TRAVEL LITERATURE

The big day has arrived! Off we go to Chicago...the first time two thirds of us have ever been to America and all to experience musical adventures currently unknown....

Now having more or less packed (if throwing some pants and tshirts into a suitcase count), it is time for the most important part of travelling - what reading accompaniments deserve to make the journey from the dusty bookshelf in your room across oceans to lands new?

I've realised that in the last year or so due to severe lack of funds, I haven't bought that many books. Most I have acquired from my school and university days and some have come by means of presents. Books and records are my most favourite presents to give and receive!

I've just been towering over my much neglected bookcase trying to find something that will hold my interest for more than 5 minutes and hopefully will also be quite appropriate for the journey ahead.

Immediately I spot Jack Kerouac's On The Road which was a present from my sister after she first visited the States. Yep, couldn't be a more damn obvious choice but I am yet to read it so it will do nicely. Next to that I see City Lights Poets Anthology - sticking with the American theme, in the suitcase it goes.

Finally as I was turning away from the bookcase and preparing myself to jump over the drum kit in the corner of my room back to where there is actually a bit of space on the floor, I spot a coverless ancient book and have no idea what it could be. It is in fact JG Ballard's Concrete Island. I haven't a clue how it arrived in my bookcase. It is coverless and has no identification marks except the following number scrawled on the back: 07780 611631.

Dare I ring it? Perhaps after I have read the book as I am so keen to dig into it!

Farewell London! I feel so drained of people and this town...I have been dreaming of this in all my past lives...

D-Bird

PS I remember one of the first blogs I ever wrote was The Birds Book Club blog on our Myspace which had great input and feedback from you all! Feel free to suggest any good books you are currently reading as I am always interested. Thanks!

2300 Jackson Street

It would be a real shame not to visit it when we are in Chicago in a few days time.

Gary Indiana, here we come...

D-Bird

Where is the love?

Today I've been thinking about matters of the heart again. I'm wondering, where did all the love go? Not in the boring, idealised sense of romance, no sir. But where did all the stormy, trashy, turbulent, sexually-charged dalliances of yesteryears rock stars go? We need to bring this back!!

I'm not condoning or condemning any set lifestyle at all. I am merely thinking aloud - curious as to where misspent youth and energy are spending their time. Perhaps it's because we are too tame these days or the fact that people seem to be more and more introverted and more and more insulated. Boring! I have my firm few intellectual friends that I love and care for so much but sometimes I feel totally out on a limb with my views on other stuff. More than anything, I have constant battles with myself as to what is 'correct' behaviour. I may say one thing and do the complete opposite. I tend to do this a lot and it's pretty frustrating. I suppose I'm a real hypocrite underneath it all.

At the end of the day, I suppose we all must calm down. I mean, look at Stephanie Seymour. She went from playing Axl Rose's bride in the November Rain video to marrying this in real life:



Yes, an overweight fiftysomething billionaire banker.

Eeeeeeeeeeeek.

Personally?

I would have stuck with Axl.

D-Bird

Dalston Days and celebrity spotting!

Today we went the short way down to Dalston, to the Pix HQs to be exact, for an interview with Princess Julia and Hanna Hanra. It was fun! Look out for it and something else very special very soon! Only in Pix of course!

We then stopped off for a yummy turkish meal (don't know what it was but there was potatoes, bread, olives etc) and then walked into a shop and saw.......!!!!!

T-Boz from TLC!


Diana Ross!


And.....Beyonce!!!


All in a day's work...
D-Bird

CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO

NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm looking forward to hanging with these guys:



D-Bird

Fbk lol.

I haven't written on here for a while, under the ethos that if you ain't got anything to say, it's better holding back than posting a blank page. So here I am talking about something that is making my mind's eye dribble slightly. At the moment my only company is facebook, bed and now blogger.com. We've just finished the last week of our tour and on my return i have spent the past couple of days under the duvet in the foetal position with facebook on the laptop arms or stumbles length away. Facebook quizzes are my new internet thing, fuck You Tube or online scrabble- these pointless quizzes are actually helping me tick away the time. Reading a good book or watching a film, whatever. For the past couple of days my mind is a zombie. I'm keeping it blank, I'm playing the 'dumb blond' until I decide I'm ready to play the 'intelligent brunette' or whatever. Through these facebook quizzes I can assess how gay i am (65%), what will happen on prom night (I will get arrested) and when I will have a baby (14 March 2014). Amazing. For next couple of days facebook is my social life. Don't call me, facebook me. You want my attention? Superpoke me instead and in return I'll send you a vodka cocktail via the applications section. Lets fbk chat and lol all night. Hey, you know what? I'll even 'like' your facebook status updates.

X-Bird

The Zine That Never Was

We'd planned on doing a fanzine for our tour but unfortunately, it never came to fruition.

I've posted some stuff below that was meant to go in it. As people took time out to submit stuff, it's a real shame for it to just lie on my laptop and not to share it with the world.

