DAT's Your Lot

About twenty five years ago greedy  record companies made a fortune turning people from tape and vinyl to CD on the pretext that the sound quality was excellent and CDs were indestructable and you could smear them with jam and they would still play. Well think of the logistics !!  What really sold CD to the masses was the MacDonalds like convenience of being able to program tracks , skip tracks you didnt like and repeat ones you did as well as random play.

These facilities were actually available on tape and vinyl players , but when a friend of mine demonstrated it on hi cassette player they was a lot of rewinding and fast forwarding .

Anyway , I digress , what has brought this post on on is the re issue by Rhino of Fleetwood Mac's excellent retrospective The Chain , which I bought in its original incarnation about twenty years back. I've been playing it today and very good it is too.

No , after the initial , virtual investment free windfall of CD (records already recorded and often not remastered, remasters were another wave of cash) , they began to circulate rumours of CD decay , and your everlasting CDs would in fact crumble to dust withing five years. To combat this you had to switch to DAT , expensive players , and back to tape with it's inherent fragility and at the the time blank DAT's were as expensive as a full price CD!! This time the public didnt fall for it, and where is DAT now ?

Twenty years on my copy of the Chain is in fine fettle , and CDs are still an excellent and portable storge medium and there are some excellent packages out there . I recently purchased a superb Emerson Lake and Palmer box for around £15 .

So CD is still as bouyant as ever , Vinyl has made and amazing recovery ,  Newcastle still has 3 or 4 real record shops plus HMV and That's Entertainment (The outlet for Music Magpie)  , and music is still brilliant.

Have a nice day!!

I Don't Get Mad ....

But some things do annoy me , like these Chelsea Tractor size buggies that nu parents seem to need to ferry their screeching offspring through the narrow aisles of department stores. In Mars and Spencers yesterday on idiot parent was letting his brat push the device willy nilly through the store , sight into my leg . If you've seen me you know I can play the archetypal immoveable object with aplomb , which I did  in this case. Brat goes sprawling and bawling on the floor , nu parent bloke glares at me , about to launch int to som ecomplaint , before thinking better of it after observing my size and immovability!!

Why the hell cant these idiots use a reasonable sized buggy for round town , but I suppose it's a way of compensating for their own inadequacy , as well as a large car he needs a large baby carriage!!

...and then you get all these people liking Tesco, Asda and the like on Facebook. Don't you realise these faceless corporations don't give a dan about you . You are just a way of making even more money for them . Tesco endorse slave labour , and they will ditch you or their staff if theres another penny in it for them.  They're all the same even when they do the vouchers for schools. Spend three million pounds with them and your school can buy a football. You're just better going down to Sports Direct and buying a few balls for £1.99 each rather than going the Supermarke charity route.

I remeber a discussin with Chris Ball about the nature of Corporations . They're just out for all they can get . If they were at a meal with you they'd just nick all the food from the table , if they see a charity box they'll just pocket it . This is because a corporation is just a self perpetuating entity. The people who work within the entity may be ethical and moral as hell , but eventually the nature of the beast takes over with the aim of perpetrating the existence of the corporation.

Anyway I'll just leave my favourite video coment on this to finish this post:

Some Bands Do .... Some Bands Don't

Thanks to Carol for reminding me I'd not posted for ages. This has been running around in my head for a couple of weeks. It is a post in response to John Scott and possibly Gavin Webster's detestation of Steely Dan. John's original gripe was that reruns of The Old Grey Whistle Test were marred when Souixsie and The Banshees were juxtaposed with the video below, and I fully support him on this however ......



  
Reelin' in the Years is a damned fine song . This video doubly marred by the performing seal / walrus hybrid jumping around on staging during his guitar solo. Not good.

In the seventies a friend of mine, Jon Ashurst,  described Steely Dan as the greatest most boring band in the world ,and listen to them and you can see why that description  fits so well.  The music papers used phrases like "educated rock" etc , which , lets face it rock is meant to blow you away  , if you want sedating listen to the charts.

