Art Of Rap

Last Saturday I was looking through a free magazine that came with the Guardian and I saw an advert for The Art Of Rap, it's a movie starring Ice T where he talks to all the big hip-hop legends in America. The advert was promoting the movie and afterwards a live streaming of a gig and Q&A. So when I get to the cinema to watch the movie there is only like seven people there so it was pretty nice to have a whole row to myself. After watching the movie I was expecting the live stream to come on screen or at least some cinema assistant to come in and announce something but after watching all the credits, the main lights coming on and the screen turning off I came to the conclusion there would be no more. I decided to walk out after about 10 mins leaving a couple of people there who obviously wanted to stick it out. It was really disappointing not to see the live gig featuring Ice T, Chuck D, Melle Mel and Raekwon. But I was really happy to pay seven pounds to watch a one night only screening of the movie. I'll definitely buy it when it comes to DVD.

Amy Winehouse

I have finished the book about Amy Winehouse. I seriously couldn't put it down since I got it on Friday and finished it on Monday. The whole book is written from the view point of Amys father Mitch. The book was revealing in terms of Amys addiction to drugs and alcohol and how the press and media played it to the public. It was also interesting finding more out about her relationship with Blake and how that affected her mainly for the worse. I have definitely gained a lot of knowledge about addiction and how it affects everybody around. It is a very sad book about a life that ended way too early. I would definitely recommend reading it.

And I received a early birthday present. A ticket for Lou Reed at the Assembly, yea.

The Stones

When I was down in cornwall I brought a book to read during the rainy days. It is called The Stones and its a biography of the Rolling Stones as a band. I just finished reading it and started a new book yesterday. I found it really interesting finding out about life inside the band, about Brian Joneses and his death, about the changing guitarists and the drug usages & busts. I really wanted to find out more about the band because I knew about them being like one of the worlds biggest rock bands but to be honest I didn't really know the ins and outs of the group or much about them at all. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a truly interesting read.

As for the book I'm reading now is Amy written by her father Mitch Winehouse. I'm only a few chapters in to it but so far so good.

Chris Moyles

So yesterday I heard the news that Chris Moyles will be leaving the Radio 1 breakfast show. And pretty much everywhere I looked (with a few exceptions) everybody was happy and slating him in dislike. I would just like to say I think he is a really funny person and love listening to his show. Yea maybe he is rude occasionally but he is just a loveable guy, it makes it all right with me. I definitely will prefer him doing the show over the newly appointed Nick Grimshaw who I think is wholly less interesting, funny and not someone I particularly care for.

In other Radio 1ness, I am a fan of the review show on Tuesdays, and in the recent past I had a little break from it and in my return I found Edith had taken over from Nihal. Another change I'm not a fan of. I do like Edith but from what I have heard of the show with her presenting it seems to be missing a certain banteringness that was in the show with Nihal. I also much preferred the layout of the show like more guests and the scoring system etc.

Jimmy Fallon - Blow Your Pants Off

So as soon as I had a chance I put my new Jimmy Fallon album on. I was dying to listen to it after hearing the Bruce Springsteen and "Neil Young" cover Whip My Hair which was so funny and actually a really nice cover.
I also heard Walk Of Shame with Dave Matthews when it was performed live on his show and I loved it.

After listening to it I really like Balls In Your Mouth (which I'm currently learning/messing around on guitar), Scrambled Eggs which is done to the tune of Yesterday by The Beatles and features Paul McCartney.
I also think You Spit When You Talk is a great comedy song, lots of funny lyrics partly written by Fallon and brilliantly performed. The tracks I were less keen on were The Doors Sing "Reading Rainbow" basically because I didn't have a clue what Reading Rainbow was to begin with and I just didn't really like the sound of it and My Upstairs Neighbors Are Having Sec (And Listening To The Black Eyed Peas). I know he was being Ramonesy but I didn't really think the lyrics worked that well and I'm not such a big fan of BEP. On the whole it's a great album for what it is (a comedy album) and Jimmy Fallon is great at impersonating Neil Young & Bob Dylan and hopefully he continues to do so for a while. I'll definitely be listening to this for a long time and will be really interested in what he does in the future.

Local Gigs

Seeing as I don't have any gigs planned for the future due to low funds and not hearing of much happening, I figured I would browse to see if anyone decent was playing at the local Leamington Assembly. The three that interested me were Lou Reed, The Enemy and Bellowhead. The last two I have seen live before but were so good I would happily see them again and Lou Reed because it's Lou Reed basically, however he is a bit more expensive than the other two so I'll see how the money goes, my birthday is coming up so hopefully I will get some monies and that will decide it for me.

MoshCam

Basically I was messing around on my phone today checking out apps and Genius recommended MoshCam because of my other music related apps so I thought I would try it out. I have to say its really fun to use and it's good to see the amount of bands you can see performing live straight from your phone like your there in the room. So far I have watched half of The Vaccines set and interviews with the latter and Does It Offend You Yeah?, Ani DiFranco and The Get Up Kids all talking about their gigging experiences and venues etc, all really interesting stuff and I'll definitely check it out some more.

www.moshcam.com

Cornwall

Last Saturday my girlfriend and I came back from holiday in Cornwall. It was definitely nice to get away and relax. I also managed to get a good haul of music and music related products from various shops. A lot of classic albums that I really should have bought by now and some classic artists books. I'm looking forward to go back down later on in the year to visit Newquay etc. fun fun fun. It was also good to see a bunch of new CDs that I ordered had arrived along with the latest edition of Q.