#MusicalOddity

[chris-c-koontz]

Grave Original

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: G is for Grandmaster Flash.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

My friend Joe tagged me in a tweet once; it was from Relentless (the energy drink). They were hosting a music blogger competition and he thought I’d have a good chance in it. The challenge: review a gig and send it in. The prize: a year being Relentless’ in house music reviewer. A foot in the door in an overcrowded and unkind industry that I had been hokey cokeying in and out of since I was fifteen. I hadn’t and have never given myself fully to the ambition in the fears of unemployment but this seemed like my chance - a way to get there without risking a stable future.

So I had a go. Unsurprisingly, I chose Arcade Fire, I had seen them at Hyde Park a few months earlier. And amazingly, I made the top five out of hundreds of applicants - a real pat on the back considering I hadn’t studied journalism. We had one final challenge to compete on: a gig review: Grandmaster Flash at the O2 Brooklyn Bowl. I managed to book it off at the part time job I had, citing “life changing opportunity” as the excuse.

We had around a week to prepare. I had heard of the Grandmaster: ‘The Message’ was nearly in every advert or TV series and Shaun and Ed dance to ‘White Lines’ in ‘Shaun of the Dead’ with a zombie. But I’ll admit, I wasn’t an expert, indie bands with dodgy haircuts were my area of expertise - GM was the godfather of hip hop, the inventor of scratching and DJing. So I spent seven days listening to his discography, reading every website I could find and plying my DJ dad with questions on tech and the historical context of The Grandmaster. I even prepared interview questions on the off chance that we would meet him.

The day arrived and following advice from my friends and family, I really dressed up, nearly all in black with a very on trend co ord set with creepers to match. I had enough make up on that you could probably scratch it off with a credit card. I wanted to feel confident and glamorous. I just ended up looking a bit overdressed and try hard. Anyway, we did some interviews with the brand and filmed some footage for the competition. We all spoke about our experiences, of which I had the least. And somebody said how pretentious it was to use a notebook during a gig for notes, which I always did and was planning to do tonight. My bag had never felt heavier or lamer. 

We separated out and began to observe and enjoy. I had to get my book out in the fear I would forget the samples GM was using. These were the days before I had an iPhone. It was a great gig and I made sure to show this in my article. The ‘master’ part of his stage name was well deserved, the whole performance was effortless and full of surprising cuts and changes to his classics. It was an education into the world of hip hop.

We all parted and wished each other good luck. I didn’t win, which was at the time saddening but also understandable. The girl who had was thoroughly lovely and talented. Whereas,  I had a long way to go within my own work and style but the whole experience did remind me that I could do it, with or without a formal qualification. Here we are years later with a (partially) successful blog and self assurance. And what’s more, I had found a new appreciation for a genre of music I hadn’t known about. I later saw Grandmaster Flash of my own accord and without the notebook.

[tonycutronemusic]

Tony: “A double grand piano!? Are you f’n kidding me!?” 🎹 CutroneMusic.com #cutrone #cutronemusic #piano #instruments #musicaloddity #brussels #europeantour (at Musical Instrument Museum)

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: F is for Futurama festival.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

When I was younger, me and a few friends were in a post-punk band. One day in rehearsal, my mate Peter said “You’ve got to come and see my friend’s band - they’re called Wasted Youth’. I thought, are they a reggae band? At the time, there were a lot of reggae bands with ‘youth’ in their names. Anyway, they weren’t, they were post-punk like us and were playing in Canning Town at a pub called the Bridge House.I saw them a few times and really liked them. Then we found out they were playing at the Futurama Festival, held in Leeds. 

It was September, 1980 and the Saturday of the two day festival; we didn’t get tickets for the Sunday. I got up really early to get the bus to the newly opened Hackney Central station and then onto Canning Town to the pub. We were dressed quite outrageously and I was a bit scared. Dressing like that back then was risky.

One by one we all arrived to get the coach up. It was four hours long and the furthest North I had ever been. We turned up to the Queen’s Hall, a former tram depot near the station. It was cold, damp and wet, the old tram lines visible inside and it was so dark that if you wandered away from the stage, you couldn’t see anything. 

There were some big names playing that day: Soft Cell, Altered Images, Modern English, U2 and Echo and the Bunnymen. Headlining were the newly reformed Siouxsie and the Banshees. This was also one of the first gigs where I saw a large screen being used; Ian Curtis had just died and footage of Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ played. Later, Wasted Youth were on, all in black, entering the stage one by one, exiting the same way until just the drummer was on stage. 

