killer star

howdy pop pickers

yes, then, another vibes (music) related post for this month, look you see. a surprise in some way, but a pleasant one, it has been, to have a number of albums (and a gig) to write of. but, to be fair, this is one what came out earlier (rather than later) in the year and some how passed me by. 

for clarification, then, as the title goes this concerns Killer Star off of Killer Star. or, if you prefer such wording, the eponymous debut record off of the band Killer Star. which, considering the members, be it permanent to the band or significantly contributing, i am quite amazed did not pop up in or on any of my social media. no matter, it did, and here we are. 

i am not sure when or where i first heard of Killer Star, but shall (or will) assume it was on some sort of sponsored post on facebook. the name, of course, immediately piqued my interest. as cool a name as it is for a band in its own right, the way my mind words was to immediately assume a reference to New Killer Star, the not as celebrated as it should be Bowie song. on investigation, sure enough, names like Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey and Mike Garson turn up in association with the group. as in exceptional musicians who happened to (frequently) work with Bowie. 

this whole thing, the album, the band and what have you, seem quite deliberately low key. when i finally worked out where i could purchase the album from, i did, and was surprised to find it arrive in packaging with a hand written address on it. no, i don't think one of the band actually wrote it out. so, arrive it did, and with interest yet trepidation i played it a few times.

rather good, it is, to be sure. a taunt eight tracks spread over a tight time south of 40 minutes, the emphasis was clearly on creating an album proper, no filler or extending things for the sake of it. in this digital era where things are measured many expect an album to exceed an hour in play time. quite a few of the classics, the greatest albums of all time, run for little over thirty minutes. it's not how long it is, it's what in it that counts. 

little in the way of surprise that one would define this as (very much) a rock and roll album. what kind of rock and roll is, however, a bit more tricky to classify, should classification be needed. the remarkable level of talent here has created something which at once sounds like it has the atmospherics of decent, proper stadium rock (rather than, say, the plastic fabricated sh!t a band like The Killers peddles and gets away with) yet retains an intimacy you would associate with a club or smaller venue style performance. 

and i think, or it would seem, in respect of the latter aspect there, it could have been that i would have been able to see them do their thing at the fabled 100 Club. i just wasn't aware of them existing when they did a launch gig for this record. oh, bother. 

perhaps the easiest thing in the world for this band to have done would have been to simply go gone done a whole bunch of Bowie covers for we, the devoted. it would be wrong to say that these tunes are either influenced by he or that they have diverted away from sounding him. just eight great tunes. but, that said, there's a bizarre pattern of Bowie references or "homages" to find. so far i have found three direct musical references, and they are all "a" songs. one can here clear bits off of Ashes To Ashes, Aladdin Sane and Absolute Beginners in songs. no, i won't spoil the fun, find them yourself. one cannot call this "stealing", really, especially as when it is so, at least for Aladdin Sane, it's him what played that music on the original doing it here. now i really want to see (or rather hear) them do a second album, if for no reason than to find the Bewlay Brothers, Blue Jean and, if it is not too sacred, Blackstar references. 

would i care to highlight any tracks in particular? yes, actually. having given the album a dozen or so plays the one that "sticks" in the mind is Go (Hold On Tight). very much a "wow" tune, with a brilliant hook and some sensational lyrics. back when we had proper singles, to promote and to buy, i would like to think that one would have been a decent hit. but there's no "bad" here, not once has a track been skipped. as point of fact, as often as i have played the tape (disc) already, i still stop it so as not to miss anything when i have reason to go outside for a cigarette (sorry). 

my statement on this album is that it has "must buy" status. they do appear to have made it difficult to track down where you can order it from, at least for those of us with no interesting in "streaming" or what have you. perhaps one day their official site will make it a bit easier to give them money in exchange for some really, really excellent vibes.

quite a decent year so far for tunes then. in order of preference, the best tapes (discs) so far have been the brilliant Death Song Book, this one, the James album and that apparently quickly forgotten collaboration between Liam Gallagher and John Squire. whilst i am not that confident the imminent releases from Crowded House and Kasabian will be life changing, there remains the small matter of a Nick Cave record later in the year..........

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

if you've done six impossible things this morning

heya

to be honest, not really, not really, no. i am not (particularly) a fan of gum, look you see, or to be specific gum of the chewing variety. or chewing gum, if you will. although it was so that, recently, an experience with a kind of gum turned out to be not that bad. both links there go to the same place, for fun. 

yet it was so that, on a recent shopping trip (excursion) i opted to buy not just one packet of gum, or for that matter as many as three or further. no, just two, for they only had two different kinds, or if you will flavours, of a brand of gum i had not heard of before but was, of course, immediately familiar. 

most here i suspect, or would otherwise imagine, worked this out from the title alone. indeed, for clarification, and as per the "psychedelic" image above, the gum brand is Milliways. as in, one can only assume, the Milliways, which was (and likely is) the celebrated restaurant at the end of the universe in the much loved Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. in the radio show, book and i think original tv show a promo or tagline for Milliways is "if you've done six impossible things this morning why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways". a lovely reference to that bit in Alice In Wonderland (or similar title of novel) when the Queen informs Alice that she has "often done six impossible things before breakfast", in case you were wondering about the origins. 

actually no, as it happens, i did not walk in to the shop what i did to specifically buy either gum (which i am not that keen on) or an item related to Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. well, yes, the latter is an ever present thought. these packs of gum were just strategically placed by the till, likely quite deliberately so in order to try and snag impulse purchases. how often i am caught in such a sting operation or trap. 

should you be looking for some sort of review of this gum, alas no such thing appears here. i have not tried it as such as yet, and am not likely to rush to do so. ostensibly, then, even in our totes f****d economy where prices are set as if all of us earned what tube workers or railway staff do to mostly be on strike all the time, £1 for a wee tiny small packet seems excessive. 

for some reason i struggled to get a decent (or clear) image of the back of the packets, but hopefully the above (well above the previous paragraph) shows off one comment that took my interest. they, as in them what make this Milliways, accuse quite a few (if not all) other gum manufacturers of using "artificial plastic" to produce it. huh. what. does that not imply there is some form of "natural" occurring plastic in our world? if so Greta needs to be told. 

perhaps i shall hoy these packs of gum in my designated vehicle for use as i travel these lands for reasons of verk. obviously i shall only take one out of the pack and try when stopped, for i believe it is some form of crime to do so whilst moving. i am no lawyer, mind. 

certainly, yes, it will of course be so that should i see further items with a vague or explicit reference to the wonders of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy included i will purchase them. this, presumably, was a given, but makes for a lovely last paragraph,

don't panic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

joe cole derby league 2023-2024

hello there

on a superficial level, or at face value, far too many would be prepared to write off (or dismiss) Joe Cole as a (relatively) simple f***wit. this is not at all fair, look you see. he's just a lad who loves his football, which must be why everyone in broadcasting goes out of their way to try and secure his services for commentary and observations on matches. 

with this in mind, one of the "big" things every English Premier League (EPL) season is the outcome or if you like results of games deemed to be "Joe Cole Derby" matches. these are, as you might have worked out, matches in which both teams involved had the privilege to have fielded Joe Cole. as ever i have compiled the results and, for those interested, present them to you here, as well as the final league table for the Joe Cole Derby League

the prestigious nature of this league, or cup, is that it is only possible for four (4) teams to win it. of the clubs in the Premier League, only Chelsea, West Ham, Liverpool and Aston Villa had the vision to sign him to play for them. many other so-called "big clubs", be they Manchester or London based, cannot ever claim to have "won" the Joe Cole Derby League. 

no, i really don't have a horse in this race. to be honest i am not at all bothered about Joe Cole, but on those rare instances i watch a match i for some reason end up seeing him. back in the 80s or 90s he probably would have sought a lucrative career (post-football) advertising breakfast cereals or similar, but instead he is in this brave century i do not understand where footballers are sought out for their stimulating, insightful and intelligent thoughts on the game. that or they work cheap, and please note i didn't specifically single out Chris Sutton here. 

anyway, on to the results. yes, league table too. 

yes, i did knock the above up on Excel (or whatever it is called), the 2007 edition. no, i could not be bothered to fancy up the look of it. quite, as you can see, the goal fest in the Joe Cole Derby matches this last season, with just the one game featuring a single goal. 

best match of the Joe Cole season? probably the Aston Villa 4 West Ham 1 game. for no reason other than it features teams which play in relatively similar colour and design kits, which is very likely an aspect that Joe Cole noticed (eventually) and commented on. 

do a drum roll if you like, for here is the final league standings. it may or may not be of interest to see it shows triumph and tragedy for two departing managers.........also i have the F & A wrong somehow, but no i am not going back and editing it, whatever. 

congratulations, then, to Liverpool for winning the Joe Cole Derby League this season (23-24). all the more impressive as they were undefeated, or if you like invincible. this is a fitting farewell for their departing manager, Jurgen Klopp. i have every confidence that, in the future rather than the past, when he speaks of his time at the club this achievement shall dominate his words. not so much for the other departing manager, David Moyes, as his West Ham team really, really let themselves down here. 

