Shit, this is a......(Good Picture)

Even if I say so myself.

Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt

Tags: Museum für Moderne Kunst, Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt

One more button...?

Don't for a minute believe that the Germans are a distantly reserved, analytical lot.

Not when it comes to football.

3:2 last night against Turkey and a slot in the final on Sunday (Jammy buggers - the goal uprights and crossbar had a distinct Teutonic look about them) and euphoria was still very apparent at stupid o'clock this morning at Passport Control at the airport.

This young flossy was showing her mates her t-shirt (not sure if it's uniform issue) while she checked my passport and was more than happy to be snapped.

Until I said 'Could I perhaps ask you to open one more button?'

Not at all happy, in fact.

Might have beenthe lascivious guffaws from her mates, of course.

I didn't hang around to find out.....

Don't ask me .....(about Peelers)

Gives a totally new meaning to the expression "Peeler"

Tags: Ponsonby, Auckland, Ponsonby Police Station, Peeler

Tunes for a Tuesday - 24 June 2008

Daddy Cool - Lollypop from Eagle Rock
Claire Waldoff - Mich hat ein fremder Mann geküßt in der Nacht from Perlen der Kleinkunst - Claire Waldoff
Mink Deville - Spanish Stroll from 70's
David Bowie - Golden Years from Billboard Top 100 Hits Of 1976
Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/No Limit from Los Angeles CA, Universal Amphitheatre, June 7 1978
Patty Griffin - Burgundy Shoes from Children Running Through
Talking Heads - The Girls Want To Be With The Girls from Live 9/16/78
Kris Delmhorst - Pretty how town
My Favorite - Burning Hearts from Happiest Days
Suzy Bogguss - Rosie The Riveter from Song Of America - White
Massive Attack - Karmacoma from Collected
Al Kooper - Comin' Back In a Cadillac (Live!) from Black Coffee
Van Morrison - Keep Mediocrity At Bay from Magic Time
Ella Fitzgerald - I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
PDF Format - We Shall Eat Krill
Stereophonics - Nice to Be Out from Just Enough Education to Perform
The Apples in stereo - Energy
The Souther Hillman Furay Band - Believe me from Souther, Hillman, Furay Band
Tarika Ramilison - Tsy Mandry Tapay from A World Out Of Time - Henry Kaiser & David Lindley In Madagascar, Vol. 3
Little Feat - Trouble from Hotcakes & Outtakes

Don't ask me ,,,(about "Avertissment")

Sounds like "Advertisement", right?

It actually means "Danger" in French.

Not the worst warning when you're dealing with buggers like MediaMarkt, one of the mega electronics stores in Germany.

They're celebrating Germany's successfully negotiating the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 with a massive sale.

25% off everything that costs more that €200. About $300.

25% off.

This sounded too good to be true.

In fact, it sounded as if I needed a 24" iMac quite urgently.

Toddled over to see the guy I normally deal with.

"Just what's on display" he says.

There's nothing on display.
(The only MacBook demonstrator flew off the shelf just as I turned up).

So he checks the inventory for the whole of the Rhein-Main catchment area.

Nothing.

Not a SINGLE 24" iMac in a region with a population of 3.5 million.

I don't believe this for a minute.

I know what's happened.

They've moved their entire stock of stuff they didn't want to sell yesterday and today to virtual locations and they'll move them back again tomorrow once the sale's finished.

Bastards

I shall sue....

Tags: MediaMarkt, Mainz, Rhein-Main, Apple, 24" iMac, Euro 2008

Don't ask me.. (about Trelise Cooper)

Trelise (pronounced: Trell-ease, not Trellis, as I thought) Cooper is a flash New Zealand fashion designer.

Designs for the Oscars, no less.

It should be noted that Mrs. jb occasionally shows a modicum of fiscal responsibility (which makes a change) and has yet to buy any of Trelise's kit at full whack.

(This would involve mortgaging the house, as far as I've worked out)

So we're in New Zealand at the end of summer and lurking around Trelis's place in Newmarket in search of A BARGAIN.

