August 6, 2010
FESTIVAL TIME NEWS!
GETTIN’ MIDDLE CLASS ON YO ASS!
Too much has happened for me to start recapping since my last post. Suffice to say, you did it! and Joe and I should be back around November. Now before the festival season ends…
A couple of years back Joe and I did songs about festivals for Song Wars. Joe’s was about Glastonbury and mine was about people like myself who love the idea of music festivals but cherish a degree of comfort. I ‘sung’ my Festival Song as part of BUG at Latitude this year (at least a sweaty, breathless version of singing) and some people thought I was biting the hand that tightly attaches the wristband. Not at all! I love Latitude and the more friendly, clean, comfortable and diverse festivals get, the happier I’ll be. It’s not as if you can’t still go off to some litter strewn wasteland and burn plastic bottles while you listen to Zane Lowe endorsed shouting music, it’s just nice to have the option to sit on pillows in the Robin Tent and listen to Robin Ince introduce Robyn Hitchcock instead. Here’s a video for the song which I started last year (hence lack of beard) and only just completed. I mean I haven’t ONLY been doing this video for a year. I have done other things in that time, though it’s hard to think what…
On the last night at Latitude I snuck back after bedtime with my 8 year old son and I was in Rock Dad fantasy festival paradise. We’d already seen Sweet Baboo that day who had gone down very well and Buxton jr was eager to see Vampire Weekend so we tooled up with doughnuts and drinks and went roamin’. Before long we found ourselves in the Robin tent and sure enough, there was Robyn Hitchcock with whom all my children are familiar from car journeys peppered by salvos from the ‘Cock’s tremendous psychedelic folk cannon(!) At one point we seemed to be the only people in the little tent laughing at Robyn’s weird inter song rambles that night and I wondered if he felt fed up. Perhaps he was fed up with me laughing at him. Hmmm.
On the Friday I’d seen Spoon, one of my very favourite bands, getting tetchy with a noncommittal late afternoon crowd on the main stage and I wanted to jump up and give them a hug then electrocute them into action, but they seemed depressed by it all. Not so Robyn who will not be diverted from ploughing his eccentric furrow by anything or anyone it seems and is well loved for it. He was on very good form and with Frank looking on admiringly I got to join him on the tiny stage with other more musical guests and we sang Olé Tarantula, something of a tradition in the Robin Tent I hear. It sounded good (I was INCREDIBLE!) and as we left the stage Robyn said “Ooh, I welled up there” and sure enough his eyes were glistening. Then I started welling up. The Paul Weller started welling up.
Vampire Weekend are not the kind of band that would ever really scramble your mind but they delivered a well drilled and energetic set and deserve all their success IMHO. Would I have been happier in some no man’s land watching a more ‘important’ band with my son 20 years ago? I’m glad you asked, it’s a very pressing question. No, is the answer.
Speaking of Robyn and Spoon, here’s a couple of acoustic performances I shot in London back in 2007. I was doing my pilot for BBC 3 at the time and wanted to cram it with everything I could possibly think of that I thought was any good and music was going to be an important part of that if it ever got to series, which of course it didn’t and I’m still very, very bitter. I shot 3 performances with Robyn at his home in Chiswick (‘Chinese Bones’, ‘I Often Dream Of Trains’ and ‘My Wife and My Dead Wife’) and 3 with Britt Daniel of Spoon backstage at The Borderline before they played the most amazing gig I’ve ever seen. I’ve already uploaded Britt playing ‘Black Like Me’ but I’ve posted ‘Advance Cassette’ below. He also sang ‘The Beast And Dragon, Adored’ which I’ll post later, along with the other Robyn stuff. Thanks Robyn and Britt!
Cheerio ho ho. Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival season! Now here’s some men with acoustic guitars…
Love Adam, 6th August, 2010
May 1, 2010
OPEN LETTER TO DAVID BOWIE NEWS!
Dear David,
I’m posting this as an open letter on my blog rather than once again going through the proper channels because you seem more approachable on-line than off for some reason and I’m hoping that there’s a chance you might somehow be directed to read this! It’s worth a try.
