Farewell to The Dude...

Bring back the Walkman and cassettes, modern technology is rubbish!

...and hello Shit Head!

My iPod took it upon itself last night to erase it contents - just over 5000 songs and two films (Juno and the pretty rubbish Australian documentary Bra Boys). It's the second time it's done it and quite frankly I have enough of the thing. This time I didn't slam it on the table but instead threw my glasses which landed unbroken behind the television! I put all of my recent downloads back on it last night and have about 1800 songs again but it's not the same - I'm without the likes of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and other musical greats. So far today I've had to listen to Solange's (Beyonce's lil' sis) Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams (which is suprisingly good in places) and MGMT's Oracular Spectacular. At the weekend I'm going to have the brave the worst shopping streets in London - Oxford and Regent - and sort it out.

Do The Right Thing America....Please!

Up Against the Wall Motherf*ckers wants Michelle Obama to be the next First Lady!

I have a new iPod and have named it...

I shelled out 159 clams for a new iPod last week...80GB/20,000 songs. I've named it The Dude but the Little Fella willl forever be my first iPod love. I'm getting around to slowly putting the music on, the Little Fella works but won't let me transfer the music off so I'm having to search and download lots of music again.

Today I've listened to:
Clap You Hands Say Yeah - Clap You Hands Say Yeah
Vincent Gallo - When
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Coco Rosie - Noah's Ark

R.I.P Little Fella

First things first, massive respect to Jay-Z for playing a blinder at Glastonbury and proving his critics wrong. That'll teach folk to listen to what Noel Gallagher has to say.

The Little Fella is or shall I say was my iPod. The Little Fella's condition is best described as stable, it's on it's last legs and I'm reduced to carrying a bag of CDs around with me all day.

One of my favourites is 24 Years Of Hunger by Eg & Alice, in my opinion it's one of the best British pop albums of the last 20 twenty years. It didn't sell by the truckload but in some circles it's a bit of a cult classic.

I'm also starting to listen to a bit of jazz, my current favourites out of my eight jazz CDs are Alice Coltrane's Journey To Satchidananda and Dorothy Ashby's Afro-Harping. I am not yet able to talk about jazz like some sort of expert but all I know is that I likes what I likes.

Jay-Z to play at Glastonbury

Photograph: www.mattfoto.com

I thought all the fuss about Jay-Z headlining at this years festival would have died down by now. Unfortunately a few player haters (sorry for the hip hop vernacular, but needs must and all that) are still having a moan about one of the most talented wordsmiths of his generation topping the bill at the UK's premier music festival. I could understand all the negative press if it were 50 Cent or someone equally talentless and moronic. But Jay-Z is a worthy choice.

Jay-Z is not the first rapper to perform at Glastonbury and he won't be the last, but as a fan of the genre I would have preferred seeing The Roots headline instead. Nevertheless, he'll still put on the great show and there are rumours of guest appearances from Beyonce and Coldplay's Chris Martin. Noel Gallagher from Oasis was quoted as saying "I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury", in my opinion he should concern himself with the fact the organisers have asked James Blunt and Shakin' Stevens to perform on the main stage a few hours before Jay-Z...now that's the scandal!

Up Against the Wall Motherf*ckers is bored of Banksy!

Or to be exact people who've suddenly become fans of graffiti...before 2006 you all thought it was vandalism! I've been a fan of it and it's varying style since 1984.

You can't know where you're at without knowing where you've been, so have a read of Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant's 'Subway Art' (the graffiti bible).

Another Quiet Day

I continued with the outward sulk/vow of silence at work again today, unfortunately it came to an abrupt end when the battery ran out on my iPod a few moments ago. The juice runs out on it quite quickly these days, I think I need a new one.

Alex Gopher 'You My Baby & I'
Crystal Castles 'Crystal Castles'
Sam Sparro 'Sam Sparro'
Sheila E. 'The Glamorous Life'
Raphael Saadiq 'Instant Vintage'
Madonna 'Hard Candy' (I don't care what people say, this IS rubbish).
Madonna 'The First Album' (Now we're talking)
Grace Jones 'Island Life'
Ghostface Killah 'Supreme Clientele'

It's a three day weekend – hurrah – and I will be continuing in my quest to find gainful employment. I have to keep telling myself that my quality of life will not be improved by jacking it all in and going on the dole!

