If You Knew Suzi

I don't normally approve of name-dropping, as I said to the Pope the last time we were hanging out. But sometimes you have to make exceptions. This is one of those times. 

Last Sunday night I got to meet one of my long-time favourites, Ms Suzi Quatro. The setting was a back room at the Hippodrome Casino, a tower of tat near London's Leicester Square. The occasion was the latest in a series known as "An Audience With Hayley Palmer". 

I must admit I wasn't previously familiar with Ms Palmer, who presents music chat shows on Sky and the likes, but she was very personable. The room only took 50 people which worked well for this sort of event as we all felt involved. 

Some members of the audience were a little too involved. There was a slightly scary super-fan who claimed that she knew Suzi better than the friends who had accompanied Suzi to the event and an irritating pillock who seemed to think we were there to listen to him. 

Others were keen to share their musical claims to fame such as being involved in an unspecified way in an album with Priscilla Presley, having attended a dinner that Nicky Chinn was at, playing the same kit as Nigel the drummer from Saxon, and the woman whose Nan had told Mickey Most off for putting his feet on the table. I thought about mentioning my pivotal role in bringing Tsonga Disco to the masses but didn't want to upstage them all.

One of the more admirable claims to fame was from someone who had recently helped record a charity Christmas single on behalf of the Care Workers Charity. This is where my enormous media influence comes in handy. Head to this link if you would like to support a good cause. 

Suzi herself was great fun. As you may have suspected she's not exactly backwards in coming forwards and as well as some anecdotes about her career we were treated to her thoughts about astrology, the nature of evil, the spirit world, poetry, Elvis, in-laws and Ryanair amongst other things. She also shared a cautionary tale about why you should never take five laxatives shortly before going on stage in a white jumpsuit. 

Here are a couple of my favourite Suzi moments from this century. First is a stonking Goldfrapp cover from her 2011 album "In The Spotlight" on which she subtly points out the tune's resemblance to one of her own, while the second was written especially for the 4 CD boxset of the same name that came out in 2014.

 "Strict Machine" - Suzi Quatro

"Girl From Detroit City" - Suzi Quatro

Pun Fun 2: The Contenders

Voting is now open for Pun Fun 2. Readers were challenged to adapt a song title with a fruit or vegetable related pun. Collectively they have contributed some excellent produce. It has been like Harvest Festival here at Leggies HQ this week.

I am particularly pleased to welcome four first-time punsters: Martin, Mister F, Pete From Minnesota and The Swede. I hope your efforts bear fruit (or vegetables as applicable).  

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

You can either submit your votes in the comments section or email them to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk if you prefer to preserve the sanctity of the secret ballot. 

The deadline is next Sunday (14 December) and we will announce the results a week today. 

Here are the contenders, listed alphabetically by artist. 

1. Guava Little Love - Bay City Rollers
2. Lettucey - The Beatles
3. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Zucchini - Brian Hyland
4. Beet Beet Beet - The Damned 
5. The Aubergine Genie - David Bowie
6. Onion of the Snake - Durian Durian
7. Kumquat May - Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman
8. I Yam What I Yam - Gloria Gaynor
9. Changes in Lettuces, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett
10. The Return Of The Los Palm Hearts 7 - Madness
11. I'd Like To Peach The World To Sing - The New Seekers
12. Hang On To Your Mango - The Peach Boys
13. My Cherry Amour - Stevie Wonder
14. Life Durian Wartime - Talking Heads
15. Sprout - Tears For Fears

Exercise your vote wisely and remember to join us next Monday when we will reveal who's the top banana. Whoever it is, it definitely won't be Juanita, Lorna or Nana as they forgot to enter.

"Juanita Banana" - Vicent

"Lorna Banana" - Junior Byles

"Nana Banana" - U Roy

Yeo Dudes

If you are reading this on Bandcamp Friday you may want to briefly interrupt your hectic ordering schedule to check out "Echoes/ Anam Cara" by Falmouth's own Blind Yeo. 

The album came out last year and was created by sticking two earlier EPs together. It is very good record but they are even better live, as I discovered when I saw them down at the Shacklewell Arms earlier in the week. 

There are hints of Steve Hillage on the record; live they go full Cornish pixies on ecstasy. Home-made costumes and lizard masks, bongos and swanee whistles, band members whirling like dervishes in the mosh pit (and falling over in a non-dervish manner), all held together by a great rhythm section. They would be an asset to any 1970s free festival, or anywhere else for that matter. Go and see them if they pass through your town.

"Echoes: Remember" - Blind Yeo

Blind Yeo have a brand new single out, also on Bandcamp. Here is the video.

Ernie's El Dorado Pt 10 - El Salvador

We are on the tenth leg of the tour and we have arrived in the smallest and most densely populated country in continental America. I refer of course to El Salvador, famed for having fought a war over a football match, having the highest crime rate in the world and being the only country to date to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender. Crazy guys!

It's not all dodgy though. El Salvador is also packed to the rafters with forests, volcanos and beaches and the local cuisine is widely admired. The national food is the pupusa, a flatbread that gets its name from the language of the indigenous Pipil people. 

There is a myth about a monster that used to eat them (the Pipil not the pupusa) - you can learn more about it here. As for the pupusas, there is no bigger fan than Rene Alonso so we have shared his tribute to them below.

Rene is followed by Lito Barrientos and his pals. Lito headed south to Colombia way back in the mid 1960s where he enjoyed much success in the local cumbia scene. Today's choice comes from his 1965 debut album "Very Very Well".

One of the biggest bargains on Bandcamp must be a compilation called "Sonidos Perdidos de Centroamérica", released on the Tujaal Sounds label from Guatemala. It contains 45 vintage tunes from across Central America all available on a 'name your own price' basis. This will not be the only time I will be referring to it during this series.

