Wednesday 23 March 2016

GERT'S BACK! VIC NEWS, SUBWAY SECTS NEWS, GIG NEWS, GNU INC GIG SPECIAL CD SINGLES, GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL,CAROL BAYER SAGER,MUSSORGSKY,ELP, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN,LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, IDS & OTHER TORY MISCREANTS, PIGS FLYING, THE EU, ANGELA MERKEL Zürcher Theater Spektakel, WILLO THE WISP,USING VIDEO AS COMMENT(!) - KLF & TAMMY WYNETTE, ABBA,CARLY SIMON,NANCY SINATRA & LOADS MORE.....

SPRING HAS SPRUNG
Spring 2016, the return of the parakeets and a couple of other visitors,.gnu March 2016

Spring in The Bronx by Anon 

Spring is sprung, the grass is ris.
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the birds is on the wing.
Ain't that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird


Loving the days getting noticeably longer, no time for chit chat though, the usual eclectic, scrambled mix awaits...cue the countdown to lift off.......

Another veritable smörgåsbord of Vic treats over the next few months including the two Subway Sect April Specials in Birmingham and Brighton. 

Saturday 16th April Seventh Wave Presents Vic Godard & Subway Sect, Yeah Yeah Noh and Harry Stafford (Inca Babies)
The Flapper Cambian Wharf Kingston Row Birmingham B1 2NU 
Chris Wave has put together another stellar night's entertainment at the Flapper.https://www.facebook.com/events/619040984902231/

Dave Morgan (The Weather Prophets, ATV, The Rockingbirds.......) will be debuting as the Sect's very Special Guest drummer and to celebrate gnu inc is giving away a free CD single of 'Pay The Rate', recorded live in 2011 by Lee McFadden and featuring Dave Morgan, to all advance ticket holders. https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/tickets/vic-godard-and-subway-sect-yeah-yeah-noh-pete-astor/10038475 
Below is another version from 2011, The Subway Sect Trio, Vic, Mark Braby and Kevin Younger, playing a blinder at The Greystones June 2011.
2011 was the year of the the VariSect (gnu not updated for 2016 yet!):
http://vicgodardandsubwaysect.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_21.html 
The Dave and Lee Travesty Show Episode 13 by Tracey Holloway 2016

Tracey Holloway's extraordinary visual interpretation of Episode 13 of the Dave and Lee Travesty Show on Croydon Radio, hosted by Dave Smith and Lee McFadden. Looking forward to seeing what Tracey is inspired to come up with on Sunday 24th April when Vic is special guest on the show. http://croydonradio.com/
If you are intrigued by Tracey's depiction of Episode 13 and haven't already listened here's the podcast link:
http://croydonradio.com/podcast/show.php?HistoryID=62cbacd0-a7ca-94be-bddd-d0ea053f7fcb

Saturday 30th April 
Spinningchilli Presents
Vic & Subway Sect and The Bitter Springs
Green Door Store
Trafalgar Arches (under the station)
Brighton BN1 4FQ
Celebrating nearly 20 years of collaborations between Vic and Simon Rivers & the Springs. The gnu inc Gig Special CD for Brighton (FREE to all advance ticket holders!) is going to be Vic and the Springs doing Wayward Biro. The version below was filmed at Stripes Bar Brentford by Jock McTavish 2004.    

1st/2nd May Portobello Live! 


Portobello Live! Bank Holiday Bonanza over Sunday/Monday 1st/2nd May - Live Music, Spoken Word, Cabaret, Art and Street Food. One Wristband, Two Days, Twelve Venues, Eighty Acts...including Vic and Subway Sect and the lovely Jock Scot on Sunday 1st.
Early Bird Tickets for entry to any/all events over the two days of the festival are available here: https://www.musicglue.com/portobello-live/tickets/

Looking further ahead......
What is being cooked up for Saturday 25th June? 

 CCA Glasgow - Creeping Bent Presents Vic Godard & The Stool Pigeons,Russell Burns, Mick Slaven, Malcolm Ross and Campbell Owens. Douglas MacIntyre will be busy WITH.. Secret Goldfish who are launching their LP, after a 15 year wait WITH James Kirk on guitar AND he maybe doing a solo set as well. More info to follow.  


