My Last.fm Top 30 Male Singers Q&A

I noticed I haven't done this Q&A for 5 years so will have another go.

So... questions about my 30 most listened to male artists according my Last.fm page.

What it shows is that male singers are not my favourite listening choices as the artists in the lower reaches are ones I don't go out of my way to listen to...

1. How did I get into Boy George?   Through Culture Club silly!....

2. What was the first song I ever heard by Morrissey?  As a solo artist SUEDEHEAD

3. How many albums by Prince do I own?   27 cds!

4. What is my favourite song by David McAlmont?   SNOW

5. What is my favourite album by Marvin Gaye?   WHAT'S GOIN' ON

6. Is there a song by David Bowie that makes me happy?   YOUNG AMERICANS

7. What was the first song I ever heard by Luther Vandross?   NEVER TOO MUCH

8. What is a good memory I have involving Bobby Darin?   The first time I heard BEYOND THE SEA

9. Is there a song by Jimmy Cliff that makes you happy?   THE HARDER THEY COME

10. How many times did I see Ronnie Dyson live?   Twice, supporting The Supremes and then supporting The Four  Tops

11. What is the first song I ever heard by John Legend?   NUMBER ONE

12. How many albums by Dennis Brown do I own?   One, MONEY IN MY POCKET...

13.Do I have a good memory involving Ne-Yo?   Um, nope...

14. Have I ever seen Linton Kwesi Johnson live?   Yes, once at Barbican Hall.

15. What is a good memory involving Sylvester?   That first time seeing him erupt off the screen on Top Of The Pops in the video of MIGHTY REAL

16. How did I get into Kanye West?   Through the song TOUCH THE SKY...

17. What is my favourite album by Barrett Strong?   Don't have one...

18. What is my favourite song by Eminem?   THE REAL SLIM SHADY.

19. What is the first song I ever heard by Alexander O'Neal?   IF YOU WERE HERE TONIGHT

20. What is my favourite album by Chuck Jackson?   Just have one, THE MOTOWN ANTHOLOGY

21. What is my favourite song by Noel Coward?   SOMEDAY I'LL FIND YOU.

22. How did I get into Raphael Saadiq?   Through the album LUCY PEARL

23. How many times did I see Ray Davies live?   Maybe 5 times

24. What is my favourite album by Barry White?   Just have the one, THE COLLECTION

25. What was the first song I ever heard by Edwin Starr?   WAR

26. What is my favourite song by Malcolm McLaren?   WALTZ DARLING

27. What is my favourite song by Will.I.Am?   HEARTBREAKER.

28. Is there a song by David Ruffin that makes you happy?   WALK AWAY FROM LOVE

29. What is my favourite album by Dennis Bovell?   ALL OVER THE WORLD.

30. How many albums do I own by Stevie Wonder?   Just the one Greatest Hits collection

As you can see by the little widget on the right I am on the music network site Last.fm, and good fun it is too. I was poking about on there this afternoon and found a few good music questionnaires so here's one I am nicking off Janell from America:

"Post your top fifteen bands/artists, the first song you heard of theirs, a song you love, and your current favourite" 

1) Kirsty MacColl
First: They Don’t Know
Love: Soho Square
Currently: Caroline

2) Madonna
First: Material Girl
Love: Holiday
Currently: Give It To Me

3) Mary J. Blige
First: Real Love
Love: Baggage
Currently: Just Fine

4) Gladys Knight & the Pips
First: Midnight Train To Georgia
Love: No One Could Love You More
Currently: Bourgie Bourgie

5) Sugababes
First: Overload
Love: About You Now
Currently: Surprise

6) Prince
First: I Wanna Be Your Lover
Love: I Would Die 4 U
Currently: Chelsea Rogers

7) Lulu
First: Shout
Love: Only One
Currently: Dream Lover

8) Diana Ross & The Supremes
First: Baby Love
Love: Come See About Me
Currently: Falling In Love With Love

9) Aretha Franklin
First: I Say A Little Prayer
Love: Your Song
Currently: A Rose Is Still A Rose

