Your mind and we

Wow, I really haven't been here for a while

2012-01-08T10:34:00.002Z

Over two years in point of fact. Lots of stuff has happened, lots of stuff pretty much the same.Got to see the Magic Band again, a bit of a highlight. Had to cancel a holiday due to family illness, a bit of a lowlight. Jim now living in his own house, pleased to say its only two miles away. Quite a few babies born and nobody close has died, although my Mum now lives in a nursing home and her brain is slowly melting away.

Life goes on

Sky Saxon died today

2009-06-25T23:06:00.002+01:00

I find it quite hard to compehend. I'm the administrator for a Facebook group for the California 66 revue tour due to happen in August - Sky was going to be a huge part of that. Another 6os survivor bites the dust

RIP Sky

I've got a new tent!

2009-06-14T16:58:00.000+01:00

I don't blog any more

2009-06-12T20:42:00.005+01:00

I mean to - but I don't.

But I am running a fantastic Facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86265642408

I'd love it if you joined.

And I am working on setting myself up in a new post-redundancy career as a viral / virtual marketeer for 60s rock bands. Its going OK so far.

Swiss Toni's Shuffleathon

2009-03-26T19:57:00.003Z

My CD has finally been reviewed!!

http://coornelius.blogspot.com/2009/03/shuffleathon-2009.html

I've been waiting for this before posting my letter to Charlie, so here is is.

Dear Charlie

My name is Tina, and I’m pleased to be your Shuffler for 2008!

You can find me at http://yourmindandwe.blogspot.com/ virtually, and at the address above in reality.

Anyway, without further ado, here is your Shuffleathon CD and a bit of explanation. I’ve decided to call my CD

Distinctive voices from Northern UK and North America

16 tracks – 8 from each continent. Exactly an hour long, more by accident than by design. About 40 years between the earliest and the latest (somewhat longer than you’ve been alive I see from your blog) – I’ve decided that I’m not actually going to put when each track is from because I don’t think it’s relevant. I’ve seen a number of these artists perform live but when I count up I’ve actually seen more of the American ones than the UK ones - strange. I am something of a US West Coast fan and have had a couple of visits over there. So here goes:

1) All Of My Heart - ABC. From Sheffield. I love the voice of Martin Fry, the lead singer.

2) I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys. From Sheffield again. I don’t have any particular connection with Sheffield , but the place has produced some good bands.

3) Grounds For Divorce – Elbow. From Bury, Lancashire.

4) Tonight - Richard Hawley. From Sheffield once more.

5) Weeds – Pulp. Yeah, Sheffield. I’ve seen Pulp perform live, in the middle of Sherwood Forest (yes, where Robin Hood lived), and also Jarvis Cocker as part of a Sgt Pepper concert in Milan.

6) Regret - New Order. North West England this time.

7) Being Boring - Pet Shop Boys. The lead singer, Neil Tennant, comes from South Shields in the North East of England, near to where I was born and bred. Have seen them, in Nottingham, fairly recently.

8) Sunworshipper – Mylo. Mylo comes from the Island of Skye, off the north of Scotland – he produced the album “Destroy Rock and Roll” that this track comes from in his bedroom. It provides the link between the UK and North American sections of the CD.

9) See How Good It Feels - The Quarter After. From Los Angeles. I saw these guys in a tiny venue in Nottingham recently. Two brothers, Rob and Dom Campanella – Rob is also a member of and producer for Brian Jonestown Massacre, another Californian band that I’m very partial to.

10) My First Night Without You - Maria McKee. From Los Angeles. Sister of the late Bryan Macleanof the La band Love, my alltime favourite band – I had to be physically restrained from putting any of their stuff on this CD. Best known for “Show me Heaven”. Another artist seen at a pretty small venue in Nottingham

11) I'm Your Man - Leonard Cohen. From Montreal, Canada. I’ve had the great good fortune to see Leonard Cohen perform twice during 2008, the man was truly born with the gift of a golden voice. He’s somewhat past the tiny club stage.

12) The Needle And The Damage Done - Neil Young. Another Canadian. Never seen him perform live unfortunately, but I’m definitely a long time fan.

13) La Valse De Balfa - Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir. From Calgary in Canada. Another great band that I’ve seen performing in a tiny club in Nottingham, very distinctive sound.

14) Abba Zaba - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band. From California again. The Captain is a genius as far as I am concerned. I‘ve seen the Captain plus Band perform twice, and the Band minus Captain once - all amazingly memorable performances.

15) How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? - Al Green. The Reverend Al. Hails from Michigan according to Wikipedia. Gospel tinged soul. I saw him recently performing in Birmingham.

16) I Say A Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin. In November 2008, Franklin was named by The Rolling Stone magazine. as the #1 all time best singer of the rock era. She came in ahead of Ray Charles at No. 2, Elvis Presley at No. 3, Sam Cooke at No. 4 and John Lennon at No. 5, according to the magazine's survey of 179 musicians, producers, Rolling Stone editors, and other music-industry insiders. (So says Wikipedia). And I thin k she’s pretty good too.

So there you are. Hope you like it.

P.S. Since thay letter was written in December, I've booked to see one of my long time musical heroes, Neil Young, in June. I'm also off to see Kraftwerk in July - another band I've wanted to see for ever - with my brother , in Manchester. Now he's a real fan and has travelled to Poland and Norway to see them perform - I've never travelled further than Aberdeen for a gig, although Lizzy and I did go to Sweden to see a film. But it was about Love so that's quite understandable.

Introducing the beach boys to the Beach Boys, and other cultural phenomena

2009-02-04T04:28:00.004Z

Keith and I are just back from a fantastic trip to Goa. I promise I'll put up a decent post when the photos are downloaded. It is to some extent"India lite" there but its an incredibly vibrant place and the people there are amazing, just so relaxed and carefree. There were a lot of highlights, among the the musical ones were:

- having the guys who sorted out our sunbeds on Candolim beach listen to Good Vibrations on my MP3 player and them really getting into it, and me realising what brilliant ocean-side music Brian Wilson wrote all those years ago.

- sitting outside a bar listening to a Reggae band made up of locals, three young guys doing a very decent job on lead rhythm and bass guitars and an older guy playing terrific tabla drums.

Don't worry bout a thing, cos every little things gonna be all right.

Too right!

My cultural life in 2008

2009-01-02T13:37:00.005Z

I was just sitting thinking to myself that I hadn't done a lot of arty stuff in 2008 when I compared my outings to other peoples gig listings etc. No Baby Lemonade tour immediately cut out about 10 gigs - but when I got my head together and consulted my diary etc it seems that I didn't actually do too badly at all.

2nd January Control Broadway Cinema, Nottingham Film
27th January Robin Hitchcock Rescue Rooms, Nottingham Gig
30th January 39 Steps Theatre Royal, Nottingham Play
9th February The Selkie The Sage, Gateshead Play with Music
28th February Menomena Rescue Rooms, Nottingham Gig
21st April Eric Burdon & War Royal Albert Hall, London Gig
14th June Julie Felix The Sage, Gateshead Gig
26th June Lou Reed Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Gig
12th July Kylie Minogue MEN Arena, Manchester Gig
2nd – 4th Aug Big Chill Festival Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire Festival
13th August Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir Bodega, Nottingham Gig
18th – 23rd Aug Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival
23rd Sept The Quarter After Chameleon Arts Cafe, Nottingham Gig
19th Oct Glen Campbell Royal Festival Hall, London Gig
22nd Oct Mercy & Grand The Sage, Gateshead Musical event
27th Oct Feeder Rock City, Nottingham Gig
28th Oct Al Green / Gabrielle NIA, Birmingham Gig
3rd Nov Martha Wainwright Rock City, Nottingham Gig
22d Nov Leonard Cohen NEC, Birmingham Gig

Big Chill: various acts including: Rachel Unthank & the Winterset; Portico Quartet; Jilted John; Beth Orton; Lykke Li;Martha Wainwright; Norman Jay; Camille; The Imagined Village; African Head Charge; Orchestra Baobab;Leonard Cohen

Edinburgh Festival lots of shows including: Dan Antopolski (very funny comedian); Capoeira Knights:Warriors of Brazil (brilliant Brazilian dance); Hemingway’s Havana – starring Papa Oviedo from “The Buena Vista Social Club” (excellent Cuban musicians); Holdin’ Fast (Czech Physical theatre – “A dreamy ballad of sexual dependency, inspired by Milan Kundera and challenging the human body's physical and emotional borders.”) and various comedy shows / plays that I can’t even remember.

Highlights:

"The Selkie" - a play written by Valerie Laws, an old school friend of mine - really evocative stuff which made me think about all sorts of things to do with my life.

Julie Felix - her 70th birthday concert - she is an amazing guitar player and a great singer - she ran through a 60s songbook of some real old favourites by herself and other people.

Kylie - a brilliant big arena show, I loved it.

The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - thanks very much Mike of Troubled Diva fame for introducing me to these folks.

The great dance / world music / physical theatre stuff we saw in Edinburgh - we widened the net from our usual comedy and theatre and were repaid a thousand fold.

The Quarter After - a great Californian psychedelic band playing in a tiny venue in Nottingham.

Al Green - that man can certainly sing.

And my man of the year:-

Leonard Cohen - I'm not a religious person but I feel truly blessed to have seen him perform twice this year. Perhaps I'm more spiritual than I own up to being. The gig at the NEC was so magnificent that I haven't wanted to talk about it since, or to go and see another artist perform until the memory has faded.

Roll on 2009!

P.S. And thank you to Keith, Lizzy B, Chris, Barbara, Liz S, Emma, Pam, Mike and K for accompanying me - I've done a couple on my own but its not so much fun!

Swiss Toni's Shuffleathon 2008

2008-12-13T14:09:00.001Z

First a bit of context. I am 55 years old, I was born in 1953 and musically I’m a child of the 60s. My favoured genres are Psychedelic, Soul and (dare I admit it) Country. I am still a big music fan and have 40 odd years of fandom and listening to music to look back on. I like melody, it’s much more important to me than lyrics, and I’m moved by music that touches me emotionally. I was brought up in the industrial North East of England and now live in Nottingham in the English Midlands. I’ve been in full time paid employment for 30 odd years and am married with a 23 year old son.

Michael is 32 years old. He describes himself as a student and Gen X slacker extraordinaire He likes Rock and Country (hurrah), and would appear to favour lyrics over melody. He lives in NW Indiana, USA.

Not a lot in common then except a sneaking respect for the good ole boys of country music. Let’s see what his Shuffleathon CD holds in store.

