...we are, we are ,we are the mods...

Go here, comrades, enter the site, and see the the Who paying tribute to themselves- personally, I'd watch the bit "Watch the Who", the Who playing a strange tribute to the real good lood lookin' boy pictured beneath...

Il Mondo Nostro

'The world is ours...'

See the highlights of the best World Cup Final since 1978 here.

So what happened with Zidane and Matterazi? The best one I heard was that the conversation went something like this:

Matterazi- Hey, I heard you were signing for the Huns next year!
Zidane- What? Shut up...
Matterazi- Naw, Hun-lover...
Zidane- *Nuts him*

Anyway- I thought it was great. Highlights were Grosso's almost catatonic calmness before taking the last and winning penalty, Zidane's nut (admit it- you loved it), and the expression on Buffon's face when he was 'sorting out' the linesman to make sure something happened to Zidane. And so it ends- as a tournament, 7/10, as a final, 8/10. It wasn't all we hoped for, but it was more than I expected, and I'll take that...

Italia 2 Germany 0 (aet)

Now that is what we want from a football tournament. The only sad thing is that it wasn't the final. Both teams were worthy finalists, the Germans have made a fine contribution to the tournament, but that Italian display tonight gives the lie to the cliche of Italian negativity. Forza, forza, azzuri- Peronis all round...

Click here and follow the link at the top of the page for the highlights.

Boa Sorte, Portugal...

Fingers crossed...

Big Bad Joh-hhn, Big Bad John

Yep- sad to see you go, even though the time is right- crackers against Liverpool to put us into the UEFA semi, against Rangers to record MON's first victory over Eck, league winning goal against Hearts, and a hundred others- fare thee well, Big Bad John...

Let's Go to Babylon...

Oooohhh! Back from the dead- Walking on Snow very nearly petered to a whimpering death, but no, Back once again for the renegade master, with the ill behaviour, the ill behaviour...

I think Lordi's ugly faces took away from the avowed intent of the site- no more ugly people, that's resolution number 1. Here's the beautiful album cover from the beautiful Isobel Campbell:


What else? The World Cup comes to the end of the group stages: what have we learned?
Argentina peak too early;
Ronaldo is two stone overweight;
Steven Gerrard is the only world class player England possess- that is not enough to win a competition (unless you're Diego Maradona);
Henrik Larsson's matchwinning appearance in the Champions' League final was not an anomaly, it turns out he is really good after all;
Germany will win the tournament...

And so on- Martin O'Neill said that if it keeps up, this will be 'THE World Cup of World Cups, and he's right- it has been fantastic, absolutely brilliant, great... Speaking of the great man, check out this tribute to O'Neill on Celtic Minded- those were happy, happy days.

Walking on Snow throws its considerable weight behind the anxious and nervous Italians.



On the musical front- we are LOVING Dirty on Purpose- click here and listen to the really really beautiful song Light Pollution. It's like Teenage Fanclub before they blew it with Bandwagonesque, or My Bloody Valentine with the reverb turned down, and the vocals turned up. A magical record- the first person to post a comment to this article gets a rip of the cd...

Also, music fans everywhere should check out Pitchfork, the tastemaking online indie music magazine in America- click here for their (good) review of Dirty on Purpose. More entertainingly, click here for to see them rip Primal Scream to shreds. The Primals record is indeed one of the worst things any proper band has released- Country Girl, though, almost makes it worthwhile- click here for the fantastic video- and prepare to fall in love with (and be sort of frightened by) the girl...


Ok- nice to be back- summer kisses and summer love to everyone!

Lordi Lordi

For those who haven't yet worshipped at the feet of the majestic Lordi, click here. Their victory at 33/1 ensures that Walking on Snow is now able to to renew the season ticket at Celtic Park next year- 'the day of Rockoning', indeed...

In addition, Tilly and the Wall on Saturday- a little bit of rough and drippy May sunshine in King Tuts- in terms of the last two songs they played (a new one, then the monster Nights of the Living Dead), they were the best thing we've seen this year.

