Still here! Still not going out! Please log in to the video conference, pour yourself a cup of something refreshing, make sure you are un-muted, and then share with us all – what have you been listening to, watching , reading or playing this month ?
And – how are you coping ? Any suggestions or tips to share ?
Lemonhope says
Listening to – A wonderful collection of Brazilian music that I discovered via this place, thanks to @sparrowroberts and this post https://theafterword.co.uk/10-of-the-best-music-radio-stations-around-the-world/
Other listening includes new stuff by Laura Marling, Fiona Apple and rediscovering old stuff from Grace Jones and The National. I also immersed myself in Joni Mitchell’s ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’ as part of a project that requires me to recommend 6 albums to my middle daughter. I’m happy to report that It gets better with each passing year.
As I write this I am listening to a fantastic playlist with a selection of Tony Allen’s best bits – RIP
Watched – Just finished Boardwalk Empire. Five cracking seasons. Highly recommended
Part way through Ozark, Narcos Mexico, After Life and Tiger King – all good so far.
Reading – re-read Station Eleven. Even more relevant in these pandemic times. I look forward to the TV series.
Currently reading the latest Lee Child ‘Blue Moon’ and the last Reacher book before he hands over writing duties to his brother. It’s standard Reacher. Not as good as the previous two, IMO.
Just started the audio book of Adam Buxton’s memoir ‘Ramble Book’. It’s only available on audio at the moment. Up to chapter 5 and so far it’s what you would expect from Buckles.
AOB – Still going in to work [key worker, non frontline, can’t work from home] So far, out of a workforce of around 150 we have only one confirmed case of Covid 19 [he almost died mind you, so it was a bad one]
Not finding it difficult being locked down the rest of the time, perhaps because I spend all week mooching around the house anyway in ‘normal’ times and I’m able to go to work at the weekends and get a change of scene.
Rigid Digit says
Heard:
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs – The Best Of Under The Covers.
It may not be breaking new ground musically, but this is all done really well, and there is a certain amount of joy in those tracks.
If (like me) you never got round to picking up the 3 volumes, get this one – you won’t be disappointed.
Sometimes a bit of Southern Boogie is needed – The Georgia Satellites are the solution.
Vinyl upgrade to CD (2 quid each on Music Magpie) – the first two Wonderstuff albums are still fantastic
Seen:
It seems that a lot of people are ploughing through Box Sets and films whilst in lockdown.
I’m not, and have trouble remembering much of what I have seen this month.
Hollies doc on SkyArts (Look Through Any Window) was good – more popular than history perhaps paints them. Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who – Hollies must rank in fifth place (certainly above Dave Clark Five).
There’s a Shadows doc on BBC4 tonight – hoping for a proper doc, rather than just a collection of BBC clips.
A couple of their tunes sound like they just need the right Tarrantino movie.
Read:
Nearly finished Chrisse Hynde – Reckless – she’s very honest, but I think she overdose how great James Honneyman-Scott was.
AOB:
Magically, my Broadband seems to have doubled in speed, and I’ve got more TV channels (VirginMedia seemed to have slipped out some bonuses without telling anyone).
After 49 years, I finally have the one thing I’ve never had – a beard. Past the itchy stage, might need a bit of a trim, but Mrs D seems to like it. That’s 5 minutes a day saved (like I need to save time at the moment)
dai says
“Overdose” and Honeymoon-Scott? I see what you did there.
Paul Wad says
The bit in the Hollies doc where Graham Nash is doing his vocal for On a Carousel is marvellous isn’t it. I think I rewound that bit and watched it 3 times.
Twang says
Sounds great. I do love The Hollies. Don’t have Sky Arts though.
Rigid Digit says
On Amazon too.
This is the On A Carousel bit
Paul Wad says
That was fab, but I actually meant this bit. Fast forward to 3:24 if you don’t want to watch it all (but it’s all worth watching!)
Rigid Digit says
Yes – my mistake. That is a bit special
Lodestone of Wrongness says
What I still find surprising is that in all these documentaries someone somewhere has unearthed actual photographic footage. So, back in 1853, for example, when The Hollies were recording Carousel there was a cameraman with a camera, which in those days was approximately three feet wide and approximately weighed three tons , lying on the floor filming it all? I amazed.
mikethep says
Just watched this, all two hours of it. Marvellous. Two things leapt out at me: 1) every note of every single they recorded in those years is burned irrevocably into my brain, yet I’ve never as far as I know heard any of their elpees; 2) what an astonishingly tragic series of syrups Bobby Elliott went through in the 70s.
fentonsteve says
Thanks, Rigid, I didn’t know it was on Amazon. I love a bit of Hollies, me. I think I have everything up to Nash leaving, plus a few after.
As I may have mentioned before, Buzzcocks are less punk, more a speeded-up Hollies.
Mousey says
HEARD
Tony Allen and Hugh Masakela – I’d never heard of Tony Allen but thanks to some recommendations here and on FB have been catching up on this remarkable drummer with the best feel ever
The Cardiacs – how come I had never heard of these guys? My 15 year old piano student put me on to them! This is wonderfully mental synth poppy lunacy
Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban
Don’t know how I missed this when it came out. It’s wonderful. Galban is a Cuban guitarist, Ry produced and co-wrote some of the tracks and plays sly organ on more than one!
Also if you’re on Instagram I suggest you follow rycooderofficial – each day he plays/sings something new.
fentonsteve says
This is my fave Cardiacs, rarely left out of a post-gig DJ set:
Baron Harkonnen says
That Ry Cooder/Manuel Galban album is a good `un.
Mike_H says
Love it.
I seem to recall it got a bit of a panning at the time from some critics.
Idiots.
Baron Harkonnen says
Critics? Cretins!
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks a lot, Mousey, for the Ry Instagram tip. Your own Instagram is rather fun too. Sweet potato gnocchi! Yes please!
Mousey says
@Kaisfatdad – be warned though – it’s delicious but labour intensive (might have said that on the Insta post…)
deramdaze says
Seen:
The Conversation, never seen it before, the paranoia perfectly ties in with the era we’re in now, and, like the rest of the country, old episodes of Poirot.
Logical in my case because …
Read:
1930s newspapers and, swaying away from football reports, a fascination with the Crysede silk/fabrics company based in Newlyn, and then St. Ives, in the 20s and 30s.
Way ahead of their time, the designs are psychedelic.
Also, the Uncut Special on The Byrds, which led to …
Heard:
“Sweetheart,” “Dr. Byrds…” and, best of all, “The Ballad of Easy Rider.”
Alice Cooper’s 69 album on Zappa’s label.
Beach Boys/Fabs – “Help!” “All Summer Long,” and “Friends.”
“Workingman’s Dead” after having seen again the brilliant “Festival Express” film … 50 years old next month.
Dylan’s “New Morning” and Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother,” neither of which I’ll be revisiting any time soon.
Best of all … “Another Monday” by John Renbourn, and “Midnight Man,” “Large as Life… ” and “Hat” by Davy Graham.
Weird fact:
Davy Graham, to my knowledge, covered five Beatles’ songs in the 60s.
ALL were McCartney songs.
Mike_H says
Last year I bought a CD digipak copy of “Atom Heart Mother”, because a:) I had pleasant memories of it from when it was released and of a free concert version I seem to recollect from my Freak (as in post-hippy) daze and b:) it was very cheap.
Discovered it’s actually a bit shit. Pretentious piffle mostly, in retrospect. Must have been the drugs I was fiending back then.
