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Every day is a celebration at the moment. I like it.
Last weekend was International Blues Music Day, a perfect excuse to bask in something musically lowdown ‘n’ dirty. Mind you I was still recovering after overindulging on July 29, International Lasagne Day. Yep, everything gets a day.
The SPCA is starting to fundraise for what it calls SPCA Cupcake Day; that begins August 5 and climaxes on Cupcake Day, September 16.
But the SPCA has been playing fast and loose. There is already an ‘official’ International Cupcake Day, December 15. And for lovers of something more specific there’s Chocolate Cupcake Day on October 18.
Salute animals (sidehead)
August, in which we find ourselves, is a time to salute animals. This month alone we have the following: International Clouded Leopard Day; International Cat Day; World Lion Day; World Elephant Day; World Lizard Day; World Honey Bee Day; International Orangutan Day; International Whale Shark Day; and last, but not least, World Mosquito Day.
In case you think I’m just making this up, let me mention that World Mosquito Day commemorates the day in 1902 when Sir Ronald Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans. So there.
My favourites of this month are Black Cat Appreciation Day on August 17 and – again I’m not making this up – International Strange Music Day on August 24.
I’m not sure exactly how to celebrate that but, getting in early, the new single from Stunt Clown fits the bill. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the band’s long-awaited second album and, suddenly, here it comes.
Stunt Clown. Photo / Bruce Rolands
Stunt Clown was formed in 2000 by four music scene veterans: singer-guitarist Shane Duncan, guitarist Bruce Rolands, bass player-singer Ian Clark and drummer Verne Bigwood.
Between them they’ve played in more bands than I can count, including DIC, Brilleaux, The Stonebabies, Smoking Embers, MK Ultra, Capo Regime, The Carradines and Dead Simple.
A first self-titled album arrived in 2002, all nasty punk attitude and attack and some very good songs. Be Sensible, released last weekend, is the first taste of the band’s album, Dreadnought, due for release in September.
Step forward (sidehead)
It’s a step forward in every way, straddling punk, post-punk and alternative rock. And although I harbour healthy scepticism of music videos in general, the YouTube video singer Shane Duncan has made for the song is simply sensational. World class. Though I should mention two things: it does contain what I can only describe as ‘Satanic imagery’; and it’s made with AI.
On the former, I don’t care. I find Satanic stuff a bit silly but it doesn’t bother me. On the latter, I don’t care. It is end results that matter and the video looks amazing and imaginative.
Earlier this year local Latin experimentalists Vogon released a brilliant concept album The Havana Files. It was accompanied by similarly imaginative videos made using AI. Who cares about the AI component? There is a huge gulf between using it as a creative tool and using it pretend you are creative.
Hear Winston’s latest Playlist: