Back To Bowie

I had a dream last night but all I can remember i smy contact lens fluid being contaminated by coffee. I wrote about some absolutely awful coffee in my last post , but it turns out that I should have checked the milk I was using, as I tried it on some cereal and it was not good. At first I thought my sense of taste had taken some mad turn and now I couldn't drink milk, I smelt the bottle and it was truly awful. I was half expecting a replacement bottle to be the same but it was fine.

Basically if something is wrong you need to check all the components, not just a single one.

On the walks I've skipped back to seventies Bowie in "The Man Who Sold The World"  and "Hunky Dory". Even though they are forty years old they still sound fresh and challenging and always get my thinking on how songs are constructed. While the music is important it can be minimal when driven by vocal melody. Song structures vary from acounstic to rock to orchestral some with dense almost indecipherable lyrics which still drag you in to the experience ("The Bewlay Brothers").

While "Hunky Dory" is vaguely poppier but not without it's barbs ("Queen Bitch", "Quicksand"), I still prefer the darkness of "The Man Who Sold The World" with th esinister "All The Madmen" and "After All" complemented by monolithicly relentless "Supermen", thefractured "Width of a Circle" and stright rock of "Running Gun Blues" and "Black Country Rock".

So that's what I've been up to.......

Is It Too Darn Hot?

Yesterday I was in Edinburgh and at times in was so hot that had to dive in to shade to get a little relief. While I am not a hot sun person, I definitely prefer the weather sunny that to grey dark skies. I alsthink of the walks to work with the wind is so cold that it's almost trying to burn your face off. We've also not had much rain, last year was almost perfect, sunny during the day raining at night. It is great wehn you don't really need an umbrella.

Today it's so hot in th ehouse that even a nightgown is uncomfortably superfluous, but luckily I have a couple of old Preston North End replica shirt that hide my body from the public while keeping me cool, after all in our Daily Mail / Dail Express / Sun dominated nation we don't want any bare flesh unless it's some photo shopped female in one of those rags do we. Some people are only happy when they have something to be offended by.

I finally cut ties with someone on Facebook when he tweeted that there was no need to demonstrate against Donald Trump and everyone should just chill, which in my opinion is there a backing for racism, misogyny, bullying (fill in your list), this comes on the back of him trivialising my friends and continually criticising while excusing Tory misogyny and racism.

Anyway today France play Croatia in the World Cup final, and I have just had the most awful cup of instant coffee, and it's L'Or and it is truly bitter and awful , the jar is going in the bin when I get down. I have had their stuff before and it was fine, this is disgusting. God I am sounding like a Daily Mail reader. I AM NOT.

Anyway I am now going to have a coldish shower, and go out and get the papers. Today is a day when I am expending no effort whatsoever. I wasn't even going to write this, but I already have done. Two songs have been going through my mind "Too Darn Hot" by Ann Miller from Cole Porter's musical "Kiss Me Kate" for obvious reasons and "Too Much Ain't Enough" by Tom Petty, because even though I've said I'm going to do nothing, I will do somethingand I probably will overdo it and at the end of the day think there is something else I should have done.

So you get both songs and now it's shower time.

How Long Would It Take This Blog To Die?

Pretty depressing title, and I am so glad when people read my posts but if I don't keep posting then readers just disappear. I am as guilty as anybody, I have several friends who run blogs that I don't really follow, just dip into them now and then. Sometimes I will post something that catches people's eyes for some reason  and they will get a couple of hundred views.

If I don't post on Facebook then I get very little interaction, and hate relying so much on Facebook, but maybe I am just not a very interesting or even adequate writer, and unless I am writing about something that people are interested in then no one will read it, I wouldn't.

The reality is I will keep writing because I have some great friends who read and like what I put down in words, and also, as I have said before, this is a sort of diary whee I can store things that I may want to revisit in th efuture.

This week I have been feeling lethargic and as though my mind and body are wading through treacle. My walking has really dropped off, although I am still hitting my targets, just. Work is remarkably difficult, it's not that I can't do it, it's just that the simplest of tasks seem to became incredibly cumbersome. I have managed to get through a decent amount of work though I feel it's still a fight.

I am suffering from hay fever symptoms and life seems to be continually draining limbs, making walking  a chore.

The very fact that I have managed to write this shows that I am dealing with things but I probably just need a day in bed. I will keep posting but sorry this is not overly optimisticbut I am sure that I will feel much better soon.

I think Disturbed's take on Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" is appropriate for my current mood, or my mood as was. Even writing this has lifted me although I still feel very tired, but it may also be this oppressive weather that has a lot to do with it.

Find something that puts a smile on your face and do that. It is a good thing to do.

Mondagain

That bit where you are shaved, dressed, showered, contact lenses in, ready to go and then you realise you have your Annual Diabetic Review and that includes a retinal scan, which means you have to take your contact lenses out and put your twenty-year-old glasses back on (they still are fine for reading, watching TV and driving).

My appointment is at 8:52 which seems a bit precise.

It's Monday morning and the temperature is creeping up. I've realized that if I walk across Nunsmoor then I come out at the old General Hospital where my review will take place. This can take anything from one to four hours, most of the time will be waiting, but so glad that I have the NHS to look after me and advise me.

Its was the NHS' 70th Birthday last week and it was also Ozzy Osbourne's as well, sort of appropriate as they have both been through some very pressured times, but have access to all the best drugs, and are still with us and we love them both.

I know it's Monday and this week is going to be very busy, but it is better to be busy than not, but sometimes you do wonder where the time goes.

Oh and David Davies resigned so I'll throw in Dave Davies' "Daath of A Clown" which is appropriate. Dave Davies was instrumental in the invention of Heavy Metal when he stabbed the speaker cab to give the vicious guitar sound on "You Really Got Me".

Enjoy today, I'll be glad when I'm back home tonight

Banana Mañana Nirvana

Yes, the title makes no sense but it's from a Gong song, "Radio Gnome Invisible". I found a live version in Amsterdam and everyone is having an absolutely great time. It's over forty years since I saw them live and Daevid Allen still had it when this was recorded though he died in 2015 aged 77.

Today the heatwave continues, I have felt incredibly lethargic and as though I've done nothing. I only just hit 6.5 K on steps, but d.ecided to cut back some of our shruberry stuff and managed to fill the brown bin, despite not having a major effect on what I was cutting.

I am not wearing much as I type this but still sweating profusely despite doing very little bar writing this. I'm cooling down by eating a couple of Co-Op iced lollies, and have managed to watch two films "The Purge:Anarchy" and "Behind The Candelabra", the first being very pertinent to the way America is going and the second having an absolutely stellar cast with lots of brilliant acting and lines. Both well worth your time.

I have an annual Diabetic Check up tomorrow so will be walking to the hospital, and hopefully the weather will be a little cooler. The temperature is slowly dropping, but it is still hot.

Enjoy the end of your weekend and get ready for England against Croatia on Wednesday .

Sleep well.

Seven By Seven

It's the seventh day or the seventh month and England are in th elasteight or the World Cup Finals where all the media darlings have been unceremoniously dumped out  leaving a wide open competition.

Keeping on the seven theme Preston North End put seven past  Bamber Bridge in their first pre season friendly and setting an example for England to follow, hopefully.

The heat is still on and it is showing no signs of abating.

I've been listening to a couple of albums and for a compilation Primal Scream's "Dirty Hits" is both eclectic and impressive and they're a band who have demonstrated they have Rolling Stones style longevity and "Rocks" could actually be a Rolling Stones song coming close to "Rocks Off" from "Exile on Main Street".

