Month: January 2003
Let’s Get Spiritual, Spiritual: Spirits in the material world
At about 6 PM on a cold January Sunday, I hastened past the remains of the recently collapsed Brighton Pier, and wound my way past the Pavilion. On past the D.K. Rosen clothes shop (where, as legend has it, one can find the real 'Suits you' shopkeeper), and towards the bohemian Kemp Town section of Brighton, where I had an appointment to commune with the dead... The 'Brighton National Spiritual Church' is located on Edward Street, near the American Express building (a sure contender for the vilest structure in south England) and opposite Devonshire Place. An unimposing building, it didn't prove too difficult to find, even in the foggy haze that blanketed this seaside town. I had managed to strong-arm a friend of mine (we'll call him Injun Bob) into accompanying me. 'Why do you want me to go?' he had asked an hour beforehand in the pub. 'Well, you...
Attack Of The Clones
Why are manufactured boy bands and girl bands so utterly objectionable? Why do they gall us so much? How can the sight of Westlife send us into inexplicable paroxysms of rage? Utter contempt Railing against the onslaught of pop-clones is a difficult task, perhaps because it's so hard to articulate precisely why we hold these ‘bands’ in such utter contempt. When someone expresses their abject hatred of whatever group of automatons the Louis Walsh sausage factory (the Irish manager who brought us Boyzone, Westlife, Samantha Mumba, etc) has spat out this month, he is rapidly censured for being a whiner and a jealous begrudger. This accusation of jealousy tends to leave the 'jealous begrudger' with his mouth flapping. I believe that the proliferation of manufactured boy and girl bands actually represents a serious threat to our society. I believe that they, in conjunction with the general takeover of the creative...