. Like when she did Temptation with Jarvis Cocker at the NME Awards last year, for example.

Although that track has been sloshing around the net for twelve months, it's never been officially released - until, that is, today. Jarvis reports it's up for sale on the iTunes; the money will go to Shelter, which should be enough for you to replace the version you'd ripped from the YouTube video, don't you think?

TAM Commandments: 2. Poor is beautiful

Poor is beautiful. Oh, yes, the dignity of poverty, best enjoyed when you have the means to escape at any moment. There's only one song we could throw in here - especially since The Snapdragon's Dole Boys On Futons isn't on YouTube.

Pulp, doing Common People, at Glastonbury 1995:



And, for good measure, Rory Bremner doing David Cameron doing Jarvis:



[Part of These Animal Men TAM Commandments weekend]

Radio One More Time: Sessions

Trades unionism has given a lot for this country to be proud of, but even the TUC fails to lay claim to Jarvis Cocker. Yes, for without unions, there would be no Jarvis.

The 'session' was a workaround from the early days of the station: worried about the prospect of all-record networks forcing their members out of work, the Musicians Union got broadcasters to agree to the Needle Time Directive. This limited Radio One to a certain amount of record-playing every day, and, to fill the gap, the concept of the specially-recorded session was created. That this was seen as a nuisance rather than an opportunity is shown in the programmes which took the brunt of this filler material: late-night, new music shows.

They, though, embraced the chance to get artists in to record stuff, so that worked out alright, then. And, in so doing, allowed the BBC to build up a massive collection of recordings which retain value today. Because, seriously, while replaying a John Peel session by, say, The Buzzcocks is appealing even now, had Simon Bates been in charge of booking the session acts, the archive might have consisted of much more Joan Armatrading.

Besides fulfilling the needs of the BBC to take the needle off the record, the sessions also provided a lifeline to new bands - the guaranteed four tracks played on proper radio would allow the band to qualify for their share of royalties from the copyright agencies, meaning the lucrative nature of the arrangement went beyond just the fee for the recordings.

The recording of a session - especially a Peel session - quickly became a yardstick of success: indeed, it was the invitation to record for Peel that led the young Jarvis Cocker to conclude that Pulp would be a success, and cancel his plans for university. And, indeed, they were a success. Just not that quickly. But at least the session had given something to Jarvis to cling to, which his record sales and gig attendances at the time wouldn't have provided. That, alone, might have been worth martyring the young men of Tollpuddle for.

Nowadays, of course, the session has been enthusiastically embraced by all parts of the network, and not only because it means they can knock out a compilation album of "unexpected" tear-inducingly obvious cover versions from the Live Lounge every 18 months or so. Oh, Travis, you've done a pop song. How surprising.

But is the embrace quite as warm as it seems? Back when sessions were tucked away to the evenings, you'd get a new one and a repeat on Janice Long, a new one and repeat on Peel or Kershaw, probably one on the Rock Show and one on Saturday Live. Since the dawn of Mark Goodier's Evening Session, though, the earlier part of the night-time programme started to eek a session out over the course of the week, perhaps from the mistaken belief that more than one slice of Dinosaur Jr might be too much for one sitting. Again, the impression is of an audience being underestimated.

Chim-chim-cheroo

A deft idea, getting Pete Doherty to perform Chim-Chim Cheree as part of Meltdown, Jarvis.

After all, Dick Van Dyke was unconvincing trying to pass himself as a poor cockney when he did the original.

Somethings to listen to

Be amongst the second thirty thousand to listen to Two, a forthcoming Ryan Adams single featuring Sheryl Crow on backing vocals, through his MySpace.

Meanwhile, Today interviewed Jarvis Cocker this morning about his Meltdown festival. [Real Audio link, permanent, but they've stopped parceling up the show into pieces, so this is the 8.00 - 8.30 chunk; Jarvis appears about 25 minutes in]

Cocker prepares to Meltdown

Jarvis Cocker has let slip some of the bands who'll be lugging equipment down to the South Bank to play his Meltdown Festival: Jesus and Mary Chain, Motorhead, Iggy and The Stooges and the 13th Floor Elevators. It's an impressive line-up, and one which simply couldn't have happened... well, as recently as about 1982.

