Danger! High Postage

The Sound of the Underground
Have you ever thought The Streets were just too mainstream and polished? - then MC Pitman is for you. The foul mouthed tea and biscuits obsessed northern ex-miner raps about 'proper tea the way it should be' - and a good plate of chips and beans. Is he real? Is it all just an elaborate joke? Well it's up to you and if you want to believe...

Pitman on tea: "On average I drink about ten cups of tea a day, I just like tea, biscuits come as a bonus to enhance the tea experience, people can relate to a good cup of tea, it's what we do, unless you're a coffee twat"

Pitman on derelict mines: "We should use closed mines as nightclubs. To get in the club you have to be dirty - there would be no alcohol served, just tea. Bring your own biscuits 'cause you can't have mine"

Pitman on why he releases 7" singles: “Seven inch records fit in my work bag better than 12's. A flask, pack of biscuits and some wax, and soap.”

MP3 - MC Pitman - Pitman Says
MP3 - MC Pitman on the Giles Peterson show
Videos and another track available at MC Pitman's website

May the Fors be with you

No Ron news today, cus i'm supposed to be working - it's good news about Forssell - though i'm still not sure what exactly Chelsea are playing at.....but hey - who am I to argue.

Rivaldo is still pondering his move to Bolton - Rumours that Sam Allardyce has sent him the Phoenix Nights Box set are so far unconfirmed....

Daily Links

Labour need a leadership change - Just click it - it's hilarious

A new extreme sport - Wok Boarding - requires quicktime - (via Boing Boing)

Parallax view interviews Ann Shenton from Add N To (X)

Stereophonics in 'dull' shocker - Tell us something we don't know Stuart!

Vote for Paul to join the Labour party by leaving a comment on his blog

Public Libraries under threat

Top site for legal downloads - Epitonic

Yet more Ron

Ron gone but not forgotten - By Alan Hansen


Ron's Sky News Interview


What people from West Brom think of Ron


"What Ron said was wrong, on the scale of 1 to 10 it was off the Richter Scale." - John Fashanu

PJ Harvey announces UK Headline shows
Well it was only a matter of time, but i'm still excited. PJ Harvey is playing two dates at Someset House in London on July 13th and 14th. Tickets are onsale on Friday I think - so i'll be ready to snap some up. Still no mention of a full UK tour or playing at Roskilde, but there's still plenty of time left for that! I'm thinking of getting tickets for both shows - anybody else want to come?

The new album 'Uh huh her' is being released on May 31st - after over three and a half years since her last one...


TRACKLISTING
1.The Life and Death of Mr Badmouth
2.Shame
3.Who The Fuck?
4.The Pocket Knife
5.The Letter
6.The Slow Drug
7.No Child of Mine
8.Cat on the Wall
9.You Come Through
10.It's You
11.The End
12.The Desperate Kingdom of Love
13.The Darker Days of Me & Him

New single 'The Letter' is out two weeks before...

Scene: A Manchester record shop - slightly off the beaten track

A kid of about 14 walks in wearing a nicely fitting shellsuit. Under his arm he carries a strangely shaped case - inside is obviously something quite heavy judging from the trouble he has getting into the shop.

"Ey mate" he says to the guy behind the counter
"How can I help" says the guy in the shop with a somewhat dubious Irish accent
"Do you buy stuff?" enquires the kid
"Depends what it is" Cagey in a way that only someone who works in a second hand record shop can be
"I've got a telescope" says the kid
"A telescope!" replies the Irishman somewhat incredulously "This is a record shop" - he obviously doesn't see the scally as an amateur astronomer
"I'll give you a good deal" says the kid slightly desperately
"How much?"
"I'll give to to you for £xx" - says the kid hopefully
"Let's have a look" replies the bloke sceptically

Then proceeds a torturous few minutes where the kid tries to open the telescope case - somewhat blowing the illusion that he has ever used it and bringing where he got it from into question....

"It's nice" says the record guy
"It's a mates" says the scally
"A mate" *eyebrows raised*
"Yeah he doesn't want it anymore"

They negotiate and reach a price - the guy hands over the money to the kid who now suddenly becomes more cocky....

"Do you want a phone?" revealing a selection of three or four phones inside his coat
"Get out my shop!"

The kid departs and the guy (who I believe is putting on a fake Irish accent) takes the telescope to the back of the shop giving me a kind of 'kids today' expression. He then takes the piss out of Dean for buying a Billy Bragg LP.

Will the telescope be used to fund international terrorism?
In Manchester you can never tell these days...


