Another Olympic Triumph

More great news about the Olympics, via the BBC:


"Residents at an estate in east London have received a leaflet saying soldiers could be placed there during the Games. The Ministry of Defence says it is evaluating sites for surface-to-air missiles for the Olympic Games, and could place them at residential flats. It says part of an air-defence system might be based at a water tower on the estate, where 700 people live."


This really does reassure you that the Olympics is a worthwhile event and that it is being managed sensitively and sensibly for the benefit of us all.


See also 'Go Figure'.

In Memory Of Syd

I know I had a good time last night because I have the bruises to prove it. All down my right leg. That's where I was banging the tambourine to help "conduct" a music workshop performance by the Homeless Oratorio.

These great people and musicians get together regularly at Crisis in east London, and I was lucky enough to be there as part of a course I'm doing in leading music workshops.

This particular workshop is led by the remarkable Clare Kenny, bass player to Sinead O'Connor, and (in her days with Hank Wangford) aka Cherry Red Footwear. Also helping out on percussion was local resident Dave Rowntree, drummer with Blur.

The piece for the night — rather surreally — was Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine, which the 14-strong group performed with tremendous energy.

In just over a week, they will be on stage at the Royal Albert Hall with Brit Floyd (leading Floyd soundalikes) in a performance that has largely been brought about by the late Syd Barrett's sister's involvement in charity work. It looks like being an amazing night...

Go Figure

The Olympic Games.. There are arguments for and there are arguments against. The most eloquent argument against has been produced by the combined forces of the Mayor of London, National Rail, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency and Transport for London.

It conveys in an instant — and visually — the argument against staging the Olympics in London. It is this brilliant map showing the impact of overloading an already overburdened public transport system.

The tube stations with orange rings around them will be "busier than usual" and the ones with red rings around them will be "exceptionally busy". I think the idea of this extremely helpful display is to show you which stations to avoid as you make your way around the tube network.

So just take a look at the map above... and everything should become clear....

The Death Of Levon Helm

Strange that I chose to write about the late, great drummer BJ Wilson just a few days ago. For BJ said long ago that his own favourite drummer was Levon Helm. And now Levon has finally passed away, after a long and successful career post-The Band and post-cancer.

Perhaps even more so than BJ Wilson, Levon was a truly musical drummer. And not only that, he could sing and play drums at the same time. That is, really sing and play drums at the same time. He didn't just do a bit of backing vocals, or sing a song while still keeping time. He sang lead vocals with heart and soul while playing full-on in the same fashion. If you need proof, check out his performances on Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz. Or see the news clip on Levon's website.

Like many of The Band's members, Levon Helm had his roots in a pre-rock era that stretched back to circus tents, medicine shows and vaudeville, when the power and the mystery of the song and the performance were everything. It's no wonder that Bob Dylan picked Levon's men to back him up through one of his most crazily fruitful and creative periods.

There cannot be another Levon Helm. But any drummer who has watched him play and sing is bound to take something of Levon into their own playing, even if it is subconsciously.

Sympathy For The Devil

A taxi driver explained to me yesterday that there were just three fundamental problems in Britain: one, the fact that we are run by Europe; two, mass immigration; three, the selling off of public utilities to foreign companies.

He reckoned that the "immigrants" would, because of their higher birth rate, take over the country at some point before too long.

And then he added something that shocked me.

He said, "You can see where that Anders Behring Breivik is coming from." The taxi driver did concede that killing 77 people was an extreme act, although he suggested that the media had given the impression that these people were killed at random when, in fact, there were clear political reasons why they had been targeted.

He — the taxi driver — seemed a really nice bloke, and I don't think for one minute that he was advocating violence. But he did — like many, many others, no doubt — feel there was a need for a strong political leader to stand up and tell the truth about the three big issues mentioned above, and for the British to stop moaning and do something.

Will there be a British Breivik?

The Literary Drummer

Question: What do you call someone who spends all their time hanging around with musicans? Answer: A drummer.

Not particularly funny jokes like this reinforce the idea that drummers are not proper musos. Trying to think of the most musical drummer in rock, I reckoned it had to be BJ Wilson.

You might know him for playing on Joe Cocker's With A Little Help From My Friends, or you might know him from the various stories about Jimmy Page asking him to join Led Zeppelin prior to his thinking about a bloke called John Bonham.

But you should know him for his epic work with the classic line-up of Procol Harum. Wilson's style has been described as "literary", so closely did the drama of his percussion follow the drama of Keith Reid's lyrics and Gary Brooker's music.

If you need any persuasion, listen to the drum fills on the song A Salty Dog — a piece for which Brooker said there was no drum part, but Wilson proved emphatically there was. This was totally original drumming, played completely for the song, using space and silence just as much as sound. And always surprises.

Scores of other tracks, such as the similarly cinematic Whaling Stories, illustrated Wilson's musicality. But check out his time-stopping barrage in the climaxes of Repent Walpurgis, from the very first Procol album, if you want to hear him in fullest flow.

Wilson died awfully and tragically young. And no one has ever quite matched him — as a rock drummer and musician.

From Tooting To Tokyo

The wonderful Das Fluff who climaxed last year's Tootstock fest have gone on to even greater things. Dawn Lintern and her hypnotic songs have been wowing audiences in Japan this week (see live video from Tokyo). Dawn and her Fluffers deserve to be big here as well as in Japan. Check out their website to find out why.

The equally talented Hero & Leander will be following in Das Fluff's gigsteps when they close this year's Tootstock on June 30. There is already interest in H&L in Germany.

Today Tooting. Tomorrow the world...