Bolt Report alternative theme

Screen test of alternative theme music for Network 10’s The Bolt Report. (“Old Dutch”, Victor Herbert Orchestra, 1910.) Inspired by the #LOLBolt segment of the Pure Poison Podcast.

A mere trifle, but it is completely juvenile.

UPDATE

I heard somewhere that The Bolt Report isn’t broadcast in Canberra.

Sheesh, think of his national audience share if it was broadcast there too. This can only be some kind of conspiracy by the gubment to suppress the trooth. And his ravings rantings ratings. Anyway, Gina will fix it like she will Fairfax.

Meanwhile, thank God for the interwebs. The Bolt Report’s youtube channel must be like a Radio Luxembourg for the nannied and oppressed citizens of our nation's capital.

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All summer long

Here’s Levi again... still feisty after an active afternoon on the beach last weekend. (Camera and production by Jacob.)

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Happy birthday, laddy

Our bonny wee grandson turned 1 year old on Sunday. Action cam by Jacob.

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Freddie puts Simon Ferocious back in his box

A program screened recently on the rock group Queen relates an anecdote about an encounter the band had with Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

Scene: Wessex Studios, London, 1977, where Queen were recording their News of the World album, while the Sex Pistols were recording Never Mind the Bollocks.

Vocalist and rock god Freddie Mercury, drummer Roger Taylor and roadie Peter ‘Ratty’ Hince  recall the encounter.

PH:	One day we were in the control room and Fred was sat at the desk. And suddenly we heard this voice and it was Sid Vicious who had come in. And he was clearly the worse for wear.
RT:	Sid came in. Sid was a moron. You know, he was an idiot.
PH:	And he called in to the room, “Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?”
FM:	I called him Simon Ferocious or something, and he didn’t like it at all. I said, “What are you going to do about it?”
PH:	Fred went and took him by the lapels and pushed him out the door.
FM:	He hated the fact that I could even speak like that... I think we survived that test.

Cue Freddie and the band’s anthem...

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Serious Lawyer Shit III: Hey Jude, isn’t it a pity?

The Beatles released Paul McCartney’s composition ‘Hey Jude’ as a single at the end of August 1968, upon which it became, as the story goes, the biggest selling single in the history of the known universe, etc.

After the Beatles went their separate ways, George Harrison in May 1970 released his debut solo album, which included a song called ‘Isn’t It a Pity’ (faithfully performed in the video above by Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, et al, at the Concert for George, November 2002).

Upon detailed comparison, there are some marked similarities between the two songs:

• Both have very similar structure, rhythm and meter.
• Both fade out on an extended na-na-na-naah chorus.
• Both songs, as originally recorded, were of almost exactly the same length, ~7’10”.

I don’t say that Harrison’s ‘Isn’t It a Pity’ significantly plagiarised McCartney’s ‘Hey Jude’.

But I do say that the similarities between these recordings could have been the basis for some serious lawyer shit to go down between the two former Beatles.

Then again, it’s said that Harrison’s song first appeared during rehearsals for the Beatles’ White Album, but in the end was not included in that opus.

And as it happens, ‘Hey Jude’ was recorded during the course of the White Album recording sessions.

I don’t say that McCartney’s ‘Hey Jude’ significantly plagiarised Harrison’s ‘Isn’t It a Pity’.

But I do say the whole thing represented a lost opportunity for a large-ish firm of lawyers to make their careers out of it. The proceedings conceivably might have continued to this day without resolution.

It’s perhaps a testament to the good sense and taste of both Messrs Harrison and McCartney that they didn’t embark upon such a ruinous course.

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musical interlude

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Bitter sweet sample-athon

The following video features a mix I threw together of the Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ laced with the guitar riff ‘sampled’ from The Rolling Stones’ classic 1965 recording of ‘The Last Time’.

I reckon The Verve should consider releasing this commercially, since one way or another they’re paying for it by way of the peculiar judicially-imposed royalties arrangement explained elsewhere.

The video shows footage of the guitar riff being played by Brian Jones — described by one-time bandmate Keith Richards as “a cold-blooded, vicious motherfucker, only short and blond with it” — who drowned in his swimming pool on the day I turned 12 years old.

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‘F’ word at last emptied of meaning

An unidentified senior federal Labor figure, variously described as a “powerbroker” and “factional leader,” has said of fallen PM Kevin Rudd:

“This crypto-fascist made no effort to build a base in the party. Now that his only faction, Newspoll, has deserted him he is gone.”

 
UPDATE 28 June:  Oh dear, seems there was nothing ‘crypto’ about Kevin after all...

Kevin Rudd's Downfall - Watch more top selected videos about: Kevin_rudds_downfall

(via Antony Loewenstein)

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Obama momentarily missteps (maybe) then quickly recovers footing

view at youtube

Despite being evidence of a confident and resilient President, this youtube video — ardently tagged “Obama falls on camera!” — seems to have become the delight of Obama Haters everywhere, from whom it inspires such comments as...

He wasn’t falling... He was stealing the hubcaps.

and...

Looks like hes [sic] dodging a bullet. One could only wish.

What a stupid, pathetic, ugly race US Americans can sometimes be.

