((strangeways))

cake out

2009-10-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

At one point, when it was great, people gave me advance warning about their plans, and we made posters, I would always do a poster for someone if they wanted, that kind of attention to detail and inclusive planning generates enthusiasm. Enthusiasm wanes when it isn't a collective effort, and when it just comes down to paying out lots of money every month for nothing, for other people to make money off the back of the club's reputation and my hard work, and use the stream I paid for, on the land I paid for, then that is the time to pull back and do it differently.
Samara, Deedee, Gabbi, Biff, Sira, Viti, Radar, Carrie, thanks for all your enthusiasm and generosity, you are awesome people; you are Strangeways forever xxoxooxoxx
Thanks everyone who came and made it fun!
I dunno what will happen next?

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes...

2009-10-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

strangeways is 2 years old, soon I will post a History of Strangeways, and also we will have a party to celebrate 2 great years of top music and cartoons.

Love is Here.

2009-08-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Today at strangeways..2pm..DJ LV presents: Love is here: with lovely 60's sunshine pop.
Then at 7pm, I Fucking Hate P.E. a celebration of Gay Pride, with dj Kahless Unplugged

Psychedelic Dance Party

2009-07-14T01:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday 16th July 2pm slt...at strangeways, DJ LV< psychedelic grooves.

Just in case...

2009-06-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone is reading this blog...
Time is the most precious thing we have.
It is all we have.
Use it wisely, don't waste it.
Get some fresh air in your lungs.
Second Life is just an offshoot of some fly software in development and has lots of uses and a great future, but, but, treble but!
Don't waste a moment of your life playing the game, use any moment there wisely and learn something, and apply this knowledge somewhere, make it work for you...
There is a real life going on in parallel to this second life and if you blink, you will miss it.
SL will never make you happy, or succesful, it is just a tool, if you feel happiness there it is because you can be happy anywhere.
If you love your Second Life more than your first life you are in too deep already, get out fast, taste some reality now!

Happy Days

2009-06-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

This was a great party at Fabsouls...it was ace!! I love the Strangeways/Fabsouls marriage!!
Or is it an affair?
The music was funky and easy and the vibes were vibey!
I am hitting the real beach for a while...no more London in the Rain..see ya soon xx
TY Grimi for the tune...:)

The Payback

2009-06-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have a story to tell.
It starts in Second Life, but it can start anywhere.
My last post told of how our friend Jessi Gladstone had died. I don't know many details of the death, and I didn't really know how sick she was. Other people had more knowledge because they had contact with Jessi through facebook.
From what I hear she had many friends on there who were in touch with her through her darkest days. Jessi's wife Lisa, and her friend Baby were also in communication with Jessi's facebook friends, especially after she was admitted to hospital to have her eyes removed (she was already deaf and dumb) as they were keeping the page updated with news about her progress.
I attended a concert with Jessi and some of her friends on her last night in SL. Jessi was saying her goodbyes as she was to lose her sight and this would mean it would be impossible for her to communicate with us again, at least for a long time until she had learned to touch sign, learned braille,and really, we just wanted her to be well and go with all our love, it was such a gruesome and hideous thing for any of us to contemplate.
The concert was a performance by a friend of hers, a broadway singer called Tamra Sands in SL. She dedicated the concert to Jessi, it was beautiful, really, and Tamra cried at times, everyone did, it was that kind of atmosphere, but like a real pro she held her nerve for the songs that mattered...it was one of the most poignant and memorable SL moments I have known.
When the message came through she had died, after hearing optimistic messages about the operation, it was such a shock that this poor child who had the most tragic life story and had endured a truly terrible year had lost her battle . I could list the awful things that befell Jessi in the short time I knew her, but I feel that would be wrong, I don't want to turn this into a list, and I don't want the memory of Jessi contained in this post to disperse into details. Anyone who knew her well would corroborate that the things that she told us about her life were incredibly tragic, and also would say that she seemed to show unbelievable strength and bravery in such difficult circumstances. Eating ice cream almost killed her!! and she could never eat it again!! that alone would devastate me but she soldiered on amid such terrible bad luck and ultimately fought through the illness with laughter.... it was a tragic situation.
But, when I heard she had died, after the shock had passed, I felt empty.
I wasn't sad that she had died. I was sad that the Jessi I knew had gone from the game; the funny friend who I had known online for 2 and a half years was never coming back...

