Sunday, 31 May 2009
FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #11 REDUX
And one especially for the Bullshite Boys and their fans:
If only somebody would upload Isn't This a Lovely Day!
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Spector Sentenced
Spector gets 19 years to life in prison for murder
Associated Press
Published: 5/30/2009 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES -- With his carefully tailored suit and coifed hair, Phil Spector kept up appearances even as a judge sentenced him to 19 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, consigning the legendary music producer to likely live out the last years of his once storied life in prison.
There was no soundtrack for the final scene of the pop maestro's criminal case, only a hush in the courtroom Friday as the mother of actress Lana Clarkson stood and spoke in a soft voice of the agony of losing her daughter, "my first child, my precious gift."
Spector, 69, declined to say anything. His lawyer said outside court he hopes to prove on appeal that Spector did not kill the actress, who died from a gunshot wound at Spector's ornate "castle" in 2003.
The forewoman of the jury that convicted Spector sat nearby and told The Associated Press later it was hard to watch the tears of Donna Clarkson and Spector's young wife, Rachelle, who sat in a front row behind her husband.
"It's still sort of heavy on the heart," said Irma Soto-Lopez, who had wept herself on the day of the verdict. "I feel sorry for both families."
Other jurors from both of Spector's trials showed up for the final act.
"They joined us to put a period at the end of a long chapter in their lives," said Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson, who spent six years on the case in which one jury deadlocked and a second voted for conviction.
He had harsh words for Spector outside court: "I find nothing tragic about him. ... I think he got what he deserved."
Defense attorney Doron Weinberg said a strong appeal is anticipated. Meanwhile, he said, Spector was anxious to know in which prison he will be spending his days.
"He will be a very high-profile inmate. There's a question of how others will treat him," Weinberg said.
Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler gave no indication of his feelings. He dispassionately ruled that 15 years to life was mandatory, as was a four-year enhancement for personal use of a gun. He imposed more than $26,000 in restitution fees.
Spector gained fame decades ago for what became known as the "Wall of Sound" recording technique that changed rock music.
Clarkson was most famous as the star of Roger Corman's 1985 cult film classic "Barbarian Queen." She was 40 when she died.
Rachelle Spector said outside court that it was a sad day for everyone involved.
"The Clarkson family has lost a daughter and a sister. I've lost my husband, my best friend," she said. "I feel that a grave injustice has been done and from this day forward I'm going to dedicate myself to proving my husband's innocence."
Spector's son Louis, accompanied by his wife, also came to the sentencing. He had attended much of the trial.
"I'm torn about this," he said. "I'm losing my father who is going to spend his life in jail. At the same time, justice is served."
Prosecutor Jackson said afterward that the outcome sent a message: "If you commit crimes against our citizens we will follow you and prosecute you. And no matter whether you are famous or wealthy, you will stand trial."
Jackson said the case was "rock solid" legally and will not be subject to a successful appeal.
Spector's April 13 conviction suggested to some that California prosecutors had broken a decades-long string of celebrity murder case losses that included the acquittals of O.J. Simpson and actor Robert Blake.
Spector, however, wasn't a performer; not a sports star with a following or a singer who captivated the public. He was a behind-the-scenes guy whose recording technique changed the sound of rock music.
Famous, yes. A celebrity? Not in today's pop culture.
Spector had two trials with essentially the same evidence. His first in 2007 was televised gavel to gavel and spectators flocked to the courtroom. But when the jury deadlocked after a five-month trial, his legal "dream team," which at times numbered half a dozen lawyers, bailed out.
By the time the second trial started in 2008, interest had waned. The judge ordered cameras turned off and only a handful of spectators and reporters stopped in sporadically to watch testimony.
The retrial lasted the same length of time as the first trial but there was only one defense lawyer, Weinberg, a well-regarded veteran from San Francisco. A young woman prosecutor, Truc Do, was brought in to work with Jackson. Most importantly, there was a new jury.
During jury selection, only a few panelists remembered Spector's heyday as producer of teen anthems including "To Know Him is to Love Him" by The Teddy Bears, The Ronette's "Be My Baby," The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and The Righteous Brothers' classic, "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'." Spector also worked on a Beatles album with John Lennon.
Ironically, Clarkson didn't know Spector's music legacy either when she met him only hours before she died at his Alhambra "castle" in February 2003. She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues nightclub on the Sunset Strip, where she had to be told by a manager that Spector was an important man.
His time had passed. Clarkson's career also was ebbing. Their fateful meeting, recounted in both trials, led to her death and the end of his life as he knew it. For the next six years he spent millions of dollars on lawyers as he sought to prove that Clarkson killed herself.
But what had happened inside his house was never clear. Clarkson's body was found slumped in a chair in a foyer. A gun had been fired in her mouth. Spector's chauffeur, the key witness, said he heard a gunshot, then saw Spector emerge holding a gun and heard him say: "I think I killed somebody."
Weinberg said forensic evidence proved that Clarkson shot herself and cited her desperation at not being able to get acting work. Jackson said the shooting fit the pattern of other confrontations between Spector and women, and Do said Spector would become "a demonic maniac" when he drank.
