With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Beware the savage jaw of 1984” September 10, 2016

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 4:15 pm
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kim-phuc

Facebook? Angel or Devil? More devil probably, but whilst there are some good things about this social networking behemoth there are also some terrible things about it. In one small action I have raised issues with Facebook  when some pages had posted blatant racist comments. One was “we’re not racist, we just hate Muslims”the Facebook Police do anything about it? No they damned well didn’t. Many other people have raised similar issues with Facebook often to no avail.

But it when it comes to a historical photograph of a nine-year old Vietnamese girl, Kim Phuc, running from an American napalm attack in 1972 Big Brother Zuckerberg decides that it is not suitable for his social network beast because it breaches the rule on pornography. Why? Because it depicts a naked nine-year old girl. The question is why is this girl naked? Her clothes had been burned from her body by this horrific attack. I am not for a moment saying that this is an easy picture to look at, but it is a truly iconic picture that brings home the violence and futility of war in the most powerful way. Do we need to see these pictures? Of course we do. It is things like this that may one day make people think more of seeking a peaceful outcome to conflict and not war. In the western world, increasingly so since the Second World War, we are anaesthetised to the horrors of war because it happens in other countries and is served up in bite-size pieces on our evening news. OK so Zuckerberg changed his mind on this picture after some heavy protest. But in my opinion it shows how much power this unelected billionaire, and many like him, have. For me Zuckerberg and Facebook crossed a line that they most definitely should not have. Zuckerberg you do not run the world, stop behaving like you do.

 

“If I go there will be trouble and if I stay it will be double” June 5, 2016

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 8:26 am
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Obviously most of you are aware that there is a referendum looming for us folk in the UK. It is a vote on whether we as a country should stay a part of the European Union or whether we should leave and go it alone. Personally I fundamentally disagree with the need for a referendum; if an elected government can’t make big decisions then why are they there? Give the people a referendum on all big decisions from keeping Trident to MPs pay. That would be much fairer and a true reflection of what people want. But no; we are lumbered with making a massive decision on a subject that no one really knows the answer to Just listen to all the drivel spouted by both the Brexit (incidentally I despise that invented word) and Remain camps. If anyone truly understands this decision and all its implications then I have never heard of them. Do I understand it? Of course not, although in some sleepless moments I might think that I do. But I am enjoying the spectacle of the Tory party tearing itself apart over it. Anyway I thought I would put a helpful list together of the reasons to vote Remain and the reasons to vote Brexit on June 23rd. I hope that you like it and feel free to add to it and share your opinion. I have also added a referendum poll if you wish to cast a vote here. Oh and obviously there is some (in)appropriate music too. Feel free to suggest your own referendum stay or leave songs.

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Reasons to vote Remain

Reasons to vote Brexit
1 Brexit is a shit word concoction which shows no imagination 1 We might do better in the Eurovision contest as an outsider
2 Boris Johnson will be upset 2 David Cameron will lose his job
3 Michael Gove will be upset 3 David Cameron will be upset
4 Nigel Farage will be angry and upset 4 Gideon will lose his job
5 It will annoy the Biffers of Britain First and their ilk immensely 5 Gideon will be upset
6 Donald Trump won’t like it 6 UKIP will have no reason to exist
7 To stop Boris Johnson succeeding in his reality TV interview for the Prime Minister’s job 7 Millions of UK ex pats will be returned to the UK from Europe. (Incidentally why aren’t they called immigrants?)
8 To cling on to a very thin chance to ditch the unelected House of Lords 8 To lose all the lovely foreign folk that clean for us, work in our essential services, pick our food and serve our food. You know those people that do the jobs no native of this country wants to do
9 To cling on to a slim chance of seeing the end of the monarchy in the UK 9 Daily Mail readers will be happy
10 Scotland will remain a part of the UK 10 Scotland will leave the UK
11 More austerity 11 More austerity
12 To maintain a Tory government 12 To maintain a Tory government
13 The England football team will still be shit 13 The England football team will still be shit
14 This whole bloody farce of a referendum will finally be over 14 This whole bloody farce of a referendum will finally be over

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“Should I pursue a path so twisted?”

