Quote of the day

"On any other night of the week, I'd probably tell you that I don't care for Katy's 'California Gurls', but tonight it sounds pretty beautiful. More girls from the audience are invited to dance onstage, the pyrotechnics are blasting out, and there's ticker tape in the air; it all makes sense. I'm sad to see the lights come up, and I'm sure I would have bought a T-shirt too if they came in Grown Man size and I hadn't already spent sixty quid on drink."

Aidan Moffat Went To A Katy Perry Gig And He Liked It. Even if the verdict is unexpected, it's nice to see some habits - namely his boozing - clearly die hard. Full credit to the Quietus for a splendid piece of commissioning - more of the same, please!

Also on the site and worth a look is this footage of an encounter between Tony Benn and Nicky Wire which was orchestrated by Manics biographer Simon Price. While both men are nominally socialists, Wire's fumbling cynicism is in sharp contrast to Benn's ebullient faith in grassroots politics and progress. Incidentally, I've often wondered whether the Manics should be celebrated for getting 'If You Tolerate This...', a song about the Spanish Civil War, to the top of the hit parade, or censured for sugaring the pill musically and (to switch metaphors) clothing it in such pop respectability that few who've heard it have much sense of its political import. A difficult one to call, that - it'd be illuminating to hear Wire's defence of the latter charge.

(Thanks to Skif for the Aidan Moffat link.)