The Chi Lites Had It Right the First Time: We are Neighbours

I'm so tired at the moment that instead of waking up when my radio alarm goes off I just incorporate whatever news bulletin is going on inside my dream.

This morning the Today Show did an item about how sectarianism still exists in Northern Ireland and so in my dream I met a Catholic Irishman, then walked down the country road I was on and started chatting to a Protestant.

It's depressing that in this day and age we still live in a divided society. The avalanche of delight and profound meaning of President Obama's inauguration has highlighted that the United States still has strong racial divisions, and with sectarianism still existing in the North of Ireland, Westerners can't look at the Palestine and Israel smugly thinking "not on our turf", because it happens every day in any town in Europe.

The news story reminded me of this magnificent Chi Lites song:

It's long over due for a re-issue.

Happy Birthday Edwin Starr - Wish You Were Here

Checking out all the amazing Sam and Dave stuff in the below post made me remember the incredible Edwin Starr gig I went to at the Jazz Cafe back in October 2002. I was so sad to hear of his death in Spring 2003, but I do remember his son doing back up vocals and what a knock-out voice he had, so I thought if I checked out Edwin Starr's website maybe I'd see if his son was playing anywhere soon.

It turns out today would have been Edwin Starr's 67th birthday.

So here are some beautiful tunes of his. Edwin Starr was always my favourite soul singer when I was younger. I wish he could've been here to see President Obama.

Can't wait until we get the hell out of Iraq.

He kept his voice right until the end.

I've danced my feet off to this tune! Again and again! It was the ultimate floor filler for a longtime. Definitely due for yet another comeback!

Check out his shoes!! The only time I've ever liked slip-on shoes for a man! The man had style!





Here's a really cool documentar about him. What an amazing guy, exceptionally gifted and lovely too:

Hold On! He Came! - Sam Moore Put His Dispute With Obama Away and Played the Inauguration

Samuel David Moore, the legendary soul singer who put the Sam in Sam and Dave, put aside his dispute with Barack Obama to play a historic inaugural ball, this one was the Creative Coalition/BGR Group's.

Sam Moore had previously objected to Barack Obama using one of his tunes as a campaign song.

Sam Moore had previously been a Republican activist and once re-recorded his song "I'm A Soul Man" as "I'm a Dole Man", in support for the 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole.



He's obviously come round to the momentum of the occasion and what it means for equality. He had previously sent this message to Obama:

I do wish you well in your quest for the nomination. Having been hit with rocks and water hoses in the streets, in the day with Dr. King as part of his artist appearance and fund raising team, it is thrilling, in my lifetime, to see that our country has matured to the place where it is no longer an impossibility for a man of color to really be considered as a legitimate candidate for the highest office in our land.

What an amazing man. One of the greatest musicians of the 20th century and a formidable civil rights campaigner who stood side by side with Martin Luther King Jnr.

There hasn't been much reporting from the Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball yet, but that will probably change in the next few days. Hopefully there will be some nice youtube footage of Sam Moore playing President Obama's former theme song, Hold On, I'm Coming.

But more interestingly, an interview with Sam Moore on what he thinks of President Obama and the whole historic occasion.

There are only two downsides to the party, 1. President Obama didn't attend this ball, just loads of Hollywood types, 2. Sam Moore performed at least one song with Sting. Sting and his wife are so gross and cheesy they make my skin crawl. They're just a couple of liggers.

Anyway, less of my bitching.
This is one of the coolest songs of all time.
Hold on! President Obama is here!

OMG Check out their dance moves at 1.38 wowowow

President Obama: A Beautiful Day For the Whole World

I woke up to pre-inauguration reporting on Radio 4 and before I'd even left my bed I had tears in my eyes, listening to the stories of an elderly black lady talk about life under segregation and the wonder and beauty of finally having a black person become president.

At work it was all I could do to keep myself bawling my eyes out with joy! I managed to maintain myself, but I was excited and edgy.

When the big moment came and Obama was sworn in and the chief justice called Barack "Mr President" I was overcome with relief, he did it! He made it to become 44.

I am so happy. Today is a beautiful day. Obama is a wonderful leader. He will be good for the world. He is black, he is white, he was partly raised in Asia, and had a father that was a Muslim. He will build bridges in many ways.

The world needs someone to rally behind. Someone with a positive message. The Rolling Stones sing that if you try sometimes you get what you need. Well, the world needs Barack Obama.

And he is the product of a fatherless single parent family. So while the Daily Mail and co would have cast him as a joy rider, a delinquent, a druggie, a leech on society, he is going to make the world a better place.

Let's all be inspired to change for the better, achieve our potential, and reach out and help each other.

