I Keep Forgetting

,br> I was just checking my blog and this post a bout the potential closure of Newcastle City Hall here, had been getting a lot of attention. I don't know who from but it's the third most read this week. I also missed the Dictators on Wednesday and Chase Park Festival today (here is my review from last year) , I have been amazingly remiss in my gig planning.

These days pessimists will start talking about Alzheimers , but the reality is that we all forget things, we remember things for no reason and some stuff becomes buried deep , so deep we don't know it's there.

One of the reasons I keep this blog , is the same as keeping a diary , except this is online and anyone can see it, and because of that people look at things that I had forgotten about and causes me to remember and revisit. Sometimes I remember that I had recorded something and then search the blog to find it. It really is a useful tool.

My memory has always been strange . When I did Law and English Literature I could remember all about cases but not the names of cases , and I knew what happened in plays but could never remember any quotations. I usually don't know how to do things but I do know where to look to find out how to do things.

So anyway I thought I would just share that with you and you could always do a random search of this blog , you never know what you might find.....even I don't know exactly what I will find ... and I'm the one who wrote the damned thing.

Der Blaue Engel

I've chosen a re-edit of Robert Wyatt's Memories spliced with the finale to The Blue Angel , and that has led me to a whole new treasure trove of discovery

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Oh and below is Robert Wyatt's take on Peter Gabriel's Biko , and I just love it, one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard and although it sound slight at first , it works it's waky into your psyche . I love Robert Wyatt... and this one of the discoveries that I mentioned.

Sunshine Smiles and the Lost Welsh Martial Art of Llap Goch

Llap Goch - Fear No Man

Well I am very hot and sweaty, I bet you really wanted to know that. This morning I have cut down a leafy bust to fit in te brown bin (I actually cut it last week) , mowed the lawn , put up a shelf that fell off a wall months ago, well I think I have, those rawlplugs weren't working so I hope the no more nails strips will hold, they say up to3Kg each strip but we all know the phrase "up to" includes the number zero. I got that from the Llap Goch Advertisement in Monty Python's Big Red Bok. Click on the image to read the text a lot more easily.

I've also been and bought a rucksack for of shopping and walked about 3 miles, so I have had a fairly productive morning.

I still didn't want to get up though, but the fact I have doe all this and am writing this blog post is a good sign.



The weather is excellent and there have been a lot of greeting and smiles when I was out, the sun and good weather can bring out the best in people.


The football season has started although for some it will feel as if it never ended, teams complain of too many games and once there is space they organise a tour on the other side of the world or some new made up cup competition. Newcastle lost their opening Championship encounter with Fulham leaving the bottom of the division much to the delight of Sunderland fans. I'm obviously more concerned with how Preston fare against Jaap Staam's Reading.

I thought the Smashing Pumpkin's Today was a sort of appropriate song for today.

But whatever you are doing have a wonderful day today , enjoy the sun and I hope everything goes perfectly for you.

Vivacious

...is not a way to describe me at the moment. The last couple of weeks I have been feeling lethargic and apathetic. I want to stay in bed late and go to bed early and sleep lots , maybe my body and mind just need rest. I've missed gigs , quizzes , events which people have put effort into and I have not been able to put in the effort.

The fact that I am writing this means I am feeling better and more like my old self and have plans for things like mowing the lawn at the weekend and getting out to see people.

One good thing about this is that it has enabled me to catch up on lots of TV such as Gotham, Wayward Pines , Outcast and up to the end of series one of Penny Dreadful.  The thing is TV does take you away from other things , but lots of my friends binge watch and still manage to have a normal social life.

I could blame this on diabetes and maybe that does have an effect , but I wont let it rule my life. This week I've also been doing my own cooking apart from a takeaway last night , plus done a lot of chores round the house , so maybe it's just that  that I have been doing other things , but I have definitely been going to bed early and wanting more than my usual lie in in the morning.

When I woke this morning I had the remnants of a dream , I was working somewhere with a protected computer (the protective device had a green flashing light) which hand been taken over by some malicious entity. I suggested the switch off / switch on solution which worked and enabled to get what we needed including a cryptic email from someone called Huffington , then I woke up. This is allowed to make no sense at all as it was a dream.

Do Dictate

The other plus is that it's Friday and we have the weekend to do lots of fun stuff ... and lie in. I thought the older you got the less sleep you needed. Anyway I feel fine now and I am pleased that I've managed to write something.

The Dictators "Sleeping With The TV On" is appropriate and still gets better every time I hear it and they are playing Think Tank tonight..... I really should go.

Have a fantastic weekend everybody.