Then I revisited Genesis' "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" which is a remarkably coherent album of a dream of Peter Gabriel's which has the full libretto on the album's sleeve, but you really need the vinyl copy to be able to read it. A remarkable number of songs have a single one note heavy bass line I think produced by bass pedals, and some remarkable keyboard solos on "Riding The Scree" and "In The Cage", and The Slipperman are an incredibly worrying creation. Well worth searching out the video on line or just buying a copy of the album to hear the story of Rael and his brother John who continually screws up the situation.

Right I'm going to watch England play Sweden.

 

 

Eillo

I don't know why that word came to me but it did. If you do a Google search this is what it brings back. It's among other things an eating  place in Perth, Western Australia. I'm writing this as my Facebook ban is still on which I have detailed here ,I've just noticed as I published this that Eillo is Ollie backwards.

I'm surprised how long this heatwave has been going on, although weather is a complicated thing so I shouldn't be surprised that I've been surprised. It's still warm as I write this although there is a lot of cloud. I'm also suffering from hayfever / cold symptoms which is uncomfortable.

Today I was checking my eamail and read Barclays as Batcave. I don't know if this is just something that happens as you get older or it's something that everyone does. Maybe it's my recent binge watch of Gotham to watch series three and get up to date on series four. I won't say anything on it in case a fan reads and is still not up to date.

I am feeling incredibly drained, I don't if it's the weather, but have my annual Diabetic Review on Monday so maybe they will have something to say. I could do with a couple of days of total rest I think, but is not going to happen any time soon, though at the beginning of August I have another Liver Biopsy so that will mean a few days of total rest.

Anyway one songs sums up the way Facebook censors have treated me and many others and that's 10CC's "How Dare You" the title track of their eponymous 1976 album, which appeared as an instrumental "B" Side of either "Art For Art's Sake" or "I'm Mandy Fly Me" and was great for annoying straights when I put it on the jukebox.

So I hope to share this with you tomorrow whn they let me back on Facebook.

Vibrant Curious Art

On Thursday my friend Nicky mentioned she was going to an art installation called "Mirth and Girth" by James Unsworth on the eighth floor at Breeze Creatives which was unsubtle but entertaining , photos of two engaged large guys censored by bright flowers. It was a short visit but you can see some examples here.

I then descended to the second floor to visit Oliver Doe's  exhibition  "Body you are not me" a fabric and sculpture gthering with paint. Very strikig it is too although sort of minimalist without being minimalist. I spoke with Oliver who was wearing a rather striking linen suit, that was another impressiven exhibition. His site is here and you can find out more about the exhibition for there or better still go and see it at Breeze Creatives.

Then I  wandered along to the Curious Launch at the old tourist office in the Central Arcade and this was just an incredibly welcoming and vibrant atmosphere. Lots of art on walls and tables, the stage read for a band , lots of people talking and congregating. The whole Curious site is here detailing all the organisations involved in this LGBT / Queer celebratory event.

I met a great tattooed arist,Carla B Turner, wearing a great charity shop dress and platform wedges explaing the process of creating  silhouette photography.Two other artists on display were gobscure and IDa4. Showing Andy Warhol influences and there was a portrait of my dear departed friend Craig Puranen Wilson, looking on and no doubt appreciating the wonderful atmosphere and art displayed.

I loved the vibrancy of the event even though I didn't stay long, but the Hub is open for information, so well worth visiting.

The Fog

This weekend, and this morning, I've been surprised by the amount of sea fret, fog and low flying cloud I've encountered. Coming down on the train at times the train was in thick sea fret and my attempts to take photographs in the earlymorning of the Forth Bridges were affected in the same way.

I know this is just part of summer weather and it will burn off.

Over the weekend I was in a taxi and the guy was playing music from local radio hell, Hall & Oates "Maneater",  probably the worst three minutes on their otherwise excellent "Private Eyes" album (standout songs "Mano A Mano" and "Head Above Water". This was followed by some American AOR mercifully wiped from my memory , then America's "Ventura Highway", even more bland that the one chord, one note of "Horse With No Name". He did eventually redeem himself with a popular Simple Minds song, either "Don't You Forget About Me" or "Alive and Kicking" although these, in my opinion don;t touch "The American" from "Sister Feelings Call" (the companion album to "Sons and Fascination") with one of the most vicious guitar solos that I've heard.

