My friend Kaz has just taken offence that Justin Bieber has Dreadlocks . I am amazed the amount of offence this guy causes . I can't sauy I have listened to his stuff, I saw him on Graham Norton and found him annoying , a bit like Little Jimmy Osmond singing "Long Haired Lover From Liverpool", but Bieber is an easy target , he sells records (or downloads) by the truckload and can probably have any girl he wants .... which a sort of definition for a rock star.
Then you get Guns 'n' Roses reforming and people going on about how important they are. To me they made one half decent album , I'm ok with em apart from their anagramatic singer , and their main legacy seems to be that they turned up very late for gigs and showed inordinate disdain for their fans.
I am old enough to be a great grandad , and remember parents getting offended at the music I listened to and the clothes I wore. I now get offended when I see kids wearing Sex Pistols , Nirvana and Ramones T-Shirts because they think they are clothing brands. I don't know if attitudes have changed, I certainly am not your average parent when it comes to music. One thing to remember is the Sex Pistols were as manufactured as Bieber, like the Monkees and in fact The Sex Pistols covered a Monkees song almost in acknowledgement , so I have included that here.
But I have come to this conclusion, Justin Bieber continues to cause offence and annoy people sell records and get the girls, Guns 'n' Roses reform and their best numbers are cover versions , so it seems to be Bieber embodies the spirit of rock and roll a lot more than most of your classic rock bands.
This is just a short post although we have got into April and there is so much happening this month.
I have picked up my bass guitar for the first time in earnest for several years , as if I can cut it , I will be joining a fifties style rock and roll / soul band.
Then on the 16th it's World Record Store Day , which means lots of stuff going on around RPM , Reflex , Beatdown and JG Windows in Newcastle. We are lucky that in Newcastle we have four , yes count them FOUR real record shops. The first year it wasn't that well attended but this has really gained momentum and you have queues outside the record shops in the hope of getting that special vinyl version of a particular record. It has got fans listing to music again rather than skipping through their iPod collection.
On the 17th it's my friend Paul's fiftieth birthday , he's a writer and if you are a fan of Casualty , Doctors or Eastenders you have probably seen some of his work. Check him out here , a very cool , witty and nice guy and a great friend.
Then on the 23rd it's William Shakespeare's Birthday , which is the marker for World Book Night. I've been giving books since it's inception and this year I will be giving away copies of Matt Haig's Reasons To Stay Alive in Newcastle on the night of the 23rd. A couple of Years ago I gave a way Matt's The Humans , an excellent book which I would recommend to anyone. This year's book list is here.
So basically it's Monday morning , there is lots to do , and lots to enjoy. April is looking very good for me , I hope it;s the same for you.
And I always think a bit of the Reduced Shakespeare Company always goes down well , so I've included The Othello Rap - Totally Boatless , that always makes me laugh.
Work at the moment is quite intense , just a lot going on , so yesterday took time out and fancied a cooked meal . I wandered through town and decided to go to Trillians as I love the atmosphere , music is good there may be a decent film playing and the staff are brilliant , and they now do excellent food. I chatted with Barbara and saw the Bangers and Thrash , well how could I not , so ordered that with a cup of coffee.
I sat in the area at the bottom of the stairs and noticed there was a bag on one of the other tables, and I know sometime people don't like other people withing a million miles of them , especially when it;s me.Anyway the girl came back and was reading checking her phone so seemed cool with me being there. Anyway my coffee came , then I got a phone call. "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath was playing (which incidentally is one of the dishes that Trillian's serve featuring Black Pudding .. My mums favourite) . So in the phone I was probably talking a bit louder than I should , because of the music and the fact that Trillians is underground and you can lose your signal at any time . The thing is talking louder doesnt help and we all do it and are often too lazy to go outside or somewhere private, well I was yesterday.
After I finished I apologised for being too loud and she smiled and said was fine , the she asked me if I was having lunch and did I want to share a table, as she was waiting for her lunch too. I said yes and we got talking , she told me her name was Jane and she was waiting for a Megabus to London and thought she'd drop in here and she knew they now did food. She told me where she was from and I asked if she knew another friend of mine who lived in the same place and it turned out we had her in common.
