A New Dawn, A New Day

Here I am writing to this blog which is slowly dying and no longer relevant to me or the blogosphere. Since I last posted so much has changed for me and for those around me. I am no longer frequenting the streets of Dublin. I have traded the halls of UCD for the long shut coal mines of west yorkshire. I am now operating out of Leeds. Furthermore, I have submitted my PhD, sat my viva and was awarded the PhD. I shall be graduating in December some time.
However, in the mean time I will be getting married at the end of November, so as you can see it is all change. I had forgot that this blog was still operational, I had no desire or time to update it. I am thinking that my experiment in blogging has produced inconsistent results. I am not sure what I hoped to achieve with this blog. I think the lack of aims and objectives and most of all the lack of a hook has meant that the postings do not have any central theme or have any relevance to the world outside of my little mind.
I desperately want to continue this blog, but I think that like the early and tentative bands that great rock stars and musicians form in their formative years, this has to be put to bed so I can move into a new genre or a new direction. See this as Paul Weller breaking up the jam to form the style counsel, or Shaun Rider finishing The Happy Mondays for Black Grape. Except maybe it is the opposite, leaving the style counsel for the Jam, or Black Grape for the Happy Mondays. A proper analogy would be Ian Brown putting the shambolic Stone Roses of 1996 to bed and going solo. I am sure Ian Brown has never looked back. Sure he can crave the early days of the Stone Roses, but once John Squire left, the band (like this blog) was slowly dying and moving further away from relevance.
But having said all that, who knows, maybe this blog will get a second life. Writing this is giving me some energy to continue posting. However, I do think I need to go away and think about having a second blog, one that is more focused, one that has a theme, a topic and a relevance to my life and hopefully to others.
I shall keep you updated of any changes or new ventures into the blogosphere. If this is to be put to rest, I shall write one final time to retire this blog. Looking at the title, perhaps it is fitting that I keep this going, 'From where to eternity'. When I started this I did not know where I was going to go with this. I did not know where to start. Perhaps the title of the blog says more than the numerous posts through the last 3 years. Till Next time

touching base

It has become a habit to start each new blog by commenting on how long it has been since I last posted. It has indeed been a very long time. June 09 to be exact. Well a lot has happened since that time. I'm less that 6 months away from getting married. I am less than a month away from handing up my PhD and I also had a load of interviews for clinical psychology courses in the Uk and in Ireland.
This is not a blog with much to say. Basically, I'm just touching base with the blogosphere. My contribution to this community is pretty minimal at present but one day I will have the time and the angle to make this an interesting source of info.

My name is Geraldine and I'm your social worker

It is amazing the difference seeing a band live can make to your opinion of them. An obvious statement yes. Bu glasvegas really impressed me last week at slane. In an aside. It was probably the strongest line up for a long long time. From start to finish the bands all worked together.
Returning to glasvegas and the obvious statement. Well I heard an read the hype. I am too old to buy into Nme anymore so I successfully ignored it. But their down fall came in the shape of the lead singers appearance on never mind the buzzcocks. He took himself way too seriously. I was adamant that I would not take the time to listen to their album. All that changed or saturday in Meath. Went out first thing Monday morning and picked up a copy. It had rapidly replaced the horrors second album in my fav listen.
Speaking of the horrors. I seen them in Dublin as part of an nme shockwaves tour. I thought they were absolute rubbish. Did not take to them at all. Them they release primary colours and I was hooked.
Al in all it is a great year for albums. Either that or I have been very lucky in not buying poor product.
That is all!

