I don't wanna stare at stacks of paper all the while, while the world goes by

It's revision time and I'm bored. Taking advantage of Fopp and Music Zone is undeniably making this term bearable, however. All I really need now is another Cd & Record Fair, oh and perhaps a thorough trip to Birmingham. Tempest and Swordfish only received my most brief attention last week just before the Morrissey gig.

Moz was quite something. He opened with First Of The Gang and closed on Irish Blood English Heart. Smiths–wise he played Still Ill, Girlfriend In A Coma and How Soon Is Now?, which were all brilliant with the new band, especially Still Ill :–) The rest of the set were songs from his last two albums, though Trouble Loves Me was an unexpected revival of an old solo classic. No doubt it'll have caused a sudden increase in sales of Maladjusted amongst sceney/posey types.

Meanwhile, buy the new Grandaddy album! It's more similar to Sumday than any of their other albums, though sadly it's their last following their announcement to split. It's soundtracking my dancing in my room rather well though.

'I just wanna elevate myself and maybe for a little, get to where I find it really hard to hate myself'

: 27 May 2006 16:33 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Motown is not just for girls!

10/02/06
Zippy’s 10:00 – 11:00 Underground Motown & Soul Night (with Jonny)

Four Tops – Reach out
Doris Day – Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
Al Green – Here I am, come and take me (request)
The Chiffons – Sweet talkin’ guy
Bob Dylan – Lay lady lay
Marvin Gaye – Little darling I need you
Petula Clark – Downtown
Stevie Wonder – Signed, sealed, delivered
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – Jimmy Mack
Mary Wells – My guy
The Supremes – You can’t hurry love
Lesley Gore – It’s my party
Little Eva – The locomotion
Stevie Wonder – For once in my life
Smokey Robinson – Tears of a clown
Helen Shapiro – Walkin’ back to happiness
Jackson 5 – ABC
Shangri Las – Leader of the pack
Otis Redding – Love man (request)
Marvin Gaye – How sweet it is
Four Tops – Sugarpie honeybunch
Sandie Shaw – (There’s) Always something there to remind me
Dusty Springfield – In the middle of nowhere
The Shirelles – Will you still love me tomorrow?
The Marvelettes – Mr Postman
Edwin Starr – War!
Dionne Warwick – Do you know the way to San Jose?

Jonny and I were a bit worried we wouldn't have enough Motown and Soul to dj a whole set for this, but we pretty much managed. My 2 disc 60s Girl Singers was invaluable. I enjoyed the night very much, it's a shame it got off to a slow start, but then that's usually the way with Union events. Everyone's getting pissed in their halls.

: 26 Feb 2006 23:43 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Globe all–nighter, almost

09/02/06
Colosseum, Globe Bar 11:30 – 02:00 (with Will)

M.I.A – Hombre
Beastie Boys – Ch-check it out
Quintron & Miss Pussycat – Fly like a rat
Bearsuit – Itsuko got married
The Roots – The seed
Chicks On Speed – 99c
The Thermals – How we know (request)
Sonic Youth – Youth against fascism
Nine Inch Nails – Only
King Adora – Smoulder
Four Tet – As serious as your life
Tom Vek – C-C (you set the fire in me) (request)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Tell Balgeary, Balgury is dead
Belle & Sebastian – Your secrets
Magnetic Fields – Yeah! Oh yeah!
Snuff – Boatnick (so it goes)
Dresden Dolls – Gravity
Broken Social Scene – Ibi dreams of pavement
Hefner – The sweetness lies within
Guided By Voices – Captain’s dead
Eels – Novocaine for the soul
Heavenly – Nous ne sommes pas de anges
Isobel Campbell – Cat’s pyjamas
Tom McRae – A and B song
Morrissey – Sunny
British Sea Power – Oh, Larsen B
Martin Grech – I am chromosome
Rolling Stones – whatever it was we played…(request)
Le Tigre – What’s your take on cassuetes?
The Smiths – Half a person
Camera Obscura – Knee deep at the NPL
Bob Dylan – Stuck inside of mobile with the Memphis blues again
Ballboy – Donald in the bushes with a bag of glue (request)
The Fall – Pacifying joint
The Smiths – Reel around the fountain
Jeffrey Lewis – Don’t be upset
Grandaddy – Collective dreamwish of upperclass elegance
Belle & Sebastian – Beautiful
Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas

Quite a beast of a setlist there. I don't think we particularly intended to stay up there all night djing to no one in particular. Still, I enjoyed hearing some lovely songs, though I'm pretty sure nobody there was too bothered either way.

: 26 Feb 2006 23:36 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Post–B&S

26/01/06
Colosseum, Globe Bar 01:00 – 01:45 (with Sarah)

The Smiths – Girl afraid
The Smiths – You just haven’t earned it yet baby
The Smiths – How soon is now? (request)
Belle & Sebastian – Judy and the dream of horses
Belle & Sebastian – Get me away from here I’m dying
Belle & Sebastian – My wandering days are over
Belle & Sebastian – String bean Jean
Hefner – Love will destroy us in the end
Hefner – God is on my side
Manics – Judge Yrself
Sonic Youth – Drunken butterfly
The Fall – Couldn’t get ahead
Guided By Voices – Everywhere with helicopter

Yes, they were superb. I want as many toy instruments as they had between them on stage. I was most pleased to hear Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying, There's Too Much Love To Go Around and Your Cover's Blown. Plus, I managed to touch Stuart Murdoch's hair and arm as he was carried over the crowd :-)

Sarah and I weren't really in the mood for djing when we arrived at the coli, so we just put on a few tracks we wanted to blast out. Considerate djs aren't we?

: 29 Jan 2006 23:44 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Burn down the disco, hang the blessed dj

12/01/06
Colosseum, Main Room 12:30 – 01:00 (with Anna and Will)

At The Drive In – One armed scissor (request)
AFI – Girl’s not grey
Weezer – Buddy Holly (request)
The Strokes – Juicebox
The Smiths – This charming man (request)
Arcade Fire – Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
Ash – Orpheus (request)
Marilyn Manson – The fight song (request)
Green Day – American idiot
Babyshambles – Fuck forever (request)
The Rapture – House of jealous lovers
Muse – Muscle museum (request)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Date with the night (request)
Blondie – Hangin on the telephone (request)
Arctic Monkeys – I bet you look good on the dancefloor

This is what resulted from a stint in the main room… Not all bad, of course, but putrid in places. I guess that's the only annoying thing about djing to such a large assembly of, what are essentially, spanners. The evening was rather brightened up by meeting a fellow Smiths enthusiast though.

: 18 Jan 2006 21:22 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Watching the dawn rise, behind the home for the blind

11/01/06
Zippy’s, 12:15 – 01:00 Off The Ground (with Will)

Belle & Sebastian – Funny little frog
The Clash – I fought the law
Dusty Springfield – I only want to be with you
Manics – You love us (request)
Beach Boys – I get around
The Shirelles – Will you still love me tomorrow
Pavement – Cut your hair (request)
Blondie – Heart of glass (request)
Morrissey – First of the gang to die (request)
Manics – Faster
Rod Stewart – Do you think I’m sexy?
The Cure – Lovecats
The Only Ones – Another girl, another planet
The Beatles – From me to you
The Smiths – Panic
The Smiths – This charming man

This was the first joint disco with Offbeat and Underground, cunningly termed Off The Ground. I hope we will hold more of these as it was such fun to dance to and play a wider mix of music. However, those two Smiths songs in a run rather whet my appetite for a repeat of last year's Smiths & Morrissey night… Keep all eyes open, or just both if that's all you can spare.

: 18 Jan 2006 21:12 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Some Dizzy Whore, 2006

La faute de personne

Sinon, je m’interroge
sur les moments de
vie
qu’on passait ensemble
gaspillés
dans l’absence des sentiments
pas que c’était
la Haine
ni qu’on avait
le Désir
qui, vide, mène aux larmes
c’est l’Indifférence qui tue
l’existence
sans la passion pour quelquechose
quelqu’un
est une étoile qui ne scintille pas
donc, c’est fini en queue de poisson

: 10 Jan 2006 00:01 |  Comments (5) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I hung my boots up and then retired from the disco floor

05/01/06
Colosseum, Globe Bar 01:30 – 02:00 (with Will)

Belle & Sebastian – Me and the major
Belle & Sebastian – My wandering days are over
Belle & Sebastian – Family tree
Belle & Sebastian – I’m waking up to us
Belle & Sebastian – Storytelling
Belle & Sebastian – Judy and the dream of horses
Future Bible Heroes – I’m a vampire
Belle & Sebastian – The boy with the arab strap
The Smiths – I want the one I can’t have
The Smiths – Well I wonder

This little outburst of wholesome Belle & Sebastian goodness was a result of the distinct lack of any such tunes in both the main and side rooms of the coli this week. After persistent pestering of both sets of djs, Will, Jane and I decided to retreat to the Globe Bar to load the syringes ourselves, so to speak, and get the fix we quite needed by that point. So it wasn't so much retiring from the disco floor, as moving to a better one.

