Audio Journal by MJA Smith : 13/07/2009

The Hammersmith Apollo And I Just Don't See Eye-To-Eye

We took our girls to see The Wiggles – go on, laugh – last Saturday at the Hammersmith (aka HMV) Apollo. This is my third trip there, and each of those three visits has been marred by something unforeseen which has damn near ruined the trip.

The first time was in 2004 when we went to see Kings Of Leon for the first time. The venue was so hot that we had to leave halfway through (I wasn’t about to rip my t-shirt off like most of the other blokes – but strangely enough, not the women – were). The second time – for R.E.M. – it was snowing, so no risk whatsoever of overheating, but we never even got into the venue as we’d decided inexplicably that we couldn’t be bothered to go and see one of the biggest bands in the world in a relatively small venue and trekked over to the venue just to find myself royally fleeced, and rather concerned for my life, while exchanging the tickets for the cash equivalent of some magic beans down an alley way around the side of the venue with a tout.

This trip was arguably much more successful, in so far as we actually went this time and didn’t have to leave through heat exhaustion. However, this time we very nearly didn’t make it at all because of my complete inability to a) take into account engineering works on the Underground; and to b) judge distances between stations. We arrived at our seats just after the Antipodeans took to the stage, hot and bothered and spent longer travelling there from Canary Wharf than they were actually on stage. But the girls loved it, and my wife and I are not at all ashamed to say we did too.

For the sheer hell of it, here’s a clip of The Wiggles performing with Leo Sayer, and I can assure readers that normal service will be resumed next week.

Audio Journal : 04/05/2009

Having taken a couple of extra days off after the bank holiday for my eldest daughter's third birthday, I've been exposed to more kids TV than I normally would, specifically her favourite show, The Wiggles. The Wiggles are a group of Australians who perform catchy pop songs which she loves singing along and dancing to The trouble is, their songs are literally like crack, and you can't stop singing them – as an adult – all day. I will, however, confess that the song 'Tassie Devil' from the new DVD Go Bananas! is really good. Sung by Captain Feathersword (I can't believe I'm actually writing this), it's a repetitive rock 'n' roll track about the native Australian creature and I happen to think it's great. Just don't tell anyone.

The Wiggles, via a cover of 'The Mooche' can be held responsible for me buying a Duke Ellington compilation this week. I have an on-off love affair with jazz, and despite leftfield musical tendencies, I find myself actually enjoying classic, big-band jazz songs more than the wayward blowing of someone like Ornette Coleman. Woody Allen soundtracks are the other big influence on my tastes here, and Ellington songs have graced many an Allen film score.

Finally, a BBC Four documentary on the stalwart indie label Rough Trade turned up a load of songs that I have been adding to my iTunes shopping basket ever since. The best of those picks has been 'Country Death Song' by Violent Femmes. Suffice to say, it's an early alt-country track murder ballad, ie it does exactly what it says on the tin.