Friday

Yes it's the 13th and had an early night last night . The Feedburner feed seems to be dropping off but this time may be because I haven't posted for a couple of days through essentially laziness, apathy and tiredness.

Last night I watched at excellently subversive comedy  film called "The Brand New Testament" which relocates God to Brussels and he is nothing but a git , and his rebellious daughter is brilliant , there are some very funny scenes especially after she escapes through washing machine after Jesus advises her what to do is a very small cameo and God's wife follows the evolution of her personal copy of "The Last Supper" painting. Really enjoyed that.

According to the doctor I'm getting old but in very good condition so all is fine on that front.

I could go on about it being the 13th but I've written about that in the past here so today will be just working before the weekend and picking up my pre ordered copy of "Hypersonic Missiles" by Sam Fender on vinyl and signed by the lad himself from Beyond Vinyl.

After yesterday's rain it looks like another summery day though no doubt it will be cold, it is Autumn after all, not Summer any more.

So it's Friday , the weekend is nearly here so what do we go with. As it's the 13th we'll go with Beck, Bogert and Appice's cover of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" for no other reason than I 'm too lazy to think of anything else.

Today could be a lazy day.

Darkness

That's what I woke up to, and it wasn't particularly early , the day shortening seems to have come fairly quickly this year. Last night I needed to go out for milk at nine o'clock and it was dark (and wet). Also there seems to be a hell of a lot of snails on my drive this year and I keep accidentally stepping on them. I've nothing against snails and would rather not squash them but if they wander around my normal walking areas then that's going to happen.

Although it was dark when I woke it now looks like a summer's day although I suppose this is really Autumn now, as we're into September and I managed to forget another friend's birthday but got reminded by Facebook.

I keep forgetting names and obviously that concerns me about dementia when I cant remember things, especially names, but I still am able to recall a hell of a lot stuff and often the stuff I couldn't recall always surfaces eventually. I also am always able to recall how to find things although I make great use of Google and reference books as well as working things out for myself.

I use the illustration of music. When I was born you had Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley , Chuck Berry as well as the really commercial rubbish and a few others. The following decade added The Beach Boys, Stooges , Doors , Beatles , Kinks etc but we still had the  artists from previous decades. And every year more is added to what we already have, and that means that things will get forgotten even sometimes when you want to remember it. There will always be a way of finding out what you need to know.

So on this sunny Thursday we shall go with "Baggy Trousers" by Madness (for the line about squashing snails)  and that is another great band who are in my collection and I enjoy listening to.

#AprilSongs #8 Blue Monday

There might be a few Blue Mondays before the end of April. The first one I've chosen is the Fats Domino one. When I say they will be a few Blue Mondays I mean that there are quite a few songs called "Blue Monday" although most people will now associate the title with the band New Order, though I am not sure that one will be included in the #AprilSongs sequence and there are quite a few other options.

The morning I finished Michael Moorcock's "The Skrayling Tree" and I now know what it meant as I hadn't a clue when I picked the book up. The book is a swirl of ideas and genres with references to Moorcock's early work as well as various mythologies and histories with a finale in a giant golden ziggurat on a frozen lake in extreme North America.

I'm not sure if that stimulated a dream that I suddenly remembered as I read the final sequence, where a couple of North American friends Pandora and Gina and I were posting Instagram videos of us walking out onto frozen lakes as far as we dared. Mine was the lake in Leazes Park and while I have seen it iced over I have never considered walking out on it. I remember as a kind walking over iced ponds and once the ice cracked while a friend was in the middle, I've never seen anyone move so fast and he got back to the shore without getting wet.

Yesterday I mowed the lawn for the first time this year, and it's April. Having said that it does look very well, whereas most years I think I am going to have to get it relaid, but it is looking good.

So I know it's Monday morning , but although it's grey we're getting closer to Spring and Summer. Have a good day.

Time To Turn The Hourglass

It's Monday Morning, which is nicely alliterative, but it is time to get off to work. The temptation is to get the bus.

Skies are grey, the trees are still green but Autumn is coming and Summer is slipping away, but this mean we get the beautiful colour changes in leaves and bushes.

Given that I have been continuing with th ehourglass analogy (and yes turn it hover and we have a full hourglass of fun time for the week, I am going to choose "Hourglass" by Squeeze, although reminds me of the first ever Squeeze song I heard, the amazing "Take Me I'm Yours" which I think was on the "No Wave" compilation (though I may be wrong about that>

Anyway this is a short post to keep me on track for #August5, it is Monday Morning so have a wonderful day everyone.

Summer's Last , Autumn's First .. Good Times Coming

Well today is the last day of August , for some reason I thought that Saturday was the last day , c'est la vie. This month has been totally wonderful for me , just riding high on feelings of positivity and seeing things going well for friends and family.


We live in a world where conditioning and media pressure push us to be miserable and spiteful denigrate differences and actually find pleasure in other people's failure and misery. It is a horrible attitude and I discourage in impressionable youngsters and older people.

It's A Pleasure

I look for different things , they stimulate my mind , I don't do straight and narrow in thought, pleasure and fun. The uses of that word has determined the song for this post , Baxter Dury's Pleasure, which is totally wonderful.

I hope things are going great for you and remember there is as much pleasure in giving as there is in receiving. Love all your friends and all who love you as well , always return that. It's too easy not to bother , me , I do bother.




I think things are going to get much better , keep looking for the positives and you will make your life perfect.

