Picture: © Chris Lanaway, 2010.
In 2023 the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit celebrates its 15th anniversary.
Picture: © Chris Lanaway, 2010.

December 2011

This page contains all the articles that were uploaded in December 2011, chronologically sorted, from old to new.
Most browsers have a search function (Ctrl-F) that will highlight the word you are looking for.
Alternatively there is the 'Holy Search' search field and the 'Taglist'.


2011-12-02

Fuck all that, Pink Floyd Ltd.

Fuck all that, Pink Floyd Ltd
Money, it's a gas!
Money, it's a gas!

Obviously Felix Atagong returned the next afternoon to that safe heaven that is The Anchor for his alcoholic needs.
"I am still pissed off at you, Alex Fagoting", he snarled, "for throwing me out last night."
"Here's a Guinness on the house.", I lied, pretending I would not note it down on his bill. "Simply get pissed instead." He laughed and as if nothing had happened he just continued his story after his first gulp of the day.

Rule #1: a good barkeeper always listens to his customer, but in this case I was humming along while Al Stewart crooned on the background.

"There is this big ambiguity about the Floyd.", Felix started, "In the early seventies they were aspiring leftist rock stars, playing the French communist (and frankly Stalinist) party parties. But at the same time there are these legendary stories about their royalties' catfights. Waters always nagging and later getting 50 percent for his sixth grade pubertal poetry alone and even then whining about his part for the composition as well. In the theoretical (and highly improbable) case that all four members would get even shares this benefited Waters with 62 and a half percent with the others only earning 12 and a half percent each. Not bad for a rock star who bragged in the press about his social housing projects."

"In reality poor Mason only got the crumpets and even these were later regretted by the so-called socialist activist who Roger pretended he was. One could paraphrase George Orwell here: 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.' Waters would later beg, borrow or steal Orwell's socialist allegory for the Animals album, not realising the ironic fact that by then he had become the upper-pig of the band."

"We all know the story how Clare Torry was only paid 30£ for her contribution on The Great Gig In The Sky, something that would give her headaches for years to come. And Alan Parsons was only getting his EMI salary for his tremendous work on (The) Dark Side Of The Moon, much to his dismay. Even after Pink Floyd had become a financial dinosaur, with an annual turnover that would make some African countries jealous, they were too greedy to give a free copy of the album to the kids singing on Another Brick In The Wall, until the press got hold of it."

Brothers in cash
Brothers in cash.

"Excusez-moi, Felix.", I said, "But I see some pretty girls who want my attention." On Wednesday afternoon the Barrett Ladies Club meets at The Anchor. First they squabble about the pancakes they are going to order and will argue over the fact that they (the pancakes, not the women... yet) have not been sufficiently soaked in Grand Marnier. After a while the grannies start discussing about the exact type of colour Syd Barrett's floor boards were painted in, a somewhat pointless discussion if you ask me, as in 42 years of time they still haven't reached a consensus. You can only join the Barrett Ladies Club if you know what special birthmark Syd Barrett had and on what buttock it could be found, leaving out all the groovy chicks who had just been passing by for some quick plating...

After the ladies had been supplied with the food and drink (coffee and a thimbleful of eggnog) I returned to the bar where Felix had been contemplating his miserable life in silence. With a little luck he would have continued his inner monologue and not take off from where I had left him.

Nick Mason miniature car
Nick Mason miniature car.

"Since Nick Mason admitted he was officially in the recycling business I have the utmost respect for him.", Atagong orated. "Even when he tries to sell miniature cars with his signature on. I love his no-nonsense style. While David 'the sound' and Roger 'the genius' are continually trying to convince the public that they and they alone are Pink Floyd Nick gets in 'with a wit drier than an AA clinic' (to quote novelist Kathy Lette). But although Gilmour and Waters are like fire and water... they sound unexpectedly in perfect unison when it comes to grab into the fan's pockets. I suppose that Gilmour is a bit short of cash now that his stepson has been sentenced to pick up the leftover soap in a British prison. And Waters has just married again for the fourth time and Viagra comes expensive nowadays."

I gave a wry smile but Felix couldn't be stopped.

