I was delighted to discover this guy recently – Reggie Watts, if it is possible to define him, is a surreal stand-up comedian and improvising musician, who flips hilariously from one genre and persona to another effortlessly. At one moment he is straight-facedly delivering what seems to be a science lecture or TED talk, butContinue reading “My Latest Hero”
What I Hate about Sequels
I write this as I emerge from a bout of flu that has kept me horizontal for a week. This attack has been milder than last year’s instalment – no projectile vomiting or fainting on the bog this time – and I suppose from a dramatic perspective you could say it’s been a bit of a disappointment.Continue reading “What I Hate about Sequels”
Waiting For the Mantra
Nowadays it seems everyone is getting spiritual. Meditation and mindfulness in particular are booming, with courses and classes available all over every city. We tend to think of meditation as a silent practice, but there is one meditation method which is anything but silent. Mantras are repeated phrases, chanted or sung as part ofContinue reading “Waiting For the Mantra”
Riding With Joni
Popular music history is full of train songs from Boxcar Blues to Chatanooga Choo-Choo and Joni Mitchell continued the tradition on this cut from her 1974 album Court and Spark. It’s a wistful tune – it is Joni Mitchell after all – but it rides on a gently funky chassis, suggesting the forward movement ofContinue reading “Riding With Joni”
Under The Radar
To all members of the soiled siblinghood who cling to the city streets, that feral fraternity bequeathed to us by Madame Thatcher, for whom the park bench is a couch and the church steps a social club, who live alongside our absurd society and happen to be addicted to the wrong things… To these homelessContinue reading “Under The Radar”
The Grime Syndicate (a short story)
All the tea in all the world could never compete with the feeling I experienced some years ago in a single, solitary moment, which was seared in my memory for all time and now resides at the forefront of my consciousness. It happened when I was in the final year of my apprenticeship as aContinue reading “The Grime Syndicate (a short story)”
Mellow Yellow…
What are sodium lights? They’re the yellow street lights that are ubiquitous in the UK and are gradually being replaced in Liverpool (I don’t know about other cities) with white ones. This burnt-yellow light is a big part of me. As a teenager I hung around after dark on street corners drenched with it. InContinue reading “Mellow Yellow…”
Caving In…
It was Christmas Day and my step-mum had just given me a present – a DVD of the Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. As I studied the cover she told me: “They were talking about him on Radio 4. They’ve reassessed his life and career…you like him don’t you?” “Yes, I’ve heard aboutContinue reading “Caving In…”
My Ten Best Points…
Cultural end-of-year lists are so fucking smug. They’ve already started appearing, and I’m having to avoid the Sunday papers where cultural hacks declare which books, films and albums were the most essential. What a lot of great shit I’ve missed (as usual). There’s nothing wrong in theory with writers looking back at their personal highlights,Continue reading “My Ten Best Points…”
Musical Milestones – (as seen on TV) #1
Ok, here’s the first in a series of posts about seminal moments in musical TV history. To be more specific, they are about various times in my life when I happened to see something that blew my mind, my heart, and generally left me in an exhilarated heap on the living room floor. This happenedContinue reading “Musical Milestones – (as seen on TV) #1”
Tom George 