*
This was from a friend called Kevin: "Both the angry sea we sailed upon, and the quiet lake we swam through... were the colour of her lovely eyes”.
This is barely and only a little inspired by this.
Monday, 18 September 2017
Very Short Story - The Angry Sea/The Quiet Lake - From The Vault 2014
In 2014, when I was struggling a great deal with writer's block, I asked my friends for some short story writing prompts.
*
This was from a friend called Kevin: "Both the angry sea we sailed upon, and the quiet lake we swam through... were the colour of her lovely eyes”.
This is barely and only a little inspired by this.
*
This was from a friend called Kevin: "Both the angry sea we sailed upon, and the quiet lake we swam through... were the colour of her lovely eyes”.
This is barely and only a little inspired by this.
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 4 - From the Vault 2012
Part Four of the 100 Aweseome Musical Things series........
We've had lots of old stuff by now-dead people so far... let me try this a different way.
Saturday, 16 September 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 3 - From the Vault 2012
Enjoying it so far? Anyone reading so far?
Anyway, we had the Allman Brothers, then the Dubliners. And now something a little different:
Anyway, we had the Allman Brothers, then the Dubliners. And now something a little different:
Friday, 15 September 2017
Real Men Wear Silk Stockings - From the Vault 2010
Another day, another piece from the archive, another piece about misogyny, the patriarchy and this time, it's more about
As ever, I've tried to keep the editing to a minimum, but do forgive me for the need to improve at least a little bit... Toxic masculinity has gained more prominence as a concept since 2010, so this might seem rather quaint.
Onward... backwards...?
~~~2017~~~2016~~~2015~~~2014~~~2013~~~2012~~~2011~~~2010~~~
Several things recently have turned my mind to the notion of The Real Man. One of these was a conversation with someone at work which basically went along these lines:
Thursday, 14 September 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 2 - From the Vault 2012
Continuing the 100 Awesome Musical Things series from ye olde blog...
Post the Second in 100 Awesome Musical Things to be Found on YouTube:
Content Note and General Good Advice: Do not read the comments on YouTube videos. That way bigotry and trolls do lie.
Wednesday, 13 September 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things Part 1 - Statesboro Blues - From the Vault 2012
In 2012, I started writing a series over on Livejournal called '100 Awesome Things...' based on a suggestion by someone over there.
My chosen theme was 100 Awesome Musical Things To Be Found On YouTube.
The Allman Brothers Band, "Statesboro Blues", Live at Fillmore East, 1971.
It's a cover of a Blind Willie McTell song and was heavily influenced by the Taj Mahal version a few years earlier (Trivia: This version was on the sampler album The Rock Machine Turns You On). Duane Allman was a greatly influential guitarist and this is probably considered the definitive version of the song (not including the original maybe). Sometimes last week, I had been researching something for my novel as to which Old Blues Classic my fictional band would cover in a particular scene. It came down to either "Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf or McTell's "Statesboro Blues". I thought about it, rediscovered this Allman Brothers cover and realised that there is no way that another guitarist in almost the same year would set himself up against Duane at his best. My fictional boy JD Twain is a fantastic guitarist. He's certainly the equal of Clapton and Gallagher and Allman, but this is Duane at the very, very top of his game and there's no touching that.
Then by quirk of fate, on Friday there was a great documentary was on BBC Four the other day about Southern Rock concentrating of course on the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Naturally, this song was featured prominently. This week isn't the first time I'd heard it of course, but maybe it's the first time I listened. The Allman Brothers have always been in the periphery of my rock and roll consciousness. I respected them but that was as far as it went. For whatever reason, it's gotten to me now. Maybe I was just waiting til I was ready for it.
As Charlie Daniels (of The Devil Went Down To Georgia fame) said on the documentary: 'I don't care what color you are, or what creed you are, if you hear Duane Allman play the opening bars of Statesboro Blues - and maybe that's not your music, maybe you like Beethoven ... if you listen to that and that don't move you, then you don't need to be listening to music. You need to be doing something else. Go play golf or something. If that don't touch you, there's something wrong with your heart.'
My chosen theme was 100 Awesome Musical Things To Be Found On YouTube.
I didn't reach 100 while I was there, despite starting some time ago, so I'll post the archive set and
then keep going - I WILL finish this!
The Allman Brothers Band, "Statesboro Blues", Live at Fillmore East, 1971.
