Archived News - Posted On Saturday 30th January 2021
FROM THE METRO-LIB-ELITE DESK OF Stewart Lee Feb 21
1) LIVE DATES NEWS
2) KING ROCKER FEB 6TH 9PM
3) MEDIA GARAGE SALE
4) PODCASTS AND THAT
5) COMIN’ OVER HERE 12”
6) BIG WOW BADGES
7) COVID DENIAL FUN
8) MINIATURES 2
9) SLAPSTICK FEST 21
10) STEVE BERESFORD BOOK
11) I Arrogantly Recommend
12) In Our Covid Lamentations
KING ROCKER – SKY ARTS FREE TO AIR (Freeview Channel 11) – SAT FEB 6TH 9PM
Please look after yourselves in the ongoing unknown world and don’t take any unnecessary risks.
Keep fit and keep your brains ticking over with books and films and music and don’t get sad and mad.
Look out for each other.
I appreciate it’s easier for a financially insulated champagne socialist like me to be optimistic.
We have all lost loved ones. I believe that when this is over live comedy and music will feel better than they ever have, and that is all I can offer.
So let’s make sure we are all there post-Covid to join in the Bacanalian rites of THE NEW JAZZ AGE.
1) LIVE DATES NEWS
You know as much as I do.
All my little club dates for Feb will be in the process of being pulled and re-scheduled.
The venues have your money, not me, and although I am sure loads of you could do with it, if you can let these clubs hang on to it for now it could mean the difference between them surviving and going under.
Support The Brixton Windmill. And all independent venues.
We all want a world of live art to go back to.
If major tour dates are moved all the same applies. Thank-you for your patience.
I am planning on re-writing the SNOWFLAKE half of SNOWFLAKE TORNADO to reflect our drastically altered world and will make as good a recording as possible of the abandoned original SNOWFLAKE available at some point.
2) KING ROCKER DOC – FEB 6TH ON SKY ARTS AT 9PM ★★★★★
The funny and uplifting anti-rockumentary about THE NIGHTINGALES band that I and Michael Cumming (Toast, Brass Eye) made w Fire records, KING ROCKER, replaces it’s covid-wrecked cinema run with a screening on free to air SKY ARTS (Freeview Channel 11) on Saturday Feb 6th at 9pm.
Everyone seems to love it.
You will have to watch it live in real time, old school, as it goes out, like it was 2004 or something.
It includes nostalgic film of people packed together and laughing in a variety of places, inside and outside, and offers a message of hope and survival to humanity.
Yes. Really.
https://www.firerecords.com/films/king-rocker/
https://www.firerecords.com/films/
This is a nice interview about it
3) MEDIA GARAGE SALE
My trusted sales partner Media Garage has compacted all my available stand-up dvds into one convenient on-line marketplace, with most available to d/load too.
Remember, if you buy here we will pay tax on these purchases, and help with British schools and hospitals, whereas many major physical media suppliers and streaming services have found ways to avoid declaring their profits, as have NETFLIX, the utter bastards.
AMERICANS – stop moaning about not being able to see me and visit MEDIA GARAGE!
MEDIA GARAGE | MORE INFO ON THE MERCH PAGE
4) Podcasts
To try and promote King Rocker I have been pimping myself about on every Podcast going, alone or with dir M Cumming (Brass Eye, Toast), saying the same things in the same room in the same clothes to all different people, all of whom were very kind.
I don’t know what a podcast is really but I think you go on the internet and click on something.
As my grandfather once said, in 1983, “Do you know, in America, there are shops that only sell Kentucky Fried Chicken?” I enjoyed being on the internet with all these people enormously, but will put some blue water between me and the next wedge.
David Baddiel told me it was good to be on the internet, though. These are available..
KERMODE ON FILM
Dir Michael Cumming and I discuss King Rocker with Britain’s top film guru and skiffle enthusiast, who has been very supportive of the no-budget project.