Only played the once, on arrival from Amazon, and then filed away to gather dust.
I saw a rare late live appearance by Davy Graham in a club called Spitz, in Spitalfield Market (long since closed). He was no longer the dazzling virtuoso of his early days (ravages of long-term heroin addiction) but it was still good and I was glad I saw/heard him play before he died a couple of years later.
Twang says
I rather like AHM as it goes. It’s still got that psychedelic mucking about element which I like, in the right mood, and the opening track is brilliant.
Slug says
The Conversation is brill, isn’t it? Gene Hackman’s best role I think, which is saying something because he was rarely less than excellent.
dai says
Funnily enough I watched this today (for the 3rd or 4th time). Great film, Coppola’s best? 😉 Certainly the best one Harrison Ford has been in.
Hackman is brilliant, but I would have to go with The French Connection (and sequel) for his ultimate performance.
Colin H says
I hadn’t noticed that McCartney aspect to Graham’s Beatles covers before – fascinating. I interviewed him in 2000, at his home in London, for a Mojo feature and then met him two or three times after that, at rather awkward late-period comeback shows in Northern Ireland, one a double header with Bert Jansch. I was asked to present an award to him at the first one and then, a few months later, at the other one, I was asked to introduce him onstage. Just before it he said ‘Don’t use the L word… I don’t feel it today’ (i.e. legendary). Slightly thrown, I went on and improvised, including the unfortunate phrase ‘the late, great Davy Graham’. But in a way, he was.
mikethep says
Heard:
My constant soundtrack for the past couple of weeks has been French classical, both the bewigged dudes like Lully and Marais, and more modern stuff like my fave Poulenc. Very cheering, I find. Veronique Gens is a wonderful discovery. Here she is talking about her latest waxing. Sublime stuff.
Today on the other hand has been mostly Anita O’Day – randomly, a vast collection of her Verve stuff is streamable free with Amazon Prime. I’m beginning to think she might just shade Elephants Gerald in the jazzy vocal stakes.
For washing up and such: lots of Randy Newman, Little Feat, Ry Cooder.
Read:
Not a lot, apart from newspapers and mags on the iPad. I romped through James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia again. Encouraged by this, I’m now reading Chris Petit’s The Butchers of Berlin, but I’m finding it slow going. Too much research, not enough action. Otherwise, regular doses of Wodehouse and Runyon – like a lot of people, it seems, I’m finding short stories easier.
Seen:
I’ve been digging through my DVD collection, which has been stuck (sans boxes) in a massive storage wallet thingy for the past few years. Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, which I never got round to watching when I bought it. A very strange film, with unconvincingly well-fed and groomed POWs David Bowie and Tom Conti up against shouty Japanese psychos who turn out to have hearts of gold. Gripping, though. Powell & Pressburger’s Age of Consent, starring James Mason and Helen Mirren’s bum. All About Eve, The Day of the Locust, To Have and Have Not, Lost Weekend…time for an Ealing Comedy I think…
Tiggerlion says
Randy and Ry go back a loooong way. Rediscovering Good Old Boys. Brilliant!
Bowie’s acting career is under-rated. I saw Mr Lawrence when it came out. As you say, mesmerising, and Bowie is nicely emaciated compared to the others.
mikethep says
Bowie was nicely emaciated compared with all of us…
dai says
Thought he played the scene with a noose around his neck well, but not sure he is underrated generally. Competent.
Twang says
Terrible is the word I’d use. Never seen him remotely convincing in anything and the Absolute Beginners typewriter scene is so dire it ruins the film.
Kaisfatdad says
Ry and Randy live in 1982
mikethep says
That’s just lovely, never seen it before.
Tiggerlion says
Fabulous! Don’t they all look so young.
thecheshirecat says
Interesting to see Ropartz represented in that Gens clip. I know little about him, but have had for years a cassette including a string quartet of his. French chamber music could get me through quite a long lockdown I suspect.
mikethep says
@thecheshirecat me too. Bit allergic to honking French tenors though.
Paul Wad says
Seen: I’m a handful of episodes away from having watched all 9 series of the American version of the Office. I think, on the whole, I prefer it to the UK version. Steve Carell is excellent, but it also has a bigger and better cast than the original. The two major differences from the UK version are firstly, that it is played for laughs, with over the top comedy performances, rather than the more naturalistic performances in the UK version, and secondly, they pretty much do away with the premise that it’s a fly on the wall documentary for most of the run, unless the documentary team are supposed to be working with a dozen cameras in multiple locations. Very funny though.
Also watched the latest series of Better Called Saul, which I think is even better than Breaking Bad, the latest series of Ozark, the second series of the brilliant car crash that is the fly on the wall documentary about Sunderland FC, the incredibly violent, totally ridiculous, but very watchable Gangs of London (seriously, where are the police when mass gun battles are happening all over London?), a brilliant South Korean zombie film, Train To Busan, and Spike Jonze’s enjoyable Beastie Boys documentary.
I haven’t been enjoying watching the government statements on TV though. Hearing the PM talk about the downward trend of new cases when the only one of the lines showing a downward trend was the London one, with the rest being level, nearly saw me put my boot through the TV. They must really think we are all idiots.
Read: I’ve actually, finally made a start on this big pile of books and magazines that has been getting bigger and bigger at the side of the coffee table. Mainly James Bond and horror magazines so far, as well as several of those ‘251 Best Singles Since Punk and Disco’ type books, but it’s a start, so I’ll soon be back to reading actual books. If I can get to the point where I’m reading things faster than buying them I will be very happy!
Heard: Been dipping further into the world of reggae and dub, with a couple of Peter Tosh albums being the most recent additions. New music wise, I’m yet to be knocked off my feet by a 2020 release, but Damien Jurado’s latest came pretty close. He’s in the midst of a great run of albums. The new Ghostpoet one didn’t immediately grab me like its predecessors, but it’s good and I’m sure it will grow on me. Similarly Dom & Roland’s Lost In The Moment is going to take a few listens. The Four Owls’ Nocturnal Instinct may be their best yet and I’m enjoying the new albums by three artists new to me, Jhené Aiko, RAP Ferreira and Rhys Langston. And that old racist, Morrissey, has followed up his rather good covers album, with a rather good album of new songs, when I was hoping it would be rubbish, so I could properly disown him.
Junglejim says
Have a huge up for ‘Train to Busan’ – I can’t recommend this movie highly enough, which works brilliantly within its self imposed constraints (it’s set on a train!).
It manages to provide adrenaline, laughs & genuine gut wrenching emotion – pretty good for a zombie movie & proof that S Korean has been super hot for a long while before the terrific ‘Parasite’.
SteveT says
Another thumbs up for Train to Busan. As you say humour and menace in equal amounts.
Paul Wad says
You’re right about the gut-wrenching emotion. Without giving anything away to potential viewers, not everything went as I wanted it to go and I imagine you felt the same. A great addition to the zombie movie canon though.
If you haven’t seen it, I’d also recommend a recent Japanese ‘zombie’ film, One Cut Of The Dead. Don’t read anything about it before you watch it, give it your full attention and persevere with it, even if you think it’s a bit rubbish, cos it’s not and you’ll be richly rewarded with the third act.
Kid Dynamite says
another up for Train To Busan, and an extra one for One Cut Of The Dead. It’d be so easy to turn it off during the first half hour, but you’d miss an absolute treat if you did.