Sunday 26th June Vic Godard & The Subway Sect and The Jazzateers Glasgow Jazz Festival. Vic will be getting back with Chris Bostock, Rob Marche, Sean McLusky AND Pete Saunders will be tinkling the ivories with them this time. The photographs in the poster were taken at the last reunion of The Subway Sect at the 100 Club 20th November 2014 by Jock McTavish, you can read about the night here, about two thirds of the way down: http://www.vicgodardandsubwaysect.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=8  
it just so happens that it was Mr McTavish who filmed this video on the night of 'Be Your Age'.
 
 Looking forward to XiriaPop Festival!
 2/3rd September 
 Carballo Galicia 
 Vic Godard & Subway Sect
 The Wellgreen 
 Brand New Sinclairs and more TBA.

Thursday 13th October
Dandy Presents
Vic Godard & Subway Sect
Plus Special Guests TBA
Gullivers 
109 Oldham Street
Manchester M4 1LW 

Friday 14th October 
Children of Godard Special 
Vic Godard & Subway Sect 
AND Band of Holy Joy
Plus Special Guests TBC
The Cumberland Arms
James Place Street
Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 1LD
Another unforgettable COG night on the cards.
and locally at Beatdown Records, Reflex and RPM Music, more info here:

STOP PRESS.....Just confirmed...........Friday 25th November Bernie Connor's Birthday Mk 2 at The Buyer's Club Liverpool. Details to follow AND Saturday 26th November It's Sect/SOBs Sounds in the Suburbs Time at Stereo Renfield Lane Glasgow G2 6PH. Advance tickets for SITS at Stereo from Alan Suburb at soundsinthesuburbs@hotmail.co.uk or on line  at:
http://tickets-scotland.com/vic00
http://www.stereocafebar.com/ Glasgow


PS Working on an Edinburgh SITS date, rugby, half term and lack of venue availability when there is Sect availability, are obstacles to overcome. 

Amongst many other goodies Sounds in the Suburbs has coming up this year are these two nights of delight - 8th April in Edinburgh and 11th April in Glasgow. 
https://www.facebook.com/soundsin.thesuburbs


Keep an eye out for updates on Vic's fb for gig updates.

Work continuing on the 'Find Out Over Time/Dead Dreamy' 7", more news in the next blog. 

Field Notes by Johny Brown and Inga Tillere (Moloko Plus 2016)
 This book is 'A wayward tale of Radio Joy' and is a semi fictional account of the radio station that Johny and Inga ran from their front room from 2008 to 2012. The content of Field Notes is a mix of Tillere's visuals,  Brown's Radio Plays and the Stationmasters Journals. They are taking Field Notes on the road in 2016 and have four prospective assignments so far, Manchester, Belgrade, Paris and Dorking. The Belgrade performance will be at Galerija Flu.More info and dates to follow. Pressed by the German publishing house Moloko Plus, Field Notes is available to buy through the bandcamp site here:
www.bandofholyjoy.co.uk 
http://www.radiojoy.co.uk/ 
http://ingatillere.com/field_notes.html 
https://www.facebook.com/galerija.flu?__mref=message_bubble 
 
Talking of Belgrade still keeping fingers crossed that we can bring VicLeka to London later in the year. 


Recently released on Creeping Bent, Port Sulphur's new single 'Aberdeen Angus' & 'Sad and Milky' from the forthcoming LP 'Paranoic Critical' which features guest appearances from Davy Henderson, Jock Scot, Gareth Sager, Vic and more.

On it's Way.....on 1st May 2015 Neu! Reekie! released Neu! Reekie! #UntitledOne at a  packed La Belle Angele. #UntitledOne was a 31 writer strong, mighty poetry anthology and 21 track downloadable album (with a limited run of bespoke USBs). It included new and exclusive tracks from the likes of Momus, The Sexual Objects, TeenCanteen, Gareth Sager/Pop Group and many more. The book had new work from Irvine Welsh, Liz Lochhead, Hollie McNish, Aidan Moffat, Tom Leonard and Jenni Fagan amongst many others. The exclusive, hand numbered hampers (which included rare  Rebel Inc magazines, prints, books) were quickly snapped up, look out for updates as #UntitledTwo is bound to go like hot cakes as well. (forgot to mention Vic's got a track on this one) https://www.facebook.com/neureeking/?fref=ts

