The iPad is Gone

It's grey and rainy and I am have hust been watching Ripper Street and Taboo, lots of grim , 19th Century violence and machinations.

Yesterday morning I had a dream , I think I was in Edinburgh, in some Polish shop but I had to go back to get a codec for a video but the only way out was via a hardboard catflap blocked by a China man on a trolley but I had to go out via side door into somewhere I had never been before , lots of high dark streets, then the alarm went off. I know this makes no sense but it was a dream and I can still remember some of it, so that's why I've written it down here. Some psychiatrist will probable get some insight into my psyche from that, or maybe not .. who knows.

Anyway for the last year I have probably used my iPad to charge up and update IOS and that's about it. I'd originally got it to play with Garageband and basically I just doodled with Garageband. I find my TASCAM portastudio and Audacity far easier to produce music with so I ditched the iPad and bought a Kindle Fire 8. All I've done with it so far is charge it up, but I  hope I will get more use out of it than I did the iPad. I just tried to install the Google Play Store but that wasn't successful and Alexa has talked to me.

I only have sixty thousand steeps to no to hit my million steps in three months in the Million Step Challenge, and after that I pledge to do 340K each month. It's a good way of keeping fit without the boring drudgery (as I see it) of gym membership,

Anyway I thought I would tell you about my dream and how I am no longer infected by Apple but we shall see how the Kindle performs. So a suitable record would be on of the Osmonds goodies, where they try to take on the Jackson 5 leaving you with "One Bad Apple".

Sleep well my friends.

Monday Sun

Despite the fact it's Monday it looks an absolutely gorgeous day. This is a definite walk to work day. The benefits of walking are evident in my general improvement in health, although it means I have less time for TED talks and other stuff. I tend to spend maybe two hours a day walking which should result in around 12K steps but vary between 8K and 15K, so sometimes I must walk more slowly and some days more quickly. I'm writing this as I'm getting dressed (which you really wouldn't want to see).

I am toying with disposing of my CD collection. A big chunk is in boxes , and while I love playing albums on CD and vinyl, if something is boxed up , it's not available to play. I have it all digitally stored (I think), so it would be a good idea to get some more space by getting rid of some boxes. But in those boxes there are CDs I wouldn't want to lose so it's not a simple task, but I am formulating a plan.

I'm in a similar mode with books and DVDs , I seldom watch DVDs though recently got around to watching the excellent "Looking for Eric" by the brilliant Ken Loach and featuring Eric Cantona, and yesterday I listened to a "Best of R Dean Taylor" , if I remember rightly the first white artist on Tamla Motown, though I may be wrong there, but was surprised at how many songs I knew on there outside of the big hits such as "Two of Us" and "Ain't It A Sad Thing" (which are possibly covers).

So I've chosen "There's A Ghost In My House" for you to enjoy, and I will soon be on my way to work. Enjoy your day my friends.

Please Smile

Today walking into town I saw a guy with a very fierce expression on his face . I smiled and said "Nice Day" but got no reaction. He then started cleaning his car. I then got on a bus and there was a guy looking miserable holding a scratch card. It may have been a winner but probably not, but he didn't look happy. I hope it was a winner and I hope he ended the day smiling.

Smiling releases endorphins and makes you feel better, and makes you better able to do whatever you want to do.

I've passed 900K on my Million Step Challenge but today has been an absolute trial. Firstly my phone seems to be losing and not recording steps. One example is first thing this morning that I took Fiona's phone upstairs for her and that registered 92 steps, mine registered 5 steps , and that's what it was on before I picked Fiona's phone up. Yesterday it registered 25 steps from bus stop to home , when it should have been 200 steps. I went for fish and chips on Friday , that's well over 2K steps , my phone decided I'd done 1K. So this is a little demoralising.

Then I've started feeling drained like all the strength is leaking from my arms and legs. If I can keep going for 20 minutes then I can overcome it, but it's like walking through treacle for 20 minutes. I won't let this combination of negativity stop me from completing the Million Steps by the end of July but it does feel like I'm pushing against something, but it won't stop me.

So an appropriate song would be Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" , I know it's Sunday and tomorrow  is Monday, but it's another week, another challenge. Push on my friends , push on.

How Glastonbury Happened

Just continuing through "Electric Eden" and I came across a couple of snippets about how the Glastonbury Festival actually got started. Michael Eavis apparently snuck into the Bath Blues festival and caught Led Zeppelin's set. A couple of months later he put together The Pilton Festival on his farm with The Kinks headlining. Stackridge and Amazing Blondel were on the set and The Kinks dropped out and were replaced by Tyrannosaurus Rex. The festival was virtually free and lasted the weekend and for a pound you got entry and a weekend's ration of milk.

The following year it was rebranded as "Glastonbury Fayre" and was again virtually free, there was no alcohol allowed and only vegan food. Michael Eavis is a Methodist and local pastors were in the crowd dancing and socialising. The acts this time were big hitters such as The Grateful Dead, Hawkwind, Bowie and Bolan. The Pyramid Stage was constructed according to various mystical calculations and the festival was financed by a film made about it and the triple LP "Revelation"  (more here) that I bought at the time with a brilliant fold out cover. I just have a digital copy now but if you follow the links you can get your own.

The closeness of mystical sites like Stonehenge and Glastonbury Tor added magic to the festival , but after that it did nit reappear until 1978, when it began the transition to the advertising corp fest with cash machines and phone masts that it is today.

Michael Eavis makes lots of money but donates lots to many worthy causes. He doesn't drink or do drugs and still maintains his Methodist faith, and long may he continue and prosper.

So basically I will finish this with my favourite song which includes the Festival's name it it's title, "Glastonbury Revisited" by The Cosmic Rough Riders

I know it's a bit wet but have a great Saturday.

Popularity

We hear a lot of certain things "going viral" , but I was wondering what makes something popular these days. Most of the posts on this blog get around 50 hits. The highest ones are between 1-2K and some have none. I don't know how many are robots and know that two or three friends read regularly. Though I seldom get any comments on here which makes me think maybe 90 % are robots. I think I've had maybe for or five comments since the blog started.

Recently I heard of some work experience person going viral on Southern Rail. I read his tweets and to be quite honest they were nothing special, but the public seemed to love it. Remember this is someone on work experience at a company that treats it's customers like cattle and yet those customers like X-Factor viewers just take whatever they are fed my their media choice.

So I haven't a clue what makes something popular. A huge media presence helps, talent and ability and fitness for purpose less so. Remember VHS smashed Betamax despite the latter being the better format.

The Internet and modern communications mean that any idea can become viral and therefore popular. I believe the Daily Mail has the most visited media website going, showing the amount of small minded people who are spoonfed the hate and drivel.

I'm sorry this has rambled in no particular direction, but one thing technology has given us is a chance to deal with the media dominated order. Any can become a star , they just need to be in the right place at the right time and have things drop for them. This may sound cynical but it really is just the way things are.

Anyway I hope I have made you think a bit.

I should include a song but what else should I choose but David Bowie's "Fame" . There was a man who worked hard through many failures to achieve his niche in the modern psyche. He went through name changes , images changes , a perpetual cultural and visual chameleon.

Not Getting Art and Music

I can't believe it's a week since my last post, it's amazing how time can just fly away. I had my annual diabetic review on Monday thinking I had done OK having lost 6Kg , reduced my insulin intake by 30% and improved my three month blood sugar reading (H1C ? ) , the consultant was unusual in that they seemed to want to find something to berate me so told me I was still overweight and if I hadn't reduced my nsulin the my H1C might have been better. How motiovational is that?

