File Under: Queasy Listening

Strange but true?

www.myspace.com/shamusdark
Sounding like the bastard off-spring of Frank Sinatra and Massive Attack, "Songs For Suicidal Lovers" is the debut album from enigmatic and reclusive vocalist, Shamus Dark. Featuring songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, as well as other classics from writers and performers as diverse as Chet Baker, Carlos Jobim, Hank Willams, and Joy Division, the album really is a different take on what has gone before. Like Shamus himself, it's a Dark album, not for the faint of heart.

From www.shamusdark.com (The Music)
One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
Shamus says: "Well, this one's supposed to be the granddaddy of all saloon songs. Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote it in the 40's, for Sinatra I think. It's certainly associated with him, probably more so than Angel Eyes. We had to think twice about doing it. In the end, we thought that, although the older generation will be comparing our version with Frank's, well, they're all going to drop off the perch pretty soon, so it really doesn't matter. It's a fantastic arrangement and I would say, a fitting end to the album."

Read his story here - true or a false myth-build?

Chaps and Chapettes Unite!

WHAT IS THE CHAP?
http://www.thechap.net/

The Chap takes a wry look at the modern world through the steamed-up monocle of a more refined age, occasionally getting its sock suspenders into a twist at the unspeakable vulgarity of the twenty-first century.

Since 1999, the Chap has been championing the rights of that increasingly marginalised and discredited species of Englishman - the gentleman. The Chap believes that a society without courteous behaviour and proper headwear is a society on the brink of moral and sartorial collapse, and it seeks to reinstate such outmoded but indispensable gestures as hat doffing, giving up one's seat to a lady and regularly using a trouser press.

It is time for Chaps and Chapettes from all walks of life to stand up and be counted. But fear not, ye languid and ye plain idle: ours is a revolution based not on getting up early and exerting oneself - but a revolution that can be achieved by a single raised eyebrow over a monocle; the ordering of a glass of port in All Bar One; the wearing of a particularly fetching cardigan upon a visit to one's bookmaker.

See The Chap Manifesto where there are also links to

• Civilise the City: Several operatives entered the premises of Mr. R. McDonald, where they requested devilled kidneys, kedgeree and vintage champagne. Needless to say, they left empty-bladdered. Other flashpoints were Starbucks (where pots of oolong and china cups were not forthcoming); Specsavers (no monocles); All Bar One (cocktails off the menu)
• V&A art protest: Twenty seven followers of The Chap handcuffed themselves around Rachel Whiteread's 'Untitled (Room 101)' in the Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum, as a protest against the pointless intrusion by contemporary art pieces into public areas.
• Tate Modern protest: On a beautiful Spring morning, three men arrived at Tate Modern to attempt the unthinkable: an ascent of the South Face of Whiteread in the Turbine Hall. Ms Whiteread had spent months assembling 14,000 resin casts of an ordinary cardboard box into an impressive pile standing some sixty-seven feet high.
  

And check out some wonderful memories of your mum's old knitting pattern photos at the back issues section

Enjoy, old boys and gals, enjoy!

Hold Your Plums!

Here is a link to the best of a Scouse institution - "Hold Your Plums"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/fun/2002/07/hold_your_plums/plums_index.shtml

There are some classics but good places to start are
"Which country drives on the left?"
"Hugh and I" (although I must admit I hadn't heard of the programme)
"What did Walter Raleigh bring back from the New World?"
"John Barnes legs"