Credit Crunch Hair: Even Hollywood Aren't Getting Their Highlights Done

Just as I was worrying I might end up looking like Kathy Beale, I get validation from Hollywood that growing out your highlights is a stylish thing to do.

Cameron Diaz turned up at the Golden Globe Awards last week with this Barnet:


Is she giving her hair a well deserved break from peroxide too?
Here she is looking none-more-blonde in the Holiday (a film I saw last week which really wasn't as bad as you'd think)


I think the Credit Crunch blonde look, of growing out highlights, is going to be the hair look of 2009. I hope!

At What Price Happiness? Rolling Stones News

I've got a big birthday this year, and I'm very excited. I'm already organising a party and sending Save the Date emails to peeps.

A party is all about people, drinks, a dancefloor and great music. So what better way for me to celebrate my new year with a set by my favouritebandofalltimetheRollingStones.

It's so nice to know that should I want to get them to play they do private bookings.

All I need is a spare $5.2million.

The most I've paid for a ticket to see the Stones is £150. Worth every penny:

UK Vogue - February 2009 - First Impressions

I've read every issue of British Vogue since September 1992, and seeing that silver envelope land on my doormat every month still gives me a big surge of excitement and intrigue. I tear open the packaging with gusto, wondering who'll be on the cover.

This month I was so surprised the cover star is Cheryl Cole!


I think it's a shame that someone as beautiful as Cheryl Cole feels the need to colour her skin with orange paint, that makes her look like she has psorosis of the liver. So it's fantastic that Vogue persuaded her to change the habit of a lifetime, and now her skin tone looks of nature.

The main downside to the cover, is that Vogue couldn't persuade Cheryl to ditch those hideous unreal-looking real hair extensions. When she started in Girls Aloud, Cheryl had gorgeous natural hair, untainted by Russian imported extensions, but now she has so much extra hair it looks like a wig.

However,it's a much better cover than tango-skinned Victoria Beckham's:


WORST COVER-LINE
Cheryl Cole - The story we all want to know
Really? I think it's one I've read a million times (and written a bunch of times) in OK! magazine.
I haven't read the piece yet, but one of the pull-quotes made my heart sink:
"I never denied hitting her and, yes, I would have hit her again at the time. That's what we were taught on the estate: you have to defend yourself."

It is folly for Cole to say that she'd hit the nightclub worker again, after having been convicted of assault, and being a role model for such young girls. However, I haven't read the whole feature yet (by editor-at-large, Christa D'Souza) so I'll reserve my judgement.

BEST COVER-LINE
World Wardrobes - Who's wearing what where
I love these kind of articles. Last year Vogue had a fantastic feature that was such a talking point for my friends and I, called "I Always Wear". It had pictures of notable women talking about their wardrobe staples, whether it's asymmetrical (Tamara Mellon) or bright red (Jasmine Guinness).

This month it features business women from around the world and what they wear every day for a week. The most interesting wardrobe is that of managing director, Roohi Jakishan, who lives in Mumbai and has a spectacular east-meets-west wardrobe, comprising of jewelled saris, lace, mini-kimonos and tiger prints.

CAN'T WAIT TO READ
-Meet The Parents
Hadley freeman on what on earth you wear to meet your new boyfriend's folks.

-Bad Karma Clothing
Clothes that have brought you bad luck

-Sale of the Century
Janine Di Giovanni, one of the best writers to have their work featured in Vogue, writes about YSL's personal art collection.

WILL PROBS READ LAST
-Style and Sensuality
It's about sex and fashion.
In all my years as a Vogue reader, the magazine has never really had a successful sex feature.

SPRING SUMMER 09 CATWALK REPORT
Best Bits:
-Finding out that Vogue is trying to bring back mini-rucksacks 90's stylee! Their most coveted item is a python leather (boo!) rucksack by Gucci. Looking forward to seeing them made out of other fabrics.

-The list of things designers from Stefano Gabbana to Giles Deacon would be if they weren't in fashion.

-Emma Watson and Her Front Row Friends
Loads of pics of the young fashionista with other A-Listers.

Worst Bit:-Being told we're going to have yet another summer of a rehashed boho and nu-rave colours.

Kid Goats Blog!

The previous post has inspired me to put up loads of cutie pics of my fave animal.
My Grannie used to be a goat farmer you know. I had a fun childhood!

Fur In Fenwick: Response from the Managing Director

Good news.

I mentioned the other day that when I was shopping in the Bond Street Fenwick before Christmas I was disappointed to find a goat fur DKNY jacket in the ladies wear department, as Fenwick has always been one of the most staunchly anti-fur stores in London.


Well, I received a very reassuring email from the department store's managing director, Jill Strieder, and it does seem that the stocking of the goat fur jacket was a one-off mistake. Here's what she had to say.

