The famous bloke in the picture above is suave, handsome, intelligent, funny and a magnificent orator. The other is the current President of the United States of America.
C’mon…..you saw that bad joke coming a mile off.
The bloke on the TV screen is Dirk. The genius behind Sexy Loser.
Dirk was one of the first regular visitors to latch onto TVV back in 2006. Hardly a post went by without him leaving behind some interesting snippet of information, often related in some shape or form to John Peel.
Now those of us living in the UK can go on and on about how important the late DJ was in shaping our views and opinions on music; but if you read what Dirk has said over the years, of how his exposure in Germany to the great man came via Armed Forces Radio and the impact it had, not just on his musical tastes but to his life, then you will begin to see just why John Peel was held in such high regard as a broadcaster and as a human being.
Such was the impact that Peel had on a young Dirk that he made a pilgrimage to Peel Acres to meet the man in person back in 1989 and here’s a photo of Dirk in John’s attic surrounded by some of the tens of thousands of bits of vinyl owned by the DJ –
Many of Dirk’s finest postings on Sexy Loser feature material that he studiously collected on cassette tape from recording the Peel shows on Armed Forces Radio. A bit like Brian (whose Linear Track Lives featured last week), this is someone who knows his subject matter inside out…
Sexy Loser has come and gone a bit over the years as happy events in Dirk’s life have impacted on his ability to spend time on the blog – there were only about 30 posts in a 3-year period between 2009 and 2011 – but he got very active again last year and it was great to see my old friend was as brilliant as ever as he did a rundown of his all time favourite single.
What I particularly love about Dirk is that he writes in English, which is obviously not his first language (but he still speaks it better than most people from Dundee), and he writes as if he was talking aloud to you. Oh and he ALWAYS begins his postings in the most polite fashion imaginable….
“45 45’s until I’m 45” (#25/45)
Good morning to you,
I know this will sound like a most lame excuse for my laziness, but – believe it or not – today there is a reason for my unability to tell you something interesting about the choice of the day, and a good one at that:
Mostly I write my little essays when being at work, no problem with that, but earlier on I constantly failed to ascertain any background information to today’s pick whatsoever, because some stupid internet filter screamed “ALARM!” whenever I googled for either ‘Tits’, ‘Stiff’ or ‘Teenage’! Pornography rules this world, I tell you!
So, as I don’t want to see the head of our IT Department appearing behind me in a few minutes in order to ask – quite rightly so – what is wrong with me, and thus finding myself on the dole tomorrow, I thought I’d better just give you the record without further ado: your number twenty-five, friends, enjoy:
mp3 : Dawn Chorus & The Bluetits – ‘Teenage Kicks’
Stiff Records – DAWN 1 (1985)
If memory serves Dawn Chorus were Liz Kershaw and Carole Vorderman … well known names to the Brits amongst you, I suppose, they don’t mean that much to us over here in real Europe.
Remarkably, David Bowie is credited with playing bass guitar, while the Undertones’ Damian O’Neill is listed as guitarist. Then again, over the years, I never really believed Bowie to have participated here.
Would you?
Cheerz,
Dirk
There were loads of great postings from Dirk that I could have posted but I went for it as it has a link with John Peel, it features something obscure that only the greatest of anoraks would recall and it highlights that Dirk, like the best bloggers, doesn’t take himself too seriously.
I’ve been fortunate enough over the past 8 years to have met many great bloggers whose work I admire – most of them as you’d expect are from Scotland but I’ve also met some American and Canadian friends along the way. I haven’t yet been blessed with the good fortune to meet Dirk in the flesh…but I’m making a promise to myself that, in the words of Moz, it’s going to happen one day.
More Friends Electric tomorrow
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 