Mobile blogging

So I'm writing this from the passanger seat of a car on the way to Dublin. Was down in Wexford for the sunny bank holiday weekend.
As so e may know I've an iPhone and it never stops to amaze me. I got the notion to compose an entry for the oft forgotten journal, so I went on to the app store searched for an app, downloaded it and hey presto. Here I am writing as the fields of Wicklow wiz by. Amazing reiely amazing

Please stand clear of the doors

"Please stand clear of the doors" or so says the London Underground. Maybe the DART also says that. But the New York subway does not for sure. I had the pleasure to ride the Subway last week. It was an experience. My first encounter involved a large man and a small latino lady having a blazing row in the queue for the tickets about who was next in line. I did not want to point out that it was in fact ME. They both skipped me. The Large black man, jumped the queue first, but i let him do so, as he was in a hurry to go home. The latino lady however, came out of nowhere at the last minute and so it kicked off. Contrary to the normal reaction, I loved this. I said to myself "I have landed, this is the big apple" Alas, the rest of my subway experience was very uneventful. I was told to try and watch out for rats, as they don't make them like that anywhere else. I seen one, who looked more like a mouse.
The subway was jut one of the many new experiences I want to share with the world. I had an amazing time, and my week in NY has ignited a desire to more my life to such a place. While I did the tourist things such as gawk 'open mouthed' at the size of the buildings, get dizzy at the top of the empire state building, pay my respects at the WTC site, and eat a ht dog off a grubby street vendor. I also like to think I lived the life of a New Yorker. I ate in the places the locals eat. I went to the local places, and steered clear of the tourist trap restaurants, bars, and sites such as madam tausads.
I did however, do a lot of photography, there really is some great shots to be taken there. I am torn about whether this is a touristy thing or not. I view it as artistic, however, the shots may not be up to that standard.
All in all the whole Big Apple experience was amazing, so much so that I can not settle back down into Irish PhD life.

Till next time

The cycle continues

Well the monthly cycle of blog posting continues. Today being the 17th of the month, my previous venture into the blogging world was the 18th September. This incidentally is my first blog post as a 28 year old. I do not feel any older. I think the feeling of age and the meaning of birthdays disappears once you hit 25, only to hit you on the head like an acme anvil from the cartoons when you hit 40. So I can safely say I am enjoying my wilderness years, and will worry about the readily advance years and my eventual demise when I hit 40.
Wow, that is a grime statement to make, and an area I do not wish to procrastinate upon. I do have a horrendous fear of death and of running toward the light (what ever that means).
Musically, I am very disappointed with the new Oasis album, it is frankly a pile of shit. They are also playing Slane this year. Not too sure how good that trip to the Meath countryside will be. I would like to say however, I am a massive Oasis fan, and I always have been. I had hoped for a whole lot more from "Dig out your soul'. Alas, it was not to be.
I have the pleasure to announce I am the proud owner of an iPhone. I caved to the hype. Having said that, it is the most amazing piece of equipment I have ever used. In the few short days it has revolutionised my life. Not to be over dramatic.
Soon I can see myself reinventing this blog as I become more comfortable with expressing my views and opinions. I feel that I am beginning to find my 'voice'. I am quite ashamed to make that statement, and I realise that the earlier blog posts have focused extensively on how I struggle to express my views. This issue of lost voices came up this week. In my role as a tutor for psychology, one final year course is on life-span development, and it covers the topic of female development and how through the enforcement of patrirchial views, females are forced to silence their voices and conform to the society. Despite the blatent sexism that the theory is based in, equally sexist as masoginistic theories of male superiority, it is a good example of how I struggle with writing to this blog.

Singing off for now

The cycle of blog

What the fluck?

It seems I have some sort of menstrual like cycle. i felt like I aught to write in this here blog, and have noticed a pattern. I write to it once a month around this time each time. I don't know what it says about me or even my life. Also are we allowed to use foul language on these blogs?

If so I shall delete a certain L in the opening statement.

Life is good, I have taken on a lot of teaching in College, and for the most part enjoying it. It will be a fun semester. 

Music wise. i have no gigs on the horizon and have not purchased much in the line of new stuff.  Looking for any suggestions that may be up my street.

Anyway, this is a rather random and rambling stream of consciousness post. Not much of a central theme in sight. As i end each blog, I hope to be writing more on it.

Where has all the time gone?