Then at som point they released the lead track for the film "FM" . "No static at All" they promised and we know that was a lie. AOR (Adult Orientated Rock)  Boz Scaggs , Kenny Logins et al paving the way for poodle rock balladeers of the eighties like REO Speedwagon , the descent into syrup rock of Chicago and other musical disasters and cul-de-sacs.

Steely Dan are probably more detested fro what they caused than what they are.

The thing is Steely Dan have no place next to punk rock , but I have Steely Dan and The Ramones and Sex Pistols in my collection , and dont feel that's a problem . Below is a playlist of half a dozen listenable Steely Dan songs and you should try it , you might enjoy it. Incidentally both "Dallas" and "Sail The Waterway" , "B" sides from their first two singles have been disowned by the band and never officially appeard in digital format , but they are two of my favourite Steely Dan songs! Though my all time favourite is still "Barrytown".





Steely Dan arent for everyone , but they are and excellent band , well worth a listen.

5.1 Vinyl ?

There's a lot of big boxes to celebrate anniversary releases , notably David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and Paul McCartney's Ram.  Now McCartney's release is sort of OK , but if you want the 5.1 mix you have to buty the most expensive box , but you can buy the vinyl separately.

Bowie's box and the Station to Station release require you to fork out for vinyl as well if you just want the 5.1 mix. Pink Floyd have done similar thinks with their immersion sets.

5.1 sound is worth hearing if you have a home cinema set up but you should have to buy the vinyl version as well to hear things in 5.1.

Kink Crimson , Black Sabbath and The Talking Heads have released reasonably priced 5.1 mixes of classic albums without requiring fans to break the bank. So until the 5.1 mixes are available as a reasonably priced option my money will be staying in my pocket. I have the King Crimson , Black Sabbath and Talking Heads albums so I have plenty to listen to.

Obfuscation and Entreprenurs

It amazes me how in IT and web related circles most of the charlatans working in those areas usually cement their indespensability by coming up with new cloudy nebulous descriptions  for what is essentially the same thing.

So subroutines became objects and so on. A few months ago someone sent me an email asking if I had receved a "wire-frame" , I replied no but I had go the blank document they sent me.

I was recently invited to a "deep dive" . I didn't realise we had taken up sub aquatic activities! I think they meant a detailed analysis session!!

The other thing is that the government seem to think the economy could be kick started by using prisoners as cheap labour. Well the entrepreneurs will pay next to nothing while the taxpayer foots the security bill.

everywhere you look people are trying to take you for a ride and not in a good way. Rant over.

Do I Love You - Indeed I Do!

It's well known that this is THE most sought after seven inch single of all time. The following text is by Ian Levine I assume:

"The original version of this song is quite simply the most sought-after Motown and Northern Soul record of all time.The legendary Motown producer, Frank Wilson, made this solo record for Motown which was so rare, and so in demand, that someone paid fifteen thousand English pounds for a copy. He was a big help with the Motorcity project, in 1989 and 1990, and he and his wife Bunny always stay at my house every time they're visiting London. The Motown single "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" became so huge that everyone wanted to see Frank perform it. For years he refused, but finally he gave in and did so at Fleetwood in 2000, in front of two and a half thousand people, the one and only time he said he would ever do this. But previously to that, we had visited him at his Los Angeles home, and filmed him at the piano, so people got to see, on The Strange World Of Northern Soul DVD, this legendary song being performed for the first ever time."

Listen to see how good it is. It does amaze me that things like this can slip out of print while dross such as "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" by Dawn or "Save You Kisses" by Brotherhood of Man are omnipresent.

The reason for this post is the discovery of a song called "Satin and Heartaches" by Darryl Johnson. It was used in an advert for Always Panty Liners , but when I tried to track it down there's no sign on Amazon, iTunes GEMM or anywhere . All I can find is this ReverbNation page with 37 of his songs on  here. So is this a rarer more sought after song that the Frank Wilson waxing?

The Always advert!

Would Jubilee Vit? - A Campaign To Get Minnie The Moocher To Number One For The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Well the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend is here , I'm fairly neutral about the Royal Family though the Charles is Ok . The Queen has outlasted five Popes and is looking suprisedly fine for her age and I reckon that she willl outlast her mum.