Dear Miss Curran,

Thank-you for your letter regarding the goat fur jacket in DKNY. It is
Fenwick Bond Street policy not to sell animal fur and as to how this jacket
has slipped past the rules I do not know, but I am having the matter
investigated.

I do hope you will not allow our lapse of standards to spoil your enjoyment
of the store and I would like to thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Yours sincerely,

Jill Strieder
Managing Director
Fenwick Limited

Fenwick is one of the best department stores in London, not just because of it's anti-fur policy, and stocking of many animal friendly fur alternatives, but because the staff are so well trained, know their stock, and the majority of their merchandise is tasteful, quality and traditional, yet stylish.

I'm so glad to hear they maintain their anti-fur policy.

The Devil Wears Prada: The Documentary is Coming Soon!

Hooray! A documentary film about Anna Wintour is being released later this year, and it's probably going to really good because it's just been nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Festival.



The film is called the September Issue, and follows Wintour and her team, as they work on what's probably the most important publication of the fashion year.

You may have seen the issue, it's from September 2007, and had more adverts than any other magazine ever published, and is the largest ever issue of Vogue in terms of pages.


Subscribers to the magazine, were sent it in a clear perspex cover, and it had bamboo handles, so you could carry it around like a handbag.

It was just brilliant. A lovely issue. And, I actually love the cover. Sienna Miller must have been elated to achieve her first ever US Vogue cover, wearing Valentino, red lipstick and divine pencilled in eyebrows.

Director R.J. Cutler, who most famously produced the Supersize Me TV spin-off, 30 Days, talks here about the project.


Every move Wintour makes adds to her own legend. It does seem like the old Devil is capable of creating much of the mythology surrounding her.

Highlight Grower Outer Heroine Found! Pattie Boyd!

I was having so much trouble trying to think of a style icon who grew out their highlights and still had the magic dust, and although I thought of three modern heroines, who look stunning with dark roots (see below)I was clueless when it came to the classic 60's/ 70's rock and roll femme.

When finally it dawned on me. One of the ultimate ones! PATTIE BOYD!

Here she is looking as pretty as a picture, a chemically enhanced blonde, next to gorgeous George Harrison:

And here she is with her natural hair colour on her wedding day to Eric Clapton

And with blonde ends and dark roots:


The answer seems to be, that if you are groomed, style your hair well, and don't act like a shlumpadinka (as Oprah puts it) your grown out dark roots might even look quite intriguing. However, if you don't make an effort with your appearance you can look a bit Vicky Pollard.

Shit Band, No Style, Awful Music, Bit Chubby = Burberry Contract

The lead singer of the worst band of 2008, One Night Only, is now starring in Burberry adverts. Whose psychotic idea was this?

It's not the campaign I object to (hanging out in greenhouses looks like fun), but why him? Has no one at Burberry actually heard One Night Only?

I do hate this crappy, affected vocal that is so popular right now. It's like the Libertines gone bad, crossed with Jack Penate and a nod to Dexy's Midnight Runners. Proof of their poopness:

This faux pas is on a level with the most misjudged Vogue cover of all time:

Why do fashion workers seem to be completely clueless as far as music is concerned?

US Vogue Cover: So Wrong, Yet So Right

Anne Hathaway is, as my mother would say, a pain in the frigging proverbials. She is on the cover of Vogue, and yet she is to fashion what PC World is to food. Utterly irrelevant and completely clueless. Yet after the Devil Wears Prada came out, she said that the film had made her "understand fashion", and she turned up at premieres looking smug yet uncomfortable in boring, personality devoid dresses chosen for her by someone else.

For some freakish reason, Anna Wintour thinks that (a) her smug, slapable face will sell magazines, and (b) she deserves to join the iconic pantheon of Vogue cover stars. Bollocks.

Here she is:


However, here's the shock. I've made quite clear my loathing for poor, young Miss Hathaway, however, I would buy this magazine in a flash. Why? Because of the positive Obama headlines!

Oh Anna Wintour, you savvy one!

CHANGE!
Yes You Can!

Nice that Wintour knows she'll sell more mags with a coverline like that. And it just goes to show the Christ-like appeal of Obama's own philosophy. It has globally permeated every level of culture and society. Anyone who's read the Secret will know what saying positive mantra's will do for you.

Yes we can. Change. The world.

Let's start with Anne Hathaway.
Joke! I'm sure she's a charming young woman. My dislike for her is really because of this scene in this film:

I should learn to love her, after all, she is an Obama-Mama too:

Yes we can. Change. Elizabeth from bitching about Anne Hathaway.

Credit Crunch Hair: Will growing out highlights affect my mental health?

In case you hadn't noticed, I love being blonde. It's like I have a halo around my head, or a permanent sunbeam coming out of the top of me.

However, after highlighting my hair for what seems like a life time, the ends of my hair had the texture of cotton wool, and looking in the mirror, my face looked alright, but my hair just looked knackered and stressed out.

So I haven't coloured my hair since September. I kept meaning to make an appointment with my fabulous hairdressers (windlehair.co.uk, the salon where I got the best colour of my entire life), but then I think, "Ooh roots! Kinda fun! Oooh my mystery natural hair colour! What is this exotic, natural wonderment!"

Sadly, roots aren't that much fun, but with four months growth going I may look a bit unkempt, but my hair hasn't felt in such great condition for years.

It feels so good that I'm even considering reverting to my natural hair colour, which I haven't had since pre-pubescence!

I've been looking around for style icons who've done it and look good but they are few and far between.

Chanel muse and former teen-chanteuse, Vanessa Paradise looks sensational, but with a face like that who cares about the hair!



Sarah Jessica Parker didn't get her roots touched up for the last series of Sex and the City and, to be honest, I thinks she looks much more gorgeous as a blonde:



Eva Herzigova still looks sensational with growing out highlights:

And then she chopped off all the dyed bits:


But again, if you have the face of a supermodel of course you're going to look amaze.

Going au naturel with your hair colour does seem the right thing to do, in terms of hair quality, fashion and this nasty credit crunch (when I get my hair done it costs £200 a go!).

But I wonder what it's like being a dark blonde? Will I continue having a good time, all the time, with my hair as god intended? I do wonder if it is all bollocks, about the hair colour that matches you skin tone best being the one you're born with. I mean all of the above women are beautiful, but, with the exception of Vanessa Paradise, they all look so much better as bright bouncing, vivacious blondes! (IMHO)

Gilt Groupe: The Club Even Groucho Marx Would Accept Membership To - If he was into fashion

I just found out about this INCREDIBLE website called www.gilt.com.

Allow Gilt Groupe to explain itself:
Gilt Groupe is a private online community, which is dedicated to providing its members with access to coveted fashion and luxury lifestyle brands at sample sale prices. You must be invited by an existing member to join, and there is no cost to join Gilt Groupe.

Doesn't that sound like absolute heaven? What I'd give for a membership! Especially when you hear whispers of people getting dresses that were $4500 for $200.

I just wish I had a friend in the gang who could invite me to join the party. It's so about who you know, isn't it. Here's hoping 2009 brings me a friend in a high place, and I ain't talking about weed.

Happy Belated Birthday Marianne Faithfull!

Dear Marianne,
Sorry I missed your 62nd birthday on the 29th December.
Hope this makes it up to you.
Love,
Your biggest fan
xxx

He Said/ She Said: Compare the Obama's recollections of their First Date

Michelle Obama has just been interviewed for CNN by Suzanne Malveaux and she warmly remembers what it took for her to be wooed by, and fall in love with, Barack:


It reminded me of Barack's own memories of their first date, that he wrote about in Oprah's O magazine:
My First Date With My Wife
Barack Obama, U.S. Senator

I met Michelle in 1988, after my first year of law school, when I took a summer job at Sidley & Austin, a law firm in Chicago. A year earlier I had been working as a community organizer in some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods, and I struggled with the decision to go to a large firm. But with student loans mounting, the three months of salary they offered wasn't something I could pass up.

Michelle worked at Sidley, too, and, in the luckiest break of my life, was assigned to be my adviser, charged with helping me learn the ropes. I remember being struck by how tall and beautiful she was. She, I have since learned, was pleasantly surprised to see that my nose and ears weren't quite as enormous as they looked in the photo I'd submitted for the firm directory.

Over the next several weeks, we saw a lot of each other at work. She was kind enough to take me to a few parties, and never once commented on my mismatched and decidedly unstylish wardrobe.

I asked her out. She refused. I kept asking. She kept refusing.

"I'm your adviser," she said. "It's not appropriate." Finally, I offered to quit my job, and at last she relented. On our first date, I treated her to the finest ice cream Baskin-Robbins had to offer, our dinner table doubling as the curb. I kissed her, and it tasted like chocolate.

I had known those student loans were going to get me a great education, but I had no idea they'd get me my first date with the love of my life.

Intensely romantic or what. Lucky them. But don't we create our own luck.

Snake-Skin: The Pallenberg look is only hot when it's fake!

I ended up in Jimmy Choo today, checking out the merchandise, and of course I was drawn to the Anita Pallenberg-style python handbags. I've got a bunch of fake snakeskin accessories, mostly in PVC, as I'm a vegetarian and try to just wear second hand leather, but I've got limited experience of real snakeskin. I used to work in a vintage clothes shop and when I left, the owners gifted me a real snakeskin bag that looked beautiful, but smelt like rotting flesh, because it was somebody's skin!

