Glastonbury Festival - The Greatest

Well it's over for another year but the memories will last a long time. Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2008, the world's greatest festival, was a triumph, after the nay-sayers predicted doom. After a few years mud baths (especially 2005 mega-downpour and 2007 quagmire) and the controversial top billing of a rap artist for the first time (Jay-Z) the media were predicting that after the boom years of the 00's, Glastonbury was starting to show it's age, it's popularity waning (tickets didn't completely sell out until the Friday of the festival, when they usually sell in hours). Luckily, they pulled it out of the bag, the weather (more or less) smiled on Worthy farm and the atmosphere, bands and general all round organisation proved why it's the grandaddy.

After the last two washouts it was Sally's last chance and she said she wouldn't go again if it was wet. Apart from a bit of rain Thursday night/Friday morning the weather was glorious and she now knows what all the fuss is about. Any sludge soon dried up and it was easier to get round that before. I've been going since 1993 and she never believed what it was like dry but we managed to see more bands at more stages than ever: List number one, I saw bands on the Pyramind, Other, Jazz World, John Peel, Park, Avalon, Leftfield, Fire and Dance and Acoustic Stages).

Meeting up with loads of mates from our internet forum at the Cider Bus on Wednesday night and outside the Leftfield tent (fancy dress! photos here LINK) on Thursday prolongs the festival which the media would have you think starts with the main stages on Friday.

Ok, this is the Blog of Lists so on with the business at hand. Although Glastonbury is so much more than the music (it has comedy, cabaret, theatre etc) the music is the main draw for me. Nothing better than lying in a field in the sun, beer in hand listening to a wide variety of brilliant music. So, deep breath here's a list of bands that I saw/heard the whole or majority of their sets in order:

(from outside the Leftfield tent whilst having our fancy dress party! Married to the Sea, The Daisy Riots, he Seal Cub Clubbing Club, Elle S'Appelle, The Rascals, The Pie Tasters, The King Blues, The Slackers)
Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs
Vampire Weekend
Alabama 3
The Ting Tings
Fun Lovin' Criminals
Franz Ferdinand (unbilled set)
Seasick Steve
Crowded House
The Wombats
The Raconteurs
The Swell Season
Jay-Z
Carnival Collective
Dan Donnelly and Friends
Newton Faulkner
Jack Penate
Scouting for Girls
Goldfrapp
Leonard Cohen
The Verve

Also part sets of the following acts (either beginning after another act, the end, waiting for the next act or just wondering past on a journey elsewhere):

The Feeling. Jimmy Cliff, The Gossip, Martha Wainwright, Joan Armatrading, James Blunt, Will Young, Glenn Tilbrook and the Fluffers, Neil Diamond,plus random unknown acts on smaller stages like the bandstand, the fire show and a great Australian reggae duo in the Tiny Tea Tent!

See the next post for my "best of"s of the festival.
View my photo's here LINK

Rubbish Design

The online product reviewing web sire Reevoo has published the results of a poll to show the most useless British products, and quite frankly, it makes you wonder if these companies have a quality control department or do any product testing. They be producing chocolate teapots and rubber ladders next. It proves it's always worth reading the reviews before any purchases too.

Possibly the worst piece of design Ive ever had was a bicycle with a type of welding on the front pillar that meant it kept shearing away, leaving a inicycle and a pair of handlebars in my hands (and usually a scab on my chin).

What's the worst designed thing you have ever owned? Let's name and shame them!

1. The Bosch KGU30605 fridge (above), which had an egg tray that could only hold five eggs, despite the fact that most eggs are sold in boxes of six. Despite this, the fridge was highly popular when it went on sale.


2. The Zanussi ZWF14581 washing machine - Which only had one temperature setting: 60 degrees Celsius, resulting in it washing synthetics 20 degrees above the correct temperature.


3. LG 37LF66 television - A television set which had no on/off button, meaning that you had to pull out the plug in order to turn the set off.


4. Easy Store large slide - A toy slide which was coloured a bright yellow colour, which attracted lots of insects towards it.


5. Kenwood DW12CFE dishwasher - A dishwasher which if used to wash full sized dinner plates meant the top rack couldn't be used becuase the spinner won't spin.


6. LM Tech battery powered heated gloves - These gloves did not get hot enough to warm your fingers.


7. Carlton CTD1W table top dishwasher - A type of dishwasher which could not wash standard mugs because they would not fit into it.


8. Elba C96DF 90 gas oven - An oven where the knobs also heated up when the grill was on.


9. Hotpoint RLA21 4.6 Cu.ft. larder fridge - A fridge that did not have a light in it which meant you needed a torch so you could what was in the back.


