Doing a show today on hospial radio which has a somewhat egocentric title: MY BEST NEW MUSIC OF 2005 where I review a few of the CD's I have bought this year, my thoughts on them and then of course a track. I scheduled an hour and a half but soon realised I needed twice as much time!! Anyway here is the playlist which is 'mixed' to say the least:-

Beautiful Child/WANT ONE Rufus Wainwright
Another Sun/LET IT RAIN Tracy Chapman
They/FINALLY WOKEN Jem
I'm Alright/BEST OF Loudon Wainwright
Atom Bomb/ATOM BOMB Blind Boys of Alabama
Circlesong 5/CIRCLESONGS Bobby McFerrin
Meet On the Ledge/JOHN PEEL TRIBUTE ALBUM Fairport Convention
If Your Love Cannot be Moved/A TIME TO LOVE Stevie Wonder
Please Explain/AT THIS TIME Burt Bacharach
Leave Without Running/SON OF DAVE Son of dave
Dance Me To the End of Love/CARELESS LOVE Madeleine Peyroux
Hallelujah/GRACE Jeff Buckley
Roxane's Dance/Soundtrack to ALEXANDER Vangelis
Glass, Concrete & Stones/GROWN BACKWARDS David Byrne
Future Lovers/CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR Madonna
True/ROCK SWINGS Paul Anka
Take the Long Way Home/RETROSPECTACLE Supertramp
Mouth Music/ROCK N'DROLL barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden
Pi/AERIAL Kate Bush

God, the gaps between these postings are getting longer and longer but it's indicative of how I am NOT keeping up with my life let alone my music. But hey, it's 3 days till I leave my job and even more important, 3 days till Christmas!

X Factor - worse one of the series. They sacrificed talent for marketability hence why Shane, pretty to look at, okayish singer and young, won over Andy who obviously could sing better and over a wider range of genre's!

Quarter of the way through the BBC3 Session with Anthony and the Johnsons. Doesn't need me to say what a wonderful voice he has. It sounds like real music and the songwriting craft is making a come back and Anthony is a great role model, doing his own thing albeit in a somewhat sombre way.

NIZLOPI is number one, another well crafted song and the guys are from Leamington where I was bought up, went to school and now live next to. Congratulations but how did it happen, I heard the song about 18 months ago.

Listened to ROCK SWINGS by Paul Anka. What a very clever CD, take some rock greats and tone down the tempo AND make it work as he does. He's another oldie who's voice sounds just diamond!

I am hoping to get some music for Christmas else there will be trouble.

Here's a treat, my sisters photo's taken at Rufus Wainwright's concert at the Birmingham Symphony Hall....enjoy

Downloaded Ricky Gervais' first podcast show which was hilarious and as I was listening to it on my commute, anything that can make me laugh that early in the orning is OK by me.
It's just 3 guys chatting but the guys in questions are FUNNY, Gervais' laugh in particular just creases me, reminds me of DLT's in the good Radio 1 days. But the funniest is the dead pan Karl Pilkington who just takes all the abuse. Can't quite work out if he is serious about what he says or not but either way it's dead funny. The immortal line for me came from Gervais; 'he uses a pelican to mix his cement'! Even totally out of context it gives you a flavour of how Gervais' mind works ... or does not work as the case may be!

Watched Sin City last night and was completely blown away. I am not a comic strip fanatic but this still held my attention. The way the characters ran [through the woods in a long shot in particular was pure comic art], the silvery look of their faces, the ocassional colour [usually red] and some the words the characters used were just comic pages coming to life. Micket Rourke, apart from being unrecognizable, stole the show for me.
Apparently the director hadn't got the rights for Frank Millers story but came up with the unique idea of filming the opening scene then showing it to Miller who immediately signed the rights over. He also showed the scene to actors he wanted who again, just watched it and then signed up. Clever.
The best line comes from Dwight, Clive Owens character:-

"It's great when you're friends turn up with lots of guns"

Went to this last night and once you get past the dreadful and confused cacophony of the Guilemotts, Rufus hit the stage to the sound of Oh What A World with it's steal from Bolero. A perfect number to kick off with.

