~Winter Wassailing~#5: 'Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year prts1&2' by James Brown

A Selection Of Seasonal Songs In The ~Streetlamp~ Stylee!

Okay, okay....
I know it must seem odd, but that's exactly why I am doing these unusual Christmas Blogs....and I bet you never thought you'd find me writing about James Brown on here now, did you?
Not because we don't like James Brown(we do), or that we look down disparagingly on Soul Music(we certainly don't), it's just that when we started the ~Streetlamp~, our sole purpose was to write about music that we were PASSIONATE about, and while all three of share a fondness for good Soul Music, it's just not something we could ever find ourselves shouting from the rooftops about, or getting all giddy and babbling like madmen whilst eulogising it's myriad wonders.

No....this is a more poignant Blog and one I really want to share with you all.

It used to be a bit of a sicko Christmas tradition amongst us to try and guess which celebrity would die on Christmas Day, thus just like the Christmas Number One, gaining a footnote in Christmas lore. Charlie Chaplin, Dean Martin, W.C Fields, Nicolea Ceausescu(not technically a celebrity!!) and Eartha Kitt all passed away on Christmas Day of course, as did in 2006, James Brown.
I remember Griff phoning me that day(we always phone each other on Christmas Day) and us both sharing our shock and sadness at the passing of such a great musical icon; a man who was to Black Music what Elvis was to White Music(if there really is such things as Black and White music!!).
Later on that day as myself and my then-girlfriend-now-wife Elizabeth did the rounds of visiting our relations on Christmas Day, a particularly savvy radio DJ(I wish I could remember who it was but it was on a station that I never usually listened to) played 'Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year prt 1&2' instead of something overly familiar like 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' or the career low 'Living In America'. It was already twilight even though it was only after 3:00p.m, and as I sat in the car, already mellowed from a couple of sherries and at least one Single Malt looking at the pink/purple sky over the frozen landscape, I felt an almost instant affinity with this amazing song, this amazing performance that was flowing from the speakers. I felt almost teary, but at the same time so warm, glowing and fulfilled, and I knew it wasn't the alcohol on the empty stomach. It's an extraordinary track, sounding like the backing music complete with the amazing female backing vocals had been pre-recorded and they just let James do his stuff over the top of it.
It's not really a song as such, more a Christmas message delivered with much passion and, of course, Soul. It's almost like James' Christmas Address To The Nation, and I love the way he times it to perfection that the backing vocalists come in just in the nick of time, every time.
What a magnificent piece of music!


This Christmas Day, when it gets to about 3:00 in the afternoon and that pampered, saggy jowled parasite who appears on our stamps and coins shows up on your television to give her patronising blather about horrible anuses or whatever it is she talks about, why not turn your TV down(or better still, off!!) and put this track on and have that as your Christmas Day message!


The Godfather, and the ~Streetlamp~ expects!!

~Gordon~

Griff says; snow has fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

Yes indeed, snow has certainly fallen on snow in Scotland this week, and perhaps it's the effect of that, or perhaps I am softening in my old age. But I, usually the most, unwilling of Christmas celebrants (insert rant here re. monstrous orgy of Western self-indulgence etc etc) am going to take a leaf from the book of dear, old, cuddly Gordon (Mr. Twinkly Christmas Magic, himself) and write about some Christmas songs.


Firstly, The Innocence Mission (pictured), a dream pop/folk group from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, centred around husband-and-wife songwriters Karen and Don Peris, have made a couple of new recordings for Advent and Christmas that they are offering for free download on soundcloud, along with a third, older Christmas recording. Grouped under the title of ‘December 2010′, the release features new recordings of ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ and ‘Joy To The World’ (see below), Advent hymn ‘O Lord Of Light’ from their 2000 album Christ Is My Hope, and a guitar instrumental of ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’ from Don Peris’s solo album Brighter Visions Beam Afar. You can also hear, but not download, ‘Gentle The Rain At Home’. This track is from the excellent album My Room In The Trees, released in July of this year. If you're not familiar with them, try to have a listen. It's well worth it, if only for the mesmerising quality of Karen's vocals.

In the Bleak Midwinter by the innocence mission



Joy to the World by the innocence mission


In the Bleak Midwinter is my favourite Christmas carol and I really love that version of it. I have always been entranced by this melody, composed by Holst to fit the irregular metre of Christina Rossetti's poetry, but it's really the poetry itself that made it stand out amongst all the other Christmas songs. I vividly remember singing this at primary school and suddenly understanding exactly the landscape conjured by the similes of the first stanza.

In the bleak midwinter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter,

Long ago.