Then there was the instance of the guy on an East Coast Train with a West Coast Advance ticket having to stump up £150. While I think the rail network is a total rip off you really need to go in there knowing what you are doing. I always tend to go for open returns to cover me for most eventualities, though some people become so obsessed with saving money by booking fixed tickets, that they are left high and dry if  any part of the plan fails.

Then I was in the wonderful No. 28 and there was a group of 3 startled by their drinks bill and had to split it. Lesson here is if you are running a tab either now the price of what you are buying or have enough money to pay whatever your cost.

I know this has been very rambling, but it is and excuses to play "The American" , my favourite Simple Minds song.

Hope your Monday has been great.

Reading Out of The Prison

It is very hot (for me) . My phone says 17°C but it feels a lot hotter so I have taken action, but enough of that. On Friday' on the way up to Scotland, I decided I would read Michael Nesmith's "The Prison" novella / Short Story while listening to th eaccompanying album. You should finish the book when the soundtrack finishes.

But doesn't everyone read at different speeds? During reading the ticket inspector needed my tickets and a stopped reading but the music played on.

And guess what, as the final notes of the "Closing Theme" played, I finished the story.

That was a bit of a surprise as I just read at a fairly leisurely pace.

The story is slightly surreal and confirmed what many people had said that Nesmith is a better songwriter and performer than he is an author, but it's brave and , in my opinion, successful attempt. I 've read the book, listened to the music and am still coming to terms with what it was about, but I still have a wonderful album that I can revisit at my leisure.

When I got home Edgar Froese's "Solo" was waiting for me, and this is an example of how the value of music has plummetted. There are six albums spread over four CDs and it cost me a little more than a tenner. That's close on five hours music for the price of a single album. It's a great collection and I would have thought twice about paying twenty pounds for it but at that price I thought it was fine (rightly or wrongly) to inflate my music collection.

I alsmentioned to my friend Maureen about how brilliant Bill Bryson's "A Short History Of Nearly Everything" is and how I bought a lot of copies when it first came out to give to my family and others.

So on this hot first of July what to play, well Stevie Wonder had an album called "Hotter Than July" and from that we'll borrow "Master Blaster (Jammin)".

Hope you can sleep

A Prison, A Garden, A Country Singer, A Snow Goose and A Camel

A far longer title that the post itself. Today I will be going up to Scotland and the other night I listened to "The Prison" by Michael Nesmith and the concept was that you read the book that comes with the album and the album is a soundtrack. The music stands on it's own but on the train up I am going to read this while listening to the album.

The general consensus is that Nesmith is a far better musician thatnauthor but that's a moot point as far as I'm concerned.

He followed the concept of "The Prison" up with "The Garden" which I am going to order after writing this very short piece. I'm not going to analyze or even tell you the story of these because I actually don't know. When I get back and have listened to both and read both books I will follow this up.

This concept was also used by Camel with Paul Gallico's "The Snow Goose" which I know a bit more about because I have done the read / listen thing with this, set in the wild, desolate Essex marshes and is an intense and moving tale about the relationship between a hunchback (Rhayader) and a young girl (Fritha) who nurse an injured bird and Rhayader's involvement in Dunkirk. It is very short and very moving and takes about the forty minutes which can be soundtracked by Camel's album based on the book. A fuller synopsis is available on Wiki here.

The weather is hot, England have been beaten, and the weekend is here so have a great Friday and a great weekend and do try to investigate these albums and books.

However I am not going to choose a song from the albums but another Michael Nesmith song "Some of Shelly's Blues".

Have a great day.

Turn This Crazy Bird Around

I switched on the radio this morning and that line came out of the speakers sung by Joni Mitchell singing "This Flight Tonight" from her album "Blue". I think my first introduction to this song was hearing Nazareth's excellent heavily rocked up version with Manny Charlton's ghostly guitar solo which I bought as a single, but was on their album "Loud'n'Proud".

