ratm no.1 vs xfactor

ive been very cynical about this whole thing because i quite frankly cant get past 2 years in a row a sony track has been chosen as a “facebook” campaign against xfactor xmas no.1 – when the competition just happens to be a sony track

bbc’s radio 1 on an iphone is utter shite – sort it

ive spoken to and heards loads of stuff about this but there is one thing to come out of this
like it or lump twitter is going to take over facebook and if mainstream media (or in fact anyone) have any clue whatsover they will take note

rage against sony

ive got a number of problems with this whole thing with the x factor (aside from the fact it should be renamed “annual uk karaoke competition”)

there was a similar campaign last year involving jeff buckley

2008 no.2 jeff buckley – sony
2008 no.1 alexandra burke – sony

2009 – ratm – sony
2009 – joe whatshisname – sony

and yesterday the bloke behind the ratm campaign was suddenly moaning that the facebook page had been taken down and that would impact on the charity donations

what charity donations ? how is buying a sony track from itunes going to help a charity (unless of course the name of that charity is called sony music) – there was no mention of charity in the initial facebook page – seems like thats been tacked on as an afterthought to deflect attention so when and if sony get caught out they can go “oh but it was for charity”

i love ratm but i’m with luke lewis from the nme on this
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&p=7690&more=1

i should add i used to work for sony music europe before i quit and left the business so am probably biased

inter-pub pool competition

forgot to gloat on fridays pool competition

ok so i lost my singles game and after the 6 singles game we went into the doubles section 4-2 down so as i’m captain i decided to shake it up again and put myself on the last doubles with don

suffice to say it was 4-4 all before i played and i hit 2 quite frankly brilliant doubles to win the game 5-4 – i.thank.you

power of dreams to reform

i got an out of the blue facebook message this morning saying that one of my favourite bands from the early 90’s power of dreams are forming for a set of gigs in early march. i’d been thinking about going back around end of feb but needed a gig to go back for – this fits the bill perfectly

www.myspace.com/powerofdreams – www.powerofdreams.ie

pool competition

we won our inter pub pool game last night – yip – 2-1 up in the series and back at home next week (away we have to play english rules on an english table – at home at the tall ships we play spanish rules on a spanish table – there is huge difference in the style of play and the rules)

i am captain this year and this week (fri) we were away to the queen vic – we were up 4-2 after the first 6 singles so needing only 1 win out of the last 3 doubles. the problem was what do to with the doubles – after 3 changes of heart and an idea of what they would do i changed our normal doubles set up…. although we ended up winning 5-4, one game was lost because of a great shot on the black going in but potting their ball and the other was yours truly not caring because we had already got the 5th game in the middle doubles game (me and kev played the final doubles)

i saw my first christmas decorations yesterday – isnt that how its supposed to be instead of sometime in early november ?

apparently

apparently i got very blasted last night – ok so thats true and lets get that out of the way

ended up playing pool with my flatmate as a doubles partner against 2 of the rival pub staff – i was quite frankly rubbish and we got to 4-1 down. we, they, i, them insisted on carrying on – we ended up winning 5-4 – arf!

i had to send someone 75 euros today for writing an obituary that was for their friend – i found that profoundly wrong – name and shame: richard mcneef

smeg

had popped out last night and walked past a shop window and had to do a double take on the name of one of the companies stuck on the window – theyve obviously never watched red dwarf:

tons of music books

a good friend of mine who lives here is a literary agent who licences books – mainly music related titles. she has accumulated loads of preview copies and we were chatting the other day as she knew i was huge fan of hypgnosis and she had a preview copy to give me. i mentioned that if she had any other books i might be interested in to let me know.

yesterday i got delivered 2 boxes of books – i have no idea which ones to start with – here’s the list:
taken by storm – the album art of storm thorgerson
bob dylan – behind the shades: take two
where did our love go – rise & fall of the motown sound
hip priest – the story of mark e smith & the fall
the spoof guide to good practice on how to do drugs
nick drake
pj harvey – siren rising
keith richards – unauthorised biography
bob dylan – a life in stolen moments
poison heart – surving the ramones – dee dee ramone
michael jackson – a life in music
the rise and fall of emi records
slayer
the story of r.e.m
fleetwood mac – the first 30 years
gram parsons – gods own singer
typical girls – the story of the slits
rush
meetings with morrisey
johnny cash – the life of an american icon
reckless road: guns n roses
the tragic romance of of pamela and jim morrison
blondie
bitch bitch bitch: rock venom
sniffin glue – the essential punk accesory
led zeppelin – the tight but loose files
phil spector – out of his head
bob dylan – 86 – 1990 & beyond
waiting for the man – story of drugs and popular music
in the court of the king crimson
queen live – a concert documentary
the byrds – timeless flight revisted
gimme danger – the story of iggy pop
steely dan – reelin the years
freddie mercury – his life in his own words
the life of pete townshend
bob dylan – intimate insights
shout to the top – story of the jam
howling at the moon – confessions of a music mogul in an age of excess – walter yetnikoff
the book of e – all about ecstasy

time to blog a bit more

i think subconsciously ive been neglecting this blog as more people actually know who i am and i cant be anonymous with my ranting

watched powder blue film last night – brilliant – but i was watching it thinking how the hell have i only picked up on this 2 years later ?

inter-pub pool competition tomorrow – we’re on spanish rules and spanish table so queen vic – look out

went out to pub on monday but they had bingo night and no footy soundtrack so went to the other pub in town – went out tonight and decided to visit latter pub only for them to have bingo night – FTW

had some strange desire just now to watch my mate’s video footage of the time we went to primal screams private gig at fortress studios on their 10th anniversary but sadly its a 404 error – arse

i got banned again from ibiza spotlight the past day or so – even though it was a helpful first post – its amazing how petty some people can be

more rubbish to follow

who is silver columns ?

i dont know but i’m determined to find out

been a very random week – weds night ended up at a friends house where a band is rehearsing – got back around 5ish which wiped me out for the week (must be getting old) – then sunday night went and saw them (nowthen) play down at guarana in the port and they were brilliant – ended up chatting with them all till some stupid hour

i did have a cd of theirs but left it in someones car on weds night – ejit