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Hello 2015.
I turned on the radio in bed the other night and caught Count Basie "April In Paris". I remembered playing it live with the late great Alex Chilton a few years ago. He was on a Count Basie - Louis Prima kick for a while. Yonks ago we were in an Italian restaurant on Renfield St and Alex asked the staff to play his Louis Prima CD instead of whatever they had on in the background. They obliged.
LX really was out on his own. A wonderful songwriter ('d'uh', as they say...). But you might see him live umpteen times and never hear him sing one of his own. Instead he might favour gems like Eddie Floyd "Never Found A Girl" or "The Hucklebuck" or "Alligator Man" or "There Will Never Be Another You". Nina Simone. Ollie Nightingale. Whatever. I wish I'd seen him sing "Claim To Fame" but the next best thing is listening to the live version on his last album "Live In Anvers". Anyway. "April In Paris". How like Alex to work out a version of a big band swing number with him covering the orchestra parts (apart from bass and drums) on his hollow-body Gibson thingummyjig and grooving through it while a room full of punters waited patiently for something, anything by Big Star.
I remember LX saying that being in Paris made him want to earn his first million and buy an apartment there. This just made me think of Alex's pal Ben Vaughn - "Jerry Lewis In France":
And that just made me think of this by Ben's pal Jonathan Richman - "Give Paris One More Chance":
It's been a while since I was in Paris but almost two years ago I was in a studio near Carpentras in the south east of France with Teenage Fanclub working on a new album. French food, wine and countryside. I'm not really going anywhere with this except to say I love France. I hope to get back there soon.
a bientôt x
PS:
I found this list of short and long films that I like and meant to blog about ages ago. Whoops.
I will try not to leave it so long next time....
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