Swax T. McIver profile picture

Swax T. McIver

Be So Kind As To Get Me The Bloodclot Outta Here. Please...

About Me

Some things I like, in no particular order of preference......writing worthwhile nothings, cups of tea, getting a good signal, Jammy Dodgers, retro Brooklyn/LA Dodgers, Berlin, cold sunny days, TFC - E11, reading, haiku's, the smell of airplane diesel at airports, fuzzy old jazz recordings, Paris, the pain and satisfaction of the Graft, Almodovar films, the Beat Generation, pints of Guinness with mates after, the rare moments when everything comes together, steak & kidney pies, being inspired, the A-Team, getting black and white camera film developed, bopping about to good music in dingey dive bars, the getting-to and arriving-at, Chelsea winning by more than just one goal, twilight rain on the window, sunrise, a Quarterpounder with cheese when drunk, sunset, Dublin, grainy old black & white movies on weekday afternoons, twisted happy endings, Push It Out, Moleskine leather notebooks, all-too rare streams of consciousness, off-map underground stations no longer used, Nathan's Hot Dogs on Coney Island, Parker pens, making pasta sauce, drier-than-dry humour, window shopping for pasta, olives and that at Camisa's, Church's shoes, painting Little Italy apartments in the thick of summer with 'Big Kahuna Dreams' as soundtrack and tacos from La Esquina to follow, listening to Scott Walker's 'Boychild' in the wee small hours, big brown eyes and French accents and smoking, the old beigel shop at the top of Brick Lane, 'L.A. Woman' on long road trips, fresh coffee and the smell of newspapers in the morning, black ink-wells, New York at Christmas, the first passionate kiss of a new lover, the last kiss before bed, silk, having work published (and not edited to fuck...), laughing so hard it hurts, a good 8 hours, listing the things I like, in no particular order of preference...

My Interests

I write about music, travel, film and sometimes even a little fashion for...Dazed & Confused Magazine, Another Magazine, DazedDigital.com, Another Man, Straight No Chaser, Anthem and Flaunt...and have also written for...DJ Magazine, Record Collector, Gotan Project, XL Recordings, Blackmarket Records, M8, True Playa'z, Wax, Juice - Germany and ATM - back when I really didn't know how to string a decent sentence together, and just wrote for the money. Nowadays, I'm flat broke, but am more honest for it. Well, almost.Anyway, kick back, make yourself a cup of tea/coffee, spark up a cigarette and have a gander at:http://homepage.mac.com/gogolbordello/iblog/B1231179855/C 500651121/E20050819193843/index.htmlhttp://www.gotanproject. com/biography.php?lang=enhttp://www.dazeddigital.com/incomin g/item.aspx?a=124http://www.dazeddigital.com/incoming/item.a spx?a=288http://www.anthem-magazine.com/28/russendisko.htmlh ttp://www.dazeddigital.com/incoming/item.aspx?a=305http://th ealiens.musicblog.co.uk/reviews_features_dazed.html http://www.dazeddigital.com/incoming/item.aspx?a=498

I'd like to meet:

The people that count...

Music:

(in no particular order) Quincy Jones, Gogol Bordello, Jelly Roll Morton, Sade, Manu Chao, Marcos Valle, Rolling Stones, 28 Days Later - Original Soundtrack, Brian Eno, M83, A Tribe Called Quest, Sasha Kolpakov, Nina Simone, Half Cousin, John Coltrane, The Doors, Duke Ellington, Shantel/Bucovina, Kolpakov Trio, Lou Reed, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, U.N.K.L.E., Leonard Cohen, The Meters, Simple Minds (1979-1989), Steve Reich, Radiohead, Gotan Project, Spirit, John&Jehn, The Pogues, José Gonzalez, David Axelrod, John Lee Hooker, Massive Attack, The Stranglers, Aretha Franklin, U2, The Doves, Gil Evans, Louis Prima, Public Enemy, Les Negresses Vertes, Neil Young, The Earlies, Nickodemus, Billie Holiday, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Lalo Schifrin, Van Morrison, Leningrad, LCD Soundsystem/DFA, Rootsman, The Bees, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Muppet Show Theme, The Stylistics, The Delphonics, Erykah Badu, Pink Floyd, Richard Hawley, Nelson Riddle, The Clash, De La Soul, $olal, James Brown, John Barry, Ella Fitzgerald, Tin Hat Trio, Dillinja, The Beta Band, King Biscuit Time, The Aliens, Madness, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Prince, The Avalanches, Depeche Mode (up to Violator), Prince Buster, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Metallica, Scott Walker, Pluto Shervington, Skindred, RussenDisko selections, Jorge Ben, The Fall, Lost In Translation - Original Soundtrack, $olal, Beck, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, The Specials, Dub Trio, Taraf De Haidouks, Scratchy Sounds, Fugazi, DJ Shadow, Ilya, Boymerang, Bad Manners, Terry Callier, Justice, Fania All-Stars, Rollins Band, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Pop/Stooges, Beastie Boys, Miles Davis, etc...

