Nestling in green nowhere....

What larks Scroobius Pip !!. What larks !!......

2012-01-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

Here is the video I mentioned in the previous post. Mr Pip was lovely and even signed a christmas card for my daughter and her boyfriend Mike (their first official date was at a Scroobius/Dan gig).
Think Spindle Films have done a great job...

Lyrebird session #1: Scroobius Pip. from Spindle Films on Vimeo.

A Lazy Sunday afternoon and Scroobius Pip

2011-11-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

Recently our friends Greg and Tim started a film company called Spindle Films. They have made a small number of different short films including this one, a short live performance by Scroobius Pip shot in our dining room. http://vimeo.com/32369555

Big norfolk skies and a work of art..

2011-09-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

We became the proud owner of this painting by Fiona Roberts. Its typical of her work and her amazing eye for the big east anglian skies and the landscape beneath.
Its got pride of place above the bed in the main guest room...LOVE it.

Car Boot treasure...

2011-09-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

We spotted these prayer chairs at a stall manned by Pat and Tich. Going for a song too.

Holiday junkshop treasure....

2011-09-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

He's quite a character. Rosie and I both fell in love with him as soon as we saw him. He's perfect for the house and the burgeoning collection.
Maybe we could put a light inside him and turn him into a lamp ?

Latest finds (Car Boot treasures 6)

2011-09-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

Beautiful lamp, bought it off an old couple. Matches a taller/large standing version of same I got last year. Perfect for using in my music room. Right colour too. £1 seems ridiculous for such a beautiful practical thing...

By the way I never barter with old people. I pay what they say. It would be rude not too.

Latest finds (Car Boot treasures 4 +5)

2011-09-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Old school reel to reel tapes. 2 different sizes. £1 each for unused tapes is a bargain. Going to take them to work and get the students to use some very old recording equipment we bought earlier in the year. Splicing lessons are very important for young minds.

Latest finds (Car Boot treasures 3)

2011-09-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

A tannoy speaker made by Neumann. Big, bulky and beautiful. It was £2 at the Trowse car boot. I'd recently spotted one at a friends house and realised how beautiful they are, one week later I found one.
Do I attach it to something to hear what it sounds like or is it a piece of art....can't decide.

Latest finds (Car Boot treasures 2)

2011-09-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

A torch to attach to my head !!. It was a £1 at a car boot while we were away on our holiday in Kent. Still waiting for a reason to wear it. Still in its box, completely as new. Bought it off a lovely old couple.

Latest finds..(Car Boot treasures 1)

2011-09-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

A tape deck, radio and amp (plus mics and speakers). Bought it to add to my 8 Track and record deck set-up in my music room.
The old girl I bought it from was incredibly old and incredibly posh....

Car Boot finds finds week...

2011-07-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

It was a mad dash around the car boot this morning before setting off for a wedding in Rugby..

But managed to find a parrot, a blunderbuss and a sledge...obviously.

Birmingham. Table Tennis, Metal and my beautiful daughter....

2011-07-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

This week I travelled to Birmingham for 2 days of meetings. Its a place that I quite enjoy visiting because I used to live there in the late 80's and I find it interesting to see the changes that have happened to the city since I left.
When I moved there in 1987 from London I was working for HMV. I had been managing the Trocadero shop in Picadilly Circus at the time and had just found out my daughter was on the way. Up until that point I had been squatting, playing in a band (Kings Cross shanty-punk band The Sea Dogs) and enjoying working with, and buying, loads of records.
When I heard I was going to become a father, I asked my bosses if I could join the trainee management scheme in a vain effort to appear sensible and get a "career". They transferred me to the Birmingham New Street branch. Other than the birth of my amazing daughter I have very few fond memories of that time.
They were in no particular order..

1. Seeing the Beastie Boys/ Run DMC tour at the Odeon (I remember seeing PWEI in the bar while they were still in their Grebo phase and am pretty sure that gig had an effect on their transformation).

2. Getting arrested for being Drunk and Disorderly.

3. Buying my first flat (which was as dull as ditchwater but got me on the property ladder and is a key staple of appearing "sensible").

4. Finding an amazing secondhand comic shop.

Thats sort of it. Limited I grant you. But a baby daughter, a new flat and a very stretched weekly budget meant I didn't really get to know Birmingham at all.

While I was walking around the city this week I took a couple of photos of things really caught my attention and made me warm to a city I hadn't exactly fell in love with when I lived there.

Table Tennis

On my way to the hotel in the evening I walked past numerous sets of Table Tennis tables in different public spaces in the city centre. All of them had random pairs of people playing games on them, passers-by just looking on, as if this was quite normal.
It was a beautiful thing. I resolved to see if they were still there in the morning or if I had just been party to a special public celebration of the game of Ping Pong.
The photos are of what greeted me in the morning. Tables, bats and balls all waiting to be played. No graffiti, vandalism or thefts. Amazing.

Some of the tables were set up outside the Birmingham Public Gallery. The poster for the current exhibition also made me smile and love Birmingham a little more.

Home of Metal
The fact that the City of Birmingham is celebrating that it is the unofficial home of Heavy Metal is a brilliant thing (especially when the Mercury Prize selectors can still not bring themselves to recognise it as a valid and valuable genre of music) and should be applauded. So fuck you Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts and your lovely baskets.

I didn't have time to get in and see the exhibition but am going to make sure I get back there before it ends.

So, the City of Birmingham I salute you. For Table Tennis, Metal and my beautiful daughter (although I cannot forgive you for UB40).

Car Boot purchases....

2011-07-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

I obviously had a theme to my collecting instinct this morning, as I have come home with 2 bits of technical kit.

A portable record player made by Phillips

and a tape deck made by Radio Nette

Bought an animal/pet at the Car Boot

2011-07-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

They assured us it was perfectly safe..

Car Boot treasures this weekend...

2011-07-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

They include some bird sound 7" singles with beautiful covers, a collection of German new wave singles, a homemade model of a cliff face and 2 climbers, an LP of John Arlott talking about Cricket, 2 singles by somebody I've never heard of called Lonnie and the great "lost" album "A Snog on The Rocks" by Head (see tags).

An interesting man...

2011-07-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

He is called Cally Calloman. He collects bikes. He lives in Marlin Spike Hall (which is Captain Haddock's home). He is responsible for some amazing artwork. He has a moustache.

http://slowcoast.co.uk/soundslides/soundslide.php?id=79

Things I found at a friends house

2011-07-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

A living room with a strange boy sitting next to the fire. A Jukebox in the corner and a shelf of Spitting Image dolls....

Car Boot finds this week....

