Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

It's midsummer, let's dance! What would be a better one to dance to but Dancing on the street , a song co-written by Marvin Gaye for Kim Weston in mind but who passed it onto Martha and The Vandellas in 1964, and that became their signature song and US #2? It eventually made it to #4 in the UK - five years later.  The song's idea came from people in the streets of Detroit cooling off with the water from opened fire hydrants in summer heat. Martha made several changes to it and then it was recorded in two takes. Motown magic again! Some thought the song was a call to riots and political anthem, in time of the black civil right demostrations but Martha and Motown always insisted it's just "a party song!.  Notable cover versions include The Mamas and the Papas (it's also the very last song they ever performed live together),   Grateful Dead , Black Oak Arkansas , Van Halen , David Bowie & Mick Jagger (UK #1),   Human Nature , Sonny & Cher   ...

Provinssirock in Seinäjoki is one of the biggest Finnish summer rock festivals and has been going on since 1979. Likes of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson, The Prodigy, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rammstein are among its performers over the years. This year one of the main performers was none other than Softengine, fresh from their Eurovision success with Something better and release of their follow up single Yellow house . They headlined the Rumba tent dedicated for new talents. Lead singer Topi Latukka confessed before the gig they were more nervous than before Eurovision and that it is a kind of point of arrival, after Eurovision their future plans have concentrated only on this gig.  But they didn't have to worry. The leading newspaper in Finland Helsingin Sanomat headlined the feature on them "Seinäjoki ate from their hands" and wrote (freely translated): It's worth remembereing the band comes just from there, Seinäjoki. Latukka introduced their Eurovi...

Pet Shop Boys continue their Eurovision talk. Neil Tennant said in a BBC interview: "British artists - Elton John or David Bowie - have not traditionally wanted to do it because they think it looks too crass. But now reality television is possibly even more crass than Eurovision. So I think the winner of X Factor should represent Britain. The timing is perfect. And you will get the A&R input, either good or bad, that goes with that. The BBC have asked us a couple of times if we'd be interested in writing a song for Britain's entry. Our feeling about it was that if we had the right song then we wouldn't be embarrassed in giving it to them." Read the whole thing here . Well, their new album is coming out and all publicity is good but words like Eurovision, crass and embarrassment don't go very nicely together in a fan's vocabulary...   Despite that, if you wish to have a prelisten to their new album   Elysium you can do so here tonight a...