Seeing what looked like the little person Gene Simmons from the Kiss tribute band, Mini KISS, or another tribute band Tiny KISS, going into Viacom in New York City today (Halloween) got me to thinking. There are so many cover bands. Very big in Europe. Getting bigger here.

Mini Kiss on the Jimmy Kimmel Show singing New York Groove.

One of my favorite cover bands is The Musical Box, a French Canadian group who cover Peter Gabriel era Genesis. They recreate the Foxtrot tour and Selling England By the Pound tour in full period drag. The SEBP show is an interesting experience and a fine facsimile for anyone who wasn't going to concerts in the mid-seventies. The sound is a little soft -- not full rock and roll amplification. The trade mark Gabriel between song patter is hysterical given that it is done very straight with an Inspector Clousseau accent.

Also covering the same period is Regenesis, who recently lost their bass player, who was also running their website, as you can find out from this link! Their recording "ReGenesis Live" is actually a mix of live and studio covers.

Other working bands include G2, Genesis in the Cage, and Face Value.

Lots of bands cover Genesis songs. Well, I don't know about lots, but I do recall in the late 1970s seeing the Simon Townshend Band (Pete's brother) cover "Squonk" from the Trick of the Tail album.

IBR 1975 Page Four

Here's a link to a youtube performance by Jimmy Cliff of "The Harder They Come." Here's the official Bronze Records site.

Global Tin Tin

From Turkey.

The animated version -- 1992 -- in English in 3 parts from YouTube.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Day Jobs of the Famous

Bryan Ferry, who has spent his life dating, and working, with the world's great models, has a go at it himself. The Independent tells it all.

Airline Food

EOS flight February, 2006 London to New York

Australian Rock 'n' Roll Stamps

Kylie Minogue

Noise Annoys

Catching up with the Buzzcocks.

The official website.

Mania TV October 2006 interview.

Wish I Never Loved You video (2006).

Howard Devoto Rainy Season.

Mike Chunn's Split Enz Biography

This is a book which was written by Mike Chunn and published in 1991 by GP Publications in New Zealand. Jpgs of every page of the book are available here.

New Tim Finn video in performance

Watch Tim Finn perform new material on the Tiscali.music website here.

Also a five part interview with Tim on My Way posted October 2006.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Bonus: Interview with brother Neil Finn on Canadian TV in 2002.

Carpets of the Great Hotels

Ararat Hyatt second floor room, Moscow, Russia.

Over Red Square

Forbes.com Halloween Masks

Click here to download scary masks of notorious folks from the Forbes website.

Hello, Carol! I didn't see your lips move

Click here to go to the JC Penney website to buy a Carol Channing ventriloquist's doll.

British Airways Moscow to Heathrow

Playing in Moscow tonight

Great Record Stores

Opposite the Ritz Carlton, 5 minutes from Red Square, Moscow! Fine collection of legit classic rock -- international Beatles, etc. Also a very comprehensive Pub Rock section. New York import prices.

Battle of The Album Covers

Thank you to Ickmusic for sharing this remarkable animation.

Carpets of the Great Hotels

The Savoy, London
Second Floor corridors

Arriving at O'Hare

Great Record Stores

Great store to browse in. Lots of CD promos and Japanese complilations at $1.99. The above is a sticker that comes with a promo single for "Debbie" by The B-52s from the "Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation" hits compilation on Reprise. On the reverse are 1998 US tour dates. Also enclosed was the following quiz. Sorry, contest ended September 1, 1998.

1. What is the unusual sound at the end of Rock Lobster?
2. When was the very first B-52s show?
3. Who is the B-52s original drummer?
4. What was the first song written by The B-52s (but never recorded)?
5. What song was inspired by a southern preacher's sermon?
6. What song is playing on the juke-box in the lyrics for "Deadbeat Club?"
7. How many girl's names are in the song "52 Girls?"
8. What is the name of the record label The B-52s first recorded for?
9 What songs were on the first single release by The B-52s?
10. When was that single released?

Neon Showtunes in Seoul

The Clash at the Palladium

Paul Simonon (c) Adrian Bryan-Brown 1979

This is video Clash at the time of the Bonds Times Square concerts (1981).

Rolling Stones 2002 2003 Tour Programme

Global Tintin

Australian Rock 'n' Roll Stamps

Crowded House. Actually they are from New Zealand, but we are just happy that they got a stamp.

Great Moments in Art

The scene at the Mona Lisa. How most people get to see the most famous painting in the world.

It's over. Tower Records to be liquidated.

Tower Records is finally to be liquidated. Here's the AP story. For the record (no pun intended), the first album I ever bought at a Tower Records (San Francisco) was either in 1974 or 1975 -- Brian Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets." I was there for Tower opening in Greenwich Village, the pioneer retail store on lower Broadway, and I was at the opening of the store in Picadilly Circus. For many years it was a late night ritual to stop by Tower on Sunset Strip, jet-lagged and LA-buzzed, to look through the import section. Surely this marks the end of destination stores for recorded music?

1978 New York Street Flyer

IBR 1975 Page Three

John Cale performing the Velvets Venus in Furs in the 1980s. Jim Capaldi singing That's Love in a video that features Eric Bogosian! Sarah McLachlan and The Chieftans perform Drawn to the Rhythm in 1995.

The Cale albums are available in a fine 2 CD set called, helpfully, "The Island Years." Friends who played on the ex-Velvet's records at this time included Roxy Music members Brian Eno, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera, along with the Chanter Sisters (backing vocalists on Roxy tours -- the scary chorus of the live "Both Ends Burning" remains etched); Ferry/Roxy guitarist, Motorbikin' Chris Spedding; still-with-Genesis Phil Collins; prolific folk hero Richard Thompson, to name a few of the rock elite who wanted to make the Velvet connection.

Jim Capaldi wrote and drummed on many of the great hits of Traffic. At the time of his death in 2005 (from stomach cancer) he was working on plans for a Traffic reunion

Stiffs at the Bottom Line 1978

Stiff recording artists performing at the Bottom Line in New York City. Left to right: Eric Goulden, Rachel Sweet, Lene Lovich, A.N. Other and Jona Lewie.
Photo (c) Adrian Bryan-Brown

YouTube videos from Wreckless Eric (Whole Wide World), Rachel Sweet (B-A-B-Y 1979), Lene Lovich (New Toy) and Jona Lewie (In the Kitchen at Parties).

Roxy Music Tour Program

Program for the Pete Townshend Psychoderelict concerts

Things we don't need anymore

Remember the rubber tubes we used to stick in our ears when we watched inflight 8mm movies? This neat AAA cell guzzling gizmo allowed you to use your SONY Walkman head-phones and feel very cool, as well as able to actually hear the film.

Virgin Digital find the 72 bands contest

Last year, Virgin Digital ran this wonderful contest to find as many rock bands as possible in the picture above. Obviously this image is way too small to work with, so you can download a more detailed image here. Also, if you want to get some clues and read a thread on the contest please go to Janine Dalton's nice blog here. They suggested that you should be able to find 72 bands.