日志

Television presenter Fern Britton and pop star Heather Small are among the star names who will appear in BBC One’s The Preston Passion, which will be broadcast from the city.

Broadcasting from a central Preston location, Fern will anchor the Preston Passion live event on Good Friday, April 6, while introducing three short pre-recorded dramas, which will be shown simultaneously on a big screen in Preston and on BBC One.

The ambitious Preston Passion live spectacle aims to involve 3,500 local residents as performers and spectators. In addition to local choirs singing traditional Easter music, large-scale choreographed crowd movements across the city will re-create ‘human crosses’. The stunning live spectacle will also include contemporary dance pieces and traditional local brass band music. And, to close Preston Passion’s live programme of performance, M People’s Heather Small will sing Candi Staton’s gospel classic, ‘You Got The Love’.

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Wed 23 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2010

Wednesday

For Glastonbury 2009 I had the relative luxury of a campervan. But for 2010, in order to experience the full festival experience, myself and my fellow glastonaut decided to camp in tents. So at 1:00am on Wednesday morning I was collected from home for the four hour drive to Somerset to be at the gates in good time for the 8:00am opening. Once in and tents set (all quite straightforward) we set-off to explore the site and to prepare ourselves for the England vs. Slovenia game being shown at the Pyramid stage.

The Pyramid arena was very busy and obviously many had turned up early to watch the game and savour the atmosphere. A fairly solid 1-0 win was the result, but I felt at this stage against the smallest country in the tournament, that the writing was on the wall for England.

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1633/012tpv.jpg

The festival proper does not really start until Friday…

1-10

1. Donna Summer
2. Bee Gees
3. Gloria Gaynor
4. Kool & The Gang
5. KC & The Sunshine Band
6. Trammps
7. Chic
8. Village People
9. Michael Jackson
10. James Brown

11-20

11. Diana Ross
12. Barry White
13. First Choice
14. Earth, Wind & Fire
15. Spinners
16. HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUENOTES
17. Tavares
18. Prince
19. Dan Hartman
20. Salsoul Orchestra

21-30

21. Whispers
22. O'Jays
23. Madonna
24. Shalmar
25. Lime
26. Stylistics
27. Eddie Kendricks
28. Sylvester
29. Rick James
30. Change

31-40

31. The Isley Brothers
32. Ecstasy, Passion & Pain
33. Evenly Champagne King
34. Cerrone
35. Jacksons
36. Stevie Wonder
37. Curtis Mayfield
38. Linda Clifford
39. Rufus & Chaka Khan
40. Barrabas

41-50

41. Van McCoy
42. Commodores
43.Aretha Franklin
44. S.O.S. Band
45. Grace Jones
46. Teena Marie
47. Silver Convention
48. Hues Corporation
49. Ohio Players
50. France Joli

51-60

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I've heard a few great covers lately so I thought I'd make a list... yes I'm that bored right now. The order's pretty vague. Tried to pick mostly ones people might not have heard. Major points for radical re-interpretations - there's no point recording covers otherwise.

1) Johnny Cash - Hurt (originally Nine Inch Nails).
- I love the NIN original, but the frailty of Cash's voice shortly before his death adds a whole new layer of poignancy. Beautiful.

2) Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (originally Leonard Cohen).
- I was a bit reluctant to put this in, seeing as it's probably one of the first songs that springs to mind when people think of great covers, and also because it's pretty much become the seminal version of the song anyway. Nevertheless, there it is.

3) Florence + the Machine - You've Got the Love (originally The Source ft. Candi Staton).
- Not many people would have the voice to pull this off convincingly. Florence Welch does.

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1The Core-The Core and more vol 1- Art of no return
2Masada Quintet Featuring Joe Lovano-Stolas: The book of angels vol 12
3Anna Järvinen-Man var bland molnen
4Maxwell-BLACKsummers' night
5Elin Larsson Group-Live and alive
6Theodor Jensen-Tough love
7Jamie T-Kings & queens
8Thåström-Kärlek är för dom
9Pinton/ Kullhammar/ Zetterberg/ Nordeson-Chant
10Deportees-Under the pavement - the beach
11Raekwon-Only built for Cuban linx… part 2
12Nicolai Dunger-Play
13Candi Staton-Who's hurting now
14Regina Spektor-Far
15Ruthie Foster -The truth according to
16Bill Callahan-Sometimes I wish we were an eagle
17Röyksopp-Junior
18The Stoner-Hat music
19Alicia Keys-The Elements of Freedom
20Alela Diane-To be still

Looking back on 2009 I can’t say it was a great year. Musically, nor personally. It did have its moments though. The year brought many good records, but so far I haven’t heard one that completely blew me away. I must note here that I haven’t heard many of the critics favorites yet, so I might change my mind on 2009 later on. ;-) Today, however, I can only write about what I now know.

Not until I saw The Decemberists perform their Hazards Of Love album at the Crossing Border festival it dawned on me that this was the record that impressed me most this year. The cd is very good, but live it sounded really fantastic. In fact, the concert was one of the best I ever attended, perhaps only surpassed in greatness by those of Bruce Springsteen (2008) and Ben Folds (2007).

I also liked the new and more traditional sound Alela Diane presented on her second album. I don’t think it’s a complete masterpiece, but it contains many beautiful songs. …

20. Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue

This was a great comeback. And I didn't expect it to be. They manage to capture the emotion of the old band without trying to sound like the old band. Credit goes to Jerry Cantrell for managing to pull this all together without embarrassing themselves. Hopefully they are able to follow this up with an album just as good, and I hope it doesn't take another fifteen years to do it.

A Looking in View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeCiaQ49uMs

19. John Vanderslice - Romanian Names

John is always reliable. I enjoy every single one of his albums, and this is no exception. Songs like "Tremble and Tear" "Fetal Horses" and "D.I.A.L.O." are among some of my favourite John Vanderslice songs ever. The songs range from great to average, but there isn't really a stinker in the bunch. What I really love about this album is the production. It's just to easy to listen to, and the use of synths is great. Really good and understated album.
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The world of music has been dealt quite a few humdingers this past month, what with rappers humiliating teenage girls, founding members being kicked out of their very own pop institutions, the BBC attempting an X Factor style coup with a glamorous new judge (even giving her the same amazing hair) and Fearne Cotton personally making sure my weekday mornings are groan-inducingly horrible. You'd think I'd appreciate when people talk over the songs they play on the radio, especially the crap stuff, but the fact that Fearne waffles on about nothing and gives inane interviews (along the line of: "What's this?" "Oh, yeah, I loved that!" "I remember, it was great!" "AAAAALLLLLL WWWWIIIIILLLL SSSSSSSUFFFFFEERRRRRR!!!!") in such a grating manner with all of the self-importance of a stage school sixth former is enough to make me scream at the worst of times. Especially when she insists on playing Mika's latest single over and over and demands us to learn each time how much she loves it!
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