In the aftermath of her death, I met her Real Life friend Baby in Second Life ,who had cared for Jessi in the last few months and who was with her when she died. She came to see me with messages that Jessi had left before she died.
We discussed a planned memorial party in Second Life for Jessi, as she was not going to have a funeral, or memorial, or obituary in real life, which is as she had wished.
Baby was keen to attend the memorial event, but she was having problems with Jessi's wife Lisa who was never happy about Jessi's Second Life, and was also embittered because only three of Jessi's so called online friends had left condolence messages on facebook.
Baby told me how they had argued and Lisa had kicked her out of the house and she had left Chicago and was back in California, with a cheque she couldn't cash as payoff for caring for her dying friend.
Not long after I met Baby she sent me a message ingame telling me how some people were messaging her saying that Jessi's death was a hoax, and alleging that Jessi, Lisa, and Baby were all the same person, all Sock Puppets.
I emailed her at the address she gave me to offer support and to ask why anyone would suggest this.
She emailed back to tell me she was leaving SL, she could see why Lisa hated it now, and thanked me for being a good friend to Jessi.
We had hoped she would attend the memorial party, many of us wanted to celebrate Jessi's life, and I personally was looking forward to proudly showing Baby the respect and love that existed for Jessi at Strangeways and in second life.
We decided to postpone the party, some of Jessi's longest second life friends were unable to attend, and with such a difficult atmosphere among her friends, especially those who had been sent the original "hoax" message through facebook; it was decided it would be best to at least let the dust settle before partying: nobody wanted to celebrate her life when there was such a lack of celebration in the air.

I was troubled by all this information so I decided to check out some things for myself.
I took the email Baby had sent from California and opened the original mail with header text then did an email trace of the header to prove where the message came from. To my initial surprise and gobsmacking horror I saw it came from an IP address in Chicago.
I checked the stats to my shoutcast stream to see if the IP address turned up anywhere else and it did, particularly on one day, Saturday the 30th may, the day Jessi came to the club when I was DJing, the day before her last day in SL.
I found the IP address again on the 8th June, present in the club when I was finishing another DJ set, when there were only 3 people left in the place, me, a friend called Lily and a new character, a man who was created on the 5th june.
It was the same Chicago IP address, the same as the one where baby's "California" email came from.
That means the email from California was from the same Chicago IP address, meaning same computer and connection, that Jessi had used previously and a new male character was using also.
So that means Baby wasn't in California as she told me, she was at the same place Jessi was before she went to hospital.
The male character, who described himself as 51 year old, married for thirty years, was also using the same computer and connection.
Of course there could be some wildly warped and twistedly illogical explanation for this, some convoluted reason for these people to all be using Jessi's computer at the same address: but If I was Scooby Doo, at this point I would be hiding in a suit of armour or pretending to be a lamsphade.
Now, this is where I am supposed to pull back the mask and reveal the villain, and show all the inconsistencies in her stories that became evident when in the wake of the hoax allegation, friends compared the tales she told; amazing tales too, a real creative tour de force, but, I am putting the book down before the last page, and from here on the story becomes the same as every other story that happens this way, they all flow into the same factituous sea of shite ..For every Jessica Jillian James there is a Jesse Jubilee James , a Kaycee Nicole, an April Rose, an Anthony
Godby Johnson.

The bit I will tell everyone is how, when I met the sock puppet Baby for the first time, before I had heard of any allegations about a hoax; I was alone with her for a while and the feeling I had inside was terrible, a real gut fear, and a definite sense that I was talking to Jessi, whoever Jessi is? I denied this to myself, because my judgement had been so badly impaired by the insidious slow drip brainwashing; even as I found the hard evidence I still had doubts that kept nagging at me, such was the power of her game. That fear remains and she/he can be proud of that, there's the payback for me being such a gullible fool.

What really matters is that we lost a friend, and we didn't love that friend because she was sick, or because she had a terrible life story; if we pitied her it was mostly the sort of pity we can turn on and off like a tap, and if anyone pitied her more than that then maybe they had some reserves of pity and sadness that needed expression and Jessi acted as a catalyst for that. We loved her because she was funny, good company and loyal, and she seemed to care about us, but does it matter that she didn't care, she was still the same funny person. Some of us may have invested their trust in the stories she told and genuinely cared for her, others may have just brushed them aside as irrelevant or annoying and focused on the fun side of Jessi, a side of her she always seemed to be able to show, incredibly, despite her woes.
Yeah we were taken for a ride, but that is the game, second life not real life...we live and learn until we stop..then what?
Until then, keep it simple, enjoy the music, enjoy the conversation and create something if you can, second life is good for that; Q.E.D.

update: I disabled comments for this post because I don't want to create an opportunity for sock puppets and trolls to attempt to perpetuate this mythology. The post I did about RFL in SL taught me that even the most outwardly sane and smiling people in SL aren't averse to sticking their hands up the arse of a dummy for the purpose of pouring scorn. And finally, there is no room for an apology or explanation that would be yet another lie, the only way to beat a mega troll like Jessi is by refusing to listen to, acknowledge or entertain the myth.

The best album that won't be released in 09

2009-05-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

In 2003 or 2004, I heard this album called "The Gray Album", a tour de force full length record of mash-ups that mixed every single vocal track from rapper Jay-Z's "The Black Album" with nothing but beats, sounds and samples taken from The Beatles' "The White Album". Beyond being a technical marvel, it was lots of fun, so I looked around a bit to learn more about this guy who made it, whom called himself Danger Mouse.

Already famous in DJ and mixer circles at the time, he was an unknown to me. A few years later, he produced a couple of albums and remixes and later appeared as half of Gnarls Barkley. This duo made a Rap and R&B crossover with rock and roll that was very danceable, irreverent and packed a lot of charisma. To me it was instant love. Later, he goes on and produces "Demon Days", the second Gorillaz album, refreshing their sound and helping shape a record infinitely better than the virtual band's début.

Later Gnarls Barkley recorded a second album. Not an instantaneous hit as the first one, but very good nevertheless and clearly a progression from all the paths laid out on the first album. After that he went on to produce two amazing rock albums: The Black Keys' "Attack & Release" and Beck's latest, "Modern Guilt". In the latter, he used all the tricks in the book, both analogue and digital, to recreate a 60s soundscape that clearly matched Beck's aesthetic vision for the material.

Needless to say at this point, I'm a fan. So I was very excited when news broke, a month ago, that radio stations, music sites and magazines were receiving mysterious posters with a dark photo saying: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse presents "Dark Night of the Soul". Visuals by David Lynch. Sparklehorse being the recording name of american guitarist Mark Linkous, famous for his sparse, introspective, cinematic even, brand of rock and roll and what the critics like to tag "southern gothic".

By last week the mystery was over: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse recorded an album together, both collaborating in all tracks, performance, arrangement and production. Artwork and visual material would be entitled to cult film director David Lynch. And on vocals, a different guest in each track, including Mr. Lynch twice, whom I've known to be a composer since his Twin Peaks days, but had never before heard sing.

This album's guest list seemed to have been made by browsing my CD collection: there's The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys (from Super Furry Animals), Jason Lytle (of the late great band Granddaddy), Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Frank Black (Pixies), Iggy Pop, David Lynch, James Mercer (The Shins), Mark Linkous (from Sparklehorse, ha!) in a duet with Nina Persson (Cardigans), plus Suzanne Vega and Vic Chestnutt.

The album was supposed to be released independently some time next month, but in a clear move to destroy what little reputation record labels still have left, EMI has halted the project, claiming Danger Mouse have a pending legal dispute with them and threatening to sue him. So now the project is delayed indefinitely, and will most likely be scrapped. You can still go to their official site, www.dnots.com, and order the album's lush packaging that includes a 100-page book of photos by David Lynch, based on and inspired by the music. You'll also get a lovely disc with the printed label on one side, but nothing on the other. A blank CD-R.

