La band approda in Italia per " Graffiti Soul World Tour ". Quattro le date previste a novembre: appuntamento il 5 a Firenze , il 6 ad Ancona , il 7 a Roma , l' 8 a Padova al GranTeatro per la loro unica apparizione nel Nord Italia. Continua a leggere Simple Minds a novembre in Italia con 4 concerti... Commenta »

A virtual mixtape of new wave instrumentals from the post punk/new romantic era. Sometimes amazingly great synth pop bands like Japan and even Duran Duran would put out some quite interesting instrumental (or nearly instrumental) tracks as b-sides or album fillers – here are some of them alongside some lesser known vocal free wonders. No doubt there are loads of notably absent tracks that I’ve either forgotten or am yet to discover … so [...]

Spotify list: Scared to Dance playlist 28/08/09

You've seen the pictures smuggled back from Europe, remnants of a surreptitious journey. They were taken in the nineteen-fifties, nineteen-sixties, nineteen-seventies... and are invariably in black and white. These frames are glimpses into a grey-scale world -- decadence and pleasure towns thriving under an economic pall. Someone got shot crossing a border. Here's a photo of a shadow on a pebbled street. High contrast, with the light from a lampost leaking into the top-right corner. And here's a picture of a parade, taken just outside the Presidential Palace. Men are marching through town squares. It's rumoured that [...]

Seconda puntata di X Factor , escono, con nostro grandissimo dispiacere gli Horrible Porno Stuntmen. Resta dentro il duo per caso con annesso cantante da squalifica ( Daniele Vit, il perchè sia da squalifica ve lo spieghiamo fra qualche ora, tornate a metà pomeriggio sul blog.... ) A&K. Abbiamo sentito Andrea dire: "Io gli voglio bene a Daniele" a fine esecuzione, per fugare i rumors che li vogliono non proprio affiatatissimi. Le Yavanna rischiano l'eliminazione per un pezzo molto sofisticato. Nel complesso il livello sta crescendo, anche se per adesso Chiara Ranieri è [...]

It's been an extremely long week (so long, in fact, that it became two weeks), and I'm still feeling a little crabby because I came down with a cold last weekend in the midst of a heatwave in a house with no air conditioning. A few days later, I ended up with some extremely vomitous backpain (if this is me at 26, I may as well call it quits at 30). I'm also just feeling bogged down with work, so I'm going to do a cheer up mix. Frankly, I despise people who tell me to cheer up or smile [...]
I lieu of the traditional Friday 10, we've got a Friday 15 ...because I couldn't narrow it down any further. (Anyone think they know how this week's experiment shook out for me?) We'll see you back here on Monday when TVD gets a bit ...literary. The Buggles - The Plastic Age (Mp3) Split Enz - I Got You (Mp3) Simple Minds - Someone Somewhere In Summertime (12") (Mp3) Modern English - I [...]
Many are the strange and unexpected pleasures (and, okay, utter off-putting weirdnesses) of Courtney Love 's prolific Twitter presence . It gives us insight into everything from her minor celebrity feuds to major Etsy purchases. Often, Ms. Love even sees fit to air her dirty legal/financial laundry. Don't even get me started on her obsession with TwitPic. But last night, Love really topped herself in a TwitVid post. The typically cryptic tweet read: "this is the start of the Homage to John Hughes me singing dont you forget about me start w micko, [...]
In 1992, I co-hosted an early-80's show at my college's radio station, and 80's dance nights were starting to spring up. At the time, I figured it was a fun novelty and that we'd all move on eventually. But here we are, almost two decades from the end of the 80's, and every club seems to have a wildly popular 80's night, mostly attended by those who have (to quote the great James Murphy ), " borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80's ." I love that, though. It means that my fondness for the music of [...]
Having admitted that, effectively, he made Simple Minds in the states, Jim Kerr has offered a few words on the death of John Hughes: “When we perform ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ on the forthcoming tour, we’ll be thinking about John Hughes and how his enthusiasm for the sound of Simple Minds made us go the extra mile when we recorded it back in 1984. Everyone was hell bent on making a classic piece of pop rock, but little did we know the kind of longevity the film would have on generations to come. The Breakfast Club helped [...]
MUSIC NEWS - Simple Minds are to appear in a new documentary about the Brat Pack film director, John Hughes , who died at the age of 59 from a heart attack in New York City last week. Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, today confirmed that on their forthcoming ' Graffiti Soul ' world tour; they'll dedicate "Don't You (Forget About Me )" to the memory of John Hughes and how his teenage coming-of-age films defined a generation. The upcoming film documentary " Don't [...]

