Northside Johnny

Once in a while, you hear the name of a band and you somehow know that their music will be sublime. It's just the name.

In the lazy summer of '77 I heard about a beat combo called Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. I knew they played the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, along with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Little Stevie and his Disciples of Soul. However all of this was a dreamland to a lost boy in Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, UK, struggling through his 'A' Levels.

Bruce went on to be an international megastar and Democrat poster boy. Little Stevie became Steve Van Zandt, political rebel and then Soprano. Southside Johnny though - I don't know what really happened, but I do know that, when I listen to this ensemble, years fade away and a town twinning between NJ and BA which only ever existed in my mind, nevertheless lives on forever.

Lloyd almighty

This week, directors of the the British bank, Lloyd's, paid a consultancy firm to sound out shareholders (44% now their government) about a new bonus and incentive scheme to increase their personal remuneration.

On the same day, a man in Los Angeles killed himself and his family in despair over his financial problems after having lost his job.

As EM Forster might say, Only Connect.

Curry favour

Meanwhile, this is being widely circulated as the best airline complaint letter ever, sent to Richard Branson of Virgin. (Thanks to The Economist's excellent Gulliver travel blog for the reference.)

DEC out

Apparently the BBC think this is political. I'm sure the children filmed would agree.

Tooth ache

My daughter needs braces. The total cost of which, in Japan, is the same as her pocket money for the next 20 years. Now I know why people become dentists. "She'll look wonderful", he said as he drove away in the Lamborghini...

Lender be

If you haven't done so already, try Kiva. It's a service (for want of a better name) that forwards donations via micro-lenders to small entrepreneurs all over the developing world. As they re-pay the loan, the money is returned to you. As a result you feel like you are doing something useful, but the money actually comes back. (Neither of which is true with Citibank, for example.) You get to pick the individual recipient of the loan, which gives it a personal feel. You can even join a lending team - in fact I've just founded one - you can join it here.

Time for a change?

Bush walking

Blair given top medal by Bush. Now isn't that just sweet?

55 years later

"And how strange, I thought, that a nation which had suffered so many wrongs in the course of its long and sorrowful diaspora was now, in single-minded pursuit of its own goal, ready to inflict a grievous wrong on another nation - and a nation that was innocent, too, of all that past Jewish suffering.
Such a phenomenon was not, I knew, unknown to history; but it made me very sad, nonetheless, to see it enacted before my eyes."

The Road to Mecca, Muhammad Asad, 1954

Benign Benin

If you're looking for something a little different to listen to, may I recommend The Vodoun Effect by the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotounou. This is a collection of African Funk recorded between 1972-1975 in Benin. Some wonderful enthusiasts at a label called Analog Africa recently put together this delightful set together with a 44 page book detailing the history of these incredibly obscure pieces of vinyl. It's gorgeous.

New dawn

Happy New Year! Sorry for the lack of posts - I was away on holiday. May all our troubles be little ones ;)