Part of the reason for the improvement is my Million Step Challenge , and general walking . I'm at 850K so am going to hit my target, and when I've completed it I will set a target of 350K a month for the future.

I've also got problems with drains so that may be an insurance claims as it may be a rogue tree root that's the cause of the problem. Again that takes time out of your day to sort out.

Yesterday morning on my walk to work the music that came on was Van Der Graaf Generator "Mr Sands" and "Splinter" , plus Peter Hamill's "Gaia" and Genesis' "Harlequin" not exactly inspirational listening but better that Radio One and it wasn't exactly lifting my mood, then walking down Barrack Road Half Man Half Biscuit's "Eno Collaboration" from "Voyage To The Bottom of the Road"came on. That did lift my mood and really set me up for the day.

Fur lunch I sampled some Thai Potato at Wildflower and I am really tempted to to have it again today. The day went well.

After work I visited "You’re Reading Into It: Queering Contemporary Minimalism"at Art Event at VANE which I didn't even know existed, curated by Oliver Doe , a really nice guy wearing a totally amazing suit. I was speaking to a girl who came in because she'd finished work and was also a fan of Wildflower, but said she didn't get  Art. I said my opinion was that if it had an effect the Art worked, that was the point of it. I took a couple of instagram videos which you can see here, but I suggest you get along and visit. It's a brilliant Art space and this is an excellent exhibitions.

So the song that set up my day is the one you get.

Have a good Thursday everyone.

Losing It

It's weird, you lose something, you go through all the scenarios of where and how you could have lost it, eventually give up and know that it's just lost, think about replacing it, but it isn't a life or death thing, so it slowly slips from your mind and thoughts. Then your friend Lynn texts you to ask if you are going to see The Coyotemen tomorrow night at The Doll at The Black Bull (They're supporting CBGBs royalty The FleshTones , you pull on your "Lawyers, Guns and Money" T-Shirt , grab the black denim jacket for a change, there's something heavy in the pocket, well heavier that normal , you fumble in your pocket and there is your lost camera complete with Pirate Ship video from Whitby.

The night got better, I met my mate Tom and we talked proper computing with testing, and nailing down specifications while dissing "Agile" "RAD" and "OO" before spilling my coke by placing it on a cunningly sloped table and finding out I'd missed a Garage Band festival in Leith by about fifty yards.

Anyway I hadn't written for a bit but thought it's never a good idea to give up hope, even when you've forgotten about what you had given up hope on. On Monday I hit my annual diabetic review having reduced my daily insulin intake by more than 50% basically thanks to walking, hopefully they will send me away with a gold star. I am 80% complete on the Million Step Challenge and when that is complete I intend to keep up at least 10K steps a day.

I was wondering if I could write 100 words tonight. I think I have, though not been too active in July, but we are only seven days in.

Tees With Stripes

I'm feeling like I'm about to drop and, it's funny how a post from your neighbour can remind you of something. Basically just a post about striped T-Shirts that reminded me of my favourite striped t-shirt wearer, Alex Harvey , Glaswegian Master Showman and rocker, who I saw maybe five times before he died (he was a lot younger than I am now, and the band still tour with a stand in for Alex and Zal Cleminson gets scarier as he ages disgracefully , as one should). So you get their excellent "Boston Tea Party".

I'm just back from Edinburgh and despite it being a joint capital, it is a remarkably pleasant place for just walking round, although it is veritably infested with suitcase pullers, at all times of day and night.

I wanted to visit some of the many record shops, and while I found at least five, And did nip into FOPP , the only one I got into was "Unknown Pleasures" on Canongate (which goes into the Royal Mile). It's chock full of vinyl and T-Shirts and I got myself a bit of vinyl. The guys who work there are great, really helpful and knowledgeable and here's my Instagram visit.

I don't know if I am suffering from the distances I walked in Edinburgh , or I am just decrepit and completely unfit for any kind of physical exertion, but we shall see.

OK Time for bed methinks.

Forever

I have some contact lens fluid. A couple of weeks ago it was virtually finished so I bought some more. Each day I use it and each it seeps like it's going to run out, but doesn't, I feel that it's going to go on forever. It's funny how that happens with some things , you think they are finished but they keep going on (like a Take That record or Peter Jackson's take on Tolkein's The Return of The King)

I can't see an end to my medication (until I shuffle off my mortal coil), but my walking is helping a slight weight loss which in turn has allowed me to reduce my insulin intake by 30% (and that in turn will help me lose more weight) but I am still a massive 30Kg overweight and morbidly obese and I know if you asked me to carry 30Kg any distance I would know I had been carrying something.

Still enjoying Rob Young's Electric Eden and found a sort of sad coincidence that resulted in the gestation of two amazing albums, Fairport Convention's "Liege and Lief" and The Band's "Music From Big Pink". Fairport's album was the band's recovery after a horrific crash resulting in the death of drummer Martin Lamble, which affected the band but they spent a summer in a country retreat which gave us the album that was the flagship genesis of English Folk Rock.

The Band had been backing Bob Dylan who was involved in a serious motorcycle accident so the band retreated to a secluded pink house (hence the title to produce an album of seminal Americana by a band led by a Canadian).

However the song I am going to include is Roy Harper's "Forever" as that was the thought that inspired this post, and he is a major figure in English Folk Rock. Have a wonderful Tuesday everybody.

Where Did That Weekend Go?

It's ten o' clock Sunday Night and another weekend where I feel like I've done nothing when I should have done stuff. Friends have been at Glastonbury, and I've just been here. I watched some of the Glastonbury footage on TV.

On Saturday I hardly did much walking , a mere 7.5K steps so I feel incredibly lazy.... and it's work tomorrow.

But yesterday I mowed the lawn and cut back a tree in the garden (still need to dispose of that). I managed to get my recording stuff working using Audacity and my Digitech guitar processor. Then my old laptop died, so I had to kill it properly with a lump hammer before ordering a replacement and setting that up.

Today I did of 15K steps and am now 40K steps ahead of the game almost 2/3 complete on the Million Step Challenge, taking in some video from Cow Hill (where there a lot of Cows , and I could see the full extent of the Hoppings, so Instagram stuff here)

Then my catch up TV included "Lemmy", "American Gods", "Doctor Who", documentaries on Heavy Metal and David Bowie, "Ripper Street" and The Jo Cox "Last Leg Special" which was incredibly uplifting with even Tony Blair and David Cameron being OK ...

So all though I've been pretty anti social (as usual) I have actually done quite a lot this weekend. So maybe I am being a little hard on myself.

While I was walking today Half Man Half Biscuit's "Asparagus Next Left" came on and was followed by another song , which I though was them again, but was actually David Bowie's "Dancing Out In Space" from "The Next Day". Two great songs, so I'll include both of them.

Sleep well my friends

Wooden Heresy

Reading Rob Young's "Electric Eden" I'm discovering a lot of interesting things.

Christian rituals apparently don't allow the use of wooden vessels as it is too close to the "pagan" rituals from which they were appropriated. Wood was seen as a vital living spiritual essential in pre Christian Britain. It provided fire , material for weapons, homes , utensils, and was alive and grew and was all around. Omnipresent ... remind you of anything?

Then it got on to human sacrifice, in early times the top dog / king / leader was sacrificed to the gods to ensure a good harvest. So being to leader of the tribe was not exactly a career move with a future. As time progressed slaves / captors were substituted (obviously someone didn't fancy being offed themselves) and when the Romans came human sacrifice was outlawed and animals replaced humans under the sacrificial knife.

