Nine by Nine, and Three by Three

...We Shall Seek

The Skrayling Tree .....

No I don't know what this means or signifies but it's Michael Moorcock book that is my current read weaving his own universe with modernish times and touches of Jonathan Aycliffe / Daniel Easterman JG Ballard with the unease generated in the first twenty pages managing to drop inn North European and North American Indian mythology, it is a book I am looking forward to, the follow up to the excellent "The Dreamthief's Daughter".

I've just finished John Niven's "Kill 'Em All" his follow to "Kill Your Friends" bringing us into the Trump and Fake News era, though Stelfox is just an even more loathsome protagonist and the book does finish with a misogynist's nightmare sign off. Not to everyone's taste but I enjoyed it, and have loved all his proper novels.

Although you can Google Skrayling (or Skraeling) Tree , which I htink comes from some arcane poem or incantation, I will tell you when it reveals itself to me.

It is Monday morning but I don't have to go to work and am nipping to Skipton to possibly visit Skipton Sound Bar and The Huntress of Skipton Castle Woods. I am going by train so because of that I will share with you "The Last of The Steam Powered Trains" by The Kinks, Ray Davies take on Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightnin'".

Hope your Monday is good.

Kill 'Em All

We're approaching the end of February and because I've walked enough steps my daily walking has slowed down a bit. I'm also getting used to coffee made with Almond milk , which tastes a bit weird but is not undrinkable and it is supposedly better although dairy milk contains more protein which uses more calories to digest so in theory both are equivalent, but we shall see. The Almond milk I've been buying is only slightly more expensive than normal skimmed milk.

Last night I made an Aloo Chole so the last two days have been fairly vegan, which can't be too bad. I do find it strange that people have a problem with veganism, though these sort of people are always looking for something to have a problem with, so veganism just goives them an excuse to raise their blood pressure.

Currently I'm two thirds the way through "Kill 'Em All" the latest novel from John Niven following up "Kill Your Friends" although "Second Coming" was also a sort of follow up to "Kill Your Friends" and his referenced in "Kill 'Em All". The Simon Cowell charater is all you would expect and more, a total git , and the NOT Michael Jackson character (he can't be because he is white, and is vaguely compared with Jackson) is frighteningly possible as this takes in the whole post Trump election scenario and the fact that anything can be excused or dismissed as fake news.

So what would be a good song to accompany this, possibly my favourite late Jackson song "Black or White". Have a great day.

Listening To John Niven

On Sunday 6Music broadcast a show by one of my favourite authers John Niven. The series is called Paperback Writers and has a writer talking for an hour about music that has shaped him and influenced him.  If you want to catch it (before September 2018) you can listen to it here.

Now I'd missed it on Sunday, but then remembered there;s a BBC Radio iPlayer app that you can download onto your phone, and thought "Aha" . As well as music and podcasts I can listen to radio shows on demand on my phone.

So that was my listening for my walk to work this morning. He opened with Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Up Around The Bend" a song I loved since I first heard that razor sharp opening riff, although the lead guitar parts seem remarkably muted compared to the main riff.

He played a lot of great music including Television's "See No Evil" which I tried to emulate in my song "Communication" for The Bok  (and failed totally), and actually pointed out a very dark concept of Middle of The Road's "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" that I hadn't countenanced before about losing your mother as a child.

He also talked about and played a song from The Wishing Tree, the band he was a member of in his early twenties who, from the song he played, well worth a listen.

Basically this has given me another option for listening on my walks, which is all very good.

Books and Sounds

I've just finished "The Sunshine Cruise Company" by John Niven and although the plot has a lot of holes and is totally unrealistic, the concept is brilliant and it's an excellent and fun romp of taking on several systems and I'd recommend it to everybody.

Next up I'm going into more scientific territory with "The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets" by the alliterately named Simon Singh. I'll see how that goes, but I've heard lots of good things about him and he has a large back catalogue for me to delve into.

I'm certainly not going to run out of books to read as I have a huge pile next to my bed.