We chatted and ate , told her about my daughters wedding , showed her THAT CAKE (if you click on this you get the instagram video), and like everyone she was amazed by it. It turns out we have a lot of common interests so I told about events coming up, and also told her this whole thing reminded me of a recent excellent TED Talk I watched about AirBnB which goes on about the modern "Stranger Danger " attitude that the media and society engenders in us , when in fact most strangers could be friends we haven't met yet. I know that sounds crass, but I've included the talk below
Yesterday I walked into Trillians and saw a stranger and when I left I had a new friend. Yeah modern technology is good for immediately connecting with people.
Have a brilliant Saturday everyone , I am going to .
Well there goes the Easter break and it was rather good. Mine started early on Thursday with my youngest daughter's amazing wedding which was just a totally brilliant day , lots of smiling faces , happiness and me renewing long lost friendships.
Over the weekend I picked up a copy of Classic Rock magazine because it had some Iron Maiden Beermats and a "Top 100 Rock Albums of The 70s".
There is a hell of a lot I don't rate such as Aerosmith , I still don't get them , a sort of watered down ersatz Rolling Stones , "Walk This Way" was good and "Living On The Edge" but that's about it , sort of a bit better than Grand Funk Railroad who , thank God , we don't hear much.
Powerage by AC/DC was their number one seventies rock album , which I can't disagree with . AC/DC amaze me because every album is virtually the same , every song is virtually the same (have they ever done a ballad? ) but they manage to sound brilliant. I see parallels with Status Quo , who then tried to change their sound (Beach Boys collaboration what a car crash that was) , then recently they went back to basics and started to sound good again.
I always tell people I don't do stress , I don't do anger , I don't do hate .I try not to let any negative vibes come into my life. I saw a TED talk on the positives for stress which you can watch here. Stress can be good for you if you use it to your advantage. It's like any form of training , you push yourself , often to the realms of pain , but as long as you are not pushing beyond your limits your body and mind can grow stronger from stress training.
We often become stressed when we lose control of situations , but I have always found fun in situations with lots of unknowns . I like solving problems , but if I get stuck I ask for advice , and I always try to prepare for potential mishaps so that at least I have the odd thing to help me if things go wrong. The thing is , most of the time things generally go right.
I always try and extend my circle of friends and give people respect , that way you have someone to call on if you need help . I need both of my hands and more to count the number of people who I could ask for help from if I needed it.
A friend of mine recently told me that I don't stress like normal people , but told me some times I need to just slow down because I try to do so many things at once . Maybe it's just bad planning on my part , but going back I was playing at gig and took a work colleague along , she was a quiet girl but the following day asked me "How Do You Know So Many People?" , I didn't think I knew that many people but I obviously did compared to her. I just said I speak to people and keep in contact with them.
I'm pretty unusual in that I can speak to my neighbours face to face and know their names for four houses either side. Most people barely know their next door neighbours and that can actually create stress . I certainly don't have any stress there
I remember hearing the PIL song "Rise" thinking how beautiful it was , in the chorus , but the refrain"Anger is an Energy" which is the title of John Lydon's latest autobiography that I am reading and he explains how anger can be channeled positively to create good things. The book is well worth reading as Lydon is very articulate.
Anyway what was I saying. How am I normally not stress. I prepare for situations , if things suddenly change I adapt to that change . I don't get angry if a bus or train isn't on time , I almost find it amusing when I see traffic jams full of cars with one person in them. I don't own a car and only drive when I have to.
The other night leaving my youngest daughters wedding late at night I went in the wrong direction , no one stressed , it was suggested we turned round that we did and then we got back home at a reasonable hour. I know people who would have blown up in that situation.
So look for positives , look for things that make you laugh , don't over reach or try to do the impossible and enjoy as much as you can . That way stress levels go down. Don't look for things that may never happen . Carry a spare tire if you drive , but don't think every time to start your car that you are going to have to use it.
OK that's a few that's about my generally stress free life.
I think it's really important to enjoy yourself . Although real life often gets in the way.
Whey you are enjoying being warm in bed , you have to get up at some point , but I stretch it out as long as possible
When you are in the bath or shower feeling and enjoying the warm water flowing over you , I love that and probably spend a lot longer in there than I should
When you are with a friend or loved one or both , I love that , but have to depart for work or mow the lawn or some other chore.
