Archive for November, 2009

The highs and lows of ZA News this week

I can't get enough of this shit, its brilliant!

- Marky Mark

At around 11pm on Saturday 21st November many residents of Joburg and Pretoria claimed to have seen a meteor shoot across the sky. Video footage of the event has now made its way onto the net.

The event occured at 23:04pm as the meteor shot across the sky followed by a massive explosion which seemed to light up the sky for miles turning it to daylight for a brief moment. Many people were quite shocked at what they had just witnessed, my friend Bronwyn updated her Facebook status moments after saying that she thought she had seen a meteor, to which I commented, sorry guys that was just me testing out my new super powers doing a few laps around the globe …I wish. The Johannesburg planetarium aswell as myself, were hoping that at least someone managed to get a photo or better still, video footage of the event although it was highly doubtful since there was no warning and it would have been over before anyone could have reached to get their phone out of their pocket to capture it, plus I don't know many people who sit and point video cameras up at the sky all night.

However would you believe it, last thursday CCTV footage made its way onto the net giving a full view of the event, which is alot more breathtaking than I originally thought, it was pretty damn awesome, wish I'd been there to see it.

See the video below of the footage, pretty amazing.

It is said that millions of meteorites enter the earths atmosphere on a daily basis however they are too small to be visible and burn up before hitting the ground, a prime example of this is a shooting star, something we don't really see in London due to the city's ambient light.

The meteor seen over Johannesburg has not yet been found as they don't really know where about it landed or even how big it is, as much of it, if not all, would have burnt up on the way down. So it could be a case of trying to find a golf ball in a 100km radius, which is pretty impossible if you ask me. Apparently astrologists are looking for it, however the government has warned anybody who does find it and tries to sell it, would be in a spot of poo as it is owned by the state regardless whether it landed on your property or not.

If anyone did see it happen, you're more than welcome to comment about it below

- Marky Mark

Last night I was invited down to the legendary and world famous 100 Club down on Oxford Street, Central London to see a band that I’ve been hearing a lot about for a while but not had the chance to see them live, until now…. and I will say this in every expressive way imaginable and in all absolute sense of the word….WOW!

My friends, it is my great pleasure and honour to present to you…STARSEED!

I say that because I feel privileged to be writing this and to have seen them live while they are still playing in the smaller venues. This is a band that I can honestly say, are definitely going to be up there with the big boys in the not too distant future.

These guys are big band material all the way and from what I heard last night, I am actually quite amazed that they are still playing small venues. Now I’ve heard that they have been getting some 4/5; 9/10 rave reviews in big label rock magazines such as Kerrang, and rumour has it that they are on their way at becoming the next Seether, which correct me if I’m wrong, is to date, South Africa’s most popular and successful South African Alternative Rock export, however saying that, it is rather difficult to compare the two when it comes to musical style as Seether being more of your Grungy Alternative, for example, Nirvana, Puddle of Mudd, Silverchair, whereas Starseed are a little heavier with Alternative Hard Rock, if you think more on the lines of a Metallica feel. So they definitely aren’t something for all you closet Sugar Babes fans as you can imagine.

Now I won’t lie, I arrived expecting to see a good South African band, don’t get me wrong, no disrespect to the SA bands out there, I’m in full support and behind you all the way, but the UK aswell as the US I imagine, has a lot more competition. You need to be at the top of your game in every second of every set, it’s a ruthless scene that is quick to dismiss those that don’t cut it. Back in the day I used to practically live at the Buzz Bar and Churchills in Maritzburg supporting SA Music with the likes of Arapaho, Squeal, Wonderboom, Sons of Trout, Amersham, The Springbok Nude Girls, Sugar Drive, the list goes on. These bands were all brilliant, they were the pioneers of SA Rock. The music was great, it was new and it was happening but there is one thing that I’ve always said and I’ll say it again, apart from Just Jinger who seemed to nail it on the acoustic side, it was a bit thin and lacked the fullness with serious punch that you’d hear on most internationally recorded albums. Nobody was at fault for this; SA Rock was in its infancy and building itself up to the standard so this was acceptable, however the reality of it was, that it was what it was. When Starseed belted out their opening song, “Shine” which is their current single, I stood there with eyes wide open and stunned, because this was not your usual South African band, it was punchy and it was full, these guys were exceptionally tight, probably one of the tightest live bands I’ve seen in a small venue ever, which is why I said in the beginning, I’m amazed that these guys are still playing small venues. The performance as a whole was very truthfully a studio quality performance, you’d have thought they’d been rehearsing the same songs for the last 20 years over and over non stop because they were performed that well. Starseed appear to be extremely serious about what they are trying to achieve here, and that’s a quality you really see in top rock bands, although saying that, if you take a look at the guys on an individual basis you can see each off them loves what he does. Andy the drummer looks like he’s a baby having a party in a paddling pool behind the drums; you can see the enjoyment from a mile away. Russell has an extremely wide range on the vocals which I found really impressive, Dale on bass is totally swimming in his vibe, Peter on lead guitar cradles and speaks fluently to his guitar as if it was a language that only they understand but sounds amazing, and last but not least, Gerald on rhythm guitar plays and really communicates with the crowd on a musical level which even gets the statues moving.