MP3's and other stuff

New Carina Round photos taken by Candice Lawler on MTV.com

Blonde Redhead are a very cool Japanese/Italian art-rock band based in NY. They are unique both vocally and musically, and there new album is excellent - worth checking out

Truck Records are in independant label from Oxford. They release a lot of cool eclectic stuff and host the Truck Festival in Oxforshire every summer - they've got a variety of free downloads on their site.

You've got the mighty Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia - officially owners of the second worst name in rock after Kajagoogoo - they deliver amazing blasts of quiet/loud guitar interspersed with Emily's delicate yet deeply cutting vocals. Then there's The Rock of Travolta, mainly instrumental and featuring the guy who wrote the new official Oxford United song - as well as the delicate folk of KTB, who has her photographs taken by Squib and Katy, so she's got to be good. And then there's Goldrush, ahem.

MP3 - Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
MP3 - Blonde Redhead - Three more tracks
MP3 - Truck Records Catalogue Items and Rarities - Various tracks by KTB, Rock of Travolta, MBICR, Goldrush, Black Nielson and others.

Remember of you like the MP3's then buy the albums, you cheeky monkeys

'You know what, if somebody had said what I said about Desailly to one of my players, I would have got 'em by the throat and chinned 'em.'

Really good interview with Ron today in the Observer by Michael Eboda - editor of new nation.

In the interview Ron seems genuinely apologetic, but seemingly still not quite aware of the offence he might have caused, emphasising the generation gap.

"Look I've had pairs of shoes that have been nigger brown, that's what they used to say"

He's had phonecalls of support from Fergie, Houllier, Bobby Robson, Terry Venebles and perhaps most significantly John Barnes.

At the end of the interview, Eboda says to Ron: 'I don't think you are a racist, but I do think you have a racist element in you and I don't think you are aware of what racism is'

And here's an MP3 of what he actually said if you are interested (via Blog FC)

Photo Blogs
I'm getting a digital camera next week and I am really into photo blogs at the moment - especially ones that primarily have urban/city photos.

I've had a link to Heather Champ and Satan's Laundromat for quite a while now. The former is quite rightly seen as one of the best photobloggers there is, the later is a very cool collection of photographs from around New York.

Salam Pax also has a photo site that I only just found - a must view if you want to see what is really going on in Iraq.

Elvis the Fish has a very cool and quirky collection on photos taken with a pen cam, and a weblog too. And Chicago Uncommon is a great urban photoblog,

I love the pictures of buildings on Lighting Field

There's some more links to others in my side bar - but are there any other great ones that I've missed? Let me know!

Chicken Tikka Masala
So they are filming a movie in my street! St Peter's Square in Preston is the setting for the British/Asian comedy Chicken Tikka Masala. Starring Saeed Jaffrey, Christopher Bisson and various C-listers from Footballers Wives, Casualty, Corrie and Fat Friends. It's quite exciting actually - they are filming mainly interior shots in two houses owned by the university. Last night they were doing some external scenes - thought they were heavily disrupted by a constant parade of pissed students staggering past and asking if they needed any extras....! They've been filming for nearly a week now and there are big vans everywhere and those big lights that they use (I don't know the technical term..!)

In other exciting news I may have some paid journalism work over the summer - fingers crossed...

MP3's of the day
Kaito are a very cool Brighton/Norwich band that has been around for a while now - originally on Fierce Panda, they are now on Blast First/Mute and one of them also used to develop Katy's brother's photos, slipping in amusing pictures of badgers and other woodlan creatures. Will also produces Atari Teenage Riot-esque slabs of extreme noise under the name The Nailbomb Cults

Josef K are a Scottish post punk band from the early 80's, hevaily influential on today's young whippersnappers like Franz Ferdinand. They were part of the whole Postcard Scene along with Edwin Collins' Orange Juice and Aztec Camera

MP3Kaito - Go (From the album 'You've seen us - You must have seen us)
MP3Kaito - Should I? (From the album 'Band Red')
MP3Nailbomb Cults - Various tracks
MP3Josef K - It's Kinda Funny & Chance Meeting (From the 'Young and Stupid' compilation)

Remember - these MP3 files are for 'evaluation purposes' only - if you like the songs then buy the albums!

More Ron

Post your comments about Ron here (guess which one is my comment!)

Ian Wright hits out at Ron - via Paul
More Wrighty

Big Ron Profile

Ron sacked by West Brom Building Society

Cyrille Regis defends Ron

Tory MP compared to Ron

TUC tries to ban Ron from Premiership grounds

Latest Ron News

He's now had his contract with the Guardian terminated by "mutual agreement". A sad end to a once great career. But wait........

