Philip Larkin was a miserable curmudgeon even when he was my age. Though he had being unrecognised (at the time) to blame it on. He muses on why he bothers writing letters to the few people who DO recognize his worth:
<i>"At thirty-one, when some are rich
And others dead,
I, being neither, have a job instead"</i>
I don't even have that. But I do have nicer hair than Mr Larkin.
According to Heat Magazine, there's yet another reality TV show coming up called "Fame Academy". Apparently it's a cross between Popstars and Big Brother. And the house the contestants will be in is… up the road from me. In Highgate Village, near The Flask pub, "next to Sting's house".
I had no idea Sting lived near me. In eight years of living here, I've never seen him ONCE at the 134 bus stop.
He must take the 210.
"Our appeal is getting more selective", a euphemism from the ever-quotable <i>This Is Spinal Tap</i>. Translation: we're losing fans.
More recent examples of the genre have occurred to me of late. Translations in brackets.
"We've recorded 300 new songs" (but hardly any of them are any good…)
"We had to scrap an entire album and re-record this one in a much shorter time. By doing so, we think's it's our best yet.. it's more organic, more 'live.'" (We ran out of ideas, then money, and have made our worst record yet.)
"We've parted company with our label. It was the right time to move on." (the last album didn't sell, and we've been dropped)
"We've got a Greatest Hits album coming out" (the last album REALLY didn't sell).
Morrissey talks to the NME this week.
Or rather, he's taken out a half-page advert saying "Thank you!" to the people who have bought tickets to his sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall next week. Still unusual after all these years.
Meanwhile, US talk show host Craig Kilborn has <a href="http://www.morrissey-solo.com/article.pl?sid=02/09/12/0850202&mode=thread">discussed Morrissey</a> with his guest Snoop Dogg –
Craig – "Have you heard of Morrissey, from The Smiths? Do you know who is?"
Snoop – "Yeah, Yeah."
Craig – "He's good, right?"
Snoop – "Yeah, he's sharp."
"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" – Morrissey.
"You Can Get It If You Really Want" – Desmond Dekker.
Dickon Gets Into Reggae Shock.
The current UK Number One is "The Tide Is High" by Atomic Kitten. Originally the song was, of course, a hit by… The Paragons in 1967.
Hands up if you thought Blondie wrote it.
Well, I did, I'm ashamed to say. So by way of self-education, I've just purchased <a href="http://www.trojanrecords.com/tr%20secure/trojan/library/younggiftedmain.htm">"Young, Gifted & Black"</a>, a new double CD compilation of vintage Trojan Records hits: 60s and 70s reggae, ska, rocksteady, etc. There's dozens of Trojan compilation box sets, all beautifully packaged, but this really does seem to have all the essentials on it: Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, Susan Cadogan et al. "My Boy Lollipop", "Uptown Top Ranking", "Black Pearl", "Police and Thieves", "You Can Get It If You Really Want" and so on. Plus the original (and superior) versions of all those Shaggy and UB40 songs. And the original of "The Tide Is High". It's a fantastic compilation of great pop music. Even Morrissey would enjoy it.
I'm doing my utmost to avoid all these helpful "Happy Birthday Bad Thing" pull-out spreads and umpteen documentaries on TV.
Many articles are along the lines of "Aren't Bad Things Bad? I Hate Bad Things." And "We salute firefighters, those brave and selfless heroes. Except the ones over here who are threatening to go on strike for more pay, the selfish money-grubbing swines." And "I shall never forget what I was doing when I heard the news. I was listening to the news."
One birthday present of note:
Fosca are Number One in the charts this week.
Well, okay, we're Number One in the list of "top selling bands in the last month" at:
http://www.pennyblackmusic.com/
But I'm still delighted.
It's sixteen places above Motorhead.
September 3rd marks my thirty-first birthday.
I shall be spending it trying to go on as if nothing unpleasant has happened.
Here is a photo of me taken at The Rabbit Hole club, Oxford Street, last week. It's from the <a href="http://www.irlondon.co.uk">irLondon website</a>.
<lj-cut text="Photo here">
<img src="http://www.fosca.com/DSCF0023.jpg"></img>
</lj-cut>
Last night's "Four To The Floor" night was great fun.
At one point during his Prince set, Mr Price held up a sign saying "PRINCE INVENTED TEXT MESSAGING."
A thought occurred to me while Ms Minogue's "Step Back In Time" was played. It's a hit from about 1990, when she was with Messrs Stock Aiken and Waterman. Mr Waterman always boasted about having "Woolworths Ears". By this he claimed to know the secret of writing pop lyrics that appeal to small children, who were Ms Minogue's sole target market at the time.
On this occasion, though, he seemed to forget himself:
Kylie: (sings) <i>Do you remember the O-Jays?</i>
Small children: No.
