Why I Don't Write - #FruitfulSeptember #2

I had no intention of writing anything today, and yesterday something happened which made me think , I have to share that , hence this post. Switched on 6Music after listening to "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" from my Joni Mitchell box set and there was a Genesis like guitar sequence which was playing , but I recognised it a "Strawberry Letter #23" by The Brothers Johnson being spun by Shaun Keaveny. So this is the second #FruitfulSeptember post.

This is the story of the song; 

Why is it called Strawberry Letter 23 not 22? Strawberry Letter 23 was originally a song by Shuggie Otis. At age 17, Otis wrote "Strawberry Letter 23" as way to describe his romantic feelings for his girlfriend. Though the lyrics commonly refer to "Strawberry Letter 22," Otis explains that, "the song is about a love letter. The guy and the girl had written each other 22 love letters. And the 23rd one, he writes is a song."

There is a Shuggie Otis version of the song available as well, and I was sure I had shared this in the blog at sometime before , although maybe it was just on the "Song of The Salesman" site when it was used in an advert.

I've decided that when I go for a walk I shouldn't be bothered about time , that way you can enjoy it much more. On a morning walk I am constantly thinking I need to be back by eight o' clock , to start work, but the reality is that I can start work whenever I want, so I don't need to rush back under normal circumstances.

So the fact that I am posting this shows that it takes very little to cause me to set finger to keyboardand post another rambling missive .

 

So tht's enough for today and hope it has been informative for you.

Long Distance

I have a Canon SX620 camera and it enables me to take long distance pictures. The control says I can take up to 100x zoom although the front of the camera says 25x optical zoom so that maty be why my longer distance pics get a bit less detailed, after 25x the zoom becomes digital.

I use the photos of long distance shots as a screensaver on my desktop and love when I see something and try to work out lots of things that I had never noticed before in relatively familiar surroundings. From the top of Cow Hill I can photograph from The West Road to Wallsend taking in the City Centre and St Jame's Park.

Having a sizeable zoom worried me about privacy , but I trued taking photos in my front room and front bedroom and the lack of light and glass reflection ensures good privacy. I do wonder about controllable drones that could easily be used to snoop, although I have seen some great outdoor drone shots.

Today Shaun Keaveny brought up the fact that you can use scissors to cut pizza, something I had never thought about , but I suppose you could , although the take aways I get are usually ready cut , and I haven't had a frozen pizza for a long time (Dr Oetker and Morrisons are my preferred ones when I feel in a pizza mood).

So given that this started about cameras we shall go with "The Camera Eye" by Rush

Stream Girls

I'm not sure why , maybe because I'm a sexist , male chauvinist misogynist , but I find some of the phrasing and vocabulary of Lauren Laverne and Mary Ann Hobbs a bit grating and pretentious with "down with the kids" descriptions of certain musical pieces , however I'm OK with Craig Charles and Shaun Keaveny coming out with similar things.

It doesn't stop me listening to their music though , and they are far better that the dross available on commercial radio and  other BBC stations and today Mary Ann Hobbs had a guy on discussing the state of streaming. Now as you know I will not have anything to do with Spotify because it's an unworkable model and today I found out something more about the model that makes it even worse.

When you (or the person who's giving it your free) pays Spotify or whoever their monthly fee this is what happens. They take their cut and then the money goes into a big pot. It is the paid out to artists based on the the number of streamed songs they have. So what that means ids that you may have a a predilection for Egyptian and Iranian folk and listen exclusively to that music. Which is good for you but not the artist. Why? Because the money you may is split based on all streamings so if Ed Sheeran gets a million times the streams your artists get , then he will get that chunk of your subscription and the artists you listen to get next to nothing. So basically Spotify is even worse than I thought.

So a big , big thank you to Mary Ann Hobbs (and possibly Lauren Laverne) for illuminating me on this. They are extremely good and I can put up with the bits that niggle me. Here's my last post on the situation and to go with this I will share "Stealin'" by Uriah Heep , in my opinion a great record  with a vague connection to the situation.