1) Stop, I’m already dead – Deadboy & the Elephantmen (Dax Riggs) – shouty rock music with unsubtle drumming. Guy’s voice (Deadboy?) sounds a bit flat to me. Not for me.*

2) Fort Hood – Mike Doughty. Samples “Let the Sun Shine in” from the 60s musical “Hair”. Quite melodic, decent lyrics, don’t mind this one at all. Again voice somewhat on the flat side. ***

3) Easy Money – Todd Snider. Quite like it but unmemorable. Flat again although I like the overall tone of the guy’s voice. **

4) Not a crime – Gogol Bordello. Very recognisably Eastern European in origin. I know this band and I like them a lot. Gypsy Punk is a good description, lots of manic fiddle playing. Eugene Hutz the lead singer tends to almost shout over the backing track but it works for me. Best track so far by a country mile.****

5) Good Riddance (Time of your life) – Glen Campbell. Now you’re talking! You will see from previous posts that I saw Glen Campbell at the Royal Festival Hall recently; his is a voice that affects me on an emotional level. Listen to his golden clear voice and he’s bang on the note! Vocalists from tracks 1, 2 and 3 please take note!*****

6) Lonesome Blues – Shooter Jennings. Lovely, great pedal steel guitar, again voice bang on the note. I’ve always been a sucker for decent country music. ****

7) Snuff – Slipknot. Not what I was expecting from the tracklisting! My son was a big fan when he was a teenager (he’s now 23) so I heard a bit of their stuff around the house when he still lived here, as Mike describes them a loud metal band. This could almost be described as a power ballad – good guitar playing and very clear vocals, with a power chorus. ***

8) Heart of Matters – Ben Harper. Familiar territory again, I own some Ben Harper stuff. Seems like he’s trying to do Soul on the track, doesn’t do a bad job either, though he’s no Al Green.***

9) Best Damn Fool – Buddy Guy. He could indeed have been bigger than Hendrix. This is great, the man is a legend. He’s a great guitar player and I love those horns. *****

10) Coma – Buckethead with Azam Ali and Serj Tankian. Start reminds me of “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield. I’m going to damn this with faint praise – quite nice. Music to eat Middle Eastern food by. ***

11) Nowhere to go – Mushroomhead. What’s with all this head business? (See previous artist). No No No. Please just go.*

12) The Outsider – A Perfect Circle. Sorry Mike not my scene. *

13) Doesn’t remind me – Audioslave. Better, but I doubt I’ll be rushing out to buy the album. **

14) Heaven’s a lie – Lacuna Coil. Italian Gothic Metal! Has some style about it, like Milan where the band hails from. As you’ve probably guessed rock is not my favoured musical genre but I headbanged along to this , the female lead singer has a good tuneful voice.***

15) Would ?– Alice in Chains. I like the sound of the harmonies in this. Drumming too prominent IMHO but that’s a rock thang. ***

16) Zzyxx Road – Stone Sour. Another power ballad from a Slipknot side project. The guy has a decent voice. I also like the piano but again spoiled by me by over prominent drumming.***

17) 10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2) – Tool. Mike says that he thinks this is one of the best songs ever written, and he wrote quite a long explanation putting the song in context and also forwarded me the lyrics. I’m really glad he did because otherwise I would have just listened and not “got” it – with the explanation I do get it. I’m not going to go into the full details but I’d just say that as the mother of a (sometimes troubled) young man, this to me is a moving piece of music. ****

Thanks very much Michael, I’ve enjoyed listening to and reviewing your CD even if quite a lot of it left me cold. It made me think about why I like particular types of music and how my brain processes what it hears - I also realised that it almost physically hurts my brain when people sing flat. But I’m not going to become a rock aficionado overnight, that’s for sure.

The Typealyzer

2008-11-28T18:25:00.003Z

http://www.typealyzer.com/index.php?lang=en

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Blimey! When I've done Myers-Briggs tests in the past I've come out as an ISTJ - could hardly be more different. I guess I'm definitely sensing then. It also shows that your writing style can be quite different from your basic personality. Hey ho.

I've been to a few gigs recently....

2008-11-05T18:37:00.005Z

I have! I had a fortnight off work and did the "Not the Baby Lemonade Tour" for a start. I had non-cancellable hotel rooms in London and York, so I went anyway. My brother lives in London and my darling son Jim lives in York, so I caught up with them. I then got off the train that was going to take me to Edinburgh at Newcastle and spent a few days with the lovely Lizzy B and her family. Then home again for a few days and Lizzy came down from Newcastle to Nottingham for a couple of nights.

This is what I saw:

Glenn Campbell at the Royal Festival Hall - surprisingly moving, beautiful voice. I've always loved his version of "Wichita Lineman". He seemed to be getting a bit absent minded but he is in his seventies now, his daughter did backing vocals and a couple of duets with him. He had a great band including a cracking steel guitar player.

Mercy & Grand: the Tom Waits Project at the Sage, Gateshead - opera singer from Opera North and an eclectic band of musicians. Very different from stuff I usually see but really memorable.

Feeder at Rock City, Nottingham - a friend had two tickets at short notice so Lizzy and I went along - RC absolutely packed to the gunnels with young folks. A sticky floored physically uncomfortable rock gig - not as bad as it sounds.

Al Green / Gabrielle at NIA, Birmingham - the day that it decided to snow in the West Midlands. Fantastic evening - Gabrielle was an unexpected bonus. Al Green had a brilliant band, 14 people on stage in total including two young male loose-limbed dancers and a horn section to die for. The Rev Al was brilliant, he didn't seem to have lost any of his vocal range and he sure knows how to work a crowd. Not a full venue but a pretty good turn out.

Martha Wainwright at Rock City, Nottingham - another Monday evening, another friend ringing up to see if I wanted to go to a gig at short notice - the answer was a definite yes. Good gig - I haven't the reviewing skills of Mike or Swiss Toni, both of whom were also there, so I've handily provided links to their sites.

Coming up - Leonard Cohen on 22nd November - and Take That in June 2009!! Yes. I spent Friday morning on the internet after tickets came on sale and am off to Sunderland! Yey!!

The Quarter After

2008-09-26T08:28:00.003+01:00

In my head, its 1968. For a couple of hours on Tuesday evening, it felt like the rest of me was there as well.

Mike Randle emailed me from Truetone Guitar shop in Santa Monica a week or so ago(verbatim):

1/4 after at Chameloen

BJM guitarist, Rob, is sat here with me at shop. Check his band put in Nhill if you can Mike

My email back to Mike:

Hi Mike

Sorry don't know what you mean.

My next email back to Mike:

http://www.thecommitteetokeepmusicevil.com/tour.asp

Found it! The Chameleon isn't a venue I'm familiar with, I'll look it up. It must be a new one

So I set off Tuesday evening for the Chameleon in Nottingham. Above Clinton Cards shop in the Old Market Square, next door to the Bell. A little cafe-bar on the first floor with a function room on the second floor. I paid my 6 quid for a ticket - buggar the credit crunch!

Now I'd figured out in the interval between the emails and Tuesday that I'd already met Rob Campanella, lead guitarist of the Quarter After, with Scottish Keith Stoddart and Lizzy in a pub in Newcastle before we went to a Brian Jonestown Massacre gig a couple of years back, that's his other band. So I recognised him. He was in the cafe-bar part on his mobile (cell phone for the benefit of my US readers). I went over and introduced myself as friend of the aforesaid Mike Randle and had a chat with him -nice guy.

Things seemed a tad anarchic and it seemed it was going to be a while before the bands were going to be on - my six quid actually bought me three bands - Dom Keller, a local outfit, Quarter After, from LA, and Asteroid 4, from Philadelphia. After a while I moved upstairs and that was when the time travelling experience really kicked off. The room was pretty small, the walls were covered in these wild surreal paintings, the windows were hung with sheets and it reminded me of student flats from back in the day when I was a young person of the hippy persuasion. Wow - far out!

Dom Keller were first on and they put on a creditable psychedelic performance. I've looked up their MySpace page and they are real 60s fans. I understand they put the gig on as well, great stuff. All this time the various member of the two US bands were hanging around, exotic creatures for a dull Nottingham Tuesday evening. I sat down on a sofa for a while and Victor, the QA bassist came and sat next to me and promptly fell asleep - jet lag I guess. The audience was small (it needed to be, its a small place) but very appreciative.

Then it was time for the Quarter After, following a long period of setting up / tuning up - they needed it, as Rob and his brother Dom play a range of different instruments - this was their first gig after flying over and those planes play havoc with your tuning.

They were outstanding. Two / three guitars (at times the keyboard player was on guitar as well as Dom and Rob), bass and drums. Close harmonies from Dom and Rob - you know that thing about siblings singing together - Everley Brothers etc - the sound was spine tingling. My best comparison would be to the Byrds - jingle-jangle Rickenbacker and sweet harmonies. I loved it, and it moved my head in the way only great music can. I b0ught the album from the merch stand for £7 (a bargain) and it sounds as good as the live performance.

I left before Asteroid 4 as it was pretty late by then., work the next day A quick word with Rob to express my appreciation, then forward 40 years and home. I think I'll be seeing these guys again.

Baby Lemonade tour cancelled

2008-09-20T06:37:00.002+01:00

Boo hoo! I'm pretty gutted quite frankly, I was really looking forward to the guys being over here in the Autumn. Tickets not selling well presumably, couldn't afford to take the financial risk, which I can quite understand. Strange financial times these, as I know only too well from my day job.

Time to regroup.

The Big Read

2008-08-12T19:29:00.003+01:00

Via Lisa Rullsenburg .

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated. (I see no reason to restrict ‘books I hated’ to school - there are only a couple of books on the list I really disliked, and neither of them was a school text.)
5) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve only read 6 and force books upon them.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - started and will never funish
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - will never read, read another of his and hated it!!
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks.
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

73 read in my case - quite a lot I guess, I am a pretty prolific reader. There's nothing unread on the list that I feel a burning need to read - my exposure to the classics is limited but through choice not omission. Couldn't figure out how to strike out so have put comments beside a couple of books that I have no intention of ever reading or finishing in one case. Birdsong - left me completely cold.

The Big Chill

2008-08-06T21:33:00.006+01:00

I've just come back from a brilliant weekend at the Big Chill festival in Herefordshire with Lizzy and Chris (first two pics). It was a very family friendly festival (see third pic with lovely hula girls). The location was brilliant, see 4th and 5th pics. 6th pic is Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords, just because I like him

We saw Leonard Cohen on Sunday evening, he made me cry his music was so beautiful. Also lots of other brilliant acts. It was a great experience all round. Even with camping. We'll do this sort of stuff again.

The clearest sea you ever did see

2008-06-06T20:47:00.004+01:00

This is me floating in the sea off Marathia Beach in Zakynthos. A lovely island, beautiful weather and the sea as clear as clear can be. Bliss!

And Madonna reckons she can dance...

2008-05-24T06:59:00.001+01:00

P.S.This is the weather forecast for where we're just about to go on holiday - scorchio!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=5107

Meet the family

2008-05-17T19:03:00.001+01:00

Back row: Me and My siblings - Sarah, Bethy, Steve, Tina
Front row: Nephew Jake, Mum, Dad, Niece Amy

I think this was on the occasion of my Mum's 80th birthday a couple of years ago.
A nice day.

Eight go wild in Paris

2008-04-27T07:27:00.003+01:00

Keith got told off for taking this picture!

Compare and contrast

Sergeant Pepperoni

2008-04-27T07:08:00.000+01:00

Baby Lemonade

2008-04-26T06:35:00.002+01:00

The guys are back in the UK in October - hurrah!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=45100164

I'll be picking up as many of the shows as I can, pity they're not doing the Rescue Rooms but never mind.

Kittens playing xylophones

2008-03-12T08:10:00.000Z

http://www.rathergood.com/independent_woman/

I'd forgotten how much I loved this....

Where have I been??

2008-03-11T20:57:00.005Z

Its been a while hasn't it?

One of the places I have been is Madeira - favourite of the more mature holiday maker. It was lovely, nice weather, lovely gardens, nice places to walk etc. Here's a pic or two.

Guitar lessons

2008-01-10T22:15:00.000Z

I had my first guitar lesson this evening. It was good, I'm going to enjoy this. Must make sure I practice as I need to harden up my fingers as much as anything.