"Even 37 years after the facts Waters and Gilmour try to be politically correct and claim they gave the 1974 Gini-money to charity, but Mason just adds: 'We shelved the cash, point.' Mason also agrees that this is probably the last time in history that they will be able to sell hardware to the fans (meaning CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray disks) rather than downloadable bits and bytes. And by selling these ridiculously expensive collector's boxes record companies and artists have found a new way of income. Pink Floyd could've taken an example to Elvis Costello who openly asks his fans not to buy his latest record at such a ridiculous price..."

"What's the problem then with these Immersion boxes", I asked, "apart from the price?"

"They are a fucking disgrace!", shouted Atagong, so loud that one of the Barrett Gang Bang girls nearly choked on a profiterole. "Let's start with Dark Side Of The Moon, shall we? How many CD-reissues of that album have we already had? Who knows? Four, five? And all of them have been remastered. Are we talking here about one of the best rock albums of all times or does EMI considers Dark Side Of The Moon a new brand of washing powder? An ameliorated version every few years to keep on washing their dirty laundry whiter than white? Does it mean that the earlier versions were all rubbish if the Floyd annex EMI feel the need to keep on going remastering them? On top of that the 6 disks in the Moon-box are highly repetitive...."

"That is quite obvious.", I retaliated, "It's all about the Dark Side, isn't it?" Felix pointed his finger at a few millimetres from my nose.
"Don't try to be a smart-ass, lad.", he threatened. "That is not what I mean." He looked for and unfortunately found a paper inside his jacket. "I have it all written down for you.", he sycophantically whispered.

Pigs - three different ones

"The Dark Side Of The Moon Immersion set has a DVD and a Blu-ray with multi-channel audio mixes of the album. The 1973 quad mix can be found in 448 kbps, 640 kbps and a 96kHZ/24bit version. If you ask me that is three times the same goody good bullshit. Also the 5.1 surround mix is three times in the box. The Wish You Were Here Immersion set has one disk less than the Dark Side box but EMI still found it necessary to keep going on with their continuous repetition: also here the quad and 5.1 mixes have been inserted three times. But that is not all. For a set that costs the fan an arm and a leg they have been scandalously designed, packed and transported."

Dislocated Immersion CDs.
Dislocated Immersion CDs.

The Great Rock'N Roll Swindle

"Several buyers noticed that their disks contained fingerprints although the boxes arrived sealed. I don't give a fuck if EMI uses Korean child-slaves to pack these items but for 120 Euro a piece I would like them to have fat-free fingers. My Immersion boxes arrived with the disks at the bottom dislodged and with scratches that must have arrived somewhere during transport."

"The novelty extras are quite tacky. A separate envelope with a facsimile of a Pink Floyd gig entrance card is something you might pay 50 cents for, but not a lot more. And what to think of the marbles, the scarf and the carton toasters in each box... it feels cheap but alas your wallet reveals it isn't."

"I would like to know who is the EMI fuckwit who decided to package the Dark Side Of The Moon marbles separately in bubble-wrap, but agreed to have the disks attached in such a flimsy way that at the lightest shock they start to travel on their own. Did you understand the music, EMI, or was it all in vain? I know of one customer who had the guts to have 6 Immersion boxes opened in the store before he found one with undamaged disks!"

We're only in it for the money

"And it isn't finished yet. The encrypted Blu-ray disks refuse to play on most PCs. There seems to be a valid technical reason for that, driver issues and so on, but in my opinion EMI deliberately issued a disk that can only be played on stand-alone players, attached to a TV-set. If other companies can manufacture Blu-rays that play faultless on a PC, why not EMI?"

"On top of that the Wish You Were Here Blu-ray, in most European boxes, has several audible glitches in the 5.1 Surround Mix at the end of Shine On You Crazy Diamond and on other tracks as well. At 120 Euro a box these sets are clearly a rip-off, but even at that price EMI fails to provide us with unscratched and undamaged disks. The only question that one can ask is indeed:
Why Pink Floyd?
Why EMI?
For fuck sake, why?"

Lucky for me at that moment one of the Barrett ladies started strangling another one so I had an excuse to leave Felix behind in his misanthropic misery.


