The chicken dance is a rare phenomenon, very seldom seen but much talked about.
Its roots go back to the early 70s when Colonel Sanders and his team launched a TV campaign in the UK to boost KFC sales among young consumers.
It seemed to work as hordes of school kids took to strutting their stuff in primary school playgrounds across the land like Mick Jagger on heat.
The laying of eggs and raucous clucking noises were optional but highly entertaining extras.
This impressive performance of what has long-been considered a lost art was witnessed at the recent Lagoa Beer Festival during a Beto Kalula set which, despite very poor attendance figures, was as striking as the man’s hair-do (pictured below).

Mine’s a candy-floss.

Stroboscopic mayhem isn’t unusual to witness on stage these days, but one band seems to deliver it more forcefully than most, as this sign suggests.
Epilepsy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is ‘a disease of the nervous system marked by changes in the rhythm of electrical currents in the brain. Two of the main forms are known as grand mal, in which the sufferer falls unconscious and has convulsions, and petit mal, which lasts for a few seconds and involves partial loss of consciousness’.
Based on that definition, there were several varying degrees of apparent epilepsy spinning around me in the Gaia crowd recently, probably more drug and alcohol-triggered than anything that the Breathe sound-to-light electronic sync storm could ever induce.
Nevertheless, away from all the hurly-burly towards the back of the arena, a young teenager of just 14 years of age managed to start his own fire as a trainee DJ with a prowess that totally defied his age.
And he could dance, which is more than you can say for those Prodigy boys.

Meet Ruben, sound technician extraordinaire, everybody wants him, everybody loves him….but what does he do exactly?
Well, besides balancing cymbals on his head, he has a phenomenal record collection and it’s worth turning up for sound-checks just to hear the latest sounds on his iPod.
But he’s a knob twiddler first and foremost, travelling the length and breadth of the country making sonic silk purses out of sows’ ears when all looked completely lost an hour or two previously.
So hats off (or Zildjians in this case) to Ruben, who has saved many a Novembro gig with his technical expertise and precision knob turning.
So my question is…..if Ruben’s going to act as a cymbal stand in the future, where’s the best place to put the microphone?
Rudest answer wins.

Every Tuesday evening a wonderful thing happens.
The latest edition of Vidro Azul - or blue glass - is delicately squeezed into a 100 mega-byte morsel-shaped podcast and delivered to the world with such sleek yet unceremonious ado that seemingly no one notices.
But we all do, and very loud is the acclaim.
The two-hour show has been firmly wedged into the twilight zone of the Coimbra radio scene for several years but more recently gained deserved recognition when alternative music moguls Radar snapped it up for a broader late-night audience.
Pictured left with Miguel after Novembro’s performance in Coimbra last April, Vidro Azul presenter Ricardo Mariano’s soothing soliloquys have led me to a succession of FNAC stores up and down the country to snap up the latest releases by Founts, Helios, Gnac and the like on a musical merry-go-round that keeps spinning me right round baby right round.
For the sake of this post I’ve just tiptoed down into the vaults of my hard disc to unearth my VA collection, which currently extends to 5 giga-bytes, 49 shows and 98 hours, including umpteen Novembro songs along the way.
Muito bom trabalho Ricardo and thanks a million for your unwavering support.

MW

Meet Gil, Novembro’s new lead guitarist.

Admittedly it’s the not best photo in the world, but Gil doesn’t care, and nor do we.

It’s his playing that counts, and that’s cool enough.

Welcome aboard Gil!

How much did that guitar cost, by the way? Looks like an orginal Fender Strat to me. But then what do I know, I’m only the drummer (all drummers’ jokes to be sent to novembro1@gmail.com and the best ones will be published, I promise, that’s if they’re not too insulting to our supreme race).

MW

Anyone visiting a centro comercial these days will tell you that there’s simply nothing better than a salgado, or even a bolo.

Perhaps you’d prefer a sandes mista, Sir?

And so it was when the great Novembro graced the stage in Lisbon’s fashionable Chiado district, deep in the dark and dingy depths of the FNAC multimedia store.

But one couldn’t help noticing, however, that all the vales de uma bebida de lata (cerveja, say I) disappeared without the slightest trace.

Whodunnit?

Mark William

Don’t worry, these aren’t the lyrics of Novembro’s latest mega hit.
Despite being a lame excuse for having neglected this blog for far too long, as usual, I hear you cry, it’s more of a soft intro to our brave Solidão a Dois video, which was gladly accepted by SIC Radical and thankfully rejected by former hip music channel, MTV.

It’s available in various places such as You Tube, but my favourite link for some reason is at http://videos.sapo.pt/dtcvrGohwWKmSVEt30cz where you can give it a five-star rating and even leave us a comment telling us how scared and disturbed it made you feel.

Enjoy.

Mark William

Novembro’s first album appeared in record stores Monday 28 January, 2008 after two long years of planning, recording and production.

Entitled À Deriva (Adrift, in English), the CD is comprised of 12 songs, two of which feature the keyboards of Rodrigo Leão (Esperança and Solidão a Dois instrumental).

The song listing is as follows;

1    Jornada dos Passos Cegos
2    Solidão a Dois
3    Plenitude
4    Leva-me Daqui
5    Deserdeiro
6    Esperança Enganadora
7    Gastei Contigo as Palavras
8    Solidão a Dois (instrumental)
9    Noite Artificial
10  Suspensão
11  Algemas
12  À Deriva

The CD is available in all FNAC stores throughout Portugal, priced €14.95.
 
Hope you like it

Mark William - drummer

PS - A lot of people offered their precious time and expertise along the way to help us make this CD, so we’d like to thank the following;

João, Leocádia & Fernando Mendonça
Miguel Neves
Rodrigo Leão
Ana Carolina
António Rosa
Sofia & Luna
Susana Simões
Henrique Amaro
Guto Pires (for the wonderful guitar on Suspensão)
Tiago Lopes
João & Diogo Pércurto
Carlos Gonçalves
Eduardo Vinhas
Ruben
Fernando Campos
Fernando
Ricardo Mariano
Tiago Faden
David Reis
João Portela
Judite
Paulo Abelho
João Eleutério
Luís van Seixas
Fernando Laureano

Thanks a lot guys, it wouldn’t have been possible without you!

It’ll make your day to know that your favourite pop fado band, Novembro, has had a song included on a new compilation CD due for official release today (Tuesday 10 July) by Lisboa Records.

Despite its far from impressive cover, it’s worth getting a little over-excited about because we’re in there with the likes of Os Gift, A Naifa, GNR frontman Rui Reininho and the ubiquitous Rodrigo Leão.

Over dark beers with Novembro singer-songwriter Miguel Filipe the other night, drummer Mark William (for it is I) was astounded to hear that it is not, in fact, our first song to get published. Jornada dos Passos Cegos and Abandono ao Crepúsculo were included on another compilation disc released several months ago.

Anyone got a spare copy?!

Cheers.