BBC Artsnight  Series 2 Episode 27 - Thurston Moore talks punk with Pete Shelley, Chrissie Hynde, Julien Temple and celebrates X-Ray Spex, one of his favourite groups (and they play Ambition at the start). About two weeks left to watch: 
'Cold London Blues from Master of Noir Paul D Brazill (Caffeine Nights Publishing) - Out 14th July 2016 - Pre-order here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/cold-london-blues/paul-d-brazill/9781910720554

  "A killer priest is on the rampage across London and an egotistical Hollywood action movie star is out for revenge when is his precious comic book collection is stolen.Meanwhile, gangster Marty Cook's dreams of going legit swiftly turn pear shaped when one of his bouncers accidentally kills one of his salsa club's regular customers.Razor sharp wisecracks, gaudy characters and even gaudier situations abound in Cold London Blues, a violent and pitch-black Brit Grit comedy of errors." http://pauldbrazill.com/ 

If you live in Zurich or/and are planning a visit, the 37th Zürcher Theater Spektakel is taking place from Thursday 18 August to Sunday 4 September. If you are there look out for an art project and exhibition that Vic was delighted to be asked to contribute to. Original and fascinating idea, Phil Hayes is asking a variety of people to pick a location, find a photograph of it, record a description and forward to him with the reason for the choice. The recording only is then sent to an artist in another country to interpret from the description given. The resulting paintings with original photograph and recording will then be exhibited at the Theater Spektakel Festival. It's hoped it will be an ongoing project, continuing after the festival. More info to follow.   
http://www.thefirstcut.ch/index.php?page=phil-hayes


Still on the art front, if you are lucky enough to be in Valencia you can catch Miu Mirambell exhibition, on until 3rd April: https://www.facebook.com/mmirambell/?fref=ts  

Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition
You're a better gnu than I if you can make it through 43 minutes of ELP doing the same piece (I managed one and a half minutes).  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4igIQ2TOASg 


Political Miscreants - I find an awful lot of politicians unpalatable (and awful), their smugmess, their disdain and disregard for the reality of existence for the majority of the population. Now in the latest budget from Odious Osborne and the rest of the elitist, over privileged bunch of bully boys that currently rule over us we have had more of the same, we were presented with tax breaks for the have mores to be paid for by once again by taking from the have much less/nots.
MONEY MONEY MONEY I'S A RICH MAN;S WORLD
 
I would not normally be able to stomach this amount of things Tory here but needs must. In my humble opinion the below is a particularly odious politician, one of the most duplicitous, cynical and  hypocritical snakes in the grass currently jostling for position in the nest along with the other vipers. Until 18/03/2016 he was Work and Pensions Secretary, appointed in 2010 and who since then has year on year come up with many inventive ways to take from the poor to give to/bail out the rich including Atos fit-for-work tests and sanctions for those with chronic illness or disability, which a recent report recommends should be scrapped. 
 These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
 
Then there's this couple of doozys - the discredited Universal Credit (even sounds Orwellian), he recently lost his recently lost his latest legal challenge to keep  problems related to the scheme secret. The case kicked off in in 2012 with a freedom of information request and this man has been procrastinating and wasting the tax payer's money by pursuing the case ever since. http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2016/03/17/ids-loses-legal-challenge-to-keep-universal-credit-problems
This is the latest court decision: 
 https://campaigningforchange.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/077-110316-final-open-decision.pdf
and of course we must not forget that harbinger of human misery and despair the Bedroom Tax, which is working out almost as well as the Universal Credit scheme.
After SIX years of faithfully following the party line and willingly colluding with and contributing to the Tory policy of annually slashing his department's budget to curry favour with Toryworld, would the whiny Mr Insultingourintelligence Dissembling Snatcher really have us believe that he is genuinely taking some kind of moral stance over the latest round of disability benefit cuts with his sudden resignation?  That after all he is 'in it together' with us? At this late stage it seems wholly disingenuous for him to balk at the cuts in Odious Osborne's latest budget when he never has before and it was his department that came up with them, presumably he attended cabinet meetings leading up to the budget and only a couple of weeks ago (2nd March) voted to force through another cut of £30 pw in ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) without the impact assessment the Lords wanted to include. 7 Ways Mr Snatcher has 'helped' the disabled: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/esa-wrag-disability-benefit-cut-disabled-mps-vote-tories-iain-duncan-smith-a6918556.html#gallery
Snatcher would have us believe his damascene conversion has nothing at all to do with being an EU refusenik and the current Tory infighting over the looming UK EU IN/out referendum, the London Mayoral elections, the inevitable undignified skirmish that will ensue over the leadership at some point in the not too distant future and the increasingly vocal public backlash against the fiscal policies of yet more for them and less for everyone else. The new Work and Pension Secretary, Stephen Crabb's counter move was to announce that the £4.4bn in cuts to the Personal Independence Payment would not now go through, there were "No plans" for further welfare cuts in this parliament, the shortfall would not come from the DWP budget and the cap on overall welfare spending would be 'reassessed'. Do I believe the Tories have all had some collective epiphany of conscience? 
Pigs spotted flying over the Pennines
Let's see whose tack changes back again after the EU referendum and Mayoral elections before hanging any flags out: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/18/iain-duncan-smith-resigns-from-cabinet-over-disability-cuts 
You're Moving out Today - Carol Bayer Sager

