It is the first Friday of a new month, so we all know what we need to do.
Come away in, help yourself to a glass of something refreshing, warm yourself by this roaring candle and tell everyone – what have you been reading, watching, listening to this month? and is there anything else you would like to share?
SEEN
Three guest nights at the folk club. September felt like a hiatus month, as the audiences were thin, which seemed a shame when we had the likes of Vikki Clayton bringing her impressive Cropredy-associated history to our humble British Legion.
On the other hand, we had a fine party for Flemish band Naragonia in a village hall just outside Chester. They’re primarily a dance band for my kind of stuff, which probably puts them under the radar for most here, but hell you could happily sit down and listen to them too. For the dedicated, this was a mini English tour, and plenty of dancers couldn’t get enough, so had already seen them the previous night in Sheffield and were heading on for Cirencester. We may be a small scene, but that’s the level of dedication! Yours truly provided support with some singing-for-dance, which added to the personal adrenalin; it was good to be part of it.
There was an equally devoted posse following the tour of my other gig of the month – Big Big Train. I go to so few rock gigs nowadays that it made a refreshing change. Great seats in the middle a few rows back, allowing the gig to envelop. Absent friends were certainly in the thoughts of band and audience, but I actually felt more satisfied after this gig than the last time I saw them; I guess they are better road-tested nowadays, but it really was a very fine show. And I do like Cadogan Hall.
HEARD
Been buying up CDs to be in good time for the inevitable Afterword Best of 2023 thread: Blur, Natalie Merchant, Lady Maisery, PJ Harvey. But I have been more distracted by a Peter Knight & John Spiers bought after their Shrewsbury set, and by listening to a lot of BBT – always the sign of a good gig.
READ
The activity of an unusually busy year has subsided and, after the preparations for the Naragonia gig, I was caught unawares by suddenly having whole days to myself, with nary a ‘to do’ list in sight. It’s been a joy to learn some new songs and catch up on reading. I’m a member of The Twentieth Century Society, who exist to encourage better appreciation of modern architecture, as well as having a statutory role in the planning system. I am very much a lay member in amongst the very learned and professional. One of the benefits of that membership is that the society produces occasional publications of very high quality, both in terms of content and presentation. I have zipped through a serious appraisal of C20 English churches; for me it’s been a proper pageturner. In being called ‘Holy Houses’ they did, of course, miss an opportunity for a more Afterword-friendly title, though I should say they are doing a walking tour of Norton Folgate tomorrow. I’ll forgive them that for the fascinating insights and angles elsewhere. Where else would I get such attention to detail on modern Quaker Friends’ Meeting Houses? And in the chapter on the remarkable burgeoning of new Churches of Christ Scientist, I find ….. the original use of Cadogan Hall.
My ears pricked up at the mention of Quaker Meeting Houses. The one at Wanstead in East London is particularly striking – is that included?
It is indeed!
Naragonia already on my radar! *Collects folk points*
The Necks have been a big part of my listening this month, catching up on several LPs that I had missed. Travel, in particular, bears repeated listening, lovely slow shifts in the groove. I have also enjoyed revisiting Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One – a sprawling series of gems.
I have watched some of the Rugby World Cup – I have found it disappointing. The referees are uncertain and inconsistent, particularly with head knocks and bad tackles, and there is too big a gulf between the experienced teams and the emerging teams. I don’t think that rugby games where one side runs up 70 points are a great watch. Also, the fact that the Pools were selected so long ago based on the standings then was a bad idea.
I mentioned last month that The Primevals played the Hope and Anchor – the recording it is out now on Bandcamp ! Today (6th October) is Bandcamp Friday so if you snap it up, all the money goes to the band https://primevals.bandcamp.com/album/burnin-smokin-live-at-hope-and-anchor
Looking forward to seeing The Necks at Kings Place on November 20th, as part of the London Jazz Festival.
That Primevals gig at the Hope & Anchor was superb. The recording of it on Bandcamp is a real treat.
Time for a Bandcamp Friday mini-binge, I think.
Also on Bandcamp, Jazz In Britain have dropped the price of the Barbara Thompson autobiography “Journey To A Destination Unknown” by 30% to £17.99, with all proceeds going to Cure Parkinsons, her nominated charity.
thanks Mike – it was good to see you there!
“The referees are uncertain and inconsistent”
Gonna need some specifics here Hombre. I think the standard has risen from the last cycle.
The most obvious one is from the South Africa – Scotland game : the Jesse Kriel tackle on Jack Dempsey 2 minutes in that the referee and the TMO missed. It was the same as the Tom Curry tackle that was red-carded, and also the same as the the one in Chile-Japan where Martin Sigren was red-carded.
With all the cameras and TMOs, that should not have been missed.
Wales benefited from very kind refereeing for repeated penalties when they were defending their line, without a yellow card being threatened, and conversely the first penalty that the Fijians conceded (for exactly the same kind of offence that Wales had repeatedly committed) was a yellow card. One of several instances of the bigger names being refereed to a different standard.
I know that it is a challenging task to referee rugby, especially at that level. But I don’t think they are doing it well enough.
No. Wales were given a yellow card for persistent offending. The number is then reset so not enough penalties for another. The Fijian yellow was for pulling down a maul that was hurtling towards the line. Totally different, on another day a penalty try may also have been awarded.
Wales were allowed many more penalties than would normally have been the case before action was taken
Based on what?
Anyway we won the group by a mile
Unfortunately, the fact that Kriel was not cited post match tends to suggest that the informed opinion is that the red card threshold had not been met. TMO couldn’t find any Clear and Obvious – which is the gateway test – evidence of head contact. I tend to agree with him.
The Fiji/Wales comparison I’m afraid isn’t apples to apples. I’d have binned the Fijian as well. Red Zone, cynical, off – simple. Would he otherwise have extended the same latitude to Fiji? We’ll never know.
I haven’t seen every single match. But from what I have seen, the accuracy rate is a bit above what we would expect. It’s worth bearing in mind, based on the last research that I read, that getting about 75% agreement from a pool of international referees about certain key decision was a good outcome.
Sadly the refereeing is inconsistent and it can affect the result of the game. Rugby is way too complex!
I think Wayne Barnes is probably the best around now that Nigel Owens has retired. Assuming England don’t make the final, he should get it. Even if Wales had got a yellow card who knows if the outcome would have changed. England easily beat Argentina playing with 14 men for practically the whole game. And the ref in the Wales v Fiji game also let Fiji get away with stuff other refs may not have allowed, such as diving in off their feet and sealing off at the breakdowns
I’ll push back slightly, especially with regard to Test referees. Even the weakest of them is a very, very good referee.
A couple of points. The game is mind-bogglingly fast at that level. The highest level I refereed was L5 in England, when I was young and in full possession of all my faculties. Stepping up from 6 to 5 was a bit like moving up from County cricket to Test cricket – a different game, played at a different speed. Decision making is exponentially more difficult, and the framework for making decisions isn’t just about accuracy.
Which leads me to my second point…The starting point for most Test feedback is “did you have to give that decision?” Some sealing off should be penalized, and some shouldn’t. I don’t have that game on playback any more, but I think sealing off is likelier to be given when there is a defender in a contestable position for the ball. Half a metre away – you could be considered out of the competition, and therefore a null factor in the decision making.
Those guys are assessed on a multitude of factors, but appropriate application of materiality underpins most of it. They’re under pressure to maximize ball in play time, and less stop start stuff; more junior referees are still assessed on that, but with far more relaxed standards.
The real issue is that when materiality is prioritized, or ball in play in time, subjectivity of judgment or inconsistency becomes a feature, not a bug. And trust me, you don’t want rigid application of the law book.
SEEN
Two gigs in September, both of which were great. First up was Dexys @ Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. This is my first time seeing Mr Rowland & I did enjoy it. The new album is a bit patchy, so as the first half of the show was it being played in full, this followed suit. The 2nd half was great, including a fabulous performance of All In All (This One Last Waltz). The sound was not great which surprised me for this venue, but I am putting this down to being side on & quite high up.
The other gig i’ve managed this month was the fabulous LYR @ Deaf institute, Manchester. I have enthused about their latest album elsewhere on here, but live it was even better. Very powerful & it was up there with the best i’ve seen in 2023.
HEARD
The album by Das Koolies – DK.01 is brilliant. This is Super Furry Animals minus Gruff & they have put together a superb album that has really hooked me. At different times it brings to mind Doves, Soulwax, Four Tet, SFA amongst others. It’s really great.
Another couple of albums that have really caught my ear this month & are getting repeated listens are Romy – Mid Air (a really solid album) Kylie Minogue – Tension (best she has done since Fever) & Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Australian Carnage (which is a great live album. I’m a bit gutted the vinyl version is not the whole 18 songs available on Spotify). A shout out for the surprise album from The National – Laugh Track too. It’s their best album for about 10 years I think
READ
The Other Pandemic by James Ball.
A quite fascinating read about the deep depths of QAnon and the many ways these conspiracy theories have taken hold of many online & offline communities across the world. It is clearly well researched and goes into the intricacies of how this conspiracy is closer than we may think (we all have that one relative right?!) with some of the authors own experiences thrown in to keep it engaging throughout.
This was a very interesting read & if you are someone who is quite fascinated by how these things grow and take hold, it is one I’d recommend. However, Julia Ebners book ‘Going Mainstream’ is a bit broader and covers more topics than this one.
The Fraud by Zadie Smith.
I love Zadie Smiths writing & she has written some of my favourite novels of all time. I find the characters fascinating & her way of crafting a tale is second to none. I was a little nervous when I heard she was writing this, her first historic novel, as I wondered how she could do all of this this when the characters are based on real people. However, as per usual she has written another wonderful book that I was sad to finish.
The novel is based around the real life Tichborne case of the 1870s & is told through the eyes of Eliza Touchet, the housekeeper (& cousin through marriage) of the real life author William Ainsworth. The Tichborne case is where a man presumed lost at sea returns after a number of years to claim his inheritance & the star witness is Andrew Bogle, a former Jamaican slave who Eliza is fascinated by and keen to meet due to her being an abolitionist which is at odds with the life she has.
There book examines the the Victorian era ideas of identity, fraud, class inequality, colonialism, gender, the true realities of slavery, sexuality and freedom. There are many parallels with 2023 & it is written with the usual wit & charm of all other novels by her. Definitely one of my favourite reads of the year
Hello World by Hannah Fry.
You may know this incredible Mathematician/Presenter/Author from the fantastic podcasts Uncharted & The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry.
This book looks at the way in which algorithms are currently being used, and the way in which they might be used in the future too. It is split into different categories & covers areas such as Justice, Medicine, Crime etc. & details where we are now (or in 2018 when the book was published) & where we are headed. The writing is fantastic & explains things in such an accessible way that complicated theories & ideas are easy to understand, this is also written in a way where her passion for these subjects shines through, which makes it all the more enjoyable. She also uses some great stories to start each chapter to set the stage for the algorithm’s role in an area. The intros range from Garry Kasparovs showdown with Deep Blue in 1997 to an exchange with Mark Zuckerberg and a friend in the nascent days of Facebook, to training pigeons to access breast tissue for cancer!
If you enjoy books along these lines then I would recommend. It is fantastic
I was momentarily outraged that they would have a music concert at a deaf institute. Then I looked it up. A case of “That’s just the name of the shop, luv”.
Seen
A busy month for shows, split between folk and comedy. First up was Steve Knightley at the Green note in Camden. This was meant to be a performance of songs about, and written during, lockdown. In the event Steve had lost his voice and, rather than cancelling, turned the afternoon into something more like ‘an audience with’, comprising anecdotes, Q&A and a few songs provided they were in a low enough register. Frankly, it was a lot more fun than the proposed lockdown songs sounded, even if I did miss his wonderful voice, and he was surprisingly frank and open in what he revealed (though he did ask us to keep much of it between ourselves). Show of Hands are going on an indefinite hiatus after the next tour, so see them while you can. Tickets are available now.
Before heading up to Camden we visited the 50th floor of 8 Bishopsgate, then the highest free observation platform in London but since been overtaken by 22 Bishopsgate, which offers a view 10 metres higher than the paid platform in The Shard. These high platforms seem to be a condition of planning application for very tall buildings near the Thames these days, and even if 8 Bishopsgate isn’t as big nor landscaped as the better known Sky Garden the views are spectacular. We already have a booking for 22 Bishopsgate in a few weeks’ time, but I wonder how much higher these platforms can go before you can barely make out the buildings beneath you because they are so far away.
The following weekend we were at The Barbican for an all-day show of The Unthanks performing 3 early albums as well as leading a communal sing song, holding a Q&A, and presenting a couple of supporting acts. We hadn’t intended to go to this but lucked into free tickets the day before, and I was very glad we did. If the between song banter was light hearted (and the Q&A pretty toothless tbh) the dramatic performances, all wild emotion filled with Sturm und Drang, more than balanced it. It was a full day but kept us gripped and entertained throughout, and reminded me once again that The Unthanks really are a band to cherish.
And on to comedy. First up was Frankie Boyle at the Leicester Square Theatre. It was an odd performance for a comic with a reputation for being combative. As soon as Frankie arrived someone near me shouted something supportive like, ‘Go Frankie!’ and it seemed to put the brakes on him completely. After another shout, from the back this time, he demanded the house lights be brought up saying, ‘I might come back if we can rid of the C*NTS!’ Someone I assumed to be his manager said he would have a word with Frankie backstage to try to get him back, but not to shout out during the routine. It’s worth remembering that he trained to be a teacher, and there was certainly the energy of a wound-up teacher who wants to punish the whole class about him. After that the act recovered quite quickly with a combination of satire, filth (including the Holly Willoughby routine) and exculpation of the filth.
We bought tickets to see Simon Day at the Chelmsford Studio Theatre in June, but a dose of norovirus picked up at a Peter Gabriel gig (the revenge of Brian Pern?) meant he had to reschedule. The long awaited show was three of his characters giving monologues, with costume changes filled by filmed sections, wrapping up with a brief ‘this is me’ bit. It was … fine. The Billy Bleach and Dave Angel sections were largely improvised but based around a single long joke, while Yorkshire poet Simon Allerton benefitted from a better honed script in the form of his poems. He is a funny guy, but for a man so far into his tour I would hope for better than a couple of routines fizzling out into, ‘I don’t have a witty line for that bit.’ It didn’t bother the rather pissed woman in the seats next to us though, who thought everything he said was hilarious but was baffled by the costume changes. ‘Where’s he gone? What’s ‘appening?’
Finally, on Sunday the 1st of October but I’ll include it here, was Romesh Ranganathan at Chelmsford Theatre, part of a run of warm up shows for a bigger tour year. I knew he was popular, but until I looked up the tour I didn’t realise he was so popular that the London date would be at the O2 Arena, and that a second date would be added there due to demand. I’m glad I saw him in a smaller venue though, where his routines about family life and middle-age male friendship work better than I can imagine in a vast space like the O2. He was the most confident of the three, all very experienced, comedians we saw this month and the one I would most like to see again, at least in a small venue.
The best thing I saw on TV this month was Picasso: The Beauty and The Beast on the BBC. I’m usually less keen on programmes on artists which concentrate on the biography rather than the life, but Picasso saw his life, or a very managed presentation of it, as integral to his art. By concentrating on the women in his life from Olga to Dora Maar the programme sees behind Picasso’s carefully constructed and protected public image and the result is not only fascinating but gives new insight on one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th century.
Finally, it’s good to have Taskmaster back on form after the duff last series. It stands or falls on the strength of the contestants, and all 5 seem to really get the show this time.
Read
As the evenings lengthen I like to put my feet up and be taken somewhere else by a light read, and my favourite recent discovery is Philip Gwynne Jones. Jones running character is Nathan Sutherland, a translator who lives in Venice, where Jones also lives, and serves as the UK Honorary Consul. As might be expected he has an array of cool friends, a variety of favourite bars and restaurants and, of course, keeps finding himself involved in perilous situations involving skulduggery. The books aren’t high literature but are an entertaining combination of thrills and recommendations for places to visit on my next trip to one of my most loved places.
In non-fiction, I liked Chris Atkins’ A Bit of a Stretch. Atkins is a documentary film maker who was sentenced to 5 years when a tax scheme to fund his latest venture drifted from a grey area to illegality and served the first portion of his sentence in Wandsworth. It’s an enlightening read. There is less violence than I had expected, although the threat is always there, and the emphasis is one how badly run the bureaucracy is, and how there is so little attempt at rehabilitation or help for the huge number of prisoners who are illiterate, mentally ill or both. There is humour in the setting too, but overall is an indictment of how useless the prison system is and how little management and government are doing to address that.
‘Biography rather than the life’ ? 🙄 ‘… rather than the art’.
I’m a big fan of Show `of Hands and therefore Steve Knightley. I’ve seen both several times and Steve is a great solo performer, glad you enjoyed the show @Gatz.
Sport
Underwhelmed by the Rugby World Cup and preparing to be underwhelmed by the Cricket 50-Over World Cup too!
Rugby has been ever-so-slightly compromised in my eyes by the withdrawal of yet another Championship side (Jersey) from the competition. That’s the equivalent of Everton, Bournemouth, Brentford and Sheffield United all going bust in football within six months. If they’d allowed fluid promotion and relegation (see Luton Town) into the Premiership none of this would have happened.
Cinema
Past Lives – Superb U.S./Korean film about a boy and a girl reconnecting online as adults years after last meeting. I seem to go to many films of this kind.
The Nettle Dress – British documentary. Man makes, over seven years, a dress made out of… erm… stinging nettles. It does exactly what it says on the tin! Again, wonderful film about patience and having a goal. Having read one hundred years of local newspapers, I rather connected with him.
Great so far, and gets better. Passages, a jaw-droppingly brilliant film about a gay man in a gay marriage having an affair with a woman. This was brilliant. Set in Paris. Well woke, and even finished off with a bit of Albert Ayler. Franz Rogowski, a German actor, is mesmerizing.
Finally, Angelheaded Hipster. Don’t think it’s been mentioned on here and I’m surprised.
It’s about Marc Bolan, folky, mod, East End scamp, hippy. I’ve an inordinate amount of time for Marc. Various acts (U2, Nick Cave, Macy Gray, Beth Orton) pick a song and are seen playing it in the studio. Meanwhile, his life is recounted through live footage, copious interviews with Marc, stills of the Jewish East End, Elton, Ringo etc. It is brilliant.
Best bits?
1. What a fantastic guy Rolan, Marc’s son, has turned into. I have a theory about this… he was raised in the U.S. , if he had still been in the U.K. the Murdoch papers would have made his life hell.
2. There is a school under Marc’s name in Sierra Leone where impoverished children are taken in and learn to play music. What a remarkable legacy. Not one person up in Manchester for the Tory Party conference this week comes anywhere near that.
I loved “Past Lives” It’s one of my four or five favourite films of the decade so far.
What a debut by Celine Song.
Best film of 23, that’s for sure (although it may well have been released in 22?)
After a long and happy Summer, this has proved to be a month of struggling to deal with the return of normal life (early starts, school run, etc) and realising that I have wildly overfilled my diary, even by normal standards. Quieter October ahead.
SEEN:
Headed out for sushi and cinema to celebrate the occasion of my birthday. Had very much been looking forward to watching Past Lives, and wasn’t disappointed. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted, funny and moving. Would say it’s the best movie I’ve seen this year, but I’ve seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so that wouldn’t be true. Wonderful evening all round though. Will be interested to see what Celine Song does next.
Took a trip down to Woolwich with a bunch of work pals to see The Burnt City, the now sadly closed immersive theatre experience based on the Trojan War. Had previously met the guy who runs Punchdrunk, the theatre company responsible, and very interested in his views on how to bridge the gap between video games/interactive entertainment and theatre. Some fairly wild ideas. Found the show itself to be quite unlike anything I’d ever seen previously; housed in two enormous warehouses packed with lots of different rooms/nooks and crannies, the performance is staged, reset and then staged again. The audience, all wearing masks, are free to wander around, fiddle with the props, follow the characters who interest them, etc. Have to admit I found it all a little overwhelming; some of the performances were very strong, and the sensation of standing impassively in a crowd watching another human being writhe on the floor in apparent agony was not one I found comfortable. For one of our group, this was the fifth attendance of the show. She is still finding new things each time.
Took a trip to the British Library to watch a friend be interviewed about a video game she’s made based on the real life of Elizabethan Doctor Simon Forman. Each character in the game has their own Renaissance style theme song, which we listened to performed live by a very talented group of singers. Very amusing lyrics, would recommend the game.
Managed to catch an advance screening of Saltburn, Emerald Fennell’s hotly anticipated follow up to Promising Young Woman. Thought it was a mixed bag; on the one hand, the script is very funny indeed, it’s nice to see someone do the whole Brideshead Revisited thing again and the cast are stellar (Rosamund Pike never better). Plus Fennell is incredibly talented – some of the shot composition is gorgeous. On the other, there was the suspicion that ultimately it all felt a bit like a very high end extended version of Murder Most Horrid, and some of the moments of deliberate shock felt forced and unnecessary. It has stayed in my head though, so that’s something.
Saw a screening of Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can. Not a great deal to report; it’s a fun movie, and the last time I remember DiCaprio being truly boyish.
HEARD
The new Olivia Rodrigo was listened to a lot this month. Not convinced it’s entirely at the level of the last one (though what is), but it’s still very good indeed. At some point the question arises; is it even possible to do this stuff better than Sour did it?
Nas dropped his sixth album in two years, continuing a renaissance both unexpected and unprecedented in this genre. Magic 3 is simultaneously quite 90s sounding, but also unmistakably of 2023 due to Hit Boy’s excellent production. In other Hip Hop news, Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples released The Caliphate and that got listened to about as much as anything in September.
Developed an enormous obsession with Lucy Dacus. Night Shift came out in 2018 but it only got a video quite recently, and what a video it is.
Such a beautiful song, such bittersweet lyrics. All the albums are good (particularly Home Video), but I honestly think this may be one of the better songs of the last decade.
You got a 9 to 5, so I’ll take the night shift
And I’ll never see you again if I can help it
In five years I hope the songs feel like covers
Dedicated to new lovers
God, she nailed that.
The new Mitski album (The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We) arrived and it’s quite brilliant. The whole thing really hangs together and has its own little vibe going on. Became a bit obsessed with The Deal, what a lyric that is. All I will take are the consequences – love it.
There’s a deal you can make on a midnight walk alone
Look around, listen close, hear it fall from above
It will ask what you’d give and what you’d take for it in return
I once went on such a walk and I found that I’d said
I want someone to take this soul
I can’t bear to keep it, I’d give it just to give
And all I will take are the consequences
Will somebody take this soul?
The whole record is good, would definitely recommend.
READ:
Alan Rickman’s diaries were interesting. Bit of an odd feeling to be picking through someone’s life so directly (“would he even have wanted these published”, asks the foreword – well, quite). Moments of great import pass and moments of absolute minutiae are given much the same treatment. The book is an interesting snapshot into the turn of the century, when celebrity of a certain sort was probably at its absolute apex and a famous actor could traipse from city to city, fancy party to make up, largely unmolested and without giving too much of themselves away. By the end, I’d got a bit sick of it all; there are only so many times one can listen to Rickman’s faux modest complaints that the BAFTAs are a nonsense that gives far too much credit to humble thesps such as he, before two days later complaining bitterly that the on set snacks simply aren’t good enough and the producers have given Emma Watson a new rolex. He is gloriously bitchy, although that got tiring too – it’s never really a good look is it, even if it’s just in a diary.
Rereard David Foster Wallace’s A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. Thick as treacle, as ever, but when it catches fire it really burns. I’d forgotten the passage on his review of a cruise holiday where he describes his life as a series of options being closed down, options narrowing as time accelerates away until he’s finally locked in on one path only. That early 30s feeling.