I look at my blog page, and I notice it is roughly every 2 months that I write on it. It scares me to think that the last time I wrote was June, what scares me is I remember writing the post like it was only last week. None the less, I have been a busy bunny, writing up my research. In this time I have also done some pretty cool things; it was not all work.

My highlight of the 2 months since I last posted up, was my Tom Waits voyage of discovery. Prior to July 14th, a time known as BT (Before Tom), i was a fair weathered fan. I had the typical amazon.com best seller Tom Waits albums, the must haves. Any fair weathered fan will tell you these are Closing time, Rain dogs, and possibly swordfishtrombones. I did not care for the last two much, but appreciated Closing Time. So my girlfriend was a big TW fan, and was unable to go to the Dublin gigs, as she was away. We planned a trip to Barcelona as we had wanted to see the city anyway, and got some tickets for his show there. This takes us to AT (After Tom). 

  

So the gig was spectacular. Recognised maybe 10 of the 25 songs, but loved the 15 I did not know. The ten songs I recognised sounded better up on that stage than on the CDs. I was converted and stuck the cds on as soon as I got back to Dublin. I hunted down the set list, and went about getting the missing albums. My collection now boasts a further 7 albums, and the collection is still growing.

Fast forward two weeks, to the Dublin gigs in the Rat Cellar Theatre in the Phoenix Park. I am working the bar for the Wednesday and Friday gig, leaving me free on the Thursday. I managed to get one of the resale tickets and was set to see him a second time. In the meantime, I also managed to hear the majority of the set from Wednesday. I really wish I had a seat to experience it properly. The thursday night comes along and I find my seat is amazing, right in front of the stage dead centre. Once again an amazing experience. Needless to say I also experienced the Friday show from the wings and heard the majority of it.

There is no doubt but I am a convert. I did not realise the depth to his lyrics or the power of the songs, the band he had with him were really on form. Now I do take on board the critics view that his voice is shot, that the sound in Dublin was poor at times, that he did not play Martha or what ever song you first made out to, but it truly was an experience that will be tough to match.

If I may come back to the Barcelona trip, I can safely say it is my favorite city. The weather, the night life, the sights, the tastes, everything about the place is a dream. The place is so good, stay tuned for a full blog dedicated to it and the experience. I hope this will appear within the next few days.

Signing off for now.

I enclose a photo of my trip above

I'm an ebay Seller, with a bill for their services (An update)

I've been a busy man. I have not updated the blog for a while, but I don't feel too bad. I have not done much for a while. Well not much outside of write my ass off for PhD submissions and the like. 

I thought i would update all none of you who read this blog on how is life in a post 'I'm an ebay seller' world. Well a few weeks after my successful sale on ebay, I got a bill for 8 pounds sterling for their services. I never realised it was that expensive to use the service. I guess i never thought of how they made their money. I can now sympatise with those power sellers on ebay that won't deal through paypal, or is that for different reasons? 

Anyway, I'm still proud to be an ebay seller minus selling fees. I guess it is not all profit in this game.

I'm an Ebay Seller!!!

Hey all,

After much back and forth and reloading pages, plus verifying my account, i am now an ebay seller. I had been planing to get on that band wagon for some time, but was forced to yesterday. My girlfriend had tickets to see Bjork in Belfast next monday. She could no longer go, and had to offload the tickets. If the gig had of ben in Dublin ,it would have been easy to get rid of them. But in Belfast more drastic action was required. So I registered on Ebay, put up my add. I was not looking for anymore than face value. 

I was unsure of how to price it, I did not want so chancer winning the bid with 99c. So I had a minimum bid of 40 euro, with a buy it now. It was all online last night, and when I woke this morning and checked my mail I discovered to my delight, that i had sold my first item on Ebay. At the buy it now price of 86 pounds sterling. I posted the tickets off as soon as I verified that the money went into paypal. 

The missing account

So i see I am blogging once a month. That month has been a busy one, and I really could have wrote something each day. But that is the contradiction. I have so much to say, and so little time to say it. The thing that has changed most is the speed and accuracy i type at. I had a major report due in at the end of march, and as with most things is life, they get left till they are almost too late.  As a result i had to learn how to type fast, and learn how to type accurately, with no spelling or grammatical mistakes. The end result was a completed report and a faster typer. I am not quite fully touch type literate, but at the same time I am not typing with one finger. I am a happy medium between. I have downloaded a little handy type tutor, it works real well, and I am practicing lots with it. 

My new fascination is photography. I purchased a new camera a few weeks ago. It is a nice piece of kit, a fuji bridge style camera. What is a bridge style camera, well it looks like a DSLR, but is not, it has a big optical zoom, but still the simplicity of a compact. I like the features, but it is a bit too bulky for recording those special moments. It does take a killer landscape shot though, so I am going to get into nature photography. It force me to get out at the weekends and doing some walking, and also practice my photography skills, (or lack of). I also got myself the latest version of Photoshop elements, which is great for tweaking and fixing up little mistakes in the photos, and fixing the colours. 

Aside from that I have also broadened my music collection. I got the side project of Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys, called the Last of the Shadow Puppets. It is a cool cd, the songs are real classic Scott Walker and the Walker Brothers style. You did know they were not really brothers. Although Alex Turner's voice is so familiar I still associate the songs with the Arctic Monkeys.  I have also delved into the back catalogues a bit too, with a few new jazz albums, and the joy division albums, Closer, and Unknown Pleasures. 

I have a rekindled appreciation of Jazz again as a result of a great conversation I had with a friend of mine, her boyfriend and a mate of his. I think that evening was the highlight of my month. It is strange, but we had not sat down and chatted for a while, well not without others taking over the conversation. The whole evening in Bolands was filled with lots of little discussions about well everything. We talked about Jazz, Literature, Philosophy, Psychological therapies, how we don't really know our neighbours. It was a lot of fun. I felt connected with these people again. For a long time I have felt a distance growing between myself and my college friends. I still feel that distance, but it closed a little bit with that conversation. We shared out thoughts on PhD study, and the regrets we have going down that road. Not that I would change my career choices, it is just the weight of work that goes into producing a PhD study gets me down sometimes, so it was great to have a good old rant about it.

All in all this has been a great month. My work in Vicar Street has brought me to a number of gigs. My highlight was Elbow last night. It was great, it has been a long time since i seen a great band play the vicar street stage, which is now full of comedians, and the like. 

I have been listening heavily to elbow this day as a result.

To be someone is a wonderful thing!

The jam, or more specifically, Paul Weller wrote the above, and the lyrics read something like a mission statement from Noel Gallagher. That is not necessarily a bad thing, oh no. But it raises a question for me. What is it that people want? What is that I want? I've no idea of the answer to the first question, much less the second. 

That scares me, I have no idea what i want, except I was to be someone. How do i get there, I do not know. My method of keep your head down and plow ahead seems to work ok, and I end up where I want but I do so with little idea of how I got there. Apologies for the philosophical mumbo jumbo shite. Rant over, now to things more light and breezy

I am writing this on a blogger widget for my Mac from Google. It is pretty cool and easy. All I have to do now is press f12, and the dashboard will come up, and I just start typing, and when done I press 'publish post'. it is as simple as that. I can easy put photos and picture in. Have not figured it out yet, I think it is something to do with Html tags. 

Also I had a bit of a cinema marathon this weekend. Seen 4 films in 2 days, probably not much for a film critic or film nerd, but it is a lot for me. The films varied in topic, content, and quality. I seen 'there will be blood', 'juno', 'be kind rewind', and 'vantage point' in that order. Funny also is that the order I seen them is the order I rate them in enjoyment, and quality. Of course 'there will be blood' was amazing, and top of the weekend.

A short history of nearly everything (in 2008)

I write this from my new place, a book case to my left, my immense collection of CDs and smaller collection of DVDs in front of me, and a TV, DVD player, and Nintendo Wii to my right. These are mentioned purely for context, and not to boast, Having all these surround me does not make me a better person. For one, the books could be very poorly written disposable reading that you would buy in a petrol station, the CDs could be the greatest hits of STEPS, or Now thats what I call rubbish volumes 1-30. Likewise with the DVDs. I rarely watch TV, or play the Wii. So these materials do not offer me up as anything great.