In other zombie news, back to Korea for ‘Kingdom’, which is my top lockdown discovery. The twist here is that it’s about a zombie outbreak in feudal Korea, roughly 400 years ago. It’s brilliant – great sets, great costumes, some amazingly choreographed action sequences, loads of courtly intrigue, a really nasty villain, and all the ravenous zombie munching action you could want.
Paul Wad says
@kid-dynamite – I have to thank you for the recommendation about Kingdom. I’m just finishing the first series and it’s ace! There aren’t many zombie series, but it’s definitely the best one I’ve seen. Far more enjoyable than The Walking Dead, for starters, which has managed to turn one of the best comics into something so…dull. It’s not all bad, and did give us Daryl Dixon, but it’s such a letdown after reading the comic. I find myself wanting main characters to get eaten, just to get shut of them. The pilot episode of The Walking Dead was excellent, as was the bit up to Rick joining the rest of the survivors. It just started to get patchy from there.
Kingdom is fab though. Like you say, the production values are excellent (a budget of apparently just shy of $2m per episode) and it looks so good. Whoever had this idea is genius. I’m a big fan of horror films and zombies in particular. We were lucky enough to get a video recorder a few years before the stupid video nasties debate started and the films started getting taken off the shelves. I must have rented Dawn of the Dead and Zombie Flesh Eaters a dozen times each (Oh for the days when a 12 year old could go into a video library and walk back out with a gore filled horror film!) and would watch anything with zombies in. Since they came back into fashion, however, there’s been cartloads of zombie films, 95% of them being rubbish. There have been some gems in there though, headed by the brilliant Shaun of the Dead, and I get a delight in seeing something I’ve not seen before, like the scary fast zombies in the Dawn of the Dead remake, or the zombie with the flip top head in Land of the Dead, or the old lady zombie ‘biting’ the only guy that could fly the plane in the otherwise mediocre Flight of the Living Dead (I’ll not give the gag away, in case you haven’t seen it). And it’s fair to say that zombies during the Joseon dynasty in Korea, 500 years ago is something new!
Sitheref2409 says
Seen: Aside from the usual rubbish I watch, I’ve enjoyed Baptiste and World on Fire that just launched over here. Baptiste is the better of the two, but both fill a gap. Scottish Rugby replay a match “as live” every Friday afternoon, so that’s a nice way to ease into the weekend.
Read: Archer and Armstrong (comics), which are excellent; so too Bloodshot. Restarted the Wimsey books by Dorothy L Sayers, which are a form of comfort reading.
Heard: Nothing thrilling and nothing new, just the same old stuff.
Other: Alexandria Library have an excellent deal whereby Rosetta Stone is free until June 30, so I’ve started learning Spanish as Sharon continues her German. It’s a great way to fill in between an hour and two (depending on the lesson) and it keeps the little grey cells ticking over.
retropath2 says
Or Month 2 as it is, the new normal still as disconcertingly tiring as the last. Who knew less physically busy could be so exhausting?
Telly still the way of differentiating the day, some broadcasters still doing the old fashioned one episode a week malarkey. But it remains so much better when they chuck the whole thing on at once, allowing for immersive splurges. Thus was ‘After Life’, the second series of Ricky Gervais’ latest vehicle. Don’t be put off the by the G word, this is an amalgam of his dual abilities to make you laugh and to make you weep, often simultaneously. Enormously good, with a stellar cast.
‘Gangs of London’ was terrific and ludicrous nonsense, with echoes of ‘Gomorrah’ to the choreographed violence and the scheming shenanigans. And a totally preposterous ending leaving plenty of room for a second series. Am also enjoying ‘See Me Too’: the wife lost interest, so I catch up in the wee hours.
‘Breeders’ remains the highlight of the week for those that drip out weekly, better than ‘Killing Eve’, which, while still entertaining, seems going through very well executed motions. Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard play believably amidst recognisable shitstorms of family life. (If you get the opportunity, look out Daisy’s own series, ‘Back to Life’, if you can find it. )’Run’ has lost it already, I fear. The highly anticipated series 2 of ‘Blood’ was shite and was jettisoned.
Daily teatime soap, ‘Coronavirus Briefing’, has totally jumped the shark: confusing and contradictory storylines make for poor continuity, with many of the leading characters lacking enough gravitas to sustain any appeal.
I have been thoroughly enjoying regular wallows in Bandcamp. Funny how I thought it related to ‘Glee” and to be for diy school choirs and the like. I tend to enter the names of artists I like and then follow suggestions. Thus, as a huge enthusiast of scottish folk influences where they waft into other genres, I am amassing a huge collection of the solo outputs of those hardworking musicians who seem to be in umpteen different projects at the same time: so the likes of Ross Ainslie, James Lindsay, Fraser Fifield, Rachel Newton, Hamish Napier. Not well known names necessarily, but worth a punt. I also spotted/downloaded an EP of covers by Teddy Thompson, covers all, but a good taster for his forthcoming LP, which isn’t.
In a surprising other, excellent Lichfield Beer Cafe, the Beerbohm, has opened a takeaway service on friday and saturday pms, discovered by chance as I walked the hounds through town. Enterprising stuff for a small business surely suffering and a 4 pint polypin of ale certainly cheered up my evening.
Tiggerlion says
I listened to Exile on the Cover Me website. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Made me realise that my problem isn’t with the songs at all, many of which are magnificent, but the murky production and original performances which are sloppy and ham-fisted much of the time. *ducks for cover*
How about doing a Bob Dylan album, retro? Blonde On Blonde?
Here’s a Ziggy Stardust covers list:
Five years – The Cowboy Junkies
Moonage Daydream – Milky Edwards and The Chamberlings
Soul Love – Fini Bearman
Starman – Matt Johnson
It Ain’t Easy – Long John Baldry
Lady Stardust – Sharlotte Gibson
Star – Cuff The Duke
Hang Onto Yourself – Charles De Goal
Ziggy Stardust – Elliott Brood
Suffragette City – Alice In Chains
Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide – Gwyneth Herbert
retropath2 says
I’d love to be able to take the responsibility for the EoMS Full Album cover version piece, it was Patrick Robbins, the site’s editor, who keeps my purpler prose muted.
There have been a number of Dylan records covered and a number of Bowie records: I have done one for each, if I recall, Oh Mercy and Hunkydory respectively. And Ray Padgett, the originator and overlord of the (his) site, did Ziggy some years back.
Here’s a full list of all the various by the varied team of writers.
http://www.covermesongs.com/?s=full+albums&searchsubmit=
Tiggerlion says
Thanks for that. I clearly didn’t scroll down enough! Lots for me to get my teeth into. I’ll start with Hunky Dory.
bigstevie says
Did you catch any of the Feis Rois weekend @retropath2 ? Some of it was shown on BBC Alba a couple of days ago. Still on catch up I think, but the whole thing is on youtube.
https://www.facebook.com/SiobhanMillerMusic/photos/d41d8cd9/3155138501197841/
@Kaisfatdad and @lando_cakes You might like the cover of Marra’s ‘Frida Kahlo’s visit To The Taybridge Bar’ at about 2.20.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks Big Stevie! The whole concert looks well worth a listen.
You’ve really got me curious to learn more!
retropath2 says
I’m watching now: what a roster! Feis Ros I am familiar with through their regular Saturday afternoon showcase at Cambridge: although I haven’t been that often, it is great to see the youngsters of years before reappearing later in bands they have gone on to form. Mischa MacPherson being one great example.
thecheshirecat says
Adam Sutherland too. I was having a wigout to The Treacherous Orchestra this afternoon. They had pretty much stopped gigging even before this catastrophe we’re in. It would be a triumphant return if they were to stride the stages again next year.