2011-06-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

So in a hurried race around the field to see what bargains we coud rustle up, the pickings were slim. My endless search for odd records threw up 2 perfect examples of the sort of thing I will always buy if confronted by it.

A British Wild Life 7" with booklet and slides (we call this multimedia in the 21st Century but in 1969 it was called an audio visual programme.)

A 7" that is basically a drum machine on vinyl with 6 rhythm tracks.

Rosie bought a clown head for the ever-expanding museum cabinet.

I bought something that looks like a weapon, I'm going to do some research. I'm going to hang it next to the rifles in the utility room.

The clever one in the partnership...

2011-06-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite photos of Rosie. I took it on my phone. Fluke. She looks all War and Peace..

Merlewood interiors

2011-04-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more photos of the interior design work Rosie has done for Merlewood House

We've been gone sometime...

2011-04-05T14:34:00.000-07:00

After playing with the idea of a Tumblr page to replace this one and then months of blogging inactivity and probably too much time on Twitter. We are back !!
To give a sense of continuity after such a long break I am posting photos of some of the latest photos of Merlewood (Rosie's last interior gig) ...there are more to follow...(top pic is the new library that I had so much fun choosing the books for. Bottom pic is the entrance.)

Albums of the Year list..

2010-12-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

As I spend so much of my time listening to, talking about, discussing, working and reading about music I thought I should post up my albums of the year...

I've just gone for the albums I have listened to the most, they are not in any particular order or of any importance other than they are just records I liked a lot (I've probably missed some).

Silvery - Railway Architecture
Thomas White - The Maximilist
The Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Zola Jesus - Stridulum ||
The Knife, Mt Sims and Planning To Rock - Tomorrow, In a Year
Dungen - Skit I Allt
Our Broken Garden - Golden Sea
Apparatjik - We Are Here
Olafur Arnalds - And They have Escaped the weight of Darkness
Amiina - Puzzle
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Agnes Obele - Philharmonics
Oh No Ono - Eggs
John Grant - Queen of Denmark
Everything Everything - Man Alive
O Children - O Children
Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross - Social Network ost
The Sonic Executive Sessions - 2010

2010-08-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Rosie's new interior design gig

2010-07-29T12:29:00.001-07:00

"Merlewood: A late Elizabethan-style gabled house with timber porches and characteristic interiors." 2 pictures of it in its prime and one after it being empty for years.
The last one is a snap of it as it currently is..before Rosie sets to work.

Car-boot finds (from weeks ago)

2010-07-29T12:26:00.001-07:00

Love this book and am looking forward to reading it once I have finished "The End of Project 38" (see below),
Rosie has also decided to make one of the illustrations her Facebook profile pic..

(we didn't get these at a) Car Boot (we were given them) 2

2010-07-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

(we didn't get these at a) Car Boot (we were given them)1

2010-07-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Car-boot find of the week (4)

2010-07-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

I buy old keyboards...usually for The Lost Levels to stick in their studio. This one was orange and that seemed like the best reason to have it, oh and it was 50p.

Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby the Third

2010-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Car-boot finds of the week (3)

2010-07-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

This was an easy one, but it falls into a regular group of my purchases which I am going to label "The records and books I bought because I can't bear to leave them un-loved at a car-boot even though I already have a copy"
This album has 2 great songs and some other pretty good ones. The band were rumoured to be The Beatles under a pseudonym. They weren't but they were named after the character from The Day The Earth Stood Still which is better than being The Beatles.
The 2 tracks in question are "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (which they wrote and The Carpenters made famous) and "Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby 3rd" which is just a great lost song...
The album is deleted now and I don't think you can get it on I Tunes either....

Car-boot finds this week (2)

2010-07-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

I bought this because it was a) £2 and b) I have never heard of the band Ekseption. I thought that at the very least I can sell it for more than 2 notes if I don't like it..

When I got home I looked them up on Wiki. It said that they were a Dutch prog band who did their own numbers mixed with interpretations of classical pieces.....it could be absolute wank but you never know.

Car-boot finds this week (1)

2010-07-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Rosie seems to have a thing for dolls and perhaps even more so, dolls heads. This poor girl has lost her eyes, I assumed that wold be all cool with Rosie and she would be found a home in some corner of the house, staring blankly into the distance.

But Rosie also has a collection of eyes and has decided to do a bit of surgery....I will post a picture post-op.

I am not sure if Rosie's plan was for the doll to look quite like this...but it sort of works in a slightly lazy-eyed way.

Car-boot finds ths week (4)

2010-07-04T07:50:00.001-07:00

This cost the princely sum of £3. He came with a massive collection of videos and booklets. The lady I bought them from was amazed that I only wanted the figure and was happy to pay the £3 for just him.
This raises a pertinent car-boot point. I never haggle, very rarely unless I am spending a fair amount on something i.e. recently we bought something for our fireplace which was priced at £180 but we got it for £120.
When I am selling stuff I also tend not to haggle as most of it is already ridiculously cheap...(which is why we are at a car-boot and not an antiques/collectors fair).
The figure is my very own mini-Hirst-style anatomical dude.
He's either going to stand in my office or I may display him next to our copy of the book "Vitalogy"
Not sure that I am that keen on his wig...I may try to prise it off his bonce.

Car-Boot finds this week (3)

2010-07-04T06:18:00.001-07:00

So although this was £20 I couldn't help myself. Think it could be an old bass amp. Am going to look it up on the net and see what I can find out. I often buy old amps and speakers if they look just a tiny bit retro and interesting (and unloved). This may just have one great sound in it and for me thats enough of a reason to buy it. It will probably make its way to The Lost Levels studio (Fly Studios) and just may get used for something....

Car-Boot find this week (2)

2010-07-04T06:14:00.001-07:00

Scooter the robot.
Pretty chuffed with Scooter...he's my third. Scooter was a fiver and the good thing is that although he has a red light panel missing top left, he works and came with his remote control.
The first Scooter cost me a £1 last year and he had no remote, no power pack and no instructions. Then I got a white Scooter for £10 complete with everything, which meant that I can charge all the robots and have the instructions too.
The other two recently appeared at the Forum in Norwich as props for The Lost Levels.

Car-boot finds this week (1)

2010-07-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

I recently just finished a book I had bought at the car boot a little while ago called "The V2 Expert".
It was published in the 50's and was full of derring-do, the dreaded Hun and a pretty brilliant young Englshman.
The book I bought today called "The End of Project 38" looks like it treads the same path. I am going to read this during my summer holiday. I can feel a collecting bug beginning.....just not sure quite what the actual criteria detail will be...
Will get back to you anon

Balls to the justice system

2010-07-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have a collection of balls.....I have filled up a fruit bowl with them...as I find fruit dull. We were in court yesterday...that was annoying...

