Did I ever tell you about the time I stayed up till dawn in the company of six transvestites in Singapore? Or the time I almost slipped overboard in a Force Nine storm while we were gamely sailing through the Bay of Biscay? What about, perhaps, the time I missed getting back to my ship in Hong Kong because
It isn’t often that a journalist can say they were once on the same line-up as an internationally famous rock star, but in my case it’s true. It’s on a t-shirt I used to have. You don’t believe me? Read on. Flashback to 1991. I had been married for less than a year, and despite assurances from my wife
The first thing you notice about 30-year-old, six-feet-plus Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson is the shock of unruly red hair that announces itself without so much as a beg-your-pardon. The second thing you notice is a certain casualness of demeanour that comes with not really noticing that members of the public are looking at you; and the third is just
“What these moments led me to consider, between the bastardisation of the manifestation of a daydream of the brain of an architect, and the simple bliss of hearing the scratch and turn of the long antiquated yet once more desirable record, it occurred to me that mediums change, and are often too long dictated and stunted by their history.” Laura
There are survivors and there are survivors. Travelling along the same time path and flightplan as U2, electro-pop pioneers Depeche Mode have come through the actual ravages of 35 years as a group reasonably intact. A little history might be useful: skipping out of Basildon, Essex, in the late 70s as a quartet of working-class, cherub-faced teenagers – their
“What is this that stands before me? Figure in black which points at me?” This is a line from Black Sabbath, the signature tune of the immensely successful 1970s Mogadon-driven heavy metal band of the same name. The band’s former lead singer, Ozzy (John) Osbourne – who sang these very lines before continuing with “oh, no, no, please God
There are two beginnings to this Britney Spears experience, and they are both salutary. The first arrived from an unexpected place. One of rock music’s most famous photographers, Pennie Smith, a sincere, respectful and grounded person who has captured the images of countless famous musicians and singers over the course of the past 30 years, was asked recently what
There comes a point in every wild child’s life when they have to either clean up their mess and glance back at it ruefully or wallow in it and suffer the consequences. We can easily see which route Dublin actor Colin Farrell has chosen – he sits beside me in a state of health so rude it’s almost unforgivable.
Tony Clayton-Lea is an Irish-based freelance journalist/writer/editor who writes on music, arts, and pop culture (and travel/hospitality) for a variety of print and online outlets.
Email: tclaytonlea@gmail.com
This is the personal website for Tony Clayton-Lea.