I read What Do Men Want: Masculinity And Its Discontents by Nina Power hoping that someone had finally got round to writing the book on what it is to be a man in the 21st century that we so badly need. Power gets as close as anyone has so far, to be fair, and some of her observations are highly astute. It’s still not quite the one though.
The New Leviathans by John Gray is more of the same, but with the growing suspicion that he might be onto something. Gray has been making the same arguments for most of my adult life, but a return to some of his older writings last year suggested that he’s possibly in more danger of being proved right than most of us. Here, he continues his argument that the decline of religion has sent humanity scurrying for new deities in which to place our faith, and Western Europe has settled on science and the capacity to perfect society and improve upon human beings. Identity politics are cast as a last splutter of the Western Liberal ideal (liberalism on steroids, essentially), China and Russia are building their own new leviathans, and climate change points to a future that may be solitary, poor, nasty and brutish, albeit not short. Worth a read, it’s certainly thought provoking, if not very cheery.
AOB:
Life continues to occur at both ends of the spectrum, with mixed results.
My eldest officially became a teenager, and we marked the occasion with a trip into town to partake in some fairly high end VR before heading home for karaoke. She is all chat, and books and movies and in love with the world and tremendous company. How we got from first bringing her home to here I will never know, but as ever with parenting it’s that strange feeling of watching a human being just get better and better while occasionally missing prior iterations.
Meanwhile, I was volunteered to help a dear old friend clear out the house of his recently departed parents. Such an odd feeling, stood in a home I used to visit so frequently as a child; same books on shelves, same art on the walls and yet, unmistakably, now the home of two old people. An odd day, combining the melancholy of dispassionately clearing away the residue of a life (all those carefully chosen books, that tasteful CD collection, the labelled boxes containing the detritus of a family’s existence over decades), with the odd joy of realising that – ultimately – none of it matters. All that stuff we stress and worry and fuss over. At the end, someone shows up with a van and carts it all away, and all that wasted energy is simply released up to the heavens. It’s sort of liberating.
Almost forgot the most important thing: Lies of P.
Those who played through Bloodborne (looking at you, Kid Dynamite) will know that it’s the greatest game of all time and, despite much clamor, has yet to receive a sequel.
Well, this is kind of the spiritual follow up. It’s essentially the same game, only produced by South Korea’s Neowiz, rather than From Software, and – quite brilliantly – with a plot based round Pinocchio (the Italian fairy tale, rather than the Disney version).
It’s not quite at Bloodborne’s level, but it’s not a million miles off, and some of the boss fights are wonderful. I’m about 20 hours deep at the moment, and loving every minute (the Opera House has been a highlight so far). Would thoroughly recommend.
Hard agree on Night Shift, one of the best songs of the last ten years, and easily the best thing (amongst some very good things indeed) to have emerged from the whole Boygenius collective. I took my daughter to see LD on her last UK tour, and a lovely time was had by both. Night Shift closed the main set – could it have gone anywhere else?
I did have a go on the Lies Of P demo and enjoyed it. Haven’t sprung for the whole thing yet, as I did three back to back Elden Ring runs in August / September, and could do with a rest from From for the moment. (The NG+ cycle on ER is so much fun, as I was absolutely ludicrously overpowered and waltzing through enemies that had had me tearing my hair out first time through (not Malenia though, never Malenia). Pest Threads with Faith at 80 and my Erdtree Seal at +10 dissolved the Elden Beast like he was a Conservative infrastructure project).
Oh, awesome. I need to see her live at some point, that must have been brilliant (and particularly so in that company).
Three back to back runs? Jeez – you’re outdoing me there. I bolted through Elden Ring, but for whatever reason haven’t gone back to it. The straight fantasy of the Souls games never captures me quite as much as Bloodborne’s cosmic horror/steampunk mash up. I do remember Malenia being a freaking nightmare though. Pray for LetMeSoloHere.
I would strongly recommend Lies of P for whenever you next get the itch. I’m about two thirds of the way through and it’s quite clever; it contains some elements designed to frustrate the Soulsborne crowd, so you need to adapt. What I will say is that throwable items are wildly OP.
It took me a while to go back to ER as well, it was well over a year since I first finished it that I picked it up back again. The initial idea was to refresh myself in the hope the DLC would be out this side of Xmas (looking like February now), but I soon got sucked back in. Three runs is not as impressive as it might sound – you can finish a lot quicker when you are levelled right up (my character, Sailor Twift, is around lvl 250 at the moment), and I reckon they probably cumulatively came in at less time than my original play through. On one of them I did a total barebones run, only doing exactly what I had to do to finish the game, so no trips to the Haligtree (my favourite area of the whole thing), no Volcano Manor, barely set foot in Caelid and ignored the tournament, etc etc. Turns out you can finish the whole thing in about eight hours.
Yeah, that makes sense. Bloodborne is the only one of these games I’ve ever properly gone back to, but I’ve been through it 7 times now, usually acting as a sherpa for someone new to the experience.
Once the game no longer intimidates you and you know exactly where you’re going you can bolt through it pretty quick, particularly with arcane builds, which make the latter half a doddle. It’s also quite a linear experience compared to ER, so the path is pretty clear.
If there’s going to be DLC in Feb I will be in no position to play it. Have forgotten nearly everything from my first runthrough. Might have to do some training in the New Year.
What has been fun with Lies of P is that I’ve essentially ignored every text prompt in the game. I basically started off dodging and hitting R1 until I hit a wall (which occurred about a third of the way through), at which point I went back and figured out how to power myself up a bit more/which other attacks I could use. I am ridiculously OCD about levelling up in these games though; any time I come close to the necessary souls/echoes/ergo I’m straight back to the hub point to cash them in, with the result that by the halfway point I’m probably way OP.
@Kid Dynamite Night Shift live is an epic. The audience leave it and then come in on the last chorus. Always a spine tingler
Heard:
Despite the redoubtable pencilsqueezer’s commendation I’m not 100% taken with Rhiannon Giddens latest “You’re the One”. I think she’s a brilliant artist and I’ve loved much of her earlier work. I’m not sure why I’m not captivated by this one, possibly because it sounds like she’s showing that she can cover a great variety of styles just for the sake of it. I dare say I’ll get there in the end. I crowdfunded Michele Stodart’s album “Invitation” and am enjoying that. She’s playing at Bury Met on 26th Nov and I’ll very likely be there. I’d been meaning to uy Luck Farrell’s album “We Are Only Sound” for a while and finally got round to it. I love her voice and her style. The album is definitely a grower and I’m liking it better with each listen. And finally Esther, September saw the release of The Returner by Allison Russell, the follow up to her breakthrough album Outside Child. Early days yet. I’m loving much of it, but also feeling it runs out of steam towards the end. Mind you I thought the same about Outside Child during my first few listens. I look forward to fully embracing this one. Her vocals, and the vocals in general, are fabulous and the thing that immediately struck me was the fantastic string arrangements. I couldn’t help noticing that one of the songs owes a serious debt to Smoky Robinson’s “Being With You”. I’d be surprised if his Publishers haven’t picked up on that.
Seen:
Mrs B and I attended the Unthanks All-dayer at The Sage Gatehead which incidentally has changed it name in the last new weeks to The Glasshouse. The reason being that the vast new project due to be constructed next door is being sponsored by Sage who have decided to call it The Sage. Me neither. Anyway the Unthanks perfomances of 3 complete albums were fantastic, especially the 4 piece lineup giving a very intense performance of The Bairns.
We made our 5th visit to the Allen Valleys Folk Festival held in bustling downtown Allendale. For the first time in 5 visits I met someone I know from another event, namely a guy who is a regular at the Costa Festivals. This year’s bill was good. I was very taken with Frankie Archer and her facility with looping and sampling tech. I was mesmerised by The Breath, very impressed with Jim Moray’s solo set, charmed by the 84 year old Archie Fisher’s set, and delighted by Karine Polwart’s headline solo set. Towards the end she sang a song written from the perspective of the tree at nearby Sycamore Gap. Then a couple of days later some fecker put a chainsaw through it. I despair!