10. Uni Media 22/1 IDTVDVD 22" HD ready digital television - This TV had a picture adjustment box which appears in the middle of the screen. It was so big, you could not see the screen, therefore making it impossible to adjust the picture.

The MOJO Honours List 2008

Now, MOJO is a music magazinr I don't think I've ever bought. It tends to celebrate the old classic rock music of times gone by and more "AOR" of today. They held their annual awards ceremony last night and the magazine's music policy is reflected in it's winners.

Five of the MOJO Honours List categories are contemporary, best-of-the-year type awards, voted for online by the readers. Even these acts (rather than all the inspiration type awards) are retro sounding; Duffy (sounds like Dusty Springfield), The Last Shadow Puppets (Scott Walker) and the rest of the awards went to acts that have been around for decades (and many are playing Glastonbury Festival next week)..



The MOJO Breakthrough Act -
The Last Shadow Puppets

The MOJO Song Of The Year -
Duffy (Mercy)

The MOJO Roots Award -
Toots Hibbert

The MOJO Les Paul Award -
John Martyn

The MOJO Vision Award -
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (Julien Temple)

The MOJO Catalogue Release Of The Year -
Pillows And Prayers: Cherry Red Records 1981-1984

The MOJO Medal -
Dave Robinson

The MOJO Compilation Of The Year -
Juno OST

The MOJO Legend Award -
Irma Thomas

The MOJO Classic Album Award -
My Bloody Valentine (Loveless)

The MOJO Maverick -
The Fall

The MOJO Hall Of Fame -
The Specials

The MOJO Hero Award -
Motörhead

The MOJO Inspiration Award -
John Fogerty

The MOJO Best Live Act -
Led Zeppelin

The MOJO Outstanding Contribution To Music -
Paul Weller

The MOJO Lifetime Achievement Award -
Genesis

The MOJO Classic Songwriter -
Neil Diamond

The MOJO Icon Award -
Sex Pistols

Best beards

After the exitement of Bearded Theory festival (when I managed to grow a "brazilain", as someone described it) and the cricket season well under way with England winning the third test and series against New Zealand (I know very little about the game, I'm certainly not a fan!) I have noticed that AOL's front page is running a list of the top 20 greatest cricket beards, so I had to pinch it:

WG Grace (England

Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)

Hashim Amla (South Africa)

Mike Brearley (England)

Ian Botham (England)

Inzamam ul Haq (Pakistan)

Wasim Raja (Pakistan)

Saeed Anwar (Pakistan)

Merv Hughes (Australia)

Andy Roberts (West Indies)

Bishen Bedi (India)

Monty Panesar (England)

Bill Frindall (BBC Test Match Special)

Viv Richards (West Indies)

Dennis Lillee

Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)

Malcolm Marshall (West Indies)

Mike Gatting (England)

Mohammad Yousef (Pakistan)

Sandip Patil (India)

Happy Birthday Dory!

Click here and read the end of this post :)

Keep music live!

It's been a great year of live music for me, including the biggest gig I've ever been to, the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium on Saturday (with encore support by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Ledd Zepplin!). It was immense and they raaawked, man! Truely (as Dave Grohl would say) fuckin awesome. Thought I'd better mark the occasion with a list:


Great bands I've seen live this year (in no particular order):

Foo Fighters
The Police
The Who
Kaiser Cheifs
Ezio
The Levellers
The Killers
Bjork
Supergrass
The Futureheads
The Kooks
Manic Street Preachers
Arcade Fire
Babyshambles
Klaxons
The Enemy
Beetroot Kings
The Runners

...and with Glastonbury Festival just weeks away, Beetroot Kings single release gig next weekend, REM (supported by Editors and Guillemots) in August, Bearded Theory part II in October, Beautiful Days festival and even Boy George to come, it's not all over! Long live live music!

If you don't know some of the above bands then I recommend you check them out, cos these are the cream of the crop of bands I've seen in the past 12 months.

50 and counting

This weekend was a good friend of mine's 50th birthday. So: to celebrate I've made a list: Now, a number of prominent people where born in 1958 and here is a list of 50 of them. See if you can work out who my mate is...

