Rock n Roll London: The Rainbow, Finsbury Park

The Rainbow July 2013

There's this gorgeous Art Deco building in Finsbury Park, where I live. It is currently a church, but it has had an amazing musical past that would knock the socks off the parishioners.
It opened in 1930; as an Astoria Cinema, part of a chain of four cinemas that includes, what is now Brixton Academy.
It was a cinema until 1971, when it was fully converted to a music venue and re-named the Rainbow.
The Rainbow was where Jimi Hendrix first burned his guitar, on March 31, 1967.
Pink Floyd played a four night run here in 1972.
Genesis played at the Rainbow many times during their career.
The Ramones played two gigs here over New Years Eve 1977-1978.
Bob Marley and The Wailers played four nights here, which became the Bob Marley and the Wailers Live! at the Rainbow album. This alcum went on to stay 56 weeks on the U.K. charts and launched Bob Marley into superstardom.
A friend of mine saw the Jackson Five here in 1979. Another friend of mine saw Meatloaf and Rainbow at the Rainbow.
The last film to be shown at the Rainbow was Paul McCartney's Wings, August 10th, 1979.
And David Bowie played here on August 19 & 20th, 1972.

Here's a link to see who else played at the Rainbow:
http://www.rainbowhistory

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Fight Like Apes & Throwing Up!

Two of my favorite bands, Fight Like Apes & Throwing Up, are playing next Tuesday at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen! Well, I am a bit biased because Throwing Up are my friends Camille and Clare's band. I'll get an interview with them, and hopefully Fight Like Apes, at the show.
Here's a video of them...

30 day song challenge...

Image by -= Bruce Berrien =- via FlickrThere's this thing going round Facebook called the '30 Day Song Challenge'. I started it 6 days ago so will list those now and then post the rest of the list each day.
Here's the rules:
day 01 - your favorite song:  NOAH AND THE WHALE - ROCKS AND DAGGERS
day 02 - your least favorite song: NICKELBACK - ROCK STAR
day 03 - a song that makes you happy: STEPHEN 'TIN TIN' DUFFY - KISS ME
day 04 - a song that makes you sad: MAZZY STAR - FADE INTO YOU
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone: THE JESUS AND MARYCHAIN - HEAD ON
day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere: DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event
day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
day 09 - a song that you can dance to
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep
day 11 - a song from your favorite band
day 12 - a song from a band you hate
day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure
day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
day 15 - a song that describes you
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
day 29 - a song from your childhood
day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year

As you can see from the links below, I'm not the only one whose decided to blog about it.

Related articles

• 30 Day Song Challenge (sexywords.wordpress.com)
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• The 30-Day Song Challenge: Day 16 (princessnessie.wordpress.com)
• 30 Day Song Challenge (mrna28.wordpress.com)
• Day 6: A Song That reminds You Of Somewhere (mrna28.wordpress.com)
• 30 Day Song Challenge (smileyfacelyssa.wordpress.com)
• 30 Day Music Challenge (cogitoergoblawg.wordpress.com)
• Music Stew; 30 Days of Music (magicinthebackyard.wordpress.com)
• 30 Days of Music Roundup (othemts.wordpress.com)

my ipod on shuffle...

my ipod on shuffle... by djalicat on Polyvore.com

if a band come up more then once i didn't repeat them or it'd be mostly blur and belle & sebastian.

So, I've decided to write a music blog...

I've been thinking about it for awhile now but after a conversation with someone in a pub last night I'm finally doing it. I thought that since I know so many bands, musicians, djs, music industry people, that I should take advantage of that and start writing about them. Hopefully, they be kind enough to let me ask them some questions over a pint or three. ;-D

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• I Wanna Play in a Band (psychologytoday.com)