Mind you, they kept it Simple

South Africa has long been starved of international music acts of really good quality, but over recent years they’ve been trickling in.

However, there are far too many acts coming in-between that cater for the indiscriminate masses; the likes of Rihanna, Chris Brown, Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Justin Bieber. I wouldn’t waste good money on these. No, it’s better spent on good wine and Bourbon, while listening to real class on the jukebox.

This weekend I got to see Simple Minds at Carnival City which is a fair trek from where I live; fortunately I had the company of two lovely ladies. Now I’ll admit to being no big fan of Simple Minds, but they are a class act. The Scottish rock band led by Jim Kerr, formed in Glasgow in 1977 and released around 16 albums by 2009. Yeah they’re old, but they still have what it takes.

Their first set at Carnival City contained mostly songs that I didn’t recognize, although there were many in the all-seater crowd that stood up, danced and chimed along. After the break they belted out some of the hits I was more accustomed to, which included Don’t You Forget About Me and Love Song.

The stage and lighting were minimalist, which I liked. No video walls and fancy pyrotechnics which most of the big bands use these days. I think the band felt that their music needed to do all the work, which it did. I did find some of the bright stage lights placed behind the band on stage a bit disconcerting as it made it difficult to see the musicians clearly. Maybe that was supposed to be the effect they wanted, but it did make taking photographs almost impossible. (The one above is about the only decent shot I got)

Kerr saved the best songs for the encore and closed with the classic hit Alive and Kicking. But that was not it; he did one or two songs thereafter which I don’t really remember that clearly. Oh damn the wine and beers..

Kanye West’s tribute to Jacob Zuma’s government

When I first heard the song Runaway by Kanye West on the radio, I thought it was the most atrocious thing I had heard for a long while. Since then……………I have not changed my mind; however I do believe that it could be the most appropriate tribute for Jacob Zuma’s cabinet, especially after the Democratic Alliance’s 2010 rating of this obscene collection of misfits [the only notable exception being Pravin Gordhan for demonstrating exceptional competence in turning the South African Revenue Service around, and now running a functioning Finance Ministry].

Off course, the Finance Ministry has always been a shining light in the ANC government’s cabinets since Nelson Mandela [another exception] appointed Chris Liebenberg in 1994. The obvious reason being that money seems to be the most important concern of our liberators from Apartheid; money that can’t seem to stop finding its way into the back pockets of these revolutionaries and their cronies.

Anyway, you know the whole sordid story of how liberators liberate us from our wealth…

Here’s the chorus of the song Runaway; I don’t want to bore you with the rest of the crappy lyrics and ridiculously long video.

Let’s have a toast for the douchebags,

Let’s have a toast for the assholes,

Let’s have a toast for the scumbags,

Every one of them that I know

Let’s have a toast to the jerkoffs,

That’ll never take work off

Baby I got a plan

Run away fast as you can