It looks like the big thaw is happening so the only thing that will stop me walking into work is if it's too slushy to use the paths, I certainly need to do a lot of walking this week, and I would like to be back up to speed by the end of Friday, but we shall see.

It my limited walking I listened to "Shelter From A Hard Rain" a live album from Bob Dylan from a 1976 broadcast. It sounds bootleg quality but ut is a great live album, I love Dylan's live recordings when they're a bit ragged and this is, in my opinion, perfect because it isn't perfect. I love every song on it. I'm not sure if this is from the same gig but it has the same feel, enjoy.

A Monday To Experience .....

I've just finished "Cold Hands" by John Niven and started "No Good Deed" qualified ominously by the completing phrase "Goes Unpunished" but while this are started with some dark situations at least there is humour in there. This is to take nothing away for "Cold Hands" but don't go there look for humour however dark there.

Weather outside looks drab but dark and dry so a walk into work is on the cards, and currently my listening is "Electric Ladyland" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience which I always listened to in sides (four odf them). Now I'm listening to it in effectively on chunk. One thing I 'd forgot was the two "Voodoo Chile" sole songs, one the fifteen minute blues jam and the other the "(Slight Return)" killer riff post departure number one single.

Electric Ladyland was the name of Hendrix's New York studios and when it first came out it was sold in brown paper bags as the cover featured a lot of naked women which you can see here. It was then split into part one and part two and packaged with more "acceptable" covers, but I do prefer the original (which you can see in this group of dodgy covers here).

It also contains his cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" which if I was allowed only one single on a desert island, that's what it would be. The lyrics of Dylan allowing Hendrix's voice full flow (he was emabarrased about his own lyrics so tended to hold back on his own songs) the his guitar work backed by The Experience absolute perfection for four minutes.

My favourite song is "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)" which takes up most of side three and am definitely looking forward to hearing that on my walk into work, but I will leave you with this live take on "All Along The Watchtower", enjoy your Monday my friends.

Threks

When I sign in to do this blog I have to press "Sign In" on three different screens. Now OK I habitually delete cookies and such ensure web stuff I do is showing the current expected version but I don't know why Google has this incredibly inefficient log in process. In fact while I accept that cookies can be useful, they should not be used to store sensitive or secure information, although maybe that's just my opinion.

I've finished the latest John Niven novel I was reading "Cold Hands" and was surprised that there were zero laughs, these was a very dark pumped up Irvine Welsh with some disturbing insights into the natures of revenge and madness. While it is excellently written it was not an easy ride, so I'm hoping "No Good Deed" may provide a little light. I am fine with black humour but when you find yourself in a world of total darkness that gets scary.

Today has been a great day, my Dad's 83rd birthday and he's finally using his computer, then we finally caught up with Mark, Helen , Eve and Jess over a Sunday Lunch and high def Harry Potter movies.

Step wise this is the first day I have done less that 5K since a rainy day on holiday in Yorkshire, but I am  still ahead of the game for my January walks. February may be a different matter.

The word Threks is non existent as far as I know and was shome letters I was trying to make a word with in Scrabble .

One of the many things I have to thank my Dad for is introducing me to Johnny Cash , his "Greatest Hits Volume 1" was in our house and often on the stereo Radiogramme that we had, and from that I'll choose "Five Feet High and Rising" before I hit my bed. Tomorrow is Monday ....... the start of another wonderful week of life ....

On A Fiction Kick

Just reading "Cold Hands by John Niven, a Christmas presnt from Fiona when I found two John Niven books I hadn't heard of. John Niven to me is essentially darkly comedic with some serious points, but this is marked as a "thriller". I got it because it was John Niven and following on from the first "Book of Dust" by Philip Pullman must mean I am on a fiction kick.

While "Cold Hands" is more Irvine Welsh with it's flashback sections there is no comedy in there. That doesn't mean it's bad, it's anything but, reminding vaguely of the TV Series "Tin Star" based on it's location / relocation premise, but something has just happened which is the literary equivalent of being hit by a truck (that's a good recommendation for a "thriller").

