'Late Show' with David Letterman

   The 'Late Show' with David Letterman had one of the first websites I visited regularly, not too long after such things existed on the internet. One of a few places to go and buy merchandise from your favourite American TV show, pastime or pop culture phenomenon, the world suddenly got smaller when I could order the t-shirt and cap from this late night TV cult classic!!
   Once Steve Visard's embarrassing copy was off air the Oz networks eventually picked up this quirky, awkward humour with the now familiar tonight show interview format and the coveted band spot to close the show.  
   Letterman had been 'Rolling Stone' Magazine cool and bands wanted to play, comedians to ply their trade and the movie & TV stars came to plug movies, but created humour, vulnerability and in some cases awkward silences.
   As Jay Leno grew the audience and grabbed some younger viewers for NBC the competition was well publicised. Leno [given that show instead of Dave when Johnny Carson retired] led to Dave's move to CBS and the Ed Sullivan Theater [US spelling] in New York [Broadway between W53rd and W54th St]. A renovated iconic TV location that still marks each significant anniversary of the night the Beatles first appeared live in stage etc etc... They drop watermelons off it's roof, ride bikes into swimming pools outside and stage NFL quarterback passing challenges through open taxi windows in a drive by.
   I read an article about Leno moving ahead in the ratings after a Hugh Grant appearance following his infamous encounter in a car with LA prostitute 'Divine Brown.' As Grant too his seat Leno simply asked "What the hell were you thinking!!!! ?" Ah...TV history...
   At first the 9 network had the show here, putting it to air anytime from midnight to 4am whenever they felt like it but then TV deals took it to TEN who are better, although it used to follow a hideous NZ soap for a while. At least it's no after the encore 'Project'!!
   In the US it's now Kimmel or Fallon and Letterman can be klunky, tired and not funny but some of his interviews still draw the absolute best from some otherwise superficial celebrities. He has a way of asking about embarrassing stuff that gets them talking e.g. Paris Hilton
   Recently Selina Gomez was on talking about a film and her music [post relationship with Justin Beiber]. Letterman brought up the fact they were no longer together and related a quip about ho the last time he was on the show Dave made him cry... Selina jumped right in and said "that makes two of us" [ouch]!! Dave kept referring back to that with a chuckle the rest of the show!!
  OK, but there we are, standing outside the Theater in spring 1998... reading the instructions for the standby audience. We queue on two days and go into a lottery with day two placing us 3rd and 4th in the standby line around the corner from the Theater. We can see the crowd at the stage door where the guests arrive and with 5 mins to spare at the 5.30pm taping the first 22 in the line are ushered in and we are studio audience for John McEnroe and Joan Jett [whose band close the show]!! I am in some kind of ecstatic parrallel universe in this tiny 12 or 13 row seated TV show studio watching Letterman live!!
   We later hit the merchandise corner store and top up my collection with this 'Late Show; t-shirt. Throw in the Kenny Kramer 'Seinfeld Reality Tour' on Sunday and you have one hell of a happy TV addict!!
   We went back the stage door of the Ed sullivan on other days to see the guests arrive by limo and spotted two curious figures in the huddled crowd. Could that possibly be a stunt with George Clooney and Anthony Green standing outside anonymously in the crowd. No, but the next night the two people appear on the actual show after the staff wondered the same thing and discovered that they both worked as professional 'look a likes' for the two actors, doing openings, weddings, parties, anything... impersonating the two!! Wow, only in New York!!

Australia v England Centenary Rugby Test

   In this Rugby Union Test Match the teams were still wearing the bulky jerseys [jerseys and caps are my other colectables!!] and the Wallabies wore a commemorative sky blue [which created great media around all the QLDers in the team who'd never be seen dead in a sky blue jersey. Worse still the kit sponsor at the time was Reebok who specialised in ill fitting sports clothes: big collars; sleeves too long; bigger sizes just meant longer.
   Aside from that embarrassment it was some great rugby they played on June 26th 1999 in the all important lead up to the Wallabies winning the World Cup later that year in the UK!!
   This t-shirt was my most loved at the time, good quality, it didn't lose shape and I wore it everywhere as my own playing career was winding dow due to bad knee and calf muscle injuries. It had a second life in 2008 when I lost lost of weight and cracked open that vacuum sealed bag filled with old favourites. I wore this to the UK that year and had lost of animated conversations with British rugby fans as we weren't doing as well by then having lost the 2003 and 2007 Webb Ellis Cups.

Silverchair [Innocent Criminals]

   'The Chair' are such a Newcastle story... a group of school mates form a band, exuding the musical influences of dad's record collection and passionate musical education. Called 'Innocent Criminals' they take on 'battle of the bands' and other opportunities and launch a huge album that takes them around the world several times. The world wide fame happens after one band member leaves for an OS Rotary Exchange for 12 months. Sons of a plumber, fruiterer & local laundry operator... 'Silverchair' left the 'Nirvana in pyjamas' tag in their wake and produced a couple of the most amazing rock albums I've heard. The band is currently hibernating!!
   Daniel Johns lyrics are not rocket science but his musical imagination is stunning. When he still lived locally I used to see him barefoot and walking his dog near the Prince of Wales Hotel at Merewether. This was prior to his degenerative arthritis like illness.
   It was my job to drop off the Wanderers 4th grade rugby jerseys weekly all winter to Chris Joannou's dads laundromat too!! I asked him about that when [having seen the band live the night before] we waited fro the same Launceston-Sydney flight home in January 1997. This led to an animated discussion about Wanderers Rugby and several of their mates I knew to be playing Juniors with the club. They seemed genuinely excited to have bumped into someone from Wanderers. I took the obligatory photo and attempted to keep my composure, nervous at having chatted with a bunch of 17 year old rock stars.
   I saw the band again at their secret Luna Park competition winners gig, then in Sydney, at Homebake and at Newc Ent Cent [barn] with 'The Offspring'... I wasn't able to get to the Civic Theatre double shows but the DVD of that gig is amazing!!

