Happy Birthday, Rest In Peace, and so much more besides

So, has it really been a fortnight since the last instalment of blogness?

Over that time I have enjoyed some chilling in the form of having time off from work after booking holidays.  We didn't really go away as such, but we did get some visiting in, and I also managed to collect some stuff from storage and sort through it.  I haven't fetched all of it, but I did go and get a lot of stuff.  What to do with the absolute ton of boxes full of CD's and books I don't know.  Once we get a house rather than the flat things will be more spacious I hope.

I'm sort of hoping for somewhere where we can actually make one of the rooms into a sort of study type room where each of us can do things and store the obligatory CD's, DVD's, and books.  A sort of study/library room I suppose.  I really fancy that idea.

What else is there to talk about then?

George Harrison

Yesterday would have been the 68th birthday of the late great George Harrison.  Now I am not in any way going to get myself involved in any way with the whole thing of George being stifled by Lennon and McCartney, because that argument will being going for a long time to come.  His music though was only one part of what made the man.  His religious beliefs are there for anyone to see, and he was incredibly vocal in those, bringing it to the forefront for all to see.  His interest in film was obvious as well with the fact that he was co-owner of Handmade Films, who were behind the Monty Python films as well as The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, and so many more films.

It is obvious to anyone that I would have liked to have met the man given the chance, but now that won't be possible.  Still, I could Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr sometime still, but that is most likely pie in the sky as well.

George Harrison with Hope & Laurence Juber

Anyway, happy birthday to George.  It was nice to hear a fact that I hadn't known about George's 1987 album Cloud Nine during his birthday, which was when Laurence Juber (ex-Wings guitarist) placed a picture of George up on his page and then let out that he had played guitar and sung backing vocal on the song You Can Take The Breath Away From Heaven off that album, but uncredited.  That is why I didn't know.  It isn't credited on the album cover notes or even on Wikipedia.  I am tempted to start an account on there to add that to the site, but I'm not sure that I want to go through that rigmarole.

Speaking of ex-Beatles, Paul and Ringo have both issued new albums, and I haven't got either of them yet.  I'm sure I will do eventually.

I have carried on my music blog series, finishing the two-parter about Ringo's début solo album Sentimental Journey.  I'm being very selective obviously because I haven't gone into detail on the music of any of the songs, and I haven't posted any cover versions of the songs on there because, quite frankly, I have come up with a method now which is that I will only look at songs that the ex-Beatles have written, because then in a way it works as a companion piece to my friend Matt's Beatles Songwriting Academy blog.  I have actually recorded myself doing a few of the songs, but that was just for fun.

Speaking of recording, I posted on Friday that I had recorded some songs for the blog but hadn't completely explained.  Basically I had been going through a few of the songs because I fancied doing them, but they will probably not be the versions that I will be posting as part of the blog series, although I am fond of the almost riffy style I have put on All Things Must Pass.

TISWAS

I was saddened to hear about the death of Frank Carson the other day.  For those not in the know he was a comedian from Ireland, and I remember him from my childhood through his involvement in the television series TISWAS, which also featured a young and very funny Lenny Henry, an ex-member of the group The Scaffold in the shape of John Gorman (which also featured Paul McCartney's brother Mike as a member), the young producer/presenter Chris Tarrant, the lady that most young men fancied was the presenter Sally James, and there was also Bob Carolges with the puppet Spit The Dog.  It was a great show, and Frank was a part of it.  That is how I remember him.

TISWAS reunited

I was very much a fan of that crazy kids television show, and to this day have memories of the Phantom Flan Flinger, kids running riot, and the over all great feeling that the show seemed to bring with it.

I guess it's a programme that you have to be a certain age to remember.   Things change don't they.  I know sometimes that I get nostalgic, and this is one of those times for sure.

Anyway, I think I'd better finish now I suppose before you get bored with all of this reminiscing.  I have a couple of days off this week, and I am crossing my fingers that there will be some relaxation involved because coming back to work on nights after seventeen days off has been a real drain, because I am shattered.  That plus I really enjoyed the time off as well, and it was nice to actually have some time where I wasn't the tired and irritable person that night shifts and disturbed sleep (thank you neighbours) makes me into.  It was also nice to be able to eventually get my body clock used to sleeping at night again.  It was a pain before when I got so used to working night shifts that on my days off I couldn't sleep at night, which meant keeping Louise awake with my lying there wide awake and shuffling in bed, or getting up and watching telly whilst ironing shirts and stuff.