Lando Cakes says
Thanks – interesting take. Will be catching up on more of that.
Carl says
Seen
The divine Juliette Binoche in Who You Think I Am (available via Curzon Home Cinema). A tale of love. duplicity, identity, loss and madness.
Very moving and very good.
We also saw Juliette with Catherine Deneuve The Truth, also via Curzon, just after lockdown bega, Also very good, though out of the two I prefer Who You Think I Am. Certainly both films were a huge improvement on last year’s Non Fiction, which she also starred in. A film that disappeared up its own pseudo-profound backside.
Heard
Brandy Clark (see my review in Nights In).
Caleb Caudle with his new (crowd-funded) album Better Hurry Up. It mixes up Caleb’s gift for a great tune with a hitherto rarely seen, rockier side. It is a grower, for sure.
Following on from the Juliette Binoche film, the soundtrack to it by Ibrahim Maalouf is very lovely and relaxing and I have been listening to a stream of it (titled in the original French Celle Que Vous Croyez. He’s not a name I knew before, but he appears to have a vast back catalogue, which I’ll be exploring.
The Go-Betweens’ back catalogue (see below).
Read
Robert Forster’s Grant & I. His memoir of life in the Go-Betweens and his relationship with Grant McLennan. A tale of what might have been. I am amazed at how little awareness I had of them in the first incarnation. Bad luck with record companies were a major part of why they never hit the big time, but sometimes it appears we just didn’t want to listen to what they had to offer.
Grant’s premature death is not quite the end of the story as Robert did find the love of a good woman, with whom by the book’s end he had had two children.
SteveT says
@Carl I have two Ibrahim Maalouf albums – Kalthoum and Wind – both very good indeed but especially recommend Kalthoum. I love the Arabic scales.
Twang says
We’ve looked at Curzon as we love a foreign film but I’ve shied away from another monthly subscription but I’m now tempted again.
Carl says
@Twang, Curzon isn’t a monthly subscription, but you pay per film.
You have for 48 hours from the time you subscribe to watch it. New releases are £10:00 and I think the back catalogue are cheaper, but I can’t say with certainty as we have only been watching those new releases which we would have gone to see.
Twang says
Oh, ok thanks for that @carl, I’d misunderstood. I shall look anew!
Locust says
Heard:
I’ve mostly listened to the comfort blanket that is my 50th birthday playlist from a few years back, with all of my favourite tunes from each year of my life up until then, but the one new album I’ve listened to and definitely recommend is the eponymous solo album from Sam Doores of The Deslondes. If you enjoy 50s rock’n roll, New Orleans, hints of Mexico and a pinch of American folk music, and of course The Deslondes, and Alynda Segarra (who makes an appearance on a co-write and background vocals), this is absolutely lovely.
I’ve read a lot, but it’s been another month of only Swedish books. But because my almost 89 year old mum can’t go to the library now that she’s in isolation (and like me she’s an avid reader) I decided to become her private librarian and pick out books for her from my own private library for as long as this goes on. I hauled a bag of ten heavy hardback volumes to her this Tuesday (she can’t read the fine print in paperbacks) in a first delivery. At the moment she’s crying laughing over Harpo Speaks! which I recommended her to start with, so that makes me very happy.
Not being in lockdown, not being able to work from home, and working in a very busy grocery store, I’m having less time to do things than usual, so that’s all I have to tell really!
Colin H says
It’s always great to hear from you, Locust. Stay safe and stay happy! 🙂
Locust says
Thanks Colin, same to you!
Colin H says
🙂
Baron Harkonnen says
You`ve sold me on that Sam Doores album @Locust. 50`s Rock`n`Roll✓ New Orleans✓ A hint of Mexico✓ A pinch of American folk music✓ The Deslondes & Alynda Segarra✓ What`s not to like?
Locust says
Yes, if you like Hurrah For The Riff Raff, this is of a similar flavour, with echoes of Toussaint etc.
retropath2 says
I always muddle up Hooray For the Riff-Raff with Over the Rhine, which leads to twice as much pleasure…
Riff Raff
Rhine
Baron Harkonnen says
I`m a big fan of HFTRR @Lotus so I await the SD album with expectation.
SteveT says
Was listening to the Hurrah for the Riff Raff album this am so the Sam Doores album kid of interest to me too @Locust.
Mrbellows says
I’m all over the shop.
Music: Rediscovered with fresh ears Mr. Nick Drake. I didn’t think it was possible but I haven’t listened to him in probably 10 years. Man in a shed came first and although I know the tune it really felt like the first time again.
Reading: I signed up a while ago to a daily email about stoicism so I’ve Just started reading Seneca’s letters. I’m starting to think that these are letters to himself and that there was no correspondent named Lucius other than himself. I am enjoying it though.
Seen: just finished watching ‘Curfew’ with Sean Bean. I had watched the first 4 episodes earlier last year/this year? But for some reason never bothered with the rest at the time. Watching the remaining episodes after a gap and what with things as they are now made the last episodes even more enjoyable.
Sean Bean is brilliant and funny as fuck. Also he doesn’t half look like older ‘Bowie’ now.
Keef says
I’m retired so lockdown has not made a huge difference to my lifestyle, although all the queueing outside chemists reminds me why I don’t like theme parks and coronaland is becoming one of my least favourite. Not getting as much exercise as I should bit have been visiting the local ducks regularly when I am a little bemused by some joggers’ apparent inability or unwillingness to comply with social distancing. Little direct contact with the grandkids and I miss them although they regularly facetime me so that’s a daily highlight. We all live in Greater London but mercifully we have not been directly affected by the virus.
Seen
A few boxsets. Bosch and The Righteous Gemstones. Both led by largely one-note performers but in both cases it’s a note I like. Also watched Gangs Of London; a few spectacular and violent action scenes but plot was unconvincing and some of the acting by the headline stars was atrocious. Also been watching a few oldish westerns: Hostiles and Last Of The Mohicans. I did enjoy the acting of Wes Studl. His Magua in Mohicans is a great relentless villain.
Heard
Nat Birchall meets Al Breadwinners Tradition in Dub maintains the standard from their previous effort. Discovery of the month is a latvian classical composer Eriks Esenvalds as performed by ther Portland State Chamber Choir. Both Translations and the Doors of Heaven offer modern choral music that achieve frequent moments of ethereal beauty.
Read
Had a long period when I didn’t read very much at the start of the year as I got a bit stuck on the latest James Ellroy. His latter day style does not really lend itself to dipping in and out. But in the last month I’ve managed to read 2 books a week, including a couple of Jackson Lamb thrillers, Dead Man’s Blues by Ray Celestine and Plender by Ted Lewis: all good stuff. Also read David Hepworth’s latest which I thought was a distinctive improvement on his other efforts but I do wonder how many times he can write what is essentially the same book.
Twang says
What did you think of the Celestin? I though it was good but could have been excellent though I can’t put my finger on what was wrong. Just a bit flat somehow.
Leicester Bangs says
Read: The Godfather by Mario Puzo, The Verdict by Nick Stone, various copies of Scream and Dark Side magazine.
Watched: Devs. Little Fires Everywhere. Schitt’s Creek (major thanks to whoever it was here who recommended Schitt’s; it’s absolutely brilliant).