"Helvetica" Band name or ?

   I'm walking out of the local shopping centre and a passerby asks me "helvetica, can I ask you... what is that?'
I explain it's a font "you know... a style of lettering... on the computer!!" He says he plays in a local metal band and they've been looking for a new name, something like Metallica... "that'd be perfect!!"  I let him know you can buy it on http://www.redbubble.com and we part ways.... I actually think someone may have beaten him to it, but I haven't kept an eye on the local gig guide to check it out!!
   Not being a huge fan of metal I am quite fond of the truetype font that is 'helvetica'... it's old school, compact, good for some reports and a contrast to Tahoma in newsletters, no... seriously!! And let's face it [ha ha, see what I did there]!! it does get me into some interesting conversations... there are people all over NSW who think variously:
- it's a photocopier company
- a swedish car
- a type of exotic cheese
- a Greek soccer club
- and you guessed it, a heavy metal band!!

'Helvetica' a great font!!
 
 

'Pearl Jam' proudly from Seattle

   This recent purchase goes with my baseball cap from some ten years ago... the common link is that as a 'grunge' rock band their sense of humour sees Pearl Jam authorise a range of what they'd call 'bandwagon' merchandise.  
   The blue cap has the initials PJ on the front mirroring an era of the Seattle Mariners MLB baseball team [who play out of the so-called 'Safeco Field'] and this t-shirt features the iconic 'Space Needle' built in 1962. This Tower is front and centre for any Seattle based TV show [e.g. Frasier, Greys Anatomy] or tourism promotion. Beyond all this I have grown to have a deep appreciation for the music of Pearl Jam. It wasn't always so...
   To be fair when I first heard their music I found it to be just noise and assumed the young people I knew who liked it must have been smoking something when they listened [ I haven't changed that view]. It's the only way their early independent popularity made sense to me.
   All that, until I stopped and listened to 'Vitalogy' in December 1994. True, it was more accessible, but I could also relate to more of the subject matter. I began to read about the band and came to admire their campaign against Ticketmaster as they were restricted to less attractive venues in the US and offered relatively cheap affordable ticket prices in protest at the ticketing empire. Though the tour collapsed it was a significant stance that led to US Government action. Add to this their early refusal to make music videos or accept interviews. When 'Vitalogy' smashed the charts they still seemed uncomfortable with that kind of fame as much of the focus fell on lead singer Eddie Vedder.
   The next few albums seemed an attempt to change, to find new sounds and to maintain their edge [No Code and Binaural are classic examples].
   My final appreciation of the band is that theirs is a concert where you may choose to stand, gyrate and mosh... but you could equally sit and take it all in from the cheap seats and simply get lost in the sounds!!
   This I managed to do at Sydney's Ent Cent having passed up a previous opportunity to see the band outdoors!! I'm too old to do the 'Big Day Out' in Sydney next January [no really] so I still hold some small hope of a side show announcement, but time is running out!!
   Nonetheless 'Lightning Bolt' [the bands 10th album] is entertaining me on long drives! 'Mind Your Manners' is a worthy song and 'Sirens' an interesting choice for the highlights reels of the recently completed Major League Baseball 'World Series' best of seven between Boston and St Louis...
   As an aside Eddie Vedder's foray into the Ukelele is a great record itself... gotta love a muso who anonymously hits Aussie beaches to surf and disappear from time to time!!
 

U2 'When Love Comes to Town"

   Sticking to the U2 theme this t-shirt is a treasured item!! The 'Lovetown' Tour made two stops at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and the night I went will stay with me forever... It mirrored the 'Rattle & Hum' doco film in every detail and nuance with a standout set from BB King!! I don't care if U2 never play outdoors again... 'The Claw' is amazing and the outdoor screens and LEDs must be visible from space, but you can't manufacture intimate connections with music & lyrics as it did seem that "God walked through the room"!!
   I think for me it was a time of struggle in my life and the transcendent nature of U2's best tunes was a palpable experience. Remember, this is the first time you've heard 'Pride [In the Name of Love}','Where the Streets Have No Name' etc. Having been too 'something or other' to jump in and miss a day at work I passed on the opportunity to see U2's War tour concert at the same venue because I'd have to skip a day of work... idiot!!... so this was a long time coming...
   The way U2 reinvent, reinterpret and re-theologise their songs depending on the global and local situation means everytime I've heard their standards since has provided it's own meaning and also lots of memories of previous tours. It's what helped me make the links between Zoo and Popmart and also to find a depth of emotion in the bands tribute to the Pike River Miners linking 'One Tree Hill', 'Amazing Grace' and family members of Steve's in the audience that night!! New album finished by the end of November I guess!!
 
 

U2 Zooropa or was that Zoomerang?

   I think I was 40kgs lighter when I bought this absolutely favourite U2 t-shirt!! It was available from the Zoo TV Tour here in Oz which was another of those where the band get part way around the world and then break for 12-18 months before finishing the Asian leg through Japan and down under...
   ZOO TV was an amazing, huge and slightly disturbing vibe... a comment about media manipulation and it's impact on us as humanity. I loved the grainy Berlin inspired sounds [all made clear when I found my way to Zoo Station in 1998. We were at Moore Park the night the Lemon malfunctioned in the rain and the band had to be let out and brought to stage by a different route!!
   The middle set harking back to Rattle & Hum reminded of the way in which those songs connected with some painful and some shaping life experiences from years earlier and I was transported to those days, emotions and learnings in a 2 hour extravanga!! Some years later, the same was true of the PopMart show but it was marked by a much more hopeful outlook and style.