I am sure we can get a list of many unanswered questions. I will start this off:

If God didn’t make little green apples who did?

I received the rather depressing news today that Grant Schapps is cousin of Clash guitarist Mick Jones.

Any other musicians got Tory tossers as relatives?

Tomorrow is 1st September – in the interest of getting our Antipodean friends involved let’s start the Golf championship round 2. If Baron wins this one I think we will have to initiate dope testing.

Have been waiting for this one for a long time. The Asylum years is coming on 6th October and I cant wait. Loads of extras and rarities to feast on from to my mind my favourite 3 Joni albums For the Roses, Court and Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns. Okay I know most of you will place Hejira above these but we cant all be the same. Bring it on.

joni mitchell : archives vol. 3: the asylum years

We seem to have had a recent run of our revered artists dying on us – Sinead O’Connor and Jane Birkin dying in quick succession was a little unsettling for as I loved both dearly. I pondered that we post our respects and then,such is the way of the World, they are quickly forgotten. I thought it would be a good idea to post favourite songs by artists you miss. Only one song per artist, I wont put mine in any order as a matter of respect. I am sure if people make contributions to this there will be artists that escaped my thoughts. 10 only please:

John Martyn – `Hurt in your Heart. Sinead O’Connor – This is to Mother you Bobby Charles – Before I grow too old Kate McGarrigle – Talk to me of Mendicino Prince – Sometimes it Snows in April Tom Petty – Crawling back to you John Prine – In spite of ourselves Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat John Lennon – Working Class hero Jane Birkin – Comment te dire Adieu

Loads missed off but am sure we can see some great suggestions

Anyone fancy starting a Wordle Golf Championship from tomorrow 1st August. 18 days results and we will determine top 3 on 19th August? Straight counting on a day by day basis – if @Baron-Harkonnen gets too many eagles we will initiate a stewards enquiry or mandatory drug testing.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to Black Deer – A lovely 3 day festival that for me is a far better proposition than the hype of Glastonbury. On the saturday night The Pretenders were headlining even though it should have been Bonnie Raitt. Have been a fan since Brass in Pocket and have most of their earlier albums. She came on stage and ripped through 3 new numbers. They lumpen and tuneless. She spoke after the third number ‘I was expecting a younger audience’. Apparently she said it again later in the set. I didnt hang around – I went to the Ridge tent to see Alison Russell – she was superb and the ‘younger’ audience lapped it up. Chrissie you are 71 and, I hate to break it to you love, but young people ain’t listening to you. Cant believe James Walbourne is happy to stick around. Her arrogance astounded me to be honest.

Came across this which is rather lovely. Seeing them tomorrow night -Can’t wait:

I was in the car the other day and the T-Rex song Ride a white swan came on. I wasn’t really a fan of theirs back in the day but have grown to appreciate them more as time wears on. I listened to the song once again and was really impressed with the short and to the point guitar solo. Normally a fan of extended guitar solos/wig outs I began to think of the concise ones that impress me.

Not a fan of Brian May but his solo on Killer Queen is excellent. Paul Kossoff on Alright now is iconic. Richard Thompson on Turning of the Tide is short and sweet. But Jeff Beck on Shapes of Things takes the top accolade for me.

Which short guitar solos float your boat?

I have just discovered this guy – his music is spiritual and mesmerising. It is sometimes difficult to find something new that grabs you in the way that music always used to grab you. Maybe there is just too much around or maybe it’s hard to be groundbreaking these days. Not even sure this is groundbreaking but it is bloody lovely.

This time of the year when presents are bought strikes me as the time when fads are at their most prominent. Previous years have seen Deely boppers, Space hoppers, Cabbage Patch dolls and Chopper bikes for example. I cant put me finger on why but I think the Chopper Bike was a fashion whilst the others were fads. Green Ketchup is a fad. Baked beans with Marmite most likely a fad. Everywhere you go now you see menus with various items with Salted Caramel or Halloumi (not together obviously) – these most likely are a fashion that may have started as a fad. The Berni Inn was a fashion that disappeared so to Wimpy and most likely (in this country anyway) Burger King although Five Guys are springing up everywhere despite their pricing. Shellsuits were thankfully short lived so too the poodle perm which surely must have been a fab. Years gone by we loved the smell of Brut, in more years i was temporarily taken with Millionaire and Joop aftershaves both of which I wouldn’t consider as an aftershave I would go anywhere near. Is the LGBT logo here to stay or is it fad for our times. Would » Continue Reading.

These views are mine only but I am putting them out there to either get shot down in flames or to encourage others to provide their own examples. I am of the belief that Keith Moon was not a particularly good drummer and Brian May is not a particular good guitar player (Both better than me obviously but not the best examples of their trade).

Moon seemed to use the same drum patterns ad infinitum and the same goes for May who aside from the solo in Killer Queen seemed to use the same tone and the same notes thrown into the mix. I find both of them very dull and their reputations far bigger than their talent.

