Warm In Bed

Just at the moment that is my preferred place. Outside is dark and cold and wet. The recent snow was actually pleasant to go out in and make you want to get up but the current weather just makes you want to curl up in bed and stay toasty warm. 

Tonight snow is forecast and when i was out tonight an almost powdery rain was coming down. I was wearing a hat but didn't notice it til I got in and realised how wet my outer clothing was.

2021 is proving difficult for me to post on this blog , I don't know whether that's cos of lockdown or the fact I am not seeing people apart from family. 

I am listening to a lot of music while working from home, today has been mainly reggae with some Queen and Sisters of Mercy thrown in. I pick things out of my Discogs pile and am glad I kept my CD player as it's a little more hands on than streaming or even playing stuff on my network.

Reading wise I am reading "Left Out" about the self destructive nature of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick MaGuire, the  sad thing is they could have taken the country forward but were more bothered about fighting among themselves and left the country to the destructive incompetence of the current government.

So what piece of music to share. Yes are known for their over complicated progressive music , and lots of it is very good but one of my favourites is a relatively simple but still clocking in at ten minutes pice from "Close To The Edge" , "And You And I" , the lyrics are often ridiculous , but it gives me goosebump every time I hear it and was once released in full as one side of a  single! Listen and see what you think.

It might snow tonight.

Keep Talking

Went out at lunchtime chatted with a few people I only vaguely knew or didn't know , bought some vinyl, had a vegan curry and talked dub reggae and just feel so much better than I did this morning.

It was great to chat about the frightening state of politics, th egreat food available in the Grainger Market and the King Tubby / Richard Burton mash up with Dylan Thomas' tone poem "under Milk Wood" which you can buy on vinyl here. I have my own copy at home.

I know this is just a tiny, tiny post, but it is always good to get out and talk with people or friends, it can usually lift your mood and it certainly lifted mine today. I know I often just need to rest and sleep and night so mi gigging is going to be more sporadic, but there are plenty of afternoon gigs to fill the days, and I do love these. It's great to come out and have the rest of the evening to watch TV or relax.

So we gotta have the Dubwood All Stars don't we.

Jah Live

This shows just how easily I am distracted. I switched on the radio this morning and Mary Ann Hobbs was playing Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier". This threw my mind back to the mid seventies, when after getting into Bob Marley and The Wailers through seeing their performances of "Stir It Up" and "I Shot The Sheriff" on The Old Grey Whistle Test and buying the absolutely sublime live single "No Woman, No Cry" I must have heard on John Peel, there were few other music sources at the time though Johnny Walker and Alan Freeman played good stuff, put he played "Jah Live" which I had to have.

The 'B' side was "Concrete" , "Jah Live" in Dub so I've included that as well.

This was fairly difficult to track down though my DJ friend John Allan who had a record shop at Lane Ends, Preston managed to source me a copy. He was an absolutely top man but I believe died in a road accident. Any I used to often exasperate him with hard to get singles that I'd heard and maybe I might try and get a copy on vinyl as reggae and ska do lend themselves to playing on vinyl.

I know this is a short post, and if Mary Ann hand't played that song I wouldn't have written it, but it is a chance to hear a Bob Marley song that you have probably never heard.

I have a walk to Wylam to do, you enjoy your Sunday my good friends.

Walking Through Treacle (Again)

Although I don't really have to do many steps, today has been difficult, feeling like I'm walking through treacle. I don't feel bad in myself but it's just that having to walk any distance I feel I am pushing against something, like wading through treacle.

Also I'm coming to the conclusion that Firefox is becoming very slow to becoming almost unusable. Microsoft Edge is definitely unusable and Internet Explorer is not very good either. At the moment Chrome seems to be the most reliable browser.

It has been raining but today has been made enjoyable by the amount of ska and reggae being played to celebrate Trojan's 50th anniversary, but I didn't realise that many of the Trojan singles were "enhanced" strings for the UK market, a prime example being Nicky Thomas' "Love of The Common People", although the youth of the time rebelled against this touching up preferring the original raw sound. I've included both so you can hear what they did.

Enjoy both.