Watched:
We enjoyed The Power of Parker, available on iplayer. I loved the scene where the 2 female leads bonded at the nightclub, and I thought Conleth Hill played the title character very well.
I discovered last weekend that a guy I know by name because he and I frequent the same open-mics is doing a stint as a tourguide every Sunday in October between 10 and 4 at the Old Baptist Chapel in Goodshaw, which is in Rossendale, a few miles north of Rawtenstall. We went last Sunday and spent an interesting and enjoyable hour there. My mate knew all about it. He told me it had been derelict for the best part of 100 years and although now managed by National Heritage it is predominantly shut all year round. I recommend this for anyone with an interest in local history who lives within striking distance. Here’s the link:
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/goodshaw-chapel/
HEARD
Teenage Fanclub “Nothing Lasts Forever” is a bit of a return to form in my view, slightly crisper production than of late, and tunes a plenty. I still think they miss Gerry Love though.
Wreckless Eric’s “Leisureland” is a highly enjoyable album with tinges of melancholy alongside some instances of nice experimental touches.
The Coral “Sea Of Mirrors…excellent. Nice mix of late sixties psych, folk and merseybeat.
SEEN
The Man In The High Castle (Amazon Prime) is the sort of daft concept I normally avoid (in this case, what if the Nazis and Japan had been the victors in World War II) but I took a leap of faith and this is a decent story with some well outlined characters.
READ
“Before It Went Rotten: The Music That Rocked London’s Pubs 1972-1976” by Simon Matthews is a pretty exhaustive story of the Pub Rock scene. Packed with detail and interviews with some occasionally quite obscure players. All the better for it too. Book title of the year maybe?
“Totally Wired: The Rise and Fall of the Music Press” by Paul Gorman…I enjoyed this a lot and found it quite hard to put down, not easy at the moment as my concentration is all over the place. Seemed a very thorough and compelling history.
AOB
After some hideous goings on at work I have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. This month has been horrible as I’ve started medication which initially made me feel highly nauseous, even more anxious and unable to sleep but which is now settling down and making things seem a lot calmer, thank goodness. Anyone else got any experience of Sertraline?
By chance, I ordered the pub rock book last night (having failed to find it in a local bricks/mortar shop). From the sample pages available online it looks like my kind of book – like Delta blues, original punk etc., I have a fascination with 70s pub rock without really needing/wanting to spend much time listening to the music (The Motors excepted).
The pub rock book sounds brilliant. On my list.
Sorry to hear about the A&D. I had a brush with it a couple of years ago and refused medication & went the talking therapy route which was helpful and dare I say interesting. You don’t realise how much crap is cluttering up your head.
Someone sent me this which I thought was brilliant.
That’s a great diagram @Twang , thanks for posting it. I’m doing some talking therapy too by the way, once a week for an hour. I don’t think I would have agreed to start the medication on its own.
There is always the possibility, of course, that our Nick L is really pub rock godfather Nick Lowe.
I really wish I had even just 1% of the great Nick Lowe’s talent!
Ah, yes: but that’s just what he would say…
No personal experience of Sertraline, but a family member took it for a short while. Given that Crohn’s runs through us like a stick of rock, prescribing any meds with common side-effects of nausea or acid reflux was just plain daft. I had strong words with the GP, who prescribed something more appropriate.
Anxiety is a funny old thing, don’t rush it and just keep up the therapy – small steps become a journey, and all that. After being in Shielding for best part of two years, I was borderline agoraphobic at the end of last year. After a series of hour-a-week chats (mostly about music), I can’t remember the last time I even saw my face mask, and it all seems like a distant memory.
Feel free to PM me.
Thanks for the info
@fentonsteve that’s very kind of you.
And another sale for the Pub Rock Book.
Like Colin H, I too am fascinated by the whole thing, but do seek out the music too (including The Motors)
re: Leisureland – a superb listen, going to be high on my end of 365 days list
(and should be on others too, but I’m not sure it’s got a very big audience)
It’s got an audience in my house- just waiting for it to arrive- been listening to his last couple of albums a fair bit recently.
You will not be disappointed Mr T
His last couple of albums were my introduction to W.E. and I thought they were outstanding. I was unaware of the new album, ordered.
He’s on or just finished a tour of the uk. I got excited he was playing the Rock’n’roll brewery in Brum on the 19th of last month. Until I realised it was the 25th that I read about it!
Read
Re-read Simon Reynold’s Rip it Up and Start Again for the first tine in 20 years. It’s great and influenced much of my listening this month. Wire, Gang of Four, Teardrops, Bunnymen, Talking Heads, Orange Juice and more all sounding great. Weird situation of feeling nostalgiac for a post-punk I was too young for first time around. So basically I’m feeling nostalgiac for my early thirties when I first read the book and first discovered that music rather than the time itself when I was about ten. Still it’s been enjoyable all round.
Heard
A new Teenage Fanclub in my world is huge. Very early days for Nothing Lasts Forever but I like it very much (with inbuilt bias). Raymond’s I Will Love You is a career high for him and possibly the band too. The production lacks a bit of oomph but the songs are great. Let’s see how it sounds live next week.
Seen
Finally saw Gommorah the film (not the series). Bloody great. Must now buy the book and watch the series.
Marlowe: a Netflix oddity which has been slagged off endlessly but I didn’t mind at all. Has anyone ever really got Raymond Chandler right? (Even Bogey wasn’t really right going by the books) This ranks alongside the odd Robert Mitchum/Michael Winner Marlowe’s of the 70s which aren’t ‘good’ but offer plenty to enjoy for people who like this kind of thing. I do.
Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl shorts on Netflix. This may already be October, I can’t remember, but while I’m a Wes fanboy saddo, aside from reliably wonderful production I’m not sure I can really see the point of these. Felt like an attractive but not terribly pointful art project. First time I’ve had that from him so a disappointment.
Seen
I’m back on Disney+ for a bit, so I’ve been bingeing Welcome To Wrexham, which is very skilfully made, both thematically, in the way it interweaves the story of the town of Wrexham and its people, the nuts and bolts of the football club and a “soccer for dummies” thread and also in terms of editing, where I found myself getting a little excited about games where I already knew the result.
I’m going to be that guy who describes What We Do In The Shadows series 4 as a “return to form”, after I felt it might be running of steam in the third series. The Freddie episode was already one of the best before Matt Berry started just rattling off the vampire acts he has been on the road with: “Tame Impaler.. The Undead Kennedys.. Hall and Throats.. Lindsay Sucking’em.. Paler Swift.. I could go on..”
I also saw Dexys live, as reviewed so expertly by Jaygee. Just in time too, as I gather they’ve cancelled the U.S. part of their tour.
Heard
Lummy! It’s already October and there’s only about three albums I enjoy all the way through.
Which is not to say there’s not lots to love – it’s been a great year for one-off singles of a joyful bent that make one bop, such as this beauty from Toddla T, Aitch and TAET
More AW-friendly, Don Letts’ Outta Sync (a veritable anthem for the old geezers who patrol these waters) has been out a while, but is also the title track of his agreeable new album
(It might break my listen-through duck, but, as with the new Creation Rebel, it hasn’t had the six listens yet..).
In my beloved feisty females with guitars corner there’s Blame My Ex, the new album from The Beaches
I was disappointed that the 30th anniversary edition of De La Soul’s Buhloone Mindstate doesn’t include the 7” edit of Breakadawn – one of the few things that makes me blow the dust off my turntable.
But then – what’s this? – Primal Scream have released a collection from their “When We Wuzn’t Fab” period which includes a version of Velocity Girl from a Janice Long session which has a second verse. Lovely!
Read
Would you ever stop nagging me! I mean I have a collection of Somerset Maugham short stories right beside my bed which I’ve opened and started several times!.
For some reason, when the dark nights come, my thoughts always turn to Sherlock Holmes and it’s always a delight to listen to Greg Wagland reading the old favourites (they’re pretty much all up on YouTube, but you may find them elsewhere). Yes, I know it’s not reading!