Black Mountain

2007-12-09T14:29:00.000Z

I went to see Black Mountain perform at the Rescue Rooms last Thursday as the "plus one" of Mike of Troubled Diva fame - very much my sort of band. And I do recall saying to him at different points during the gig "This sounds like the Doors" and "He sounds like Neil Young now". Thanks very much Mike, a good band that I would have otherwise missed.

Also, I discovered from talking to Mike that sitting at a table in a restaurant in Milan with two members of the Residents not wearing their customary eyeball masks is a coup indeed - unknown to me previously, presumably they are an extremely secretive bunch never seen in public without said headgear. I never blogged about the aftermath of the Milan Sgt Pepper concert but it involved variously wandering the streets of Milan with Badly Drawn Boy and a Badly Drawn Map until said restaurant was found, as well as above mentioned Residents exclusive.

Baby Lemonade & London Sinfonietta are doing the Sgt Pepper gig in Paris next year involving a well known survivor of the 60s / 70s with a predilection for hard drugs, taking his top off and wearing see through PVC trousers ........ Can't wait!

Okkervill River - saw them tonight at the Social and they were tremendous!

2007-11-07T23:01:00.000Z

My shuffleathon CD and letter to Mark

2007-11-07T07:23:00.000Z

Hi Mark

Well you’ve had the dubious privilege of drawing my name out of Swiss Toni’s big shuffleathon hat.

I’m probably at the older end of the age scale of participants and my choice of tracks reflects that – age doesn’t make me any less passionate about music however, which has been a huge thing in my life, not quite as long as I can remember, but certainly since I reached adolescence in the 60s. I’ve made no attempt to pick out tracks which I think are the best musically, or even to reflect my taste in music now, I’ve simply come up with a list of artists and tracks that have meant something to me over the years.

The list enclosed gives track name, artist, and the album I’ve extracted the track from (not always the original source album, some of these are from “Best ofs”) and there’s a little bit of context about each track below:

1) Pleasant Valley Sunday The Monkees The Definitive Monkees

The Monkees are the first band I really got into aged about 13 – they were a manufactured boy band and had a show on primetime TV, early Saturday evening. My friends and I used to get together to watch and scream a bit – my fave member somewhat against the general trend was always Micky Dolenz, who went on to marry one of the Pan’s People dance group off TOTP. They were derided at the time by “grown ups” but they’ve achieved some critical acclaim over the intervening 40 years or so, and this is a great track.

2) Getting Better The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Again, against the general trend of the time I wasn’t actually a huge Beatles fan, but I did love Sgt Pepper – I was a bit of a hippy chick in those days. This isn’t the best track on Sgt Pepper even but its great positive stuff, and if you look at my blog you’ll see that I went to a gig in Milan recently where Sgt Pepper was recreated and this was a stand out track with Badly Drawn Boy doing vocals.

3) Son of a Preacher Man Dusty Springfield Goin'back - the very best of Dusty Springfield

Dusty is imho the best soul voice by a mile that the UK has ever produced. This takes me back to my teens, listening to a little transistor radio by the side of the cricket pitch at school in Whitley Bay on a long hot summer afternoon, my friend Amanda was going out with the son of the local minister who was a bit of a bad lad.

4) Seven & Seven Is Love Da Capo

I love this band and again if you look at my blog you’ll know why in great detail – nuff said.

5) Click Clack Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band The Spotlight Kid

Another great 60s favourite – the best gig I’ve ever been to bar none in a long career of gig-going was Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band at Newcastle City Hall early 1972 – the tightest band imaginable. Old Don was a bit of a nutter, still is, he had some weird things going on inside his head, but some of the music he created was just out of this world.

6) L.A. Woman The Doors L. A. Woman

Adulation of Jim Morrison was certainly not against the general trend in the late 60s / early 70s – another one who died far too young. The dark side of 60s psychedelia. As with Love, on the periphery of the hippy stuff going on at the time but no flower wearing in hair going on here.

7) The Jean Genie David Bowie Best Of David Bowie 1969-1974

David Bowie to me means starting University in Nottingham in 1972 and leaving the North East pretty much for good, sitting around in student bedrooms raving on about Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane and so on. I could have picked any number of tracks but I really like this one..

8) If The Shoe Fits Leon Russell Carney

This takes me back to meeting my old man Keith in about 1973 – we’re still together. H e had this album and really loved it when we first met.

9) Can We Still Be Friends Todd Rundgren Hermit Of Mink Hollow

Beautiful track, again early 70s stuff. End of a heavy evening stuff.

10) You gotta walk (don't look back) Peter Tosh Bush Doctor

I’ve always had a reggae thing going on even with all the psychedelic hippy trippy stuff around – I find it impossible not to jig around the room when this is on. Brings back memories of some great nights with friends.

11) Sultans Of Swing Dire Straits Money For Nothing

Before they got arenaised and MTVised, Dire Straits were just a little guitar playing band from Newcastle. My Mum’s friend knew Mark Knopfler’s Mum, and she apparently was always berating him for spending all his time in his bedroom picking away at his guitar. Parents eh?? When this first came out it sounded so fresh and original. They also mention Whitley Bay in one of their tracks (Tunnel of Love) so how could I not love them?

12) Train To Rhodesia Big Youth Dreadlocks Dread

More reggae. Big Youth got us together in 1977 with some people who are still great friends today. Keith decided to train to be a teacher after a few years not doing much after leaving University. One evening we had a few folks from his course round to our flat, including a rather sullen youth from Hull called Steve. We put the Big Youth album on and he just came to life completely, he’d come to Nottingham to do his PGCE course and join up with his girlfriend Wendy who was already a student here after doing a degree in London, and the album had been the soundtrack to his student days. They’re still together as well and are our best pals in Nottingham.

13) No More Heroes The Stranglers No More Heroes

Late 70s. Punk. Great song. Keith became a Geography teacher but had to do some English teaching as well, which filled him with trepidation. I suggested he did something about song lyrics and he used this song, went down very well with the 3rd year apparently.

14) Jimmy Jimmy The Undertones The Best Of The Undertones

More punk. Great song. We named our son (now aged 22) after this song. Middle name Leon after the previous one.

Poor unfortunate lad.

15) Tired Of Being Alone Al Green Al

This just sends me. The man’s voice is pure liquid honey. He found religion and became the Reverend Al Green after being seriously injured when he was found by a cuckolded husband in bed with his wife and had boiling water chucked over him. Hey Ho.

That’s it, hope you enjoy at least some of it. I know I did.

Shuffleathon 2007

2007-11-05T21:35:00.000Z

We had a week in Crete recently, arriving back 27th October - nice week if a tad rainy to begin with. When we returned there was a jiffy bag waiting for me from an address in Texas - my shuffleathon CD!! It emanated from Mike of Mad Stories, an Englishman living in the U S of A.

I've been listening to the CD driving around in my car since then to get the feel of it - I've spent some of the intervening time in London working so its taken some time to get the review together, but I reckon I'm there now - so here goes...

1) Midnight - Yazoo
Not a Yazoo track I was previously familiar with - Alison Moyet has a great strong voice and I'm into electro-pop so this is a winner as far as I'm concerned.

2) Don't walk away - Toni Childs
A new artist to me. Wikipedia tells me that she is aged 50 and hails from Orange County. Another strong female voice. Like it and its become a bit of an earworm, but I won't be rushing out to buy the album.

3) Into the great wide open - Tom Petty
More familiar territory here. A rebel without a clue. Great video with Johnny Depp playing Eddie. Oi'll give it foive.

4) Fog Town - Michelle Shocked
Its about San Francisco. We were there in the summer and it certainly is foggy. Not my sort of thing although I liked "Anchorage".

5) Lil' Devil - The Cult
Driving around Nottingham suburbia in autumnal drizzle this does absolutely nothing for me - but I can imagine driving along the freeway in the vast wastes of the USA with the sun shining down and this going down a treat. Its all about context.

6) Rainbow Child - Dan Reed Network
Ditto as above re context - soft rock, made for driving along with your sunglasses on and your elbow sticking out of the car window.

7) I'm the only one - Melissa Etheridge
Don't like her voice. She's the lady famous for her and her female partner having children fathered by David Crosby. Still don't like her voice.

8) Woman in Chains - Tears for Fears
I'd forgotten how much I liked this band. Very pleasing sound.

9) Smooth - Santana featuring Rob (not Rod) Thomas
Very familiar territory here. The track that was huge a few years ago. Rob I can take or leave, bit of a parvenu, but Carlos Santana is God. Brilliant guitar playing.

10) Be my downfall - Del Amitri
Not very memorable. Scottish.

11) Ladylike - Storm Large
Mike apologised in the letter he sent with the CD for the amount of swearing in this track. I liked it, possibly even my favourite track of the selection. Looks like the lady was on a reality TV show in the States. Well done her I say!

12) Without you - Nilsson
A classic. Very reassuring. Wave that lighter in the air.

13) Troy - Sinead O'Connor
Another strong female voice, Mike is obviously a big fan of those. I always admired Sinead as an artist even if I didn't actually like much of her music. You're still a lawyer. Is that lawyer, or liar in Oirish? Or is the point that Sinead thinks the two are synonomous? Striking is the word that springs to mind to describe this track.

14) Hijo de la luna - Mecano
"Son of the Moon" in Spanish. Lovely melody, nice light and airy song. Like it a lot.

15) Nothing else matters - Metallica
Thought I'd hate this before I listened to it - I was expecting heavy metal (not a fave genre for me) but this is almost baroque. Thanks Mike, I'm almost a convert.

So a number of hits, a couple of misses, but generally very favourable. Mike likes his strong ladies, and if I didn't know he was a British expat in the USA, I might have guessed it. Thanks very much and good night.

Personality DNA

2007-10-29T05:49:00.000Z

OK Go

2007-10-28T20:27:00.000Z

I really like this - Jim showed me it!

Bummer in the Summer - Glastonbury

2007-10-13T07:33:00.000+01:00

Russell Mael when he's 64

2007-09-29T09:10:00.000+01:00

A Day in Marianne's life

2007-09-29T09:09:00.000+01:00

Jarvis getting a little help from his friends

2007-09-29T09:06:00.000+01:00

From Newcastle via Nottingham and LA to Milan – a musical journey

2007-09-27T20:36:00.000+01:00

It’s been a momentous year for the yourmindandwe family – Keith and I were married for 30 years in January, Keith retired from a long career in teaching in April and our son Jim graduated from University – so we decided we needed a good holiday to celebrate. I’d been to LA a few years ago with Lizzy and loved it so much, and vowed I’d go there sometime again with Keith and Jim, so California it was, in July. Didn’t manage to catch up with all the folks I’d hoped to over there, but we did have dinner one night with Mike and Hannah Randle in the Olde Kings Head English Pub in Santa Monica.

Mike told us about this great project that Baby Lemonade had been asked to take part in – the London Sinfonietta were going to recreate the Sgt Pepper album 40 years after its release at a special concert in Milan, so they needed to get together a cast of rock musicians. The folks at the Sinfonietta spoke to Glenn Max, who is a big wheel at the South Bank centre in London, and mentioned that they wanted it to be something like Arthur Lee and Love recreating Forever Changes…and Glenn said “I know those guys, I’ll check to see if they’re free” – and they were. Mike also said if we could get there, we’d be on the guest list.