Lot's of people are dissing the Royals while taking advantage of the various bank holidays generated for events such as this. I seriously think the most misguided is the attempt to get the Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" to Number One for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee . The record is 35 years old , and it's quivalent in 1977 would have been trying to get Louis Jordan  or Cab Calloway to number one , though I think Minnie The Moocher would be a worthy Jubilee Number one.Download it here and Make it the Jubilee Number One!!

If you are going to protest , do something new and different, Rage Against The Machine hitting the christmas number one has a lot to answer for , but the face that Amazon were selling the download for 29p may have helped.

Anyway enjoy the Jubilee Weekend , there's pleanty happening. On Monday there's "Dishonourable Subjects" at The Stand in Newcastle, billed as

"A gala evening of comedy and music to mark the head of state being unelected for 60 years. We’ll be taking the piss out of the Royal establishment. Proceeds to local charities." with Gavin Webster, Anvil Springstien, Tony Jameson, John Scott and special guests. SO I'll be toddling along to that.

Also happening is the Newcastle Green Festival , the fact that it's raining should make the grass even greener!!

Noteworthiness

Well this completes my goal to post to the blog every day in May

Twice today people have commented very positively on the Samsung Note. It has been superceded today by the Galaxy SIII which is slightly smaller.

The first was a charming lady at the Techno Tea Party who was asking questions about email. Then she got her phone out because the ringer was too quiet. The vokume was adjusted when someong rang. I got mine out and she was very impressed and forgot all about hers. Anyway I rang her,  adjusted her volume and showed her how to do it.

She loved the keypad on mine and was very impressed with the Amazon Kindle App and the fact I downloaded Bram Stokers Dracula very quickly. I think she might be upgrading very soon.

My Note compared with with works Galaxy S

Next was the ticket collectir who was wondering about it but was wary of the size. I told him you do get used to it, but he was still botheted about fitting it in his pocket.

The size of the Note has caused more guffaws than a Carry On film,  "Ooh look at the size", "It's rather large", "Will it fit?".

As yet I think its brilliant negating the need for a tablet as well as doing everything a pone should do and more. Here's the promo for it:

A slight addendeum , it makes a great e-reader but the Amazon Kindle App wont import ebooks (the real Kindle does) , so I had to install Aldiko that does allow imports so my phone now has a huge library on it as well

Penultimatum

Well my "A Post A Day In May" is almost complete. It hasnt been difficult but some posts have been concise to say the least And must thank my friend who reminded to post on a couple of occasion when it has completely slipped my mind.

So I have had the disipline to keep doing this . This post will possibly be my earliest one, though I once tried to do this and the accidentally published it before midnight.

What I was hoping with this blog was that it would inspire me to write a book. That inspiration is still lacking , that now with Amazon's free publisher you can publish your own book electronically whether you can write or not ....

In A Hotel

Never really done hotels with work , but new responsibilities mean I may be spending time in London so I need to get used to it.The words to the song "Hotel California" by The Eagles:

"You can check out any time you want,

 but you can never leave" 

must ring so true for some people. Good thing is I have a lot of friends who live down here or are in a similar boat so lots of things to do , like tonight going to see the new Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom.

A shortie

This is just to maintain my post a day but I am shattered. Sleep now and three more posts to reach my goal!

Green Day Down at The Doctors

Well sort of . Another sunny day and I spent a lot of it making bricks for my woodburning stove from old newspapers. It is very physical but worth it and means I put less in the recycling bin because I am going to burn the stuff.

Lots of paper front pages caught my eye but I think it was the Sunday Post who were suggesting that it took 100 phne calls to get an appointment with a GP , and then you would have to wait months for it. If that is the situation change your practice . I have done it a few times and always ended up with excelent service. I've been with mine for around ten years , they are The Thornfield Medical Group based in Byker and Shieldfield and provide excellent service with and online appointment and repeat prescription service that cuts down the phone calls they have to deal with , an all round winner. Their website is here. The booking system is here.

Engelbert the English Eurovision Entry

Gerry Dorsey better known as Engelbert Humperdinck is England's surprise entry for Eurovison this year with "Love Will Set You Free" . I don't know if it's age or what but I personally think the song is fine , if reminiscent of Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle". It also has shades of a Jacues Brel song sung by Scott Walker , and I think is all these reminders it causes are the reasons why I like it rather than the song itself.