I predict that he will be soon signed up by Channel 5 to boost their flagging coverage - though i'm sure John 'the Anfield Rap' Barnes might have something to say about that....

Ron Atkinson - A Tribute

It's the end of an era and football analysis will never be the same again. Whilst of course we at Danger! High Postage do not condone in way shape or form the comments of the Big Orange Fella - we should pay tribute to the career of a genius.

Ron, you've let us down with your casual racism and out of date opinions and left us with the 'opinions' of Clive Allen - a man so dull he should be sacked for having no possibility of ever causing offence to anyone... EVER!

Certainly the loss of Ron is a 'big out' to the ITV Sport team who could be giving more airtime to the easy oasy analysis of Andy Townsend and Robbie Earle.

I'm 'not so sure' that it will be the last we'll see of him, but for now we salute Ron 'The Verbal amusement arcade' Atkinson, with some of his finest moments:

"The lad throws it further than I go on holiday"
"He dribbles a lot and the opposition don't like it - you can see it all over their faces"
"Zidane is not very happy, because he's suffering from the wind"
"Stoichkov's playing on the wing, in this situation he likes to come in and scalp the centre-half"
"Beckenbauer has really gambled all his eggs."
“Now that's what I call, if you like, a typical Italian foul. Mind you, Costacurta’s probably been doing that for 47 years now.”
"His feet are like little trip hammers when he's on the ball."
"van Nistelrooy, predating as usual."
"...at least with lightning you can hear it coming."
"A good physio to me is someone who stands outside the treatment room smoking a fag and not letting anyone in there."
“There’s not a lot of demand for a non-scoring striker.”
“They’ve certainly grown, the Japanese. I mean grown in stature, playing-wise.”
"I tell you what, if the Cameroons get a goal back here they're literally gonna catch on fire"
"Well, Clive, it's all about the two M's - movement and positioning"
"I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat."
"Suker - first touch like a camel"
"His white boots were on fire against Arsenal, and he'll be looking for them to reproduce tonight"

And from the ill-fated final night:

“Chelsea seem to be rolling balls instead of playing with a bit of fizz.”
“There’s wrestling, there’s fighting, there’s a scrumdown.”
”You could say ‘Has the keeper…?’ ‘Could he have…’ (sees the replay) … ooohhhh, that is a rick.”
”He can play right up front and get the ball to stick to him.”
“I’m always puzzled why goalkeepers want to come out into a crowd scene to claim things.”
“To be fair he got between two defenders and really should have registered.”
“I think they’re playing a dangerous game with that sharp little fellow (Giuly). He’s got a brain on him.”
“… but he was a real outlet for Frankie Lampard in the first half. Lampard seemed to find him by radar.”
“I just wonder if he (Huth) could have fiddled a free kick at the edge of the box, teased the defender in and unleashed one of his cannonballs.”

And in a conversation to Cyrille Regis:
’What’s all this crap about you finding God? You worked with him at West Brom for four years’.”

And a possible sign of things to come:

"The Bulgarian players are tried and trusted. Well, I'm not sure they can be trusted"

RONGATE!

Big Ron has dropped a bit of a rick and been forced to quit ITV after an alleged racist comment he made about Marcel Desailly during Chelsea's match last night. The comments are reported to have been made off air, but picked up by some middle eastern stations.

"I made a stupid mistake which I regret left me no option but to resign. At the moment I can't believe I did it. It was just a moment of stupidity". Said Ron

Ananova printed what he said and then took it off later - apparently he called Desailly a "F***ing lazy N****r".....which if true is unacceptable and i'm afraid he had to go....I remember Bobby Gould saying a similar thing about Pierre Van H at half time in a Wales V Holland match a few years ago....much to the offence of Nathan Blake

In a weird and some would say ironic piece of timing - he was on a repeat of Room 101 on BBC tonight.

The Champions League won't be the same without his commentary genius

Did he deserve to lose his job?

MP3 Blogs

I've become increasingly drawn to these sites since I got my lovely MP3 player

I have been looking at Large Hearted Boy for quite a while now, but it really does keep delivering the goods, with its almost daily eclectic selection of (mostly legal) MP3's to download. A couple of recent amazing discoveries from LHB are:

A bootleg of Nirvana's first ever show - Of course the sound quality is appalling - but what a find!

For the discerning fan of the bequiffed one there are four unreleased Morrissey tracks
He's back and he's mates with the NME now.... Last weeks interview was funny, but does anyone actually read the NME anymore?

Other MP3 Blogs:

Teaching the indie kids to dance again is definitely the coolest MP3 blog I've yet found. Recently it has included the mighty chk chk chk(!!!) and the brilliant Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. It has also introduced me to the marvelousness of Gogol Bordello - "Psychopathic Ukrainian Gypsy immigrant folk punk rock" - I couldn't have put it better myself.