We were just about to see Siouxsie and the Banshees, who were top of their game after their recent release ‘Happy House’ but then the coach driver said he wanted to go home… so we missed them. Never mind. 

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: E is for EMI.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

It was Autumn/Winter 1976 and I already knew punk was coming. My older brother was working at EMI, a massive record company and organisation. They not only produced music but owned a pressing plant, venues and electronic goods like fridges. 

My brother Eamon with Glen Matlock, the Sex Pistols’ bass player in the background.

At this point, the Sex Pistols were signed there. Them and my brother would go drinking at a club called the Speakeasy in London’s West End. So I was privy to a lot of information and the occasional bit of merchandise or single. This time I was lucky enough to have received a demo single of ‘Anarchy in the UK‘, produced by Chris Thomas with a B-Side called ‘I Wanna Be Me’, produced by Dave Goodman. It came with a fanzine press release with pictures of the group which I foolishly gave away. No one else seemed to have the single even though the band were a household name for all the wrong reasons. They had caused nationwide outrage with their appearance on Bill Grundy’s show, where they had vulgarly sworn on live television for the whole country to hear. 

The track  jolts out of the record player - a game changer. All of a sudden, everything else sounded old, creating a year zero in music. I didn’t even know what anarchy meant, I was only thirteen and had to look it up to find out. No authority, no government - an anti hero track that didn’t want to get to number one. Ironically, it only reached no.38 for such a seminal record that everyone knows and finds meaning with. 

The Sex Pistols wanted to destroy the past, the music establishment and big acts like the prog rock ones of the time. They want to bring things back to basics, away from the ‘old fart’ music of hippies. But because they were making such a fuss in mainstream media, they were dropped by EMI who didn’t want to be associated with their riotous image. They were dropped again until they were signed by Virgin who then produced ‘God Save the Queen’ later on.

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: D is for Craig David.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

It was the start of a new millennium and pop was popping. Boy and girl bands were storming the charts, trampling over the footprints left behind by Take That and the Spice Girls. 

And every Saturday morning, you could find them performing on CD:UK, ITV’s answer to Top of the Pops. It came on straight after Ant and Dec’s ‘SMTV Live’, the highlight of any 90s kid’s weekend. Pokemon, Wonky donkey, Catdog: the show was glorious.

So believe me when I say I hit the ceiling when my mum said we were going to see SMTV one weekend. 

Basically, it was the best morning of my life. Ant and Dec were in their prime; my little belly was in pain from all the laughter. After the show, CD:UK started, but it seemed that because I was so young that we wouldn’t be able to watch. Luckily, we were snuck in and sat on the arch (that surrounded the SMTV Live presenters) right at the top. Westlife, Atomic Kitten, Gareth Gates, Craig David... it was basically everyone who had a hit in the early noughties. And nearly all of them were dressed in white, some with matching feather boas.

Anyway, we were leaving and my uncle (who got us the tickets) told us to wait behind for him in a lounge. And then the celebrities started to ebb out. I met all of them, just before they left to a crowd of press and other fans outside. 

Gareth Gates

Liz from Atomic Kitten

But where was Craig David? I was desperate to meet him. I already had an autograph sent in the post from him but it wasn’t enough. Bitterly disappointed, we started to get our things together to leave.

Out he came, white beanie hat and matching roll neck and he came to take a photo with us! 

Please imagine the cutest, little cockney voice here when I shouted out after, ‘Thank you Mr Craig David!’. Even he laughed at how cute it was.

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: H is for The Human League.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

I met a girl once who asked me to go see The Human League. They had been supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees - I hadn’t taken much notice of them because The Banshees were so big at the time, eclipsing most others. 

It was 22nd June 1979, I was only sixteen and had just left school. For me, this was the last year of punk;  people had stopped dressing like Sid Vicious and fashion was changing. I had a pair of suede chelsea boots, black pegs and a Jesse James shirt, a copy of one sold at PX in Covent Garden. 

Anyway, The Human League were formed in Sheffield in 1977 by Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. Oakey was a former hospital worker who sang almost part time for the band - a paid singer. The other two, the creators of the group, were creative students. 

The Human League was the UK’s answer to Kraftwerk. They were a cross between them, glam rock and funk. But they had a wide range of inspirations: soundtracks from A Clockwork Orange and John Carpenter’s horrors; Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’, (co-written by Giorgio Moroder); Eno’s input on Roxy Music; Bowie’s ‘Low’; Joe Meek’s production values. All of these influences culminated in them being the UK’s first true electronic group.

They were playing at the Marquee which was on Wardour Street, Soho, which was really different back then, full of sex shops, movie and music stars but empty by 7pm.  It was a little venue where bands played every night, often with big shots from the music industry in the audience looking for new talent. 

It was £1.50 to get in. First up was a band called Spizzenergi, a band from Birmingham who changed their name every year. They were a mix of electronic and guitars, a perfect opening act.

The Human League came on, no other band at the time were like them.  Unusually, they had two keyboard players (Marsh and Ware) and Oakey was very tall, in platform boots, an asymmetric ‘wedge’ haircut: barely any hair on one side, very long on the other. They also had a visual director (Philip Adrien Wright) who played slides and projections during the performance that reminded me of George Orwells’ ‘1984’. The dark and moody set matched their equally shadowy earlier work. They played ‘Being Boiled’, their future hit, rumoured to have only cost £2.50 to make.

They were a breakthrough band on the electronic scene alongside Gary Numan, Ultravox, Visage. But they needed to have hits. The band split into two halves. Oakey and Adrien-Wright kept the name and had two members join them. The others made Heaven 17.

Being there was special. I saw the original, industrial band before they became a worldwide pop group; a part of musical history which many people were not privy to.

[mimmerr]

How do I start my own education blog?

The other day, I was mentioned on Twitter as someone to talk to if you want to know about blogging. I know - madness. The compliment inspired me to write this post, passing on everything I’ve learnt onto you, should you wish to join the wonderful world of #edublogs!

Do I need to tell you why writing online is a good thing? If not you can skip this part, I won’t know. Blogging is a great way to connect with other educators, share your worldview and have your opinion challenged. You’ll learn loads, improve your patience and writing skills and a bonus - someone might read it and think it’s fab!

So where to start? Setting up.

There are many websites you can pick from: Wordpress, Weebly, Medium and Tumblr. From what I have seen, Wordpress is the most popular: it is an easy to use site which serves a beginner well. 

But Molly, you use Tumblr! 

Yes, yes I do. Tumblr is less popular but I picked it because it’s very simple to post and edit my blog’s appearance. 

Your site has .co.uk not Tumblr. 

That’s because I bought the domain after getting used to blogging. You can do this with most blogging sites but don’t worry about this for now.

The URL

There are loads of great articles on picking a good URL by people that are much smarter than me. Do some Googling to find them. In the world of edublogging, you’ll be glad to know that it’s quite easy to get right. Many people will just copy their Twitter URL across: simple, effective and links your accounts together. Other people may have more of a brand style title like mine. 

The blank page

So it’s all set up but what to write… that was the whole point! Disaster strikes as the blank page stares at you, reminding you that you can’t do this, leave it to someone else. No! All writers, new and experienced, have periods of creative waterfalls and pitiful puddles, you will be no different, forgive yourself and make hay when it’s sunny: aka write loads when the ideas come. 

During those trickier times here’s what I do to get ideas:

Read education news sites and write an opinion piece. It goes without saying, don’t plagiarise the post and if you use any facts/quotes, link back to the site.

Create a blog series that has a concept, enabling you to continue adding to it. See my examples: #MusicalOddities, #CommunitySpirits.

Find someone to collaborate with on a post, sharing ideas on what to do.

Complete a writing challenge. These enable you to read other pieces and join a community with other writers. Also creativity is high when you are given constraints or a theme. Try Hannah Wilson’s daily one.

So if I run an education blog I can only write about education? 

No hun, you are a chameleon, teacher in one light and a film buff in another. If there’s one thing I would change about #edublogs is that I’d love to see people write about their interests outside school. It shows your reader who you are *insert Disney song here*, can engage non-edu people and encourage others to have a life outside school.

The Dos(ish) and Don'ts (ish)

The reason for the ishs above is that it's very easy for me to say: people hate reading, 500 words or less only! Or only write about current issues. Whereas in reality, these rules are more nuanced and are dependent on who is reading. Therefore, I would say:

Vary your word choice depending on the purpose. Research pieces are rightly longer whereas opinion pieces are shorter. Always think: does this need to be explained/described or will my audience already know this info?