I wouldn't have expresed it that way at the time, of course, but this song definitely represents one of my first introductions to the beauty and mystery of words and poetry. I also used to love the noble humility expressed in the final verse and would sing it in a strangled childhood treble with a lump in my wee throat and a sheen of tears in my eyes (you must remember I was an unusually sensitive mite. As a child my hero was not some flashy footballer but doomed to failure, Scottish missionary; David Livingstone)

What can I give him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring a lamb,

If I were a wise man

I would do my part,

Yet what I can I give Him —

Give my heart.

Anyway, that's quite enough of that, don't know what came over me there. This next offering couldn't be more different. Today sees the release of 'Seasonal Greet', a Christmas EP from legendary Scottish miserabilists, and Streetlamp favourites, The Just Joans. As usual, the EP can be ordered from the WeePOP! site and, also as usual, they are offering a free MP3 of one of the tracks; Card From A Multipack, to give you a little taster. I must admit, I've not heard the whole EP yet but I can tell you that Card From A Multipack is absolutely brilliant; a typically wry and melancholy Just Joans gem. Listen to it here or here. Now I'm going to get a hold of the EP and I suggest that you do too.

Griff
xx

Never cross a dame

Helen, Helen. Even when you’re cross you’re hot. You’re right to be cross. In fact, I like it when a lady is a little cranky sometimes. It shows she cares enough to hate what’s wrong with the world. Or, you know, just people in general. I totally get that. So when you answered The Hollywood Reporter’s question about how it makes you feel to be a role model for having sex appeal in your 60s like this, I can’t help but swoon.

“A bit cross, actually. We have to let go of this crap. It creates even more pressure on women, and I certainly don’t want to be a part of that. I’m not beautiful; I clean up nice. Why don’t we talk about the fact, for example, that I just did Arthur, and the cinematographer was a woman, the film operator was a woman, the whole camera team were women? That’s where we should be putting our attention. The fact that I look good at the age I am is bloody irrelevant.”

True and hot. I agree, the never-ending focus on women’s appearance at every age adds to the pressure to be, look, conform to some kind of idealized, unattainable beauty standard. But I also think it’s great to celebrate beauty in all its forms: any size, any age, any race. And, sometimes you just can’t fight the hot.

At The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment breakfast yesterday, Helen took home the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. Coincidentally, this is the same award Jodie Foster won in 2007 and finally publicly thanked her then longtime partner Cydney Bernard as “my beautiful Cydney.” Helen accepted her speech with her normal saucy humor and take-no-bullshit attitude. But first, she had to hike up her Spanx.

Helen, Helen. What is hot is not just the fact that you clean up well but that your mind is so clear. OK, it’s also hot when you SGALGG a little with Halle Berry. But mostly the mind thing. Mostly.

Trust us, Helen, no one here will ever “worship at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis.” But we will happily worship at yours. Always.

~Winter Wassailing~#4: Two by Gorkys(and a little cover version)

A Selection Of Seasonal Songs In The ~Streetlamp~ Stylee!

I have of late felt rather annoyed and even somewhat ashamed that I never really got into Gorky's Zygotic Mynci when they were at the peak of their(very abundant) powers.
I think it was something to do with their rather cloying and nonsensical name, coupled with their almost endless affiliation with Super Furry Animals(a band I was never really partial to) that meant that I was forever keeping them at an arm's distance.
Even when they released the absolutely magical 'Spanish Dance Troupe' single, which deserves a Blog on it's own, I simply couldn't give myself up to them. I think if I had been in my teens then I would have easily accommodated them, but as I was in my late 20s pushing thirty when they really hit their stride, I allowed them to pass on by.

I now regret this a great deal as I find their folksy acid-tinged pop whimsy a splendid thing indeed, and Euros Childs manages to posses a beautiful childlike imagination coupled with a truly original and captivating singing voice.

We're going to concentrate on a couple of admittedly short Christmas tracks that they produced in their heyday.
The first is entitled 'Christmas Eve' and is a simple, unpretentious guitar (almost-)instrumental that has just the resonance to conjure up an image of cuddling up before a roaring fire on freezing cold night. Actually that's not too hard to do on a shockingly bitter cold night like tonight(minus 14 degrees here, fact fans!). I absolutely adore little pieces of music like this that just capture that moment beautifully, and this is a cracker(pun intended!).