Much of the case hinged on the testimony of five women from Spector's past who said he threatened them with guns when they tried to leave his presence. The parallels with the night Clarkson died were chilling even if the stories were very old -- 31 years in one instance.
Weinberg said Spector's appeal will assert that the judge erred in allowing the women to testify.
Associated Press
Published: 5/30/2009 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES -- With his carefully tailored suit and coifed hair, Phil Spector kept up appearances even as a judge sentenced him to 19 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, consigning the legendary music producer to likely live out the last years of his once storied life in prison.
There was no soundtrack for the final scene of the pop maestro's criminal case, only a hush in the courtroom Friday as the mother of actress Lana Clarkson stood and spoke in a soft voice of the agony of losing her daughter, "my first child, my precious gift."
Spector, 69, declined to say anything. His lawyer said outside court he hopes to prove on appeal that Spector did not kill the actress, who died from a gunshot wound at Spector's ornate "castle" in 2003.
The forewoman of the jury that convicted Spector sat nearby and told The Associated Press later it was hard to watch the tears of Donna Clarkson and Spector's young wife, Rachelle, who sat in a front row behind her husband.
"It's still sort of heavy on the heart," said Irma Soto-Lopez, who had wept herself on the day of the verdict. "I feel sorry for both families."
Other jurors from both of Spector's trials showed up for the final act.
"They joined us to put a period at the end of a long chapter in their lives," said Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson, who spent six years on the case in which one jury deadlocked and a second voted for conviction.
He had harsh words for Spector outside court: "I find nothing tragic about him. ... I think he got what he deserved."
Defense attorney Doron Weinberg said a strong appeal is anticipated. Meanwhile, he said, Spector was anxious to know in which prison he will be spending his days.
"He will be a very high-profile inmate. There's a question of how others will treat him," Weinberg said.
Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler gave no indication of his feelings. He dispassionately ruled that 15 years to life was mandatory, as was a four-year enhancement for personal use of a gun. He imposed more than $26,000 in restitution fees.
Spector gained fame decades ago for what became known as the "Wall of Sound" recording technique that changed rock music.
Clarkson was most famous as the star of Roger Corman's 1985 cult film classic "Barbarian Queen." She was 40 when she died.
Rachelle Spector said outside court that it was a sad day for everyone involved.
"The Clarkson family has lost a daughter and a sister. I've lost my husband, my best friend," she said. "I feel that a grave injustice has been done and from this day forward I'm going to dedicate myself to proving my husband's innocence."
Spector's son Louis, accompanied by his wife, also came to the sentencing. He had attended much of the trial.
"I'm torn about this," he said. "I'm losing my father who is going to spend his life in jail. At the same time, justice is served."
Prosecutor Jackson said afterward that the outcome sent a message: "If you commit crimes against our citizens we will follow you and prosecute you. And no matter whether you are famous or wealthy, you will stand trial."
Jackson said the case was "rock solid" legally and will not be subject to a successful appeal.
Spector's April 13 conviction suggested to some that California prosecutors had broken a decades-long string of celebrity murder case losses that included the acquittals of O.J. Simpson and actor Robert Blake.
Spector, however, wasn't a performer; not a sports star with a following or a singer who captivated the public. He was a behind-the-scenes guy whose recording technique changed the sound of rock music.
Famous, yes. A celebrity? Not in today's pop culture.
Spector had two trials with essentially the same evidence. His first in 2007 was televised gavel to gavel and spectators flocked to the courtroom. But when the jury deadlocked after a five-month trial, his legal "dream team," which at times numbered half a dozen lawyers, bailed out.
By the time the second trial started in 2008, interest had waned. The judge ordered cameras turned off and only a handful of spectators and reporters stopped in sporadically to watch testimony.
The retrial lasted the same length of time as the first trial but there was only one defense lawyer, Weinberg, a well-regarded veteran from San Francisco. A young woman prosecutor, Truc Do, was brought in to work with Jackson. Most importantly, there was a new jury.
During jury selection, only a few panelists remembered Spector's heyday as producer of teen anthems including "To Know Him is to Love Him" by The Teddy Bears, The Ronette's "Be My Baby," The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and The Righteous Brothers' classic, "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'." Spector also worked on a Beatles album with John Lennon.
Ironically, Clarkson didn't know Spector's music legacy either when she met him only hours before she died at his Alhambra "castle" in February 2003. She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues nightclub on the Sunset Strip, where she had to be told by a manager that Spector was an important man.
His time had passed. Clarkson's career also was ebbing. Their fateful meeting, recounted in both trials, led to her death and the end of his life as he knew it. For the next six years he spent millions of dollars on lawyers as he sought to prove that Clarkson killed herself.
But what had happened inside his house was never clear. Clarkson's body was found slumped in a chair in a foyer. A gun had been fired in her mouth. Spector's chauffeur, the key witness, said he heard a gunshot, then saw Spector emerge holding a gun and heard him say: "I think I killed somebody."
