pacman

Oh fuck... I know Springsteen's drummer & his late saxophonist (RIP). Does that count? For my second attempt at the question, my guess is............... Barry Manilow.

Stevie Van Zant. He toured with Springsteen last year. And in what TV series does he play the lead & in which country is it produced?

Netherlands? Hmmm, there's some yodelling in that song, maybe Switzerland. Naah, I'm almost sure they are Dutch.

Excuse me but the answer to this question is yet to enter folklore. I also saw his name on the news & I was about to follow JaiDee's lead & excuse myself when it occurred to me that no one can answer this question unless they learn the answer today. I'm not in the habit of spoiling anyone's quiz question but the gentleman has only been dead a matter of hours. So on behalf of everyone else who has turned on the news today, the bass player who died is Jack Bruce. Vale.

Barry Manilow?

Thanks Sam. I should have remember Inuit, I was thinking south of the border. I suppose a local equivalent would be a three katoey night. One for average horniness, two for above average & three for first night back in town when you haven't busted a nut in months.....

I heard this story on the radio many years ago. I'm trying to recall who it concerned, might have been American Indians or maybe pioneers, anyway on a cold night they would sleep with a dog next to them to get some warmth. On a colder night they needed two dogs. It doesn't take much to work out if it is a three dog night that it is very cold indeed. It is bizarre but I have never thought about that story until the other week when I heard them played on the radio & it came to mind. Now this question, what were the chances?

Thanks Hefe. I just googled them to see if it rang any bells. Nothing I'm afraid but I did see who the actor is. I never knew that guy was in a band but then again, how do any of us know who plays an instrument? We don't. So let's see if someone can answer it - who is the former member of the Holy Modal Rounders who today is a fairly well well known actor & playwright?

It's not just the question that is obscure, I have never heard of this band. How big were they & did they chart internationally? Even if I wasn't into one of those early bands, I thought I had at least heard of them.

He did. The band is Mott the Hoople.

Barry Manilow?

The Waterboys.

Tasmania is named after Abel Tasman. I can't think of any other large island named after someone.

I can relate to what you write. The issue is not the quality of the artist or their music, it's how you came to be exposed to these guys & whether you come across them alone or were you introduced to them by enthusiastic friends. I think if left to my own devices I would not have embraced these guys as I did. But I was caught up in a teenage rush of excitement wanting to know all about the latest & best musos around. Fellow travellers at the time were the best sales people the record companies could ever recruit with their regular message of: "If you think those guys are cool, wait till you hear Electric Ladyland or Disraeli Gears or Live at Leeds. Those guys are the best / greatest / coolest thing ever" And for impressionable youth, these clarion calls to listen to such music "gods" were impossible to ignore. And on repeated listening I came to really like what I heard. Clapton was never my favourite, I lost a bit of interest after he left Cream though he has some great songs. Tears in Heaven written after his son fell out of their apartment window to his death is a beautiful song. The Who are poorly presented in their early promotional pictures with the poncy clothes, etc. They were much more rock'n'roll than they seemed, their concerts are a terrific example of loud & good rock songs. The original recordings are rock-lite, tracks like Baba O'Reilly take on a whole new life when played live. (Silly name, everyone remembers it as Teenage Wasteland, who can find it when it hides under such a name?) The Stones never did a rock song quite like Substitute. No one did. I am positive with guidance you could come to like The Who. Their latter day stuff that gets airplay today is rubbish & a travesty of what the early stuff was about. "You better, you better, you bet" - fuck off, who wrote that shit? Then were was the original rock god himself, the one, the only Jimi Hendrix. It was an article of faith when I was young that you either liked him or you were eternally condemned to listen to kiddie-pop. I cannot imagine how big he would have been had he lived. I didn't own all his albums & I certainly wasn't his biggest fan but I loved his sound. It's never too late to like an artist but if you don't appreciate Hendrix today, the moment might be lost. His style of attacking his guitar with his unorthodox chord fingering that others can't copy, it was music of its time & I doubt anyone would play a track of his today at full volume & say "hmmm, now that's what I have been missing". All this is a complete indulgence on my part but I felt it necessary when I read Seven's comment that he neither liked nor understood some of the great music influences of my life.

I should have explained myself better - before they were Led Zep, the band were more a folk band. I have read there are some "folk" echoes in some of their Led Zep tracks but I haven't heard it. They say Stairway to Heaven has a touch, they must be listening to a different version. Maybe the version Rolf Harris sang at Glastonbury with his wobble board.

1) Can't remember but Led Zeppelin were a folk band. 2) Heard this one also & can't remember it. It was from a movie I seem to recall. Uriah Heep was a character in one of Charles Dickens' books. David Copperfield I think it was.

It came from a song by Muddy Waters (??) or one of those original bluesmen. I have read it, I just can't remember the specifics....

Oh the memories! I love that song.... "you hit me with a flower, you do it every hour" I had a Lou Reed mixed tape (a cassette! Can you imagine that!) that I played to death. I think I bought it in Bali.

You have been banging this drum a long time. I see a much darker world where if something has to be hushed up no journalist is going to get their story published. I agree with Torurot when he mentioned the "lost links". There have been stories that seem to have disappeared from the web. I was trying to remember one earlier, it was a few years back & when I went looking for it later................ nothing, nada, gone.

Ah shit! I had read that but these things rarely pop into one's mind when they are needed. I liked the Sex Pistols but I never owned Never Mind the Bollocks. Poor old Sid, died from a heroin overdose supplied by his mother. FFS.

Really easy? What? He called it Hamster?

Good grief! Pet hamster? I'm leaving that one for Saab1, our resident genius. Come on down Saab, you're on son.

I've heard the story but can't place it. It had nothing to do with the record label owned by the Beatles. Or did it? (Yes, I saw your retraction when you re-read the thread title to which I say....... fuck the rules, answer please)

I won't try & explain Australian humour, I would need to write a book, but I will say it is quite blunt & sarcastic. The sarcasm gives it a rude edge which makes it very unpalatable for those not used to it. And there are more & more politically correct Australians who find it not to their taste. Though it is my experience that once they "get it", they can't get enough of it. There is something quite visceral about a joke that attacks (attacks?) your inner being. Only when it is done well & only in the context of the conversation. Otherwise it sounds pathetic & I shudder when I see Australians trying it on foreigners. Newcomers mostly miss the irony. As in - "oh you mean you are only joking?" If it has to be explained it is not funny by any definition. Calling someone a stupid American cunt is not funny & is not excusable. I think your "friend" might have been hiding behind the veil of "it's Aussie humour" in order to stop you reacting & taking it personally so he could continue calling you a stupid American cunt. Now that's funny.....

Jethro Tull. Saw them in concert years ago, fantastic show. Was going to buy VIP tickets for a later tour which was cancelled when Ian Anderson fell off the stage in New Zealand (think it was NZ) & broke his ankle. They've never been back!