wordless wallday

Image by pupski (mixed media)

Yoga Detox

Let me introduce yoy to this weeks renter - Workout4bloggers, click the link and give him a look - say that pupski sent you.

Workout 4 Bloggers as the name suggests gives you exercises and general health tips for those of us who sit at our desks blogging for hours at a time.

This seemed liked the perfect blog for me to host this week as I am starting a detox. Trying to get fitter, eat better and lose weight. So far it is good (except I haven't cut out coffee yet - although I am cutting down slowly - I didn't want to be laid out with a headache for two days like I was last time I detoxed). The main things I am trying to cut out are dairy (cows) produce and wheat, but I am also avoiding things that are very acidic, like tomatoes. The test will be the weekend - watching Hunchermuncher consume coffee and cake - help!

Well I'd better go - I'm off to yoga now.

Dance the Demented Dance

Just another manic playlist...













1) Little Sister - Queens of the Stone Age
2) These Days - Alien Ant Farm
3) She Never Understood - Comet Gain
4) It Girl - The Brian Jonestown Massacre
5) Nietzsche - The Dandy Warhols
6) Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls
7) Cement - Feeder
8) Who needs Enemies When you Got friends - Cooper Temple Clause
9) Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
10) Godless - The Dandy Warhols

Filling The Creative Void

My Horoscope for today says that my creative and imaginative powers are at their height, so why is it that I feel I am in a creative void?

I have done my morning pages, been for a walk, done some affirmations, cooked celery soup. I just don't get it - maybe I just need to go splash some paint about or cut up some magazines and see what happens....

Pandora's Box

Hunchermuncher introduced me to a great website called Pandora. Basically you type in bands you like and it plays you music, you say whether you like it or not and it finds you more - you get the idea. It's basically a great way of hearing new music, which you can then look for either online or in the music shop. i warn you though you may get hooked and find yourself still plugged into it two hours later!

Goodbye to a Reggae King

Was saddened to hear of the loss of Desmond Dekker on Friday to a heart attack. His songs have often been on my playlist.

Dekker is just the latest in a long line of dead reggae greats (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Augustus Pablo, Delroy Wilson etc) but he is by no means the least and he definitely deserves a star in the reggae hall of fame (if there is such a thing).

His single "The Israelites" topped the UK charts in 1969 and was the first reggae single to do so, paving the way for other artists like Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs and Peter Tosh.

Thirteen great lyrics

Thirteen Songs With Great Lyrics 1…. Black - Pearl Jam, It was hard to choose just one Pearl Jam track as they have so many great Lyrics. "Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay, Were laid spread out before me as her body once did. All five horizons revolved around her soul, As the earth to the sun, Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn" 2...The Changing of the Guards - Bob Dylan, This has all the ingredients that make a Bob Dylan song great: Tarot, violence, politics and a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure. "I stumbled to my feet. I rode past destruction in the ditches With the stitches still mending 'neath a heart-shaped tattoo. Renegade priests and treacherous young witches Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you." 3... Fire and Rain - James Taylor, This is one of my favourite songs of all time and the lyrics are sad and lovely. "Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" 4...Young Americans - David Bowie, Love this! All the way from Washington, Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor "We live for just these twenty years Do we have to die for the fifty more?" 5...Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd, another band where it was hard to choose just one (and I may have another yet. I like this a lot - simple yet poignant! "And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? 6...African Children - Aswad "All of the nation are living in these tenements Precast stonewall concrete cubicles Their rent increases each and every other day Structural repairs are assessed yet not done Lift out of action on the twenty-seventh floor And when it work it smell" 7...Southern Cross - Crosby Stills and Nash "So I'm sailing for tomorrow. My dreams are a-dying. And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain." 8...Sense - The Lightning seeds "I'm flying high on something beautiful and aimless, it's got a name but I prefer to call it nameless. It comes and goes leaves me on a bed of splinters, feels like I'm living in a town closed down for winter." 9... Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen "You can hide 'neath your covers And study your pain Make crosses from your lovers Throw roses in the rain Waste your summer praying in vain For a saviour to rise from these streets" 10...Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) - Bob Dylan "Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled Was that trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field. A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring Said, "Son, this ain't a dream no more, it's the real thing." 11...Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd "There is no pain, you are receding. A distant ships smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I cant hear what youre saying" 12...White Man in Hammersmith Palais - The Clash "White youth, black youth Better find another solution Why not phone up Robin Hood And ask him for some wealth distribution" 13...I Predict a Riot - Kaiser Cheifs "I tried to get in my taxi A man in a tracksuit attacked me He said that he saw it before me Wants to get things a bit gory" Apologies! How did I manage to Miss the Red Hot Chilli Peppers off the Lyric list! oh well too late now... Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Lam(b) 2. bar bar a 3. norma 4. mom2fur 5. jayne d'arcy 6. justacountrygrl 7. janice

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Just Another Wordless Wednesday

Lily Allen LDN

Check out Lily Allen, who got a record deal through putting music on her blog at My Space - you can check out her blog here.

Her single "LDN" has really grown on me - you can hear it at her website which is under construction (so it doesn't have much on it yet but there are two tracks to listen to) - to go there and listen click here.

Turns out Lily is the daughter of Keith Allen the actor/comedian.

Never felt More like Hearing the Blues

Thanks to Annonymous for putting me onto Adrian Burns (also known as Adrian Byron Burns). I found a site where you can listen to several of his tracks and you can listen to them here. It is essentially blues, but with soulful and jazzy undertones, well worth alisten if you have a spare five minutes!

Not much other news from Norwich.
This week's playlist (so far)

Black - Pearl Jam
The Pop Star's Fear of the Pollen Count - The Divine Comedy
Am I Wrong? - Love Spit Love
Club Foot - Kasabian
Plan A - The Dandy Warhols
Sewn -The Feeling
Severed hand - Pearl Jam
You're All I Have - Snow Patrol
Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
Sleep - The Dandy Warhols
Colorblind - Counting Crows
The Trees They do Grow High - Martin Carthy

Dishwashers of the world unite.....

It has been very gray, wet and windy here in Norfolk these past few days. A bit like winter. Not that I am complaining - we need the rain, everywhere you look you read that Britain is about to have it's worst drought in over a century. And it's also true that there has been very little rain this last winter, so any little helps.

I can't help wondering though, when they talk about hosepipe bans and having stand pipes in the street if there isn't more that could be done BEFORE the crisis actually occurs. Mass fixing of all those leaky Victorian pipes that still run under most streets in Norwich perhaps or a dishwasher ban.

There are hundreds of people using dishwashers that don't really need them There was a couple on some property show the other day. A Young professional couple, mid twenties, both at work all day so one would guess that they don't even generate that much washing up. One of their main criteria in buying a house was to be able to fit there dishwasher in the kitchen. For just two people to fill a dishwahsher would take nearly a week so I would guess they are running at a third of it's capacity most of the time - now that is a waste of water.

Hunchermuncher pointed out that a dishwasher ban would be hard to enforce - maybe the government could declare a dishwasher amnesty and give some recompense to those who hand them in. If no more domestic dishwashers were produced it would be great for water saving and good for the environment. (Less use of materials, no more disposing of unwanted and broken washers, plus you use more chemicals in a dishwasher than you ever need to just washing up).

On a lighter note I thought I would post this picture of an Iris that I took in Southwold a couple of years ago. A bit of light and beauty to brighten up a dull wet day.

Eyes Open for Snow Patrol

Hunchermuncher lent me the new Snow Patrol album "Eyes Open".
Now I have quite liked some of Snow Patrols previous stuff, especially tracks like "Run", "How to be Dead", "Ask me How I Am" and "Half the Fun of it" which have spent quite some time on my ipod. But smehow I had got into my head that I was not going to like the new album. i don't know why, maybe it was all the hype, the constant media exposure who knows, but I had decided that I just wasn't buying into it.

Silly really as I reacted the opposite way with Coldplay but that was probably because the media were giving them a hard time and their music is very good. Whereas the media seem to love Snow Patrol and I don't like being dictated to. Anyway to get to the point I have been more than pleasantly surprised and am on my second listen as I write. I have found some of Snow Patrol's material to be quite weak previously but this album is probably their strongest music yet. Less wishy washy non descript tracks.

Highlights are:
You're All I Have
It's beginning to Get to Me
Set the Fire to the Third Bar (featuring Martha Wainwright, reminds me a little of the Magic Numbers)

Gory Pictures and Ripped CD Covers

As I write I am listening to the new Pearl Jam album, which arrived in the post this morning. So far it is excellent. Very rocky, great lyrics. I do however have two criticisms but they are not of the music. The first is the horrible picture on the inside of the cd cover, it is no wonder they are all wrapped in cellophane in the shops, there is quite a disturbing and gory picture inside, I put the cd away so that my son wouldn't see it. The second is that the booklet is fitted so tightly into the cover that my cover ripped as I took it out.

That said I would thoroughly reccomend giving this a listen - my favourite tracks so far are "Severed Hand" and "Marker in the Sand".

Find out more about Pearl Jam here

A Warm Welcome

Hi and a very warm welcome to this weeks renter Winsome Gunning Art Walk. Austrailian artist Winsome Gunning shares with us the secrets of creativity as well as details of her fabulous and inspiring paintings. Well worth a look!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things That I Would Buy if I Came into Money PUPSKI 1…A House and preferably a detached house that is not next door to a bunch of noisy students...not that I am moaning or anything.... 2...A Laptop (computer) I would love one of these! I am sure that it will be guns at 4pm when I start my degree in September as N and I vie for use of the computer. And just imagine, writing my blog on the sofa....aaaah. 3...A New Gas Cooker It would be great to have one where the door of the bit underneath where you store trays doesn't keep falling off! Mine has been broken for abot 10 years, so it's abot time. What would be rally nice would be one of those big fancy steel ones but I would need a new kitchen for that. 4...A Decent Sound System The old fashioned kind with seperate turntable and amplifier. i am making do with one of those all in one systems that my mum bought me but it's not great (sorry mum!) 5...A Bycycle Mine is knackered and it wasn't great to begin with. Not only would it help me to keep fit but it would get be from a to z quicker as well. 6...A new Bed Mine is past it and is begining to break - it 13 years old though and was a cheap one at the time. 7...A new sofa one that doesn't look like you ate yeasterday's dinner off it. 8...Some funky Glasses I have had mine for over two years and could do with a change. 9...A lovely Summer skirt a whole wardrobe of beautiful clothes would be nice, but I would make do with one really nice summer skirt that looked great on. 10...A pair of sandals that look great and are comfortable to walk in. Is this asking too much...I keep reverting back to my comfy old clarks sandals that are at least two years old and look it. The trouble is they are beginning to smell - in the way that old sandals do.... 11...Driving Lessons Now that would change my life! 12...A couple of weeks on a health farm Lose weight whilst eating delicious and healthy food that you have not prepared yourself, and submit to the daily torture of yoga, massage, meditation etc....bliss....I should be so lucky. 13...A trip to America for Me, N and D. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Christine 2. Bar Bar a 3. kelly 4. EmilyRoseJewel 5. Wystful1

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Kasabian and other goodies

I have been listening to a few tracks by British band Kasabian. I saw their video for "Clubfoot"
on a music programme on tv yesterday. I really like their style they are gritty and fresh and unlike other bands around at the moment. They hail from Leicester (not that we will hold that against them) and they are currently touring the US, although they do plan to play a couple of festivals in the UK this summer. Tracks to check out : "Clubfoot", "Reason is Treason" and "Butcher Blues".

I was trying to think of someone to compare them too but can't right now - maybe a young Suede on speed?

Other newies are The Subways - also British - apparently hailed as the next big thing by the music press. they have a single out called "Rock n Roll Queen" but "Oh Yeah" is also worth a listen.

Wordless Wednesday

original artwork by Julia Webb (pupski)

Couldn't be Vedder

I have been listening to a bit of the Stone Temple Pilots and was struck by how much like Eddie Vedder the vocalist sounds. Their track "Plush" is very similar in some ways to Pearl Jam's "Evenflow". I can see how some people would mistake one band for the other, although in general STPs material is nowhere near as good as that of Pearl Jam.

Pupski's Most Wanted

This is my top 10 albums that I would like to get on cd


1) Quark, Strangeness and Charm - Hawkwind
Quite an elusive cd to get hold of and sells for quite a bit even on ebay.

2) Aqualung - Jethro Tull
A real blast from the past, and a bit dated. Nevertheless as soon as it starts getting hot outside i get the urge to hear this again.

3) A Farewell to Kings - Rush
yes another very oldie. I must have wasted whole days listening to this as a teenager. Geddy Lee has a unique voice and it's not everyone's cup of tea.

4) Heavy Horses - Jethro Tull
This is a very folky Jethro Tull and does sound a bit seventies now, not sure how much I would actually listen to it, probably just occasionally for old times sake.

5) Folkjoepus - Roy Harper
I still haven't managed to track down a cd copy of this. My vinyl copy is very old and extremely knackered. I did order a copy of this from cd wow earlier this year but they failed to deliver. I have discovered though that you can buy Roy Harper cds directly from the record company Science Friction so that's what I will do when I get some money.

6) The Unknown Soldier - Roy Harper
I loved this when I was 15. I was introduced to Roy harper's music by a friend who is sadly now dead. He had great taste in music and introduced this teenager to gems such as "The Catherine Wheel" by David Byrne and "Live at Maxes Kansas City" by Lou Reed.

7) Stadium Arcadium - The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Not sure wether it warrants a double album but the Chillis certainly seem funked up at the moment.

8) Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia - The Dandy Warhols
This album has one of my favourite tracks by the Dandys "Sleep".

9) Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
The new album by Vedder et al. I have included this on the list but must confess that I have just ordered it from cdwow who are having a one day sale. At only £6.99 who could resist?

10) Rearview Mirror - Pearl Jam
Nice to have all the hits together.

Art Sabbatical

Read Me Like an Open Book
Originally uploaded by pupski.

I must get back to doing some art work - it's not that I haven't been creative - I have been doing a lot of writing recently. But I feel the need to do something a bit more messy and hands on.

I think I have been too busy giving myself a hard time about money and not enough work. I realised this morning (while I was doing my morning pages!) that I should be less hard on myself. I should view the next two months as a semi sabbatical, with odd bits of work. It is the summer holidays in July and N will be home full time and after that I start a full time course at the school of art and design. It has been a hard year what with my mum being ill and everything. I should stop worrying about what other people think of me and give myself a break!

As for now I am going to dig out my art diaries and see if I can get me some inspiration!

Spirit of Radio and other gems

Yes dance that's what I need to do. It is a sluggish day here in Norwich and dancing is just what the doctor ordered.

Last week I succumbed to "The Spirit of Radio, Rush's greatest hits" from ebay, not that you can dance to that of course. It is a real blast from the (my) past and brilliant for aging air guitarists everywhere. I think though that at some point I will have to revisit the album "A Farewell to Kings" which was my favourite Rush album when I was about 15. Highlights on greatest hits include: "Tom Sawyer", "Closer to the Heart", "The Spirit of Radio" and "The Trees".

I also looked at buying "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" by Hawkwind on Cd but is very difficult to find for some reason. Despite it being their most critically acclaimed and most accessible album. There was one on ebay that was from Germany but I was outbid at the last minute - rats!

Other news, Hunchermuncher has a new Blog that is worth a look especially if you are interested in drama. I am now writing music reviews for an online journal called Subter, if you click on the link you can check it out and read my first review (Signing Off by UB40).

Now I think I will go and find something good to dance to...

Top 10 tracks on my ipod at the moment:

1) Can You Dig it? - The Mock Turtles

2) Sleep - The Dandy Warhols

3) Whatever - Oasis

4) Spirit of the Age - Hawkwind

5) Cold to the Touch - Brian Jonestown Masacre

6) Funky Monks - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

7) Sympathy - Rare Bird

8) Nearer than Heaven - The Delays

9) Eden - Hooverphonic

10) Rain - Patty Griffin

The Young Ones

N and I have been watching The 1980s BBC comedy series The Young Ones on dvd. N is a big fan of a recent series called The Mighty boosh, which I think is largely inspired by the Young Ones so I wanted N to see it and compare (plus I thought he would enjoy the anarchic humour).

The Young Ones for anyone who doesn't know was about four students who share a house (see picture) and what they get up to. It was ground breaking at the time. There had never been anything on Tv like it and many people found it offensive as it contained smoking, drinking, swearing, toilet humour, surrealism and violence all in copious quantities.

I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it. I hadn't seen it for at least fifteen years. I loved it when I came out but I was in my late teens then. So I was pleasently surprised, the first couple of episodes were ok but as the series progresses it gets better and better (as the actors get more comfortable in their roles. Obviously they must have taken some inspiration from Monty Python but watching this now I can see how fresh and different it was for it's time. The humour is of it's time which dates it a little, I had to explain a few jokes to N (like who Norman Tebbit is!). But generally it holds up very well.

What also struck me was how it completely changed the face of British sit coms - paving the way for many of the series we know and love now - Men Behaving Badly, The West Wing, Father Ted, Teachers and Spaced. Sit com was very tame before the Young Ones came along. Sure there were other comedies about people sharing flats etc (the Liver Birds, Robins Nest) but they were very staid in comparison and ore realistic in their format. What was so different about the young ones was it's fast paced surrealism - it's more like a Tom and Jerry cartoon than real life, but the chracters have elements that are based on people we can all relate to.

I had forgotton how they used puppets in a weird and creative way animating anything from hamsters to cheese to cigarette butts. I was also amazed at how many people appear in it who went on to become incredibly famous. There are The Actors themselves of course, Ben Elton (who was one of the writers), Stephen Fry, Hugh laurie, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Hale and Pace, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Robinson, Gryf Rhys Jones, Mel Smith and Emma Thompson all make appearences.

This is well worth a watch - it can atill make me laugh and I am hard to please!
and what's more you can buy each series brand new for less than a tenner on ebay - can't be bad!

Renter

Hi and a very warm welcome to this weeks renter Danikabur from Edmonton Canada.

Danikabur writes an interesting blog about her life and the trials and tribulations of her local ice hockey team The Oilers.

This blog has great ice hockey pictures like this:
so check it out and tell her I sent you!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Movies I have Really Enjoyed (in no particular order) Pupski

1….Garden State.
A feel good film with a really good soundtrack.

2...Donnie Darko
Another great soundtrack, and a film that really make you think.

3...Falling in Love
A classic based on brief encounter and starring Meryl Streep (before we got sick of her) and Robert De Niro.

4...Hi Fidelity
One of my favourite films of all time. Yet another great soundtrack, and the main character is brilliant. A real feel good film.

5...Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind
I don't normally like Jim Carrey but he is great in this. Another film with a twist on reality that makes you think.

6...The Breakfast Club
A great 1980s soundtrack - this is a bit dated now but just brings back the whole era - excellent.

7...The Lord of the Rings
The first in the trilogy was undoubtedly for me the best. I like a ripping yarn and if it features handsome men with long hair and swords on horses so much the better!

8...Two Lane Blacktop
A very weird film made around 1970 starring James Taylor, Warren Oates and Dennis Wilson. It's about road racing but is very much of it's era and is more about what the characters don't say than what they do.

9...The Three Colours Triolgy
These films are beautiful. They are about atmosphere and emotion.

10...The Wall
This was groundbreaking at the time. It is very weird and reminds me of being a teenager, as well as having great music.

11...Labrynth
Well you have to have at least one kids film and this one has several advantages over any others .. David Bowie, great puppetry by Jim Henson, fantastic attention to detail and did I say David Bowie?

12...The Sheltering Sky
A beautifully shot, emotionally charged film by Bernardo Bertolucci, based on the book by Paul Bowles. This film may be too slow paced for some which may be why it didn't do well at the box office.

13...Consequnces of Love
Another atmosheric film, that switches between being really slow and fast paced with a pumping soundtrack. Beware lots of smoking!

(darn should have had Quadrophenia in there too - ah well too late now!)
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Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Skittles

2. Tricia

3. Karin

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

Original art by Pupski

Not if You Were the Last Dandy on Earth

I watched a DVD called "DIG" on Monday The film charts the friendship and subsequent breakdown of friendship between two bands: The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

I didn't know much about either band and was impressed by the quality of the music. However this is definitely one of those films that leave you feeling glad it's not your life. It is a drug fuelled , insane journey through several years in the life of the two bands.

Basically the two bands met and formed a kind of mutual admiration society, hanging out together and even playing together on stage. But it all turned sour when the Dandys landed a rather large record deal. The Brian Jonestown Massacre were quite probably the most talented of the two bands but couldn't quite hold it together withtheir tour escalating into fights, heavy drug taking and mental illness.

This is a fascinating look at the record industry and life on the road with snatches of genius inspired music thrown in. There wasn't quite enough music for my liking though and the constant bitching was starting to get on my nerves by the end.

Viewers beware this film conttains a seriosly large amount of drug taking and will leave you feeling as wrecked as if you had taken them yourself.

The Album...Still Alive and Kicking

I could kick myself, I completely forgot that Pearl Jam were going to be on Later with Jools Holland last night and so of course forgot to watch it. If any kind person out there has a video tape they could lend me please let me know! What is doubly annoying is that with previous series they have repeated the programme again on the Saturday or Sunday night but for some reason they are not doing that this time, grrrr.

Hunchermuncher gave me a lead that connects my ipod to my stereo, which is great. What I have learned though is that some of the time I prefer listening to albums. When I am out and about or travelling having a whole selection of different tracks is just what I need, but often when I am at home I like to listen to a whole album. Of course it does depend largely on your mood and if I am busy cooking or cleaning out the cupboards it's great to put the ipod on shuffle so you don't know what's coming next and unlike a compilation album you know you will like all the tracks because of course you chose them! What more could you ask for.

I was quite pleased to realise that I still like albums, I was beginning to worry that the whole downloading culture was giving us all a lack of staying power. But for me that just isn't so, the downloading thing hasn't stopped me buying cds, in fact if anything it has had the opposite effect. Sometimes I listen to something I have heard of and then end up buying the cd. It has also given me reminders of lps I used to have and I have recently rebought quite a few. I don't generally buy tracks off itunes either, it's good for listening to a little bit of a track but there is just something magical about buying a real cd, something tangible that you can hold in your hand, read the cover notes, and putin nice neat piles on your cd shelf!

Introducing...

Introducing this weeks tenant Michigan Rafter, who writes a mean blog full of great pictures, troll, miracles and much more. I f you don't believe me check it out for yourself!

Thursday Thirteen

My Thirteen Favourite Tracks at the moment (in no Particular order)

1) Lonely Road - Everlast
this track manages to be gritty and sad at the same time.

2) Pride - Syntax
beautiful and haunting

3) The Girl From Ipanema - the Boogie Macs
a very funky version of a great classic, great for a summer's day!

4) Northern Sky - Nick Drake
Lovely!

5) Dirty Boulevard - Lou Reed
One of the greatest lyricists of our time!

6) Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Nice and Funky

7) What it's Like - Everlast
Love it!

8) Waiting For the Night - Depeche Mode
Spooky - sends a shiver down the spine - a brilliant track from the album Violator.

9) Footsteps - Pearl Jam
I have a live version of this on my ipod and it is truly AWESOME!

10) Nearer than Heaven - The Delays
reminds me a little of P.J. Harvey, Great track.

11) Wasteland - 10 Years
Good rocking track1

12) Aicha - Cheb Khaled
This is a brilliant track, melodious, dancey and he has a great voice too!
well worth a listen!

13) Paranoid Android - Radiohead
Fantastic! Another gem that gets right under your skin.

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Wrong Em Boyo

It's the Wong Em Boyo
Originally uploaded by pupski.

Spotted this guy in Norwich City centre, just hanging around. I know just how he feels (although I don't carry a baseball bat!). For some reason he reminds me of the Clash song "Wrong Em Boyo" (from the album London Calling).

"Wrong 'em Boyo"

Stagger Lee met Billy and they go down to gambling
Stagger Lee throwed seven
Billy said that he throwed eight
So Billy said, hey Stagger! I'm gonna make my big attack
I'm gonna have to leave my knife in your back

Why do you try to cheat?
And trample people under your feet
Don't you know it is wrong?
To cheat the trying man
So you better stop, it is the wrong 'em boyo

You lie, steal, cheat and deceit
In such a small, small game
Don't you know it is wrong

Billy Boy has been shot
And Stagger Lee's come out on top
Don't you know it is wrong
To cheat the trying man
To cheat Stagger man
You'd better stop
So you must start all over again-all over again
You got to play it, Billy, play, you got to play it, Billy, play
And you will find it is the right 'em boyo

But if you must lie and deceit
And trample people under your feet
Don't you know it is wrong
It is the wrong 'em boyo

Wordless Wednesday

Funkydory

I was reminded (thanks annonymous!) to look up a band called Funkydory, you can check them out here
where you can also listen to soundclips from their album. I must say I was quite impressed. As well as having a great Bowiesque name they are actually really good. Sort of folky in places but with blues, jazz and rock as well, and the feamle singer has a great voice - well worth a listen!

fantastic photos!

Just a reminder to check out this weeks guest blog Full Metal photrapher

Check it out now....

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me about a Norwich singer called Lee Gordon who, they said would "blow me away". Well you know how it is, stuff happens and of course I didn't get round to checking it out until today. And wow! I'm glad that I did - sounds excellent - you can listen to him HERE. It reminds me a little of Pearl Jam and that's the closest analogy I can make really, you'll just have to check it out for yourself and see what you think.

Cure for PMT and other hormonal imbalances

Yes it's true I have the cure. PMT often makes me cross or downright objectionable, but I have discovered a cure. Play loud (preferably very loud!) rock music and dance and sing along. I find that for me Deep Purple or The Red Hot Chilli Peppers work very well. A few years ago I used Alanis Morrisette. It's got to be rocky or funky or both and believe me it is actually possible to dance to Deep Purple! I had to resist the urge to head bang though - I didn't want to injure my brain!