As far as Bart Simpson goes his almost unloved dog called Santa’s Little Helper brought to mind the fact that saxophone playing Lisa would definitely get him a present.

With that inspiration I put together a few items for anyone who finds themselves a Santa’s Little Helper. There is even some for those who are a little bigger than little.

    

Santa

Santa

Technorati Tags: bag, Bart, Christmas, dog, Homer, Lisa, santa's little helper, saxophone, Simpson, t-shirt, The Simpsons

Boy is Daniel Craig giving Sean Connery’s 007 a run for his money. I said I was impressed with the Parkour sequence at the beginning of Casino Royale, and wasn’t dissappointed with the opening car chase and the unexpected twists (no spoilers here!).

I had a lot of hope for the theme song as the reputation of the singers has to be world class. I was delighted that Alicia Keys with her soulfully dynamic vocal power from such songs as No One and the more recent Superwoman, was going to be singing.

When I heard the first bars of Another way to Die (yeah I couldn’t rhyme Quantum of Solace either!) the grungy sound was interesting but not in the same league as Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger or Diamonds are Forever. It progressed and Jack White (of the White Stripes) was quite clearly performing a reworking of The Denial Twist. And for some reason Alicia must have been confined to coffee breaks to sing.

It sounds almost like she is a backing singer, not of one the Superwoman normally singing Bond Theme songs.

This was a downer, and the video didn’t help at all. It was clever and arty, but I have still no idea what the lyrics were about.

So, eventually I got to see the film and Daniel Craig manage to pull of his sexy charm in the 4 days following the end of the story of the first film.

The thing about Bond’s music is the mmm da mmm da mmm da dun da da da da dum dum dum … you know that’s his theme. And when finally the trumpets come in Tata ta ta tadada you know that the ‘bad guy’ has had it. Probably the only other music to have such powerful associations with a character is Norman from Hitchcock’s Psycho in the shower sequence.

Thankfully there is a Bond that looks like he can do what is says on the tin. That is not even mentioning his beachwear :-).

Can’t wait until the next one!

Technorati Tags: 007, Alicia Keys, Daniel Craig, Hitchcock, Jack White, James Bond, Psycho, Quantum of Solace, Sean Connery, Superwoman, The White Stripes, theme song

It comes from the 1935 musical Porgy and Bess. I love this song, it has so much in it and if you sing, you understand the feeling and emotion that was written in both the music and the lyrics.

It is said to be based on a Ukrainian lullaby called Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (A Dream Passes By The Windows).

I still remember my grandmother singing this one, always such a calming way to spend a summer evening - especially if you had fallen out of a tree ;-P

American Idol brought this into the current generation again with Fantasia Barrino’s version on her Free Yourself album.

If you’ve never heard it, try and get a recording by Paul Robeson - WOW - did that guy have a voice. Summertime and Ol’ Man River really are a delight to experience. It kinda makes you feel like your missing out with some of the pop songs we have today…

Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear the original lullaby sung by the Shady Lady herself Ani Lorak?

Technorati Tags: 30's, Ani Lorak, Gershwin, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon, Shady Lady, Summertime, Ukraine

I think the best one I saw - more because it had a story with it was this Scottish one.

I just think it was a great idea - playing ‘it’ or ‘tag’ around Glasgow. Even the Beastie Boys’ ‘Body Movin‘ took on different meaning. These guys have the handles ‘Hedgehog’ and ‘Tictac’ but you don’t know who is who!

Of course, I’m interested in seeing what the girls are doing in this, but they seem few and far between. I found a newbie, Jemma, who put a video up after just two months training.

The only problem is this was in 2006 and at the time of writing that’s 21 months without an update! Hope she’s OK. The tune in the background of that one was ‘Deep Dish‘ (or was that the group?).

Still with all this body moving stuff going on it shows you that you have to start somewhere. Start where you are today!

One last video caught my eye - an Asian chap Xin Sarith Azuma Phan Wuku - ‘Ninja for Hire’ and this one show the traceur running outside, then in a mall, back on the street and then he does a somersault inside a gym. All to the tune of ‘Give It All‘, so I’m informed - a good rock / metal sound.

Nothing spectaular at first, then another somersault, and another, and another, on and on they go… almost in a never ending stream. The guy must have abs of springy steel!

