Earlier this month Ennio Morricone performed at Royal Albert Hall in London – along with a 100 piece orchestra, and 100 singers, and I was fortunate enough to be there. Words can’t even begin to describe how grand and beautiful it was… I had goosebumps throughout the entire performance.

The first song I heard was the ‘Deborah’s Theme‘ from Once Upon a Time in America, it plays when Noodles (De Niro) takes Deborah to dinner at the empty restaurant, the scene in the film ends badly but it’s probably one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard.

I managed to record a few minutes of
‘Ecstasy of Gold’
from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly on my iPhone.. EPIC!

I’ve been in Sydney all week and a lot of this time has been spent hanging out with my 8 year old nephew, Alvin J. At the moment he’s right into these skate movies from the 80s – the Bones Brigade series. Created by the legendary (in skate circles, at least) Powell-Peralta, these films feature an all star skater lineup – Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill & Lance Mountain.

I haven’t really watched skate movies since I was a teenager trying to mooch in on my brother and his mates, but watching these movies now is hilarious – great skating, brilliant soundtrack, silly acting & plotlines but it’s all so much more laid back and less commercial than the skate movies (and games) out there today.

Watch the entire Bones Brigade: Search for Animal Chin online here

Buy the Bones Brigade DVD set here

I recently watched the Ramones documentary ‘End of the Century’ and it’s brilliant. The band has had more lives than I realised – from their early days as awkward angsty Queens boys playing at CBGBs they went on to record 5 albums, toured relentlessly around the world for over 20 years, made THAT rock & roll high school movie & then their last album was produced by the infamous nutty producer, Phil Spector.

After watching the film, it’s also very clear just how different each of the members of the band were, and what the dynamic of the band was. I get it that Johnny and Joey had different political views (I always liked Joey the best) but add bipolar disordered Dee Dee to the mix and the mayhem is totally understandable now! Dee Dee might just be my favorite now – especially since he diverged into rap for a brief, hilarious moment as Dee Dee King.

Check it -

p.s. – hadn’t heard this one for a while and it’s great ‘down in the basement’

Jeez, I never thought I’d be touting a Disney film on this blog, but hey, I’m an open-minded person.

SO, the lovely Cinematic Orchestra have worked with the London Metropolitan Orchestra (double your orchestral pleasure) to score the soundtrack of a Disney film about the life Flamingos in Tanzania. What else can I say? I watched the trailer, those birds are super cute and the music is wonderfully lush. I look forward to seeing it on the big screen.

My only complaint is that I got very excited to hear that they will perform the score live in London (initial reaction – yay!) but tickets are 32 quid… seems a bit steep. If you can afford it, then buy your tickets here. If you can’t, then you can always listen to the songs on Last.fm

Go see this movie… I think this weekend is your last chance to catch it in the cinema if you’re in London.