Rock on Desmond Dekker

Desmond Dekker dies from heart attack

Desmond Dekker died from a heart attack, aged 64, on May 25th 2006. Best known for his 1969 record The Israelites, Desmond Dekker ushered in the stomping sound of rock steady. Now, I know this isn't a tribute site, and it's not my normal practice to mention births, deaths and marriages, and no, I'm not (nearly) old enough to have heard his music when it first came out. And that's the thing, part of me wishes I was. I'm currently going through my own Ska, Northern Soul, Two Tone revival/discovery. Which brings meon to something that really gets my back up; David Hasselhoff.

Lately, what with world cup fever, Wayne Rooney's dodgy foot, David Beckham's booze up and the departure of Sven "call me Goran" [rhymes with "sort of"] Eriksson, there's been a lot of speculation about the quality of culture in Germany. Let me make something really clear culture in Germany rocks. As well as some of the best pop acts around (no not Rammstein, or Janet Biedermann) there are great cabaret acts, tons of theatre, opera and classical music. The small town I lived (Goettingen, population 130,000) had two full time theatres and a symphony orchestra, plus two huge venues for touring theatre/music acts. Not to mention the occasionally excellent (the English Drama workshop know who they are) Uni. theatre. Oldenburg (where my then girlfriend lived) had a "Staats" theatre that included two theatre companies, a ballet company and an opera company all for a town of 130,000 people. Aberdeen (pop. 200,000), Scotland on the other hand has no full time theatre company, let alone an opera or ballet company. We do have the wonderful Aberdeen Sinfonietta, though they're not full time. And the point, I have never met a German who knows David Hasselhoff for his music (though I would say this about German music - stay away from Schlager).

Other news this week, we have been updating the look and feel of the terramar.co.uk site and will shortly be installing nice, easy to read urls. The organic/fairtrade boxers supplied by People Tree to trial have been selling like hot cakes, so guys, if you like the feel of super soft cotton, be quick and buy a pair now. Don't worry though we're working on new stock (it's a bank holiday Sunday; see how hard we work to keep you all in undies!)

The Mad Show this week announced that the conference and exhibition scheduled to be held at Earls Court from 4th June has had to been cancelled due to lack of take up of tickets and sponsorship.


share this Share this page

news News

Britain fails to follow swarm
No pesticide ban despite action elsewhere in Europe

news Teatime

Pee in the shower
...save water

blog Blog

Low Tech security solutions baffle Met
Police and Government to be given lessons in briefcase tech