Proxy Advisory

On Sunday night Mr F and I were up at The Lexington to catch a rare appearance by top Roxy Music tribute act Proxy Music.

We last saw them way back in late 2011. I don't know whether it was something we said but very shortly afterwards they went on hiatus and stayed there until earlier this year when they did a short set at a Roxy convention. They obviously enjoyed that enough to set up the Lexington gig. According to bassist and boss lady Heidi they have nothing else lined up but are open to the idea of doing more gigs if anyone wants them to. And anyone should.

The Proxies were as much fun as I remembered. Apart from closing with 'Virginia Plain' they avoided the big hits and gave us a dazzling display of deep cuts (as I am contractually obliged to call them) from the first four Roxy Music and first two Eno albums - including all those in today's set.

On the subject of Eno, why not head over to Swiss Adam's place and join in his Oblique Saturdays fun? Its as close as you can get to a Proxy Music gig in blog form.

"Baby's On Fire" - Brian Eno

"If There Is Something" - Roxy Music

"Prairie Rose" - Roxy Music

And after that bunch of phonies, here's the real thing...

Pun Fun 9: The Results

Ladies and gentlemen, the results of our cats and dogs challenge are in. The winner is:

George with "I'm A Retiever".

This is now the third time George that has finished as top dog. He is the Portuguese Pickles as they both  have a knack for sniffing out trophies. I typed "famous Portuguese dog" into Google to see if they could help me find a better analogy but all they had was Bobi the (disputed) world's oldest dog and I wasn't sure George would see that as a compliment.

Here is the top five in full:

1. I'm A Retriever - The Monkees (George)

2. Waggy Schnauzers – Madness (Rol)

3. You've Lost That Lovin’ Feline - The Righteous Brothers (Ernie)

4. Whippet – Devo (Mr Sun Dried Sparrows)

5. Spayed In Full - Eric B & Rakim (Rob)

Congratulations to our chart-toppers and a particular shout out to Rob for making the Top 5 with his first ever entry. Do we have a potential new rival to Bobi Pickles George? Only time will tell.

And that time will start at the end of the month when we will be back with Pun Fun 10, squeezing a quick one in before Christmas. Until then here are those cool cats The Monkees performing our number one hit.

Echoes Of The Past

Today we are taking a trip down Memory Lane to 1980s Jamaica with Mr Echo Minott. No relation to Sugar, Noel Phillips (as he is known to his Mum) released a couple of records under his own name before adopting his nom de plume in 1980.

"Love Problems", released in 1981, was Echo's second single and first hit. Today's other selections are from the albums "Familiar Face" (1986) and "What The Hell" (1987), both of which have recently been reissued by VP Records.

"Love Problems" - Echo Minott

"Pickney Fe Mind" - Echo Minott

"Iniquity Worker" - Echo Minott

Carrot Cake Confusion

Today's post is inspired - as is so often the case - by the works of King Khayem of Dubhed. On this occasion the prompt was his recent post titled "I Declined An Offer Of Carrot Cake" -  something I don't think I have ever done.

When carrot cake is mentioned most of us think of something that looks a bit like this:

That is certainly what I was expecting when I spotted carrot cake on the menu at the Satay Club bar on Scotts Road in Singapore. I thought it would be a nice way to round off a good meal so ordered a slice. Then this turned up:

After a confused conversation with the waitress I established that she had not got the order wrong, but that this what they call carrot cake in Singapore. I don't know why. Not only is it not a cake, there aren't any carrots in it. The main ingredients are white radish, turnip, rice flour, eggs and soy sauce. 

It may not have been what I was expecting but it was really delicious and I had at least one more helping during my visit. I am now thinking of getting a street food van and selling only the two types of carrot cake. 

I'm not sure which of the two varieties today's musical guests are singing about. The first two are from the US, the others from Japan and South Korea, so maybe a bit of both.

"Carrot Cake" - Eyelashes!

"Carrot Cake" - Mike And Amy Shift The Paradigm

"Bonnie's Carrot Cake" - Priscilla

"Carrot Cake Boy" - Slow Dress

Pun Fun 9: The Contenders

The entries are now in for the pun equivalent of Crufts and the FiFe Cat Show. And what a bunch they are. Some pedigree, some mongrel, some that made me purr and some that are just plain barking.

