Showing posts with label Oxfam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oxfam. Show all posts

Friday 21 January 2022

The Stone Has Rolled


Suprisingly I got through "Like A Rolling Stone" by Greil Marcus as it was a bit like reading Dylan and jumped around timewise, but was almost stream of consciousness like say Dylan's "Tarantula" . Incidentally I started a book called "MiTarantula" based on Dylan's style but it is currently lying in my writing wreckage but maybe I need to revisit and revise and revive it as I now know how to publish a book on th eAmazon Kindle Publishing Platform.

I am still reading "The Touch" by F Paul Wilson on KIndle and that will probably be a week or two before I complete that and then pick up on "SignalZ" the seventh book in "The Adversary" series.

Physically I have picked up on "The Talisman" by Jonathan Aycliffe a master ghost story teller who also frequents the Oxfam shop that I volunteered at for a few months. This is a reread but Aycliffe is one of my favourite authors in both his guises, the other being Daniel Easterman which is generally more polictical / religion based, but I am shocked none of his work has made it to the big screen.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - My Directory
  2. The Never Ending Music - My Music Directory
  3. The Never Ending Poetry - My Poetry Directory
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag
  6. The Accidental Book Helping a Great Vocal Friend Resulted In Me Publishing My First Book
  7. Call Me Les - A Great Friend and An Amzing Writer

Saturday 19 September 2020

A Nice Surprise - #FruitfulSeptember #7

 Sometimes you do wake up to nice little surprises. This morning I started my phone up up and there was a Paypal payment (one of the few notifications I deliberately allow on my phone) , it was for a Discogs order from a Scottish guy in Edinburgh , but apart from the nice surprise of getting a little money was that the guy's name referenced Avalanche Records which I thought had gone to the wall. It turns out it had but now it's back and they have a very informative website here , so I will be dropping in next time I'm in Edinburgh. They have a social media presence on twitter here and Facebook here.

Although we've been promised rain , and yesterday morning was very misty (see here) , the last few days have been very pleasant weather.

I'm currently reading "Spear of Destiny" by Daniel Easterman , and while I have read it before, I have forgotten big chunks of it , and just when you think it can't get any worse for the main protagonists , it always does. He is definitely on of my favourite authors and apparently frequents Oxfam in Jesmond where I volunteered briefly after leaving EE.

So for #FruitfulSeptember we'll go with "Incense and Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock , dated but creepily excellent.

Saturday 25 April 2020

A Shadow on the Wall .....


I reread books I like, mainly because my memory is fairly rubbish,but many years ago I picked up a book, I think from a library clearance, a large print version of "A Shadow on the Wall" by Jonathan Aycliffe (one of the pen names of Denis MacEoin, and other is Daniel Easterman) , and he is probably my favourite authors in the Goth / Supernatural genre. The think is I am reading this and it has become obvious I have never read the book, even though it's been in my possession for probably ten years.

I've just looked on Amazon and there a few more of his books that I was unaware of, so my reading is probably sorted for the rest of the year.

I still think "The Matrix" is the most frightening book of this genre I have ever read , and along with "The Vanishment" and "Naomi's Room" are brilliant reads, "The Lost" is a slightly comic take on the genre but still well worth a read.

As Daniel Easterman the novels are more political / religion based but still absorbing and worth your time.

Back to "A Shadow on the Wall" , I am past page 200 (there are 264 pages) and I still haven't a clue what is going to to happen, and the main protagonist doesn't know what he is going to do either as people disappear , fall ill, and die as he tries to keep his new family safe. It is up there with is best.

A small aside is that Denis MacEoin apparently visits the Oxfam shop in Jesmond where I briefly helped after I left EE while I was at Geek Talent and before my present employment.

This week I have been listening to my fave Goth band Dead Eyes Opened and delighted they are back from the grave with a new song "To The Devil" which is available as a free download from their Bandcamp area and the video is above. Hope to get to see them again soon.


Tuesday 14 April 2020

Turn The Page


I am tired and wasn't going to write anything , but think I should write something, so may as well do it now and then maybe have  along walk tomorrow morning before work.

I finished "Behold The Man" by Michael Moorcock and it is short , but , in my opinion well done, stopping at a good point to make you wonder and think about the Bible and the nature of history and truth.

I'm am doing another revisit "A Shadow On The Wall" by Jonathan Aycliffe , a local writer who apparently frequently visits the Oxfam shop where I spent some time when I left EE and joined up briefly with Geek Talent before my present post.