Movies:

(in no particular order) Amelie, The Ipcress File, Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, Old Boy, Once Upon A Time In America, anything by Pedro Almodovar, Everything Is Illuminated, All The President's Men, Barton Fink, Delicatessen, most daft shit with Chevy Chase, Donnie Darko, Harold and Maude, Donnie Brasco, Point Blank, Office Space, Tony Takitani, The French Connection, La Haine, various Beta Band videos, Nightwatch, Man Bites Dog, The Hustler, Carry On..., Cannonball Run, Jaws, Scum, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, The Motorcycle Dairies, Deep Throat, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, The Big Lebowski, Funeral In Berlin, Fiddler On The Roof, Switchblade Romance, The Exorcist, City of Lost Children, Angela's Ashes, Dr. No, The Dreamers, Lost In Translation, Blazin' Saddles, The Producers (original version), Blade Runner, Airplane I and II, 28 Days Later, The Green Mile, Taxi Driver, Taxi (original French version), Short Cuts, Hero, Amores Perros, Debbie Does Dallas, Old School, Pulp Fiction, Blow Up, The Blues Brothers, City Of God, Gozu, Rattle & Hum, Short Cuts, Citizen Kane, The Deerhunter, Stir Crazy, The Conversation, Do The Right Thing, Baise Moi, etc...

Television:

(in no particular order) Oz, The Sopranos, Dirty Sanchez, Al Jazeera, Trailer Park Boys, Dexter, The Simpons, Six Feet Under, Shameless, Film Four, BBC News 24, Dave Chappelle, Seinfeld, Sky Sports, anything by Sacha Baron-Cohen, BBC 2, Dispatches, Goalissimo!, BBC 4, The Daily Show, Match Of The Day, Everybody Loves Raymond, TCM, The Colbert Report, etc...

Books:

(in no particular order) Gasoline - Gregory Corso, Selected Poems - Ezra Pound, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl, Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut, Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer, Pablo Neruda: A Passion For Life - Adam Feinstein, Adventures In 3D - Roger Robinson, Generation of Swine - Hunter S. Thompson, Writings On Music: 1965-2000 - Steve Reich, On The Shortness of Life - Seneca, Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck, Selected Letters Vol.1 - Charles Bukowski, The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson, anything by Rudyard Kipling, Penguin Writer's Manual, Readers' Wives Annual 1985/1987, The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Chelsea FC Centenary Edition, Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson, The Joke's Over - Ralph Steadman, Supply & Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey, Journey To The End of The Russian Empire - Anton Chekhov, The Black House - Colin Jones, No Ordinary Eyes - Brassai, etc...

Heroes:

(in no particular order) Hunter S. Thomspon, Ralph Steadman, Sub-Comandante Marcos and the Zapatistas, Che Guevara, Bill Quinn, Barry White, Gregory Corso, Miles Davis, John Hurt, Steve Reich, Frida Kahlo, Obey Giant, Lee Marvin, Gianfranco Zola, Benny Hill, George C. Scott, Foghorn Leghorn, my mum, Peter Orlovsky, Steptoe & Son, Paul Smith, John Peel, Spike Lee, V. F. Thomas, Thom Yorke, Ron Moody, Ezra Pound, Henry Rollins, Pat Nevin, Michael Caine, Colin Jones, Don Rickles, Andy & Saava at Andy's Landor Rd, Dave Chappelle, Gogol Bordello, Andrzej Liguz, Mick MacNeil, Allen Ginsberg, Rootsman, A. J. Cross, Bernie Williams, Alberto Diaz Gutiérrez, John Vernon, Bill Hicks, Jackson Pollock, Shane McGowan, Anton Corbijn, Pablo Neruda, Sally Gross, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jackie Mason, Rudyard Kipling, Mr Kipling, Rusty Lee, Metalheadz (1994-1998), Blue Note - Hoxton Square, John Terry, Penfold, Nickodemus, A. Goodman, Ronnie Barker, Claire & Jonny H, Jose Mourinho, Fela Kuti, Marty Feldman, Edward Hopper, Charles Bukowski, Grandmaster Flash, Yuriy Gurzhy and Wladimir Kaminer, Banksy, Robert De Niro, Martin Luther King, Brian Eno, Jim Rose, Tom Waits, Urban Medium, Dr Mike's & Son, Nathan's Hot Dogs, George Dawes, Francis Onibon, Charlie Watts, Dillinja, Nico et Camille, Kurt Vonnegut, Mel Brooks, Pam Grier, Joe Strummer, Gilberto Silva, Gilberto Gil, Sotirakis Charalambou, Pelé, John Pilger, your mum, etc.....

My Blog

Ricky goes to court

Ricky goes to court ...
Posted by Swax T. McIver on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:54:00 PST

To an Absent Friend...

And so today I must wish you the happiest of birthdays. Again.Same as last year, same as always. But different, always.I was meaning to pick up that card I thought you'd like.Wasn't gonna buy a cake...
Posted by Swax T. McIver on Thu, 02 Nov 2006 03:50:00 PST

A chance meeting with a hero...

From 9th October 2006:Phases: The music of Steve ReichThe Barbican CentreBy Swax T. McIver ..The thing is, if you hang around long enough, you tend to get something done,.. were the humble words of Ne...
Posted by Swax T. McIver on Wed, 01 Nov 2006 12:24:00 PST

Alone & out in a busy place...dark by 5

Daylight saving hours, so they say, are meant for the kiddies and farmers. Fair enough, I understand the reasoning behind it, but it sure as hell makes life heavy at this time of year.Of course, 24 h...
Posted by Swax T. McIver on Wed, 01 Nov 2006 11:59:00 PST