Engelbert himself is a sprightly 75 years old and so a change for the X-Factor rejects we normally get , bringing a bit of quality and a sense of humour to the proceedings. I really wish him well and if the song doesnt get a decent placing , well it just shows what idiots voters can be (hey the put David Cameron in charge here!!).

With a sense of mistiming Roy Hodgsons's maiden England game takes place against Norway , with the tabloid hacks sharpening their paws waiting to pounce , no doubt the Sun will have sum pathetic headline again on Roy's pronunciation of the letter "R". And least you can understand what Roy Hodgson is saying unlike teh bleatings of your average tabloid journalist.

That Looks Familiar

We were talking aboutmusic in the Stand last week and the subject of Fleetwood Mac came up. A couple of us agreed that Lindsey Buckingham was a mad genius and Tusk was their best albim. After Rumours the execs at Warner Brothers were looking forward to bumper bonusses and were horrifed at what the band presented them. This was at the height of punk and I remember NME being stunned by the unexpected brilliance of the album , especially the title track. The fact it was a double album made this an even bigger coup.

Anyway the point I am making about this is that Camper Van Beethoven were stuck in a remote cabin and recorded their own version of Tusk , so there actually two similar looking albums with the same tracks by different bands. I have both.

While Mojo magaize have cover disks of revisited albums , the nearest to Camper Van Beethoven's exercise is te East Star All Stars "Dub Side Of The Moon" Anyway the samples abouve and a coupe of relevant tracks below for you to peruse!

Panic

In 1990 I remember seein a TV program in which some expert reckoned the average family had to spend £2000 a month on insurance premiums to cover them in case something went wrong. At the time my wage was about £1100 a month . I think you can spot the flaw in his argument, Basically he was trying to scare me into a situation where I'd be too frightened to do anything.

Today I saw a sign reminded us that the Digital Switchover is coming as though it wer the ent of the world . "You could lose ALL your TV channels!!" . Well no , actually , you wont , worst case is you will lose the ability to recieve the channels if you dont have a way of receiving digital channels and if you you buy a TV they have a digital receiver built in. But they're still trying to frighten people.

In Michael Moore's film "Bowling For Columbine"  he wonders why there are so many gun related deaths , compared with Switzerland who have mandatory gun ownership , and Canada where guns and ammunition are as freely available as in the USA. This is a very nice little theory cartoon from the film:


These days if you take out a new mobile phone contract you really need to insure against it been stolen of getting broken. The only insurance you really need is to back up your data and phone numbers . Insurance isn't cheap when the list price of a replacement iPhone or iPad us up to £700 !!

In Britain the Daily Mail and Express have a new crisis every week. Bird 'Flu , Pension Crash , The Economy is going to explode , Britain is going to be hit by a Tsunami , turned into a desert or flooded. The list is endless. Oh yeah and there's Al Quaeda , a convenient bogeyman . It was Iraq , now it's Iran , then it'll be China - oh sorry they have money so like the USA can do what the hell they like.

Anyway , my advice is take reasonable precaution , enjoy life . If you want to avoid pregnancy during sex , wear a condom , don't dismember  the guy or woman!!

Twenty Five Minutes To Go ......

My god I nearly missed todays post . Thanks to a message from my friend Carol , I was reminded with twenty five minutes to go. Incidentally that's a song by Johnny Cash which you can listen to below.

Well another trip to Darlington tomorrow and hopefully I can have a day free of the travel hassles that have beset me this week . Now it's time for bed said Zebedee - oh and that reminds of the sketch that made Jasper Carrott a national name!!

It's Late

And I have nothing to post although I was extolling the virtues of Charlie Brooker to my friend Carol today so I will repost Charlie's initial iPad review which was hilarious and stuff about Black Mirror as well.


Oh and the trailer for the excellent Black Mirror

Disco Apocalypse

In less than a week we have lost two giants of seventies disco. First Donna Summer , and now Robin Gibb.