It bears the following warning: "For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will." At the official site, Mr. Mouse says he's proud of the album and hopes fans lucky enough to hear it "by whatever means" will be just as excited as he is.

Having heard it non stop for a few days, I can tell you it's wonderful. One of the year's best. Or rather it would be if it's ever officially released. In the meantime, you can listen to the whole thing, legally and for free, at the NPR's First Listen site. And should you decide you really like it and follow Mr. Mouse's suggestion of getting a copy "by whatever means", these (while not at all legal) are also pretty much circulating. Just remember to check the official site so you can order a lovely book that comes with a very fancy CD-R in which to burn it.

...and now for something completely different!

2009-05-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

A few of the artists that spearhead the movement I like to call "Neo-KateBush". Exquisite voices, otherwordly melodies, lush electronica-tinged arrangements.

Here's Fever Ray:

And some My Brightest Diamond:

And last but definitely not least, my dearest Natasha Khan, aka, Bat For Lashes:

So, does it or doesn't it look like a new musical/aesthetic movement?

Tapping the Jazz Seam!

2009-05-11T01:11:00.000-07:00

Every so often someone does it at strangeways, we have all been sneaking and sailing around the jazz scene, Grimtooth even played his Jaco Pastorius homage which he made with his own fingers and beautiful mind...
So last night I played a DJ set in Second Life, my first in May, and it was a sweet occasion with some of the loveliest people I have met in the whole of SL....it was one of those sets that start with a vague theme but ends in randomness and extends way over the normal 2 hour slot.
I started with some old soul and garage tunes I had recently acquired through various sources, including some of the excellent blogs listed here! As the night grooved on so the set morphed into a jazz scene with some trippy cosmic soul love jazz blooming out of some heavy african grooves..i was smiling all night because the people are the glue in Second Life, they make it sticky and hard to let go!! Strangeways is surely the most stickiest soul funk love indie punk rudie beatnik electro mod jazz trash cartoon club that never existed!
here is the list:
Face - The Koobas
Indian Rope Man -Julie Driscoll
All My Love - The Soul Survivors
Oh-Oh - Eddie Bo
Baby Cakes - Maxine Brown
Dap Walk -Ernie and The Top Notes
Sidewinder - Herbie Mann & Tamiko Jones
California Nights - Lesley Gore
No Friend Of Mine - The Sparkles
Machine Gun - The Riptides
comb over mod - Wild Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire
I Want You Back - The Webs
Going to a Happening - Tommy Neal
Can I Be Your Squeeze - Chuck Carbo
Dancing Girl - Vol.1 Bo Diddley
Mystic Eyes -Them
Sexologie - Danyel Gerrard
Holdin' On - Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators
Maybe So, Maybe No - New Holidays
Sugar Daddy (Part 1) - Betty Padgett
More Today Than Yesterday - The Spiral Starecase
I Surrender - Bonny St.Claire
Billy Sunshine - Judy Scott
Dont Walk Away - Carl Carlton
My Baby's Got ESP - Four Below Zero
Freak - Nino Ferrer
my white bicycle - tomorrow
Buzz The Jerk - The Pretty Things
Shake - Shadows Of Knight
In The City - The Jam
Exile - The Pebbles
Bubblegum - Kim Fowley
Freddie's Dead - Curtis Mayﬁeld
Just Plain Funk - James Polk
A Possibility (Back Home) - Wanda Robinson
Chick Habit -April March
Sad Little Bug - April March And The Makers
Suffering Still - Laurel Aitken & Girlie
Who The Cap Fit - Pioneers
Our Day Will Come -The Gems
Since Yesterday - Strawberry Switchblade
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before - The Smiths
Brothers and Sisters - The Soul Lifters
Sweet Songs - Sarah Webster Fabio
Life's Gone Down Low- LIjadu Sisters
Soul Makossa - The Gaytones
Everybody's Groove - The Ashantis
Viramundo - Sergio Mendes' Brasil '66
Se Voca Pensa - Gal Costa
Water No Get Enemy - Fela Kuti
Move On Up - Curtis Mayﬁeld
The Weight Don't Make Things No lighter - Positive Force with Ade Olatunji
River Luv Rite - Oneness Of Juju
Would You Believe in Me - Jon Lucien
Time And Space - Roy Ayers
Scarborough Fair - OST Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66
i am the black gold of the sun - Rotary Connection
Inside My Love - Minnie Riperton
As Long as Ive Got You - the emotions
Journey in Satchidananda - Alice Coltrane
The Creator Has a Master Plan - Louis Armstrong (w/ Leon Thomas)
he Mystery Moroccan Tape - unknown Chaabi artists
Voice Of The 7th Angel - Cecil McBee featuring DeeDee Bridgewater

