The Grey - #FruitfulSeptember #10

They last few days the weather has been very grey. It's not been the most uplifting. Added to that I thhink I have torn a shoulder muscle or trapped a nerve in my right arm , when you get arm pain's at my age you start thinking heart attack so it's hit the medical box for aspirin. Mt right arm is improving and I haven't lost the use of my hand at all , or been in so much pain that I had to go to casualty. Part of it is that I don't feel like writing or walking, and my monthly target is in danger , but after I post this , I so intend to go out for a walk, maybe up Cow Hill to take some pictures.

Looking out of the window the sky is a uniform grey although it is not as cold as yesterday.

I am thoroughly enjoying "Spear Of Destiny" by Daniel Easterman , which , location wise, has a lot in common with "The Lost" that he wrote as Jonathan Aycliffe. I know that I've read "Spear of Destiny" but I only remember the start of the book, but my rubbish memory means that I can reread books and rewatch films and thoroughly re enjoy them.

While working I am listening to a lot of CDs one of which is the 15 disc Bruce Springsteen Soundstage box. It's only radio broadcast quality but is still a great listen, but just doing one gig at a time , there are five gigs with three discs for each one.

This morning's vinyl was "Who Will Save The World" by The Groundhogs and "Bandstand" by Family both of which I bought for the cover art, but are great albums to listen to in their own right.

So for #FruitfulSeptember I was wondering whether a coconut was a fruit and came upon this vague definition:

"Botanically speaking, a coconut is a fibrous one-seeded drupe, also known as a dry drupe. However, when using loose definitions, the coconut can be all three: a fruit, a nut, and a seed."

So I think I can go with a coconut as a fruit , which means I can go for PM Dawn's excellent "Fantasia's Confidential Ghetto: 1999/Once In A Lifetime/Coconut" which has a finale of Harry Nilsson's "Coconut" which has appeared in so many films and a truly great song, and PM Dawn manage to marry it up with Prince and the Talking Heads. The song is on the "Jesus Wept" album which does not seem to be digitally available on Amazon.

After posting this , the sun came out.

Alarmed - #FruitfulSeptember #9

I know it's only Tuesday but this working week I have been awoken on  both days by the alarm. The thing I take from this is that I must be getting a decent night's sleep, although I have been dreaming a lot but can't remember what happened in my dreamscape.

Today I took delivery of "Who Will Save The World? The Mighty Groundhogs" which I bought from Discogs because of the excellent comic book are album cover by The Nefarious Neal Adams. who also did a lot of superhero comics , especially Batman. I heard that Adams came up with the story and the band based the album on that. You can see what I think on my Instagram channel here. I featured them in the music for my last post, so today we need someone different.

I started wondering if a pumpkin was vegetable or a fruit and found this, so it's ok to have pumpkin for #FruitfulSeptember

"A pumpkin, from a botanist's perspective, is a fruit because it's a product of the seed-bearing structure of flowering plants. Vegetables, on the other hand, are the edible portion of plants such as leaves, stems, roots, bulbs, flowers, and tubers"

I wanted to reshare "Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins from "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness" because of the awesome video, and the fact that it is a great song

Getting Lost - #FruitfulSeptember #8

September has been my sparsest month so far for posting , although there is still over a week left, so we shall see how much more I write.

Yesterday I went for a walk and managed to sort of get lost, I though I was going to come up where the West Road meets Two Ball Lonnen but the road I was on was taking toward the centre of Newcastle with virtually no useful turn offs. So I wasn't really lost, just going down a road I've never walked down in twenty odd years of living here , alth I must I gone down it on the Number 1 Stagecoach bus. I finally came up to West Road via The Temple of Antenociticus , Roman Ruins , which you can see here on my Instagram channel.

One my walk one the albums I was listening to was "Music From The Body" from the film "The Body" by Ron Geesin and Roger Waters . Geesin had worked with Waters on "Atom Heart Mother" by Pink Floyd , and the album is actually a joy to listen to , with lots of short pieces and songs that hark to "Dark Side of The Moon" Floyd. Well worth a listen although not everyone's cup of tea. 

I  though I had a complete vinyl collection , although I know there are certain records that I wouldn't say know to you and over the weekend I remebered a couple of comic book covers which I would like. One was "Jailbreak" by Thin Lizzy with the Jom Fitzpatrick "Overlord" open out cut cover.

The other was "Who Will  Save The World?" by The Groundhogs where to comic provided teh story for the album. So that is two albums that are now on theire way.

On The Groundhogs' "Split" album was a song called "Cherry Red" and that falls in nicely for the #FruitfulSeptember sequnce. The Groundhogs produced a lot of heay rock abums are are definitely worth investigating, and I do believe they are still performing if you can catch them on the live circuit.

A Nice Surprise - #FruitfulSeptember #7

 Sometimes you do wake up to nice little surprises. This morning I started my phone up up and there was a Paypal payment (one of the few notifications I deliberately allow on my phone) , it was for a Discogs order from a Scottish guy in Edinburgh , but apart from the nice surprise of getting a little money was that the guy's name referenced Avalanche Records which I thought had gone to the wall. It turns out it had but now it's back and they have a very informative website here , so I will be dropping in next time I'm in Edinburgh. They have a social media presence on twitter here and Facebook here.

Although we've been promised rain , and yesterday morning was very misty (see here) , the last few days have been very pleasant weather.