(Here's Ossie Clarke sporting one of his own snakeskin designs in the seventies. Marianne Faithfull had an Ossie Clarke snakeskin jacket which she's convinced Pallenberg stole.)

Last autumn, though, while I was in Brooklyn, I bought a 1970s snakeskin bag for $5. It's beautiful, and I wore it loads, with my fake snakeskin boots and snakeskin print t-shirt.

Here's the outfit, sans bag:


One day I went to get my hair done, with the bag on my shoulder, and my stylist told me all about the horrors of snakeskin farming. I feel so guilty for loving the handbag, even though it's second-hand, and I'm trying to figure out whether it's okay to use it or what. Am I showing the snake more respect if I use the bag? Should I bury it in the garden? Or give it to charity for someone else to wear?

For example, although I love the look of fake fur, I'd never wear the real thing, even secondhand, because in a way you're still supporting new fur being created. So why do I feel that secondhand snakeskin is different?



As an aside, there are so many fashionable women in London wearing real fur, whether it's secondhand or new, I believe it's unacceptable, and there needs to be strong campaign against it, and it needs to be as socially stigmatised as it was in the late 80s and 90s.

I was shopping in Fenwicks before Xmas, the first London department store to become a no fur zone. I always felt good about shopping there when I was a fashion conscious teen, because it was the only place you could buy La Maison de la Fausse Fourrure items which were so glamorous and better than any real fur.



When I went back there I was checking out the DKNY items and accidentally touched a jacket on the rail. It felt so fluffy, like pony skin crossed with kitten fur. I spoke to the assistant, confused at why this anti-fur shop was stocking skin! She said, "it's okay, we're allowed to stock goat skin. That's a Kid jacket."

Fenwicks sells baby goat fur. Why is this acceptable?

To be fair, I have emailed the store highlighting the above and expressing disappointment, and it could have been an oversight on the buyer's part. I do hope they re-think their policy. I'll let you know their response. It is a lovely shop, and maybe they just made a mistake or an error of judgement.

Back to the snakeskin issue:

Here's an open letter from the Vice President of PETA to Kylie earlier this year, after she was pictured with a Dior python bag:

Dear Kylie,
Greetings from PETA, the world's largest animal rights organization, with more than 1.8 million members and supporters. I am PETA's senior vice president-and also one of your loyal gay American fans (going back to "Step Back in Time").

As an entertainer who has overcome major personal obstacles, you have shown that you are unafraid to address serious issues. I'm writing to you today about cruelty to animals. You were recently photographed clutching a bag made of python skin, and as a result there has been a flurry of interest in the bag from both followers of fashion and those who are painfully aware of the excruciating ways in which these exotic animals are skinned.

Every year, millions of snakes—an integral part of jungle and forest ecosystems—are snatched by the greedy international skin trade. The animals are often impaled on hooks or nailed to trees by their heads and skinned alive. Large snakes like pythons may have a hose inserted into their mouths and be pumped full of water to loosen their skin, so it will cut away more easily. The animals' peeled, writhing bodies are then discarded, and it can take days before the animals die from the effects of shock and dehydration.

And it's not just in places like Asia and Africa where reptiles are tormented—PETA has conducted undercover investigations at American farms where alligators are bludgeoned in the head before hammers and chisels are used to sever their spinal chords. These methods only paralyze the animals—they, too, are often conscious during skinning. But exotic animal farms are rare—90 percent of these fascinating beings are wild-caught. Those who are "farmed" are usually confined to areas of wilderness that have been fenced off, but because mortality rates are so high, many wild—caught animals are tossed in with them for breeding. The endangered species of tomorrow can be seen in the fashion magazines of today.

Kylie, you are such a compassionate person—I can't imagine you'd wish to contribute to this hidden suffering, especially for something as frivolous as a fashion accessory that can be replicated with no bloodshed. These days, it's easy to have a look that kills without killing, with fake snake, mock croc, python pleather, and other designer items that pay tribute to the beauty of these animals without massacring them. Won't you assure us—and those who follow your fashion lead—that you'll no longer sport exotic skins?

Kindest regards,
Dan Mathews
Senior Vice President

I do hope you agree that snakes are much more beautiful, alive and in their natural habitat, than dead, skinned and on someone's arm.

Net-A-Porter to Launch Online Outlet Store - but it's too late for me

In 2008 I decided I hated cheap high street crap, and felt incredibly guilty for buying tonnes of disposable, probably slave-trade made items from cheapo shops like Primark. So, I made a resolution not to buy anything, unless it was going to last me a long time, was an absolute classic, and value for money.

I guess I always wanted my wardrobe to grow into Tippi Hedren's circa Marnie:


I did a good job of sticking to my resolution and just bought a navy blue, ultra mini kilt, two cashmere jumpers, a vintage white summer dress and a couple of gorgeous belts from a vintage store in Austin, Texas. (Oh and loads of gym kit, but that doesn't count, does it?)

I made the mistake of buying a paisley, Gucci rip-off, Zara floaty top:

(I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that this look is o.v.e.r.)
But apart from that I was feeling very smug at having saved loads of money, and breaking the habit of a lifetime. For the previous five years I'd basically bought at least a dress a week, so you must understand what a big deal it was for me to virtually stop shopping.

Anyway, all that smugness at my self-control did something to me by the end of the year. I felt like I deserved to shop again. When the sample sale invitations came through in November, I found myself jumping out of bed at 6am, to be the first in the queue for Burberry, Alexander McQueen and the rest. I went crazy!

Sure I got some bargains, a dress for £200 that was once £2500, a trench coat that retails at £595 for £150, but I shelled out a lot of wonga!

I do feel though, I'm getting older now (lucky me, I mean, we all know there's only one alternative to getting older), and I ought to be wearing better quality clothes. I've had a subscription to Vogue since I was 12, at my age shouldn't I be wearing what I'd always dreamt of wearing?

I thought I'd had my fill of designer items, and shopping in general, and then I discovered net-a-porter and especially started coveting this Debbie Harry (noticing a theme here) style sweater dress:



I flirted with it for agggges, and it's finally in the sale so I bit the bullet and bought it tonight in a violet-creme induced sugar rush.

I am so excited about the dress! It's beautiful, practical, I will rock that sweater dress look! But I feel painfully guilty that I'm spending even more money.

I could justify that; I'm not in debt, I can afford it, I'm keeping the economy going, and the item was made ethically in Europe from local materials....but still. Shopping in a credit crunch is a bit dirty.

I guess I'm just out of practice with this whole shopping thing.

Wotevs, it's so exciting to come up with a new look for a new year:


And at least with Net-A-Porter's soon to be launched new venture, an online designer outlet store, www.theoutnet.com wearing quality won't cost so much.

Debbie Harry on the Muppet Show!

I've been searching youtube for the Debbie Harry make-up instruction vid that I saw at the Andy Warhol exhbition at the Hayward a few weeks ago (which, incidentally, Mick Jagger also visited), and apart from a drag queen getting the Atomic look quite wrong, I've yet to find it.

However, I did stumble across Debbie Harry having a good ole time, hanging out with the Muppets! She seems so happy to be there and is so petite and cute I just kept thinking how like Barbara Goode (Felicity Kendall) she is.

Judge for yourselves. BTW I'm thinking of doing the below to my Barnet....


I have a jumpsuit just like this one too, except mine's a bit more low cut.
Loving the frog stage invasion! And that is live vocals too...


They realy should've got Miss Piggy to sing this one to Kermit:


Doesn't she look adorable in her scout uniform! Barbara Goode or what!

Studio Where Stones and Zeppelin Recorded Classic Albums Faces Closure

Some sucky news to start the new year with.


The legendary Olympic Studios, in leafy Barnes, West London, where the Rolling Stones recorded Their Satanic Majesties, Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed, among other greats, Led Zeppelin recorded their first album back in 1968, and the Who recorded Who Are You is under threat of closure. Its' owners, EMI, aren't finding the facility economically viable anymore.


You've probably seen the inside of the studio in the Jean Luc Godard film, One Plus One, that features the genesis of the song Sympathy For the Devil.

Ahh...that's just studio porn, aye.

Here's one of the most exciting bits of footage a Stones fan could lay eyes on:

Anita Pallenberg and Suki Poitier, along with Keith, Brian Jones, Wyman, Charlie and a big haired gent, whose name escapes me, are laying down the "woo woos" (which spawned a thousand dance moves amongst my circle).

I got to visit the studio myself (and hang out in that very room!) back in early summer 2005 to listen to the first recordings of the Stones' then upcoming album A Bigger Bang. As you can imagine I was beside myself with excitement.

Aw! It sho is great to studio-hang.

I do hope that the Olympic gets saved from closure.

www.olympicstudios.co.uk

For the full story, with details on other classic recordings created at the Olympic, see below for The Independent's Pierre Perone fitting tribute.


