Category Archives: Media

➤ Ferry Re-Makes/Re-Models himself as the Sinatra of the rock era

Posted on 19 Oct 2011 | Leave a comment

Bryan Ferry live at the Greek Theatre. Photograph Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

❚ OUR MAN IN WEST HOLLYWOOD papped Bryan Ferry today snacking at the coolest pizzeria in town, Mozza on North Highland Ave (below). Last week of course he ended his first American tour in nearly a decade — with members of Duran Duran and Blondie in the Los Angeles audience on Saturday. The Olympia tour arrives in London with two gigs at the Shepherds Bush Empire on Dec 14–15.

➢ Craig Rosen reviews his closing US concert for SoundSpike …

“ Ferry’s show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles did more to promote the notion that he could be today’s greatest interpreter of songs from the rock era. That’s because the veteran crooner performed only two tracks from his album Olympia, instead devoting much of his set to performing songs made famous by other performers. That shouldn’t have come as too much of a shock, given that Ferry’s 2007 release was Dylanesque, an album full of Bob Dylan covers. Sure enough, Ferry wheeled out three songs penned by his Bobness — Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues and Make You Feel My Love fairly early in the set, and a show-closing take of All Along the Watchtower.

“ In between, we got a blistering rendition of Neil Young’s Like a Hurricane, which closed the first set, a few soul nuggets — Wilbert Harrison’s Let’s Stick Together, Sam & Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin’, an extremely sympathetic reading of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy, and a smoldering take of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put a Spell on You… Saturday night, he proved to be the Frank Sinatra of the rock era. Instead of merely offering a carbon copy of the originals, when Ferry covers a song, he truly makes it his own. ” / continued online

➢ This week the Vinyl Factory released two remixes of the Olympia tracks Alphaville and Me Oh My in limited editions of 500 copies on heavyweight 180-gram vinyl, price £10.

➢ Fan-moist interview with Ferry, “the sultan of suave”, at The Quietus

Papped! Bryan Ferry today at the sleb-haunt Pizzeria Mozza in West Hollywood

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➤ Jarvis as heir to Alan Bennett: If I’m a national treasure, dust me off

Posted on 17 Oct 2011 | 2 comments

Mother Brother Lover, Selected Lyrics, Jarvis Cocker, Faber, Albertus, Guardian, interview,

Intercity to Sheffield: a first-class seat on the train and his name in Faber’s house-font Albertus on the cover of his selected lyrics. (Picture grabbed from Faber video)

❚ PULP’S FRONTMAN JARVIS COCKER had returned to his old school in Sheffield to launch his book, Mother, Brother, Lover – a compilation of song lyrics spanning 30 years, out this week from Faber. In the assembly hall he stood on the stage where Pulp – then a bunch of schoolmates he’d harangued into forming a band – performed their very first gig in 1978. He was telling a now-familiar yarn. Because the band was his idea, he explained, he had been lumbered with writing the songs. As we see in the video below, he picked up his guitar and sang the first lyric he ever wrote: “I said, baby why you ignoring me?/ She said, To be or not to be? / Shakespeare rock, Shakespeare roll./ ” A hall full of teenagers tittered with embarrassment… Fortunately, this one is not in his published collection.

➢ As Decca Aitkenhead observes in today’s Guardian interview titled ‘Music has changed, it’s more like a scented candle’ . . .

“ Afterwards, staff queued up with their old Pulp CDs for him to sign. One had an original copy of the 1995 Sorted for Es and Wizz hit single, whose infamous sleeve featured instructions on how to fold a wrap to keep drugs in. I’d clean forgotten Cocker was once the voice of youth drug culture – and I suspect the kids he’d just addressed would be astonished – for these days he’s more like the heir to Alan Bennett. ” / continued online

Mother Brother Lover, Selected Lyrics, Jarvis Cocker, Faber, Pulp ➢ Jarvis Cocker: the secrets of Pulp’s songs — The Guardian has an exclusive extract from his new book of selected lyrics, and reveals the blueprint for the band’s signature style of narrative pop

➢ Mother, Brother, Lover: Selected Lyrics by Jarvis Cocker, is published by Faber & Faber on October 20 at £14.99, reduced to £7.94 at Amazon — A collection of 66 lyrics with commentary by Jarvis Cocker, it features such modern classics as Common People, Disco 2000, Babies, This is Hardcore and more. The selection reveals to Pulp fans a chronicle of the rare, bookish wit that Cocker brought to the pop charts.

