iJamming.net

Who tribute groups are not exactly rare on the ground, but this one piqued my interest. The Ho – complete with Maximum R&B logo – exist to replicate a certain classic British rock band during their Live At Leeds period. Check this Quick Time video for an astonishingly accurate visual imitation of their namesakes, right down to the drummer’s head-shakes and open-mouthed miming. I’ve often thought that the members of Tribute bands must live stranger lives even that of soap opera stars. If ‘Who Are You’ is not a perfect theme song, then certainly it should be, ‘Can You See The Real Me?’

Can You See The Real Who Live At Leeds?

I’ll be back in the Borough of Kings this Friday night to DJ the night (Posie and) I used to host. Back then, it was called Step On (after a Happy Mondays song).* Now it’s called Resurrection (after a Stone Roses song). But the principle remains the same: lots of Madchester baggy beats, acid house classics, post-punk funk and indie dance, all on a proper dancefloor, in a cool bar that doesn’t charge cover. Resurrection is hosted by my good friends Nick Cain and McCutcheon; I’m honored to be their guest.

Quite apart from hoping you’ll come out for the music, it would be great to see some of you for the fun of it. This is my first DJ gig back in the City since leaving NYC behind in the summer. And given that I’m only the Guest DJ, I plan to relax and fully enjoy myself. I’ll be down there from 11pm or earlier. Sadly, Posie will not be with me.

To see how Step On used to rock the Royale, check these pages:
http://ijamming.net/stepon.html
http://ijamming.net/Page1.html

Or simply check the photos below. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

McCutcheon at the Step On one-off this past summer. Nick Cain and yours truly at Step On last year.

Resurrection at The Royale
Friday December 2
506 5th Street
between 12th and 13th Streets
Park Slope, Brooklyn
10pm-4am
Free admission
718 840 0089

* – Last time I sent out an e-mail invite listing ‘Step On’ as a Happy Mondays song, I was quickly reminded that the song was first a hit for John Kongos. I do know that. I own, love and frequently play the original version. But if we were going to name the night after a John Kongos song, it would have been called ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again.’ That, or ‘Tolokoshe Man.’

…Enjoyed a mini Christmas, complete with snow covering the outdoor fir trees
(and roof, and deck, and car, and driveway, and local roads)
…Relaxed with my mother, visiting from England
…Went to Montclair and back for Thanksgiving dinner
Which was bittersweet given that it was the first without my brother-in-law John
Who so bravely made it through to last year’s Thanksgiving
And passed but a few days thereafter
Never take good health for granted

…Saw pictures of myself at age 1
And agreed
That they look just like baby Noel
Who is shortly to celebrate his first birthday
I have a double
It’s the strangest thing
And also the most delightful

…Wondered what to do with myself given four and a half days off in a row
I’m not good at sitting still
So I didn’t: I made the most of the unexpected snow-filled week by going skiing not once, not twice, but three times in five days
(Listening to new albums by The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Franz Ferdinand, and an old one by Fountains Of Wayne, on my iPod)
It’s almost unheard of to get so much snow so early in the season
And indeed, it’s set to rain all week, washing the slopes back to mud
You take advantage of this stuff while you can

…Felt excited to get my 10-year old out snowboarding on Hunter Mountain for the first time this season
Felt stupid for encouraging him to go straight on a black diamond
Felt relieved that the snow was so soft he didn’t mind falling his way down that first run
Felt double relieved when he stayed on his feet as the run eased out
Felt proud that he then volunteered to go straight back to the top of the mountain
Felt double proud when he started fully linking his turns
Enjoyed a couple hours’ perfect father-son bonding
Felt delirious when he told me later on, “That was such great fun today”
Seize your moments while you can

He’s back…

…Listened to The Beatles’ White Album again
Told my 10-year old to turn down the volume on his video game so I could hear it properly
Told him I would be quoting him on the web site when he said “I don’t see what’s meant to be so great about this music, it’s boring,”
He was listening to ‘Martha My Dear’ at the time

…Read the latest issues of Q, Mojo and Uncut
Felt pity for John Lydon and anger towards his interviewer Michael Odell for suggesting that Lydon’s paying to fix his notoriously bad teeth was the equivalent of “plastic surgery”
(What is it about the British media’s aversion dentistry? Wasn’t Martin Amis half-hounded out of the country for daring to fix his teeth?)

…Drank some annoyingly average wine
(Drank? Or drunk? We have a grammar crisis here)
…Drank my share of one superlatively good wine: a Chassagne-Montrachet 2001 Premier Cru from Fernend et Laurent Pillot at the Scribner Hollow’s Prospect Restaurant in Hunter on Friday night
The liquid definition of refinement, elegance and style
Unfortunately, such qualities in wine often comes at a price premium
Just as they do with women
Did I really just say that?

