666

I've just passed page 666 in "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" and was expecting something apocalyptic or at least interesting , but barring Moses crossing the Red Sea there wasn't too much out of the ordinary barring a reanimated Nazi army rising from the bottom of a lake near a rock festival close to Ingolstadt which is fairly normal for that book.

I can only think of two other books that I've read have a page 666 that's "Imajica" and "Lord of The Rings"  and maybe of of Michael Moorcock's Corum collections. I suppose The Bible and Quran also have one.

666 is defined as "The Number of The Beast" and features in many biblical and occult writings and films. as well as being an upside down 999. Aleister Crowley modelled himself as The Great Beast and many metal bands such as Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden , and jazz artists such as Graham Bond tapped into his legacy.

I remember visiting a youth club as a teenager and we brought records and one guy brought the "banned" "666" by Aphrodite's Child (featuring Vangelis and Demis Roussos" and I was well impressed with a lot of the album and have a copy in by collection. "Babylon" and "The Four Horsemen" are well worth tracking down. Click on the name for Youtube links. But we'll go with the more obvious Iron Maiden rampage on this Saturday morning.

The Six Teens - #ALifeInNumbers #6

I'm still trusting to my head and memory to supply me with songs for this chain, and while the numbers so far have given me a choice but the number 6 has only really thrown up one song, The Sweet's Six Teens. There are lot's of songs that mention the number Six Six Six such as Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast or Suppers Ready by Genesis, and Aphrodite's Child had an album called 666. No doubt lots of bands will have an album called six and as a kid all my friends smoked Number Six cigarettes. I bought a packet of Number Tens tried one, got half way through and gave my mate the packet, so I was lucky enough to never get into smoking, which unbelievably when I moved up to Newcastle led to some serious criticism from acquaintances.

The Six Teens is a perfect example of Glam Metal Pop with a killer chorus as great metal guitar. It's quite amazing still , the number of people who don't rate the Sweet when they produced amazing songs like this, Ballroom Blitz , Blockbuster and their finest single Action. Sweet FA is six minutes that if you play the instrumental parts to people, they'll say it's Deep Purple, and then will either listen more or go off in a huff.

Anyway give this a listen and if you don't know The Sweet get a "Best Of" and give them a real listen, especially if you are a die hard Heavy Metal fan.

Anyway have a brilliant Wednesday my friends.

Easter and Seventies Rock

Well there goes the Easter break and it was rather good. Mine started early on Thursday with my youngest daughter's amazing wedding which was just a totally brilliant day , lots of smiling faces , happiness and me renewing long lost friendships.

Maiden Beer Mats

Over the weekend I picked up a copy of Classic Rock magazine because it had some Iron Maiden Beermats and a "Top 100 Rock Albums of The 70s". 

There is a hell of a lot I don't rate such as Aerosmith , I still don't get them , a sort of watered down ersatz Rolling Stones , "Walk This Way" was good and "Living On The Edge" but that's about it , sort of a bit better than Grand Funk Railroad who , thank God ,  we don't hear much.







Powerage by AC/DC was their number one seventies rock album , which I can't disagree with . AC/DC amaze me because every album is virtually the same , every song is virtually the same (have they ever done a ballad? ) but they manage to sound brilliant. I see parallels with Status Quo , who then tried to change their sound (Beach Boys collaboration what a car crash that was) , then recently they went back to basics and started to sound good again.

Anyway this is a short post and an excuse to include "Seventies Rock Must Die " by Lard

K.I.S.S.

I think it's an acronym. Keep It Short and Simple. It's the way I've tried to live my life. Trying to keep things as simple as possible , so that I stand a chance of understanding them. A primary school teacher once told me that a genius was a person who could see and explain things in the simplest terms.

I always use this analogy when try trying to argue that even the most complicated thinks can be reduced to a simple construction. The most complex Lego creations are still just a series of little bricks which can be rearranged into any shape you desire, and that's most complex things you can imagine are just a huge combination of simple things.

The computer or smartphone you are using to view this is just a huge collection of zeroes and ones, binary switches, on / off gates that are added together to show you the most amazing things.

Anyway  keep things simple and you can keep them in check and make sure the do what you want them to do. It's time for bed for me so I am going to sleep

Keep It Wicca

Also an excuse to have Iron Maiden's The Wicker Man in Lego , five years in the making and it;s just lego. But a good song referencing a truly great film , featuring Christopher Lee in one of his favourite rols

Missing Things

I often want to post things when my post reaches a significant number, but I've just missed by 666th post and this is number 668.I've been absolutely shattered this week and am looking forward to a weekend to unwind hopefully.

I'm well aware that I haven't blogged for a couple of days and have been pointed in the direction of this blog which is most amusing , it's called French Yummy Mummy and think that anyone with a sense of humour and a modicum of intelligence will enjoy it. I certainly did.

Anyway I think I'll just post the Iron Maiden song , two posts too late. Enjoy and have a brilliant weekend

Life is just a TLA and Iron Maiden

It's the sixth of June already. We're half way through 2013. Another work day. And need a piece of music for today's June's Tunes. It's funny how sunny weather is quite uplifting but when it's grey you can easily feel down . It that what they call SAD (Seasonal Affected Disorder) . Yesterday I was told I may have had a TIA , and the doctor spoke as though I should have known what he meant . It's a sort of mini - stroke that leaves little or no trace barring the damage it does. So in theory you could have one and not be aware of it. TIA stands for Transient Ischaemic Attack which would have disturbed me even more if he'd come out with that !

Still it's just another TLA (Three Letter Acronym) , anyway here's today's tune ,ad it's the sixth we'll go for Iron Maiden's 666 - The Number Of The Beast:


   

Oh by the way Maiden England are playing The Doll at The Black Bull soon . Check here for details.

How Big Can A Tribute Be?

Just seen a couple of tributes listed coming to thw O2 Academy in Newcastle , Cash (Johnny Cash) and The Rising (Bruce Springsteen). It's only a few years back I was seeing Benwell Floyd at the Archer in Sandyford , but now The Australian Pink Floyd Show (no relation) are teh biggest tribute band in the world , lugging along with them Pink Floyd's official light show adapted for the Antipodeans.

With bands like Limehouse Lizzy , Black Rose  , Maiden England and Powerage (AC/DC)  , I wonder how long before one of these outdo the band that they are paying tribute to!!!