Also on other news, I have launched a new magazine and community blog today! It is called The Quiet Riots - named partly after the Bird song and partly after the inspirational, pacifist ways of Mahatma Gandhi. Basically a lot can be done just through exercising freedom of thought...you don't even have to leave your bed. I do most things from my bed - organising club nights, writing, promoting, playing bass - I think people who think lying in bed all day is lazy need to open their minds. For me, my bed is my office. All my wondrous thoughts, strange ideas and darkest despairs surface there.

Anyway, check it out and let me know if you want to contribute. I've been inundated with talented people getting in touch today about it. I'm so happy! It seems like it's touched a nerve. All those who I was hoping would get in touch have. It's all very exciting.

D-Bird

THE ZINE THAT NEVER WAS

I asked a few friends to submit their current Top 10 songs.

FARIS, THE HORRORS:
1. Del Shannon - Keep Searchin’
2. Harry Nilsson - Everybody’s Talkin’
3. Bobby Vee - The Night Has 1000 Eyes
4. Rosa Yemen - Larousse Baron Bic
5. A Number Of Names - SheriVari
6. David Bowie - In The Heat Of The Morning
7. Robert Ashley -Automatic Writing
8. King Sun - Coming Soon
9. The Alliance - Your Idol
10. The Sapphires - Where Is Your Heart

JON, THE RULING CLASS:
1. Sisters Of Mercy - Amphetamine Logic
2. Fields of Nephilim- Preacher Man
3. The Horrors- Mirrors Image
4.Pale Fountains - Unless
5.The Associates - Party Fears Two
6. Cocteau Twins - Cherry Coloured Funk
7. My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine
8. The Telescopes - Perfect Needle
9. Spacemen 3 - Revolution
10. The Charlatans - 10 Ignition

SHAUN, V.E.G.A.S WHORES
1. SONIC YOUTH - Theresa's Sound World (Live USA)
2. BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Morbus Basedow
3. MY BLOODY VALENTINE - Realise
4. SUICIDE - Station
5. THE FALL - Dead Beat Descendant
6. VELVET UNDERGROUND- Venus In Furs
7. PAN SONIC - Machinist
8. THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - God Is my Girlfriend
9. APHEX TWIN - Quixote
10. ANDRE LOO - Introvert Dancer

JAMES, BRAVE EXHIBITIONS
1. "Ex-Yugoslavia" by Table Manners
2. "Next to Nothing" by Savage Republic
3. "Machismo" by Gene Loves Jezebel
4. "Les Anges d'Aujourd'hui" by Trop Tard
5. "Glory of the World" by Gloria Mundi
6. "Le Soleil S'est Noye" by Exces Nocturne
7. "Sex Hex" by Nurvuss
8. "Grossstadtalarm" by Plastikstrom
9. "Acid Burn" by White Car Pet
10. "Saturday Nite" by Central Unit

C-Bird's Top 5 Bonanza!

Top 5 Women who rock

I’ve include a colourful array of artists in my list who have inspired me in my quest of rock and roll enlightenment.


1, Tina Turner

Tina Turner will always be number one on my list. Her voice is like a hurricane ripping through your soul. She exudes so much energy and sexuality the woman stands alone.


2, Annie Sprinkle (Performance artist)

Annie Sprinkle has worked in every part of the sex industry. From prostitute to film producer she has done everything. Relaying her past in performance and through sex education she uses her experience in the sex industry to enlighten the curious. In her most famous performance piece called “My Public Cervix Announcement” she invited audiences to inspect her cervix with a speculum and a flashlight. She celebrates the female body with a no holes barred attitude that I find fascinating. We are in world where image is so important and at times it can be hard to feel comfortable in your own skin. This is why Annie Sprinkle is unique she breaks all barriers and carries on living.

3, Carol Morely (Film maker)

The Alcohol Years, chronicles Morley’s life throughout the years she spent as part of the Hacienda scene from 1982-1987. Writing an ad in a local Manchester paper she asked people to contact her if they knew her within those five blurry alcoholic years. The film is almost parallel to how most women feel when they become absorbed into a “scene”. The music, the party, the people you meet became part of your life and what starts out to be a harmless obsession becomes suffocating something that Morely later finds out.

4, Maya Deren (Film maker)

A voodoo High Priestess and a regarded founder of the American avant garde she once stated, “I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick”. A firm opposition to the Hollywood mainstream her film “Meshes of the Afternoon” has not only influenced me in my video work but also through music aswell. Teiji Ito who composed the score was her husband and concocted a stream of minimal tribal drums that carry the film into a different dimension. It was orignally a silent film. A sureal coil of images reflecting the different sides of a woman. The film never fails to enchant and hypnotize.

5, N I C O

In a documentary I watched about Nico someone described her as a freak for being so beautiful. I wonder what it must be like to be recognised firstly for your appearance and then of your achievements. But her beauty was something quite mythical. Even as she aged and her looks began to fade the myth and legacy surrounding her never melted away. Her voice etched with melancholy a deep and monotone voice that evoked so much emotion. The songs she sang with the Velvet Underground are my favourite tracks. All Tomorrows Parties and Femme Fatale still hold my attention like the first time I heard them.