Jerry the Nipper

This is very well done:

http://notvoodoo.blogspot.com/2009/02/crunchy-fun.html

There is surely some fun to be had drafting the Puccino, M&S and Apple redundancy notes too.

The Times Archives blog really is a never-ending source of delight.

Apparently this book, for which I wrote an essay about pop songs in the movies what feels like years ago, is finally in some shops! (It's supposedly been given a "soft release" ahead of actual publication in June. Well it worked for the first Annie album, right?)

Had a sudden Billy MacKenzie pang this evening - more particularly a desire to hear "Breakfast"- and discovered that someone has finally put that mythical Associates Ronnie Scott showcase from 84 up on youtube...



What's more, the same person has put up Billy Mac's performance of Simon Dupree's "Kites" - quite possibly the pinnacle of 20th century British popular culture.



How wonderful!

It's been knocking around in my to-listen-to pile for a while but transatlantic flights and flu have delayed me hearing what turns out to be a last gasp contender for single of the year: Findo Gask's 'Va-Va-Va' - out imminently on Optimo's OSCarr label. Hear it here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=52223252

Particularly the young dancing people!

I don't suppose any of you are going - or would like to go, for free! - to Fabric tonight where Jolly James Murphy is djing?

Pup #1: J0s13 L0ng. Who told me this woman was funny? Went to see her at the Gipsy Hill comedy club on Saturday and, though she was head, shoulders, knees and toes above the other acts ("Facebook, eh? What's the deal with *that*?!"), her whole "I am a poorly-dressed child-woman savant from the mean streets of Peckham" shtick was excruciating. In a very real sense, she's the Kate Nash of komedy.

Pup #2: Aly and AJ. Can only blame the [Bad username: lone looneez] for this one. The single is fun, but dear god, listening to their album was an ordeal. All my suspicions were confirmed when I saw that the soppy dude from Semisonic was one of their co-writers.

The Kylie record, on the other hand, has actually gone UP in my estimation over the weekend.

Came across this site while doing some urgent research on short-lived ITV kids show 'Gilbert's Fridge'. On first glance I presumed it was just another cosy 80stalgia repository, on a kind of Calvin Harris level. But the detail is simply staggering! Does anything sum up the absurdity of early Thatcherism as well as a CB radio smurf?

Strange days: now that the sun is finally out, I find my favourite pop song of this summer has been made by the bloke who used to play drums for Marine Research. Go here http://www.myspace.com/johndownfall and click on 'Seven Dials'...