(As Bill Leslie would say "Reduced from the outrageous to the merely ridiculous...")

"Sorry" said the flossy wearing a cotton raincoat over a miniskirt, a cardigan that had obviously shrunk in the wash and purple cotton socks in white high-heeled sandals

"We haven't got much left. You could always try the Quay Street store. They're sure to have a couple of wrecks down there"

I kept quiet on that one.

A couple of wrecks? I know they have more senior staff down there, but it's not a Very Nice Thing to say about the chronologically gifted, is it?

So off we toddle, I have a look around for about 30 seconds before I'm instructed to go somewhere else for an hour and not get into any trouble.

Meet at the appointed time, Mrs jb loaded down with expensive looking bags (SHOCK.HORROR) and I say:

"Well, she certainly was right back in Newmarket, wasn't she?"

Blank look.

"About those geriatrics running the place. "Wreck" doesn't even START to describe them"

""Wreck". Who's talking about "wrecks"? She said there'd be some SALES RACKS here. You do come up with some stupid ideas at times..."

Good thing I kept quiet....

Boden

Lucy Kellaway embarked on one of her more entertaining rants in the FT the other day, ripping into the CEOs of Citigroup and Boden for their overly flippant and disingenuous communicative styles.

It's here as a podcast - the vitriol purely drips, although at a rough guess, I'd say it's pretty much PMS-driven (if I know anything about these things. Which I do..)

The thing that ticks me off about Boden is a disconnect the size of the Grand Canyon between Johnnie's jolliness and the dullness of his Customer Service drones.

(In contrast, the folks at Toast display a finely honed sense of ironic humour...)

Dear Johnny,

as a fellow bloke, I'm sure you'll be able to help me on this one. To be honest, I'm a bit concerned.

Ms. B is away on business and a package turned up today containing a couple of items that she'd evidently neglected to advise me of. They'll turn up on my credit card statement at some stage, I'm sure, but I unpacked them out of curiosity and am somewhat perturbed by the fact that they appear to be disintegrating as I watch them.
I've taken a couple of snaps of one of them and both collar and sleeve are showing advanced signs of the fabric equivalent of necrosis.
I'm sure these items didn't leave your warehouse in this state, so there's obviously some sort of contamination issue that you'll need to address tout de suite.
I'd like to get this sorted before the squaw returns to the tipi in a week's time. I wouldn't want to be held responsible for this.
I normally am, but this definitely is not of my making.
Best John B (Mr)

Dear Mr John B
Thank you for your email. I'm really sorry that your wife's New Printed Laundered Shirt has not reached the quality that both you, your wife and I would normally expect from Boden.
We do understand your dilemma therefore, I have immediately sent you a replacement item, as well as a free returns label so you can send the faulty item back to us.
Could you please write a short description of the fault and include this with the item when you send it back to us? Unfortunately, during our sales all orders will take up to 2 weeks to deliver.
Again, I am really sorry for any inconvenience and, if you have any further queries, please contact me.
Yours sincerely
Christine X
Customer Services

Dear Ms. X
the replacement item arrived yesterday and I really am at a bit of a loss to understand this.
You said that the original offending item must have slipped through the cracks to turn up in such a necrotic state.
The one that landed here most recently is almost as bad and I'm starting to think that perhaps it's meant to be like that?

It's quite beyond my understanding - I don't recall having bought a new car recently with intentional scratches and a flat tire - but I recall reading that furniture is frequently attacked with bicycle chains and sandpaper to "distress" it, as they say.