TED STONERS RADIO.....

2010-07-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

I bought this transistor radio at a car boot recently because it brought back so many memories of my Grandad Ted Stoner. A brilliant man who died in his 90's and was one of my biggest inspirations when I was younger.
The radio was just like one that he used whenever he came up to Norfolk on holiday. He and my nan would make the trip up from Peckham every year and stay for a week at our family home in Hunstanton. They would sit in the beach hut every day looking out over the prom, they would go for short walk, Grandad would read the paper with his sellotaped glasses and often they both just sleep in their deckchairs. All the while the radio would play in the background....of which this is the exact model.

The famous story in our family was that when he was in the Home Guard he caught a German that had landed by parachute on the railway lines in Peckham. The story goes that he used an old truncheon that he had found sometime between the wars that he had kept "just in case" he might need it. I still have the truncheon because he left it to me when he died.

Changes are afoot...

2010-05-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

We are transfering our radio show blogs/playlists to the official Future Radio web-site which is the right and proper thing to do...go here www.futureradio.co.uk
This blog will now become a random collection of posts about our life and the many (too many ?) things we buy at junk shops/fleamarkets/car boots and auctions and all points in between.
These purchases often inspire changes, obsessions (often temporary ones) and new collecting fads within our household that playout around us and often become either part of Rosies "Grand Scheme" (interior-wise) or become part of some thread that we both begin to notice in everything we do....
I have recently became a fan of the short lived TV show "How To Lead A Simple Life", at the same time a friend of mine called Ben Burt has started a blog in which he maps out everything he buys in a year.
Both of these events have made me think about what we buy. It may seem odd that somebody who buys so many things should be intrigued by discussions that question our buying habits..
Maybe as we load up the pictures
of the things we buy Rosie and I will begin to understand exactly what drives us...
So here the first

A table cloth, Rosie bought last Sunday for £3. It resonates because....I seem to be fixated on Scandanavian stuff at the moment and Rosie seems to be becoming interested in embroidery..
The portrait was £4...it will sit with the other family protraits. We have invented a whole history of family with a random set of portraits that we have aquired.

Radio Show No 18 (While the cats away etc)

2010-03-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

So Rosie was living it up in Spain this week and while she was away I got to play whatever I wanted. Although, I was painfully aware that her mother and sisters (and the brothers-in-law) were all probably listening, taking notes and reporting back.
Anyway it basically opened a slight blockage of un-played Johnson taste that she would probably not allow under the "it sounds like needles being stabbed in my eye" category (see Track 1). I also managed to play the She Wants Revenge track with the resounding and forthright "FUCK" right at the end just before the watershed. Black mark all round on the return of the boss.

*Note I played Permissive Twit right after the aforementioned swear as a lame rebellious answer to the swearer critics. The video below is Mr O'Sullivan performing the "Twit" when he was busting out the When-The-Boat-Comes-In-look which I am considering mixing with my current didicoi/ David Essex at the funfair look.
I thank you.

The Deftones - Shove It (My Own Summer)
T.Rex - Mambo Sun
Deus - Hotel Lounge
La Shark - Memory Lane
Grandama - Laura Palmer
Muse - The Resistance
Lowery - The Sun Is No Fun
She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Permissive Twit (see video below)
Mikael Simpson - Det Var en Lordag Aften
Gaggle - Crows
The Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set I Presume
Antlers - Kettering
Racing Cars - They Shoot Horses Don't They
Laura Gibson - Hands in Pockets
Stranglers - In The Shadows
John Barry - The Girl With The Sun In Her Hair
Fake Male Voice - OMG FMV
John Cale - Paris 1919
The Prisoners - Mourn My Health (Version 2)
Cornelius - Music
Paul Williams _ So You Wanna Be A Boxer
Mew - Comforting Sounds

MC Stereotype...

2010-03-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

Akala aka MC Stereotype delivers the gospel

Radio Show No 17 (the colours edition)

2010-02-20T05:11:00.000-08:00

So third show with a theme (this one being colours) and Rosie and I have a slight disagreement about some of the colours that I put forward (basically Cherry).

Lee Hazlewood - No Train To Stockholm
Lost Levels - Training
Lost Levels - Robot
Alex Chilton - EMI Song
Glee Cast - Halo/Walking On Sunshine (Girls mash-up)
Glee Cast - It's My Life/Confessions (Boys mash-up)
Can - Mushroom

Donovan - Colours
Serge Gainsbourg - Black Trombone
Masters Of Reality - John Brown
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
ELO - Mr Blue Sky
The Flaming Lips - "...the Pink Robots"
Spoon - You've Got Your Cherry Bomb
Bluejuice - Vitriol
Keith Gras/Peter Ross - Pastels
The Violet Hour - Seawolf
Barry Adamson - The Man With The Golden Arm
Richard Cheese - Yellow
Dr Octagon - Blue Flowers

Michael Chapman - Postcards of Scarborough
Apparatjik - Supersonic Sound
Siwat - I Found Out
Brian Eno - Too many Worlds
Percy Thrillington - Dear Boy
Karma To Burn - Ma Petite Mort
Underworld - Jumbo
Vangelis - Blush Response

Next show Rosie is away ion Spain so I will be presenting the show with a couple of friends....the theme hour will continue in the following show on Rosies return.

Radio Show No 16 (the Covers edition)

2010-02-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

So our second show to feature a "theme" hour. This one was dreamt up by Rosie and had a Covers theme. We were sent numerous ideas via the wonder of the interweb...mostly Rosie and I's Facebook pages....
I use the cunning ruse of being highly critical of Rosies Facebook friends musical intelligence in an effort to spur on a sense of competition in the suggestions. I think it worked. I may have just upset more people than I normally do in an ordinary week.....

Cast Recording - Double Deckers Theme
Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
Journey - Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'.
Apparatjik - Supersonic Sound
Clash - Stay Free
Oh No Ono - Miss Miss Moss

Jens Leckman - A Thing Called Love
Mr Hudson - Everything Happens
Mr Jason and Mr Lowery - Somewhere In My Heart
Random Norwegian Geezer - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rains Gonna Fall
Josh Rouse - Straight To Hell
Richard Cheese - Material Girl
Iron and Wine - Love Vigilantes
Barefoot - Born Slippy
Duran Duran - White Lines
Love and Rockets - Ball of Confusion
Lisa Eckdahl - Its Oh So Quiet
David Garside - Waterfalls

Queen - You're My Best Friend
Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren
Jan Hammer - Oceans and Continents

Next show Feb 18th. The theme will be Colours...

Radio Show No 15 Playlist..