10) Barbara Cook
First: The Ingenue
Love: Errol Flynn
Currently: Losing My Mind

11) Pet Shop Boys
First: West End Girls
Love: Being Boring
Currently: My Girl

12) Morrissey
First: This Charming Man
Love: The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get
Currently: Hairdresser On Fire

13) Dusty Springfield
First: I Only Want To Be With You
Love: People Get Ready
Currently: Every Day I Have To Cry

14) Clydie King
First: The Thrill Is Gone
Love: Missin’ My Baby
Currently: Ready Willing & Able

15) Darts
First: Daddy Cool/The Girl Can’t Help It
Love: Get It
Currently: I Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love

Mozalladium!

 

So, Constant Reader, there I was at 8.59 this morning, happily pressing the refresh button - which will also be my new euphymism for wanking - on the SeeTickets site to book tickets for Stephen Patrick Morrissey at the London Palladium in May. Of course there was tsouris... never let it be said that See always works ok when there is a big on-sale.
 
I had me a nice pair of stalls seats, T for Tommy 28-29, booked them, pressed the confirm button.... then because the site took so long to go on to the next window the booking timed out. I said the cnut word I can tell ye.

I stayed my hand from fashioning a noose out of the Thai sarong which was draped over my sobbing shoulders and again pressed 2 for the stalls. Hey poncho... J for John 40 - 41! Centre of the OP block 10 rows back. Cor. I might be in with a shout of catching his sweat-soaked shirt when he hurls it into the audience at the end.

I am as usual all of a moistness at the thought of seeing my SPM - and at the home of family entertainment too! I'm sure the ghosts of Judy Garland, Dorothy Squires and Johnnie Ray will watch over him...

NEW YORK DOLL: Rock'n'Roll Redemption

Went to see my only film in this year's London Film Festival this afternoon, NEW YORK DOLL a documentary on the one-time New York Dolls bassist Arthur 'Killer' Kane. I saw the 2004 Festival Hall gig covered in the film with her Dawness so 'twas right and fitting to see the film together too.

The shortish film - a mere 75 minutes - is directed by Greg Whiteley who met Kane at the Church of Latter Day Saints in LA where the former 70s rock star had found work in the Family History department. Mormonism had been a lifeline to him after a lengthy alcohol problem and a suicide attempt after the end of his marriage. The film follows the tall but strangely ethereal Arthur, taking the bus to work, going about his day job, to the news that Morrissey wants the three surviving members of the New York Dolls to fly to London to play at the Meltdown Festival he was curating.

This stroke of good luck for the film maker meant that the footage he had of Arthur talking about his journey 'from rock star to rock bottom' could form the basis of a proper film. Indeed 10 minutes of the interview footage has been previously seen in the extras on the Festival Hall gig dvd.

The events that shaped Arthur's early life are left out, his troubled family life hinted at when he reveals that he only found out about his father's death by idly going through the Family History Records where he worked. The Dolls' years are alluded to throughout the film but this too is kept to a minumum and it's just over halfway though before the deaths of Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan are mentioned, events which he is strangely never asked about.

However the film really kicks into gear with the offer of the reunion and Arthur's tremulous optimism that his biggest dream is coming true - the chance to play with estranged friends David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain once more and to show the world what it's been missing for thirty years - is wonderfully infectious and makes their London triumph all the more deserved. However fate had not finished with Arthur....

The film includes interviews with Bob Geldof, Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones, Iggy Pop, Don Letts and, of course, Morrissey. Indeed the use of his Smiths song PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE LET ME GET WHAT I WANT is poignantly used. If you hear of this film playing - and so far I don't think it's been picked up for GB distribution - I do urge you to see it.

The first time I heard about the New York Dolls was in 1973 when I saw their poster in Biba announcing they were going to play the rooftop Rainbow Room. I remember being fascinated by the famous group shot with a combatative Johansen - if I had only had the courage to buy a ticket... £2.50 including dinner!

I can only claim the giddyness of youth.