commonpeople

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One small, crazy boy. Sadly volume control is not included in this package. Open to offers.

Ever wanted to succinctly sum up the historical relationship between Christians and lesbians and gay men?

http://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/2009/07/human-genre-project.html

A while ago I was staring at a poster of the human genome produced by the US Dept of Energy, and I remembered Michael Swanwick's Periodic Table of Science Fiction. Cue lightbulb moment.

Why not set up a website that displayed short pieces - stories, flash fictions, poems, and reflections - inspired by genes or genomics, and arranged them (as far as possible - I soon found myself applying for an artistic licence) according to the chromosome that carries the gene that inspired the piece?

Everyone I told about this idea thought it was a good one. The distinguished poet Laura-Gray Street contributed two published poems straight away. Best-selling fantasy writer Alma Alexander sent me an original short story. My good friend Mike Holmes volunteered witty song lyrics he'd once offered to Hawkwind. Other writers and poets assure me they have work on its way.

Now, thanks to enthusiastic work from Emma Capewell and Claire Alexander at the Genomics Forum, and the creative skills of web designer Damien Noonan, The Human Genre Project has gone live. It's early days yet, but it looks good and it's just waiting to be filled up with new writing. If you have something you think might sit well behind one of those colourful chromosomes, here's how to contribute.

http://todiebyyourside.blogspot.com/2009/07/no-one-will-take-me-down.html

I'm always reticent to describe a band as a singles band.

It's seems like a bit of backhanded compliment.

A veiled insult. Sure you can knock out the odd good song, but you're not very consistent are you? Yet occasionally, it's the most apt thing to say. Some bands really do have quality control issues and Ash seem to be a perfect example. For me at least. They've never released a truly satisfying record. Not since their debut EP, 'Trailer'. That record was the ultimate teenage release. An urgent, pop punk classic that did what it had to do and didn't hang around or overstay it's welcome. And if I'm honest, it's a trick the band haven't come close to repeating. Not in terms of energy or songs. Sure, they've released some great songs. Songs that I could use to navigate my path through my formative years. But their albums as a whole mean pretty much nothing to me. If that Ep was meant as a preview of what was to come from the band, then sadly it suffered from that old Hollywood cliche. They put the best bits in the trailer.

Ash were always a band I felt some kinship too. Unlike all the other bands I was getting into at the time, they were roughly the same age as me. Like me, they'd grown up on Star Wars. They did their A Levels at the same time as me and would have got their results on the same day as me. It's weird the things that tie you to bands when you're younger but they were a band I could relate to. Though there was of course the odd difference. If memory serves me correctly, the night I was getting ready ready to hit the town and celebrate my exam results, Ash were on Top Of The Pops playing their latest single. Their debut EP was a record I played endlessly and after 'Girl From Mars' came out, my expectations for their debut album were sky high. In hindsight, disappointment was inevitable. Few bands can live up to that. Yet nothing could have prepared me for my reaction to it.

'1977' was a letdown on a grand scale. A record that left me wondering what had happened. The reviews were great. Everyone seemed to go mental for it. But not me. I just didn't get it. Couldn't get into it. I remember being terribly disappointed by the whole thing. It didn't even sound like the same band. Not really. Sure there were undoubtedly some great songs but the whole thing was too heavy and sludgy. Too lumpen and serious. Where was the fun? Or the vitality? Why couldn't I hear what everyone else was hearing? It was unfocused. It seemed as though they'd suddenly lost their youthful vigor and were attempting to disguise it, by turning the volume up and going heavy. The songs lacked the punchy innocence that had made the debut EP seem so amazing. That record tainted the band in my eyes and sadly every record since has been blighted by similar problem. Great singles, shame about the album.

So it's kind of interesting to see that Ash have decided to become a singles only band. Sure, it's a move based on the current musical landscape. A reaction to the way people consume music these days. The cynic in me would say it's a reaction to their own drop in record sales. A way of lowering overheads and not having to rely on a record label to fund them. Maybe allowing the band to have more control over how and when they release their material. To get songs out quicker, straight to their fans. Only time will tell if it works and if anyone really cares enough about Ash these days to follow their new strategy. Part of me hopes the band stick around and that their new business strategy succeeds. But another part wonders how bothered I'd be if they split up tomorrow.

Anyway, I thought, I'd take you back to the time when Ash could do no wrong in my eyes. Before '1977' tainted them for me. This session features two songs from that debut EP and two b-sides. 'Petrol' and 'Season' are amongst the best songs Ash ever recorded. Two blasts of fast, fuzzy cartoon punk. The perfect blueprints for their career. 'Jazz 59' on the other hand, is little more than a jokey, throwaway tune. Clearly the band are enjoying themselves but it's not a track you'll be desperate to hear again. Unlike 'Silver Surfer' which is just a great song. A lost Ash classic, crazily hidden away as a b-side.

