The Futility of New Music and the joy of 45 Radio

 Afternoon Mugs,

It strikes me that the older I get along the line of my life, the less I can be bothered with 'new music'. I'm sure there is tons of great new music out there, but the truth is my 'music' brain is at bursting point. I have the resources of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and to a lesser degree from 2000 onwards to draw on. A huge cornucopia of all sorts of music literally running from te pop maestros, Abba, thought to rockers ZZ Top. 

Every day I will see people my age and older espousing the greatness of BBC 6 Music, it's eclectic mix of obscure album tracks, old forgotten rarely play hits and 'new music'. I do listen from time to time...but it's occasional 'yes' moments punctuated by huge swathes of 'what the fuck was that/who the fuck is that/play something I know' and I've furrowed my brow as to why. My conclusion is as above, my brain is full of the music I need to live the rest of my life without getting bored. It's now like a closed club, many thousands of tracks, bands and artists are members. There is always room for additions but the entry criteria is getting tougher by the day. Almost all 'new music' that I will buy is accidentally heard from adverts, football marketing and occasional times my children/grandchildren play something that catches the ear. 

 And yet, there are people who will always findn it weird...they'll allude to me not being quite right because I have not kept up with the latest trends, artists and tunes. Music today is not as important as it was in the 50s-90s, it has become more frgmented in genere, radio sttions have ever decreasing playlists...here's a Heart tune (Alone), Eurythmics (There Must Be a Stranger Playing With My Heart' , Marvin Gaye? Sexual Healing of course, T-Rex? Get It On...... ....name the  band or artist and it won't be hard to guess the song most likely to be played. 

One radio station I do listen to is 45 Radio, an absolute gem in that it does regularly stray from the standard songs  and plays so many songs I literally haven't heard in ages, or haven't heard from that glory period of music from the 50s onwards. And as a bounus, there's virtually no ads other thn sponsors names on occasions with the jungles. It's not fresh new music, it's the very best of music from every decade you rmemeber. Check it out if like me you simply don't have the time or inclination to waste your listening time with stuff you either don't like, can't get into and would never want to own. You can find it here...

45 Radio

 

Later Mugs, GJ

 

The Never Ending Story

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Lockdown 3 cabin fever

 Morning Mugs,

Anyone else feeling a little claustrophobic? Anyone else feeling they know the town or village or locale rather too well now and finding it..restrictive?

Since last February when we visited Paris on a city break I've gone to Newbury for a flying visit to collect a new work laptop just two days prior to lockdown 1, been to Costco in Southampton three times, been to Chessington once, Bealieu once and Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm once. Oh and an aborted break in Brecon after two days.....I feel, like many, my wings have been clipped. And it's starting to wear....

We booked a weekend in Paris at Easter thinking the worst would be over, but that now looks doomed. Our cancelled cruise from last year was rebooked for May this year......this is looking less and less likely as well. I may get a chance to go to the money pit later this year in late June/early July...but I'm not betting on reciprocal quarantines being lifted by then either. Will August be Ok for our main holiday? 50/50 at best in my view. My current best hope is a first visit to New York in December this year. By that time I fully expect to look something akin to Phil Spector in his last public picture. 

On that note, not one bit of me is sorry for Spector popping his clogs in jail. he was a bully, a mysogynist and a murderer. Good riddance. But....he did produce some of the most iconic and memorable music the world has ever heard. This isn't some congnitive dissonance issue i am suffering either, I just sincerely believe that you it's important not to conflate the art with the artist's life. Many 'artists' lead very dark lives, Michael Jackson being a prime example, but go back far enough and the painter Carravagio was also am murderer. And yet we happily listen to Jackson's stuff, pay to see a Caravaggio or happily listen to Spector's highly polished 'wall of sound' music on radio.Liking this stuff doesn't in anyway endorse the behaviour or actions of them, but art in all its forms comes from somehwere, and sometimes where it comes from is dark, tormented or just insane. 

Later Mugs, GJ

Trump and insanity

 Afternoon Mugs

 

Well, he finally did it. A man who many could see was a fascistic, narcissistic, mentally unstable and fundamentally crooked and interminably thick fuckwit lost his mind and his rag. 

He stood and goaded his supporters to 'walk with him' to Capitol Hill and show strength in order to get their country back. Of course the one thing he didn't do was walk with his supporters. Add cowardice as well...especially if you consider his  Daddy funded 'bone spurs' Vietnam draft get out. He has lost virtually every court case disputing results because they can't present any evidence. He seems to think his opinion that he won is enough to go for another term. He even seemed to think his VP, the lily-livered born again Christian ...sorry twat...Mike Pence could simply overturn the result and hand him a second term. Jesus..the fuckwittery on display is amazing.

The man is constantly wrong. He constantly lies. He is a despot by nature if not by position (the US constitution prevents this for the most part). Aside from his estranged niece Mary, there doesn't appear to be a single decent person in his family. They are all chips off the same far right, narcissistic, and lets be honest insane, unhinged block. 

But yesterday might be the beginning of an unsolveable US divide much like we have seen in the UK over Brexit...which itself set old vs young, North vs South, Scotland vs England, rich vs poor, white vs non-white, family vs family Red vs Blue and even moderate Tories vs Johnson and his cohort of crooks and liars. But by sheer size and influence on the world our UK divides will pale into insignificance if the US divisions deepen. Another civil war might result, or we could see states seceding from the Union...California alone would be a huge world economy on its own...bigger than the UK for certain. The obvious other effects whilst America tears itself apart, are its enemies will rub their hands with glee and try to exploit the turmoil wherever they can. Whilst this goes on, the UK and Brexiteers will watch the promised 'fantastic trade deal' fade into the distance as Trump reluctantly hands power over to a President hewn from the Obama reign..one who will put the EU first and us to the back of the queue.

