Drooooooool.
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Musical highlight one. “I’m Iggy and you’re Kiwi MotherF–kers!” Glad I got to see this lizard-like legend play with the Stooges, who pumped out the big dumb Flintstones-style Rock n Roll like they invented it, which they did, I guess.

Musical highlight two.“Remember, Meg’s not happy unless you’re all happy!” There’s some mixed reviews of the White Stripes show, but I loved ’em. Yeah, Jack should shave his goatee, and yes, he played more instruments than he should have, but the little bugger never stopped rocking hard, and produced some noises from his guitar that I didn’t think were possible. What the knockers need to remember is that Jack and Meg did it all for us – they just wanted us to have a good time listening to their bad ass, dirty-as, swamped out Rock n Roll. We did. And I loved the feedback.

The other musical highlights. The Go! Team were great once they settled into their set. Bollox to The Heralds’ Russell Baille for obviously watching just the first two songs, then buggering off to check out the Lynx Jet tent. Sleater-Kinney were great, as were what I caught of Kings of Leon. And fair play to 2Many DJs for dropping AC/DC in the Boiler Room late on.

Festival punters’ band T-shirt spotting report. Nirvana (several), Ramones (loads), Doors (1), AC/DC (1), Metallica (1). A BIG bonus to Ian for spotting Megadeath, some very sweet action there. No Pearl Jam, though.

Old git’s logistics report. “Nah, I’m not going to drink that much”. “You’ll have to queue up for ages for a beer, eh”. “There’s no bogs there”. “We’ll be the oldest ones there”. “Whine, whine, whinge”, etc, etc.
That was all bollocks, of course. Yeah we did have to queue a bit to get into the Wave Bar, but once we were in we could sit on the grass, talk crap, and pound a few Lion Reds in the sun while listening to the Magic Numbers (derivative shite). Lovely. And once we got down to the main stage area, there were some great loos with no queues in the grandstand. This is important, you know.
As for being the oldest ones there – not even close. I even spotted Roger Sheperd and Colin Hogg taking their places at the back of the herd for Iggy, and those guys are REALLY old.
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This could change your life.
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Tagging is everywhere that matters on the internet, so why not tag your itunes library as well? Here’s how I’ve done it.

com / comedy / comedy tracks followed by the comedian

ele / electronic / anything electronic, ie. drum machines, no guitars, faceless souless techno, whatever.

fav / favorite / My favourite tunes, usually by genre such as gat, ele, or anything. You’ll think of better ones than me.

gat / guitar / Anything with a six string on it. Lighters in the air, stage dives, brush cotton shirts, you get the idea.

new / new (geddit?) / Just new stuff you want to listen to, to see if you like it. New songs from Mp3 blogs go on here.

rnd / random / If you have plenty of a paticular artist, make a list of all their albums and set it shuffle for untold random Saxon, Debbie Gibson or George Benson. It’s up to you though, those are just examples, like.

trip / trip soundtracks / When you make a list for a trip, you might like to save it and name it to remember that car journey / plane ride / whatever. Does that sound soppy?

Other tips:
– I use the ‘my top rated’ function a lot to tag songs I want to mess with later. This often happens when you’re shuffling all your songs, and it’s really easy to on the go, too.
– Try and keep tags short, so you can read them on your iPod screen.
– Set all the lists to random, while you’re at it, it’s loads more fun.

Thames 311205 001
Originally uploaded by richirvine73.

Ahhhh…..

So I wound up watching the new Led Zep DVD on Saturday night after the show. And couldn’t stop laughing. Now, I know Led Zep’s music pretty well – all the bogans at my school were into it, and eventually I got it as well. I own a copy of IV. Got a few songs in iTunes. But I’d never really watched a video of them, until now.

And now they’re ruined, because Spinal Tap got it so right. The mental drummer. The bass player standing there looking all serious. And especially David St. Hubbins / Jimmy Page. It’s all there from the ridiculous poses to scary facial expressions during the solos. I couldn’t stop laughing. And when he bought out the violin bow to play his guitar I almost had to leave the room.

I reckon it’s a great example of where a sharp parody makes the original material redundant, and reminds me of when I used to read Mad’s movie satires, which were so dead on you didn’t really have to see the film – and when you did, it was never as good. It’s all in the details – you have to study your ‘target’s’ expressions, tones of voice, their ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’, and then just crank it up a notch without going too OTT – it’s why shows like The Office, Fawlty Towers and Seinfeld were as popular as they were. What’s your favorite parody or satire?

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NEVER go to a costume hire place for your Office xmas party outfit. Not only are they always rammed with harassed mothers, their bratty children going nuts over all the toys, and annoying Sales-y types (“HEY! I need a bigger wig for this Edina outfit! MISS!”), but it takes at least 35 minutes to serve each customer, meaning you’ll be in the place for three hours minimum. And air conditioning is rare.

No, show a bit more imagination by making a Token Effort costume at a fraction of the price. There’s a myriad of advantages:
1. No need to return it the next day with a hangover in this sodding humidity
2. No worries about spilling shit on it and losing your deposit
3. People will be more impressed with something you’ve thrown together in an evening than those with hire costumes costing $100s
4. Token Effort costumes are usually worn over your normal clothes, so you can chuck it in the bin when the party is over, and you don’t have to go to the pub dressed as a Wizzard / Postal worker / Pirate