I was recently invited to a press screening of the new music documentary chronicling the life of The Doors. They are one of my favourite bands, and yes, I know, singer Jim Morrison was a pretentious twit but somehow the music is always captivating and full of mystery and that, at least, still makes him better than Chris Martin.
The documentary, directed by Tom DiCillo, uses original footage shot between 1966 and 1971. The narration is written by DiCillo and narrated by actor Johnny Depp. It focuses, not specifically on Jim Morrison, but the four musicians as a whole, whose insistence on artistic freedom and refusal to compromise inspired a generation.
The man in front of me was obviously still inspired. He kept whooping and cheering whenever black and white footage of young Jim chastising the US government was shown. Now, I’m all up for revolution (I’ve never watched Last Night of the Proms or read the Daily Mail) but there’s something depressing about a middle-aged Londoner, in a suit, drinking 6 bottles of Stella Artois and then believing his commotion is the very essence of late 60’s American revolt. Still, that at least, makes him better than Chris Martin.
The Dead Weather are an outfit formed by Jack White, Jack Lawrence, and Dean Fertita, plus the Kills’s Alison Mosshart. They came together by accident when White, after having lost his voice, asked Mosshart to sing for him. The band then released the debut album Horehound in 2009. But they are back with their second collaboration – Sea of Cowards.
Some critics have said the experiment is a bit self-indulgent and the music doesn’t always work, but they are wrong and clearly don’t know music. You can trust me because I have a balanced view on music and appreciate good bands. At the Reading Festival in 2000 I was the only one not to throw a bottle at former pop duo Daphne and Celeste when they walked onstage – that shows my balanced view on music. But later, after the irony of their presence had worn a little thin, I threw a bottle that hit Daphne right on top of her head – that shows I appreciate good bands.
Part of the fun of the Dead Weather is the blurring between White and Mosshart, with White often aping his female foil. This tactic redoubles on songs such as “I’m Mad”, a laughter-strewn, acid-blues experiment sung by Mosshart sounding like White. The opening track, “Blue Blood Blues”, most follows Horehound‘s best song, “I Cut Like a Buffalo”, but adds camp ghosts on backing vocals – try and find me one person who doesn’t like hearing camp ghosts singing. If they tell you they ‘don’t’ – then they are lying to your face.
Last night I was given tickets to see Whitney Houston perform at the O2 in London. The key word in that sentence is ‘given,’ I didn’t buy them and protested about being sent.
I don’t know much about Whitney apart from Kevin Costner carrying her on The Bodyguard poster and some of the girls at school making up badly choreographed routines for I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Oh and her revelations of her long-term drug abuse.
The audience was mostly 30 year old women and gay men. And me. She began with a song I recognised – I Will Always Love You. This is when I realised it was going to be a long show. She was unable to hit the high notes and sounded alarmingly wheezy. After the song she complained that her ‘Inner Diva’ was not always present and she could be temperamental. I left to buy a beer.
When I returned her loyal army of spectators were being stretched to the limit by Whitney disappearing for more than 20 minutes after she had barely started – rightly causing a chorus of boos. Of which I joined in. Not through any protest of her inconsistent performance but because I had drank four beers and was in the mood for anarchy.
I stayed for three more songs but then I couldn’t take anymore ballads… plus there was a repeat of Only Fools and Horses on G.O.L.D. I was hoping it would be the one where Del falls over in the bar. But it wasn’t.
To be honest I had never heard of Paloma Faith until Thom from Sassy Media emailed me about the singer, however, after watching her video ‘Upside Down’ I was completely hooked. She’s kind of a mix between Amy Winehouse and Duffy, but in my opinion, much better. She’s got a really catchy voice which led me onto getting a copy of her album, which I must say is totally amazing. To top it off I was invited to see her live at Hammersmith Apollo, so off I went to see her and just like her album, she is really really good. Seeing Paloma Faith live was definitely a highlight so far for me on TV NEWS, she’s funny, gets the audience involved, very down to earth and can sing very well live, coupled with her outrageous outfits, its definitely a must if you get the chance to go to one of her gigs. Ten out of ten for me. Kim x
