From The Perspective of an Outsider

 "Always on the outside,

Of Whatever side there was"

Is a line from Bob Dylan's "Joey" from "Desire" which has always applied to me, and I have just finished the 116 page "taraNtula" and starter "The Outsider" by Albert Camus described by JG Ballard , my favourite author , as one of the most important novels of the twentieth century "A beach murder....blood and sand" so I obviously cant resist that, and this clocks in at 118 pages and I will finish it before Goof Friday is out even though I am a slow reader. 

"The Outsider" is a far easier read that "taraNtula" because it follows a normal narrative rather than teh stream of consciousness outpouring of the Dylan novel, which although short has still taken me the best part of a week to finish. I enjoyed it, as it is anything but a normal reading experience.

"The Outsider" is moving along nicely and is a convenient point on the way to my next book, but is going along nicely and will see it it makes me want to read anything more by Mr Camus.

Today I went for a walk with my daughter Kirsty and granddaughter Alexis and on the way to the town moor I noticed the perspective of buildings that seemed to move from left to right as I walked forward in an apparently straight line. These included the Civic Centre , the RVI, St James' Park and the Freeman Hospital. It's all perfectly natural but still a little disconcerting.

While it's only a small thing it does give me an excuse to share "Perspective" by Peter Gabriel from the "Scratch" album , his second solo outing

Atmospherics

This week I have taken some photographs of mainly St Jame's Park that have come out far better than I expected. Yes my Canon camera has a 25x optical zoom , which goes up to 100x when using the digital zoom, though that is almost impossible to use without a tripod. This is similar to the Sydney Opera House Effect of the Wallsend Cranes from Fenham Hall Drive which you can see here .

St Jame's Park - Newcastle United

Effectively if the atmospherics are right you can actually get a great picture. But you do need a clear ideally sunny or cloudless day and we haven't had too many of those this year, but it is really satisfying when you get images like the one on the right.

I often remark that if you want to take a picture involving atmospherics you have to get it there and then otherwise whatever you are trying to capture will disappear forever.

That has happened so many times to me and sometimes even the time it takes to get your phone out of your pocket means that you lose the moment.

For the first time in my life I have noticed the "Sphere" part of the word "Atmosphere" , basically "Atmos" is from the Greek for vapour and "Sphere" is the ball shape of our planet. "Atmos" is also a Dolby sound system which until today I was unaware of.

I've had at least two time where I have caught "flying saucers" , one being a cloud , the other the sun reflecting off shaped building rooves. , while they are on my Instagram Feed Instagram doesn't allow you to search your own feed for hashtags.

I will update the links if I find the pictures but will leave you with another excuse for this post , one of my favourite Tom Robinson songs "Atmospherics:Listen To The Radio" which I didn't realise was co written by Peter Gabriel..

A Library ...

I've just finished "A Shadow On The Wall" by Jonathan Aycliffe which I wrote about in my last post here and like many of his books, you are just coming down from the relief of everything being resolved ... and then in the last line of the book you realise it might not be.

So I went looking for another book to read and decided on a Daniel Easterman and then noticed "Not The End of The World" by Christopher Brookmyre , which looks interesting and one that I had got from Barter Books in the old Railway Station in Alnwick. The book looks good and I can't remember reading it, again this is possibly my magpie mentality kicking in , buy or acquire and then forget about it.

A sad incident was when my mum gave two sets of impressive Encyclopedias which our family had had for years , to my younger (disowned by me) brother , saying she didn't want any books in the house because she didn't like them. My girls would have loved and used those books, but  sometimes things don't happen as you would want them to. I used them for schoolwork and research although now we generally have the internet which is brilliant if used properly.

I was then thinking , that because of my imperfect memory, I probably don't have to buy another book ever, there are some which I had forgotten about and many that I  remember which I want to revisit, I'm thinking "The Adversary" series by F Paul Wilson , six books starting with "The Keep" and finishing with "Nightworld" , plus various William Hope Hodgson , and these are all books I have.

Although there are bookcases round the house , effectively this is a small personal library, and the do look good but book are there to be read or referred to , but I often see people's books and big libraries and think "Have these books been read, or are they just there for show?" , and I know not all of mine have been read and I have slightly shifted my perspective to discover what I already know that I have.

I think everywhere should have physical books although I now put the bigger tomes on my Kindle as it's easier to read them that way , essentially five hundred pages or less , physical book , over that Kindle. There is a complete HP Lovecraft collection on Kindle for 75p here although for some reason individual books are more expensive.

Going off on a tangent I'm going to share a live take of the beautiful "Book of Love" by Stephen Merritt , but here's the Magnetic Fields take and a Peter Gabriel take from "Scratch My Back" which is stunning.

Streams

On twitter I keep seeing a poll for what is the best streaming app, Spotify , Amazon or Apple Music (or whatever it's called this week). There are lots of other similar more genre specific apps like Pandora, and people often want to share their Spotify playlists with me.

I don't do Spotify or any other music streaming service. Someone makes a lot of money from streaming and, unless you're Ed Sheeran or Adele, it's not  the artist. Daft Punk's "Random Access Memory" was the biggest selling album of that year and they made about £13K from streaming which might have paid for a lunch break.

People often like the "if you like that you'll like this" option, but that is so open to abuse, and let's face it payola has been around since records were first sold.

Most people listen on mobile devices and the unseen cost for that is streaming uses data, so if you are not on free or unlimited wifi you network provider can start coining it.

Also if you expect your streaming service why not listen to a radio station and trusted DJs and shows. The last I heard artists got paid £50 if their song is played on the radio. I don't know if it's the same now or the same on all stations but it's a damned sight better than streaming rates.

Also given that often today's youth can't listen to more than 20 seconds of a song how do you remunerate for part streams? Many years ago Peter Gabriel was involved with a company call "WE" who's plan was to set of a system where you paid a nominal small fee to listen to a song. I objected to this as if I like music I want to buy a single or album and play it in perpetuity.

Youtube seems to be OK, it's generally free with on ads, and I don't hear artists complaining about it so they must be getting adequate recompense or you would see music being continually pulled. However video uses a lot more data than music does so this can be another money spinner for mobile phone companies.

I done several posts related to this (click on the first Spotify link to see) but this is my own history of recorded music and this talks on how music should be rewarded.

Last week I heard Sam Fender for the first time, yesterday I ordered his debut album and this is about how I heard it on the radio.

If streaming is your bag that's fine but I will stay with radio, visiting record shops , gigs and enjoying music I buy.

Did Digital Nearly Kill Music ... And is Vinyl Bringing It Back To Life?

Three years back I wrote a history of music media in a post here, and at the weekend I nipped into Vinyl Guru and got talking with the lady in there about how when you buy vinyl you feel you have actually got something. You have sleeves, booklets and picture discs. I'm sure I did a post that said CDs were the McDonaldisation of music, all of a sudden you could skip songs , program the order , and the CD jewel cases are not something that look good, though they are very functional.

MP3 became even more dismissive of musical content, and a lot of the iPod generation can't even listen to a full song. When you wanted to record a tape for someone it had to be done in real time, even from CD, but now it's all Spotify and Deezer playlists which, lets face it can be done in thirty seconds, although a well done one can take time to put together.

These days I see a lot more people browsing the vinyl sections of shops and Newcastle now has a lot of shops where you can buy vinyl and this post has a list of them. One thing is there don't seem to be that many impressive covers such as Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" newspaper cover, or Hawkwind's "In Search Of Space", although "Space Ritual" is a available in it's full six square foot fold out. I was in Reflex and noticed  "Faust Tapes" was £25, when I bought the original release it was 49p !

Vinyl provides more than just music, and the shops often provide coffee and food while you browse. People still complain about the cost of music, but remember if albums had kept pace with inflation you would be paying £80 for an album.

