Truth In Shredding (Free subscription) | 02/03/2010
About a year ago I was working on the final recordings of Mr. Fastfinger's album "The Way of the Exploding Guitar". One of the songs, "Creatures of the Midnight" had recently went though a dramatic re-arrangement editing. Now suddenly there was one more guitar solo to record. I set up an audio sequencer to loop the backing of the solo and started improvising on the guitar. I think...
Tales from Bradistan (Free subscription) | 01/09/2010
I'm no fan of Dire Straits but this song "Brothers In Arms" is a deserved classic. A sublime melody, moving lyrics and wonderful guitar work all combine perfectly. Plus, this performance in 1988 at the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday concert at Wembley Stadium is charged with emotion. Good to see that the cameo appearance of Eric Clapton is kept well in the background as this moment solely belongs...
[the belly of an architect] (Free subscription) | 12/29/2009
Telegraph Road, Dire Straits, 1982. [I] was driving down that road and I was reading a book at the time, called Growth of the Soil , and I just put the two together. I was driving down this Telegraph Road… and it just went on and on and on forever, it's like what they call linear development. And I just started to think, I wondered how that road must have been when it started, what it must have...
Miami Herald (Free subscription) | 12/27/2009
Actor John Amos is 70. Guitarist Mick Jones of Foreigner is 65. Singer Tracy Nelson is 65. Actor Gerard Depardieu is 61. Singer Karla Bonoff is 58. Actress Tovah Feldshuh is 57. Guitarist David Knopfler of Dire Straits is 57. Actress Eva LaRue is 43. Actor Wilson Cruz (My So-Called Life) is 36. Actor Masi Oka is 35. Actress Emilie de Ravin is 28. Singer Hayley Williams of Paramore is 21.
Effect Measure (Free subscription) | 12/16/2009
A reminder that many nations fight stupid wars. Remember the Falklands? Mark Knopfler's version of the Dire Straits song, Brothers in Arms. Read the comments on this post...
Transpontine (Free subscription) | 12/10/2009
There's a nice exhibition in the cafe at Deptford Albany (Douglas Way, SE8) of posters advertising gigs there in the early 1980s, designed by Colin Bodiam ('Bo'). Posters featured include The Flying Pickets... The Raincoats (legendary post-punk band), who played at the Albany in December 1981. The poster says 'first week of music', presumably this was just after the new building opened in Douglas Way....
The Deptford Dame (Free subscription) | 12/02/2009
Thanks to commenter El Blog De Ju on the previous post for pointing me to this wonderful photo, which shows Dire Straits performing in the gardens on Crossfields Estate, with what is now Cockpit Arts in the background (and where the Love Over Gold mural is). (Please note that this photo is not my copyright, it is posted here ) According to the official Mark Knopfler site "On Thursday 3rd December,...
I Read Comics (Free subscription) | 11/30/2009
This week: Mark Knopfler, Wild Theme , from the soundtrack lp Local Hero , released in 1983. I was thinking about the movie Local Hero the other day and I remembered how wonderful Mark Knopfler's soundtrack is. If you haven't seen the movie, I don't think I can explain how sweet and quirky it is, or how you can fall in love with Scotland via Peter Riegert. But the music is the thing that ties it all...
France24 (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
A novel for teenagers about the US prison in Guantanamo Bay written by a rock star's wife was nominated Wednesday for a prestigious children's book prize in Britain. "Guantanamo Boy" by Anna Perera, whose husband David Knopfler co-founded Dire Straits with his brother Mark, is one of four entrants in the running for the Costa Children's Book Prize. It tells the story of 15-year-old Khalid...
Crispian's Album Reviews (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
In terms of quantity, Knopfler’s solo output has now eclipsed his Dire Straits output. However, I don’t think many would be so quick to make the same claim for quality. It is perhaps unfair to compare Knopfler’s solo albums with his Dire Straits albums, they are essentially separate beasts, and to his credit, Knopfler has explored some different and often interesting avenues when...
Boulton (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
They've cost the British tax-payer around £200bn and left us with a sense we didn't much for our cash. Until now, perhaps. Unveiling next week in the Queen's Speech - Power to the People - new legislation to allow ordinary folks to take class action against their banks. Lord Myners, the City Minister, will be telling Adam all about that and Schools Secretary Ed Balls MP will be outlining what...
Spinner.com (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
Filed under: Music Appreciation Keith Urban has had his fair share of awkward interactions with nervous fans, no doubt. But some years ago he found himself on the other end when he spotted Mark Knopfler dining in a Nashville restaurant, just like normal folk. "I was just sort of awestruck," says Urban, who then introduced himself to the longtime Dire Straits singer and guitarist. "He...
Download Music For Free Right Now! 100% Legal. (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
I almost sent this item back because the sound was so uneven going back and forth between loud and soft for no reason. luckily I ran across a comment by someone who mentioned you had to use 5.1 or DTS in the sound setup to get it to work right. Sure enough, Doby sounds awful, but when I selected 5.1 the sound was perfect. After that I enjoyed a really great concert with some excellent cuts from Eric...
Popdose (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
Bad news for all the fans who thought that this, finally, was Knopfler’s return to Dire Straits-style rock and roll: Those days are gone, and have been for awhile now. Get Lucky, Knopfler’s debut for the Warners heritage label Reprise (ugh — “heritage” — it has all the cache of a Revolutionary War reenactment troupe) [...]
Maria's Race Diary (Free subscription) | 10/14/2009
Yes I did and it was fantastic! It was the most extravagant party I’ve ever been privy to. I was escorted by my friend Richard who kindly collected me [because I couldn’t fit in my Micra due to the vastness of my dress]. From a collection point in the Goodwood house grounds we were picked up in a Vintage coach and transported to Seville…..a giant aircraft hanger transformed in to...
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