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[507] Cat and mouse/dog July 27th, 2007 – 11:46am Posted in Daft No comments

I’m quite keen on neat little quotes. Brevity is the soul of wit, and all that. Ten tidy words strung together say more to me than a thousand, which is odd given my inability to be anything other than incontinently verbose when trying to put a thought down on here. This I have proven already by taking three sentences to lead into a discussion of the phrase “fighting like cat and dog”. To be perfectly honest I did not even set out to write about this, as I was originally planning to write about “fighting like cat and mouse” until I realised this isn’t even a phrase and is just something I made up while half asleep this morning. You see, the cat which comes to mine occasionally is both erudite and charming in its propensity to leave us token offerings at our door in return for the food and …read more.

[506] Addendum to original: Maximo Park July 26th, 2007 – 10:42pm Posted in Good Things No comments

Karaoke Plays is even better than I originally believed. They are the most Smiths band since The Smiths.

[505] Maximo Park July 25th, 2007 – 7:15pm Posted in Good Things No comments

They were one of the best bands I saw at Glastonbury (my review of that is still sitting half-finished) and I can’t believe I didn’t find these Smith-alikes sooner. Give them a go. Books From Boxes is a great song.

Editors are also better than I thought.

That is all.

[504] Sutton Benger Extravaganza July 23rd, 2007 – 4:51pm Posted in Events No comments

Early next year I’m going to Australia for a few weeks to visit Amelia. I could fly with Jet2 for £39 but cramping my legs into the shape of an anvil for 18 hours would result in DVT solidifying the blood in my veins. Instead I think I might go with something a little less life threatening, even if it does cost me the best part of a grand.

Why am I telling you this? Well, my jaunt to Australia is the reason I’m skipping a few of my usual trips and holidays for the next six months or so and instead am spending my weekends visiting friends on the cheap, as I just have with Simon and Charlotte.

This weekend was pretty late coming together even though we’d roughly planned it months ago. I spotted the Sutton Benger Extravaganza while looking for festivals this summer and with it being so …read more.

[502] The Queen Is Dead July 15th, 2007 – 7:31pm Posted in Bad Things, Thoughts 1 comment

It’s comforting in a small way to know that even on the dark days I still have an escape route as easily accessible as playing The Queen Is Dead. It somehow makes me feel younger and puts me in the frame of mind I remember having when I was altogether more optimistic (some might say naive) about things. I associate a lot of the songs with women, which doesn’t make much sense given this is the gender-ambiguous Smiths we’re talking about, but perhaps it’s just male nature to purse together the true passions in our lives with the altogether less explicable obsessions with females. The opening track instantly puts me back in the cricket club we used to stagger to at the end of nights out, thinking about Michelle. Even though things between us couldn’t be more different these days, for a split second I feel again as if I’m …read more.

[501] Woman + pie = heaven July 13th, 2007 – 3:38pm Posted in Daft No comments

In the great British tradition of fannying about on Friday afternoons, I am waiting for a call from Mark to let me know when Irish leaves his desk so I can run through and leave my pie on his keyboard. The fact that I have a disposable pie knocking about for comedy purposes can also be attributed to it being a Friday, as we took our customary visit to the sasparilla stall on the market today which is in eyesight of the pie and bread stall run by the woman me and Dave have obsessed about for four years. The route from the sasparilla stall (after reinvigorating ourselves with the healing properties of half a pint of sasparilla – it should be on the NHS) to the samosa stall (run by a lad I went to school with, Shuiab Khan’s favourite kebab joint (my hero) and home of the …read more.

[500] JJ72 = Bluetones July 12th, 2007 – 10:28pm Posted in Daft No comments

JJ72, October Swimmer – a straight copy of [insert any Bluetones song ever here]?

[499] Sleep deprivation July 12th, 2007 – 1:52am Posted in Bad Things, Thoughts No comments

When these days am I supposed to be able to sleep for more than the bare minimum of hours? Getting by on the fewest as possible is starting to wear me down a lot. Tonight’s a 1.45am job and that leaves me with 6 hours sleep when I really need at least 8 to feel myself in my head. It’s never intentional though. Tonight I was going to stay in and see Amelia but I was invited out “for a few hours” and then I end up home at 1.30am. Life just happens to you behind your back. It’s very crafty. Tomorrow will, I suspect, feel deja vu.

[498] Honest lyricists July 6th, 2007 – 5:00pm Posted in Thoughts No comments

Writing about that Talking Heads song got me thinking about the music that means something to me. Everyone’s brain seems to be wired differently for music – mine’s of the sort that picks out the melody first and foremost and rarely picks up on the lyrics. Voices just seem to blur into the music for me unless they’re really distinct. Singing to music has always seemed a strange combination, too… I’m not sure pairing music with words is really a logical combination. I think that might just be one of the ways a brain can function sometimes – struggling with a clash between the pure emotional response when hearing music and the rational thought needed when processing lyrics. I like classical and prog because it’s pure sound; you can just take it at face value.

Anywho… Talking Heads. Them and The Smiths are the only two bands who I really appreciate …read more.

[497] A song re-discovers its powers July 6th, 2007 – 11:50am Posted in Good Things, Thoughts No comments

The Girls Want To Be With The Girls is a song which I associate with one of the happiest times of my life, by far. I got into Talking Heads late in 2004, just after I moved into Nightingale Close with John and Dan. Three years later they’re still the last truly great band I’ve discovered.

Early in 2005 I met Lois and at the time I was spending most nights with the boys having a great time to a soundtrack of Talking Heads in that great little room I had in that house. It’s a simple thing to explain – they’re just good memories of happy times. Those first few months with Lois were probably the most emotionally intense I have ever felt, no exaggeration. 95% of feeling passes me by but I remember caring passionately for her back then. Time has faded the memories a little but …read more.

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