C'Mon Everybody

I was very pleased to hear that my old friend Aldo Gatt (also known as Gattaldo) is legally registering his marriage to his long-time partner Mike this week. Aldo and I have known each other since we were 11. So it comes as no surprise that I've been invited to a dinner celebration they're having down in London later this week. And since I'm going to be in London anyway for the Theatre and Performance Research Association annual conference, I may very well join them for some Moroccan food and fun. While probably not the first Maltese gay man to get married under the new British law, Aldo is undoubtedly a pioneering Maltese gay rights activist. Have a look at these couple of video clips on YouTube, especially if you didn't see them on TVM when they first aired a few months ago.

Malta may have joined the EU but the country is still far off in terms of personal civil liberties. Did you hear the one about the call for a constitutional amendment against reproductive rights, which are already forbidden by Maltese law anyway? Please don't get me started on that...at least not just yet. I'm just too busy (what's new?) right now. Before I get ready for my gigs in London (more about that in a future blog post, which is a certainty as much as the 9/11 one -- in fact they may turn up on the same entry) I should tell you a little bit about the 33rd podcast in the Mużika Mod Ieħor series.

MySpace continues to dominate my weekly podcasts. It also continues to reconnect me with musicians I hadn't heard from in quite a number of years. One of these is a British singer who lived and performed in Malta in the early 1990s. Lisa Covington's song from 2004 called Afraid I'm Not Afraid opens this week's podcast.

Lisa's song serves as a good prelude for the music of someone I met on MySpace for the first time just a few days ago. Interestingly, this time he' the one who remembers me from TVM and radio in Malta in the early 1990s. Brian James has released two EPs on the impressive catalogue from Pinkpube, which was first featured on my podcast a couple of week's ago. From his second Manikins collection you can hear Walk Away. It's a minimalistic techno sound with a hypnotic rhythm, leading me to think that this is a rather extreme form of electro dance music.

Equally extreme, but in the metal camp, is the post-hardcore sound of Item. Abysmal Torment's Nicky Farrugia is now this band's vocalist following the departure of Leli Apap. I must confess that I find the sort of growling that accompanies the metal sounds from the likes of Item quite refreshing especially in light of all the badly executed attempts at normal (for lack of a better term) singing. Item are appearing with fellow metal monsters Loathe at the Remedy Club in Paceville on Friday 8th September. I believe that no self-respecting contemporary metalhead should miss a gig like that.

I imagine that an equally splendid time was had by all who attended the Rebelfest at the Buskett Roadhouse last Friday. After last week's track from Subculture's second CD, I thought it was appropriate to play a song from the X-Vandals' debut album, Erosion of Our Liberty, which was also released on the same night at Rebelfest. The track you can hear on the podcast is called Disposable Breed. Slowly but surely Ray il-Baħri is becoming Malta's most prolific rock guitarist ever. Does anyone know of any other Maltese guitarist who plays with more bands than he does, even if he doesn't feature on any MySpace page, yet?

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