Big thanks to Lillie for pointing this one out!

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Damn. I never got to see him perform.

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Saw this at Little Red Boat.

Brilliant. . .

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“Because you want to know where the triggers are, you know?. . .If you’re at all interested in what I do, then check out Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, check out Louis Armstrong—they are the essentials. I’m only a mish-mash of what I’ve heard, you know? And I’ve taken it my own way, but listening doesn’t hurt.” –Keith Richards 

I’ve always loved The Stones. I think it may be because of the blues. I dig the blues more than any other kind of music and The Stones at their heart and soul are all about the blues.

Back in 1993 I was driving with the guy I was seeing at the time (Kevin, if you’re reading this, hope you don’t mind my telling this story.) and I had a copy of Hot Rocks in my car. He picked it up and looked it over.

“I like The Stones.” I said.

He tossed the cassette aside. “They’re not the Beatles.”

I didn’t say anything, but I thought, Well. No. That’s because They’re The Rolling Stones.

When we saw the preview for Shine a Light, the documentary concert flick about The Stones directed by Scorsese, I thought, I wanna see that.

Stuart got us tickets for tonight. They had 100 theatres across the UK that screened it in tandem with the Leicester Square premier. Before they film they showed the band arriving on the red carpet and were each quickly interviewed by some bird. Was moderately entertaining, but the best bit was when she was talking to Keith Richards, he was rather flirty, kept touching her arm and before he walked away said, “Take a card.” He had given her his card. Was fantastic. I don’t think he realised he was on camera. I hope his wife wasn’t watching.

There was a part of me that was worried about the film because I really don’t dig watching filmed concerts. They lack the gravitas and energy of an actual live show. While Shine a Light isn’t as good as seeing a live show, it’s pretty damn good.

There’s a ton of energy and the old clips are hysterical. There is also something sweet and almost shocking in seeing their baby-faces against the miles of life on their face now.

The best part of the concert is the song with Buddy Guy. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Mick Jagger’s unrelenting energy is nothing short of amazing.

It looks fantastic which is no big surprise not only because of Scorsese, but it was shot by Robert Richardson (The Aviator). A quick bit of research online also shows the camera operators aren’t slouches either. They include John Toll (”Legends of the Fall”), Robert Elswit (”There Will Be Blood”), Andrew Lesnie (”The Lord of the Rings”), Emmanuel Lubezki (”Children of Men”), Stuart Dryburgh (”The Piano”) and Declan Quinn (”Leaving Las Vegas”). The coverage that they get is kick ass. They’re able to tell a story. You see Richard’s eyes flick and connect — the give and take and listening as they work together.

The sound is also nothing short of remarkable.

So, go. If you like The Stones, check it out. You’ll have a good time.

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Monday night I was watching one of those puff pastry celebrity wankfest biographies on the Osbourne’s. When it got to the bit about Crazy Train I smiled.

When I started at GoTo in autumn 1999 we were the tiny little ugly stepsister of the Internet, AltaVista was the king of search engines and Google wasn’t a verb yet.

We were something like 200 employees with all that crazy dotcom energy flying around and every Friday at 5PM someone would blast Crazy Train. I heard it all began a few months before I started by a developer fueled by too much caffeine and frustration at code.

For years the tradition continued even after Yahoo! bought us. It was a great way to say “Fuck, yeah! It’s Friday!” There were times however it was problematic if you happened to be on the phone with a customer.

“What’s all that noise?”
“Er. . . That’s Ozzy Osbourne sir.”
“Sounds like you’re having a party.”

In a way we were. We were having a party. And all good things must come to an end. When I left two years ago there was no Ozzy on my floor. I don’t know if there are still subversive pockets of it there or not.

Last night I was at work late and I downloaded it. First few bars of that guitar riff I grinned to myself at the sense memory.

EYEE!EYEE!EYEE!

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Click Here to listen to Mr. Johnson.

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Inspired. . .

Great article about it in the NY Times as well.

I have a feeling Jonathan Swift would approve.

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I am deeply ashamed about this. I really ought to go see someone about it. I can’t believe I am writing these words. I will regret this one day. . .

When I am alone. Maybe driving, usually driving. If I am listening to the radio. . . and an Air Supply song comes on? I will. . .

Oh god.

Please don’t judge me.

I will. . .

I will-

I,I,I. . .willsingalongandtheworstpartisIknowallthewords.

I feel so dirty.

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We are back from our road trip, had a fantastic time and only wanted to seriously maim, murder and strangle each other a handful of times, which I think makes for a successful journey.

Main downer for me was I started getting sick on Tuesday. . . the day we left Seville but I pushed on having fun, not resting so by the time we were in Tarragona Thursday night I was a miserable mess and Friday morning on the drive into Barcelona I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and die. Luckily a shower and the boys persuading me got me onto Los Rambles and we rambled but when we went back for our siesta I was down for the count. I will need to go back to see Barcelona properly.

Yesterday and Today I feel alive but am prone to Camille coughing fits.

This afternoon, I went to the NY Times to read some of the headlines as I am out of this weeks news cycle and I was surprised to see that today they published a story on what to do in Seville. One of the things was to go to the Flamenco bar La Carboneria that I dragged the boys to Monday night.

While I do think you should go to La Carboneria as they suggest, (in fact, I want to go back to Seville just to spend more time in that bar) please do not dress up like a Flamenco Dancer or a Matador unless you want to A. Look Like Twat. B. Get Beaten Up and Robbed. C. I Can’t Even Think of a C, I am So Appalled at The Suggestion That This Is A Good Idea.

So until I have the time to blog properly about the events of the past week and to upload my pictures onto flickr, I leave you with this. . .

Ole!

***BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*** THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM. IF THIS WAS A REAL EMERGENCY. . .

OgoiliDogili. Having some probs uploading the Flamenco Film I pulled off of my camera. When I can, I will.

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My mini mac died. I don’t know what happened. One day it was fine, the next not so good. Is not that big of a deal I still have my four (or is it five) year old powerbook and Stuart put a new hard drive back in the mini so it is working. I just don’t have lot what I had on there. The only thing I care about is my itunes. I had playlists I really liked on it and some mix cds I had done.

I am in a blog group that sends mix cds to each other and you are supposed to review them. I’m behind on my reviews at the moment. One recent CD was all love songs. The one I just finished on Saturday was all fuck songs. I was really proud of it. . .found some great really raunchy blues tunes. I was also halfway through a drinking song mix.

We’re talking about hours of work. Plus I had just bought some music- Only 20 quid or so. . . but still.

Stuart is seeing what he can salvage from it, but I am not really optimistic.

It’s not the end of the world. I have most of the music on the powerbook, but anyone who has spent an hour here or there for a number of evenings playing with their iTunes can appreciate that it kinda bites.

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