The rider

This stuff has been circulating the Interweb for years but as I still find it amusing here it comes again:-

Firstly, what exactly is a “rider”?? It is a set of requests or demands that a performer sets as criteria for performance in Theatre and Pop music concerts etc. Types of riders include a list of technical requests along with hospitality requests perhaps for specific foods and drinks to be supplied and transportation from hotel to gig and back etc. Technical riders can request particular instruments be provided, the type of PA system in the venue and even power requirements if the band are bringing lots of equipment that needs plugging in.

The original 18 page rider is right here.

Sometimes these “riders” may be unreasonable or excessive for a given performance. But riders were probably introduced after performers had experienced dressing rooms that were actually toilets, or there being only one power point available to plug in all their equipment. This hilarious 18 page rider was for an Iggy Pop and band tour. It may have been handed to the management of the venues they were due to perform in. Of course it could just as well be one giant spoof. Just to complicate things there are two versions of this rider. The original 18 page version from 2006 and an expanded (and perhaps not quite so funny) 28 page version on the Jos Grain website apparently used for the 2012 tour which featured James finally re-united with the original Stooges.

The 28 page rider can be seen on Jos Grain’s site here.

Nuff Said 66

I’ve just had to check the date. Is it May 1st or is it still April 1st? It’s bad enough that the once-mighty Adam Strange has recently been teamed with Johnny Quest and gang. But a team-up between Batman and Top Cat (?!?) is just too much. It’s not Brave and it’s not Bold. It’s not big and it’s not clever. It’s just silly.

The bizarre world of Len Groat

Some excellent music radio with some excellent DJing and jingles (better than most of the “pirates” output) came from the UK midlands radio station GEM AM in the late 1980s/early 1990s when it was run by the legendary Len Groat. I’m pleased to see that after a period writing books about ceramics (?!?) he (and GEM AM) are back via the Interweb (which these days is where you find any “radio” that is worth listening to). I don’t dabble with DAB any more.

Read Len Groat’s Blog here.

The current Interweb-only version of GEM AM boasts a library of 8000 solid-gold songs. All well and good I suppose but in reality all these oldies stations do tend to cherry-pick 500-1000 mainly top 20 hits which rotate forever.

Thirty one

Hooray! I’ve recently compiled another audio file. This is Number Thirty One. Here’s an opportunity to dance to yet more of the music that nobody likes.

PS: There was a time when I spent hours on this stuff. I would agonize over what tunes to include and spend an hour deciding what order they would appear in. This one from five years ago is still one of my favourites. I’m off to listen to it again whilst mowing the lawn.

Climax

“Climax Adventure Comic” was one of the numerous (eventually over 400 different titles) Australian K.G. Murray comics published between the 1940s and the early 1980s. Mostly containing black and white reprints from a variety of sources. Issue number one from 1962 contained 100 pages for 2/- and the comic continued to appear once a year until 1972. Then they went completely mad and between 1973 and 1976 it climaxed two or three times a year.

Early issues contained reprints from Fiction House, Comic Media and Charlton. Later issues could contain material sourced from Portugal and South America. The issue I own consists of 52 pages for 20cents and contains random Marvel and Charlton material.

Good Times!

Almost a year ago I purchased “Good Times!”, a new CD by the three surviving Monkees. I’m ashamed to say that at the time I just threw the CD into the car and promptly forgot all about it. Fast-forward to Easter 2017 and during my annual car spring-clean I rediscovered it.

After the less-than-stellar reunion LPs/CDs “Justus” and “Pool It”, where they tried too hard to be contemporary, “Good Times!” sounds like a proper Monkees album and is certainly their best since “Headquarters” fifty (count’em) years ago. “You bring the summer”, written by Andy Partridge features all three Monkees (Davy Jones died five years ago but does feature here posthumously on one track) and could have been a hit in any decade. Michael Nesmith’s “I know what I know” and “Me & Magdalena are his best songs in years. Mickey’s “I was there (and I’m told I had a good time)” is catchy too. Even the liner notes are interesting, and there are some free stickers (!?!). Good value from Amazon at £4.99.