I left the venue last night still quite stunned and taken back by what I’d seen, these guys are good, and when I say good, I mean frickin good, completely going well beyond what I was expecting. If you enjoy your Rock, then this is one band I suggest you take the time to go and see, because you’ll probably leave there as taken back as I was with their performance.

Take my word for it, I don’t get paid to write this, I’m not just saying all this because they are South African (although it was the initial reason I went to see them) and I’m not gonna try sell you hot air, but I wouldn’t be sitting here writing a 1010 word review if I didn’t think they were that great. I guess you could say I was pretty much blown away.

I do feel sorry for any band that Starseed open for because they’d have a lot to live up to. As my friend Justin Badenhorst will tell you, as he’s witnessed, it’s not every day that the support act completely blows away the main act, but it happens.

Yours truely hanging with Starseed after their gig.

This is the video for their latest single “Shine”… enjoy

Click here for the official Starseed website

Excellent guys! Can't wait to see what you come up with in the future, its looking to be massive!

- Marky Mark

Well the Aussies are at it again… excuse the pun

I've said it before, the one thing I love about Aussies, is that they are blunt, to the point and they don't bugger around trying to say or do anything in a round about way, the go straight in for it… and out, and in again as you so shall see

A couple who appeared to have the urge for a bit of afternoon action satisfaction were spotted mid stride at the top of a Sydney clock tower by a giggling crowd of onlookers passing by in the street below, at around 3:30pm yesterday . Apparently they became aware that they were being watched yet that wasn't enough to make them stop until they were done, I'm guessing it was that good, and we all know that "point of no return"… the buildings could collapse around you but ain't nothing gonna break you away from that moment haha

It is not known who the couple were, however they are believed to be students, as the building below their altar of passion is a student accomodation called Unilodge, I guess the name says it all. They are fast becoming an international hit and media companies are begging the couple to reveal themselves.

Alot of us will remember these other two, spotted having a nice little lunchtime bang on the rooftop of a building in Soho, London, a few years ago as seen in this video

- Marky Mark

Driver safety campaigns always tend to use shock tactics to make people aware of the dangers of not wearing a seat belt… but trust us saffas to find a humorous way of getting the message across.

This is quite an old Drive Alive ad campaign to encourage wearing seatbelts as its been around since 2001 funny enough, surprisingly the first time I saw it was yesterday, thanks to the boys over at SA Promo. We've all seen the shock tactics used in other driver safety campaigns and trust me, they aren't videos you'd normally want to watch again, yet trusting us South Africans to find the funny side of the shittiest situations, I present this to you… Enjoy

Some of you will remember a program on TV back in the day called, "Louis Motors"… that's Percy in the car

- Marky Mark

For those who have heard of Darren "Whackhead" Simpson, he'll need no introduction, but for those who haven't heard of him, firstly, what rock have you been living under in the Karoo because you seriously haven't lived! Secondly, you're about to… and thirdly, your girlfriend/boyfriend is gonna be very pissed off with me for telling about you this… you'll understand why very soon because you won't be able to stop yourself from going onto next video after next video

Now I've just spent the last 1.5 hrs listening to just a few of Whackhead's pranks on YouTube… my head is literally pounding from laughing so much, I can't talk properly because my jaw muscles are so exhausted that  I now have a slight case of lock jaw, my stomach muscles are aching so much that I'm just praying that nothing funny happens in the next few minutes like, The Jen who is finally fast asleep next to me, starts having a full on conversation in her sleep (for the record and my safety, she doesn't, but there's a first time for everything, since she teases me about it all the time, I'm waiting with the video camera armed and ready! *cheeky grin*). Not to mention that I have lost count how many times I almost chundered due to laughing so hard that it developed into a full on violent cough, where I was choking and battling to get my breath back… so I guess you get the picture? he's pretty damn funny

