We begin this dreary August Bank Holiday edition of the MIS with a request to help support Rhoda Dakar and get her Facbook and Twitter accounts more likes and followers.
As an added incentive, if you comment on the on the All Things Madness Facebook group you could be in with a chance of bag big yourself a brand new Madness Tshirt.
See below for all forthcoming Madness and Madness related gigs and events. If there’s something we’ve missed off or you feel should be added then please let us know.
Available only for the next couple of weeks. These official Madness T-shirt’s feature lyrics from the Magnum Opus song The Liberty of Norton Folgate. They will be shipped on July 20th, available only for this limited time period.
Available in 3 sizes, the profit is going to the Music Venture Trust.
Lee Thompson’s One Man’s Madness DVD & CD Soundtrack
Lee ‘Kix’ Thompson is a most unlikely character. Early career choices had him spend a year in Borstal. He still hasn’t found the receipt for his first saxophone. Luckily, he met two other unlikely characters: Mike ‘Barso’ Barson and ‘Chrissy Boy’ Foreman, who shared his interests of graffiti, train hopping and music.
One Man’s Madness, a feature length rocku-docu-mockumentary directed by Jeff Baynes, tells the story of Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson, told by Lee and his fellow Madness band mates, his family, friends and musicologists, who strangely all look a little like him! From meeting Barso and Chrissy Boy, and later Suggs, Chas, Woody and Bedders, to becoming one of Britain’s most iconic and successful bands, this joyous and light-hearted film follows the path of Lee’s life through his lyrics and songs, including such Madness classics as The Prince, Embarrassment, House Of Fun, Lovestruck and NW5.
Two CD set. Original soundtrack to the 2018 documentary about Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson. Includes tracks from Madness, Crunch, ‘Thommosina Leigh’, Ian Dury, and the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra. Including Hidden Tracks. New Mad store T-shirts & Madshorts
Further New T-shirts are now in stock for the summer. Including Madness Shorts as this hot weather continues to encourage getting your legs out. The recent Stately Holmes tour T-shirt is now in stock on line. A rather fetching Lady Killers poster of the old Ealing comedy about a gang of roguish bank robbers, re done with Madness heads taken from old shut up artwork and repurposed nicely in this fitting parody. A fetching Morris Minor car picture harking back to Driving in My Car video and the Mad 7 number plate, with the paraphrase lyrics from Muswell Hill to Selsey Bill! Check out the Madstore now.
Danceable and delightful, this debut album of the band’s much loved original songs pushes on through, breaking the mould of standard ska cover band. Catchy tunes and powerful brass and rhythm section make this a must-listen. Featuring Lee Thompson.
I Remember Way Back When
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5 years, 10 and 15 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number: 746 – Sunday 25th August to Saturday 31st August 2013
This issue kicked off with a request that you get yourselves over to Carl’s new web site, which had finally sprung into life. Once you’d had a look around we then suggested you continue to read the latest MIS.
New gigs this week were for Deaf School, who had announced that they’d be performing in Liverpool on the 19th October and the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town on the 24th.
On to new releases, and we were pleased to reveal that The Magic Brothers’ single “You Don’t Have to Hide Your Love Away” was now available to pre order on iTunes. The release date was announced as being September 2nd.
Moving over to our feature for this week, and it was our “Short Chat With Woody”. This was an article compiled and sent in by the ever helpful Paul Rodgers. Paul Commented at the time; “This was not an interview. It’s a few bits of a few conversations… I don’t expect there to be many bombshells or exclusives, but if we learn anything it is that Woody is a thoroughly engaging and modest bloke. And he is an evil genius!”
With the Alexandra Palace gig fast approaching, our next article covered the latest Madmeet plans which were due to take place on the day of the concert, at the Dublin Castle. This wouldn’t be any normal Madmeet. Instead it would be a Magic Brothers meet, which Woody and Nick both due to make an appearance. If there was time, due duo may, we were promised, even sign T-shirts. You were invited to join the brothers and fellow Madness fans on the 28th September.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that our MIS Gladness Beer Competition still had one week to run. If you’d not taken part then there was still time.
10 years ago…
Issue 486 – Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th August 2008
We began with our glasses raised, because as this issue of the MIS went to press it was Bedders’ 47th birthday. Although most people were no doubt out and about, and making the most of the extended weekend (well, here in the UK, at least) it was nice to see that Madness Trading Ring subscribers taking time out to post over on the Madness Trading Ring with their birthday well wishes.