Thanks to the lockdown I seem to be watching more TV but not getting as much walking done as  I would like, though I have discovered another excellent Post Office to despatch my Discogs sales. I seriously don't think I will hit 340K this month, though I am slightly ahead of my target at the moment , but the problem with walking is that it takes time, maybe I should attempt to run, but feel I am too fat and unfit to take up running, but walking is surely a decent second.

So really a piece of music to see me to bed, and what should that be, for some reason te song "Valerie" by The Zutons  came to mind , a great song ruined by Mark Ronson's Stars on 45 arrangement of it for Amy Winehouse, so you can hear the original and the best. I can't listen to the AMy Winehouse version , she was far better with her own stuff , and sadly lost talent.


Sunday 9 June 2019

No Time


Just reading the excellent "Notes on a Nervous Planet" and something came up that applies to me. I continually feel that I do not have enough time to do things (may that's a symptom of getting older) but as Matt Haig points out, we can now communicate faster and more easily than every before, we have rapid travel options , washing machines, lawn mowers , microwaves , etc speed up things that took a lot more of our time than they did before.

When I left EE I didn't realise at first that I didn't have to travel, on general three hours a day to get to and from work. That's fifteen hours a week (I was stopped from working from home before I finished), that's sixty hours a month. Given that the average working week is 37 hours (150 hours a month) I gained more than 20% time by leaving. That is a lot of time.

The problem is life overload, to watch a TV program or a film , still takes as long as it takes, reading a book takes time, listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony takes about 70 minutes to listen to (you could play it at 78 rpm but that would sound silly), but basically we do not really appreciate the extra time that modern life is giving use, and we should do.

Writing this takes time, and reading it takes time (though not as much time as it takes to write).

It is a beautiful Sunday Morning and it's an excuse to share the wonderful Flash Mob take on "Ode To Joy" from Beethoven's 9th . I showed this to the lady in the the Oxfam Shop in Helmsley and she loved it because she said it makes you realise what instruments go together to make this wonderful music.

Saturday 13 October 2018

The Book Problem and The Clock Stopped at Midnight


I have an Owl Clock that I got from Whitby, and this week I noticed it had stopped, at midnight... or it could have been mid day as it's a standard analogue twelve hour clock. For some reason my mind is awake, my body is tired, and it's 3AM Saturday morning, ideally I should be asleep, my body says yes, my mind says no, so as I compromise I am writing this blog post in the hope that I can send my mind to sleep.

Bar Loco - Beef Stew
And here is what I was planning to write about yesterday but didn't get round to.  Yesterday I had a birthday lunch with my two brilliant daughters at Bar Loco, and went for the beef stew. I'm supposed to be eating iron rich food and was surprised when it came with mashed potato and long stem broccoli, and it was very scrumptious indeed.

You can see it to the right and didn't realise that the broccoli seems to be the biggest portion on the plate! It wasn't but it was all enjoyed.

Anyway now to the main point of this post, and I am starting to feel a little tired.

Yesterday I finally finished Simon Singh's "The Code Book" . It was hard going but a great great read, particularly twisting my melon like mind when it hit the quantum theory play out section (which was followed by ten coded messages to solve which I looked at and then shut the book).

Next I wanted something that was going to be entertaining but easy reading, and decided to go back to my teenage years and The Runestaff sequence by Michael Moorcock, which I was drawn into because of his affinity with Hawkwind one of my favourite bands of the time. The individual books come in at around 150 to 200 pages, and I was sure I had a reduxed anthology of the first four book but where the hell could it be, ad did I even have it. I wouldn't say I am a book hoarder, I know people who have a far greater affinity with books than I, but I wasn't sure where to start.

I cleared the pile next to my bedside cabinet and luckily it was there in the cabinet. But it was a far thicker volume than I expected, nearly seven hundred pages of quite small text. This is part of Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" and "Multiverse" (which incidentally is part of quantum theory) series which spans maybe a hundred books, most of which I have read and now I am going to read again hopefully.

I am on the second chapter and while the writing may not be perfect, the ideas are still stimulating and I am looking forward to continuing on. When I was working at Oxfam I came across "The Dreamthief's Daughter" and Elric novel and found that absolutely wonderful, so I will leave you with "Black Blade" by Blue Oyster Cult which features lyrics by Moorcock about Elric's sword, Stormbringer, the Stealer of Souls.

Have a brilliant Saturday,  I'm going back to bed.

Thursday 22 October 2015

Just Amazed - Do It Now - #22 - 1978 - Darts - It's Raining


I'm constantly amazed by how much good stuff in general there is and how we have the ability to do so many things with a lot less effort that we did ten or fifteen years ago. We can do so much on the move get in touch with our loved ones and our not so loved ones whenever we want , we have the opportunity to gather , have fun socialise , and have a good time . But always do things as soon as you get the opportunity , because putting off things to next week or next month may mean putting of things so long you may lose the opportunity to do it.