Remaining true to myself I made sure I included some Smiths in there too, for a bit of balance. A great little band called Future Bible Heroes are worth checking out. A work mate lent me an album of theirs and I adore it. They are made up of the feminine components of Magnetic Fields, and are produced by Stephin Merritt so I'm not going to complain.

: 07 Jan 2006 01:29 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Play me a song to set me free; nobody writes them like they used to

01/12/05
Colosseum, Globe Bar 11 – 12, Underground set (with Will)

Beach Boys – Be true to your school
Marvin Gaye – Little darling I need you
The Who – The kid's are alright
Angels – My boyfriend's back
Bob Dylan – Like a rolling stone
Velvet Underground – Sunday morning
Iggy And The Stooges – Now I wanna be your dog
The Clash – This is England
Jimi Hendrix – Purple haze
Ramones – I wanna be sedated
Patti Smith – Redondo beach
Bob Marley – Redemption song (request)
Scott Walker – If you're going to San Francisco
Dusty Springfield – Wishin' and hopin'
Rolling Stones – Get off my cloud
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – Dancing in the street (request)
Buzzcocks – Ever fallen in love
The Smiths – Pretty girls make graves
Beach Boys – Good vibrations
Lesley Gore – It's my party
Wire – Three girl rhumba
Manics – Train in vain

Not the typical Globe set here, but it was a special Underground night so Offbeat pushed off for part of the night. Not that much though, as it was Will and I djing and we managed to deface the 'Underground' stamp rather a little… Still, all in all it was a most enjoyable evening. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it was one of the best coli nights I've yet had. Possibly influenced by (no, not drinks. Well, yes actually, but not solely) it being the last coli of the term and of 2005. Boo. It was brilliant to drive back to the now crystallised coli soundtrack of Seachange, then gorge on huge pizzas with two of my coolest friends. I'll certainly miss coliness, and all it enatails, when it's gone though that seems too far off to think about now.

Next term promises much to be excited about, however. Firstly, there's the Belle & Sebastian gig, which just about everyone I know is going to. Then there's darling Mozzer's new album to be released, and I sincerely hope a tour to follow. Well-timed to clash with revision/exams will be the next All Tomorrow's Parties festival, of which I think I'll head to the weekend curated by The Shins and Sleater-Kinney with previously mentioned cool friends and a few others for good measure. On which note, the Nightmare Before Christmas festival with Mars Volta last weekend was superb!! I got to see a few of my favourite bands as well as discover some excellent new ones. Les Savy Fav, Blonde Redhead, Cocorosie and Anthony & The Johnsons were all marvelously good. I also suggest you check out Mr Quintron and Miss Pussycat (if you like bis and Le Tigre), Hella, Kill Me Tomorrow and Jai-Alai Savant. Plus, a 5am indie disco can never be a bad thing.

: 08 Dec 2005 23:56 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Judy wrote the saddest song

Silly Mandi… In an earlier blog entry I forgot any relevant mention of the beautiful 'Judy And The Dream Of Horses'. Shame on me.

"Judy, let's go for a walk
We can kiss and do whatever you want
But you will be disappointed
You will fall asleep with ants in your pants"

*The best looking boys are taken
The best looking girls are staying inside
So Judy, where does that leave you?
Walking the street from morning to night*

Hmm, two fairly long quotes there, but necessarily so. Ever feel like Judy sometimes? In fact, it has been empirically proven that I am Judy from said song, so there. Check out this quiz

It's on Quizilla.com, where there are dozens of lovely time-wasting Belle & Sebastian quizzes to search for, as well as some rather amusing Smiths ones. Enjoy.

: 01 Dec 2005 00:49 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem