Burns Night

A happy Burns Night to you all; its the night Scots and millions of others around the world celebrate our national bard, Robert Burns. Burns Suppers will be held from the Highlands of Scotland to the sunny climes of Australia, from America to Russia (he's very popular with the Russians, who see him, correctly, as a man of the people). I think its rather wonderful that the life and work of a poet from centuries past brings people together the world over each January 25th to recite verse and song and enjoy food and another great Scottish contribution to world culture, the fine single malt. Here's a wonderful rendition of one of my favourite Burns works, A Man's a Man For 'a That, sung by Sheena Wellington at the opening of the newly devolved Scottish Parliament here in the heart of Edinburgh:







I especially liked when she got the normally boring old politicians to join in towards the end, not something you see in the House of Shame at Westminster. There were some cringeing royalist toads who whined that the choice of song could be viewed as an insult to the Queen as its a well loved libertarian anthem, explicitly celebrating the equality of all and pointing out the be-ribboned aristocrat may have rank and station but he's no better than anyone else and his estates and rank and status are worth far less than the words of the man who is free in thought and deed. Amen to that. Just remember please, if you are having haggis tonight, to make sure its a free range haggis, given the run of highland slopes and not some battery farmed haggis.

The Ukulele Lady sings!

And here, as promised, is the short video I shot of Amanda Palmer singing us all an appropriately sci-fi themed song with her ukulele before her book signing yesterday:

Strange fruit...

Via Boing Boing a link to a great Billie Holiday rendition of the haunting Strange Fruit. First time I ever heard this song was back in the early 80s, being covered on a Souixsie and the Banshees album and back then I was too young to realise it has been around for decades. I've heard it by different artists numerous times (not uncommon in some films and documentaries dealing with the Deep South of the USA and racial prejudice) but I think this version by the great Ms Holiday is the best:

Current listening: Hollywood, Mon Amour

Currently listening to a very cool album, Hollywood Mon Amour (two or three film references in one, which appeals to a film fiend like me), although when I tell you it consists of songs from popular 80s movies you'll probably be thinking, hold on, Joe, how the hell can that be cool? Well, I admit it has more than a couple of tracks which I loathed in their original forms, like the theme song from Arthur ("When you get caught between the moon and New York City, I know its crazy, but its true..") or the bloody awful Eye of the Tiger from Rocky. But here I like them. Here they are very different. They have been reworked by Marc Collin, producer for the ultra cool Nouvelle Vague (another movie reference) using a number of artists and like the covers Nouvelle Vague perform they are very, very different from the originals, hip, and cool. Check the site out where you can hear some samples from the album.

The Black Widow

For a little Halloween treat head over here and listen to a classic Alice Cooper track, The Black Widow, which begins with a cameo voice-over from that gentleman actor with the velvety voice, Mr Vincent Price.