…Logged on frequently to the iJamming! Pub in amazement at its ever-increasing momentum
I really enjoy reading the serious debates and the public flirting
And no longer feel the need to interject just to keep the theads going
Thanks

…Mourned the death of George Best
Which I heard about through my own web site
Oddly enough
Thanks

…Visited a Yorkshire-born acquaintance from London of many years ago
Who is now a neighbor up in the Catskills
And who lives even higher up in the hills than yours truly
From his farm house kitchen, looking out on the snow-covered stables
I could almost have convinced myself we were in our native Yorkshire
…But for the mountains

Guess who’s coming to (the) dinner (table)?

…Took Campbell to see Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
Smiled wryly at the movie’s accurate depiction of puberty inferiority complexes
That fear of asking someone out
the subsequent surprise at learning that they might have said yes
If you’d only got there before someone else
Laughed at and memorized as our new catchphrase the exchange:
“Is that a student?”
“Technically it’s a ferret”
Sat terrified and riveted by the movie’s half-hour horror sequence starring Ralph Fiennes
Wondering whether my son should be witnessing something like this
Until he pointed out afterwards that there was no blood anywhere in the film…
..Even when Timothy Spall cut off his own hand
Whoops, belated spoiler alert
But you’ve seen the movie by now, have you not?
Seemed like everyone of every age at our family’s Thanksgiving Dinner had

…Went to Woodstock the day after Thanksgiving
Start of the holiday shopping season
And even in a village like Woodstock
It was too crowded for comfort
Especially as the stores don’t feel compelled to shovel their sidewalks free of snow and ice
No doubt they expect the faeries to do it for them
Noel didn’t enjoy himself
Nor did Granny
Campbell did: he came away with a new Bionicle
Grannies exist to spoil their grandchildren…

It must be something in the Beverley baptism fonts: my homie Pasc has his fingers in more pies than yours truly.

…Saw my mate Pascal Wyse photographed on the back page of the Guardian
Playing trombone with McFly
Who?
The band Dave Gahan says he hates, in one of those Brit monthly mags
Pas has a column in the Guardian now
Which the newspaper cheekily calls jamming
Follow this link if you don’t believe me
Pasc played trombone on ‘Don’t Stop 2005′
By Apocalypse
In case you were wondering

…Watched The Office Christmas Special for the second time in two weeks
It’s never too late
To laugh with the masses
Nor to believe in love
And to wish eternal happiness for all the Tim and Dawns of this world

…Watched the first fifteen minutes of the Beeb’s John Peel Documentary
Kindly taped and brought my way by my mother
Though it’s much as you’d expect
Predictable tributes to a man who nonetheless merited them

Vanity Fair knows the first truth of hypocricy: Drug use moves ink

…Read the latest Vanity Fair
Which asks of Kate Moss – “Can She Come Back?”
To which I respond
If that’s her face selling the front cover, then clearly
She has not yet gone away
Has she?

…Learned not to trust Google Maps
Which decided to send me to Newark Airport
Via a non-existent route
There’s a first time to try anything
This was not it
Sorry Mum
But I still got you on the plane in time
Thanks for visiting

Now back to work

Tributes to the late great George Best are all over the Internet today, including at the iJamming! Pub, which thankfully maintains its own rhythms even when I shut down for Thanksgiving. Feel free to add your own tributes in The Pub or comment using the form below.

I came across the quote I’ve used for today’s headline from The Guardian’s obituary on Best’s death. It’s courtesy of Kim Book, “the Northampton Town goalkeeper who was beaten a record six times by the Manchester United winger during the 8-2 victory in the 1970 FA Cup.” And it seems to sum up the man as many of us would prefer to remember him – in and on his day, the greatest footballer in the world has ever seen. RIP.

A few weeks ago, after digging out a 1970 documentary on George Best and realizing just how much he shared in common with Keith Moon – not least that they were the same age – I wrote up a tribute of sorts here at iJamming! By the freakiest of coincidences, I wrote it the same day he was admitted to hospital, never to re-emerge. I’ll let it stand as my own obituary of sorts.

George Best.

It’s that time of year when the USA shuts down for a few days to enjoy Thanksgiving, a non-denominational, gift-free celebration of family and health. I’m fortunate to have both right now, especially as my mother flew in last weekend. She’s been enjoying the company of her grandchildren and daughter-in-law these last few days while I’ve been wrapping up work. I took this picture of them at The Windhaven Pub in Windham on Tuesday night.

If for many Americans, Thanksgiving is preferable to Christmas (you get time off work, for one thing), this year it’s also very much like the Christmas of our imaginations, with snow on the ground across the East Coast. I even sneaked an hour of quality skiing in yesterday afternoon on Hunter Mountain.

I don’t take any of this good fortune for granted. After 9/11, I wrote an essay about Thanksgiving that, while certain dates and details may have changed in the difficult years since, otherwise still applies. You can read it here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all iJamming! readers. Normal service will be resumed shortly.