Things I Have Learned This Week

1. Having long despised Margaret Thatcher, I must admit she went up in my estimation a teensy bit thanks to this.

2. Michael Eavis admits "Joke band" booked to play Glastonbury...

Explanation

3. There are "celebrity" Twitter accounts which are quite clearly not the real celeb, yet tens of thousands of

gormless idiots still follow them. It's as though the name and a photo are enough to feel a connection with their fame. If only I could harness that level of stupidity to make some easy money. I am Banksy, after all.

4. Some interesting news for Star Wars fans, but keep it under your hat.

5. Despite being able to afford any gas-guzzling sports car, Ryan Giggs and other Man Utd players showed their green credentials by using local "Ring and Ride" scheme.

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Vintage Video - New Feature

#001 Stevie Wonder - Live on Beat Club 1974

From time to time I'm going to post vintage videos of classic artists performing live, either in concert or on TV Shows.

This is Stevie Wonder during his absolute peak period (most of the seventies were one glorious peak in fact) on the German TV show Beat Club. The quality isn't great, but definitely worth seeing.

Incidentally, if you just type "Beat Club" into YouTube it brings up a wealth of great clips.

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The Battle of Good Versus Evil - ROUND 2

This is the second in a short series of posts examining Simons in the public eye, pitting Good Simons against those I'm labelling Evil Simons (even though technically they might not actually be evil per se, just a bit rubbish). For the full reasons of why on earth one might want to do such a thing read the original post. 

Good Simon No.2

Simon Pegg

Star of British TV comedy for over a decade, with shows like Big Train and Spaced, and now a Bona Fide movie star thanks to Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fat Boy Run and even an appearance as Scotty in the 2009 Star Trek remake. The secret of his success, aside from being a very good comic actor, probably lies in his self-deprecating charm, both on and off-screen.

Evil Simon No.2

Simon May

Simon who? I hear you ask. Do you mean Simon Mayo? No, of course not - he's pretty okay.
This deceptively harmless looking fellow with the lovely hair is responsible for some of the worst musical moments of the last 40 years.
Mostly known for godawful themes and incidental music for UK soap operas such as East Enders, El Dorado and Crossroads (Born With a Smile on My Face by Stephanie de Sykes! Aargh!), his career peaked in 1976/77 with two solo singles featuring his er...unique voice. 
Reaching No.49 in the UK in May 1977 was his interpretation of Ivor Novello's We'll Gather Lilacs, probably his definitive vocal performance. The chart positioning must have been a disappointment however, as only 6 months earlier May had a No.7 hit with his own composition Summer of My Life, shown here in a Maximo Queso Top of The Pops performance. It occurs that this could be the single biggest reason that Punk happened....

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