The main thing is to try and extend enjoyment into everything you do. I like solving puzzles and problems and have seen virtually every job I do as that sort of task , which then makes it enjoyable, rather than a chore. If you make your job enjoyable , then it stops being a job and becomes a form of enjoyment. I continually look for ways of making things better for me and others and when someone notices that it gives you a great feeling.
I always try and look for positives in every situation and that in itself becomes an entertaining challenge.
But anyway I know I haven't been writing much recently , and I have no excuse for it , apart from I have been spending a lot of time enjoying myself and that's no bad thing. And the song it's Baxter Dury's Pleasure , which always makes me happy, ad stimulates my enjoyment.
I continually berate Novocastrians for not visiting or knowing about some of the amazing things in Newcastle. The Lit and Phil and The Vampire Rabbit are two cases in point. I have been in Newcastle fr 30 years , which is half my life, the first twenty of which were spent in Preston then the next ten Southport / Tarleton / Leyland and then coming up to Tyneside.
Anyway yesterday , for the first time I properly visited Newcastle's Castle . So I am just as bad as the people I berate. The steps are daunting , and there are lots of flights of stairs that go off on different directions. I could tell you lots about the place but I include the video I took from the top (sorry about fingers and sound) and apart from being a castle it has lots of events on which are wonderful when watched there.
I didn't have much time so the main point wast to get to the top and enjoy "The Best View In Newcastle" . I think it was 100 steps up a stone spiral staircase, and the weather was lovely, but although I always say I am ok with heights as long as I feel safe , my vague vertigo started to get the better of me, but I persevered.
While up there I was talking to to a lovely lady from Northampton called Shirley or Sheila (my short term memory is atrocious) and we were remarking how beautiful and impressive it all was. A friend had brought her up toe Newcastle for a couple of days as she had always wanted to come so I mentioned a couple of places worth visiting and it was good to be able to point landmarks out for them to aim for. Grey's Monument , The Botanist Dome , The Pearl Building , St James Park and The Bridges , The Sage and The Baltic are all very visible.
So today we have another lovely day and I am tempted by the Bela Lugosi night tonight .....but it's sold out so I shall include the Chvrches take on Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead" as a small consolation
Today is the second day of spring and we have had rain and snow , so plenty of water. This has got lots of my friends jealous that I have snow and they don't. We also had blue skies sun, so four seasons in one day scenario. The snow came down , melted then fell again, melted then fell again and so on for the the rest of the day. I'm sitting writing this hearing the wind blowing down the chimney, wondering whether tomorrow will be any different. Let's face it the weather can do what the hell it wants and we can do nothing about bar make a reasonably educated guess.
Then I took the tiny road from Litton to Tideswell , which at the end has a sharp double right turn. Most of the way it's a single track road. Well what I wasn't counting on was a large articulated lorry stuck , unable to move forwards or backwards blocking the road. Not sure what the poor driver was going to do, but I turned round to find an alternative route. I had £2.25 in my pocket and wanted to get to the cash machine in Tideswell. Getting to the bank, I found the cash machine was "resting" , so used the Post Office to get some pennies.
Coming out of the Post Office I saw a sign saying Peak Volumes , a book shops I was unaware of. I went in and the place is crammed with second hand books. I spoke with the guy and asked if I could take some photographs. He was really friendly. The place is a veritable cornucopia of reading material on lots of subjects such as art, fiction , formula 1, music , chicken farming and lots more. This is the second discovery I have made this week (Music In The Green being the first), third if you count the Litton Shop. I love finding new things and this week has been full of that , making new friends finding new places and just having a good time.
I didn't intend to write this but feel I must do a short piece on the local shop at Litton. It's run as a co-operative and stocks most of the things you need as well as providing a social focus in the village. It's also a coffee shop . supports a post office and has some excellent home made cakes which I have sampled. It's run on a volunteer basis with support from the Co-Op and has been running for the last sixteen years , becoming an essential part of Litton village life.
The real plus is the people the manager Carol , Barbara , Tina, Stephanie, Myra, Judy and one of the customers Tony. They have regaled me with stories and opinions and analogies with The Wicker Man, and are amazingly friendly and welcoming. It is gorgeous to come to a lovely village and meet up with such lovely people. And I have an invitation to a Cheese and Wine Evening and Quiz at The Village Hall , a totally lovely place.
