Let's have some beauty around here

 

30-Day Song Challenge Week 2

Day 8  -  A song about drugs or alcohol
Feel Good Hit Of The Summer by Queens Of The Stone Age



Okay, it's actually a song about drugs and alcohol  -  there's obviously never enough for Josh Homme. All together now: "Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, Ecstasy and alcohol, c-c-c-c-c-cocaine!"

Day 9  -  A song that makes you happy
My Girl by The Temptations



Yep, every time. "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day." And, just like that, the clouds part...

Day 10  -  A song that makes you sad
Shorley Wall by Ooberman



We've all got enough reasons to be sad at the moment but, anyway, this is just a beautiful song. It skirts close to being twee but the heart-rending ending monologue rescues it.

Day 11  -  A song you never get tired of
Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads



40 years after it was recorded this song still sounds totally unique  -  a masterpiece of twitchy, neurotic funk-pop. It's one of those few songs that I usually have to play twice in a row  -  it's never long enough.

Day 12  -  A song from your pre-teen years
Rubber Bullets by 10CC



When I was very young I was given a bunch of singles by an older friend which basically started my record collection. I've still got them and Rubber Bullets is still a favourite. The video above is actually the album version but the TOTP version I wanted to post is a heavily edited take of the single and, while it's a great view of a '70s band, this features more of the actual song...

Day 13  -  A song you like from the '70s
Search And Destroy by Iggy & The Stooges



When I was in the Death Planet Commandos we used to cover Search & Destroy ( everyone did! ) and it was just great fun to play. A proto-Punk classic!

Day 14  -  A song you'd love to be played at your wedding
Catch by The Cure



Actually a song we did have played at our wedding. Sarah and I were both great fans of The Cure and this was our "first dance" at our wedding disco. To be fair, the DJ probably got fed up with our lists of demands  -  play this, play that, no bloody "Agadoo" etc. etc.


So, Week 2 accomplished with a minimum of effort and even a guest appearance by Zia from the Dandy Warhols! ( Not that she knows about it but I'm sure she'd appreciate the sentiment and I know she digs a lot of the music here. )
If anyone else would like to join in I'd love to see your choices, just drop me a comment.
See you next week, same time, same channel ( probably )

The Dandy Warhols at the O2 Institute, Birmingham

By sheer coincidence my most recent glimpses of those Rock 'n' Roll Bohemians, the Dandy Warhols, have all been in cities beginning with "B"  -  Bristol, Barcelona and, a couple of weeks back, the fine city of Birmingham. ( We had hoped to get to Berlin to see them on this tour but it wasn't to B... sorry, "be"... ) This was the Dandy's 25th anniversary tour so it was an absolute must. Sarah and I braved the snowy, sub-zero January weather and drove up to Brum, where we were stopping the night in the glitzy surroundings of a Travelodge next to the Bull Ring. ( Okay, it really wasn't that glitzy. Hopefully the band were staying somewhere a bit nicer. )
The O2 Institute is a lovely venue, yet another of those old, converted theatres we seem to end up in, with some pretty ornate furnishings and a huge arch above the stage. After watching support band Juniore ( a French synth-pop trio who looked cool but had left all their tunes on the other side of the Channel ) we met Borrowed Time superstars Glenn and Cliff who were also there for the promised "massive concussion of rock 'n' roll"...

With this being the band's Silver Anniversary tour, they reached back into their past and dug up a few songs that the more rabid fans ( like Glenn ) knew well but which weren't familiar to more casual fans like me and Sarah. Which was fine, except a lot of these songs were of the drone-y persuasion which made the set sag a bit in the middle ( a metaphor for 25 years? )  -  this, coupled with the strangely muted sound, meant it wasn't the best Dandy's gig I'd seen but it still had some fine moments.

Old faves like Godless, Boys Better, I Love You and Bohemian Like You ( of course! ) were all as immaculate as ever and they did a full-band version of Every Day Should Be A Holiday  -  a song usually just performed solo by Courtney and very welcome in this version. Of the recent material, STYGGO caused a mass singalong, Motor City Steel from the new album was a cheesy, infectious earworm and another new song even gave Zia the chance to do some Country-fied lead vocals. Awesome! Here are Cliff and Glenn adding their voices to the sound of the crowd...

The band were on fine form with the sound bolstered by the addition of a trumpet, which was perfect for Godless  -  even though we all " ba ba ba -ed" the trumpet parts anyway, as standard. Courtney gave a rambling monologue about curries ( well, it was Birmingham ) and loads of balloons were released over the crowd during ...Holiday. Which was nice.

And then it was over and we stumbled out into the freezing Birmingham night. Sarah and I went off to find some sustenance and ended up in a lovely Greek restaurant called Santorini which seemed to be the only eatery still open and turned out to be a very chilled and friendly place which served massive portions of food. We made it back to the bar over the road from the Institute where Zia was on the decks in her guise of DJ Rescue. We didn't stop too long but did see all of the Dandy's turn up and chat with the fans  -  I spoke very briefly to Brent and Zia and then we went back to our hotel. Glenn and Cliff went in search of their car ( they weren't too sure where they'd left it ) after taking the obligatory selfie with Zia...

Sarah and I spent the next day in Birmingham which was interesting because we hadn't been there in a loooong time. It was bloody cold but we had a nice time. Here are some random photos...

Yes, there is still beauty in the world...

which is good to remember in these absurd and worrying times...