Today this has become to Sunday Christian Ritual and Harvest Festival but it's roots are in the human sacrifice practiced by people who came up with the idea that killing the top dog might be beneficial to the community. While I'm not an advocate of extremes putting the Prime Minister out to pasture would be a great idea at the moment, but she's hardly an inspirational or even competent leader, the gods would not be happy with her.

And I suppose this is all leading up to talking about faith which can be very dangerous. Actions being based on arbitrary directions from an unproven source.

I have faith that the sun will rise, that a light will come on when I press a switch, that a letter will appear on my screen when I touch that letter on my keyboard, that my bus will turn up on time (sometimes), because I know there are mechanisms behind it that will cause it to happen. But as for God (well I follow him on Facebook and Instagram) but I have not seen any evidence of God's existence. God may exist but God's existence for me is decidedly unproven, but I am agnostic.

Anyway the song has to be George Michael's "Faith". It's Friday, the weekend is here, and Glastonbury is going to be all over the BBC this weekend and there are some good bands on, and you can watch them on your big telly.

Six Hundred Thousand and Ice Cream at Closing Time

I passed that mark today on my Million Step Challenge, so I thought I would tell you. Given this morning deluge and thunderstorm I wasn't really expecting to get that much walking in, but I managed to walk all the way into work and post a couple of things on my instagram channel here.

I must say the colours on my Sony Xperia XA phone are sometimes a bit too ultra vivid, but sometimes the pictures and video are amazing. Generally it has been a cheap phone that is doing it's job, but still not up to my Samsung Note 4 (but that gave up the ghost), though I am tempted to go for a refurbished one maybe, but I shall see.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I was looking at some posts from 2015 and was surprised how brief they were. I'm sure I mentioned this two posts ago, but I was wondering why I couldn't get a post done in ten minutes like I used to and obviously I must be writing more. I like to think that I write at least 250 words, and seem to remember that at school we had to write 100 word essays, but these days I would struggle to keep to 100 words (I think).

In work I do documentation and am a great fan of white space, as I believe it makes the document easier to ready, and therefore it's better for getting information across. I've read books recently that had small writing on densely packed pages and that would have put me off had I not really wanted to read the book (I'm thinking Tom Waits on Tom Waits) and that segues nicely int a song I heard on my ramblings this morning, somewhere in Arthur's Hill, I didn't recognise the voice at first, or in fact during the song. The music , phrasing were wonderful but I had to check and it was Tom Waits singing "Ice Cream Man" from Closing Time

Summer Solstice Discoveries, Rembetika and Surf Music

Today is the Summer Solstice and looking out the window it's raining and we have heavy thunder. I haven't seen any lightning yet, but that's just a matter of time, although the weather is saying it's going to be a hot and sunny day (in the south).

The radio and Facebook are full of the corpfest that is Glastonbury. I think that the Eavis family have done a great job and deserve their success, but so so many people go to Glastonbury because it's Glastonbury and the music seems irrelevant. They then start complaining if this year's Robbie Williams isn't headlining. It's almost like X-Factor, you know what to expect, and sometimes it may not be to your taste. This Friday Radiohead play the Pyramid Stage, a relic from the very first Glastonbury (in concept), and the BBC are broadcasting lots of acts. I've never been to Glastonbury and doubt I will ever go, but these days there are so many alternatives that I don't feel I am missing out.

Just seen my first lightning  followed by crashing thunder.

The main reason I am writing this post is because I was reading Electric Eden this morning and discovered something about "Misirlou". I'd always assumed it was a Greek folk song picked up by Dick Dale and "surfed up". Most peoples first contact to this piece was on the opening to Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", Tarantino has a way of unearthing great records for his films, think of "Little Green Bag" by the George Baker Selection, Tarantino's inclusion in "Reservoir Dogs" moved it from Sunday afternoon Radio 2 to cool.


But the western gestation of "Misirlou" predates Dick Dale by some years. A guy called Steve Benbow was stationed in Egypt and taught himself guitar to fill his boring days. One of his favourite tunes was a Greek Rembetika song called "Misirlou" (which apparently means "Egyptian Girl". Rembetika is a particularly harsh Greek folk music form so was suited to Benbow's steel stringed acoustic.  I think Benbow recorded it and it was also recorded by Davy Graham as "Miserlou"(sic).

I couldn't find Benbow's recording but found a celebration concert by Peter Oliver.

Whether Dick Dale picked it up as a Greek folk piece or from Benbow's or Graham's recordings I don't know, but if you've read this you now know about it.

SP if you are going out north of Watford take your umbrella and waterproof gear or you may get quite wet. I'm not sure if I will hit my 11K steps today but I did make 15.5K yesterday and am 30K ahead of target.

Have a great day everyone.

Monkey F

Yesterday evening I was looking for iced lollies in the local supermarket freezer and for a split second saw a sign the said "Monkey Kiev" or "Kiev Monkey", I looked again and it was Chicken Kiev, I couldn't see any sign of a monkey anywhere, unless you count me.

It got me thinking how many times our brain sees something that isn't there. This probably explains the majority of ghosts and UFOs but people are still adamant that such sightings are real, even though there is no concrete proof. I have had a few supernatural encounters, but everyone could explained logically. I've probably written about before but I'm not going to expand on it here, maybe later.

I am currently melting keeping cool by eating strawberry splits, but that can only last so long.

Anyway this is just a short post on mistakes, so we will sign off with Warren Zevon's "Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse". Sleep well my friends.

Dreaming of Arcadian Driftwood

Just woke up and showered (sorry if that brings unwholesome images to mind), and just had one of those dreams that sticks with you, well a bit of it did. Maybe it had something to do do with how I was feeling over the weekend and maybe done, but the bit that stood out was that I was driving at speed over a long bridge over a river (it may have been the Humber Bridge which I drove over in the eighties when contracting at Smith and Nephew in Hull). The problem was there were a lot of roadworks and in some parts the road was completely missing so you had to drive close to the sides to circumvent the gap or be fast enough to jump it. I did both.

The thing is, like most dreams this was totally impossible. If there were roadworks there would be speed limits and cameras, and you wouldn't have to jump gaps. I suppose that's a little like life, sometimes everything is not as straightforward as you expect it to be, but you generally get on with things and eventually things may settle down  and life can get back to normal. I'm not sure where I was going but I must have succeeded (I often do) and then I woke up.

I was look at some posts from a couple of years back and was surprised how short they were, often just a paragraph or even a sentence! I was sure that I could knock off a post in ten minutes a few years back (last night's was almost an hour of writing and this will be thirty minutes I would think).

I'm currently reading the excellent "Electric Eden" by Rob Young (with all it's mystical references to Arcadia and Albion and other places) and came across a situation that I've seen many times. Cecil Sharp and the English Folk Music Society documented folk music by going out in the field and writing it down.  Field recording technology had been around since the early 1900s and was being used by Alan Lomax to record "in situ" music in the USA which is now online somewhere at The Smithsonian. Bert Llloyd was the UK's answer to Lomax and started recording songs by the people singing the stuff now, not sanitised for mass public consumption. Up to this point there were only four recorded folk folk songs that had been captured, also industrial folk music had been completely ignored. Anyway I suggest you delve further if you are interestd, if you have this you have the whole internet at your disposal.

I've chosen "Acadian Driftwood" by The Band , just because the phrase came to mind and it's a lovely song to start the day with, and I always thought it was "Arcadian Driftwood", you learn something new every day. And yes this post took me more than half an hour to write. Have a good one everybody.

One of Those Weekends

I usually write, when I feel inspired or happy. I really don't like complaining or saying that I'm down. This weekend was an opportunity to do lots of things and, actually I've done nothing. I'm feeling apathetic and lethargic and divorced from any social interaction.

Yesterday I just about managed my 11K steps but today I doubt I'll hit 5K. I haven't been feeling that good, but as I write this I feel some sort of Adrenalin buzz. Yesterday and today I thought maybe I should write a blog post, but just couldn't motivate myself to do it. Now as I'm writing this , I know that after I've posted it , I will go out and do half an hour's walking , listen to some music, and feel much better for it.

It's ironic that the extremely good warm weather today is one of the reasons I haven't walked , the week before last it was bad rain one day that kept my waking down to 3K steps. In the Million Step Challenge I am more than 25K ahead of schedule and the intention is to hit a million steps by the last day of July. I think that will happen. It's quite funny to see some people's reactions when you say you are doing a millions steps. My friend Karen (proprietress of the wonderful Kazbat's Den) does 20K steps a day (she has a dog) making my 11K steps pale into insignificance, and you can see she is far fitter than me. I bought a studded belt from her two years back and despite repeated wear, though it's quite thin leather, it's still like brand new. If you want a leather belt or anything Goth , pierced or Majickal go there, it is absolutely wonderful.

Anyway, I am already feeling better. I've done catch up TV this weekend (American Gods, Ils, The Aliens, The Blacklist, Doctor Who)

Oh and this morning moved my record player this morning downstairs into the front room. I know my mate Marek from RPM has told me to get a proper one, and RPM have some beautiful vintage ones (take a look here), but my GPO is fine for me. I'm not an audiophile so that with my soundbar will be fine.

That was another thing, I needed a one plug AUX adaptor so went to the box in the garage where my cables, plugs etc are piled , as I was sure I had one, but no, it just looked like mass of liquorice strands so I though I may have to go to Maplin. This also was a bit of a downer for me, and I am not sure why, because I had solutions.

Then I ordered a cable from Amazon, went down again, thought I would look in the box and the first cable I pulled out was the one I needed. So I sent a cancellation request to Amazon, and played my first record downstairs , the laser-etched "History Never Repeats" by Split Enz (a bargain £3 from RPM) so that ended up fine, and I have a bit more room upstairs andmore music downstairs.

It is amazing how therapeutic that just writing this can be, There are a hell of a lot of my friends who have a lot more to deal with than me, and I do think about them and am there for them  when I can be, and when I think of the horrific events of the last few months I do realise how well off I actually am. I have spoken with people including my dad over this weekend, and he is dealing with stuff (by building extensions and putting roofs on at 82 like you do).

Sometimes just doing things actually kicks off the good stuff in you.

Anyway it's a new week and there will be lots of good things to come this week, I am sure, enjoy this gorgeous weather my friends.

#LikeNoOther #7 Brando - Scott Walker and Sunn O)))

Scott Walker may only mean being one of The Walker Brothers to you with songs such as "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "No Regrets", but when he left he ploughed and interesting solo furrow, covering Jacques Brel (as did Bowie) and displaying a wry sense of humour on the excellent over the top "Jacqui".

As he's aged, his mind and artistry has gone further and further out from the mainstream, with album titles such as "Bish Bosch" and "Soused", which sound inconsequential, but if you are willing to give them the time, they will pay you back in spades. If you put them on at a party, they will probably empty your house fairly rapidly, but anyone who stays may someone worth investing your time in.

"Soused" was made with noise/drone giants Sunn O))) , and when I first heard "Brando" my jaw dropped. How could you describe this, a voice in the realms of musicals and opera backed by slabs of stabbing sound that keeps up for close on nine minutes. No one I've spoken to can describe it, but they are definitely affected by it.

It deserves to be played loud, it is monstrous and glorious, and three years on it has lost none of it's power.

I am glad we have Youtube so I can share these things with you.

Take a listen when you have half an hour to spare. It will make you think

Coffee In Pints

I'm no Mug - Oh sorry I Am!!

I know I'm not the the most gentile or sophisticated person you might have encountered, but last night I decided for tea to have some packet onion soup (how sophisticated is that?), which required a pint of water to make it up. I was going to have it in a bowl but thought maybe I'll just try a cup full.

When I emptied the pan, there was room to spare in my mug!! We got the mugs over fifteen years back on  a holiday in Budapest, memorable for many things including nearly getting arrested for fare dodging on the metro.


What happened is that three stations had automatic ticket machines that were not working, so at the main interchange I approached a couple of ticket staff about where I could get a ticket. The older one said we would be arrested if we didn't hand over our passports. The younger one looked embarrassed, her boss was obviously someone used to the old communist methods and the assumption that everyone is out to cheat the system. We got away with on the spot fines, and were directed to a ticket office three levels up, where we served by a very affable old lady who spoke not a word of English (me not knowing a word of Hungarian, the presumptive ignoramus that I am), but we still managed to sort out tickets for the rest of the week, by sign language and smiles.

The thing is for fifteen years on a Saturday and Sunday and non work day morning I have been drinking my coffee in PINTS. You go in to Starbucks and Costa and they have all sorts of not specific names for their cups, so I may have been having pints there as well. It's just that you never think of going into a coffee shop and asking for a pint of coffee do you? Well I don't. If you go into a pub you will order a pint of beer or lager (or if in The Turk's Head in Darlington wine), but not a coffee shop.

The song I decided to go for is the angry "Perfect Coffee" by the wonderful Kate Tempest. There were lots of other options but I think this is something good to make us aware of the times we live in.

Anyway it's a lovely day and it's time to set off for work, have a great one my friends.

Doing Things By Halves

Today I hit half a million steps three days before the half way point in this challenge. I didn't doubt I would be able to do this but some days getting started is a slight chore. I think it's improving my diabetes, possibly making me a bit fitter. I've reduced my insulin by 20% and blood sugar readings have improved. Weight seems to still be hovering around 105 Kg (roughly 16.5 stone) which is a damned site better that the 123 Kg( 19.3 stone) I was at my heaviest. I still need to trim 30 Kg so am still a total lardy person, but it gives me something to aim for.

I still love chocolate and fish and chips, but don't indulge in them every day, maybe I should fast more, as that is another way to reduce the need for insulin, but I am enjoying the walking and I have gone through winter with it, so I am sure that, even after the Million Step Challenge is over, I will still maintain at least 10K steps a day, which is around four miles.

I know I've not written for the last few days, even though I've meant to, and I also have another #LikeNoOther song lined up, but today, there can only be one song, and it's a classic from the band everybody hates to love, Carter USM one of my theme songs "Sheriff Fatman". Sleep well my friends

Idiots on Wheels

I went out for a short walk this morning and getting towards the end of the road I saw a car which I thought was turning into my road, so I got on to the grass verge as Yorkshire seems to be very short on footpaths. The car stayed there, then I realised it was positioned to possibly cross the Pickering road, blocking the road, then another car came up behind it. The car blocking the road was a BMW and you start thinking about the stereotype expensive car owners and their habits.

German cars are a beacon of engineering excellence, and that makes drivers feel much safer, and some drivers start to think that they own the road and screw everyone else.

The the passenger got out of the BMW, walked round to the drivers side and open the back door and take out a road map, walk back and get in then they started looking at the map. All the while there is the car behind being blocked in. They then sounded their horn. No reaction from the BMW driver so the car behind was forced to overtake on the wrong side of the road (very dangerous, but the BMW driver was oblivious) and get on their way.

The thing is, if you're lost you find somewhere safe to park up then look at where you are and need to go, but this BMW showed absolute idiocy in what he did and could have caused a serious accident. The Helmsley to Pickering road gets quite busy and the car forced to overtake could have been hit because they couldn't get a good view of the main road, or a car may have tried to turn in off the main road.

I think an appropriate song for this post is one of my favourite car songs from Chuck Berry, the excellent "Maybelline". I need to hit another eight thousand steps so maintain my holiday step average for my Million Step Challenge, which I think should be well within my capability.

Waiting For The Great Leap Forward

It was raining today but I thought I would try and catch up on the steps I missed on Tuesday.  I was thinking I might get 7 or 8K in, but ended up completing my 11K for the day. I then thought I might try a few more and this pulled into place advice and wisdom from people who have helped me in the past.

My dad suggested that no matter how far you are going you should identify small targets and hit those. So you may be walking ten miles, but in that walk identify a lamp post or a tree and aim for that , then identify your next lamp post or tree, and so on and so on until you finally hit your target. You break up your task into manageable chunks and eventually you complete it.

My doctor suggested that I should walk for half an hour and work up a sweat to  properly exercise your body. That has happened several times this week, so I think I am doing the right thing.

My son in law Mark told me that once you hit half an our of walking, then your metabolism starts improving and kicking properly, so I now always make sure I do at least forty minutes in a walking session and try to do 10K a day. I'm almost half way through my Million Step Challenge and today I kept going to record my highest daily step total since I started this on the first of May. I'm just over 17K but may nip out and do a couple of thousand more before today is over.

I was thinking of the election and the effort that the Labour Party has put in while the government has just assumed it would be a walk over backed by the right wing press printing desperate front page lies to sway the electorate. There's only one song for this, Billy Bragg's "Waiting For The Great Leap Forward", I found a great live updated version for you all.

Walking Through Pockley

Today I returned from Whitby, where I had hoped to do a lot of walking. I didn't do that much. I decided to take a walk to the end of the south pier, but half the wooden walk way is no longer there, and it was chained off due to the waves (and the fact there are no real safety rails). Still I took some video of the waves.

I got home and decided to walk towards Pockley (in the semi hope of finding a shop). One of the problems with this part of Yorkshire is that it's not heavily blessed with footpaths, so a walk to Helmsley, say, is virtually impossible without severe risk to your personal existence.

Anyway I walked up the hill and came across a large barn conversion that is in mid project, then I came up to the first house in the village. It is a nice one road village, with a church, a house that sells free range eggs, then at the end of the village was a field with two ponies in that you can see here.

One of the oddities are there are lots of signs for public footpaths, but they don't say where they go to. Now I don't know about you, but I think setting off on a walk across some fields to an unknown destination is not the best idea.

Still I managed 14K steps today and that has put my Million Step Challenge back on track, well almost. Tomorrow may be more rain, so there may be another setback , but Friday may be another trip to Whitby.

There has been no TV today, but I think I'm going to go with The Dictators "Sleeping With The TV On" which is something we've all done, or should have done.

Stranger Things When It Rains

Yesterday it just sheeted down with rain. I was surprised I managed to get 2.5K stems in given that the cottage is quite small and the opportunity to go outside was almost non existent. You can check it out here and it is extremely comfortable and quiet with options to walk (weather permitting).

Today will entail a trip to Whitby (as the skies are blue and there's only huge puddles and the odd pummelled plant to remind us of yesterday's awful weather). There was rain on Monday but an umbrella was enough to keep me mostly dry, yesterday and umbrella would have been just irrelevant, today the weather looks fine.

The Whitby trip might enable me to make up some of the steps I missed yesterday, but to fully make them up I'd have to hit 20K, but we shall see. Overall I'm still ahead of the game and I know I can make up the steps.

We are now up to episode six of the excellent "Stranger Things" so I expect to finish that tonight. The series is excellent and Fiona reckons it's a cross between Stephen King and "Outnumbered" which is an accurate analogy. As well as being an excellent series the soundtrack lives up to it, and I am going to include Joy Division's Atmosphere which opened the last episode. I've used this video before but think it fits in with the sometimes nightmarish episodes of "Stranger Things".

Have a great day everybody

Welcome To The Machine

I've just been struck how much machines are encroaching on our working lives. The Luddites smashed the machines during the industrial revolution because they feared that their jobs and therefore their livelihoods would be threatened. The French threw their clogs (sabots) into the machines to wreck them (hence the word "sabotage"). It turned out the Luddites were wrong , the industrial revolution produced great economies of scale for goods that could be mass produced, and generally standards of living improved.

Production lines had people doing repetitive tasks aided (and driven) by machines and wages enabled people to buy goods, creating demand because people had disposable income.Everyone was a winner.

However when I see staff being replaced by autotills at the supermarket (which often break down or don't work) but we as customers have to put up with it because there is no other option. If one doesn't work you move to the next one.

Bookmakers are turning into slot machine arcades, often opened in poorer areas (I have two with five minutes walk where I live), again replacing staff and making existing staff work more than twelve hour shifts often alone. Both these examples I do not see a benefit to the customer or staff only to the business owners.

I don't see myself as a Luddite, but I am worried that a lot more people will soon be out of work with no way of getting back in , and then I see this BBC article on future inequality, read it and frighten yourself because it could happen if we don't do something about the world.

In our own lives think about the phone numbers you can remember. I know my own. That's it. I used to know lots but my phone remembers for me. This is a good use of technology because it doesn't reduce what I can do , it enhances it and that's what the introduction of machines in the workplace should do for people. I also use my phone to measure my steps on my Million Step Challenge, though the app (Google Fit) needs resetting every couple of weeks as it keeps stopping or slowing down .

So I could have gone with The Beastie Boys "Sabotage", will will go for the more obvious "Welcome to The Machine" by Pink Floyd. And remember that alarm clock that wakes you up for work tomorrow, that's another piece of good technology, though I think most of us hate it.

Sleep well my friends

Listen If You Dare

Well it's late for me. I started this before the journey south and am just picking it up now. Have had an unsuccessful search for a disused railway line which actually may be a lot closer than I thought, finally got to eat at Helmsley Spice, which I was very impressed with, and have started the holiday just missing out on my 11K steps, though I did drive down here.

I am very glad to see some of the country starting to think about who they want to govern them next week and have been very very impressed with the slick and professional attitude of Labour as opposed to the shambolic mess of the current government's campaign.

I can see a lot of walking this week and I want to hit 30K steps in a single day, that will be about 12 miles so we shall see if I can hit that many. I won't be distracted by work so there is a small chance that I might be able to do it.

I'll bet you will be glad when I finish the Million Step Challenge. I will be, but I will find something else to aim for.

I sometimes wonder who reads this, I know I have a few regular readers, as they leave comments, but I wonder if the majority are sponsored and government robots checking to see if I am a threat to national security or their sales figures. Paul Nuttall would probably want me locked up for visiting Helmsley Spice or if I mentioned ISIS, or said that I sympathised with Yemen who are being targetted by British weapons.

But it's late Saturday Night and it's the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Sergeant Pepper which Liz Kershaw devoted her show to today which you can listen to here for two weeks. She ran a poll to choose the nation's favourite track from the album and of course it came out as "A Day In The Life". Now I think it would have been a nice anarchic touch to play The Fall's version or The Residents' "Beyond The Valley of A Day In The Life" both of which I will include for you here.

Liz kept listing all the tracks on the album which highlighted to me that "Revolver" and "Abbey Road" are far better albums. OK goodnight and listen to these if you dare.

Here Comes The Weekend

Well today it rained, but I still managed to walk into work and take some videos of a vaguely disturbing area where there is a fenced school and fenced housing. It's almost a Ballardian dystopia and you can check it out here . It is probably all very pleasant but as I said in the last post, "Eden Lake" has left it's mark on me and this is reinforced by Ballard novels such a "Running Wild", "High Rise" and "Concrete Island".

I have managed 14K steps today which is about 5 miles, no great shakes, but it keeps me ahead of my game and this weekend I expect to his 40% of my Million Step Challenge. The thing is you don't realise how many steps you take in normal everyday life , but having said that as soon as you start watching it , the step counter seeps to grind to a halt.

The thing is I find gym's , exercise regimes, and atrict eating regimes incredibly tedious. Having said that I do prefer vegetarian / vegan meals to meats though I am fine with  dairy, eggs , cheese and fish. I knwo some people will boak at me for that, but I like eggs and fish, not all the time , but sometimes.

Anyway the weekend is here for us all to enjoy , so what better song that Dave Edmunds' "Here Comes The Weekend".

Sleep well my friends.

May Is Finished ......

...... June is here and we are one day away from the weekend and a week off work for me.

This is the hundredth post this year so averaging 20 a month or two every three days.

Tonight I went for a walk over the estate bordered by Two Ball Lonnen and Fenham Hall Drive and it was great weather and the were a lot of loud raucous families as I walked along Cypress Avenue.

The thing is while they were good natured and having fun , it made me feel all "Eden Lake" , no horror film has had such an effect on me.  It is Ballardian in it's turning of the normal into horrific and threatening, only Ballard could make a book that featured the bomb at Hiroshima feel mainstream.

Anyway we are into June and I think as I mentioned "Cypress Avenue"  (Cyprus Avenue  on the link)I will choose that song from Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" , once included in every rock top ten list, which was very unusual in that there are no electric instruments on the album. The people who rated "Astral Weeks" so highly rated "Moondance" even higher, quite rightly so, and if this has got you thinking just buy both these albums, they should be in everbody's collection.

Anyway it's time for bed, so enjoy some Van Morrison before you hit the sack.

The End of May

This is the last post for May, I've just watched the Tory / UKIP roadcrash of an election debate and will leave it to others to comment.

It's funny , after driving 450 miles yesterday and feeling wide awake, today I am actually tired, maybe work does tire me out because I have to think more. Also I have to cram all my start of month stuff into two days, but I should be able to prioritize and get the main stuff done.

My step challenge is back on course and tomorrow I have to go to the Post Office depot to pick something up, so should have a good start as well tomorrow. I'm way past a third of the way there, so the million steps will happen sooner rather than later.

Anyway this is a short one so we will finish with the Blue Oyster Cult's "Then Came The Last Days of May" , because it's the end of May.

I Would Drive 450 Miles

That's what I did between 10AM and 8:30 PM today, between Newcastle and a hospital in Coventry that thinks is a great idea not to put it's name on any of the signs, unless it's "Main Hospital" , "Wadsworth" (or something) when I was looking for the University Hospital. They have the name over the front entrance which is recessed between some fairly tall structures.

So I went to park and then they give you ten minutes free without the option to pay any more. For most people it's probably fifteen minutes walk to the hospital front door. I got there in five and spoke to security about it who were fine and said if I get any problems give them a ring. I was willing to pay £2.50 but didn't get the option.

Anyway I said the the journey would give me something to write about and it was going brilliantly till I pulled out of Wooley Edge and straight into a traffic jam. due to an unspecified "police incident". An hour later I had moved three miles. The electronic signs about were saying "40" , maybe that was feet per minute.

Coming out of the jam , I thought I had my directions sorted but then junctions were confusing me, they didn't match what I thought I had read so ended up going up and down the M18 . off to Sheffield and back onto the M1 resulting in maybe forty miles of detour, when I saw MY mistake , not Google Maps (which I have history of it misdirecting me), though it's funny how you annoyance disappears when you realise that it''s your fault.

Well Fiona got her chauffeured ride home, and is now asleep.

My reward is a 12 hour fast and a hospital appointment tomorrow morning , that's after taking the car back and before going into work.

Going down and back I had tp stop at several service stations to take blood sugar readings (I have to do it every two hours otherwise I'm breaking the law) and really they haven't progressed much since the sixties, the only one that has is Tebay and that's on the M6 (and they have another on the M5) not the M1, so I thought an appropriate song was Roy Harper's "Watford Gap" which he got severely sued for, but it's still funny and descriptive of most service stations today except these day's they're branded.

Sleep well my friends.

So Much For Obsession

Well the last two days I haven't made my 11K steps, I still am 12K ahead of my target and could possibly nip out for another walk and make up the 3.5K steps that I am short today.

I am feeling lethargic and apathetic, because I am waiting for a call that means that I need to drive down to Coventry and back, that's eight hours driving and I'm not a huge fan of driving, but it's far better than being stuck in hospital which is Fiona's situation at the moment.

I didn't even write yesterday but managed to catch up on "American Gods" so that's fine. The weather is grey, so not exactly inspiring.

The problem is when you are waiting on a call, you can't really start on something else or go out to a film or a gig, there's more important things in life than being selfish. I'm looking forward to having Fiona back and catching up on TV and then having a week's holiday next week.

So I though "The Waiting" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would be appropriate for the whole of this Bank Holiday Weekend. See I can't even write that many words even though I haven't written anything for two days. I am still keeping up the number of posts so have maintained #ATuneaDayinMay but I really should be writing more about stuff that is interesting really.

I'm sure the journey to Coventry and back will give me lots to write about, and I suppose the 250 or so words that are in this piece is not that small. I seem to remember doing 100 word essays at school, or maybe I am just imagining that, I wonder if my teachers ever counted how many words I wrote or was it just a threat to make sure I wrote enough to be read.

Who knows.

Anyway I will go out for another walk now , even though the weather is still greay.

I may have an early start tomorrow

Obsessed? Moi?

I started walking today before 5AM, did lots of things was absolutely shattered watched the English Cup Final and glad to see Arsene Wenger get his hands on some silverware and he still has his outrageous French accent and I love it.

When he came to Arsenal from the J-League's Grampus-8 (if my memory is still functioning) he transformed "boring" Arsenal into THE team you want to watch and that has been the situation for most of the last twenty years, no mean feat and while ALex Ferguson may have been a little more successful there's no doubt that Arsene Wenger transformed modern football.

But after the football I decided to rack up another thousand steps because I wanted a drink. I could have gone to the corner shop but went to the next one along, because I knew it would be further to walk and would mean I would hit 14K for today, that's a 3K surplus.

So am I obsessed? I see it as building in contingency for the days when I can't hit 11K and that may happen this week as a drive to Coventry and back in a day beckons, I am not sure an 11K (5 miles) walk will be first on my list.

This is my third post today so my average of #ATuneaDayinMay has been maintained and then some. I will leave you with Air's "La Femme D'Argent" which was the first thing I ever heard by them and is a perfect day closer, and maintains a tenuous French Connection.

Sleep well my friends

Here Is A Thing

When you wake up at 4:30 AM , even when it's sunny, even when it's a gorgeous day, go back to bed, you need your sleep. I thought I could do all my steps , and a lot of other things then spend the afternoon doing even more.

No way.

Admittedly I got the garden stuff done, washing done, went on to check finances and possibly ended up £300 better off , saw a downpour , went out to complete my steps and now I am hot and tired and a bit headachey , although still compus mentis enough to write this.

There are still things that I want to do but my body is revolting (so I'm told) and just wants to lie down and watch TV or read.

Rest always does you good so I am going to catch up on what I missed this morning,

So I have to leave you with some music, they are reissuing Sergeant Peppers by The Beatles, though I've always rated Abbey Road and Revolver higher, but that's my preference. The other thing is that my two favourite Beatles songs are the "A" and "B" sides of the same single, "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" and apparently McCartney's bass on "Rain" was so heavy it often caused the needle to jump out of the groove on the vinyl version. Maybe I should get a vinyl copy and check this out, though I am sure I've written about this before. The "Rain" video is actually a cover, all done by the same guy (Stevie Riks) and very good it is too.

Anyway the sky has gone black so maybe we are in for more rain, I think I can hear thunder. It is raining now.

Early Saturday Morning

This morning I did something unusual for me. As Fiona is still in hospital 200 miles away I am home alone, she is being well cared for, and her Kindle is a godsend although her dislike of headphones means she can't watch any video but has a whole library and more thanks to her Amazon Prime subscription. It's 16 years since I was last in hospital for a long stay (ITP) and technology has advanced significantly since then.

Anyway I was awake and put on "A Kiss In The Dreamhouse" by Siouxsie & the Banshees which had been on when I went to sleep last night, then realised I was sort of awake and thought maybe I should get some steps in for my Million Step Challenge, yesterday I passed 300K a day ahead of schedule, it is a gorgeous morning and people at work were talking about rain so I thought why not get some in before the day really starts, so I did.

Walking up Two Ball Lonnen I noticed the lights were on in Subway, it wasn't even 5AM then I started thinking of all the people who have to get up each day virtually in the middle of the night just so that you can have a coffee or bacon sandwich before you get to work. It turns out that there was no one there yet but maybe the lights are left on all night.

Walking past Morrisons at Cowgate I saw the biggest slug I've ever seen outside of a David Attenborough program, it was big, and like the coward I am when it comes to those creatures I tepped round it, and continued. Maybe they only venture out at night normally.

Anyway I walked over Nunsmoor Park and took some video on instagram here , and when you have days like this it's great to take advantage of it.

I'm still enjoying the random play on my player and David Bowie's "Janine" was followed by Tom Waits' "Jayne's Blue Wish" , two "J" girls names (and I have Facebook friends with those names too), but then another song came on with a gorgeous fluid piano which I recognised as Mike Garson and his incredible contributions to Bowie's "Aladdin Sane". The song was "Lady Grinning Soul" and Garson's contributions were similar to Roy Bittan's contributions to Bruce Springsteen's songs, in never afils to amaze me how fluid their playing is and can hardly imagine the songs without them.

So this morning you get Bowie's "Lady Grinning Soul" and listen to that piano.

Have a good one.

Hot Stuff and No Jazz

I'm talking about the weather. This is summer. It's hot. Walking over parks and fields is great. It sets you up for the day. It lifts your spirits before you hit the often mundanity of the daily drudge of work or whatever.

It's a day for drinking cold stuff, and not really putting a lot of effort into anything but relaxing.

I'm wanting to do things, but feeling absolutely drained. I managed to watch a TED talk on feminism (here) while walking home, dangerous I know, but I didn't walk into any lamp posts or in front of any cars, and gained a few new insights into why we should all be feminists ( you don't have to be a woman).

I'm really wondering whether to take a cold shower , just to cool down before I hit bed. Maybe I will and maybe I won't. Again it's that personal laziness setting in, but who knows , I'm writing this with no shirt on and the window open to keep a little cooler.

So currently listening to Iggy Pop on 6Music who is playing a lot of Charles Mingus, but I won't treat you to any of that jazz. If you like jazz you will have some Mingus, if not you wont.

Wondering what to play and I came upon an illustrated version of "Supper's Ready" by Genesis from the album "Foxtrot" , when Peter Gabriel was upfront and Phil Collins proving what a great drummer he was , and still is. It is very English, probably influenced by Lewis Carrol among others. This clocks in at 23 minutes, and is one of the few pieces that took up virtually  a side of vinyl that I am always happy to listen to from start to finish, though possibly my favourite bit kicks in about six and a half minutes in with some wonderful keyboard and guitar sequences from Tony Banks and Steve Hackett. It is up there with "Close To The Edge" by Yes, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van Der Graaf Generator and "Echoes" by Pink Floyd.

Anyway enjoy it and check out the other pieces too.

Sleep well my friends.

Forced March II (Being Boring)

I got home today and had 8.5K steps on the clock. Google Fit seems to be working OK. Fiona is in hospital in Coventry and there is no phone signal, but the good news is that she will be out soon and won't miss our holiday. Hospitals are brilliant places but you never ever want to be a patient.However thanks to our brilliant NHS they diagnosed and sorted her, which really puts your mind at rest.

Have done loads at work and started on some lyrics for song that my friend Sarah wrote, just need to kick on with the home recording. That may happen this weekend.

I had no need to walk any further but thought I could maybe do another 2.5 K, the weather was good and so I set off. I got to the top of the road realised I'd left my bus pass (in case I wanted to ride back) and wallet at home. But decided to continue and wander round taking in a few streets that I've not been down before managing to hit over 11K again.

I apologise for writing about walking, as I do like to write about interesting stuff, but I suppose I have just been very boring over the last few days, but it's got to 10:30 and I haven't even found an interesting piece of music to play, then I found this recent take of King Crimson playing "Heroes" no Bowie , but Fripp is going strong, and forty years on it sounds amazing.

"King Crimson performed Heroes at the Admiralspalast in Berlin as a celebration, a remembrancing and an homage. The concert was thirty nine years and one month after the original sessions at the Hansa Tonstudio overlooking the Berlin Wall. This is released in the Fortieth Anniversary year." - 

Robert Fripp.

Forced March

Well not exactly. Today when I got home I had done 9.7K steps. This was enough to keep me ahead of the game, I need to average just under 10.9K a day to hit the million i three months but I wanted to be far enough ahead so that if I lie in bed all day tomorrow I'll be still ahead, so I went for another walk and finished up with just over 12.5K meaning that even if I don't walk tomorrow I would still be 800 steps ahead of my target (more because I am basing it on 11K a day).

Anyway all is good. The title is stolen from an author called Sven Hassel , a schoolboy favourite because of the bloodthirsty graphic violence that the books contained apparently. I never read any but he was certainly prolific and had some great titles lifted by metal bands for song and album titles. I've just looked and  "Forced March" was by Leo Kessler who had the same modus operandi as Hassel. Kessler also wrote "March or Die" lifted by Motorhead for their 2003 album.

While I am a horror fan, I am not a fan of war or gratuitous graphic violence, hence my boyhood and adulthood avoidance of authors like Kessler and Hassel.

So what song to we go with, I think Edwin Starr's War is as good a one as any. It's time for bed now. Sleep soundly my lovelies.