Heard: Antarctica by Flat Worms, Illusion of Time by Daniel Avery and Allesandro Cortini, Nightwhisper by Jody Wisternoff. Bokeh’s Mars & Blaze EP on repeat.
Paul Wad says
Never heard of Schitt’s Creek, so I just watched the Season One trailer, which suggests the humour is along the lines of Arrested Development, which I loved (but not so much when it came back and was rubbish). Is that a good assumption? If so, it will fill the gap left after I watch the 188th and final episode of the American Office this week.
Leicester Bangs says
I’ve never seen Arrested Development so can’t comment on that comparison, but it’s really good, yes. Amazing ensemble cast: Catherine O’Hara is utterly brilliant and you’ll be in love with Alexis.
As it goes on it does develop A Problem, which will be familiar to viewers of Friends and Frasier, but mainly it’s double-double good. I’m told that the final season is a doozy but we’re not there yet.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
It’s a doozy!
Paul Wad says
Just watched the first episode. It is similar in feel to Arrested Development, although it’s not as surreal and the jokes don’t come as thick and fast from the off. Enjoyed it though, so I will continue with it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I’d recommend Arrested Development to you, as it’s probably the most consistently funny show I’ve seen, with laughs coming even quicker than they do with The Simpsons, Family Guy, Father Ted, and Police Squad, which all keep the jokes coming thick and fast. If you do watch it, don’t fast forward the ‘in the next episode’ bit at the end, as I did for the first couple of shows, cos it’s nothing to do with the next episode and is just an excuse for a few quick, and usually very funny, visual gags.
Twang says
We watched the first episode and didn’t get on with it so haven’t been back. Might have another look.
Paul Wad says
@Leicester-bangs – thanks for the recommendation about Schitt’s Creek. I’ve been watching it over the past couple of weeks and it’s brill. I’m a few episodes from the end of season 5 and I’ve been enjoying it more and more as it goes on. I know what you mean about Alexis, but way too high maintenance for me! Every character is portrayed perfectly and I’m going to miss it when I’ve finished.
Leicester Bangs says
Hey, great stuff, Paul. We should really be thanking whoever here recommended it to me, but I can’t remember!
moseleymoles says
SAW
We have got through the last fortnight by mainlining (for us) The Sopranos. ‘Always with the drama’ accompanied by dismissive hand gesture has entered everyday usage round here. Half-way through series 2 already and thinking, as have forgotten almost everything about it two questions I pose to you all:
They can’t keep us with the Melfi/Tony stuff for another 4 series? it’s only series 2 and she has had to go into hiding already, renounced him, then admitted she’s his therapist guilty pleasure and rung him up for a therapist date.
What is is with the white vest uniform? Tony, Richie, Christopher, Paulie – is is some US TV censorship or was it de rigeur bedtime wear for a mafioso?
And some films.
HEARD
As trailed, I have been following the Guardian ‘Listening Digest’ – well not for New Order, Grace Jones, Bjork etc. But I have listened to Joan Baez ‘Diamonds and Rust’ (no thanks), Ravi Shankar (pleasant background, I should get it but don’t really), Tupac (you know it’s OK, but suffers from the filler problem with rap albums), Slayer (much to daughters disappointment, not really, they all do sound the same), Curtis Mayfield (great) and Paul McCartney solo (nothing I didn’t already know), fiona Apple (yikes, Tori and Alanis got all the good tunes then), and Alice coltrane. Great series to push your listening into new areas, in bite sized chunks.
READ
Short stories after the blow-out of The Mirror and the Light. And some comics, re-reading Gaiman’s The Sandman from the start. Pure joy.
el hombre malo says
Sopranos is great – there is a fab podcast by two of the cast (CHRISTAFUH!! and Bobby Bacala) which has made me want to go back and watch it all again.
https://talkingsopranos.simplecast.com/
Twang says
And the No Fuckin’ Ziti pod which I’ve recommended before. I am also fond of “again with the language”. Superb.
Marwood says
AOB
I started working from home in the last week of March but lock down came too late for me as I started displaying symptoms of C19 within days. First the senses of taste and smell went, and then the shortness of breath and the chest pains began. I think mine was a mild version, but it got scary there for a day or two – locked alone in the bedroom, out of breath walking to the bathroom. Horrible and really didn’t feel like sharing cultural highlights last month. Making up for that now.
Seen
In the weeks BC – Before C19 – and I went to the pictures to watch 1917, Parasite and Avengers End Game. All fantastic films that I have thought about often. Was looking forward to the new Bond, Black Widow and Wonder Woman 2 – but I think the movies are going to stay out of bounds for a good while yet.
Watched True Detective series 1. Bit late to the party, but this is great stuff. Atmospheric, creepy and filled with great performances. Although the pacing is generally laconic and measured, there are a couple of set pieces where things just take off like a jet. The 8-minute, single shot of the drug raid at the end of episode 4 is absolutely brilliant.
Ghost Stories has a few spooky moments but kind of runs out of steam towards the end. Paul Whitehouse is very good in it – he’s very far from the affable chap normally spotted in comedy shows.
I really enjoyed Devs. It looked great, the soundtrack was unnerving, it bristled with ideas about philosophy, morality and religion. There were a couple of eye wateringly nasty scenes of violence that only amplified the dread. And at it’s core was a man driven by grief and guilt.
The latest Curb your enthusiasm was a little slow to get going, but did find its stride. I stuck with Veep and I’m glad I did. Not as spiteful as The thick of it, but still filled with back stabbers, sycophants and sprinkled with quality swears.
Read
Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin
Melancholy tale of a 15-year boy who rescues a horse bound for the abattoir and flees. A real “show don’t tell” affair, this is evocative and quietly heart breaking.
Beyond Recall by Gerald Seymour
An ex-squaddie is dropped into the heart of Russia to identify a suspected war criminal. Good stuff.
The Institute by Stephen King
Kids with special gifts are abducted and taken to the most sinister of boarding homes where they are put to work as psychic assassins. The kids are mostly likeable, the adults mostly terrible. It’s all very familiar, but none the worse for it.
The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard.
A strikingly self-assured G-Man and a feckless criminal circle one another during 30’s America – expect bank raids and gangster’s molls in a typically slick tale.
Heard
Keep coming back to a handful of tracks.
Low – Congregation. This features on the Devs soundtrack. Nice and moody.
Handsome Family – Far from any road. Plays over the opening credits in True Detective and sets the scene nicely.
Grinderman – Honey Bee. Nick Cave soaked in adrenaline. Also used to brilliant effect in True Detective.
Fountains of Wayne – Hackensack. A song that aches with melancholy but that features one of the funniest of couplets – “I saw you taikin’ / to Christopher Walken”.
Podcasts
Been listening to loads as usual. Special mentions to Hepworth and Ellen chuntering away on the word podcast. Also Athletico Mince and Top flight Time machine – both have very vague associations with sports now – more likely to talk about wasps or herons.
Tiggerlion says
I’m glad you’ve come through Covid intact. Well done.
Don’t bother with series 2 of True Detective, jump straight to series 3.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
That’s true that is re True Tecs. Good work re Covid 19
Hoops McCann says
Seconded. Series 3, while not quite hitting the heights of the first series is excellent
Marwood says
Thanks chaps.
I picked up series 1 in a chazza for a quid – will keep my eyes open for 3!