perhaps the surprise package here was Chelsea getting three quasi creditable results. many have noted they have had something of a poor season, but it would seem they raised their game when the honour and prestige of Joe Cole was on the table. or pitch. with a view to the future, though, i fully expect to see Aston Villa likely win the Joe Cole Derby League next season. it is possible they might get distracted from this by lesser honours such as the Champions League, but i think they will strengthen their squad to compete for the Joe Cole title during the summer. 

if for some reason you are interested then you can click here and get the details of the last Joe Cole Derby League. oddly it's vaguely interesting to see how far "fewer" goals were scored in the previous season. will i be doing this for next season? maybe. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ealing cinema adventure

greetings

a peculiarity (or simply just a thing) of my lot in life is that i would appear to spend (considerably) more time away from my lodgings in this era of exile than i do in them. which is a matter i seldom to stop to consider, especially when paying the rent, look you see. of that time away (or not here), quite a bit appears to be down in Ealing, which is famously found in that there London (innit). 

whereas there are, probably, lots of things what Ealing is famous for, it is likely that the most of these is the connection to cinema. the movie industry, if you will, since Ealing Studios hold quite the celebrated place in British film history. odd that i had not opted to go to see a film there before. 

for the two (or so) years what i have been regularly in London (innit) it always kind of made sense to go and see films in Leicester Square. not that i have been to many. with encouragement and recommendation to go and see a (at time of writing) recent release i elected to have a gander at the cinema in Ealing. or to be correct cinemas, as they have more than one. two, at the least, and probably more than that but why keep looking when you have found what you seek. 

it would probably, for anyone seeking a sort of review thing, be a good idea for me to say what it is that i went to see. the film i felt obliged to go and watch on the "big screen" was Civil War. no, i knew very little about it before going. for what i did know, Alex Garland made it and i was a huge fan of his novel The Beach. some i knew who saw it highly praised it. other than that, didn't see a trailer, the posters made it look like "a bit" of a sort of action film, and the vague plot premise i read suggested it was some sort of "race against time" to get to the American (USA) President during a relatively present day civil war. 

no, i was not tempted to go and see Challengers, whatever that is. i think someone told me in passing that it has something to do with tennis. which to my memory suggests that there's been far more tennis related films out than i would have thought there is demand for, but there you go. 

how was the film? quite frankly Civil War is superb, and likely to rank as my "film of the year", unless something truly phenomenal comes along. not really an action film, bar the superb final section. it's a well crafted, thought provoking film which does that rare thing of being a "blockbuster" release that both trusts the audience and treats them with respect. there is no way i would wish to spoil it for anyone else, so a *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place for the rest of this. also a warning that right below here is one of them selfie things of me (moi). 

yes, it was The Ealing Project what i went to see Civil War at. why? price. on a Tuesday they charge a lower fee than anyone else. fee plus booking came to £7.50, which was more or less (as neither north nor south) half price what the other cinemas were offering, so there we go. really good cinema too, it's excellent going down underground to watch a film. give them a go if you are in the area and wish to see a film. so far as i could work out the prices were not bad on days not Tuesday, looks like a standard ticket is just fragments north of £10.

the only thing stopping me from ranking Civil War, and a reminder of the spoiler warning, with the likes of Full Metal Jacket or even Apocalypse Now is that some scenes are a clear "homage" to those. both films get paid "homage" to at the same time in one (sniper related) scene. it's all done really, really well, so no complaints at all. 

rounding out an earlier comment, the best aspect of the film is that at no stage was i spoonfed. the premise is that the film takes place towards the end of a civil war in America. at not stage is any reason for this civil war given, and there isn't the slightest hint of what the politics of either side is. just is, and that's the background to the story. for what the story is, it focuses on journalists racing to the White House in the hope of getting an interview with the ostensible President before the civil war ends. and for a variety of reasons, one is never quite sure which way the war shall end, as in who will, if anyone can in such circumstances, emerge triumphant. 

mindful of me having no (real) concept of cinema ticket prices around the rest of our land i really have no idea how the concessions (snacks) compare. this didn't feel cheap, but it also seemed to be around what other cinemas charge. this large popcorn and large coke was £9.50, if that helps. i chose these as the price difference for (considerably) smaller sizes was around £1. let me tell you that coke was annoying, for some reason it kept bubbling up and spilling, as you can sort of see. 

back to the film, and i was truly impressed with the way details of the civil war in Civil War were dropped in. landed on America in this depiction was suicide bombers, their dollar worthless compared to the Canadian variant and, well, all sorts. such may give the population of that nation pause for thought, but i would doubt such. overall, all of the cast were superb, and an extra special shout out to quite the remarkable sound of the film.