Have a mix of different purposes (research, opinion, creative, response) or have a style all your pieces follow.

What about structure, planning and SPAG?

You are not taking your SATs! These components of writing are important but should you find yourself less confident about one area, please don’t let it stop you starting a blog. So what if you spell a word wrong? If I see a spelling mistake in someone’s work, I just think, That’s a spelling mistake, never mind. And that’s the end of it. I’ll go and make a cup of tea and never think about it again. 

Structure is hard to get right at first but planning using bullet points or a mind map as well as proof reading refines this skill quickly. You don’t necessarily need to have a point per paragraph, let it flow. 

My tips would be: 

Scan your work for repeated words, ideas and phrases

Argue with yourself and consider the opposing view, these easily build paragraphs which link

Vary paragraph size where appropriate

Read your work from conclusion to introduction to ensure the ending is as good as the beginning.

But these are my preferences, not a prescriptive list.

Reception (not the year group)

A lot of people can be apprehensive about blogging because they worry about employers finding their sites. And to this I say...fair enough *shrug*. We are constantly telling our children that what we share online sticks and this rule applies to us. What your blog is about will dictate how this affects you. On one side of the spectrum, we have those who anonymise completely and on the other, are those who link their blogs to school accounts. But unsurprisingly, most of us sit in the middle, known as one name (Molly or Mr/Miss A for example). 

Some guidance though:

Don’t name staff, children, specific and identifiable situations. No one should read your blog and think that’s literally me or my child… :(

Unbelievably, you can criticise something without sounding rude or unprofessional. But consider: is your blog the right platform for this? For example, exploring why you believe academisation is bad on your blog sounds reasonable. Explaining why your school shouldn’t become an academy in excruciating personal detail is questionable and blogging is not the place to have the debate. It is in your head’s office, hopefully with tea and biscuits. To summarise, wider issues good, smaller ones in identifiable detail linked to you, bad. Some effective phrases are: ‘Across the country,” “In many schools,” “It is very common to see...”

And follow any advice from your teacher training/employer on e-safety and privacy. A blog (unless you change the settings) is a public space everyone can access.

Reality’s bitter sting

You’ve spent an hour on the post, tweeted it out and sent it to your mum. And she is the only reader. Now, I learned my lesson that sadly, the world doesn’t revolve around me and my blog. Shocking, still upset about it. But, there is nothing I can do to change this; I can’t expect someone to drop everything in their life to read my post on why dogs are the best thing that have ever happened to me (and the planet/universe).  So, do go in with a mindset that anyone reading your blog is a real bonus, an honour. Even better if they respond to you. Then you’ll be less disappointed at first. 

If you are super keen to have your work read, most people on #edutwitter are genuinely lovely people who will, if you tweet them a link and ask them to retweet. But it is crucial should they do the same, you return the favour, kindness costs nothing.

That is my advice for anyone starting out and as I’ve mentioned, this is very much my opinion, and what has worked for me and my strange little brain. I am sure someone could go through every single point and explain why I’m wrong but hopefully no one has time for that. 

You are more than welcome to visit my Twitter (@mimmerr) and tell me your blogging tips or ask a question. I’ll be writing more advice as soon as I’ve learned more myself.

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: A is for Arcade Fire.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. 

You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

Being a fan of Arcade Fire is almost synonymous with being a hipster nowadays. Often with the admittance to being a fan comes either the ignorant eyeroll or mutual handshaking. For whichever response you give, usually there is an understanding that despite your opinion, Arcade Fire are a talented bunch and by bunch, we mean ‘at least ten’ according to Google. 

Anyway, here are some oddities that even the seasoned fan may not have come across.

From their latest EP, comes the understated but brilliant ‘Put Your Money on Me’. This, the original demo, is reminiscent of the widely celebrated ‘Her’ soundtrack and a dark techno club.

Is there any bigger compliment for a band than the Bowie seal of approval? Arcade Fire very much had it, so much so that Bowie features on ‘Reflektor’ as a third voice. But back in 2005, he sung the band’s hit ‘Wake Up’ at a live performance.

Neon Bible is dark, gloomy and could lower the spirits of any happy bunny. And this version isn’t any different, except you might find yourself slightly elevated; it’s recorded in a lift.

