This can also be seen in the influx and constant demand for retro clothes, for example the clothes store Beyond Retro. About five years ago before retro clothing was in vogue one could purchase a 1950’s style jacket for £20 however the same coat now is fetching up to £100. The shop, one of which is situated in very bohemian Brick Lane is now visited by the likes of Kate Moss, David Beckhamp and Kylie Minogue, giving the shop a new status amongst the public. This is a perfect example of recuperation and how authenticity is taken from todays subcultures

Another example that portrays how this popular culture has taken the masses by storm is looking at festivals in the UK and across Europe. In recent years festivals will sell out with in the first few minutes of tickets being up for sale. This never used to happen and unfortunately people take advantage of this - touts- those nasty people who buy massive amounts of tickets in order to re sell them at profitable price.

It may seem therefore that this youth sub culture is no longer a sub culture at all but has become a part of mass culture. Subcultures struggle in todays society to stay in the hands of a nieche audience.

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For this article, I have chosen to talk about one of my favorite progressive metal bands of all time, Dream Theater. For those of you that do not know, progressive metal is one of the countless sub-genres of heavy metal music which began to evolve during the 1980s hair metal scene, but they broke out of the plastic packaging of metal bands and became something different altogether.

Dream Theaters fame and legacy began when they released their second album in 1991 entitled ’Images and Words’. In my opinion, this is one of the best albums of all time. Not only do they include all the elements that are needed in such an amazing album, but what got to me was the way they fused powerful, 90s heavy metal with classical and jazz influences. This is not unusual for a progressive metal band to combine different influences together, its such amazing how Dream Theater done it. To this day I’ve never heard an album asa good as ’Images and Words’.

Another reason why I enjoy listening to Dream Theater so much is because John Petrucci is one of my biggest influences. John Petrucci is one of the founding members of the band ’Dream Theater'and has helped evolve them into the huge legacy they are today. John Petrucci is most renowned for his fast speed alternate picking and complex time signatures during his solos. He quotes that to be able to play fast you must have a ’strong sense of synchronization between the two playing hands’. John Petrucci has inspired hundreds of other musicians to follow their dreams into becoming rockstars…I have left my favorite reason to the end.

The reason why I love Dream Theater so much. The answer is simple, when I went to guitar live in 2009 I saw the band play live. It was the first gig I went to and it has inspired me to follow in their footsteps. I’ll always remember that show they played. Not only did they play amazingly well but, they also played some of my favorite songs including ’Metropolis’, ’Take the time’, ’Pull me under'and so many more. The best part was being able to meet the guys backstage and talk to them about their music. It was great being able to talk to someone who shares the same about of passion and love for music as you do.

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The Ritzy Café is a great jazz bar. It is a delight that is hidden in the South of London in Lambeth. When you look through the windows it looks as though there is no one there. You may think that you will be lonely, sad, and depressed in a place like this. But, when you go upstairs you will be amazed. There are two continental-style bars. They are very cozy and welcoming. You will feel comfortable enough to just sit at the bar by yourself or with friends. There are plenty of smaller tables to sit at if you do not feel that the bar suits you. The decorations are very tasteful and homey. There are plenty of candles everywhere that create flickering lights that set the jazz mood.

The jazz is amazing. It is not your typical jazz though. It is live and comes from the Brixton scene. You will be entranced with the sounds that bellow through the café and the surrounding Clapham flats and houses for rent. The high quality performances will have your toes taping and your head bobbing in no time at all. You will hear great performances in a large variety of categories. One moment you may here music from a French accordion and the next Arabic electronica. You will be thoroughly entertained.

If you are hungry you can grab a bite to eat without being fearful of spending all of your money. Their food is very affordable and delicious. They have a small selections of foods for you to pick from such as pizzas, toasties, and crepes. The pizzas are amazing. They are thin and have tons of ingredients stacked on top of them. The crepes are filled with exquisite fillings that will make you want to eat them until you burst. You will have a great time at The Ritzy Café.

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Everything old is new again and that relates to music as well. The sounds that are becoming popular are natural and very soul sensitive. We seem to have come full circle and the music of today is the music of yesterday. The popular and important and impressive are those that have a deep beat and that affect the sole with the use of earthy tones and intense vocals.

One example of this style of soul wrenching music is a new comer to the music scene, Charice. Charice is an eighteen year old girl who has an amazing voice and the music to back her up, I first heard her voice floating out from one of the rooms in a london hostel, and seem to be hearing it everywhere else since then. She brings a fresh sound to the world of pop and has been all the rage since her introduction from the Philippines in 2008. She has rocked the world with her incredible voice much like that of Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, her idols since childhood. She is destined for amazing things and her deep down musical talents will take her there quickly.

