A BLOG ABOUT THINGS I LEARN. BASICALLY. I respect copyright and will be happy to remove any photo the holder wishes me to remove. Please email whatstanleysays@gmail.com if you own an image you wish removed.

Thursday 26 August 2010

FRENCH FANCY

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Last night I was told a wonderful piece of news.
Yann Tiersen will be playing in Birmingham on
Tuesday 9th November!
Nice tilting of the head there.

I am 1oo% not lying.  Although it may be true that he played here almost two years ago
on my birthday whilst I was watching a chamber orchestra play Mozart and Strauss in
the orangery of a palace in Vienna, city of musicians lol lol L.O.L,
THIS TIME
rather than playing at the Academy, he will be dizzying us with
accordian glissandos from Parisian fairytales in the intimate spaces of the Glee Club.

This is the mesmorising La Valise d'Amelie, a piece of music from the film
Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, a masterpiece of the genius director
Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

I've been told that whilst he does play some of the favourites,
the set suddenly turns into a disasterous tribute to
seventies rockabilly subculture...

Oh, hi Tex and The Dixie Rebels.

I am, however, willing to forgo this if only to hear a glockenshpiel/accordian duet for two minutes.
So with one swift magical click....BOOM.... I leave you with the link to the tickets...

Ça serait PARFAIT.
(As in the French for 'perfect', not the dessert.)

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Warpaint - Billie Holiday

TODAY I was shocked to find that when typing 'Warpaint - Billie Holiday' into the
Youtube search engine, the video that I did a year ago is fifth on the list,
having had....
....two thousand one hundred and eighty one views.
WHAT?!
This is completely shocking to me as  a) there are three pages of videos
                                                        b) I play every other note wrong, and
                                                        c) I forget the lyrics and consequently make up my own.

Thank you to everyone who has watched this, for the comments and the criticism!

Shame the videos of my own songs are doing so pathetically...
Naturally i'd advise you to watch the live versions of the actual band performing this song as it is magnificent.



They are touring in the UK in OCTOBER. Buy tickets HERE.
I urge you not to miss this.

'licker love

Monday 16 August 2010

Zombie Face

This weekend I learnt a number of things:
     ONE) It really is OK to go to a cocktail party in jeans, a t-shirt and cloggs.
Hello pretty little clogg.

     TWO)Most bouncers are nice. The remaining few are VILE. It is not ok to refuse someone entry
               a)because you don't like the way they are dressed,
               b) because you clearly have as much dress sense as a flea on a dog hair on Katie Price's old
               spandex shorts, or
               c) because you want everyone to know that the ridiculous tattoo on your forehead actually
               means that  you are a 'real man'. (The refused person in question being male, not female)


Sorry, you are not very pretty.

THREE)If the delightful special bru-driking ladies making up the hen party that I met on the train back from
               London have all managed to find someone who willingly agreed to spend the rest of their lives
               waking up to them, there really is hope for the rest of us.

       You learn something new every day.

Friday 13 August 2010

HARPS & OXYGEN

September is the ONE.
Not because it heralds the beginning of Autumn;
not because it's going to become much easier to dress,
and not because it only really rhymes with 'dismember'.
No!
September is the month of all things musical.  Not onebut two acts worthy of tears of joy
will be arriving from across the Atlantic
to wipe those cheesy grins from our faces.

Firstly, i'd like to point out that looking at this adorable face for forty five minutes would be possible even if he was to sit silently on a chair in a cold room.  Yes, Willy Mason is embarking on a mere four-date UK tour during which he will play, rather surprisingly, at Birmingham's own Glee Club!  The gig is on Monday 13th September and tickets can be found HERE

As if that isn't enough excitement for Birmingham in a week, the mesmerising Joanna Newsom is playing on Friday 17th September at the Symphony Hall. Note: This is not a joke.


Although my mom can't stand her 'grating' voice, I happen to think she is incredibly talented and see this as a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity.  If you like harps, fruit, bridges and balloons buy a ticket NOW

I am really very excited about all this.

Dip de Doo Dye

I recently had my hair dip-dyed.
THIS is what I wanted it to look like:

Thank you random faux fur clad lady.  Unfortunately the hair dresser said I would look 'ridiculous' so she used her initiative and now the ends of my hair look about as bright as Kelly Brook would on University Challenge.
Well! Since I have an abudance of time on my hands at work this week I've decided to give this a go.
Here's a pretty picture:

I took this at Secret Garden Party in what we nicknamed 'The Deep South Tent'.
Wonderful beard, lovely songs, great antlers.