So for those who don't know, Darren "Whackhead" Simpson is the "Serial Prankster" who all the Joburg locals have the pleasure of listening to on a regular basis with Jeremy Mansfield on his show, The Rude Awakening on Highveld Stereo 94.7. I would also just like to point out that Whackhead is originally from none other than my old turf, Pinetown and rumour has it that he was even fortunate enough to go to the same school as me, being Pinetown Boys High, he must feel honoured about this, its probably why he's so cool haha I would actually live in Joburg if it meant I could listen to fresh Whackhead pranks everyday on my way to work… and trust me when I say this, thats a huge statement from me I first heard of Whackhead when he appeared for a company launch party for some friends of mine, Hazel and Kelly from Living It Live back in 2007, I wondered why Denzil must of looked at me strangely when I asked who this dude was that everyone was raving about when I saw the launch video, but my questions were very quickly answered when I was opened up to this whole new world of telephone pranking genius!

I have never heard of anyone who can pull off phone pranks like he does, he's an absolute genius when it comes to it. How he keeps a straight face is beyond me, personally I know this from when Parys Potgieter's Crib was filmed, because we all know it can be excruciatingly difficult to keep a straight face without bursting out laughing when something is ridiculously hilarious. Also when he gets bored of pranking South Africa, he even starts pranking people right here in the UK as well as Australia amongst others.

One of Whackhead's most notable and probably most expensive pranks (for the other party ofcourse) was when he went live on air for the Kyle and Jackie O Radio Show in Australia in Jan 2009, posing as none other than Tom Cruise to do a live on air interview for Valkyrie. Whackhead had them going for a short period of time before chaos at the radio station erupted when they realised that they were the victims of a massive prank by our dear Darren. Apparently the station had spent $150 000 in advertising that week for the "interview" whereas Whackhead even had the balls to tell them that it had only costed him a R6 phone call. He also made a point of congratulating the SA Cricket Team for beating the Aussies the day before… nice

Listen to the Tom Cruise prank here

Now it would be virtually impossible to post every video on YouTube of each his pranks so I'll just post a few below to wet your taste buds a bit. Make sure you have no work to do or have alot of time to kill because he is seriously seriously addictive, it'll be a case of, "ok just one more" and that one more will be ten pranks ago in no time. This evening I found an entire Youtube playlist of Whackhead as "Piet The Receptionist" I thought I'd tempt myself to a few minutes as I had quite a bit to get done on PharSide this evening, however this turned into a full on "Piet The Receptionist" marathon which as mentioned, lasted 1.5 hrs and put me in the state I am now.

Click here for the "Piet The Receptionist" Youtube Playlist

Here are some Whackhead pranks, enjoy!

(Please note, I do not take responsibilty for people in your office looking at you funny because you're laughing out loud like a freak, thats Whackhead's fault)

This first one you'll know very well… click here

And here's a recent one where he pranks Ras Dumasani

 

Whackhead, I salute you! Keep it coming!

[Thanks Jason]

- Marky Mark

I'm sure everyone has seen the rendition that Ras Dumisani did of the South African Anthem by now, and I'm sure you all noticed that there were some gaps where he seemed to forget certain words a bit… Here's an easy, fun approach…

Now its no secret, there are a tremendous amount of people who cannot recite the entire anthem word for word without reading the words to help them along. I've managed to find a pretty easy and fun way to learn it, its actually pretty cool, take a look

- Marky Mark

ZA News according to Zapiro – The highs and lows of ZA News this week

Love it!

Enjoy!

- Marky Mark

Friday 20th November 2009:

L.U.S.H @ ARTESIAN WELL (Clapham)

Residents Dj's: ♫ Lady Duracell (Push Fm / Get Lifted / Queen of Funk / Koko's) ♫ Huckleberry Finn (Passion / Promised Land / SeOne) ♫ Nippa (Space, Playroom, Pussycat, Abstract, THAT,) ♫ Lewi FiveO (Ministry of Sound, Gifted, Egg) ♫ Sleazy G (Dirtydubbin / We Are London / Scala / Amnesia ) ♫ Little Leigh (Audio Angels / Lush Funk / Pacha / Eden) & friends This is all going down Friday night at Artesian Well in Clapham For more info: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191717857296

 

ULTRAFLAVA @ Bar Sia (Wimbledon)

Check out DJ OPTI from Lucky Life busting it up for UltraFlava at Bar Sia this Friday night, with a schweet line up of special guest DJ's… For More Info http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=339375975242

Plush – live @ Down South *NOT TO BE MISSED*

Plush perform their last show of the year in London. This is going to be the last show of 2009 here and certainly for a while in 2010. Rory will be launching a solo career early next year so he will be in studio…

It's free, so join us for a party…

Down South
90 Inner Park Road
Wimbledon
SW19 6DA

020 8788 2363

More info : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177962327182

Saturday 21st November 2009

Nothing big happening Saturday, shocking!, probably cause I'm not in town this weekend haha

Tuesday 24th November 2009

WHAT NOW – Live @ Monto Water Rats Theatre (Kings Cross)

What Now are gonna be rocking out The Monto Water Rats this coming Tuesday!