After this he goes into some martial arts style punching and kicking - slowly you twig - this guys is also a performer! The stage shows, Thai boxing and finally a nice touch of humour at the end
I’ll get some designs up over the next couple of days, and for the Russian guys, I WILL see about translating - but it may be a machine that does it
Thanks for the comment too ‘Totalrandom’ I wondered what you called someone who practiced Parkour - a Traceur (Traceuse? for the girls)

Technorati Tags: Beastie Boys, Body Movin, Deep Dish, girl, Give It All, Glasgow, Hedgehog, Jemma, martial art, Parkour, Scotland, Tictac, traceur, traceuse, YouTube

Anyway saw a brilliant symbol at the airport and I tried to remember what I liked about it. I think it’s just a friendly yellow, but I have made my version and look forward to seeing it on someone.

Technorati Tags: airport, friendly, picture, question mark, yellow

The downside is I don’t spend as much time at the computer - wait, that’s an UPSIDE

I did spend some time reorganising the store so you can find things easier.

Well, I’ve tried to reorganise the I’ve put up some more designs in the ‘songs‘ section as I got feedback that you couldn’t always get to what you wanted.

It seems the Russians in Saint Petersburg enjoyed the t-shirts, but sadly the translator I used couldn’t get all your comments up. Thanks for the thoughts anyway. Yes there are some new designs posted up now.

I kept hearing ‘Hello‘ everywhere I went yesterday. It’s one of those songs that sometimes haunts you, whether you like it or not! One of the things about music is that sometimes you get a song that is only remembered by a single phrase - and if they chose it well, it’s the title as well.

Anyway the thing with the Internet is you get connected from all over. Naturally, as this blog is in English, I get more English speaking countries drop by.

The webmaster showed me some brilliant info about how global the visitors are. At the moment, only Africa is missing from the continents that have visited. Let’s hope the Olympics has a full turn out.

I had a request for information about National Anthems as well, now I’m not certain how I could get that musically onto a t-shirt, but I think I might do something with flags (that no-one else has!). Let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Africa, computer, English, flag, hello, National Anthem, Olympics, Russia, St Petersburg, weather

I think they call it Parkour. You know the beginning scenes of Casino Royale where James Bond is chasing a guy through a construction site - that is Parkour. Absolutely stunning to watch.

Some of these guys (no women in their group) were amazing. They just looked like some elegant creature going about it’s normal daily life - a sort of cross between gazelle and big cat.

All in a graceful, powerful rhythm.

They bounced off things, up things and held themselves in the air for ages - just gobsmacking. They were clearly confident in what they were doing, but none of them were ‘bragging’ they all said it was about sharing the love.

None of them take drugs (hooray!) as they need to keep their bodies fit - and were these bodies really, REALLY FIT!

They looked like the highest trained Olympic Gymnast with that extra something. One of the guys (Mike) said he pretty much spent his life outside - not because he didn’t have a home to go to, but because he was getting addicted to his PlayStation and his mum took it away for a while! That was about four years ago - it hasn’t been used much since. He saw an trailer on the BBC with a man running across rooftops and thought he’d give it a go.

Brilliant. It make me feel so under exercised, even though I get to dance most days of the week.

Another guy was 20 and had just become a father, days before he was leaping through a car park / parking lot. He was chuffed at his little daughter. He hopes to keep doing this, but he said the learning part of that was harder than Parkour!

I might send them one of my t-shirts for fathers day ’cause they were all so impressive and genuine. A brilliant sense of being alive.

Some of the group were planning a trip to Brazil which is apparently where this comes from. Capoeira is a ‘dance type’ martial art which most of the children get to learn. It’s probably what made Pele such a good footballer.

They often take videos of the things they do and post them online - if you get to see one do it (sorry no link yet!).

Several had clips on their mobile / cell phones which showed a few of them playing football at the beach, though the rule was no one could kick the ball with their feet on the ground.

Clothing for them is functional and either loose OR tight.

Either way round this takes as much dedication as any musical instrument, because their own body IS the instrument they play with.