Weinberg said forensic evidence proved that Clarkson shot herself and cited her desperation at not being able to get acting work. Jackson said the shooting fit the pattern of other confrontations between Spector and women, and Do said Spector would become "a demonic maniac" when he drank.
Much of the case hinged on the testimony of five women from Spector's past who said he threatened them with guns when they tried to leave his presence. The parallels with the night Clarkson died were chilling even if the stories were very old -- 31 years in one instance.
Weinberg said Spector's appeal will assert that the judge erred in allowing the women to testify.
The Truth Is Out There...
Newspaper Ad 'Called For Obama Assassination'
A newspaper has apologised after publishing an advert which appeared to call for the assassination of President Barack Obama.
The Secret Service are investigating the classified ad placed in Pennsylvania local paper the Warren Times Observer.
It said: "May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy."
All four of the presidents named alongside Obama were assassinated.
Publisher John Elchert said it was removed as soon as a manager noticed the significance of the reference.
"It was just an honest mistake," he said.
An apology posted on the paper's website said the ad "apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end".
The case has been handed to local police and the Secret Service, he added.
A spokesman for the Secret Service said they knew who placed the advert and were taking the threat seriously.
"We do not have the luxury of doing otherwise," Jim Mackin said.
President Obama has had 24-hour protection from the Secret Service since the early days of his campaign.
The Secret Service are investigating the classified ad placed in Pennsylvania local paper the Warren Times Observer.
It said: "May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy."
All four of the presidents named alongside Obama were assassinated.
Publisher John Elchert said it was removed as soon as a manager noticed the significance of the reference.
"It was just an honest mistake," he said.
An apology posted on the paper's website said the ad "apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end".
The case has been handed to local police and the Secret Service, he added.
A spokesman for the Secret Service said they knew who placed the advert and were taking the threat seriously.
"We do not have the luxury of doing otherwise," Jim Mackin said.
President Obama has had 24-hour protection from the Secret Service since the early days of his campaign.
Friday, 29 May 2009
The Great Loudo Returns (on yet another label!)
Loudon Wainwright III honors Charlie Poole with double album on 2nd Story Sound Records.
Loudon Wainwright III will release a two-disc tribute to Charlie Poole this summer that examines the life of the country music pioneer.
"High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project," scheduled to hit retailers
Aug. 25, features songs from Poole's repertoire plus new tunes written about his life as a bootlegger, banjo picker, amateur baseball player, drinker, rambler, gambler and textile mill worker,according to a press release.
Poole, who died at the age of 39, was not a songwriter; his recordings and performances consisted of re-interpretations of popular and traditional music, which is reflected in Wainwright's upcoming collection.
Guests on the album include Rufus and Martha Wainwright, The Roches, Nickel Creek mandolin player Chris Thile and many others. Additional details about "The Charlie Poole Project" can be found at a new website dedicated to the release:
http://www.thecharliepooleproject.com/
Nick Lowe and Ron Sexsmith at The Sage
NICK Lowe is the very essence of songwriting cool.
His shock of hair as dazzlingly white as his shirt, the lean Lowe nowadays resembles a well-preserved and sophisticated Premier League football manager.Backed by a superb four-piece band, the man who once christened himself the Jesus of Cool, dipped into his extensive back catalogue for a masterclass in songwriting craft.
His shock of hair as dazzlingly white as his shirt, the lean Lowe nowadays resembles a well-preserved and sophisticated Premier League football manager.Backed by a superb four-piece band, the man who once christened himself the Jesus of Cool, dipped into his extensive back catalogue for a masterclass in songwriting craft.
The early pub rock hits –including Cruel To Be Kind and I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock and Roll – were rebooted, to the delight of the audience.But it's the songs Lowe's fashioned over the last decade and a half which represent his finest work.Indian Queens, You Inspire Me, I Trained Her To Love Me and the superb Hope For Us All were just some of the highlights, topped off by a spine-chilling solo encore of The Beast In Me, the song he wrote for his late father-in-law, Johnny Cash.
Support for the night was provided by the brilliant Ron Sexsmith, who is Lowe's equal in terms of songwriting skills, but who was content to open for his musical friend, before duetting with him on an old Louvin Brothers number during the encores.So: a great double bill and a wonderful concert of crafted songwriting, the only disappointment being the half-full house. Some of you missed a great night.
Support for the night was provided by the brilliant Ron Sexsmith, who is Lowe's equal in terms of songwriting skills, but who was content to open for his musical friend, before duetting with him on an old Louvin Brothers number during the encores.So: a great double bill and a wonderful concert of crafted songwriting, the only disappointment being the half-full house. Some of you missed a great night.Terry Kelly
Also published in The Shields Gazette
26 May 2009
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Friday Night!
Dear FNBs,
We're meeting at The Bridge at 8pm on Friday. Bring your buckets and spades - it's gonna be a scorcher! (Grahame's opting for paisley, Big Dave for latex).
TK.
"Can't explain why Ian
has stopped giving me
tips for Sheffield dogs
always so enthusiastic
wanting to go for pints
but now he just mumbles
a half-felt 'hello' ..."
We're meeting at The Bridge at 8pm on Friday. Bring your buckets and spades - it's gonna be a scorcher! (Grahame's opting for paisley, Big Dave for latex).
TK.
"Can't explain why Ian
has stopped giving me
tips for Sheffield dogs
always so enthusiastic
wanting to go for pints
but now he just mumbles
a half-felt 'hello' ..."
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Last Night's Setlist - usual venue
Out On The Weekend*
Give Me Strength
Heart Of Gold*
Like A Hurricane
* with harmonica
Give Me Strength
Heart Of Gold*
Like A Hurricane
* with harmonica
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Saturday, 23 May 2009
"Allowable expenses"
Tory MP claims £5,000 for gates
The latest expenses revelations by the Daily Telegraph show a Conservative MP claimed almost £5,000 to have automatic gates installed at his home.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Djanogly said they are security gates and were installed at his Huntingdon constituency home on police advice.
The paper says the MP also claimed £13,962 for cleaning over four years.
It also reports claims from one Labour MP for a hotel with his girlfriend and another to fund a home for his friend.
According to the Telegraph, the wooden gates at Mr Djanogly's house cost £4,936 and can be opened by a remote control while he is still sitting in his car.
'I completely understand'
In a statement, the MP defended the gates as a measure to protect him from potential reprisal attacks by animal rights activists.
He said: "The automatic gates are integrated with a CCTV system which I installed with police advice after I had security threats following from my representation of constituents' interests at Huntingdon Life Sciences."
Mr Djanogly added: "I want to stress that I completely understand the public's concerns about MPs' expenses and my party's absolute determination to respond to that concern."
Other expenses claims by him highlighted by the paper include £13,962 for cleaning and £12,951 for gardening at his home, which the paper reports did not have a mortgage, over a four-year period.
Mr Djanogly said the cleaning and gardening claims were "allowable" expenses.
He has agreed to repay £25,000 after talking to the Conservative scrutiny panel set up by party leader David Cameron to study his MPs' claims.
Saturday's Telegraph also reports Labour MP Khalid Mahmood claimed for £1,350 to stay in a five-star west London hotel with his girlfriend, after separating from his partner, with whom he shared a home in Wembley, north west London.
The paper says another Labour MP, Northern Ireland Minister Paul Goggins, allows a university friend to live rent-free in a home that is paid for by the taxpayer.
And in a fourth set of claims published in Saturday's edition, Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin used £50,000 in expenses to pay his sister-in-law rent.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8064794.stm
The latest expenses revelations by the Daily Telegraph show a Conservative MP claimed almost £5,000 to have automatic gates installed at his home.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Djanogly said they are security gates and were installed at his Huntingdon constituency home on police advice.The paper says the MP also claimed £13,962 for cleaning over four years.
It also reports claims from one Labour MP for a hotel with his girlfriend and another to fund a home for his friend.
According to the Telegraph, the wooden gates at Mr Djanogly's house cost £4,936 and can be opened by a remote control while he is still sitting in his car.
'I completely understand'
In a statement, the MP defended the gates as a measure to protect him from potential reprisal attacks by animal rights activists.
He said: "The automatic gates are integrated with a CCTV system which I installed with police advice after I had security threats following from my representation of constituents' interests at Huntingdon Life Sciences."
Mr Djanogly added: "I want to stress that I completely understand the public's concerns about MPs' expenses and my party's absolute determination to respond to that concern."
Other expenses claims by him highlighted by the paper include £13,962 for cleaning and £12,951 for gardening at his home, which the paper reports did not have a mortgage, over a four-year period.
Mr Djanogly said the cleaning and gardening claims were "allowable" expenses.
He has agreed to repay £25,000 after talking to the Conservative scrutiny panel set up by party leader David Cameron to study his MPs' claims.
Saturday's Telegraph also reports Labour MP Khalid Mahmood claimed for £1,350 to stay in a five-star west London hotel with his girlfriend, after separating from his partner, with whom he shared a home in Wembley, north west London.The paper says another Labour MP, Northern Ireland Minister Paul Goggins, allows a university friend to live rent-free in a home that is paid for by the taxpayer.
And in a fourth set of claims published in Saturday's edition, Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin used £50,000 in expenses to pay his sister-in-law rent.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8064794.stm
Friday, 22 May 2009
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Pelaw Jim's mam and dad, Joan and Andra McCullough, celebrating their Diamond Wedding
anniversary this week at their home in Jarrow.
anniversary this week at their home in Jarrow.
Happy anniversary from us all!
Wayne Allwine RIP
Wayne Allwine, who died on May 18 aged 62, supplied the voice of Mickey Mouse in the Walt Disney cartoons for more than 30 years; his wife, Russi Taylor, is the voice of Minnie Mouse.
Oink if you love your children...
A Labour MP says he will stand down at the next election if his constituents demand it, following allegations over his second home expenses claims.
The Daily Telegraph says Dr Ian Gibson, Norwich North MP, claimed for a London flat while his daughter and her partner lived there rent-free.
The Daily Telegraph says Dr Ian Gibson, Norwich North MP, claimed for a London flat while his daughter and her partner lived there rent-free.
Among the latest reports on Friday, the Telegraph says Dr Gibson sold the London flat to his daughter and her partner for less than he paid and well below the market value.
He is reported to have sold the flat to them in April for £162,000, despite having bought it for £195,000 in 1999.
He is reported to have sold the flat to them in April for £162,000, despite having bought it for £195,000 in 1999.
Dr Gibson has insisted he acted within the rules and "made nothing on the house whatsoever".
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8062786.stm
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8062786.stm
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Duck Off!
DUCK ISLAND?!
Another Tory MP, Sir Peter Viggers, will step down at the next election after claiming £30,000 on gardening.
The Daily Telegraph said that Sir Peter, MP for Gosport, claimed £1,645 for a duck island.
After hearing about the latest expenses revelations, David Cameron told Sir Peter he faced the removal of the whip if he did not announce that he would not run again at the next election, the BBC has learned.
The Conservative scrutiny panel will decide what figure Sir Peter will have to pay back. Sources say it will be a "substantial sum".
Sir Peter said the claims he made "were in accordance with the rules at the time, and were all approved by the fees office".
He added: "As with all other Conservative MPs my expenses are being examined by David Cameron's scrutiny panel and I await any recommendations they may make."From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8060563.stm
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Summer Love Songs and Dennis Wilson documentary
Beach Boys - Peter Blake, 1964
THE BEACH BOYS RELEASE 'SUMMER LOVE SONGS'
by Howie Edelson
Out today (May 19th) is the Beach Boys' Summer Love Songs, the group's latest compilation featuring newly-remixed stereo versions of some of their most beloved tracks. Among the classic hits found on the set are "Don't Worry Baby" and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" -- featuring revamped stereo mixes utilizing the songs' long-lost masters, "Surfer Girl," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," California Girls," "Girls On The Beach," and "Help Me, Rhonda," among others.
Summer Love Songs features tracks from the band's earliest days up through the late '60s and early '70s, well after they had outgrown their classic "striped shirts" era. Mike Love was asked if after the Beach Boys' initial successes, he ever considered that the group was evolving from pop stars into actual artists: "Oh no, never thought of it that way. I knew that we were musically endowed by, you know, our families and stuff like that, because we grew up in a musical environment, so music was second nature to us. I mean, it was something that we would've done as a hobby if we never made a transition to a hugely popular group. But we never thought, 'Oh my gosh, we're 'artists'' -- we didn't have, at least I didn't have, that perception."
One of the highlights on the set is a remixed version of the 1970 Dennis Wilson rarity "Fallin' In Love" which was B-side side to Wilson's first solo single "Sound Of Free." The European release has been out of print for nearly three decades and remains one of the most collectible Beach Boys-related vinyl releases.
Official Beach Boys archivist Alan Boyd compiled the new collection with Grammy award-winning producer Mark Linett. The pair experimented on creating what many fans are calling the definitive mix of the Wilson classic: "Obviously we had the original 16-track master and we did a new mix for that. Dennis had doubled his vocal and so we used some elements of that, sometimes using the double and sometimes focusing on the other track this time. At the very end of the mixing process, we decided to do an isolated mixdown of the string parts just to have it. And as we were listening to it we were commenting on how 'Beatle-esque' it sounded. And we decided to try putting a string intro on the song, using the actual string part from the song's second verse."
Wilson's biographer Jon Stebbins, who played a crucial role in the return of the session masters for "Don't Worry Baby" and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," says that "Fallin' In Love" is yet another of Wilson's forgotten evergreens: "I think 'Fallin' In Love' kinda represents when Dennis was first considering a run at a solo record. He released it in Europe as a solo single in 1970 under the title of 'Lady.' This is kind of a new version -- or a version that has elements that we've never heard before. 'Fallin' In Love' was the original working title for it, so maybe it's appropriate that they go back and call it that. But I believe that the song was written about Dennis' wife Barbara, who he was married top at the time. (It's) very typical of the things that Dennis was writing around that time, especially about Barbara."
The full tracklisting to Summer Love Songs is: "Don't Worry Baby" (new stereo mix), "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" (new stereo mix), "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Surfer Girl," "California Girls," "Please Let Me Wonder," "In The Parkin' Lot," "Your Summer Dream," "Kiss Me, Baby," "Hushabye" (new stereo mix), "I'm So Young" (new stereo mix), "Good To My Baby" (new stereo mix), "Fallin' In Love" (new stereo mix of Dennis Wilson solo track)," "Time To Get Alone" (new stereo mix), "Our Sweet Love," "Help Me, Rhonda," "Keep An Eye On Summer," "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)," and "Girls On The Beach."
Wrapping production now for BBC TV is the first major documentary on Dennis Wilson. The film, which will air on Britain's BBC 4 this summer features in-depth interviews with Wilson's sons Michael and Carl Wilson, former Beach Boys David Marks and Blondie Chaplin, producer and songwriting partner Gregg Jakobson, engineers John Hanlon and Tom Murphy, former touring Beach Boy Jeff Foskett -- now of the Brian Wilson Band, the Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, and Wilson's confidante Ed Roach, whose footage and stills are featured throughout the piece -- including Roach's never-before-aired footage of Wilson recording Pacific Ocean Blue.