This was his set list:

Oh What A World
Agnus Dei
Crumb By Crumb
Peach Trees
Hometown Waltz
Vibrate
Grey Gardens
The Art Teacher
This Love Affair
The One you Love
Gay Messiah
Want
Beautiful Child
Memphis Skyline
Hallelujah
Across The Universe
Beauty Mark
Little Sister
Dinner At Eight
Waiting for a Dream
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
14th Street
Old Whores Diet
Oh What a World
I Don't Know What It Is
California

Got this from his website and it's not entirely accurate as he slipped a couple of new songs in and the order was a little diffrent but hey, he's allowed that when he sings as divine as he does. Though with a solo at the piano he did 'fuck up' as he put it and had to try again.

The winning thing is not just the voice or the beauty [which is all too evident] but that he is a musician, hiving off all types of music and blending it with his unique voice and crafting such monumental works. This is shown to great effect in the belting Beautfil Child which he reprised toward the end of the show and to the exact same effect when singing a gentle ballad.

He engages you with really funny banter in his camp style and has the grace to talk of others who have influenced him, his family and Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen etc.

For 2 hours 15 minutes he gave his all which included a bizarre skit which had dancing in togas, his Christ like impersonation whilst leaning against a white cross [not sure what that was about but great that he felt he could let rip and do this as I am sure his US tours wouldn't permit it.] It ended in a couple of encores of him in a bathrobe and sock! Divine, loved every second and am now a dedicated fan.

Unfortunately we did not get this, maybe next time.

"My phones on vibrate for you"
VIBRATE
R Wainwright

Says something that I live only 9 miles away from my office and I can listen to a whole CD on the journey! I have tried every route but none of them shave off any time so I take from the boredom what I can and that's a catch up on music.

With Lennon's Birthday and Death date there is so much around on him at the moment. BBC Radio is doing a ton of stuff next week. So I bought WORKING CLASS HERO THE DEFINITIVE LENNON a double CD.

I have always though his voice to be harsh but just listening to him without Beatles, it's quite an extraordinary voice. It changes with each song he sings. Whilst Starting Over, Imagine, Jealous Guy and a few others I was not new too, I did kinda take real notice of a few others even though they are bouncing around somewhere in my brain:-

WATCHING THE WHEELS is a classic mainly because it was a reaction to friends and the industry having a go at him on his home sabatical. As I leave my job in 3 weeks and am planning to 'watch the wheels' rather than push them round, this had particular resonance with me. It is a great track.

JEALOUS GUY I find contradictory. The lyrics are true and painful but he sings it in a kind of slow, couldn't-care-less melody.

His cover of STAND BY ME, which I hadn't heard for a while, is really good, particularly the backing on it which changes the whole thing. Am going to promote this to the ipod.

WORKING CLASS HERO is a classic and Dylanesque. Sings from the heart and I am sure touches all all.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE love it even though this doesn't travel strongly in time. Bit corny. 'Right On' has been replaced by Fat Boy Slims' 'Right Here, Right Now' hasn't it?

What is OH YOKO? Drivel basically I'm afraid to say but he's allowed a couple of drivel tracks.

That's as far as I have got. Am putting together a one and a half our show on New Music in 2005 for hospital radio over Christmas and whilst this is by no means new, I think I will create a 'revisited' section and pick a couple of tracks.

My new discovery is Anthony and the Johnsons, what a voice Anthony Hegarty has - divine. Have been reading a lot on him plus picked up a couple of tracks somewhere then he appeared on the Johnathan Ross Show with Boy George. I am sure I will be blogging him at some point.

Had my first mince pie today - yummy.

Joined a gymn and went for my fitness assessment last night and to my utter delight all the equipment has a tv with MTV channels! Heaven.

Wow - 2 weeks since I have blogged, longest gap yet I think. Had a short break in New England which was spectacular, bought some new music which included David Gray's new album.

Steadily ploughing through what seems a mountain of things I have to sort before I leave my job on the 23rd and start my own business.

No time for anything especially music which is too bad. Did listen to Aerial through the ipod whilst flying to New York which seemed appropriate to it's title and the fact that CD 2 is all about birds and the sky.

The album is ASTONISHINGLY BRILLIANT and BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTFUL! Would even apply flawless [the track about the washing machine is a little dodgy but brave]. Her voice is stronger than ever but somehow her voice is secondary to the beautiful music she is making.
And if CD 2 does not put you in a good place then nothing will.
Her trade mark signatures are there particularly in the piano pices. I, for one, do not care if it takes another 12 years till her next CD, this album will keep me going ... I feel it's her best ever.