Soon after Judas Priest did the same to "Diamonds and Rust" penned by Joan Baez on their "Sin After Sin" album although it doesn't have the intensity of the Nazareth cover.

But these are two iconic songwriters covered by two iconic metal bands and it is an excuse to play these songs.

These albums haven't been on my playlist as I have a few more racked up to listen to but last night I listened to "The Prison" by Michael Nesmith which I will dedicate a future post to.

A couple of weeks back I bought some vinyl on albumwas "Electric Warrior" by T. Rex with it's incredibly cool cover, and it came with a download code. Surprisingly I haven't got it on CD, so I decided to download the album and was surprised that it was in WAV rather than MP3 format resulting in significantly larger files but without sound loss. One of te songs was like 24Mb for a two minute song. That is 2.5 times the capacity of my first hard drive computer which I got from my friend Chris Brough. How times change.

Anyway enjoy all this, I'm off to Scotland for the weekend.

Walk On Gilded Splinters - #TenAlbumsInTenDays #3 - #9

I do find it amazing the amount of music that I have available to me, but I do keep going back to revisit old albums, but because they still sound incredible today. "Gris Gris" by Doctor John was something I missed in my teenage years but once I heard it's hypnotic gumbo voodoo tunery it's an album that has never left me.

I'm also doing  #TenAlbumsInTenDays which gives me another excuse to revisite enjoy and write about this stuff.

Similarly Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" is another amazing epic piece that I did pick up as a teenager much to the chagrin on many of my Led Zeppelin / Bowie toting friends. This was several steps too far for them, as would have been "Gris Gris".

Rumour has it that Beefheart took the Magic Band into the desert and learned them to play from scratch. The album combines so many musical elements that if you don't approach it with an open mind you will not be able to appreciate the eclectic mix of brass, woodwind, free jazz, sea shanties, blues, garage rock and pure avant-garde. It is truly an experience and again, once you're in there you are truly in. You will never forget or fail to appreciate this masterpiece.

The back to the New Orleans Voodoo of Doctor John, The Night Tripper in full regalia for "Gris Gris". One song "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" has been widely covered by such luminaries as Cher, Marsha Hunt, Paul Weller and Humble Pie but that is just the grand finale of an album of seven amazing and hypnotic songs.

So really that has to be the song I leave you with but check out both these albums and the other versions of the song, you may love them.

A Wolf In Babylon

God it's hot, but I'm not complaining , it keeps the power bills down and makes walking into work pleasurable. Unfortunately I have to remain fully clothed so as not to frighten any living creature in my vicinity, so I am enjoying mytime at home where I can be on my own and therefore don't have to concentrate too much on my appearance.

After listening to Edgar Froese's "Aqua" I decided to put on "Wolf City" by Amon Duul II complete with it's winged sphinx cover (see here)designed by Falk U-Rogner, the band's keyboard player ,  From the opener "Surrounded By Stars" this album does not have a dud moment. The lyrics my be a little out at times but English is not their primary language and when they sing in german on "Deutsch Nepal" they sound supremely confident. I played it through twice and could have kept going, but I do realise that I can put it on whenever I want.

I then put on it's predecessor, "Carnival In Babylon" and at first I wasn't too taken with it. It's more pastoral in feel and while I think all the songs are in roghly 4/4 time the introduction of tablas and eastern percussion draws you into it. On the second play I was rehooked all the songs just held me and I could just listen to both these albums for a very very long time.

These are just two albums from the excellent Amon Duul back catalog and after "Vive LA Trance" they seemed to lose their way, but hit back remarkably with their last release "Duulirium"

So I've gone for "Deutsch Nepal" with some Ralph Bakshi animation which may be from his "Lord of The Rings", powerful stuff.

Sleep well.

Real Head or Artificial Head?