Legends: Dennis Wilson is directed by Matt O'Casey who is best known for his recent award-winning Blondie documentary One Way Or Another. Biographer Jon Stebbins is producing the doc with Howie Edelson serving as the primary creative consultant. There's no word on a U.S. air date yet, but a DVD version is in the works.
Demo of Neil's Archives - enjoy
http://www.neilyoung.com/archives/northcountry/volume1disc8-demo.html
Check out Journey Through The Past - this is a country jaunt, not the piano ballad previously released.
Check out Journey Through The Past - this is a country jaunt, not the piano ballad previously released.
Michael Martin
Fare thee well...
Let me get this right: forced out of his job by the people whose behaviour he refused to criticise and he's probably going to wind up with a seat in the House of Lords and a £75,000 pension...
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
"Working flat-out for the people I represent."
£18,000 for food?Party whips face expenses focus
The focus in the row over MPs' expenses has shifted to claims made by the Labour and Conservative chief whips.
The Daily Telegraph has published details on expenses claimed by Labour's Nick Brown and the shadow chief whip, Patrick McLoughlin.
It says Mr Brown made claims totalling £87,708 over four years, including £18,800 for food, and Mr McLoughlin claimed £3,000 for new windows.
Both politicians say that they have done nothing wrong.
Mr Brown, MP for Newcastle East and Wallsend, has been at the centre of his party's efforts to contain the scandal, moving to suspend two Labour MPs accused of making claims for mortgage payments on "phantom loans".
The Telegraph says that Mr Brown's claims, which he made public himself a few days ago, totalled £87,708 between 2004 and 2008.
This included £18,800 for food, with regular claims of £400 per month during the recess. Until recently, MPs were able to claim up to £400 a month for food without providing receipts.
In 2004/5 and 2005/6, the paper says, Mr Brown submitted claims for £200 every month for "repairs" and £200 every month for "service and maintenance" as well as £250 per month for cleaning, without submitting any receipts.
On claims during recess Mr Brown said: "I spend the recess in my second home, against which I claim, working in my constituency and, for the last two years, carrying out my responsibilities as Minister for the Region."
BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti said Mr Brown had sought to pre-empt disclosure of his own expenses by publishing redacted information several days ago and was mounting a bullish defence of his behaviour.
Mr Brown told his local newspaper, the Newcastle Journal, that he claimed the "full amount" for subsistence costs but this had to be seen in the context of his responsibilities as chief whip and minister for the North East.
"I am working flat out for the people I represent," he told the paper, pointing out that he spent Monday to Thursday in London and Friday and Saturday in the North East on ministerial and constituency business, before returning to London on Sunday.
"The claims represented a contribution to the cost of my Newcastle home. It doesn't represent the full cost that I bear myself. When the system moved from un-receipted to receipted expenditure, I submitted receipts for everything I claimed."
From the BBC News website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8056591.stm
Monday, 18 May 2009
When The Man Comes Around: Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him...” Revelation 6:8
Pale Rider (1985; directed by Clint Eastwood)
For his first straight Western in the nine years since The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Clint Eastwood took on the genre’s central myth of the romantic hero saving the idealised community from organised greed: Pale Rider (1985) is his take on George Stevens’ Shane (1953), updated to include more violence, sex and an environmental theme, but it also extends the Eastwood persona developed in the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone and those he made after, like High Plains Drifter (1973).
By cross cutting between the peaceful mining community (lots of women, laughing, clean-looking children and a small dog) and a gang of mounted men riding towards them to destroy their peaceful settlement,
Eastwood opens the film clearly evoking sympathy for the former. Miners replace the small farmers of Shane, but it’s made clear that they are not considered a destructive force and live off the land, 
invoking the tradition of the idealised yeoman farmer prevalent in many Westerns. Instead of Shane’s cowboys who demonstrate their destructive intent from the start by riding through the Starretts’ vegetable garden as opposed to around it like the hero, Pale Rider has the mining company that employs the gang.
In keeping with traditions of the genre, the duality of the role of landscape is clear:
it is savage when the gang emerge from the wilderness, but it also harbours the hero, who rides out of the mountains (snow-covered to imply his moral purity),
seemingly in response to the prayers (a mixture of New Testament understanding and a call for Old Testament-style revenge) of the girl, Megan, whose dog has been killed by the gang, while the sound of thunder foreshadows the violence that will come. In light of the prayer, it’s appropriate that Eastwood is on a white horse, as in the Book of Revelation, Death rides a pale horse, which the girl’s mother, Sarah Wheeler, notes ominously when she first sees him.
Eastwood looks like an older version of his usual Western persona, unshaven and stylishly, if roughly, dressed, and he demonstrates his fighting skill (including some bizarrely ill-advised martial arts-style pick handle twirling!)
and moral judgement by siding with the victim of the gang members in a fight as he rides into town. The man turns out to be Hull Barret, played by Michael Moriarty, the head of the household that stands in for the Starretts from Shane.