Grandmaster Flash - rapping pioneer
Matt Frewer - actor, Max Headroom
Vicki Peterson - Guitarist for The Bangles
Jools Holland - musician and broadcaster, Squeeze and Later With...
Ellen DeGeneres - Actress and famous lesbian
Michael Jackson - television executive
Tip Tipping - actor and stuntman (Aliens)
Nik Kershaw - pop star and music writer
Andy Gibb - pop star (the Bee Gees)
Gary Numan - pop star
Sharon Stone - actress (Basic Instinct) and China agitator
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Holly Hunter - actress (Broadcast News)
Gary Oldman - actor (Batman Begins)
Alec Baldwin - actor (The Hunt for Red October)
Will Sergeant - guitarist, Echo and the Bunnymen
Fish - singer (Marillion)
Eric Singer - drummer (Kiss)
Neil Finn - musician/song writer (Crowded House)
Annette Bening actress (American Beauty)-
Prince - pop star
Zane Llewelyn - racing driver
Keenen Ivory Wayans - actor/director
Meredith Brooks - singer
Bill Watterson - cartoonist (Calvin and Hobbes)
Jennifer Saunders - comedian
Kevin Bacon - actor (Footloose)
Michael Flatley - dancer
Kate Bush - singer/songwriter
Bill Berry - former drummer of REM
Bruce Dickinson - rock star (Iron Maiden)
Madonna - pop star
Angela Bassett - actress (What's Love Got to Do With It?)
Belinda Carlisle - pop star (The GoGos)
Steve Guttenberg - actor (Police Academy)
Tim Burton - director (Edward Scissorhands)
Michael Jackson - pop star
Chris Columbus - director (Harry Potter)
Andrea Bocelli - opera singer
Thomas Dolby - pop star (Hyperactive)
Tim Robbins - actor (The Shawshank Redemption)
Viggo Mortensen - actor (Lord of the Rings)
Mark King - singer/bass guitarist (Level 42)
Simon Le Bon - singer (Duran Duran)
Mark Austin - newsreader
Jamie Lee Curtis - actress (Trading Places)
George Saunders - author
Nick Park -animator (Wallace and Grommit)
Niki Sixx - rock star (Motley Crue)
Alannah Myles - singer (Black Velvet)

Also celebrating her birthday this week (though not 50th) is my great friend, Dory. I couldn't let it go by without a mention cos she's took lovely and one of the kindest, friendliest people I have the pleasure know. So have a great birthday this week honey.

MTV Movie Awards 2008

An awards list now that is just a little more what the kids think! The MTV Movie Awards don't tend to contain the Academy Awards-worrying films (but then the Oscars don't have a Best Kiss Oscar), these are more populist fare, keeping in with the audience that votes, the MTV generation. Amongst some intereting categories the best is the Best Summer Movie So Far. I wonder how Indy 4 and The Dark Knight would have done had they been released before voting ended. Terribly, I've only seen one of the winning films, the excellent Juno.

Best Summer Movie So Far

Ironman

Best Fight

Sean Faris vs. Cam Gigandet Never Back Down

Best Kiss

Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman Step Up 2 the Streets

Best Spoof

Juno: Teen Pregnancy Redux

Best Male Performance

Will Smith in I Am Legand

Best Female Performance
Ellen Page in Juno

Best Comedic Performance

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Best Villian

Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd

Best Movie

Transformers

MTV Generation Award

Adam Sandler

Race For Life

Sally did the Cancer Research flagship fundraiser yesterday, the Race for Life. A 5km sponsored run. She did brilliantly, running in 35 minutes. The cause is a great one, funding the UK's biggest charity raising money for the research into the cure for all forms of cancer. Please visit their web site here and maybe donate a little (or a lot). Well done to all the women who ran the Race for Life, you're all winners.

:: In 2007 665,000 women to walked, jogged or ran the 5k.

:: Last year £40 million pounds was for Cancer Research UK

:: The men's version of the event, Run for Moore, is raises money for research into bowel cancer, which England football captain Bobby Moore died from. Click the link to find out details where you can do the run.

:: Bowel cancer affects over 35,000 people in the UK every year.

:: The four most common cancers – breast, lung, colorectal and prostate – accounted for half of the 239,000 new cases of malignant cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) registered in England in 2005.

:: 119,600 of the total were in males and 119,400 in females. Breast cancer accounted for 32 per cent of cases among women and prostate cancer for 24 per cent among men.

:: Cancer is predominantly a disease of the elderly – only 0.5 per cent of cases registered in 2005 were in children (aged under 15) and 26 per cent were in people aged under 60.

:: Cancer Research has a team of over 4,250 scientists, doctors and nurses
:: They are also are the major supporter of breast cancer research in the UK. Cancer Research spends over £22 million a year on research into the disease that affects over 40,000 women in the UK each year.
:: They also fund research aimed at improving the quality of life for cancer patients and provide support for them and their families.