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June 28 Michael JacksonTwo things:
January 02 Lil WayneSome highlights of 2008, in no particular order and drawn from no particular disciplines.
Resolutions for 2009? Same as last year, really. In addition, maybe I could get up earlier, seek out a bit more mental stimulation, and really really try to worry less. October 07 NuggetsA couple bickering in Tescos this evening, the guy for some reason wants the pen back from the woman. He gets a snidey "i'm hardly going to nick it, it's only a biro", and replies with a "well you steal all my other pens".
In no way was any of this delivered with a sense of the absurdity it deserved.
And I just couldn't work out why they were even together. August 27 Counting CrowsThere is a graffito on Leith Walk, just next to the library on MacDonald Road, which reads "Real men use their brains. Monkey's use their fists".
I really want to add "Real men know how to use a possessive apostrophe" but I am worried about what this say's about me. July 25 DuffyAfter a gap of many years my clock radio is tuned in again to Radio Forth, erstwhile home of Fraser Coutts, Tom Wilson and the legendary Mark Findlay, host of Dr Dan (Quayle's) Brainteaser, which was a great source of amusement to the Maths posse back in the day (myself, Scott, Al and Gav, if you were wondering).
Over the course of the years I've spent quality morning time with Radio 5 (not enough tunes i.e. no tunes), Terry Wogan on Radio 2 (good til I started working the early shifts), Horse Lady on Radio 2 (when I was listening to the showtune at 7.20, and i was due in work at 7.45, I knew I'd slept in), XFM with Dominik Diamond (I talked about this in an earlier post, I think), Leith FM (no adverts, lots of SAW-era Kylie and Jason), pretty much everything except Real Radio I think.
So anyway I'm back on Forth One, and one of it's little jingles is 'more of the tunes you love'. And, over the course of the last couple of months, I have deduced that these are the tracks we love.
Duffy - Mercy
Sam Sparro - Black And Gold
One Republic - Stop And Stare
Kylie - How Does It Feel (is that what it is called?)
Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own
Duffy - Warwick Avenue
cos that's all they fucking play. And I don't mind when it's Warwick Avenue, which is really lovely, but that Mercy makes me want to throw the radio out of the window. March 26 Flaming LipsA fairly pointless and unlikely to be successful attempt to list all the acts I've seen in concert. For just now I'm leaving out support acts and festivals (of which I've only been to two, to be fair). Anyways...
Flaming Lips
Seasick Steve
Prince
Dashboard Confessional
The Robert Cray Band
BB King
The Hold Steady
Wilco
Interpol
Rolling Stones
Brendan Benson
Ryan Adams
Josh Rouse
Thirteen Senses
Bob Dylan
Fountains of Wayne
Bruce Springsteen
James
Pulp
Pet Shop Boys
Nada Surf
U2
Seu Jorge
Ian McNabb
Arcade Fire
Brian Wilson
Counting Crows
Neil Finn
Ben Folds
Evan Dando
REM
Amy Rigby
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Foo Fighters
Queens of the Stone Age
PJ Harvey
Razorlight
Kim Richey
Sountrack of our Lives
Shack
Teenage Fanclub
World Party
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Otis Lee Crenshaw
Crowded House
Franz Ferdinand
Electric 6
Oasis
The Streets
Snow Patrol
Supergrass
Starsailor
Travis
Boo Radleys
Elastica
Erasure
Neil Young
Pixies
John Butler Trio
Maroon 5 (yeah I know)
Hayseed Dixie
Next up: Thea Gilmore February 09 AbbaIs there a more sinister moment in pop history than Benny and Bjorn checking out jailbait talent in "Does Your Mother Know?". They were 33. January 21 WilcoNew Year's Resolutions. I definitely had a few. But what were they again?
To make some new friends. Not to decry the ones I have, who I love, and are plentiful in the extreme, but just to show I can. It does get harder as you get older.