The Eastwood character is revealed to be a preacher and has a curious circular wound pattern on his back. Although Barret isn’t married to Sarah Wheeler, to all intents and purposes, it appears to be a marriage; however, it is made clear that both
Megan and her mother are sexually attracted to the hero and while he refuses the advances of the teenage girl, the mother eventually initiates sex with him, 
unlike Shane where the attraction to Marion Starrett is obvious but it goes no further and is one of the reasons the hero feels he must leave. Nothing is made of the sexual liaison and Barret doesn’t seem to be aware that anything is going on.
As in Shane, the protagonist works with the small community; here the values of co-operation and community are stressed when he helps Barret move a large rock from the middle of the stream.
However, they are helped by other members of the community, unlike the similar scene where Shane and Joe remove a tree trunk from the farm; thus the empowerment of the small community as it comes together is emphasised and celebrated.
The value of roots and community and the chance to make something of oneself are stressed by Hull, who points out that it is not gold, but the hope of living in a free and caring community that holds the miners together in the face of the ruthless corrupt capitalism of the mining company.
Like Shane, the Eastwood character does not get wholly involved in the fight until one of the miners has been gunned down by marshals employed by the mining company in a scene clearly paying homage to the one in Shane where Jack Wilson shoots Stonewall Torrey – although here, he faces several marshals who shoot him with the same bullet pattern as the one already noted on the Preacher. The other act that provides a stimulus is the attempted rape of Megan by the son of the company owner;
hence the Preacher is given, within the boundaries of the genre, moral imperative for his actions.
While the environmental theme is central to the film, it also exploits the tension between the traditional views of civilisation in the genre where it can be both good and bad: the country can be a better place to live in, but with progress comes corruption and greed. The image of the machine destroying the garden is a powerful one and there are several scenes of the company’s hydraulic mining methods, using water jets to blast away the earth from the hillsides to underline its destructive nature; the owner, Coy Lahood,
is seen arriving on a train – which, in some films, can signify progress, but it can symbolise, as it does here, the corrupt values of the East which will spell the end of the ‘yeoman’ miner and the democratic frontier community. The fact that a gang of marshals are hired by the company shows that even the law is corrupt, and the way they are filmed when the miner is gunned down,
standing in line, drawing their guns in unison and firing together,
suggests they too are mechanised.
The final confrontation between the Preacher and the marshals is a stylised, drawn out affair as he picks them off one by one until he faces the leader.
There is never any doubt about the outcome; it’s the way the fight is filmed and some of the particular incidents that add tension. The use of close-ups 
and the sound of the spurs are familiar from Leone’s Westerns, although the dramatic music is not there. The coolness of Eastwood’s character which has been established not just through Pale Rider, but throughout his previous work in the genre (and, indeed, in other genres, as with his cop films like Dirty Harry (1971)), is emphasised as he walks slowly up to the marshal while loading his gun. 
It is apparent that the marshal knows him from the past and when the Preacher shoots him, he puts the circular bullet pattern in him, suggesting that he had been a previous victim of the marshal and his men and had somehow survived – unless we go for the supernatural option, which Eastwood has referred to in interviews, and we read this as revenge by a living ghost – a device already used by Eastwood in his High Plains Drifter (1973), in which the ‘hero’ virtually destroys a small town and we learn that he is a ghost, returned to wreak vengeance for the treatment he received from the townsfolk when he was alive.
The ending has echoes of Shane as the daughter tries to persuade him to stay while he rides off back into the mountains – but, of course, he cannot. 
His work there is done; there is no place for a man of the gun now that the lawlessness has been removed and if he stayed, he would disrupt the equilibrium of the Barret family (where mother Sarah has already found that Hull cannot match up to the mythic standards of the Preacher), and the promising frontier community he has just fought to save.
Pale Rider (1985; directed by Clint Eastwood)
For his first straight Western in the nine years since The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Clint Eastwood took on the genre’s central myth of the romantic hero saving the idealised community from organised greed: Pale Rider (1985) is his take on George Stevens’ Shane (1953), updated to include more violence, sex and an environmental theme, but it also extends the Eastwood persona developed in the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone and those he made after, like High Plains Drifter (1973).
By cross cutting between the peaceful mining community (lots of women, laughing, clean-looking children and a small dog) and a gang of mounted men riding towards them to destroy their peaceful settlement,
Eastwood opens the film clearly evoking sympathy for the former. Miners replace the small farmers of Shane, but it’s made clear that they are not considered a destructive force and live off the land, 
invoking the tradition of the idealised yeoman farmer prevalent in many Westerns. Instead of Shane’s cowboys who demonstrate their destructive intent from the start by riding through the Starretts’ vegetable garden as opposed to around it like the hero, Pale Rider has the mining company that employs the gang.In keeping with traditions of the genre, the duality of the role of landscape is clear:
it is savage when the gang emerge from the wilderness, but it also harbours the hero, who rides out of the mountains (snow-covered to imply his moral purity),
seemingly in response to the prayers (a mixture of New Testament understanding and a call for Old Testament-style revenge) of the girl, Megan, whose dog has been killed by the gang, while the sound of thunder foreshadows the violence that will come. In light of the prayer, it’s appropriate that Eastwood is on a white horse, as in the Book of Revelation, Death rides a pale horse, which the girl’s mother, Sarah Wheeler, notes ominously when she first sees him.
