Menshevik Misprint

Further to my recent post on Julius Martov and the Sexy Mistakes, Daniel from the band has got in touch to thank me for the kind words, but also to politely decline my offer to manage the band.

I think I may have scuppered my chances of becoming the next Simon Fuller when I sent them ten sheets of blank paper in an email attachment, and asked the band members to sign and initial at the bottom of each page. It was either that or my inisistence that, if they signed with me, the debut album had to be entitled 'Pavel Axelrod's Coming Home', and that the sleeve notes for the album were to be written by the editorial committee of the Socialist Standard.

Daniel also had to break the news to me that I had totally misheard the lyric to their song 'Frometa', thus rendering my deciphering of the lyric as totally meaningless. (My words, not his.)

It turns out that it isn't Salma Hayek who is their favourite actress in the lyric, but Zelda Harris of Spike Lee's Crooklyn. Therefore, the following excerpt from my original post: "I'm guessing that with mention of Hayek, who played Frida Kahlo, and the cryptic references in the lyric to Bauhaus and Cubism that the Frometa of the title is this painter. Looks like somebody's doing an Art History course in college . . . " is total bollocks*. However, I will say in mitigation that the lovely Ms Hayek had appeared on Oprah just a couple of days before, and this may have contributed to her being in the *cough* forefront of my mind at the time of listening to the song. And how was I to know that there's an actress called Zelda Harris? Every time I suggest to Kara that we watch Crooklyn when it plays on the IFC Channel, she does her best Roger Ebert impersonation, with the words: "I've seen it; it's crap".

If only I had gone with my original instincts, I wouldn't now be left with egg on my face and my credibility shot to bits. When I first heard the song, I was confused by what I thought was the line: "Salma Hayek, my favourite actress, a lot younger than us." I mean, according to imdb, Salma Hayek has just turned forty this month. How could she be a "lot younger than us"? But I pushed the doubt aside with the rationalisation that the bass player must be the lyricist for the band. I won't make that mistake again, I won't be fooled again.

*I was half right with the suggestion that was someone in the band must be doing an Art History course at college. The half being, Daniel is studying History at college.