Brazil and "Gothenburg 2"

Well, Teenage Fanclub's trip to Brazil was rubbish. Amazing people / gigs / food / hotels / caipirinhas. What a downer.

Here is a wee video I took of us walking onstage in Sao Paulo.

And here are some photos from my Facebook page.

Thanks, iphone 4.

In 1973 Sergio Sa made a beautiful album of songs in slightly wonky English under the name Paul Bryan, slightly wonkily called "Listen Of Paul Bryan".  Carey and Tracyanne from Camera Obscura turned me on to it.  S'wonderful. Here is a wee clip of Sergio Sa singing a snatch of "Listen" live:

I picked up a couple of Sergio Sa LPs on this trip, though I can't see either of them beating "Listen Of..."

I've been lucky enough to get to Brazil on three occasions. It just gets better and better. This time TFC played Sao Paulo and, for the first time, Rio. Lots of bouncing up and down, singing along and a couple of stage invasions. Golly. Lots of l-u-v in the rooms.

Ah, memories.

(dissolve to......Several moons ago I played some solo (!?!) shows. Crazy. I remember supporting Los Hermanos in, I think, Londrina. Maybe 800 or 1000 people there for the main support. And there's me, Joe Bloggs, with my acoustic guitar; on first to the potential bafflement of everyone in the vicinity, including me. Help. I decided to start with: "I see trees of green / Red roses too / I see them bloom / for me and you / And I think to myself..." and it seemed like 800 or 1000 people went, "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!!". My immediate thoughts were a potent mixture of Beautiful! and Thank f*ck for that...)


I love Brazil. But let's not forget who has the better football team:

In other news -  I made a wee promo video for "Gothenburg 2", a track from my instrumental album "Maculate Conceptions" recorded during TFC's European tour last year. Here t'is:

Beijos....

Ta-dah

Hello. I've got a hunch this blog thing might take off so I've decided to be an early-adapting tastemaker. I think this blog will mainly be about stuff I like.

Number 1 - LAURA CANTRELL

I like Laura Cantrell. I like her new album "Kitty Wells Dresses" - out now and available at www.lauracantrell.com / amazon / i-tunes / HMV / etc.


I also like this wee Laura Cantrell promo film, shot on the soon-to-be-defunct Flip camera and edited on i-movies:

I released Laura's debut album "Not The Tremblin' Kind" on Shoeshine over 11 (!) years ago. Crazy. I remember being SO EXCITED that I was going to be working with this amazing talent. Queen Of The Coast..The Whiskey Makes You Sweeter....Genius! Great singer, songwriter and person. And now here we are again. Laura tours the UK next month:

MAY	1	Manchester, Club Academy			0161 832 1111
	2	Bristol, St Bonaventure's			0870 4444 4000
	4	Sheffield Memorial Hall			0114 2789 789
	5	Nottingham, The Glee Club			0871 472 0400.
	6	Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre			0131 220 3234
	7	Gateshead, Old Town Hall			0191 4336965
	8	London, Union Chapel			0131 220 3234

Number 2 - BRAZIL

I like Brazil. I get to go there next month for two shows with Teenage Fanclub. Rio and Sao Paulo. Yay. I played some solo shows in Brazil a few years ago (I know; WTF? etc) and later returned with TFC for a tour. Great people/music/food and these:

Here's a track from Jorge Ben to celebrate (Remind you of any Rod Stewart songs?):

Number 3 - ...

Och that's enough for now.