Broken Bells

I went to see Broken Bells at The Royal Festival Hall on Monday night and it rocked. It was a sit down affair but was still great. (Monday night is not really conducive to a mosh pit session anyway). I did get involved with some serious foot tapping though. One maverick dared to stand and wobble about a bit in a show of appreciation and I did think about joining him for a millisecond but I would have been far too embarrassed, or was it far too sober, to do silly thing like that!

There are so many good songs on the album but one of my favourites is Mongrel Heart. It goes on and on but in a good way. You think it's going to end but then it keeps coming back to give you a little bit more.

They blend guitars and drums with some funky/kitsch electronic sounds that sort of sound like samples of old 70s keybaord demos, if you know what I mean. They have great harmonies too which add some soul to the tracks. If you are not swayed yet then perhaps me telling you that they've got a trumpet player in the band may prick up your ears. Always a good edition, I feel! One of the 6 members is the Hip Hop producer Danger Mouse, who is a natural dude. They even swap instruments throughout the set; just because they can!

Anyway, I would recommend them highly if you like good music. If you don't, forget it.

Pacific Ocean

California is beautiful. Cruising along Route 1 in our convertible Mustang was not too shabby!

Big Sur

I love Giant Red Woods!

The Madonna Inn

Me and my friend stayed in a place called The Madonna Inn which is in San Luis Obispo, CA. There are 130 uniquely decorated rooms which are definitely not ordinary. We stayed in Swiss Rock which was decorated in a very sexy red colour and had a shower made from rock. It was like posh Flinstones. This picture is of the rather fancy steak restaurant which served some very satisfying steaks. It was like Barbie's dream!

I love lamp (shade)

Lampshades, Santa Cruz, CA.

Home

Yorkshire is home. It is a really beautiful place despite being a bit quiet for me.

Dancing bug

Check out this cheeky bug(ger) dancing around on our beer and scaring us!

Little Joe

My friend Sam has just published a magazine which he says is, 'A magazine about queers and cinema, mostly.'

It has been his baby. I'm pleased that it was printed and launched before his 3 month trip around America so he could rock up in L.A. as a cool magazine creator. Living the dream! I think there is nothing else out there like it. It's very niche. He loves film, especially if the theme is of a homosexual nature and is a great graphic designer. His work is at: www.iamsamashby.com

I attended the launch party which was held at Bistrotheque in May which got quite a gathering. There were good looking, trendy, gay, East London boys galore! He has quite a fan base.

www.littlejoemagazine.com

Good luck spreading the word in America Sam. You are Sam Ashby!

Harry Hill's TV Burps

I love Harry Hill. He is funny. And he used to be a doctor but gave it up for a life of comedy which I think is a great.

One clip I love is when he is mocking Bear Grylls getting out of an ice hole.

Who needs anti-depressants when you can watch Pineapple Studios!!

I accidently watched it one day and could not grasp what kind of show it was. It was so cringe-worthy that I thought it must be a spoof. I had seen a scene with Andrew Stone in it claiming that he was a triple threat because he can sing, dance and act. Act weird! It's so funny. My favourite is, of course, Artistic Director Louis Spence, which is how they introduce him everytime he is on screen. He is a hilarious, camp, gay guy who just loves to dance. The rhythm is gunna get you must be written for him. I mean look at him go here at minute 2.17.



It is for real but I'm sure they do an nice editing job on it to make the people sound even more ridiculous than they really are. It makes me laugh so much. It's just silly and as long as you don't mind a bit of silliness then you won't find it too offensive.


Sometimes you are laughing as it's just pure slapstick comedy but sometimes you're not sure whether to laugh or cry as it's a bit tragic in places and is almost painful to watch. I particularly like ,the satiricle, Harry Hill's view on it on TV Burps. He makes me chuckle.

Anyway, a Pineapple a day keeps the blues away!

The series has finished now but if you want to watch them and don't have sky you can sign up to an online account and watch them online (Sky Player) for £1 or something cheap like that. Bargain!

Marc Wooton is the man

You've probably never heard of him but he's now been in loads of comedy shows like My New Best Friend, Nighty Night (written by the great Julia Davis who wrote and starred in Nighty Night and who, I think, still goes out with the Julian Barratt from The Might Boosh) and more recently he's done his own series called La La Land which has just finished airing on BBC3. I think you can still catch the last episode on iplayer. I recommend part 3 and 6 which actually made me cry with laughter.


In La La Land he takes his 3 crazy characters to L.A. and basically pranks real people. It's hilarious, cringe TV at it's best! He is an amazing actor and totally fools everyone even though his website's name claims the opposite! www.foolingnobody.com.. It is out on DVD now and you can buy it at amazon.

I like Gary the wannabe actor from Essex. He's the most unbelievable. Here is a clip of him with an acting coach doing an American accent. Here's Gary!

He is tipped to be the next Sacha Baron Cohen, apparently, as he certainly has skills and his last show is a similar format to Ali G or Borat.

I think he's great. The character Shirley Ghostman, which is one of the characters that appears in La La Land, is from a series called High Spirits in which he plays a psychic. I found a few clips on youtube which crack me up: clip 1, clip 2, clip 3.

Anyway, watch out for him. He's kind of a big deal!

I Blame Coco

These are new. The song I'm into features Robyn. It's a good rocky/electro tune and gets you dancing around your bedroom. They are also playing London all this week. She happens to be Stings daughter too, apparently.


www.iblamecoco.co.uk

We have band

My friend's band are doing really well for themselves. If you like electro-pop dancey tunes then you will love them. They are pretty cool. I saw them in Sydney for free, yey!

They have done the South by South West festival in Texas. They've done loads of Europe and are swanning around the world pimping their wares to their adoring fans.

Check 'em out is what I say.

www.wehaveband.com

@wehavebandtwitt

4OD documentaries

I've been loving watching documentaries online. Channel 4 leave them there for a while unlike the BBC.

I've been watching the Unreported World series which presents issues from around the world. I watched Albino United the other day which was pretty harrowing but uplifting at the same time.

In Tanzania people hunt albinos for their bones to sell to witchdoctors who use them in potions to encourage prosperity. It's so sick. A four year old girl was killed for one of her legs.

Albino United are an all albino football team that go around the country playing football and promoting equal rights for albinos. They show the nation that they are just the same as everybody else and deserve to be treated right. It was really great to see the response of the people and it shows that progress is happening slowly there.

Anyway, there are loads to watch so check it out:

4OD