Patti Smith documentary and book 4U

A flick... Patti Smith: Dream of Life... by photographer-turned-director Steven Sebring, is a cinematic portrait of the punkpoet which chronicles 11 years in the life of... I'm tired of coming up with alternatives to her name.

Sebring followed Smith from 1996 to 2007, chronicling her life through live performances, lyrics, visual art, and interviews with, among others, composer Philip Glass and playwright Sam Shepard. Smith herself narrates the film. Dream of Life has screened at various film festivals (it won the Cinematography Award at Sundance) and is set for a release of a more general kind in September.

If you don't happen to have an arthouse cinema (not sure? Stick your nose in the air and follow the scent of licorice roll-ups) then a DVD is in the works for 2009. In August, Rizzoli will publish Sebring's companion book, also titled Dream of Life. July 11th sees the release of the Patti Smith/Kevin Shields live LP... AND Patti Smith is on tour as well. Die-hard fans: I hope you've been saving your money. Tour dates are overleaf.

Friday Jazz Lesson: Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie go to the 'Hot House'

I still don't know a lot about jazz... it seems like it's something you need to do a masters in. From talking to aficionados it seems that I like Bebop the best. Why? I couldn't tell yer. I guess I like it when it's pretty tough. When it comes to Bebop, surely Charlie Parker is the heavyweight champ? Dizzie Gillespie, who seems to dig Latin sounds is up there too... to my novice know-how anyway. Well, here's the pair of 'em doing a cracking version of 'Hot House'. BOOM! BAP! BAPTATBOOM!

You never heard Karen Dalton sing?

Karen Dalton's got one of the best voice I ever did hear. Now, this don't mean histrionics or gutteral soul howls, but, more like a voice that you can't quite pin down. Is that the blues? Is that jazz? Do I even like it? Basically, Dalton was a unique and precious talent. Like any self respectin' US folkie, she cut her teeth on the Greenwich scene. Bob Dylan loved her (saying "My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday's and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed.") but Fred Neil dug her the most (saying "She sure could play the shit outta the blues").

Well, Karen Dalton's gettin' a new release called Green Rocky Road. It's a collection of early recordings, which, if what I hear is to be believed, is where she really shone. The record consists of nine home recordings from '62 and '63, with banjo and 12-string accompaniment. French label Megaphone will put it out on June 10th. Click over to see her in action... and a tracklisting. I suggest you buy 'In My Own Time' while you wait.

Yet another thing claiming to be the future of DJing that doesn't involve records (but desperately wants to be some records)

Check this. This is a very cool new DJ console from Scott Hobbs (check his website here). It's only in the developing stage at the moment, but tech-heads will foam when they see touch-screen decks on the go.

Festival of the year? Quite possibly... (Wanda Jackson, The Sonics, MC5...)

There's a song that starts off with "If I was a rich man, I'd go to obscure festivals all over the world and get me some kicks, da-dee-di-de-d...". Well, it's true, I would. One I'm particularly keen to get to is The Sjock Festival in Belgium.

The kicks are July 11th, 12th and 13th and takes place in Gierle, which is a small village in "de Kempen" (Antwerp). It is located between highway E34 and E313. So who the fug is on?

Well, the big guns that'll have everyone taking note is The Sonics, (DKT) MC5 and Wanda Jackson, which will be well worth your entrance fee... but in addition to that, you also get the chance to dig The Bellrays, The Dwarves (ridiculously grimy garage), The Monsters, Miss Ruby Ann and loads more. It's half garage, half rockabilly, all B-movie monster.

So like, uh, this is gonna set me back loads huh? Well, there's a frighteningly small weekend ticket price of € 45 (that's the most expensive one... pay on the door price... it's € 35 if you buy in advance). Whaddawee waitin' fuh? More info can be found at Sjock.com.

When they were good: The Stranglers

When I was at school, we had one of those teachers who claimed he knew everything about music - and owned everything that was good. Anyway, in one of his more lucid moments, he told us that The Stranglers were a great band 'until someone told them they were a punk band'.

Tish and pish we thought...but thinking about it, he had a point. They did a nice line in rough-edge garage in their early days as this clip of Get A Grip On Yourself shows. Indeed, the first two albums are both worth a listen. Shame about the cheesy pop moments really.

You kiddin' me? World's Best Dad compilation?

Father's Day is around the corner and I, like every other year, ain't gonna bother with it. However, if I did, I certainly wouldn't buy him a 'World's Best Dad' compilation, brought to you by the Dad lovers at Sony BMG. So, before we see what's on it, I'm gonna guess.

Paul Weller (Wildwood). Manic Street Preachers (A Design For Life). Stone Roses (Love Spreads). Marillion (Kayleigh). Deep Purple (Hush, because Smoke on the Water is too obvious these days). Lynyrd Skynyrd (any of the big 3). Yes (Owner of a Lonely Heart). Probably some ZZ Top.

Okay, let's go over the jump and see what's on... tenner your dad would prefer socks.

A modern critique of music journalism

A mate of mine sent me this and I couldn't help but think that he way trying to tell me that most music journalism is like a bad, slow, awkward fight in space.

None-news article. Listings about some night or other.

I got told about this night via one of my many online social networking accounts. That makes me insanely un-hip. Still. I heard about it right? It's by these guys in Manchester called Nish Nash Nosh. Not only does it fill me with nothing, but it's a rubbish name too. They're launching a thing called Electric Elephant which is a much better name... a live launch party on Saturday May 31st. There's some guys DJing with ordinary names like Neil Scott. I prefer DJs called Carrie Nation (go-go girl DJ), Shazzula (psychedelic pixie woman) or Drag Net (fisherman transvestite). For the record, I'm only aware of one of those DJs existing. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is because there's some live acts on.

One of them is John Stammers who I like a lot. However, last time I saw him and reviewed him, he grumbled about how I'd likened him to other people and called me a 'bloody germalist'. So with that, I'm not telling you anything about him at all. You'll have to find out for yourself. I'd suggest that you go watch him, but he'd probably grumble about that as well. In fact, I'd disregard all this and play games on your 'entertainment consoles' instead. Music is rubbish anyhow.

Electric Elephant Website

Barack Obama is the chairman of the board

Most people my age talk about the indie bands of the '80s giving them what they need for political debate and ire. "Duh, man, did you see Paul Weller slagging off the Tories?" Uh, no, because I was listening to Public Enemy. This miner strike business is awful, sure 'nuff, but hell, why did they get Billy Bragg involved? I woulda listened harder and been down the picket line if Chuck D told me to. I think the miners got shafted because they didn't choose funk breaks and furious mic prophets. Ever since then, I've been wary of just about any white man and his guitar namechecking Woodie Guthrie. Ever since then, I've been easily led by just about anything Chuck D says.

Now, a couple of the Electric Roulette scribes have been getting a little obsessed with Barack Obama. I mean, most figure 'who cares? It ain't our country!'. Yeah, but bruthas and sistas, this is the race to become the big cheese of the world's biggest and most dangerous super-power. Who do you want bossing the trigger? Some woman with too many Ls in her name? A Republican? Or someone down with the Choom Gang? What has Barry gotta do with Public Enemy?