one very good friend in particular (Codename Magic) is delighted by the news that a prequel is being planned, showing (or explaining) the how, when, why and what have you of how the civil war in the film began. this i feel shall be a mistake, for it will immediately take away all trust placed in the audience to follow the story intended to be told. but, i suppose, if the film has been that much of a success, they will make more. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

death song book

howdy pop pickers

something of a delayed write up for another album release, then. i just get a bit busy, look you see. one might think that a bit of a delay gives me more time to play a new tape (disc) and consider my thoughts a bit more better before writing. half of that is (roughly) true. 

as the title of this gives you every indication (unless you googled with intent for something else and ended here in error), the album i speak of is Death Song Book, ostensibly credited to an outfit called the Paraorchestra, but featuring a certain Brett Anderson doing vocals. yes, that Brett Anderson. chances of me giving anything but a poor review are slim (to none), then. but this is no "oh Brett is brilliant this is ace" scenario, it's all by itself a brilliant record. 

the title of the album mostly tells you what to expect. all of the press, advertising and what have you spoke (or wrote) of how it's a collection of songs which pertain to if not death then loss. for the most part this is true, but at least one (1) song here would not seem to fit the agenda. if the rather excellent cover of Enjoy The Silence is included because the Paraorchestra and/or Brett have somehow interpreted the song to be about death, well, then i have been hearing the song all wrong for considerably north of 30 (!!) years. closer to 35 (!!!) i believe. 

whilst, despite the above, there's no question of a lack of quality in the songs chosen, to sort of semi continue with "negatives", i am thinking there are a good deal more better songs what they could have done as part of this venture. perhaps the two most obvious songs not done for this project, Bright Eyes and/or Suicide Is Painless, got knocked back as Brett's mates the Manics have done rather well known (and exceptional) covers. still, it feels strange (weird) that the Depeche Mode not obviously concerning death is here (and i am glad it is) rather than, say, something from REM's Automatic For The People, or Running To Stand Still or One Tree Hill off of U2's The Joshua Tree. for a final sort of why didn't they do that one comment, i get the Bowie reference by including an exceptional performance of My Death, but this coming together of artists doing an orchestral take on Time by Bowie himself would have been amazing. or maybe even the original variation of Tonight. 

let me try and act as if this were some sort of "proper" review, and not simply ponder on what might have been on it. what is here is, as indicated, brilliant. the performances of the songs, be they covers or ones composed for this, are outstanding. i really, really regret not making plans to go and see this live a little while ago. or during April 2024 for those reading far into the future. should you be reading it at some point in the past, bravo. 

highlights? well, Brett brought to the table a distinct highlight from the most recent Suede album in the form of She Still Leads Me On, the beautiful tribute to his mother. it's an incredible, energetic and defiant tour de force when performed by Suede, here the emotion of the song seeps through like it did not before. for the covers, the previously mentioned Enjoy The Silence is outstanding, as too are the takes on Wonderful Life and The Killing Moon. for the latter i was never in any way, shape or form at all ar$ed about Echo & The Bunnymen; the version of their song here is almost enough to tempt me to re-evaluate that band. 

it remains that the best ever description i have heard of Brett Anderson is that time Morrissey said he was "a man forever angry at God for not making him Angie Bowie". quite sure that the Moz meant it or intended it as a dig, but it's beautiful. to this end i was curious as to how the cover of My Death would go. well, interpretation if not cover. quite well, really. again. Bowie's Time for all sorts of reasons may have been the wiser approach, but here we are.

my expectation is that this tape (disc) shall not be far from my stereo for quite some time. it is highly likely to end up being my favourite, or "best", of the year. quite frustrating to see, if i have checked properly, that it hasn't made the top one hundred of the official UK album chart. not sure if this is better or worse or unrelatable to how it went with James and Yummy. that record went in at number one, fell to the lower seventies (!!) week two and then by week three not in the chart at all. such is the world we have invented. or watched fall apart around us. 

your life will be better for owning and (frequently) playing the album Death Song Book. stop messing around on the internet and go get it, except for instances where you would need to order your copy off of the internet.