Anyway, I am still waffling on aren't I.  Like I said, I had better crack on.

Here's hoping that you have a lovely Sunday.  I am personally looking forward to more than the four hours sleep that I got yesterday thanks to the bloody neighbour's music being that loud that it made the bed I was trying to sleep in shake!  Bloody typical of a lot of youngsters today I'll tell you.  No bloody respect with banging doors that can be shut quieter.  They will be moaning when the door has to be replaced!

Oops.

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

26 February 2012 (41 years, and three months old)

Musical Thoughts and that

Has it really been that long since I last blogged?  I am actually surprised by that.

What has happened then since last time?  Not very much if I am being honest.

I am half way through a two week holiday from work at the moment.  Someone at work asked if I was going away and I said that we're not, except for going to my dad's (which we did yesterday).  It is impossible to go away really as financially I have trouble even going visiting because I have to think about whether I can afford the fuel to get to these places.  So I can see us never being able to afford a holiday as things are at the moment.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it Mr Cameron, because you have made things that way!  Tosser!

I have done more work on my music blog since last time we spoke, having started looking at Ringo Starr's début album Sentimental Journey, which is a collection of standards.  Quite apt really considering that McCartney has come out with a album of standards recently.  What is it with all of these people nowadays doing cover albums when they get to be over 60?  I mean the Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart thing, not Ringo because that was back in 1970 when he was 30 (well, a few months later anyway).  Whatever, I know that I will probably end up getting the McCartney album, but it will more than likely join the list of CD's I own that really never get played after the initial play.

Actually the fact that my CD collection is still in storage at my aunt's is causing a bit of a problem in a way, because back when I had my CD collection where I lived, I would sometimes pull out a CD that I had probably not listened to since it's initial play, and I would put it on to have another listen to it.  Sometimes it would be something that really opened my eyes.  Having started that music blog with the début Paul McCartney album, that was sort of along those lines.  Prior to that I had obviously listened to some of the album because it was on my iPod, but that was only whilst it was on shuffle, or I had some of those songs on a playlist that I had made up.  Now with the blog I have had to listen to the whole album and really look at it, analyse it, and all of that.  Doing that made me appreciate the set a lot more.

I sometimes am sat and think to myself about something that I would like to dig out and try listening to again, but there's no point since I don't have the couple of thousand or more CD's here to do that with.  Oh well, I suppose that I am stuck with whatever I have bought with me while living here.

Speaking of music, I have seen that someone who's music I like very much (Chris Dowd) is working on a new album with some great backing.  Mike Inez from Alice In Chains, Stephen Perkins from Jane's Addiction,and Darryl Jennifer from Bad Brains.  These are all acts that I am very much a fan of (although all the CD's I have of them are all including in those that are at my aunt's.  I have admired all of the music that I have heard him  be involved in, since his days in the great Fishbone.  This set that he is working on is a solo set, and I am very much looking forward to it.  The first thing that he was involved in after leaving Fishbone way back when was a great project entitled Seedy Arkhestra and the album Puzzle, which I recommend that anyone who likes listening to new music go and check out, it has so much going for it.  I'm also looking forward to his work as part of a group called The Ultra Infidels.  This set is entitled Beautiful Carnage, and he is looking at getting funding from his fans to be able to afford to record the set.  It is something that has become de rigeur, especially known to me because of my love for the band Marillion, who release material the same way by getting fans to pay and then the fans get material.

I can understand this from his perspective, because it is very expensive recording music, and I for one have that same problem with my own music, because I really can't find the money to put those last bits onto the One Day set, and the fact that they are vocals necessitates the parts needing to be recorded in a studio really, because I'm not so fond of vocals being recorded at home, especially with the limited means at my possession.  I have put some money towards it because, as I said, I am very much a fan of Chris's music.

Anyway, all of this sort of leads to news that I heard today for the first time, which is the surprising death of the singer Whitney Houston at the very young age of 48.  I was actually shocked to hear that when I saw it on the "red button" on BBC.  My thoughts go out to her family.

I thank you for reading and I look forward to a little trip to Retford tomorrow just for the heck of it.  I've not been there since I was doing my previous job as a relief security officer for Morrison's stores with Cardinal Security.  Myself and Louise like Retford very much, and look forward to just going there and seeing how things are.

Take care of yourselves.

February 12 2012 (41 years, 2 months, and 17 days old)