At the stage that Mike was telling us about this, none of the guest vocalists were on board, but you could tell it was going to be something special. I immediately texted Lizzy – about 5am Newcastle time – something along the lines of “Leave 21st September free, we’re off to Milan” – a quick “OK” came back.

Fast forward to 21st September – thanks to the wonder of Ryanair, Lizzy and Chris and winging their way to Milan from Newcastle and Jim and I are on our way from Nottingham East Midlands Airport. We all manage to meet up at 4.30pm by the big blue milk bottle in the absolutely ginormous Milan Central Station, and then it’s off by taxi (with suitably crazy Italian taxi driver) to our hotel, which is a very nice building based on a very old palazzo in Sesto San Giovanni in the Milan hinterland.

The concert is at the Fiero Milano, a huge exhibition centre several miles outside Milan. Another taxi over there (not quite so crazy this time) and we arrive. We ask on the door how to get to the concert – its about a 20 minute walk along a long corridor with exhibition halls off – this being Milan they seem to be mainly full of shoes and bags, although there’s also a big music trade fair going on. We eventually get to the reception for the gig – Mike is true to his word, there are tickets waiting for us. A walk down another long corridor and we’re outside where a big stage is set up in the car park at the back of the building.

It all seems very chaotic at this point – there is a small area just in front of the stage with seats, then barriers and a lot of people standing up. We walk down to the front and there seem to be lots of arguments going on about who can get into this cordoned off area. There are also a number of policemen (with guns – we don’t get that in the UK) and also Italian firemen – are they expecting trouble? Anyway, I nab one of the officials and it seems that yes, with the tickets we have, we can get into the inner sanctum down the front. Mike Randle’s name is mentioned and all the ladies say “ Oh Mike Randle, yes” with beams on their faces, so Mike seems to have worked his magic there as well.

So we’re sitting at the front, with what seems like a baying horde behind us, they’re not very happy at all, and we feel slightly uncomfortable with the situation. Things are still happening at the front, and an Italian gentleman comes onto the stage and starts to talk to the crowd. Our Italian is hardly fluent (for that read non-existent), but it seems that the barrier is coming down, the seats are being taken away, and it’s becoming an all-standing concert. Fine by us, and it means we have time to get to the front, to get a good view and take some pics, before the angry mob is allowed through, which happens without major incident (maybe something to do with those armed policemen).

Then we’re off. The 25 piece orchestra troop on stage, with conductor. Then the band including new addition Todd Jaeger on keyboards – he looks like Dave Chapple crossed with Jack White. Screams and waves from our party at the front (well at least the female portion) – Lizzy actually saw the Beatles live when she was about 12 - its like Beatlemania all over again 40 years on. Mike, Daddyo and Chapple are all together at the left of the stage, and Rusty is all by himself over on the right – it’s a big stage. The orchestra starts off then Mike and Rusty come in with that famous opening riff from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, Rusty on vocals. They sound great – and we’re such a lovely audience – and then Rusty’s introducing the one and only Billy Shears….

Aka Jarvis Cocker. “With a little help from my friends”.
Followed by Beth Orton “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
Badly Drawn Boy “Getting Better”
Alex Chilton “Fixing a hole”
Marianne Faithfull “She’s Leaving Home”
The Residents “Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite”
Peter Murphy “Within You Without You”
Russell Mael “When I’m Sixty Four”
Badly Drawn Boy “Lovely Rita”
Robin Hitchcock “Good Morning, Good Morning”

Then the band – Sgt Pepper reprise

Marianne & Jarvis “A day in the life”
Robin Hitchcock “I am the Walrus”
Russell Mael “It’s all too much”
Peter Murphy “Tomorrow Never Knows”
Everybody “All you need is Love”

Highlights for me:

Jarvis – I’ve seen him perform with Pulp – he was great and a lot less laconic, almost cheerful , than I remember him being a few years ago

Peter Murphy – not an artist I was particularly familiar with, but a great performer, the most theatrical of the evening, throwing petals around the stage, and obviously big in Italy judging by the shouts of “Peeterre – Peeterre” that rang out whenever he appeared
The Residents – lead singer with a weird mask on and the rest of the band with big eye balls on their heads, and bashing away on laptops, doing a great “Mr Kite”

Marianne performing “She’s leaving Home” - backed by the orchestra without the band, with Rusty and Dave Chapple doing backing vocals – real hair standing up on the back of the neck stuff

The orchestra building up to a crescendo on “A Day in the Life”…..

Hey, it was all great. A tremendous experience all round. What struck me is how versatile musically the Baby Lemonade guys are, and what great vocalists – Rusty particularly was singing for a large proportion of the show. Sgt Pepper is a big drumming album and Daddyo took on the Ringo mantle with aplomb. It seemed to go down very well with the Italian audience as well.

Sgt Pepper is another one of the albums, like “Forever Changes” that had a deep and lasting effect on me when I first heard it in my teens – I remember going round to my friend Barbara Lockhart’s house in Forest Hall on the outskirts of Newcastle and us putting this LP with a really weird cover on her tinny little record player, and the sounds coming out just being amazing, like nothing we’d ever heard before. It still sounds great now but in 1967 it really was revolutionary, and to hear and see it performed on stage like that from start to finish, with a great orchestra, a brilliant band and outstanding vocalists was just out of this world.

My son tells me that I’m not very objective in these matters, but I don’t care – and he really enjoyed it as well.

Mike did his usual coming out at the end of the gig to speak to people as well, the only artist that did. We saw Brummy Jim and his mates then as well, they were over in Milan for a few days and were off to the San Siro on Saturday evening. A quick beer with them, then off on that 20 minute walk again to get another taxi back to the hotel.

Moving pictures of Milan - must get down to those words!

2007-09-26T05:58:00.000+01:00

Milan pics - words to follow

2007-09-24T07:13:00.000+01:00

We're off to Milan!

2007-09-12T21:38:00.000+01:00

We're going to this brilliant gig in Milan on 21st September - we being myself and Jim (flying from East Midlands) and Lizzy and Chris (flying from Newcastle) - cheapo Ryanair flights. Baby Lemonade are "the band" in a recreation of Sgt Pepper by London Sinfonietta, with a tremendous set of guest vocalists - a stellar cast indeed.

Weh hey

Las Vegas by night

2007-08-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Paris, Las Vegas. Venice, Las Vegas. NYNY, Las Vegas. They seem to feel the need to recreate other places in the world for the delectation of the tourists. Quite a spectacle and obviously a huge money spinner.

Then we packed up and set off for home. A tremendous trip all in all, very varied and hugely enjoyable. US service and standards of accomodation all great wherever we went. Will have to start saving for the next one!

Las Vegas in daylight

2007-08-04T07:46:00.000+01:00

Its a very strange place - really glad we went, but two days was enough. We saw a fabulous Cirque du Soleil show, Ka, at the MGM Grand Hotel, really spectacular, but I was competely freaked out when we were walking through the casino there to suddenly be confronted by a glass wall behind which was a pride of lions. I don't think the powers that be would allow that anywhere else in the world.

Back to Las Vegas

2007-08-04T07:35:00.000+01:00

On the way back to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, the helicopter pilot flew over the Strip - here you can see some of the massive Vegas hotels, including the one we were staying in, NewYorkNewYork.

Grand Canyon West Ranch

2007-08-04T07:26:00.000+01:00

The helicopter stopped off at Grand Canyon West ranch, where we had a western style lunch whilst being serenaded by a singing cowboy (less corny thn it sounds). Keith and Jim did a short horse ride (I thought I'd better not with the bad back and all), there was bit of a mock shoot out staged for us and then I managed to round up a couple of dangerous outlaws!

Views from the helicopter

2007-08-04T07:18:00.000+01:00

In the course of the 80 mile or so helicopter trip, we flew over Lake Las Vegas (where the rich people inc Celine Dion live according to our pilot), the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and then the western edge of the Grand Canyon itself. Keith took loads of photos, only a small sample here.

Setting off for the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas

2007-08-04T07:10:00.000+01:00

From San Francisco we flew to Las Vegas, which was to be the last port of call of our US visit. The high spot of the Las Vegas visit was the helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon - here we are setting off.

The Golden Gate Bridge

2007-08-04T06:59:00.000+01:00

On the day we travelled on the cable car, we then walked over the headland just to the north of Fisherman's Wharf then hopped on a local bus to the Golden Gate Bridge -its actually more impressive from the distance than close up! We then caught a bus which went through the Presidio, a wooded area which is actually a military base, to Golden Gate Park. We then walked across the park and picked up a bus on Haight, which took us through the renowned 60s hippy Haight-Ashbury district back to Union Square. Very interesting stuff, and the public transport system was very impressive. San Francisco is certainly not a city where a car is vital to get around, like Los Angeles is.

San Francisco Waterfront

2007-08-04T06:45:00.000+01:00

San Francisco is at the end of a peninsula so there is water on three sides of it. These pictures are of the Fisherman's Wharf area with views over to Alcatraz island. There is an area where a load of sealions have taken residence, and the authorities make sure they are not bothered by boats etc.

San Francisco Cable Car

2007-08-04T06:39:00.000+01:00

We arrived in San Francisco Saturday 21st July - nice drive up PCH through agricultural areas rather than the coast, turned off at San Jose (yes we did know the way - at least the sat nav did!) along lovely tree lined if slightly scary Highway 17, then hit the interstate and entered SF through Oakland via the Bay Bridge. Wow - what a spectacular way to enter a city! A very three dimensional place, San Francisco - hills and water and tall buildings. We managed to find our hotel, the Chancellor, right on Union Square, then returned the car to the Alamo office just round the corner - not somewhere I would want to do much driving.

San Francisco had a great feel to it, vibrant and more bohemian / hippy in nature than any other US city I've visited. The public transport system is great as well - at various times we travelled on the cable car, the street car (trams) and various buses - there is a metro system as well but we didn't venture underground.

Carmel Valley ranch - me on the balcony

2007-08-04T06:36:00.000+01:00

I could get used to this!

Carmel Valley Ranch - my favourite hotel of the trip - views of and from our balcony

2007-08-04T06:28:00.000+01:00

We reached Carmel where we were staying at the Carmel Valley Ranch, by far the most expensive hotel we stayed in during our US trip. It was a bit like "The Prisoner", people came and drove you around in mini-vans if you wanted to go anywhere, and the accomodation was just amazing. Luxurious bathroom (I spent about 2 hours of our time there in the bath), log fire (not that we needed it), and the most tremendous balcony and view you can imagine. When I win the lottery I think I'll go and live there.

Ventana on Big Sur

2007-08-04T06:24:00.000+01:00

There was nowhere to stop for a drink along the PCH for miles and miles. When we reached civilisation again, we turned off the road into a restaurant and hotel called Ventana which was up in the hills above the coast. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven - it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in my life. We had coffee and deserts from the menu (it was quite an expensive restaurant) and looked down on the trees and the birds flying by.

Elephant seals

2007-08-03T06:57:00.000+01:00

We saw a sign for an Elephant Seal viewing point just off the PCH - and there they were, seemingly hundreds of them, lying on the beach moulting and mooing. Tremendous!

Big Sur Coastline

2007-08-03T06:53:00.000+01:00

Thursday 19th we set off driving up the coast and stayed Thursday night in Santa Barbara, a lovely relaxed sort of place with none of the brashness of Los Angeles. Beautiful weather so spent most of the afternoon around the hotel pool. I also managed to fit in a trip to the local ER as it was only a few doors from our hotel, and got some great painkillers (Vicodin) from the charming young female doctor that I saw for the princely sum of $130 - good nights sleep with no back pain should be assured! Although the downside was you're not meant to mix the pills with alcohol. Never mind, they were good pills. Jim tells me there the ones that you hear about celebrities getting addicted to - I can understand why, they certainly kill the pain and make you feel pleasantly at one with the world. Narcotics Anonymous beckons.

