Control

I've mentioned how not having control of a situation can make you stressed. Manty times part of that is caused by not knowing what is causing the situation. So I have a bad leak in the spare bedroom , right above where the bed is. So I know the roof is leaking and I can't get in touch with my roofer. Last night I took the plunge and went into the attic and saw exactly what was happening. I can't do anything about it but I can now tell the roofer exactly where he needs to target. The attic is not a great place to navigate and one slip will see you dropping through the ceiling. Need to think about getting flooring in there, but that's for another day.

So I am (for me) whizzing through 2023 , it is very stream of consciousness and random ideas and will definitely not be to most people's tastes , but I am enjoying it. It's not something that is destined for the Charity Shop immediately, but how many books do you keep and never reread. I have quite a lot , and think , really I should let them go , I will never read them again and someone else could benefit. I have multiple copies of "Lord of The Rings" and "The Hobbit" , now there should be really no need for more than one copy of a book.

Similarly with albums although since music became digital multiple copies of exactly the same song (not counting remixes) is the norm. I remember the shock of discovering I had some Bay City Rollers songs. While "Keep On Dancing" (one of their early singles) and their covers of "Rock'n'Roll Love Letter" and "It's A Game" were good I had no desire to add the Bay City Rollers to my collection... but there they were on the soundtrack of "The Filth and The Fury" the julian Temple feature about The Sex Pistols.

So I found a "live" performance by The Bay City Rollers featuring two of their best cover.

Phlox Redondo

Two unrelated words that came into my head today, I haven't a clue why but it's always good to put together unrelated items to see what happens , assuming there's no danger and you know what your are doing. So it's not a good idea to drop phosphorus into water but Phlox (Greek for "Flame") is a genus of plant and Redondo because of the reggae based Patti Smith song "Redondo Beach" from her debut "Horses".

I found a live take from Stockholm in 1976 and there's a tour of the actual place here.

The weather is still hot and muggy and the house heating is decidedly off. I have it at 19° though I hear of people who's norm is 25° to 30° so I must be a naturally cold person.

So just wanted to share those two words with you on this Friday night, have a good one.

Not The Worst (Good Things ARE Happening)

This morning I was feeling to apathetic, lethargic to even have a shower, but it has to be done, like taking medication. Over the last week I have noticed myself forgetting things, just very briefly like taking my tablets and just as I'm about to go out I remember. The thing is we all forget things and the fact that I always DO remember actually confirms the confidence I have in myself.

Yesterday I was trying to do something , following all the correct steps and the software was just ignoring the parameter I was supplying. After narrowing the fault down to the software (it was to produce an email with a subject line but was ignoring the subject parameter) I wondered if it was just ignoring the first parameter and would it take a second subject. It did. So working that out showed I do know what I'm doing (there was nothing in the documentation).

It is a grey day but we can expect sun and (maybe the odd shower). Fiona is doing her first mighty hike this year for MacMillan Cancer Support and if you want to drop a few quid in go here. , so the fact that people are doing things for others is a great thing, and it is Friday.

Given that Chris Hawkins played the record on 6Music and Fiona is raising money to help Cancer sufferers and it is Friday , we go with " It's Yer Money I'm After Baby" by The Wonder Stuff.

Pure synchronicity ... and that is good and spirit raising.

Also this is post number 1981 and the year 1981 is the year in which my daughter Juliet was born so if I can remember things like that (admittedly very important but that's another good thing, and I love catching up with Juliet and Kirsty whenever I can)

Now time to go out, all tablets taken 😀👍 oh that's that's the first time I've used an emoji in a post !!
 

Not The Best

Today I thought I was getting a lie in as they burglar alarm service team were coming. They did ... late ... and will be charging me for a new battery as they only last five years. Prior to that a serious roof leak reappears soaking a mattress and sheets and I am trying to get the person who should have fixed it to fix it..

This is what causes stress, when something affecting you is out of your control. Because of that I didn't go to the Queercastle finale party even though it was only six to nine with people I like to see, although I wasn't missed.

The day has been muggily hot so not comfortable at work. There's been rain and sun but I managed to get some stuff done at work then left phone messages about the roof.

I then watched some catch up TV finishing off with Janelle Monáe and The Cure's Glastonbury sets.

It's still hot and muggy so I hope to be able to sleep.

A work colleague recommended the Youtube Subliminals for weight loss and other things but the rten hours of rain sound is very relaxing although at odds with what is happening to my roof ate the moment. I listened to a few ten minute ones and an hour of the rain this morning , may download some as MP3s to listen to when walking into work.

So what music should we have,  Last night I listened to "Go" by Stomu Yamash'ta and it's one of my many favourite albums, so we'll have a live take of "Crossing The Line" featuring Stevie Winwood from the album.

Sleep  well.

Truly Original

Can anything be truly original.?

This question is usually asked about art forms and will have been debated and answered by people far more qualified and intelligent than I. If you ask the question on Google you get this list but I am just going to put down a few of my thoughts on this.

The question came into my head last night and I started wondering about it.

Science (I know that's a huge umbrella) is probably the main area where someone can be truly original in methods for discovering existing things and creating new ones, but it still works within an existing framework.

Religion is usually based on some kind of moral code with an off world figurehead and an on world leader group. AGain based on a defined framework.

Then we come to art. Thom Yorke once said Radiohead were going to dispense with melody, but I still hear tunes in their work. Surrealism takes us away from the norm but it still anchors itself in familiarity. If it didn't you could not connect with a desired audience.

That is usually the point of everything, is to share and connect in some way, whether to benefit, control or make money.

Sometimes simple board games require true originality (I'm thinking Edward De Bono's "L" game), but again they start with the defined framework of a board.

All art is a rearrangement of existing letters of the alphabet and grouping them into words, and in music you have a set number of notes augmented by sounds from nature and electronic devices , and as soon as it becomes liked it becomes familiar and becomes part of the framework.

This is just a few thoughts with no real conclusion and is not very original but I just wanted to put this down.

For some reason Roxy Music's second album "For Your Pleasure" has come to mind and while I was thinking firstly "Editions of You" with Brian Eno's synthesiser sol , I then ping ponged between the sinister title song and "The Bogus Man" and I will go for the latter with the 2011 tour visuals.

Things

This week I decided to see my friend Krista so messaged her as I hadn't seen her for a while. She messaged me back and asked if we could meet at six. My first thought was that I was going to to be leaving work at 4:30 and wanted to go home, but thought so be stupid and decided to stay at work another hour so I could catch up with Krista. It was a half hour drink together in the Tyneside and she told me of a film she had been to see and invited me to Queercastle - Nocturnal Novocastrians closing party on Thursday , but it is on all week. so that will be a great thing to visit this lunchtime.

Then I woke up to my biggest ever Discogs order, it may not come off because of postage but we shall see.

I think the point of this is whenever you see an opportunity take it. A half hour chat with a friend can really make your day, whenever you do it, so if you get the opportunity take it.

I came home made my tea (Curried Chickpeas , Fish Fingers and Alphabites due to a Co Op offer though the Chickpeas came from Medina whire I mistakenly picked up a bunch of Mint instead of Coriander - how useless am I at times?).

I then watched the last two episodes of Waco  which to me had just been a suicide cult, however if the series is to be believed this was a group led by David Koresh who was a nutjob , but incredibly intelligent and potentially very dangerous but this was effectively a vicious attack by the FBI and ATF which resulted in the deaths of 75 people because of gung ho incompetence and cover up. Firing incendiary devices into building after you have filled with tear gas ( remembering there were 25 children in there) shows blatant stupidity and disregard for life. A truly great TV series.

So "Zombie" by Jamie T was on 6 Music , I love that record , a great chorus , so that's what we shall have.

So have an excellent Tuesday everyone.

Before Bed

This is post 1977. There can only be one song, can't there. Is this going to be the shortest post I've ever done?

Well not quite because this was my first ever blog post, and it was fairly short maybe about fifty words (I can't be bothered to count but you can do it yourself.

1977 was the year that punk really got underway. but it started way before that. The Bok sent demos to John Peel , Stiff Records and Rabid Records in Manchester. John Peel said we were primitive , Stiff sent a rejection letter , but Rabid wanted us. It was only when Rabid asked which studio we had recorded it that it dawned on us the reason for Peel's reaction. We'd never seen a studio and recorded direct to 2 track cassette. The single was decided, people stopped talking to be because the bassist said we were going to be on Top of The Pops , then Rabid went bust and the band split.

We formed on a Tuesday and played our first gig on the following Saturday, and it that time we managed to write and learn songs for something like a one hour set, including "Waiting For The Man" , "Gloria", "The Passenger" , "Egyptian Reggae" , "Shot By Both Sides" and the demos on the link above.

One of my favourite guitarists was Ollie Halsall who recommended learning with heavy gauge strings and playing with light gauge strings. What this didn't take into account was the fact that in the heat of the gig they went out of tune almost immediately. After a gig one guy said he was impressed with my in song tuning.

Anyway 1977 was the year of The Roxy , any number of punk bands , many still around now, and off course "1977" by The Clash , the "B" side of "White Riot".

"No Elvis, Beatles or Rolling Stones

 In 1977"

Absolutely brilliant and The rolling Stones are still going but The Clash aren't , two trully great bands