Metal Jew

Learning-disabled Punk

Boing Boing has a preview and write-up of a documentary film called Heavy Load: A Film About Happiness which profiles the eponymous band. Heavy Load has members who are learning disabled - the drummer appears to have Downs Syndrome. They also campaign for the rights of learning disabled adults to go out and stay out late. Looks like inspiring stuff...

It's been too long...

...since I last posted. Life is hectic as ever. Anyway, here's four miscellaneous items:

• I had an article published in the Jerusalem Post entitled 'Is Britain Good for the Jews'  (my answer: yes with some reservations). The comments on my article on the website are hysterical.
• I 'DJed' last night at a Jewdas event. It wasn't quite as successful as last time I did so - I was in a back room, I was on too early and there weren't enough people. Still, I had a blast and played some weird and wonderful stuff.
• I'm pretty ambivalent about next Sunday's Salute To Israel Parade - I really dislike the public triumphalism aspect of it. However, I have to admit that the organisers have avoided the usual musical dross that permeates these kinds of events and book Israeli pop punk band Useless ID to play. Okay, they are hardly Earth Crisis but it beats Dudu Fisher.
• In a fit of time-wasting I checked Wikipedia's lists of every UK number one single . I remember every one from about 1978 to about half way through 1995, thereafter I become old and out of touch. I used to scan the charts religiously...

Toodle pip.

Metal conference announcement

This has been out there for a few weeks but somehow I forgot to blog it:  The first ever international academic conference on metal is going to be held in Salzburg in November. I'm going to be there. Deadline for the call for papers is 13 June but I understand from the organisers that this is flexible.

The conference is called Heavy Fundamentalism: Music, Metal and Politics. Hopefully it'll be a success.