Heart-Shaped Box

Dear Daniel,

I was trying to put together a decent music synch for a radio piece yesterday and somebody suggested Christopher O'Riley. I had never heard of him, but apparently he's very popular for his covers of Radiohead songs. More of that in a second.

As I was looking through live videos fans have posted it became clear where his music taste lies and, like a lifelong dedicated Buddhist, it was only a matter of time before he got to Nirvana.

Maybe this isn't his best showpiece. At exactly 1'12", he reveals his otherwise-unspoken love for British light entertainment circa 1986.



Now I think about it, he's not the first person to cover Nirvana on the piano.

Most of the world wouldn't have heard Cornflake Girl if it wasn't for the novelty of Tori Amos surfing the wave of Cobain-love in the early nineties. And where would we be if that hadn't have happened? Erm... I guess we wouldn't have heard Cornflake Girl.

(you'll notice there's only one person in the crowd here who is interested in Tori's genre-crossing kookiness. And it takes him just slightly too long to work out what's going on...)



I know you are a keen pianist, Daniel, so before you dash off to build up a cannon of heavy rock on piano and upset that woman across from your kitchen window, may I suggest you start here:



Dear James,

Welcome back, again. I was going to post various clips of Les Dawson only last week, but couldn't think of any justification other than "here's some Les Dawson clips". Not wordy enough for me. Our friend Aine once told me that it took a special talent to play the piano like Les, shortly before she saw me play for the first time.

I'm taking it you haven't heard of Brad Mehldau, who sees Christopher O'Really and raises him a hundred pounds. That's because he's got a royal flush, and he knows O'Really has only got a two-pair.



He also does various Nick Drake covers. I think he's playing Buenos Aires soon. I bet he's already been and gone and I missed it again.