It’s all about the voice – Scott Walker

I was out in the pub with my ‘music mate’ Dave and we were discussing our specific favourite artists.

He’s a biiiiiiig Neil Young fan – so much so that he went to see him 4 nights on the trot recently – while we share a love of Cat Power, and he also worships at the altar of Bob Dylan.

I tend to fall down on the side of the likes of Nick Drake, Richard Hawley, Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush.

Then, Dave made the most astute observation about my tastes that I had never spotted before.

“It’s all about the voice with you, isn’t it?”

My god, of course it is. That’s why I love the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Regina Spektor and Scott Walker, as well. And that’s why I’m giving you this fantastic opening track from Scott 2 to listen to – Jackie.

Listen and revel in the warmth and velvety richness of Walker’s voice – wonderful!

The Kill Point

The Kill PointI’ve now watched the first two episodes of new US drama The Kill Point that’s showing on Bravo TV.

It’s like a cross between Dog Day Afternoon and 24 – a bank job gone wrong and the ensuing fallout, told in ‘real time’.

It stars, among others, Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguiziamo (pictured above) and is amazingly compelling.

I find it amazing, as I have previously expounded on this blog, that a quality series such as this can be shown on a minority channel such as Bravo.

Yes, it’s American and, as such, has more dollars behind it, but it’s streets ahead of much of what this country produces.

And yet, and yet, it only gets shown on a non-terrestrial channel and reaches a minimal audience. Astounding!

Anyway, if you get the chance to check it out, Wednesdays, 10pm on Bravo. You won’t be disappointed!

What the government really gets up to

CocaineThe front page of the freesheet Metro this morning loudly proclaimed that it costs the more to have a pint of beer, as it does to purchase a line of coke. Apparently, ‘in London the average price of a pint – at £4.06 – is dearer than a hit of heroin.’

Now the thing I found mildly amusing about this story was the presence of 5 words at the end of the first paragraph of this story, namely “according to offical government figures”.

This basically implies that somewhere in Whitehall, there is a department that keeps tabs on the cost of drugs.

You can just picture the scenario, can’t you?

“Fancy coming for a lunchtime pint, Pete?”

“Sorry, mate, I can’t. I’ve got to pop out and find out how much it costs to get an eighth of coke and some heroin for a report. If I don’t get it in by the end of the day, my boss is going to kill me!”

And there was me thinking that they spent all day writing boring memos and faffing about on Excel spreadsheets!