If you ever come here or even drive through , you have to check this place out , and check the coffee and lemon varieties of their sponge cakes.
I won't bother with any music for this , but it's just an appreciation of a lovely place with lovely people
Well it's the first day of March , first day of Spring and we have rain , cold , wind , snow , we have weather. This most is just some thoughts that got set off as I read Tracey Thorn's biography Bedsit Disco Queen . She is obviously famous enough to release a record and and her autobiography , but that only came with her hard work , talent , belief in herself and some huge slices of luck in meeting the right people and being in the right place at the right time. Belief in yourself gives you the confidence to do things , be it writing , applying for a job , building something , making music or introducing yourself to a stranger.
If you have belief in yourself you can help others who are less fortunate that you , you can hold their hands , you can give them advice.
People often look at their lives and say if they had done something differently then their lives would be much better. They can never know this. In my life I have have made lots of wrong decisions , but if I had done anything differently I wouldn't be in the position I am in now , and to be quite honest , I am incredibly happy with my situation at the moment. Yes there I things I would like to be better (more money , less work) but I have a wealth of friends and the ability for the most part to do what I want, the only constraints are time and distance and to some extent money.
I have friends who have become very successful and am still close to them , and it just makes be happy that they share their success rather than flaunt it. But I am sure there are lots of times in their lives where things just fell right.
Again reading Thorn's biography there are so many times when something unexpected happened which then resulted in being the stimulus to produce a song or play a gig, which then eventually resulted in the formation of Everything But The Girl (taken from the name of a clothes shop in Hull where Tracey and Ben Watt were at University) so if they hadn't gone to Hull , they maybe wouldn't have got that name and they may not have been as hugely successful as they became.
I decided to include Tracey singing with Massive Attack , a great collaboration and a lesson to us , don't dismiss something if it doesn't conform to the norm.
I think the thing in life is to find happiness in what you have and to share with as many friends as possible, and if you don;t have enough friends , talk to people , you never know who you might find. Don't sit back , go out and have fun , and the good times and good friends will show themselves,
So although luck gives us opportunities , sometimes it's up to us to grab those opportunities and create the situation where those opportunities occur. You don't usually get a job offer if you don't apply for a job (although it has happened to me a few times).
Some days something happens that is just a cherry on the cake moment. My life is good at the moment , not perfect , but in the happiness league I'll be in the top 10% if not even higher. But sometimes things happen that brighten your day even further.
As a kid I remember my friends big sister had a copy of Ralph McTell's Spiral Staircase , and I particularly loved the cover of that album , and also the title track stuck with me.
Today I was wandering round Bakewell looking for a snack , I was feeling peckish. I had visited several bookshops and one of two record shops I had visited previously had become a fudge shop (Folk Devils in Whitby became a cake shop), the other one was shut for lunch I think .
I wandered round a corner and noticed a small shop called Music In The Green with a display of album covers including the aforementioned Spiral Staircase and Deep Purple's Concerto For Group And Orchestra with a poser "What Year?" The thing is it looked like a real record shop.
On walking through the door any doubts were swept away, John Renbourn on the player (Live in Italy which I walked out of the shop with) , a cornucopia of new and classic folk and world vinyl and CDs , with a rock section ate the back,
Steve , the guy behind the counter, was easy to talk with very knowledgeable and dug out a copy of Nice Enough To Eat, an important album from my youth. I could have spent the whole afternoon in there , and if I lived in Bakewell , a shop like this would make it worth coming into town for,
Today the discovery of this treasure has made my day. It's a reason for going back to Bakewell , and should be a reason for you to visit.
Sometimes really unexpected coincidences occur. Yesterday I posted about my need to keep things simple because I am not very intelligent , and used as an analogy Lego which led me to an Iron Maiden video of them performing The Wicker Man.
Yesterday as I parked my car, I was getting watched by a guy in another , thinking I had "taken his parking space" . He started out slightly aggressive , but we chatted and when he realised what lovely person I am , we got on like a house on fire , shook hands and my car stayed where int was.