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

once and future smoke

howzit

my preferred way of obtaining cigarettes (sorry) in this century of the UK does have a variation feel to it. since purchasing them from conventional stores has become ludicrously expensive to the point of being obscene i am left with the choice of what's been imported in a way that is (ahem) somewhat independent from the usual channels, look you see. this is not something which should necessarily be viewed as a bad thing, at least when one has cleared that ever present "smoking is bad" aspect. 

recently it was so that i went to stock up on cigarettes at a far more modest, and somewhat agreeable, price than the regular shops are obliged to sell them at. i am sure i will have made this point before, but it is very much a bizarre situation where people can smuggle in perfectly legal items, sell them for way south of half of what the standard price is here and, presumably, still make a significant profit to make the venture worthwhile. more on that in a bit (of you read on), but for now, alas they didn't have quite so many of my preference, Marlboro (red or gold) available, so i went with a familiar alternative. 

it has been quite some time since i had smoked some Camel cigarettes. was rather nice to see them again as it happens. yes, odd to get "nostalgic" or something about a type of cigarette, but if not here we are then here i am. how long since i last had these? well, it will have been in my time in South Africa. not by choice from the time that Marlboro hit the SA market, but probably 20 (!) or so years ago, then, at a guess. if such things matter. 

normally i would have had "regular" Camel, venturing only into the world of "lights" as they were called then as and when the "normal" ones were unavailable. can't remember when it was but at some stage they made cigarette people calling brands "light" as apparently it gave off the suggestion that they were in some way healthier. us smokers do get treated like idiots. anyway, at that time i think they just elected to differentiate with colours, so things like blue (or gold) became the "light" cigarette. most stick with red to define the strongest version. if there is a point here, it's that these are, or were, Camel Blue, which would be "lights". so, perhaps, not that much of a flashback for me. 

behold, or look at, the attention to detail they went and gone done on the cigarette filters. nice touch, that. presumably done more for making it more difficult to produce counterfeit ones than any major branding initiative, but still. no, i am not sure why they make a big fuss or big deal about the company making them being around since 1913. i can assure you that the age of the business making the cigarettes is not a matter i take into consideration when purchasing. yes, that renaissance painting style picture for the warning, telling you that you will die if you smoke (unlike all them immortal non smokers out there), is a lovely touch. 

we, as a people, have not heard the term "fake news" for a while. perhaps with the expected, or inevitable, return of a former incumbent to the top (ish) job in America soon there will be a revival of the term. i can remember how people of any persuasion politically banded around the phrase to dismiss any story they happened to disagree with. for a real "fake news" story example, cigarettes in the UK. it is so that our infrequently trusted government insists that the obscene tax placed on cigarettes is in some way "working" as less (fewer) people are smoking. no, not quite. they make that assumption on the huge fall in recorded sales. all that they have successfully done with the increases is take money away from themselves and sent more people to buy them from less than conventional distributors. stats are great, you can manipulate and use them to tell anything you like, irrespective of the truth.

how did i get on with these Camel Blue? very well, thanks. whilst i would not ever give up Marlboro as a primary passion, as it happens i did ask if they had any more of these on a recent restock trip, alas, or if you will sadly, no they did not have any more. oh well, perhaps on a future purchase i shall get some more, unless i do something like quit. rather unlikely, but still.

yes, you are probably right, i likely should not be "celebrating" cigarettes. they are bad for you, and will likely be the death of me. except of course it will be vaguely amusing if my end is attributed to something that has nothing to do with then. but, you know, they (cigarettes) do remain a legal thing. odd that over the years people have "reported" my posts of Bullseye as they don't like the content, but leave ones like this well alone. go figure, and no that is neither a request nor a challenge. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bulb demise

hello there

well, it has happened. that was wondered as to when is now, look you see. for clarification, i speak of that peculiar lightbulb what i had, the one which was some sort of "vintage" or "retro" design, is finally no more. popped, it has, with the filament needed to bring light now dangling in darkness. 

for those of you not entirely sure what that dramatic opening paragraph pertains to, well, mostly i am delighted to learn that up to now you have found other things of interest on the internet. to clarify, then, several (or seven) years ago i commenced giving updates on a lightbulb for a bedside lamp i had. it was of the Poundland provenance, and - as things there did back then - cost £1. certain warnings were issued, with some speaking of how it would not last and/or how it would set fire to me and wherever i happened to be living at that time. or where it was on the go, for the latter, i suppose. 

being honest about it means for me to say (here) that i didn't really expect to write all that much on the subject of this bulb after first posting on it. that post, however, proved to be one of the most read, or clicked on, things what i have ever done. far be it from me to deny people what they wish. yes, true, there was a partial expectation of mine for it to not last long, although i never really held much in the way of dramatic concern about it blowing up and/or setting me on fire. 

one could well say that this bulb has had quite the journey. usually, or perhaps even normally, i would imagine a bulb to get used in a single (solitary) location. not to be for this one. those interested can simply search "bulb" on this blog and see all the posts. for key, significant events, though, here you go. clicking here shall take you to the first post, whilst clicking here will take you to a post concerning how it fared when i moved to lodgings in my place of exile, and then clicking here will tell the tale of it being moved into a different lamp.