Friday we spent driving up to Carmel from SB, quite a long drive of about 220 miles up the famous Highway 1, Pacific Coast Highway. What a road, what scenery - it was just wow moment after wow moment.

Hollywood Hollywood - so good I managed to post my pictures twice

2007-08-02T21:53:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday 17th July we did a road trip, north from Santa Monica along the ocean, picking up Sunset Boulevard and following it all the way to Hollywood. Saw Graumann's Chinese Theatre, the Walk of Fame with all the stars on the pavement and also got to see the Hollywood sign from the Hollywood and Highland Mall. Fairly tacky but enjoyable - there were lots of folks walking around dressed as movie characters - Yoda, Shrek, Batman, etc etc. Saw Shrek with his head off down an alley having a quick ciggy. Keith also bought a bargain Creative Zen MP3 player ($50 i.e. about £25 for something that would cost him c £130 in the UK) at the Virgin Megastore.

We headed off into the Hollywood Hills and the canyons via Mulholland Drive on our way back - you could be miles from anywhere up there. Los Angeles is certainly a place of contrasts. Met up with Mike for a drink again at the hotel bar Tuesday evening - he's a star!

Gardens at the Getty Centre in Los Angeles

2007-08-02T21:38:00.000+01:00

We set off for Los Angeles from Heathrow on Friday 13th July at 11.30 am and arrived as you do at 2.30pm after an 11 hour flight. We picked up a rental car (a Pontiac something or the other, full size model so about the dimensions of a Mondeo) and set off for Santa Monica, straight onto those humongous multilane freeways much loved by our Californian friends. We found the hotel but unfortunately I managed to do my back in trying to get the parking ticket out of the machine going into the hotel parking lot. Hurt a bit but nothing too awful. We checked in and then explored Santa Monica, including a walk along the pier, a couple of beers then burgers on 3rd Street Promenade.

Back to the hotel to sleep as our bodies thought it was about 5 am - then at about midnight US time I woke up screaming in agony, the back had gone ballistic. My packing hadn't run to painkillers so Keith and Jim set off in a taxi to the back of beyond to a 24 hour pharmacy as instructed by the concierge and came back with some super Advil which was meant to take away the pain and help you sleep. Anyway, 20 minutes later I was looking st that burger again as the pills just seemed to upset my stomach and make me vomit.

Next day and the one after spent very quietly by me - lying in bed or by the hotel pool while Keith and Jim explored Santa Monica and Venice Beach on foot - although we did get out Saturday night and met up with Mike and Hannah Randle at the Kings Head English Pub in Santa Monica. Great to see them again and catch up on the last two years since Mike was last in the UK touring with Love.

By Monday I was ready to get out and about again as I was doing the driving. So we went to the Getty Centre, which is in a great position on top of a hill, and has wonderful gardens as well as a world class art collection. Back held out OK with the help of some slightly less corrosive painkillers.

2007-07-08T20:57:00.001+01:00

My Personality


Neuroticism	29
Extraversion	77
Openness To Experience	10
Agreeableness	50
Conscientiousness	72

You are sociable, outgoing, energetic, and lively. You prefer to be around people much of the time. You are generally calm and composed, reacting moderately well to situations that most people would describe as stressful. As a practical person you like to think in plain and simple terms. Others describe you as down-to-earth, practical, and conservative. You have some concern with others' needs, and are generally pleasant, sympathetic, and cooperative. You set clear goals and pursue them with determination. People regard you as reliable and hard-working.

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report

Our range of Ugg Boots

Santa Monica Boulevard - we love it!

2007-06-26T21:48:00.000+01:00

I love LA! (copyright Randy Newman)

Hate New York City
It's cold and it's damp
And all the people dressed like monkeys
Let's leave Chicago to the Eskimos
That town's a little (bit) too rugged
For you and me, you bad girl
Rollin' down the Imperial Highway
With a big nasty redhead at my side
Santa Ana wind blowin' hot from the north
And we was born to ride

Roll down the window, put down the top
Crank up the Beach Boys, baby
Don't let the music stop
We're gonna ride it till we just can't ride it no more
From the South Bay to the Valley
From the West Side to the East Side
Everybody's very happy
'Cause the sun is shining all the time
Looks like another perfect day
I love L.A. (We love it)
I love L.A. (We love it)

Look at that mountainLook at those trees
Look at that bum over there, man He's down on his knees
Look at these women There ain't nothin' like em nowhere
Century Boulevard (We love it)
Victory Boulevard (We love it)
Santa Monica Boulevard (We love it)
Sixth Street (We love it, we love it)
I love L.A.(We Love It)
I Love L.A.(We Love It)
I Love L.A.(We Love It)

13th July we're off to California i.e. we being me, Keith and Jim. Starting off in Santa Monica for six nights, driving up the coast with stops at Santa Barbara and Carmel, four nights in San Francisco, then flying to Las Vegas for two nights (inc helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon) before flying back o the UK.

We love it!

Its been a while

2007-06-11T22:18:00.000+01:00

I've done some nice stuff since my last post. We had a great holiday in Ithaca - a small island off the Greek island of Cephalonia. Lovely swimming, very relaxed place, nice albeit simple hotel. Great company as well - we went with our friends Steve and Wendy. I've put a couple of photos on Tina's pics.

Also Keith and I went to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert last week - very entertaining show. I've always been a big fan but this was the first time I've seen them live - I've been singing their songs all week.

Work good has been as well, I seem to have turned into Yoda - for guidance the young folks come to me.

Now Keith..... Keith if anything has been far too cheery for my liking - sorry if that sounds somewhat bah-humbuggish. Perhaps its manic depression and he's in the manic phase. Much better than him being depressed, but sometimes when I'm dragging myself off to work its a bit much. Probably he'll revert to his old miserable self in a while, and that won't suit me either.

Hey ho.

May the fourth be with you

2007-05-06T08:52:00.000+01:00

Yes I know I'm two days late but I have been thinking about posting since Friday.

Finally got to meet Mike Troubled Diva this week, he kindly invited me to be his "plus one" at the Maria McKee gig at the Rescue Rooms after I posted some comments on his site. A lovely chap, and the strange thing about the blogosphere is that you really feel you know people pretty well before you actually met them in the flesh.

I also realised that I don't particularly worry about going places on my own, I was in the Rescue Rooms bar for a while before Mike showed up as I got there really early and wasn't in the least uncomfortable. I think I have a hang up, which a lot of women have, about going by yourself to pubs, bars etc which was instilled at an early age. Fear of being set upon by men with dishonourable intentions perhap. Well at my age I reckon thats unlikely to happen, and also the Rescue Rooms is a place where a woman of a certain age like myself is not out of place at all. I think I'm going to go for it more often from now on - I've missed out on going to see a few artists I was keen to see because of lack of someone to go with me. Keith is not at all keen although he lets himself be dragged reluctantly to the odd one if its someone he's heard of - he's a big Bob Dylan fan but after a dire NEC show he decided he didn't want to go and see him any more. Our friend Steve has accompanied me a number of times, but his tastes are more left field than mine - Durrutti Column, Pere Ubu, The Fall etc - all good in their way and interesting to see (except the Fall who didn't turn up until some ridiculous hour when Keith had decided he already wanted to go home). Its a real shame I don't live nearer to Lizzy, but the 180 mile trip to Newcastle is a tad far to go on a week night for a gig.

So I reckon I'm going to look out for gigs I like the look of and go for it whether I've got a "plus one" or not. Seeing live music is one of the great pleasures of my life, and I had a great introduction with Lizzy in Newcastle in my teens of seeing some brilliant people live. Well, now I'm out the other side of the settling down / getting married / babies / building a glittering career (?) zone, and I reckon that a little bit of what I fancy will do me good.

I am going to see Rod Stewart in Manchester in June with Emma, my good friend who's about 20 years younger than me and really has got a glittering career - lots of noughts on the end - but somehow I don't think I'll get her down the Rescue Rooms - her Jimmy Choos would stick to the floor.

A sunny day in old Nottingham town

2007-04-01T17:46:00.000+01:00

I've just got back from seeing a free gig by Tony Hadley and his Big Band in the (new) Old Market Square in the centre of Nottingham - very good. I was never a huge Spandau fan (I'm probably a tad on the old side) but I always thought the bloke had a good voice. He has still, very powerful and melodic - I heard that he's doing musical theatre now and probably doing it very well. Cracking band as well - 10 piece horn section, drums, double bass, bass guitar and a guy on piano doing the musical direction. They gave us a range of swing numbers - classics by Sinatra, Tony Bennett etc, Beatles "Ride my car"and a cracking"Suspicious Minds", as well as the well received Spandau Ballet numbers.

Quite a show for the price of a few hours parking. I don't actually live in the City of Nottingham but I'm glad to see that the good council tax payers of that fair city are getting something useful for their money.

Axe murderers with very small axes....

2007-03-31T18:03:00.000+01:00

I went to a sort of mini-blogmeetette yesterday evening - I was invited by the lovely Miss Mish, who I have been involved in on-off email correspondence with for some time. She's a star, and a very funny lady. A massive Stranglers fan - and she told me that she had been texting JJ Burnel that very afternoon! Plus other stuff she may not want me to repeat here. Saltwater bar in the Cornerhouse in Nottingham was the venue. I met Argy Bargey, whose exploits in China and particularly his nasty accident I have followed with interest. Also a hairy chap answering to the moniker Hantsbear. Plus Phil, Mark, Ruthie - I didn't pick up whether or not they were bloggers. Nice folks all, an interesting bunch.

I also had a gander at the book, Shaggy Blog Stories, to which Michelle and James have contributed - looks great, so I've ordered my own copy today.

And the heading - I had been reasonably vague with Keith as to who I was meeting for a drink after work, and Michelle asked if I was going to tell him about them now that I knew that they weren't a bunch of axe murderers - I said I'd tell him that they only had very small axes.

Granada

2007-03-24T15:45:00.000Z

We had a short trip to Granada last week - cheap flight from EMA courtesy of Ryanair. We stayed in a brilliant little hotel called Casa Morisca (Moorish House) which was recommended on Tripadvisor - this is actually the view from our bedroom window, pretty hard to beat anywhere in Europe I would hazard. You could sit in the bath, sipping on a glass of chilled cava, and gaze out on this lovely scene.

Loved it, as did Keith.

The Alhambra - beautiful...

2007-03-24T15:40:00.000Z

We went to Granada last week.... me in an Alhambra doorway

2007-03-24T15:35:00.000Z

Keith got his early retirement....

2007-03-23T06:31:00.000Z

Yay!!!

Life has been pretty tough since Keith went off sick from work at Christmas time 2005. Not financially, we're reasonably secure, but Keith has felt poor since he stopped work even though he had 6 months on full pay and six months on half pay. Initially he was really ill, but lately its just been more of a general malaise and a overall feeling of low self esteem etc.

However betwen us and with the help of a lovely lady from the NUT, we've managed to chart the tortuous waters of claiming for ill health early retirement from the Teachers pension scheme. Sounds boring but its crucial stuff. And talk about semantics.....you have to have the wording in the letter from your doctor(s) just right, if they give any glimmer of hope that you'd be fit to work before age 60 then you've got no chance.

