Feeling Good - #Oktoberfest #21 - Seven Drunken Nights - The Dubliners

I'm not exactly sure why but yesterday I made two walks without thinking and without noticing that I had made them physically. One I do most Friday's but the other I sometimes take the bus for, instead this time walking from Citygate through St James' Park then Leazes Park and , yes , it took longer than the bus , but it was just incredibly natural. Both walks are up a hill, probably a couple of hundred feet rise and usually, while it doesn't bother me, I am aware of it, but yesterday I just wasn't, and I am not sure why but long may it continue.

The only very slight change is I have run out of Omega 3 capsules and been eating Minneolas , Oranges and Apples and yesterday had a Mumbai Sandwich from Snackwallah for lunch. I will see how this continues but feeling physically good is excellent, most of the time I feel OK, sort of adequate, but I do want to feel better. I am writing this at 6 am because, although it is Saturday morning I am mentally compos mentis enough to put fingers to keys and tap this out without any effort and that's good.

To day I need to get some website updates done for my artist friend Bob Armstrong (check out his amazing work by clicking here or on his name) , he does some amazing work. His wife Ann runch a plant nursery Woodland Plants and the Codonopsis Plant Information site both of which I also maintain. I'm not a fine of Web work but Bob and Ann are really lovely to deal with and lovely people.

So I've finally got round to including The Dubliners in the #Oktoberfest sequence but their first entry is going to be "Seven Drunken Nights" a song I've always found funny, and while I don't remember my parents having any Dubliners records they definitely always turned the radio up when this came on. It is Saturday morning , still dark and I have to have a shower , but this is a good start to what will be an excellent day. I challenge you to listen to this and not be taken in and sing along.

Murder - #Oktoberfest #20 - A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty

Well I've finished chapter one of "The Secret Commonwealth" and there's already been a murder, and I doubt that will be the end of it. It is a fairly hefty tome but unlike "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" I am looking forward to this as I do with all Philip Pullman's work.

Today I was at Snackwallah and Rachel told me they had been drafted into going to a Bavarian Oktoberfest in Manchester despite being vegan and non drinking and we got chatting about my #Oktoberfest sequence and saying the "Whiskey In The Jar" was absolutely essential to it. I have already featured a version by Irish Elvis impersonator The King but definitely need to shoehorn in The Dubliners and the The Thin Lizzy version which came on the radio when she was discussing a deal with a guy called Gary Moore...... pure synchronicity.

However "A Pub With No Beer" by Slim Dusty and Australian country and western singer came to mind, and it was a record that my mum and dad used to play a lot, and was released around the time I was born. It is one of those records that just pops into your mind with out being particularly groundbreaking. Have a listen you may find it entertaining.

A Day Not Reading - #Oktoberfest #19 - Starbucks - A

Yesterday I sort of didn't read, I had finished the 400 page "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins which I have passed on to a friend and this morning I have started Philip Pullman's "The Secret Commonwealth" clocking in at close on 700 pages. After "The Illuminatus Trilogy" (800 pages) it seems I have been taking fairly hefty tomes to read.

The odd thing about "The Secret Commonwealth" is that it is the second in "The Book of Dust" Trilogy , the follow up to "His Dark Materials" but "His Dark Materials" is bookended by "La Belle Sauvage" and "The Secret Commonwealth" , this is not a problem , just unexpected.

I'm actually telling a fib because yesterday, as a respite from big books, I dipped into "Ten Years In An Open Necked Shirt", poetry by The Bard of Salford John Cooper Clarke which is always entertaining.

#Oktoberfest continues with a brand name that is generally associated with coffee, but sell anything they can these days, that is Starbucks. The song is "Starbucks" by the band "A" from the album "Hi-Fi Serious" who with a name like that are impossible to search for on Google (a bit like "!!!") . The song is more about the company's dodgy employment practices rather than the product but the product association will do for my #Oktoberfest sequence.

Darkness - #Oktoberfest #18 - Streams Of Whiskey - The Pogues

I know we're into Autumn because it's very dark when I wake, which does make more likely that I want to actually stay warm in bed. Why is it when you go to bed you often can't sleep (I always drop off within fifteen minutes, though that's sleeping too close to the edge of the bed) and I don't have a problem sleeping, but darkness does make it so much easier to sleep, shut your eyes and drift off to realms of Morpheus.

So #Oktoberfest continues and amazingly it's taken eighteen posts to introduce the first Pogues song , the excellent "Streams of Whiskey" from the "Red Roses For You" album, and is like almost Pogues songs, as soon as you hear it it moves either your body or soul or both. I found a libe take from Japan in 1988, and it's always great to see a band play their songs live, and while it may not always be a perfect mirror image  of the studio version (hopefully not) it always should add to the song. I think audiences can bring out the humanity of the band and it becomes a symbiotic process , yu need it all to get the best experience.

So the darkness is dispersing this Wednesday morning and it is time to leave for work (again).

Dis Pepsi Max - #Oktoberfest #17 - Drink It Up - Negativland

Yesterday I decided I had a motherlode for #Oktoberfest in the songs of Tom Waits, which is obviously true enough, but I don't think I've touched The Pogues, The Dubliners , Thin Lizzy and many others and I saw an ad for Coca Cola and this reminded me of one of my favourite albums ever "DisPepsi" by Negativland and fantastic discontruction of advertising and the Pepsi / Coke war. It is a bit difficult to track down now but it is available at the time of posting on Youtube here. An absolutely essential listen.

It's chock full of subversive tunes that are probably more relevant today that when it came out around 1990, still often played by me and I am listening to it as I type this, "Happy Hero" is so pertinent to Trump, Johnson and Michael Jackson.

The song I've chosen is "Drink It Up" which mainly refers to Pepsi but lists lots of other promoted beverages, but the whole album is an essential listen but I have never heard it on the radio on any station.

So what else?

The blog has hit 20K visits for this month and we are just approaching half way so it would seem it's very popular (with robots). I'm even getting the odd comment (though mostly advertising links) which I may or may not remove.

I have finished "The God Delusion" and is has hardened my attitude to religion significantly but it's time for another book now. I would still accept God if that God turned up and demonstrated that was actually what he was.

Time for Tea.

Walking Off The Walking Dead - #Oktoberfest #16 - Jockey Full Of Bourbon - Tom Waits

I've finally given up on The Walking Dead as it seems to have drifted too far from it's main concept. Yes it's post apocalyptic and things can go off it so many directions but I am still vaguely wondering what happened to Rick when he was spirited off in that unknown helicopter. I'm not that observant so I may have missed something and the latest series started and it was like I couldn't remember where I was in it and the zombies are just an embellishment rather than the result of what caused this situation. No doubt people will be able to enjoy it and I didn't stop watching because it was bad, but because it had run out for me.

One of the problems is there is some much excellent television and only a limited amount of time. There is nothing wrong with ending a series, I'm thinking "Game of Thrones" , "Black Sails" and "Breaking Bad" but I have now picked up "Vikings" and "Preacher" and with "His Dark Materials" on the way I think my television time is spoken for well into 2020.

For some reason I thought I could hit a record number of annual posts this months by instigating #Oktoberfest but I still have to post 43 more seventeen days to go , so three posts a day is not going to happen but I will likely complete it in November.

So the #Oktoberfest song today is "Jockey Full of Bourbon" by Tom Waits from "Raindogs", and it was Hannah Berry (Comic Laureate) on here Paperback Writers show on 6Music yesterday who played it and reminded that if I need songs about drink Tom Waits provides a rich vein to mine. I had been having problems trying to think of songs related to drink but I am sure I can hit another 15-20 by the end of the month.

It's a greyish Monday but go out and hit the world.

Vinyl Scrabble - #Oktoberfest #15 - Long Tall Glasses - Leo Sayer

Just a note that one of the things that has kept me on Facebook is playing Scrabble however I am not down to two people who will still play me. I know life gets in the way but feel that one day it may not be a reason to come onto Facebook. It's implied that people play lots of other games and I should challenge them but I gave up on Words With Friends when the number of pop ups before playing each game made it impossible (in my opinion for me) to play.

Today I am still not feeling 100% but I have listened to a whole lot of vinyl this morning including the whole of "Go" by Yamash'ta / Winwood / Shrieve  a stunning album veering from pure songs to spaced out sounds and I'm not sure who is responsible for what but an amazing journey . That was followed by sides for Lou Reizner's "Tommy" , Joy Division and a few reggae singles. Listening to something you can't program or skip actually becomes more relaxing and satisfying, because you are not thinking of cutting something out or wondering what's next.

#Oktoberfest is continued with another implied drink (wine) in the Long Tall Glasses. This is one of my favourite Leo Sayer songs and much prefer his earlier stuff almost reminding me of something in the style of almost Woody Guthrie. I found a live take in Sydney and I have a feeling this is not how you would expect to see Leo Sayer live, it is rather good.

Well think I will go and rest a little more on this rainy Sunday.