If you hate Big Brother ...

... this'll be up your street. Reported on the Daily Vault.

A musician friend recently passed on a pitch he’d received from an industry contact. It went like this:

BANDS AND ARTISTS FROM ALL GENRES (but primarily Alt Rock bands or Hip Hop groups) are sought after by a Film/TV Production company currently casting for a new Reality TV show airing on a popular cable network… They're looking for a band/group that has talent and potential, but is struggling with one or more members in terms of moving forward with their career. It could be that a member has an addiction problem, or a less serious (but annoying) responsibility problem, a gambling issue, or an inability to cooperate with the rest of the band in one way or another. The scenarios could be vast, but they really want a band with personality who's not afraid to "show their dirt" to the TV audience. They will be open to using the band's songs on the show, granted that the quality is there. There will be on camera/live performance opportunities, in addition to full promotion of the band and their music.

It gets worse. Read the rest here.

'Living' portrait

Have a look at this.  Trust me.

Listening Room goes funky

I compered The Listening Room last night, in competition with the Euro 2008 final which was proceeding loudly in the other part of the pub. Fortunately the headline act was strong and funky, probably the best headline act I've ever seen there: Paul Gilbody.  Plus there was a dog in the audience who barked appreciatively at the end of each song.

Handsome Family Stirling Tolbooth

Went to see my favourite band last night at Stirling. Lots of favourites - The Bottomless Hole, The Forgotten Lake, No-one Fell Asleep Alone - performed by Brett and Rennie and two accomplices on drums, violin, lap steel and stratocaster. The usual married bickering between songs and, as always, Brett plays guitar as if the manual were lying around somewhere on the floor, if he could only spot it. Rennie introduced the show saying "It's very nice to be back here. Last time we were here my husband had a terrible headache. We had to take him to hospital." Brett: "That's right I was driving into Wales when I got a headache and it stayed with me till we got here." Rennie: "It turned out he had a bird's nest in his skull." Brett indicates the top of his head. Rennie: "So then it was simple, they just cracked open the nest and all the birds flew up and away. And the headaches were gone."  Pauses, looks at Brett: "I miss those birds."

I don't know any lyricist, except maybe Paul Simon at times, who manages to mix surreal humour and pathos so well as Rennie Sparks. Here's a YouTube performance of The Forgotten Lake.

Merry Christmas (eventually) chopper

Yesterday, father-in-law and I went on our helicopter flight from Lothian Helicopters, given as a Christmas present last year but much postponed due to other commitments and inclement weather.

We gathered at the appointed time in a bleak field near the airport ...

 

Till the copter came swinging down ...

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