➢ More at Shapersofthe80s: Thrilled-to-bits video interview when news of Cocker’s Faber contract first broke

➢ Jarvis Cocker joins Faber: national treasure as literary arbiter

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❏ iPAD, TABLET & MOBILE USERS PLEASE NOTE — You may see only a tiny selection of items from this wide-ranging website about the 1980s, not chosen by the author. To access fuller background features and site index either click on “Standard view” or visit Shapersofthe80s.com on a desktop computer. ➢ Click here to visit a different random item every time you click

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Posted in Culture, London, Media, Pop music

Tagged Books, Decca Aitkenhead, Faber, Guardian, Interview, Jarvis Cocker, Mother Brother Lover, Pulp, Selected Lyrics

➤ Jarvis Cocker joins Faber: national treasure as literary arbiter

Posted on 12 Oct 2011 | Leave a comment

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❚ JUST LISTEN TO THE POPSTAR AS SEER, Pulp’s singer Jarvis calling a grey wall heroic, “It says a lot, that wall, to me”, and calling himself “a workshy fop” who has never done a proper day’s work. This South Bank Show from 2007 [above] is compulsive. Just read the comments people have posted beneath it! Now Britain’s most prestigious publisher has asked pop’s national treasure to become its editor-at-large, a broad commissioning role similar to that filled by the 20th-century poet T S Eliot…

➢ Excerpt from today’s Guardian report:

❏ Home to 12 Nobel laureates and six Booker prize winners, venerable publisher Faber & Faber is now looking to bring a little Britpop magic to its list after hiring Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker as its new editor-at-large. The appointment will see Cocker given an open brief to acquire books for a small list at Faber from January 2012.

Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, pop music, Faber,editor,publishing “Jarvis felt like a natural fit with the Faber sensibility, both as author and editor, and I’m sure the small list of books he will develop will represent his eccentric and yet popular touch,” said publishing director Lee Brackstone. “We now have an excellent portfolio of authors from the pop world and our intention is to develop these relationships and continue to build a reputation as the home for exciting and original writing on music.”

➢ Jarvis sees his book of lyrics published by Faber next week — view another riveting interview when he signed up to Eliot’s publisher in June

➢ And talking of national treasures, here’s Jarvis talking about another one, his own hero Scott Walker:

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➤ A taste of the 80s Blitz Kids — this photo book captures their unseen glory

Posted on 7 Oct 2011 | 1 comment

Sullivan and Smith at last night's exhibition: man in the middle is king of the posers and Blitz Club host, Steve Strange. Photography by Shapersofthe80s

❚ THE HEROES SHOW IS ON THE ROAD. As of last night the Smith/Sullivan definitive history of 80s clubbing We Can Be Heroes had raised 36% of its “crowd-funding” target required to ensure publication goes ahead. Hence last night’s selling exhibition of Graham Smith’s photography from 30 years ago, most of which has never been seen. His family and friends joined the slebs at the party (video below) hosted by Inside Events in Notting Hill.

Smith said his favourite image on sale last night was on the cover of the book: showing Blitz Kids Clare Thom and a scene-stealing George O’Dowd claiming centre stage by gesturing with both hands and competely masking the face of the second girl beside him, designer Michele Clapton. (Prints are priced from £150 to £450 according to size — inquire by mailing to grsmith [@] mac.com)

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Smith was in the thick of the New Romantic underground taking photos as London nightclubbing revolutionised British pop music and made stars out of Boy George, Sade, Spandau Ballet and scores more new bands. Sullivan was a key player as stylist, host of Soho’s infamous Wag club for 19 years and leader of Blue Rondo à la Turk who had a 1982 chart hit with the soundtrack to our video, Klacto Vee Sed Stein. Broadcaster Robert Elms has written an intro, and there are forewords by Boy George, Steve Strange and Gary Kemp.