I wonder if you’d consider being a guest on my radio show on BBC 6 Music: Adam Buxton’s Big Mix Tape (Sunday, 12-2pm)?
The format is straightforward: I make a themed compilation tape each week, the way people did in analogue times, and I’m joined by a guest for the central section. For example, this week’s show features music for a tape you’d make for a new boyfriend/girlfriend. The title of the tape is Wave Of New Relations (after a misheard Pixies lyric) and my guest is Jon Ronson, a journalist and documentarian whose work I’ve always admired and enjoyed (check out his brilliant radio show Jon Ronson On or his superb documentary about Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes). Jon contributed a few tracks for the mix tape and talked to me about his books, TV and radio shows and whatever else happened to come up. As usual my interview style was far from slick but I hope that my encounters are entertainingly conversational at least.
I was told via a series of Chinese whispers that you’d heard a version of Changes that I recorded in support of 6 Music, which you apparently liked! Perhaps you were being polite and supportive or perhaps you never heard it and the Chinese was mistranslated, but I was pleased nonetheless. One of our listeners (Chris Salt, the Saltman) made a fantastic Lego video to go with it look!
At this point I’m going to put myself in your boots and consider how unappealing my request seems. I have after all spent a large part of my life doing bad impressions of you, often with my sometime comedy partner Joe, mainly based on saying ‘wuzza wuzza wuzza’ which, if I were you, I would find perplexing. Joe and I also spend in inordinate amount of time considering your role and your magnificent packet in Labyrinth when there is a good case to be made for some of your other film roles being more significant. Also I might appear to be a silly man on a number of levels but you’re someone whose work I’ve loved in all it’s forms since I was very young and I’ll never give up the meagre hope that our paths might one day cross.
I’m not a physical or mental threat and the show would be recorded at the BBC with responsible humans around and would take only an hour of your time so what’s the worst that could happen?! Best case scenario: we make a memorable radio show that thousands of highly intelligent 6 Music listeners will cherish! Worst case scenario, you find me an unctuous prat and make a mental note never to respond to online petitions for your guest services again (though you may have already made that mental note). If you don’t want to be alone in a studio with me, we could ask Joe to come too!
Give our producer James Stirling a call at 6 Music. I could do any time next week. Or any time after next week. Hoping this finds you well and eating a Bowiesnack.
Love Adam
March 26, 2010
SAVE 6 MUSIC PROTEST NEWS!
SATURDAY 27TH MARCH, 12-2PM, OUTSIDE BROADCASTING HOUSE!
Some more details here
I’m recording a show round the corner in the morning but I’ll be there as soon as I can after we’re finished. I’m not planning on performing or anything but I want to come and show my support so maybe see you there! And hey, guys, let’s try to keep it non violent, yeah? We don’t want a repeat of the ugly scenes that unfolded when Wogan left…
March 17, 2010
6 MUSIC SONG NEWS!
CHANGES (FOR 6 MUSIC)
I’ve been working on a song for 6 Music in the style of The Goblin King, who proved once again why he rules not only the Goblins but also the school when he was one of the first big names to come out in support of 6. I’m so sad about the notion that 6 may close. They’ve got a really good thing going there and they’ll really regret it if they break it up. Or perhaps they won’t give a dogshit, but I will.
From a purely personal point of view, the reaction we’ve had from listeners to the Adam & Joe radio show and podcast over the last couple of years has been humbling and wonderful. Best of all, those listeners improved the show itself which transformed when we started basing more of our stupid bollocks on the funny and inspiring texts and emails we get, something we’d never really done before because the contributions you’d get at most radio stations wouldn’t really be good for much more than the occasional dedication most of the time. Last week at BUG a small group of friends who Tweet about the show (twitsquadron) presented me with a hand made album of printed tweets, drawings and photos inside a beautifully made sort of A&J pillow case! Chaps, if you’re reading this, thankyou. I don’t want to get too sentimentile, but it was an amazing thing to receive and I’ll always treasure it.