I'm currently reading "Spear of Destiny" by Daniel Easterman , and while I have read it before, I have forgotten big chunks of it , and just when you think it can't get any worse for the main protagonists , it always does. He is definitely on of my favourite authors and apparently frequents Oxfam in Jesmond where I volunteered briefly after leaving EE.

So for #FruitfulSeptember we'll go with "Incense and Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock , dated but creepily excellent.

Do It Again - #FruitfulSeptember #6

 The first two days of this week I didn't actually go out for a walk , and on Tuesday I virtually didn't leave the house. I know in lockdown that people have said they haven't left their homes , but unless you have a health problem or live in a tower block or very narrow streets there should be no reason not to go out. The thing is with COVID19 is that we still don't know exactly how it's spread and don't have a vaccine so it's basically a question of attempting to keep yourself safe and not spread it to others as you might be a carrier. I don't know that I'm not a carrier so I mask up when in close proximity to someone I don't know.

So the last two days I have gone for longish walks , meeting the cattle on Nunsmoor, and doing that that starts your day making you feel that you have accomplished something and therefore carries over into what you are doing that day. It's always good to feel you have accomplished something even if it is something relatively small. Today I have only walked three miles but it has been a good start.

Music helps while walking and this morning I listened to "For You Pleasure" by Roxy Music , possibly their finest album though definitely not their most commercial , going almost Brechtian on "The Bogus Man" one of my highlights and the direction Brian Eno wanted the band to pursue but as he said , it was Bryan Ferry's band.

Working from home I am working through my CD box sets , and currently listening to "There is a Season" by The Byrds which contains nearly a hundred songs. Yesterday it was "Retro" by New Order and "The Thrill Of It All" by Roxy Music will probably hit next week. This is a major plus working from home , I have listened to a hell of a lot of music which I maybe wouldn't have had chance to working in the office.

So to continue #FruitfulSeptember we'll go with a live take of "Peach" by Prince as we recently featured "Raspberry Beret" , one of his songs , performed by The Hindu Love Gods.

Sydney Opera House (Again) - #FruitfulSeptember #5

 Walking down Fenham Hall Drive I noticed the cranes at Wallsend seemed very close. This is one of many examples I have seen of the Sydney Opera House Effect , but its certainly the most impressive one that I have seen . I first tried taking photos with my phone but they didn't come out very well, then tried yesterday with my Canon camera but it was a bit grey and then today the light was a bit better and the pictures came out better with the 25x optical zoom. I can go up to 50x but that is digital enhancement and you really need and tripod to keep the camera still and given that many of the photos are done dodging traffic , it;s not really an option. You can see the photos on my Instagram channel here.

Due to one thing and another and the task above I have walked nearly seventeen miles this weekend without really trying. I suppose that's good for me and show that I can actually walk. It's amazing the number of times that because I am diabetic and have high blood pressure that people ask me if I'm able to work, and do gentle exercise. Sometimes I do get tired but you cannot let health things get the better of you , you have a life to live.

I feel slightly guilty that have binged on series four of Bosch and am now on the second episode of series five. It is excellent and highly watchable and I do know that when I hit the end of series six in a few weeks I have plenty of other things to watch. It becomes so easy to watch the start of the next episode , then you are thirty minutes through and then you think I may as well finish this one and then you are onto the next one.

I finish and enjoyed "Venus on the Half Shell" by Philip Jose Farmer writing as Kurt Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout and it was enjoyable but am now revisiting "Spear of Destiny" by Daniel Easterman and even though it's not really started I am eighty pages in and completely rehooked. How he has not had any of his books made into films I haven't a clue, although you can see the Easterman / Aycliffe styles criss crossing. 

So for #FruitfulSeptember we will continue with "Apples and Oranges" a single from Pink Floyd when they were still led by Syd Barrett.

Tollbooth - #FruitfulSeptember #4

 I was in Edinburgh at the weekend and at one point when into Deacon Brodie's . Now I know nothing about Deacon Brodie apart from the name and the fact it's a big pub on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

 

Ben Johnson's words:

"A greatly respected member of Edinburgh‘s society, William Brodie (1741-88) was a skilful cabinet-maker and a member of the Town Council as well as deacon (head) of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons. However, unknown to most gentlefolk, Brodie had a secret night-time occupation as the leader of a gang of burglars. An extra-curricular activity that was necessary to support his extravagant lifestyle which included two mistresses, numerous children and a gambling habit.

It is said that Brodie’s bizarre double-life inspired Robert Louis Stevenson, whose father had had furniture made by Brodie. Stevenson included aspects of Brodie’s life and character in his story of a split personality, ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde’."

I also found this account of the trial of Deacon Brodie 

The titular character of the novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark claims to be descended from Deacon Brodie. His double life serves as a metaphor for her duplicity, as well as her self-imposed demise.

I must have misread the name in the quote of his final words , I thought that one of his forenames was Tollbooth but that's where he was held before his final demise. 

The only other time I have seen Tollbooth used as human nomenclature is it the title of the Paul Kantner and Grace Slick album "Baron Von Tollbooth and The Chrome Nun" which I think I bought for the title alone.

So for #FruitfulSeptember I am going with "Raspberry Beret" , the Prince song , by the Hindu Love Gods which is a Stipe-less REM with Warren Zevon