There's a two hour Kurosawa film on at the BFI next week which I quite fancy seeing in which a mild mannered civil servant learns he has incurable cancer. I've asked a few mates if they want to come with but strangely they all said no. Anyone? No? Oh.
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When I were but a lad I would often pitch up to see the young Billy Bragg performing, usually just him and a guitar in somewhere obscure like a bar in Piccadilly called something like The Captain's Table or Cabin (they gave out playing cards instead of tickets I do remember). And I saw him in his hometown performing at a civic hall in Barking.
I've met him twice. The first time was a blag on my part. He was a support act for U2 at a massive concert called The Longest Day at Milton Keynes Bowl in 1985. I had to look it up to discover that Burning Spear, The Ramones and The Faith Brothers were also on the bill.
I was at the Ilford Recorder and I persuaded the concert's PR to let me have two backstage passes on the basis that Billy Bragg was from the paper's patch. I took fellow reporter Brent Baker (it must have been all that alliteration) who went on to invent the idea of I'm A Celebrity for ITV many years later.
We got our passes and had a great day. When Bragg came off stage the PR insisted on introducing us to him. 'But I'm not from Ilford' he said, to which I revealed my deception. So he insisted I ask him questions which ended up being 'did you go to Ilford a lot' and 'give me a funny anecdote about you and Ilford.' He was brilliant, played ball and it made a decent piece in the Recorder despite the fact we didn't cover Barking.
I was reminded of this by a story in the papers today. Billy now lives in a quite big house in Dorset and his neighbours have been getting spiteful anti-Bragg hate mail from some vindictive sod who may or may not be in the BNP. Personally I've nothing against Socialists making money out of their talents. Nothing's too good for the workers after all. But what I noticed was the particularly high number of BNP Trolls who have left comments on the Daily Mail website under the story. Just look at the green arrows of approval for all those who have expressed a sympathetic voice for the far right. It's quite a concerted campaign and would be a lot more effective if racists could spell. Here's a link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344406/Musician-Billy-Bragg-victim-malicious-hate-mail-attack-Dorset-village.html
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It's not just the Mail though which attracts looneys. The Guardian carried a story about the new Sky channel devoted to HBO and other US series like Mad Men, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Boardwalk Empire which is supposed to be the next big thing. All natural viewing for your average Guardinista...except when they are brought to you courtesy of Rupert Murdoch who, in the eyes of some achingly stereotypical Guardian readers, is a cross between the Great Satan and the Yorkshire Ripper.
The number who said they would miss out on programmes they would clearly enjoy - as well as top sport - simply because it was Murdoch owned Sky was remarkable. But so too were the number who said they would buy US series on box sets instead, not realising Murdoch gets royalties from the sales of many of these too.
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And while we're on the subject of the press, just a note to say how much I support my mates at Solent, the Southampton based press agency who got an exclusive interview with the father of murder victim Jo Yeates, sold it to the Southern Evening Echo and saw it lifted word for word by PA and syndicated far and wide. PA is the country's national news agency which is supposed to set the standard for others. Well, it used to. Now it's just a cut and paste factory and while the old guard toil away to produce real stories, the penny pinching wankers who run it can't be bothered to properly staff the biggest breaking stories in the country. I hope Solent sue their arses off quite frankly.
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How much do the BBC pay to host a tournament which claims to be a world championship but is, in fact, a contest for darts players who are not good enough to play for the proper world title shown on Sky?
Must fly...Solly
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