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.

A Bit of ABBA on the Side

Last night I went to a screening of "Mamma Mia" organised by Angie and part of Andrew and Glen's pre wedding celebrations at The Side Cinema. I'm not a huge fan of musicals (my favourite is South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut) but this was not a screening it was an event.

There was copious drink, and everyone had a great time socialising and creating a wonderful atmosphere, with a pre "Mamma Mia" film of Andrew and Glen falling of bikes and general going round the world. This was a gathering of great joy and fun.

The "Mamma Mia" movie had the subtitles up for all the songs so everyone could join in and were encouraged to. Glen and Andrew led lots of the singing , dancing , drink spilling, high fiving and celebrating and with good reason.

The Side Cinema itself is great for private screening , compact and but also great for socialising as well, and as it's on the Quayside you are close to pubs and restaurants for pre and post film food and drink.  The seating is red velvet and it had been remarked slightly seedy but perfect for a gathering such as this. A damned sight better than the antiseptic Multiplexes that you have these , but it is a perfect setting to have a great time with the right people and right film and last night was absolutely perfect.

Anyway last night I wanted to post a Star Spangled Chestwigs rendition of an ABBA song on Facebook as a thank you to Glen and Andrew but couldn't find any, so I will leave you with the finale from the film, and below is a bit of the Chestwigs doing what they do :)

Have a great Sunday everyone.

Random Observations

Have you noticed that the abbreviation id when turned upside down is pi (near enough)? You could extend this to say that identity is the fore never ending. I know that is off centre and random but it's just the way my mind works.

April is nearly over and the beginning of May is on Monday. Then I am going to start my Million Step Challenge . It is being done to raise money for diabetes research but in my opinion their timing is wrong and as I am so rubbish at tracking things I am not going to do it for sponsorship, just for myself, to prove that I can do it. I, averaged 11K steps a day for the last two months so I don't see a problem doing it for the next three. My target  normally is to do 10K a day.

I was thinking of repeating my #SongADayInMay which I did a couple of years back. If I do you will see the first post on Monday . The theme would obviously be "May" (avoiding any reference to a certain person) but I think Dr. Brian May might feature fairly heavily, probably opening with Queen's "Keep Yourself Alive", but we shall see.

Anyway it's Saturday, the weather is quite pleasant, and I have other things to get on with. I've been listening to Graham Parker, played my first '78 on my turntable, but am currently listening to a best of Joe Walsh (Pete Townshend's favourite guitarist) so I think we will go with "The Bomber" which he played with The James Gang, Barnstorm and solo. I love his simple but beautiful playing. His riffs are not beyond me and that is what makes him a brilliant guitarist.

Have a good day everybody.

Two Eight Four

It could be a house number, it could be a bus number , it could be any number. It's the first three number in the powers of two with the last two's positions swapped. Although this is essentially a diary so that I can keep a track of things that catch my imagination it was also meant to be a source of inspiration for a book which is still nowhere near completion.

It's also another example of how my mind flies off at tangents influenced by things I see hear or read. Wire's album "154" was named because they had just played their 154th gig.

284 is the page I've reached in Tony Morley's "The Age Of Bowie" that started as a sort of biography but is now using David Bowie's albums as an almost stream of consciousness narrative. It's also up to the album "Diamond Dogs" which was a soundtrack to to Bowie's "Nineteen Eighty Floor Show"  which was meant to be his take on George Orwell's brutal "1984", but the Orwell foundation would not grant him permission to use the book. He still included a track on the album called "1984".

Last year I did a musical sequence call #ALIfeInNumbers in which I included a sequence of 59 songs containing, in one form or another, songs with 1 to 59 in their titles or prominently in their lyrics.

When "Diamond Dogs" was released John Peel played the whole album on his Friday night show. I taped it, loved it and bought it the next day. I remember they airbrushed out the dogs you know whats on Guy Peellaert's excellent cover, but the video I've included has the unretouched version.

The piece I've included is the "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing(Reprise)" sequence which ends with a brutal speaker swapping guitar sequence before a complete stop heralding "Rebel Rebel", probably the best Rolling Stones song they never wrote.

It's a Bank Holiday Weekend, It's a Beautiful Day, have a brilliant time my friends.