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 7:24 am
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"Patti with Bolex-1, 1969"

Last night I dreamt that I met with Patti Smith before one of her gigs. Which is strange as up to now I have sadly never seen her play live, although I would love to. She was stood behind the Merch stand when I came into the dream. But she wasn’t selling badges, posters, stickers and t-shirts, she was making and selling a wide range of sandwiches. She was also offering advice about how to make the perfect sandwich, regretfully I am unable to recall that advice from my dream memory.

Patti+Smith

Incidentally I had a magnificent egg mayo sandwich. As often happens in dreams Patti asked me a totally unrelated question. “Are you married?” she said. I replied “Yes I am, to my beautiful second wife Catherine a.k.a Catwoman“. “I see” said Patti, “So you have an ex-wife?”. I responded with “Yes and I have two ex kids too”.

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It was at this point that I woke up. No drugs were consumed in the making of this dream and just a small amount of alcohol. I am really not sure what this dream says about me. As for ex kids, well my children have chosen to be estranged from me, so ex kids is as good a description as any! Finally this does give me a chance to share some classic Patti Smith tunes.

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“The trial was a pig circus, he never had a chance” February 3, 2016

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 11:18 am
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The other day I decided to take a quick count of all the artists in my album collection where I have at least 10 albums by a single artist. I included CDs, LPs and cassettes (although the only non compilation cassettes that I have are David Bowie bootlegs). Oh and while I’m on bootleg recordings obviously I have included them whether they are live, studio outtakes or simply unreleased stuff. I have not included digital recordings. I was surprised to find that there are 4o artists where I have at least ten releases by them. The list is below, (artist followed by the number of albums) there are no real surprises for me, are you surprised at any on this list? Have you ever done anything similar? I have also added a song from each of the top ten artists 🙂

David Bowie 141
Bob Dylan 30
Johnny Nash 26
Bruce Springsteen 26
Beatles 25
Neil Young 25
Elton John 19
Bob Marley 19
U2 19
Rod Stewart 18
Pink Floyd 17
REM 17
Elvis Costello 15
The Eels 15
Prince 15
Paul Weller 15
Ryan Adams 14
Led Zeppelin 14
Madonna 14
The Clash 13
Elvis Presley 13
Radiohead 13
Kate Bush 12
Oasis 12
Lou Reed 12
Stevie Wonder 12
Morrissey 11
Tom Waits 11
ZZ Top 11
Jeff Buckley 10
Julian Cope 10
Johnny Cash 10
Michael Jackson 10
John Lennon 10
Manic Street Preachers 10
Kylie Minogue 10
Iggy Pop 10
Rolling Stones 10
Frank Turner 10
The Who 10

 

“Don’t worry ’bout a thing, cos every little thing’s gonna be alright” January 26, 2016

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 12:27 pm
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3littlebirds

This is the second in what I hope will develop into a long running series of establishments that make tasteful and excellent use of songs, lyrics and references in their shop, café or whatever. I kicked off with the Inkwell in Gillygate, York. Now I would like to say a big hello to Circles Cafe on Lendal Bridge in York.

circles outside

The café has a brilliant mural in the snug area of some lyrics taken from Bob Marley‘s marvellously upbeat “Three Little Birds“. You can see this in the lead photograph in this post.

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Circles is a cosy little place that serves excellent cakes and sandwiches and especially good coffee. Other beverages are also available. When the weather is good you can even sit outside. If you’re coming to York by train this is a wonderful place to stop off on your walk into the city or on your walk back to the station. Or maybe you could even stop in both directions!

coffee

If you would like to recommend any other places that make good use of song titles or lyrics, they do not have to be cafe’s, then please let me know.

 

“Get sick, get well hang around an inkwell”

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 12:04 pm
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inkwell

This is the first in what will hopefully become an a series, albeit with occasional posts. That said there will definitely be at least one more coming very soon. I have been in a few shops and cafe’s recently where the owners clearly have some good musical taste. Two of these are in my home city of York, so I thought that I would start with one of those.

The-Inkwell-1074

The Inkwell on Gillygate takes its name from a lyric in Bob Dylan’s 60s classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues“. It is a fantastic little shop. You can buy new and re-release vinyl, new and secondhand books, record players and a few other curios too. The shop and all who work there are passionate about music and pop culture. Despite the Inkwell being relatively small they still put on a few excellent bands and artists every so often.