Faves [in order]:-
Pi
How To Be Invisable
Joanni
Somewhere In between
Nocturne

'Stars in our hair'
Nocturne
Sea of Honey

Did you watch this last night anyone?

Was a little frustrated about the first part, gave me the feeling that the whole thing was going to be White Stripes orientated!

Love Peel anyway but the more we hear of him the more I love. To have a record box stashed under his desk, a beat up box of absolutely essential must listen too's!!! Even if it did have Sheena Easton in it.

I was amazed by the casualness of some of the interviewees. I just would not be able to stop myself from playing every single track, a couple listlessy thumbed through them and others just didn't touch them but all of them seemed genuingly pleased to be in 'the box'!

Was given Peels autobiography for my Birthday so hope to tuck into that asap.

Have to say that I just don't think I will be getting to sorting any music out till Christmas now which is an utterly depressing thing to admit. Even more frustrating is the fact that I gave myself this year to do it in. Just want to get it on a databse and faves onto my ipod so I know what I've got. I've completely lost one Chris Rea double CD and it takes me about 20 minutes to find anything.

Still haven't listened to Aerial by Kate Bush but have loaded it onto ipod. I fly to New York tomorrow to stay with a friend [another music fan] for 6 days so have the ipod and 2 issues of Mojo to catch up on so I'm sorted for the flight.

Thank god for musc eh?

This is the first time I have even looked at my blog in several days and I have missed it. Some tough stuff happening at the moment at work and in life so have been busy on other things.

Kate Bush's CD came out on Monday and I haven't even listened to it yet!!!! UNHEARD of for me! Thing is I am being a little precious about it and am trying to get a quiet hour to really chill and concentrate on it. Maybe this weekend.

Today is my birthday and my partner gave me her card and in it are tickets for Chris Rea's Farewell Tour next April at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. I was blown away!!!!

I love presents!

Seems to be the month for some of the greatest to release a new album, Bush, Bacharach and Wonder. Always nerve wracking because you just don't want them to have lost it.

Manged to listen to Wonders A Time To Love CD whilst going to and from Oxford yesterday. I first wish to set the scene. I was in my teens when I first heard 'My Cherie Amour', not his best I agree but even this track made me think that there was 'something different' out there. Then I heard Innervisions and never looked back. I have everything he has done and even rate The Secret Life of Plants as one of my faves even though it had mixed reviews. I saw him at Wembley for The Hotter Than July tour.

So when I Just Called To Say I Love You hit the charts, it was all over for me I'm afraid. And working in hospital radio where it gets requested almost every week, doesn't help.

SO I still had a bright enough torch to buy the CD outright before I read any reviews and I am not dissapointed.

Yes, he is older, more mellow, happy and so there is a lot of slush tracks. Get past those and he still has it in bucket loads, his lyrics are as strong as ever and his voice is superb, rich, best I have heard it I would say.

The whole CD is worth getting for the first and last tracks alone. Opening with the rivetting If Your Love Cannot Be Moved and ending on a drum driven title track which you just want to go on for ever and ever.

He still falls back on 'isms' as per Pastime Paradise but the title song refers to this and so he gets away with it. Moon Blue is slow and pure magic, Shelter In The Rain is A Bridge Over Troubled Water for 2005 and everyone should read the lyrics to So What The Fuss.

Not up there with Songs In the Key of Life or Innervisions but strong and lyrically arresting, I shall visit it many times!

We have time for racism
We have time for criticism
Held bondage by our ism's
When will there be a time to love

Whoa, my daily lunch/ipod trawl was a revelation today. The last 2 weeks have been a bit fast-paced [this is the understatement of the century]with too much to do, to many places to be in and not enough sleep hence my energy levels revealled themselves. My walk was fast paced and springy the first half of my walk and then I seemed to age 30 years in a split second. The second half I could barely lift my feet one in front of the other.

Have to say that I have asthma today which feels like a corset tied too tightly round my ribs. Anyway strolled along with the podcasts, Podfinder which informed me that I can download daily passages from the Koran and the New Testament should I wish to. No thanks.

Not much time for music I'm afraid. Am 1 disc through the 2 disc John Peel tribute. A CD of his faves which starts with a Lonnie Donegan track which I think is cool. Stunning Tim Buckley and Louden Wainwright III tracks included.

Also revisiting my John Barry collection whilst in the car ... more on Mr Barry later.