As part of the Bee Gees , Robin Gibb took the world by storm soundtracking the film "Saturday Night Fever" with the aid of a few other artists. But it was the Bee Gees who had the lions share of the song credits on the album with "Stayin' Alive" , "Night Fever" and "Jive Talkin'" among others. Their self reinvention was amazing , give that they were a white pop band who then took the disco dancefloor by storm. I have lots of favourite Bee Gees songs notably the afformentioned "Jive Talkin'" , as well as "Tragedy" and "Alone".

Apparently five Donna Summer singles have reentered the top 200 singles , and its a symptom of digital music that this can happen immediately. Watch out for massive sales of Saturday Night Fever and the Bee Gees Number Ones collections and it's re appearance at the cinema.

However the song that inspired this blog post is by Jackson Brown , see below:

Another Summers Day .....But It'll Either Rain Or Go Dark Before Morning

A Sunny Corner of The Garden

Well although theres a bit of rain , and summer doesnt really start while about June , loads of people have been whining about the fact we've had no summer and thats it for this year and the British weather is appalling . It's weather , it's unpredictable , get over it.

We've ad the Daily Mail and Express predicting froods , and snowdrifts akin to The Day After Tomorrow , and ...... we're still here , no state of emergency. In fact today has been a great day weatherwise as you can see from the photograph of my garden. It's been a great daty for sitting out and talking in the weather.

It seems lots of people arent satisfied until something bad happens and they'll point out that they predicted it . Well as a farmer I knew once said  "It'll either rain or go dark before morning" , and you know what ... he was always right!!

My first voice blog

This is The firsT Time I've acTually use my voice To inpuT The surf blog I will see whaT iT comes ouT like a ham and I'm gonna posT yes iT's very shorT buT ThaT's iT and iT'll be greaT see whaT comes ouT okay

Just Another Day

Well been quite busy actually , so buy that I dont have time to post anything . So this is todays post a day in May. That's 19 days of continuous posting which for me is a record.  Another twelve posts to go then ....

The Weekend Starts Here

I've still not voiced a blog entry even though I have the technology and the Samsung Galaxy Note will allow me to do it. Tonight the Rawmones , a Ramones tribute band anchored by the hardest working man in the world Adas Pepper , play Trillians in Newcastle . Will be toddling along there after a few (non alcoholic) drinks at The Stand.

This is just obviously a diary entry , but Mark Radcliffe is playing the wonderful record "Fanfare" by Eric Matthews. The vido is brilliant and the MP3 is it the jukebok at the top of this entry:

Disco Diva Donna Summer Dies

Almost a newspaper headline. First heard of Donna Summer when her record "Love To Love You Baby" was banned by the BBC . I was into metal and electronics like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk , so was totally knocked out when I heard "I Feel Love" . It was disco , but it was electronic , driven by Giorgio Moroder's almost Motorik , relentless synthesiser.

Almost everyone loved this record , my dad loved it , my mum loved it  , the most metal of metalheads loved it . Great music , a gorgeous body , Donna Summer went on to make loads of great  records although apart from "Loves Unkind", "I Feel Love" and "State of Independence" I wasnt to enamoured by the rest of her output. I believe the original version of "I Feel Love" stretched out to 17 minutes. How good is that.

Moroder continued ploughing his electronic furrow , notably with "From Here To Eternity" , "Together in Electric Dreams" and "Never Ending Story" . A sad day but we will be hearing "I Feel Love" a lot on the radio.........

Summer Means Fun

After all the rain and cold of the last few days this morning gives us a blue cloudless sky. Was hoping to pist a picture from the train but my reserved window seat us not next to a window. C'est La Vie. Anyway I took a picture of a tree next to my bus stop so you have some idea!

I've just noticed that I can use voice input to this mobile blogger so will try that when I am at home.

Unashamed

I am very tired , this post is only to ensure I keep up with the "Post A Day In May" . I'd almost forgot about it today , suffering from a headache due to lack of sleep , but I am going to bed now and leave you with Sleepwalk by Ultravox .... who mean nothing to me !!