To do 200 push ups and 200 sit ups a week. Following an item I saw in Slate about these professors who would take $1000 of your money, and every week you didn't make that target, would mail $100 to the charity of your choice. Now, I haven't mailed anyone $1000, but it seemed a worthwhile target, so I'm having that.
To make the most of my time outside of work. One of the main reasons I left Citi was because I could just see all my spare time in 2008 vanishing into a nightmare fug of testing cycles, migrations, and phone calls from Singapore in the middle of the night. I seem to have more or less a 9-5 now, so it's going to be an interesting year in terms of my extra-curricular activities. I've signed up for yoga. I'm trying to get back to football. The wine tasting course me and Gill were going to do got cancelled. Tae Kwon Do and Karate remain possibities. I've got 30 books sitting next to my bed waiting to be read. If I can fit it in, I'd like to start mucking about on the guitar again, just for kicks.
To learn something about astronomy and the cosmos. Hell, when it comes to CP Snow's two cultures, I am arts all the way. So, to work towards rectifying that.
To improve my chess.
To decide whether I do suffer from anxiety, and do something about it.
Never again to answer the question "how many people have you slept with?".
To use my car more. Take that, eco warriors!!!!
To improve the presentation of my little-read blog in the hope that I end up with a major book deal, a la Girl With A One Track Mind.
December 27 MikaReasons why I feel old.
Reasons why I feel young.
I had a reminder the other day that I actually have a couple of occasional readers. So, a big 'hi' to you all/both/delete as applicable. What I like about "Grace Kelly" is you can sing any words you like to it and it sounds sort of right. December 08 Savage GardenListening to Real Radio at my parents' house, and this guy phones up and asks for something for the older listeners, maybee some REM or some Savage Garden. And the DJ plays Savage Garden, for fuck's sake. Or have I lost my right to criticise? After all, Maroon 5 took up residence in the comfy slippers Savage Garden used to occupy, and not only have I seen them in concert, I occasionally listen to their album, and I can sort of play 'This Love' on the guitar. And 'She Will Be Loved' Well, I could this time last year, anyway. And REM are better than them too. November 24 Uncle TupeloThose of you that know me well, probably know that I gave up alcohol last summer, not in any great AA, 12 step program or anything like that, but because I value my time too much to spend it in bed sleeping off the night before. And it certainly wasn't the case that I stopped completely, I've shared a few bottles of wine with Gillian during that time, for example. But I have cut out the Friday night after work lager bingeing, totally. And, while it ultimately took a while, the people I socialise with accepted that.
I don't want to call them lapses, but a couple of times in the last couple of months I've gone out and drunk more lager than I should. I've not been getting nuggets; the first time I was sober enough to recognise the deficiencies of Fingers, the second time was tonight and I'm writing this, but both times it's been more than I would like and enough to have an adverse affect on how I'm feeling the next day. [A hangover, in layman's terms]. And I regret them both.
The first time I was turning 30. Tonight I was leaving my employer. So, special occasions, definitely. But I can have special occasions without beer. I think I wanted to partake in the manliness of my work contecxt tonight, and of the Scotland Ukraine game last month.
I start my new job on Monday, though, and ultimately it would be a lot simpler to set out my stall early doors (as BFR would say) i.e. I don't drink. Far less likely to get a Mrs Doyle style "go on, go on, go on". And ulitmately I'm happier for having made the decision. So, what gives?
And tonight I never even got a kebab.
Uncle Tupelo - early 90s American alt.country band. Splintered into Son Volt (very country, Malcolm's into them), and Wilco (a bit more sonic experimentation, I love them).
The song that's swimming around my head is called "I got drunk and I fell down". Off for several pints of water, and to verify that Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) really did star in Teen Wolf 2... October 22 Pet Shop BoysThis guy knocked on my door. I haven't been out today, so I guessed he was complaining about the two bin bags I was going to dispose of on my way to work this morning.
