Facing the Music

Face Off
Originally uploaded by pupski.

Luckily I do not feel like the guy in the photo who doesn't look like a happy bunny. I have been out for lunch witha friend and the sun is shining, I went for a barefoot walk in a lovely grassy church yard complete with a blossom tree and yellow primroses so life is pretty good really. Lunch was yummy as well - Pea, mint and lemon soup followed by the most delicious mocha in the world.

I am feeling like I need to hear some new music, something springy and sunny. I noticed that Sisters of Mercy are playing in Norwich and I am seriously tempted to go and see them (not that they are summery!), but I haven't heard any of their recent stuff, the stuff of theirs that I know well is mostly from the 1980s.

I am going to sound like an old codger now but it seems amazing to me that the 1980s isn't recent anymore....ah well....

Great Lyricists of Our Time (Discuss)

Welcome to my first tenant "Fulll Metal Photograher", I would definitely recommend looking at his photos they are excellent.

Today I have been thinking about inspiring song lyrics. I have been writing alot of poetry in the last couple of weeks that would make good song lyrics. Lyricists that I find inspiring and intelligent are Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Antony Kiedis (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Dave Gahen (Depeche Mode) and of course Bob Dylan. I like lyrics that are quite gritty, probably with a liberal helping of suffering and angst but not too much. i like a bit of humour too and some of Morrisy's lyrics are cracking (as Wallce would say).

Here are a couple of my favourite extracts

"Space may be the final frontier
But it's made in a Hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And Alderon's not far away
It's Californication"
(Californication, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

Feeling unknown
And you’re all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I’ll make you a believer
(Personal Jesus - depeche Mode)


You may also have noticed that I have added a new blog "Top of the Blogs". Someone suggested it ages ago and I thought that it might be a good place to put all my silly top 5s and top 10s.

Funky Monks

aaagh - a week full of the kind of stuff that's not fun. Emergency trip to the dentist, having my boilers serviced, etc.....

I did have some fun today though, coffee with a friend and then looking in the sales. i am pleased to report that I resisted the urge to go into any music shops. In fact the only two sale purchases I made were a pack of funky coloured plastic folders (£1.94 in WH Smith) and a tin can containing solid chocolate Spring Chickens (74p in Jarrolds), although in my opinion they looked more like ducks, but who cares. Both items were for N which makes me feel even more virtuous!


I have watched the 2 dvds this week - Funky Monks - a black and white film about the making of the album Blood, Sex, Magic by the red Hot chilli Peppers and a film called 24 Hour Party People about the Manchester scene around the Hacienda club and mostly about Joy Division, The Happy Mondays ans New Order.

Funky Monks was excellent and I would thoroughly recommend it, I don't like all the chillis music but if you watch this you can't deny that they have got that something that makes a band great and they have such amazing energy and drive. The film alludes to the fact that they closeted themselves in a mansion to make the album. The best bits for me were the manic drumming using huge metal pipes and the brilliant funky bass playing.

24 hour Party People was not so good. I watched it all the way through as the story was interesting but I would definitely not watch it again. The main character Tony Wilson is played by Steve Coogan, and brilliant though Steve is as Alan Partridge he just doesn't cut it as a straight actor. Basically he seems to be the same in whatever role he plays and in a drama that can get annoying. Sorry Steve!

Today's playlist
David Gray - Sail Away
Green Day - St Jimmy
Kaiser Chiefs - I predict a Riot
A-Ha - Analogue (all I want is you)
Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

I'll be your mirror

Shine on You Crazy Water Feature
Originally uploaded by pupski.

Today I tried out lead that plugged my ipod into the stereo system in my dining room - and now I want one (unfortunately it wasn't mine). For some strange reason the stereo in the living room doesn't have anywhere you can plug it into, which is real mystery.

We went to Horsey today to have a walk. Yesterday in Norfolk the waether was lovely, the sun was shining, people were wearing shorts. Today was gray but it looked like the sun might break through. No chance, the nearer the coast we got the grayer it became and by the time we got onto the beach it was absolutely freezing and a sea mist was beginning to roll in (so cold I even had my gloves on!). We stayed on the beach all of 10 minutes but we did see two seals! Must have been cold in the noth sea today!

I am blogging this ppicture because the sky is blue like it wasn't today and because i am feeling a little reflective at the moment.

i have been having a purge in my house in the last few days - I have chucked quite a lot of stuff out and took two enormous bags of stuff to the local charity shop. i still need to do more though - I have tackled the living room, my bedroom and the dining room. But I still need to do the computer room, the kitchen cupboards and the horror that is the cupbord under the stairs! N's room also needs a major muck out although that is harder as he is very resistant to getting rid of things and when he does he often bemoans it later. Today for instance he was lamenting the fact that he had sold a computer game a few week ago and later on he was looking for a ladybird book of dinosaurs that I am sure went to the charity shopa few months back when we were convinced it would never be looked at again.

Cheesy Dance Songs

1) Dancing Queen - Abba
2) Everybody Dance - Chic
3) Everybody Dance Now- C & C Music factory
4) I'm in the Mood for Dancing - The Nolans (ah bless em)
5) Dance Yourself Dizzy - Liquid Gold
6) Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
7) I Can't Dance - Genesis
8) Dancing in the Streets - Martha and the Vandellas (or David Bowie and Mick
Jagger!)
9) You Make me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
10) Domino Dancing - Pet Shop Boys

Quark, Strangeness and charm

I very naughtily purchased some more music yesterday when I had said that I wasn't going to buy any more this year. but I was lured into HMV by the sale sign and was delighted to find that pearl Jam was in the sale along with Violater by Depeche Mode that I had almost bought last week. So you see it was fate it must have been...

Today I decided to clear out some of my old cassette tapes - you know the ones that hang around for years because you might listen to them sometime but of course you never do. First to exit were the ones that I now have on cd, then some that I don't really even like. I must confess I have kept one case full as they are ones i would like to get on cd one day. What I should really do is make a list and then chuck them out. I offered some to N to furthur his musical education but he wasn't even tempted by The Verve or Nirvana and he positively turned his nose up at the Smiths. Ah well you can't win em all. N was more interested in the stickers on the casstette case I was chucking out and his sage comment abot the whole clearing process was "some of these are really old, you'll regret it later".

Well there could be some truth in that but hopefully not, although I must confess that I have already changed my mind about one tape. It was "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" by Hawkwind, what a gem. I had forgotton just how good it is - it was my favourite Hawkwind album when I was a teenager and me and my friend Rae knew the words to "Spirit of the Age" by heart. I started playing it to N, who said "weird", and then I got so into it I had to listen to it all the way through. Spirit of the Age was my favourite track and it's not on the greatest hits import that I bought a few years ago so you can see why I have to keep it. In fact I may even have to get it on cd.....

Even in suburbia you're not Safe

Even in suburbia you're not Safe
Originally uploaded by pupski.

Safety is a difficult concept - sometimes the thing that makes us most unsafe is our own thoughts or mind. I had to face up to a difficult truth this weekend which is that when things are feeling a bit out of control and/or I am unhappy - I get more controlling. Which means that I nag the people closet to me. So today I decided to let go, try and relax and not to give evryone a hard time. After all it's not their fault when life gets difficult. Anyway apart from a little blip I managed it and we had a really nice day.

Fruitless shopping trip

We spent the afternoon shopping today but I didn't buy anything except a book as a present for Hunchermuncher. I was a bit disappointed as I had a voucher for 25% off a book or cd in Borders but couldn't find one I really wanted. Well that's not exactly true - the one I really wanted was the Red Hot Chilli Peppers Greatest Hits but I thought it was hugely overpriced at fifteen pounds and ninety nine pence (sorry I had to write that in words as I am using Huncermunchers laptop which is american and I don't know how to find the pound symbol!). Even with the voucher I thought that was overpriced. They also had some good things in an offer where you could buy 5 cds for thirty pounds but you couldn't use the money off voucher in conjunction with it - grrr.

Whislt i have been writing this I have just gone and bought the same album from ebay for five ponds fifty which is much better value for money. The thing is though that I like buying music from music stores, it feels much nicer to go into a shop, peruse the shelves and walk out with something that you can go home and play immediately but the actuality is that I rarely do that these days as it's so expensive. What wev could do with in Norwich is one of those cheap music shops called Ffop like then one that I went to in Sheffield recently.

Thank God it's Good Friday Playlist

1) Dani California - The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
2) Jennifer She Said - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
3) One Sweet World - Dave Matthews Band
4) Farther Down - Matthew Sweet
5) Better Together - Jack Johnson

How to be good

Of late I have been trying to have a bit of a purge in my house. Replacing things that are old and knackered that kind of thing. It feels god too - for innstance to have some bedding that a) isn't scratchy, b) isn't old, stained or holey and c) looks nice and I like it.


The trouble is I am reading a novel by Nick Hornby called "How to be Good" and it is pricking my conscience. It is about a writer who is cynical and sarcastic and suddenly he undergoes a personality transformation after visiting healer for his back problem. Anyway he starts giving stuff away and trying to help homeless people by offering them a place to live and that kind of thing much to the horror of his family. He does become somewhat smug and sanctimonious though.

The thing is that the book does make you think about what you have and wonder if you should be replacing things. For instance maybe I ought to make do with my chipped plates as there are some people in the world who don't have any, and there are I am thinking wouldn't it be good to have a laptop when I start college so that N and I can both be working at the same time, but really we are lucky to have any pc at all.

The other thing I started thinking about is how much money we all spend in cafes these days. We have really and truly become a cafe society. We think nothing of spending between five and fifteen pounds a go on coffee and cake etc. Whatever happened to the good old Britsh Cuppa for 50p. What a difference we could all make if everytime we are about to go in a cafe we don't and instead we gave five or ten pounds to charity. The truth is I know we won't, next time I am in the city and desperate for a coffee and a sit down I won't go "no" just go home and on the way give that fiver to oxfam, I will want the coffe and sit down.

Someone is making a lot of money out of us though. A cup of coffee isn't really worth £3, even it is frothy and comes in a bucket sized cup. And what is it doing to our health. In the 70s a cup of coffee came in a cup, in the 80s you might have got a mug, now it comes in a pail and is made of full fat milk with two extra strong shots of coffee - it is just contributing to the obese nation and all so that some businessman somewhere can line his pockets with more pence per cup.

Dying for a Funeral Playlist

A friend and I were talking recently about what music we might want played at our funeral. For instance would you have your favourite music? Would you have something befitting the occasion? Or would you be tempted to have something fitting but slightly ironic (or even very ironic) - or would that be too much for people to bear?

If you wanted to be right over the top you could just play songs about death like these:

Top Ten Songs about Death

1) Dead Man Walking - David Bowie
2) Dead in the Water - David Gray
3) Pretty Girls Make Graves - the Smiths
4) Don't you Grieve After Me - Roy Harper
5) Highgate Cemetery - Roy Harper
6) Suffer Little Children - The Smiths
7) How to be Dead - Snow Patrol
8) Lady D'abanville - Cat Stevens
9) Kamikaze - P J Harvey
10) Knocking on Heavens Door - Bob Dylan

or of course you could have some over the top sentimental stuff like "Tender is the Night" by Blur, "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones or "It's over Now" by Cat Stevens.

It's a hard thing to choose just a few songs as I have so many favourites. David Bowie of course would have to be in there but which one?

Here is the list so far....

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Fascination (or Wild is the Wind) - David Bowie
Oh Sister (or Knocking on Heaven's Door) - Bob Dylan
Ramble on - Led Zeppelin (that would be a good one for the end!)
Train in Vain - The Clash

other possibilities are James Taylor, John Martin, UB40, Bob Marley, Coldplay, Deep Purple and Green Day.

Maybe I should make a cd to be played at my wake if I have one that would be fun, like being a posthumas dj.

The Whole menagerie

1) White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
2) What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones
3) Blacbird - The Beatles
4) Rat in Mi Kitchen - UB40
5) Fly Like an Eagle - Steve Miller
6) Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
7) Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix
8) War Pigs - Black Sabbath
9) Crazy Horses - The Osmands
10) Little Red Rooster - Rolling Stones

Intro Wars

Anyone noticed a passing similarity between the intro to Long train Runnin' by the Dobbie Brothers and that of Love foolosophy by Jamiroquai?

April Showers Playlist

1) My Friends - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
2) Why Won't You Give Me Your Love? - The Zutons
3) A Forest - The Cure
4) Take Your Mama - Scissor Sisters
5) Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
6) Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
7) Wish You were Here - Pink Floyd
8) Little by Little - UB40
9) To Be Someone (Live) - The Jam
10) Footsteps (Live) - Pearl Jam
11) Gish - Smashing Pumpkins
12) Caravan - Van Morrison
13) Happy Together - The Turtles
14) Long Train Runnin' - The Doobie Brothers
15) Time and a Word - Yes
16) Teenage Wasteland - The Who
17) Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez
18) Run - Snow Patrol
19) This Corrosion - Sisters of mercy
20) Mary - Scissor Sisters

The sound of Not so distant Drums

Mental note to self - must not play air guitar whilst listening to ipod on a train while sittin opposite cute guy and next to boy friend (however much the Guns n Roses track seems to demand it). Not that I did but I almost did. In fact playing air guitar despite it's hithertoo cool image is just not cool these days unless of course you are a teenage boy aged between 12 and 15 with shaggy hair and spots. Hmm and it's especially not cool for 40 year old women on railway trains - however purple their mp3 player might be.

Also I am saddened to report that Nickleback have been officially ruined for me. It all happened a few weeks ago. I was staying at Hunchermunchers for the weekend and his female prfessional neighbour has a drum machine. It's one of those ones with pads that you hit with sticks, not as noisy as the real thing but just as annoying. Anyway every now and the she has a good old practice. The trouble is the only song she ever plays along to is "this is how you remind Me" by Nickleback (plus she can't keep time!).

This particular weekend she started early, about 8am on the Saturday morning so that was our lie in scuppered for a start and the music went on and on and on. Just when we thought it safe to duck our heads back out from under the covers because she couldn't possibly restart the track, on it went again (yes she was playing upstairs). It went on for at least an hour.

Well that was a few weeks ago now and on the train between Swindon and Liverpool Street I decided to give the track another go. It used to be one of my favourites and there it was nestling innnocently between Led Zeppelin and Oasis in the rock list. bUt no I am afraid to relate that the old magichas definitely gone and any minute I expected the god awful out of time drumming to kick in.

Top 5 Songs About Balls

I'll be Your Mirror
Originally uploaded by pupski.

1) Great balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
2) Rubber Ball - Bobby Vee
3) Beach Ball - REM
4) Red Football - Sinead O'Connor
5) Ball and Chain - Janis Joplin