A couple of pictures

You can attempt to avoid all musics by an escape into the countryside, but sometimes, reminders remain:





A pretty picture:

A Man Reviews Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Mr Lee's TV series is far from perfect (drop the sketches for one thing) and not a patch on his live stand up, but in a world where the two from the mildly diverting Gavin and Stacey get to make whatever they want, for ever and ever, that it exists at all is something of a miracle.

Tom disagrees:

My m8 uses this website and WTF!!!! Moyles iz well betta than this shitheaded okford idiot!!1!!!!!!!! Him and comdy dave shit all over his rubbish show!!!!! Cnt beileve i pay my taxes for this shit the BBc shold make good programs like balls of steel and jackass!! infact get moyles to do a program where he takes the piss out of this wanker!!!!!!! and OMG not knowin what a rapper iz!! wt sort of grandad iz he!>!>?!??!? so yeah dnt watch this shit watch horne and corden instead a decent program frm the BBC for once not the usaal tax wasting shit like this!!!

Tom, w, March 2009

More Peace and Love and Unity

Interesting because it makes BBC news...

"Reggae singer Luciano has been charged with harbouring a fugitive who shot and wounded three police officers, Jamaican police have said."

Peace and Love and Unity

A number of strange and depressing incidents have occured involving members of the Jamaican musical community recently.

First Luciano gets attacked with a lead pipe in an argument about money.

Then Risto Benji gets charges with robbery.

Now, Ninja Man has been charged with murder.

Finding your own relevant You Tube links to embed won't be difficult.

But it probably won't be appropriate either.


(links via Chocolate Soldier at B&F)

The End of Selectadisc

The closure of one of the best record shops outside of London gets national recognition (after some local coverage).



I lived in Nottingham from 1995 until about 2000. The main reason for moving there was for the music- there was an excellent DIY/Hardcore (punk) music community, members of which I'd got to know through chance (living next door to in Newcastle, for example) and by putting on shows in Oxford. In addition Notts had a wicked array of record shops- from Way Ahead to Rob's Records to the reggae shack (the name of which eludes me) just off Alfreton Road- all tastes were catered for.

Over the years the number of shops dwindled, whilst others sprung up for short periods (JP Morrow's Cage Records upstairs in Non-Stop being one. John Paul used to keep a pillow behind the counter it was so quiet) but Selectadisc remained a constant, as fixed and as permanent as the lions overlooking Old Market Square.

Sure, the staff in the 12" shop could be twats, but everyone in the album shop up the hill were fine and dandy and it was the centre of Nottingham's musical activity, a hub in those pre-Internet days.

Few other cities have anything like Selectadisc (that is, a genuine non-genre specialist independent record shop): Leeds' Jumbo Records is good, carrying a range of stock, but its not (can't be, due to space) as deep as Selectadisc; Manchester's Picadilly is on a par (and there are the other shops on Oldham street to trawl through); Birmingham's shops on the other hand, were almost universally shit when I lived there- I used to have to make trips to buy stuff in Nottingham to get my fix.

So that it is closing is a sad day not just for Notts, but for record/ music buyers in general- if they can't stay open, I doubt there's much long term hope for many of those that remain (shops mentioned above excepted, fingers crossed). Maybe genre specific shops will be fine- Tribe (UK Bass musics) seems to do OK, for example, but in such establishments you rarely come across the unexpected or broaden your listening palette. Rather you dig deeper and refine that which you already know.

Which isn't always a good thing.

Just ask my non-reggae obsessed better half

Dissensus Tape Swap

As part of the most recent round of the Dissensus tape swap, I've done my review.

Obligatory Snow Pictures

Work has been closed on both monday and tuesday (and there's little point in me being here today, frankly), so like the rest of the nation I thought I'd bung some pictures up (poor quality, from phone).

Yesterday was crisp, cold and sunny, so a long walk was had. Very few people on top of the moor, plenty of people sledging at the bottom.



It was a good feeling trudging through 6 inch deep virgin snow for a couple of miles, before coming across other people's tracks again.



I saw a man wearing snow shoes.

It was so windy, snow had frozen to whatever vegetation was left open to the elements in an orderly fashion:



There were lots of grouse about, the snow leaving them feeling exposed what with their brown plumage and all. Like humans,they used it as an excuse to noisily attack each other. I couldn't take an actual photo of the birds in action, so here's a foot/wing print:



Those benches might be familiar if you used to read the old blog:



Stopping for a hot drink at White Wells was tempting. But not tempting enough for an intrepid explorer like me. I saved myself for Tescos.



BBC Look North weatherman Paul Hudson must be shaking in his boots at the threat this post poses to his daily weather photos section