2010-01-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Show number 15, number 14 was a bit of a cheat because it was a repeated show to cover us while Rosie was in hospital..
Rosies back now though and we are back broadcasting live.
So
Journey - Don't Stop Believing
Queen - Death On Two Legs
Red Guitars - Good Technology
Muse - Starlight
Dead Mans Bones - Pa Pa Power
Anthony Newley - Talk To The Aninmals
Icicle Works - Hollow Horse
Cat Stevens - Mathew and Sons
Echo and The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses
Josh Rouse - Pigeons Over Birmingham
The Antlers - Bear
Unkle - Rabbit In Your Headlights
The Sinister Ducks - March of the Sinister Ducks
The Divine Comedy - My Lovely Horse
The Silent League - Canary in the Coalmine
Appartjik - Ferreting
Nigel of Bermondsey - Greatest Hits
Lara Gibson - Nightwatch
The Birthday Party - Deep In The Woods
Matt Monroe - The Partys Over
The Dears - 22 The Death of all Romance

Rosies not very well so no Radio Show

2010-01-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight Future Radio repeated an old show as we couldn't present one this week.
At the moment Rosie is still in hospital after losing the sight in her right eye within a couple of days. We are all very worried and at the moment we are waiting for the results of blood tests and an MRI scan. Rosie is receiving drugs through a drip and is 50% of the way through her medication.....the sight has not returned yet.
We would like to thank everybody who has sent messages........

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

When Paloma Faith came to tea.....

2010-01-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

Decided to have a few friends over for tea on New Years Eve Eve night. Rosie decided to cook Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas for everybody.
Our friend Josh Weller came and brought Paloma Faith with him (which caused some mild hysteria in my daughter), Paloma was very funny and very beautiful and extremely normal.
Above is a photo of Paloma, Josh and Mr Xavier Cooper (from The Lost Levels).
*Note the Fuzzy Felt christmas card above their heads caused much ribald humour every time the snowman's carrot was placed in areas other than his noggin.

Radio Show No 13 (unlucky for Rolf) Playlist

2009-12-24T15:17:00.001-08:00

In which we broadcast live from our house on Christmas Eve with some friends....
Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Paloma Faith and Josh Weller - Its Christmas and I Hate You
Sensational Alex Harvey Band - There's No Lights on The Christmas Tree Momma
Young Cooper - Christmas Day With You
Dibidim - All I Want For Christmas
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Frank Sinatra - Let it Snow
Christina - Thinga Fall Apart
Judy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Relient K - I Hate Christmas Parties
Rosie Johnson and the Gang - Jinga Linga Linga
Billy Squier - Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time Is Here
Ian and Rosies Feemtoon - Mr Jason and Lowery
I Am Error - Call The Police
The O - Xmas at Bobs
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye - Snow!
The Shirrelles ?- Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Run DMC - Christmas in Hollis
Sufjan Stevens - Put The Lights
The Ronettes - Frosty The Snowman
Interferon - The Continuing Story of Steamhammer Sam

Check out all our friends myspace sites....Dibidim, Grandama, Josh Weller, Cloaks, The Lost Levels, Lowery, Young Cooper, The Deets, Camarilla and I Am Error.
Happy Xmas

The Ghost of Christmas Present (sort of anyway...)

2009-12-14T09:04:00.001-08:00

The Awesome Reuben with the awesome "Christmas Is Awesome"

A Christmas Present from the ghost of a christmas past.....

2009-12-13T15:33:00.000-08:00

Radio Show No12 Playlist...(It's been a month)

2009-12-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

It has been a month since the last show due to the "marathon" 27 hour Terry Lee charity broadcast. This gap in our programming meant that we were feeling a little rusty tonight.
But...we did have a Scottish guest, Babara Pondwater, for our new regular slot "Rosies Phat facts".
Anyways...
Band Of Skulls - Friends
Dr Feelgood - Hunting, Shooting, Fishing
Sensational Alex Harvey band - There's No Lights on the Christmas Tree Momma, They're burning Big Louie Tonight.
Killers - Mr Brightside
Lost Levels - John Williams
Ultravox - My Sex
Steely Dan - Haitian Divorce
Bing, Danny etc - Snow
Ian Hunter - Irene Wild
Midlake - Branches
Artemis Grace - Wolves
The Roots - You Got Me
Scott Walker - Big Louise
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Secret Hairdresser - You're All Over me
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Done All Wrong
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Is Coming
Ian Hunter - A Nightingale Sang In Barclay Sq
Max Richter - The Shadow Journals

Lost Levels London

2009-11-19T02:36:00.000-08:00

The Lost Levels from Darren Leader Studio on Vimeo.

Radio Show No 11 Playlist

2009-11-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

The one with the church notices and in which Ian offends the Irish, Jedward, twins generally and the customers of the Prince of Wales clubs and pubs...

Be Bop Deluxe - Crying To The Sky
The Lost Levels - Training
Win - Super Popoid Groove
The Deets - Your'e All Over Me
Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home
Bread - Look What You've Done
Sparks - Sherlock Holmes
Cornelius - Music
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffanys
Audrey Hepburn - Moon River
Biffy Clyro - The Captain
Patrick Watson - Slip Into Your Skin
Jay Z - Empire State of Mind
The Beastie Boys - Open Letter To New York
Cornelius - Sleep warm
Anthony Newley - The Candyman
One The Juggle - Are You The One
The 4 Of Us - Mary
Randy Newman - Short People
Japan - The Tenant

Compiling this weeks show

2009-11-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

Need to find a first track. Maybe some Anthony Newley......

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A date in my diary........

2009-11-03T15:17:00.001-08:00

Radio Show No 10 Playlist (..a slim Pixie thin and forlorn)

2009-10-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

David Bowie - Watch That man
The Cardiacs - Tarred and Feathered
Momus - The Gatecrasher
E.L.O - Living Thing
Mae - The House That Fire Built
Grandama - Laura Palmer
Japan - Nightporter
Paul Anka - Eyes Without A Face
Nick Cave - Red Right Hand
Pink Floyd - Bike
The Sinister Ducks - March of the Sinister Ducks
Angela Lansbury/David Tomlinson - Beautiful Briny
Flying Pickets - Only You
Nick Drake - Riverman
Family - Burlesque
Depeche Mode - Home
Bluejuice - Vitriol
Bauhaus - Crowds
Momus - Muredrers, Hope of Women
Neu! - Leb Wohl

Testing my new app

2009-10-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is a test. I downloaded a new app for my Iphone which means I can post stuff from my phone straight to this blog

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Shotgun Rules....