For this episode the third and fourth selections both come from "Sonidos Perdidos de Centroamérica". I have not been able to find biographical details for either La Organizacion  or Chando Orellana I'm afraid, but Chando churned out lorryloads of organ-led flute-infused funk in the 1970s, including this take on a Deodato tune.

Also emerging in the 1970s were one of El Salvador's biggest ever bands who enjoyed huge success for over twenty years and seem to still be going strong today - Fiebre Amarilla. The track I've chosen was first released as the B-side to their debut single in 1971, but I found it on a compilation called "Desde el Salvador... Unidad".

We leap forward in time for the last three songs, starting off with The Vibes. You may be familiar with them already as George featured them in a guest post for Rol's 'Namesakes' series earlier this year. This song comes from their 2016 album "F*** The Vibes" and I suspect it might be about a certain American politician. 

Gabriela Triste is up next. According to the blurb "her unique brand of Latin Pop has been prominently showcased on respected platforms like KEXP, KCRW, Dublab, Remezcla, and numerous others worldwide". I was under the impression Remezcla was an eczema cream and I've never heard of any of the others, but never mind. What I do know is that this single from last year is a cracking little pop song.

Which brings us to the MAR slot. It would probably be more accurately described as MAS (Mandatory American Ska) and will hopefully leave you all wanting mas. Here are Blue Beat Makers with the title track from their 2019 album "Enamorado De Ti".

"Las Pupusas" - Rene Alonso y Su Banda Lasser

"Cumbia En Do Menor" - Lito Barrientos y Su Orquesta

"Quien Esta Aqui" - La Organizacion 

"Super Sould" - Chando Orellana

"Nada Tienes Que Hacer" - Fiebre Amarilla

"Señor Naranja" - The Vibes

"Venus" - Gabriela Triste

"Enamorado De Ti" - Blue Beat Makers

We have a truly splendid set of videos for you this time out, starting with a remake of the Rene Alonso tribute to pupusas that features a nifty dance routine and one of the finest pairs of eyebrows you could hope the see. 

Pun Fun 2: The Theme

We are back with a second edition of Pun Fun, the exciting new feature where I give you a theme and you adapt the title of a well-known song to reflect that theme. Anyone who missed the first edition can find the results here.

But before we reveal the new theme a sharp-eyed reader has spotted a possible elephant in the room. They asked whether your fine efforts can technically be described as puns. The possibility that they can't worried me because, frankly, "Adapting the Title of a Well-Known Song to Reflect a Theme Fun" is a much less catchy title.

So I dug out the Oxford English Dictionary, which knows a thing or two about this sort of stuff. It defines a pun as "the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect".

It may be stretching it a bit, particularly for some entries, but I reckon the underlined words mean we just sneak in. Any English teachers out there are welcome to comment, but only if they agree with me.

With that out of the way, welcome to Fun Pun 2! After doing sports and sporting equipment last month we are keeping things healthy. Inspired by a visit to the London Fruit Exchange - I went in with an orange and came out with a banana - the new theme is:

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

The rules are the same as last time. You each have one entry only (not five a day please). Entries should be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Saturday 6 December. Voting will start next Monday.

I look forward to hearing from all the founder members and hopefully some new faces as well - such as The Swede, who would seem to have an inbuilt advantage on this particular theme.

To warm you up here are three songs that are definitely about fruit and vegetables and could not in any way be deemed examples of "prurient puns" (Tobias Smollett, 1746, cited in the OED).

Happy punning!

"The Green Pumpkin" - S.E. Rogie

"The Plum" - Lord Melody

"Don't Touch Me Tomato" - Josephine Baker

Free Ride with Green and Robyn

I hadn't planned on posting anything today but Khayem's post earlier this morning and Adam's recent one on Nick Drake reminded me of when I went to see Scritti Politti, Robyn Hitchcock and Alexis Taylor in the back room of a local pub and Green and Robyn duetted on a cover of Nick's "Free Ride". 

Home-made video below, proper review of the gig here. Back with the theme for Pun Fun 2 tomorrow.

Wide Eyed And Wreckless

Last Friday night found me at London's lively Lexington public house and music venue for a gig by Wreckless Eric that was timed to coincide with the release of his brand new album "England Screaming".

While the album may be brand new the songs on it are not. All of them originally appeared on an album called "A Roomful Of Monkeys" that he put out 40 years ago under the name Captains of Industry and on which he was backed by assorted Blockheads. It sunk without a trace and the few that heard it didn't much care for it. Eric has decided the time has come to give the songs another go.

I have never heard "A Roomful of Monkeys" so can't compare the two albums, but if it was half as good as the new album the record-buying public of 1985 were fools to themselves. "England Screaming" is top notch and a worthy successor to "Leisureland" and "Transcience", Eric's previous two albums both of which rank among the high points of his long and illustrious career.

Eric and the band treated us to a few tracks from each of those two albums on Friday as well as running through "England Screaming" in its entirely. It was a great set and I particularly enjoyed the extended freakout version of "Fish Factory" from the new record on which they seemed to be channelling Crazy Horse.

As an extra treat Eric teamed up with his better half, the marvellous Amy Rigby, to open the evening with a selection of songs from the three albums they made together between 2008 and 2012 (all of which can be found on Bandcamp). As always the two of them were utterly charming.

We are spoiling you with a track from each of Eric's albums mentioned above and one from Eric & Amy's eponymous 2008 album which Amy told us when they played it was written for their respective daughters.

"Lifeline" - Wreckless Eric

"Standing Water" - Wreckless Eric

"California/ Handyman" - Wreckless Eric

"Please Be Nice To Her" - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby

Of course, they finished the night with THE HIT.