Black Cat Appreciation Day 2020

It's black cat appreciation day every day in this house.

Hero agrees...

30-Day Song Challenge Week 1

As I'm sure everyone appreciates, we're all trying to distract ourselves during these crazy times. There are many polls, quizzes and the like on t'internet to help people think about happier days and to just generally help our brains keep ticking over. Just for fun I thought I'd post the results of a song challenge I'm currently doing on Twitter, one week at a time. And, of course, the beauty of doing it here at TGW-S is that I'm not hampered by Twitter's character limit so I can waffle on to my heart's content. Here we go:

Day 1  -  A  song you like with a colour in the title
Purple Haze by the Jimi Hendrix Experience


Well, it's Hendrix. What more can I say? THAT guitar riff, " 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky", the feeling that the sky was now not the limit, early psychedelia at its rawest, perfection.

Day 2  -  A song you like with a number in the title
Song 2 by Blur


Song 2. Second song on its parent album, 2:02 minutes long, got to number 2 in the charts
Woo-hoo!

Day 3  -  A song that reminds you of summertime
Walking Barefoot by Ash


Yet another noise-pop nugget from one of my all-time fave live bands. Tim Wheeler's lyrics are often elemental, concerned with the seasons, the weather, the sun and moon, the pains and pleasure of love as if it was an elemental force itself.

Day 4 - A song that reminds you of someone you'd rather forget
Vienna  by Ultravox


I'm not really a fan of the 'Vox but this is a fine, windswept example of overblown '80s pop. And, no, I won't be going into who it reminds me of.

Day 5  -  A song that needs to be played LOUD!
The Ace Of Spades by Motorhead


Okay, this may not be THE classic Motorhead line-up but it's still a cracking performance of a mighty tune and being part of The Young Ones makes it an important moment in pop culture. Obviously.

Day 6  -  A song that makes you want to dance
Liquidator by The Harry J All Stars


A seminal Trojan Records single. Brings back memories of school discos, Young Farmers discos and youth club discos and pestering every DJ to play this tune. ( I actually didn't go to that many discos but it's a word that doesn't see the light of day much any more so if I can use it 4 times in one paragraph I think it makes the world a better place. )

Day 7  -  A song to drive to
Cadillac Ranch by Bruce Springsteen


Bruce obviously has many "car" songs in his repertoire but this is one of my faves  -  an unpretentious, foot-to-the-floor rocker.
"1, 2, 3, 4...!"

So, that was Week 1. Tune in next week to see if I manage to keep up the manic pace of thinking of one song a day. It's going to be tricky.

And, finally Esther, a big shout out ( as DJs probably still say? ) to Pete and Dave who have been joining me on this trip into stereophonic sound on Twitter. They are, of course, two-thirds of the legendary Kids From Rec Road and you can read their highly unlikely comic strip adventures here.

Bank Holiday mood

Birthday girl

Our lovely daughter Sophie has turned twenty today. Hard to believe :-)
Here she is making friends with some Imperial Stormtroopers...

and here she is enjoying a cupcake with Sarah. These photos are from a Vintage Fair in Gloucester at the weekend.

And some bloke got in this photo too...

And here are a few pics from a recent photoshoot that Sophie did in Bristol.

And here she is with ( not so ) little brother, James :-)

 Happy Birthday Babs!

Happy 4th of July!

Best Wishes to all of The Glass Walking-Stick's friends on the other side of t'Pond...

If those birds won't come to me, I'll have to go to them...

Windswept and interesting...?

After my last post comparing me at the age of 15 with James today ( in a Godfather Part II kind of way ) here's another ( completely self-indulgent ) old photo of me. This was taken some time in the mid-'80s on a rainy Blackpool Summer's day ( believe it or not ), with me demonstrating the fine art of adolescent posing. It's grim up North...

Recent Gigs Part One: The Sunshine Underground and The Xcerts

I haven't been to too many gigs this year for one reason or another ( mostly financial ) but here's part one of a quick roundup of some recent rock 'n' roll rebels and ragamuffins...
Last Saturday was supposed to see the third annual Summer Sound Festival in Gloucester Park. Last year's event was a lot of fun with Kids In Glass Houses and Chloe Howl tearing up the stage with mainstream metal and quirky pop. Unfortunately this year's festival was cancelled at short notice after a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain had hit the Shire the night before and then rumbled on well into Saturday morning. The council were worried about the stage being hit by lightning and so literally pulled the plug on the event. ( This may sound like overkill but a house about a mile from me had been struck by lightning the night before, so they weren't taking any chances. ) Luckily the gig was moved to the good ol' Guildhall so the more dedicated gig-goers could still see some bands, albeit in a totally different setting. I dragged Sarah along and we met up with our friends Glenn and Sam just in time to catch a couple of bands.

First up were The Xcerts, a frighteningly young Scottish indie band, somewhat reminiscent of The Kooks, but with the Caledonian burr of Biffy Clyro. Their heartfelt songs of love and loss went down a storm ( no pun intended ) with the mainly teenage audience... and with us, so much so that I bought their album In The Cold Wind We Smile. It's actually five years old and they have a new album on the way. One to listen out for.