BACKLISTED
Andy Miller and John Michinson’s long running and much loved books podcast. I discuss the waspish poet and novelist Rosemary Tonks with them, Nicky Birch and Jennifer Hodgson.
This is a marvellous ongoing Podcast which is unashamedly civilised in an unenlightened era, and this episode is full of great writing, batshit radiophonic music and clever women.
OWEN JONES
North London echo chamber fun sure to irk people of all political persuasions with the forensically-minded folk devil for the far right and snowflake do-gooder Owen Jones, and me, talking about King Rocker and more general stuff. His current run of ‘casts has some great guests.
GINGERBEARDMARK
Informed Wolverhampton-based comedy and music enthusiast of uncommon warmth and knowledge talks to me about KING ROCKER and what the Gray Pays ‘n’ Bacon are like at the Great Western pub.
ADAM BUXTON PODCAST
I asked Adam if I could go on this massively popular podcast and he said yes which was very kind of him. It was fun hearing his Mark E Smith story from the horse’s mouth and he asked me hard questions of the type I usually avoid.
A DRINK WITH THE IDLER
I answer questions from various utterly delightful members of the Idler’s thoughtful middle class readership from their wine and book filled homes.
They are the real stars here! You will emerge from watching this in love with at least one of them.
LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL
LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL I talk to LCF’s Geoff Rowe (OBN) about my career.
Hear it in exchange for a £5 donation to the covid-fucked festival, available 3rd – 21st Feb.
OUT TO LUNCH WITH JAY RAYNER
Sometime in March you will be able to hear me eat a really lovely Sri Lankan mutton curry from the Kolama restaurant, Soho, with bon viveur jazz pianist Jay Rayner. (I see how this works now!)
This is the most showbiz thing I have ever done, and I am glad it was with jazzy Jay Rayner.
HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD
with post-mod post-man, old school Labour face, and former near pop-soul star, Alan Johnson.
THE C86 SHOW
KING ROCKER viewed through an astringent ‘80s rock filter, w me and dir Michael Cumming
ROBIN INCE’S COSMIC SHAMBLES
This is a new series of docu-chats on different esoteric subjects.
You have to pay for them because they are finished pieces of work not just some fuckers talking or wandering about.
I have appeared on three of them – on Hawkwind, Penda’s Fen and John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy.
THE MRS BARBARA NICE AND FRIENDS PODCAST
I am winsomely x-examined by the Midland comedy legend and former Everready singer
ADRIAN GOLDBERG ON BRUM RADIO
Dir Michael Cumming and I discuss King Rocker with the Nightingales’ contemporary Adrian Goldberg.
5) COMIN’ OVER HERE 12”
An actual physical 12” EP of Asian Dub Foundation(feat. Stewart Lee)‘s Brexit day number 1 Comin’ Over Here will be out on March 26th and can be pre-ordered here…
Brilliantly, higher shipping costs on ADF’s Anti-Brexit anthem are due to…Brexit, but they will try and circumvent this.
The remixes are of other bits of the Paul Nuttalls routine and work great.
I can’t believe how well the ADF’s made this work. I was their mere tool.
6) Big Wow Badges
Cool Scottish punk-pin badge makers Big Wow Badges are shutting down at the end of Feb, so this is your last chance to buy the fabulous badges they made, some related to my material over the last decade and a half, and any others of their amazing art and lit designs.
Thanks Big Wow Badges! You made an old man very happy. Good luck in whatever you do next.
https://bigwowbadges.com/collections/frontpage/products/not-on-twitter
7) ANTI-VIRUS-SCEPTICS WEBSITE
Surely, by now, you have lost someone you loved directly to the virus, or to the knock-on effects of ICU hospital beds being occupied by victims, etc. I know I have! But some people in high profile positions – the usual X-Men Of Twats to be honest (T Young, A Pearson, J Hartley-Brewer etc) – remain sceptical about Covid.
We can all do our bit to help save lives by spreading the following website of true facts around.
Some clever bloke writes…
“The Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it an avalanche of misinformation.