Here's a quotation I found today I would like to share:

Without music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Went to see the new W & G Were-Rabbit movie last week and loved it but just howled when I saw in the credits that Hans Zimmer was in charge of the music! This is the guy who did the wonderful GLADIATOR, BATMAN BEGINS and LAST SAMURAI scores .. of course he also did THUNDERBIRDS and THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. But it still made me laugh to see his name up there.

Did you catch this video on Ch4 at the weekend?
It was cool that they still think her important [no question of this] enough to release this as a stand alone item and not lumped into some CD Review Show where they all talk over it.

The song immediately grabbed me when released on R2 because of her enigmatic style and the overall sound is just pure Bush but I couldn't for the life of me understand what the song was about - until they aired the video.

I have since read the lyrics which I think are a little weak in comparison with her previous stuff and can't quite understand why she is returning to an over-written arena such as the death and myth of Elvis.

Overall I am just glad she is back on the scene and on her own terms. Can you imagine a Bush who sells-out and delivers a thumping bass rap track!!! NEVER.

She also looks very different somehow, obviously older but with a real broad face, don't know why I am mentioning the face, it's just something I couldn't stop thinking about.

Dissapointed she wasn't in the video more, just her sitting in an enourmous military coat with the camera at a high angle.

Still...Welcome Back Kate, I'll be there with my pennies on Nov 7th purchasing that CD!!!

You must check this out, it is guarenteed to make you smile.
Got to:
http://www.fpmrecords.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2005/10/17

...and watch the SpideyDance, in the left hand box!

It's taken almost 2 months to sort but I can now play music through iTunes 6. I downloaded iTunes 5 and it was then that music playback stopped. I downloaded 6 last weekend in the false hope that all would be cured but it wasn't.
I have been dealing with some great guys on the Apple forum and they alerted me 2 days ago along with a moderater who has been emailing me direct from Apple Corp [should I be flattered?].
After so much stress and trying a million different things you would not believe what cured it. I had to left click the iTunes icon, click properties and uncheck the compatibility box as it was clicked to work with Win98 and not XP and I have XP.
How can this possibly be formatted and downloaded from the Apple website like this? Unbelievable.

Work and life continue to rob me of my music time but I know it's the same for us all.

Have not loaded anything onto my ipod for weeks, just downloading the latest podcasts I have chosen and still loosing weight on my 2 mile daily hikes listening to them.

Have listened to my 2nd Louden Wainwright III CD which is a live recording and love him more each time I listen. So, so funny.

Am now listening to a cover of Lennon songs which is free with MoJo. First track is IMAGINE sung by Madonna. Time to come out and say that I am a Madonna fan and she sings this really well, her voice sounding strong and seasoned. Don't always like her voice but love her songs.

Listening to IMAGINE makes me realise how deeply songs get embedded in our minds to the extent that we sing along with the lyrics and don't have to think about it. But with this fact - we sometimes stop thinking about the words and what they mean. This is what happened to me this morning to the extent that I actually really listened to them for the first time in ages and it's just such a wonderfully simple, poem. A statement from the heart.

Imagine all the people
Living for today

KEEP IT PEEL
'I just want to hear something I haven't heard before' John Peel

I seem to be working my way through the Wainwright family. Started with Rufus and have become totally hooked. Caught a couple of concerts of dad Loudon Wainwright III on BBC recently and progressed to buying a couple of his CD's. ONE MAN GUY being one of them.
He is a real edgy guy, sometimes tender, most times sarcastic. Famously self-obssessed he turns this near disorder into an audio diary of his life.
I like him because every song is a story, his voice is strong and clear and he's funny.
He taps into parts we all have and understand.
Am listening to Rufus' POSES CD on the commute in the car and he has recorded his fathers ONE MAN GUY but has made it sound very different making the tempo much slower.
What a formidable family.
Have just bought daughter Martha's CD so that will follow later in the blog.

I wish I were a lesbian, I'd like to be a dyke.
I'd sleep with k.d. lang. Mel Gibson, take a hike!
I WISH I WERE A LESBIAN

God, I am now totally convinced that BBC Radio 2 [the only station I can get on my battered radio in my office]are slowly brainwashing us. Their playlist anyway is on the mundane 'safe' side but EVERY day they bash the 3 following tracks at us:-new singles by Kate Bush, Katie Melua and Barbra Streisand! These tracks get played up to 3 times a day.
There must be the most lucrative deal going here between the record companies and the BBC.
All I can say is that considering this has been voted 'Station of the Year' blah blah at the Sony awards, most of Britain's listeners know nothing about music pre - 1980's and the term 'background music' has gone so far into the background it's no longer listened to, it's just a drip feed of bland notes.
GIVE ME STRENGTH AND THANK GOD FOR BROADBAND AND ACCESS TO DIGITAL RADIO FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

Sadly my partners mum died very suddenly last week and time has been spent doing all the things that have to be done and arranged in a time like this. The funeral is tomorrow and because she loved musicals so much the church is going to be playing show tunes as everyone arrives. Isn't that cool?