This is the type of music that hits home in the music world today. There is no shortage of artists claiming to have voice and music, but only those with the deep down ability will win over the music world. You would be hard pressed to find a musical ability that doesn’t have the deep down soul touching voice that these new emerging artists possess. There seems to be an onslaught of great talent flooding the music scene.

So for those who aspire to be the next greatest hit on the charts, they should not give up and come at it with their heart and soul using all that nature has given them. The only way to win over the music world these days is with intense talent that can not be created but is born.

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I was so excited when I heard that Alanis Morrisette was performing in our area. I have been waiting for years to see her perform live and my excitment was totally building as I walked past the Camden flats and houses for rent towards the venue. A friend of mine said that when she went it was not the concert she expected. Even with all of the comments from my friends and family I was still looking forward to it. The night before the concert I couldn’t even get to sleep.

We finally arrived at the venue and took our seats. Once the concert started I was still hesitantly optimistic. The first couple of songs were a little off but not too bad. As the concert continued I was very unhappy at the way that it sounded. There were even a couple of times that we heard a shrieking reverb sound from the speakers.

I could not believe how bad the audio actually sounded. The concert was stopped shortly after the reverb and said that they needed to redo the sound check. I could not believe what I was hearing. I mean the sound check is supposed to be finished completely before anyone gets there. My friend and I got up and went to the front of the venue. We asked to speak to the person in charge and complained to them about the price we had paid for the show we were receiving.

We were lucky enough to get vouchers to see another show for free at the same venue. I know the rest of the concertgoers where not as lucky. After receiving our vouchers we left the venue. We decided we did not want to stay and try to sit through the rest of it. I was so disappointed at the outcome of the concert. It is awful to wait years to see someone live only to be disappointed.

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There is a band I had the pleasure of listening to called New Glory. Although the name is a little close to the popular New Found Glory, the music was incredibly different. It’s a small local band, but it’s going to be huge. They are a completely different sound. They play a variety of instruments and they have meaningful lyrics. I can truly picture New Glory hitting it huge and being in the forefront of a new type of music.

New Glory uses a variety of different instruments, so many in fact I hear they have a storage unit just to keep them all in. From what I saw, they found ways to incorporate all different types of guitars, they included violins, and they also at times used non-instruments to add certain sounds. I saw one person banging on a metal garbage lid, and at one point I watched someone using water to make sounds. This music has a truly different sound thanks to the variety of instruments and even non-instruments that are used.

New glory also had very meaningful lyrics. I could not believe how relative what they had to say was. They spoke about our president, and a variety of different political topics. However, they weren’t strictly political. They also sang about things like the increased violence around cruelty to animals. There didn’t seem to be a topic they didn’t touch. With today’s lyrics being comprised of mostly swears and talking about money and drugs, New Glory is breath of fresh air.

This small town band, New Glory, is truly going to impact music as we know it. They find ways to incorporate an amazing amount of sounds into their music. They also are able to sing about things other than beating people up, doing drugs, and making money. Until I went and heard this band, I had pretty much given up on today’s music. However, after spending the evening listening to this band, I once again have hope.

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They watched us like that because we were not local, of course (my dress-code, though a step above theirs (which mainly consisted of running clothes), was not too smart to make me look a fool). And this was a locals kind of a place. Fortunately I wasn’t the one who was going to attempt to impress these local men, the weathered type who had seen the bottom of a thousand pint-glasses between them. No, my brother and his band were playing and I didn’t envy them one bit.

Soon after we arrived more men arrived. I say men, they weren’t. But in this part of town you became a man as soon as you could open your mouth and speak. This was essential, otherwise you’d be in big trouble.

Ten minutes before the gig my brother and his friends were beginning to think they should pull out of the gig. I told them they could not, as I had heard the local men whispering such things as “e musa be da mangarer” (He must be the manager) and “ey betas pay wheel gwood or day gitin eet!” (They had better play well good or they are getting it!) So there was no way out. The doors were blocked with locals. The time was upon us. And the band took to the stage. The gig went fine. After it we were met with handshakes and one of the men offered me the bottom dregs of his pint. I think that’s a good place to leave this.

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If there is one band that is destined for super stardom in our new decade (the Tennies? the Teens? Whatever) then it is surely the Noisettes and after an aborted attempt to see them live in action last year I finally got the chance to watch them this week. Let me tell you that I wasn’t disappointed!

The Noisettes are a trio of London origin. Drummer Jamie Morrison, guitarist Dan Smith and of course the all conquering presence of singer and bass player Shingai Shoniwa. Since their inception in the early years of this century their star has been ascending and now their music can be heard on commercial breaks as well as being ubiquitous across the nation’s airwaves.

What I love most about this band is their fusion of musical forms that have been worked almost to death into something new, unique and life affirming. Their albums (second album Wild Young Hearts is still riding high in the charts) are an experimental mixture of punk, blues and dance with more than a hint of Motown thrown in. This is what The Supremes might have sounded like if they had formed in the 21^st Century, and compliments don’t come much higher than that!