When I was in Vinyl Guru I spotted a 12" copy of Biko by Peter Gabriel, which I mainly wanted for the "B" side "Shosholoza" which I don't think is officially available digitally, but I found this lovely rendition of it for you to enjoy.

Seven By Seven

It's the seventh day or the seventh month and England are in th elasteight or the World Cup Finals where all the media darlings have been unceremoniously dumped out  leaving a wide open competition.

Keeping on the seven theme Preston North End put seven past  Bamber Bridge in their first pre season friendly and setting an example for England to follow, hopefully.

The heat is still on and it is showing no signs of abating.

I've been listening to a couple of albums and for a compilation Primal Scream's "Dirty Hits" is both eclectic and impressive and they're a band who have demonstrated they have Rolling Stones style longevity and "Rocks" could actually be a Rolling Stones song coming close to "Rocks Off" from "Exile on Main Street".

Then I revisited Genesis' "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" which is a remarkably coherent album of a dream of Peter Gabriel's which has the full libretto on the album's sleeve, but you really need the vinyl copy to be able to read it. A remarkable number of songs have a single one note heavy bass line I think produced by bass pedals, and some remarkable keyboard solos on "Riding The Scree" and "In The Cage", and The Slipperman are an incredibly worrying creation. Well worth searching out the video on line or just buying a copy of the album to hear the story of Rael and his brother John who continually screws up the situation.

Right I'm going to watch England play Sweden.

 

 

#TenAlbumsInTenDays #10 - IV (Mask/Security) - Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel's first four albums were effectively untitled concieved as a magazine format, but society always needs to identify and compartmentalise. This was his last album before hitting paydirt with "So" and the mood is dark, African influenced but more Burundi drums and desert woodwind than Paul Simon's "Graceland" jit.

From the opener "Rhythm of The Heat"  through to the single "Shock The Monkey" the abum is definitely dark and full of foreboding but highly listenable featiuring the Fairlight and avid Rhodes' crackling guitar. The album is mostly electronic and smapled with guests appearing on percussion and backing vocals.

The final three songs are more reflective but complemet the openening sequence perfectly.

This is the closer for my #TenAlbumsInTenDays but I will start another sequnce next Saturday as I had a second invite, but I will be on holiday with no computer access for a change , just like the pre millenium days.

There are so many albums that are worth listening to and this is another one of those. It is playing as I  pen this post, and is still as impressive now as when it was released in 1982,  thirty six years ago.

Big Blue Ball

I am quite surprised that I have managed to hit my step target for February. 10K steps a day til the end of the month would see me well past the mark. There have been a few bitingly cold days where I have been forced to take the bus but most days I have passed the 12,250 mark that I set my self.

I picked out a Peter Gabriel collaboration album called Big Blue Ball that he recorded with numerous artists between 1991 and 1995 over three weeks at the Real World Studios and finally mixed and released in 2008.  The Wiki page is here.

I picked it up digitally when I subscribed the Emusic when they had an excellent subscription model. They are still going but their model became too corporate for me but I am glad they are still going.

The album opens with  "Whole Thing" with Peter Gabriel leading the voclals and closes with the title track, taking in middle eastern and celtic resonances on the songs and pieces. I left you with the titles song but they are all on youtube, but if you want to buy the album it's here. Further information is available on the official Real World site here

Below is the story (part one) if you want to investigate further.

Incidentally this post will take my blog post page views over 150K views in the eleven years I have been posting.

There's Nothing On TV

That is a line I hear almost daily. I do find it amazing how narrow mindedness actually seems to stop people from knowing about things (though I suppose sales of The Sun and Daily Mail and Election Results in the UK and UK mean that I should be surprised). I've been denigrated because I don't watch Top Gear, Eastenders of Coronation Street and because I watch BBC2 and 4 (and a bit of 3) , Channel 4, More 4 and Sky Arts. But I suppose it's each to their own, and if you don't want to stray from your own chosen TV path then that's fine but don't complain about it.

