9/24/2004 06:54:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P| It was something that gestated over a period of time, and as events unfolded and the election got closer, it became clearer. I don't want to watch the country devolve into an oligarchy, watch the division of wealth increase and see another million people beneath the poverty line this year. These are all things that have been the subtext of so much of my music, and to see the country move so quickly to the right, so much further to the right than what the president campaigned on -- these are the things that removed whatever doubt I may have had about getting involved. Bruce Springsteen talks a lot of sense.|W|P|109597670006255976|W|P||W|P|danpawley@gmail.com9/20/2004 05:24:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P| Yesterday was surreal. I went up to Grafton St HMV to watch the Paul Weller PA. Now, most of Weller's solo stuff leaves me cold, but he is still the man who wrote "Down In The Tube Station at Midnight", "Town Called Malice", and many other great songs, so I thought seeing him play in the basement of a record shop was going to be a good thing. I bunked off work early, got up to the store, and meet up with Shaun the manager to ensure my blag in. He says "let's go and get our picture taken with Weller", so off we go to the office comandeered as a backstage area. Sure enough Weller is there, we do the photo, some ridiculously complicated handshake and chat for a bit(he talks like a proper cockney geezer, by the way), and then I realise that the chubby guy sat at the table is Peter Kay. This takes me by surprise, not least because I am a massive Phoenix Nights fan. Turns out he was in Dublin for some charity do arranged by the one out of Boyzone who is now in Coronation St, and the woman next to him is a Corrie star (Shelly? Sherry? I don't really watch the programme) who knows Weller from way back. Which is why I end up talking to Brian Potter in an HMV back room. Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans! Mr Kay was then prevailed on to do an intro for Weller at the PA proper, so he did an impromptu routine which surprised the hell out of the assembled fans, and then Weller did his stuff. Mostly from the new record, but finishing up with "Wild Wood" and "That's Entertainment". Very good. Stay tuned for our next episode, in which Dan goes to see Richmond Fontaine on Tuesday night, and prepares to continue his journey round the Celtic fringe... I am blogging to: Nick Cave|W|P|109562638454345879|W|P|In which our hero enters gossip column world |W|P|danpawley@gmail.com9/16/2004 06:02:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P|Ladies and gentlemen....PULGASARI! Like Godzilla, if it was made by a director who was kidnapped from South Korea, taken to North Korea, imprisoned for four years with no explanation, and then forced to make the only Marxist monster movie. Read all about it here. |W|P|109528260123074306|W|P||W|P|danpawley@gmail.com9/14/2004 10:32:00 PM|W|P|dan|W|P|More on that brilliant cinema under Paris story.|W|P|109516878732965836|W|P||W|P|danpawley@gmail.com9/14/2004 10:00:00 PM|W|P|dan|W|P| Cannot type much. My fingers are sore from an extended session on Burnout 3. What a great game. If you ever took delight as a child in smashing small toy cars together this game is so far up your street it is practically knocking on your door. Last night I finished reading The Closed Circle - Jonathan Coe's new book and a continuation of The Rotter's Club, which was one of my favourite novels of the past few years. It was very good, and reminded me once again of the power fiction can have. The increasing rightward lurch of the Labour Party, the illegality and sheer injustice of the war in Iraq, a media that prizes image above substance - these are all things I know are wrong, but to have them presented in a fresh, even if fictitious, context somehow reenergises my anger. If familiarity breeds contempt, then overfamiliarity breeds ennui and acceptance. It feels good to snap out of it. I am blogging to: Kanye West|W|P|109516782043092650|W|P||W|P|danpawley@gmail.com9/06/2004 03:56:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P|Crumbs. This thing is a year old now. And it hasn't even begun to walk or talk yet. I knew it was retarded.|W|P|109441061496530006|W|P||W|P|danpawley@gmail.com9/06/2004 02:38:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P|I know my blogging has been haphazard of late. I have very little to say. My head is as empty as a condolence book for James Nesbitt (to be seen on telly tonight no doubt ruining the character of Jack Parlabane in an adaptation of Chris Brookmyre's rather good novel, Quite Ugly One Morning (title stolen from a Warren Zevon song - in another of his books, Mr Brookmyre alludes to both New Model Army and Robertson Davies' Cornish Trilogy, hence becoming an all time literary hero in one fell swoop, by the simple expedient of liking the same stuff that Dan likes). Bought a couple of other books today - Stories About Your Life and others by Ted Chiang, about which I have heard nothing but sensational things, and a selection of stories from The Thousand And One Nights, which should be fun. I am also on the lookout for Back In The USSR by Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne. It's a collection of alternate history stories set in a twentieth century where the USA underwent a communist revolution in 1917, led by Al Capone, and Russia remained a monarchy while Britain's empire never declined. By the late 60s, Britain is embroiled in a nasty jungle war in South East Asia that is has no chance of winning, which is bad news for two Geordie conscripts called Bob and Terry. A right pair of likely lads indeed. Off now to look at ilovesbees.com I am blogging to:Ice Cube|W|P|109440631168733606|W|P||W|P|danpawley@gmail.com