Thursday, August 10, 2006

some links

second try....

U.S. Immigration Law Inhumane to Same-Sex Couples

Family, Unvalued
Discrimination, Denial, and the Fate of Binational Same-Sex Couples under U.S. Law



i'm having trouble creating clickable links for these. both are very interesting articles from 'Human Rights Watch' about the plight of thousands of same sex binational couples and US immigration law...

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

"Going to hell again": Bauhaus at the Forum

Wow...i'd never seen them before. My first Bauhuas record was 'The Sky's gone out', sometimes in 84 and it was so weird and schizophrenic and intense, so 80s. It just really suited me. okay, at the Forum, very hot again, very claustrophobic again even though it wasn't sold out, was a bit of a weird one but i would'nt really want to have it any other way.

- the second of two nights, the first one apparently triumphant, this was one was cut short by guitar problems. Still they finished the night with 'Ziggy Stardust', and if there was ever any doubt, they still are the missing link between glam-era Bowie and the more gothically inclined. And lots of leftfield rocknroll basically, oddly textured, and always a hint of chaos. No 'Bela Lugosi' though and maybe that's a good thing, why should they play it every night?

- Pete Murphy is a fantastic front man. they came on and just stood there with bright lights shining into everyones faces. You could hardly see them it was so blinding but they were all looking at us, especially the Murphy who

- soon came alive on stage. that face, that voice still has that nervy edge, so expressive and weird. and so much precision...

- Silent Hedges, goosebumps, "going to hell again", brought me right back to my teenage bedroom. I lost it during that song for some reason, everything else was at least adequately fabulous but that was something else

- guitar problems, and suddenly Mr Murphy alone on stage, threatening solo material, instead he strapped a guitar on and played 'all...we ever wanted... is everything...get up ...eat jelly....', followed by a wonderful, intense rendition Bowies 'Bewlay Brother'...

- outside i buy a Bela Lugosis Dead poster for a quid, you know, that classic image. I'm still a goth teenager at heart. My bedroom is still UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD

- my mate Steve who was also present gave me a copy of their live album, 'Gotham', it is fantastic, i'm not sure whether i've got anything else by them in the flat (field) but it does a nice job reminding me why i loved them so much for a while back in the 80s...

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Plus by the tractor




Chris sitting on a tractor at Ferretstock, our friend Emmas birthday party in a field/large garden behind her grandparents house in Essex just outside London. It was a lovely Sunday morning, too hot though, Chris had singled out that tractor for a while, he just needed to sit on it and I brought him his guitar. He's playing a new Plus tune called Antlers, with some weedy singing from me. It's kinda lofi-lovely though. Simon's taking over the 'camerawork' halfway through. Here's the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pBy49lthL4

follow the teenagers


See my band Plus live!'Steamrise' and 'Teenager' from a gig last year at the first birthday party of the rampART, a squat/community centre in the East End. Most of the gig was a bit shambolic, I was drunk and a bit off (into the clouds), we couldn't soundcheck, just plugged in and played, but, whoaaa, i mentioned before that that song 'Teenager' needs to be 100 %, well here it is slightly more than that, it's my favourite recorded live version, it's how we first conceived it, a real headfxxx. It's the second track here, starts at about 3.37 min. Anyway, it's intense, the rest of the gig is mixed, a bit too screamy. John filmed it and put it up a while ago, though i would have probably chosen it slightly differently, anyway, looks like people have watched it (!) but they should watch this part, by far the best of the gig. Part 4 is great too, "Electric Germany/Silhouette". Maybe better avoid the rest :-)

Steamrise & Teenager
Electric Germany/Silhouette