He may be a little crazy, but Morrissey provided a highlight of the Olympics with his declaration that "the spirit of 1939 Germany now pervades throughout media-brand Britain".
Isn't Morrissey's attack on mindless jingoism what you expect from rock stars? Well, it used to be. From Jim Morrison through to Johnny Rotten, it used to be part of the job description to attack and upset the establishment.
John Lennon did a pretty good stint in the job... only to be resurrected without his knowledge and appropriated for the Olympics (courtesy of Yoko Ono).
Paul McCartney... er, we know how that worked out. And even Pete Townshend, one-time angry young mod and subverter of the Union Jack, agreed to take part in the Olympics finale...
There was speculation about why Kate Bush didn't appear live (leaving one of her songs to be used completely out of context). Is it possible that she has too much artistic integrity?
Lennon alive (rather than Lennon dead) would surely not have allowed himself to be subsumed by the establishment. He might even have said something to leave Morrissey in the shade.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Monday, 13 August 2012
Honest Untruth
I don't have a lot of time for reading blogs. It's all I can do to find time to write one.
There are just a handful that I look at from time to time for inspiration, not least the Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman.
I thought I loved it because it was so honest. But as the author herself pointed out recently, blogs are no more truthful than anything else that we write or produce.
We're all writing what we think we should write... what we want to see... what we want others to see... so it's no more truthful than anything else we do.
But whether it's the truth or not, I strongly recommend the Exmoor Woman blog. Honestly.
There are just a handful that I look at from time to time for inspiration, not least the Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman.
I thought I loved it because it was so honest. But as the author herself pointed out recently, blogs are no more truthful than anything else that we write or produce.
We're all writing what we think we should write... what we want to see... what we want others to see... so it's no more truthful than anything else we do.
But whether it's the truth or not, I strongly recommend the Exmoor Woman blog. Honestly.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Seconds Out
I have been away from my post/s. Now I'm back. The good news is that my novel Like A Flower seems to have found a publisher and should be available for downloading to your Kindle this autumn.
Having got one book done and almost dusted, it's tempting to get a second one under way. The problem is that I've had so many ideas that I'm not sure which to go with.
The front runners at the moment are With Fervent Heat, a story of the terrible ramifications of intense passion, and 'King Hell, a tale of addiction, love and friendship.
Hopefully, one will be underway soon.
Having got one book done and almost dusted, it's tempting to get a second one under way. The problem is that I've had so many ideas that I'm not sure which to go with.
The front runners at the moment are With Fervent Heat, a story of the terrible ramifications of intense passion, and 'King Hell, a tale of addiction, love and friendship.
Hopefully, one will be underway soon.
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Shirt Shrift
It seems that anyone wearing a Pepsi T-shirt to the Olympics might get the same treatment as someone mentioning Jimi Hendrix on The Real Blues Forum (see previous post).
Although the organisers now appear to have back-pedalled a bit on this.
However, the Olympics is a Coca-Cola event and you'd be wise to keep that in mind. And don't even suggest that the tie-up between Coca-Cola and fitness is kind of odd.
You think Coke might be bad for you? Coca-Cola reassures you that it's "safe for consumption as part of a balanced and varied diet". So that's all right, then.
Although the organisers now appear to have back-pedalled a bit on this.
However, the Olympics is a Coca-Cola event and you'd be wise to keep that in mind. And don't even suggest that the tie-up between Coca-Cola and fitness is kind of odd.
You think Coke might be bad for you? Coca-Cola reassures you that it's "safe for consumption as part of a balanced and varied diet". So that's all right, then.
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Security Madness - Part 94
I had the pleasure of attending a party at the House of Lords last night. But at one point, I was beginning to wonder whether it was worth going through all the 'security' procedures.
After the police checking your papers, there was airport-style (i.e. slow and irritating) security where you had to queue up and put everything through a scanner, have your picture taken, have your bag searched...
And when they found I had a bottle of hemp oil in my bag, there was much tutting and deliberation before I was allowed through to the next stage.
There we all had to leave our bags behind, before going up three floors to the room where the party was being held.
Plus (and I'm not making this up) we were asked to remove our jackets and leave them behind IF we were planning to wear them into the party room and then take them off, i.e. if you kept your jacket on at this point, then you would have to keep it on throughout the party and would not be allowed to remove it.
