A fool on the loose

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Our man in Blackburn

Sorry to weigh in on this, but I'm annoyed. The Guardian is carrying weekly reports from Craig Murray, former ambassador to Uzbekistan, to stand against Jack Straw in Blackburn. From this, it is clear why he is no longer in the diplomatic service.

He arrives at midnight, assuming that Blackburn has a big hotel by the station, and is amazed to find that there isn't. He is equally stunned by news that the Rovers v Burnely replay has just ended and winds up in a hotel in Preston.

He makes some good points about the potential problems with postal votes, then, in the spirit of openess, is disappointed to find that an Australian TV crew is trying to interview him, despite his efforts to give them the slip.

He struggles to rent premises, implying that local companies are protecting Straw. He notices a lot of empty pubs, many of them owned by local brewer (of the finest beer in the world) Thwaites. He can't work out why, despite the fact that the town has suffered decades of economic troubles, and now has a large Muslim population, many of whom do not drink.

To put it mildy, this is not a good start. But then again, its not a good idea. The trouble with this sort of stunt is that it assumes that all elections can be reduced to one issue. It also assumes that people in Blackburn would want to make their only Westminster representative a man who has never been to the town before, and clearly didn't carry out even the most basic research into the place before he did so.

There are things to dislike about Jack Straw, but he has been a very good constituency MP. Elections matter because democracy matters, and people need to be able to choose between candidates who have actually thought through or adopted an entire platform of policies. Not a single issue stunt candidiate parachuted in by a London newspaper. It seems curious that the Guardian couldn't find a local candidate to put up for this. And more curious that, in their effort to gain support from young Muslims, they propose a white middle-aged man, who at least Brian Eno on his side.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Our man in Blackburn

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Our man in Blackburn

The aces of basses

Six strings good, four strings better - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Good article, although I wish it was longer, about how important good bass playing is to great pop and rock music. Although I have played bass since I was 14, it took me another 15 years to work out that the music I loved had great bass parts (or, even more obviously, the music I hated all had bass lines that went bm bm bm bm on the root note. )

All the pieces and players cited in the article are great, so my list of the great players will try to avoid duplicating them. But I will second the suggestion that the 2nd DVD of the restored The Kids Are Alright is worth it for "ox-cam" alone. I had never before realised just how good the bass part is - it keep it simple when needed, then bursts into complex lines that comment on the main melody as much as supporting the chords. It's worth it for that alone.

The songs that made me want to play bass:

1) Hey Bulldog, The Beatles. A great late Beatles rocker, the bass arrives late after the pounding piano riff and then spends the rest of the song hyperactively sounding off. It's almost too much, but its brilliant.

2) Red Barchetta, Rush. Rush have a tendendcy to be too clever for their own good, but the bit in this song when the car is actually named is carried along by a masterful bass riff, high up on the neck and running on pure energy.

3) Badge, Cream. 60s blues riff drives a cool song all the way through.

4) Jaco. I can't play like that - I can't even get close - but it is a delight to hear. I know he ushered in a generation of jazz-funk wankery, but still...