(TV) OT -- The Guardian's "Best and Worst of 2005"

["Joe Thornton" <joe.thornton@gmx.net>]

This list from the Guardian is about the arts in general, and just a few
things leapt out at me -- see below. I wasn't aware that Sylvian had a new
album out -- in the guise of "Nine Horses"... More to look forward to in
2006.

I bet a few of you are Pink Floyd fans. Their trip from "See Emily Play" to
"Pink Floyd at Pompeii" to Live8 is really something.

The Pinter thing relates to a certain political issue. Is it totally off-topic
(as opposed to generally off-topic)? Links between arts and politics? The
speech, from a sick old man, was remarkable; you can find it here:
http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture.html (if not on
the BBC).

Oh yeah, the Guardian list failed to mention Television, or Tom Verlaine, or
Patti Smith...

--JoeT

+++++

www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1672295,00.html

Alex Kapranos
Singer, Franz Ferdinand

High: The musical highlight was a bit of a surprise. It was Pink Floyd at
Live8. I turned on the telly expecting to have a bit of a laugh at the
grandads playing rock stars. There was no posing, however. They performed with
a matchless grandeur. I don't really know those songs, but I was captivated. I
never thought I'd say that about Pink Floyd.

Low: My musical low point was realising that Pink Floyd were the best thing at
Live8. I remember watching Queen at Live Aid, aged 13. The rampant charisma
and showmanship made me want to leap around a stage in front of thousands of
people. Twenty years later, no one seemed able to match that.

David Hare
Playwright

Low: The shaming indifference of the political class to Harold Pinter winning
the Nobel prize. Most of us are past being scandalised by the omissions of the
BBC, which appears to have lost all interest in literature and the performing
arts, but it seems astonishing that the BBC did not broadcast the statement by
a Nobel prize-winning author. Such things used to be their bread and butter.
Worse, they censored all mention of the speech from their TV news.
Astonishing, too, that not one party leader congratulated Pinter or commented
on what he had to say. Politicians want us to be interested in them. But why
should we be, when they're not interested in anything but sport and
themselves?

Nick Luscombe
DJ

High: The best album was Snowborne Sorrow by Nine Horses. I've been a lifelong
fan of David Sylvian, and this album features songwriting and production that
is light years ahead of pretty much anyone in popular music.

Low: The death of synthesiser pioneer Robert Moog. The past 40 years of music
would have sounded completely different without this electronics genius.
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