Get down there and show support for this awesome band making a lot of good moves lately!

Be sure to check out their fan page and listen to some of their songs on the link on the left of the page!

More Info http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172735184483

 

Bar and Club Specials

Bar Sia

(Wimbledon Broadway)

2 for 1 Cocktails from 5pm to 8pm on Friday

Suburban

(Hartfield Road, Wimbledon)

FRI – SUN 5pm till 8pm 2 4 1 cocktails, £8 Bottle House wine. 4 Selected Beers for £10 all night.

Down South

(Inner Park Road, Southfields)

Fridays and Saturday’s – Happy Hour 8:30pm – 9:30pm

2L Cane and Creme Soda jugs – £10
2 for 1 Dbl Cane and Creme Soda’s – £5
2 for 1 Dbl Klippies and coke – £5
Savannah, Castle Lager, Hunter’s Dry – £2
Selected Shooters – £1

Down South are also introducing Poker Night on Thursdays from 8pm, winner takes all and a bottle of Jack, Click Here for more info

Well thats your debauchery info for this week, have a wicked weekend and keep London rocking!

If you know of something going down and you want people to know about it, email me

Bar Owners and Managers, wanna get your specials up here, email me

- Marky Mark

A lot of people have been asking me lately about PharSide, why I do it and whats my game plan, so here's a little insight as to what PharSide is, how it came about and why I do it

So where do I start? Well, I guess from the beginning of course…

The name PharSide, comes from the the famous or infamous PharSide night club in Pinetown, South Africa, of which I was involved in for a short period of time. I decided to pack my bags and make the long haul trip over to the UK many moons ago and see where it would take me, I got home one night after a decent boozing session and found myself doing some drunken purchasing… I seemed to have a habit of doing this, sometimes even forgetting what I'd bought until it arrived in the post a few days later… a prime example of this was a racing steering wheel with full action feedback and floor pedals for my computer car racing games. So one night while I was a drunken mess, I thought it would be a bright spark idea to purchase the domain name, PharSide.co.uk, just for shits and giggles….. and so it began

At the time I was living in a houseshare in Richmond Avenue, Wimbledon, with the likes of old school mates, Brad "BreadBoard" Hogg, Adam "The Fellow" Smallman and Trevor "Maverick" Webster. Our houseshare like many others, was one boozed up party house with something of an event happening virtually every night of the week in or out the house. Most notably was Brad's 24th birthday which was a house party that I'm sure Wimbledon itself will not forget because OMG!, madness in every sense of the word. I think I still have a video lying around somewhere of Adam being hurtled down the passage lying face down on a skateboard in a game of Human Ten Pin Bowling which included a series of empty beer cans lined up down the passage, however as he could not see in front of him he plowed head first straight into a heavy cabinet, we all cheered with laughter and surprise that he didn't crush a few vertebrae in his neck, because damn you should have head that knock… he did have a massive lump on his head though We decided that since we have this domain name, why not build a PharSide House website where we'd upload photos and stuff to show our mates back home in SA just what a jol they were missing out on. We even had little business cards made that we'd hand out to potential female sleepovers while we were terrorizing Wimbledon on nights out, lets just say the staff at KFC at the time absolutely hated us, they hated Brad more cause he always walked out with the straw container along with all the straws. Unfortunately we had to move because the owners wanted their house back, possibly because the neighbours may have let them know how much fun we were having, so we moved to the house in Springfield Avenue known by many a friend as the crash landing pad when they arrived in London. A book can be written about this house, trust me Although shortly after, I moved in with my ex which made room for The Phreak and Waine to become members of the board at Springfield Avenue, BreadBoard decided that London wasn't cool enough for him anymore and he cruised on back to SA. So the site stayed dormant for a while until we broke up and I moved into "The Pimp Palace Haven of Love" in Worple Road, yeah thats the flat with "WOOT! WOOT!" written in white paint on the wall outside facing the road. I decided to revive PharSide, but this time not keep it bound with a house, but for all my mates. As you can imagine, the photos that went up week by week were of absolute carnage and debauchery. I was later joined in the flat by none other than Darryn "The Boschman" Bosch, and although Jeff "Fai$al" Cox was an honorary inhabitant of Springfield avenue, he practically lived at "The Pimp Palace Haven of Love". The carnage continued, photos of debauchery continued to go up each week, at times I would take a walk down memory or should I say, not so much memory lane taking a look at some of the pics and it occurred to me that anyone actually looking at this website, must think we are absolute raging alcoholics! Although I don't think we were very far off to be honest. After a few years, we had to vacate "The Pimp Palace Haven of Love", as the owner wanted to turn it into a home office. It was possibly a blessing in disguise for the sake of our health, although it was a very sad time for us. Due to The Boschman's relationship commitments at the time to Taryn "Little Possum" Lombaard, she had had enough of our shenanigans and put her foot down (at least someone was sensible), so they moved in together and we went our separate ways. Unfortunately due to the depression of the end of a awesome era, PharSide was somewhat neglected and resembled a nostalgic dilapidated wasteland where civilisation was once present.