And the youth market appears to have taken to wearing trousers which leave the rack ripped to shreds, so there might be something to it. Although the logic escapes me.
You also didn't send a free returns label, so I'm now stuck with TWO shirts in a severe state of disrepair and no way of returning them.
Or even one of them.
I've also at this moment just had Ms. B on the phone from fields afar, tearing into me because the item now appears to be even cheaper on your website and why haven't I done something about it.
So it all appears to be my fault after all.
I've been instructed to return one of the shirts to you.
At least that's what I think I understood from the rant I've just had to endure.
I'm to ask you to send a free returns label tout de suite and also to ask you what you're going to do about the plummeting price.
I gather she'd rather like to have it for £25. (Personally, I wouldn't give you a fiver for it, but - then again - what do I know..?)
Can you help me get this sorted please. I'm rather fearful for my life if we don't and I'd hate for you to have to read about my violent demise in the papers and have it burden your conscience for life...
Help!
John B (Mr)


Dear John B
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry for the disappointment with the New Printed Laundered Shirt.
We are unable to send you a return label, as this can only be used in the UK.
When you have sent it back, please let us know the cost and we will refund it for you.
I am sorry that this has now been further reduced in our final clearance sale.
Unfortunately, as the item was already reduced when you placed your order, I am afraid that we are unwilling to offer any compensation for the difference in price on this occasion.
If you wish to return the item, and reorder at the sale price please feel free to do so.
However, I would advise you check the availability of this item first as during the sale, stocks are extremely limited.
Once again, I am sorry for any disappointment or irritation caused by the timing of our final clearance sale and, if you have any further queries, please let us know.
Yours sincerely
Elisa X Customer Services

At this point, I gave up.

And, yes, I DO know that the bloody shirt was MEANT to be like that.

Not that I understand it, of course....

Tags: Lucy Kellaway, FT, Financial Times, Letter-writing chiefs: you’re fired, Boden, Toast

"Patents give you the right to sue...."

"Patents give you the right to sue. They don't give you the money to sue. It just costs too much."

Colin Murdoch died a few weeks ago.

He invented the plastic disposable hypodermic syringe, the tranquilliser gun, a silent burglar alarm and a childproof bottle top.

Needless to say, he made bugger-all money out of them.

His philosophy was that if his inventions were benefiting humans and animals, it would be wrong to sue those who violated his patents.

Late in his life, he said

"It is impossible to comprehend the catastrophic consequences of this situation if such practices (the re-use of improperly sterilised syringes) were still occurring today... Instead of now having to care for, and contain, the several million infected people throughout the world who have Aids, the numbers could well be 30 or 40 per cent of the entire population."

Just let that sink in for a sec.

His obituary in the Telegraph is here.

Tags: Colin Murdoch, plastic disposable hypodermic syringe, tranquilliser gun, silent burglar alarm, childproof bottle top, obituary, Daily Telegraph

Tunes for a Tuesday - 17 June 2008

Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
Jeff Beck - I've Been Drinking (Stereo Mix) from Truth
Slayer - Necrophobic from Reign
In Blood Dispatch - Water Stop from Silent Steeples
Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman from The Best Of Aretha Franklin
Tristan Prettyman - New Soul (Yael Naim cover)
Editors - Lights from The Back Room
Mutton Birds - Wellington from Salty
Sinthetix - Liar from An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease
Finest Dearest - Your Hometown from Finest Dearest/Finest Dearest
Little Feat - On Your Way Down from Dixie Chicken
Michael Harlow - No Problem, But Not Easy from Classic New Zealand Poets In Performance
Fairport Convention - Fotheringay from The History Of Fairport Convention
The Jam - Away From The Numbers from Collection
Phil Perry, Merry Clayton, Ricky Lawson - Spanish Moon from Rock And Roll Doctor - A Tribute To Lowell George
The Blakes - Pistol Grip from Live in the 91.7 WEEM/MOKB studio 11/28/07
Haindling - Zur Freiheit - Paula 2000 from Filmmusik
Steve Lawrence - Pretty Blue Eyes from Billboard Top 100 of 1960
Toto - While My Guitar Gently Weeps from Through The Looking Glass
Ollabelle - See Line Woman from Riverside Battle Songs

Don't ask me ....(about Job Title Inflation)

The ever-entertaining Private Beach in Hong Kong comes up with the Most Pretentious Job Title of the Week (as well as taking me to task for the use of the word "whence". Point taken - I should have used "whither"...!).

I was mildly convinced that I'd posted this classic Americanism, seen in Freeport,ME.

