fullcatastrophe

Ta ta tattoo time ?

In Uncategorized on January 25, 2012 at 12:31 pm

In life, at work and in fashion there comes a tipping point.

A time where the pressing need to do a specific something weakens and, fairly swiftly, collapses.

It is particularly noticeable in the world of fashion and fad.

Be it hula hoops, yo-yos, Oxford bags or velour cat-suits, their time comes and goes.

Especially for the cat-suit ! Shame.

Which brings me to body art.

Moving around I have noticed that the level of inking the body has reached epidemic proportions.

The proliferation of tattoos is reaching the levels a popular (but fleeting) fashion brand.

Now before the chorus of “shut up you grumpy old thing” echo around the place, let me reveal my own piece of body adornment.

Deep breath folks.

Andy Adorned

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Celtic double headed eagle has been on my shoulder for two decades and more and I am happy to see him there.
 
When the ink hit the flesh back in a suitably seedy tattoo parlour in Sydney’s Surry Hills in the early 90s it was after a deal of consideration based on the feeling that the “tatt” had “to fit”.
 
Back then the mere appearance of such a body marking raised the hackles of numerous friends … and a few admiring glances.
 
Fast forward and in the second decade of the 21st century there is body ink of every hue & design - and much of it, to my eye, doesn’t seem to “fit”.
 
The “fit” is about design, the colour, the location. The totality of it. It’s about truly owning what you wear.
 
Too many people seem to have come away from the tattoo parlour with something akin to an “impulse buy” encouraged by contemporary mores and last week’s piece in the paper or on “The Project”.
 
They seem to own it in the way they used to own an analogue telly.
 
Not much pride, but a necessity of the time.
 
I fear that for some people more is actually less, and much more is a gift to the tatt removalists of the future.
 
 
Don’t get me wrong, many where their ink with great pride and a deal of élan not to mention joie de vivre.
 
And more power to their inked elbows.
 
These are folk who will wear tatts for years to come without a second thought.
 
And what they wear and show are intensely personal statements.
 
As for those who have inked as a fashion & fad statement … learn to really love that tatt.
 
 
 
 
 

Nicht über alles – Germany in Eurovision

In Uncategorized on January 23, 2012 at 6:45 pm
 
 
 
The story of Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest is not one of dominating glory.
 
Just two victories in more than half a century of trying.
 
But it is an engrossing tale none the less.
 
It’s in part about a nation’s cultural redemption. The first ESC was 11 years & 16 days after the end of the european war.
 
The other part of the story is about the the battle for the soul of German popular culture. For years modernity went head to head with the sweet & highly sentimental schlager  style.
 
Along the way there are some remarkable songs, indeed the very first is a jaw dropper. And there’s a winning song which attracts derision and a couple of failures that have cult followings.
 
Join Hikaru Freeman of World Wide Wave  & Andy Bell in a fabby podcast as they wend the autobahnen und straßen  (highways & by-ways sorta kinda!) of Germany in Eurovision.

The Full Catastrophe – January 21st 2012

In Uncategorized on January 21, 2012 at 9:53 pm

Etta James left us and that isn’t right.

Her voice brought all those who heard it to many places – some bright, some dark.

She was never dull or by the numbers, she was her own woman.

She left the world a richer place.

Almost from program 1 back in March 2008 the “Full Catastrophe” has regularly relied on Etta James to show the way.

That voice, that spirit will live on.

And for the first time TFC dispensed for a while with its usual zig and zag approach to pause and celebrate a great singer.

Vale Etta James.

###

Miss You – Etta James

“The matriarch of R&B” sings the Stones.

“Her voice was “an instrument of overwhelming power.”

He’s Funny That Way – Etta James

“Her music defied category.” 

The greatest of modern blues singers . . . the undisputed Earth Mother” sings a 1928 standard.

Good Morning Heartache – Etta James

“As raw as Etta is, there’s a great intelligence and wisdom in her singing.”

Somebody To Love -Etta James

“Perhaps the quintessential R&B diva, was equally at home singing unadulterated blues, searing R&B and sophisticated jazz.”

The Very Thought Of You – Etta James

“When she effortlessly opened her mouth, you could hear her pain and triumph.”

My Favourite Things – New Swing Sextet

Somebody To Love – Queen

Melancholisch Schön – 2raumwohnung

I’m Beginning To See The Light – Rebecca Barnard Quartet

Bilbao Song – Ute Lemper

Bilbao Song – J.J. Johnson

From the  surrealistic three-act musical play “Happy End  by Weill & Brecht, first performed in 1929.

An abrasive lyric, a lilting melody.

Carrots For My Lady – Denis King

A splendidly silly song from a 70s BBC radio show called “Hello Cheeky“.

Fly Me To The Moon – Bob Downe

Tarzan – Sonny Day & The Rare Breed

The Night They Invented Champagne – Seth MacFarlane

Banjo In The Hollow – The Dillards

Tipi Tii – Marion Rung

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Finland’s entry in the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, it means chirpy chirp and came 7th. 
 
Beloved and still performed. 

And talking of Eurovision here is Hikaru Freeman and yours truly chirping about Yugoslavia and the ESC.

Technicolour Dawn – Jez Kerr

I Wish I Were A Princess – Little Peggy March

Nursery Rhyme – Bo Diddley

Big Apple Boogaloo – Brooklyn Funk Essentials

At Last – Etta James

“When I’m singing blues, I’m singing life. People that can’t stand to listen to the blues, they’ve got to be phonies.”

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