Ash - petrol (live session version) original version available on 'Trailer'

Ash - season (live session version) original version available on 'Trailer'

Ash - jazz 59 (live session version)

Ash - silver surfer (live session version)

mp3 / music / ash

I feel about 1000% better since the weather cooled; Tues-Thurs, I was starting to suspect I had swine flu (headache, stomach ache, exhaustion; the only thing missing was loss of appetite - very rare). We cycled over to Marisa and Paul's for their 4th July barbecue, complete with red white and blue leis, hot dogs with mustard and sauerkraut, ice-cream with Hershey's sauce and Reece's pieces, Budweiser BBQ sauce, red-neck, white-bread and blue-collar music on the stereo, and tiny American flags decorating the gherkins. It was all slightly ironic as Marisa has just got her British citizenship.

The cat, jealous of the food, caught a mouse, although she didn't seem to want to put it onto the hot coals. I tried calling her over by her name: "Yoko, Yoko". That didn't work, so I took a different tack: "Cynthia, Cynthia". No response. The vegetarian barbecue caught fire and almost burnt down a tree stump (we veggies are smokin' hot. We never get cancer and we never die. Except, um, Linda McCartney. And Hitler.)

Later, I accompanied Dave over to London Fields where cyclists of all ages (30-40), all ethnicities (white) and all genders (male) were congregating to start the Dunwich Dynamo. I thought there might be fixie-boys there (plaid shirt, rolled up skinny jeans, espradrilles, '40s/'80s haircut), but it was mostly older men in lycra/cycle jerseys. I bade them farewell and went home, lying on the floor for the rest of the evening because I seem to have done in my back again. I want Diazepam and I want it now!

One often heard of building collapses these days. Happens in China, New York, many other places.

In China, this one is a bit special. The building fell over as though it had been pushed, and fell in one piece.



The story adds a bit of context.

http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/2009/07/class-of-79-part-20.html

I'll admit that this wasn't a record that I went out and bought when it was released on Zoo Records in August 1979. Indeed, I'll also admit that I wasn't even aware of its very existence until I got my hands on a 1990 compilation LP that rounded up all the singles ever released on the label. But its something I quickly fell in love with....

I did know that this lot were another product of the very fertile imagination of the wonderful Bill Drummond, and that the single was co-written with Dave Balfe, who would eventually find fame with The Teardrop Explodes and fortune as the founder of Food Records and be immortalised by Blur in the single Country House. And thanks to the wonder of the internet, I've discovered that while Bill and Dave were The Chameleons, it was a Liver Bird named Lori Lartey who was the third member of the band.

This was their debut single. It was in fact released three times between 1979 and 1981, but never got any higher than #70 in the UK singles chart. The later releases were on the same major label that Echo & The Bunnymen had signed to from Zoo Records, and I'm assuming that Bill Drummond continually badgered the WEA moguls trying to convince him that this four minutes of pop magic would captivate the British public.

Driven along initially by a beat that is very reminiscent of disco-hit Funkytown by Lipps Inc, Lori delivers a wonderful spoken-word tale of love and happiness on a Tokyo sight-seeing holiday while Bill and Dave do their best to sound like a heavenly choir on backing vocals. Oh and about 2 minutes in, there's a rinky-dinky guitar solo that sort of sounds like Hong Kong Garden....

Lori & The Chameleons only released this and one other single before becoming a footnote in pop history. As I said, Drummond & Balfe went on to become rich and famous.....but does anyone out there have any idea what Lori's been doing this past 30 years?

mp3 : Lori & The Chameleons - Touch
mp3 : Lori & The Chameleons - Love On The Ganges

You'll spot that Lori herself doesn't appear on the b-side....

I dont have the other single, The Lonely Spy, which came out in 1980. But I did find this on youtube:-



Wonderful. Oh and if my dear mate Dirk from SexyLoser reads this at any point....maybe now you'll understand why I chose the George Pringle track the other week on the Contrast Podcast...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meire/3689190742/

meire posted a photo:

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Have you ever heard of Princess Urduja? If you grew up in the Philippines, your elementary teacher might have told you about the warrior princess who is believed to have ruled the Kingdom of Tawalisi way before Magellan begged the Queen of Spain to give him those danged ships to, in the words of George W., circumcise the globe.

Magellan died at the Battle of Mactan in 1521, on Mactan Island just off the coast of Cebu City.

Today Mactan Island houses the Hollywood of the Philippines at Bigfoot Communications.

There was a lot to what I wanted to do in the Philippines.
The Fraud has been devastating.
I would not be in this Financial trouble.
I would be working and
I would be working on the Art Work.



This is not Buko Pie. It's Jabu!

Jabu - Princes Urduja!
That kind of love is Mythical!
She's a natural law!

It's too bad about the fraud, me and Jabu get on great, but I just don't have the resources now.

Jabu is a Princess in Pangasinan, PH - Region I

Many people have been harmed by the Fraud.

Robert Palmer's - Simply irresistible Music to listen too

( Simply irresistible - Jabu is so cute! )

Urduja (ca. 1350 C.E - 1400 C.E.), is a legendary warrior-princess who is recognized as a heroine in Pangasinan, Philippines. The name Urduja appears to be Sanskrit in origin, and a variation of the name "Udaya," meaning "arise" or "rising sun," or the name "Urja," meaning "breath." A historical reference to Urduja can be found in the travel account of Ibn Battuta (1304 - possibly 1368 or 1377 C.E.), a Muslim traveler from Morocco.



A visualization of Urduja
by Philippine National Artist Fernando Amorsolo