Been slightly worried as a few nights I've been so tired I've had to go to bed at nine. I'm up at six most mornings, sometimes earlier so that should give me nine hours sleep which should be more than enough, but I was under the impression that the older you got the less sleep you got.

Today I wasn't feeling exactly energetic but for one reason or another I've ended up doing 18K steps, the most this month, which i sjustover six miles. Included in that is mowing my lawn and trimming some of the wild edges of the garden resulting in a full brown bin.

Yesterday I listened to "Aqua" by Edgar Froese with it's artificial head recording and while it sounded fine, I wasn't exactly blown away. The title track consists of running water with some electronic sounds weaving in and out and eventually this becomes hypnotically excellent, great music for walking theough green parks to and just the sort for relaxing your mind. I was impressed enough to order the Edgar Froese "Virgin Years" and stick my copy of "Aqua" on Discogs here.

The thing is there's lots of other songs and pieces that have made better use of stereo options and one of the best is still "May This Be Love" from Jimi Hendrix's debut "Are You Experienced" apparently used in the film "Singles". Stick on your headphones and experience this for your self. YOu dontneed an artificial head for this, a real one will do just fine.

Enjoy my friends.

My Artificial Head

Apparently, yesterday was the Summer Solstice, the longest day, and the days get shorter from now on until the Winter Solstice. F Paul Wilson's "Nightworld" has a premise where the days keep getting shorter in the culmination of his "Adversary" series which started with "The Keep" which was made into a film directed by Michael Mann and featuring Sir Ian McKellen which is worth a watch although not a classic.

It turns out that TangerinDream did the soundtrack and my last post was German rock orientated, and caused me to load a lot of German rock on to my phone to listen on my walk to work. One of these albums was Edgar Froese's "Aqua" his first solo album outside of Tangerine Dream and at the time it used an "artificial head" recording process developed by, among others, Gunther Brunschen, more of which you can read about here.

It was supposed to give a more realistic aural experience but was more of a marketing point, but you had to listen to this recording and in the end it was just a decent electronic record.

I am tempted by the Froese solo box set though I actually have a copy of "Aqua" and I will be listening to it on the way to work today.

The sun is shining the sky is blue so should be a good walk in.

I am always surprised how so many different things can be related, but again that's part of the rich tapestry of life. Have a brilliant Friday every one.

Dancing With Lemmings #TenAlbumsInTenDays #3 - #2

I think my first exposure to Amon Duul II was hearing "Race From Here To Your Ears" on a UA compilation, "All Good Clean Fun". There was a lot of good stuff on there such as Man's "Daughter of The Fireplace" but this album made me want to hear the albums that the individual songs had come from and hearing "Race From Here To Your Ears" (Part of "Restless Skylight Transistor Child" that made up side two of th eoriginal albumthen seeing the cover of "Dance of the Lemmings" (or "Tanz Der Lemminge" which I think is the correct German original title)

 The album also drew me into what was loosely termed Krautrock but also made me realisethat music could sound much different to our normal western blues and rock and roll concept of rock. From this I went on to Tangerine Dream, Can, Kraftwerk and Faust as well as other less well known bands and all these now how a place in my music collection.

These days people equate German Music with Kraftwerk, and while not wanting to diminish their importance there is far more to German rock and progressive music than them, but they deserve their success and recognition.

So with that I will look out on the very light night sky of the longest day.

Sleep well, tomorrow is Friday.

Solstice Song

The sky is blue, there's not a cloud up there, and this morning when I went into the shower I was hit by the heat of the sun before I switched the shower on. IT's also the Summer Solstice so it's the longest day of the year and looking outside it looks like we are going to have a gorgeous and long day with many hours of daylight.

There are lots of things happening and am tempted to a couple of events tonight which are in the town centre and really with the fact it's th elongest day I should take advantage of the extra daylight that we have, although I also have Los Coyotemen at The Globe tomorrow night so this does look like being quite a busy week, but all the more enjoyable for it.