I was waylaid

2009-05-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

Northern Soul is a strangeways favourite non genre...the debate has raged and simmered but really who cares what a genre is? I always argued that a genre can become, it doesn't have to be born, it can coalesce and arrive at a point in time when it is reconstructed through a rear view mirror and at the same time reflections are thrown forward into a defining soundshape...it is just a way of soul that isn't even always specifically soul...the definition is in certain certain dance grooves that hammer you to the dancefloor, whether mellow or pounding, the outcome is the release of energy through ritual beats and a surge of passion compelled by the drama of the arrangement and the lyrics...something in the North too, the North of England was the location of this soul worship but it reflected a scene and a pattern repeated in all the British cities, a soul love that illuminated the urban miserablism of seventies Britain...some of the bands from the british punk and post punk era made records that sonically define this non genre and by this appropriation create culture, there are many great examples, in my opinion I would choose these two (Which everyone should know and if you don't know these songs you should)
1.) In the City by The Jam, a great example of a passionate Northern Soul sound and lyric
2.)Stop Me if You've Heard This one Before by The Smiths, another creation of a Northern Soul sound without making a pastiche or facsimile...in both cases the sound is purposefully derivative without sounding nostalgically contrived, instead it is urged by dwelling in the sounds in the air of the cities, in the clubs and on the radio, in the cool shops and in cars, certainly in Manchester where the local station Piccadilly Radio was also the mothership of soul in the city, the names that scored the 70s and 80s were the local radio DJs who played dance music; Mike Shaft and Stu Allan are as legendary as the records ...who said I lied because I never

Pretty

2009-04-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

I got commissioned by the gloriously gorgeous Glamouramama Boa to design a flyer for the Slag Circus Cabaret...nothing motivates me more than a request for art with a deadline...I hope they like it, here is the finished version...
I am proud to say that the Slag auction that DD organised for RFL, was a total success and they raised over 50k and i think it is marvellous, and speaking from experience I have to say that Burlesque against Cancer is where it is at! Cancer is too often treated as taboo and cancer patients can be seen as asexual, baseball cap and baggy t shirt wearing victims instead of sexual, sensual human beings with raging hormones!! ( no shit! ask any cancer patient what they feel inside!) and it is no surprise to me, both my children were conceived with the most gratifying assistance of a rather inspired cancer patient! so, shake it (and them) for Life! that is my mantra!!...suffice to say, said children scuppered my plans to attend the burlesque auction, but that is the flipside of the miracle..:))

i am gonna be in and out and away from SL and Strangeways, i hope to be able to dj soon cos it is such a great buzzz....i am still absolutely thrilled by the gig at the twisted wheel...my set on friday at strangeways was a bit flat, i thanks all who came and supported, but in retrospect i think it was a little too self indulgent to play old skool rock and roll and expect anyone besides the hardcore music lovers to be interested...so next time i am planning to be even more self indulgent and play lots of old Soul and Funk, Freakbeat, YeYe, Psychedelic Garage Punk and some Loungey sounds (hardlounge! )
in the meantime...buzz the jerk!