The 21st-century way to publish high-quality, short-run numbered editions is to secure sales in advance of publication. So visit Unbound Publishing to place your order which will secure your name in the first edition — and other perks.

Graham Smith in selling mode: can he persuade 22-year-old Bill de Melowood to buy his print of Steve Strange drinking with a bunch of Cardiff dockers? Photography by Shapersofthe80s

Partying family: Graham Smith and wife Lorraine at right, with their daughter Carla and boyfie John. Photography by Shapersofthe80s

❏ iPAD, TABLET & MOBILE USERS PLEASE NOTE — You may see only a tiny selection of items from this wide-ranging website about the 1980s, not chosen by the author. To access fuller background features and site index either click on “Standard view” or visit Shapersofthe80s.com on a desktop computer. ➢ Click here to visit a different random item every time you click

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Posted in Clubbing, London, Media, Pop music, Youth culture

Tagged Blitz club, Blitz Kids, Books, Boy George, Chris Sullivan, Gary Kemp, Graham Smith, New Romantics, photography, Robert Elms, Spandau Ballet, Steve Strange, Swinging 80s, trailer, Unbound publishing, Wag club, We Can Be Heroes

➤ Gary Kemp steps onstage to join London’s theatre critics

Posted on 3 Oct 2011 | Leave a comment

Robert Sheehan ,Ruth Negga, Playboy of the Western World, Old Vic, theatre, Critics at the Cri

The Playboy of the Western World: Robert Sheehan makes his stage debut as Synge’s anti-hero Christy Mahon, seen here with Ruth Negga as the vindictive Pegeen Mike. (Photography Manuel Harlan)

❚ THIS THURSDAY LUNCHTIME songwriter Gary Kemp becomes a theatre critic in a live a panel discussion taking place onstage at the Criterion Theatre on Piccadilly Circus in London. Critics at the Cri is a live monthly review, featuring Britain’s leading critical voices who will debate three recent theatre openings in and around London. As a joint initiative by the Criterion and What’s On Stage, each discussion takes place on the first Thursday of the month at 1.15pm, lasting for 45 minutes. The session aims to open up the conversation for the audience to engage with the guest critics.

Gary Kemp, Criterion Theatre , Critics at the Cri, London theatre,

Gary Kemp: popstar, songwriter and acclaimed autobiographer

On October 6, the opening panel includes theatre critics Michael Coveney and Patrick Marmion, BBC Culture Show theatre presenter Clemency Burton-Hill and special guest Gary Kemp, reviewing three very different openings: Mike Leigh’s latest play Grief at the National Theatre, the Broadway transfer Rock of Ages the Musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre, and J M Synge’s Irish modern classic from 1907, The Playboy of the Western World at the Old Vic Theatre. Tickets cost £7.50 in person from the Criterion box office but Kemp fans will find that Spandau Ballet’s website has a special offer. Critics at the Cri Two is scheduled for Thursday Nov 3 at 1.15pm.

❏ Update: On Tuesday Gary Kemp collected a BMI Multi Million Award for his hit True with Spandau Ballet in 1983. This makes the song one of the most played songs on US radio and TV, which is rare for a recording from the 1980s.

READ UP ON REVIEWS ALREADY PUBLISHED

➢ The Playboy of the Western World at the Old Vic
— Michael Coveney at What’s On Stage

➢ Playboy — Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail

➢ Rock of Ages the Musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre
— Michael Coveney at What’s On Stage

➢ Grief at the National Theatre
— Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail

➢ Grief — Michael Coveney at What’s On Stage

Rock of Ages the Musical,Shaftesbury Theatre,Critics at the Cri,

The London cast of Rock of Ages: the musical is set in 1987 on the Sunset Strip, where a small-town girl meets a big-city rocker in LA’s most famous rock club

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