Adam Buxton, happy in kitchen with gift
I wonder if Thomo and the nabobs at the castle have ever bought something they love from a small outlet because they know that it’s likely to be more special than it would be from a department store? They Mastodon! I mean, I’m not much of a discerning shopper but at Christmas I go into Soho and buy my dad (who is a booze snob) a bottle of Cognac from Gerry’s because I know they will recommend me some phenomenal item that will keep my Pa delighted for a good few months. They’ve never failed me once. Sure, I could get a bottle of Courvoisier from Sainsburys or Oddbins and my dad would be very grateful but he wouldn’t roll his eyes and eulogise about it the way he does with the more offbeat stuff from Gerry’s because the supermarket bottle is always the same.
I don’t know how good an analogy that is for 6 Music (which is more like a special deli counter in a big supermarket), but I think you get what I mean. Breaking it up and farming off the popular bits is missing the point completely. It’s a little corner of the BBC that is prepared to take all kinds of chances because they know their listeners won’t immediately get frightened and confused they way they might if it was a more mainstream channel. Certainly, Joe and I wouldn’t have been hired let alone afforded the latitude we have been anywhere else in the Castle.
It seems that campaigning and complaining about these kinds of decisions seldom gets results but wouldn’t it be amazing if they did reconsider? A truly modern corporation! The BBC Trust are reviewing the situation til May 25th and one would hope they will read every message they receive, either pro or anti the proposed closures so do get in touch.
MAKE YOUR VIEWS ON CLOSING 6 MUSIC HEARD HERE
So anyway, this song! It’s a version of Bowie’s Changes that features my impression of David and some painful singing (with the help of 6 Music’s Tom Robinson on the choruses! Thanks Tom!) I did a full length version but it was a little too gruelling so here’s a slightly shorter one for you to listen to, ignore, use to torture terror suspects, whatever you fancy. However, if you did like it and felt sufficiently moved, you might like to make a video for it! Then in May I’ll pick my favourite and award some kind of prize, say Adam Buxton/Adam & Joe odds and sods and tickets to BUG! Wow! Imagine all the Adam Buxton/Adam & Joe odds and sods and tickets to BUG! What could the Adam Buxton odds and sods be?! My socks! Bits of my hair!! Or my book!!! Not a book I’ve written, just a book I own. I don’t know, I’ll work something out, but anyway, here’s the song with lyrics beneath in case you want to study them for your English degree. And if you do make a video post a link on my You Tube channel comments section.
LISTEN TO THE SONG! (right click to download)
Incidentally I bought the backing track from a great karaoke versions site here
Finally, here’s my appearance on Channel 4 news a couple of weeks back where I managed to say almost nothing of any value except for inviting the DG out for some pushing and shoving. I haven’t actually watched this vid myself cos it’s too cringey but I hear Thomo’s expression upon hearing my obviously jokey challenge is entertaining.
January 19, 2009
SONG WARS VICTORY NEWS!
AUSTRALIA VIDEO
Here’s the video for my song about Baz Lurhmann’s film Australia, which I’m probably a little too delighted to say, won Song Wars on our 6 Music show last weekend. I liked Joe’s song a lot, but I would have been depressed if he’d won having simply sung over the intro for Kim Wilde’s Cambodia when my effort (though heavily indebted to Rolf Harris’s Aussie classic Sun Arise) was at least constructed from scratch. When I say ‘from scratch’ I mean from scratch and the possibly harder work of both Harris and Luhrmann of course.
Anyway, I hope you like the song and the video, which is the first I have uploaded to You Tube in HD! Double click on the video below to open the You Tube page then click ‘watch in HD’ beneath the vid window to get the full effect. It took me a while to figure it out because I still favour a 4:3 frame with 720 x 576 resolution. I like things boxy, like an old TV set and to me that will always be the most desirable aspect ratio and resolution for anything that isn’t a an actual feature film but I’m aware that I’m part of a dying breed. Plus, if I switch to HD for everything I’m just going to have to invest in twice as many storage drives to accommodate the bigger file sizes. Fucking technology. Huge Jackman’s manly pecs certainly have come out nice though.