On The Move

I'm Top 10

Rightly or wrongly, these days I probably listen to most of my music on the move. The is wholly due to my decision to walk 10K steps a day after Fiona had asked if I wanted to take part id a 15K step challenge. Then she told me about Diabetes.org One Million Step Challenge to raise money for Diabetes research. Amazingly when I searched on Google two of my posts in the top ten, how long they'll be there I don't know.

Anyway, as usual I digress, but when I say wrongly  it' because I love listening to music either on my player in a room at home, preferably loud. I remember the first time I played "Court of The Crimson King"  by King Crimson on my home cinema system on the remastered DVD audio, I was stunned, the sound and detail was amazing (it still is), this was a late sixties album (admittedly by some top notch musicians) but this was a revelation to me.

When I was a teenager one Christmas I got Blue Oyster Cult's "On Your Feet or On Your Knees" and put it on my record player. I was so disappointed. This was one of the top heavy metal bands and it sounded , well weak. Then I thought,  TURN IT UP. I did , and I was blown away. My parents weren't too happy, so loud stuff like this had to be heard on headphones, or just when I had the house to myself.

I also love hearing music live as well and have recently seen The Coyotemen, Simon Wood, Staggerin' Jon Lee, Go Go Midgets, Brent and The Brads and next Sunday I am going to see my friends Sophia and Sophie debut with their band The Citrines here.

Anyway I've not really kept up the #ATuneaDayinMay , but given what happened last night, I'm going to put in New Order's  "Blue Monday", Manchester will bounce back. Just feel for the families devastated by the cowardly bullying attack.

Keep positive... don't let the bullies win.

A Little Further

I could write about the incredible ineptitude of the current government and the gullibility of a great deal of the public. When I see some body with a copy of the Daily Mail I am tempted to say "You don't look like an racist nazi" except saw two guys with a copy who actually did look like racist nazis. It's funny how the spell checker wants me to capitalise nazis, I won't.

I am keeping on with this million step challenge despite technology having the odd hiccup. Technology can be amazing but it can also be frustrating, but due to technology I can write this and share this with you, twenty years ago I probably couldn't have done this like this, but now I can. A great help with teh walking is the fact that I am listening to my music collection on random play.

Yesterday I was treated to "Yours Is No Disgrace" the amazing opening track from "The Yes Album", ludicrous lyrics but majestic music which really hit me the first time I heard it. I actually learned to play the main chord sequence from it, but I've since forgotten it, but was always impressed by Steve Howe's playing with Yes. Random play is great although you need to give it a good musical base.

I've included two versions including one from the "Yessongs" live album, so you have twenty five minutes of excellence to listen to.

Middle Of The Night

That's when I thought I would be writing this but I actually slept all the way through (from 11 til 6). Technology has been slightly annoying with Google Fit seeming to stop recording steps , then starting up after I'd erased all the data and restoring everything including the steps that it supposedly hadn't recorded.

Today's weather really doesn't know what it's going to do , it could rain, it might not but that's the weather for you.

Newcastle is full of Rugby fans for the Dacia Magic Weekend at St. James Park, apparently annoying my friend Rachel , demanding odds on short priced accumulators.

Tonight The Late Shows are on across the region , loads of artistic events including lots of events at The Grainger Market where all the cool shops are open til 9 pm. Here's the blurb (hope the links work)

"The Late Shows – supported by Port of Tyne and Sofa Workshop – is a free late-night culture crawl in NewcastleGateshead on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 May 2017. Download the programme brochure. Find out about the free bus services. During The Late Shows, museums, galleries, studio collectives and landmark historical buildings come together to offer visitors one-off events including hands-on workshops, behind-the-scenes tours, performances and parties. It's all about encouraging people to do something cultural with their evening in celebration of the national event Museums at Night."

Anyway I have things to do, it's now pouring down outside so I leave you with The Darts "It's Raining" .... those Rugby players will be getting wet.

After All ... How Good Is The Man Who Sold The World?

One of the good things about walking and having mobile music and random play technology is that as well as hearing tracks from albums that hadn't caught your attention the first time round (Sparks and XTC are currently doing this for me) you are also thrown stuff that you haven't heard in ages because you haven't played the album and it doesn't get radio play.

If you analogised David Bowie's album output to a terrestrial mountain range it would be The Himalayas and in my opinion "Station To Station" would be Everest, and "The Man Who Sold The World" would be K2. Like Station to Station every song is amazing and it has a no skip factor from the eight minute opener "Width of a Circle". Everyone knows the brooding title song covered by Lulu, Nirvana and many others, but a few weeks ago "All The Madmen" came on to my player, which made start to remember how good the album.

The yesterday "After All" came on , an almost twisted Victorian music hall piece that could have come from some Neil Gaiman / Salvador Dali scripted take on Oliver.

Every collect should have a copy of  "The Man Who Sold The World" and "After All" is just another amazing piece of that wonderful musical jigsaw that fits together so perfectly. I was unaware that Tori Amos had also covered it , she makes it a Tori Amos song but for me it loses the sinister aspect of the Bowie version but it made me think I would love to hear a Joanna Newsome take on it.

I spent yesterday afternoon fight with my Windows roaming profile, therefor not actually getting any work done. The positives is that it gave me a reason to speak with the support guys and girls. I am hoping it's sorted this morning, but we shall see.

It's Friday, so have a great day.

#LikeNoOther #6 Its Only A Painted Chariot - The Incredible String Band

One of the good things about doing this Million Step Challenge is that I am listening to part of my record collection on random play and some corkers have come up over the last few days.

 I'm fast thinking that David Bowie's "Man Who Sold The World" is one of his best with songs like "All The Madmen" , "After All" and Width of A Circle" , very dark and sister, and in a similar vein this morning The Incredible String Band's "Painted Chariot" came on.

I must have first heard this when it came out, I'm not sure if it was a single or I heard it on John Peel, but t has a very Celtic Pagan feel to it , like something that slipped away from the soundtrack of The Wicker Man. It starts out as rickety solid folk before descending to an almost hymnal finale. I really haven't heard anything like it before or since, and this morning I thought I need to put this on the blog.

My Million Step Challenge is over 92 days so I need to hit just under 11K per day, Today is day 18 and I have hit 210K steps so far so I am still on target to hit it. I was going to catch a bus this morning but kept on walking listening to the Incredible String Band and visiting a herd of cows on Nunsmoor (see here for video evidence).

Anyway I intend to be in bed a little earlier than last night, but enjoy  "Painted Chariot" and sleep well.

Wake Up

This is post number 1300. It's a gloriously sunny day. I will probably walk into work.

I love the light on the leaves of the trees, and I often try and capture that in photographs, though surely you can only see so many green leaves but every combination is different, it's the same with clouds. The number of times I've thought, that looks amazing, and two minutes later I decide to take a picture and it's gone. Clouds are big things but very volatile, and when you see that combination of cloud and light you need to capture the moment, although it will be there in your memory.

Imagine if you could photograph your memories or imagination, now that would be an amazing thing and I think it's probably not that far away. As I mentioned in my last post we now have the technology to do things on tap. The film Tangerine was filmed on iPhones, I don't know about the editing and stuff, but you could make a movie with your hand held device.

The film Monsters had all the special effects and CGI done on an everyday PC, so YOU can make your own film too. I've just noticed there's a follow up Dark Continent so need to check that out, both Monsters and Tangerine are great films.

We live in an age where we have the ability to do amazing things.

So for some reason "Amazing Journey" from Ken Russell and The Who's "Tommy" came to mind so that's what you get today. It contains some amazing imagery,

Enjoy yourself today , enjoy the sunshine and do something amazing.