Upcoming
There’s a new series of Rick and Morty coming soon which I’m looking forward to. I’m considerably less keen on the idea of more Frasier, but I expect I will watch, just to be sure.
SEEN
Barbie. Some good ideas and pleasant humour but I went on far longer than necessary. But I very much liked the line “I’ll play guitar at you”.
Train To Busan. Best (serious) zombie movie ever! I like Zombie movies. Not as much as I like shark movies, but it’s still a great genre by any standards. This film is a rollercoaster ride of a train ride.
READ
Among some other stuff (mostly boring stuff about Italian politics and history) I’ve been trying to read Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time, as recommended by Locust last month. I read Days Without End a while back (also on Locust’s recky) and thought it was stunningly brilliant, but I’m not getting into this yet. Too stream-of.consciousness.
AOB
@junior-wells I’ve been wearing my hearing aids more. I’m quite getting into them. It’s a different way of hearing to normal hearing – I hear all the clicks and scrapes and footsteps around me. Very Lee Majors. But the really groovy thing is, they’re synched to an app on my phone that has a mute button. First time I used it I was in a crowded city for the first time in months and all the noise from buses and cars and people was doing my head in with the hearing aids. So I pressed mute and it was like in a sci-fi movie. Vanilla Sky, only aurally. The world suddenly went silent. Well cool.
Also, Puglia has become way, way too touristy. Especially the town where I live. New tourist bars and restaurants everywhere, with tourist prices to match. Giant cruise ships in the port!
have you ever seen Zombie Flesh Eaters? It has a scene where a zombie punches a shark
Sounds like cinematic perfection!
Oh, Train to Busan! Just watched that recently myself. What a fantastic film, really expertly choreographed and paced, gradually opening up the action wider and wider and constantly making you wonder who is going to die next.
Funny month, wallowing in malaise with no desire to do much at all.
September just sort of “happened”
Heard:
* Nothing new-new arrived.
I’m staring to think Mrs D may be right – I do buy too much, and never really get round to properly listening to it.
* New Madness album on order – released track C’Est La Vie stays true to form, and also has a Helen Mirren read version on that YouTube (interesting, if inessential)
* Never really listened to Yes before so have been working through the catalogue. Top spot goes to either The Yes Album or Going For The One.
(and I believe Rick Wakeman’s thoughts on Toby’s Topical Go-Kart: “there was too much for a single album, not enough for a double. So it was padded out … uninspiringly”
Read:
* Tom Fort has done the A303, been round the country looking at Village life, and is now travelling from Dover to Lands End. Quite dull on the face of it, but an interesting read (honest!)
* Mojo’s 30th Anniversary edition ploughed the archives for the best albums of the past 30 years. And then asked the question who will be on the cover for the next 30 years: Beatles, Stones, Bowie, Dylan, Dido, Arctic Monkeys …
Seen:
Nowt I can recall (or recommend) – lots of dull TV and/or stuff I’ve seen before or don’t have to try to hard with.
Did watch Alan Partridge’s Strategem on Amazon Prime. It was … OK
The Alan Partridge live at the O2? ‘OK’ is extremely generous. I love the character and heave been with him since In the Hour in Radio 4. I can see why the idea of presenting him to a conference audience seemed like a good idea, but it really didn’t work. Oh, and for the record Partridge peaked with Knowing Me, Knowing You on the radio, not I’m Alan Partridge.
If it is Alan’s last outing, it was not a way to go.
Then again, as part of the fictional narrative it’ll spur him on to release Bouncing Back … Again
I don’t really like the kind of revamp the newer writers have given Partridge. Nowhere near as funny, and Coogan seems to have added some new vocal inflections too, which grate a bit.
Seen
Bonny Light Horseman with the RTE Concert Orchestra* – NCH, Dublin
Surprised this didn’t get more attention or support, but I suppose a three-quarter full NCH wasn’t too bad. Wonderful band augmented by a touring rhythm section and a hard-working orchestra. Anaïs Mitchell was smiling all the way through, Eric D. Johnson was playfully sardonic and Josh Kaufman the wizard holding it all together, a conduit between band and orchestra. ‘The Roving’ was quite a highlight, but it all flowed beautifully, the orchestral arrangements adding texture to the originals but never swamping them. I thought the vocals were a little muddy at times, but my daughter said the sound was fine, so maybe it’s just these old ears. Her first time even hearing of BLH and she was mighty impressed. They had played Cork a week previously and I was glad to hear Anaïs say that they had spent the intervening week recording there. Following night was London and I’ve seen a very positive review of that.
*RTE have been under fire over the past few months over a salary scandal. Top presenters are paid way too much anyway but the board used some creative accounting to hide the fact that Ryan Tubridy’s take-home pay over the past few years was even more than what was reported. The result being that Ryan is no longer an RTE presenter and they have a new Director-General who previously worked for Ofcom in the UK. All well and good. The consequence of this however is that RTE are now considered the most distrusted organisation in Ireland with many people refusing to pay their TV licence. (I’m not one of them – I firmly believe in the value of a national broadcaster and find RTE fulfil their role in that superbly, whatever shenanigans the board gets up to) With reduced licence income and the government unwilling to prop up the organisation any more than it already does, I’d be worried that the disbanding of the likes of the RTE Concert Orchestra might be seen as a quick money-saving exercise and a way of placating those in the public who are screaming the loudest. (It won’t work – they’ll just scream about something else) It would be a crying shame, but I would not be surprised to see RTECO and other perceived non-essential innocent by-standers being victims of this stupidity.
Mikel Murfi – Glór, Ennis
Locally, I went to see two parts of a one-man self-written drama production ‘I Hear You and Rejoice’ and ‘The Mysterious Case of Kitsy Rainey’. Parts two and three of a trilogy, I was told about part One by the lady in Glór box office when I was buying tickets for another show and she was so enthusiastic about it, and explained the events of the play so well, that I bought tickets for the concluding two performances. And I’m so glad I did. With little in the way of props or lighting and no costume changes, Mikel Murfi created a town and many of it’s inhabitants, changing character by simply dropping the shoulders or affecting a limp. A beautiful script, funny and heart-breaking by turns, told the story of cobbler Pat Farnon and his marriage late in life to Kitsy Rainey and their tender relationship. The conceit is that Pat is mute so when the actor ‘speaks’ as Pat, we are hearing his inner thoughts and the wisdom accrued from a lifetime of listening. I don’t know if Mikel will bring the production outside Ireland, but if he does it’s well worth checking out.
Heard
Mick Flannery – Good Time Charlie – Sounds great so far. Mick has been signed to John Prines ‘Oh Boy’ label and Fiona Prine was on radio last week talking about how they will be promoting him in the US. Contains ‘Minnesota’ , a lovely song where the above mentioned Anaïs Mitchell takes the lead vocal and the title track has been a pretty good radio hit. Looking forward to seeing him in Ennis in December.
Soda Blonde – Dream Big – Not sure what to make of it just yet but I like the title track a lot. Looking forward to seeing them in Limerick in November.
Like Vince earlier, I’m not yet loving the Rhiannon Giddens album but early days. It has quality written all over it so why doesn’t it grab me?
Got the Van instrumental album.
Watched
Not without it’s flaws, as Kermode might say, but I liked The Woman In The Wall, especially the two leads.
Liked the first episode of Boiling Point last Sunday but I will miss the second episode this week and we don’t have I-Player over here.Oh well.
Read
Fracture by Matthew Parris – A potted history of various famous lives and how the all overcame trauma in early life to go on to achieve greatness. Some interesting biographies – I didn’t know much about Abe Lincoln before but he had an interesting upbringing. Not sure if it all works together and the closing essays are a bit rambling, but good short bios.
A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles – Not long into this but enjoying it a lot so far. A fictional young nobleman in early Soviet Russia is not exiled or executed but sentenced to spend his remaining days in the Metrolpol Hotel in central Moscow anfd forbidden to step outside. A good concept. I expect we will see the history of Soviet Russia through the life of this man – Forrest Gump like.