There have been a spate of celebrity deaths this summer, for which I haven't cared one way or another about. I was too young for Farrah and I lost my interest in Michael Jackson at least 25 years ago. A bunch of lesser-known famous people have also passed in recent weeks, which is a shame, but the one who I'm blogging about is the creator of one of my top 2 or 3 favorite movies ever made, Ferris Bueller's Day Off . In fact, as I sit here writing this in my office, a framed poster of "A John [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News On day three of Lollapalooza , the temperature decided to skyrocket close to the 100 degree mark, but that didn't stop neo-Afrobeatists Vampire Weekend from bringing the fun. Lead singer Ezra Koenig wore bright yellow shorts and yelped through a sunny pop song that may or may not have been a new one. Right before they played 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,' Koenig took a moment to dedicate the song to the late and great John Hughes . He explained [...]

Last Thursday night, checking the news before going to bed, I read the headline that filmmaker John Hughes was dead. As I am of the age I am, it’s a passing of someone that had a rather measurable impact on my childhood. In 1983, it was pretty much every line from Hughes screenplay for National Lampoon’s Vacation that my friends and I were quoting (especially on any road trip). Years later, those quotes provided some comic relief when traveling through Thailand. “I think you're all fucked in the head. We're ten [...]

Let us take a break from my Replacements bender to celebrate the legacy of John Hughes . Hughes passed away suddenly at age 59 on Thursday, August 6, from an apparent heart attack. To me, and many of my generation, Hughes had more of an affect on our lives than that of Michael Jackson. I remember seeing Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off in the theatre. And my mom taped The Breakfast Club off of HBO, and I watched it over and over and over again. [...]

So, full disclosure: I am not a child of the 1980s. I did not come of age in that decade, guided by the films of John Hughes. Hell, I didn't see The Breakfast Club until freshman year of college and I've never seen Sixteen Candles . But I still fully appreciate what John Hughes meant to films and teenagers and the juxtaposition of the two. As a (semi)aspiring screenwriter, there's no way in hell I can ever write a teen movie that doesn't get compared to Hughes' work (provided that mine is good enough to earn such [...]

I was terribly saddened to hear that John Hughes had died this past Thursday after suffering a heart attack at 59 while out for a walk in Manhattan. Much has been made of how Hughes' coming-of-age movies in the 1980s defined a generation, and I am certainly someone who's adolescent years were shaped and influenced by his films. It was a little different for me than others, though, because I at his height ( Sixteen Candles in 1984, The Breakfast Club in 1985 and [...]

There are more than a couple bands, largely British bands, who should be saying a deep prayer of thanks to filmmaker John Hughes . Hughes, the premier chronicler of 80s teenage angst, died this past week of a heart attack on the streets of New York. Not only did Hughes make some of the more memorable comedies of the 80s, he introduced scores of new bands to a bevy of midwestern teens. I know, I was one of them. [...]
High school generally gets mixed reviews. Some hated it. Some loved it. But whether you’d rather relive the memories or repress them, it’s hard to argue the adolescence is a marked by ambivalence. Maybe your experience might have skewed toward the positive, but it wasn’t absent its fair share of uncertainty. High school is mostly [...]

As you have all heard, John Hughes , 80's teen-film legend, died yesterday and for anyone who grew up watching his films it feels like a small part of our childhood is now missing. I was just entering the world during his prime years ('84-'86) but I still felt his impact. He was obviously highly influential in the film world, especially in showing realistic depictions of teenagers and their angst-filled lives. Many of my favorite filmmakers now (Wes Anderson, Judd Apatow, etc) owe much to the work of John Hughes. From Sixteen Candles [...]