Are you a winner? I'm not really, but I once worked with the Queen of competions, who was always scooping up sackloads of prizes - cash, clothing, holidays, furniture. Her dead cert' technique was dead simple - have scattergun goes at any/every cut out competition. She was constantly collecting coupons, completing snappy captions and telling retailers why their treats where so tasty in twenty five words or less.
I've only ever won one 'answers on postcard' prezzie - it was in the eighties Bowie fanzine 'Starzone'. I can't remember the question but the prize was a promo poster for Eno's 'Apollo' album signed by the pop boffin himself and cover artist Russell Mills. I've got it framed somewhere.
These pic's (Lolly Pop and Jack Pott) are taken from the always excellent Fleetway Street.
Marmite has a sizeable collection of them, Piley's is Betty Page shaped, Bleecher's is modelled on a Mexican motif, Jack Gestures (no blog) is a Joy Division tribute - what are they? Tattoos of course!
I always wobble between do I really want one? What design to go for and where should it be fused forever? Although I've been sitting on the tattoo fence for so long, it's unlikely I'll take a tumble now.
But what I have noticed this summer is a sudden surge in girls with foot tattoos - sprinklings of stars, floral motifs or crazy curls - but why the foot? And why suddenly so popular? And how do you keep still during a crazy combo of tickle and torture?
And why in the name of Darth Maul would anyone want a facial tattoo? - Doesn't that just mark your card as nutterpsychospacecadet straight away?
So how about some hard core tattooed rock monsters then?
Rose Tattoo - 'Bad Boy For Love' Featuring Angry Anderson - singer of 'Suddenly' (The Wedding Theme From Neighbours)
Michael Monroe - 'Dead, Jail or Rock n' Roll' Michael Monroe was the former frontman of Hanoi Rocks - a band that created a metal template later cloned and copied by bands like Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses.
I'm a long time browser of Axe Victim's rocking blog, and watched from an offstage observer's POV whenever AV has blogged about his band Magic Ship's influences, lyrics and how the group have been tweaking and tuning themselves into a ship shape rock group.
So I knew then, that the debut album 'Love Tel Motel' wouldn't let me down - what I didn't expect was a thunderous non stop rocker that rolls from Faces and Stones stompers like 'Fly' and 'Love Tel Motel' to Reef and Primal Scream strutters like 'Standing Taller' and 'Love and Glory' via Ronnie Lane-Floyd-CSN style stoner strummings of 'Monkeyphonic Alphabet' in one fully formed and funky bundle.
If you fancy cruising through guitar shaped soundscapes of two fisted classic rock with a catchy pop topping and tunes that leave a flaming trail of bourbon, diesel and desert dust in their wake - treat yourself with a trip to the 'Love Tel Motel' - this album is going to be the soundtrack to summer for me and I would guess anyone who hears the Magic Ship shaking their rocks off.
But don't just take my word for it blogging legend Rock Mother dedicated an entire Romo For Real Podcast to ver Ship's blistering debut album, and Ivstanki has a live bootleg of Magic Ship's maiden show available for download.
So rock and roll over to either of the Magic Ship sites for dates and details of the album, live shows, new songs and to meet my favourite new ship mates...
Who was the anonymous boffin that invented predictive text? In principle it's a neat and nifty idea, but in practice I usually want to smash the sodding phone to smoke and splinters. Here's a few examples that I've almost become bitextual at translating without any mental blinking..
What I Want - What I Get Don't - Foot Go - In Home - Good If - He
Other assorted oddities include..
Time - Vindaloo Paragraph or Paracetmol - Parachuting
And in some farcical fingers 'n' thumbs fumble - I once signed off causing confusion and cringed shoulders for the textee "that's great news thief"
Part two of my list of bits and bobs that seemed to have dropped off of the eighties radar Yes the Nine O'Clock News Not the Nine O'Clock News was must see TV at the time. It's the comedic link between Python and the Young Ones, so why is it so consistently overlooked and underplayed - why don't we ever see any repeats? It's easily forgotten that scenes, sketches and songs were discussed and dissected in Senior Schools and Common Rooms all over the UK following the previous evening's show and that the records books and tapes all sold by the shedload (including Rowan Atkinson's 'Live in Belfast' album)- I saw a DVD of NTNOCN recently and could remember almost every line (including the exact intonation) and piece of incidental music having not seen any episodes for at least twenty years.
Eighties - Greyties Those rotten grey sort of shapeless combat troos worn by Howard Jones or anyone over thirty with squashy white trainers and a pastel polo or checked shirt (a moustache was optional) - see also the opening titles of 'Who Dares Wins', Channel Four's criminally forgotten reply to the NTNOCN.
Dressing Up Can Be Fun Boxing - JoBoxers, weren't the only Popstars that sparred with boxing clothing and imagery as a stylish icon - Spandau Ballet, Wham and even Bowie had a pop.
Jazz Club - Blue Rondo, Modern Romance, Animal Nightlife, Sade, Carmel all riffed on the theme of Jazz moods.
Kings Of The Wild Frontier - Davey Crocket tassle jackets and check shirts were must wears for one month in early 1983 - see also Theatre of Hate, Aztec Camera.
Splatter Horror, Splatter and Slasher films became cultural currency in the early eighties, with teens and twenty somethings trying to out trump each other's video nasty badges of honour. Titles like 'Basket Case', 'Evil Dead', 'Last House On The Left', 'My Bloody Valentine', 'Cannibal Holocaust', 'Nightmares in a Damaged Brain' were all documented in full blooded detail in Fangoria - see also 'Thriller' and....