I Love Seeing People Smile

I love seeing people smile , I love seeing people happy and I love smiling and being happy. Seeing a smile is infectious , I always smile back and sometimes I smile at people and they smile back at me. Yes the context has to be right  (I watch Gotham and have seen some very worrying smiles) , but a smile does make you feel better.

I know society is not good at the moment and I am hopeful we can progress , I detest spitefulness greed and idiocy which seems to be the modus operandi for the government , but my friends and their friends are positive and pleasant people. I love going into work and the only pressure is to get the job done well and that means that there are plenty of opportunities to smile at work as there are lots of wonderful people that I work with.

It does help that the weather is generally summery at the moment , I woke up early and , the sun is streaming through the window although I am still very tired so will be going back to bed after this.

Steffen .. Exit Stage Left with two chairs

There have been a lot of free concerts in South Shields and tomorrow UB40 play Bents Park in South Shields , I tried to get to The Proclaimers and Lindisfarne the other week but I was a bit late and the gates were shut, and there were still huge queues outside , and I was amazed at the number of people complaining that the gates had been shut . It was very popular and public safety is paramount. Oh and my friend Steffen Peddie is playing The Customs House tonight ... now he WILL make you smile (and laugh loads).

Anyway I chose UB40's Sing Your Own Song as it always makes me feel good , and I hope it does the same for you.


Anyway , the weekend is just starting , so smile lots and enjoy other peoples' smiles. It's a simple concept and I know some people are only happy when they are miserable (Usually Mancs and soap opera characters... try Coronation Street and Eastenders, although I have met some brilliant Mancunians in my time such as John Cooper Clarke and others)

Gravity Clones and Seven Nation Armies

One of those phrases that just came to mind for no apparent reason . Clone can be a noun or a verb in this context and Gravity can be a noun or an adjective. Again this could be used as a band name , like Beach Canaries that I used earlier on in the month.

I am thinking of posting a series of songs on here that for me just don't fit into what we expect. Captain Beefheart made me realise that technical ability was subservient to actual ideas. An idea put into practice is far better that the musical ability to play all the notes perfectly , though maybe I am saying that because I can't really play any instrument. The sort of artists that spring to mind are David Bowie , Beefheart , Zappa, PJ Harvey and Siouxsie & the Banshees and that's just a start.

We're coming to the end of July and next week we hit August , the days are getting shorter and soon people will be complaining that we haven't had a summer despite the current heatwave.

Remind You of Anything?

Yesterday I too a photograph in the stairway at work and a friend of mine remarked it reminded him of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes which is a possibility of a cover for the band I am practicing with although they will be leaning towards the Postmodern Jukebox version so I've included both for you delectation. And that is another coincidence.

So it's a lovely day so enjoy it , it's turning out to be a great week

Atmosphere

I am quite surprised that I don't seem to have ever mentioned Joy Division in this blog. I have written about New Order and The Hacienda and I am sure a few other related bands, but for some reason Joy Division came to mind this morning , and particularly the song Atmosphere ,  then thanks to youtube I found this promotional video which amazingly I've never seen before.

I love it's rickety pretentious mystery and and the black and white graininess. I don't know if the black and white hooded plus and minus figures are stock footage or commissioned for this video but it certainly is a mind stimulating four minutes with and obviously excellent soundtrack.

Scariteletubbies

I first heard the song on John Peel and that's where I heard a lot of artists for the first time. Looking for image from the vide (I know I could have snipped it , the scary black and white Teletubbies image came up so thought it would be fun to include that.

Anyway , the sun is shining, it's the start of a new week , so everyone have a brilliant time today

Relax and Enjoy

I must admit I haven't been too happy with the events of the last couple of weeks , and I really want this blog to be positive , so I have set up another called And Annoyingly for me to post anything that annoys me and I feel I have to rant about.

So this weekend I have managed to relax , sort the garden out , though I have not managed to get out to Summertyne and was sad to miss my friend Teresa who was playing on Friday afternoon when I was at work , but that's the thing we have to do things like work to be able to do the things we want.

This week I have also been enjoying Gotham and the recent reboot of Dredd and think I am ready for another week.

Here is The Weather

It's raining outside but still humid , but apparently we are due a torrential downpour tonight. I have been amazed at the number of people I have seen watering their gardens , but I'm no expert.. I havent watered the garden for two years .. that's how good I think the weather has been and the grass is still green and looks good. I do tend to look out the window to find out out what the weather is like, though it's amazing how many people eschew this method and turn to their smart phone to get the information






Anyway enjoy the rest of your weekend, I certainly will. I really should get dressed , the music is Pearl Jam covering The Beatles' Rain ... one of my favourite Beatles songs

Have a good one