I mention these to highlight how comfortable I am living in a new apartment, with my girlfriend. We have been here just over a month, but it feels like we have been here all our life. It is a great place, got everything we want or need on our doorstep. It is simply a home. Of course we seem to see each other less. For some strange reason, when you don't live with each other you have to make time and spend time with each other, now that you live with each other, you need to make time to not see each other. I just think it is an interesting thing I have found out this last month. Of course it is healthy to have your own space and it has worked out really well for us.

I should point out, but it is probably apparent from the above paragraph that we had not previously lived together before, so it is a huge step, and one that seemed to have been climbed very easily. 

As 2008 is just 3 months old, not much can of happened, or so you would think. Remember the year is almost a quarter through. Some things never change, I am still procrastinating on my PhD write up, it seems imminent deadlines are the only things that can get me focused. I write this now, when i am supposed to be writing up a chapter. Yesterday, I installed a new HD on my laptop, reloaded all the software and music and files and all the other computer related things. 

So essentially, my PhD write up may suffer, but 'From Here To Eternity' may get a whole lot more regular. In fact maybe I should use this to write up my chapters. Then again maybe not. My intention of this blog was to talk about music, but I can not express myself in a muso way, and some of my friends can do it better, so I bow to them and their excellent blogs. Nominated for Irish Blog awards in fact. Asleep on the Compost Heap is a great blog, all should read it. I have learned a lot and my music collection and taste has expanded because of it. The Stock pile of CDs has stayed the same, but iTunes and the like are getting some more alternative music business.

My suggestion for this week is Nick Cave 'Dig Lazarus Dig'. Great album, I don't proclaim to be a big knowledgeable fan of his work. I do own a good few of his albums, but the lyrics and poetry that he produces is second to none. I rate him up there in story telling ability with Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Morrisey (maybe too soon to have him here with the greats), and you know the rest of the list. Anyway, this weeks picture comes from Rembrandt (circa 1630) and is titled 'The raising of lazarus'. 

I leave you with my wish, and that is that, like lazarus my concentration and PhD chapter writing skills will rise from the dead and live among us.

A new year, A new start...

Hello, and happy new year. This will just be a short blog update. Well, 2008 is upon us, and I feel no different, just another day closer to the deadline for my PhD. This is a scary prospect. But I will face it head on, and work my ass off to make that deadline. 

2008 will also bring a number of highlights. Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead and Velvet Revolver are all coming to Ireland and I shall be attending. I'm looking forward to it.

As I said, this is a short blog, so everyone, I'm alive and well, and looking forward to the challenges that 2008 throws at me.

Hand over Fist, the money keeps leaving me

I've been a bit frivolous in the last 10 minutes, I have been given a self imposed ban on music purchase (both digital and hard copy). But I overturned this ban in a fit of mouse clicking. The itunes items I downloaded are currently playing through my headphones and are being audibly digested as I type. I don't want to read into the choice of downloads, but i will read into the mood that these tunes have put me into. 

I am listening to the vast airy tones of Stars of the Lid. I do not know much about them, only that I missed their gig a few weeks ago, and was kicking myself, please see previous blog post. So for anyone that knows them, you will understand the tone and mood that Dungtitled (In A minor), or Another Ballad for Heavy Lids is likely to impose on a person. For those that don't think Radiohead's last 4 albums played at half speed. Or even more appropriately Sigur Ros. It is slow, mountainous, vast orchestral pieces with trumpets, occasional lyrics. I picture myself standing in the empty streets of Dublin, much like in 28 Days later, an empty city, nobody, no cars, the whole place to myself. Except I feel happy, upbeat and calm in this emptiness. 

Normally I find this floaty, heavily futuristic heavy string laden musical opuses to be a bit mellow and anxiety inducing pieces of music that make me like an insignificant speck in an infinite universe.