Although my heart bleeds for those MPs who have been whinging about people sharing their identities on social media (including IDS), here is a roll call of dishonour of all the MPs who voted to force through the disability benefit cut on 2nd March: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/esa-wrag-disability-benefit-cut-disabled-mps-vote-tories-iain-duncan-smith-a6918556.html
 As well as IDS the list also includes another arch cynic and dissemmbler, our local parasite, sorry, MP, Zac Goldsmith, also Tory candidate for mayor, £10,000,000 declared this year (£6,000,000 net after paying his statutory 40% to the revenue, including at least £74,000+ MP salary from us, however did it include any and all income Mr G may have received from off shore family trusts? I don't know but you can see why he'd have so much empathy with and understanding of the 98% of the population not in that income bracket. Up until very recently Mr G was patron of local disability charity Richmond AID, hard to credit but true, however in this instance Mr G has been hoist by his own petard and I'm ashamed to say (not) that I couldn't  suppress a pleasurable shiver of schadenfreude at his expense. A nice touch by our local paper, if deliberate (karmic if not) was the added 'insult to injury' of a full page Sadiq Khan for Mayor inside. 
" Zac Goldsmith has been booted out as patron of a Richmond disability charity after he voted to cut benefits for disabled people by £1,500 a year."
'You're So Vain' comes to mind.

Je crois que la plupart des politiciens croient que nous sommes tous épais comme la merde, as some of us Europeans might say'.

UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
PLEASE VOTE TO STAY IN THE EU

If knowing that the two MPs mentioned above are pro leaving the EU isn't enough reason to vote to stay then how about  'what the EU did for us' and what we have to lose:

Providing 57% of our trade; Structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline; Clean beaches and rivers; Cleaner air; Lead free petrol; Restrictions on landfill dumping; A recycling culture; Cheaper mobile charges; Cheaper air travel; Improved consumer protection and food labelling; A ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives;
Better product safety; Single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance; break up of monopolies; Europe-wide patent and copyright protection; No paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market; Price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone; Freedom to travel, live and work across Europe; Funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad; Access to European health services; lLbour protection and enhanced social welfare; Smoke-free workplaces; Equal pay legislation; Holiday entitlement;The right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime; Strongest wildlife protection in the world; Improved animal welfare in food production; EU-funded research and industrial collaboration;EU representation in international forums; Bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO; EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; European arrest warrant; Cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence; European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa; Support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond; Investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital....
Posted by Donnachadh McCarthy Feb 2016
http://www.theecologist.org/Interviews/2151062/the_prostitute_state.html 
Do I want to stay in the EU? I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do

Did you know that the origin of the phrase 'United We Stand Divided We Fall' is thought to be Aesop's fable 'The Four Oxen and The Lion? I didn't.  http://aesopfables.com/

'A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.'

And talking of moral tales, love Willo the Wisp with the incomparable Kenneth Williams, this episode is 'Edna the Boring'.