Paul Wad says
Ah, I enjoyed season 1, but drifted off halfway through season 2, which was a little confusing and a lot dull. I shall add season 3 to the list then.
SteveT says
Glad you enjoyed Willy Vlautin – all of his novels are heart breaking- he is the best living writer in USA currently – ooaa.
Marwood says
It was wonderful – been meaning to pick up one of his books since he was name checked in a George Pelecanos novel that I read last summer.
Baron Harkonnen says
Hey @SteveT you BlackCuntry Boy you`ve intrigued me with this Villy Wlautin guy, yes I know all about Richmond Fontaine but which book do I start with.
Paul Wad says
Glad you got through the virus. Would be good to know for definite that you aren’t in danger of catching it again, I guess?
The virus itself hasn’t got me yet (petrified about it, to be honest, with my asthma and neuro issues), but it did prevent me and my daughter from watching the Ghost Stories stage play in Sheffield last week. Like you, I was a little disappointed with the film, but I’m led to believe the stage show is better. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to see it at some point.
Leicester Bangs says
Did anybody bother with Breeders? We struggled through the entire series but sort of felt dirty afterwards.
retropath2 says
Loved it!!
Leicester Bangs says
Interesting. We liked it but decided it was almost impossible to love because it was so dark, while the pay-off wasn’t nearly strong enough to justify what was essentially 10 weeks of child abuse.
Morrison says
SEEN:
A steady diet of Talking Pictures TV and too much news coverage. Much as I loathe the man, I’ve enjoyed watching Piers Morgan skewering feeble Tory ministers on breakfast telly with some pertinent questions that the supine BBC seem reluctant to ask. Suspect he’s been gamed by Cummings though, who’s mobilised the Tory bots and angry middle-aged men to flood Twitter with outrage.
And this – a short film about “the fourth best poet in Hull” Dean Wilson. Helps if you know the city, its people and the unique accent. He also has a decent Twitter feed – @PoetDeanwilson6 – with his popular “pebble of the day” from Withernsea beach.
READ:
“The Ballad of Tommy Lipuma” by jazz singer/pianist Ben Sidran is a well told tale of the record producer’s life from his family’s Godfather-type blood feuds in Sicily through early years in Cleveland to his music industry ascendancy. His years as a record company promo man are fascinating before he moved into production on a whole host of labels spanning A&M/Horizon, his own Blue Thumb imprint and later years at Warners/Elektra/Verve. He seems to float above the business/corporate world, picking and nurturing people like Michael Franks and Diana Krall with real affection, underpinned by a love of string arrangements and classy supporting musicians.
HEARD:
This year has already seen some stellar jazz trio albums, but Aaron Diehl’s “The Vagabond” might be the best of the bunch. He’s a precise, gentle player – carefully choosing his notes in a way that reminds you of someone like John Lewis of the MJQ. Most of the music is self-penned but there’s a lovely reading of Roland Hanna’s “A Story Often Told, Seldom Heard” which is a model of restraint.
Also enjoyed Gregoire Maret’s “Americana” – a harmonica/piano/guitar trio – with Bill Frisell in fine form on a beautifully laidback set. Sounds occasionally like incidental music from “The Waltons” but don’t let that put you off what is a very fine album.
More instrumental music – John Carroll Kirby’s “My Garden” is a quiet piano/electronic set of tuneful pieces that doesn’t really go anywhere but plays happily away as background music.
Need to give the new Young Gun/Silver Fox a little more time. Their last album of Hall and Oates style 80s pop was a belter but not sure the tunes are as good on their latest offering.
duco01 says
Thanks for the Aaron Diehl and Grégoire Maret recommendations, Morrison.
They both sound like they’re very much up my street.
mikethep says
Oddly enough, I’ve just discovered Dean Wilson by a different route, he was retweeted by someone I follow. Lovely stuff – love his pebbles, and the way his poet mates write poems about his pebbles. Very soothing.
PS unwise to rely on subtitles if you’re struggling with the accent. ‘I spend a lot of time on Yorkshire buses’ comes out as ‘I spend a lot of time on Yorkshire pussies’!
niallb says
April was a strange month (is that the most “no shit, Sherlock” sentence you’ve ever read?) I retired on 3rd April (took voluntary redundancy from the company I have been with for 43 years.) My boss fought hard to get me a brilliant settlement, as he knew it meant early retirement for me, and he delivered – big-time. So, in 5 mad days, my world changed completely and any financial worries about surviving through to 65/66 were swept away. I am so grateful.
My wife, Janet, caught the virus within a few days of my retirement and trying to separate in our “shoe-box in middle ‘t road” house was hard. But we took all the advice, sprayed and cleaned the bathroom after we each used it, sprayed everything coming into the house and slept in separate rooms for 14 nights. She was terrified of passing it onto me as I’m in the vulnerable group, having had viral pneumonia, 4 years ago. In fact, I may have got a really mild dose, having had 3 of the symptoms for 24 hours, on Day 5 of her quarantine. The GP says that Jan may have done me a huge favour, but it would be handy to know for certain, wouldn’t it?
So, April:
SEEN:
Lots of terrific sports documentaries on BT Sport, who are running all of the brilliant ESPN 30 for 30 docs. Even for sports I am not that interested in, they are fascinating, as it is always more about the human story than the sport.
Last Dance, the Michael Jordan story. Up to episode 5, with number 6 to watch as soon as I finish typing this. Just brilliant documentary making, about a genuinely inspirational man.
HEARD:
Friends have pointed me towards so much good music, lately. Strands of Oak, The Hanging Stars, Mamas Gun, Skyline Motel, the new one from The Sails, (who are basically my good friend, Michael Gagliano – Beatley power pop at it’s best,) and Crawling Up A Hill, a terrific, 56 track compilation of British Blues 1966-71, recommended to me by @SteveT.
READ:
I am loving the Pete Paphides audiobook, Broken Greek, on my daily walks. Pete reads it himself and having his lugubrious voice in my ear, through the leafy lanes of Berkshire, is a joy.
As for actual reading, I have found it so hard to concentrate. I can skim through Mojo or Classic Rock, and read one or two of the longer articles, but that’s about it.
I am 4 weeks into retirement and, obviously, it is not quite what I imagined. I had hoped to be sitting at The Oval, beer in hand, watching Rory Burns dig in for another hundred versus Hampshire but, I guess that can all wait.
Stop Press:
Spotify just played this, from my Discover Weekly playlist. Don’t know her, but this is so right up my street. So that’s another rabbit hole to go down.
Locust says
Just wanted to take the opportunity to inform my fellow Swedes – @Kaisfatdad, @duco01, @Neela – about the http://www.supportyourartist.se campaign, if you haven’t seen it already.
Svensk Live & Nortic have joined forces to provide an alternative income for artists missing out on gigs during these times and are selling clothes and mugs with the Support your artist 2020 logo on them, and you can choose artists from a long list from many genres, but as I understand it all of the proceeds then will get distributed amongst all of them in equal portions.
I just bought two T-shirts and a mug (in the names of Tonbruket and Alice Boman, if you’re curious), if you have some spare cash that would have gone to gig tickets normally, I’m certain the help will be much appreciated by all of the artists!
Seems to be doing good business, many items sold out already! 🙂
Kaisfatdad says
Forgive my suspiciousness, but the wording of this is rather peculiar, @Locust.
How much of the money I spend on a mug is likely to reach the artist I want to support? It says that any money left over after all the costs will go to the artists. A rather vague promise.
I would far rather buy from an individual artist’s own website.
To his enormous credit, my jazz neighbour tells me he has been watching a streamed gig or two and then making a payment to the artists. Hats off to him!
Locust says
https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/trojor-och-muggar-ska-hjalpa-pa-vagen-genom-coronakrisen/
Here’s the article in DN that I first saw, @Kaisfatdad.
The cost of producing the product itself will always be deducted, even if you buy merch from an artist’s website. And what I liked about this idea was that it’s being shared equally, so that smaller artists with less of a following can get some extra support.
But of course, buying directly from artists is a good thing too. But for someone like me, who never visit artist’s webpages, ever, this is a conveniant way to help!
Kaisfatdad says
That was a good article, @Locust And I appreciated that comment about trying to do something rather than waiting for the government to step in.
Interesting that the article mentioned what a fantastic live music summer Öland had lined up. I’ve never been to a gig there.
BTW, when on earth is the Stockholm Mini Mingle going to happen?? Does your store still have toilet paper left? That should be sufficient incentive!!
Locust says
It’s difficult to mingle and practice social distancing at the same time…so I guess it’s not going to happen in the forseeable future!
I guess the best we can aim at for now is a mini mingle picnic out in the fresh air sometime in the summertime. All we’ll need are some iced beverages and a Dansette (possibly a Spotify playlist on the iPhone would be a tad more practical)! 🙂
We have so much toilet paper in the store that we could go without deliveries for a week without running out…! We only ran out during the latter half of the days for about a week at the height of the hoarding craze, but that’s way back in history now. Surely your part of town must have plenty of bog rolls to sell again by now?
Colin H says
Yes, but picnics in the fresh air, Locust… isn’t that just asking for trouble from trolls and bears?
Locust says
They’re welcome to join us – the more the merrier! As long as they bring their own beverages, and some exotic music recommendations!
thecheshirecat says
Listened :
Birdsong. If not on shift, the bedroom window is open for the dawn and evening choruses and I lie in bed, reading or dreaming, listening to blackbirds, wrens, blackcaps, thrushes, chaffinches, martins.
A clutch of Afterword-friendly folkies, in the form of recent albums from Sam Lee, The Unthanks, Harp and a Monkey and Ben Walker, all of which hit the mark. What interests me is that, particularly Sam Lee and The Unthanks are thoroughly ploughing the more hardcore end of the folk spectrum, whether through a capella singing or mining the seams of trad songs, collected in the Edwardian tradition, and you Afterworders are loving it, which pleases me. The Harp and a Monkey CD comes alive with gig memories of Martin Purdy’s glockenspiel bouncing around his knees, and again, the provenance of the material is key, and very much part of the folk tradition of story-telling and relating oral history. A certain constituency of the Afterword may not realise where they have seen and heard Ben Walker’s guitar; in partnership with Josienne Clarke, he gave support to Richard Thompson a few years ago; they will not have been disappointed.
Read:
(Requested) Christmas presents getting read.
‘Rebirding’ by Benedict Macdonald. Like so much writing which intersects the far greater crisis of climate change, this is simultaneously depressing yet uplifting. We are losing so much and at such an alarming rate, to the indifference of many, yet it is not all doom and gloom and offers enticing answers. The prospect of a profitable wildlife-rich countryside keeps being promised, but the book has yet to reveal the mechanics.
‘Folk Song in England’ by Steve Roud. 700 pages. Hardback. Footnotes like an academic journal. A serious read. It was a 2018 Christmas present, and I rather hope we’ll be back in the pubs before I’ve finished it. I am reading it at the right stage in my deep-diving folk odyssey.
Seen:
Much more of my neighbours. There’s not many of them. The sense of community will be what I remember most about this year.
Listened Again:
I am being faithful to the 12 albums for 12 weeks of isolation thread. Mixed results. I have aimed to listen at least three times in short succession to get into the bones of the thing. Tales from Toppo is fine once in a while, but it’s hard work to get beyond Side 3. There is one track on Fifty Words for Snow which I will forevermore skip and, generally, there’s an uncharacteristic shortage of ideas on that album, spun out over just seven long tracks, and too much that is not so very far from spoken word. Music for 18 Musicians is magnificent in scope and depth and well worth the time set aside.
But the standout rediscovery, about which I cannot rave enough, is Fay Hield’s Orfeo. The clarity of the arrangements and the mix leapt out on the first lockdown listen and I am wanting to listen every evening. Again, the full bandwidth of traditional English folk song is explored, lights shone in new places. Because Fay Hield has the best female voice in the land, (oh yes she has), she can expect to be joined by the best band. You can hear and feel the talents of Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, Jon Boden – each masters of their respective instruments – in every thread of the fabric.
Tiggerlion says
I’m so pleased you stuck with the 12 albums. That settles it. I’m going to buy Orfeo unheard as your reward! 😉
Colin H says
Archie Fisher’s ‘Orfeo’ (1970) is pretty fabulous too 😀
thecheshirecat says
Archie was at our folk club what seems like yesterday (2017 as it turns out). Still on great form and very enjoyable entertainment.
Baron Harkonnen says
I would like to recommend an album by a band that I know little of (but will) that I can`t stop playing: the band – Chatham County Line, the album `Strange Fascination`. If you like Americana you`ll love this.
Twang says
Twang Jr is a big fan. Amongst the nu metal we get bluegrass. He’s even taken up the banjo – got my Dad’s old 5 string out of the roof which is great to hear again in all its slightly out of tune loveliness.
retropath2 says
You’d also love Wildwood, their 2010 album, where the are beginning to bring in non-trad stylings into their bluegrass heart. Lovely stuff.
Baron Harkonnen says
Love that retro, album ordered, thanks, stay safe.
RobC says
I’m currently doing two free online language courses, for fun/conversational purposes. French and Italian. French is pretty easy and I got a ‘C’ O level, but Italian can be quite bonkers in a delightful way. Gets the brain revving for sure. The men are eating the chocolate ice cream, indeed any chocolate ice cream themed activity, is a daily workout all in itself.
SteveT says
Considering the languorous conditions we find ourselves in there is no excuse for my tardy posting. At 88 posts I fully expect that people will have had enough of this by now but if they haven’t here goes:
SEEN: Like @retropath2 I was smitten with season 2 of The Afterlife.Further proof if needed that Gervais is a fine writer. He tackles mortality and grieving with a deep sensitivity and just as the tears are about to flow he hits you with the most outrageous humour – almost shocking and I am not easily shocked. When he is interviewing the lady in the care home (Annette Crosbie) and he says ‘well at least you have got friends in here` and she replies ‘These aren’t friends, they are all cunts” was laugh out loud funny not least because you didn’t expect those words to come out of that actresses mouth – great casting.
Also as so many people were enthusing about Ozark we started it last week – we are midway through season 2 and really enjoying the harem scarum plot. If I have an issue though its the number of scenes set in the dark and the camera work isn’t strong enough to pick out the scenes very clearly.
The finale of Race across the World was great – this is gripping tv for me.
Finally our daughter recommended Normal People which is streaming on BBC3 – Very intense story of 2 teenagers embarking on a relationship and the unravelling of their personalities when the intensity becomes difficult to deal with. Deals with some dark subjects such as bondage in a careful way. Impressive.