You take a sausage out of the steamer, put it on a bun and smother it with ketchup or mustard and whatever else they do - a pickle probably features prominently in the process - and then take the customer's money.

Now, that's the "Vending" bit out of the way.

Someone's just going to have to explain the "Executive" bit to me...

Tags: Private Beach, Homg Kong, Vending Executive, Freeport, Maine, lobstah roll, hot dog

Arbi..what?

Arbitrage.

Finding a commodity that's cheaper elsewhere and can be obtained with minimal resource commitment.

I stumbled over a fairly obscure but quite exquisite Springsteen track the other day while navigating David Lindley's 3D immersive viewing PicLens wall.

He was stoically doing some radio PR stuff on the Bob Rivers show at ZKOK in Seattle earlier this year (and suffering some pretty dire questions in the process, especially in Part 1) and played a song on the Weissenborn that was utterly - to my enduring shame - new to me: "Brothers under the bridge"

It's on "18 Tracks", but it probably stayed under the radar for the pseudo-orchestral/ aching steel guitar backing.

Dave's version is stripped down to - well, Dave and the Weissenborn.

Sublime.

So I figured it's probably worth the investment to get hold of "Tracks", the 4-CD box set from 1998.

MediaMarkt, the local electronics megastore, has it for €50. $75

Amazon.de has it at €45. $70

An Amazon.de Shop €30. $45

And Amazon.com?

$30.

About €20.

Including shipping.


David Lindley - Brothers under the bridge from "Live at ZKOK"

Bruce Springsteen - Brothers under the bridge from "18 Tracks"

Tags: Brothers under the bridge, Bob Rivers, Seattle, ZKOK, David Lindley, Bruce Springsteen, Tracks, 18 Tracks, MediaMarkt, Amazon, PicLens, Weissborn

Bionade Economics

Bionade is the soft drink equivalent of the garage band made good.

Here's the story.

The Peter Brewery in a 4000 soul town in Bavaria was on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 1980s.

The company's Master Brewer and family friend, Dieter Leipold, reckoned that if he could make a soft drink that was fermented in exactly the same way that beer is brewed from natural ingredients, there might be a market for it.

Better than rolling over and playing dead, anyway.

So for 8 years, he experimented.

Using a bathtub.

He burned €1.5m of the owner's money in the process, until he finally isolated a strain of bacteria capable of converting the sugar that normally becomes alcohol into non-alcoholic gluconic acid, which he used to ferment the new drink.

Came onto the market in 1995 in 4 flavours - elderberry, litchi, orange-ginger and herb - and found its niche in health resorts and fitness centres.

A very small niche.

But by 2002, it had got some traction with its healthy image and newly designed retro branding and sold 2 million bottles.

Last year?

250 million.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, every bastard and his brother got on the bandwagon, some of them charging even more than the original.

So what's the classical response if you want to protect or grow your market share?

Right. Cut your price and ramp up your production.

Wrong.

You increase your price from - get this - 59¢ to 89¢ per bottle.

By 30%.

Dieter Leipold reckons that he has the premium band in his market segment and that it's currently undervalued.

I have absolutely no idea if this is going to work, but if it does, you'll be able to read about it in the Harvard Business Review.

Meantime, I'm off to stock up - the price goes up in 2 weeks.....

Tags: Bionade, Dieter Leipold, Harvard Business Review, gluconic acid

Don't ask me ....(about "The Department of Doing")

The Department of Doing is a tiny advertising agency working out of a Victorian shop front in Devonport, a pretty swish suburb on Auckland's North Shore.

Never worked with them and probably never will, but I'm still allowed to be enthused, right?

They have Directives that are BFO* exemplified.

• BFO - Blinding Flash of the Obvious

These 2 alone could serve as the 10 Commandments for a clued-up organisation

Directive 3.

Never say, “That’s not my job”. The business world is full of organizers, planners, facilitators and managers. It doesn’t need any more. At the Department of Doing we only want doers. We are about making stuff, and making stuff happen. We are about taking clients’ problems and making them go away. That’s our job.

