The Labour leadership contest is shaping up. It seems to be setting on Burnham, Kendall and Cooper. I’m politically unaffiliated, though instinctively soft left liberal by nature. My instinct is a Milibandesque agenda fronted by Andy Burnham doesn’t sound like a winner, though I thought he did well on John Pinaar last week, and I always quite lilked Yvette Cooper but she seems to be living up to her Hacker reputation of not saying much which upsets anyone. I’d never heard of Liz Kendall but (given my stated position) I quite like her.

Interesting New Stateman assessment.

Thorts?

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/06/were-beginning-see-outlines-labour-leadership-race

You know when you have nights with irrelevant crap whizzing round in your head so you can’t sleep? That.

Hendrix on the Lulu show. We’ve all seen it. But FFS, it was the Lulu show! And listen to the noise he makes! Quite apart from the fact that other than maybe a dozen people in tbe King’s Road, no one even looked like that! Truly a being from another planet, changing everyone’s sense of what’s possible with a few bits of wood and some valves. Where are today’s game changers? (…I do hope there are some…).

http://youtu.be/elqJBWU4dOc

Let’s see whether this audio quality stuff ads up. Listen here…

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

I like jazz, me. I saw this duo a couple of years ago and find I regularly come back to their album “MY duo”from which this is the opening track….

https://youtu.be/yzxvTPu0MtU

I just played a gig, rocked the house, and now have pint of Speckled Hen, 2 fingers of single malt, a tub of pistachio nuts, the Beeb and my mandolin so I am set for the night. How is it for you? Drama already with the exit polls….

Twang Jr is learning “Johnny B Goode” to play at school at the end of term. We have just spent a very happy half hour watching different bands take it on, ranging from the outer planetary (Hendrix) to the execrable (AC/DC). But my favourite is Johnny Winter from my all time fave live album “And – Live” back when live albums is what they played rather than what proTools did for them in the studio 6 months after the gig. Bum notes? Who cares. Rick Derringer on 2nd guitar. What’s your favourite “Johnny B Goode”?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jARuqUntPiI

Hi All. Booting up my Mac Mini this morning it tells me the external eye wateringly expensive Glyph hard drive has errors and needs to be reformatted. Happily I have a backup so the data is safe, but I realise my backup drive is old and quite small and I think the time has come to replace it. Recommendations for a 2tb USB 3 external drive? Seagate? Samsung?

Thanks all

PS My bid for most boring post of the day….but will help with my stress….

Any ideas, maths AWers?

♣ and ♠ both stand for whole numbers. ♠ is 50 greater than ♣. (2x♣) + ♠ = 500.

Calculate values of ♣ and ♠.

How does the calculation approach work? Doh.

Just looking at Photobucket, I realised I have loads of pictures and images from threads passim which have sadly lost their home with the demise of the various blogs. So here is new home for perfectly nice, interesting photos we may have seen before but which are currently stateless. No logic required, just post ’em here.

Elvis’s double neck guitar/6 sting bass, snapped in Gracelands in 1996.

I love this, from “The Secret Policeman’s Ball” – Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck playing “Further on up the road”. Thing is, it’s Eric’s song, but Jeff, guesting, decides to have some fun by outrageously upstaging him with a series of completely off the wall licks which still manage to wriggle back to the blues, jumping about, pulling faces, throwing shapes and generally showing why he’s the best. To his credit, Eric appreciates it and several times acknowledges that on this occasion he’d been had. Brilliantly musical and brilliant fun, and probably still unplayable by anyone other than the Beckster.

http://youtu.be/5ZBeerUD-zc

On the list of things I’m not interested in in the slightest, this plumbs new depths of apathy. Anyone intending to get one?

Phew. I mean, phew. Those who watched, comment within. Those who haven’t, don’t look!

15 minutes inside the deadline…I hadn’t realised it’s the birthday of our finest songwriter and guitarist. Happy birthday RT!

http://youtu.be/SLSZXHXFsss

Over a sociable beer a mate fixed me in a gaze and said “The sweet you can eat between meals…” and I automatically responded “without ruining your appetite…”. I haven’t seen or thought about this for 20 years, but there it was. We had a good laugh coming up with old ad catchphrases and finishing them for each other (possibly you had to be there…). But now I couldn’t tell you a single one – partly because I avoid them at all costs, but have advertisers lost the ability to embed their wares in your brain in short order?

Some classics here…including Elvis Costello’s Dad….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2eEWlyVoxQ&list=PL7F51DEE369EA53DD&index=2

We use Windows Defender which is fine but doesn’t seem to pick up some malware/unintentionally downloaded by Twang Jr crap. Any reccos for a nice not resource hogging bit of software? Don’t mind paying for decent tool. (Mcafee….eeeeugh).

Coming soon!! Series 2 is currently being re run on 4OD for those who wish to catch up. Can’t wait!

We were discussing the Hitler Hears videos at the Mingle on Friday. For those unaware, there’s a clip from “Downfall” in circulation, and people replace the subtitles with hilarious alternatives on the most bizarre or mundane subjects. They get funnier as you watch then as you start to know which character appears next and how they’ve been used. Here, Hitler hears Yes intend to tour with Benoit David replacing Jon Anderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6IH27T-5E

All the business about Richard III’s funeral leads me to ATM – guilty or not guilty? I’m voting guilty. He had opportunity – the princes were clearly in his power. He had motive – he’d just been through years of fighting over rival kings ascending to the thrown and getting bumped off again. Alive rival kings are always a threat. Dead ones are much more manageable. And he had the means – he’d bumped off or would bump off numerous other rivals and had a hardy band of blood soaked mates around to do the do – I doubt he did it himself whatever Shakespeare says. I also think it’s wrong burying him in Leicester – he was far more associated with York as a base, but when his wife died he specifically had her buried in Windsor – surely he’d have wanted to be buried with her? Leicester was just where he was dumped in a pit after losing at Bosworth. Any other history fans here?

Hope to see some of you at The King and Queen pub , 1 Foley Street, London W1W 6DL, United Kingdom

Goodge St tube.

From 6ish.

Cheers!

Remember this cureo from the days when charity singles were new? The metal community did their version of Live Aid. Marvellous stuff, organised by Ronnie James Dio who shows again what a great singer he is. Much gurning, fist clenching, screwed up face singing, leather trousers and widdly solos within. A stirring song too. I love the YouTube comment “every time I see this I want to get some rad shades and a white blazer”. Hugely good hearted and they look like they’re having the time of their lives. Loving David St. Hubbins in the chorus too.

http://youtu.be/P7eqxg92YG0

Hopeless isn’t it. I get too distracted. Like writing this for example.