Floored Genius

Many a time over the past year or so I've come back from a gig buzzing, full of things I wanted to say, thinking I wish I had a blog to post these thoughts while they were so fresh. That was my original inspiritation for setting this thing up. And now the opportunity has arisen. Of course I've had many a beer, so the spelling may be a tad dodgy, some things could possibly read better, it will probably be rambling but so what - the idea is to capture those thoughts while they're fresh, I'm not trying to write for the NME.

Tonight was the first London gig in a while by The Brian Jonestown Massacre - (in)famous from their part in the documentary "Dig!" following the contrasting paths of themselves and the Dandy Warhols, they, under the leadership of the erratic Anton Newcombe, produce a hypnotic blend of garage rock and psychedlia which at times combines to produce something mind-blowing. I'll do a seperate blog on Dig! itself at some point- I saw it on a flight to (or from, I forget) New York and bought it since but haven't rewatched it yet, but for now the gig itself.

In the same way that The Fall IS Mark E Smith (to more or less quote "even if it's me and yer granny on bongos, it's still The Fall ... ok"), The Brian Jonestown Massacre is more or less Anton Newcombe. That said it was good to see Joel on stage. A lazy comparison would be to call him the Bez of the band, but that doesn't do him justice - yes, he just plays tambourine and maraccas during the shows, but at the same time he holds the whole glorious mess together, and has a nice line in banter to boot.

The show was equally brilliant and frustrating. They took a while to get going but when they did it was everything you hoped for and then ... well then Anton spends 5 minutes fucking moaning to his roadie about the tuning of his guitar and any sense of continuity goes. This happens several times. Later on another guitarist has a go at the same roadie and storms off stage, leaving the roadie to play the guitar. Then he comes back but after being berated by Anton leaves again after a few "fuck you"s .. at which point the (excellent) keyboard player takes over on guitar.

At their best they're exillerating, shiver down the spine - totally lost in the music stuff which is what music, live music, at it's best should be about ... if only they could get their act together you feel they could be fucking massive, and then they start playing up ... it's so bloody annoying, but then you think well maybe this is how it's meant to be ... maybe this is how Anton wants it to be. It all comes back to Anton - he's the creative spark - he's the key - and at the same time he's the one who holds it back ... maybe not consciously, maybe not when he's doing it, but he's got to be aware?

But who wants mediocre ... in the same way Stephen refers to art that makes you feel what it's like to be alive, I think the same about music ... I'd rather a band shot for the stars and failed gloriously than plowed that middle of the road furrow. I left about 20 minutes into the last track tonight, it was down to the heroic drummer, Anton and one other guitarist, playing over a cachophony of feedback - it had been that way for 10 minutes or so - I wouldn't be surprised if they were still playing now.

Anton - I salute you!

iFiller

Need to fill this thing up a bit so, shamlessly nicking an idea from Mark Wood's blog, an iQuiz:

How many songs?
9090

Sort by artist
First artist: µ-Ziq
Last artist: Zwan

Sort by song title
First Song: !!!!!!!!!!!! - The Roots
Last Song: Zuton Fever - The Zutons

Sort by time
Shortest Song: 0:06 - Bright Noise - The Art of Noise
Longest Song: 36:30 - Section 10 (A Long Day) - The Polyphonic Spree

Sort by album
First Album: (I Want To) Kill Somebody EP - S*M*A*S*H
Last Album: Zoomer - Schneider TM

Sort by Date Added:
Oldest Song: Godstar (7" mix) - Psychic TV
Newest Song: The Circus is Leaving Town - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

First song that comes up on shuffle
Houses in Motion - Talking Heads

How many songs come up when you search for "sex"?
27

How many songs come up when you search for "death"?
35

How many songs come up when you search for "love"?
267

The Lowest of the Low

Being disorganised, I found myself with a spare Morrissey ticket on the day that I hadn't got round to offering around and, given the late notice, had no takers for. So, of course, I took it to the venue with me to see if I could get anything for it but, not for the first time, decided I'd rather lose the money than sell it to a tout for £10, only for him to sell it on for £50. Bleeding parasites ... they even had the cheek to use the free shuttle bus service from Wood Green tube up to the venue!

I'm hoping the touts didn't do too well out of this one, as the venue released a late allocation of tickets. Ticket touts are one of my least favourite species, but worse still are the new wave of internet touts who bombard the ticket agency websites and phonelines whenever they see something they think they can make a profit on, immediately marking them up to stupid amounts and sticking them on ebay. The stress involved in trying to get tickets for some events now is ridiculous!

Lately, however, an interesting phenomenon has occured, whereby so many people seem to be doing this, you can often find tickets for events on ebay a week or two before the event cheaper than face value due to the sheer amount of people trying to make a fast buck. I'm sure there are plenty of people stuck with Take That tickets after their Wembley gigs were switched to Milton Keynes and a load of tickets got returned.

Thankfully the government and other interested parties are finally getting together to do something about this. They're not talking about banning selling on tickets, but what they are looking at what measures they can take to cut down on the touting. I can't remember all the details I heard (possibly on the BBC London Breakfast Show when I was barely awake) but one initiative they were talking about was making venues take returns like they do at the theatre. I've never understood why venues don't do this - probably cos they don't care - once they've sold the tickets, they're nothing to do with them any more.

I'm sure it won't get rid of the touts, but anything that cuts them down and makes it easier for people to make a fair exchange of unwanted tickets must be a good thing ... as is anything that cuts down on ticket-buying related stress!

G.

At Last I am Born ...

So about 18 months after initially declaring I would enter the world of blogging, it's finally here - the gdpreston manifesto (title chosen with irony and a nod to Luke Haines).

In the intervening time, so many times have I come home buzzing after a gig planning my inaugural blog post ... but then the moment passes and it doesn't enter my thoughts again until the next gig comes around.

But now, on no special occasion, I have arrived and as it's still relatively fresh in my thoughts, I thought the triumphant return of Morrissey didn't deserve to go unmarked.

The first of this years 4 audiences I shall have with Mozza came on Bank Holiday Monday at Ally Pally. People seem to have mixed views on the venue but if you compare it to your larger venues, it wins hands down. At Wembley Arena you can't drink, smoke or smile within the venue; at Earls Court you can drink but have to be prepared to treck half a mile and queue for 3 songs ... at Ally Pally you can be at the bar and back with a load of draft Budweisers in less than a recent album track.

Not that I wanted to miss the recent album tracks, Life is a Pigsty apart, I think the new album is excellent and a big improvement than You Are the Quarry which was 50% filler. People may hark to the old days, but he's in his mid 40's and making music that fits where he is in his life now - it was great to hear Still Ill, Girlfiend in a Coma and How Soon is Now but the new work deserves a decent airing, which it certainly got. I want Morrissey now, not a Morrissey/Smiths tribute act.

Highlights for me, Still Ill aside, were I Will See You in Far Off Places, In the Future When All's Well and At Last I Am Born.

The last time I saw the same act four times in a year was the return of The Pixies in 2004 - two Brixton's, a Forum and V - each one a different experience, each one f'ing excellent - I'm hoping Morrissey's subsequent Palladium and V appearances work out the same way.

Well here I am - at last I am born - vulgarians note.

G.