Comedian Stephen Colbert has challenged the members of his nation to make John McCain more interesting, you can play too, if you have the technology. Here are some great entries:

Oh I can't be arsed to cook - cold chicken pesto salad

Summer has finally arrived and the weather has turned sunny and hot. Salad time! My lunch break disappeared in a cloud of smoke today (too much on) and so I rushed around the corner to pick up something quick from my favourite Italian deli. They were selling a rather good chicken salad and, as I de-constructed the recipe in my head, I thought you lot might just like it. It's a very good way of using up any leftovers from sunday chicken dinner - if anyone can eat sunday chicken dinner in this heat!

Here goes:

1. - Pieces of cold chicken cut off your leftover roast
2. - Carrots and green beans cooked so they're still crisp and crunchy

• Put whole lot in a large tupperware.
• Mix up some olive oil with some pesto and pour over.
• Chop up some fresh basil and add this.
• Slice up half a lemon and add.
• Add a handful of pine kernals.
• Shake up the whole lot and put the lid on. Leave in the fridge all day so that the pesto, lemon and basil can work its way though the whole lot.

Anyone else got any good mixed salad recipes? It's just too hot to eat anything else at the mo!

4 Little Birds

This was my birthday present from Malcolm--it's a picture of 4 little birds, a sequel to the Bob Marley song.

For all of us getting on in scores of years, here are Satchel Paige's Rules for Staying Young...


1. "Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood."
2. "If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts."
3. "Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move."
4. "Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society — the social ramble ain't restful."
5. "Avoid running at all times."
6. "And don't look back — something might be gaining on you."


He forgot 7. "drink loads of red wine."

cake

Not a birthday song

But I hope people like it;

Johnny Winter – It's My Life, Baby



Just click on the arrow.

HOW BLINKING OLD????????

Happy Birthday
Hope you are not feeling too cranky...
The first track is for GlassHalfEmpty and his hangover.

It's been a busy week on the 'spill.. tracks 1,2,and3 finish the birthday songs for me, I'm sure no one wants to hear Radial Spangle and their song birthday...

attitude song...
then a couple of songs to throw shapes to...
and being the house songstress with the garage band tunes here is 'rock star'

to finish off 'young forever' all you lot who had birthdays this week.

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Do the iPod Shuffle!

A couple of gems that came up on my iPod in shuffle mode today:


Meindert Talma & the Negroes - Hou alsjeblieft mijn graf schoon
Brilliant reinterpretation of the Blind Lemon Jefferson blues "See that my grave is kept clean", fine video as well...


Norfolk & Western - A gilded age
Fine chamber pop from Seattle, from the (mini-)album of the same name, well worth checking out!


Transmissionary Six - Zero gravity
Also from Seattle, people who have got my RR Social cd might know their cover of "Dream Weaver", TM6 are ex Willard Grant Conspiracy's Paul Wilson and Walkabouts' drummer Terri Moeller (nowadays happily married)

Blimpy Birthday

Happy Birthday Blimpy!

it's a party thing.

I have never got The Jazz Butcher in a RR playlist..so here is a pressie made entirely from the skins of dead Jim Morrisons.
Hope the pictures are squiffy enough for you.

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Your life is over. Your life is over.

So, after a long trek to Dublin and back this weekend ('cos Ireland can't seem to have more than one of ANYTHING, and that one almost always has to be six hours drive away in the capital) I rather missed out on all the lovely kissing action. Which is a shame, as it looked like a good stint, so good work.

Anyway.

I just wanted to share a song with you (consider it my gift to Mr McFlah) by a band I've been listening to increasingly much this last week or two. Now, if you can get past the fact that the singer has BLATANTLY nicked Conor Bright Eyes' schtick, I reckon there's a lot going on here. Bit of Arcade Fire. Bit of 60s R&B. Bit of ramped up gypsy punk. And, to top it all, they're named after one of Shakespeare's very best plays - Titus Andronicus (seriously, I never know why Titus gets hated on so much. Sure, its unpolished, but its a big budget horror flick. Gore! Rape! Dismemberment! Scheming! Children baked in a pie! What's not to love?). OK, so it may sound like it was recorded in a bin, but when the handclaps kick in and the whole band chant 'your life is over' I think it is ridiculously fun.

So here, then, is 'Titus Andronicus' by Titus Andronicus. You can purchase their rather fine album, 'The Airing of Grievances', here too. Enjoy.

06 titus andronicus.mp3

Birthday Songs!

Today is Midsummer Day, and also my birthday, so to celebrate here's a couple of birthday tunes and I expect a full top-ten of recommendations from youse guys shortly.

For my birthday this year, I gratefully received - 

From my family:

1. A nice pillow for my noggin

2. A chocolate cake with 4 candles

3. Half a bicycle

4. Beer and pizza (according to Mini McFlah, my favourite food, when he was asked)

5. A coffee table book by designer Jonathan Adler

From my work colleagues:

1. A very good looking bottle of Chote De Rhone Village

2. some Frois Gras

3. A card of multiple signage

From the Scottish climate:

1. A big load of rain

Folks who share my birthday:

1. Little Grey Rabbit

2. Jeff Beck

3. Mick Fleetwood

4. Arthur Brown 

6. One of OMD

7. Beyonce's sister

The classic "Birthday" by The Sugarcubes
Happy Birthday Dear Friend Lisa by Jens LekmanBonus song that I mentioned in the comments

A good blog on The Guardian

Anyone seen this blog?

Click here to read it

It is a pretty good idea.

It is basically about creating computer games from songs.

Yet More Kissing!

Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler version 2
Uploaded by marcofoncine

Downchild Blues Band

The first song I posted in the Kissing topic was Kissy Face by the Downchild Blues Band, a staple on the Canadian blues scene for forty years. But I don't know if the group is known very well outside of Canada and I couldn't find the song linked anywhere so I thought I'd just post a link to the song.
08 Kissy Face.m4a
If you like the song and want to know more about the band, check out their website at http://www.downchild.com/
The band has gone through many lineup changes over the years with over 100 musicians passing through the band over the years. The glue holding it together through the years has been founder Donnie Walsh who is also the primary song writer.
There is a great video clip on Youtube of the band in their hayday performing with jazz vibraphonist Peter Appleyard. It's an instrumental number with leads from Appleyard and pianist Jane Vasey who tragically passed away in 1982 from leukemia. Vasey was a great blues pianist. You'll find the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmJcTUoQb8E
After Vasey died, the band didn't do much for five years as Walsh, who was living with Vasey, lost interest while mourning her passing. After that hiatus he got the band back in form again and they still perform today.
Great band! Listen to the clip. Enjoy!

Licking Songs

Licking Dub
Kitchen Table
Fast Licking
Jism
Lick Myself


Enough kissing already. Fairly sure this won't come up as an RR topic - so seems like a good excuse for another playlist. 

Bons baisers de l'Alsace. FP's puckered up playlist

Happy Fête de la musique everyone! Can't think of a nicer bunch of melomanes I would wish that too... I see an explanation is needed. The (then) French Minister for Culture, Jack Lang (I hear you say - French? Jack? Lang? Mey wee. C'est comme ça!) had the rather fine and dandy idea about 20 years ago of making the longest day of the year - 21st of June - into an official national celebration of all things musical. So today you are literally allowed to stick a piece of paper over your comb, stand on a street corner and make any noise you choose. It's allowed! In practice, of course, any group playing any kind of music (from madrigals to modern jazz) will be out in the streets tonight playing their hearts out. Well known-groups give free concerts (Darce - we had Bertignac here one year) in the larger cities and the place to be is Paris where there are REALLY big concerts. I will not be torturing the Alsacians with my fiddle playing but will venture out into the streets tonight for a cold beer on some street corner in the search of some magical moments. We'll have 30° degrees and no rain so looks like it'll be a good evening...

Moving on to the serious stuff, this week's theme has thrown up some real beauties. I've listened to your lists and was nearly discouraged from doing my own - they're so brilliant. Particularly Ejays. And then I thought, what the hell. In for a penny. Another day another dollar. I love all of these songs. Hope you like them. Bisous. FP.

(OK so I cheated - there's 11. But New Order's Perfect Kiss is one of my favourite favourite ever tracks....)

Découvrez Maxïmo Park!

Blimpcast Number Two!!

So, here's Blimpcast Number 2!

In this fortnight's Blimpcast, things up for discussion are: Clash sampling, Post Modernism, First kisses, Unwell pets, Milawi's next big thing, and much more...

Hopey likey! 

X.

Blimpcast 2, part 1
Blimpcast 2, part 2

Pavement ist Rad!

I often have my iPod in shuffle mode on my trainride to and from work, this is a part of what came up tonight:
Wicky Wacky-the Fatback Band-Sampled 2 (Disc 2)-20-6-2008 18:43
I Love Perth-Pavement-Wowee Zowee - Sordid Sentinels Edition (Disc 1)-20-6-2008 18:39
Heaven Is A Truck-Pavement\-Wowee Zowee - Sordid Sentinals Edition (Disc 2)-20-6-2008 18:38
Dark Ages-Pavement-Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: L.A.'s Desert Origins [Disc 2]-20-6-2008 18:34
Perfume-V-Pavement-Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe (Disc 1)-20-6-2008 18:31
Sitting Still-R.E.M.-And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 [Disc 1]-20-6-2008 18:29
Uptight-The Darling Buds-Rough Trade Shops - Indiepop 1-20-6-2008 18:26
Splashing Along-Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes-Rough Trade Shops - Indiepop 1-20-6-2008 18:23
So There (As Read By Robert Creeley)-Mercury Rev-The Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006 (Disc 2)-20-6-2008 18:19

4 Pavement tracks in a row!

My iPod contains 6611 songs, 164 of them are by Pavement, there must be a statistician out there who can calculate the chance of this happening.....

Anyway. like I said: "Pavement ist Rad!", like these brilliant videos show:

Double kissin' time

Loads of goodies over on t'Spill this week. A couple I thought I'd share.
If you like long noodling blues by white guys with long hair, then 'One long kiss' is for you. From the No Introduction Necessary compilation album, this track has Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Albert Lee, Big Jim Sullivan, Clem Cattini, & Chris Hughes.
Then there's the wonderful Kate & Anna McGarrigle from way back when. 'Kiss & Say Goodbye' is from their eponymous album. Not a dud track on it.

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Tristania

I discovered this band on last.fm

I rather like them, but I am prone to a bit of Gothic melodrama and overdoing the eyeliner at times.

Tristania – Down

They are Norwegian, apparently.

What is it about Scandinavia and Goth/Metal/Doom?

Must be those long Winter nights.

RIP Cyd Charisse

I know that Hollywood musicals are not to everyone's taste but I love them. I grew up watching these films with my Mum and I have never lost my love for them. Cyd Charisse was simply the best. She was the greatest female dancer that Hollywood ever produced.

These clips show her grace, elegance, beauty, sexiness and her amazing talent.

The way she moves in them is sheer poetry.


















Truly brilliant.