Directive 4.

If you don’t know, find someone who does. Our industry is full of people who claim to know everything about everything. Without exception, they are all lying. They probably know a little about a lot. Enough to finish the crossword but not enough to finish the job. At the Department of Doing we are specialists. We know a lot about our core business, but prefer to seek out specialist help and advice in areas where we are not experts.

And they do t-shirts.

My kind of company...

Tags: Department of Doing, Devonport, New Zealand, Auckland, Advertising

Obi

"OBI" is one of a swath of DIY stores that have popped up in Germany in the last 15 years.

They're pretty much interchangeable - Hagebau has better plants, Hornbach's pretty good on power tools, OBI doesn't really stand out at all.

Except in advertising.

They're just so far ahead of the pack, you can hardly see them

They've taken Queen's "We will rock you", got the staff to recite in a semi-rhythmic chant whatever it is you can do with tiles, plants and toilets and then everyone joins in on the chorus

Wie. Wo. Was. Weiss. OBI

OBI knows how, where and what

Good chance of an advertising award, I'd say.

Here's Dead Fred and the boys with the original.

Queen - We will rock you

Tags: OBI, Baumarkt, DIY, Queen, We will rock you

Don't ask me ....(about "The Economist")

Apart from flogging excellent t-shirts (and let's face it - you can never have too many t-shirts, can you?) and being essential reading for anyone's who's vaguely interested in what makes the world tick, "The Economist" is the source of some true gems.

Here are 2 from this weeks "Technology Quarterly" supplement.

"Previews" is a browser add-on (You ARE using Firefox, right..?) that lets you - well, preview hyperlinked websites without actually opening them.

Just click on the icon that pops up next to the hyperlink, a window opens up and you can see where you're being taken to. ( Whence you're being taken..?)


But my favourite has to be PicLens.


Think iTunes' "Cover Flow"

Think a full screen 3D wall that displays all the images in a Flickr account. Or Google images. Or Photobucket. Or Picasa Web Albums. Or YouTube.

And being able to search within any of those applications, click on the image (or clip) to preview it (or actually play it) and then go straight to the file.

Think being able to zoom in and out with a mouse scroll and moving left and right by dragging your mouse.

Think immersive viewing.

Phenomenal.

Tags: Economist, Previews, Cooliris, PicLens, Firefox, Flickr, Google, Photobucket, Picasa Web Albums, YouTube

I'm very sorry about this...

A woman calls her boss one morning and tells him that she is staying home because she is not feeling well.

"What's the matter?" he asks.

"I have a case of anal glaucoma," she says in a weak voice.

"What the hell is anal glaucoma?"

"I can't see my ass coming into work today."

The Bathtub Curve

The Bathtub Curve is standard Risk Management stuff.

You'll find its applicability in almost every corner of life - a period of high incidence of error due to inexperience, a long period of low incidence stability, followed by a sharp increase as overconfidence kicks in

Virtually every profession, too - electricians, pilots, zoo keepers, young drivers.....

And old farts with bionic legs.

There are some movements that are just programmed into the noggin and you can chant the mantra ("Don't go over 90º. Don't go over 90º") as often as you want - at some stage you're going to forget.

If you're as stupid as me, you'll do it twice.

Put some stuff in the washing machine and I've ALWAYS knelt down on my left knee. ALWAYS.

Which puts the Bionic Hip at - oh, 130º.

Makes a funny "boingggggg" noise, hurts like shit (for days), what with all the tendons and things getting stretched and you'd think even a geriatric old prick would learn his lesson.

Nope.

Did it again yesterday.

I've now been limited to ironing duties.

Let's see what I can stuff up there....