2009-10-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

An age ago we used to have "show and tell" Sunday afternoon parties. At one of the parties Lowery (gaganavyharsties and pik) and Lavar produced "The Official Shotgun Rules Handbook". They proved to be very popular over the years and recently whilst tidying at home Rosie found the original document.
I have decided to re-post them on here...

"The Official Shotgun Rules Handbook"

Official Shotgun Rules
1.The correct way to achieve "shotgun" is by calling it aloud or making the internationally recognised gesture for firing a shotgun.

2. If a person has their hand on the appropriate door handle before "shotgun" is called that does not mean they have won "shotgun". If someone calls it then it is theirs.

3. "Shotgun" can only be called when the vehicle is in view once the journey has been announced.

4. If for any reason you damage the car whilst riding "shotgun" you face a 5-10 journey ban (at the car owners discretion).

5. If for any reason you want to sit in the back seat you may call "Ramsey" or "Apples"(back passenger side),"Oranges" (back middle) and "Pears"(back drivers side). "Oranges" is also "Theo"("Dead Baby").

6. When the drivers' partner/significant other is journeying in the cat they automatically get "shotgun" and do not have to call it. (This can also apply to parents)

Shotgun Etiquette

Shotgun Do's
- Whilst riding "shotgun" you must assist the driver in any way he or she sees fit, e.g. holding food or drinks, answering phones, steering and changing gear.

- By taking up the privilege of "shotgun" you are also accepting the role of map reader (but the inferior passengers can shout advice)

- Do feel free to bring your own selection of music. It may well be played but how long for is at the discretion of the driver.

Shotgun Dont's
- Don't distract the driver.

- Don't tamper with the music unless you are asked, you are not the D.J.

- Do not go through the glovebox.

- Whilst you are free to adjust the position of your seat you are not permitted to moan about the position in which it was last left in. It is not your seat.

Radio Show No 9 Playlist

2009-10-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

My Chemical Romance - Teenagers
Traening - In Love With Myself
Owl City - Fireflies
Rush - Tom Sawyer
Moroder/Oakey - Electric Dreams
Editors - Walk The Fleet Road
Wire - Map Ref
Tommy Steele - Flash Bang Wallop
Get Well Soon - It Must Have Been Love
Blur - Tender
Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know
John Foxx - The Garden
Fugazi - Suggestion
E.L.O. - Mr Blue Sky
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Future Perfect Tense
Roxy Music - If There Is Something
Paul Young - Everytime You Go Away
Gabe Dixon - Further The Sky
Midlake - Branches
Musical Box instrumental (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

Radio Show No 8 Playlist...

2009-10-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

So after last weeks debacle the pressure was on to SORT IT OUT (yeah that's nuffin mate).
Rosie hot-footed it back from Portugal (via Luton Airport) and we rocked it if we say so ourselves....

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Frankie Valli - The Night
The Deets - Headache
Get Well Soon - Witches
David Essex - Rock On
Smashing Pumpkins - Lily
Heavy Metal Kids - Hey Little Girl
The Field - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
Erasure - A Little Respect
Mott The Hoople - Saturday Gigs
Sam Sparro - Black and Gold
Matt Costa - Cold December
David Sylvian - Let The Happiness In
Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know (Royskop Remix - not the Roy Scott Remix!!)
Mick Ronson - Growing Up and I'm Fine
The Roots - You Got Me
John Foxx - Hes A Liquid
Bob Dorough - 3 Is The Magic Number
Secret Machines - First Wave Intact
Smashing Pumpkins - By Starlight
Happy Accident - Pyjama Games

Radio Show No 7 Playlist...

2009-09-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

So a show filled with a surprise guest, a technical hitch of amateur but huge proportions and copious swearing.
Not Good.

It's Only Love - Bryan Ferry
The Man With The Golden Arm - Barry Adamson
Witchita Linesman - Glen Campbell
Back Off Boogaloo - Ringo Starr
Connection - Elastica
Novacaine For The Soul - The Eels
Photoshop Handsome - Everything Everything
Rock and Roll Part 2 - Glitter Band
The Upsrising - Muse
7 Seas of Rhye - Queen
Hands Down - Dashboard Confessional
99 Problems - Jay Z
Big Louise - Scott Walker
The mess and technical hitch happened here somewhere
Sail On Sailor - The Beach Boys
Ahead - Wire
Electricity - OMD
Looks, Looks, Looks - Sparks
My fathers Waltz - Hem
Ships In The Night - Be Bop Deluxe
In The Wee Small Hours - Frank Sinatra

New dictionary terms : "Texterity"

2009-09-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

A term invented to describe the skills developed by young people whilst using their mobile phones and other assorted 21st Century communication systems...i.e. email, msn, etc
The ability to type/text (often with one hand) in a extremely fast manner.

Radio Show No 6 Playlist...

2009-09-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

So almost a solo radio show for Rosie......but somehow the train network came good at the last minute.
Living Thing - E.L.O.
Memory Lane - La Shark
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - Paul and Linda Macca
Sketch For Summer - The Durutti Column
Dance Me To The End of Love - Leonard Cohen
I'm Glad - Ed Sheeran
New Terrain - Mew
National Express - Divine Comedy
I Like Guitars - Gaggle
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
Win It All - Ian Hunter
Eyes of Texas - Master of Reality
I Taut a Taw a Puddy Tat - Tweety Pie
White Man at the Ice Cube Show - The O
Love - Vaughan Thomas
Blind in Safety and Leafy in Love - The Cardiacs
Suffice To Say - The Yachts
Doo Wop - Lauren Hill
Oh No - ??????
Don't Play With The Gun - Dibidim
Soul Love - David Bowie
Down in the Park (Piano Version) - Gary Numan
Vitriol - Bluejuice
Bitters End - Roxy Music

Radio Show No5 playlist and Switzerland

2009-08-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Since the last posting on here we (Ian and Rosie) have had a holiday in Switzerland in a tiny village/town called Champerey.
Before we left we pre-recorded a radio show that was due to go out on the day of our return (just in case there was some delay in our travel arrangements).
Since we recorded it and our return from the neutral/clean/expensive place they call Switzerland we managed to forget to post the playlist for that particular show.
Here is is.....

Barrel Of A Gun - Depeche Mode
On The Street Where You Live - Shelly Manne
Oh Lori - Alessi Brothers
My Friend The Sun - Family
Chasing After Deer - Midlake
Put On Your Sunday Clothes - Hello Dolly cast
Hardknock Life - JayZ
Showgirl - The Auteurs
Quark, Strangeness and Charm - Hawkwind
Indian Summer - Riceboy Sleeps
Supper Ready (Willow Farm excerpt) - Genesis
OMG - Fake Male Voice
Tell Me Your Plans - The Shirts
Ernies Dead, Berts Alone - The O
Just Like You - Roxy Music
A Song From Under The Floorboards - Magazine
The Hectic Circle - Final Fantasy
Ships in The Night - Be Bop Deluxe
Blood On The Rooftops - David Myers
Vasoline - Stone Temple Pilots
To Build A Home - The Cinematic Orchestra
Comforting Sounds - Mew

Then as Mott The Hoople said "And then we went to Switzerland (they actually said Croydon )....

