Connections - Would You Push The Button?

Just finished "Escape From LA" and started watching "American Horror Story:Cult" . Both feature an idiot, semi theocratic American President (one has a Trump like character the other has Trump) and at the end of "Escape From LA" Snake Plisken has the opportunity to destroy all electronics (and by logical progression banks and the way society is run) and send the world back five hundred years.

When you see the hysteria and fright and Trump's election victory you feel the world is coming to an end.

Would you press that button? No one would die .. immediately .. but would you want to go back to before computers existed?

To some that would be very tempting. Debts and fortunes would be wiped out. Tracking of personal data would be gone. We would have to start with pencil and paper on everything.

Seriously though I would be tempted I would be too scared of losing all the good things along with the bad things. Think how health and life expectancy has improved. Would you want to lose that , and the conveniance of power at the flick of a switch?

I think not , but if that decision was in the hands of a thoroughly disillusioned person , they just might.

Kate Tempest's "Don't Fall In" is appropriate for these observations. Sorry if I have depressed or upset you but the leaders of the UK and the USA don't exactly inspire me at the moment. Hopefully this will change sooner rather than later.

Somewhat Unusual

Nothing major but I had completed my steps by about two of the clock today without really trying to do any walking, I really wish I could do this every day as part of my routine, so that I didn't really notice I was doing it.

I amd still reading the Jordan Ellenberg book but it is more about poll s and statistics and the only relationship with maths is that numbers are used in both areas .

As I write this I am listening to my favourite Jean Michelle Jarre album "Equinoxe" with an 'e' on the end but he is French in the best possible way. The son of Maurice Jarre the film composer (who is responsible for a hell of a lot of major film scores from "Lawrence of Arabia" to "Ghost") so music runs in the family. I remember seeing the Millenium Concert in Egypt with Giant Penguins and lots of other idiosyncracies (is that the way you spell it, the spell checker seems to be on leave at the moment). I don't know if it's available to buy but I have included the Youtube video , two and a half hours if you have an evening or train journey to spare.

Anyway Todays album of the day was "Ooh La La" by The Faces, while some of the songs are dated by the time "Silicone Grown", "Just A Honky" lyrically dodgy but musically excellent , others stand the test of time very well such as the title track , "Cindy Incidentally" and "Flags and Banners".

So anyway it's time for tea and to finish "Escape From LA" before starting the lastest "American Horror Story". That's my Saturday evening sorted, hope yours is great too.

Habits

We all do things automatically , as a matter of course, like lock the door when we go out , switch off the cooker when we finish cooking , switch off the TV when we've finished watching. I can count on th efingers of one hand (and I am not a mutant) the number of times I have gone back to check I've locked the door, set the alarm or switched the cooker off. I will always go back if I have forgotten keys  / bus pass / money but anything else I trust that I have done it. If you are OCD you don't have that option and I feel every sympathy for everyone with the condition.

Last night I woke up needing to go for a wee (one of the effects of diabetes) , and reached for my glasses , which I couldn't find anywhere. I always put them on my bedside table when I go to bed, but last night they had disappeared . Had some Imp absocnded with them? I went for a wee and looked round everywhere I had been last night before bed, no sign. I got into bed wondering if I had left them on when I when to sleep and they were now somewhere in the bed waiting to be mangled as I rolled over them. I was mystified. I couldn't sleep/ This is OCD except 100% of the time about everything. For me it was "Where the heck are my glasses?". I got up again went to my computer and they were next to my keyboard, I was sure I had looked there before, but at 2am with imperfect eyesight I can understand how I missed them. They went on the bedside table and I got another four hours sleep.

Over the last couple of days while walking my listening has been:

• Primal Scream - Screamadelica (20th Anniversay Edition): Primal just amaze me in the breadth of musical styles they effortlessly cover, they can be The Rolling Stones, they can do country , they can be gospel , they can be baggy. There are not that many bands who can cover so many styles so easily, and it is all on this album.
• Magazine - Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous CD1 : When Howard Devoto left the Buzzcocks he moved away from their pure pop and into a a vicious and suphisticaticated universe as demonstrated by songs such as "Shot By Both Sides" and "Permafrost" on this compilation.
• Al Di Meola - Land of the Midnight Sun: Di Meola is a jazz / rock guitarist , and while I amd not normally a big fan of jass or jazz rock, when I heard this I bought it immediately because it's an amazing mix of melody and skill you seldom hear.

Anyway it is Friday and after the rain yesterday the weekend is upon us. Today looks fairly bright, but today I still have to go to work so I will leave you with Primal Scream's "Loaded" , have a great Friday everybody.