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

I was going to write this a couple of days back, but time seems to be running away from me all through the day. Actually that's not completely true, what it is is that my time is being taken up by stuff. Instead of leaving the house at 7:30 and being in work before 8 AM , I am leaving the house at 7 AM and walking into work most days , maintaining my step challenge of 10K steps a day , which at walking pace takes me around a hundred minutes. That's over an hour and a half ... a day! If you then factor in that most days I do more than that, all of a sudden I have a two hour chuck removed from my day.

Add to that catching up on Doctor Who from 2015 and another chunk of time goes out the window. It's not that I am not enjoying doing this and it's definitely a far more interesting form of exercise than going to a gym. At a gym you are directed but this walking needs my own direction, and I always try and find another way to walk in.

I have discovered a lot of places I didn't know about, realised that some places are closer together than I though, I mean I never knew there was an Asda down Westgate Road. The other thing is I am getting a lot more music listening in, today I was reminded how great the title track of "Aladdin Sane" is , drenched with Mike Garson's off kilter piano, I also got "Helden" as well from the soundtrack of "Christiane F" with Bob Fripp's luscious everlasting guitar lines, so two slices of David Bowie on my way in this morning.

Which song should I choose?  There are three songs mentioned here and I decided to hit "Christiane F"

Have a lovely evening

Read A Book .... You Never Know What You Might Find Out ... Again

It's World Record Store day, my mate Jim wants a copy of The Queen Symphony and I fancy the new The The single, first new music from Matt Johnson in 15 years and it's as good as ever.

I'm still working through "The Age of Bowie" by Tony Morley and today I found out how Marc Bolan (at the time Marc Feld) settled on his surname. Apparently he took the first two letters of one of his heroes' first name and the last three letters of his surname, which shows more than a little ingenuity, that hero was Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan also changed his surname from Zimmerman to Dylan taking the first name of one of his heroes , Welsh stream of consciousness poet Dylan Thomas (I love "Under Milk Wood").

I've included the Dubwood Allstars "Under Dubwood" which I never tire of (but doesnt, which takes Richard Burton's introduction and uses the soundtrack which  is the same as John Holt's "Ali Baba". Can you how my mind wanders?

Anyway, it's a beautiful day, and I have vinyl to buy.

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone.

The Wildflower Hour

It sort of makes me sad when I am in and outside work, and almost everyone is carrying a branded cup or foodbag, be it Costa, Starbucks, Greggs, Pret A Manger (they seem to have lost their accents)  or any number of the brands you see on every high street and railway station. People justify it because "they know what they are getting". If you try to dissuade people from buying this homogenised sameness they will always excuse it with a variation on the above excuse.

In Newcastle, you have no excuse because there are so many independent places where you can eat, get coffee, tea or whatever and today I'm going to gush over Wildflower cafe and art space on Westgate Road.

Firstly it's ten minutes walk from St James' Park , a place awash with student accomodation and therefore students. When I was at sixth form college I would have loved a place like Wildflower, but todays students seem to need a label on everything they buy.

The food is vegan. I'm not vegan, but I like good food, and I like to have something different. Today I was in two minds, the Lentil Dahl or Spanish Tomato Soup . I went for the soup (which also had a fair amount of lentils) , with a brown spread roll and a very green mango and papaya smoothie. Until I walked in I hadn't a clue what I was going to have, but it was gorgeous.

As I sat down Wire's "Outdoor Miner" came on the sound system and Asher told me about the joint smoking proprietor of a cafe up the road having a mini rave as he waited for customers.

I was soon joined by a big party of people to come and sample the delights of the cafe in the wonderfully art decorated welcoming surroundings, so I'd just got my order in in time.


Wildflower also host lots of events and themed meals and gatherings, and I love seeing how well attended these are and love the fact that it's popularity is growing thanks to the hard work of Jessica and Asher. They even have their vegan cookery slots on Tyne and Wear TV (and the vegan custard creams are lush).

If you live in Newcastle and haven't visited this place , shame on you, because it really is wonderful. It's the sort of place the media will airbrush over because it's not a big money brands, but for me it's the perfect sort of brand because it surprises me consistently with food and events and I try to eat there once a week, and I have to be honest the exercise walking the hill probably does me good and walking back down you get great views of the Tyne Bridge and The Sage.

It's very close to the town centre and if you message them on Facebook they will tell you what's on (the menu) and are open to suggestions for food ideas. Jess and Asher are both at least ten years younger than my girls so I'm old enough to be their grandad, but home I don't act that way.

So I will leave you with Wire's "Outdoor Miner" and I have the anticipation of what new delights will be served up next week.  The weekend is her.. Enjoy