The articles got underway this week with a transcript of episode one of Adam Nicholls’ Nutty Radio, a Madness themed music and talk show streamed live over the internet. For obvious reasons, commercially available Madness tracks wouldn’t be streamed, but demos and bootleg tracks would be aired instead.
It was over to Jonathan Young next, who reported that following his two nights of Hackney gigs, his 400 word review of the two shows was now in print in the latest edition of the Scootering fanzine. As the review was an exclusive for the zine Jonathan promised that it wouldn’t be appearing in the MIS this year.
A new website dubbed Instigate Debate, officially launched in Britain on Aug 16th, and was promoted at the V Festival. Its aims were sort of a “dumming up” or maybe a “smartening up” of celebrity interviews. It urged people to politely ask and interview, on video, celebs and ask sociology and political questions.
A number of high profile celebrities had already been interviewed, including the one and only Suggs. Coming in two parts, we featured a transcript of part one in this very issue.
Sky TV news now, and it was this week that we learned that the company would be launching Sky Arts 1 and 2 to the UK. Highlights on these channels would include Suggs’ Italian Job, an Italian travelogue; Art Rocks, which investigates the artistic talents of musicians like Iggy Pop and Moby; and Mariella Frostrup’s The Book Show.
On to frozen peas next, and we featured a press release from frozen food purveyor, BirdsEye, who announced that they’d be spending a massive £2 million on a drive to promote its peas, and dispelling the idea that they weren’t as healthy as other vegetables.
The push, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, would be spearheaded by TV ads due to run from 1 September that featured a fight between a tiny computer generated man made of peas and some broccoli, watched by ex-Madness frontman and Birds Eye brand ambassador Suggs and a group of children.
At the end of the ad, Suggs would declare the pea character the victor because peas contain more iron than broccoli.
A print campaign would break two weeks after the roll out of the TV work. Birds Eye would also link up with News of the World to give away a free meal-planner encouraging families to use peas.
We brought this issue of the MIS to a close with the news that Bristol based ska band The Communicators, were about to release their first album, Care in the Communicators, and that it would be available via iTunes from October.
15 years ago…
Issue 224 – Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th August 2003
We started off this week’s issue with some slightly unusual subject matter as a number of MIS subscribers had informed us that they’d been receiving emails containing viruses from the MIS. It turned out that the emails had been made to look like they’d been sent from us, but they’d actually come from an unknown source.
On to more Madness related news, and a post in from subscriber Duff Kelly reported on rumours that during the final week’s performance of the Our House musical TV crews were present, capturing the performances with the intention of airing the recording on BBC3 around Christmas, with a video and DVD release in the new year.
Moving on, and we continued with the issue with a bit of birthday news, as ten years ago today saw Mark Bedford reach the ripe old age of 42. MIS Online wondered if any web sites would mention this important day. After a quick search with Google, we were pleasantly surprised to find a nice lowdown on Mark and the band in general from the VH1 web site way back in (we think) 1999…
Meanwhile, news in from Birchy revealed that a Madness gig would be aired on BBC’s 6 Music on Bank Holiday Monday. Unfortunately this was all we had to go on, meaning we’d all have to wait and see to find out if this was some previously un-aired gem, or yet another airing of one of the Madstock concerts.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
50 Years of Trojan Records
The BBC are celebrating 50 years of the legendary Trojan Records music label with a series of radio programmes..
Don Letts presents a personal appreciation of Trojan Records, the pioneering UK-based reggae label, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
As part of 6 Music’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the influential UK-based Trojan Records, Don Letts presents a selection of tracks from the label’s extensive catalogue which have, right from the early days through to the present day, been remixed, refixed and sampled, and have kept dance floors around the world rammed generation after generation.
Trojan Records was launched in the summer of 1968, just a couple of months after Enoch Powell’s notorious ‘rivers of blood’ speech. Through its releases of ground-breaking Jamaican recordings in the UK, the label connected the Windrush generation and their families with developing sounds from back home (ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall etc.). Trojan also helped introduce this influential music to a wider audience in the UK and beyond, and, for decades, has united black and white youth on dancefloors and in the street.
Now Playing Celebrates 50 Years of Trojan Records
Now Playing celebrates the 50th anniversary of Trojan Records by creating a playlist of listener suggestions
And finally, if you ever wondered how shoes and boots were put together in Dr Martens only UK factory then take a look at the following link from Style Insider. It’s a fascinating video:
