It is quite amazing the number of people who focus on the bad things and miserable events. These are usually people who have more than adequate lives. Often the people who have things the hardest are the most positive and find things to enjoy because the have found ways , one way or another to deal with the bad stuff.
I always try and look for positives, even when things go wrong. Luckily for me I am in an extremely good place, yes I would like to not have to go to work, to do what I want, but I know I will be sleeping in a warm bed and can have holidays and have a wonderful circle of friends, and to be really honest, work is a pleasant and interesting place to go, with some great people and daily interesting problems.
So try and distance yourself from the negative vibes, be like Oddball in "Kellys Heroes" and the song today is the wonderful "Prag Vec at The Melk Weg" by Half Man Half Biscuit. Look up that title on Google, see where it takes you, do something to put a smile on your face, smile at people, have a great day and push those negative vibes away.
Last night the rain was battering the back of my house, the front got off lightly but I wasn't going out the door. There were streams running down the road. The thing is this is extremely mild compared with what others have to put up with. Speaking to a friend in Japan , he's nowhere near the quake zone but he said they've had a tsunami warning "but we're always getting them".
The problem is weather like this is not exactly inspiring, you can hardly use an umbrella because of the wind, but it's nice when you are inside sheltered from it, though I feel sorry for people sleeping rough or who can afford to heat their homes and in the UK their number are growing daily. The other night I was in Newcastle and the charity was out feeding the homeless , when I see them I always slip them something. We are the sixth richest country in the world apparently, this should not be happening. Here's Shelter if you want to contribute.
Anyway it's time for me to get off and brave the elements and I will leave you with Half Man Half Biscuit's opener from the Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts concert on Friday "Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis" , have a great Tuesday my friends and don't get too wet.
Well it's here, the finale, the last #ALifeInNumbers. I had decided on Smoke (EFS 59) by Can from the album "Flow Motion" but it's blocked in this country on Youtube and I do apologise to anybody who can't see any of the videos on here. It's a great piece well worth tracking down and would have been a great finale piece.
I was going to wait til tomorrow, but for some reason I am aching badly and my blood sugar was dropping rapidly, but I am OK and will be in a warm bed soon.
So the second song, and I don't know how I missed this is, of course, Simon and Garfunkel's "59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)" , I mean what a song to finish on. I was looking through my Simon and Garfunkel box set and was surprised that they only made five albums, plus the soundtrack to The Graduate which is effectively a compilation, plus their Greatest Hits.
So it's now late on Sunday night so I will quietly sign off this sequence, and I hope you have enjoyed it. Sleep well my lovely friends and I will find something else to keep my fingers going tomorrow.
While I am writing this I am listening to my friend Juli's show AMOK on Pride Radio so you can time this at 7pm on Sunday night.
It is one of the non 6Music shows where I am certain to hear something I haven't heard before, as well as being fun to listen to. That's another benefit of the internet the sheer choice of listening and watching options. The only problem this gives me is that the amount of time I have is still the same, but the amount of choice I am given increases exponentially almost daily.
Internet radio can be brilliant as AMOK proves, go and give it a listen and release you inner Industrial Goth.
Number 58 has been awkward to track down a song for, I have a couple in my collection that would have done but decide to look a little further afield and came across "58" by The Age of Stella and found this live take from The Maze in Nottingham. These are a band I have never heard of but I am well impressed with their stuff.
This is the penultimate post in this sequence, and I may actually hit the 120K hits by the end of number 59 which is a brilliant one to end #ALifeInNumebrs on.
I often hear (and see thanks to social media), people complaining that there is nothing on television. That is in these days of so many channels that you can get lost. The thing is you can only watch one thing at once, but some people seem to think that means they can only watch one thing, their TV diet is often X-Factor, EastEnders and if they are feeling adventurous maybe Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent. Needless to say I don't watch these , but I do remember the days before BBC2 existed and you couldn't record anything.
