Super SFXy

I was pleased to see I've had a letter published in this month's SFX magazine ( no. 231, March 2013, buy it now! )  -  my first appearance in the mag for quite a while, but under my "real" name this time. The "letter" is actually a combination of two comments I posted on the SFX website's forum, in response to the first official poster for Zack Snyder's forthcoming Superman reboot, Man Of Steel. I was alarmed by the way this image ( Supes in chains! ) was such a downbeat, gloomy introduction to the new Superman. It just seemed a crazy choice to promote the movie and, for me, a total misrepresentation of what the character is all about. I prefer to see our favourite Kryptonian bursting  out of chains as in Neal Adams' iconic image above. The recent movie trailer has gone some way to dispelling those concerns... but I'm going to reserve judgement until I actually see the film. SFX Reviews Editor, Ian Berriman, very kindly contacted me, saying he liked my comments and wanted to publish them in the magazine...

Here's the letter as published:

Re: The Man of Steel teaser poster
I wonder if, in the usual Hollywood eagerness to make things “darker” and “more realistic” that they haven’t thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Superman isn’t Batman, he isn’t a dark knight, a lone avenger etc. He has always been defined as the best humanity can aspire to… but with super powers :-)

( After this first comment a couple of other Forum-ites replied, both effectively saying that the character and film of Superman needed to be dragged, kicking and screaming into the "modern" world. I replied... )

We may not be in an age of optimism, heroism or nobility… but were we ever? I don’t think that has any bearing on the character. The Christopher Reeve Superman movies came out of a time of rampant inflation, unemployment, terrorism, Presidential abdications and so on. But the character rose above it… literally. 

( One of the other commenters, "Bobcat", had said that it was unrealistic for Superman to be as I described him above  -  did I think Supes got all that nobility over night...? )

And, yes, Bobcat, I do think Superman got all that overnight: as John Byrne once said, Clark Kent / Superman was raised that way… ( This last paragraph wasn't published )
Hopefully I’m reading too much into what is just a teaser poster… I hope to be proved wrong…

I loved Mr. Berriman's reply:  "I think we can put this down to the success of Christopher Nolan's Bat-movies, can't we? Same goes for the tone of the Star Trek teaser trailer; suddenly everything's got to be dark. It wouldn't surprise me if the Smurfs 2 trailer features the Smurf village in flames and Papa Smurf clapped in irons..."

Here are a couple more versions of that "Kryptonite Nevermore!" cover  -  for me, one of the most defining images of the true Man Of Steel...

Bowie's Back!

Happy Birthday, to the great David Bowie, 66 today!

Bowie fans have good reason to rejoice today: not only is it the Thin White Duke's birthday, the 41st anniversary of the release of the "Changes" single ( not a massive anniversary, I'll grant you... ) but... wait for it...

Bowie's back!

Yep, in 2013 Bowie will release The Next Day, his first new album in 10 years, with his new single Where Are They Now? being released today. And a tour to follow? Let's hope so... ( Although the Dame's well-publicised heart problems may rule that out. )
So, Bowie's semi-retirement seems to be over. Fantastic news!

The Godfather Treasures - an offer I couldn't refuse

"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli..."

Yes, I know Christmas is over and I shouldn't expect any more presents, but when I saw this at a knock down price in a local bookshop I had to have it. In a similar format to the recent "Vault" books
( Marvel Vault, DC Vault, Star Wars Vault etc. ) this hardback contains a plethora of articles and photos devoted to Francis Ford Coppolla's masterpiece, as well as various pieces of Godfather memorabilia. Contained in the sturdy slipcase are facsimiles of studio memos, movie posters, script pages and even a brochure from the US  Journal Of Dental Practice devoted to the dental prosthetics created for Marlon Brando's Don Corleone...

Plenty of fascinating reading here and some wonderful behind-the-scenes photos from a legendary movie series. Buy it or sleep with the fishes :-)

Soundtrack: Given To The Wild by The Maccabees

"Blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night..."

40 years ago today Bruce Springsteen released his first album  -  Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ  -  on Columbia Records. It's a strange hybrid of the then-in-vogue singer-songwriter genre ( the record company were promoting Bruce as yet another "new Dylan" ) and Springsteen's bar-band roots. There are some great songs on there, struggling to burst free from the indifferent production and the too-polite arrangements. It's also the wordiest set of Springsteen songs, justifying the "Dylanesque" hype. Check out this verse from Blinded By The Light...