The weather today has been warmer and the snow has gone, but tonight ther was a frost as the temperatures started to drop again. The good thing was that I got to walk into work , even though it was dark and cold (the walk not work) so I am keeping up my required steps. As we move towards the shortest day I'm not even getting to see a sunrise or sunset, but again that's just nature, in winter the days are shorter and we get Christmas Day just when the days start to lengthen.

One benefit of my Emopeak headphones is that as well as sounding excellent and being wireless, in cold weather they keep your ears very warm as well as maintaing a decent bass sound.

One of the albums I've been listening to is Genesis "Extra Tracks 1970-5" (part of a boxed set that will set you back a few hundred quid these days) which just confirms that Genesis virtually lost their way when Steve Hackett left. Gabriel's departure was a major blow but commercially benefitted the band, though having said that they really started coining after Hackett's departure, but artistically they missed more than hit after that. Typicall example are the songs from the "Spot The Pigeon" EP , "Pigeons" is awful, "Match of the Day" musically good lyrically awful , and "Inside and Out" is a piece of totally brilliance so I will leave you with that one.

Thirteen Ways To Kill A Poet

This is not about "Thirteen Ways To Kill A Poet" but it's another thing that leapt out at me while ready "David Bowie: A Life" by Dylan Jones. It was an idea for a film that Martin Scorses had, to get thirteen directors to direct sections of a film with that title. He had in mind Terry Gilliam (my favourite director), Wim Wenders and David Bowie (due to stuff like "Ashes To Ashes" and other Bowie videos) but Scorsese due to timings and availability was unable to make it happen, so it remained a dream project.

I also discovered that Duncan Jones (aka Zowie Bowie and director responsible for two of my favourite science fiction films of the last ten years "Moon" and "Source Code") worked on building the puppets for Labyrinth. David had tried to get him to learn a musical instrument saxophone or guitar, but Duncan was always more interested in film.

One of the reasons to read, you can always discover fascinating facts about people who interest you.

Yesterday on my walk to work I put on Genesis' "Selling England By The Pound". I suppose that has been the Tory policy for the UK since I've been aware of politics. Genesis at the time were the acceptable face of progressive rock, but parts of this have not dated that well although overall it is still at excellent album. "The Battle of Epping Forest" was the epic centrepiece to the album but suffers from some sub "Carry On" character humour. Peter Gabriel using the song for several characters , some right down embarrassing now, though OK at the time.

The album is bookended between the gentle but strangely eerie "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" and the list of supermarket names for "Aisle of Plenty" a beautiful coda but the lyrics while sort of clever do grate a bit.

It feature's Phil Collins debut Genesis vocal on "More Fool Me" which closes side one, and his similarity to Peter Gabriel is similar to the Roger Daltrey / Pete Townshend situation in the Who, the vocalists start to sound like each other.

"The Battle of Epping Forest" is followed by what I originally regarted as a throwawy instrumental "After The Ordeal" but that turns out to be an impressive pice, next up is "The Cinema Show" eleven minutes which doesn't start well with some very twee lyrical play but it builds into another brilliant instrumental tour de force.

After the quiet intro "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" it develops with a particularly vicious riff before drifting into the single "I Know What I Like" in which Gabriel hit's us with a West Country accent, but this is controlled and results in an excellent song. "Firth of Fifth" is essentially a nine minute piano driven piece which is one of the high points of the album.

So I'll leave you with a live take of the opening song, enjoy your Tuesday.

Early To Bed

"Early To Bed

Early To Rise

Makes A Man 

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise"

That's probably a maxim for the mill owners to get their workers in early. It certainly doesn't apply now. People are expected to work harder and longer for less and the status quo is maintained. It's not like there isn't any money about , there is. At the cash machine I see people withdrawing hundreds as I usually take ten or twenty , or sometimes fifty.