Legendary Olympic recording studio to burn out

It is the studio where scores of artists have recorded hits, from the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Queen to Madonna, Oasis, Goldfrapp and The Killers – so why is Olympic facing closure? Pierre Perrone reports

Friday, 2 January 2009


Olympic Studios in Barnes, West London, holds a special place in my heart. It's the first recording studio I visited in the late Seventies, only to find glam-rockers Slade – at a low career ebb – having a blazing row. It's where the Rolling Stones drifted into psychedelia in 1967 with their half-baked concept album Their Satanic Majesties Request, before going back to basics and staking their claim to the title of the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world with Beggars Banquet and Let it Bleed. It's where the Small Faces did much of Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, their 1968 proto-Britpop No 1 album, the one with the round sleeve resembling a tin of tobacco.



It's also where Led Zeppelin recorded their debut in October 1968, prompting engineer and mixer Glyn Johns to call the album "a milestone. That was unbelievable, quite extraordinary. I think that's got to be one of the best rock'n'roll albums ever made, and I'm just grateful that I was there," he told John Tobler and Stuart Grundy in the Record Producers Radio 1 series. "I've never got off quite as much, and that record was made in nine days, which shows you. They'd rehearsed themselves very healthily before they got near the studio. I can't single out one track more than any other in my mind, but I remember that it was tremendously exciting to make that album.

"I'd never heard arrangements of that ilk before, nor had I ever heard a band play in that way before. It was just unbelievable, and when you're in a studio with something as creative as that, you can't help but feed off it. I think that's one of the best-sounding records I've ever done," said Johns whose association with guitarist Jimmy Page went back to their teens and took in many recordings involving Page as a session player.

The Rolling Stones, Small Faces and Led Zeppelin are only the tip of a mighty iceberg. The roll call of acts that have used Olympic Studios over the last 40 years also includes Procol Harum, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Traffic, The Who, David Bowie, Barbra Streisand, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Queen, 808 State, Morrissey, Björk, Oasis, the Spice Girls and Madonna. The Arctic Monkeys, Goldfrapp, the Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, The Killers and The Zutons have worked at Olympic Studios over the last couple of years. U2 were there in December, putting the finishing touches to No Line on the Horizon, their next album, which is due out in March.

Yet the word is that current owners EMI are likely to close Olympic in 2009 and concentrate all their efforts on the equally legendary Abbey Road, the historic home of Pink Floyd and, of course, The Beatles (who, by the way, ventured to Olympic for the recording of "All You Need Is Love" and "Baby You're a Rich Man" in 1967). EMI has entered into a consultation process with the 11 staff employed at Olympic and there seems little chance of a reprieve, even if a source at Guy Hands' company stated that "Olympic staff are highly professional and dedicated. We are sorry to be doing this. EMI remains committed to Abbey Road Studios and we are working through a long-term plan to develop that business."

In its heyday of the early Seventies, Olympic achieved a turnover of £4m, and was acquired by Richard Branson's Virgin company in 1987, subsequently becoming part of EMI's portfolio when the major acquired Virgin in 1992. Olympic stopped turning a profit a couple of years ago and, with the current downturn in the economy affecting the music industry in general, and EMI in particular, not to mention the increasing tendency for artists to record at home and use computers, London has too many studios chasing too few clients. "The fact is that the studios are not profitable, like many British studios," an EMI insider admitted. "You can't get as much business as you used to. And there's no sign of that situation improving."

First established in the late Fifties near Baker Street in central London, the original Olympic employed future Elton John producer Gus Dudgeon as a tea boy and was the place where the Yardbirds cut "For Your Love" and Millie Small recorded "My Boy Lollipop" in 1964. Two years later, Cliff Adams and Keith Grant bought Olympic from owner Angus McKenzie and moved to the current address at 117 Church Road in Barnes, south-west London. A former theatre built in 1906, the premises had already been converted into a film studio and, with a bit of acoustic tweaking by Grant and architectural work by Robertson Grant, easily adapted to become what was generally acknowledged as the best UK studio by its many clients.

Olympic kept its connections with the film and TV industries and the theatre and hosted sessions for the soundtracks to The Italian Job, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Joe 90 and the original album version of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar featuring Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. The news of Olympic's likely end has prompted Lloyd Webber to comment: "I have fond memories of my first-ever recording session there when I was just 21. The closure of Olympic is the end of an era in rock'n'roll. I wonder whether the music industry has changed for ever."

Traditionally, major labels such as EMI, Pye and Decca each had their dedicated studio but the pop explosion of the mid-Sixties, combined with the rise of the record producer and the development of the album as a format, created a demand for rooms with a vibe more in tune with the musicians' needs. Olympic was always a hipper place than Abbey Road, whose EMI employees rather resembled civil servants in their outlook and demeanour. Glyn Johns and his brother Andy in particular fitted in with the more dissolute lifestyles of the Stones while the state-of-the-art mixing desks built by Grant and Dick Swettenham were the envy of the competition.