Radio Show No 4 Playlist

2009-08-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

A show featuring motoring accidents, toothache and anal thermometers

Family - Burlesque
Brad - Buttercup
I Am Error - Stop/Start
Julian Plenti - Games for Days
Carrie - Molly
Roxy Music - Just Like You
Cocteau Twins - Aikea Guinea
Peter Hammill - The Old School Tie
Sam Sparro - Black and Gold
The Secret Hairdresser - The Welterweight Fund
Puressence - This Feeling
Sly and Reggie - Catchment Criminals
The Mummers - See Alice
Ian Hunter - A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Sq
Japan - Ghost
Shellyan Oprhan - Epitath, Ivy and Woe
The O - Anal Thermometer
Samamidon - Wild Bill Jones
Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance - The Poacher
Japan - The Tenant

Slackness/Workness/Holidayness and Mike Batt

2009-08-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

So,
Its almost been 2 weeks and have not posted a sausage. Mostly because I have got a bit addicted to Twitter (Twatter) and like all men can only cope with one thing at a time (follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ClarenceRook).surprisingly Mike Batt is following me...not sure what I have done.
It's also been a time of annual reports, general foot off the pedal behaviour and prepping for the hols. Rosie and I are going to Champerey in Switzerland...I am going to get Rosie to take the photos and post a couple up on here.
Rosie and I have a show this week and are busy preparing the playlist. We are then due a show the day after our return but.....I might be busy with the amazing guitarist Jim Davies at a literary event-ish. Jim has bought us tickets for a "reading".
http://www.myspace.com/jimdaviesmusic
So Rosie is on the look out for a new partner for that show.....she may call in the big guns. More later...
I have also got just a bit distracted with my I-Phone app of Enos' Oblique Strategies deck and playing with my new Chill Pill speakers....
I may have blogged about my trip to Island Records a while back with Ed Sheeran and The Interpreters who were both showcasing for the Island Records A and R team. Well we got the great news that Ed Sheeran got the gig and will be releasing something with Island later this year.....

Radio Show No3 Playlist

2009-07-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Phoenix - 1901
Wohjan Bros - Oh No You Didn't
The O - Anal Thermometer
Gaggle - I Like Guitars
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Tinted Windows - Cha Cha
XTC - Sgt Rock
Robert Fripp _ Water Music
Robert Fripp and Peter Gabriel - Here Comes The Flood
The O - Ernies Dead, Berts Alone
OxygenStar - In The Garage
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
Damned - Neat Neat Neat
Mew - Introducing Palace Players
The O - White Man at the Ice Cube Show
The Dallas Guild - Men in White Coats
David Sugar - Just Like Heaven
Vaughan Thomas - Love
Matt Costa - Cold December
Parachutes - Your Stories
Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning
Bluejuice - Vitriol

2009-07-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Radio Show No2 Playlist

2009-07-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Fortunes - Storm In A Teacup
Ian Hunter - Once Bitten Twice Shy
Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart
Lionel Jeffries - POSH
Porno For Pyros - Pets
David Bowie - Life On Mars
Ladytron - Seventeen
Gaggle - Crows
Merz - Presume Too Much
Lowery - The Wrong Way/Sun Is No Fun
Lloyd Cole - Are You Ready
Eno and The Winkies - Totalled (I'll Come Running)
Television - Prove It
Prince - Rasberry Beret
Polak - I'm Sick
Deus - Worst Case Scenario
Malajube - Luna
Michael Jax - She's Out Of My Life
Bluejuice - Vitriol
Anthony Phillips - God If I Saw Her Now
Mick Ronson - Growing Up and I'm Fine
Grandama - Laura Palmer

Next show on July 23rd

Chitty Chitty Bang Ban

2009-07-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yet another giant sized home goal from the powers that be. The classic car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been banned from the Norwich City Councils Lord Mayors procession for having no MOT.
Seems a bit harsh. The procession is not known for the speed in which it moves (in fact a few years ago a marching samba band were warned for walking too fast) and I am pretty sure the car would not have careered out of control - unless it was on the steep hill of Prince of Wales Road but we are used to the police not being able to prevent deaths there anyway.
Thank god the police didn't find out it doesn't actually fly or that the driver didn't have a pilots license.
As they say in the film "There's magic in the wake of a fiasco!"

New dictionary terms: "Normala-tea"

2009-07-02T01:44:00.000-07:00

A word used to describe the type of tea that has served the great British public since the mid 1600's. In recent years there has been a move towards flavoured teas such as Rooibosh (aka Red Bush), Peppermint or the vaguely monikered Tea known as Green Tea.

In the last few years it has become fashionable amongst the middle classes to have an alternative to the historically popular drink known as Tea. This plus their new hobbies of recycling, alternative medicine, allotments and world music goes some way into offsetting their guilt over their larger weekly wine consumption, their ugly hunger for cheap shoddy clothes from Primark and the use of their 4 x 4s, estates and second family cars.

Therefore "Normala-Tea" has come into use as a way to answer the "What kind of Tea do you want ?" question often overheard in staff rooms and offices all over the country.

The correct answer is and should be "Normala-Tea".

New dictionary terms: " Fear of the Unknown"

2009-06-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

"Fear of the Unknown" is a modern condition that refers to the feelings of trepidation people experience when "unknown" appears on peoples mobiles.
This very real fear of a word and it's possible meanings (bank/bailiffs/Aviva) is a relatively new psychological complaint.

New dictionary terms: "Batch Foods"

2009-06-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Refers to the concept of cooking/preparing meals that are measured in days rather than portions i.e. Curry, Chilli, Hotpots etc.
Mostly made by young men (20's/early 30's) at the start of a week/ 2 week period. This "batch" will then become the staple meal for lunches/dinners etc.
A name for batch food cooks is "batch-elors".

New dictionary terms: "Edutainment"

2009-06-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Edutainment refers to the newer style of "education" courses that basically keeps people off the streets in an effort to massage the jobless figures.
See any Learndirect course and the other myriad of new courses i.e Apprenticeships, Diplomas etc.
Also known as "Infocation"

Radio Show No 1 Playlist

2009-06-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Until we can post it on the actual stations site here is the playlist.