It's a cover of a Blind Willie McTell song and was heavily influenced by the Taj Mahal version a few years earlier (Trivia: This version was on the sampler album The Rock Machine Turns You On). Duane Allman was a greatly influential guitarist and this is probably considered the definitive version of the song (not including the original maybe). Sometimes last week, I had been researching something for my novel as to which Old Blues Classic my fictional band would cover in a particular scene. It came down to either "Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf or McTell's "Statesboro Blues". I thought about it, rediscovered this Allman Brothers cover and realised that there is no way that another guitarist in almost the same year would set himself up against Duane at his best. My fictional boy JD Twain is a fantastic guitarist. He's certainly the equal of Clapton and Gallagher and Allman, but this is Duane at the very, very top of his game and there's no touching that.
Then by quirk of fate, on Friday there was a great documentary was on BBC Four the other day about Southern Rock concentrating of course on the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Naturally, this song was featured prominently. This week isn't the first time I'd heard it of course, but maybe it's the first time I listened. The Allman Brothers have always been in the periphery of my rock and roll consciousness. I respected them but that was as far as it went. For whatever reason, it's gotten to me now. Maybe I was just waiting til I was ready for it.
As Charlie Daniels (of The Devil Went Down To Georgia fame) said on the documentary: 'I don't care what color you are, or what creed you are, if you hear Duane Allman play the opening bars of Statesboro Blues - and maybe that's not your music, maybe you like Beethoven ... if you listen to that and that don't move you, then you don't need to be listening to music. You need to be doing something else. Go play golf or something. If that don't touch you, there's something wrong with your heart.'
Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Rock Music: Enduring the Double Standard, Part 2423707d - From the Archive 2009
Clarenote 2017: This was written in one raging blast at around the time I was finally beginning to understand feminism beyond 'I believe in equal rights therefore I am a feminist'. I was honoured when Melissa at Shakesville read it and posted there as a follow up.
I'm not as angry I am differently angry now. I might not write exactly as I did in 2009, in no small part because of the brilliant conversations this sparked on my blog and at Shakesville...
I was on stage sometimes in 2009. Since then, I've learnt to just seize the fraking stage, make it my own and care about nobody else's opinion. That matters.
To my friends certain relief, I've gotten better at spacing out my Facebook shares. And no, the person who made the comment is no longer a friend.
So, have some timey-wimey wavey lines as we head back in time, to when I was merely beginning to understand that Rory Gallagher had taken residence in my soul and wasn't going anywhere...
As always, I've tried to keep edits to a minimum... and I'm sorta sorrynotsorry for some of the language. If that's what you really take offence to, you may not be paying attention, but fair warning, it's there.
I have a habit. An irritating habit. I like to share YouTube videos on Facebook on even the smallest pretext. This leads to me basically spamming my own FB profile with videos each time I stop there. So far, I've managed to refrain from sharing The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson every time I burst out laughing.
Lately, I've been profile-spamming with Rory Gallagher videos every so often. Or rather, every time I go to YouTube in search of a Rory video. I'm in the mid-period stage of New Obsession, and it's just as well that YouTube wasn't around when I went through the same with The Beatles, or with Led Zeppelin or with Thin Lizzy or with The Doors, or with Dean Martin.
Amongst the videos I posted the other day was this:
I was on stage sometimes in 2009. Since then, I've learnt to just seize the fraking stage, make it my own and care about nobody else's opinion. That matters.
To my friends certain relief, I've gotten better at spacing out my Facebook shares. And no, the person who made the comment is no longer a friend.
So, have some timey-wimey wavey lines as we head back in time, to when I was merely beginning to understand that Rory Gallagher had taken residence in my soul and wasn't going anywhere...
As always, I've tried to keep edits to a minimum... and I'm sorta sorrynotsorry for some of the language. If that's what you really take offence to, you may not be paying attention, but fair warning, it's there.
~~~2017~~~2016~~~2015~~~2014~~~2013~~~2012~~~2011~~~2010~~~2009~~~
I have a habit. An irritating habit. I like to share YouTube videos on Facebook on even the smallest pretext. This leads to me basically spamming my own FB profile with videos each time I stop there. So far, I've managed to refrain from sharing The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson every time I burst out laughing.
Lately, I've been profile-spamming with Rory Gallagher videos every so often. Or rather, every time I go to YouTube in search of a Rory video. I'm in the mid-period stage of New Obsession, and it's just as well that YouTube wasn't around when I went through the same with The Beatles, or with Led Zeppelin or with Thin Lizzy or with The Doors, or with Dean Martin.
Amongst the videos I posted the other day was this:
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