Recently on holiday I read Sting's autobiography BROKEN MUSIC in a day and a half. I was intrigued as I kinda figured him a private person but I guess he wanted to write the definitive version rather than some hack.
It covers his life up till Police was formed. As you can imagine he writes really well.
The title comes from the story that he was playing [very badly] the piano in his grandmother's house and making a terrible racket. His grandmother shouted 'stop playing that broken music'.
I was truly amazed at his musical upbringing and grafting, something you just don't think about when you are presented with the Police image. He worked in a jazz band first and foremost at universities, social clubs etc., and evn played on P & O liners.
When I first heard Roxanne, I absolutely hated it and his wailing tenor voice .. I am now a huge fan and have practically everything he has recorded. I can listen to him endlessly but don't particularly like watching him perform and I am not too sure why as he is good to look at. The book tells how he came to write Roxanne.
The one song which finalised me as a lifelong fan was the timeless FRAGILE.
I hope he goes on to tell the rest of his story in a second book but I don't think somehow that he will, still this was well worth the time spent on it in a 2 day sunless spot in Portugal.
It was a test as I would like to read more musical and musicans biographies but was never sure if they were worth it or not.

Sting and my glasses!

Life is in full force at the moment with work and hospital radio 'stuff' so my only listening hours I am getting is in the car on the way to work which is a drag.
Currently listening to Alanis Morrisette's JAGGED LITTLE PILL but the acoustic/unplugged version. These acoustic albums really show if the singer has it or not as nothing is disguised by lush orchestrations or driving beats. She definately has it and her voice sounds enough better on this version.
I think I prefer the acoustic version of Hand In My Pocket to the original, here she has slowed the temp right down and it really works. I love the hope in this particular song.

OK I need help! For the radio station I have to put a collection of songs together for Halloween. The obvious I have, i.e. Thriller, Ghostbusters etc. So any tracks you can think of which are suitable, please let me know.

I'M SHORT BUT I'M HEALTHY
Hand In Pocket
[Love this line as I am barely 5'3"]

The intro to my blog says that I am currently sorting through my huge collection of music.. well, it's not exactly true.
Work, volunteer work, house jobs and simply life are holding it up a little. I use to be a complete workaholic but turning a certain milestone in my birthdays stopped all that, the constant tiredness and the inability to function as a freindly, normal human being AND not giving enough time to my girlfriend of 15 years made me realise that a major life change had to occur and it has or will be at the end of next year. I have given in my notice and will be working freelance next year. Less money but more free time, the latter being my major goal at the moment.
So I am not working my way to digitalising my vinyl collection, putting the one track I may have bought a whole CD for onto my ipod or compiling my music database, but I will be next year.
It's frustrating but I know I will get there eventually, something I didn't feel at the beginning of the year when I hadn't taken my major decision and could see me being too old to even read the writing on CD cases before I started work on anything.
But I am going to continue to blog as I have really enjoyed it so far and it's just brill to get comments and I have had a few suggestions on what to listen to as well.
I love reading other blogs also.
Invisable friends.

Time is still being taken away from me regarding my itunes problem, think I have found the cause so it's home from work then on the computer writing more postings to the Apple forum in an effort to get it sorted.

Weather in the Midlands was fantatsic till about 4ish yesterday so we went to Burton Dassett hills and flew the re-stringed Skymaster and my sisters Twister kites. Great, great fun, the whistling through the strings is both eerie and exciting. Wind was moderate between 12 and 14mph but it was strong enough to snap 2 winders!

Have to fit fun into the timetable as well!

Heard the new Kate Bush single on R2 [you know, the station which gets exclusive rights to new singles. Plays then to death so that by the time the single is avaialble, you are sick of hearing it!] King of the Mountain. It hasn't got a WOW factor but it is curious, enigmatic and pure Bush. I love it and am eagerly awaiting the CD in November.