My wife and I have at various times throughout our married life vowed that a Cruise is not something for us. But then there are these music cruises which at a push could be something for us. The first Outlaw Country West cruise had exactly the lineup that was that push. So it was ,we found ourselves hot footing it out to Los Angeles a mere 6 weeks after we were last there. We embarked on the Norwegian Jewel along with approx 2200 other passengers to sail out along the Baja California coast with 2 stops in Mexican ports Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada the latter of which was namechecked in a Lyle Lovatt song. For me the first night was the one that swung it – Los Lobos, Chuck Prophet, Dave Alvin and Lucinda Williams. I guess our age group are now the flag bearers for this type of music and more importantly given the health conditions of 3 of those artists a barometer of our own health. Chuck Prophet was diagnosed with Lymphoma earlier this year, Dave Alvin unbeknownst to me had been battling with cancer for the last 3 years and Lucinda is still recovering from a » Continue Reading.

Whilst not knowing the USA like the back of my hand i know it very well having lived in Miami for a couple of years, made around 50 business trips and a number of vacations there. However I didn’t know the mythical America of 30’s to 50’s – the roadside motels, the American Diners, the bowling alleys, the ma and pa stores in one road towns, Apple pie, Milkshakes, homemade burgers and soda fountains. For many years aI ad hankered to do a road trip through small town America and see the dirty, dusty broken America and get to interact with Americans not emboldened by fat salaries. Americans struggling to make ends meet, for whom the American Dream is fictitious fantasy, the America present in the novels of Steinbeck and the songs of Townes Van Zandt. So it was I sold the idea to our daughter to join us on a road trip for her 21st birthday with her boyfriend Liam. This was two years ago and we all nor what happened in the last two years – bastard Covid. Anyway the planning was completed two years ago and only met minor tweaks for the 2022 version. It was going » Continue Reading.

Loudon Wainwright III finally arrived in Birmingham on Thursday night after a couple of pandemic false starts. I have most of his recorded output and have seen him half a dozen times and have always enjoyed his gigs. His latest album Lifetime Achievement celebrates his milestone of reaching 75 years. Of course he celebrates it with sardonic wit and a little surprise that he has got to where he has in life. There was no compelling reason to see him again given the vast choice of gigs we have to chose from but would have never forgiven myself if this turns out to be his last UK tour. Given how fit and vigorous he appeared, health reasons would be less likely to deter him from touring here again. The 25 percent capacity audience more likely to be a bigger deterrent. It is really upsetting that ghere is no interest in seeing a singer of his stature – we live in different times. The first time I saw him was at this same venue and it was packed. Aside from 3 or 4 opening songs from his new album we got lots of classics, Motel Blues, April Day Morn, a gorgeous » Continue Reading.

The Steely Dan album Pretzel logic alway puzzled me with the title. It makes no sense to me other than Pretzel is spelt correctly and incorrectly as Pretzle on the album cover. Is that the ‘logic’ expressed in the album title? It cant be the difference between Anglo and American spelling variants because no-one over here eats Pretzels – fucking awful things.

But now I am flummoxed by Porridge which is how Quaker spells it and Porage as in Scotts Porage Oats. I tell you it is doing my head in. Porridge is shown correctly by spellchecker and Porage isn’t – I might just ban The Scotts variant – if they can’t spell it correctly what hope for their production of the Oats?

I really felt the need to share this with you – no drugs or alcohol have been taken in the writing of this post.

Was doing some CD housekeeping yesterday which required a certain amount of pruning. I came across a CD by a band called Amor – the cd is Sinking into a miracle. Further research suggests it is a Glasgow band with one member of Franz Ferdinand in it.

Out of curiosity I played it this am and if truth be known it is not bad.

Thing is I have no idea why I bought it, where I bought it from and when I bought it. In short if you had asked me before yesterday afternoon if I knew of a band called Amor I would have said no.

Surely I am not the only person on here that has music they have no idea of where it came from?

I saw Blue Rose Code about 4 or 5 years ago at the Kitchen Garden Cafe. He played earnest Celtic leaning folk/jazz/chamber music that was good but very serious. I just saw him at Black Deer and he was virtually unrecognisable – fun, funky, energetic and hugely entertaining. One of the highlights of the festival but a complete surprise.

Who else has completely changed direction? (Excluding Rod and Bob with their crooning)

Really pissed off that I bought two tickets for Mavis Staples at Union Chapel on Friday 17th June as it clashes with the Black Deer festival that I had already committed to. I have two tickets face value £ 42.50 each excl booking fee up for grabs. Will accept £ 25.00 per ticket either for the pair or individually. PM me if interested.

Was listening to music on random play this am and Paul Simon’s You can call me Al came on. I have always been amused by the line ‘some rolly poly little bat faced girl’ as a mild insult. Then of course there is the really acerbic sarcasm of the ‘funniest fucker in the World’ purportedly written by Costello about Bruce Thomas in the song ‘How to be dumb’. So what song insults intrigue or amuse you?