Nightmiddling and The Spring Equinox

I woke up at 2:30 this morning and was wide awake. I had been really tired at 9:00 last night , and had a low blood sugar reading which may have been something to do with me feeling sleep, but I thought at 2:30 I might just write a blog post. Then I thought, no I will try and go back to sleep, and obviously that worked because when the alarm went off it was very unwelcome indeed.

I've been advised by my doctor to store up insulin because of the uncertainty of supply with the possibility of brexit (which I hope crashes and burns as it's driven by xenophobic self servers) so I have reduced my dose, so last night's low blood sugar reading did come as a surprise.

Today I can have a shower as the guys at HandymanNewcastle came and sorted the shower and next week will be sorting out a few other little jobs.

So to tie in with the fact that today is the Spring Equinox I will share the opening piece from Jean-Michel Jarre's "Equinoxe" album. I always thought that "Oxygene" was incredibly pedestrian with awful artwork, although listening now it's not as bad as I thought at the time.

When I heard "Equinoxe" I was shocked because it was such a step up, in my opinion, from "Oxygene". I still play the album a lot and noticed that there is an "Equinoxe Infinity" album, which may be worth investigating, I particularly like the cover of it with the Stone Watchers. I'm also tempted by the CD compilation "Planet Jarre" but I will hold out on that one for the time being.

I've always liked Jean-Michel Jarre , and his reputation went up several notches when he staged the Millenium concert in Egypt which you can watch nearly five hours of , complete with penguins here ,  I mean who does he thing he is , The Grateful Dead?

ANyway enjoy your Wednesday.

The Pleasure of a Bath

While I normally shower each morning, due to a leak in the shower I'm currently having a bath and it is just so pleasant to luxuriate in warm soapy water for a while. I do enjoy showering , enjoying warm water flowing over you as you soap yourself, and it is far more practical than a bath, but it is very pleasant to have a bath once in a while. I often think I will have a bath but then decide against it because it's later in the day or a shower is quicker and more convenient, how often do we choose convenience over pleasure and experience?

Baths are also good if you are aching or suffering from a cold or 'flu' (note the correct abbreviation as 'flu' is the only word I know that is doubly contracted from influenza) but even then sometimes I see it as too much bother not considering the actual benefits that it may have.

So it's Tuesday morning , and I have a hospital appointment which means I will walk there as there is no direct bus, and to find a direct bus will take as long as it does to walk. I think it takes me about twenty minutes to walk there.

So I'm going to leave you with Tenpole Tudor's utterly joyous "Throwing My Baby Out With The Bathwater". Listening to that has really upped my mood this morning.

Have a great Tuesday everybody.

Sonic Icons

There's a hairdressers on Two Ball Lonnen called "Icons" and I was on the bus and realised that Icons is an anagram of Sonic (and Coins) and that that Sonic Icons would be a great name for a band , a music book , a music compilation or a Festival.

Some of the bands that come to mind are The Sonics, Sonic Youth and Hawkwind masqueraded as The Sonic Assassins and opened their "Space Ritual" with their excellent Michael Moorcock spoken word "Sonic Attack".

The description Icon is vastly overused and I find it difficult to think of anyone who may be described as a true "Sonic Icon". Here are a few who I would put in that list:

• Delia Derbyshire
• Bebe and Louis Barron
• Robert Moog
• Karlheinz Stockhausen
• Terry Riley
• Igor Stravinsky

The list could go on , but these are just a few artists who are true Sonic Icons, who challenged the norm on went over the borders of what was defined as the norm and what was acceptable. Without people like this no doubt our soundscape would have been extremely bland and unchallenging.

So who should I choose .......

While Delia Derbyshire with her work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop enabling the realisation of Ron Grainer's "Doctor Who" theme is tempting, I'll go with Beb and Louis Barron's "Forbidden Planet" which was the first completely electronic film soundtrack.

Again showing how easily I get soundtracked where the name of a hairdresser takes me into groundbreaking electronic soundscapes.

Preferring The Dream

Today I didn't want to wake or get up because the dream I was in was actually quite enjoyable and comforting despite being in a spin in a Mercedes the rear ended by a bus, but also being in pleasant surroundings and resetting the heating controls after returning from holiday. I know this makes no sense whatsoever but that is what normally happens with dreams. I suppose the benefit of it is that you wake happy and rested and ready for the day even though it's a Monday.

The sky is full of pink clouds so I am not sure what the weather will bring today.

Recently I have been mightily impressed by the new Gang of Four song "Paper Thin". It reminds me of the best of New Order although with added aggression and sandpaper, well worth adding to your collection in whatever form you decide to take it.

So it's Monday and we are ready to go, I have lots to do and deal with, but if I had nothing to do I would be terribly bored. Maybe if I don't write then it dips my mood so I really have to make sure I actually write something even if I have nothing to write about, although actually you can always find something to write about even if it's the fact that you have nothing to write about.

So get out there and enjoy yourself, it's the best way to go.

Wot?

A weekend where I cannot bring myself to write anything. I feel I should be doing stuff but can't do anything and am feeling bad because I haven't done anything. I am trying to be positive but it is very hard. I keep find faults with things and things that need fixing but don't have the talent to fix them properly so will have to get someone to do it.

I know lots of people have to go through this and do not have the the resources I can call on to get things done but it is still less than ideal.

The other day I sort of dreamed / thought I had dies but like in films and stories the next stage was how to let people know I was OK and the realisation that I didn't have do deal with the drudgeries of everyday life. The thing is I am still here and well aware of all the good things and great people I know in life so I will be coming out of this sometime soon.

I was feeling so lethargic yesterday that I missed the launch of Dog Years' debut "A Flame In Waiting" so the least I can do is share a Dog Years song with you and if you want to buy the album there's a link below. The song "Spookychurch" apart from having a wonderful title (and I do love the mouse on the cover of the album) sounds in the same universe as The Stooges fronted by Howard Devoto, well worth investigating and getting hold of.

I am quite surprised that I have never mentioned The Stooges without Iggy or Howard Devoto without The Buzzcocks or Magazine, but it's always good to learn something about yourself, or something you do.

Also writing this has improved my mood no end so obviously I need to knuckle down and write more, and not be so apathetic and lazy and miss importants gigs by my friends' bands.

I am als so happy that new music is continually being produced and Dog Years is a prome example of that.

Pans and Pots

I haven't a clue what brought this into my head, but why do I think "Pots and Pans" rather than "Pans and Pots"? The logically alphabetical phrase would be "Pans and Pots" but I always think "Pots and Pans" which may hark back to "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Bill Haley and His Comets.

I'm surprised that Bill Haley has not appeared on any of my previous posts (he mave have done, but he doesn't have a label until now), he was an unlikely figureheahead in the aerly Rock'n'Roll movevent, being a middle aged, balding, Western Swing artist. I must say I am still impressed every time I hear the guitar solo in "Rock Around The Clock" , a song featured in the film "Blackboard Jungle"  which caused teenagers to rip out cinema seats and riot. It was hardly "God Save The Queen" or "White Riot" was it now?

So here's another prime example of me going off on a tangent, start talking about how a phrase is said and finish up with punk and riots, which is no mean feat in around 200 words.

So the obvious song to include is the Bill Haley song that started this , "Shake, Rattle and Roll". I know it's only Thursday but the weather outside is beautiful if cold.

Here Comes Your Man

For some reason The Pixies song "Here Comes Your Man" has been going through my head. I don't know why. It is a great song by a great band and also makes me think of The Velevt Undergoud's "Waiting For The Man" which we played if the Marsall Law / Bok first gig. The demos we senmt to John Peel at the time are here though he rejecte dthem for being too primitive, though when we were taken up by Rabid Records they asked us which studio we had used. We hadn't, they were recorded live to a two track cassette player - which could explain John Peel's rejection.

The gig happened on a Saturday, on the Monday mty friend Andy Marshall was the only one left in Marsall Law , between Tuesday and Friday we wrote, learned and found a pick up drummer and played our first gig. We had to ditch the pick up drummer as either he or we didn't have a clue but we finished the gig and it all went down well.

I took a tip from Ollie Halsall on learning to play , to practice with heavy gauge strings and play live with light gauge strings which was great in practice but in small venues caused my guitar to go out of tune as soon as I touched it, though a couple of people said they were impressed my my retuning as I played technique, little did they know......