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: C is for Crocs

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

We spoke to Denna Hall for this post.

Crocs was a nightclub in Raleigh,  Essex. Being a soulgirl, it was almost a natural home for people like me. By the time I was going there, the soul/disco scene was dead, people were doing human pyramids and using whistles.

I had a friend who had moved out to Canvey Island. She and her now husband said “You’ve got to go to this club. It’s brilliant, it plays all the music we like and the bands there are really good.” So me and my friend Jenny went up by train, slept in the station after we left and got the milk train back the following morning. We kept coming back every few weeks when we could afford it.

It was amazing. Everyone was dressed outrageously. Often you found there that the men were more outrageous than the women. A lot of them would wear leather peaked hats, leather jackets and leather straps that went across the chest.  One of my clearest memories is of a bloke with bright red hair, standing on end paired with blue eyebrows. I remember being totally awestruck as a young kid from Upton Park. But I got it and it was for me. 

We wore winklepicker shoes and aimed to be more flamboyant from one week to the next. Some of us had ‘wedge’ haircuts - I based mine off Phil Oakey’s as I loved The (early) Human League. Everything was about the hair. Mine was black but I used to spray it with gold spray. One time I was in a car, having a cigarette and I managed to set it alight.  And as I tried to bat it out, I realised it looked quite cool and left it.

I loved the music there, a lot of electronic stuff but overall a combination. Disco featured, like Machine’s ‘There But for the Grace of God Go I’- a classic Crocs track. They also played ABBA’s ‘Voulez Vouz’. Depeche Mode played there often and they never got canned (beer cans thrown at them) because they were good and local boys too. Same with Culture Club, who played their first gig there. They were very different before they became successful. They were more like (a better) Bow Wow Wow back then.It was hard to impress at Crocs, if anyone who gave it large, people would take the mick. 

It was called Crocs because it had two crocodiles (but I only ever met one) kept in glass near where the toilets were. But for me, that was one of the least memorable parts.

[mimmerr]

#MusicalOddities: B is for Bowie.

The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.

It was May 1976 and I was playing football outside with my cousin in Stamford Hill. My dad had just died - it had only been a month. My uncle turns up in his really flash Jaguar, he said “Jump in the car, we’re going out.”

We were driving for a while and it must have been at least half an hour. As we’re driving along a road, I noticed loads of people with different coloured hair. These were the first punks and soulboys/girls of the time. You never saw people with hair like that then. We’re getting closer and I realised that we were going to Wembley Empire Pool - I had seen Cockney Rebel there a few months before. Anyway, we pulled up, my uncle said ‘Here’s two tickets to David Bowie.” 

I was twelve, my cousin thirteen: we were young and on our own. We walked through glam rockers and punks all dressed up. Five thousand of them ready to see Bowie on the second leg of his Isolar/Station to Station tour. His records had been re-released to much success and his new, monochromatic image meant he was cooler than ever. Bowie was king.

He didn’t have a support act, instead he put on a 1920s surrealist film by Salvador Dali called ‘Un Chien Andalou’. After that, the beginning from Station to Station came on, building up and up, but there was no band, just the curtains. And then all of a sudden, David Bowie came on. We were at the side - everyone surged to the front. There was nobody sitting in their seats, hundreds and hundreds of kids - the oldest people there would have been in their twenties. 

Bowie was wearing a black waistcoat and matching pegged trousers, white shirt and his hair was slicked back, still orange yellow from ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’ - The Thin White Duke. He started to play; it was pandamonium; Bowiemania at its peak. 

Setlist

Station to Station

Suffragette City

Fame

Word on a Wing

Stay

I'm Waiting for the Man (The Velvet Underground cover)

Queen Bitch

Life on Mars?

Five Years

Panic in Detroit

Changes

TVC15

Diamond Dogs

Encore:

Rebel Rebel

The Jean Genie

Halfway through the show, whilst Bowie was offstage, probably having a cigarette, the band did a twenty minute instrumental version of ‘Panic in Detroit’. Then he came back for an encore, ‘Rebel Rebel’ followed by ‘Jean Genie’. We later saw him leave in his black Mercedes limo. 

I remember telling other kids that I had seen Bowie at Wembley, they’d say ‘You’re a liar, that didn’t happen.’ 

It did happen.

- Bradley Hall.