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Bob Brown’s greatest hit

One evening in 1983, Shane Howard and his Goanna Band did a one-night-only gig with other Australian pop-music luminaries to form Gordon Franklin and the Wilderness Ensemble.

The Ensemble released a single of their resulting protest anthem ‘Let The Franklin Flow’.

The B-side of the Ensemble’s single release was a spoken-word offering by The Australian newspaper’s 1982 Australian of the Year — who was then the director (and a founding member) of The Wilderness Society, and who is now Senator Bob Brown in the Australian Parliament.

Bob’s foray into pop greatness consisted in a rambling dissertation on Man-and-Science versus Arcadian Nature. (Bob seemed quite sanguine with then-prime minister Bob Hawke sending space-age F111 military aircraft over the Gordon-Franklin wilderness to spy on the Tasmanian state government’s nature-wrecking activities.)

My short video presented here is an excerpt from Bob’s Save-the-Franklin spiel, illustrated with images ranging from tranquil nature shots to vintage Goanna album artwork.

Bob’s spiel was bracketed with a mournfully untuneful kid belting out the chorus of ‘Let The Franklin Flow’, so in the video I’ve mercifully faded-in the Ensemble’s more melodious finale.

view at youtube

By the way, tech-savvy nostalgia buffs may find this link of interest.

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Metamorphosis achieved

A one-time heavyweight of the Australian rock scene looks to have achieved his lifelong ambition to throw off the yoke of his glitzy past.

Shane Howard — who in the early ’80s rocketed to success with his Goanna Band — appeared on ABC1’s 7.30 Report on Wednesday night as a “local resident” of regional south-west Victoria, campaigning to save a local historic church from being sold off to developers.

The segment makes no reference to Howard’s Goanna heyday, referring to him merely as the “musician partner” of the lady who leads the grassroots campaign to save Saint Brigid’s, near Killarney; while in the transcript, he appears as “Shane Howard, Local Resident.”

Many viewers may have been too young to recall Howard’s rock-anthem ‘Solid Rock,’ which starkly depicted the dispossession and genocide of Aboriginal Australia by White Australia. Although Howard and his band shouted the ‘G’ word into the mainstream Australian consciousness, perhaps too many will remember ‘Solid Rock’ merely as a roolly great rock song, ma-a-ate!

The pressures of commercial success sat uneasily on Howard. After the release of the second Goanna album, things fell apart until the band’s guiding force suffered a breakdown, finally departing the commercial rock scene to lose himself in the Big Heart of the Country. But he eventually came out the other side to reclaim his life as a family man and carve himself a niche as a respected Australian songsmith.

view at youtube

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non hit wonders

credits
harmonica: jacob
guitar: pete
accompaniment: yamaha automaton
images: jacob (mostly), nick, ann

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Bonus Fish Friday

Robot Fish designed to sniff out pollution...

view at youtube

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Tiresome obligatory notice

click to enlarge  —  image by jarcob

In light of the mounting weight of evidence that, in 2009, the known universe has gone certifiably insane, this blog(ger) shall be taking an indeterminately long leave of absence.

Among other things, this blogger will do the only humane thing, and take said crazed universe out the back and shoot it.

Hush, Baby Jesus, hush; your cries fall as insubstantial autumn leaves into the wastes of Chaos.

Take it from me, BJ, it’s always better to leave ’em laughing...

view this video at youtube

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He’s still out there somewhere

The blurb for this youtube goes:

One of my friend’s from work and her friend were out one night in the SF Marina district and were hanging outside of the bars trying to find a cab. One of the girl’s, Olga, ends up meeting this guy Dmitri and they talk for at the most 2 minutes. She hands him her business card and says call me. This is the actual voicemail that this guy left her.

View on... Chilling!!

Dimitri the stud  —  view at youtube

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Insights on world poverty

This is actually not so new — the video below is of a talk given by Dr Hans Rosling in March 2007. The blurb reads:

Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing.

Indeed he does! And almost as amazing as Dr Rosling’s climactic stunt are those “cool data tools” — including Gapminder, an online software tool which allows users to view international longitudinal statistical data in very illuminating ways. (It’s easy to use, too!)

view video at ted.com

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goldfish funeral

watch at youtube

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Advice for the lovelorn

A compelling feature article in Newsweek explains everything you need to know about

“Why some men stray, and what women can do to stop it.”

But consider this, girls — maybe he has in fact found that one true love!

Yes, maybe in stopping him from ‘straying’ you’re actually stopping him from finding the love of his life.

Heavens, you could be thwarting his true destiny!

So, if you love somebody... if you love someone... set him free!

Feel free to set them free!!

watch at youtube

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Thursday blast from the past

view at youtube

Margret Roadknight
“Girls In Our Town”
(a.k.a. The Other Newcastle Song)
1973

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Russian coal miner interviewed

The description of this youtube reads:

The video clip is from a Russian news programme. There was an accident at a coal mine and people were accused of drinking on the job. The interviewer is trying to see if there is any truth in the rumour, and then one of the other worker’s turns up unannounced. Don’t need sound, unless you can speak Russian.

view this video at youtube

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