Considering that it has been a trifle fraying this morning I am in a damn upbeat mood. Firstly the Demon Alarm was going from about 4.00am this morning and was still going when I left. Then I discovered that someone had let their dog do a shit right in front of our door. I remember coming home from work one day and finding three girls out walking their dog and letting the little thing to a turd the size of it’s head right by our door step. In desperation I asked “why are you letting your dog shit outside my home?” They could barely understand why I was bothered and wandered off, looking at me in suspicion but leaving the shit exactly where it was. This item may well have been from the same animal.
Suffice to say I stood in it.
Good things: there are cream cakes in the office and I am enjoying R.E..M.’s “Up” album. I’ve never been a fan really, and I know I am woefully behind the times, but this is very enjoyable. I like the blending of simple parts to build an enchanting and moving collage. In the little universe of my work area I can listen to whatever I like, it really is quite wonderful.
Satori were great last night. We only caught the second half because we had spent so long working on, I curse the day I wrote it, “What Kind of Rock” that it was 8 o’clock before I started to get something together with which to feed us. That said, I think we have finally cracked the bloody song. Providing none of us ruins the aura surrounding it at the moment by saying “it sounds shit” again (that means you as well Monica) it may finally bloom. I don’t think we would have slaved over it for so long if it did not have a charming quality that really deserved to be realised.
Anyway, Satori. They had a much better response this time and Anthony in particular seemed to benefit from it. Dancing, jazz hands and a cheeky wink; either he was having a good time or a psychotic episode. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And thanks to Mr Burns for buying us a drink, we was parched.
One more song to learn before Sunday, a little tune about the superstitious crutch of every rational being, be it Matins and Vespers or the effective germ killing power of domestic detergents. It’s called Lucky Shoes and should get it’s first public airing on Sunday in the Golden Lion Inn, Penybanc. If you’re out in that neck of the woods pop along; it should be a lovely evening.
14 comments:
you have to have a licence to own a pig which is vastly more inteligent than a dog pigs being the fourth most inteligent animal after humans (although we may have fixed that result as we were the only adjudicators) chimps, and dolphins, and so theoretically more able to look after itself. So why the hell not a dog!? OUr governments inconsistences make me sick. Suffice to say though i clear up my vomit. Don't worry about being behind the times it's a common malaise, i bought a white zombie album yesterday and they're long past their 'cool before date' as well.
I something on the Tv the other day that said, in Northern Ireland you can have a Bengal Tiger in your house without a licence (the laws relating to Dangerous Animals don´t apply) but you still need a licence for a dog! Explain the rationale of that. I wonder how big tiger turds are. There again with a Bengal tiger on a lead I suppose you could leave turds anyway without any problems from resident musicians, phylosophers or whatever.
Bengal tiger in your house? Scratching the furniture and pulling at the curtains, leaving hair all over the place and trying to eat the budgie? Not a recipe for a peaceful life or the maintenance of soft furnishings I'll be bound.
Believe you me if you live on the Creggan a tiger is the least of your porblems.
Thank you so much for the lovely mention, it means a lot to us that you are so appreciative and supportive of the band - and never forget that the support is comin' back atcha!!
You were very fortunate to get a drink out of Mr Burns, as for myself I managed to get three drinks from Franksenstein just by saying "I can't be bothered to go to the bank". I've never used the "I can't be bothered" stratagem before and I have to say that it works really well - give it a try yourself and let me know how you get on.
Sorry I couldn't hang around longer after the gig, I was getting over the flu. I have no recollection of my hour long drive home and must have driven back in a strange native American "dream-drive". (ref. Chief Thundercloud and the Navajo Nissan Wheel Weavers; a guide to Native American Dream-Driving 1928-74. Prof A. Thurling, New York 1982)
Oh, I forgot to mention "UP". Now that is a strange one. As you might recall I have always been a big fan of REM and UP still leaves me confused and dejected. It's got one of their best songs ever in LOTUS but I found the album really boring on first and second plays and then I put it on my shelf and forgot about it. Then REVEAL came out and that was marginally better but sounded like they were trying too hard to sound "now" (which was "then") and the songs were alright without being great. I didn't bother to get the last album because the single from it was so shit that I got put off.
I think I shall give UP another go and hopefully listen to it with less jaded ears. If I take your tack of listening to it as a collage of sound then I might get more out of it.
My favourite REM albums are; NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI (which is my top favourite), GREEN and MURMUR. I least like OUT OF TIME, UP and REVEAL.
Do you think that they should just jack it in or do you feel that they still have something to give? Do bands have a natural life-span (i'm talking creatively rather than biologically of course)?
Depends. If they try to incorporate a Bengal Tiger into their act then they probably have a natural life span bith creatively AND biologically.
I have never been a big fan of R.E.M. since Michael Stipe always put me in mind of Old Man Steptoe. But UP had less of his "Aaaaarooollldd" vocals so it was more appealing from the off.
I liked it because it was less beat (and bleat) driven than what I had heard before; everything has the quality of a wash of sound, even the stronger riffs still float around rather than singing out. This creats a meloncholy and wistful quality which I find endearing.
I suppose they can go on until they drop dead or get eaten by tigers, they don't have to worry about the cash so they might as well keep thrashing away. They might make something worthwhile, like a new series of Steptoe & Son for instance. Or a stage act to rival Seigfried and Roy.
It don't take much to rival Seigfried and Roy, especially since Roy got his neck ripped off by his supposedly well-trained Tiger. Roy has only just started to walk again after a long period of paralysis and I'm sure that I can speak for us all when I wish him all the best and a speedy return to the casino (which lost something like half a million dollars in lost revenue after the accident). Why do I know so much about this? I'm a bit worried.
You are being a bit unfair on REM, although yes, Stipe does look like old man Steptoe but sounds nothing like - you have been listening to Robbie Williams in error (who sounds like old man Steptoe but looks like Norman Wisdom). Stipe is a superb vocalist and you should be ashamed of yourself for criticising him you bad Frictionless Man you!
I bet he lives in a house full of old crap with Beck, who keeps calling him a dirty old man. Beck tries to pull birds but Old Man Stiptoe keeps ruining it for him. 'illarious, as they say in the Larndarn.
Meanwhile the latterly bald Peter Gabriel has grown a moustache and taken to wearing round rimmed spectacles. He sits on his sofa spouting outrageously racist diatribes in broad working class tones. Priceless.
Now you seem to be putting down Stipe, Steptoe and Son and Alf Garnett - all of which are brilliant beyond words. Is there no end to your shameful scorn?
And what's Beck got to do with it? I was ok with you insulting R.E.M., but don't you dare start on Beck; he's the new Bowie (I wonder what's happened to the old one?). I'll tread on your butternuts.
And A.J., maybe if you'd turned up earlier I would have still had enough money left to buy you a drink, alright?
You don't have to have a pig licence, but you do have to fill in a form to report a pig movement, although I don't know why the government needs to know each time the pig has a shit...
Nowt wrong with Beck. He can be a trifle mean though, like the time that he built a wall right through his house to keep Old Man Stipetoe on the other side. Of course it backfired, with an hilarious consequence.
Post a Comment