do i have a favourite post, or undocumented moment, with this bulb? not really. as i have commented in the past, truthfully the light which came off of it was rather weak (or diminished) and it wasn't one that was practical to read by on a night. laziness and cheapness likely prevented me from replacing it before it blue. isn't that me. 

what now for my bedside lighting requirements? yes, as it happens, i do have an exact, like for like, except (presumably) functional bulb. but no, i decided to just put a normal, regular style bulb in for now, so that i may read on a night or what have you. 

hopefully some, if not all, of you have drawn some interest, if not pleasure, from the saga of this bulb. my apologies that the end of days for it wasn't all that well presented here. well, i don't think i have gone quite as bad as, say, Godfather III, but still, maybe i should have done more better. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

another evening with simon and oscar (and friend)

howdy pop pickers

well, a repeat gig for me, look you see. as the title of this post gives you every indication, i did indeed get chance to go and see Simon and Oscar out of Ocean Colour Scene once more. them and a friend, who they opted (or elected) not to actually introduce. yes, again, in my era of exile, i went to this gig alone, and am comfortable with such. needs must, as some might say. 

for those with an interest in such things, here you go - click here for details of the first time i went to see them. should you have nothing much better to do i guess you can compare the two. doubt my writing has got any better, and the same sounds true for pictures and video. 

as you can (vaguely) work out from the above i was a good deal closer to the stage in this instance. well, if you did end up looking at the post for the first gig i suppose you could see that. last time i only found out about the gig a short while before it happened, in this instance i was able to get a ticket well in advance. four or so months in advance, i think.

getting closer to them was, of course, quite class. mindful of not wishing to stalk and what have you, being able to see people you respect and admire in such proximity is boss. but also some things become all the more visible. whatever is going on with Simon that sees him struggle to walk or move about seems to be getting worse, whilst Oscar looks like he has aged about ten years in the two years since i last saw him. oh.

the image above features their unspecified, and so far as i can recall never introduced, friend. perhaps it was so they did mention his name and i missed it. sorry. well, he was a most smart addition for the tunes he joined them on. no, he didn't play on each and every song. 

how was the gig? to be honest (as i vaguely try to be) no, i didn't enjoy it as much as the first. quite possible that this was down to me maybe not being in the right frame of mind, with some things going on, but that's a story for another time, if ever. but, still. the set was somewhat more mixed up and a bit different from the first encounter, with me (as a humble fan, not an expert) feeling that they had the set list perfect the time before. 

still, they did all of my favourites what make sense to do acoustic. i suppose i should make the effort to go to an Ocean Colour Scene full tilt gig to get, say, Hundred Mile High City live. but then it's ace, and yes there is video below, that they do my all time favourite, Traveller's Tune. 

video done off of a camera welded to a phone tends to be poor anyway, but it does feel like this is worse than usual, sorry. i am not going to go spend a fortune on a phone with a tres uber camera welded to it just to film bits of gigs. should you make it to the end of the footage above you might notice the camera dip a bit. that's because the two ladies sat next to me felt compelled to get up and dance in the aisle to this one. certainly there was a temptation to join in, but that would seem rude. it was enough to see people visibly as thrilled, as moved and as touched by this song as i always have been. some sort of reassurance, or affirmation, i suppose. 

rather a different crowd at this gig too. one member of the audience was very keen (as in at every chance he could get) to show off that he knew Simon's nickname (or what have you) is Foxy, calling it out as he did in the presumably strange hope he could have a conversation then and there. others in the crowd were, for whatever reason, using the evening to have a bit of a private social meeting with perpetual loud chatting. this did appear to annoy Simon somewhat, but ultimately, well, those people have paid for the ticket, off they go, i guess. 

indeed i did carry on filming the (splendid) performance of Traveller's Tune after the ladies had passed me to dance. and here, below, is that extra bit of video. 

don't worry if you are a fan of (really) poor video bits off gigs, as there is one more at the end. i did film some other songs, like bits of Profit In Peace and the entirely predictable finale of The Day We Caught The Train, but much better recordings of these likely exist out there on the internet. mostly i would recommend, or suggest, you buy some tapes, discs or records of them.

if it is so that Simon and Oscar tour again, and this would appear to be a regular thing for them, will i go again? likely yes, even if for all sorts of reasons this one was something of a disappointment. should i remain in my place of exile and they perform within walking distance, well, it would be frightfully stupid of me not to go, would it not? exactly what else would i do with that time?