Tunes for a Tuesday - 10 June 2008

Shawn Mullins - We Could Go And Start Again from 9th Ward Pickin' Parlor
Elliott Smith - First Timer from New Moon
Peter Bjorn And John - Objects Of My Affection from Writer's Block
Little Feat - Sailin' Shoes from 1973-01-01 - Richard's
Mark Knopfler - Potato Picking from Screenplaying
Cornerstone Roots - Lyrical from Soul Revolution
Nat King Cole - Too Young from Volume 1
The Black Crowes - Back Door Santa from The Black Crowes Xmas Commune
The White Stripes - One More Cup Of Coffee
Queen Latifah - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy from The Dana Owens Album
Sex Pistols - Hol'days In The Sin from Kiss This
Jimmie Rodgers - The Sailor's Plea from The Essential Jimmie Rodgers
Bob Dylan - Walkin' Down The Line from The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 : Rare And Unreleased, 1961-1991 (Disc 1)
Grateful Dead - Box Of Rain from American Beauty
Hubert von Goisern - Abreisejodler from Gombe - Afrika
Coldplay - God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (live) from Live 2003
Jane's Addiction - Ripple from Deadicated
Skallander - Wasted from The Camels
Söhne Mannheims - Zion from Noiz
Kaleidoscope - Keep Your Mind Open from Pulsating Dream - The Epic Recordings (Disc 1)

"You've got a RECORD PLAYER....?"

Seven year old Sophie from up the road dropped in yesterday to make sure we're going to be at the Finals of the Regional Reading Contest on Saturday (for sure and I'll be surprised if she doesn't win by a mile) and to otherwise keep us updated with an utter lack of discretion on the most intimate recent happenings in the family.

The way that seven year olds do

We were talking about her friends in the Dancing School that she goes to and the name "Leila" popped up.

"Ah" I said "One of the best songs in the world is called "Layla". Spelled differently, but sounds the same"

"Play it for me?"

Pull out the double album - "Layla and other love songs" by Derek and the Dominos - and she gets this look of distrust on her face.

Popped it on the turntable and drop the needle in the groove of Track 3, Side 2 of the second album and she's in shock.

"You've got a RECORD PLAYER....?"

"Well, yeah. Doesn't everyone have a record player?

"Well, WE don't"

"That'll be because you haven't got any vinyl"

"Vinyl......?"

Didn't have the heart to tell her that I've got a wind-up gramophone and a shitload of shellacs downstairs...

Layla [Listen] - Derek and the Dominos from "Layla and other love songs"

Tags: Sophie Weil, Layla, Derek and the Dominos, vinyl, shellac

Don't ask me... (about Frau Einstein)

The lady who delivers the free papers around our way is really nice, but she definitely isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Somewhere over the years, she picked up the name "Frau Einstein". (From whom, I have absolutely NO IDEA...)

So I'm cleaning the windows at the front of the house , things having been ALLOWED TO SLIP during my recent absence, and the water hose - as usual - gets tangled up around 4 pots at once.

If you WANTED to do it, you couldn't.

It'd take you years of trying....

"Can someone PLEASE tell me how the FUCKING HOSE can get tangled up around FOUR FUCKING POTS at the SAME FUCKING TIME".

Rhetorical question.

I know the answer - it's "Sod's Law"

Voice from behind me : "Oh, I thought I heard someone talking. I'll leave the paper in front of the door, then"

Good thing she doesn't speak English.

I hope....


Cleaning Windows [Listen] Van Morrison from Live At The Grand Opera House Belfast

Tags: Frau Einstein, Van Morrison, Sod's Law, Cleaning Windows

"A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun"

Said Bo Diddley.

Ellas Otha Bates created one of rock and roll's bedrock rhythms.

In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:

"One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..."

No chord changes - Jerry Lee Lewis once said "I still like Bo Diddley. If he ever gets out of the chord of E, he might get dangerous" - just the rhythm.

Now that you know, you'll hear it everywhere.

Buddy Holly's "Not Fade away", covered (and made hugely famous) by the Stones and then again by Bruce Hornsby who takes it waaaaay into Little Feat/Allen Toussaint territory. Just for a start

"Two Trains" would never have happened without Bo Diddley.

Neither would bands have had female bass players or maraca players for decades. Or square guitars.

Neither would "Two Machines", the exquisite mashup of Lowell George and Girls Aloud ever have happened.