Another two years passed and the fire grew inside me until one day I was browsing a well known Cape Town blog (respect to Seth Rotherham and his blog, 2OceansVibe.com for giving me the inspiration) when my head burst from the pressure and as the smoke cleared, a little light bulb burnt brightly… that was it, why hadn't I thought of it before, this was the next stage in the life of PharSide, it had grown from a houseshare website which only included the housemates, to a debaucherous photo website for a large group of friends.. and now after a long wait to let its liver and kidneys heal, its time for it to branch out even more, for every young saffa in London living the dream.

So much for the history lesson… and that was the extra short version haha So since Mid-September 2009, PharSide has flourished into a lifestyle blog  catering for all you Saffa's living it up in London, mainly South West London at the moment. Although saying that, whether you are in South Africa or even a saffa living in Alaska for that matter, you can still relate to PharSide. As you've probably seen now, PharSide has a mind of its own, there is no set direction or aim here, it directs itself, and it goes where you want it. PharSide is for everyone, it is there to provide you with entertainment, tell you where the jols are, let you know whats going down and all in all help to make your London experience that much better, its for all of you. Why do I do it? well why not? it entertains me to entertain you. I have had the biggest jol since the day I arrived in this town and it hasn't stopped, I want to share that with everyone because the bigger the party you have, is the bigger the party I have, which is the bigger the party we ALL have… kapeesh? I've been asked quite a lot where I find the time since I still work a full time job… well my friends… I decided I never really watch TV, so it is now taking up space in a shed at my parents house in Kent…. much to The Jen's disappointment as you can imagine but yes, you will not believe how much free time you have when you aren't glued to the TV all night Honest truth, I don't miss it and I don't even think about it…. although The Jen does keep reminding me

Since the new site went live in September, the amount of people visiting the site has increased day by day and sometimes at a rapid rate, obviously depending what I've decided to rant about on any given day, in the last week or so I've been peaking at ±700 unique visitors a day which was completely unexpected and given the time frame with zero money spent on advertising, I think thats pretty damn good after just 2 months… best of all its growing and growing. The awesome amount of compliments and support I've got from people is astounding. Just on Tuesday for example, I was standing outside Wembley Stadium before the Springbok vs Saracens game and an old friend, Hayden Cryer saw me, he said to his mate "This is Marky Mark, this is PharSide!" his mate then told me that because of my Durban curry review for Down South he trekked up there himself to have a taste and really digged it. Thats the kind of thing that keeps me going with this, thats the kind of thing that drives me, by making sure everyone is having an awesome time and enjoying the experience, because like I said, if everyone is having a jol, then yours truly is also having a jol… I enjoy writing articles and let people have their say in the comments because what I find half the time, is people are thinking the same thing I'm thinking but just waiting for someone to put it out there and say it… as you can imagine this snowballs into quite an eventful discussion at times. I enjoy speaking my mind and as you've probably noticed by now, once I start, I can't stop So if you dig PharSide and you dig what I'm doing, and if you want to be kept in the know, then become a fan of PharSide.co.uk on FaceBook and/or follow PharSide on Twitter (links top right)…suggest it to your mates if you want to, get them in on the action. Remember, sharing is caring and if you don't dig it and don't dig what I'm doing, then no-one is asking you to hang around and ever come back… simples

So if you are new to the whole PharSide vibe, have a read through the previous posts, it'll probably take a while, there's already been 69 before this one, but from what I hear, its worth the read

Thanks for all the support guys! You are all the best! Thanks for making PharSide what it is so far because without you it wouldn't be that way I'm amazed and I'm loving this ride!

Keep Living the Dream!

Okay, Over…brssshk!

- Marky Mark