Wales win the group but unfortunately at the expense of some serious injuries. Seems to happen every World Cup and we don’t have the strength in depth of other top teams.
Lucky England? Thought there could have been a penalty in last period of Samoan pressure. But well done Farrell for checking themat the shot clock was working 🙂
Now for the big one. Would love it if Scotland could achieve their 8 point victory (with less than 4 tries for Ireland), can’t see it happening though
Sorry wrong thread
@dai Surprised you have not mentioned the Wilco album yet. To my ears it’s their best in a long time.
And being a fellow Welshman, I share your pain today.
Not too sure about it yet. @Kjwilly And I thought Cruel Country was a near masterpiece
As for Wales, basically threw it away from 10-0 up, blowing opportunities and letting them into the game. Lack of card for an assault on Tomkins didn’t help. Anyway spares us a 40pt hammering in the semi
@dai Surprised with the Wilco view. I found it more immediate and sonically interesting than Cruel Country. However having seen them in London in early September, I now want to see them again playing the new songs.
Yes Wales were unlucky with the head charge. But Adams was also lucky with his off ball. I am not convinced Biggar was fully fit but we have something to hopefully build on whereas hope seemed lost a year ago.
True about Adams. Some good youngsters coming through, but a bit lacking in certain positions
Am sure the songs will be (even) better live, first ttme I heard Cruel Country was a live run through in full (on digital release day). No plans to see them until Solid Sound next June, they may have another album by then!
@Kjwilly Probably my 4th Wilco listen last night and it clicked! Beautiful album
“Yes Wales were unlucky with the head charge.”
No, they weren’t. It was a great piece of refereeing.
Blue were entering safely, with a flat back and seeing to comply with the law. Red were dropping, with the speed of drop being exacerbated by pressure from behind. Absent that drop and pressure, Blue engage safely and legally.
As Karl Dickson said “not all head contact is illegal”
Yes you said that before. I disagree. The problem with refereeing of rugby is that so much is open to interpretation. With another ref and a stronger TMO (“you are going to have to explain that”) it would be penalty and yellow at least
If rugby is serious about stamping out serious concussions and, sadly, dementia, they can’t allow any situation that results in head contact
Wales lost a player for a concussion assessment, Argentina got a penalty and the game changed
But on balance they probably deserved the win, Wales were struggling with injuries and a weak bench, happens every World Cup in the latter stages. Our first XV is decent but then a fall off
You can’t eliminate every single element of head contact. It’s an incredibly fast game at that level – there is going to be some contact.
The first question in the Protocol is “was there an act of foul play” – and there wasn’t. Red was the single biggest contributory factor to what happened; if they had maintained their original height, this wouldn’t be a discussion. KD nailed it.
Read:
The month began with a chunky book by Swedish author Kerstin Ekman, containing essays on her favourite reading experiences, with added autobiographical material framing these recommendations. I loved it – she managed to make me want to read every single book I hadn’t read yet – some that I’ve actively avoided for years and years – and to re-read the others ASAP. Brilliant.
After a long break during my holidays I finally finished Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah. I don’t know if it was the many stops and starts I made through my reading of it, but I didn’t connect as much with this one as his others. Beautifully written, but the story felt a bit too aimless for big parts of it. At the same time I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it while I was reading it – but very little stayed with me once I finished it.
I read the latest novel by Olga Tokarczuk, called Empusion – in Swedish at least, I can’t see that it’s been translated into English yet? It’s by Tokarczuk, so it’s very good, but not quite as good as most of her other works. Set in a sanatorium among a small group of men, it looks at their traditional masculinity (which is worn like an uncomfortable starched collar), and their views on the nature of the female of the species (everything said by the men on this topic are actual quotes from famous men through history, which is a neat touch), symbolised by the stories about witches in the surrounding forests that they keep telling. Every autumn a man is found killed in these forests…and I can’t tell you what happens, but think “The Magic Mountain” crossed with “The Wicker Man” and [reducted as to not spoil the ending]. It floundered for a bit after the first chapters, but soon the pieces clicked into place and themes emerged that made it interesting and entertaining enough. I assume that she needed to write something lighter (and shorter!) after The Books of Jacob…!
Read the new poetry collection by Jen Campbell: Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit. As always with poetry, there were some poems I didn’t connect with, but the ones where I did were beautiful and very powerful.
Then for some lighthearted page-turning in the form of Holly, the latest by Stephen King. It was OK, I much prefer when he uses supernatural elements in his books, serial killers, however gruesome, just doesn’t have the same fright factor for me. Still highly entertaining during the read, but the plot just vanishes without a trace afterwards.
I also read a novel by Kerstin Ekman (see above), steeped in nature and folklore, a very slight story but beautifully written (it’s an older novel and hasn’t been translated into English).
And finally I read Kazuo Ishiguro – An Artist of the Floating World, which I enjoyed for his writing, but didn’t really connect to the plot. I think it’s because I realised that I have zero knowledge of Japanese history, and – bar Pearl Harbour and Hiroshima of course – know nothing about WW2 from their perspective, nor the lead-up to the war and what happened politically in Japan. If that was taught in school, I wasn’t there that day…I need to read up on these events and see if certain aspects of the novel’s plot then makes more sense to me! But I did enjoy it, despite my flawed education.
Seen/Heard:
My personal Film Festival that I told you about last month got cut short when my computer had a few glitches after an update and couldn’t play any discs (nor access my Word files…) This has since been fixed through another update, but I haven’t had time to return to my program. Not sure when I will, or indeed if. So at the moment I’m only watching occasional YouTube videos.
And I didn’t buy any new music in September – only just got the new Wilco album, which I will tell you my views on next time…but I can already reveal that it should have no problems reaching my Top Three this year! 😀
AOB:
Most of September was unnaturally warm and sunny, which was nice I guess, but I do love proper autumn best. Once the chilly autumn weather finally arrived, my passion for cooking returned, after a summer of just doing the neccessary, and just barely that. Spent last weekend cooking stuffed peppers, beef patties with rice and veggies, mushroom soup, rigatoni with a cheese and mushroom sauce, and baking some cinnamon apple pastries.
These I liked so much that I repeated the bake today, but refined it to also contain custard and sliced almonds, and then I cooked a Västerbottenpaj, a very Swedish cheese pie, with fried chanterelles and onions added to the filling for added yumminess. Tomorrow I’m making falafel with potato wedges and peperonata. I wish my freezer wasn’t so small, or I’d keep cooking while I’m in the mood!
I’ve also spent time with family on visit from Italy. My 95 year old aunt and my cousin came for one of their visits, for a month, spending time visiting with all of their relatives and friends in Stockholm. Had some lovely times together, and my aunt is a wonder to behold, so full of energy and mobility. Covid couldn’t kill her, pneumonia also failed. She had a big operation and caught an infection – but bounced back. She’s still swimming in the ocean, she’s sewing clothes and weaving. I can only hope that the genes on both sides of my family will triumph over the unexpected Type 1 Diabetes that I suddenly got stuck with! I want to become a sassy 90+ yo lady as well – if only to have the time to do all of my planned creative projects that always get postponed…
September, eh? A quiet month after all these festos, with no Os in the month, this time. Or indeed any live music at all.
Actually read a book, Snowblind, by Robert Sabbag, the story of cocaine smuggler Zachary Swan. Starting well, in the “new journalism” style of early Hunter S Thompson or Tom Wolfe, before he started on novels, it became a little tiresome, not to say confusing, given the array of lowlife introduced and documented. But it passed some time, and the coda, where what happened to each the characters next, was fun. A bit like the end credits at the end of a documentary drama. But it got me back into the loop of reading, something I have been trying to do for ages. (Can you get reader’s block?)
Best telly of the month, by far, was Woman In The Wall, which captivated me and the wife from the start, unlike others here, who seemed to have struggled. I found Ruth Wilson convincing in the title role, a great step up from her earlier tits out style of The Affair, and a complete contrast from her breathless playing of Alice, which I did enjoy, in Luther.