Madman drummers, bummers and Indians in the Summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feeling kinda older, I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasant sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground

When I saw Bruce play the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff back in 2008 he performed this song ( the only time I've heard him play a track from this album ) with the aid of an autocue :-)

Springsteen once said Greetings... "was the only album where I wrote the lyrics first, setting them to music later. I'd write the verses, then pick up the guitar or sit at the piano and follow the inner rhythm of the words. Most of the songs were twisted autobiographies... ( they ) found their seed in people, places, hang-outs and incidents I'd seen and things I'd lived. I wrote impressionistically and changed names to protect the guilty. I worked to find something that was identifiably mine."

He pared down his writing style after this ( too much, for some people's taste ) but, personally, I do like to revisit his more poetic, if somewhat pretentious, early style now and again. I've ordered a ticket for his gig at Coventry's Ricoh Arena in the summer, having missed his tour last year, and it would be cool to hear some of this old stuff played by the modern, much-changed E Street Band. Here's hoping...

...but I doubt these other two American icons will turn up as well...

Soundtrack: guess which album?

Recent gigs, Part One: The Beat, From The Jam, 4 Ft Fingers

OK, I know we're now in post-apocalyptic 2013, but I still have unfinished business with 2012. I'll start with my promised rundown of recent and not-so recent gigs, detailed here for your viewing pleasure in reverse order. Of course.
Back on the 9th of December The Beat brought their Christmas Ska Party to Gloucester's Guildhall Arts Centre for the second year running. Outside it was freezing but in the Guildhall Rankin' Roger and the boys raised the temperature enough to melt a snowman's snowballs.

As exuberant and energetic as ever, Roger and his son Rankin' Junior had us all skanking and singing along to classics such as Hands Off She's Mine, Save It For Later, Best Friend, their fantastic cover of Tears Of A Clown and, of course, Mirror In The Bathroom. My fellow gig-goers, Sarah, Jacqui and Caz all partied like it was 1999 and were very impressed when Roger inevitably took his shirt off to reveal his six-pack. Well, it was hot in there! After the traditional "Hip, hip, hooray" singalong of Jackpot the band waved goodbye, leaving us with their message of good vibes 'n' unity... and a proper understanding of how to pronounce the word "Wha'ppen"...

Also at the Guildhall, but this time back in November, we were treated to an appearance from Sir Bruce Of Foxton from The Jam, with his band... er, From The Jam. Although I hadn't been expecting the band to play first Jam album, In The City, all the way through ( and neither had most of the other punters, judging by the reaction ) it was a good, fun gig... which perked up no end when Bruce sidelined the unfamiliar album tracks and solo songs in favour of solid gold Jam classics like Going Underground, The Eton Rifles, Strange Town, Down In The Tube Station At Midnight etc. You can read my full review here at Louder Than War.

Stroud's finest, the wonderful Chinese Burn, were also on the bill, playing a real stormer of a set: as I said in my LTW review, the Guildhall always seems to bring out the best in them. Great band, great venue.

And great company, too! It was definitely one of the best times I've had in a crowd, regardless of the band. Here are Helen, Wendy and Carol, posing for one of many photos ....

...and me, doing the same :-)

Step back another month to October and the reformed skate-Punk legends 4 Ft Fingers are ripping up... guess where? Yes, it's that same venue again! On their 10th anniversary tour the local heroes live up to their rep of being one of the tightest, fastest, loudest bands around, with some cracking tunes and riffs... although some of the lyrics are a bit dodgy. "This next song is about boobs..." Really?

Anyway, a good time is had by all, with much moshing and bouncing up and down on the Guildhall's sprung floor. Support comes from Gloucester Street-Punk kings, Noise Agents, doing their shouty, vein-bulging thing as only they can. Their new, five-piece lineup gives their sound some extra whallop plus, unexpectedly, extra melody with more backing vocals. They really do get better every time I see them.

And here's Noise Agents / Demob frontman, the irrepressible Andy K, with adoring fans including Tony The Nose, Rob F ( clearly not paying attention ) and ex-DPC legend, Mark B...

OK, that's part one done. More recent gigs coming up very soon... some even from different venues :-)

Happy New Year!

I hope all of you out there in the Blogworld and beyond are having a fantastic start to the year I'm contractually obliged to refer to as Twenny-thir'een ( that's 2013 in old money )
Above are perennial favourites around these parts, Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes, embarking on another adventure, full of youth and optimism, ready for the future and whatever it holds.

To be frank I'm struggling myself to feel that positive about the future at the moment, veering between optimism and pessimism on a daily basis. I'm waiting for test results at the moment, resulting from the operation I had back in November, and it's casting quite a shadow over the year to come. In the last week I've had a bone marrow sample taken ( ouch! and on Christmas Eve, too... ) and had a full body X-ray, then next week I'm going for an MRI, to be followed at some point by radiotherapy. Although I feel like a mad scientist's plaything at the moment this is all obviously for my benefit and, hopefully, a case of my specialist being over-cautious and covering all bases. That's the best-case scenario, anyway...