Motorhead are, apparently, there to repay a historical debt:

At the moment I'm interested in quite loud things. Meltdown starts off with Motorhead, something people probably wouldn't associate with me. The first concert I ever played with Pulp was in Rotherham in July 1980. We didn't have many songs of our own so we covered a Motorhead cover version of a Motown song called 'Leaving Here'."

We'd like to see Motorhead repay the debt by covering a Pulp song, but... we won't hold our breath.

Late night Cocker

Good news for America: Jarvis Cocker is turning up on Letterman this week, on the 27th. As far as we can tell, we're in one of those lulls in the UK between broadcasters excitedly announcing plans to carry Letterman, followed by a period of the show sliding backwards in the schedule before disappearing, so it'll be YouTube or nothing for us.

Bookmarks: Some other things to read on the internet

Arcade Fire invite Paste to tea:

Where there are sidewalks they meet at ugly angles, and factories squat on almost every corner. Its biggest institutions are a peat bog, a large creamery and a beet-sugar refinery. “The studio is amazing for recording in,” Win tells me, “but when you actually want to do anything, being stuck in Farnham can drive a man crazy.”

As he prepares to fight for Marlyebone Hight Street, Dave Rowntree talks to Guardian:

The drummer doesn't want to talk about whether he agrees with Albarn on Iraq because he's standing in a local election. He sounds, for the first time, a bit like a politician. Then he changes his mind. "I want to give you an answer. I'm not a pacifist. I do think some things are worth fighting for."

Rowntree's position on Iraq is equally personal. His girlfriend, Michelle de Vries, is the daughter of Daphne Parish, the nurse who was arrested by Saddam Hussein with the Observer journalist, Farzad Bazoft, on the cusp of the first Gulf war. Bazoft was executed; Parish was freed. "My girlfriend flew round the Middle East and got her mother released. She'd met all the people involved - Saddam and the psychopaths Uday and Qusay [Saddam's sons]. In the war, I was getting a very different view of what was going on in Iraq from a lot of people."

Jack Wilson tells The Stranger about the man who filled his iPod:

And that one lyric, the one about having once roared, keeps coming back to me. It seems to describe him. He was charismatic, entertaining, and charming. He could have been an awesome salesman—the product wouldn't have mattered—and he was great with computers. Did he torture himself with thoughts about what he could have been? Did he long for the years before he had fucked up his life, when he was free and the world was open to him?

Then I realized I was thinking more about Rowan than I was about Rebecca, the woman he'd slain. Listening to his music put me inside Rowan's head; it made me consider things through his eyes. I wanted to throw up.

The New York Post discovers Jarvis Cocker's life in France involves gestures, shouting:

He's lived in the City of Light for four years, but he's not fluent in French, although he says he can make himself understood. His job, songwriting, doesn't really call for being fluent. That's one excuse. His other is that his brain's hard drive is full.

"You can't chose what you want to delete from your brain," he says. "I'm supposed to be a writer. I don't want to lose my English."

Simon Reynolds sets off in the Observer Music Monthly to reclaim Tangerine Dream's place in electropop history:

At its most abstract - solo albums by Klaus Schulze and by Tangerine Dream's leader Edgar Froese - these were clouds of sounds to lose yourself in, a Rorschach mindscreen for projecting fantasies onto. Yet unlike the hipster-credible Krautrock of Can, Faust and Neu!, or more esoteric (ie unsuccessful) Sixties electronic outfits like Silver Apples, the cosmic synth voyagers have never been named by contemporary bands as a cool reference point.

Cocker: No Pulp reunion

Hopes that there might be a reactivation of Pulp sometime soon have been sat down and told off by jarvis cocker:

"Hell would have to freeze over first! No, I don't know. The members of the group are all in touch with each other and all friendly, there have been no deaths that I know of.

"So there is no barrier other than the fact that at the moment I can't really see a point. If it was to seem like the right thing to do then there's no reason why not, but I am certainly not planning it at the moment."

We can think of one point, in that any album which isn't made by Kasabian or anyone like them has to be a good thing. But Jarvis knows the value of cherished memory over the quick cash-in...