Some Days

Some days you just can't seem to get out of first gear. Today has been one of those days. There's things I tend to do on a weekend but have just not been able to get motivated to actually do anything. Though having said that I have gone into town and was disturbed by a huge Nazi rally in the centre of Newcatstle.

I then went down into the Monument Metro and there was an old guy sort of busking. He sank Perry Como's "Catch A Falling Star", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and Dean Martin's "Little Old Wine Drinker Me" in a very pleasant melodic Geordie burr to recorded accompaniment.. The only problem was the timing of his songs and the timing of his accompaniment were completely out of sync. If he had been unaccompanied it would have been technically better, but ....

... on the station platform everyone was talking about with a smile on their faces, this guy was raising money for charity and putting a smile on everyone's face including mine. He was cheering everyone up and bringing lots of happiness to a grey day in Newcastle, especiall considering the idiocy that was happening above.

Anyway I went over to Gateshead to The Doll At The Black Bull to see if I could sort out why their website was juts showing advertisements. I couldn't find a real reason for it but it was working when I left . It's here , and I hope it works for you.

Anthony Moore

Anyway despite this potentially being a waste of a day, it turns out lots of good came out of it, and at the end of the day I'm quietly satisfied with my small contribution to the world. Hope you all sleep well. The music I was going to choose was Anthony Moore's take on Perry Como's "Catch A Falling Star" but it;s not on Youtube yet, so I chose "Judy Get Down" which is another song I love.


 I remember years ago when Bryan Ferry was asked his opinion on Cockney Rebel's "Judy Teen" he said he preferred the Perry Como version. How cruel ... and funny.

Virgin On The Ridiculous.

Two years ago I did a post a day in May, this May I've posted virtually nothing.  Things are still happening but today my time has just been eaten up with work and a getting a new TV device and router installed by Virgin, followed by a quick trip into town, which became not so quick , and it was raining , but c'est la vie.

We are all resistant to change, though I like to think I'm open to it, whether it's a new job , new bus route , new phone or whatever, but with the installation of the TIVO I was thinking I'm going to have to learn how to use it, and like a typical man haven't bothered with the manual, the writings to small anyway. I looked at the online and discovered it has an Ethernet cable which means I can connect it to my network but I'm not sure what that will let me do.

Anyway this gets me into the thing where once you take the plunge to do something new, there's usually no going back and sometimes it's only taking that first step that gets to into another world of possiblilities.

That sounds grandiose , but it isnt . I got a TIVO box because it will save me £15 a month on my TV outgoings, as well as increasing my storage capacity by 200% as well as yet undreamt of extras.

Anyway it's good if you can do new things, and I'm lucky enough to have the opportunity, so I've done a post about something not too interesting but , I thought I'd let you know. Have a great night everyone.

Included the Noah and The Whale song cos I've always loved it and it has lovely sentiments.

Never Mind We Still We Have The Buzzcocks

Yesterday the weather was bight and sunny , today it's grey and wet. For some reason I decided to mow the lawn yesterday (which is looking a bit worse for wear but hopefully it will pick up with the lawn repair I've applied) , and to touch up the decking. It's amazing how many spots I'd apparently missed. The main thing is that it is all done.

The Line Up

It's amazing how good weather and sunshine raises the spirit , but grey skies and rain can literally dampen the spirits as well as your epidermis! But on the upside it is the middle of the bank holiday and there are lots of musical options on offer this weekend including the big punk all dayer at the Newcastle O2 Academy headlined by the Buzzcocks which will be my choice. On the bill are a local ska band Too Spicy who I first saw at the Green Festival, so definitely looking forward to getting along to that.

May Day, Sting, Wallsend and The Buzzcocks

Well the next bank holiday is fast approaching and hopefully I'll be going to see the Buzzcocks and various other bands this weekend. This gives me an excuse to attach (again) my favourite Buzzcocks song which is probably not what you would expect, well actually I have two favourite Buzzcocks songs , one very short and one very long, Love You More under two minutes and Why Can't I Touch It over six minutes both on the Singles Going Steady album.