But, as I said ( and not wanting to depress you all... too much... ), I hope everyone reading this has a Happy and healthy New Year. And, in that spirit, here are some of the things that make me happy, family and friends:

EMF at Gloucester Guildhall 15/11/12

As promised I'm going to do a few quick reviews of some of the great gigs I've been to in the last 3 months or so but was too busy / lazy to blog about at the time. And, in my usual disorganised fashion, I'm going to do it all in reverse order :-)

Let's start with the awesome EMF blowing up Gloucester's Guildhall Arts Centre a couple of weekends ago. I've submitted a review of this gig to Louder Than War but it hasn't been published yet, so here's a sneak peek:

It's a special night for revitalised indie-dance heroes EMF as the Forest Of Dean funkers return to their roots and play a homecoming gig at Gloucester's Guildhall Arts Centre. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their second album, Stigma, EMF play that album in its entirety as well as its predecessor, Schubert Dip, in the venue where they filmed the Unbelievable video all those years ago.

 Bouncing onto the stage to the sounds of the Sesame Street theme like a bunch of school kids on alcopops, EMF are here to party like its 1991. And, in fact, singer James Atkin has that very date scrawled on his black and white-spotted T-shirt. They kick off with Schubert Dip Track One, Children, and the Guildhall goes absolutely nuts as the band proceed to rip through the album, song by song. The very epitome of the much-maligned '90s "indie-dance" scene, EMF show how to do it properly as they revisit their funky, punky whirl of sound, building up layers of guitars, keyboards and samples over a wicked backbeat and hitting us with anthemic chorus after anthemic chorus. By the mid-set high point that is I Believe / Unbelievable the band and the crowd are all grinning like mad men and women, gasping for air in the steaming hot venue, and still ready for more. Longtime EMF collaborator DJ Milf bounds onto the stage for a brief guest-spot before hurling himself into the audience, barely clearing the crowd barrier, before crashing to the sprung wooden floor of the former ballroom. Luckily he doesn't seem to be hurt... and confesses to me later that he only did it because "James told me to..."

All too soon the first set is over, the band disappear backstage, and the audience move on to the Guildhall's plush cinema room where a recovered DJ Milf is spinning some classic indie choons. Soon enough the buzz of anticipation starts again and we all return to the main stage for the Stigma set. The "difficult" second album is a tougher, rockier affair that comes alive with the gritty, paranoid sound of They're Here and the hedonistic Arizona with its exhortations to "love your state of mind." Guitarist Ian Dench's fluid, often bluesy sound is more to the fore here as the band tear into the never-before-played-in-public Dog ( Primal Scream meets Iggy Pop ) and the singalong Getting Through. James is now wearing a 1992-logoed T-shirt but, just to prove we're in the 21st century, one fan in the front row is Skype-ing the gig to a friend in Australia, much to James' bemusement. He frequently says throughout the gig that he can't believe this is all happening... but it is, and it's obvious to everybody that the band are enjoying this special event as much as the fans. After set closer The Light That Burns Twice As Bright is poignantly dedicated to late bass player Zac Foley, the band return to encore with a fine new song, Elephant, and the inevitable EMF, their eponymous bad boy anthem, prompting James to ask "Does anyone take Ecstasy any more?"

 After giving the band a rapturous send-off we return to the cinema room for the after-show party, where old skool rave and Hip-Hop is being spun and cans of Red Stripe are being drunk, while James and Derry sign autographs and pose for photos with grateful fans. To state the bleedin' obvious, it's been an unbelievable night...

I was accompanied to this gig by my good friend and  Chinese Burn superstar, Glenn. We'd seen EMF on this very stage 10 years ago and, in fact, had joined the band for Unbelievable when the crowd decided to invade the stage. Good times. ( Security was a bit tighter this time... ) We'd often er, raved about how fantastic that gig had been and wondered if EMF would ever be that good again. I can confirm that that this time round they were even better and this was one of the best gigs I've ever been to in 30+ years of gig-going. ( On the day after my birthday, too. ) And it was all being filmed for a DVD, too. Should be interesting viewing...

Update: the review is now available here at Louder Than War. Cheers, Guy!

200,000!

I thought I might just scrape through the 200,000 Page View barrier before the end of 2012. I thought it would be quite an achievement, really. So, I was pleased that I hit that milestone just ahead of the end of the year... and then lost a Follower on the same day.