Next up is the simply gorgeous 'Hwiangerdd Mair' which translates as 'Mary's Lullaby' and is a traditional Welsh Christmas song, some may even say hymn. This a wonderful, atmospheric reading of the song and Euros' voice gives it just that slightly Olde Worlde Festive vibe. I have to say that it's by bringing such a beautiful song to your attention(especially if you've never heard this track before) that really made me want to write these uncustomary Christmas Blogs.
These are the lyrics of the song, unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any Engish translation:

"Suair gwynt, suair gwynt
Wrth fyned heibio'r drws
A Mair ar ei gwely gwair
Wyliai ei baban tlws

Syllai yn ddwys yn ei wyneb llon
Gwasgai waredwr y byd at ei bron
Canai diddanol gan
Cwsg, cwsg fanwylyd bach
Cwsg nes daw'r bore iach

Cwsg am dro, cwsg am dro
Cyn daw'r bugeiliaid hyn
A dod, dod i seinio'r clod
Wele, mae'r doethion syn

Cwsg cyn daw Herod a'i gledd ar ei glun
Cwsg, fe gei ddigon o fod ar ddihun
Cwsg cyn daw'r groes i'th ran
Cwsg, cwsg fanwylyd bach
Cwsg nes daw'r bore iach

Cwsg, cwsg. X5"

(I apologise if anybody is offended by the image of a Union Jack flag being used to represent a Welsh song by a particularly passionate Welsh band, but it's the only clip I could find!)

And to finish off we have a pleasant cover of 'Christmas Eve' by Teenage Fanclub which I am also particularly fond of.


Nadolig Llawen!

~Gordon~

I just have to add to this post, Gordon (I suspect you knew I would). Firstly, I'm going to provide an English translation of Hwiangerdd Mair (The Lullaby of Mary). Why you didn't ask the half-Welsh beardie-folker in the first place remains a mystery! :

The wind soothes, the wind soothes
As it passes the door
And Mary on her straw bed
Gazes down at her lovely baby.

She gazes deeply into his happy face,
She hugs the Saviour of the World to her breast,
She sings a comforting song:

Ch:
Sleep, sleep my dearest little one,
Sleep until the fine morning comes.

Sleep for a while, sleep for a while
Until these shepherds come;
And coming, coming to give praise,
Behold, the amazed wise men.

Sleep until Herod comes with his sword on his knee,
Sleep, soon you will tire of staying awake,
Sleep, until the Cross becomes your fate:

Ch.
Sleep, sleep my dearest little one,
Sleep until the fine morning comes.

It's something like that anyway.
Secondly, I must say I almost had a fit when I saw that Union Flag on the page. The Butcher's Apron on The Streetlamp! Over my dead body etc etc. Nice save with the disclaimer. ;-)

Griff

Telly Time

What do tea, taxicabs, buses, bookstores, church spires, cobblestone streets and lavish lesbian period pieces have in common? If you said, “Things that are better when British,” then reward yourself with a lovely biscuit (the British cookie kind, naturally). So imagine my delight at the news from last week that the good old Beeb will be producing yet another Sarah Waters lesbian bodice ripper. The BBC will adapt “The Night Watch,” Sarah’s most contemporary novel to date, into a 90-minute film. For those unfamiliar, “The Night Watch” is set in 1940s London, during and after the Blitz of World War II. It opens in 1947 and is told largely backwards – sort of like “Memento,” but with lesbians and without tattoos.

After “Tipping the Velvet” (for sentimental reasons), “The Night Watch” is my favorite Waters novel. In the film version mysterious, trouser-wearing Kay will be played by Anna Maxwell Martin from “Becoming Jane” and “Bleak House,” match-making agency runner Helen will be played by Claire Foy from “Little Dorrit” and her straight assistant Viv will be played by Jodie Whittaker from the TV series “Accused.”

[L-R: Anna, Claire, Jodie]

I have to say, the three women all look a bit like British doppelgangers for American actresses. Anna looks like Annette Bening’s younger sister, Helen looks like Alexis Bledel after four years at Oxford and Jodie has a Rooney Mara meets Elisha Cuthbert feel. I’m not super familiar with any of their work, since most of it is from across the pond. But the good old Beeb has an impeccable track record when it comes to sussing out fresh talent.

So, let’s raise a pint to those wily Brits for bringing more lesbian action to the telly. The country that gave us “Tipping the Velvet,” “Fingersmith” and “Lip Service” makes me seriously consider ex-pat status sometimes.

Black magic woman

Perfection is madness. It is a never-ending, all-consuming, ultimately unattainable quest. So then to single-mindedly strive for it is, in itself, a form of insanity. And it is that madness at the center of “Black Swan.”

The film is a thing of horrifying beauty, a gorgeous nightmare set in the world of elite ballet where grace is only achieved through years of punishment. That unforgiving world is Nina Sayers’ whole life. Played in a virtuoso performance by Natalie Portman, Nina is a technically brilliant but emotionally stilted dancer with the New York ballet company who dreams of leaving the corps and becoming the prima ballerina. She gets her shot when the arrogant artistic director decides to put on a reimagined production of “Swan Lake.”

And that is when things start to get freaky. The story is a story within a story. Everything, it seems, has a mirror image. The ballet company is performing “Swan Lake,” about a good swan and her evil twin. Nina looks remarkably like the new ballerina in the corps, Lily (played with irresistible smolder by Mila Kunis), who is also her understudy. And like in “Swan Lake” where the Swan Queen is rivaled by the Black Swan, uptight Nina feels threatened by seductive Lily.

