Friday 17 July 2009

What we learned this week...

A myriad of crazy rock 'n' roll/pop trivia:

Gram Parsons' real name is Cecil Ingram Conner III...

Demis Roussos and Vangelis played together in a group called Aphrodite's Child...

The k.d. in k.d. lang stands for kathryn dawn...

One US critic once described singer Mary Margaret O'Hara as "Annie Hall with a lobotomy"...

Patti Smith once told Blondie they should "get the fuck out of rock 'n' roll"...

Simply Red's Mick Hucknall has the E.U.'s cross and star emblem tattoed on his forearm...

Elsewhere, in the news, proof at last of the persistent industry rumour that Madonna soundchecks with a cover version of Funkadelic's 'Tear the roof off the sucker'... Although, in fairness, I've often held that that voice of hers could open a can at two hundred paces, so who knows...

Finally, the Morton Shadow good taste award goes to Rick 'Ricky' Stein for his seamless interweaving of the joys of Cambodian cuisine with the horrors of the Khymer Rouge in Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey. "How could the Killing Fields have happened in such a wonderful place, with such a beautiful civilisation??" he bleated in between mouthfuls of sumptuous spicy fish curry and 33 export beer. Presumably Rick's conveniently forgotten all about the disastrous effect on the region of centuries of western imperialism. Which reminds me; whatever happened to The Galloping Gourmet...???

Have a great weekend

xxx
Mort

6 comments:

  1. Fascinating. It's a pity Patti Smith didn't direct her comments to Mr Hucknall.

    Aphrodites Child were shite. They played the Marquee once - I think Demis Roussos WAS the Marquee.

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  2. I was always annoyed by the fact that Gram Parsons used to call himself Gram rather than Graham. Really, Cecil's a better name than Gram.

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  3. Yep, that's uptight Demis for you Rog - when he's not being a marquee and a tee-pee, he's being a bivouac and wigwam.

    Let's face it, the man's *always* two tents...

    ;?

    xxx
    Mort

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  4. ...and to further confuse the issue Bettsters, ex-Family Stone bassman Larry "Gram" insisted on spelling it "Graham" - how many millions more would have got the Graham Central Station gag if he'd just trimmed off an a and an h??

    xxx
    Mort

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  5. Mary O'Hara had a voice like an angel.

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  6. Yes Geoffster - she did. I used to have 'Miss America'. No idea what happened to it and, if I'm honest, I don't recall much about the songs...except that voice. It really does stay with you.

    Sadly, she was so upset by some of the negative reviews that she's barely worked in music again since; making that already quite singular LP even more so.

    She's also to be heard on Morrissey's 'November Spawned a Monster', mixed even lower than Suggs was on 'Piccadilly Palare'.

    xxx
    Mort

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