But no, he was just asking me to cook some garlic bread for him. Weird, eh? Student, I reckon. I did it, too, even though I suspect he nicked one of my umbrellas a while back.
So I've basically done nothing today. I eventually fell asleep about six this morning, so I'm not at my sharpest. I got offered the job where I fucked up the interview, which was weird, and I'm taking it, just as soon as I can get my work to acknowledge I'm leaving ha ha.
Spent a good bit of time reading Steven Gerrard's autobiography, but even that was too much like hard work, so I'm coming off the back of a four hour stint watching Seinfeld. There's George, in the antique store, buying a Cigar Store Indian with Jerry. "You've got great taste" says the flirty assistant. "We're collecters", replies George, "we see objects of great beauty.... and we must have them". It's things like that that make Seinfeld my favourite show, along with the writers mantra "no hugging, no learning".
I'm half way through season five, so I am approaching probably the finest episode, The Marine Biologist. George is unemployed and living with his parents, so when him and Jerry meet an old cllege chum, they tell her that George is a marine biologist. Yada yada yada next thing we know there is a beached whale which George has to rescue, it turns out the problem is, Kramer's been hitting golf balls into the sea, and one of them has gone in the blowhole.
"The sea was angry that day, my friends". Genius.
Other than that I'm unenthused. Newcastle vs Spurs at 8, I can just see my way clear to watching. October 08 Aimee MannWoody Allen, in the film Manhattan, lists the things that for him make life worthwhile. It's not stuff like oxygen, money, sustenance etc, more an opportunity to highlight art, culture I guess. Here's my Manhattan list.
And yet, right now, my mind is somewhere else. Allen originally wanted to call Annie Hall 'Anhedonia', the illness that prevents sufferers from enjoying the things in life that should be enjoyed. I've not got that, of course, I'm lucky in so many ways (although not as lucky as if I'd followed through on my promise to stick a fiver on an England France double on Saturday...), but it's weird how sometimes none of that seems to count. I think that's one of our main differences from animals, the capacity for reflection. But sometimes I wish my capacity for it wasn't quite so great. It's a typical Aimee Mann kind of mood, though. I'm listening to 'Whatever', her first solo album, and 'I Know There's A Word' has just come on, which is one of the saddest, 'we never learn' kind of songs that I've encountered. Aimee was in a band called 'Til Tuesday back in the 80s, when she had big hair, and sounded a little bit like Fleetwood Mac. I'm 30 on Wednesday, I've got another cold, I'm pretty sure I fucked up a job interview today, and I can't shake the feeling that my priorities are all the wrong way around. "When things are really great "Dan I guess this is our prime September 13 The DonnasTell all the Italians you know
We're top of the group and you're no'
You won the World Cup
We don't give a fuck
We're top of the group and you're no' August 27 The Robert Cray BandLast year, when I was thinking about doing a website (as opposed to the lazy man's blog this is), I wanted to make it a tribute to the lyrical genius of the Robert Cray Band, and the excitement and japes of the narrator's personal life. You'd be worried if you were married to him alright.
Here follows a synopsis of the False Accusations album
Porch Light
The narrator is shagging his next door neighbour. When the husband is out, she leaves the porch light on as a sign. Feels intermittent guilt, although not enough to make him stop.
Best lyric - "in perfume, probably nothing more..."
Change of Heart, Change of Mind
Narrator is in love with his friend. But she won't go out with him. Boo!
"if you put love in your pocket, and hold on to it; snap up the buttons so you don't lose it"
She's Gone
Narrator's wife leaves him cos he won't change his lying ways.
"I've got one ex-wife already, and I've got another one on the way"
Playin' In The Dirt
Narrator cheats on his wife with someone else's missus. They decide that, seeing as they'll inevitably get found out, they might as well enjoy it as it lasts.
"You think that we'd know better, at this point in our lives"
I've Slipped Her Mind
Narrator cooks a lovely meal for his woman but gets stood up. Stand out track on the album.