It is true that since the digital explosion there are an awful lot of channels filled with unwatchable dross, but this very fact means that there is always something that you can watch. Groucho Marx once said that he found TV very educational, if he walked into a room where the TV was on he'd walk out and find a book to read. TVs have always had an off switch.
Today the options to watch high quality content has never been better. There are films and TV series that I will never see despite them being must watch programmes. Dexter, Braquo, and 24 are three that immediately spring to mind.
Also I remember everyone complaining about repeats on television, now you have whole channels screening repeats DAVE and GOLD are two that spring to mind though there may have been name changes and one may be the other.
Anyway we are up to number 57 in #ALifeInNumbers and it has to be Bruce Springsteen's"57 Channels (And Nuthin' On) which does hit the nail about the choices we are presented with which are maybe no real choice at all.
Me, I find that 6Music , Radio 2,3 and 4 then BBC2,4 , Film4, Sky Living, Atlantic and Arts provide me with far more than I need. If I then add Youtube and TED then that gives you a small indication of my tastes.
This is another contrived shoe in , but it's a great and funny record. It was released in 1956 (even older than me) and starts off counting to and from ten 1-2-3-4- 56 -7-8-9-10. Like all great comedy the Goons were very hit and miss, but for me "Bloodnok's Rock and Roll Call" is a definite hit.
This morning I was hoping to update Song of the Salesman but it's running slow , the support adon't seem to have a clue. It's funny how so much technology support is outsourced to the cheapest bidder regardless of their ability to do the job. But that's the world we live in today.
Still this week I have got to see The Bonzo Dog Band and Half Man Half Biscuit , found a great venue in the most ridiculously inaccessible town centre location. I do loke walking in parks but not after a late gig finish on a cold rainy night. Wylam Brewery's Grand Hall in The Palace of Arts is impressive though.
Anyway enjoy this wonderfully sunny day and if you fancy some lovely food and drink slip down to Wildflower Cafe on Westgate Road.
Well we're on the home straight now, after this four more posts. It's already been a great week with various excellent things happening. Last night got a huge compliment from management at work which is a sort of cherry on the cake for this week so far.
Tuesday night I say the Bonzo Dog Band at the Sage, which has now become a very fluid lineup but it was an absolutely brilliant night, and on Tuesday my friend Jessica and her friend Asher opened Wildflower Cafe on Westgate Road. I work near St James' Park so was hoping to walk there, I needed some cash so got some from the St James' cash machine (it only had twenties), then set off. I then realised there was a large derelict area / building site which would mean a long right or left detour, however when I got there I notices a tarmaced path that seemed to skirt the new Science building a head straight to where I was going,
I got there and then saw across the road a big "Wildflower" sign in the window. I got in and was greeted by Jessica and Asher and there were two girls having coffee and chatting. The place has been furnished via Freecycle,and is bright and airy and welcoming with some of Jessica's designs on the walls, art displayed and books and things to catch the eye. I was trying to find a menu to display , but the fare is mostly if not all vegan, with felafel , hummus and tiffin! There is lots of choice and I decided on a cheese and tomato toastie and a coffee which I can show you (See Right).
It was delicious, and just right for my dinner (I'm from Preston , it's dinner), too many times toasties are served in doorsteps or huge slabs of pretentious bread. This was perfect, and complimented by green stuff with dressing, which I also enjoyed.
I am looking forward to making this a regular eaterie and general good place to go, though I can see it's going to be popular, it aleady is with me.
Anyway #ALifeinNumbers is "Ol' 55" a song I first heard by the Eagles, so they're getting their second run out in this sequence, but it was written by Tom Waits, and it is one of many songs that you probably don't know have been written by him. So I'm going to include the Eagles version AND the Tom Waits version, because I can, assuming Tom Waits has let it out on Youtube. He's very protective of his music and sued Levis and got them to take out big billboard apologies when they used Screamin' Jay Hawkins' version of "Heart Attack and Vine".
So enjoy the music and enjoy your Thursday my friends.