Twisted Sisters part one

2009-04-24T02:54:00.000-07:00

Deedee and me rocked the Twisted Wheel last night, it was a very sweeet and loving ambience, the music was appreciated and the crowd was buzzing! this is my soul (ish) set, many thanks to the great bloggers out there who provided me with some of the songs here!!
Deedee's Ska and Rocksteady set was amazing, it was all originals and cover versions, 1st gen and 2nd gen ska back to back and it flowed so well from the soul set too...

Soul City - Jean Jacques Perrey
A Little Taste Of Soul - Sugarpie DeSanto
New Orleans - Gary US Bonds
Fortune Teller - Benny Spellman
She Said Yeah - Larry Williams
Day Tripper - Vontastics
Touch My Heart - The Vonettes
Work Your Soul - Tommy McCook & The Supersonics
Indian Giver - Chuck Bernard
Nothing But A Heartache - The Flirtations
(You'd Better) Straighten Up And Fly - The DeVONNES
Lonely Lonely Girl Am I - The Velvelettes
Satisfaction Guaranteed - Donnie Burkes
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) - Frank Wilson
Worth Every Tear I Cry - Dee Dee Warwick
Cant You See (You're Losing Me) - Mary Wells
What Happened - Artistics
You - Spanky Wilson
In The Basement - Etta James and Sugarpie DeSanto
Mama Said - The Shirelles
See See Rider - Lavern Baker
Cool Jerk - The Capitols
Wild And Free - Curtis Mayﬁeld
Bring It On Down To Me Pt. 1 - Bobby Franklin's Insanity
Mighty Mighty (Live) - Baby Huey and the Babysitters
Keep On Pushing - The Impressions
I've Lost You - Jackie Wilson
Turning My Heartbeat Up - MVPS
The Magic Touch - Melba Moore
Baby Boy - Fred Hughes
The New Breed - Jimmy Holiday
Let's Dance - Jimmy Cliff
Help Yourself - Jimmy James & The Vagabonds
Landslide - Tony Clarke
Too Many Fish in the Sea - The Marvelettes
ﬁrst i look at the purse - The Contours
Back Street - Edwin Starr
Whiplash - The Shells
Funky Chick - The Majestics
What goes around comes around - Arthur Monday
Funky Nassau PT 1 - Beginning Of The End
Would You Believe in Me - Jon Lucien
I Believe In Miracles - Jackson Sisters
i am the black gold of the sun - Rotary Connection
As Long as Ive Got You - the emotions

This sh*t is Bananaz

2009-04-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

"Bananaz" is a wonderful feature-length documentary that dissects all aspects of the Gorillaz project. The band, part musical, part visual and performance art experiment was born a brainchild of artist Jamie Hewlett and singer Damon Albarn and it's revealed in this one hour and thirty minute picture with impressive and unprecedented access on and off stage, touring, and studios both musical and visual.

The film is a very interesting glimpse into talented minds at work, and for this month only it's screened online in its entirety, legally and for free at:

http://www.babelgum.com/html/clip.php?clipId=3018011

Do not miss it.

SW Circus Freak Show

2009-04-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well a bit late this post but just to let it registered last Sunday we threw a great party in SW for Indie Rock for RFL.
DD came with the Circus idea and built an amazing place to we get that atmosphere.
A huge tent on the sky with a flying lion and an amazing elephant and many things to play.
She started the Circus set and made a brilliant one! I continued with a freak show set and Sav joined us contining the party till 6pm!
We started at 1 pm!

So we could get about 8k lindens to RFL and I'm proud of it.
Thx for everybody who helped and was there with us. Special thx for Pep who wasn't there but send me this lovely illustration to make the flyer. I wanted something Circus but also Freak!!

More to come to RFL soon

Sugar baby love...Sugar baby love....

2009-04-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Soundtracks are so great sometimes. This weekend I watched for the 9583958 time one of my favorites “cruel” movies called Breakfast on Pluto (2005).

I say cruel movies ‘cuz they aren’t drama enough in my opinion even they are classified as drama. They are more than a usual drama they are that kind of movie that let you with a knot in your throat or let you in a wasted state of mind. This kind of movie is definitely my favorite for sure and this one has a special soundtrack.

