Chrissie Hynde. Not a conventional beauty* unlike her contemporary Debbie Harry but with an undeniably attractive quality. Not just about being a ‘strong, independent woman’. Something harder to define.

*The GLW (for the avoidance of doubt I use this term with maximum irony) once, inexplicably, took offence at what she saw as my over-emphasis on Springsteen’s words ‘you ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright, and that’s alright with me’. But in the cold light of day there are the Angelina Jolies and the Jennifer Anistons, just as there are the Morten Harkets and, well, just about anyone else. But a statuesque quality is not the be all and end all is, er, all I’m sayin.

Martin Samuel thinks so, and I’m inclined to agree, as I often am. As a Rangers fan I’m also not a huge Mike Ashley fan, although I wouldn’t paint him as the bogeyman that many others do – he simply took full advantage of the pathetically weak commercial situation Rangers were in due to the toxic influence of previous directors, up to and including David Murray (at least for the latter part of his reign). But the fact that his media ban is misguided (unlike the surgical-strikes against specific papers or journalists employed by the likes of Fergie and Mourinho) stands out like The Angel of the North…

Steve McClaren chose to make a quiet entrance at Newcastle on Saturday(…) Yet is it any wonder the fans are underwhelmed. Newcastle’s ludicrous attempt to corral the media -dealing with only those organisations prepared to endorse the club’s positive messages — has made McClaren a distant figure already(…) McClaren needs to start winning. It is going to be as bleak as Get Carter up there otherwise.

John Lennon was responsible for putting me off this idea. This is something I was well able to live with until recently, when I noticed that certain slebs whom I respected or at least liked were fans, notably Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey and Will Smith.

Despite that, I still have a large degree of scepticism – my own, amplified by Lennon’s barbs and Harrison’s “you’re telling all those lies, about the good things that we can have if we close our eyes…”

But if anyone could change my mind it would be that comedian most grounded in the minutiae of life – Jerry Seinfeld.

Any thoughts on TM and/or Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi most welcome…

Witnessing the end of my eldest’s infant school leavers disco, the track the DJ chose to play was Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’. I can recognise the bold Ed’s talent while never knowingly playing his music, but I’m more interested in the phenomenon whereby this and countless other similar examples of emotional desolation are seen as the very thing for a primary school disco.

I would contend, though, that this:

The Smiths – Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want: 1 min 53 sec of heartbreaking perfection.

Other superficially curtailed yet on reflection just right examples welcome…

https://youtu.be/GaoCEdZnyFk

Kids today, eh? With their Primarks ‘n’ TopShops ‘n’ their ThisWeekI’veBeenMostlyWearingDolchay&Gabaaarna, it’s hard to keep up.

When I were a lad, we measured our obsessions in years rather than hours. Levi’s 501 jeans were mine. These are still available, but in a bewildering variety and alongside numerous other 5-series variants which severely dilutes their iconic value.

I remember being obsessed with the red tab, the label on the outside of the waistband, the buttons, how the seam looked when it was turned up (as it often was in the 80s), and the precise look of the fading – not too dark, not too light, and with visible signs of distress.

Any other 501 related memories or that of other iconic brands welcome.

New Gold Dream is rightly seen as the Minds’ greatest, and is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 80s.

Its follow-up Sparkle in the Rain was always going to be in its shadow, so it was wise to go for a completely different feel. I remember Steve Lillywhite’s ‘crash bang wallop’ style of production on SitR being criticised at the time but I think it was a breath of fresh air. To my teenage self the above track (Speed Your Love to Me) was the most thrilling thing in the world. Still sounds pretty damn good to me.

https://youtu.be/hwpyXcuAS-g

So sang Tears for Fears. But, Roland and Curt, can we? Really?

On a more serious note, I’d like to know if any of the massive have experienced a genuinely profound (positive) change in mental health of the kind that the self-help books promise.

I’ve recently had an initial consultation with a hynotherapist in the latest bid to ‘fix’ me. Haven’t started the sessions proper yet but to be honest ah hae ma doots that I am susceptible to hypnosis, being somewhat analytically minded and self-conscious. Can’t / don’t want to go into details here about what my ishoos are but suffice to say they have roots that are decades deep and though I had a loving, supportive upbringing I don’t think I’ve ever been truly happy / contended / comfortable in my own skin. I’ve always ‘functioned’ but I know I’ve limited myself significantly through an all-encompassing negative outlook and chronically low self-esteem, which is the specific issue that I’m hoping hynotherapy may be able to address. One reason I feel that I’ve struggled with depression for so long is that in a way it’s all I’ve ever known. When the GLW has had stressful times she’s had an » Continue Reading.

Not Mr. Strauss but Mr. Stubbs.

Ask the Lonely. Just a wonderful song and performance.

Stumbled across this article, which I feel is illustrated best by daft as a brush (toqué comme une brosse?) yet remarkably talented Montpelier fan Rémi Gaillard.

As the ball undergoes top-spin, it causes the velocity of the air around the top half of the ball to become less than the air velocity around the bottom half of the ball. This is because the tangential velocity of the ball in the top half acts in the opposite direction to the airflow, and the tangential velocity of the ball in the bottom half acts in the same direction as the airflow.

I’ve got plenty of Java, and Chesterfield Kiiiiiings….

…sang Donald Fagen on the title track of what may just be the greatest album of all time The Nightfly.

For those of a somewhat geeky persuasion, there is a world of coffee minutiae to enjoy on t’interweb. I’m at the mild end of that obsessive spectrum but am fascinated nonetheless. I have taken tentative steps beyond Nescafe (hey, spellcheck tries to amend this to ‘safeness’!) and currently own a £25 Aeropress, a £5 French Press and, my most recent but probably most bang-for-buck purchase – a £20 DeLonghi electric blade grinder. Yes I know burr grinders are the thing but baby steps…

Here’s a none-more-hipster example. Might give it a go this weekend…

Anyway, what are your favoured bean extraction methods?

http://youtu.be/6Cd9YJvoQIg

Just watched this via a link on this thread to SF’s Room 101 appearance.

It’s Stephen’s Oxford Union address, and is largely an extended eulogy of Oscar Wilde.

But what I find alarming is the audience. Somehow I struggle to see them as representing the nation’s greatest minds*. Time and again, when Fry uses the phrase ‘as I’m sure you know’, I have the distinct impression that in fact they haven’t a clue what he is on about. There is also a general sense of self-consciousness and short attention span.

Anyone else find this?

*or, perhaps more alarming, they genuinely are the greatest intellects of the day

Laurel & Hardy – The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

Take it Away!*

Absolutely love this track. So much to enjoy – the lithe drum opening, Paul’s bass, the ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ horns, Linda’s backing vocals (oh yes) and this wonderfully nostalgic, none-more-Macca-lyric:

In the audience, watching the show With a paper in his hand Some important impresario Has a message for the band

*Tim Vine (Puns Be Upon Him)

https://youtu.be/O9s950VfMxA

Working, as I do, in a somewhat, how should I put it, blue collar environment, I’ve been struck by the above phenomenon more than once and wondered if other AWers had experienced similar.

*I’m not gay, although I’m totally fine with people who are. *any LGBT people reading this thread who think, for example, that Freddie Mercury’s ‘I Was Born to Love You’ is a pile of wank should look away now 😉

Here’s my personal fave:

Properly, that is. In the style of his near contemporaries The Who, Elt, Macca et al. A bells’n’whistles greatest hits with a few carefully chosen curveballs.

His prerogative of course, but I venture to suggest the following would be none too shabby a setlist (not necessarily in that order, but then again not necessarily not in that order):

Jean Genie Lets Dance Suffragette City Changes Oh! You Pretty Things Velvet Goldmine . brain explodes due to the tyranny of choice… . Finale: Heroes . Encore: The Man Who Sold the World Can’t Help Thinking About Me er, The Laughing Gnome

Just a thought Dave…

Just noticed while playing A Hard Days Night on iTunes (burned from my copy that was part of The Beatles in Mono box set) the following composer listing. Even though we’re all aware many songs were largely Paul or largely John (and of Paul’s understandable but imho misguided wish to reverse the order on occasion), I’ve never seen this singular crediting before.

Any ideas?

A Hard Day’s Night – John Lennon I Should Have Known Better – John Lennon If I Fell – Paul McCartney/John Lennon I’m Happy Just To Dance With You – John Lennon And I Love Her – Paul McCartney Tell Me Why – John Lennon Can’t Buy Me Love – Paul McCartney Any Time At All – John Lennon I’ll Cry Instead – John Lennon Things We Said Today – Paul McCartney When I Get Home – John Lennon You Can’t Do That – John Lennon I’ll Be Back – Paul McCartney

but fuck me they were a trio and, er, a half weren’t they?

I’ve grown tired of wondering whether such and such an act ‘really meant it man’ and just appreciated the majesty of their ability. Summers, Copeland and Sumner were certainly majestic. Bear in mind that the clip below (Message in a Bottle) was from a period when they presumably felt obliged to tone down the talent in line with the Zeitgeist. Christ they were good. Summers’ guitar work on a punk-era song is stupendous.

*see here.

Eurovision has been worth sweet FA (not that it was *all that* before then) since it came to the attention of the post-modernists.

On a similar note, suspending disbelief about Peter Kay’s Car Share also difficult, e.g.:

The Japanese-fluent fish-filleter. Who works in Urmston Asda.

Wearing an I Ran The World vest 20 years after the event.

etc

etc

Seems mean-spirited, but as the ever-reliable Noel Gallagher said recently, “I don’t read novels as at some point I just think – ‘you’ve just made this up mate’.”

Well it really does seem as though my posts are pretty much exclusively alcohol prompted, as I’ve had a wee libation recently. Coincidentally, Rangers progressed to the Scottish Premiership play off final today.

Anyway, that aside (and trust me it’s nothing I’d wish to crow about. At least not yet), it appears I’m back, after a long, long, long, (two and a half months, to be exact) hiatus.

Tumbleweed / distant bells etc 😉

…to be of advanced years.

A cursory look at some of the biggest selling acts of that most misunderstood of decades reveals the fact that we’re not talking boy-band or X-Factor territory. Opinion as to their musical merits clearly varies but the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Lionel Richie all had huge-selling cross-generational success at the time. Hard to imagine a similar scenario these days.

Presume it’s because any act able to reach that level in those days had to have ‘put in a shift’ to get there. These days, it’s all changed. Changed utterly…

…for better or worse, natch.

…going to see Rumer at The Epstein Theatre this Friday, as the GLW and I will be.

Been getting on for ten years since I visited the city. Any suggestions most welcome for a Fri eve / Sat morn visit. Have already tentatively pencilled in breakfast at:

http://moosecoffee.co.uk/

which sounds rather fine, although not perhaps very Liverpudlian. Then again, Liverpool, like Glasgow, has long been Atlantic in its outlook…