So, thanks to everyone who reads these scintillating scribblings  -  I couldn't do it without you!
And goodbye to Follower 71, whoever you are... you're going to miss loads of good stuff :-)

Doctor Who: The Snowmen ( Review with spoilers )

"The Doctor does not help people. Not anymore, not ever. He stands above this world and never interferes in the affairs of its inhabitants. He is not your salvation or your protector..."

Poor old, Doctor! After losing the Ponds to the Weeping Angel's temporal trap he's exiled himself to Victorian London, hung up the bow tie and become a sort of Time Lord Scrooge, parking the Tardis on top of a cloud (!) and withdrawing from a life of adventure. His only friends are lesbian lizard detective, Madam Vastra, her wife / surrogate Dr. Watson, Jenny, and mysteriously-reborn Sontaran, Strax. While they sleuth their way around London, apparently inspiring Conan Doyle's stories in The Strand magazine, The Doctor sits in his box and broods...

...until ( you knew there was going to be an "until..." didn't you? ) he discovers the grim Doctor Simeon ( a stony-faced Richard E Grant ) and his army of ice, who have terrible plans for the human race. And just who is the mysterious Clara? The girl who, at first, seems to be a Cockney barmaid but is also somehow a prim and proper governess to two haunted children? Why does the Doctor feel they've met before?

Although the Doctor himself is in a depressed mood at the start of this story, The Snowmen is a lot of festive fun, a flurry ( sorry! ) of running around, madcap humour  -  mostly at the expense of  "potato-dwarf" Strax  -  and the typically gorgeous BBC recreation of Victorian England we've come to expect from the show.( Most of it filmed in Bristol, just 30 miles down the road from where I sit typing these witless words. ) And then there's Clara...

Jenna Louise Coleman is a delight as the perky, determined, fun-loving Clara  -  a woman able to cross the boundaries of the Victorian class hierarchy with impunity and also to deal with such futuristic concepts as telepathic snow, humanoid lizards, Humpty-Dumpty-headed aliens and deceptively-roomy blue boxes. It now seems apparent that there are multiple versions of Clara across time and space  -  the Doctor realises when this iteration of Clara ( SPOILERS! ) dies near the end of the episode that he has, impossibly, met her before in the Dalek Asylum, and we also briefly see a modern day Clara at the end of the episode. This mystery, as well as the Doctor's guilt at letting Victorian Clara down ( literally! ), is obviously the spark he needs to reawaken his passion for life and adventure, even more so than saving the world from Snowmen...

The villains themselves are probably the weakest link in the story. Yet again the production team seem uncertain about how to present a credible threat in a Christmas episode. While not as weak as last year's festive episode in the menace stakes, The Snowmen is a story which sorely under uses its titular monsters, apart from the Ice Governess character who is admittedly quite creepy. Even worse, Ian McKellen's voice-over cameo as the Great Intelligence ( oh, yes! ) is a wasted opportunity... unless it is set to be a recurring enemy, which is a nice thought but unlikely. The wonderful Richard E Grant fared better, coldly restrained as the villainous Doctor Simeon, but with some hidden sorrows revealed in his final scenes. I still wish he'd called the Doctor a "terrible c***" though, a la Withnail :-)

Where the episode did get it 100% right, however, was the introduction of the new companion to the Tardis. In a twist to the familiar scene, the Doctor and Clara ascended a dimensionally-transcendendant spiral staircase ( try saying that after a few whiskeys! ) to find the Tardis resting on a cloud, below glittering stars. A very magical scene, followed by Clara's first glimpse inside the blue box and the introduction of the new Tardis interior. As I've said here the retro stylings of Michael Pickwoad's new design seem like a step back after the funky, junky Control Rooms of recent years... but I think it will grow on me. It just needs a bit more clutter to feel authentic. Maybe a hat stand?
Similarly, the new title sequence is also something of a nod to the past, with its very colourful '70s "Time Tunnel" effect and the glimpse of Matt Smith's face appearing from clouds of stellar matter. It's a very traditional take on the Who titles and, contrary bugger that I am, I loved it!

I'll give this one 4 Out Of 5 Bow Ties ( or mince pies )

The show seems to be gearing up nicely for its 50th anniversary year, with plenty of new trappings
( companion, Tardis, theme tune, titles ) but still with a definite sense of fidelity to its long history.
Bring on 2013!

Smilin' Stan

Stan "The Man" Lee, maestro of the Marvel Mythos is 90 today! Excelsior!

Have a Fantastic and Amazing birthday Stan and keep the faith, True Believer!