Today I want in the local shop, I'm staying in Litton in Derbyshire, and if you want to see the cottage it's here Anyway the guy was in having a coffee with friends and we chatted on and he asked how long we were staying:
I said "A week"
He said "Have You seen the film 'The Wicker Man' .... he only went for a week"
Much more guffawing ensued and I told him about the Christopher Lee video I did. And how it got pulled and all that . I bought some biscuits and left
Came back , switched on the TV and "The Man With The Golden Gun" is on TV just at the car bridge jump scene , and of course Christopher Lee played Scaramanga , three nippled golden gun toting assassin.
So this weekend has been Christopher Lee influenced , coincidentally
I think it's an acronym. Keep It Short and Simple. It's the way I've tried to live my life. Trying to keep things as simple as possible , so that I stand a chance of understanding them. A primary school teacher once told me that a genius was a person who could see and explain things in the simplest terms.
I always use this analogy when try trying to argue that even the most complicated thinks can be reduced to a simple construction. The most complex Lego creations are still just a series of little bricks which can be rearranged into any shape you desire, and that's most complex things you can imagine are just a huge combination of simple things.
The computer or smartphone you are using to view this is just a huge collection of zeroes and ones, binary switches, on / off gates that are added together to show you the most amazing things.
Anyway keep things simple and you can keep them in check and make sure the do what you want them to do. It's time for bed for me so I am going to sleep
Also an excuse to have Iron Maiden's The Wicker Man in Lego , five years in the making and it;s just lego. But a good song referencing a truly great film , featuring Christopher Lee in one of his favourite rols
At the weekend I went of a stag do organised by my future son in law Mark , who rates very highly on the scale of good to know human beings. An excellent day in which I made several new friends and had a great time including walking up a flight of steps I had only looked at before , from the Quayside to The Bridge Hotel past the Castle. I walked up with Mark which was fine til I hit the top and realised that my fat frame was not built for things like that , but the pains soon cleared and we had a canny time in The Bridge.
The main point of this post is that part of the day was spent Go Karting at KNE in Sunderland , and it was my first time. Out of 29 people Mark came second and I came last. To my credit I didn't crash or cause a crash, stall or incur the wrath of the track wardens or need their assistance. I found the positioning of the plastic fuel tank between my legs more than a liyttle disconcerting and it took me two laps to realise that I had a brake as well as an accelerator.
When I furst saw the track I was a little dismayed especially when the route was previewed beforehand , also the crash helmet did not sit well with my vague claustrophobia.
Would I do it again , Hell Yeah . I'd recommend it to anyone . When I do it again , I may still come last , but that's not always a bad thing , and someone has to.
At the moment I seem to keep running out of time to do things. This morning I can't remember if I took my insulin , but can't risk overdosing. However things are great in life.
There is lots to look forward to and lots to be positive about and really wish I didn't have to sleep then I would have enough ours to actually do what I want to do. Then problem is the body demands sleep , rest and recuperation , and that is good ,because when rested you are ready to go and deal with the next thing that life throws at you.
Anyway the other thing is that it's Friday , and the weekend is coming up , but the next three weekends are going to be very busy for me.
I am telling you that things are great and that things are busy without actually telling you anything , does that make me a politician?
Anyway I am going to start my weekend by dealing with certain things , enjoying time with certain people and wishing you , all my lovely friends a brilliant weekend. I have been listening to Malcolm McLaren a lot this week so you get "Boys Chorus" from Fans , I love this , the cockney talk over that heavenly chorus:
This month I have done very little writing on here , although this post means I've avereaged one every four days on here , and if you include the two on Spoongig then it's one every two days which is hardly a drought.
It's February , the day before Valentine's day and a 29 day month with means that girls can propose marriage to a guy they fancy , though it's hardly a resounding implementation of sexual equality. If you want to marry someone you can ask them any time , whether it's the 29th of February or any other day of the year they can still say no. And you can still have a great time without marriage . If it's right for you fine , if not they are lots of things that can bond people together , such as love of common interests , and sharing new ones . Sometimes marriage can seem like a lock down meaning you don't have to try anymore , whereas a relationship should be continual trying and working at it.
I switched on the the radio this morning and "I Was Made For Lovin' You" by Kiss was playing on the radio. Is this a good or bad sign? Undoubtedly Kiss's finest moment , no doubt due to the involvement of Giorgio Moroder , but that was kisses dalliance with Disco , and they were perennial bandwagon jumpers , dripping their own blood into the ink of a comic that featured them and the fact they were effectively masked by make up any member could in theory be easily replaced and disposed of. A marketing mans dream.
The thing is they were about selling product and in that they were no different than The Sex Pistols or X-Factor artists , it's ultimately about shifting corporate product. Bands are expected to conform and fit in and the media dictates an awful lot of what people buy. I like to think I am above that , but am I really? Having said that I went to two small gig last week and saw six amazing bands , check out here , it's a while since I have hit a big venue for a band.
Anyway I am OK with Kiss starting my day, and I hope your day starts just as well and continues in a good way. I love you all
This is the first post since last week , since last month on my Dad's Birthday. Since then I've has a weekend in Whitby , had a big win from Betfair thats to these guys (Free Racing Tips) , and today I wandered into town for a change and in Carliol Square was reminded again the Trillians does food.
They advertise Vegan , Vegetarian and Meat so everyone is catered for , but I went for the vegetarian all day breakfast. So it was great having my dinner that was a breakfast in the darkness of Trillian's Rock Crypt in a corner with the food served on a black shiny plate soundtracked by Heavy ish Metal, though not sure what was playing but it's a welcome change to the jazz / elevator music or pretentious piano players you get in so many places. Bar Loco is good though , but I will be frequenting Trillian's for dinner a lot more now.
As I was saying to the lovely barmaid if you don't use it you lose it , and I don't want Trillian's to be lost again. They took our Mayfair and put up a Charver Multiplex.
Tonight I am going to see The Gramps , a Cramps tribute band so maybe we should play a Cramps song
Today is my dad's 81st birthday , I've sent him a card and present and a text and will phone him at a reasonable time. That's a pic of him as a boxer.
Really he can be a curmudgeon , but has always been there for me and always encouraged me to do what I want , I totally love him. He doesn't pressure me but does exasperate me at times. but can't all good parents be like that
Anyway we are nearly at the end of January , and nearly at the end of the week , and looking forward to lots of amazing stuff at the weekend and next week
Next week I have 3 nights out already penned in , so I cannot complain my life is boring, feel free to come with me , the ride is going to be immense and intense. As it's my Dad's birthday I am including two of my favourite boxing songs , "No Mercy" by Nils Lofgren and "Boom Boom Mancini by Warren Zevon.
Really I do. I go on about looking for the positives , and being positive , but I never really know whether you believe me or take what I'm saying seriously , after all I try not to be too serious. The main yhing I am serious about is being happy and I want you to be happy to.
This weekends started for me with the amazing BowieBall at Vamos and has been a wonderful time of relaxing , wandering , wondering , playing Bowie songs , remembering the riffs for Rebel Rebel and Ziggy Stardust, then listening to "Nothing Has Changed" while updating the website Song of The Salesman.
Music is a great thing for lifting you , making you feel good , and though I have been talking Bowie I am going to include Todd Rundgren's "Long Flowing Robe" as a song which I first heard on a Bearsville EP I bought and it still stays with me as a beautiful song love found and lost and found again that makes me happy and brings a smile to my face, but with a tinge of sadness.
So now go and find something or someone that makes you happy and makes you smile . do it and your day will be better and if it is a person , their day will be better too.
If you know me , you will know that I am not serious about the title. I am reading a book about Arvo Part - Out of Silence, and some parts about the various Christian / Biblical concepts irk me to say the least. God was amazing because he said Let There Be Fish or whatever and there were fish. It's hardly rocket science is it and if you could do that then it's hardly hard. The nearest equivalent we have is switching a light on or controlling something with a remote.
I was taught by Jesuits and for the most part they were practical and reasonable . In one Religious Education one guy said to the priest:
"What if you get to heaven's gates and St Peter says: We gave you wine , beer , women , gambling , and all you did was wasted it being celibate , you going down"
The priests reply was "You might be right, we do everything based on faith and belief, but we do drink wine"
I also got to thinking that the Bible is probably the reason for the terrible treatment of woment that is still going on today. All Eve did was effectively try something new. If we don;t do that we don't progress, so maybe Eve was the first scientist. . Yet for that act Eve (woman) takes the blame for everything that goes wrong and has done every since.. No doubt that concept was conjured up by a man , and men have been selecting snippets of the Bible to justify subjugating women ever since.