Sting on Spoons - and looks like Jess McD behind him but it's actually Jo Lawry

This week I watched When The Last Ship Sails by Sting , based on where he grew up (Wallsend), and was very impressed by many bits of it, especially the songs "Underground River (Language of Birds)" and "Shipyard", and Sting also displayed a sense of humour and played spoons on a number of songs!






I'm certainly looking forward to the play when it comes out, but Underground River gets better every time I hear it.




As it's May Day , Labour Day and the like , we should keep the Red Flag flying, and hopefully this current government will be kicked out on their arses, but anyway have a great day , enjoy yourself , put a smile on your face and keep on being happy.

Mount Zion

In amazes me when there's certain music streaming services advertising the fact that they have 25 million songs you can listen to. I don't subscribe to any because I prefer radio which means generally the artists gets a reasonable amount per play rather than the 0.00007p or whatever they pay for each play on Spotify. I don't know what the answer is because a pay per play means that the model has to be financially sustainable. Anyway, as usual , I'm straying from the point.

Jah Wobble's Umbra Sumnus

I buy albums, usually in CD format with the odd download so the artist has been paid for every song I have of theirs in my collection. I then put a selection on my player (in this case a Samsung Note) which I select at random (I select it, not the player). Yesterday I saw Mount Zion by Jah Wobble a single from the album Umbra Sumnus. This is one of the most wonderful things I've heard in years despite having it in my collection for years. I was hoping to find a copy on YouTube but there isn't so I will put one up. If you click through on the song title you can listen to a sample. The song reminds vaguely of the euphoria generated by The Shamen's Destination Eschaton which I will include as a video here.





Have a great day everyone, it looks foggy but I'm sure it will improve

Orphan Black and Gilbert and Sullivan and Todd Rundgren

After the excitement of last week, this weekend has been fairly quiet, which is nice for a change, though I've still had plenty to do, but most of it has been very mundane.

I'm reading The Humans by Matt Haig and thoroughly enjoying it. I hope everyone I've given it to enjoys it as much, and I am listening to lots of music as usual but haven't done much composing recently, reminds of a quip by WS Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) when a lady asked him a question:

                           Lady: Is Bach still composing?
                           Gilbert: No Madam, He's Decomposing!



Always makes me chuckle.

Orphan Black ... so many

There's a lot of local festivals coming up so I will publish a list on the Spoongig site. Also TV seems to be rammed with brilliant TV series such as The Blacklist, Orphan Black is returning so how Tatiana Maslany remembers who she is or is playing I haven't a clue, but I am so looking forward to that.

Next week is another Bank Holiday, I could easily get used to a four day week.

Sports wise today Liverpool play Chelsea in what could be the Premier League Title decider, If Liverpool win then need another point to guarantee the title , and given their final game of the season is against Newcastle I think that wold be nailed on.

So anyway I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday, but I've included a live recording of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" from Iolanthe, which I first heard on his album Todd in the seventies. Rundgren is one of the most amazing musicians ever managing to include in his canon almost every strand of worthy popular music.I could do a blog post on him , maybe I will this week.

World Book Night 2014

The Humans - Matt Haig

My World Book Night was fairly low key. I did;t connect until this year that it falls on Shakespeare's birthday. Although some friends reserved copies of The Humans by Matt Haig, I gave away copies to people I sat next to on trains and buses and station platforms. Evey one was extremely pleasant and engaging, as well as being thankful and interested in the book and World Book Night. No one had heard of World Book Night but a few were aware of World Book Day.

Anyway I've started reading the book and it's a vaguely misanthropic view of the human race, and shows Douglas Adams influences, so to me it's very enjoyable.




Anyway this is just a short post, as I'm off to work soon, so hope you all have a great day, and I would suggest you grab your own copy of The Humans, you may enjoy it more than a little.