Weather is still very warm, but that is a plus, cold weather is fine as long as you can find somewhere and some method to actually warm yourself up.

I am combing my memories to think of an appropriate musical piece to go with this post, maybe something druidic and arcane, maybe some Julian Cope or Incredible String Band. "Painted Chariot" is leaping at me though I have already used it for my  #LikeNoOther series here. I'd also forgotten that Julian Cope appeared in my second ever post here which was a short overview of my exposure to Krautrock because Julian had produced a book with the same title on the subject.

In the end I've gone for "Parlipap" by Spirits of The Sacred Grove, so enjoy The SUmmer Solstice.

Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine With Numbers #TenAlbumsInTenDays #3 - #1

I've been listening to a few albums recently and tonight I put "Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine" by The Cosmic Rough Riders on the player. I've written about this album before and while it is not super consistent it does contain some excellent gems of songs. If you buy the super deluxe download you get forty songs for less than eight pounds which is great value for your money.

From the opening pastoral "Brothers Gather Round" which may not have been out of place in "The Wicker Man" apart from it's not as unnerving before hitting you with the beautiful but disturbing "This Gun Isn't Loaded" before returning to the soporific mood with the excellent "Glastonbury Revisited".

The album continues in this vein hitting highs with "Revolution(In The Summertime?)" but it's that opening triumvirate of songs that really nails it for me. I've also been nomintedfor another #TenAlbumsInTenDays by my friend Asher so this will be the first one on this list. I'm going to have to be careful not to repeat my album or people nominations.

Anyway, I am still doing the 340K steps a month to ensure a million steps every quarter but was wonderfingwhy as I got towards the end of the month I could hit my monthly target witout hitting my daily target of say 11.5K a day. It's simply that I often surpas the daily requirement and thhe surplus build up of steps means I have to do less to maintain the daily average. Hardly a perfect explanation but I have ten more days walking, 87K steps to hit 340K for the month, so 8.7K a day will do it. Of course I will try to maintain my 11.5K a day so should end up with a healthy surplus at the end of the month.

So I will leave you with the excellent "Revolution(In The Summertime?)" before I hit the sack. Enjoy your Thursday tomorrow my friends.

Dreaming Again

Just woken foorma fairly intenses horror story dream and I can't remeber a thing about it, just some incoherent images that may or may not have been there. I obviously dealt with it fine as I am just about to get up, take drugs, shower and get to work, but part of me does want to remember what the dream was about. I'm reading Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" so maybe that's something to do with it, and watching England vs Tunisia  last night where you know the technology is there and supposedly being utilisedto ensure fair play and once again cheating and gamesmanship rules the day, although for a change didn't result in victory.


Anyway once again we have an absolutely beautiful day and that means a walk to work and listening to music. Recent albums have included the first three Jimi Hendrix albums and Bowie's "Blackstar", the eponymous opener I still find absolutely jaw dropping and that along with "Lazarus" would be a reason to have the album if the rest of it were blank, and it isn't. I'm currently listening to Bob Dylan's "Shelter From A Hard Rain" semi bootleg which I originally bought because it contains a duet with Joan Baez on Woody Guthrie's "Deportees (Plain Wreck At Los Gatos)" and the playing is a bit shambolic but in a good way and the song selection isbrilliant, so this does get a lot of plays.

Yesterday I met some friendly cattle on the walk and posted a little film on Instagram but it can be a little awkward when you are trying to film, photograph, walk and make sure that you have an escape route. Evidence here.

I'm looking forward to seeing Los Coyotemen this Friday at The Globe which means I am getting off my arse and actually getting out. A friend of mine posted on Facebook that he doesnt have enough hours in this week, I feel I don't have enough hours in my life but maybe that is because I'm nauturally lazy but actually want to do things.

My friend Sophia alerted me to the Charity single "The Fall Of Emperor Less" by Dave King so I've included it in the list below and there's furter info here, there's no full length Youtube video, so we will go with Bowie's "Blackstar".

Have a good one.