Anyway no sane God would have the world that we have today , maybe there is a God , maybe there isn't . It may be illogical but I'm hedging my bets.
I also believe that with evolution (which is scientifically proven Creationists) that out soul , being or whatever you call is preserved after the body expires , but that is another personal illogical belief that keeps me hopeful , although i have seen no real evidence for it whatsoever, but I am very positive in my outlook.
Ok what music do I choose for this , Spiegel Im Spiegel by Part I reckon , because his music is excellent, I just think that it's his talent that produces it , not God.
We are in mid January , experiencing the Christmas and New year comedown. However this is only problem if you have nothing to look forward to. I saw an internet meme saying that "Successful People Set Goals" among other things and they are grateful. Last night I watched an episode of The Last Kingdom and Utrid's wife said "God brought you home" , Utrid is not enamoured of the Christian God and said "My sword brought me home".
My goals are to be happy by planning events to share with my friends , and make sure I have things to look forward to with the special people in my life , do a decent job , and be grateful when things go well. It's very seldom that good things just happen to us , but by taking certain positive steps and not sitting at hope you can end up coming into contact with people who actually make your life far more excellent because they introduce you to new things and new people and bring a light into your life.
Anyway it's the middle of the week, and this week I will see people , talk to people who will make
me smile and tell me new things and that will make my life better. Work is scary at the moment because I am dealing with a landslide of paperwork , but it's just a challenge and I will use this to put things in place so that next time I will be able to deal with it. The first time can sometimes be daunting.
But I am already planning things for this year, visiting different parts of the country and just having a brilliant time , and it is going to start today.
I thought I would include a TED talk on smiling , smile more it will make you feel better.
There are lots of bad things in this world , make sure you are one of the good things. and most of all be happy.
As I write this I am being hit by a severe Denial of Service Attack . I would have thought that my ISP , Virgin would protect me from that , but maybe not.
So today is Blue Monday , the Monday before the January payday , when the money has run out and consumers cant buy stuff not even the tat in this week's sale. It's just one of those things the media throws at us , they want us to be miserable , to butter us up for the next scare story.
It's funny how once you start talking music how the ills of the world can be , at least temporarily washed away. Music is wonderful , listening and playing just makes you feel good , get's rid of pent up aggression can make you happy , make you fall in love , make want to hug someone , make you want to kiss someone , make you want to dance.
I am now starting to think of lots of favourite songs that teach us lessons, show us new roads , and lead us to better places.
This Monday may be a shade of blue , but it's a nice shade of blue.
This is a short , middle of the night post. I should really be in bed. I would love to be in bed. This week has been totally brilliant for various reasons. One of them was last Sunday I went into town, part of the quest was to get flowers , in a last ditch effort I got some from Tesco. I walked out and walked into my brilliant friend Mike O' Brien who was going to Reflex to get some music but remembered he needed milk and Tesco was across the road . So we ran into each other.
We talked and said we had to have a catch up , I mentioned the Gramps featuring Lux Inferior on vocals were playing the Cluny on Feb 4th and I had a spare ticket. He forced money on me for the ticket then said we should catch up and suggested Mog On The Tyne , the Cat Cafe , which he is joint proprietor I think.
Loads of my friends are cat lovers and many have expressed a desire to go there , so I will be visiting soon.
But this is how amazing coincidence can be , you take a different turn and a whole lot of unexpected doors can open.
I was chatting to a facebook friend Denise who sells collectable diecast models at various fairs in the south of the country and was amazed to see so many images from my childhood. The Brittain's stuff here on her site brought back loads of memories here at DJB Collectables.
This week has been exhausting and incredible .
I got to see the new Star Wars film , and we lost David Bowie and Alan Rickman, so I will bookend this blog post with Bowie and Rickman , two amazing artists who will live forever in our collective memories. The Bowie song was cowritten and produced by Giorgio Moroder which I didn't know til I wrote this post
Yesterday David Bowie released Blackstar. I am not going to critique the album , but the fact that an artist can still command such awe and respect and continually turn the three chord trick on it's head often outdoing his perceived influences at their own game is still jaw dropping.
