1968-2008

Would you have liked a present to?

starting the day with "happy birthday" by Altered Images from 1981. A very happy song, it always puts a smile on my face, and reminds me of watching top of the pops !
C is getting me drum lessons, which is quite exciting i have to say, i also got an early morning call from France and happy birthday sang to me by my dear friend Anne and her 2 children, this was followed by a birthday blog greeting from K and P my dear friends back in London who inspired my blog. I really cant ask for more than that, tonight is dinner at Bar 6 my favorite NY place with hopefully more friends.
I continued the morning with
head over heels by tears for fears, 20 years to late by edwyn collins, since yesterday by strawberry switchblade, magic moments by perry como, dub be good to me by beats international, independent woman by destiny's child, and then rounded it off with different corner by george michael, stray by aztec camera, this is the day by the the and lastly somebody to love by queen !
Happy Birthday to me and anyone else who shares this day.

1972

Clouds in my coffee
Back to the vinyl and back to my beginings. I'm guessing it's around 1972, and I'm asking my dad to get me Carley Simon's "Clouds in ya' coffee", thats what i called it anyway, the rest of the world would know it as "You're so Vain". My dad at the time was doing shop window dressing and picked me up a copy of the single from a record store he happened to be dressing in my home town. I also remember some large posters of silver lions to, but i cant remember what they where for. As for the album No Secrets - I cant remember where or when i got it. But its excellent either way. Back to that record store, I remember my brother and I sitting outside in my dads vauxhall viva while he was inside and reving the engine so it wouldn't stall. Did you know Mick Jagger does the back up vocals on the "your so vain" ?

2008

Herb
Less than 2 days away from my birthday I find myself thinking of all the bands i have seen live and wondering which ones are gone from memory, never to return. I'll do my best to think of them all over the life span of this blog, but then i like the idea of one or two becoming lost treasures in my mind...
I saw the legend that is Herb Alpert in may and the very cool sondre lerche in june ( a present for C's birthday ) - both at Joe's pub. last week it was the victor lewis quintet at the
village vanguard.
Coming up over the next few months I shall be spending time with Basia Bulat, James ( at the stone pony ) and Hot Chip. I think you should to !

2008

Carmen

i returned from holiday this week to see that the excellant Carmen Consoli is back in new york and at my favourite place to see live music joe's pub. I took this picture in 2006 when C and I first saw her. She's even more amazing live than she is on record. In Italy she sells out arenas, so to sit at her feet in a small club is quite the treat.
It was always a dream of mine to be able to go to shows and then walk home, and after years of living in suburbs and taking trains and then cities and maybe a tube or subway ride away, i now can. its the small things after all. If you around october 1st i suggest you come along for one of her two performances. The set is titled “Anello Mancante” (Missing Ring).

1978

blondie
back to the begining, while the diddymen may have been one of my oldest record memories, the first record i bought was "sunday girl" by Blondie back in 1978. It cost me 99p at WH Smiths on watford high street, and i used a gift voucher that i had gotten for christmas to get it. Debbie Harry was my first big musical love, and i spent a lot of time wishing i had her lips and cheek bones - just like all 10 year old boys! I got to meet her 20 years later at a screening at the loews village 7 in new york for a movie she was in, well when i say meet her i mean we shared the same lobby as i was too nervous to say hello. " Dont make friends with the rockstars" as Lester Bangs would go on to say in the movie Almost Famous. The same Lester Bangs that was into the whole " Blondie is a group " thing, back in the 70's

2007

st. vincent
now for something a little more recent - you may know annie clark from the polyphonic spree or with sufjan stevens. She now performs under the moniker St. Vincent, her debut album is "marry me" and was released last year. I picked the record up recently at one of my favorite record shopping haunts, the Virgin Megastore. Not quite the independent record shop experience but they have a nice selection of new vinyl.
She plays a free concert at castle clinton tomorrow so hopefully i'll get a ticket.

marmaliser

Approaching my 40th birthday I decided to share my life with you all through music and through vinyl, plus the odd compact disc, mix tape, 8 track and or anything that comes to mind that may just tickle ya fancy ! Now it may have all started with ken dodd and the diddymen from 1969 ?