So the movie is based in a novel from Patrick McCabe and is directed by the great Neil Jordan who knows how to make a “cruel” movie. If you watched Butcher Boy you know what I mean.

Breakfast on Pluto is starred by Cillian Murphy and Lian Neelson and since I watched this movie some years ago I can only remember Cillian as Paddy, a transgender even if I watch Batman I see him as Paddy :p.

The story is about Patrick Paddy Kitten Patricia (Murphy) in Ireland and she is trying to discover who her real parents are. She has great friends that are with her all the time and she ended up in London trying to survive and still looking for her mother.

Anyway it is not a common movie. You have to watch and feel it and it is also a politic movie that involves IRA.

Patricia (partick/ paddy) suffers a lot being a transgender and as seen as a terrorist and arrested. Anyway it is a BRILLIANT movie full of colours and an amazing cruel and let’s say funny story about a transgender trying to find her real mother during the early 70s.

And the soundtrack made it very, very special. All the songs fit so well that you feel you are really inside the movie which includes: The Rubettes, Joe Dolan, Harry Nilsson, Don Partridge, Bobby Goldsboro, Patti Page, Santo and Johnny and so on.

Watch it, listen to it and enjoy it….I so recommend this that is one of the best cruel movies I’ve watched in my life.

Bertie: You know, Kitten, I made a decision a long time ago.
Patrick "Kitten" Braden: What decision was that?
Bertie: That I wasn't destined for sentimental side of things. But if I ever did let myself fall for someone, I think it would be a girl like you.
Patrick "Kitten" Braden: Bertie, please, I have to stop you. There's something you should know.
Bertie: Or maybe what I should say is, it would be a girl not a million miles away from where I'm standing. What's the matter, Princess?
Patrick "Kitten" Braden: Well, you see, the thing is, Bertie, I'm not a girl.
Bertie: Oh, I knew that, Princess.
Patrick "Kitten" Braden: You did?
Bertie: Of course. What I said was, it would be a girl like you.

TRAILER HERE!

twisted sisters

2009-04-22T01:55:00.001-07:00

On thursday strangeways DJs are playing at the Twisted Wheel
I will be doing a guest slot from 12pm SL time till 2pm, playing lots of old soul, some seminal early classics, Shirelles, Contours, and more...some legendary and groovy northern soul cuts, a wee bit of Curtis Mayfield and Curtom/Chicago soul, some really dirty rare old funk, and tailing off some essential rare groove songs from Jon Lucien, the Jackson Sisters, Rotary Connection..
deedee will be continuing her Ska and Rocksteady theme at her regular slot at Twisted Wheel, from 2pm SL time, with loads of vintage ska classics and 2nd generation hits!!
As always it will be rather funked up!

No Smoke...

2009-04-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Steve Albini is a legend...more famous for producing other people's records, his own work, particularly the 80s Big Black recordings, are harrowing, abrasive documents of the darkside of Americana, rural alienation, ennui and psychosis!!
btw...according to amazon..this item has been discontinued by the manufacturer...and i paid real money for my vinyl copy of this back in the day..so!!

New Jarvis Cocker

2009-04-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is for all fans of former Pulp frontman and overall god amongst men, Mr. Jarvis Cocker. And if you're not, I've got nothing but contempt for you. Anyway, he's just leaked (officially, that is) the first single off this upcoming album "Further Complications", out in stores may 18th, courtesy of Rough Trade records.

Without further ado, here's the garage-y one they call "Angela". Produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana, Jesus Lizard et al) and recorded at Albini's Electrical Audio studios in Seattle.