First Post From The Note

The Note on the Left the original Galaxy in the right

On the train going home and hoping to make my first post via the Samsung Galaxy Note. The screen is big and easy to use and it does handwriting recognition via its S Pen!
As yet it feels very positive and I am pleased with the beast. I am going to try the camera out soon an we shall see how that fares and how the battery  lasts

Premier In?

Last day of the Premiership today and Roberto Mancini thinks it'll be good for another team to win the Premiership (ie Manchester City) It's just a pity that the team that breaks the stranglehold will only do so because they had the biggest sugar daddy.

If you look at the top teams (position wise) in the Premiership the only teams being run on a sound financial basis are Newcastle and Arsenal. New Euro Fair Financial Play rules could see the likes of Manchester City , Manchester United , Chelsea , Tottenham and Liverpool excluded from Europe i the near future.

It's amazing that Swansea (Swanselona as they are known in some circles) and Norwich have fearlessly bedded into the Premiership and that has got to be due to Ian Holloway's attacking Blackpool last season . Yes they were relegated , but were a huge breath of fresh air to the Premiership.

Anyway , I'm sure theres going to be lots of twists and turns , controversy , cat fighting and fun. We still dont know who will win , who will be in The Champions League , who will be the last team relegated. We know the probabilities but favourites can always fall.

It's not long since Wigan were dead and buried , yet Dave Whelan and Roberto Martinez didnt panic , and they are still the only Premiership club who have never been relegated from the top flight.

Anyway here's my favourite football song, enjoy this afternoon:




Oh I'd forgotten about this for all the Man City fans!!

Oh and finally a playlist of my favourite football related songs

Questions witn No Answers

Just noticed that my last few blog posts have been mainly questions!! Does this imply that I don't know what I'm doing or that I'm jusy inquisitive , not sure.

Anyway just thing about how different countries have slightly different takes on advertising . For years The Halifax have been giving the UK totally rubbish adverts such as this one:





However Halifax Ireland have brilliant ones like this!



   Why is that? Are the Irish more discerning although having said that the new T-Mobile ads are almost as bad as the Halifax (although products are a lot better!) . What do you think?




More Questions .....

My Third Mobile Blog Post

I've just noticed that you can add pictures to the mobile blog post. I am going to try than on my bus ride from work to Darlington Railway Station. The drive is not too awe inspiring but fine as a trst run for mobile blogging.

Not sure how to arrange pictures but have attached a photo of the approach to Darlington Station.

Managed to catch the 1615 north and should be in Newcastle in half an hour. This is now my longest post by mobile. Still not sure how to include rich content but am sure that will come in time.

My God How Much Rain?

Well I'm glad I worked from home today , it has absolutely poured down. Raining like mad. The Daily Mail & Express will have us preparing for the deluge as that's an easy one. It's weather it does what it wants, if you're lucky to can forecast a couple of days in advance assuming no one throws a spanner in the works.


Roughly it's cold in winter and you might get snow , in springs things generally start to grow , summer is generally hotter and autumn things start to die.  But that doesnt preclude getting all four seasons in one day.

My other thing this week is the Raspberry Pi . The cheap (£25) computer meant to get kids properly interested in programming. Almost every guy I know has one . I'm feeling a little left out. There's and excellent blog on the subject here. A great way of getting kids interested in actually doing something. Don't but FIFA 2012 buy a football , want to be famous for a reason.

I wonder if I should buy one ......

Mobile or PC?

Another short post , while the mobile blogger is fine for this sort of thing , if you need to add rich content you really need to use the PC.

Another sunny day today despite doom and gloom from the radio , and today I try to get to Doxford Park by public transport using bus , metro , taxi and whatever else there might be. This video is sort of appropriate , I could use the the ferry , but don't need a plane to get to Sunderland:

First Post By Mobile

This is going to be very short. Its my first post from a mobile phone.This means I should be able to make my "Post A Day In May" a reality.
Will be even better when I get my Samsung Note!

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:

Back To Work .... Back To reality

Well today I start back after a pleasant holiday interlude looking forward to getting my new Samsung Note. Incidentally I installed the Kies software , complete rubbish , doesnt detect my works issue Samsung Galaxy , and just keeps reinstalling drivers. Oh it's also slow and resource consuming.



