On a sombre day here's some joy from one of the fathers of Rock and Roll, Louis Jordan. Though he played in big bands as a saxophonist and singer (at one time sharing vocals in a band with Ella Fitzgerald), he ended up with a smaller band that knocked many big bands for six. His most famous song might be www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Youtube+There+aint+nobody+here+but+us+chickens+Louis+Jordan&mid=3F63130E012DE26CF9753F63130E012DE26CF975&FORM=VIR If you doubt his R&R founder credentials listen to his Saturday Night Fish Fry.
Denny Laine has died. One of the many talented musicians from Birmingham in '60s he hit No.1 as the vocalist for his group, the Moody Bblues, cover of Go Now. After record company problems he left the Moodies (who went on to sterile sainthood). He was a good writer and guitarist and wrote the very fine 'Say You Don't Mind'. He suddenly became McCartney's sideman in Wings. I saw them play their first concert at a hastily organised, free lunchtime blast in our University Union Building. They were terrible but Laine was very impressive and outshone the rest of the group. Wings went onto enormous success. I always thought Colin Blunstone's version of his song was a Classic www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube%20say%20you%20don%27t%20mind%20colin%20bluntstone%20videos&FORM=VIRE0&mid=556F6112407CCC1F34C2556F6112407CCC1F34C2&view=detail&ru=%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dyoutube%20say%20you%20don%27t%20mind%20colin%20bluntstone
That Colin Blunstone album is wonderful. As wonderful as The Zombies, the band he belonged to. One of the best bands in history, although with a short career and with tremendous bad luck. Odessey and Oracle is one of the ten best albums of all time, I would even dare to say one of the five.
Got this from the QPR section of the football thread. It is Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill perforrming Fairytale of New York at Shane MacGowan's funeral in Nenagh. Might seem inappropriate to some, but I thought it was terrific. Only the Irish could perform music like this, just incredible:
If you've got Netflix watch Lupin. The first episode is excellent but it gets better. I always watch these French series with the french audio and English subtitles. Listening to it in the dubbed English version you lose so much. A cross between Robin Hood, early Luther and Hustle, but better than any of them
Robin Hood… ah! It evokes memories of Richard Greene playing him in the late fifties on TV. We didn’t have a telly so I used to nip across the back street to watch it on my friend’s Ekco set. They certainly had a small cast in those days. I remember laughing my head off at the character who played Derwent. In one episode, he had three parts…. Derwent, village baker, and look out man in the tree! Chorus - Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen….etc. Magic days!!
Talking of TV, anyone who hasn’t seen it has missed the best ever TV series called Das Boot. Shown in three episodes on BBC 2 in the eighties and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, it tells the story of a German U Boot (purpose built for the film) in the Atlantic during World War 2. If you haven’t seen it, watch it! It’s magnificent and realistically portrays the fear, drudgery, and hopelessness of life in a German submarine. But watch it with subtitles, not the dubbed version. It will stay with you forever.
I can remember that Tam, great watch, even if uncomfortable with the conditions of the u-boat itself, they do make it look very cramped, to which it is apparently. There is a new film out that is very similar to this, simply called U-571, which i am going to get to watch sometime this week. It is an American film, don't hold that against them, but the trailer looks good...
Hi Red.I’ll give it a try. I’ve always disliked many US war films, as they tend to glorify their own side instead of portraying the realism of war. I’d strongly recommend Ken Burns’ 10 part mini series ”The Vietnam War.” It’s magnificently done and includes commentaries from all sides, especially about the human aspects of the conflict. It certainty does not glorify the US in any way and shows how the US media and politicians lied consistently to the American people.
Yes, that often pisses me off, the way the yanks are glorified. Sometimes you wonder if we were there
The 1988 folk song by Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car", brought back to life with a fine version from country star, Luke Combs: Tracy's song tells the story of escaping from poverty in the USA in the 1980s. Here's a clip with the lyrics which I found to be helpful: Luke Combs - Fast Car (Lyrics) (youtube.com)
Fair play to him for presenting a positive alternative to the odious Jason Aldean within the Country music scene
Just watched the 2024 New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Guest conductor this year was the German, Christian Thielemann, the current chief conductor of the Staatskapele in Dresden. Great concert as usual. Thielemann did a great job, and showed a fine sense of humour at the end when the traditional Radetsky March was played with the audience participation. He, deservedly, and the orchestra, received a standing ovation.
Not your typical violinist. Hadn't heard of her until last night (or rather this morning to be honest)
Anyone watch the Mr Bates v The Post Office? I wasn't interested but then got hooked. I cannot comprehend how that could have happened. Surely the most basic of MIS would report imbalances in a branch and surely someone would find it odd that this was occurring in so many branches and initiate an audit which would include a system audit. No money moved into any of the Postmasters bank accounts. Could there really be so many thefts all round the country, let alone all happening around the same time. It is inconceivable that so many Postmasters were losing/stealing all this money following the installation of a new computer system. How could this happen?. Gross incompetence, followed by lies and cover ups. And Paula Vennels gets a CBE. She is disgraceful and should be stripped of that and then investigated for her part in this total injustice and punished accordingly What if there had been no Mr Bates? Absolutely disgraceful, incomprehensible and unforgivable
I mentioned this on the Discuss Anything thread. It’s a national disgrace Ron and has been known about for years but it takes a TV programme to wake the politicians and wider public up to it fully and take action. We have a Minister for the Post Office ffs so no idea what they’ve been up to all these years as it should have been priority 1 on their to do list. Embarrassingly for Ed Davey (Lib Dem leader) Alan Bates released a letter Davey sent him when he was PO Minister in the coalition govt refusing to meet him. There are so many questions this raises and I do now think top brass at PO and Fujitsu will be held accountable but how long that will take is anyones guess.