There are notably more puns related to dogs than cats. That does not necessarily mean that most of you lot are dog lovers not cat people but I have assumed that to be the case when selecting the videos below.

Here is the full list of contenders:

1. Just The Way You Arf - Billy Joel

2. Collie – Blondie

3. Whippet - Devo

4. Spaniel - Elton John

5. Spayed In Full - Eric B & Rakim

6. A Moggy Day In London Town - Frank Sinatra

7. Bengal-right Now – Free

8. All Along The Cat Tower - Jimi Hendrix

9. Petsagetabitarockin - Joe Strummer & The 101 Dalmatians

10. A Boy Named Shih Zhu - Johnny Cash

11. Fairytale of New Yorkie -  Kirsty McCollie & Shane MacBowWowWowan

12. Waggy Schnauzers - Madness

13. I'm A Retriever - The Monkees

14. Honapoochie Boogie - Mutt The Poodle

15. You've Lost That Lovin' Feline - The Righteous Brothers

16. Baby Got Ridgeback - Sir Win-a-Lot

17. Cairn The Cairn - Suzi Quatro

18. Stand By Your Manx - Tammy Wynette

Voting is open to all readers and not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.

The deadline for voting is next Sunday (8 November) and the results will be announced a week today. You can submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk. 

Sing-a-Song-a-Singapore

So the reason I was absent from here for a couple of weeks was because I was doing a bit of work in Singapore, stayed on for a weekend's worth of sightseeing and then hopped on a ferry to Tanjung Pinang, the main town on the nearby Indonesian island of Bintan. A full set of photos is on Flickr if you can face them.

It was my first visit to both places and while they are very different I enjoyed them both. Singapore is groaning under the weight of tower blocks and shopping malls but has a cultural mix that makes it more interesting to visit than other places that have developed at breakneck speed like Dubai. There is plenty of greenery to go with the man-made attractions as well. It is definitely worth spending two or three days looking around if you are passing through.

Tanjung Pinang by contrast is grubby and crumbling and could in no way be described as a tourist town (Bintan gets plenty of visitors but they almost all go to the resorts in the north of the island). But the people were very friendly - I was stopped by the local police who wanted to check whether I was enjoying my stay - there was lots of good seafood and all in all it is a fine place just to mooch about.

There are plenty of attractions elsewhere on the island. The highlights for me were the 500 Lohan Temple, a sort of concrete Buddhist version of the mannequin graveyard that Mr Medd and I visited last year, and the Blue Lake and dunes, created when a bauxite mine was closed down in the 1980s allowing nature to take its slightly warped course.

  

I had limited success on the local music front. There was a record shop in a shopping mall near my hotel in Singapore but it stocked almost exclusively metal (apparently there is a lively local metal scene). The proprietor had a rummage around for me and found two CDs from the 2010s by local indie bands which he let me have at a greatly reduced price. They were "Leaving Cemetery Junction" by The Caulfield Cult and "Mannequins EP" by Monster Cat (possibly prefiguring my visit to the 500 Lohan Temple).

I found no recorded music in Tanjung Pinang but did catch the opening night of the annual Wonderfood Kersi Fest which celebrates Indonesian street food and music. The hawkers were doing a roaring trade but the musical side was a bit low key - one local band and some dance troupes. Things were expected to pick up at the weekend when the Indonesian Justin Bieber Farel Prayoga was scheduled to perform. 

"The Black Plague" - The Caulfield Cult

"Mannequins" - Monster Cat

Pun Fun 9: The Theme

I am back from battling the bots on the mean streets of Singapore and guzzling down gonggong in the mean street markets of Bintan. I will no doubt bore you all about that in due course, although it may be a little while before normal service resumes here as I have people staying for a week who for some reason seem to think I should spend more time with them than with you. 

But I'm sure you are not really interested in any of that, so let's crack straight on with what I know you have been waiting for - the return of Pun Fun. 

This time out the theme is:

CATS AND DOGS

In seeking inspiration you might want to look at these lists of cat breeds and dog breeds, but you don't have to choose a breed at all. Entries can be about anything to do with either species

All entries should be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 1 November. Voting opens next Monday.

Cats and dogs don't always get along, as today's song choices show. As soon as the cats come in the dogs go out.