The Bad Plus - Flim
Richard McGraw - Natasha in High School
Bluejuice - Vitriol
Polyphonic Spree - Soldier Girl
Roots Manuva - Witness
Snow Patrol - Run
The Prisoners - The More I See
Gaggle - I Like Guitars
Roxy Music - If There Is Something
Dibidim - Don't Play With The Gun
Cardiacs - Blind In Safety and Leafy in Love
The Roots - You Got Me
Puresssence - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
Dr Octagon - Blue Flowers
Fake Male Voice - OMG
David Bowie - Soul Love
Akala - Bullshit
Merz - Moi Et Mon Camion
Brian Protheroe - Pinball
Kelpe - Shipwreck Glue
Brian Eno - By This River
Roxy Music - Bitter Suite
Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

New dictionary terms: "Fax-Age"

2009-06-09T02:50:00.000-07:00

Fax-Age as in "that's so fax-age". This is often used to describe products like C.D. Walkmans, Pagers, Dial Up Modems, Lazer Discs* and of course the Fax Machine.

Things that could also be described using the term 80's Futuristic, i.e. things that in the eighties seemed futuristic but in hindsight seem a bit prehistoric.

*Some female readers may ask what these were...don't worry about it they were blatantly rubbish.

Been a while......

2009-06-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

since a posting but it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Over the last week or so....
I have been at the Island Records 50th Birthday exhibition in Poland Street. You need to check it out. It's in the basement of Phonica Records.
Whilst at Phonica I bought a Buddha Machine too. Phonica is a proper record shop with staff who know what they are talking about and can recommend loads of great stuff. It was good to hear that Hungry Ghost/Arcadion had sold out too. (The Norwich boy done good).I reckon they will be cranking out the debut album by Cloaks in a few weeks too.

Also checked out an exhibition featuring Micaleff and David Chow on Rathbone Street. I spent a couple of days at the Gibson Building on Rathbone Place with Ed Sheeran and The Interpreters (they were playing a showcase for the Island Records A and R team).

Whilst I was eating sandwiches and crisps and drinking huge amounts of cans of Coke, Rosie was abroad having her photo taken by Ola Magazine (as well as almost being picked up by some German swingers).

But this week we are both in Norwich all week and this Thursday it's our first radio show.....
Tune into 96.9 FM if you live in Norwich or listen live on http://www.futureradio.co.uk/. The show is on at 8pm.

Daughter Rosie's hats appear on fashion blogs

2009-06-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.fashion156.com/blog/view_entry.php?id=1436

Norwich BNP wankers..

2009-05-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

A post on the BNP forum underneath the Norwich story from a French Mike said.....

".... . Norwich has not been as enriched as some of England's cities, but whilst I was working their earlier this year I had noticed the increase as compared to a few years earlier. There is nothing more intimidating than walking past gangs of foreigners looking at you when you are minding your own business......"

Some issues here..spelling not a strongpoint, that's usually down to education and intelligence or maybe English as a second language (perhaps French Mike is ....French). It's a bit ripe talking about enrichment of our cities when Mike is blatantly doing some "enriching" himself.
Perhaps French Mike was working on the French Market..they visit Norwich every so often. I am going to stop buying his onions and garlic....xenophobic bastard.

New dictionary terms: "Impoverich"

2009-05-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

A word that describes the many people to be seen with all the latest mobiles, satellite dishes and sky + box etc. yet seem to have no obvious means of income i.e. a job.

Radio show starts June 11th at 8pm

2009-05-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Ian and Rosie in Real Life radio show starts proper like on June 11th on Future Radio.
It will broadcast between the hours of 8pm and 10pm on 96.9FM or you can listen live on t'internet at
http://www.futureradio.co.uk/

We will also post up podcast/listen again type information nearer the time.

New dictionary terms : "memail"

2009-05-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Memail is the term for what we really want in our inbox as opposed to the impersonal spam emails from mysterious Nigerian men with millions, Russian girls who really want to "look your profile" or yanky divs peddling Viagra or "Meds".

"No more spams just memail"
or
"memail me"

Thank

New dictionary terms: "social notworking"

2009-05-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

A word that describes the activities of bored Norwich Union (Aviva) staff who spend more time on their Facebook pages than actually doing any work...

Start date for the Radio Show at last !!!!

2009-05-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

We have just confirmed the date of the first show. It is Thursday June 10th between 8 pm and 10pm. It will then be every other Thursday from then on.
More news soon

they are rad....

2009-05-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.paperrad.org/

Paintbrush psychedelia

Sheer joy......

2009-05-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

In an effort to promote the great site that is the Take Away shows...(check La Blogotheque in the feeds on the right under Bizzle)

Here is one of the first films I saw on the site.

#24.1 - I'M FROM BARCELONA - We're from
by lablogotheque

New dictionary terms: "paper spazzing"

2009-05-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

A mind-map.

New dictionary terms: "rainbowing about"

2009-05-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

A term that is often used when referring to the behaviour of the foppish, fey, kitsch-loving, twee indie kids of Norwich.

(typically a child of economically successfull hippies)

See Bearsuit, Howlback Hum etc

Fashion...turn to the left

2009-05-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

Daughter Rosie is turning into a fashion designer, here are the pics of some of her clothes from her first shows. We are very proud and pretty excited for her.

As long as she doesn't turn into one of those east London types

Cultural Schnizzle.....

2009-05-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

So I have variously been listening to and can recommend Veckatimist by Grizzly Bear. I first came upon them on the excellent La Blogotheque site...Vincent Moons brilliant takeaway shows site (check out the great Tahiti Boy and the Palmtree Family tune "You make me blush.." too).

After watching them I went out and bought "Yellow House" their debut album.
But this their new one is amazing, its going to be one of those album of the year titles like Fleet Foxes last year. You should buy it now so that you don't look like a bandwagon jumper...
This is them on Letterman doing the last single.

I am also pretty excited about the new Phoenix album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix", the first single 1901 is a good guide to what they do best... It makes me feel like the summer may actually be just around the corner.

Next is Crippled Black Phoenix. The album is a masterpiece in a proggy/trippy/folky/metal sort of way. Check out their version of "Physical" (Adam and the Ants) on their myspace..... It's dark in a good way and the whole album is like going on an adventure, you need to commit to it, but you need to listen at night with the windows open.
www.myspace.com/crippledblackphoenix

Last but not least...pop genius at work. If you sometimes find the need to listen to The Knack's My Sharona or some Weezer or The Cars or....

Then Tinted Windows are for you. Take a member of Hanson, a Fountains of Wayne, a Smashing Pumpkin and Bun. E. Carlos from Cheap Trick !!!!! and you have the makings of the summer-pop-rock-car-journey album of the year.

Once upon a time.....