But life isn't really about money it's about having fun and socialising , though money does help you to do that. Anyway I actually am sleepy and intend to have a good night's sleep before walking to work tomorrow listening to Primal Scream and maybe Kate Tempest , "Let Them Eat Chaos" is a wonderful album.

Anyway it's time for sleep and what should we have to go to sleep to? What better than "When You're Falling" by Afro Celt Sound System with Peter Gabriel, sort of perfect. Good Night everybody.

Hot Stuff and No Jazz

I'm talking about the weather. This is summer. It's hot. Walking over parks and fields is great. It sets you up for the day. It lifts your spirits before you hit the often mundanity of the daily drudge of work or whatever.

It's a day for drinking cold stuff, and not really putting a lot of effort into anything but relaxing.

I'm wanting to do things, but feeling absolutely drained. I managed to watch a TED talk on feminism (here) while walking home, dangerous I know, but I didn't walk into any lamp posts or in front of any cars, and gained a few new insights into why we should all be feminists ( you don't have to be a woman).

I'm really wondering whether to take a cold shower , just to cool down before I hit bed. Maybe I will and maybe I won't. Again it's that personal laziness setting in, but who knows , I'm writing this with no shirt on and the window open to keep a little cooler.

So currently listening to Iggy Pop on 6Music who is playing a lot of Charles Mingus, but I won't treat you to any of that jazz. If you like jazz you will have some Mingus, if not you wont.

Wondering what to play and I came upon an illustrated version of "Supper's Ready" by Genesis from the album "Foxtrot" , when Peter Gabriel was upfront and Phil Collins proving what a great drummer he was , and still is. It is very English, probably influenced by Lewis Carrol among others. This clocks in at 23 minutes, and is one of the few pieces that took up virtually  a side of vinyl that I am always happy to listen to from start to finish, though possibly my favourite bit kicks in about six and a half minutes in with some wonderful keyboard and guitar sequences from Tony Banks and Steve Hackett. It is up there with "Close To The Edge" by Yes, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van Der Graaf Generator and "Echoes" by Pink Floyd.

Anyway enjoy it and check out the other pieces too.

Sleep well my friends.

The First of A Million Steps

Tomorrow is May Day, The first of May and tomorrow I embark on a Million Step Challenge. That's a million steps in three months taking me through to the end of July. To do this I need to average 11.5K steps a day, so that's nearly two hours a day walking.  That is not a major challenge really apart from the fact that today I ran for a bus and have pulled a muscle possibly , somewhere round my hip region. If I don't move , it doesn't hurt, but to continue the step challenge , I have to move (obviously). I have 4K steps to complete today to do my first month in years of more than 10K a day , and hopefully hit the average that I will need to maintain over the next three months.

I know I don't HAVE to do this, but I want to do this. Today I managed my ten thousand steps, but intended to do the last four thousand downhill past Hadrian's Wall and through Denton Burn. That all went well but I intended to get the bus back , but that didn't turn up. Twenty minutes after it should have been there I started walking back ... and then it flies past me. If I was paranoid I'd think the bus driver was waiting for me to set off. The major thing is I got the steps done, and I am in a good position to start the Million Step Challenge.

The other thing is my phone is playing up and that is what I use to measure my steps. I have a feeling the problem is the battery, but the replacement battery doesn't seem to work at all, so hopefully that will get resolved soon.

Sorry if all this seem negative and mundane, you know I don't like to be either of those, but tomorrow is a good way to start the week , with a day not going to work , because it's the May Day Bank Holiday.

I'll leave you with the excellent "Genesis" by Grimes, which I haven't heard for a while but when I first heard it, I went out and bought the album. Take a listen and enjoy my friends. Then for some reason on the same page, one of my favourite singers Peter Gabriel covering the song that got me into Tom Waits "In The Neighborhood" . I'm not sure if this is available on an album (it is here), but check it out and then check out the original (on "Swordfishtrombones")

Right , it's Sunday, the weather is beautiful, go out and enjoy yourself.