Musically it was a variable month. Michele Stodart’s Invitation gave less than it promised. I did enjoy greatly, @Raymond ‘s Nudge Unit Blues, by his band, ,mainly him, the Eisenhowers. The return of fellow Scots, Broken Records, with The Dreamless Sleep Of The Nineties also gave some pleasure. Best of the lot, however, has been Nothing Lasts Forever, by Teenage Fanclub, their second post the jumping ship of Gerard Love. Like its predecessor, it is full of delightfully low key charm, and the addition of Euros Childs and his keyboards continues to add something to the that. The songs are all as comfy and cosy as a favourite jacket, or pair of shoes, and I think, tin hat on, they are more reliable now than in their prime. Or, maybe I too, like the band, am getting old. Certainly one for my end of year bests.
Hmm…Ruth Wilson walked away from The Affair precisely because of the number of times she was asked to get her tits out. I thought her Affair performances were excellent and since then she has barely put a foot wrong acting-wise.
Snowblind, ha! I published that, at Picador – we published a lot of ‘new journalism’, inc Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, and some of it wasn’t top notch. Some bright spark in publicity produced bumper stickers that said ‘Honk If You’ve Read Snowblind’. Nobody did of course, until a couple of months later, by which time I’d forgotten the thing was even on my car. I didn’t respond well…
I agree with you about TF, Retro – The Leaving of Gerard has become a new version of “The Concept”: from now on, chinstrokers and “true fans” will say ”they were never as good after that”.
I think their last two have been among their best – and certainly the two I play most often.
Agree about Woman in the Wall. I thought it was magnificent – a bravely risky approach to a dark and difficult subject. I saw it having just read Fintan O’Toole’s excellent survey of Ireland during his lifetime, We Don’t Know Ourselves, which I highly recommend. It’s fair to say that the Catholic Church doesn’t come out of it well.
After seeing a video of her live performance at Glastonbury, I have really enjoyed listening to the early albums of Maggie Rogers this month. Seeing her cavorting around wildly on stage, it was clear that she loved music, but I hadn’t expected the sparse, beat-driven sound I was hearing. Here is Alaska, her breakthrough song that brought her to prominence with Pharrell’s recognition.
There’s a song exploder podcast episode all about how the song came about.
I feel about her a bit how I did when discovering Kirsty McGee and, before her, Laurie Anderson. So I am hoping for good things, even if I am late to the Maggie Rogers party (as ever with these things).
Aside from that, inspired by the Depeche Mode thread, I started listening to their back catalogue, as I have never really done beyond the hits. I stopped soon after as I realized I really don’t like Dave Gahan’s voice. Sorry, BC, but it just put me off completely.
Speaking of podcasts, I finished the Crazy Town series that has been running since 2019. Very good exploder of myths about climate solutions, particularly the first series, which debunks the idea that there is any way we can continue our current level of energy consumption, even with renewable alternatives to fossil fuels.
On a related theme, I finished ‘Adventures in the Anthropocene’ by Gaia Vance, which takes a chapter at a time to look at different environments (forests, mountains, cities) in this human-affected geological era. Not unremittingly negative, but it’s clear that a lot of the ‘solutions’ are really putting off the inevitable of serious climatic alterations.
I am ploughing my way through ‘The Future is Degrowth’ by Aaron Vansintjan, Andrea Vetter, and Matthias Schmelzer – another review of responses to climate. Like Defunding the Police, the prefix ‘De-‘ seems to now mean not the opposite, but an amended version of what came before. So not no growth, because many people need lifting out of poverty, but not unsustainable growth for economies which really have enough. I am only halfway through, and getting a bit stuck in some Marxist terminology which is no fun, but I hope to understand the subject more by the end of the book.
For my birthday I treated myself to two new books – ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ by Bessel van der Kolk and ‘Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence’ by Anna Lemke. The neurological and biochemical is a fascinating subject and I am hoping these two will complement earlier reading this year on memory and the brain. Onto the mountain of books they go. Just this morning I picked up ‘Boomerang’ by Michael Lewis from the open bookshelf in the park outside our house.
It’s a good job Facebook is continuing its ever-greater slide towards triviality and TikTok-chasing ‘Reels’ that make the site less and less appealing – I can continue the project to reconstruct my attention span by more book reading.
Have a good month, everyone!
READING
I finally finished Robert Graves’ The White Goddess, after crawling my way slowly through it over the past couple of years. To be honest, I’m not sure why I bothered. I’m sorry to report it’s one of those books where the idea at the heart of it (that in the mists of time our faith was a feminine thing centred around a kind of triple goddess, which was subsequently undermined by a masculine set of religions, mainly Christianity) is rather intriguing, but the message just gets lost in wads of dense, uncompromising text. It would be better summarised as a short essay outlining the main points, as Graves is woefully inept at following through an argument logically without drifting off into fanciful side points (and he seems to want to justify it as some kind of spiritual/poetic endeavour to excuse the lack of academic rigour). I found it really hard to get my head around it, especially all the philology stuff, and I understand a lot of it has since been debunked by academics anyway. Still, I can chalk it off my list now.
The Dig by John Preston. I read this because I’ve now seen the film a couple of times and I really like it. The book was great as well. Something about it really speaks to me – it really captures well the feeling of what it must be like to be uncovering ancient bits of history under the ground (much more than Time Team was ever able to evoke!). And I love the sense of horror and anticipation in the setting: that little bubble of calm just before the second world war broke out. I’ve decided (definitely after Robert Graves, above) that I like books that can say what they want to say with clarity and brevity, and this is just the book for that.
WATCHING
The Prestige (2006) – I rewatched this Christopher Nolan film again for the first time since seeing it on its original release. I think there’s the germ of a great film in there (the rival magicians trying to work out each other’s tricks, and Christian Bale’s personal relationships) but it gets lost in the mire of Nolanisms (unnecessary twists, complications and obscurities) in the same way he messed up Oppenheimer this year (in my opinion!).
Tron (1982) and Tron Legacy (2010) – Now, don’t laugh, I was feeling nostalgic. The original Tron remains impressive as ever and any hokiness in the storyline or hamminess in the acting are instantly forgiven by the beauty of the execution and the futuristic style. Jeff Bridges is a massively likeable presence and always great to see. It’s a classic.
Sadly, I didn’t like the sequel as much: strange, because I remember really enjoying it in the cinema, but this time round it felt a bit stretched and bloated with its own importance. The graphics are also not as cool, having traded an elegant simplicity for a glossy, kitchen-sink muddiness.
GIGGING
In a rare social outing I went to see New Order at the Hydro in Glasgow. A massive venue which they filled (I hadn’t realised how big a deal they still are). A good friend I was with is a total New Order nut so it was great to see him so ecstatic (he says they get better the older they get, as the technology catches up with them and allows them to play stuff that would have been a technical nightmare in the 80s). I’m not really that much of a fan of them, but I enjoyed it and recognised most of the songs. I think they’re one of those bands that walk a very fine line between amateurism and genius (many of my favourite musicians live in that space!) – Steven Morris’ drumming is utterly unbelievable, and I would be saying that even if he was in his 20s and not his 60s. I have no idea how he does it. But Barney and Gillian are rudimentary musicians at best (and that’s being kind). Somehow it all just works though.
On a technical note, I really noticed the lack of a bass deep end. The bass player basically just copies Peter Hook in playing lead lines high up the scale, so all that’s left to fill out the bass is occasional synth burbles and the kick drum. It sounds quite full when they play their more dance-y, sequencer-based stuff, but otherwise it can sometimes feel a bit empty. And strangely, Blue Monday (which I was really looking forward to) is quite bare and unconvincing live – probably one of those studio creations best left as a record and not a live performance.
LISTENING
Nothing new really, just the same old stuff. One thing I got hold of (finally) was a bootleg of a concert Mike Oldfield appeared at in February 1979 at the Queen’s Hall. It’s basically a variation on David Bedford’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner LP from a few years earlier (an art-prog classic), a load of sea shanties sung by a school choir with Mike adding lead guitar flourishes to Bedford’s piano arrangements. Very obscure and unlikely to be of interest to anyone but obsessives like me (and the sound quality isn’t the best), but I love it.