Not this time, maybe its cause if I take my ear phones off i will be blasted with tunes that scream "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane ..." you get the picture, sugar coated sleigh bell ringing christmas tunes, so in a way Stars of the Lid are my Christmas saviors. 

I also got the two Fight Like Apes EPs, and they are a different kettle of fish. Interestingly again related to my previous blog, where I missed their gig.  I guess I should also get some more New Pornographers. Anyway, Fight Like Apes are just ace. Really think they will go far. 

I want to do a little Radiohead piece now. I got my Radiohead tickets for the 7th June in Dublin. I paid the outrageous 70 euro for the ticket. I feel it is pricy but it is roughly give or take the same for all their gigs on that tour. There are additional tour expenses that get factored into every ticket, but for a band that claim to value their fans so much, their 'take' on the ticket price seems high. Having said that, I will enjoy the gig, and feel that if that is the price to see the most important band currently, then I shall pay what needs to be paid. On a related note of handing money hand over fist to W.A.S.T.E and Radiohead, My Discbox has been dispatched, as has my Girlfriends (which i ordered only last week). They have not arrived as of yet.

Happy Christmas to all

I hope to get a christmas blog going before the new year.

Peace

A Lazy Wet November Day

Not to be confused with U2s opening line from Angel of Harlem, which reads 'A cold and wet December Day'. I am a month early for that line. But none the less, the title of todays blog came to my mind immediately as I look out the window of my room as I type. It is cold, it is wet it is November, but most of all I am being lazy. I am putting off what I should be doing now. Updating this blog has been on my mind now for a few days, I have much i could discuss, much I could impart, but instead I shall give a brief run through of all that is significantly worthy of mention. I have done much. Despite this being wrote in an attempt to stave off my real work, I will put a lot of effort and attempt to write that elusive great treatise on all that is good with this world.

A lot has happened these past fee weeks, there is much to write home about. My musical quest to find new and exciting bands and albums has taken me full circle. Listening to the local Indie Station, Phantom Fm, I have been introduced to many new and up and coming Irish Bands, and through a colleague of mine who champions all the weird and wonderful in musical circles.

The little I know about Fight Like Apes tells me that  i was a fool for missing their gig last week. They do seem to be where it is at. They have been described as having the energy and drive of a guitar band yet they achieve this without any guitars. 

While I was in San Francisco the previous week I came across the second hand section of some hippy music store in Haight-Ashbury. There I found a copy of the latest new pornographers album, 'challengers' for half nothing ($7 to be exact). I purchased it as a result of much bigging up from the musically aware colleague. I love it. I swore I would go see them next time they are in Dublin, knowing they were soon to be arriving, Again I missed them, yes they played last week.  

Now for where the circle enters the equation. Also in this cool hippy store I found the latest release from the greatly missed and departed artist Gram Parsons. Country music at its best. This was a double live cd of his newly created band 'The flying burrito brothers'. The band were supporting the Greatfull dead on their tour in 1969. The release is taken from their two dates in the Avalon Ballroom, and it is truly magnificent. My next 2 purchases came in the form of Old and Established artists who have released new albums, so again it is nothing new. The Boss and Magic, again a fine fine album, and finally Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. This is the finest album I have heard from this Country/Blues/Folk/Whatever Genre you care to include. The singing is great, Mr Plant better known from his Led Zeppelin screaming than soft melodic tuneful singing with the women who has won more grammy's than any female artist. 

So this musical quest has brought about 2 new and cool indie bands, and 3 old favorites. Full circle it is. I have also taken to listening to Mr Bob Dylan on the themetime radio hour. He is a surprising talented radio person.  I was not sure he would come across as well as he does, his knowledge is not in question, but his presentation skills quite possibly, based on his last few appearances in concert.

