Toots and the Maytals

Topic: gigs
Date: 
21 Jun 2008 - 20:00 - 23:00

Oh come on!

  • 196 reads



Ben Folds

Topic: gigs
Date: 
13 Jul 2008 - 20:00 - 23:00

Ben Folds!!

  • 175 reads



Honesty

Submitted by dash on Wed, 16/04/2008 - 15:20
Topic: holistic

Whilst wandering aimlessly around the faculty - well stocking up on stationary mainly - I get a whiff of the past. You know how sometimes a smell can throw you back and suddenly you're there, a little child with no responsibilities and life is all just play and sweets. This memory is of me riding my bike down to the village from my house near Boot in Eskdale, Cumbria to buy my weekly Twix and Beano.

So I'm transfixed in the corridor, with a fistful of timetables, watching this little blonde boy whistle his way (I used to whistle a lot) round the little country lanes on his chopper-bike, smelling the rich country smells and I can almost (but not quite) see the entire journey in my head.

When I get to the shop, I find that the price of the Beano has gone up and I can't afford to get the comic AND a Twix! What a dilemma for a ten year-old! Comic or sweets? Chocolate or funnies? Of course I do what every little boy would have done. I put the Twix in my pocket and buy the Beano.

I don't get away with it though. I am nearly out of the door when he calls me back, maybe it's my sweaty palms, the bright red face, the shifty eyes? He grabs my arm and starts shouting. Of course I turn to the next line of defence. He is on the verge of calling my parents - my dad's the vicar - how will THAT look? But he takes pity on me and confiscates the Twix and sends me on my way.

This is the same man who a few years later, pays me £2 an hour to spend my Saturday morning cleaning the mud of the walking boots that he hires to tourists. He doesn't mention the incident, yet it is chiselled into my brain.

I have never told anybody of my Twix-stealing shame - now you know what sort of a petty criminal I really am!

But I never steal again. Well I say never, I mean I pocket a couple of tapes in Virgin, but the Fear eventually stops me doing even that. I'm just not the sort of guy who gets away with it. Whenever I got pressured into taking part in Dorm Raids, or anything naughty at school, I ALWAYS got caught.

It is probably at this moment that I learn that I cannot lie. If you ever suspect me of hiding something, just ask me and I'll tell you right out. Don't trust me with any big secrets that other people will ask me about because I will tell them! Life is so much easier when you are upfront and honest though. People just don't know how to deal with it.




Friday Music 11-04-08

Submitted by dash on Fri, 11/04/2008 - 15:18
Topic: reviews

There has been a sudden glut of new albums in the last few weeks, from some pretty big names too. REM, Supergrass, Elbow, Goldfrapp, Portishead, Massive Attack - even Tricky have all thrown new wares out there and they are a mixed bag, to tell you the truth! This week:


Accelerate Cover

REM: Accelerate

So the giants are back and this time they've turned the volume up a bit. Not as raw as Monster, more rocky than Automatic, but better than their other recent efforts. This album grows on you as a welcome return to form with the lush layered guitars and ethereal backing vocals and odd choruses.

For sure, I'm a little bit upset about the simplicity of some of the three-chord wonders, the single Supernatural Superserious is a clear example of this, and they still can't write choruses but there is energy and life in the music again.

Yes, this is an obviously calculated attempt to recapture the glory days, but I'm actually pleased about that, more so than I am about Portishead's new direction (see next week). It's just too damn short!


Seldom Seen Kid Cover

Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid

It's a perfect soundtrack to the horrendous rain that it drumming down my office window, Elbow are melancholy and beautiful and upbeat all in the same moment, in the same song. I love this album. Asleep in the Back was brilliant, an album of songs that I wish I had written, Cast of Thousands was very 50/50, the gorgeous songs interspersed with over-simplified terrace chants which peak with the album closer, Grace Under Pressure. Even if I AM singing on it along with five thousand other people.

This time the good songs - the atmospheric opener Starlings, the great bass line of Bones Of You the beautiful piano in Mirrorball, the comedy of Audience with the Pope - far outweigh the slightly annoying ones, like Grounds for Divorce with it's stupid terrace chant and irritating guitars. Overall though, this album is a masterpiece with a lot of variety and quirkiness, while still sounding intrinsically Elbow. One to sing along to in the shower.




The Lift

Submitted by stu on Wed, 09/04/2008 - 11:40

"Push the button," said the Kaiser as we waited by the lift,
His mustaches bristled madly and his Pickelhaube glistened,
"It won't come any faster," I declared with irritation,
But he furiously struck it with a snort of indignation.

The lift, when it materialised, was jam-packed full of bodies,
A troupe of Grecian acrobats monopolised the floorspace,
The Kaiser was distressed by all of the adjacent Greeks,
But was convinced another lift might not arrive for several weeks.

"Mein Gott, ich bin das Kaiser!" he was heard to mutter testily,
And many were the curses that erupted from his lips,
He roughly shouldered in to the now-straining elevator,
I smiled and demurred and said I'll catch one a bit later.

The motors strained and juddered at the unfamiliar heft,
And cables twanged like dulcimers as slowly doors were closed,
I do not think Kaiser Wilhelm had thought though the implications,
Of sharing his compartment with near half the Grecian nation.

Inevitably hawsers snapped and girders failed and bent,
The Kaiser's weight had pushed the straining lift over the limit,
And as the screaming faded as the screamers fell away,
I smiled ruefully and thought, "I'll take the stairs today".




93 of 366

92 of 366

This is what is known as 'Ikea-hacking' or butchering your crappy old Ikea desk to make something awesome. My old desk provides the infrastructure, the backbone if you will. All the wood you can see is from Wickes.

The Design came from the GF's head, I just did what I'm told, you know - drill this, saw that - and of course provide helpful tips and commentary!

This is what I do on my holidays, exciting huh? We have also been stripping walls, plastering and generally making a mess, I mean getting on with things. Next weekend : Sanding The Floors!

Submitted by admin on Sat, 05/04/2008 - 17:54

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