Eastwood looks like an older version of his usual Western persona, unshaven and stylishly, if roughly, dressed, and he demonstrates his fighting skill (including some bizarrely ill-advised martial arts-style pick handle twirling!)
and moral judgement by siding with the victim of the gang members in a fight as he rides into town. The man turns out to be Hull Barret, played by Michael Moriarty, the head of the household that stands in for the Starretts from Shane.The Eastwood character is revealed to be a preacher and has a curious circular wound pattern on his back. Although Barret isn’t married to Sarah Wheeler, to all intents and purposes, it appears to be a marriage; however, it is made clear that both
Megan and her mother are sexually attracted to the hero and while he refuses the advances of the teenage girl, the mother eventually initiates sex with him, 
unlike Shane where the attraction to Marion Starrett is obvious but it goes no further and is one of the reasons the hero feels he must leave. Nothing is made of the sexual liaison and Barret doesn’t seem to be aware that anything is going on.As in Shane, the protagonist works with the small community; here the values of co-operation and community are stressed when he helps Barret move a large rock from the middle of the stream.
However, they are helped by other members of the community, unlike the similar scene where Shane and Joe remove a tree trunk from the farm; thus the empowerment of the small community as it comes together is emphasised and celebrated.The value of roots and community and the chance to make something of oneself are stressed by Hull, who points out that it is not gold, but the hope of living in a free and caring community that holds the miners together in the face of the ruthless corrupt capitalism of the mining company.
Like Shane, the Eastwood character does not get wholly involved in the fight until one of the miners has been gunned down by marshals employed by the mining company in a scene clearly paying homage to the one in Shane where Jack Wilson shoots Stonewall Torrey – although here, he faces several marshals who shoot him with the same bullet pattern as the one already noted on the Preacher. The other act that provides a stimulus is the attempted rape of Megan by the son of the company owner;
hence the Preacher is given, within the boundaries of the genre, moral imperative for his actions.While the environmental theme is central to the film, it also exploits the tension between the traditional views of civilisation in the genre where it can be both good and bad: the country can be a better place to live in, but with progress comes corruption and greed. The image of the machine destroying the garden is a powerful one and there are several scenes of the company’s hydraulic mining methods, using water jets to blast away the earth from the hillsides to underline its destructive nature; the owner, Coy Lahood,
is seen arriving on a train – which, in some films, can signify progress, but it can symbolise, as it does here, the corrupt values of the East which will spell the end of the ‘yeoman’ miner and the democratic frontier community. The fact that a gang of marshals are hired by the company shows that even the law is corrupt, and the way they are filmed when the miner is gunned down,
standing in line, drawing their guns in unison and firing together,
suggests they too are mechanised.The final confrontation between the Preacher and the marshals is a stylised, drawn out affair as he picks them off one by one until he faces the leader.
There is never any doubt about the outcome; it’s the way the fight is filmed and some of the particular incidents that add tension. The use of close-ups 
and the sound of the spurs are familiar from Leone’s Westerns, although the dramatic music is not there. The coolness of Eastwood’s character which has been established not just through Pale Rider, but throughout his previous work in the genre (and, indeed, in other genres, as with his cop films like Dirty Harry (1971)), is emphasised as he walks slowly up to the marshal while loading his gun. 
It is apparent that the marshal knows him from the past and when the Preacher shoots him, he puts the circular bullet pattern in him, suggesting that he had been a previous victim of the marshal and his men and had somehow survived – unless we go for the supernatural option, which Eastwood has referred to in interviews, and we read this as revenge by a living ghost – a device already used by Eastwood in his High Plains Drifter (1973), in which the ‘hero’ virtually destroys a small town and we learn that he is a ghost, returned to wreak vengeance for the treatment he received from the townsfolk when he was alive.
The ending has echoes of Shane as the daughter tries to persuade him to stay while he rides off back into the mountains – but, of course, he cannot. 
His work there is done; there is no place for a man of the gun now that the lawlessness has been removed and if he stayed, he would disrupt the equilibrium of the Barret family (where mother Sarah has already found that Hull cannot match up to the mythic standards of the Preacher), and the promising frontier community he has just fought to save.Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack
Edited by Joel Cox
Cinematography by Bruce Surtees
Music by Lennie Niehaus
Clint Eastwood - Preacher
Michael Moriarty - Hull Barret
Carrie Snodgrass - Sarah Wheeler
Chris Penn - Josh LaHood
Richard Dysart - Coy Lahood
Sydney Penny - Megan Wheeler
Richard Kiel - Club
John Russell - Marshal Stockburn
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