International Women's Day (ppffff)

three billion plus
one day of celebration
women's spring in wings 

  

Chrissie Hynde's memoir 'Reckless: My Life as a Pretender' was published in 2015. https://www.bookdepository.com/Reckless-Chrissie-Hynde/9780385540612

Redressing some balance a bit  - I came .across Soosan Firooz or Susan Feroz doing an interview on Channel 4 news a couple of weeks ago, she is a young Afghan woman, actress and rapper who has literally put herself in the line of fire, facing the fear of reprisals and using rap to speak out about the reality of life for Afghan women. It is annoying and a bit weird that I can't find the interview or anything posted after 2013. If anyone else comes across it please let me know and I'll add the link. BBC snippet 2012- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18361136https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soosan_Firooz


We are not natural political allies however this is one politician I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for, Angela Merkel, the Antidote to Adolf (pinched that from Mr Godard). 
KEEP ON KEEPING ON ANGE

'You've Got A Friend', Carole King with the audience in the palm of her hand, pure schmaltz and fab. 

One of my favourite politicians, Helle Thorning-Schmidt PM, Denmark's first female prime minister, first female leader of the Social Democratic Party, two degrees in political science from the University of Copenhagen and Belgium's College of Europe, worked at the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions and served in the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. She now leads a coalition of the Social Democrats, the Socialist People's Party and the Danish Social Liberal Party.

Inconsequentially the Danish Prime Minister also happens to be one time Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock's daughter-in-law. Another Labour Party leader that presided over an un-lose-able election (1992) and lost.To lose one un-lose-able election is remiss but to lose two smacks of carelessness (and a lack of respect for the electorate in general).

'We Are Family' by Sister Sledge (1979) - saw them and Chic at Hammersmith Odeon, two hours of disco bliss. This led the thoughts to The Birdcage, memorable scene with Gene Hackman in drag (not a lot else going for it), which took me back to the original french film adaptation of Jean Poiret's 1973 play La Cage aux Folles, co-written and directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault. It's a poignant and hilarious film, this is a trailer for the 1978 film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHC8wmRfKEg&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DIHC8wmRfKEg&has_verified=1
I highly recommend watching the whole film, you can watch the whole play here, however no subtitles available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3-_WQ_ho1E  

Current women heads of state: Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh PM; Saara Kuugongelwa Namibia PM ; Erna Solberg Norway PM; Beata Szydło Poland PM and the Presidents of: Brazil Dilma Rousseff; Central African Republic Catherine Samba-Panza (Acting President); Chile Michelle Bachelet; Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga; Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė; South Korea Park Geun-hye; Malta Marie Louise Coleiro Preca; Marshall Islands Hilda Heine; Mauritius Ameenah Gurib; Nepal Bidhya Devi BhandariTaiwan (Preseident Elect) Tsai Ing-wen and then there are  the wonderfully archaically named Captain Regent of San Moreno Lorella Stefanelli and Members of the Swiss Federal Council Doris Leuthard and Simonetta Sommaruga 
RESPECT (not 100% unqualified in all cases)


One of my very early heroines was Aqua Marina, quiet(!), unassuming and saved Captain Troy Tempest's bacon on more than one occasion. The music for Stingray was composed by Barry Gray, who also wrote for Thunderbirds, Joe 90, UFO and more.


The Atlanta/Troy/Marina love puts me in mind of  of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, one of his bleak, no chance of a happy ever after morality/fairy story, The Little Match Girl is another.
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/little-mermaid/author/hans-christian-andersen/
http://www.hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html 

In my Top Ten best songs EVER, Crystal Waters and 'Gypsy Woman'.    
 
Another brilliant selection of tunes put together by DJ Sue for her show on Shoreditch Radio (21st March) including some great obscure Motown:
https://www.mixcloud.com/sue-grant/dj-sue-shoreditch-radio-21-march-2016/

It was the Mad Hatties 50th show last week, you can hear Vic wishing them a Happy 50th about 1.21.31 into the show (well you can hear him choking with laughter, The Hatties play Keep Our Chains).

Going to leave the last word (almost, for now, there will be tweaking) to KLF featuring the late Tammy Wynette, proving what a game gal she was, Justified and Ancient. 
  
 So it's goodbye from me and goodbye from 'I am not a number I am a free gnu'.....Be Seeing You!

 

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