2009-05-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

I was in a band, in fact I was in a few bands, but in the late 70's I taught myself the drums began playing in bands and released some records and played a lot of gigs. My first band was the Nuclear Socketts, but we were a band that only talked about it and came up with a name. I then joined The Ultimate with my best friend Phil from the Socketts (the Nuclear Socketts went on to actually rehearse, gig and release records).
Philip went on to become a mod, a numanoid, a spy (more of this later) and a frenchman (in that order).

In the picture below I am the one on the left (I thought I looked like Stevie Shears from Ultravox), I didn't.

We gigged a lot and even got John Peel to come and see us, he reviewed the gig (favourably) in Sounds - the headline was Snettisham Rock and Roll Capital of the World.

We then got hold of a synth and synth drum and became a "new wave" band called Stranger Still.

We were quite popular in our local scene. The local paper (Kings Lynn News and Advertiser -it's called the Lynn News I think) was always printing stuff about the local scene. We even got to one in the local papers charts (which was based on sales from the local record shop).
In the article below I am the one on the left again !!

There was a mooted reunion of the Kings Lynn band scene years later....I didn't go.

I moved to London in search of fame and became a squatter...I had a blast.

More to follow......

English as tuppence....

2009-04-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

I first came across this poem in the film "The Horses Mouth", the last 2 lines are the last thing you here as the hero of the book Gully Jimson stes off down the Thames on an adventure.
The film was based on the book by Joyce Carey. I love both. Lord Buckley was a fan of the book too.
The film made such an impression on me that I gave my son the middle name Gulliver so he could be called Gully Johnson if he wished. He hasn't yet.

The Rolling Road: G.K. Chesterton

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.

His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which,
But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.

My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.

There is a restaurant in London called "Paradise by way of Kensal Green". That's the kind of restaurant where I want to eat....

Go to 4.31 and have a listen

Night has come off the corners...

2009-04-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

I was reading some particularly shit poetry by Andrew Motion a while back and thought that maybe I would start a campaign to get Howard Devoto ensconsed in the role of Poet Laureate.

His words always inspired, educated or just plain entertained me when I was listening to his bands over the years. My favourite band was Magazine.

They were one of those pedigree bands for a while (albums 1 to 3) and I am hoping to catch them at Latitude this year.

The classic line-up was the one
Devoto
Doyle (loved his moustache)
Adamson was always THE bass player
Mr Formula
McGeoch who is sorely missed

Dundiddin....Lurchers, kerchiefs and waistcoats

2009-04-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

I have often thought about getting another Lurcher a number of times over the years. My previous Lurcher, Ben Gunn, was my constant companion when I lived in London in the 80's. He would often come to work with me (HMV Trocadero) and sit in my office, he was special, a Norfolk Lurcher. I got him from some gypsies who lived near the City Farm in Mitcham.
I was in a band back then called Rogues Gallery. People thought I dressed like a poacher/didicoi. I quite enjoyed playing up to it. But I suppose I am dun diddin.....for now.

The Crowman and Ratter

2009-04-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of a favourite character of mine from the 80's earlier today when I saw some Crows (a murder of) in a field being bothered by a Jack Russell.

I wondered if the dog was Ratter, the Crowman's dog. The Crowman featured in the TV series Worzel Gummidge. In the 80's my band used to rehearse in my parents garage and it became a ritual that we would stop our rehearsal so we could watch that weeks episode. My mum would make us a cup of tea and a slice of cake while we watched, she sort of bought into the ritual too. I think she was amused that a surly bunch of teen punk rockers were happy watching a kids programme while drinking tea.

We ended up writing a song, "The Crowman", which became a staple in our set. I always thought he looked really cool...

Twatter......

2009-04-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

I am not convinced by Twitter. I am not sure that that many people have enough to say that is so important that I need to be aware of it immediately (unless it's the World Health Oragnisation or NASA or Howard Devoto or Chelsea or the like..), but most twitterers are fast becoming twatterers. it's the tech version of when you upgrade somebody from being a simple twit to a twat.

Everywhere I go I am constantly reminded of the mind numbing dullness of the conversations people have on their mobiles. Yesterday whilst waiting at Brandon Railway Station I had to listen to a woman talk about what she watched on T.V., what she had had for dinner (a large portion by the look of it) and what time she went to bed. Riveting I am sure for her friend but not for the rest of her fellow travellers..

Couldn't Twitter be just another excuse for this...but with added typing.

But saying that the great Bob Lefetz (his blog link is in my Bizzle list) was twittered this link

http://20minuteloop.bandcamp.com/

The track that was recommended is #2, "Dr. Vitus Werdegast". Reminds me of loads of stuff including the much missed 12 Rods.

I also found this after it was tweeted. Its should be the single of the year.

OMG!!!FMV!!! - Fake Male Voice

So maybe It's OK to be twatted..sometimes.

Blind in Safety and Leafy in Love.....

2009-04-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

If only I knew them who I know now......

Men at Work, Rest and Play

2009-04-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here is some spiffing footage of the mighty Cardiacs rehearsing....

They still produce great music with spirit, attitude and chops 30 years later.

Daniel in A Forest

2009-04-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Cure - A forest

Blogging Norfolk, Bat For Lashes, A Forest, Pease Pudding and Kelpe

2009-04-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

So within the last 2 days Rosie and I have been very busy with work and little social events that have been a mixture of your basic run of the mill fun, puzzlement and music.....

On Thursday we were invited to the launch of the Blogging Norfolk, St Georges Day event at the BBC Fusion building in Norwich. This launch was either very low key, very exclusive or a complete failure. I am not sure which. We were 2 of a small band of perhaps 12 people who attended. Half of them were paid to be there as they worked for the organisations involved (BBC, Norwich Writers Centre). As it was based around web/twitter style technology maybe the rest of the guests were there virtually. What I am trying to say is there virtually nobody there.

From what I can gather one of the people involved was the author of the Crap Towns book that came out a while ago.
Maybe his next book will be called Crap Launches ?

We then dashed off to meet some friends (Richie and Nathalie) to collect some textile art that Nathalie had made for one of Rosies interior design jobs. While we there Richie played me an amazing record by Kelpe called Ex-Aquarium. Buy it. I did the next day.

Last night some other friends came over for dinner. Rosie cooked an amazing meal that included Pease Pudding, I had never had it before. I am now a big fan. Big time.

After everybody had left I watched Later with Jools.....I was loving the Bat For Lashes track Daniel. The bass line was pinched from A Forest by The Cure I think.

I am going to have to post it up and have a listen.

Over and Out.

Blog Nor09: Blog off.....

2009-04-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Blog paper...is that an anachronism