Check out Code 46 on DVD, it's one that got passed by too quickly and I have a hunch will become a classic.

To everyone who may have the Monday Blues, time rolls quickly so pretend it's Friday and it soon will be but make sure you fill the in between time with little things which make you smile.

How do we like the revamped Chris Evans on Radio 2 then? I never listened to him on any of his other shows/stations so would like to know if the edge has gone as I suspect as he's approaching 40.
It sounds to me like he has bought his fun TV side of him and combined it into Radio 2.
I quite enjoyed it, I love all the bits and spots like 'I never usually say this but..'. It stands out a mile from most of the other R2 shows. They have a contradictory policy don't they? If you are just your average, long standing radio presenter who does a good job then you present a bland, standard, follow the playlist and rules and deliver a mind bogglingly boring show [tune into the Ken Bruce show for a fine example], BUT if you arrive at R2 with a developed celebrity personna then you can pratically do your own thing and pick your own tracks like Chris, Johnathan Ross, Michael Parkinson. Bizarre! A combination of confidence, defiance and musical savy.

Not sure about Robbie Williams comment on Bono being his Jesus!

I am usually quite upbeat but since returning from my holiday it's been a blur of horrid happenings. The main one being that I am one of the 'many' suffering from a itunes 5 download.
Being from Apple you trust them [when perhaps you shouldn't I know] so you happily click that DOWNLOAD button. It downloaded OK and it all seems to work except for one small thing - I can't actually play anything through it, not from my own Library or from a CD.
I will spare you the details of how I managed to trash 4 hours trying to solve this. I eventually went to the Apple forum group and then promptly found that not only have several people got exactly the same problem [thank god as that rules out there being a problem with my computer] but the hassles others are having puts mine in the pale! Computers crashing, itunes 5 not downloading to people loosing all their downloaded music - sounds like a complete nightmare.
And as I said you just DO NOT expect this from Apple AND you have to download it with QuickTime 7 and new software called Bonjour so of course there are bloody problems!!!!

There is nothing like the comfort you have when you switch on your magic computer and everything is where you put it, everything looks like you want it to and everything does what you set it up to do AND THEN something goes wrong. Your entire world caves in. Anyway someone from the forum is helping me I just need to find more free time to get it sorted.

Other horrid happenings have been politics within the volunteer group I work in, the temperature drop accentuating the end of summer, stuck in the NEC for 3 days doing a trade show, and a crippling bout of IBS.

Did manage a quick listen to some new music [new to me that is as the album is 30 years old], STORM COCK by Roy Harper which was astonishing, strange and beautiful all in one go. Fantastic use of words in his lyrics but I just don't understand what any of them mean. It begs more listening which I will give. Anyone else ever heard of him?

Just got back from a week in Portugal where we rented a villa for a week. It was so remote that the only thing you could hear was the breeze and dogs off in the distance. Unbelievable peace and quiet which you hardly find anywhere these days.

To my surprise I hardly listened to any music whilst away, I mainly read and listened to the blissful silence.

Caught a little Claude Challe [to help the chilling] and Big Band stuff on the ipod. Had an overcast day so sat indoors reading with a Portugese radio station on in the background. The music was good but the presentation left much to be desired and it had a lot of 'dead air' which is utter radio anathema!

What I did realise whilst flicking through stations in the hired car was that they has a lot more female presenters on air than we do. Have you noticed how nearly every UK radio station has 90% male presenters and hardly any female voices during prime time [if you don't include Steve Wrights' 'old woman']. What the hell is that all about?

Back in the office today and a gigantic 252 emails, half of which were trying to sell me something or infect my PC.

Just took a lunchtime walk in glorious sunshine, it always appears on a work day following a grey and damp weekend doesn't it? Sods law!!

Like revruth [fellow blogger] I discovered BBC Radio 7 this weekend. Whilst flicking through Saturdays newspaper I spotted a 3 hour tribute to John Peel on 7. But why oh why just limit this tribute on a much loved and lost presenter to a digital audience? Is it just because the masses do not have a 3 hour attention span? I do hope it finds it's way onto a general BBC channel so that his many fans can hear it.
I thought it was going to be bitty and filled in with huge chunks of music, but I do it a major diservice. It was excellent with many rare recordings including pieces from his early Perfumed Garden shows.
It started with Peel sharing his musical influences and boy did I identify with so many of them. A wonderful 3 hours, well done BBC 7!

We miss you.