You won, get over it.

Back to Trump, there is no doubt he incited yesterday's riots and insurrection. There is no doubt he has lied to Americans and on the world stage. And everyone could see it coming. From the UK's perspective there must be a few sycophantic Tory ministers with sweaty brows right now having been pictured with him and having blown smoke up his obese orange arse. The massive piece of fresh dog shit that is Nigel Farage and chief trump cock-sucker Piers Morgan (who is now backtracking faster than Usain Bolt running downhill) must be looking at their careers potentially fading like ice next to a fire. 

The powers that be must either invoke the 'unfit to be Commander-in-Chief' 25th Amendment or move to impeach in such a way that he can never run for office again. And then let the Feds and CIA crawl over him and his crooked bent family  and bang them all up until they flatline. Anything less is a complete dereliction of duty and respect for the people of America.

Later Mugs, GJ

 

Farewell to another ....

 Morning Mugs,

How was Christmas then? Different I expect for very many. 

My team (Chelsea) have been happily ruining it's supporters Christmases since 1905 and this year was no different. A perfunctory win over West Ham, a shambolic defeat versus Arsenal and an honourable draw against Aston Villa, where of course we had many chances to bury them but failed to do so.  Football and any elite level sport is rather paradoxically both trivial and vital during these times of lockdown, tiered areas and lack of actual physical social meeting with friends and relatives. 

For the football/sports fan, it provides a release, a place to semi-replicate going to a match, to virtually meet friends and to share the joy and pain of the sporting experience. This is probably even more acutely recognised by actual match going fans. My point is that it is trivial, it's elite sport and entertainment for the masses....and it doesn't appeal to everyone, but for many it is a straw to clutch during times of loneliness and worry. The pain and joy of watching football or your preferred sport, especially if you have a 'team' is a welcome distraction for many and any distraction is a good thing for mental health.

On Christmas Eve, the last of my Mum's generation finally passed. My Auntie Nancy was 92, born in Sneem in County Kerry. She was a very...forthright person....almost typically Irish in that sometimes honesty was the least diplomatic route, but it was also the truth. I won't dwell on it here, but there is some sadness tingeing her passing...she was the 3rd eldest of the sisters and brother (singular, one boy with 6 sisters!) and the last to go. However, in amongst that lack of diplomacy was a wicked sense of humour and a pragmatism that went way beyond her upbringing and education in rural Ireland.  For now, my favourite paraphrases quotes from her are below. 

 

RIP Auntie Nancy.

'Sure haven't I got the worst headache ever....it must have been  a bad bottle of tonic' - said the day after her and my Mum demolished 2 bottles of gin but decided the tonic was 'bad'....

After not having seen me for 6 years, her greeting was this....'Sure..aren't you right fecking shape for heart attack' .....no 'Hello', no 'How are You'......just that. Magic.

Later Mugs, GJ

 

Keep up Jack

 Morning Mugs,

Need a little lift? This weekend you will see the Winter Solstice which means from Monday...the nights start to draw out. Thank fuck for that. I have rfeached an age where I really don't like winter. I don't like dark early evenings. I don't like rain. I don't like wind. There is a slight downside to this in that it will still get light a little later each morning for a while. 

 

Also on December 20th and 21st we will see the 'great conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn, where the two planets appear to us to be next to each other. It did happen in 2000 but the Sun sort of got in the way of any real vision of such a rare celestial event. Before that it seems it was in 1623, but again records indicate it was too close to the sun to be seen in any great tdetail. There is a some weight to the theory that this great conjunction might have been the Star of Bethlehem! 

Anyway, weather permitting I will be outside with my telescope(s) trying to catch a glimpse. The UK weather had better start to calm down then.And yes, I am a new astronomer if you hadn't guessed. I have rekindled an interest and love of the stars and the night sky and I have to say when you see the closeness of the moons surface through a telescope, and the rings of Saturn 'live' (try that in a Martin Tyler stylee) or Jupiter and its moons...or the M31 galaxy......it is jaw dropping. Obviously the list here is potentially endless!

And today..I promise to write a list of subjects and memories and events to comment on. I need to get this blog back up and running to its former standards! And believe me I have a lot to say. My sanity is depending on it.

Later Mugs, GJ

 

Locky-D2

 Morning Mugs

Yes, Locky-D2 is what I've seen the latest lockdown called. God help us if this sort of truncated language strangling shite carries on. 

Remember just 2 weeks ago how Boris castigated Starmer for suggesting a circuit break lockdown? About how Johnsons 'tiers' system would do the trick of stopping the much wished for second wave (yes I do think people wanted it to happen, and that shutting the country down was a typically stupid Labour idea that hadn't been thought through?

How did that work out for him then? I wonder if he had any sense of irony, or duplicity or sheer shame as he announced a 4 week lockdown for Engand last weekend?

I feel sorry for all the businesses and organisations who spent money making their environments COVID secure and as safe as possible only to find the government thinks it wasn't enough. And yet, school, colleges and the key COVID hotbed, universities, remain open. A teacher friend of mine has already said that apparently between 9am and 3pm she is immune to the virus, and the virus itself won't apparently infect during those hours. She can enjoy a coffee with her sister, also a teacher in the same school. Or any of her other teacher colleagues. But from 3pm onwards she can't even sit at opposite ends of the same garden with them. The sheer illogic of this is mind-boggling. 

I don't have the answer aside from fucking hurry up with a vaccine, but there will be a point where people say enough is enough and will take their chances with the virus in order to return to a mask free world with hugs and group gatherings.

I'm on that side as well.

Later Mugs, GJ