Bye for now

Rules and regulations

Hey, I've been meaning to update my page for a while, I keep putting it off. But not anymore. The event that spurned me to write another blog was of course the release of the new Radiohead album 'In rainbows'. I however did a search for blogs that review this opus of melody. The number is too large to be represented by mere human digits alone. Just to write it here would involve communication with an extra terrestrial species to comprehend the vast number of blogs about this topic. It would seriously involve ET phoning home. So I have abandoned this task of reviewing the album, track by track. 

Nonetheless, I will give you my verdict. I think it is a fine piece of craftsmanship. I love all ten tracks, and I eagerly await the discbox sometime in December. I take on board the criticism that the quality of the download could be better. But I ask everyone 'could the human ear even tell the difference between mp3, wav, aiff, and flac?' I ask cause I am not sure I could do so. But if the audiophiles out there are right and the .mp3 format and encoding on the download file could be vastly improved on.  I look forward with even greater eagerness to the cd and of course vinyl release contained in this discbox. Before I get shot for that above comment. I am well aware that cd quality is around 10 times better than mp3 quality. But again the question is asked, 'how many of us can tell the difference?'

Also before I forget, how much did you all pay? I went for the discbox so it was 56 euro or so (40 sterling)

A secondary reason for updating this blog, is I found a nice little interactive piece of cnet.com about setting up a blog, and it talks about things which I have struggled with in the past and am still struggling with now. Things such as 'A voice', 'A style' and so on. I've yet to crack it, but i keep telling my self 'practice makes perfect', well in my case lets hope practice makes for interesting musings. 

Staying with the topic of music, I have been lucky enough to buy some new albums and cds. You see I have imposed an embargo on new albums. I'm trying to cut back as there was a time, up until quite recently that I would blow all my available (and then some unavailable) cash on the latest CD. I have got my house in order now, so I can return to purchasing in moderation. The latest musical discs of joy to be added to my collection are the latest releases from the artists below:

• Ian Brown
• Herman Dune
• Richard Hawley
• The Chemical Brothers
• Arthur & Yu
• Devendra Banhart

All these albums are fine specimens of musical excellence, and along with 'In Rainbows' will be on heavy rotation in the car, on the mac, and on the ipod.

  

Anway, I am pleased as punch at this tome of a literary effort, tune in next time inspiration hits me like a watermelon to the head, all wet and sticky.

To be young!

[Please insert Image of your Choice]

Well further to my last post, i spent some time thinking about what i want to write about. I was hit by what felt like a knock on the head, a real lightbulb moment. I cam away from electric picnic with a new found sense of youth but at the same time I felt separated from youth and music. I reached a cross roads. The bands I head on the radio don't mean anything to me. My CDs don't get played. I felt that I was ready to take the road that turned left. This road brought my down towards a cul de sac. The dead end of accepting the fate everyone is faced with eventually. I could stop listening to music and tune into Radio 1 and listen to Joooeeeee Duuuuuuffffyyyy. A fate our parents accepted. No matter what we think our parents were cool. They had their youth culture, they had The Beatles, they had The Stones, they had The Beach Boys, but then they had us. They were no longer cool, they no longer bought albums, they no longer smoked weed, or stayed out late, hopefully they stopped jumping from bed to bed. Well basically I was faced with that finality of not being young anymore. 

So where does a smallish festival in the midlands on Ireland on an Autumn weekend come in. Well the line up really appealed to me, and I found that I had an alternative road to follow. This road to the right, brought me down a very different route. It was a direction change of that there was no doubt. My music was still dated, it is still gathering dust, but the difference is that I would tune in to, turn on to, and cop on to new music, different styles. The lightbulb moment was watching Modest Mouse. This a band I liked to start with, but something turned on inside me, that I still had it, that  I still had a taste for what is out there. I was hungry for more. I am lucky to know a lot of music heads, all have different tastes and styles, but I found that  I was no longer blinded, I could see what the music scene had to offer. I am indebted to a number of musos. 

I now feel rejuvenated, and have discovered my love for such a new and eclectic scattering of bands and albums. To name just a few, Jens Lekman, Final Fantasy, Destroyer, The new Pornographers. Some of you can probably see where I am going with this, but I feel young and in touch with the world.