I had originally planned to see The Noisettes at the Reading Festival in 2007 but circumstances conspired against me, so when it was confirmed that they would be playing at Sheffield’s Carling Academy nothing was going to keep me away. The atmosphere was tangible before the band had taken the stage, and the large audience, younger than the average gig going crowd, had dressed to impress. Beautiful young women in outre outfits attempted to emulate their hero but as soon as The Noisettes entered, to deafening cheers, it was clear that there was only one woman that eyes would be on tonight.

Shingai Shoniwa is the show woman supreme, dominating the stage and holding a magnetic attraction over the crowd. Shingai’s stark and striking make up and retro mini dress were stunning. Her soaring voice was even better live than on record, deeper and imbued with a blues beauty that seems to pierce the heart. She was never still for a moment, dancing wildly around the stage and wielding her bass like a weapon.

Every tune was a winner, but the crowd, myself included, roared out their approval for ‘Never Forget You’ that Shoniwa sang in a slow teasing tempo whilst leaning over a balcony high above her audience. The other undisputed winner was ‘Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)’, left until the encore and ensuring that the crowd formed one large frenzied dancing creature.

The Noisettes are a band on the top of their game at the moment, supremely confident and with the killer tunes to match. It will be hard to imagine a gig surpassing this one in 2010!

While I am here and actually writing something on this blog, everyone really needs to check out this new enigin PLC site, well worth a read if you have a moment!

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A lot of bands came through Cologne, so when I heard that The Strokes were playing half an hour away from my flat (at a venue whose name I sadly don’t recall), I wasn’t exactly on the edge of my seat to get to the front of the crowd first; They’d never been my favourite band, not even near the top of the list, so I’d convinced myself that what I was about to see would be a let down, as per usual. I was just going because some friends were going and that was it. No expectations; the only thing on my mind was a mild interest as to what degree I had wasted my money.

The venue, it’s starting to come back to me now, was called E-Works. It was packed out when we got there, so we stood around at the back; the support band were better than I expected but over within ten minutes of us arriving–I wished they’d stay a bit longer. I shut my eyes and sighed, glum and miserable, like you are after a hard day’s work and the last thing you want to do is listen to not your favourite kind of music.

Then the stage lights exploded—there’s no other word for it, they literally exploded, making a sound as raw heat hummed against hot metal—and the band powered into their first song. What I remember particularly was the volume, or lack of it; it was loud, but the beats registered perfectly in the huge room. The music, the lead singer’s voice especially, had a clarity to it that you only get with quality vocals combined with excellent music. I was converted immediately, and smiled as my friends stared at me clapping, forcing me to eat my words.

Why was that one gig so memorable? I don’t know. I still don’t think The Strokes are the best band ever, but I do know one thing: that band know how to play a live gig—not only play it, but put on a serious show. Like all good bands should.

One last thing, I have just became aware of the fact that I have been gapeing at my computer screen for the last few days and am really tired of my Heroes Wallpaper, I think it is time for a change, these and more updates coming soon!

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Maybe it’s just me, being British and proud, but growing up watching Last Of The Summer Wine—a piece of television so inherently British in its style that I’ve always thought it to be utterly unmistakable—I always thought it was thoroughly unique and stood apart in its own special way from U.S. or any other television. Not there’s anything wrong with U.S. or any other television, of course; what I mean to say is that I was and am proud of our tiny little stiff-upper-lip Island. And the forum subject in question—presumably posted by an American, a presumption based on the expression ‘reallý awesome’—got me thinking about mistaking things.

First I pondered Baywatch, it being so groundbreaking and all (not to mention responsible for bringing us The Hoff). I thought, could you be mistaken for thinking Baywatch was actually filmed on Great Yarmouth’s sandy beach? I decided no, you could not. For one thing, Great Yarmouth is largely inhabited by the older generation—who rarely, I hope, strip down to the kind of revealing beach wear that Baywatch is so famous for. But who knows? Maybe that’s why people don’t visit Great Yarmouth in the hordes after all?—and for another, the sun shines for little more than a week every year, not nearly long enough to film more than a few episodes.

Then I considered the infamous Beverly Hills 90210; could that have been filmed in the south of France? Or in Bognor Regis, or Hull? That too, I decided, could only have been filmed in the states.

What can we draw from these conclusions? Well, apart from giving people yet another reason to think that Americans are stupid people—not something I endorse, of course—I’m happy to say that this forum posting actually opened my eyes to something; if Last Of The Summer Wine is loved in the U.S. then may be there’s the chance of another series?

If they can do it with Only Fools And Horses, then why not a prequel to Summer Whine? (With any luck it has to be better than the prequel to the former…)

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