"Both candles just burned out, drank the wine til it's gone, called her place all evening, but the phone rings on and on"
False Accusations
Narrator thinks his woman is sleeping around. She isn't.
"Jealousy, jealousy. Got me so mad, red is all I see"
Last Time (I Get Burned Like This)
Narrator's woman treats him like shit. He resolves to stop letting her. But we all know he won't.
"Hopin' and prayin' that tonight I see your face again"
Payin' For It Now
In order, the narrator's sexual drive leading to;
"Ordered three gin and tonics, told each other lies" Sonny Narrator's friend goes off to Vietnam and asks narrator to keep an eye on his wife. So he starts shagging her. Narrator's friend comes back from the war blind. Quintessential Cray. "His pain is just beginning, I'm so ashamed of what I've done.
August 25 Kaiser ChiefsSome old woman in Japan has died, leaving 114 year old Edna Parker the oldest person in the world. If I live to her age I will die in, what, 2091? We'll no doubt have stopped eating food, just taking pills in a Zager & Evans 'In The Year 2525' stylee.
Andorra has the highest average male life expectancy in the world, 80. As a base that would mean me dying in 2057.
In the UK it is 76, so that would be 2053.
In Swaziland it's 31. Holy fuck.
In Scotland as a whole it's 74 - 2051.
But if I stay in Edinburgh I get an extra year - 2052.
Over to Deathclock for a more personal interpretation. I'm saying I'm optimistic rather than sadistic. August 30, 2062. This would make, me, what, 85 years old? Assuming Citi have let me retire I'll probably be senile.
But, even if I spend the next 55 years thinking about it, I doubt I'll be able to figure out why the Kaiser Chiefs are so popular.
Every Day I Love You Less And Less August 21 LCD Soundsystem"Nostalgic for the last ten years before the last ten years has passed"
My brother's getting married next year, so at some point between now and May presumably the stag do will rear its head. And I'm thinking, Ibiza?!
He's been a couple of times, but it passed me by. I never even watched Kevin & Perry Go Large. I imagine I was put off by the lack of clubs playing Dylan! (Although, Callum's been, which I don't suppose was really about the music). I asked a girl at work and she told me that it was fine, there were plenty of lovely, quiet places. As if it would never cross my mind to go raving. I mean, I'm not saying I'd be on the floor at Manumission (does that still exist?), and I'm not saying I could pick a single DJ in the world out of a line up, but I imagine there's good dance music out there. And if there's one thing I do love it's dancing. I don't even need chemical stimulation. Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box.
There's a track on the new LCD Soundsystem album, that's so completely beyond anything else you'll hear this year, that it's got it's own article on Slate, the worthy internet-only newspaper run by the Washington Post. It's called All My Friends, and there's also a version of it by Franz Ferdinand that was kicking about on their MySpace (I can send you it if you can't find it). It's a paean to the heady days of going out, partying all night, and not giving a shit.
"If it's crowded all the better, because we know we're gonna be up late"
"If the sun comes up and i still don't want to stagger home, then it's the memory of our betters that are keeping us on our feet"
"I wouldn't trade one stupid decision - for another 5 years of life".
It's hugely affecting, even though I never did any of it. I'm pretty sure getting tanked in Subway West End and dancing to the A-Team tune doesn't really cut it.
In fact, it reminds me of the last track on the Pulp album Different Class, 'Bar Italia'.
If I went to Ibiza, and it was lairy as hell, would I retain this imagined nostalgia?
Should I really care this deeply about music, six weeks before I turn thirty?
Meet you next week, same place, same time... July 13 KillersOccasionally, I'll see Mark, my old flatmate, and at some point he'll tell me, as if for the first time, that his favourite Killers track is that "Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll" (is that the title - mine's a copy). It's not my favourite ("All These Things..." but I've got my own reasons for that) but it is pretty cool, one of the more interesting songs on an otherwise fairly predictable album.