And now Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, the very bery beautiful Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, play in Glasgow two nights in a row on Friday and on Saturday- as a great man once said, how much better, how much better, can my life get? (Well, I can think of some things, and those things will stay buried in the Snow...)

And lest we forget, Happy European Cup Day, all you people of the world! Click here for the history lesson of history lessons...

...a common sea...

Just some music, some little bands who deserves a fair hearing:

First up, this is a, ahem, 'little gem' from a band called The Islands (you see, the song is called Rough Gem, so it's kind of like a pun...)

Then there's the Silver Jews- cracking tune to listen to late at night- called The Wild Kindness. Very atmospheric, and sad.

And, let's have this while we're being atmospheric- 90 sublime seconds from Jens Lekman... At the Department of Forgotten Songs.

And, picking the mood back up, take this from the Wrens... This Boy is Exhausted. (Everyone, I predict, will like this Fanclub-type diamond...)

Otherwise, Celtic are champions, well done, pats on all nearby backs, firm handshakes between all readers. Also, the transcendent Tilly and the Wall are playing in King Tuts on Saturday 20th May, and no absent notes will be accepted. Attendance mandatory.

Doubtless this will get pulled really quickly, but if you're quick, here is the whole of the Simpsons episode written by Ricky Gervais!

Hey, look at this really old photograph of the old Hampden Park, under snow. Ok, it's not very summery, but is perfect for looking at while while you listen to Jens Lekman.

Synth pop is an unquenchable fire! Destroy the past!

Break out the fizzy wine with the summery pop of Printed Circuit- go here, click on Banana Split, fall in love with what synth pop can do.

As the slogan for Sarah Records used to go... Habit and fear of change are the worst reasons for ever doing ANYTHING...

The Everly Brothers

Aren't they underrated? By people of the younger generation?

...the time of spring (azaleas, triliums,/ Myrtle, viburnums, daffodils, blue phlox)...

I had an uncle who once played
For Red Star Belgrade...

Isn't that a great line? Another thing that made me laugh out loud this week is this- a David Hasselhoff video which turned up on YouTube- utter magic.

Love out- God bless the Irish- I'm not a rugby fan, but that game at Twickenham today had me jumping up and down- fantastic stuff (Shane Horgan's last minute superhuman effort to score a try after a wee moment of genius from Brian O'Driscoll is pictured below).

Bring it on Celtic tomorrow- do it in style, but the main thing is- just do it.

Come. On. You. Boys in green. Come on you boys in green...!

Thank You For The Days...- Jimmy Johnstone 1944-2006 R.I.P.

Just after Jimmy Johnstone was voted the Greatest Ever Celt, he came onto the pitch at halftime at the next Celtic game to get proper acclaim from the people who had voted for him. There was a standing ovation, You'll Never Walk Alone, waving, smiles, congratulations and all the rest.

He started to walk back towards the tunnel, and then something amazing happened. Sensing that there was something more to give, one last moment of noble note on that pitch, he turned amid the applause back to the Jungle, the terracing he had electrified forty years previously with energy and skill as sublime as the game has ever seen, and this tiny little frail man raised his arms once more: the rapture, the swell of love and noise which tumbled from the stands to greet this gesture had to be experienced to be credited.

The following comes from the Celtic website:

'They never die who live on in the hearts they leave behind.’

It’s this message, known to every Celtic supporter as the poignant inscription on John Thomson’s headstone, that Martin O’Neill today offered in tribute to the late, great Jimmy Johnstone.

The respect and admiration Celtic’s former manager had for its greatest ever player pre-dated his arrival in Glasgow, but as he recalled his first meeting with the Lisbon Lions, in which Jinky predictably held court, O’Neill – like so many others - admitted to cherishing his memories of Johnstone the man as dearly as he does those of Johnstone the footballer.

In a tribute penned for the Celtic website earlier today, he wrote: “I was desperately sorry to hear the news of the death of Jimmy Johnstone, one of the greatest footballers the world has ever known. “Jinky, as he was known to everyone, possessed phenomenal ability matched only by the size of his heart.