Outside it's black, grim, wet and cold and even the snow has gone. This is the sort of morning when the walf to work doesn't look so inviting, and I have a nine o' clock meeting which, shall we say , may be challenging, but luckily my views on systems are taken seriously so I am in a good place for it.

So what should I play. Yesterday I was listtening to Bob Dylan's "Tempest" his last great album, and found a Sony album sampler on Youtube so thought I would give you a taste before I set off for work. I love the sound of his voice on this album, and the lyrics and songs are brilliant depite lifting the "I'm A Man" riff for "Early Roman Kings" just wonderful.

Have a great day.

Two Thousand and Seventeen Years So Far ... and I Want More

Five years ago I published a pretty good post about getting older here  with one or two useful profundities (if that's a word, well it is now) , and as we come to the end of 2017 we start thinking about what we will do in the new calendar year. Personally it's going to be another year of doing more, rising to challenges , rediscovering my social mojo, actually playing on the virtual orchestra I have stashed in our back room, actually watching TV series , seeing films and reading books.

I have four recent books of fiction to get through two by Philip Pullman and two by John Niven which I'm looking forward to, and well as numerous new challenges at work which will be great fun to take on.

Some days I would like a longer lie in, but today was typical, I woke up at seven and thought I may as well get up wash and shave and shower , then maybe go back to bed, but then I think I may as well get up.

This year I have started walking maintaining a rolling Million Steps every three months and that has reduced my insulin intake by over sixty per cent. I might do even better if I lived off cucumber lettuce and kale but that would be very boring indeed, although cucumber subs are a great alternative to bread subs and therefore better for you , even though they may not seem that appetising. They are best eaten in summer and I used to make them a lot when I worked from home.

I've got to give thanks to everyone who has been there for  me , helped me, made me laugh , encouraged me , played  games with me , eaten with me, and made this a great year for me. I know 2018 will be even better.

So what is a great playout record for 2017. In September we lost Holger Czukay, but in the seventies I remember him and Can lighting up Top of The Pops with the brilliant "I Want More" which is a perfect sentiment to see out the old year and see in the new.

Happy New Year everybody .... Make it Brilliant.

Books, Evolution and Heavy Metal at Download

A lot of my reading recently have been influenced by books I've been reading , namely "Tom Waits on Tom Waits" (I don't know if the pun was intended) edited by Paul Maher and "The Age of Bowie" by Tony Morley , so I thought my next would be fiction, possibly in the realms of Michael Moorcock, JG Ballard or John Niven. I'm amazed to find this is the first time ever in this blog that I've mentioned JG Ballard as he's my favourite author. But no, I picked up "Darwin's Armada" (another FOPP capture from Edinburgh) by Ian McCalman and very good it is, essentially the grounding for the Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin and contemporaries. Here's the blurb:

"Darwin's Armada tells the stories of Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Joseph Hooker and Alfred Wallace, four young amateur naturalists from Britain who voyaged to the southern hemisphere during the first half of the nineteenth century in search of adventure and scientific fame. It charts their thrilling voyages to the strange and beautiful lands of the southern hemisphere that reshaped the young mariners' scientific ideas and led them, on returning to Britain, to befriend fellow voyager Charles Darwin. All three crucially influenced the publication and reception of his Origin of Species in 1859, one of the formative texts of the modern world. 

For the first time the Darwinian revolution of ideas is seen as a genuinely collective enterprise and one that had its birth in a series of gripping and human travel adventures. Many of the most urgent ecological and social issues of our times are seen to be prefigured in this compelling story of intellectual discovery."

I do find it amazing that the idiotic anti thought concept of Creationism actually exists, but when you look at how easily people are influenced , a thoughtless concept that means you don't have to think becomes attractive to some people.

I'm agnostic, there might be a God, but I have certainly seen no evidence of a God in my lifetime and doubt I will. Also the "you can't prove that God doesn't exist" is not really a valid argument. The only God I will acknowledge is on Facebook here. In fact I just this minute signed up to his mailing list.