Anyway the gloom has lifted, the weight has been taken off his shoulders, and he's reinvented himself as Mr Garden Man.

Guess I've got to plod on for a few years more. Thats OK. And I'm just glad that I'm fit and well. Touch wood.

P.S. Jim is home from Uni as well at the moment which is great. We booked stuff re his graduation in July last night - academic gown hire, photos, lunch. Some folks out there are making a lot of money from proud parents.

I belong in 1968.....no surprise there then!

2007-01-31T20:09:00.000Z

***You Belong in 1968***
If you scored...
1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!
1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too.
1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all!
1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.
1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!
What Year Do You Belong In?http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/

Love Story in Gothenburg

2007-01-29T19:28:00.000Z

Ryanair - spawn of the devil or saviour of the western world? Discuss.

Thus it was that Lizzy and I arrived at a hugely busy Stansted Airport at 5am on Saturday morning, after a 2 hour drive from Nottingham - that 2.30 am alarm, dontcha just love it. It seemed like that half of Europe was on the move, doubtless inspired like us by promises of 1p flights to exotic destinations. Everything moved along smoothly and at 6.55 we were off on our way to Gothenburg.

Skies were clear so a good view out of the porthole. Lots of sea, then over Holland and Denmark with seemingly thousands of wind farms. Across the sea again to Sweden, coming down we could see all of the offshore islands, very popular with summer visitors according to the Swedish lady sitting next to us. We landed at Gothenburg City Airport, seemingly a shed in a field, but service was pretty slick, and soon we were on the airport bus to Gothenburg. Pine and birch trees, wooden houses, road signs to places with wonderful guttural sounding names.

After a short ride we were off the island of Hissingen and over the bridge into the city of Gothenburg - Europe's fourth largest port after Rotterdam, Hamburg and London as the bus driver told us. Impressive looking place. Big ships. Smart bus station. We walked around a bit and found our hotel near the station and main post office, dumped our things and found a tram which would take us to the cinema - very efficient. Past the huge Ullevi Stadium and then off the tram at the Scandinavium (ice hockey stadium I think) and into the cinema, clutching the piece of paper in Swedish which hopefully meant we had tickets booked for Love Story. We did, the guy behind the counter spoke perfect English, and we had our tickets and Film Festival membership cards.

Into the cinema and we're pleased to see its pretty full, not far off sold out. A Swedish lady introduces the film and Mike Kerry, who's due to give a Q&A session at the end - she says that Love is her favourite band.

Other folks, particularly Gill and John E, have given their views about the film on the message board after the London screening. I found it riveting, it pulled a lot of strands together for me. High spots: - Snoopy was a scream, a real off the wall character - Johnny was very articulate and and contextualised the stuff going on in the 60s in the rest of the world with what was happening with the band- Jac Holtzman's comments about Aloneagainor being the door provided by Bryan for the world to access Forever Changes - tremendous.

It was heart stopping to see the interviews with Bryan - Mike Kerry revealed in the Q&A session that the footage had come from the rushes from the documentary"Hey Hey we're not the Monkees" - really well edited into the later interview footage.

And Arthur?

Arthur was Arthur - and he was so cool.......... Walking round the Castle like he owned the place - he made a comment about how he could have bought it for $50,000 in 1967 and now it was worth $6 million or so. And I loved his advice about drinking two glasses of water for each glass of wine - oh yeah? Raised a laugh around the cinema. No sub-titles - seems like everyone in Sweden can understand colloquial US English - Swedes, I take off my (woolly) hat to you! (It was cold!)

Mike Kerry gave a Q&A session at the end, the man is obviously a great fan. Lizzy and I had a quick chat with him and Zena, long enough to exchange mobile numbers, before he was whisked off to talk to a journalist.

We had the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning in Gothenburg - we felt quite at home there, it was like England would be if things worked. Great public transport, clean streets, interesting shops, tall attractive people and lots of lovely looking kids. Fantastic fish to eat, beer not as expensive as we had been led to believe it would be. Who could wish for more.

Lizzy and I spent some time discussing why Love is so popular in the UK and in Scandinavia, places with cold winters and dark nights. My theory is this - California is a place where the sun shines all the time and most of the music that came out of there in the 60s was sunny, happy, chocolate covered marshmallow music. Love's stuff wasn't like that, it sounds like music from a place where some of the nights are dark and long, and cold winds sometimes blow, and we understand that in Northern Europe. Which may or may not be a complete load of bollocks.

We saw Mike and Zena again at the airport on the way back and had a chat. Nice people.

Anyway, the film is a great tribute to Arthur. And Gothenburg is a great town. We'll be back - such a shame Arthur won't be.

I'm back - I think...

2007-01-18T19:38:00.000Z

I haven't logged into my blog for ages but decided I would this evening.I was prompted to convert to Google, which I did.......and then discovered I had 21 unmoderated comments! I was beginning to think that nobody loved me - you did, I just wasn't getting the emails!!

So to everyone whose comments I have ignored - Lizzy, Maria, Lisa Rullsenberg, Swiss Toni, Miss Mish, AMDG, Threelight, Adem, Cody Bones, Stef to name but a few - MY APOLOGIES! I guess I'm just technologically illiterate.

There were some nice comments too!!

Hey ho

I promise I'll be back soon with some proper stuff. Including details of my and Lizzy's upcoming trip to Gothenburg, Sweden's second city to se a film about Love and Arthur Lee which s being shown at the Film Festival - so watch thsi space.

God I'm lazy.....but then it is my birthday so I'm allowed

2006-11-27T20:14:00.000Z

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
36
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Which tarot card are you??

2006-11-19T18:24:00.000Z

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Mad people’s constant gibbering to be disguised with Bluetooth headsets

2006-11-18T13:47:00.000Z

Care-in-the-community patients were given a boost this week under plans to give them dummy Bluetooth headsets. From now on, mad people walking down the street ranting to themselves will appear to be busy executives talking to the office using the latest mobile phone technology.
‘It’s very cheap and very effective’ said junior health minister Hilary Michaels: ‘With just a bit of plastic stuck in their ear, or perhaps even an old wire dangling down from an earpiece, the public’s attitude completely changes.’ During a pilot scheme in Bristol, released mental patients were able to walk down a busy street shouting to themselves without everyone crossing the street or diving inside to lock up their off licenses. Even on public transport, schizophrenics were able to talk loudly without other passengers opting to change train carriages or move to the downstairs of the bus.
‘Of course it does depend slightly what the mentalists are saying’ said the minister. ‘We had one nutter apparently making a call to work who just kept shouting ‘Bastards!’ over and over again. But I think people just thought he was having a bad day in the office.’ The idea is a big step forward in the rehabilitation of people with mental illnesses since acceptance by the general public can go a long way towards rebuilding self-confidence and ending psychosis and paranoia. ‘This dummy headset is the reason I am normal again’ said ‘Mark’ who was first sectioned twelve years ago; ‘It’s helped me overcome many of the irrational fears that dominated my everyday thoughts and now I’m hoping to train as a professional long-haul pilot. If it wasn’t for those little men who live in the radiator who want to burn me, everything would be perfect.’

Thank you so much beachhutman

2006-10-12T07:01:00.000+01:00

Starting Out

Hey this is good - Lizzy is putting stuff on youtube. I'm the daft looking quiet one on the right!

Stop playing with my heart, finish what you start...

2006-09-17T10:32:00.001+01:00

Well I pleaded with Swiss Toni to let me do this so I'd better put a bit of effort into it!

1) Borderline - Madonna
No introduction needed here. I'm not Mrs Ritchie's greatest fan but I adore this track, which came on during the shuffle mode on my beloved MP3 player this afternoon. Mike Randle (pictured) did an acoustic version of this track when he did a solo show at Fibbers in York and it sounded good that way as well.

2) 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the street the traffic starts jumpin'
The folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

Dolly, dontcha just love her! She's become almost a pastiche of herself, but my bet would be thats she's one of the smartest artistes on the planet.

P.S. Just spotted that Lord Bargain had this in his list or earworms last week - that must be where it inveigled its way into my head - just goes to show how very earwormy the track is!!

3) Rudebox - Robbie Williams

According to Victoria Newton of the Sun "The worst record ever made..."

Personally I love it. Good show Robbie old chap! If you look at the website via the link, check the video clip with Lego men - sheer brilliance!

P.S. Interesting fact - Victoria Newton lived for a while in West Bridgford as a teenager, she is the daughter of Don Newton who was deputy head at Rushcliffe School.

4) One night in Bangkok - Murray Head

A song about chess... you don't get many of those. In fact I can't think of any others.. "From a jack to a king" - oh no thats cards - "Only a pawn in the game" perhaps??

I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!

I heard this on the radio the other day and can't get it out of my head since - its from an obscure musical written by the Abba boys and Tim Rice. Great lyrics.

5) Superfreak - Rick James

We saw the great film "Little Miss Sunshine" this week and this track features in its amazingly funny denouement - see it if you possibly can!!

Where MC Hammer got his riff (Can't touch this)...

6) Annie I'm not your daddy - King Creole and the Coconuts

Covers similar ground to "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson - the tricky question of paternity. Both great songs. We went to see King Creole and the Coconuts at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham many a long year ago and they were brilliant live, a wonderful stage show, more of a musical extravaganza than a bog standard gig. The Coconuts did brilliant dance routines, Kid Creole and side kick Coati Mundi bounded about the stage and they had a really tight backing band. Loved it.

Wikipedia article says the Kid now lives in Dinnington, South Yorkshire! Not many coconuts there I would guess.

7) The One and Only - Chesney Hawkes

This came into my head and stayed there during the week when the cleaner at work, Shirley, told me her new grandson was called Chesney. I would hazard a guess that there are a number of 15 year old Chesneys in schools around the UK but not too many new babies with the same moniker.

Shirley has now got three grandchildren and she's younger than me. That fact makes me feel both middle class and old, neither of which are conditions I aspire to. Hey ho..

8) Get Back - The Beatles

Now I'm not the world's greatest Beatles fan - is it heretical to utilise the word "overrated" here?? But I love this song.

Get back Loretta
Your mother's waiting for you
Wearing her high-heel shoes
And her low-neck sweater
Get on home Loretta

Hadn't heard about the "Pakistani" stuff until I read the Wikipedia piece - old P McC always acted like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Satire allegedly.

9) Michelle Shocked - Anchorage

Leroy says hey keep on rockin' girl!

Part of the small sub-genre of popular music that I guess you could call letter songs - like road songs, story songs etc- just basically a letter to Michelle from an old friend who now finds herself living in Alaska with husband and two kids - you know you're in the biggest state of the union when you're anchored down in Anchorage.

A bit like Scunthope but with added ice.

10) It's like that - Run DMC v Jason Nevins

This was on the TV at the gym the other day - unfortunately I'd forgotten my earphones so I had to sing along - love the video. Just the job for pounding the cross trainer - thats a very loose use of the word "pounding" there.

Anyway, off the see The Blockheads tonight at the Rescue Rooms - will report back re that later. Saw them in 1979 with the late great Ian Dury, then again in July 200 with Phill Jupitus doing vocals, brilliant tight band on both occasions.

So how is it all going Tina??

2006-09-03T07:42:00.000+01:00

Anybody who looks at this blog will probably spot fairly quickly that I'm not normally one for hanging out my emotions / feelings for all to share - always been that way, well before blogging was invented, always will be I guess. Partly with the blogging stuff it's to do with who might be watching - although my site meter tells me its hardly tens of thousands of people a day!

