just the twinkling lights of heaven

howdy pop pickers

yes, yes, every single year i write "no, i am not going to mark anniversaries no more", figuring that i had written all that i could write. but, well, here we are, look you see. on this day today, as in when this is published or "goes live" on the internet, it's a staggering 33 years since i last saw Bowie, or if you will that amount of time since i saw tin machine.  

to write what i (more or less) normally do, if you go back through this blog of mine it is mostly so that on the 5th November of each year i commemorate this, a distinct highlight of my life. make of that statement what you will. usually i include a snippet, video or audio, of bootlegs of the actual gig i was at. these are things people have very kindly given me over the years. 

for a slight change, this is all from some of the promo stuff the band did for both the album, imaginatively titled tin machine ii, and the tour on which i saw them. the images here, and the first of two (not three) videos, are from their neither memorable nor celebrated appearance on Wogan, which was of course presented by the much loved, much missed Terry Wogan. 

here, or rather below, is their "performance" (i believe it may be mimed) of You Belong In Rock N Roll, which was the lead single for the album. and a top tune. i have had to quasi recompress an already compressed video to be able to add it here, so apologies for the likely poor quality. 

some years ago i added the above, plus the interview with "Woges", on that you tube thing. you are here now so you might as well click on the above, but if you are really keen and want to see a more better version then search away on that you tube thing. 

indeed it is so, and you are not mistaken. should you have watched the video and thought something along the lines of "is that a lady massage device (ahem) what Reeves Gabrels is playing the guitar with", yes it us. no idea how they got that one past the BBC, except for reasons of being David Bowie. 

don't believe the myth, rumour or stories that tin machine were in some way "rubbish", by the way. please go and explore both their albums. sure, one or two songs (mostly those where they let Hunt Sales sing) are a bit below average, but there's some amazing stuff on there. 

one never really knows if an anniversary they are celebrating is going to be the last time they are able to do so. just in case, then, i have borrowed a bit of video from a previous post. below is the end of the gig i was at, with David saying goodnight to everyone. 

quite likely i wrote similar to this on the original post, but anyway - you feel free to "keep" this video, and play it every night before bed. there are far worse things one could do in this life than have David Bowie say goodnight to them daily. 

i'm a hurt, i'm a hurt, i'm a hurting

tolerate, next

hello there

really it is so that i have no wish for this all to be "what about" or "told you so". just observations, look you see. indeed some shall see this as a whine, whereas others might (or may) see one or two valid points being aired. or not. oddly i suspect a lot of it will affirm decidedly different views. 

as for what this is about, mostly it's the latest (for want of a better word) curious idea from our reasonably recently elected government here in the UK. their latest, somewhat ambitious plan to "fix" the nation is to give what is casually referred to as "fat jabs" to the unemployed. no, not injections to make them fat, but rather the opposite (lose weight). if you are unaware of this plan, or doubt that it is so, well you can read more on it via clicking here. 

for the most part (or mostly) i think this is yet another early doors example of the great dangers when one votes against something rather than for (or in favour of) something. it was very much the case that Labour, specifically Sir Keir, didn't offer much other than "not being the Tories". kicking the Conservative party out of power was, if we are honest, a necessity. unfortunately the gamble made on this is that (virtually) anyone else "could do no worse". 

where does one even start unpicking this latest sh!t. normally the Labour party are heralded as the compassionate ones, the ones who want tolerance and acceptance of everyone. many are the things i neither like nor understand of this century, but the drive to have greater understanding for mental or psychological wellbeing has been excellent. and now we have a government that are prepared to tell all the people not gainfully employed that it is because they are fat, and they shall either force or coerce all of them into getting injections to "fix" this. fix this with an injection of something which isn't actually designed or intended to cause weight loss, but appears to do that anyway. 

having read up (slightly) on these miracle injections (i am not naming brands, i have no wish for a cease and desist notice) there also appears to be anecdotal (or incidental) indicators that they can also in some way "control" behaviour and deal with addiction. fascinating. we are casually going into the dangerous territory depicted in works such as A Clockwork Orange and 1984, then. 

yes, it was indeed with interest that i saw claims that 'obesity' now "costs" the NHS more than what smoking apparently does. this does not appear to have been followed up with any increase in tax on foods deemed to be unhealthy, nor has it led to bans on advertising, age restrictions or limitations on where one may eat such. do not be surprised if such starts to flow, assuming they get away with this idea and by some chance it does not work as intended. 

just where, exactly, would the government get the idea that they can go around injecting the people who elected them with something that are certain "might" work? oh yes, the great plague of a few years ago. the covid vaccinations were, of course, heavily encouraged but not compulsory and certainly not enforced. well, yes, some high profile businesses went "no vaccination, no job", but that wasn't adopted as a law. indeed there were some wild conspiracies about those injections, often featuring a strange idea of some computer dude taking control of people, but beneath the weird perhaps they were right, be careful of giving those in power the power to go around injecting you with stuff. 

should they go ahead with this idea it will be interesting to see what happens when it does not work. what shall they gain, exactly, from telling people they are fat and need not to be to work, giving them these injections, have them lose weight (assuming it works) and still they cannot get a job, and still our country remains "broken"? maybe i am being pessimistic in this one. well, why not just give us all these injections and have us all be one and the same, exactly like Sir Keir and his crew believe we should be. surely it could be all no worse than it is now. 