A number of myths have persisted that suggest Covid isn’t particularly dangerous, or that governments shouldn’t try to contain the virus with lockdowns and other distancing measures.
We call the people who promulgate these myths even after they have been disproved “Covid Sceptics”. Some have claimed that the number of infections is much lower than it really has been, or that health systems were under less strain than they really were, or that the fatality rate and number of deaths were lower than they have been in reality.
Some have been sceptical that a population-wide policy response to this virus is needed. Many of them have made persistently inaccurate forecasts, repeated long-disproven claims, or engaged in faulty reasoning. The arguments made by Covid Sceptics are frequently misleading, misconceived, or based on misunderstandings of the evidence.
We believe these mistaken arguments are often dangerous, since they might lead people—or entire countries—to take fewer precautions against this deadly virus.
This website is dedicated to debunking common Covid Sceptic arguments, and highlighting the track record of some of the most influential and consistently-wrong Covid Sceptics.
We mostly focus on UK-based people, since most of this site’s creators are UK-based as well.
We hope you’ll link to our site whenever you see these common arguments appear.”
8) MINIATURES 40th
I appear on a 40th anniversary celebration of Morgan Fisher’s various artists album Miniatures (ask your dad, kids), available soon.
https://www.barrylamb.com/miniatures-2020.html
9) SLAPSTICK FEST
This year’s Bristol Festival of Slapstick Comedy has gone on line and I will be doing an Ince-chaired event on 6th March at 8pm choosing my favourite moments of Slapstick comedy.
I am all about the slapstick, as you will know from when my trousers fell down at The Bristol Hall Of Slavers in 2016. £6.
https://slapstick2021.eventive.org/welcome
The ‘Stuart Lee’ referred to on the site is me, yes.
10) STEVE BERESFORD BOOK
I wrote the intro to Andy Hamilton’s hefty new study of the musician Steve Beresford, Pianos, Toys, Music & Noise.
Maybe ask your local library to stock it or your dad to buy it!
Here’s the info.
Steve is a major player in the second wave of British Free Improvisation, a lynchpin of the current scene, and a punk era collaborator with The Flying Lizards, Prince Far-I and The Slits.
He, I and Tania Chen toured Britain over the last decade performing John Cage’s Indeterminacy, and Steve appears playing toys and objects with me and Tania in King Rocker.
Comedy fans will know him as ‘man playing organ’ in a The Day Today sketch about executions, and as the director of music on Vic Reeves’ unnecessarily good album.
11) I Arrogantly Recommend
NEW FILMS
Ronnie’s, Ronnie Scott & His World Famous Jazz Club (Oliver Murray)
The Dig (Simon Stone) ★★★★★
NEW TV
Ghosts S2 (BBC, 2020)
Ghosts – Xmas Special 2020 (BBC, 2020)
The Mandalorian S2 (Disney, 2020) ★★★★★
Call My Agent S3 (France 2, 2018)★★★★★
Call My Agent S4 (France 2, 2021) ★★★★★
The Trump Show (BBC, 2020-1)★★★★★
NEW RECORDS
Lady Leshurr – Quaranqueen
The Primevals – New Trip
Cult Figures – Deritend
Vapour Trails – Celestial Scuzz ★★★★★
Robert Pollard – Before Computers (demos)
NEW OLD RECORDS
V/A – Rough Guide To Avant-Garde Japan
Guided by Voices – Live At Irving Plaza (1996)
Damo Suzuki & Echo Ensemble – Live @ Green Door (2013)
Heavenly – A Bout De Heavenly (1989-1996)
Martin Stone – Down But Not Out In Paris and London (1992-2013)
John Russell & Terry Day – Russell & Day (1979?)
Derek Bailey, Trevor Watts & Terry Day – At LTC (1972?)
Sonny Rollins – Rollins In Holland (1967) ★★★★★
FOOD
Kolamba Sri Lankan restaurant, Soho, London
MY OLD NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR – ARE WE EUROPE MAG
Last month I recommended a micro-brewery set up by my old next door neighbour’s son, so I hope you bought some beer.