Aprés

This morning is the first time since Wednesday that I've put in contact lenses. My walking target is is actually growing by the day but actually even if I didn't do any walking til Monday I ,in theory,, could walk far enough to get me back on target.

Although still a bit sore this weekend is more about still doing nothing to ensure there's no internal bleeding which could be caused by any undue straining so it really is an excuse to do nothing, so a lot of reading (Matt Haig's "How To Stop Time") , listening to vinyl and digital,  as I write this I'm listening to Trojan X-Rated Box set Wreck A Buddy by the Soul Sisters, a totally X-Rated take on "Little Drummer Boy"  from probably the late sixties . The box set is available on Amazon for a mere £180!!

It is quite amazing how puritanical the west is at times, while at the same time using women's bodies in provocative poses to sell the most banal of things. Though having said that misogyny is still prevalent in a hell of a lot of music, not just ska and reggae.

Today is the first day of the new football season, and of course Preston North End have just lost two of their best attacking players to injury, although the squad is far stronger than last season so it isn't bothering me too much.

So this is a day of making sure I am fit to get back into normal life, ie not lying around reading and watching telly.

As the new season as started we can have"The Referees' Alphabet" by Half Man Half Biscuit. Have a great Saturday everyone.

Never Stop

Never Stop Having Fun

Well the last two weeks and the next two weeks for me have been and will be almost non stop. This is not a bad thing although time flies by and disappears as you try and fit everything in. Due to holidays at work we've only had half a team in, but everyone's working extra hard to make sure all runs smoothly and it's actually a pleasure to be in working with the girls and guys, who are absolutely excellent,  supportive with problems and helpful whenever you need them.

There's things we need to do before the bank holiday and I have a day and a half in hospital in the middle of it (tomorrow and Tuesday), I could have done without the overnight stay which they say is because of the ITP but they are just covering themselves and not too arsey so I'll go along with it. As I continually say the NHS is brilliant and hopefully I'll be able to play the guitar properly after the op, which would be amazing as I've never been able to play it before.

Also I am to blame for some of this time congestion as I've also fit in gigs by the Star Spangled Chestwigs, Penetration , Culture (tonight) and Bad Pollyanna (on Friday), so the latish nights are my own fault really, but wouldn't miss them for the world.

And this si one of the things about having fun and being positive, life is much better when you do things , and even better when you do things you enjoy , and even better when you do things you enjoy with friends and people you like like and love. Like I was out seeing friends on Friday and that was fantastic Paul , Fiona , Sarah , Colin  and Graham are fantastic company any day of the week, and that's just five people I'm lucky enough to have in my life.

Today I still have lots to do, but the sun is shining and the wind is blowing but that is fine, no rain at the moment. I know this week I will see many more friends, and have lots of fun , and have the odd moment where I think "I need to sleep" , but really I'd rather be doing something and enjoying myself.

The title is taken from and Echo and the Bunnymen track, so have a brilliant day everybody, my weekend is nowhere near finished and I hope yours isn't either , wherever in the world you are. Keep on smiling

Ironic

Although Alanis Morrisette got it completely wrong, I'm here in Cromford reading a book about reggae called Bass Culture by Lloyd Bradley and I'm unable to actually go to a record shop and browse for reggae because there are no record shops within 20 miles of here.I know this thatnks to an excellent app called The Vinyl District

Scarthin Books Amazing Shop Sign

Well you could say Scarthin Books has a selection , but it's Naxos Classical and there is a clue in the name of the shop that tells you that it specialises in books. Bakewell has a musical instrument shop that has a few CDs and there's a few charity shops which have second hand CD sections.

The thing is economics and the fact that people's habits mean that record shops have to try harder , and the good ones are still very good.And there's always online if you dont have physical access.

I used to go to record fairs but todays digital age means that I can track down most things on line , and at my age I actually have virtually everything I want musically , but still look forward to new bands and new albums.

I stll love going into RPM or Reflex in Newcastle and hearing something new that I immediately buy. That's how all record shops should be. That's Entertainment I find more relevant than HMV.  HMV don't seem to know what they are selling , giving most of their floor space over to iPod docks.

Anyway this post has wandered a bit but I'm going to read more of Bass Culture and enjoy the rest of my holiday!!