"A" come Autstending

Qui sotto riporto la review e il feature entrambi valutati con una "A" da parte di Tim Bouquet nell'ultimo tutorial individuale, London School of Journalism.

Them Crooked Vultures

'Them Crooked Vultures'
Sony Bmg, 2009

Rate: 5/10

Old habits die hard, unfortunately.

Them Crooked Vultures' punchy debut album could be the rescue centre for any rock 'n roll veteran lost in the current Jedward twins ruled pop world .

Old patterns ring again in a military march as the band is clearly a 1960's rock oriented supergroup including Led Zeppelin John Paul Jones on bass, Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighers front singer Dave Grohl on drums and Queens of the Stone Age Josh Homme on guitar and vocals.

But unfortunately there's more. Let's just say that if you haven't come up yet with a Christmas present idea for your allergic-to-changes grandpa, who's still regretting the flavours of London's 1966 Marquee Club scene, well, this album might be the obvious answer to all your problems.

Being the eldest of the crew, Jones plays the 'admiral' lighting the way to his
young fellows with his stubborn cliches. And the result is clear: however solid it can sound, this album turns out to be a boring 13-tracks one way flight to 'Monotonyville'.

Track 5 Scumbag Blues is basically a robbery from Cream heydays reshuffled with White Stripes electricity, while, in a clumsy fair trade attempt, track 3 New Fang steals as much as it can from Deep Purple vocals the way a young offender could do with booze in an empty off licence, at night.

It might not be the most exciting Christmas to be remembered this year, but be honest: who's to blame for asking grumpy grandpa over on Christmas Eve?




THE FEATURE

Cyprus Street rage on fire as “moral killer” Brandon is coming home.

Cyprus Street residents reacted badly yesterday as they knew the grandson of murdered Pauline Adams is moving to her flat by January.



The youth, whose name is Brandon, is 15 years old and is well known by local community as a “troublemaker”. Local residents deemed him as “moral killer”of her grandma Pauline Adams, 57, and of Pauline's granddaughter Shannen Vickers, of 17, since the murder was provoked as a revenge on Pauline and Shannen for a Brandon's unpaid “weed” debt of £15, back in February.

Pauline and Shannen's flat in Cyprus Street Malmesbury House was set ablaze by Jake Sheehan, 20, and Dave Philip, 19 on the a Saturday night, last February 22. The thugs were found guilty of double murder last November 3 and jailed for life yesterday morning at the Old Bailey.

Now, free from any judiciary involvement, Brandon is going to take over grandma Pauline’s council flat, after being reassigned to a temporary accommodation by local Southern Housing Group.

“I'm very upset about this decision and I'm ready to stand up to Southern Housing Group in case of further troubles. “ – said Dan, 40 years old, who lives at the sixth floor of Malmesbury House, just a floor above
Pauline’s flat – “Brandon used to hang around with local gangs. He’s off the wall, the kind of guy ready to stand across the street yelling and making noise, preventing cars to park in the alley, just for kicks. He was
in the Territory Army” – added Dan – “and he was pushed out for his outrageous behavior”.

“I felt disgusted and enraged as I knew the whole story” – said Jackie Lawrance, from 6 Baldon House – “Everyone knows how it happened”. “I was on holiday when I first heard from Pauline’s death,” – said Ola, 38, from Tythirtow House, in the nearby – “but I also have to say that if you don’t want to have problems
you should manage to stay out of troubles.

What happened couldn’t be avoided, and the whole community has to live with it”.
Quizzed about local safety policies, a Southern Housing Group spokesman said: “We have a comprehensive anti-social behavior strategy in place. Our residents are encouraged to report their concerns immediately, and we will take appropriate action working effectively with other partner agencies including the Police and
the Local Authority. The Group is committed to creating safe communities for our residents, their families and visitors, and to responding to issues including anti-social behavior or the fear of crime.“

However, despite turning the whole community down, the news didn’t seem to hit much the rest of Bethnal Green nearby. Some Camel pub customers in Sugar Loaf Walk said they didn’t hear anything about the court case developing in the last days and Bethnal Green Road photographer Sean Pines confessed:

“I’m totally shocked by it. Unfortunately I didn’t hear much both of the news back in February and the following up. But I’m not surprised – he added – since the whole east end is bad known for violence."