not really sure i have all that much else to add here. i elected (or opted) not to watch the support act, instead enjoying a glass of coke zero (they had no regular stuff) or two whilst nipping outside momentarily for a cigarette or two (sorry). 

well, more (bad) video as promised. if for some reason you wished to hear Simon do a little bit of the classic Live Forever off of Oasis, here you go. 

yes, i do have some other gigs lined up for the remainder of the year (2024). another three, as it happens. rather likely some pictures and (bad) video shall get posted from at least some of them. 

i would suggest not reading too much into any negative comments about this gig. should the chance ever come along yes, absolutely go see Simon and Oscar for a smart night. much of what was at fault was me (moi), not them. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

purple haze

now then

regrettably no, this post (or what have you) has nothing to do with the most splendid song off of Jimi Hendrix with that name. it just seemed like a reasonably good title for this one. especially based on the first image, look you see. 

yes, for my sins, or if you prefer at the request of verk, i have once again been in the City of London. note, readers from other lands (and some here), 'City of London' is a very different thing from the city of London you may think. this one is the big finance and what have you area. mostly what i can tell you about it is that it's rather difficult to find parking there (or avoid fines for driving) and they have their own police force. so don't go messing around. 

for those of you familiar with the London skyline and going "isn't that the building they have christened or decided to call The Gherkin", yes it is. quite a challenge when the lift ("elevator") in it is busted, let me tell you. 

do we have a video of this area? yes, we do indeed. well, i took it, but it is now ours, for it roams freely on this peculiar "internet" thing. and certainly it is most decidedly done in VHS mode. 

going back (ever so slightly) to an earlier point, thus far i am not sure if i have been fined for the simple task of driving down a road. my suspicion is that i have, but if you think the wheels of justice are slow, well, Royal Mail and the Post Office go one slower. certain roads i drove down appeared to be just pretty much conventional roads, but in that there London (innit), if they can think of a reason to restrict or block the use of a road, they will. and fine you for not respecting their reason, no matter how senseless or pointless. 

oh. yes, all of the pictures (well, both of the two) are in thermal "style" mode, which i am more keen on than the psychedelic style. a big selling point would be the picture below. the sky looks to be an even more amazing purple, if that is such a thing, but that's not my point of attraction. 

not sure it was deliberate, more of a happy accident, but all those buildings at the lower centre have a quality of them being sketched rather than being an image captured off of a phone what has a camera welded to it. looking again, yes, i suppose the gherkin looks a bit sketched rather than snapped too. perhaps all of them do. 

well, no, i don't have much else to offer on this subject. there's nothing much to take. but, yes, it is quite likely to the point of predictable that more thermal image stuff will come soon. maybe some psychedelic ones, or maybe not. depends if i can work out a way to take them so which sees them come out in a way i would consider to be quite class. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

car wash psychedelia

hello there

yes, i do indeed appreciate that, what with the date this was published being what it is, i perhaps should be doing some sort of Star Wars post. may the force be with you, etc. my feeling was that not too many people would be all that interested in thermal, psychedelic or VHS style image of Lobot, which is as far as my imagination stretched for something on that subject. so here we are instead, back at the car wash, look you see. 

perhaps i have robbed myself of a (potential) second post here, putting both, or if you like all two, of my new image styles in just the one post. i am beginning to feel, though, that the so-called psychedelic one is a bit poor. quite likely that thermal shall be the dominant style used. 

so far as i am aware the above was taken in thermal "style" mode. granted, it's not actual thermal imaging on the go, just colours being changed to give it that effect. not sure if i like this image entire, but the look of the sky behind the big soft floppy brushes is rather smart. 

indeed i did go to a car wash once more. that much, i suspect, you already knew, but it's worth confirming these things. for provenance, or (and most likely correctly) location, to the north, and closer to home. although this one, unexpectedly, cost as much as the one i used in that there London (innit) a little while ago. £5, for those concerned. 

just the one so-called psychedelic image for you, which is the one above. what i like about this, or find somewhat peculiar, is that it does pretty much (more or less) what i had expected the thermal one to do. and that would be a sort of quasi Predator like vision thing. if you really, really have not much else better to do a sort of squint towards the left of the image will reveal the reflection of me (moi) and my phone, sort of cloaked in the psychedelia, reflected in the window. oh. 

how did the car wash go? not bad, i suppose. the job asked of it, or tasked posed, which for the sake of clarification was to wash the vehicle i had gone into it with, was done as it should be. considering the nature of some people i have every confidence that someone, now and then, makes a complaint that their car or what have you didn't quite get washed as they expected. some are never pleased. 