I think  a lot of this has got to do with my impending trip into late 20s, almost early 30s. To finish off just the other day I purchased the first new and unheard CD. It was In Camera by Arthur and Yu. Great sticky sweet pop fun is how I would describe it. I am glad to have discovered a new artist that  I can put on my ipod, it delights me when I hear one of their songs. They also appear to have a love of Neil Young, they dedicate a song to him.

As someone once said, to be young is to be free.

An accidental death and purposeful resurrection of an opus

It has been quite a while since I wrote anything. A number of things are responsible for this lull in verbal musings. First, i put it down to losing 'my voice'. I have been told in the early and newborn stages of blog development, it is  necessary for the author to find his 'voice' and let it grow and develop, to nurture it till it becomes a natural extension of the person. In the days and weeks since my last post, I feel I have been struggling to find 'my voice', I got bloggers block if you will. I still do not feel I have found that elusive 'voice' but at least  I have took the time to write something.

A second reason for my lack of product, is I have been pretty busy with various aspects of work and socialising. I attended the great and wonderful gathering of  electric picnic. That is worth a blog in itself, and in time it will get one.  All I will say is I loved Modest Mouse. Wow that was the highlight of the weekend.

But back to the 'voice'. It will take me some time to find it. Until then I will stumble from topic to topic and sway from style to style. I look around me and I see other blogs and they are coherent and cohesive with a definite style and topic in each post. This is what I strive for. 

So hello to all, and till the next time

bon voyage

An Evening with the Glimmer Twins

So I braved the elderly and the rain and attended this years concert in the small country castle in Slane, Co. Meath. The day was over cast, and the ground muddy. I did not know what to expect when I entered those gates at Slane Castle. My first site I thought was a multistory car park in the middle of a field surrounded by tiered seating. My mind could not imagine or comprehend the enormity of this so-called stage. It was reminiscent  of U2's Popmart Stage, but this was on a far greater scale.

The support acts themselves were not going to light my fire. I love The Charlatans, but they did not have long enough to put in a proper show, the looked lost on the vast stage. The crowd were a real mix match, coupled with the elderly who remember The Rolling Stones playing Slane 25 years ago were the young who were barely alive or not even thought of then. The atmosphere was electric with anticipation. I was feeling tired and sore from the trek through the streets of Slane and the mud of the field, but at 8pm i felt this wave of energy rush from my mud soaked shoes up through my legs to my damp head of hair. I was alive and knew I was in for a show of a lifetime.

I am not too knowledgeable of the Stones back catalogue, I know the hits and own a number of their albums, 'Let it Bleed' and 'Exile on Main St'. I knew they play mostly the hits and the best known songs, so I was not to worried of being left standing there, while the crowd are jumping and cheering to some obscure b-side from their second single off their third album (what ever that may be, answers on a post card). They are real showman, and they put in a high energy show for the best part of 2 hours. I was blown away. It is impossible to describe the show, but I shall try. They had fire works, explosions, giant screens showing Jagger strut and prowl the stage like the king of the lions. They had Richards pouting and throwing guitar shapes, you had Woods looking like he was drinking up the atmosphere (he is t-total now, so he needs a new tipple), and Watts all the time keeping the beat.

1 hour in to the show you had the roadies push Charlie Watts Drum Cage (best description) out towards the front of the stage, then all of a sudden the stage lifts itself up off and starts to move towards the centre of the big natural arena, while the Stones are playing, it truely is one of the most amazing things I have seen. However when they stayed out there for a further 3 songs, I felt left out. I should have mentioned that I was front row central almost, so to only see the back of them playing to the rest of the 800000 masses was frustrating. Nonetheless they returned to centre stage and played a further few numbers. 

All in all, this is one of my greatest experiences, they may not have the youth, they may not have any recent hits or quality new material, but you can not argue that they put of an extravagant show and they give it their all. An evening very well spent in my opinion.

Now Gimme Shelter