Beatifully Southern - #ALifeInNumbers #37

Unbelievably there were a few options for "37" including "37½" from Soft Machine "6" , "37 Hours" by Kristin Hersh and "We Do What We're Told (milgram's 37)s" from "So" by Peter Gabriel, but I decided to go for "Straight In At 37" by The Beautiful South as I have always loved their playfully subversive pleasantness.

I had a far better night last night than the night before , sleeping well but finally throwing off (well almost) this cold. For the first time in a long time time I had a smoothie which included frozen blueberries from Aldi , you can see me making it here. So I definitely think that helped along with the drugs.

Have a great Thursday everybody, the weekend is getting nearer.

Counting Down With Polly Jean #ALifeInNumbers #14

14 is the first time I couldn't off hand think of a song so checked out my collection and there aren't all that many songs hiding in there. I decided to go with "Sixteen,Fifteen,Fourteen" by PJ Harvey and John Parrish from the album "A Woman A Man Walked By" which incidentally I was playing earlier today.

There were a few others , "The 14th of February" by Billy Bragg, "14 Black Paintings" by Peter Gabriel and 14 Days by Nick Lowe as well as various numbered Classical pieces, but the PJ Harvey one was the standout for me.

Polly Jean Harvey is one of my all time favourite artists and she was a great friend of Captain Beefheart who she would speak to about her albums and projects to get his opinions and advice.

My cold is still annoying me but hopefully it will improve in time for work tomorrow. I have had chocolate and that has soothed my throat no end.

Anyway that is my fourth post today, I don't know if that's a record for me, but this will be my last today.

Enjoy your Sunday evening and I hope you have a great start to a wonderful week.

Connected Disconnection - Talking To Strangers

A thought just came to me, well it's come to me many times , and to others. I'm one of the people who uses public transport rather than having my own car. However when you are on public transport everyone is just scanning their phones, even when they are with friends. Sometimes this is a good thing, it ,means you can get information about what's happening in the world, you can even phone a friend, but you will often see friends together ignoring each other because of their phones.

The mobile phone is effectively a personal computer and connects us to each other and to news streams, but sometimes they do stop us from engaging with our friends and definitely from engaging with strangers. You wouldn't interrupt someone you didn't know if they were engaged with their device.

Come Talk To Me

I've used the excellent "Come Talk To Me" by Peter Gabriel from "Secret World" before, but we should all  engage and talk to each other much more, it makes life so much more fulfilling and enjoyable.


I do like meeting new people, even if it's just for the duration of a bus or train journey, sometimes you make great connections that lasts beyond the initial meeting , sometimes it just makes the journey fly by , usually both. This TED talk here demonstrates the joys to be found from taking that step:




Anyway have a wonderful day and enjoy this

I Keep Forgetting

,br> I was just checking my blog and this post a bout the potential closure of Newcastle City Hall here, had been getting a lot of attention. I don't know who from but it's the third most read this week. I also missed the Dictators on Wednesday and Chase Park Festival today (here is my review from last year) , I have been amazingly remiss in my gig planning.

These days pessimists will start talking about Alzheimers , but the reality is that we all forget things, we remember things for no reason and some stuff becomes buried deep , so deep we don't know it's there.

One of the reasons I keep this blog , is the same as keeping a diary , except this is online and anyone can see it, and because of that people look at things that I had forgotten about and causes me to remember and revisit. Sometimes I remember that I had recorded something and then search the blog to find it. It really is a useful tool.

My memory has always been strange . When I did Law and English Literature I could remember all about cases but not the names of cases , and I knew what happened in plays but could never remember any quotations. I usually don't know how to do things but I do know where to look to find out how to do things.

So anyway I thought I would just share that with you and you could always do a random search of this blog , you never know what you might find.....even I don't know exactly what I will find ... and I'm the one who wrote the damned thing.

