DES EMEUTES DANS LES RUES

The French like a good riot and they are on the streets of Paris in protest against the global economic crisis and the way it has been handled. Why should bankers be bailed out and their comfortable lifestyles protected, when ordinary people are finding it tough, is their complaint. The overtly political and socialist context to the riots makes it feel very 1968 ish.

There have been similar riots in Latvia, Bulgaria and Iceland, where the government was brought down by violent protests. How long before it happens here? 

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I JINX OLD ROCKERS

So John Martyn has died. I saw him at the Barbican just before Christmas in what I'm pretty sure was his last gig. I only went because a friend got tickets but I ended up really enjoying it and went back to his CDs for the first time in years. Solid Air and One World, which I'm listening to at the moment, are great records.

Life had not been kind to John Martyn. To be more accurate, he had not been kind to himself. He was an alcoholic, bloated, ill looking and confined to a wheelchair, having lost a leg a few years ago. I'd known he wasn't in great shape but it was still a shock. As we left, one of my friends said he didn't look as if he was long for the world, and so it has proved.

He's the fourth musician whose last, or nearly last, gig I've seen in recent years. Arthur Kane of the New York Dolls keeled over a few days after we saw him at the Royal Festival Hall; Arthur Lee of Love died not so long after playing at the same venue and Ron Asheton of the Stooges died not so long ago, after I saw them playing on Clapham Common last year. Am I a jinx or do I just watch too many clapped-out musicians?

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