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If you have never been there and you live in York then shame on you. If you plan on visiting York and you would like to visit the Inkwell you can find it at 10 Gillygate just outside the city wall. You can also find them on all the usual places including Facebook.

If you come across any other places that use excellent lyrics in their store or their name feel free to let me know.

 

“No such number, no such zone” January 5, 2016

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 10:56 pm
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WOO HOO I HAVE THE WINNING BID FOR THE RECORD PLAYER! I AM SUCH A HOUND DOG!

WOO HOO I HAVE THE WINNING BID FOR THE RECORD PLAYER! I AM SUCH A HOUND DOG!

If I ever win big on the lottery I always felt that I wouldn’t spend extravagantly. That remains mainly true, however I have just seen some of the lots from a fabulous auction of a large amount of Elvis Presley’s possessions and memorabilia. The auction is at Elvis’ old pad Graceland on January 7th, the day before what would have been Mr Presley’s 81st birthday. The link to the Invaluable Auctions site is here. Three things that particularly interested me were;

guitar

Lot 24: Elvis Presley Stage-Used Guitar from January 14, 1973 “Aloha from Hawaii” Concert – Given to Fan in the Front Row on July 24, 1975 in Asheville, North Carolina.

TCB

Lot 114: Elvis Presley 14K “TCB” Necklace Gifted to Bodyguard Sam Thompson

record player

Lot 11: 1956 Elvis Presley Enterprises RCA Victor Model 7-EP-2 Portable Turntable – With Facsimile Signature

So there you have it, my three favourite items from this very interesting auction being run by Invaluable Auctions. If you would like to make this old bloke happy then I would be happy for you to buy me any of the above lots. It won’t set you back more than $516,000 based on the high-end estimates and obviously I would be eternally grateful. Just to show how grateful here are a few great Elvis songs for your pleasure.

 

 

“Today I don’t feel like doing anything” November 6, 2015

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 11:05 pm
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This is just a brief post to say that I have been somewhat lazy about blogging lately and neglectful of all my blogs. So I hope to make up for that over the next few days and at least post the small backlog of reviews and events that I have been to recently. After that there will be an official blog break from mid November to mid December to enable yours truly to recharge in warmer climes. But for now please enjoy a few lazy and lazy related tunes!

lazy

 

 

“Take a run and hide yourself away” July 15, 2015

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 7:14 pm
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ricky-gervais-twitter-quote

It’s great news that David Cameron and his dreadful Conservative government have at least postponed the vote on the repeal of the fox-hunting band. Having been out foxed Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP he is now a little like a fox on the run himself. Some UK newspapers are even referring to this as a humiliation for him. I’d like to think that he does feel humiliated but somehow I doubt that he does.

Well if you won't let us posh arseholes hunt and kill foxes we'll bloody well hunt vicious lambs instead!

Well if you won’t let us posh arseholes hunt and kill foxes we’ll bloody well hunt vicious lambs instead!

For me the idea of chasing after a fox with a baying group of red jacketed toffs on horseback and a pack of dogs is not vermin control. It’s sadism. Anyway we and the foxes, live to fight another day. But don’t let the subject drop! This is but a small victory.

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As I have said before this is a music blog so let’s celebrate with some fox related songs.

Cameron as the fox in a fox hunt? I'd pay to see that!

Cameron as the fox in a fox hunt? I’d pay to see that!

 

 

“Just put that monster smile on them rosy cheeks” July 5, 2015

Filed under: Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 10:56 pm
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4896

I would like to use this post to send my congratulations to the people of Greece for voting Oxi or No to more austerity and humiliation at the hands of their so-called European partners. Whatever the outcome over the coming days, weeks and months I believe that this was the right way to vote. I am sure that it took courage those who voted and belief and passion from Greek ministers. If only UK politicians had that level of passion! Have Alexis Tsipras and Yanis Varoufakis played a better game than Angela Merkel and her cronies? Only time will tell I suppose

Anyway this is a music post so celebrate the Oxi vote by listening to the Eagles with “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks” (or Merkels, or more austerity!)