When The Next Day came out completely unexpectedly the mainstream media wrote it off , because it was music that they actually had to take notice of . "Where Are We Now" still amazes me , but when it was the lead single it was written of by mainstream media.
And now again Blackstar will have the same effect , it will polarise opinion , but isn't that what Bowie does? The thing is if you have any modicum intelligence you will appreciate his work or build a coherent argument against it.
I was speaking to a guy in Bar Loco who said he's just got into Bowie , but he couldn't get past
Earthling , because it was the best thing he had ever heard. Not your normal starting point in the Bowie canon , but this shows the amazing kaleidoscopic effect of the Bowie enigma , you could start anywhere and work in either direction remembering to be wary before Space Oddity , though everything since has had much merit.
Even the maligned Tin Machine , "Under The God" is still a metal masterpiece , and "Little Drummer Boy" with Bing Crosby , well he's David Bowie , he can do that , and yo will enjoy it.
So go and buy Blackstar . My own favourite is still Station to Station , but put any Bowie album on the the turntable and I will listen until the needle lifts.
Although this blog started out as a travel blog , well that was the idea , which acounts for about 1% of the posts , it's seldom I talk about places that I've been for there own sake , but Bill's Cafe in Old Eldon Square really does deserve talking about. I don't what first attracted me there ,maybe the simplicity of the name and I just fancied a full english breakfast. The implication of the name was a greasy spoon type , but you walk into one of the coolest places you can think of.
The people are welcoming m, there is great art in there , the menus are on vinyl records (I'd rather vinyl was played than used as a menu but what the hell) , the food is excellent , plus they have cake , coffee , and alcohol. You can get a bottle of prosecco with nibbles for about £15.
Yesterday I dropped in for a a baked potato with tuna and a San Pellegrino for dinner, and it's got to the stage where I don't have to look a the menu.
There were a few people in and after I came in , a couple came in with a child. From one of the girls positioning she started breastfeeding her child, I assume this because she had her back to me. While she was feeding the guy cam up and took her order. The whole point of this is that nothing out of the ordinary happened , it was just totally normal, some friends of the couple came in said hi and when the child was finished and sat on a chair she was happy and well behaved.
It was just so nice to be in a place where a woman feeding her child is just an everyday occurrence.
A big up to Bill's Cafe , I love the place and you won't regret going for a coffee , drink or meal.
It's lovely and welcoming and a shining of example of how everywhere should be.
I've included Billy Bragg's Handyman Blues because the song and video make me feel as warm and loved as a visit to Bill's cafe
I didn't make a New Year's Resolution . It didn't slip my mind because every year I just resolve to try and be happier and compassionate for my friends , family and people in need. The New Year is a good place to start , but really my plans involve just doing the best I can in all areas.
Some people see Christmas as a time for being nice before spending the last year acting like an unreality show judge or competitor. I will go into work today and that is going to be a topic of conversation.
There is plenty in this world to go round everyone , and working together will create even more, greed IS NOT good.
So if you haven't made a New Year's Resolution let my vague premise be your guide. Today will be the first day back at work for many people. Be positive , be nice , smile a lot , and take chocolate with you , plenty of chocolate.
I chose this King Charles song , because , well I dare you to listen , and not come away feeling happier. Smiling is good.
This morning I learned something new. I was convinced that Bryan Ferry had covered The Everly Brothers Temptation , an amazing song, but it was The Price of Love another amazing song. But it turns out that Temptation is in fact a cover of a 1933 hit for Bing Crosby, which I actually knew but the Everlys deconstruction makes it almost a different song. See what you think.
Oscar Wilde said "I can resist anything but temptation" and he is one of my heroes , a great writer , with and disgustingly treated by the law of the time , which was much the same as it is today.
Still on the Temptation as a song title we also have Heaven 17's Temptation , but my absolute favourite has got to be New Order's which gives me goosebumps and makes me just want to sink into it and surrender to the Temptation.
It doesn't get much better , so I hope that I have provided you with enough temptation , and I hope you can't resist either.
I hope your New Year is as good as my mine my totally gorgeous friends.
