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Month: September 2021

Of their hands: be like Japan

[ Originally posted on Facebook 1 July 2018; additions below, 1 and 26 January, and 22 February 2021; final (maybe) addition 29 September 2021 ]

[ Addition 29 September 2021 ]

Ok, here’s something to chase those blues away. If you’re having trouble dealing with the world the way it is right now, commend me to a daily watch of this. It’s Yoyo (more about her below) at 8 years old, covering the Stray Cats’ “Rock This Town.” For my money possibly the most life-affirming, most joyous thing on YouTube . . .


British band Led Zeppelin erupted onto the UK scene in 1969.

It combined guitar virtuoso and sought-after session musician Jimmy Page, play-any-instrument composer and orchestral-arranger bassist John Paul Jones, the soaring voice of archetypal blonde-locked, bare-chested strutting frontman Robert Plant, and the titanic yet precisely inventive—almost funky—drumming of John Bonham, still rated by many as the greatest rock drummer ever.

This oldie was privileged to have seen and heard them in their prime (Earls Court, 1975).

Side 1 Track 1 (‘Good Times Bad Times’) of their eponymous debut album set the tone, Bonham doing things with a kick-drum that no-one had heard before and many even now struggle to replicate.


It’s no coincidence that Japan has more than its fair share of child prodigies.

A society in which doing things well is revered, one in which education is a competitive pursuit from an early age, and in which children dutifully knuckle down to it, is well placed to hothouse young talent.

Here then is Yoyoka Soma, all of 8 years old [at the time of writing], ripping Bonzo’s drumming from ‘Good Times Bad Times.’

Her supreme kick-drum mastery is inset bottom left.

But perhaps the best thing is the sheer joy she radiates as she piles her astonishing way through this hard-rock classic.

And okay yes, it’s a long way from copying—however proficient—to original creating.

But here once again is proof positive of the continuing Japanese conviction that if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing . . . perfectly.

Yoyoka’s YouTube channel here


[ Added 1 January 2021 ]

Two bands were pretty much the soundtrack to my adolescence: Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.

Not least among the appeal of both was the mastery of their drummers—John Bonham and Ian Paice respectively—each of whom in their own way defined what rock drumming was and could be.

While Bonham encapsulated all that is titanic and steamroller-majestic, Paice’s quick-hand fluency and more swing-based inventiveness provided the perfect framework for the equally stunning musicianship of then-Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and keyboards maestro Jon Lord.

Bonham didn’t make it much past the crazy 1970s, but Ian Paice is still very much with us, still (!) drumming with Purple, and now enjoying a still further lease of life on YouTube.

Yoyoka (‘Yoyo’) has already covered several Bonham tracks, but never anything by Paice.

Until now.

And as cute kid herself closes in on adolescence, she’s put together a quantum-leap performance with the Deep Purple track ‘Burn.’

And what a performance it is. While her technical mastery has never been in doubt, the notable developments here (still at the tender age of 11) are in her speed and stamina.

All in all, it’s enough to drop any jaw.

For those new to Deep Purple and who can tear their ears away long enough from Yoyo’s magnificent work, listen out too for some timeless soloing by Blackmore and Lord.

Anyway, the point is that all sorts of folk quickly alerted Ian Paice himself to this prodigious performance, and now he’s posted his own reaction video.

So sit forward and revel in the emergence of a modern drumming superstar, in this gentle and generous appreciation by the master himself . . .

[ Another addition, 26 January 2021 ]

Oh dearie dearie me. Just when I thought she’d reached a peak, she’s posted another Deep Purple (i.e. Ian Paice) cover, this time “Speed King” from their early album “In Rock.” And I think it might be even better . . .

Hard to know where to look in amongst all this virtuosity, but worth concentrating one time on her astonishing kick-drum mastery—most of the time it’s her right foot doing the business, but there’s also a second beater, cued in when needed by her left (normally hi-hat) foot. It’s all viewable in the window bottom-left

It’s almost scary just how good she already is. I do so hope she’ll be able to deal with the fame that is sure to be hers before too long, and all the head-turning temptations that go with it.

Bless you Yoyo. Good luck . . .

[ And yet another addition, 22 February 2021 ]

Ok, just one more, last one I promise (maybe). Indulge me . . .

This is ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ by another monster UK band—Queen.

It’s a short yet bracing thrash from their 1974 album ‘Sheer Heart Attack.’

And surprise surprise, Yoyo—here 9 years old and still very much the cute kid—nails it.

Not sure how technically demanding this drum part is (although notice already twin kick-drum pedals, and her quadruplets around the tom-toms are—as always—faultless).

What entrances me about this one though is the enormous fun she’s so obviously having.

