Tunes and words
This scene came pretty close to featuring a dancing Daniel Day-Lewis.
Travolta’s career was six feet under when Quentin Tarantino was shopping Pulp Fiction around. Tarantino had Travolta as a non-negotiable but Harvey Weinstein wanted anyone but. ‘The entire list [of demands] is approved … except for John Travolta. I can get Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, William Hurt.’
Visitors to London will know that the Changing of the Guard is a must-see. The guards are renowned for their distinctive uniform, including the bearskin headgear, their immobility and unflappable demeanor. See Exhibit A below.
Merchandise has been a big part of the music industry ever since Beatle lunchboxes carried Beatle thermos flasks, Beatle juice, Beatle bars and Beatle licorice records to school in the ‘60s.
Beyond the standard t-shirts and posters, innovation in merchandise has flourished where the audience demographic and band brand cozy up.
Case in point: One Direction Uggs and tweet pillow.
I had no idea when Tune of the Week spawned this blog a couple of months ago, quite how popular it would become around the globe.
It had one visitor this week. He or she came from Russia. A slight Russian theme then as a “thank you”.
No-one needs another reason to think poorly of Martin Shkreli. He was at the helm of Turing Pharmaceuticals when it acquired the rights to Daraprim, a treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be life-threatening for babies and people with AIDS. Toxoplasmosis did for Tommy in the film Trainspotting.
Shkreli raised the price for a pill from $13.50 to $750. It didn’t make him many friends. So, what does a Shkreli do with his gains?
Graham Nash went to visit Neil Young on his ranch. Young had just finished 1972’s “Harvest” and he wanted Nash to hear it. Nash shared the story on NPR’s Fresh Air in 2013.
“He said, ‘Get into the rowboat.’ I said, ‘Get into the rowboat?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to go out into the middle of the lake.’”
Three great musicians with digital deficiencies.
The French guitar maestro Django Reinhardt had two paralyzed and damaged fingers after a caravan fire.
“Tales from Topographic Oceans” by Yes is long. 83 minutes of long. And, after the first thirty minutes or so, light on keyboard parts.
At the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1973, Rick Wakeman’s curry turned up early.
George Jones suffered from crippling stage fright. He turned to drink to steel his nerves, but lost control of his drinking.
His wife, Shirley, tried to help him kick his habit. He lived eight miles outside Beaumont, Texas; eight miles from the nearest liquor store. She hid the keys to all their cars and left him at home while she went out.
You’re never too big to be humble or humbled.
Phil Spector – gun-ho Mr Wall of Sound – produced the Ramones’ 1980 album “End of the Century”.
On July 4th 1976, the Sex Pistols and the Clash snuck backstage before the Ramones show at the Roundhouse in London. The Clash hadn’t played in public yet; Paul Simonon told Johnny Ramone, “we don’t think we’re good enough to go out and play yet”.