Last Ten CDs We've Listened To: It's All New Wave To Me......

Greetings to our beloved blog readers in Scotland, Mexico and Serbia.......

Welcome to another entry on this blog, which will be 10 years old in September!

Our apologies to our friends in Bodrum, Turkey, a plush beach resort, which we highly recommend. We went with an image of Jaco Beach, Costa Rica (pict. bottom) on a coin toss.

The old AM clock radio is in reference to the last cd we listened to, but it's also a way for us to make fun of Rush Limbaugh, who is probably drinking shots of vodka with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, as we are typing this (the two are actually close pals).

The middle image is of soccer cleats; our first instinct was to go with Real Madrid striker Gareth Bale, but that proved to be too complicated!

Here is the list....all of these cds are indeed in the New Wave genre:


1) Psychedelic Furs. "Talk. Talk. Talk" 1981

2) INXS. "Kick" 1987.

3) Wang Chung. "Points of the Curve." 1983

4) The Cure. "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me." 1987

5) New Order. "Republic" 1993.

6) Talking Heads. "True Stories" 1986.

7) Gary Numan. "Pleasure Principle." 1979

8) The Clash. Combat Rock. 1982

9) The Fixx. Reach the Beach. 1983.

10) The Police. Synchronicity. 1983.

http://www.bodrum.org/

http://www.visitcostarica.com

http://www.thepsychedelicfurs.com/

http://www.thecure.com/

http://www.neworderonline.com/

Quote of the Day- Joe Strummer

Today, we continue our series of quotes with artistic radicals and subversives with a quip from the late punk rock singer Joe Strummer (1952-2002), leader of the legendary band The Clash.

Unlike many rock n rollers who died before their name, Strummer died of natural causes. He was actually not a user of recreational drugs, though his chain-smoking was one of his trademark traits.

Strummer also acted after the break-up of The Clash (circa 1986) in such films as "Mystery Train" by Jim Jarmusch and "Stright to Hell" by Alex Cox, who has directed the biopic "Sid and Nancy" depicting the short, wild life of Sid Vicious, the bass player for The Sex Pistols, another Enlgish punk rock band.

Here is the quote from Strummer:

"Everyone has got to realize you can't hold onto the past if you want any future. Each second should lead to the next."

Quote of the Week- Neil Diamond

While you are not likely to hear Neil Diamond on radio stations that play The Clash and Metallica, the legendary singer has endured and remains a favorite of adult contemporary radio stations from Cleveland to Kuala Lampur (we assume!).

His Neilness is not currently on tour, but you might be able to catch a performance of the Carrboro-NC based tribute band The Neil Diamond All-Stars, whose lead singer is Jack Whitebread, who does seem more like the late Joe Strummer (lead singer of The Clash) than Diamond himself but he does a great "Sweet Caroline."

I saw the trib band perform at The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro a few months ago, and they were simply awesome though I don't recall them singing my favorite Neil song "Red, Red Wine," which became a chart-busting hit for the English reggae pop band UB40 in the mid-80s.

The venue hosts the '80s New Wave band The English Beat ("Mirror in the Bathroom") on Aug. 24 which we wish were not a double-expletive school night!

Diamond also sang the national anthem for my sister's graduation at The University of Colorado.

Here is our quote from Diamond:

"I don't like all of the music to be serious and deadly."

Quote of the Week-Joe Strummer

We conclude our Quote of the Week series for May with yet another left-wing radical in Joe Strummer (1952-2002) who was the lead singer of The Clash and a character actor in such films as Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" (1989).

The Clash's classic 1979 record "London Calling" was recently profiled on the NPR show "Sound Opinions."

Politically, Strummer was one of the leading radical figures of the punk rock movement and his songs always expressed social concerns, whether it concerned American involvement in Central America or the dark side of capitalism (ie. "Rock the Casbah" which deals with the oil business).

Before I quote Strummer, I should add that I am a bit more to the political center than he was, but we certainly aren't involved in the Tea Party movement either!

We have quoted Strummer before on both of our blogs (the other one is "The Daily Vampire") so I hope we haven't used this one before:

"Yeah, all those things, responsibility, pressure. It's a bit stressful. I try to come to terms with it by not thinking about it."

Happy Joe Strummer Day...Long Live The Clash!

This photo reminds me of director Jim Jarmusch's film "Coffee and Cigarettes." It was made after Joe Strummer's death (the lead singer of The Clash died on this day seven years ago). But, the two were co-stars in Alex Cox's surreal western "Straight to Hell" (1987) and Jarmusch later directed Strummer in "Mystery Train" (1989).

And, though they don't allow smoking, The Mill Mountain Coffee Shop in Salem, Va., will be having a Christmas breakfast on Dec. 24 which will include a charity art auction.

I would write more but I'm running late for my mom's 70th birthday, and that might make her confiscate all my Clash cds!