Next on were The Sunshine Underground ( frontman Craig pictured above ), another band new to me but who have actually been around for a few years and were touring their third, self-titled album.A very groovy, very danceable sound: guitar-based but bursting with Technicolor synths and effects. Similar to Foals or Everything Everything but also in the tradition of the Happy Mondays or EMF  -  indie music you can move to. Oh, and they're named after a Chemical Brothers song. Cool. Definitely one of the best bands I've seen in ages  -  I'll have to catch them again, possibly at the Fleece in the Autumn.
We didn't stay for headliners Little Comets because Sarah had to be up early for work the next day
( Sunday! ) and the gig was already running late due to meteorological shenanigans. Even so, it had been a fun ( and free! ) night out in our favourite venue. Can't be bad.

Soundtrack: Don't Stop, Finally We Arrive by The Sunshine Underground
                   Aberdeen 1987 by The Xcerts

Recent Gigs Part One: Kids In Glass Houses / Chloe Howl

After seeing the massive Springsteen concert at Coventry's Ricoh Arena, it's been good to go to a couple of smaller, more intimate gigs recently. Back on the 20th of July Sarah, James and I went to Summer Sound Festival, the second year of this annual free gig in Gloucester Park. There had been bands playing all afternoon but we didn't get there until the evening and only managed to see headliners Kids In Glass Houses and support Chloe Howl.

Chloe Howl is the latest contender for the Lily Allen / Kate Nash / stroppy Londoner crown, although better than that sounds. She's a bouncing, pint-sized, flame-haired vixen on stage with a sly glint in her eye and a nice line in acerbic lyrics. Her band punched out some cool '80s-influenced pop, inviting comparisons to a less retro La Roux, with even a cheeky nod to New Order on breakthrough single No Strings. She's definitely someone to watch out for and her recent Radio One airplay should do her some good. And, as James said to me, "she's cute, so that helps..."

I was vaguely aware of headliners Kids In Glass Houses from seeing a couple of their videos on Kerrang TV but didn't know quite what to expect. They turned out to be a great live band  -  very enthusiastic and energetic, with some fine, upbeat, melodic rock songs. They had the whole crowd
( including us! ) bouncing up and down to anthems like Give Me What I Want and Matters At All, while singer Aled dived into the crowd at one point but managed to keep singing as he was buffeted around and eventually manhandled back onto the stage. I'll definitely have to see this band again  -  great fun. For an outdoor gig the sound was very crisp and clear, the lovely Summery weather ensuring the music wasn't blown away by any meteorological interference.

 And here are Sarah and James with Sam, Jacqui and Glenn  -  just after the gig, and just before heading to the fair to get a burger :-)
Next gig review: Everything Everything at Gloucester Guildhall

Soundtrack: No Strings / Rumour / I Wish I Could Tell You by Chloe Howl

Too hot to blog...

"In the Summertime when the weather is high, you can reach right up and touch the sky..."
At least, so sang hairy, novelty '70s pop band Mungo Jerry. Touching the sky is one thing, but blogging seems even harder than ever in these scorching temperatures.
( Not that I'm complaining: this weather is fantastic and infinitely preferable to our total non-Summer of last year. Still... innit hot...? )
Anyway, enough of my excuses, please enjoy these shots of our wild flower border which is growing beautifully and constantly surprising us as new and more colourful flowers appear on a daily basis...

And the golden-winged chap below is a dragonfly which briefly landed on our washing-line. I like this shot because the shape of the TV aerial on the roof almost appears to mimic the insect's shape, in reverse. A totally unintended piece of serendipity. It also seems that the wild flowers are encouraging more bees into our garden, which can only be a good thing.

Soundtrack: Echoes by Pink Floyd

Cloudless every day you fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

Andy Murray, Wimbledon legend!

 

 Congratulations to Andy Murray for his amazing win over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon today! It was a gruelling match, played out in blistering heat, with both players performing incredibly... but there could only be one winner, and it was the 26-year old from Dunblane who took the cup and became the first British winner of the mens' title in 77 years. An astounding victory!

The English Riviera

Just a few photos from our holiday down in Torbay last week. First a couple of glimpses of Torquay's harbour and marina...

And here's Sarah getting her feet wet in the harbour. This was just a few minutes after a teenage lad fell off the edge of the harbour wall and into the water behind where Sarah's standing. He fell about 10 feet but, luckily enough, the water was deep enough that he didn't hurt himself... although he was a bit shaken, obviously...

Below are a few shots of Brixham ( where we were staying ), starting with the lovely Fishcombe Cove which was less than 5 minutes' walk from our chalet...

And here's James on board Brixham harbour's replica of Francis Drake's Golden Hind. Avast there, ye land-lubbers...!

We also had a trip on the Dart Valley Steam Railway, from the nearby Goodrington station, along the banks of the beautiful Dart river to Kingswear, and then onto the ferry across the river to Dartmouth. Here's the train pulling into the station and then steaming past Goodrington Sands and its row of beach huts...

And here are James and I, about to catch the ferry...

A couple more shots of Brixham, starting with the beach next to the breakwater, where I saw a seal one evening, literally only 6 feet out in the water, posing for onlookers. No photos, unfortunately...

And a couple of lovely beach shots to finish...

Soundtrack: Revolver by The Beatles