“I met Jimmy along with the rest of that ‘67 Lisbon Lions team when I first came to Glasgow almost six years ago. As we gathered round the table, it was obvious to me the respect and regard in which he was held by his team-mates.

“He was wonderful company that evening, with a subtle mixture of charm and humility, sometimes teasing everyone in sight, yet at other times deflecting the conversation away from himself and his legendary exploits, and making you feel as if you were his best friend.

"However, you still felt in complete awe of this footballing genius. ..as long as Celtic Football Club breathes, Jimmy Johnstone - voted the greatest player in the club’s history - will live forever.”

Tribute videos and songs (right click, save as to download):

Jimmy Johnstone With Simple Minds- Dirty Old Town (and two other songs- maybe the best video tributes I've found, taken from the Lord of the Wing dvd)

Nice Tribute from Celtic FC Website
You'll Never Walk Alone
Jimmy Johnstone- The Best
Johann Cruyff? Not On Your life! Wee Jinky Beats The Rest What a song:

...They talk of men like Pele,and the great Eusebio,
and even Stanley Matthews,who played so long ago.
He's even aced the Belfast boy,wee George was second best.
Not Johann Cruyff, not on your life- Wee Jinky beats the rest...

And lastly, I thought this was nice on Celticminded today.

Killing Fascists: Billy Bragg Vol 1

I bought the Billy Bragg box set- first four albums plus four bonus discs, plus two dvds, plus a wee book, plus a nice box, all for 30 bucks. Until yesterday I owned exactly none of Billy Bragg's stuff, but I'd always liked him, as does everybody. They'd been playing lots of it on the radio recently, and I'd liked everything I'd heard. He is, as it turns out, a fantastic genius of early-Darnielle stature. Absolute magic- please enjoy the fabulous first song off the first EP, The Milkman of Human Kindness.

Which sent me back to Kirsty MacColl's version of New England. I can't listen to Kirsty MacColl without feeling so sad, but these are undeniably four glorious moments of pop music.

Finally, check out a new Death Cab video here, and the excellent new video from Morrissey here (this one takes a while to load, but it's worth it).

Burnished, Undarkened- Death Cab for Cutie, Glasgow Barrowlands, 4/3/06

Has ever the Glasgow Barrowlands (and the have been some unbelievable nights in that place) seemed such a happy room? The Flaming Lips can do this, and the Roses could do it, and Death Cab can do it- just by walking into a room, they make everyone in it happy.

It was sparkling and aglow- Marching Bands of Manhattan, The New Year, Soul Meets Body and Title and Registration were the standouts: Plans is essential listening if you want to be in on music now, and this wee band are becoming central to more and more people's musical landscape. The performance was as perfect as anything we've heard, but it was the smiles, the appreciation that made it such a night as it was, from the top, all the way down...

Comes With a Smile (2)

And lest we get lost in a fog of pretentious seventies art noise, here's a gratuitous picture of the new Tomb Raider girl. Don't know her name, but it sounds funny. It's not Sarah, or Margaret or anything like that. It's stranger than that, weird sounding. Foreign, you know. Anyway, seems like a nice girl.



Sweet dreams.

Comes With A Smile

I started writing this an hour ago, had it finished, computer crashed, deleted the whole thing. It was rubbish anyway, and will probably read better in the note form that will follow.

NME awards last night- Arctic Monkeys? WTF? Ian Brown is NOT a Godlike Genius etc etc. NME makes Heat magazine look like the New Yorker, used to be so good in the eighties and ninties, used to make Wednesday mornings exciting, but is now an embrrassment. This was a picture I found to show that it used to be good:

Comes With A Smile, on the other hand, is a little gem of a magazine, now sadly in its tentieth and final edition- buy it here- you get a cracking cd as well as a genuinely good indie read for a fiver.

Thanks to Clum for a link to The Onion and this feature called Random Rules, where celebs are made to look stupid because they don't know the songs on their own Ipod- here's the guy from Death Cab for Cutie- seems nice, has a Jandek song on his Ipod.