And while she aces the song’s speed and complexity with seemingly effortless ease, there’s still spare processing capacity enough for her to mug for the camera and indulge all those endearingly bonkers gestures and expressions.

Sheer Joy Attack . . .

[Added 10 February 2022]

Phenom Yoyoka celebrated her 12th birthday with a session where she plays with a very tight, kick-ass band. You’ll want to head over to her site here to watch some pretty impressive covers.

But I’d be doing Yoyo a disservice if I said she was just a drummer. Truth is she showcases all sorts of other instruments, as in this video: her reworking of the Beatles ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’ Listening to her singing in English in particular is a joy . . .

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Loved and lost

For all those loved and lost. Never forgotten.

Pictured above: my two closest friends, Ed Smith centre, Simon Kerruish right. Gone onwards.

Fellow players in the Boleros Ultimate frisbee team. And much, so much more . . .

(Incidentally, it was Ed’s mother Nada who started me off on the journey of reading and research that continues to this day, when she plonked Patrick Tilley’s “Mission” on the table, and said “here, read that, it might interest you . . . “)

Below, Daniel Barenboim conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing Nimrod by Edward Elgar, part of his Enigma Variations suite.

It’s an intensely emotional piece of music, hard to listen to without tears.

But there is too towards the end a promise of catharsis and of peace—of battles fought and won. In short, the life of (a good) man or woman in little.

So this from me to those two good men. And to all those everywhere loved and lost.

Bless you all . . .

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The Wire

[ Originally published on Facebook 16 August 2015; addition 8 September 2021 ]

DVD box sets and streaming video services allow us viewers to hunker down, pull up the drawbridge and binge-watch entire series at a sitting if we feel like it. In this way I’ve caught up with several (mostly American) TV blockbusters like ‘Sopranos’ (both com-pelling and re-ditto), ‘Breaking Bad’ (a struggle, not totally convinced by the main character), ‘House of Cards’ (clever self-referential fun for a bit, eventually couldn’t be arsed to suspend disbelief any longer and gave up), ‘Homeland’ (good viewing but just plain lost interest in the plot after a while), ‘Band of Brothers’ (magnificent, all-time favourite), ‘Rome’ (also excellent).

So anyway, a while back a colleague in Geneva suggested I take a look at a series that first went out on HBO from 2002-8—The Wire—and very glad I did. It’s an ambitious work, among whose main subjects are the way that many (most? all?) American institutions are compromised, and the fact that the little guy never gets a chance.

Each series focuses on a different institution (e.g. police, unions, local government) in Baltimore, but many of the same characters appear in each. In the best traditions of contemporary big-budget American TV, it’s at once scrupulously plotted, imaginatively scripted, convincingly cast and acted, flawlessly directed, filmed and edited, and believably disbelieving about many of the shibboleths that America holds dear. Faced with its grand sweep, its gritty realism and social commentary, you begin to understand the draw of Film and Media Studies courses.

It also contains one of the most boldly, brilliantly written scenes I’ve ever seen.

Detailed to revisit old cases on a team investigating a drugs gang in Baltimore’s low-rise (and lower-income) projects, two overworked and world-weary homicide detectives reluctantly stop by a house in which a girl was shot, where they start going through the motions (to begin with at least) of recreating the circumstances of her murder.

The run-down urban setting of the The Wire‘s first series makes subtitles often helpful, if not essential. You won’t need them here. Look out too for the caretaker’s cameo, who acts as a kind of dumbstruck Greek chorus—essentially us—as the scene unfolds (see—we’re doing Film and Media Studies already already . . . )

[ Addition 8 September 2021 ]

Sad to hear of the death (apparently from drug overdose) of Michael K. Williams, who played the unashamedly homosexual stealer-from-drug-dealers Omar Little in the series.

From Wikipedia:

“For his portrayal of Omar, Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. Omar was praised for his uniqueness in the stale landscape of TV crime dramas and for the wit and humor that Williams brings to the portrayal. Omar has been named as one of the first season’s richest characters, a Robin Hood of Baltimore’s west side projects. The Baltimore City Paper named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him “arguably the show’s single greatest achievement”. In 2007, he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Omar.”

Far too many scenes in The Wire featuring Michael K. Williams to do him justice, but here’s a little taste.

Omar has agreed to testify against “Bird,” who had killed security guard Mr Gant—a civilian unconnected to the drug business—(something that Omar never did).

He’s been inveigled into wearing a tie for his stand in the witness box, something he does in his own sweet way.

His testimony likewise:

Do yourself a favour folks: if you haven’t already discovered the richness and truth that is “The Wire,” now’s a good time . . .

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