Olympic still thrived in the age of residential studios like The Manor in Oxfordshire or Rockfield in Wales and when acts became tax-exiles and began recording in exotic locations such as Compass Point in Nassau, Air in Montserrat or Miraval in the South of France in the Eighties. Olympic Studios even survived the drastic redesign which followed their acquisition by Virgin but now they seem to have reached the end of the road.

The British Music Experience – "a unique, permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of popular music in Britain" claims its website – is due to open at the O2 arena in spring 2009 on London's Greenwich peninsula, an area not exactly rich in music history compared to Olympic Studios. Of an equal standing to Abbey Road, Olympic is already a place of pilgrimage for many rock fans and deserves more than a blue plaque on the front. Maybe Hands will reconsider his decision and give the overseas acts who have often used Olympic the opportunity to take advantage of the weak pound and come and record in London again.

FIVE OLYMPIC GOLDS

Small Faces

Lazy Sunday, 1967

Small Faces spent nearly a year working on 'Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake' at Pye and Trident as well as Olympic. 'Lazy Sunday' became their second biggest hit in April 1968 but the group broke up the following year.


The Rolling Stones

Sympathy for the Devil, 1968

The Rolling Stones were ensconced within the warm cocoon of Olympic Studios and recorded the dark 'Sympathy For The Devil' under 'Nouvelle Vague' director Jean-Luc Godard.


The Eagles

Best of My Love, 1974

The epitome of Californian soft rock, the Eagles recorded their eponymous debut album at Olympic in 1972 with Glyn Johns, who also produced the follow-up 'Desperado'. However, Johns produced only two tracks on their third album, 'On The Border'.

The Who

Who Are You, 1977

Who vocalist Roger Daltrey chinned producer Glyn Johns, a veteran of sessions for The Who's 'Next' and 'Who By Numbers', during the recording of the 'Who Are You' album issued the following year. Pete Townshend's brother-in-law Jon Astley took over and the group moved to Ramport and RAK studios.


Eric clapton

Wonderful Tonight, 1977

Having already penned 'Layla' about Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton (left) was now living with the estranged wife of George Harrison. He wrote 'Wonderful Tonight' while waiting for her to get ready to go out. He did nine takes at Olympic before he was happy with the result.

SOMETHING BAD IN THE MIX – THE VANISHING STUDIOS



"The sad list of recording studios faced with closure in recent years is huge," said Jamie Lane of Britannia Row studios in London. "Whitfield Street, Olympic, Marc Angelo and Eden have been forced to close within the last year alone. This is largely due to financial impossibilities. An average record company will not pay more than £800-a-day recording fees. A large studio has to charge at least £1,500 a day. This means the bigger studios are forced to survive on recording film scores.

"Abbey Road, AIR and Angel are able to survive off these clients due to their top equipment and large recording space, but studios like Olympic, which charged as little as £800 for music recording, were accelerated to their end. The worry now is that the Government will stop film subsidies and film-makers will then turn to Prague and other cities for cheaper studios. This would be worrying for the future of even the biggest British studios."

But Olympic will not be taking its roster of former alumni with it – it is only a building. Jimi Hendrix, who recorded Are You Experienced in Barnes, is long gone. And the Spice Girls (two albums) and Led Zeppelin (their first album, plus later tracks) ought to be further gone than they appear to be. Ditto Roxy Music and Duran Duran.

The Rolling Stones made more use of Olympic than any other major act and they are, technically, still with us. All of the Stones' catalogue from Between the Buttons to parts of Exile on Main Street was recorded in Barnes between 1966 and 1971 (which means nearly all the really good stuff) and the Stones don't appear to be going anywhere very much. So we won't be losing any music when Olympic goes, only a small part of music's historical hinterland.

Nevertheless, there is something unquestionably sad about the news. There is more to a great studio than machinery. There is what "the studio" means to musicians; what it means to the very sound of music; and what a studio brings to the story of music, as a component in a narrative shaped as much by myth as it is by reality.

By Nick Coleman

Ronnie Wood and Frank Bough are Buddies!

This youtube discovery cracks me up.

Woody switching on the Hampstead Christmas Lights in November, being introduced by 80's breakfast TV host, sporter of Adrian Mole's favourite type of knitwear, and onetime tabloid sex scandal victim Frank Bough!

I didn't know what he was up to these days, but he's obviously living in Hampstead hanging out with Woody and the outrageously accented Raymond Blanc.

I love Frank Bough's Eurovision style "Happy Christmas" said in lots of different languages. Wonder if he'll be making a 2009 comeback?

PS Doesn't Woody seem on good form.

PPS Here's Bough, back in the day with assorted pull-overs and a touch of vintage sexism.

God bless Adrian Mole's hero!

Happy New Year

Yes.