Not Walking

Today was the first time for a long time that theweather has affected my walking. It didn't help that I was feeling really tired this morning despite being in bed by ten last night. It was my friend Lynn's birthday so I walked to hers and dropped off a birthday card before walking across the park to catch the bus. As I'm sitting typing this I have done 6.5K steps so thats;'s above average anyway, although I am still 500 steps short of what my targert will be so I have to do some more walking. This morning in was pouring, now it's like a summer's day so perfect for actually walking , so I should be able to get a few steps in.

The good thing about getting the bus is that I can watch some TED talks (and managed three today) including the one below.

Anyway although I am being relatively lazy , I am sure that I will recoup the steps and listen to lots more albums. I sold another two albums on my Discogs site (it's here if you fancy anything).

I decided to let you have a listed to "Sol Caliente" by Quiet Sun from the album "Mainstream", Phil Manzanera's pre Roxy Music band. I was thinking it was sunny and I always loved the "Sol Caliente" concept, it is not a word you tend to associate with the sun.

Anyway enjoy this gorgeous evening

The Art of Not Getting Up

Strange how when you stop trying to do things you suddenly have the ability to do it.
 I wanted to do fifty posts in August for #August50 but got nowhere near (I think I did about thirty), although to be honest the further behind I got , the more difficult it became to catch up. It's like riding a bike or remembering songs when you are playing live , as soon as you start thinking about it you fall off or forget what you are supposed to be doing. In September we're up to the 4th and this is my eight post already. I know that it will tail off but at this rate I could easily hit fifty for September.

Anyway after yesterday writing about how to get up easily, this morning I feel really tired. It is Monday, I do have to go to the Post Office to pick up a Nirvana box set, I have to go to work , and it's grey outside though not dark, and I was dreaming of being in bed at mid day listening to something on vinyl through a system with a decent thump for the bass subwoofer, then the alarm went off and I didn't want to get up.

I managed (mostly on autopilot) to shower and wash , read some of Jordan Ellenberg's "How Not to Be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life" which is more about statistics and probabilities, and while interesting it's as far from what I consider maths as pilotting and airplane is from riding a bike, and that analogy probably shows how unintelligent I really am. I found a disted read on the Guardian site here if you would like a taste.

Anyway it's ten to seven so time to get myself into gear and maybe a little Nirvana to start the day, withem covering a song from one of my many favourite Bowie albums, "The Man Who Sold The World". Have a great  Monday, I managed to get up , now it's your turn.

So Much For Targets

Well, I actually did get a lot done today. I have maintained the step level visiting Newcastle Central Station among other things and am getting the hang of WordPress, though not as quickly as I'd like. I managed about fifteen minutes of "I Frankenstein" but it was like everyone was reading from an autocue and while the CGI was excellent the story was so threadbare that I hit the delete button. There is too much good stuff to watch to waste time with things like that.

FLK OR KLF?

Anyway, I am home now and listening to The FLK (yes that's right) , it is an interesting folk/techno/sample mix, an album so rare it's not even on Amazon so god knows how much it's worth, though it's going from £23 on Discogs which seems to have replaces GEMM as the global record marketplace.

It's not often that you can't find stuff on Amazon.











Anyway the two albums that I have been listening to today are:

• Airhead - Boing: Second division Britpop (in sales not quality) akin to another of my favourites , The Milltown Brothers, I think they went under the name Jefferson Airhead in the USA, but I this was their only album. "Funny How" was a brilliant single and it sounds as good today as it did then. They were on the excellent Korova label, just look it up and see how good company they were keeping.
• Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City:Almost a modern equivalent of AIrhead although Jit (African) influenced power pop, some amazing songs and a great follow up to their second album.

 Anyway I am now listening to my favourite Kraftwerk song "Ruckzuck" but willshare a Vampire Weekend song for your delectation.

Time for tea now , enjoy your Sunday evening.

#LikeNoOther #9 Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches

I can't remember when I first heard this, but I do remeber wondering what the hell was going on. "Frontier Psychiatrist" from the album "Since I Left You" by The Avalanches takes the listener into a vaguely comedic "Twin Peaks" univers mixing dialogue with samples to produc an amazing piece. I have recognised snippets from it in source songs and it is a real (and pleasant) listening experience.

When the album came out I think there were court cases about the sampling but eventually they gave up and just let The Avalanches have it. All their videos and songs are worth visiting and this is probably the most famous and recognisable.

In 2016 they followed up with "Wildflower" , more similar brilliant cut and paste dance pieces with excellent videos and the lead single was "Frankie Sinatra" which I will also include here, because The Avalanches are truly #LikeNoOther and absolute great fun, and the title of their second album is the same as the name of Wildflower my favourite Art/ Eating space in Tyneside.

Enjoy all of this.