(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
The Anchor wishes to thank all people on the Immersion threads at Yeeshkul:
Dark Side of the Moon Immersion Set problems
WYWH Immersion set problems

Vrooomuk's Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here Immersion Box Set Unboxing 'this is disgraceful'... (Immersion box picture taken from this video).
Yeeshkul's (very) technical guide for playing the Blu-ray Immersion disks on a non-compatible PC-Blu-ray player: How to play your new blu-ray TDSOTM disc!

Dark Side of The Moon fantasy (top picture), based upon a desktop image from an unknown fan.

The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad character.
More info: The Anchor.
Read our legal stuff: Legal Stuff.


2011-12-10

Iggy Rose's Fantastic Birthday Bash!

Iggy Rose
Iggy Rose, mid 70's. Artwork: Felix Atagong.

The Reverend confesses that the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit has been vegetating somewhat for the last year. Lucky for us there was the international cooperation with the excellent Spanish Syd Barrett blog Solo en las Nubes who gave us the exclusive rights to publish their interviews with Warren Dosanjh, Lee Wood and Duggie Fields.

Then there was that foul-mouthed Alex Fagoting vulture of The Anchor, who jumped into the void and published some wretched articles on the Church's space. The Reverend solemnly apologises for that.

To our defence we can add that at the beginning of this year the Church was struck as if by lightning. Shortly after Mark Blake published his Iggy the Eskimo article in Mojo #207 the Church made contact with the subject of its adulation: Ms. Iggy Rose.

The initial hesitant passes towards each other where a bit like kittens exploring a strange new world outside their mother's nest but it didn't take long before it grew into a profound friendship. And when Iggy discovered the power of social media it became soon clear that Iggy fandom wasn't something that was run by a weird Reverend alone.

At the Barrett IG exposition in March the promoters of the event scratched their heads trying to find out why so many visitors had their Barrett books signed by this unknown woman and not by the authors of the book: Iggy at the Exhibition.

Iggy Rose, also known as the Eskimo, is an international woman of mystery. So make a mark on your agendas, dear sistren and brethren, because next week, on the 14th of December, an unforgettable Facebook event will take place under the signature: Iggy Rose's Fantastic Birthday Bash! Instigator is artist and general troublemaker Jenni Fiire who promises 'an online celebration to show Iggy Rose how much we love and appreciate her on her birthday. A groovy electronic party!!'

This could well become the Facebook event of the year (and if by sheer luck it isn't, we will still maintain it is and anyone denying will be ostracised from the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit anyway), so do the wise thing and leave a message on the fourteenth and all your sins, and the Reverend knows what kind of despicable sinners you all are, will be forgiven. For a very short while...

And it could possibly be that some things might happen here as well next week, so turn on, tune in and certainly don't drop out.


2011-12-13

Happy Birthday Iggy Rose!

Well, in a couple of hours we will celebrate Iggy's birthday (14th of December) so please forgive the Reverend to add his personal wishes at first...

Happy Birthday, Iggy Rose!
The Reverend's wishes...

Something to watch: Iggy's Electronic Birthday Card

A while ago the Holy Igquisition got hold of an unseen home movie from Iggy from the mid Seventies. Although it only takes a few seconds this is the right moment to release it here. The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit would like to inform you that the Reverend overdid himself and that the Flash version will take about 5 Megabytes to download, so a quick Internet connection is needed... (and it has a happy tune as well). A (smaller) Youtube version of the birthday movie has been published as well...

Electronic Birthday Card
Electronic Birthday Card.

Flash link: Happy Birthday Iggy Rose!

Something to read: Crystal Blue Postcards

When Syd Barrett's seminal record The Madcap Laughs hit the record stores, the woman who was immortalised on its back cover had already disappeared from his life.

Multiple fireside legends emerged throughout the years, but we now know that Iggy's naked presence was a cleverly staged act, an underground performance, directed by Barrett, rather than a psychedelic drug-induced pun.

Feet stained by the freshly painted floor, Iggy the Eskimo materialises behind Syd, symbolising Aoidē, the ancient Boeotian muse of song. Although in the background, her appearance is doubtlessly omnipresent, an ethereal antenna capturing floating words and sounds from the space between men.