Anyway will be taking my car back , hopping on a bus , then a train , then a bus and arriving in Darlington with hilday cake for all assuming people are back after the Bank Holiday.

Oh incidentally have you every thought that if you are on a capped data allowance for phones or internet , that advertisements use up a great deal of your data allowance , an example of which is below this paragraph!!



Oh and the song I nicked the title from Soul II Soul's Back To Life:

Cheltenham - Good And Bad

Last week I had my first visit to Cheltenham . One of the recurring themes of this week has been my inability to find a William Hills to cash in a winning bet !! Cheltenham was no exception , despite haveing four William Hills Shops I couldnt find a single one. Ladbrokes , Coral , Betfred , no problem , but William Hills seemed well hidden. I Eventually got my money on returning home!!

Royal Crescent Cheltenham - Pity about The Busses

Anyway Cheltenham has some magnificient buildings and wide streets although the beautiful Royal Crescent is marred by the fact they have put a bus station in front of it , very fitting!! It is amazing how some city planners have no sense of propriety , but the Royal Crescent is an impressive sight.

Clock Scupture in A Cheltenham Shooping Centre

One of the shopping centers has an amazing Clock Sculpture which also tells the time.!! Not a fan of shopping centres as such but they serve a purpose and Cheltenham's were not too bad. Also in the Beechwood center came across another Rise Records which caused me to aprt with more money. In an interesting flash of synchronicity the had a display of Frank Turner Cds and my friend Carol was seeing him in Cairns , Australia that very night at The Jack - Time differences allowing , so England Keep My Bones was among my purchases!

Seated Creature Comforts

On the Promenade which featured lots of expensive shops and street stalls selling exotic food I came across this weird sculpture , and I'm all for for interesting street scuptures. Although my favourite was the alarmed lion atop a hotel frontage in the same town.

Alarmed Lion

I definitely didnt have time to do the place justice , but will be visiting again . It vaguely reminded me of a big Southport but without the beach, although they are probably about the same distance from the sea!!




To finish an excellent Frank Turner video:

A Post A Day In May

   Well it's the early hours of Sunday morning on day six of the task I set myself. I still have to write up my visit to Cheltenham , and should reall do a post on the excellent Tebay Services one of the mentions in Bollocks To Alton Towers. Incidentally they are planning another on on the M5 so southereners can get the benefits of a brilliant service station.

As well as that this week I going to try and make Doxford Park by public transport , though that does mean going through Sunderland , but there is plenty going on in the football world., so I shouldnt really be struggling to write about things. Oh and it;s the first Bank Holiday this month as well:

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Well after a holiday week of cloud and rain , I'm greeted this morning with glorious sunshine. Great for driving home it and hope it keeps that way until Tuesday wen it's back to work.

This week The Sun have shown how low they will stoop for a headline in their abuse of Roy Hodgson , the latest because some German didn't know who he was . 

Still remember they are part of Rupert Murdoch's News International that also owns Fox News , so could you really expect anything else? Oh and the Sun has replaced the News of The World as the scum classes' paper of choice on a Sunday.

On that note I hope you all you West Bromich Albion and England fans follow Billy Bragg's advice:

Record Shops On The Rise In Worcester

I've just spent a rainy day in Worcester , despite a laborious trek to the wrong Park and Ride (but which took me where I wanted) . Amazed to see that HMV were selling umbrellas , yes I know it's raining but a record shop should not be selling umbrellas (as well as iPod docs , Mars bars etc etc).


Anyway wandering further I did a double take when I saw this place:

Rise Records In Worcester

Todays Purchases from Rise

Rise Records has been going for about a year and has a great stock of music on CD and vinyl as well as memorabillia and printed stuff such as books and magazines. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable , and they had obviously been involved in National Record Store Day jusging by the posters and vinyl artifacts.

My own purchase are on the right, the new Santigold album plus a Phil Manzanera disc as well as a Chess collection.

Absolutely excellent to see a thriving record shop free of X-Factor dross , and doing well as places like HMV lose their way in a desperate attempt to gain a few pennies to sell anything that might make anther penny or two.