Der Blaue Engel

I've chosen a re-edit of Robert Wyatt's Memories spliced with the finale to The Blue Angel , and that has led me to a whole new treasure trove of discovery

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Oh and below is Robert Wyatt's take on Peter Gabriel's Biko , and I just love it, one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard and although it sound slight at first , it works it's waky into your psyche . I love Robert Wyatt... and this one of the discoveries that I mentioned.

Ignore Boundaries #24 - 1980 - Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers

Very often people , especially in work , and especially when things aren't going perfectly will tell you to "Think Outside The Box"  , use "Agile Methodologies" and any other buzzwords that happen to be flavour of the day. I remember of the manager who asked to see if we could get training and courses on JFDI as it seemed to often get good results . The same manager after after a training course told me when I suggested a soloutin that at the the time he though I was a f*cking idiot as my idea was so off course, but he then said he realised that mine was the only solution that would actually work , and it wasn't the solution the course runners had in mind.

It's just when things seem impossible , or the odds are stacked against you , you probably have it in yourself to find an answer however unexpected it may be , just never give up . Giving up is the killer, believe that success , and what you are looking for will come to you.

Speak No Evil

Love Peter Gabriel , who walked out of Genesis when they had just produced what was their most ambitious album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and struck out on his own , starting WOMAD and Real World nearly going bankrupt and now doing alright for himself producing incredible music and commanding respect, so that''s why I chose "Games Without Frontiers" , and this was one of the most difficult choices I've made so far and I#m hardly half way through my musical journey.



Anyway have a wonderful Saturday everyone , Good Things are About To Happen

Just Keep Talking .... Dont Keep It Hidden

This is really difficult. That i snot in a bad way , but someone has inspired this post and I can't say anything about who she is or what caused this but it is not anything bad or worrying, There's a new girl in the office , but turns out she has been with the company for sometime. Continuing my modus operandi of talking to everyone about anything I asked her name and she showed me her pass and said it was very unusual .

I countered with well yes it is , but I am very familiar with that name as he has a composer credit on of my all time favourite albums, now over 40 years old . She came back with yes that's my uncle and he played on that album and the hit single as well.

That's as far as I can take it. The rest is secret as I can't betray confidences, well I wouldn't say anything without permission. People could probably work it out but I don't think they will.

Anyway as I'm keeping it a secret then we can have Peter Gabriel's Secret World on here.

You Can Share

But again talk to someone , it will do you both lots of good . I have lots of meets lined up this week to talk with friends I don't see all that often , and to help some friends in their pursuit of something special. I hope you can do the same my friends

If you want to share do it, if you are hurting let a friend help , we can add our strength to yours.

So for sounding new age but I love all my friends

We Should Talk To Each Other More .... Much More

I want to do a TED talk based on this idea , that we should talk to each other more , even if it seems irrelevant or trivial  I will do it soon have it ready to submit when they are looking for speakers.

Very often if we don't talk , especially if things aren't going well , things seem to get darker, some times you can't do things on your own and you need a helping hand.

A while agao the was a lovely shop called Cake in Newcastle , and one day it wasn't there. I lost touch with the owner , a totally lovely girl, and as you know I don't take losing friends lightly , especially if they may  be experiencing hardship.

On Friday I was chatting with people at work about the fact it's my birthday  and I may get cake from Pet Lamb , and said that I had been upset when Cake shut. The girl I was speaking to said she knew the proprietress and is going to get her details for me. She has probably forgotten me but it would be nice to be in touch again.

Talk To Me

The thing is I suppose I am a devil for not asking for emotional support when I need it but I make sure I am always there for others, but writing this has lifted my mood, and today has been a great day seeing friends and chatting with them and the more I think I about what has happened today the better I feel. I do have people I can talk to , and recently our head of finance threatened me with a severe talking to if , as expected , my presentation over ran it's allotted three minutes.

So please talk to someone , even if you don't feel you need to , you may find something useful , you may feel better , you may make them feel better. Just do it.

There's only one song for this isn't there , it's this.