Like the flutter-by butterfly, Iggy was never the girl to stay long at one place. But she always left an ineradicable impression in the minds of the minds she touched. Even in the third millennium, people are still finding archaeological traces of her presence in a long forgotten past.

Journalists and bloggers can reconstruct, archive and catalogue Iggy's past moves with clockwork precision, but this doesn't say anything about her real self. Only the poet, musician or painter is able to capture a fleeting glimpse of her free spirit. It takes a common soul to encompass another one.

The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit proudly presents:

Crystal Blue Postcards, Denis Combet
Crystal Blue Postcards, Denis Combet.

Over two years ago the Reverend unearthed a poem, dedicated to Iggy: From Quetesh to Bastet. Author was Dr. Denis Combet, professor at Brandon University (in the middle of Eskimo-land) and now a very close friend of the Church. Iggy was so impressed with this that it even got mentioned in her interview with Mark Blake:

Last week, Iggy called to tell me she had found a poem online written about her by a professor at a university in Missouri [in fact Manitoba, Canada, FA]. "And it's in French," she said, sounding astonished. "'Iggy l'esquimo, Fille De Le Space'...it goes. I never believed anyone would ever write a poem for me." (Taken from: The Strange Tale Of Iggy The Eskimo.)

Since then Denis has been tinkering and polishing at his poems and especially for Iggy's birthday he has now released an electronic 'pageFlip' book of his work: Crystal Blue Postcards. With excellent digital artwork by Jean Vouillon this is, without doubt, a work of art, a worthy present for a celestial goddess.

Crystal Blue Postcards (Flash pageFlip presentation).

Something to listen to: "Guitars and Dust Dancing" by Rescue Rangers

Rescue Rangers are a stoner power trio from Marseille. As an extra present for Iggy's birthday, Pascal Mascheroni sent us the haunting (& slightly psychedelic) power ballad Guitars and Dust Dancing that can be found on their first album. We present this song with a slide show of the artwork of Jean Vouillon (see above).

And while we're at it, don't forget to check some of their other songs out, especially Black As Bastet (yes, here comes that that Bastet chick again) that has its lyrics written by none other than the aforementioned Denis Combet.

Something else to listen to: "Iggy the Eskimo" by The Underground Youth

In 2010 the British band The Underground Youth released their third album called Mademoiselle. Track seven is called Iggy the Eskimo although we seriously doubt it is about our rose.

Something extra to listen to: "Oranges and Apples" by Trashcan Sinatras

Dating from 2008 this Trashcan Sinatras tune hints at Iggy with the enigmatic lyric:

Emily and the English Rose
Shining out the UFO
Hand in hand with your Eskimo

WHY DON'T YOU WISH IGGY A HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOURSELF?

Instead of reading and watching all this you should be heading at Facebook where you can leave your messages, poems, songs and images at:

Iggy Rose's Fantastic Birthday Bash! or at
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit and of course on Iggy's personal page as well.

Let's raise our glasses to our darling mad cat who laughed at the man on the border. Make this a birthday to remember, brethren and sistren, but remember: don't do anything that Iggy wouldn't do!


The Church wishes to thank Denis Combet, Pascal Mascheroni (Rescue Rangers) & all the nice people at Blah F. Blah, Clowns & Jugglers, Late Night, No Man's Land and all the others we have forgotten.
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥




2011-12-24

The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit wishes you...

Happy Igmas!
Happy Igmas. Original: Jenni Fiire. Adaptation: Felix Atagong.

...and don't do anything that Iggy wouldn't do.

Iggy Rose's Fantastic Birthday Bash! was a huge success with our dear Iggy literally not sleeping for two days because she didn't want to miss the hundreds of messages that came zooming in from all over the world.

Iggy may have been but a small footnote in the world of rock but to us and dozens of fans she is far more human than those with a 'I was awfully big in the Underground' attitude.

The above image is a variation on an original drawing from Jenni Fiire with advice, ideas, help and input from Amy Funstar, Brett Wilson & the Reverend. A very – very – very special hug goes to Libby Gausden, femme extraordinaire, Iggy's dearest friend and keeper of the holy flame that warms the hearts of all Syd Barrett admirers. And the jacket of course, let us not forget the jacket...

See you in 2012.