on the internetz.
Steve Lamacq over at BBC Radio 6 has an interview with Radiohead this coming Monday – 19th November*. This should be interesting listening, as its their first interview since In Rainbows was released online for the wonderful price of ‘whatever you feel like paying’. Also on that page is a great cover of The Smiths from the Radiohead boys which I’ve embedded below:
* Don’t worry if you miss it on the 19th, you can listen to it on the BBC’s player for a week after that.
Last night the Chemical Brothers played McCarren Pool, and since the torrential rain had stopped I wandered down to check them out. After a brief circuit outside I found a great place to watch from the kiddies playground, where the sound was amazing and I could see everything from standing atop a small wall. Splendid! They played all the classics, old and new, and had some great visuals going on behind them as always. Haven’t seen them play since Glastonbury many years ago, so it was great to get a chance to dance to them outside again. Thanks brothers!
Oh, and not only did the Chemical Brothers come to play in the ‘hood – but apparently the Vice President of Poland came to visit Greenpoint. The local church was cordoned off and surrounded by adoring throngs of local Poles which was highly surreal indeed.
Tony Wilson, founder of Factory Records and the infamous Hacienda, music afficianado and subject of 24 Hour Party People, has died from cancer. A sad day indeed. He was just 57.
The BBC has tapped Harry Enfield to play Dirk Gently in the Radio 4 adaptation of Douglas’ Adams book. Other stars include Andrew Sachs, still mostly famous for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers – no, he’s not Spanish. Really. If this adaptation is as good as the then it’ll be worth staying glued to your internet radio for.
For many folks in the world, or at least in the US, the most important thing happening this week is the imminent release of Paris Hilton. Exciting stuff indeed. Checking the BBC’s weekly planner for this week, we find that for us with a more Brit-focus – Tony Blair is also about to tender his resignation to the Queen, Wimbledon is starting, it’s been ten years since Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese and, at the end of the week, England finally bans smoking in enclosed places. Surprising they didn’t do it this weekend when most smokers where getting wet at Glastonbury…
Oh, and today is the nine year anniversary of when I first moved to New York. Surprised they missed that out.
For us Brits there is no surprise that Hugh Laurie is such a big success with his Fox series ‘House’, he’s a talented actor that we’ve enjoyed for many years. However there is some level of amazement that Hugh is doing a series with an American accent, and one that is apparently very good. Well he’s been doing it for years, as you can see from this early ‘rap’ video he did for ‘A Little Bit of Fry & Laurie’
Well today is the official gate opening for Glastonbury Festival 2007, the festival that official demonstrates you can have a really crap domain name and still be the most popular festival in Britland. To all my many friends who are going – have a splendid time, I’m very jealous of you all even with the expected mud related action – yes, apparently this year will be another un-scorcher unfortunately. I know the Glasto spirit will overcome all with it’s joyousness and general out-of-it-ness.
For those of you who don’t know, Glastonbury Festival is the jewel in Britain’s, increasingly crowded, summer festival calendar. A splendid brew of top class bands, crusties with dogs and open air toilets – the best kind of festival toilet ever (except in the rain). It’s hard to explain Glasto if you haven’t been, so just go already. Then you’ll have the memories, well some of them at least, to fit the descriptions you hear from many people with wide grins on their faces.
The devastating fire that hit the Cutty Sark last night is now out, but there’s been significant damage. The only saving grace is that since the ship was undergoing extensive resotration, it turns out that half of the timbers were stored away from the site and so are completely safe.
For some reason this event is really upsetting me. The last time I went past the Cutty Sark was about four years ago on the way to a festival in Greenwich Park, but it was such a part of my childhood from regular visits with school and family. Unfortunately last year when we were visiting London we didn’t go to see the ship as planned. Ah well. Hopefully they can restore it to near its former glory, and once there are official restoration donation pages made public I’ll post them up.
I just took a brief break from some late night work to find that the Cutty Sark is on fire! There aren’t any pictures right now and no webcams pointing that way, but the fire brigade quote of “100% on fire” is not positive. Hopefully this beautiful old ship, and a real London landmark, can be saved. Guess we’ll find out soon.
Ricky Gervais @ Tribeca Performing Arts #2
Just got back from seeing Ricky Gervais’ first warm up gig at Tribeca Performing Arts, prior to his big shows at Madison Square this weekend. Splendid stuff indeed.
This is the first time I’ve seen Gervais live and he was fabulous. Easy banter and subtle expressions translate into high comedy under his expert guidance. My only gripe was that the show was very short, clocking in under 50 minutes. Plus if you’re easily offended this is not a show for you – British humour can be pretty blunt sometimes, well past the point of political correctness and Gervais is adept at making you squirm while you laugh out loud. There’s also something in his manner that reminded me of Eddie Izzard, who is playing at the Just for Laughs festival this year by the way, but this is definately Gervais’ own unique style of humour. Classic.
Oh, and if a venue says ‘No flash photography’ and for some reason you can’t turn your flash off, then hows about you don’t take photographs almost constantly for the last 15 minutes of a show? Now there’s a thought for the idiot who sat in seat G111. Cheers mate.