generally i would have thought it is only an idiot or a dictator believing themselves to be infallible who(m) would go ahead and attack their own people. a far from complete list of people Sir Keir has taken a full tilt assault approach on now features children, the elderly, smokers, anyone working for anything other than rail companies and now the unemployed, presumed to be overweight. in regards of the only people he actually seems interest in the welfare of, i note with some interest that the railway employees, in particular the law unto themselves lot at Transport For London, he has given all that money to are to go on strike again for even more money. who saw that coming. 

we're nothing, and no one will help us. 

adventure in the forbidden zone

howdy pop pickers

so far as i am aware (or can recall) this is now the second post i have done on vibes that is not to do with the new tape (which they are releasing on tape) off of The Cure, which i had foolishly expected to be the next one i did. my assumption was that no further tunes would come along in that time, look you see. i was, and no not the first time and unlikely to be the last, wrong. although this one is, kind of, very much of The Cure and certain contemporaries. 

i don't quite rightly know when i first became aware of a gig by someone called Sanctum Sanctorium happening within walking distance of my place of living in this era of exile. rather likely that it was on an advert in a game on that social media thing. however my awareness came to be i am jolly glad that it did come to be, as it was one hell of a fun gig. 

prior to me going "off on one", let me link away to Sanctum Sanctorium (The Dark Side Of The 80s) for those interested. here's their official website and here is the facebook thing for them. should chance permit, yes, oh my, i thoroughly endorse going to see them. 

everything about the videos i have attempted to film (or take) with my phone at gigs suggest i should really not bother. so, i have not. also not all that many pictures. well, i did find myself front row centre at this gig, so it felt quite rude to get the phone out and be a teenager. being honest, i was also having far too much fun "dancing", or jumping up and down with a bit of a shuffle, to worry too much about documenting it all. 

what's the band all about, and why (if interested) the title? very much that "dark side of the 80s" that they give themselves a tagline of. a Sanctum Sanctorium gig is built on some of the finest songs gone done by bands diverging away from the beaten track of 80s pop classics. you know, the music of The Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees and The Cult, among others. other such as The Damned and similar. music from them that one seldom heard on Radio 1, or saw on Top Of The Pops. yes, indeed, nearly all of them featured on that show at some point, but with more popular songs than what were on offer at this gig.

a peculiar quirk of my time, if not my generation, is that few i knew had elder siblings. often it felt, to my teenage mind (or what have you), that we were a "next generation" thing, bereft as we mostly were of the influence of elder brothers or sisters. of those few ("less") older brothers and sisters of friends, well, i am not sure if they have any awareness (or care) of the influence. music has long since been my passion, even before the teen years. i vividly recall one older sister of a friend telling me that i was "not allowed" to be a fan of certain bands, which age 8 or 9 i took quite seriously. whilst my mid 80s was very, very much the likes of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Duran Duran, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and what have you, every now and then i went off and sought out those bands i was "banned" from liking. 

quite a pleasant surprise, then, for me to find that i actually knew (and was familiar with) most of the songs what they did at the gig. by no means all, but overall a lot. it was most impressive, for instance, that they commenced with A Forest off of The Cure. partially i was thinking that it was a major song to be starting a show with, but then it dawned on me that they had at their disposal a wealth of similarly outstanding tunes to fill the set with. 

highlights? there were no down moments. both lead singers are gifted, and get all full tilt into character for the songs. well, yes, all right, being right at the front and surrounded by some amazing ladies, all resplendent in fine goth / indie attire, all of us dancing away and digging the vibe, was brilliant. musically it may be that my knees never, ever recover from the excessive jumping up and down with joy at She Sells Sanctuary off of The Cult. now that i think, that might explain why my right calf muscle has felt totes f****d for the last week or so. 

certainly Hong Kong Garden was a brilliant part, with it of course being that song being a highlight of any day or evening. yes, true, i would have loved Peek A Boo, one of my all time favourite songs ever, but that was somewhat (slightly) outside of the "darker side" stuff, and as amazing as all of the band were, probably a nightmare to try and do live. 

bonus points, indeed, for how the gig all ended. it was very much an iconic rock moment that i had always dreamt of. for some reason the band really, really like smoke machines. during the gig there were one or two members of the audience coughing and spluttering, so ramped up the machines were. for some reason it seems i am quite fine with inhaling vast quantities of smoke (sorry). anyway, as the last song approached, they kept ramping up the smoke machines. a lady with a torch kept sneaking on to the stage to turn them down and the band were very much like (in a nice way) "f*** off" and turned them back up. so much so that, in the end, either fuses were blown or the smoke alarms were fired off and the power to the stage was cut. a fine Spinal Tap moment. 

two somewhat different variations exist in terms of life. some say you should never do as a job that which you love as it will destroy your love, others will argue that if you do what you love for a living then it doesn't feel like work. at some stages of this gig i found myself reflecting on what a total and utter f*****g sell out i have been all my life, like them i should have followed my passion for music. oh, i don't have a single ounce of talent or ability musically, but still. i was always fascinated by the likes of Peter Grant, Malcolm Mclaren and, yes, Ian Faith. perhaps i really should have used my life as a rock and roll manager, with (of course) a cricket bat. 

best gig of the year so far? well, no, i saw Suede twice. and the Manics that amount of times. certainly this was way, way better than the James debacle. if it means anything at all as an endorsement, it is very much that i shall actively be seeking the chance to see Sanctum again. 

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