It seems that two of the first MP3 blogs were Said the gramophone and Fluxblog and they are still delivering the goods.

The tofu hut is pretty cool as is Gabba / pod and music (for robots)

And if you want to hear Vincent Gallo singing Moon River with backing from PJ Harvey, Jim O'Rourke, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and RHCP Guitarist John Frusciante at The Royal Festival Hall - Then KingBlind is the place to go

Snooker Violence

Did anyone see the almost punch up in the snooker yesterday? I tell you what it was strong stuff for the crucible with Australian Quinten Hann challenging Andy Hicks to a fight after the match in a true East End pub style.


The BBC Reports:

The Australian, already warned for swearing at the table, told Hicks he was "short and bald and always would be" before gesticulating at him with his cue extension

The Guardian says:

Hann - talented, volatile and often petulant - alleged that, "A few times when I was going to the table, [Hicks] was slow getting out of the way."

As cue extensions began to be flourished at shoulder height, the referee Lawrie Annandale stepped between the players in a manner more often seen in the boxing ring.

It's certainly shocking behavior by these masters of the green baize - looked up to by thousands of impressionable children worldwide...Perhaps they'd be better off playing Bare Knuckle Snooker

Strange Train Journeys
Coming back from Oxford on Saturday - I met a man on the train who had just won about three grand on an episode of the weakest link - He even had the cheque in his wallet - he showed it to me..! He told me that it takes ages for Anne Robinson to do all those put downs and she doesn't just think them up off the top of her head - i'm shocked. He said he'd buy me a pint if he ever say me again "when the money has cleared"...

Yesterday on the train from Birmingham to Preston there were loads of people who had just run the London Marathon. You could tell who they were - they were the ones in sweat stained tracksuits with medals around their necks and a strange glazed look in their eye - like slightly deranged guests on Jim'll Fix It.

"Your letter was only the start of it, one letter and now you're a part of it,
Now you've done it, Jim has fixed for it you, and you and you.

There must be something that you always want to do, the one thing that you always wanted to,
Now you've done it, Jim has fixed it for you, and you and you and you ... ba ba ba ...

... ba ba ba ... Jim has fixed it for you, and you and you and you-ou-ou."

Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline
So i'm back in Preston and what do I find?, an abandoned shopping trolley outside my house...

Liberated from Aldi - the chain was cut with heavy duty wire cutters by the look of it...

So was this a shameless act of vandalism or a gift from someone as a welcome back to Preston? I'm not quite sure.

If it is still there when I go home later i'm going to claim it as my own - and then sell it on ebay...!

Though i'm not sure how much postage will be...

Last night I bizarrely went out for a drink with the most anti-pub man in the world, Paul. And even more strangely, we also met our blogging MP, Tom Watson.

Tom bought me a few pints, which was nice "You're a student and I'm an MP, so I'm sure a can stand you a pint" he said "And besides, I voted yes in the tuition fees ballot" he added with a cheeky grin. I should have asked him for a packet of Dry Roasted to go with it - for the Iraq War!

But seriously, excuse my barbed cynicism, he does seem like an honest hardworking MP, who cares about his constituents - and he's dedicated to his blog too.....

I also met a really interesting guy from the pUBLIC which is an amazing project - and all the builders wear pink hard hats too, in a curious village people-esque style...

After several persistent and very original attempts to get me to join the local Labour party I can report that I left the Wheatsheaf last night still unafilliated with any political party - but with an enhanced knowledge of rock climbing, arts funding and running a pub...

If you like cartoons, why not check out the rather cool ciaranryan.com

Well it's all over at the BBC - My three weeks there have finished just as I was getting on first name terms with the bloke from Doctors - you know, the one who used to be in All Creatures Great and Small!

Having sat next to him in the canteen earlier in the week and had an in depth discussion about cheese and tomato croissants, he had started to say hello to me when we passed in the corridor. It could have been the start of a beautiful friendship ,but sadly it wasn't to be.

My friend Dean is still upset at my dalliances with the cast of his most hated soap. He told me about a will commercial that Doctors bloke has been in (I haven't seen it). "Tell him I object to his will adverts" Dean said to me in a text " I don't use my country walks to contemplate my imminent death"...."And besides, the map he is using whilst rambling is blatantly a map of a city and NOT the countryside!"

My blog isn't working today - why!?!

E-Festivals reports that there are some Glastonbury tickets on sale again

Quick!

