Pocahontas, Podcasts and Cassettes

Pocahontas you ask. Why? You ask. It's been in my head today, the Neil Young song, possibly a result of me reading Michael Moorcock's "The Skrayling Tree" and the song from the acoustic side one of "Rust Never Sleeps" has been running through my head, and I think I may try and record a take of it and put it on Soundcloud, it is a truly beautiful song from a wonderful album. I am listening to it as I write this and it is still as fresh today as when I first heard it.

I'm also waiting for my new vintage record player to be delivered by my friend Marek from RPM, and wondering what I should play first on it, I only have "Rust Never Sleeps" on digital format, but who knows, that may change.

I've also started listening to "How To Burn A Million Quid" the sort of story of the KLF and it is quite entertaining although it does stop me listening to albums, but that is the nature of interaction, it takes time to do things. I was talking today about the record played and we were talking cassettes which I said were a thing of their time, but you had to put the time in to make a mix tape, whereas sharing playlists as most do today can be done in seconds and it loses the personal touch.

As a teenager I remember making takes and physically splicing them to make music and compilations, there is absolutely no way I could do that today, I'm just not dextrous enough. I have the ideas but not the abilty, and digital often looks easier but always throws some problem in your way.

So I will publish and see what happens next.....

Quietly Strange

Today has been weird, I've not felt like doing anything or even doing something which requires little interaction from me liking watching a film or catch up TV.

Earlier today I walked to Aldi (only about half a mile) got a few things then walked back (Stagecoach buses don't run that way on a Sunday) then realised I'd left my hat (it had looked like rain, so I put it in my bag, took it out when I packed it, and left it on the ledge), so phoned their customer service and they had it, so I walked back again and got it. That did mean I got some steps in and only need to do another 25K to hit this months target.

The weather has generally been good but cold, but when I got back, I just couldn't bring myself to engage with anything. On the plus side I was resting both my body and my brain, but it felt slightly weird just not actually doing anything and not wanting to do anything.

Hopefully tomorrow I will feel more motivated, but this afternoon has been just traveling in neutral. I did post my review of last night's Trash Shack gig here. so that was one positive thing , and it was a great night. I've also just ordered tickets for The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing and the Cluny 2 on Easter Sunday, and Half Man Half Biscuit at The Boiler Shop the following Friday, so I suppose today has not been a totally idle day.

Snackwallah Coincidence

It's amazing how I was writing about Bhanga music and Indian Restaurants earlier then decided to gofor a walk a lunch , was wondering how to lunch before deciding on a KFC before diverting to check out the Indian Street Food place in The Grainger Market, Snackwallah.

Snackwallah Platter

What an amazing surprise that was, I ordered a £3 Mixed Snack Platter which I hadn't got a clue really what I was getting but the staff were really helpful and delivered to be a small plate which a think was vegan , but definitely vegetarian (you can see it to the right) and it tasted gorgeous , with some kind of kick to it , but it was an amazingly good  and I will be going again, and thing you should do as well.

If you click on the picture you can see a few more images that I took while I was there.



Obviously this is just a short post, but Iwas training to thing of an appropriate pice which is "Husan" by Bhangra Knights or "Bhangra Knights" by Husan which  was used in a Car Advert many years make.

So it's Friday and I've found another great place to eat in Newcastle.

Waiting For Things To Happen

It's strange at times when you are trying to do a lot of things simultaneously, your focus obviously drifts and because you are waiting for something to complete before you can continue task ne you start on task two that engages you until you reach an impasse and you check task one and you are still waiting for something to complete so you start task three and then forget about task one that then sits waiting for you because you away with the faireies on task four by now.

Part of the reason for this post is to include "Rahaye,Rahaye" or "Rahe Rahe Jaan Waliye" or probably about ten other title variations by The Safri Boys , an absolutely joyous piece of Bhangra that I discovered on a Bhangra compilation many years back and then couldn't remember the title when I wanted to your use for a post in Settle about it's excellent pair of Indian Restaurants Ruchee and Royal Spice . I am lucky I also have Rajnagar round the corner from where I live, as well as Solomon's Dhaba fairly close, so I am well served with Indian restaurants both at home and on holiday. Also when I go to Oswaldkirk in a month or so I can sample the excellent Helmsley Spice.

So as the week draws to a break, I am thinking about Indian cuisine and Bhangra Music, which is not a bad thing in my opinion.

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.