[What is it with the Killers? Why are they so popular? They're good, but their concerts sell out in no time, everyone goes mental when one of their tracks gets played in the club, they even managed to draw people away from the mighty Josh Mouse at T in the Park a couple of years ago... I reckon there's something subliminal in the music, like when back in the old days you could flash messags on adverts that were too quick for you to actually notice. Something along the lines of "we're not just actually Duran Duran clones" really quickly, over and over again]
But anyway my mind has been on all things indie, and I think there are three reasons for that. One was a piece in the Observer last week about people who still treat indie as it was back in the 80s, all naff DIY scene, C86, fey boys, that kind of thing. It pinpointed the tipping point as Definitely Maybe, which sounded about right to me.
Second, perhaps, it was T in the Park last weekend. 80,000 neds tanked up listening to chart, I think I have to call it. And I accept that chart now is cooler than chart fifteen years ago, but it's still chart.
And last I was at an indie night last week, and there was a fight. And I just thought, indie boys don't fight. I'm going to list all the songs I can remember. Are they indie? Really?
Kaiser Chiefs
Killers (twice)
The Automatic
The Libertines (I'll grant you that one. And they're rubbish)
Fratellis
New Order
Stone Roses (Fools Gold)
Belle and Sebastian (definitely. Indie even when they don't sound like it)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (I reckon so, too)
The Kooks (you're kidding, right?)
Obviously they played some more stuff, but some of it I didn't recognise, and more of it I don't remember. And I just wonder if we're getting more or less homogenous. In America you've got different charts for different types of music, which used to be what kept a whole strata of Americans in the dark about rock n roll, but nowadays is used so that no more people than absolutely necessary have to endure "both kinds of music, country AND western".
Indian Summer festival in Glasgow this weekend. Only it's not yet late summer. And it's pishing down anyway. June 04 The BeatlesApparently it is 40 years since Sgt Pepper came out, so the media are fawning all over it.
Is it the greatest album of all time? I wouldn't say so. I wouldn't even say it's the greatest Beatles album. Is it a concept album? Well, no, not really, if you take out the title tracks and With A Little Help..., I'm not entirely sure which tracks are supposed to be part of the concept. Was it Paul's idea? Yes, apparently, if you take Iain McDonald's "Revolution in the Head" as a guide.
[Easy way to tell whether it was Paul or John who wrote a song. Listen to the melody - if it is flat like Help!, it's John. If it rises and falls, like Ticket To Ride, it's Paul].
Was John into it? Well, he was off his head on LSD at this point (McDonald, again). So Paul could probably have pitched a concept about, say, a guy who loses a grand down the back of his TV, then goes off on a lads holiday, and it would probably still have had the same Lennon tracks on it.
It is great, though. The songs may in general be slight, but they're charming. Judged against its contemporaries, only Dylan I think would be in a position to criticise it's slightless. Pet Sounds may be a better album (I think so), but it wasn't really stretching any boundaries either. The Velvet Underground weren't quite there yet. Forever Changes hand't been released. Hendrix was just getting started.
As an event, it must have been spectacular. Maybe I'll ask my Mum. I have this image of it being like Be Here Now coming out (although I can't see us celebrating that in 40 years). As a package, it's up there with Sticky Fingers.
I still don't get Within You, Without You though. May 30 RockySequels and comic books. Comic book sequels. Is film aesthetically bankrupt these days? Or have good movies always been needles in haystacks?
Everyone knows the story of Rocky. Stallone, only previous film x-rated, writes a script, but refuses to sell it unless he gets to play the lead. He then goes on to essentially remake the movie twice (I haven't seen 3,4 or 5).
My enjoyment of Rocky was probably spoiled by seeing 2 and 6. Without that maybe running up all those steps and drinking all those eggs would have been more impressive.
4 out of 5
OQ "I ain't ever talked to a door before" |
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