Sort Of Normal

After finally getting up today after a good night's sleep today has been a sort of normal day. It's nine o'clock and I don't feel ready to drop. I've had a relaxing day visiting Helmsley, and my holiday has started in an excellent holiday type of way.

The weather is what you would expect in December, but I've certainly seen much worse and have plans to visit Helmsley Castle (part of English Heritage which is free with my Barclays Bank Account) and Castle Howard during the week.

The Last Glimpse Of Summer

Though being away from Newcastle has extracted me from the situation of choosing between four excellent gigs tonight so I can relax, listen to good music , drink , and just feel good. Though this is a remarkably short post it has taken me a remarkably long time to write, for something with so few words in it.

Maybe I am getting tired and maybe I should go to bed. Well my weekend has got off to a great start, I hope yours is the same and I hope all my friends who are enjoying gigs and socialising tonight have an absolutely brilliant time. I have to include a picture of Rebecca Cothers beautiful latest work one here because it is a lovely evocation of the last of summer.

I chose David Bowie's take on Jacques Brel's Amsterdam because my daughter Juliet is doing a presentation on the place this week. And that's another coincidence I've had reason to mention both of my daughters in consecutive blog posts , and that is another reason to put a smile on my face.

The Heat Is On

Well it's Saturday Night and still very warm, hot even. Hope I haven't got sunburned today , though I bet a lot of people have. Just been having a relaxing day , though dewired some clutter in the front room and had a wander round town and bough a book and some fruit.

This post is totally random, because as is quite often the case, I don't really have anything to write about, but it is nice to just let the words flow and and fill the page, although I don't think there will be much page filling tonight. I just keep trying to thing of ways to cool down, after today clothes need to go in the wash. Luckily have cool drinks and will be sleeping on top of the bed with maybe a light sheet , just need some sort of cover on, for obvious reasons.

The days are getting shorter, the nights drawing in , although it is most definitely summertime.

Just as I was writing this my computer desktop disappeared, very weird, so had to restart. Given it's so hot have gone for The Who's take on Martha Reeve's Heatwave.

Anyway I hope everyone is having a great weekend, enjoy the sun , and keep positive, there is lots to be positive about.

Sun Daze, Madchester and The Heed

A Corner Of The Garden

Well it's Sunday, eight ante meridian or thereabouts and its another gorgeous day. The garden has been done so today can be fairly relaxed , just to enjoy the weather. It's May and it looks like summer is here. Who knows it may even be party time.

Madchester

I always find that sunny weather does uplift you , although if it was like that all the time would I really appreciate it? May thats why my friends in New Zealand and Australia are always so upbeat generally, while people form Manchester (where always rains) tend to be miserable (only joking , though Oasis, Happy Mondays and Joy Division while producing some great music are not the sort of people you would want to spend any time with, although John Cooper Clarke is great fun but he's from Salford). Though it's funny how a simple thought on what a nice day it is can digress into thoughts on the Madchester phenomenon.

Oh the other good news is that Gateshead are in the Conference Play Off Final against Cambridge, so that's one team that the whole of the North East will be behind today, hopefully they will be back in the league after an absence of 50 years. Theres a big do on at The Black Bull and the scenes will be incredible when Gateshead do the business. OK so I now got sidetracked into football, as you may realise I can get easily led astray! But here's a song for The Heed from the magnificent Rezillos.



   

Anyway I hope everyone is having a great weekend and taking advantage of this lovely weather. Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Summer Means Fun

Kanye West is God?

Well we are getting so much sun that even the doom mongers are admitting we've actually had a good summer, and it's still here. I'm not sure what to do today , probably visit the Lit & Phil to have a cup of tea or coffee and take in the beauty of the building , maybe visit the Laing to see their Divine Bodies exhibition , but just wish I could take photographs, but will make do with just seeing the exhibition.

There are always some amazing thing going on in Newcastle




 Then again I might take the ten minute train journey to Durham and have a look round the cathedral and castle.

One slight down side to the fantastic weather we are having is that I have another lawn mow that needs doing but that is a very small price to pay for all the great weather we are experiencing.

But it is all irrelevant , another brilliant weekend lies ahead, and if you are in Newcastle you can have just as good a time. Wherevere you are have the most brilliant weekend.

The Moon In June

This was one of the songs that I had down for the June's Tunes. Obviously it could be used any day , but less obviously it is probably a tune most of you don't know. Always loved Soft Machine , but lots of you will know Karl Jenkins and maybe even Robert Wyatt - banned from performing on top of the pops because he was in a wheelchair and it might disturb sensitive viewers. He actually was on once with a stellar backing band featuring Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) , Fred Frith (Henry Cow) and may others when he covered The Monkee's I'm a Believer . It may actually be already on this blog (check the Robert Wyatt tags). Oops it's not but I will actually post about it soon.

Anyway summer is still with us and is likely to be here all week.

Happy days

Where's Summer Gone?

On holiday last week in was mostly cloud and rains and people were telling me that we'd had our summer at the end of March. Well since I've come back barring overnight rain (which is what you want ) it's been very sunny.

It seems a lot of people actually want it to be grim , and bad things to happen. If you keep predicting something will happen (like it's going to rain or there'll be a power failure) then eventually you will be proved right. This doen't make you some kind of prophet , just a misery guts who can't enjoy the moment because there might be something bad round the corner.

The weather is great , and I am going to enjoy it , despite having to go to Sunderland tomorrow!! The Fantastic Baggies had the right idea: