Iain McNay 12/05

BOOKS

Bob Harris - The Whispering Years The autobiography of BBC Radio and TV DJ Bob Harris. Whenever I the pass the OXFAM charity book shop in Marleybone High Street in London I always pop in and walk out with a few music biographies. Most of them are new with press releases still inside. There is obviously one or more reviewers who supply them with books. This is were I found this book and initially I wasn't sure whether I would read the whole book. I actually did in the end and enjoyed it. Bob hasn't had an easy life at times and seems to be pretty honest in his story.

Nina Antonia - The Prettiest Star (whatever happened to Brett Smiley?) The book initially appears to be just the story of the Andrew Loog Oldham protégée Brett Smiley. It's actually as much about the life of author Nina Antonia as Brett. It is cleverly written with a quite fascinating intertwining story. Nina is an excellent writer and I can highly recommend this book. You may never have hear of Brett but you will want to listen to his records after reading this.

FILMS

The Woodsman Intelligent story of a paedophile now back in the real world after spending time in prison. Definitely worth watching

Edukators Made by the same director as 'Goodbye Lenin.' A political protest goes wrong and ends up in a kidnapping. The films starts to get interesting with ten relationship between the hostage and the kidnapers but runs out of steam at the end.

Dig! Brilliant! Filmed over a 7 year period it covers the relationship between the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Some amazing pieces of footage, one of the highlights being the onstage fight between members of the later band at a record company showcase show. Unmissable...

Mayor Of Sunset Strip A documentary about KROQ radio DJ Rodney Bingenheimer. He seems a bit of a sad character in himself but what makes the film interesting is the interview footage with many former punk/new wave artists such as Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Deborah Harry etc. It also heavily features a larger than life Kim Fowley. It is actually quite compelling viewing in the end...

Downfall The last days of Adolf Hitler in his bunker in Berlin. The basic story is from Hitler's former secretary who was there so it is presumably fairly accurate. Hitler is portrayed as a very disturbed, unbalanced character who had completely lost the plot but also actually did have a human side as well, which is probably the way he was.

Biggie and Tupac I don't know so much about rap music but I found this film quite compelling. it's a Nick Broomfield documentary which traces the story of the deaths of both these characters.

Metallica - Some Kind Of Monster This is really a quite extraordinary documentary. I have never particularly been a fan of Metallica's music but this film about the making of their 'St Anger' album is fascinating. It seems that without their highly paid ($40,000 a month) residential therapist this album would never have been made. Maybe all bands would have a therapist around, now there's a thought....

GIGS

Television - London Tom Verlaine is back in London as part of the Meltdown festival put together by Patti Smith. It was all very authentic, Tom spoke maybe 10 words in-between numbers during the whole set. Low key, but great music. A good evening

Cream - London Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce reunite once more for four legendary shows. I was happy to be there, you can't get a much better evening than this...

Albert Hammond - London A showcase evening by the man who wrote 'The air That I Breathe' 'Free Electric Band' 'When I need You' etc. He's still writing great songs...

Martha Wainright - Oxford Rufus Wainright - Reading Brother and sister, two weeks apart. Rufus has undoubtably got the better songs at the moment and he also has a much stronger stage presence. But Martha is getting there; will be interesting to see who is the bigger artist in a couple of years time. time.

Donovan - Reading A bit of a strange evening, he seems to have lost the plot a bit...