Jandek- three (3) new albums out now- Khartoum sounds like a belter, but Newcastle Sunday, a live album, sounds like a facemelter. Read the reviews here.

And lastly, in a non-sequitar that fits better here, we shall now all listen to some Krautrock- here's the snappy little number called On the Way to Abamae by Faust...

Tiny Buttons- LastFM

Check out the little red button to the right hand side of the page (not the huge big one above, which is just a cracking image, I think, but the one saying 'click here to see bdoherty's profile' or something). Ok- you click on that, and you go to a site called 'Last FM', and there appears a chart of what has been playing through this computer over the last week, and I believe you can hear samples of the songs, or some of them, too.

Doubtless, this will be very embarrassing at some point- it seems like a good reason never to put Meat Loaf or Queen on the computer- but it is also a nice toy, and we love the stats. The more people who do it, the happier and quieter the world will become.

Interestingly, in the overall chart on that Last FM site, The Postal Service's 'Such Great Heights' is the number one listened to song- we're in good company. (The less said about Coldplay being number one listened to band the better).

Not that any of it matters: in fact, there's a book called 'Important Things That Don't Matter', which I think is a good title (although, that said, leaving out the word 'that' to make it 'Important Things Don't Matter' might have made it better), but that doesn't matter either. I ate a falafel sandwich today, which doesn't seem important, but it mattered at the time. I wouldn't have thought that I would like it (the sandwich, that is), but I did, and it seemed fairly healthy, or at least not too unhealthy, and I might have another one tomorrow.

Eck- The Jammy Man

I saw Eck backstage at Loch Lomond when Oasis played there in 1996. Gavin and John saw him on Gt Western Rd on their way back from a party late one Sunday morning in 1992. They said 'Eck!', and he said 'Alright, lads.'

Then he became Rangers manager, was jammy, was rubbish, was jammy again, then was found out in the most dramatic way: presiding over the worst run of results in his club's history. For that he will hold a special place in Celtic fans' hearts.

I don't hate him or anything, but I've no sympathy for him, or the way he's been treated: serves him right for getting paid to be jammy, serves him right for working for liars.

Eck- never really got round to having any strong feelings for him. His chairman, on the other hand- lies to the fans over and over, blames everyone but himself, gloryhunter when winning things and the invisible man when things are going wrong. '132 years of unsurpassed dignity' indeed.

If we're being honest, we know that Eck only got the job because he was cheap, and would be easy to manipulate. He knew that too, and even writing this, it's hard to stop a little swell of pity for someone who knows he's out of his depth, but stays where he is only because he's allowed to, because the only way is down, and you were never that high in the first place.

Far Off Places

Just some stuff to hear.

Download a new Morrissey song here- to quote an old Smiths title, sounds rank.

The new Strokes, though- welcome back to Their Majesties- we are stunned by 'You Only live Once', and the rest of the new stuff.

What else? Highlights of three goal thriller at Ibrox earlier today can be downloaded here.

(Screen shot courtesy of Clum)

All That Glitters Is Not Gold, But At Least It Contains Free Electrons- We Are Scientists and The Shins

I clicked on a link, you know how it is, on the internet, and then clicked on another, and so on, until I ended up here, a site specifically dedicated to chemistry puns.

'Oxidants happen.'

'Q: What kind of ghosts haunt chemistry faculties?
A: Methylated Spirits.'

'The name's Bond, Covalent Bond.'

Which reminded me...

We Are Scientists. Another good name for a band- another good band, I think. See what you think by listening to them here, and see what they look like altogether and naked in a shower here.


To be honest, I'm not 100% on them- they're not my usual thing, but catchy and cool, and playing in Glasgow soon. Crucially, the gig is on a Saturday night- a reason in itself to go and see a band.

In fact, on second listenings, these are fab pop tunes- here's another winner...

While we're at it, the ever glorious Shins keep making the world a little bit more beautiful- watch them at work here. In fact, a passable way to spend one's life would be to upload a song a day from this beautiful band to help the world with all, all of its problems. And isn't this even a lovely photograph...