Dick? That's an interesting name

It was - remarkably - the 99th birthday last weekend of one of the entertainment world's last great "all-rounders", Mr Dick Van Dyke!

By way of a tribute, I thought I'd treat us to a couple of his classic movie moments:

Dick Van Dyke, Juie Andrews - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Music Box Dance Scene

Proving, however, that you can't keep an old trouper down, despite his venerable age - just released earlier this month is this rather emotional (and unlikely!) collaboration between Dick...

...and Coldplay!

Coldplay - All My Love

The video is lovely. The song? Hmmmm. It's OK, but on the whole, I prefer this!

Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore and Sylvia Lewis - The Doodlin' Song

Happy belated birthday, Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke (born 13th December 1925)!

A price worth paying

Experts have insisted the current lockdown on the UK music scene must continue to prevent a resurgence of awful rubbish which could spread globally.

Despite anxiety about the economic damage caused by the closure of music venues, analysts say it is a price worth paying until a vaccine is developed to prevent upcoming musicians playing total shite.

Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute for Studies said: “We have to recognise the danger that some unlikely, lowest common denominator mediocrity could go viral thanks to the irresponsible attitudes of some music fans.

“Ed Sheeran started playing gigs in Norwich in 2008. With an effective system of local lockdown he could have been stopped from reaching London and the devastating effects of ‘Galway Girl’ would have been prevented altogether.

“Similarly, if suppressed at an early stage we could have avoided Coldplay. Unfortunately it was allowed to flourish unchecked, reaching America and mutating via Gwyneth Paltrow, before going on to spread throughout the world.

“We must be certain that such devastation can never happen again before the British music scene is allowed to resume.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

You want more and you want it fast

When it came to seeing through the morass of musical "Emperor's New Clothes" hype, David Bowie always showed impeccable discernment. From today's Guardian:

[His] list of collaborators reads like a cavalcade of pop-culture power brokers: Madonna, Brian Eno, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, John Lennon and Queen. He also recorded with Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.

Missing from that list? Fellow British act Coldplay, who once contacted Bowie in the hope of collaborating, only to be turned down by the music giant.

The band’s drummer, Will Champion, told NME they had invited Bowie to record vocals on one of their songs. Bowie replied, “It’s not a very good song, is it?”

Coldplay, 0. Bowie, 10.

Speaking of acolytes, however...

Madonna's Tribute to David Bowie

Queen Madge, 10. Coldplay, 0.