April 9, 2011

NEIL INNES TOUR

Songwriter extraordinaire, Neil Innes, is best known for his musical contributions to Monty Python (remember Bravely Bold Sir Robin?), the Bonzo Dog Band, and the brilliant Beatles-style mockumentary band, The Rutles. Innes began his career with fellow art school pals in the mid-1960s with the Bonzo Dog Band, which became a feature act on Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-1969). The show's cast included future Pythons, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle. The Bonzos also made an appearance in The Beatles film, Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and recorded their hit, Urban Space Man, produced by Paul McCartney in 1968. Their work has been collected in a recent CD compilation called Dog's Life: 1967-1972. I think Spy Vibers will enjoy Neil's musical cocktail of humor and heart.


Neil Innes is currently playing some UK dates and will begin a tour of the US and Canada on May 5th. More info at the Neil Innes website here. Neil's site also hosts and audio page with lyrics and live recordings, including a great fave of mine, Questionnaire. Here are a few classic Rutles moments to bring joy to your weekend: an excerpt from the Rutles film, All You Need is Cash (watch for some great Beatles parody!), and Neil's Lennonesque, Cheese and Onions.

Readers may also like to check out the experimental film and remix I made for Yoko Ono, The Sun is Down, which screens next at the New Media Film Festival on May 21st in Hollywood. The film
celebrates the meaning of Yoko's name, "ocean child," with images of sea animals dancing and moving through their secret gardens. I also completed a tribute collage, Lennon70, for the recent John Lennon 70th anniversary. Spy Vibe Beatles articles and news page here. Spy Vibe home. Happy Weekend!






2 comments:

  1. I love that the bass player plays a Hofner like Paul. These are great clips. Very entertaining. And Eric Idle doing the commentary-- wink, wink. Nuge, nudge.

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  2. I love how Eric Idle continues to play with documentary conventions. I still crack up when the camera starts to out-pace him and drive away. Classic Pythonesque moment.

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