Not Fade Away [Listen] Buddy Holly and the Crickets from Buddy Holly Masters
Trivia alarm: The last song that Buddy Holly ever played. - The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa on 2 February 1959. The next day was - as everyone knows - "The Day The Music Died"

Not Fade Away [Listen] The Rolling Stones from Forty Licks

Not Fade Away (live) [Listen] Bruce Hornsby from Live Bootleg

Two Trains [Listen] Little Feat from Hotcakes & Outtakes

Two Trains (Lowell Demo) [Listen] Little Feat from Hotcakes & Outtakes

Two Machines [Listen] Girls Aloud vs. Lowell George

Pay Bo Diddley [Listen] - David Lindley & Wally Ingram from Twango Bango Deluxe
Trivia alarm: Bo Diddley's record label ripped him off heroically through his entire career. Dave and Wally didn't think that was quite right..

Who Do You Love? [Listen] - Ronnie Hawkins from The Last Waltz

The Day I Saw Bo Diddley in Washington Square [Listen] - Willie Nile from Streets of New York

Plynth (Water Down The Drain) [Live] [Listen] - Ron Wood & Bo Diddley from Live At The Ritz

Who Do You Love [Listen] - Dion from Bronx In Blue

Bo Diddley [Listen] - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band from Live Bullet
Trivia alarm: This got Bo Diddley banned from the "Ed Sullivan Show" for ever. First black man to ever appear on the show, he was told to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons". Bo had other ideas....

Who Do You Love? [Listen] - Bo Diddley from His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection

I'm A Man [Listen] - Bo Diddley from His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection
Trivia alarm: As it segues into......

Mannish Boy [Listen] - Muddy Waters from The Last Waltz

Hey Bo Diddley [Live] [Listen] - Ron Wood & Bo Diddley from Live At The Ritz


Not a bad fucking legacy, eh...?

Tags: Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ellas Otha Bates, Buddy Holly, Bruce Hornsby, Little Feat, Lowell George, Girls Aloud, Rolling Stones, David Lindley, Wally Ingram, Ronnie Hawkins, Willie Nile, Ron Wood, Dion, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Muddy Waters

Don't ask me... (about Minttu)

The Finns are strange people.

It must have something to do with living in the permafrost and endless nights for months at a time.

And the language is something else, too.

It belongs to the Finnish-Ugric family, which includes such mainstream means of communication as Sami, Mordvin, Cheremis/Mari, Zyryan/Komi, Votyak/Udmurt, Ostyak/Hanty, Vogul/Mansi and Hungarian.

My mate Lutz's Finnish wife, Ritva, once asked me what "Puderzucker" is in English.

"Icing sugar" I said"

"Icing sugar? That's a funny word" she said.

"So what is it in Finnish? I asked.

"Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas" (or something similar) she said. (Actually, it's "tomoskeri", which is bad enough.)

We were over at my mate Tibor's allotment on Saturday to celebrate his birthday.

Loads of food: bunny goulash, cooked in an iron pot over an open fire, steaks galore, stuffed paprikas from his girlfriend's Mum's restaurant.

Plus the usual suspects:

Michael the Toothless Tiler.

Eugen the Russian Gardener.

Tibor's surrogate Mum - a Mainz 05 fan from way back, who kept going all teary when you mentioned Kloppo

Gregor the Polish Painter.

Plus Jens from Hamburg who turned up with a bottle of stuff called Minttu.

"It's Finnish" he said "50% alcohol, but the best thing is - you just don't notice!"

He reckoned that he discovered it in some distant decade in Scandinavia and then dug up a source in the port district in Hamburg and bought their entire stock.

It tastes a bit like After Eights without the chocolate.

And he's right - it's really like eating Fox's Glacier Mints.

So you really DON'T notice.

Until it's too late, that is.

Looked it up on the Interweb the other day

It says "Enjoy with water or bitter lemon"

I enjoyed it without.

Quite often, in fact...

Tags: Minttu, Finnish, language, Finnish-Ugric, Hungarian