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?