So today's #ATuneaDayinMay obviously has to be "Charlie" by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing , who I first saw at the behest of my friend Gillian and recorded it on Spoongig here in November 2014. I found a live performance of them at Download at Donington and "Charlie" starts about three minutes in after some serious metal assault. I once described them as a cross between Anthrax and Chas and Dave. Watch the clip and you will see what I mean. Enjoy.

It's a beautiful day, so enjoy yourself and I hope to see you soon.

Book or TED?

I'm currently enjoying the new excellent John Niven novel Single White Male. The thing is because I'm reading that on the train I've not really had time to watch any TED talks which I also enjoy and find inspiring. Sometimes you can only to one thing you enjoy at once , this is a situation where multi tasking is definitely not an option. So I thought I'd include a book related TED talk.

The books about a writer and in one passage about planning or outlining a book comes up with an interesting observation about Stephen King, which may or may not be true. The protagonist doesn't outline his own novels , citing Stephen King's reason being "If I don't know what's going to happen next, then the chances are the reader won't either". That seems to me like a good reason for not necessarily planning you novel. I actually know the structure of my own book so it's just a case of putting flesh on the bones of the framework that is already there in my head.

Well I'm glad the weekend is here, and looking forward to being able to relax and enjoy myself. Anyway I hope you enjoy the talk and have a brilliant weekend.

Busy Doing Nothing ....

Today has been quiet, though took advantage of a free Beefeater meal with work colleagues. Finally reading a "normal" novel , John Niven's "Straight White Male" and been listening to good music on the journey to and from work. I'm aware that I need to do another music video of me playing and continuing to get the use of my left hand completely back ,and need to get some more of the book down. But that will all come in it's own good time.

This is going to be a short post because I am quite tired, although I'm sure I won't be into bed straight away.

Anyway hope you have had a great day, I'm looking forward to the approaching weekend and looking to have lots of fun and enjoy myself.

Be Nice

The Second Coming

Last year I read a book called The Second Coming by John Niven , which posited that Jesus had to come back and win X-Factor to save the world . It's a great book, funny but with a lot of serious points to make, and worth a read by anyone.


When he came back Jesus had a simple mission statement "Be Nice":


It's easy to do that , generally you can be nice to people , smile , talk with people , offer help , accept help , give and take encouragement. It's easy to do.



There are situations which will test this, and yes they are sometimes exasperating to deal with , but by always keeping positive you will find the strength to get you through.

One thing I've found with Facebook is that I have made some fantastic friends from unexpected places and walks of life who have pointed me in good directions.

So I live my life to never regret anything , never to put off anything you can do , especially if it's talking and meeting friends and loved ones, always look for the positives - it makes life interesting and fun, and be yourself.

So please go out today and "Be Nice" , it will make you and someone elses day much, much better.

Sun and Soak, The Beatles and John Niven

Just a short post. After all the fantastic weather we have had for the music Festivals such as Mouth Of Tyne and Summertyne , today we had a downpour of Biblical proportions in Darlington . It was very very wet. We are now back to hot and sweaty and obviously very summery, not great weather for work.

There's not much else to report without actually going into a diatribe about petty annoyances, although I always like to maintain positivity and starting from last Saturday it's actually been a great week for me, I just wish it could be as good for everyone else.

I've managed to watch a lot of films , about to finish a book that's going straight to the charity shop although it's full of surprisingly pertinent coincidences involving names and ice cubes, but it's continual name checking of eighties bands is very trying , but I won't let it beat me.

Oh yes I'm looking forward to August 15th when John Niven's new book Single White Male is released. His whole canon is to be recommended though I didn't really like Music From Big Pink , boringly serious for me. He's worth following on Twitter (@NivenJ1) but be warned not for the easily or even difficultly offended.

Anyway I think I will post a music video as well , which I've done before , one of my favourite two Beatles' songs "Rain" . Apparently the bass on the original single was so heavy it had to be damped down when remastered for CD. I don't remember having taht problem with my seven incher , but that's another story .........