Technorati Tags: BBC, beach, Brazil, Capoeira, Casino Royale, confident, dance, father, father's day, fit, football, gymnast, James Bond, love, Olympic, Parkour, Pele, PlayStation, rhythm, t-shirt

The Russians did well, but I think the song was alright, but was definitely improved by the Olympic ice skater…

Not entirely sure, but does that mean that the visual aspects of a song make it sound better? You can find some clips around the webscape if you want to see what I’m talking about.

Not that I’m one to knock the power of images with music, it’s just that was meant to be a song competition!

Just about everyone recognises the Rolling Stones ‘tounge and lips’ image, possibly because Mick Jagger has a similar look…

By comparison, The Beatles image was limited to spelling - plus some amazing photos.

I think the idea of the Eurovision competition is in danger of being a talent show with a predictable result. Two years ago Finland supplied a ‘Monster Metal Rock Band’ who wore costumes all the time and blasted away the ‘tinkly-bonk’ electro-Europop of most of the entries with their ‘lighter’ than normal’ rock sound. This seems to have resulted in a landslide win, plus a number of heavier rock groups trying to repeat their success.

Out of the countries that never learned Russian, there were very few entries that were memorable:

• Britain - the UK had a funky dance number
• Greece ‘Kalomira’ had a Christina/Britney style pop tune ‘Secret Combination’ with some middle eastern sounds
• Germany suffered the fate of having poor sound on the night
• Iceland with a dance/ballad/duet - upbeat and pure pop!
• Denmark, well they entered with something that would fit a musical
• Sweden had a good chance with ‘Hero’, though it might have the wrong title
• France had the honour of the most beards, with a song that was memorable and even sounds a little like Pulp
• Turkey had a good rock number from a rock band with ‘Deli’ (’Insane’) which they even played acousticaly - unplugged in the dressing room
• Israel - I always wonder how this country ‘fits’ in Europe - and their first entry was Dana International!
• Ireland - Eire - What a dire turkey, to ruin a bad song, then again you don’t want to win again!

————

• Armenia and Qele Qele is really catchy from Sirusho
• Croatia - had the most senior contestant, who showed that you can still have manners
• Georgia - sung a ballad, which was striving to be more than it was
• Lativia, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, dear Latvia, the ‘Pirates’ song would make Jack Sparrow turn in his grave
• Bulgaria (who weren’t in the final) had a very modern dance track!
• Ukraine had Shady Lady sung by Ani Lorak with an amazingly strong voice and a subtle ‘bip-bip’ which the choreographer really, really made come alive in the performance

Technorati Tags: Ani Lorak, Dana International, Dili, Eire, Euro, Europe, eurovision, Insane, Jack Sparrow, Kalomira, Karolina, Lordi, Monster Rock, pirates, Pulp, Qele Qele, Russian, Secret Combination, Sirusho, Timbaland, Turkey, Ukraine

Technorati Tags: 2008, 24 May 2008, Belgrade, contest, contestant list, eurovision, final, Saturday, Saturday Night, song

Listeners recommend a local (unsigned) band for the station to review. The station then goes along to the gig and listens to the band playing live.

If they sound good and polished and give a crowd pleasing performance, they get posted online to the stations website - they post a bio, a review of the group, style of music and host an mp3 of the group.

At the end of the week, the listeners review and vote for the best group. Whoever wins the week, gets to record their best song for free at the stations studio! What a great prize for the week.

I’m not certain how long this runs, but the culmination will be a special show where all the newly recorded songs are played - and again listeners vote.

In the end you get some great fresh music on the radio (no offence to the old hands, but they were new too once!) and there are two prizes.

• The runner up gets to record an album in the studio and have the stations engineers produce it with them. They will press a few hundred copies available for prizes on the station.

WOW. That means air time, exposure and the first royalties!

Grand Prize Champion of Champions gets the sort of deal you dream about:

• Full studio recording session for a complete album.
• Photography and artwork.
• Production by ’someone you’ve heard of’ (I would love to know who - but it might depend on the type/style of music)
• The same deal with pressing and promoting - but this time through their national network of local stations!

I’m not certain if there would be a contract at the end of it, but if you were good enough to win through that - I think someone would snap you up in an instant!

I’m trying to find a current link to their page with the details on it. I’ll update when I get it.

r

Technorati Tags: band, champion, cometition, gig, live music, local radio, performance, winner