Nina is sheltered in every way – she is a slip of a woman who still lives with her overbearing, stifling mother (played with creepy abandon by Barbara Hershey) and gets tucked in to bed every night in her pink childhood room surrounded by overstuffed teddy bears. Their relationship is the very definition of toxic, and not in the fun, dance-club Britney Spears way.

It’s hard to overstate how beautiful and how powerful Natalie is in this role. Some actors inhabit their parts, she shrinks into hers – both literally and figuratively. She does most of her own dancing and much has already been made of the months of rigorous training and strict diet she underwent to prepare to become this tiny dancer. Her Nina is brittle, driven, timid and obsessed. She is transcendent and terrifying and you can’t take your eyes off her magnificent face – nor can the camera. If Natalie isn’t a lock for the Oscar, she will certainly be in a caged death match with Annette Bening for the trophy come February.

In a way, “Black Swan” is the perfect female companion piece to director Darren Aronofsky’s last picture, “The Wrestler.” Both are about bone-crushing physicality and living solely for one’s art. But “Black Swan” takes the fetishism of ritual, discipline and pain to new heights. Nails split, toes crack – even a hangnail is not just a hangnail.

What is real, what isn’t real, what is a phantasmagorical paranoid lesbian fever dream? The experience is intense and trippy and gory and sexy and crazy and beautiful and painful, all at once. But mostly, just really fucking intense.

Things become unhinged in the best possible way. The movie is grandiose and overblown, preposterous and campy. Parts are even a little cliché. But it’s those very imperfections that make “Black Swan” so viscerally exciting. Like a dancer spinning precariously on point, the movie teeters on the edge of disaster.

But let’s get to why you’re really here. How was the sex between Natalie and Mila? Short version: Hot. Long version: Really hot. Seriously, even if the film wasn’t great – which is it – that scene alone is worth the ticket. Once this comes out on DVD I predict much rewinding, so much so that there might be a slight skip at one particular point on the disc. Have I mentioned that it’s hot?

Taut, claustrophobic, intimate, alive, the film crackles with manic energy. This is a movie that reminds me why I love the movies. To sit in the dark for two hours and become completely absorbed by a story is a sort of black magic. And when the spell is cast as bewitchingly as it is in “Black Swan,” you’re more than happy to fall under its exquisite madness.

UPDATE: To see when “Black Swan” is coming to a theater near you, check out the upcoming rollout dates. Then go see for yourself how everything is terrifyingly beautiful at the ballet.

~Winter Wassailing~#3: 'Christmas Calling' by Valerie Masters

A Selection Of Seasonal Songs In The ~Streetlamp~ Stylee!

Now then, if there is one that that all three of us here at the ~Streetlamp~ love it's stark raving mad, tone deaf, shotgun wielding homosexuals.....um, er...no, what I mean is if there is one thing all three of us love it's a Joe Meek production! And that's exactly what we are going to deal with in this Christmas Blog.

To us, it's something of a mystery and an injustice that Joe Meek is not regarded in the same way as George Martin, Phil Spector or Brian Wilson, except by his own devoted following. Joe's lifestyle, and his whole tragic story seem to make it difficult for people to give him all the kudos he deserves. Also, it doesn't help that many people seem to regard him as something of a one-hit-wonder with The Tornados' 'Telstar'. A little digging will prove that he created many a wondrous pop gem from 1961 till 1967, all recorded in one room...his makeshift, self-built studio in which he used the bathroom for the great echo effects he has on his records.
He didn't make many Christmas Records but he did make one truly magical one....

'Christmas Calling' by Valerie Masters.

Valerie Masters was a singer in the 1960s who went on to fairly successful acting and television career through the 70s and 80s. Unfortunately info on Miss Masters is scant on the Internet but you can read something about her here.


It's surprising but there weren't many Christmas records that charted in the 1960s. The 1970s would become a Golden Era for Christmas songs, especially in the Glam Rock days with hits by Slade, Wizzard, Mud, Elton and even David Bowie getting in on the act. The 1980s would see charity Christmas Records and Cliff Richard doing their bit, but for some reason the charts of the 1960s would appear almost entirely bereft of Festive Pop, and certainly none of the big acts; The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Who etc. ever seemed to release anything seasonal.

'Christmas Calling' was released on November 1964 and failed to chart but this truly is a wonderful little Christmas song, conjuring up an aural Christmas card full of images that bring to mind those idyllic Hollywood Christmas movies and, thanks to Joe's cavernous echo-chamber production, sounding like it's been beamed in from some futuristic Sci-fi Christmas planet.


Not bad for a toilet on the Holloway Road!

~Gordon~