You Can Always Talk About The Weather

Day three of trying to do a post a day for the month of May. Today would have been my mums 73rd birthday and she wasnt a fan of the rain! It's pouring down so today's trip to Cheltenham has benn postponed for the closer and more familiar Worcester.

I can't really complain as the holiday in Knighton was blessed with brilliant weather every day and part of the thing about holidaying in Britain is the unpredictability of the weather. It never fails to exasperate me when people expect the weather to behave predictably , the Met Office do their best , but there's always something else that can cause a knock on effect and knock all predictions out. So just take it and enjoy it for what it is!!

A Tempest In Stratford

Yesterday I went to see a production of  Shakespeare's "The Tempest" at The rebuilt RSC Theatre in Stratford yesterday.

Manga Shakespeare

The theatre is excellent not least for the excellent ventilation that ensures you remain awake for the whole of the performance. As well as that I picked up a manga version of "The Tempest" from the theatre shop, which I am looking forward to perusing as it is my favourite Shakespeare play. You can see the Reduced Shakepeare Company's version here.

Soldiers in the RSC Restaurant

I noticed lots of small model soldier displays around the bar which were there to advertise a "takeover day" on the 4th May. I'm not sure what is happening , may need to take another trip to Stratford on Friday to find out what it's all about









While in Stratford also found a brilliant restaurant  Edward Moon, which I would recommend to anyone.

The Avon is High

The Avon was very high at the time but just , lapping at the theatre steps , so no danger while we were there!!

Second Hand Plan - HMV , Poundland and Magpies

Many moons ago Music Magpie started buying CDs and DVDs from people , I wasnt sure exactly where this was going. Then That's Entertainment appeared on the high street , selling the second hand stuff to people as a proper record shop.

The thing is you can pick up a Robbie Williams , All Saints , Sugababes , Take That back catalogue for under a tenner second hand. The reason I'm posting this is that I've noticed Poundland are now selling second hand CDs for a pound , so I'm wondering if there is a connection.

Then yesterday I was in HMV in Stratford and noticed that HMV now have a second hand section where they sell stuff for £2 a throw. This was in addition to the Orange concession , the Apple / iPod Dock and DVD player display , T-Shirt section etc. They are so losing their identity .




The biggest irony is that despite selling CDs they don't sell anything you can play a CD on , well maybe their Blu-Ray and DVD players .....

Think Neil Innes Recycled Vinyl Blues is appropriate :

Just Wondering ...

In October / November 2011 it was World Novel Writing month and and at the time I wondered if I could sit down and write 2000 words from scratch. I managed to do it here , and got to thinking could I write a blog entry for a day for a month?

Last year I also managed 100 blog entries for the first time , that's two a week.

People keep diaries and that's all a blog is , albeit an online  version, and to be quite honest , you could easily write  forty entries in a day , maybe short ones, but nonetheless you could do it, and maybe I will actually try that one day.

For the time being I may actually try to complete at least one a day for the month of May 2012. I may do more than one a day but will at least post one entry every day this month and see if I can find something to post about.

Newspapers have to fill themselves everyday and there must be days when nothing really newsworthy happens , but that wont stop the Dail Mail and Daily Express coming with some scary headline or the Dail Sport finding a knicker shot of some C List celebrity to fill their front page

Unearthed Treasure

Just listening to Ken Bruce on Radio 2 , and a record came on that I knew , and thought a friend of mine Carol would love. I'd heard the record before and the lyrics had a stylish familiarity. The song was London from the album "Don't Stop Singing" by Thea Gilmore . The album is a project in which Thea has taken unused Sandy Denny lyrics and set them to music creating a very beautiful album . Sandy was a wonderful singer and writer and it is amazing that her words can still captivate and amaze , brought to life by the wonderful Thea Gilmore.




On a similar note Woody Guthrie's niece or daughter (sorry about this) found a huge box of her father's / uncle's lyrics and gave them to Billy Bragg and Wilco who recorded the songs , now available in The Complete Mermaid Sessions , breathing life into writings that may otherwise have been lost to us. Both these albums should be in everyone's collections , two absolute gems which I have just ordered,





You can probably even get them on iTunes , Amazon have the hard copy and download options!!