Current mood: DULLED
Category: DULLED Music
'You're my Guardian Angel' A stressed BBC Clare told me today.
She went to pat me on the back in gratitude, but i shied away - I'm not used to warmth form the BBC, particularly considering I've never bought a TV license...
And what solicited this show of affection?
This was my tenth Culture Show, that's what...
Yes boss, I'm a sucker for a free lig. And the crew, presenters and runners are becoming so familiar with my lazy ass hanging around in the corner of a Tuesday, they're gonna be buying me a chair with my name on it before too very long....
But it wasn't just my regular attendance at the recording of said show that engendered this display, it was that today I was one of only about 5 people from 30 who turned up to watch Groove Armada perform....
It was wierd. I mean Groove Armada are a big band. They'll sell out 20,000+ tickets for the Lovebox Weekender just down the road here in Victoria Park in a week or two, yet today no-one could be bothered to show up for free and watch them perform a single song 6 times with Mutya formerly of The Sugrababes...
Maybe it was statistics or chance or maybe there was a moment of predictive clarity on behalf of the other punters that didn't show, because GA were so completely and averagely ordinary today it was almost embarassing.
And as i sat there trying to look a little interested and not drift off into staring out and attempting to distract one of the band members off their job I was reminded of a conversation I had at 6am on Sunday morning just gone...
I was emerging from a K-hole after a day of very heavy drinking indeed..On the floor next to me was Horton Jupiter of the band they came from the stars i saw them...
He'd lent me some drugs and I'd run out to fulfill a huge order from the booze shop and together with the other band members, neighbours and friends we'd gone to party town...
Anyway, as i emerged from my anaesthethic psychedlia feeling thoroughly refreshed and clean, I became aware Horton was troubled by something...
We were listenning to Alice Coltrane and Horton said
"Where are the heroes nowadays??"
We tried to work it out....but all the outrageous greats seemed to be dead: The Fela Kuti's, The Miles Davis's, The Alice Coltranes, the Freddie Mercury's, the Hunter S Thompsons, The John Bonhams, The Keith Moons, The Jimi Hendrixs...
Well, maybe we don't need another hero...
But I reckon we do and nowhere was this need greater amplified than when watching todays dull and lifeless performance.
I mean I really quite like some of Groove Armadas music and I have no desire to make it compulsory for musicians to be heroic figures, but jesus do we need someone out there who knows how to live a little and put on a show - someone in the charts or just outside with a little fire and verve and power...
The current crop of popstars are tame and dull to the point of tedium. Where's the panache and the danger and the risk, the passion and the fire??
You can criticise Pete Doherty all you like and almost everyone seems to like to do so, but at least he tries to be a little stupid and spectacular with his limelight - at least he appears to be enjoying himself....
Well shit, it's not over and i know the Fela Kutis of today are hiding away working on their genius and getting disgraceful and great outside of the public eye...It's just about time we saw more of them in public..
| Currently listening : Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti By Various Artists Release date: By 15 October, 2002 |
23:35 - 9 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
No comments:
Post a Comment