Kurt Cobain. Seattle. 8 April 1994. Cremated and ashes scattered into the Wishkah river.
I vividly remember hearing the news of Kurt Cobain's death. I was listening to the radio sitting in a hospital car park about to see my son who was born on the same day.
One door closes. Another one opens.
I happened to be in Macclesfield at the weekend and went over to the Crematorium to see Ian Curtis plaque.
I was never fortunate enough to ever see Joy Division live but I vividly remember returning from a United game and watching them perform 'Transmission' and 'She's Lost Control' on a local TV program 'Something Else'.
Ian Curtis was a very ill man and hanged himself on the eve of a US tour.
His wife, Deborah, wrote a very interesting book about their life that describes him very differently from the tragic, angst ridden hero portrayed in the media.
One myth claimed that Ian Curtis committed suicide, standing on a block of ice but this is completely untrue.
The Killers (Glastonbury 2005) has successfully been converted from DVD to WAV format and to ATRAC format on a CD.
Thanks to two excellent software tools: MediaCoder (DVD to MP3 converter) and Audacity.
Student, indie, garage band who obviously love Blur and Half Man, Half Biscuit (but sadly lacking the humour) and then, one day, after missing a Physics lecture, the drummer comes in with a Macc Lads tape.
No wonder they gave CD's away free at their early gigs. I should have known better - always give a wide berth to any band who have ever been described in glowing terms by NME.
I think the pronounced East Yorkshire accent ('Oop') and Sheffield references ('Hunters Bar') finally did it for me.
A complete waste of money. Music to fall asleep (or drop out of second year at Metropolitan University) to. Only slightly better (and less embarrassing) than James Blunt and David Gray.
A kind gentleman (on The Chameleons forums) once reviewed Interpol's Antics thus:
No thanks. If I want to listen to Joy Division), I will put 'Unknown Pleasures' on.
A worthy review which introduced me to one of my favourite bands. He also followed up more recently by reviewing 'The Back Room' by Editors as follows:
No thanks. If I want to listen to Interpol, I will put 'Antics' on.
The jury is still out on this one but worth listening to, I think. Thanks again.
I am currently poised waiting for his thoughts on the Arctic Monkeys). However, worryingly, he has been a little quiet of late. I wonder if he got a job with NME.
I have been playing a CD in my car on Disc-Random-Shuffle mode for ten weeks. The CD contains close to 200 songs. I have heard all the songs once, some twice and a handful three times.
This morning, I heard something that sent a shiver down my spine, chilled my bones and momentarily froze me to the spot.
'Spectre versus Rector' by The Fall. This 'song' is a 8 minute rant from Mark E. Smith accompanied by some noise, detailing a ghostly story from the 'Dragnet' LP. 'Spectre versus Rector' sounds as if it was recorded in a bleak, industrial warehouse somewhere up North with a hand-held tape recorder.
The very last song to be selected. Spooky.
Mark Burgess once introduced 'Here Today' with these words.
I just read on The Chameleons message board that Mancunian musician, Bryan Glancy, died at the weekend. I didn't know Bryan Glancy. I never met Bryan Glancy. I just happened to see him supporting The Chameleons in Camden back in November 2002. Just very sad for his friends and family to think of another young person gone before his time.
Elsewhere, four young people are convicted of manslaughter (not murder) for kicking a man to death in a random attack on London's South Bank.
A person isn't safe anywhere these days.
A long time ago, there was a unique band called The Chameleons who hailed from Middleton, Manchester.
Like a lot of bands, The Chameleons made some records, built up a dedicated following, played lots of gigs and then split up.
Like a lot of bands, The Chameleons reformed.
Like a lot of bands, The Chameleons made some more records, played some more gigs and then split up (again).
However, unlike a lot of bands, the lead singer, Mark Burgess, once went to a private individual's house and played at their birthday party.
Now, I don't like to namedrop but I met Mark Burgess once. It was just before a gig at The Garage in Highbury. I had a very brief chat about his life in Hamburg, United's prospects against Bayer Leverkeusen in the semi, ticket sales and whether he could put me on the guest list.
Years before that, I also had an email exchange with him. I forget most of the details but will always remember his response to my 'God - it really was you' which was 'Please don't call me God, plain Mark will do'.
Bob Geldof wanted The Killers to appear at Live 8 at Hyde Park in London.
The Killers themselves desperately wanted to take part.
Harvey Goldsmith couldn't find room to accommodate The Killers in the running order because of problems about the closing time and the provision of police/ambulance/London transport cover for a late ending at Hyde Park.
Eventually, The Killers played one song on another band's kit at Live 8 in sharp suits to save time on the changeover.
Wonder if Brandon got up and played the piano when U2 recently supported The Killers.