READ:New to me is Kevin Barry, winner of the Booker prize for Night boat to Tangier – a great yarn of 2 Irish friends searching for the ones daughter who had disappeared about 10 years before. There are drugs and menace in abundance but the humour is there throughout. He reminds me very much of Roddy Doyle so if you like his books this is for you. He describes one person has having a face ‘like a bad marriage’. Another time one of the characters mentions Thom Yorke and his friend gets him mixed up with someone else. ‘No, the lead singer out of Radiohead’. ‘Never liked them anyway Whining bastards. They should have got the Ukeleles out’.
HEARD: Really like the new Lucinda Williams album Good Souls better Angels – her live backing band Buick6 support her on this album and they really are the best support she has. Many reviewers have remarked that she has moved away from personal songs but I don’t entirely agree with that. There is a belter of a song called Man without a Soul which is a visceral attack on Trump and would be a great campaign song for Biden if anyone had the balls to use it.
The Dream Syndicate album is a great slab of Psychedelia unlike the earlier stuff that I vaguely knew of theirs – only 5 songs but the opening track ism 20 minutes and two are around the 10 minute mark.
Youth and Jah Wobble Acid Punk Dub Apocalypse is a fine collaboration.
M Ward Migration songs is a tad disappointing which is a shame as he is one of my favourite artists.
Baxter Dury The night chancers falls short of the excellence of his last album but that’s no surprise because that was his high water mark.
@Carl reviewed the Brandy Clark album Your life is a record and its every bit as good as his review suggested.
Shelby Lynne has a new album out. Shelby Lynne. She isn’t very adventurous in naming her albums
but her voice and her songs are as good as ever. Very soulful. She also plays keys and drums which was a surprise.
Also Mojo had a very good cd of Nick Cave covers this month which has had quite a few plays.
Thats all for now – one can hope that we will have moved on a little by the time the next Afterword blogger takeover comes round.
@Locust happy to report we too have toilet rolls in abundance.
Hard to get dry pasta though.
dai says
Funny, I thought the Annette Crosbie scene was toecurlingly awful. I like it, but I think it is an uneven show, only watched first one of second series though.
Diddley Farquar says
It’s an odd one. Laugh out loud one minute, cringe makingly bad the next. Other times it’s rather tender and touching. Who has a wife, or manages to retain a wife, who one thinks to amuse by chucking water at or jumping out on without warning? No one, because after the first time they’d tell you to fuck off. Then there’s the thing of Gervais daring us to laugh at him taking the piss out of someone because they’re fat. So edgy and subversive. Season 2 is just more of the same but less funny because we know how it goes this time. Then again it has some better straight scenes. It’s both good and bad at the same time.
SteveT says
Hey @Diddley-Farquar I must live in a strange house because after 23 years of marriage my wife and I will still jump out without warning to scare each other.
Nowt as queer as folks as someone once said.
Diddley Farquar says
Depravity.
Mike_H says
Thats the W. Midlands for you. A Sink of depravity.
Diddley Farquar says
I hear there are some dark corners of the web where there is footage of such behaviour, of couples leaping out of wardrobes shouting ‘boo!’ at one another. Pure filth.
SteveT says
@dai I can see why you view it that way. For me it was funny because of who was saying it – didnt expect the c word from Annette Crosbie
However I have to say I am fond of the c word because it still has the power to shock and I think that is why Gervais uses it so frequently in a lot of his work.
dai says
He uses it way too much, I may be missing the point, but people don’t really talk like that, reminds me of some of the horrific dialogue from Richard Curtis. And if you are reduced to getting laughs just from swear words then the well may be dry.
And another thing, constantly watching old videos of his late wife, may be somewhat understandable, but 8 episodes in, getting rather tedious and ridiculously maudlin. The final episode of the first series was terrible, and I think the 2nd series may be plumbing new depths, not sure I will finish it. I like Penelope Wilton though.
And a 3rd thing, how can a guy writing short articles for a free newspaper (and seemingly doing about 2 hrs work a day) afford such a lovely house in a nice village? Surely he would have a small flat, unless of course his late wife was rich.
Diddley Farquar says
The mind of the man:
RobC says
Gervais has got form on being an odious prick, but hey, he likes animals. So do I, so do most people, but luckily we don’t have it in us to mock and ridicule those with a disability, but hey, he makes/milks them for comedies about it, apparently all sympathetic, so that’s ok too. Never trust a man who can openly jeer a disability, than claim to be all understanding. That man is an arsehole. A very rich one too.
SteveT says
Not sure I agree with you there @RobC. I thought Derek was extremely moving and his portrayal of the lead character was reverential and not mocking at all In fact the people that were mocked were the ‘normal’ people around Derek.
Would need to watch it again to be absolutely sure but there were times in that series and also in Afterlife that were very emotional and very sympathetic to care homes and the people living in them.
RobC says
I haven’t seen it, and having spent many years as a support worker, that’s good to hear.
dai says
I thought his heart may have been in the right place in the case of Derek, he just wasn’t a good enough actor to pull it off, in fact he’s barely an actor at all.
RobC says
I don’t find him that funny so his stuff passes me by. I don’t see how you can care and mock at the same time, though.
Gary says
I like him. Seems like a nice enough chap and some of his stuff is very funny. I do think everything he’s done is not quite as good as the thing he did before it though. He’s definitely on a downward curve. But I think his character acting in The Office is quite brilliant.
SteveT says
Isnt that poetic licence @dai ? Maybe he won the lottery. It must be me but I rarely think of things like that. I know plenty of people either with a big car beyond their earnings or a house for that matter. I have no idea about their personal circumstances of course and any guess is exactly that. A guess.
dai says
Yeah, it’s not the worst thing
duco01 says
Enjoyed your monthly choices, as always, Steve. Here at duco01 Towers we’re also engrossed in “Normal People”.
One tiny thing, though: Kevin Barry’s “Night Boat to Tangier” didn’t win the Booker Prize. It made the 13-book longlist, but didn’t get any further than that.
SteveT says
You’re right – I misread the blurb – still a great novel though.
androo1963 says
As Steve T said above, no excuse for taking so long.
Read – mostly current Waterstones paperback fare:
The Chain
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Family Upstairs
HE: a Novel (a re-imagining of the life of Stan Laurel)
Watched:
Homeland (thoroughly enjoyed this series. Like many others I watched some previous series without much enjoyment, but this one was ace).
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (in tribute to Adam Schlesinger)
Classic films like Rain Man, Hannibal Lector trilogy.
Listened:
New Whitney Rose album
New Shelby Lynn
Have been playing 1st 4 Robert Palmer albums on Spotify. A revelation. I only really knew the hits pre 1980s.
Discover Weekly has put me onto The Delines.
Fountains of Wayne.
Van Morrison as always.
SteveT says
@androo1963 The Delines are fabulous – saw them in London at the Union Chapel last November – easily one of the best gigs I saw last year.
androo1963 says
@Steve T I saw Brandy Clark in Glasgow on 1st Feb. She was fantastic, Audience showed her so much love. It looks like this will be my last concert for a while.
Have you heard her other albums. Hold My Hand from 12 Songs is one of my favourites. Cracks me up every time.
I read your excellent Delines review from last year. You’ve sold them to me. I hope to see them some time in the future.
SteveT says
I haven’t heard her other albums but suspect I will be seeking them out given how good her current album is.
SteveT says
@dai I can see why you view it that way. For me it was funny because of who was saying it – didnt expect the c word from Annette Crosbie
However I have to say I am fond of the c word because it still has the power to shock and I think that is why Gervais uses it so frequently in a lot of his work.