This month I am recommending something by my other old next door neighbour.
Not all my old next door neighbors are creative geniuses. One of my former next door neighbours, Tony Campino, ran a company producing Standard 8mm movies of a specialized nature, but that was 45 years before I moved in.
Anyway, this month’s former neighbour’s project is ARE WE EUROPE, a beautifully produced, luxuriously illustrated and thoughtfully written book-sized magazine of the type we old folk think they don’t make any more, focusing on climate, the colonial legacy and other major issues of NOW, and assembled by clever talented young people who give you hope for the future. There!
12) IN OUR COVID ERA LAMENTATIONS
Adam Schlesinger (Fountain of Wayne) (1967)
John Prine (outlaw country singer) (1946)
Henry Grimes (jazz bassist) (1935)
Dave Mountfield (Ornate Johnson) (1970)
Hal Wilner (arranger) (1957)
Tim Brooke-Taylor (Goodie) (1940)
Lee Konitz (jazz saxophonist) (1927)
Matthew Seligman (Soft Boy) (1955)
Millie Small (ska singer) (1946)
Florian Schneider (Kraftwerk robot) (1947)
Bill Rieflin (drummer for hire) (1960)
Hugh McKenna (Tear Gas pianist) (1949)
Steve Weber (Holy Modal Rounder) (1942)
Astrid Kirchherr (photographer) (1938)
Danny Ray Thompson (Sun Ra saxophonist) (1947)
Aubrey Burl (archaeologist) (1926)
Phil May (Pretty Thing) (1944)
The Clacton Fin Whale (circa 2000)
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (artist) (1930)
Doll Tor stone circle (3300 BC)
Kay Carroll (The Fall) (1948)
Bob the Cat (73 bus) (2006)
Alex Taylor (Shop Assistant, in 2005, and no-one knew)
Simon H Fell (jazz bassist) (1959)
Carl Reiner (director) (1922)
Ennio Morricone (architect of sonic dreams) (1928)
Keith Tippett (jazz pianist) (1947)
Jimmy Cobb (jazz drummer) (1929)
Barbara Smoker (Humanist) (1923)
The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton
Tony Elliot (Time Out) (1942)
Judy Dyble (folk singer) (1949)
Peter Green (blues guitarist) (1946)
Emitt Rhodes (power pop auteur) (1950)
Annie Ross (jazz bohemian) (1930)
Joe Ruby (Scooby-Doo) (1933)
Craig Weatherhill (folklorist) (1950)
Don Weller (jazz saxophonist) (1940)
Simeon Coxe (Silver Apple) (1938)
Diana Rigg (Avenger) (1938)
Toots Hibbert (reggae got soul) (1942)
Dele Fadele (carry bag man) (1962)
George Jeffrie (man’s-laughter maker) (1964)
Dave Kusworth (Brum punk Stone) (1960)
Gary Peacock (jazz bassist) (1935)
Doorkins (Southwark Cathedral Cat) (2005?)
Spencer Davis (Brumbeat pioneer) (1939)
Bunny Lee (dubmaster) (1940)
The Cubbington Pear Tree (1770)
Fungie The Dingle Dolphin (1979)
Jill Paton Walsh (humanist novelist) (1937)
Val Warner (poet) (1946)
Guy N Smith (Lord of The Crabs) (1939)
Richard Corben (decadent cartoonist) (1940)
David Johnson (Duke of Soho) (1960)
Leslie West (Mountain man) (1945)
– 2021 –
Katharine Whitehorn (bedsitter cook) (1928)
Celia Drummond Ford (voice of Trees) (1950)
John Russell (guitar guru) (1954)
Marcel Uderzo (Asterisk artist) (1933)
Tom Stevens (Long Ryder and Magus) (1956)
Dougie Anderson (Coda’s Edinburgh record dealer) (1952)