Jarvis Cocker - Angela

Girls With Guitars And Cute Fingers

2009-04-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

today at 1pm sl time:
Girls with guitars and cute fingers...and other rock and roll goodies at strangeways..
Lorna spins a mixed set of girl group sounds, northern soul stompers, skanking rocksteady beats, psychobilly, old skool rock and roll, freakbeat, british beat, psych pop, Jpunk, tropicalia, bossa nova and post punk!
most definitely for dancing...featuring great artists and groups..elvis, curtis mayfield, the kinks, astrud gilberto, the sonics, os mutantes, the smiths! and more wonderful music

And right about now your face should wear a smile

2009-04-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I had the great pleasure of seeing and hearing Van Morrison in a field in Ireland...memories of sunshine and fairgrounds, sweet smoke smells and candy floss..i was at the age when confectionery was on a par with music for the joys of life, and Van was in a period of near obsolescence in the new wave world at the time..late 70s.....the memory blurs and merges with the sights and sounds of the rides of the rickety adjacent fair, but the song that lingered was an old one, St Dominic's Preview..i was very young..i haven't found much information about the festival, I know the Chieftains played and Martin Carthy, possibly Fairport Convention?? they were all names who meant nothing to me at the time apart from Van...
Another band that contributed a classic song of the pre corporate festival days of the mid 80s were Here and Now, the song; Opium For The People..a song from when they backed Daevid Allen as Planet Gong...by the eighties they had morphed into a slick funky, dubby trippy beat combo with short hair and sunglasses, and they had some great songs and always played the classics from floating anarchy days...
During the 90s the festival scene became more of a money making enterprise and many people starting doing their own thing, ignoring the mass festival and downsizing the party and relocating to places the long and intolerant, party pooping arms of the law couldn't reach...a new style of festival emerged in manchester, where music venues combined to showcase local and national, and increasingly international talent; the In The City event in september in Manchester was a moving festival of music that had many great and classic nights, certainly in the mid 90s when i attended...one band i remember blowing everyone away was Marion at the Boardwalk; one particular reason the memory is so strong is the lingering aroma of heavy indian hash oil, a mancunian character was handing out joints loaded with the stuff to anyone who caught his eye and the room was thick with exotic clouds and i am sure i heard sitar sounds at one point... and as the band played, members of the audience were having to sit down and have a few minutes to mellow out, it was really very powerful stuff..and the band were damn good too! the song Violent Men stands out as a particular classic and was an indie hit in manchester...

Bands, shit and piss

2009-04-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Hi and stuff. I'm Clive no matter what anyone thinks, i am is him,

I was thinking about festivals i have been too, and wondered if a set on second life could be built around that vibe.

I went to my first festival in Reading in the early nineties (i omit the year, i was fucked) and enjoyed the joys of james, and a lot of others. It soon dawned on me that i should pay attention and not get so drunk. So i got drunk more. Fuzzy.

Next year was fun, (did i go to a festival last year?) I saw Faith no More, Teenage Fanclub, Mercury rev, oh, heh, they were so hilarious, the lead singer sat down and read a newspaper, then said it was the reading festival, yawn, i enjoyed the set though, car was hair was amazing.

Suprize was Jameroky, i cant spell it and cant be arsed to look it up, the guy that wears hats and had a jig wi Denise Van Volkswagon, he was great.

Saw Utah saints too, i liked, this begun my transition into dance music.

I saw teenage fanclub play, wow, i was told you have to see them live.

Wow, i cant beleive how absolute shit they were.

Anyway, lets get out best festival songs together, post em on here, ill play em on saturday 18th

Stay posted

Clive

Moustache Week

2009-04-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

The week started with a special night at Strangeways on Sunday a: Billy Childish night where Izzy and I made a set with songs of his bands and also his inspirations and people who got him as an insipiration.
the house was full and it was a RFL event too. All the tips went to RFL.

Then on Wednesday when I logged in I saw DD sent out a notice about a Nick Cave gig. I was so "wow".
Billy and Nick are definitely some of my favorite male singers ever, 2 different styles but at the same time so closer and so on.
It was great listen to these guys at SW.

On the pic our Izzy Bereznyak being Billy Childish and Natas Yokosuka being Nick Cave.

If you don't know so much about these men take a look and surf on the net looking for their stuff. You will not regret. =)

Hey! Welcome!

2009-04-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is the blog for strangeways in second life!
Last friday I played a northern soul set with many classic and rarities; and beautifully, Deedee was able to send me a song (New Breed by Jimmy Holliday) I had been searching for and I was able to add it to the setlist as I was playing! that is one of the wonders of SL ...