The World's Still Turning

I seem to have gotten over the shock of Boris becoming the new mayor of London, the sky hasn't falling in (yet) so I'm channelling my anger elsewhere (please can someone give me a new job?). However, I'm more shocked at the fact that Sir Alan sacked Raef in last nights Apprentice...can he see a genius streak in Michael that the rest of the nation can't?

I've taken a vow of silence at work (for my own sanity) and have listened to music for most of the day.

Santogold 'Santogold' (A good album. If Blondie had made a debut album in 2008, this sounds like an album they would have made).
Sam Sparro 'Sam Sparro' (F*ckin' superb house for 2008...love this love this love this......).
The Last Shadow Puppets 'The Age Of The Understatement' (Too much of Scott Walker love in for me, but still good).
Raphael Saadiq 'Instant Vintage' (I hate the term neo soul but that's what this is, a classic of the genre).
Rufus feat. Chaka Khan 'Rufus feat. Chaka Khan' (I heart Chaka).
Scarface: The Original Soundtrack (One of my favourite soundtracks which is also produced by one of my favourite producers, Giorgio Moroder).
Talib Kweli 'Right About Now' (This is real hip-hop, forget 5O Cent).

Oh My F*cking God...

On the 1st of May Londoners voted for a new mayor. And the old Etonian, bumbling half-wit and old school racist Boris Johnson won! I think this could be the city's George W. Bush moment. The Labour candidate lost for a number of reasons, for instance, people were protesting about national concerns as well as local issues. However, most of my anger at this victory is directed at the Liberal Democrats and not the Conservatives who won the election. The Lib Dems ran yet another wishy washy campaign and proved once again that they do not have the courage of their convinctions. They appear to be happy to remain the third biggest party and and have missed the chance to break the political monopoly of the other two parties. Ken's lasting legacy was the introduction of the Congestion Charge and winning the 2012 Olympics, I wonder what Boris' will be. I wouldn't be suprised if he doesn't last the full four year term!

What is the credit crunch?

It's not a new breakfast cereal, that's for sure. In simple terms it's when people and banks get the fear and stop spending money!

I've modified my spending accordingly and have found that my quality of life hasn't changed drastically.

The main thing is to stay in gainful employment - I've realised that if I do more work than the person who sits next to me (this person has a very relaxed approach to work)then I'm ok!

Outside of work I've found the odd free download appearing on my iPod - the tooth fairy works in mysterious way. I like going to places like FOPP and play.com to buy £5 CDs - I'm not into making the rich and famous even more rich! I switched to buying value loaves of bread, it tastes the same as the expensive stuff, all they do it slice it thinner (and probably spit in the dough a few more times). My flatmate travels a lot for her job and buys wine and olive oil in Madrid. She also buys toiletries in Glasgow as they are cheaper than London - London is the rip off capital of Europe (I'd encourage more shop lifting if I wasn't so anti-crime)!

I still buy trainers, I bought a pair a few weeks back infact. No global financial downturn will ever stop me doing that!

Paris 2012

Last Thursday my flatmate G. flew with BA into Heathrow's new flagship terminal,T5 and left three hours later without her suitcase! It arrived yesterday (Sunday) evening delivered by a man driving a very small van. I hope the other 15,000 pieces of missing luggage are reunited with their owners soon.

Therefore, I think now is right time to publicly announce that I am still supporting Paris' bid for the 2012 Olympics. I am fully aware that they have been awarded to London - the city of my birth - but it's not too late to hand the whole thing over to the French!

The Writing's On The Wall...

Shoreditch House - the latest edition to the Soho House private members club family - frequented by the rich and famous and those who want to be.

By all accounts it ain't all that!

Photograph taken by Toots Fontaine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tootsfontaine/

Up Against the Wall Motherf*ckers says...

...hello!

I've had this thing since June but got a little side tracked with Facebook's Scrabulous...I've played 733 games (most of them at work) and have lost more than I've won! I think you'll find it's about the taking part and not the winning so I'm not too bothered.