I have found blogging cathartic in a way however that some people have benefitted from therapy - i.e. telling some total stranger whats going on in your head. The story of the Love stuff as something I needed to get out, to document, to make sense of in a way. I found it hard to talk to Keith or my friends other than Liz about it, on the whole they thought I was bonkers. Keith understands it a lot better now, partly from having read my blog.

Anyway the answer to my opening question is "Its going OK". Some terrible things have happened in the last couple of years to people around us - Liz's cancer, the murder in Steve and Wendy's family - my god I can't think of anything worse in the world than that - also other friends have been seriously ill, and there have been divorces and deaths. Not many births or marriages but then thats a product of our age.Chronological rather than epochal. But it all helps to make sense of what life is all about. Relationships with other people. Being happy with yourself and knowing who you are and what you stand for. Being kind to yourself and others.

I still don't get on very well with my mum however and that taxes my brain sometimes. I guess its getting late to do something about it now, unfortunately her mind is starting to go and its very hard to have a conversation with her. I should just let all of the perceived slights over the years go - perhaps I already have if the "perceived" I just typed is anything to go by. Or perhaps its because we are too alike and I see my faults in her. The worst thing Keith could ever say to me in an argument was "You're getting just like your mum".

Hey Ho

On a more materialistic note, I've treated myself recently as I won £100 two months in a row in my employer's charity lottery!! So I've bought a digital radio and an MP3 player, which I am filling up with music as I type. The little player is fantastic, it got 10 out of 10 in the Guardian this week and my brother recommended it, and he knows about that sort of stuff. I'll report back later when I've got it all figured out.

Machiavellian - what, me??

2006-08-28T13:16:00.000+01:00

The Machiavelli personality test has a range of 0-100. Your Machiavelli score is: 65. You are a high Mach, you endorse Machiavelli's opinions.

Most people fall somewhere in the middle, but there's a significant minority at either extreme.

This is where we live...

2006-08-26T15:10:00.000+01:00

Brilliant website this! Have a look at in birds eye view.

England is certainly a green and pleasant land looking at this.Our garden is quite long and we have lots of trees.

We've just got back from Edinburgh...

2006-08-19T19:23:00.000+01:00

and this is what we did:

Sunday evening - spent lots of time at Nottingham East Midlands Airport courtesy of BMIBaby and Al Quaeda

Stayed in a flat on Caledonian Crescent off the Dalry Road - dinner from local Tandoori takeaway the Lazeez

Monday 13th
am; Van Gogh and Britain
2.40pm: Keith Carter - The Fall of the House of Fraser
4pm: Gamarjobat
7.30pm: Tony Law - The Dog of Time
Another Tandoori takeaway as it was so good on Sunday

Tuesday 15th
am: Robert Mapplethorpe
1.15pm Midnight Cowboy
6pm: Happy Hour in It Takes Three
Dinner at La Partenope restaurant on the Dalry Road

Wednesday 16th
2.10pm: Ed Weeks Variety
4pm Chanbara
7.30pm: Maria Bamford - Plan B

Thursday 17th
am Phoebe Anna Traquair Murals at the Song House, St Mary's Cathedral
12.15pm: Radio 4 Stars of the Future
4pm: Skinner and Bell - The Men who cheated Death
Another lovely meal at the Partenope restaurant on the Dalry Road

Friday 18th
am: visited Valvona and Crolla
1pm; Snakes on a Plane
4pm: VHS - Death to DVD
Repeat performance of Sunday evening but this time at Edinburgh airport

Saturday
1am Bed - sweet sleep!!

We had a fantastic time, I think its the fifth year on a row we've visited Edinburgh in August and it just gets better and better. Some quality bonding time with Keith and Jim as well - we all like our stand up comedy particularly - and Snakes on a Plane was a complete hoot! Nothing we saw was crap, the comedy shows were on the whole very funny, we got most of our tickets from the half-price ticket both at Waverley Station. The most disappointing show was probably Midnight Cowboy. The visual arts exhibitions we attended were great.Tried to get tickets for Black Watch, the hit of the Fringe, but it was not to be.

Got to go now - will put the rest of the links in later.....

Arthur Lee RIP 1945 - 2006

2006-08-04T19:20:00.000+01:00

Arthur Lee died yesterday in hospital in Memphis

Keith the saviour of the bird population

2006-07-16T16:26:00.000+01:00

Earlier on in the blog I posted about the owl that flew into our house - now Keith has manfully saved another member of the bird population.

We were sitting at home on Thursday evening and heard some scrabbling in the chimney - we have open fires in winter. Keith took away the newspaper that was blocking up the chimney and pulled out - a pigeon! Covered in soot, decidedly shellshocked, but a pigeon nonetheless, which presumably had fallen down the chimney.

I am a wimp where matters of birds are concerned so I ran a mile. Keith shouted to me to get the camera, he then took the bird outside and washed it down - its eyes were completely covered in soot and it couldn't see. It then shook itself, shed a considerable quantity of feathers, and flew off.

My profile picture

2006-07-15T15:50:00.000+01:00

Talk about being economical with the truth...

The photo is from my 1974 student union card, I would have been 20 when the pic was taken. Someone said that I looked a bit like Patti Hearst (which won't mean a lot to the under 45s).

I scanned it in for a message board on another site where they were after pics from poster's youths - and my excuse is that it was one of the few pics I had stored on the pc that was small enough in mega byte terms) to add to my profile here.

And by the way I'm blonde haired now - funny how that happens...

Tone

2006-07-14T22:31:00.000+01:00

Our good friend Tone has been round this evening. We've known Tone since he was 22 when he started teaching with Keith straight from his PGCE year - Tone is now 50, I am 52 and Keith 55 i.e. 28 years ago. Both Keith and Tone have been teaching at the same school all of the intervening years, although regular readers will know that Keith has been away from work suffering from anxiety and depression since Christmas.

Tone was single until he was in his late 30s - he then met "I", who is the same age as Keith and was married at the time. They subsequently started an affair, "I "then left her husband and she and Tone were married about 6 years ago

A couple of months ago Tone came around to see us to say that he and "I" were separating temporarily and that he had moved into a rented house - things weren't going too well between them. We've seen him quite a lot since then as things have been quite hard for him. We went round to his rented house last Sunday and watched the World Cup final with some other friends and Tone gave us a great meal. Walking home, the friends told us the real story - "I" had been reunited, via her work, with a childhood sweetheart and had decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Goodbye Tone.

The whole situation has cut me up like a knife to the heart. When we first knew Tone, he was about the age our son Jim is now. He's been a model husband as far as I can tell, and has been the best father that "I"'s two daughters, now in their 20s, have ever had. I feel angry and upset in equal parts and I don't really know why I have such a depth of feeling. Loyalty and trust are important to me I suppose. I feel very protective towards Tone, possibly the feeling being magnified because I've needed to care for Keith so extensively since he has been ill. Also Jim is back home at the moment and needs some TLC, and likes to talk things through with me.

For someone who reckons they're not very emotional, its all a bit near the bone...

Hey ho

My Shuffleathon CD

2006-07-01T18:20:00.000+01:00

http://www.threelightsnews.com/blog/?p=402

I think he likes it - hurray!!

SwissToni's CD Shuffleathon...

2006-06-28T21:12:00.000+01:00

My CD arrived in the post today from Adem. Its great when a plan comes together - thank you SwissToni!!

Anyway Keith and I listened to it when we got home after a walk and a couple of pints - and here's the verdict from the West Bridgford jury:

1) Stevie Wonder - Living for the City: One of my favourite tracks by one of my favourite artists 10/10

2) Guns N'Roses - Welcome to the jungle: Sorry Adem but I thought it was crap 0/10

3) Athlete - Vehicles and Animals: Fairly dirgelike - not my favourite genre but some redeeming features 5/10

4) Nirvana - Love Buzz: Great guitar work, great animalistic buzz to it 8/10

5) Air - All I need :Already a fan, not a track I know but loved it 9/10

6) Doves - Break Me Gently: familiar with some of their stuff but this is a really nice track, again great guitar work 8/10

7) Aimee Mann - Wise Up: An artist I've meant to catch up with for some time, a good friend of mine played with her for a while, great choice Adem 8/10

8) Johnny Cash - Hurt: Brilliant. Jim introduced me to this track10/10

9) Turin Brakes - Underdog (Save Me): Lovely, jingly jangly guitars are my fave 9/10

10) Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade out): Thought I'd hate it, see Athlete re dirgelike stuff, actually a really good track 7/10

11) Blur - End of a Century; Seminal bit of BritPop, OK but doesn't move me 6/10

12) The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony: A classic, lovely track, I see that video of Richard Ashcroft walking down the street in my head whenever I hear it 9/10

Overall verdict (statistically speaking) 7.5/10 - some great tracks, drop Guns N'Roses and its a real cracker IMHO

Left brain / right brain - thank you Maria!

2006-06-27T20:31:00.000+01:00

Right Brain
22%

Left Brain
70%
*results won't usually add up to 100% as this test measures each side separately

Left brain dominant individuals are more orderly, literal, articulate, and to the point. They are good at understanding directions and anything that is explicit and logical. They can have trouble comprehending emotions and abstract concepts, they can feel lost when things are not clear, doubting anything that is not stated and proven.
Right brain dominant individuals are more visual and intuitive. They are better at summarizing multiple points, picking up on what's not said, visualizing things, and making things up. They can lack attention to detail, directness, organization, and the ability to explain their ideas verbally, leaving them unable to communicate effectively.
Overall you appear to be Left Brain Dominant
-----------------------------------------
According to Darwinian theory, optimal evolution takes place with random variation and selective retention. The evolution savvy individual will try many different approaches when faced with a problem and select the best of those approaches. Many historical intellectuals have confessed their advantage was simply considering/exploring/trying more approaches than others. The left brain dominant type suffers from limited approaches, narrow-mindedness. The right brain dominant type suffers from too many approaches, scatterbrained. To maintain balanced hemispheres, you need to exercise both variability and selection. Just as a company will have more chance of finding a great candidate by increasing their applicant pool, an individual who considers a wider set of options is more likely to make quality decisions.

Forgive me father it's been six weeks since my last blog...

2006-06-27T19:59:00.000+01:00

Its not that I haven't had anything to write about - just real life intervening. So a mini-update is in order.

Keith is still ill unfortunately, albeit brighter than he was although still very anxious. He's been away from work for 6 months now which is quite a long time. He finds it hard spending a lot of time by himself - we try to get out for walks and see friends as much as we can. Jim is back from University in York on Saturday, which is good. Lizzy is much better and is back at work three days a week. Arthur Lee has been having chemotherapy and stem cell therapy and according to all reports is much better. And I'm finding work OK and am moving in a new direction there, which i find very interesting.

More later.

Jungian personality type

2006-05-03T09:43:00.000+01:00

This is me allegedly - recognise me anyone??

Sounds a bit boring but probably a large element of truth.

