Ray Davies watched the O2 concert on TV !

[KEVIN]

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=317506

"I was just another body brought in on a gurney," says Ray Davies of his experience at a New Orleans hospital after being shot in the leg. In town to record his first solo record, Davies was leaving the French Quarter after dinner when muggers attempted to snatch his girlfriend's purse. The 61-year-old former lead singer of the Kinks gave chase -- and recording sessions for 2004's Other People's Lives were abruptly brought to an end.

"They called me 'unknown purple' because that's the way they identify bodies on a stretcher, by their wrist band," says Davies, who left England in 1997, sensing his country's demise in a newly-elected Tony Blair. "The hospital they took me to was a very poor place and felt deeply American. Like that line in the first Sopranos episode, 'I feel like I'm at the end of something,' that's how I felt -- and maybe what I was looking for in these tunes."

The half-written tunes that weren't finished for his last record, a surprise top-20 hit in the U.K., are now on Working Man's Cafe, Davies second solo album, out today. Featuring a brass band and swinging percussion section, the album nevertheless has a stripped-down, countrified feel and a working-class resentment of a government that can't keep its cities afloat. (He points fingers at KofiAnnan and the National Guard, but he seems pissed off at the ineffectual in general).

"In a strange way it's a modern-day western," says Davies, who recorded the 12 new tracks last year in Nashville. "I was writing in the spirit of the Old West heroes -- that sense of 'it didn't work there and it won't work here, but maybe it's going to work somewhere else.' I grew up on American heroes and villains and cowboys, and in America, to a certain extent, I still look to write about that today."

Davies has been an enormously influential writer since the Kinks helped usher in the British invasion with their debut record in 1964. After releasing 28 studio albums, his famously tumultuous relationship with his guitar-playing brother -- which once led him to the brink of drug-induced suicide after announcing the dissolution of the group from the stage -- eventually sank the band.

"If the Kinks started out now, we'd probably be a garage band on tour," Davies says, and admits to still feeling strange in the studio with session musicians. Currently in touch with founding bandmates Mick Avery and Pete Quaife, he's even reconciled with his brother Dave, who was felled by a stroke in 2004.

"He's on the mend now and making new tracks from home," Davies says almost proudly, adding that watching the Led Zeppelin reunion on television in December made him wistful about reuniting the group.

"The Kinks are the only original band that are still all with us," he says. "Keith Moon is gone and John Bonham. I'm still sometimes waiting for the phone call from our manager that says the Kinks are about to start a new tour."

Davies says he has friends in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary and that if the Kinks ever do reunite, he would play all of the group's hits in those cities because they never had a proper Canadian tour. He's not even ruling out another album of original Kinks material. However, for now, he's just looking forward to taking the new record on the road.

"Laid up there in the hospital, I thought about all the lost souls lying there with me just dreaming of looking up to the sun," he says. "When I think of all these songs I've recorded, all the characters -- the heroes and villains and cowboys -- I think, 's---, maybe they're me.'"

[SteveAJones]

I was in the French Quarter last October. It's held up very well in the post-Hurricane Katrina aftermath but the surrounding areas are still decimated. There are a lot of

poor, desperate people to be found in addition to common thieves and muggers. I

wish Ray Davies good health and continued success with his album.

[FireOpal]

I'm glad to hear Dave Davies is doing better.

I wonder why the interviewer didn't ask Ray to elaborate on this head-scratcher:

"Davies, who left England in 1997, sensing his country's demise in a newly-elected Tony Blair..." Huh? As I remember, Britain was very optimistic when Blair came into office. Why would Ray think it was a sign of the country's demise? Maybe he's trying to play the "I knew it would end badly" seer.

[KEVIN]

He's on the mend now and making new tracks from home," Davies says almost proudly, adding that watching the Led Zeppelin reunion on television in December made him wistful about reuniting the group.

How did he watch on tv? Did he have a private channel? How come noone else saw the show on TV?

[SteveAJones]

Why would Ray think it was a sign of the country's demise? Maybe he's trying to play the "I knew it would end badly" seer.

It's impossible to say based solely on the article provided but it's clear he cites it as the reason he did elect to leave England.

[SteveAJones]

How did he watch on tv? Did he have a private channel? How come noone else saw the show on TV?

Presumably he saw tv news reports of the Led Zeppelin reunion, not the reunion itself.

[KEVIN]

I was in the French Quarter last October. It's held up very well in the post-Hurricane Katrina aftermath but the surrounding areas are still decimated. There are a lot of

poor, desperate people to be found in addition to common thieves and muggers. I

wish Ray Davies good health and continued success with his album.

The French Quarter was all New Orlean was in the 17 and 18 hundreds. Most that was destroyed during Katrina was swamp before the 1920's. Man's attemp to conoure Nature is what caused the destruction and becouse governemt officals realize now the problems building below sea-level is a big reason whay the city has'nt been rebuilt faster.

[Knebby]

I'm glad to hear Dave Davies is doing better.

I wonder why the interviewer didn't ask Ray to elaborate on this head-scratcher:

"Davies, who left England in 1997, sensing his country's demise in a newly-elected Tony Blair..." Huh? As I remember, Britain was very optimistic when Blair came into office. Why would Ray think it was a sign of the country's demise? Maybe he's trying to play the "I knew it would end badly" seer.

Hi FireOpal - well from a personal standpoint, I don't remember this optimism you speak of. I don't remember anyone I know being optimistic about Blair - I certainly wasn't. So I think Davies could easily be totally genuine here.

[FireOpal]

Hi FireOpal - well from a personal standpoint, I don't remember this optimism you speak of. I don't remember anyone I know being optimistic about Blair - I certainly wasn't. So I think Davies could easily be totally genuine here.

Ah, OK. I'm an American, and the news reports here always made it seem like a "Tony Blair elected in a landslide, everyone is jubilant!" kind of thing. I remember the video footage of him at dawn, greeting the crowds of well-wishers. Heck, even the guys in Oasis wanted to hang out with Blair

[Mattmc1973]

Heck, even the guys in Oasis wanted to hang out with Blair

Yeah, but they're a couple of twats...well, at least Liam is.

[Dzldoc]

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=317506

"I was just another body brought in on a gurney," says Ray Davies of his experience at a New Orleans hospital after being shot in the leg. In town to record his first solo record, Davies was leaving the French Quarter after dinner when muggers attempted to snatch his girlfriend's purse. The 61-year-old former lead singer of the Kinks gave chase -- and recording sessions for 2004's Other People's Lives were abruptly brought to an end.

"They called me 'unknown purple' because that's the way they identify bodies on a stretcher, by their wrist band," says Davies, who left England in 1997, sensing his country's demise in a newly-elected Tony Blair. "The hospital they took me to was a very poor place and felt deeply American. Like that line in the first Sopranos episode, 'I feel like I'm at the end of something,' that's how I felt -- and maybe what I was looking for in these tunes." "Laid up there in the hospital, I thought about all the lost souls lying there with me just dreaming of looking up to the sun," he says. "When I think of all these songs I've recorded, all the characters -- the heroes and villains and cowboys -- I think, 's---, maybe they're me.'"

The hostpital he was taken to was charity hospital, that's where they take the trauma patients. "Lost souls" = Gang Bangers,Druggies,thugs and tourists.

It was flooded during Katrina and has never reopened.

By the way, he didn't show up for a court appearence to testify against the guy that shot him so he was set free. So now we have one more thug running loose in our backyards.

Thanks Ray.