stating the obvious would be to suggest the above image appears to show my windscreen getting washed with fire water. if fire water exists, or is a thing. actually, i am reasonably sure there's one sort of alcohol based drink or another of that name. no, it was not (so far as i am aware) used as part of my car wash experience. but i cannot state as fact entire, just reasonable assumption. 

would i ever consider using a car wash without documenting it? this i have done, just obviously there's no posts for such. another question could possibly be one of if i would ever take just "regular" images whilst at a car wash. not sure if one or two have slipped in to posts, to be honest. mostly, i would suspect, the answer is no. making much of this paragraph a waste of time. sorry. 

being honest would be to say yes, i am "intrigued" by the odd dots which crop up in these thermal pictures of the windscreen. perhaps they are just dots of water, or something or other on the main crux of the car wash mechanism. still, i suppose they add some sense of character, or what have you, to the images. 

anyway, as usual there isn't too much i can add beyond "recently i used a car wash". let it be so that whatever you did on this particular Star Wars day was most excellent. 

live long and prosper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yummy

howdy pop pickers

catching up with some vibes (music, look you see) posts, then. indeed this is one that i did get, or rather received, on the day of release, but i have been somewhat busy. that another two (2) tape (disc) sets sat here sealed tells you, if you were interested, that time is tight. probably of (slightly) more interest is which tape (disc) i listened to, and that would be, as per the title, Yummy off of James. 

at the time of writing, or this being published, the album has been out (so to speak) for a couple of weeks. which means in this day and age it has likely already fallen from thought. it's somewhere in the high teens in terms of albums released by James. further, improbably, it's their first ever number one record on the charts. this is something they engineered (more on that in a bit), and it remains a tragedy that their greatest work, Girl At The End Of The World, was robbed of such a title by a mysteriously large number of Adele "streams" at the time. one would have thought the "golden era" of James, with huge hits like Laid and, in particular, Sit Down, was a likely time for a number one album, but there were oh so many decent records out then. 

so, is the album (Yummy) any good? having listened to it for most of the week it came out, yes, as it happens, quite to very good. the consistently high quality of their work for the last few years mostly remains in place. but, as has clouded the previous two to this, it's not Girl At The End Of The World. unfair, perhaps, as i doubt either they or any other band will record an album that good again. sure, to clarify, greater records made before that exist, but i am coming to conclude that it was truly the last ever really exceptional album ever to get made. 

worst part, or moment, of Yummy? that's really, really easy. it's the ludicrously and needlessly long song called Shadow Of A Giant which dominates the middle of the record. for a start musically it very suspiciously sounds like just a prolonged moment off of What's Going On by 4 Non Blondes. yes that is a fine song, but if i wished to hear it i would play their record and not a James one. convoluted and forced is how it sounds, and the album would have been better (in my view, of course) had any of the extra four (4) tracks off of the "deluxe digital download" had been included instead. or, for that matter, a bit more work had been put into any of the "b side" extra disc on this "deluxe double tape (disc)" set. 

i ended up purchasing two (2) copies, then. one was the double tape (disc) set, pictured here. actually think i placed the order whilst sat in New Zealand. then, on the weekend it was released, i got an email waving a discount code at me to buy the "digital deluxe version". at no stage did the band pretend that the many formats were anything other than an effort to make number one. which they did, and bravo for doing so in the face of competition from the juggernaut that is Beyonce and the return of Mark Knopfler. so, i taped ("burned") the digital deluxe thing onto a tape (disc) so i could listen to it as i travelled about these lands. that i was not inclined to change tape (disc) speaks of how Yummy is an album one can listen to a lot. 

highlights of the album? pretty much everything that isn't Shadow Of A Giant. there is not a bad song on the rest of the record. actually it's better to say everything maintains an above average to excellent level, with excellent being the norm. ok, if you insist, Mobile God starts off excellent and then loses its way, but still, worth it for the start. if i had to choose favourites, probably Butterfly which i suspect was the intended name for the record, but just changed to a lyric from it so as to (presumably) avoid confusion with the celebrated Streisand album of that name. beyond that, Rogue, Stay, Way Over Your Head and The One With Swearing In The Title are all excellent. 

the very day James hit number one with Yummy happened to be the same as the day that the latest cash cow off of Taylor Swift came out. i have a vague notion of who or what she is, and understand enough to know that it is likely she'll just dominate the charts for however long it amuses her to. still, such would not stop anyone who has not already done so from getting Yummy and hearing what is mostly, overall, a truly excellent album. yes, quite likely to be "album of the year", unless something truly extraordinary comes along. based on the single being played off the imminent Kasabian album, make that extremely very likely. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!