The Counterforce No. 39
Pantherman and Ladyhawke, plus Dutch Glam, Eugene Mirman, Robyn Hitchcock, & Brooklyn 99
I’ve made two playlists for sites now based on Sporting Moustaches. A lot of fun to put together, and both sites respected my Spotify boycott.
Here’s the 29 song playlist that I made for Large Hearted Boy.
Completely different tracklist for each, except for the fantastic 1974 Dutch glam rock tune, Pantherman. Do you know it? It kicks all kinds of ass. Those gnarly guitars and what a chorus, “I am your Pantherman, I am your Pantherman, I’ll show you my claws”. More info on the artist here
In 2009, Excelsior Recordings put out a great Nederglam comp called Clap Your Hands Stomp Your Feet, introducing me to this wondrous tune as well as these others:
On Sunday I went to see Robyn Hitchcock and Eugene Mirman perform at the very posh Westport Library. Eugene’s merch was a plate with a line from this early video, still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen:
He also played this excerpt from his I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome) album, literally pressed play on this recording. ‘Helpful’ Russian phrases, and the Russian translation of the line 'Your band, The Black Crowes, smells like trash’ still has me giggling:
Robyn was great. What I love about Robyn’s sets are that he has so many songs, he always pulls out one or two that I’ve forgotten about and am very happy to be reminded of. In this case it was Century from Eye.
He did excellent versions of Madonna Of The Wasps and NY Doll (requested by me on IG beforehand), two of my favourite songs. And there was a lovely four song piano section in the middle. His banter was, as always, top notch, and his intro for The Man Who Invented Himself was pretty informative - even he pointed out this foray into ‘facts’ - talking about Dylan and the key of F and how Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life was on his mind when he wrote it
About, gosh, 15 years ago now, I found it imperative to visit Augsburg, Germany. For obvious reasons, and I wanted a t-shirt with my name on it. So for my 33rd birthday, I decided to make this happen. I was living in London at the time, going to school, and I had a German test on the actual day so I had to leave late. I finally got into Munich airport around 11 at night and I was all prepared to say to passport control ‘Heute ist mein Geburtstag. Ich fahre nach Augsburg', when the guard got in there first with a, it must said quizzical, ‘Happy Birthday’ as he handed me back my passport. From there it was about 45 minutes to Augsburg Central by train. All I wanted was a nice meal and then to head off to bed. But by the time I got in, after midnight, everywhere was closed. So that ‘nice meal’ ended up being a McRib sandwich. Oh how my vegan self shudders at the thought now. I ended up in a half-Mexican half-Irish bar quaffing Guinness and wondering if I had made some horrible mistake, emphasized all the more by the Mexican restaurant part of the establishment being long closed. As was my wont in such situations, I began texting my friend Nicky back in London. ‘Can you commandeer a helicopter and come rescue me?’ Alas, it was not to be. But it was the good music that kept me on that barstool far longer than I thought. One of the songs was Ladyhawke’s My Delirium. I made a note of this and brought her up at the next Soft Close-Ups recording session back in London. I clearly remember David Shah’s response - ‘It’s 80s hard rock with synths and female vocals, what’s not to love?’ Ladyhawke and Asobi Seksu are two artists that I always really like when I hear them but don’t listen to or know them nearly as well as I feel I should. Well, today I got stuck in southern Connecticut in the aftermath of that horrible accident on I-95 where a tanker carrying 8,500 gallons of petroleum crashed and caught on fire. Even well after the fact, I was in the car for an unexpected 5 hours. So I listened to all four Ladyhawke albums. There are some gems on the first three. I wasn’t too impressed by the latest, 2021’s Time Flies, feeling it lacks the hooks and sense of going for something big, though Loner, Adam, and Reactor, late in the album, are alright. But when she is striving for the stratosphere, I love it. Another Runaway got plenty of play on my stereo today.
And second album Anxiety’s addition of distorted guitars works so well with the whole vibe
It’s been a tough year so far so once again I found myself watching the Doug Judy episodes of Brooklyn 99 for some much needed laughs. The comedic chemistry between Craig Robinson and Andy Samberg is just magical.
And last time I just kept going with the episodes. Good on them for trying to tackle the many problems with the police in the final season. And I’m constantly reminded of what a genius actor and comedian Andre Braugher was. Captain Raymond Holt is one of the all-time great comedy characters. I can’t find a clip of it, but this exchange still has me in stitches:
Amy: I'm not sure Barbra Streisand counts as a rock star, sir.
Captain Holt: She sings in English. That's rock music.
And then his drumroll, OMG:
It’s Bandcamp Friday this week, probably Friday already by the time you read this, and as usual I have tons of music, comedy, stories, and the four books up for sale there. I’ve never had much luck with Bandcamp Friday but still one keeps trying. Much appreciated if you wanna pick something up
Oh wow Pantherman is great!