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

Introverted (I) 60.61% Extroverted (E) 39.39% Sensing (S) 58.97% Intuitive (N) 41.03%Thinking (T) 72.73% Feeling (F) 27.27% Judging (J) 70.59% Perceiving (P) 29.41%

responsible, planner, private, loner tendencies, perfectionist, organized, detail oriented, organized, would rather be friendless than jobless, realistic, observer, clean, focused, does not talk about feelings, finisher, punctual, private, does not appreciate strangeness, not adventurous, not spontaneous, follows the rules, dutiful, avoids mistakes, conventional, likes solitude, insensitive to the hardships of others, prepared, anti-tattoos, things rules are important, cautious, security seeking, prepares for worst case scenarios, logical, analytical, does not accept apologies easily, hard working

favored careers:
data analyst, scientist, researcher, engineer, financial planner, statistician, office worker, government employee, lab technician, nuclear engineer, office manager, biomedical engineer, account manager, ceo, investment banker, analyst, academic, systems analyst, pharmacy technician, network admin, genetics researcher, research assistant, strategist

disfavored careers:
entertainer, artist, filmmaker, musician, actor, fashion desinger, singer, music journalist, comedian, massage therapist, photographer, dj, model, author, bartender, painter, school counselor

As the Who so ably sang in "Substitute", at least you get your washing done.....

---and they were right about the anti-tattoos - absolutely hate em! I hope that I'm not overly insensitive to the hardship of others however.

Hey ho

This is the bad news I was talking about..

2006-04-07T14:46:00.000+01:00

Arthur Lee from Love has recently been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and has undergone 3 weeks of aggressive chemotherapy. Doctors are hopeful for a full recovery, but Arthur still faces more chemo, extensive hospital stays, and a possible bone marrow transplant. Arthur Lee has no health insurance to cover his growing (over $100,000+) medical bills. Arthur Lee (Love) is a man larger than life. A flamboyant artist with a trail of myth and mythology that follows him like a purple feathered boa. His band Love was the first rock band signed to Electra, and Arthur is responsible for talking Jac Holtzman into signing the Doors. Before all this, in 1964, Arthur gave his friend, an unknown Jimi Hendrix, his first appearance on record (the Arthur penned My Diary, by Rosa Lee Brooks). Love's third recording, "Forever Changes", is still widely considered to be one of the great rock n roll discs of all time. Love were true artists, but not "careerist". They preferred living together in "the castle" near Griffith Park, to life on the road. Arthur even turned down invitations to perform at the Monterrey Pop Festival and Woodstock. In the 90's Arthur spent eight years behind bars for "allegedly" shooting off a gun in his apartment. When he was released, he wasted no time getting back to the road and his music. During the past four years, Arthur has performed "Forever Changes" to sold out audiences and fantastic reviews throughout Europe and the United States, backed by the local group Baby Lemonade, and a string and horn section. Just when he thought his bad times were finally over, he learned he was sick. To help cover his medical expenses, Spaceland Productions, Bruce Solar from The Agency Group, and Mark Linn from Delmore Recording Society are producing a benefit concert / tribute for Arthur. We would like to extend a warm invitation to those bands and performers who want to be part of this benefit to honor one of the greatest singer / songwriters of our time. The concert will be held in late May / early June; we are looking at venues of all sizes: The Avalon, El Rey, Disney Hall, or Greek Theatre with the line up determining the location. Artists we are currently speaking with include X, Calexico, and Cake. We are looking for artists to perform a few of Arthur's songs that capture the spirit and magic of Arthur Lee & Love. All proceeds will go to Arthur's medical expenses. For further information please contact: Mitchell Frank or Liz Garo: 323 662 7728Bruce Solar: 310 385 2800Mark Linn: 615 480 6923Thank you.

Have just edited this as I've heard that some of it wasn't true - maybe we'll never know the truth

Peace and Love

Tina xx

Its been a long time coming, but a change is gonna come...

2006-03-12T19:33:00.000Z

Heard some real bad news yesterday, sworn to secrecy so can't repeat it.

But strangely the news has made me think of new prospects, perhaps a whole change of life. Doors opening.

Lets wait and see how things develop. It may mean a bit of risk taking. But I think I'm ready for it. In fact I've already done some preparation.

After all, my new philosophy is "live each day as if its your last, life's too short".

Desert Island Discs

2006-03-04T22:30:00.000Z

Lisa Rullsenberg has been doing these recently - very quick sub-conscious stuff (i.e.don't think about it too much) gave me this list:

1) The Beatles – In my life
2) Marvin Gaye – Heard it through the Grapevine
3) Madonna – Borderline
4) Love – Aloneagainor
5) McFadden & Whitehead – Ain’t no stopping us now
6) Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Click Clack
7) Aretha Franklin – Respect
8) Buffalo Springfield – Love the one you’re with

Hey that one will do for now - may come back and change it later

Love Tina xxx

Buddha in the snow...at the bottom of our garden

2006-02-04T17:24:00.000Z

The Arctic Monkeys

2006-01-31T19:30:00.000Z

I have decided that I love the Arctic Monkeys. I drive around in my car listening to their new album (purchased by myself and 359,999 other people last week) banging my head like crazy and singing along like a lunatic.

Why do I love them so??

1) They sound (and are) Young and Northern, both conditions that I myself once was

Young in that the music is simple and vital. Definitely, unmistakenly Northern - the lead singer Alex has brilliant intonation, I love songs where you can clearly hear the lyrics.

2) The aforesaid lyrics

Done to death in the papers, but I still laugh out loud when I hear (clearly enunciated) lines like

" It proves that love's not just blind but deaf"

" You know your problem, you're not from New York City you're from Rotherham"

3) The sheer energy and fun of it all

I caught a bit of a gig televised on MTV - fantastic! Somewhere like the Leadmill in Sheffield, a scuzzy club where I've spent a few fun packed evenings myself, and they all (band and audience alike) look like they're having a fookin' great time!

Don't over intellectuallise it, its only rock and roll and I like it!!

Chameleonitis

2006-01-31T19:12:00.000Z

Read this great article in the Guardian at the weekend - and I suddenly realised why I feel like I've been having a problem with my working life lately - I'm a yellowish / bluish (green maybe??) sort of person and I currently work in a red organisation. They like to pretend they're not red - all the corporate mumbo jumbo on the intranet site is yellowy nicey nicey we love you all sort of bollocks - but in reality its red through and though.

Hah

I'd already decided a while back to my ownself to be true, and worry less about stuff like the dress code (current look slightly aging hippy, mainly in the hair and jewellery areas - still have to wear a suit!!) and doing the huge number of client meetings my contract says I should do each week. Either they haven't caught on yet or it was a bit of a paper tiger anyway.

The other thing is a number of decent people in other offices have resigned recently - more money / less pressure elsewhere - so perhaps they really are keen to hang on to me. My manager, who is a decent sort, tells me that anyway - on my good days I believe her, on my bad days I think she's just saying that because we get on well together and I am the only female Private Banker in the office, also the only one not in the 35 - 40 age bracket. Talk about diversity - I'm it!!

I've always resisted giving the name of my employer in my blog, mainly because I don't want people googling for C***ts and finding me - needless to say they are pretty much a household name, creme de la creme of the financial world, "Superbrand" status etc etc - and there are lots and lots of good things about them..

..but in the last resort they're still a bank.

Ay Up - I'm a Nottingham blog of note...

2006-01-30T22:18:00.000Z

...according to Troubled Diva, so I'd better post something halfway sensible!!

Life is still strange at the moment - loved ones are still ill, friends still have various ailments...

My description of it has been "limbo" to a number of people - if I was a religious type I'd have a better idea of what that actually meant, something in the back of my mind tells me its the place between heaven and hell, the place you go when you die if God can't decide if you're naughty or nice. A bit like that TV programme I've just been watching "Life on Mars" (love the music!) - where the guy wakes up in 1973 - is he dead / in a coma or has he been transported back in time?? Perhaps I got run over in 2036 and have been transported back in time - mind you I'll be 82 then if I'm still alive, so I guess I would be crossing roads pretty carefully - that is if there's any oil left by then and there's still such a thing as traffic.

Hey ho

1974 me...

2006-01-29T19:06:00.000Z

...and a nice picture of Lizzy without hair

2006-01-29T18:34:00.000Z

A nice pic of Lizzy with hair (also Scottish Keith and Chris)

2006-01-22T19:54:00.000Z

Blogging as therapy

2006-01-07T15:39:00.000Z

I read in a blog recently (can't remember which) that a large proportion of bloggers found the whole process very therapeutic - certainly early last year when things were really getting me down, setting out all of the details of Lizzy and my adventures with Love helped me to put a number of things in perspective. I haven't been doing a lot of updating on this blog lately, but maybe I should - I certainly feel like I could do with therapy of some sort!

So...

Some facts about my life at present:

1) Work on the whole is going well again, I'm for the most part enjoying it again lately. One or two problems though of which more later.

2) Keith is really quite unwell with anxiety and depression. He was suffering throughout the term leading up to Christmas - at the start of the school Christmas holidays he went to the doctor, who put him on Prozac which initally made him much worse. He's since been back to the doctors, is now taking diazepam as well which has the effect of knocking him out, but is now less anxious and fortunately is sleeping a lot better. He's been signed off work for 6 weeks. I am trying to be as supportive as I can, and to be there as much as I can for him, and he is very appreciative of this.

3) Lizzy has practically finished her chemotherapy treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and things seem to be going well. She hasn't officially had the all clear but has had various scans etc and has been told that the tumours are clear. Hooray!!

4) A number of our friends are ill at the moment. There are two cases of shingles, two cases of anxiety and depression apart from Keith, and another case of cancer apart from Lizzy. Is it our age?? I've never known a time before when so many of my contemporaries have been seriously ill. Fortunately I'm not affected, apart from suffering from mild depression earlier in the year, but the whole thing is very concerning.

5) One of the support staff at work is having a very hard time at the moment. It seems to me like a classic case of stress, but they don't seem to want to accept this - its everyone else not themself - and its getting me down and annoying / upsetting a number of other people. I've tried to do something about it, not very successfully, and quite frankly the whole situation is pissing me off. I could do with work being calm and ordered so I can have a real stab at having a successful 2006 instead of the debacle that was 2005 for me workwise. 2005 was filled with other people that I care about's personal problems as well - I have been trying and largely succeeeding in developing a sympathetic persona - not always my strongpoint in the past - but my colleague and their problems has not touched a nerve. I suppose in my view the things I've seen other people go through last year were just so much worse. Hey ho.

Well thats a little bit of unloading. The Doctor is In.

Happy Christmas to all my readers

2005-12-24T13:38:00.000Z

Greetings from the Winter family - Jim, Tina and Keith at the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.

Goodwill to all men (and women and children and cats) - we love you all!!

Fantastic Egyptian stuff from the Louvre

2005-12-10T14:20:00.000Z

Le Tour Eiffel

2005-12-10T12:41:00.000Z

More Paris pictures

2005-12-10T09:45:00.000Z

Nous allons a Paris!

2005-12-10T09:24:00.000Z

Proof if proof is needed that Keith and I paid a fleeting visit to Paris last weekend. We did a lightning tour of the Louvre, particularly the Egyptian collection which was amazing - I'll try to put some more pics of that on here later. Also saw the Arc de Triomphe (see above), the Tour d'Eiffel, the Quartier Latin and Notre Dame. The city has a lovely atmosphere and one of the high spots was just looking at the food shops and market stalls - bringing the perennial cry "Why can't they do stuff like this in England??".

Impressed myself by managing to be reasonably comprehensible in French (GCE O level Grade 3, 1970) - but then it was mainly buying stuff in shops and restaurants, and its in shopkeepers interest to make sure they can take your euros off you I suppose. Nevertheless, it made me feel good.