Since the room was some distance above us and we had no idea of its, size, temperature or how many people would be in it, it was difficult to assess whether you would be keeping your jacket on or taking it off at some point.
I mentally spun a coin and kept mine on.
It was a good party, but the venue really does need to sort out its door policy.
After the police checking your papers, there was airport-style (i.e. slow and irritating) security where you had to queue up and put everything through a scanner, have your picture taken, have your bag searched...
And when they found I had a bottle of hemp oil in my bag, there was much tutting and deliberation before I was allowed through to the next stage.
There we all had to leave our bags behind, before going up three floors to the room where the party was being held.
Plus (and I'm not making this up) we were asked to remove our jackets and leave them behind IF we were planning to wear them into the party room and then take them off, i.e. if you kept your jacket on at this point, then you would have to keep it on throughout the party and would not be allowed to remove it.
Since the room was some distance above us and we had no idea of its, size, temperature or how many people would be in it, it was difficult to assess whether you would be keeping your jacket on or taking it off at some point.
I mentally spun a coin and kept mine on.
It was a good party, but the venue really does need to sort out its door policy.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Stuck Outside The Forum With The Hendrix Blues Again
Was Jimi Hendrix a blues musician? There are some who will think this question in the same league as 'Is the pope a Catholic?' etc...
But for others, it seems, the very idea of Hendrix being thought of as a blues musician is akin to heresy.
A Facebook group called The Real Blues Forum hosts intricate and erudite discussion on the blues, but someone (not me) recently had the temerity to put up some pictures of Hendrix for discussion, because Jimi was seen to be holding actual blues albums in the photos.
When the subsequent discussion (all right, I did play a part in this bit) turned to Jimi being a great blues player, the originator of the strand made it clear that if there was another mention of Jimi's music (rather than the blues albums in the photos), he would remove, i.e. censor, the whole discussion.
A forum is a 'meeting place for open discussion'... but not The Real Blues Forum, it seems.
When I posted a quote from BB King — 'Jimi to me was one of the great explorers of the so-called Delta blues' — toys were thrown out of the pram and the discussion was closed down.
What is so terrible about suggesting that Jimi was part of the great blues tradition? BB hit on something with his reference to the Delta blues... for surely Hendrix was little more than the Robert Johnson of his time.
If Johnson had lived into the electric blues era, there is no telling where he and his playing might have gone. His music might even have been banned from being discussed on The Real Blues Forum.
But for others, it seems, the very idea of Hendrix being thought of as a blues musician is akin to heresy.
A Facebook group called The Real Blues Forum hosts intricate and erudite discussion on the blues, but someone (not me) recently had the temerity to put up some pictures of Hendrix for discussion, because Jimi was seen to be holding actual blues albums in the photos.
When the subsequent discussion (all right, I did play a part in this bit) turned to Jimi being a great blues player, the originator of the strand made it clear that if there was another mention of Jimi's music (rather than the blues albums in the photos), he would remove, i.e. censor, the whole discussion.
A forum is a 'meeting place for open discussion'... but not The Real Blues Forum, it seems.
When I posted a quote from BB King — 'Jimi to me was one of the great explorers of the so-called Delta blues' — toys were thrown out of the pram and the discussion was closed down.
What is so terrible about suggesting that Jimi was part of the great blues tradition? BB hit on something with his reference to the Delta blues... for surely Hendrix was little more than the Robert Johnson of his time.
If Johnson had lived into the electric blues era, there is no telling where he and his playing might have gone. His music might even have been banned from being discussed on The Real Blues Forum.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Security Risk
Only a few days to go to the Olympics, and it's good to know that the military are prepared to shoot down hijacked passenger planes over heavily populated areas of London.
Now we can all sleep easy in our beds.
David Starkey tends to be a little extreme in his pronouncements, but his tirade against the Olympics on the BBC's Any Questions? last night really did go over the top — in the very best way.
It's surprising that he wasn't taken out mid-flow by a strategically based missile.
Now we can all sleep easy in our beds.
David Starkey tends to be a little extreme in his pronouncements, but his tirade against the Olympics on the BBC's Any Questions? last night really did go over the top — in the very best way.
It's surprising that he wasn't taken out mid-flow by a strategically based missile.
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