Ian McShane is back! And this time he's got an enormous moustache

With Tinker getting a role in Eastenders it was only a matter of time before Lovejoy himself returned. The antiques master stars in a new HBO drama called Deadwood. Set 1876 in a lawless South Dakota mining town - it looks like a kind of wild west Sopranos. McShane plays Al Swearengen (not Sweary McSwearington as the Guardian quite funnily said on Saturday).

Excerpt from the Guardian article:
"Ian Mcshane (exorcising a few Lovejoy demons) who in his first few moments of screen time, has stomped on a whore's throat, bilked a newcomer out of his life's savings and ordered the slaughter of a family whose corpses are then disposed of by being fed to the pigs" - Nice!

I've decided that in a homage to the Back to the Future reputation destroyers McFly - i'm going to start my own boyband called McSwearington with the sole aim of destroying the career of pops new most annoying act.

NEW PJ HARVEY SONG

The Letter

I'm going to be listening to it all day tomorrow........

The worst country song titles of all time
(via Large Hearted Boy) - MY new favourite blog for MP3 links! - everyone should check it out...

My longest blog post ever

So, last night I finally saw Salam Pax, he was appearing on the misleadingly named BBC News 24 show 'Hardtalk'. He looks completely different to how I thought he would - he's a slightly overweight balding chap with a goatee - not what I expected. However the guy who inspired me to blog talked a lot of sense about Iraq and the war in the face of some unbelievably pro-war questioning from the presenter Michelle Hussein. I know i'm not allowed to slag off the BBC for another week, but blimey - I think she wanted to be driving the tanks into Baghdad herself.

So what have I learnt about the BBC this week - you can get an advance copy of the Radio Times three days before in actually gets in the shops! - something to impress your mother with there....

Also BBC in Pebble Mill has its own bar where the stars AHEM, I mean cast of Doctors hang out. Talking of doctors, my friend D was most dismayed that it is now back on the air this week as he hates the show. I suggested that I maybe slipped something in the tea of the cast as I have to walk past their Green Room every day but he told me not to, as that would make me 'The Mervyn King of tea'

I set my first competition on Friday - it should be up on the BBC site next week - its to win tickets to see the Damned and a load of other bands in a punk all dayer. There is ten questions and you have to get them all right to get the secret password. After asking my ubergoth friend F for some questions and being texted a load of questions about pets and personal habits of members of the Damned, I decided that I had to make it a little easier than that - so we'll see how many people get the secret password right!

I've got one more week in Birmingham before I go back to mighty Preston - I'm glad that i've made many many members of staff at BBC Birmingham aware of Preston's mighty bus station.....I wonder if the Night Owl around the corner from my house in Preston will still be illegally selling Dansani water under the counter when I get back up there. Last time I was in there the guy behind the counter gave me a conspirational wink that said to me 'don't tell the police or you won't be getting any more of those half pirce flapjacks that I know you love'

I'm going to see the Yeah Yeah Yeah's on Monday which I am very excited about, but the Ikara Colt show on Tuesday was cancelled due to a member of Amen being ill - that's not very rock and roll. Casey Chaos....I don't think so...

I am also dismayed to see that Patti Smith is playing in Birmingham in the only week that I am not in the country - nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I think she looks a certainty to play Glastonbury (ugh), but will she make the trip over to Denmark so I can see her at the mighty Roskilde festival???

I also found out that there is a huge Anarchist commune in Copenhagen which is kind of semi legal and they don't pay taxes and stuff - I shall definately be checking this out....if anyone knows any good hostels in Copenhagen then let me know!

I think I am going to visit K next week and possibly gatecrash the Oxford Folk Festival as an assistant to a photographers assistant. She said to me i'll hold the photographers bag and you can hold my bag - genius!

Also say 21 Grams last night - the best film I have seen thus far in 2004 - but not for the faint hearted...

Well i'm off to burn more songs to my new MP3 player....

I've been a bit light on the old Blog lately because of technical and time reasons, but I have decided to get back into it by writing in the style of the webs favourite hooker, Bel De Jour.

So I tried to get tickets for Glastonbury, but they were more elusive than a Wolves Premiership victory, so instead I am going to the Roskilde Festival in Denmark with D, D, C and H.

I'm still working at the BBC, where I keep seeing the cast of a popular daytime programme in the corridor. The job is quite cool, but i'm not sure I would like to do it as a full time job...and it would be nice to get paid...

Went will P and D to G's new house over the weekend - its a very cool house on top of this enormous hill in Oldbury - the lounge area is laminate floored so it is great for sliding on your socks a la Dave Eggers....

Going to see the marvellous IK tomorrow night at the Birmingham Academy - the first time i've seen them with their new line up...