Raining
Las night I missed a quiz raising money for Oxfam , I feel bad about it but I was just far too tired to
attend . Also I know I will have the opportunity to make amends.

Anyway in my 22nd Year I remember seeing the Darts , and this song "It's Raining" still gives me goose bumps.

So if you can do that good thing now , have fun , enjoy yourself and life will be wonderful.

Monday 4 May 2015

Doing More or Taking Longer To Do It?



Recently , maybe over the last six months or longer , it seems I have less time to do things, or that's how I sometimes perceive it. I'll often look at the clock and think bloody hell I need to do this that and the other. Sometimes it seems that time is running away with me . There's lots I want to do , and I have to drop things because I'm doing other things. Recently a friend was over from Australia for three weeks for his sons wedding , but because of us being in different places when each of us had some free time we missed seeing each other.

I have close friends I haven't seen or spoken to since before Christmas, which is one of the positives about Facebook , because you can be aware of what is happening to others even if you don't see them.

In January I was made redundant, which I thought would mean have a lot of free time. The reality was that because of voluteering (Oxfam) , helping out (Geektalent) plus looking for a job, and doctors appointments , I did not wake up once wondering what  I was going to do that day.

I have two song snippets prepared, but need to knuckle down and make time to get things done there.

Catch up TV is growing by the day , and I don't have Netflix or Amazon Prime and cannot see even contemplating that in the future.

I almost missed the Journey To Justice Exhibition at the Discovery Museum , but forced myself to take time to see it as a good friend was heavily involved.

Then I have been to three gigs this week seeing seven bands and written blog posts on all of them here

So thinking about the situation , I would say I am doing quite a lot , keeping active and that's why sometimes I feel as if I don't have time to do what I want. Yes it is nice to relax at times , but it's even nicer to do something that you want. Really I'm in the position of having a choice of a number of gorgeous sweets at the end of a meal , knowing the reality is that, for today anyway, I can only choose one.

Journey
So the choice of song is Time Captives by Kingdom Come although the song lyrics say Time Captains, if you plan your Time you're fine if not well you know ......

You always have options and the ideal idea is to always have a choice you can take that you want. This comes off for me most of the time so at the moment life is very good.

I think I've said this before , sometimes you just need to step back ,  get a different perspective and then things look so much better.

Have a brilliant day , and there's another Bank Holiday at the end of the month

Saturday 25 April 2015

Legendary Times



Not quite yet
Well the last few months have been amazing and the next few weeks are likely to be just as good. Have been catching up with friends, started an excellent new job with some great people in an excellent location, been involved with an amazing start up GeekTalent , done a small amount of volunteer work for Oxfam, taken part in Record Store Day and World Book Night, seen two total music legends, George Clinton and Lee Perry in accessible settings and Preston North End are within a win of returning to the Championship. Joe Garner winning League One Player of the year , and despite having a lengthy layoff still managing to finish as probably the league's top scorer. Here's that goal from last season's playoff defeat , but it is amazing:


So that's what's been happening, this week is more work , and more music with Public Service Broadcasting , Jordan Reyne next month Black Grape as well, with a possibility of fitting in the Fall. I'm just so lucky to be living in Newcastle with all this amazing stuff going on. Oh and there's going to be Summertyne , The Mouth Of Tyne Festival , Corbridge Festival, the Newcastle Unity Festival and The Green Festival, it is looking like an exciting summer.

It kicks off with a half eight hospital visit tomorrow morning which should be just routine stuff. Also lots of garden stuff to do , a new website to design and put live , and to record some songs I've half written (initial ideas recorded to phone now sitting on my PC)  when I finally get my set up running though may just go for recording to system microphone.

So basically it's now time for bed. Enjoy the rest of your weekend , I certainly will. I've include John Cale's Bamboo Floor because it makes me happy , with suitably dark lyrics.

Monday 9 February 2015

Brief Encounter at The Tyneside Bar and Cafe where Dali Meets Disney


Today after doing a couple of hours at the excellent Oxfam Books and Music in Jesmond , I got mack into Newcastle and decided to go for a cup of coffee and a cake at the Tyneside Bar and Cafe. I was chatting with the girl behind the bar (who's name I didn't get) and she recommended the carrot and cinnamon cake to go with my coffee and I noticed the film playing. The Tyneside Bar and Cafe has a program of silent film screening every afternoon and a couple of weeks ago I caught some of The Battleship Potemkin. It's really brilliant idea to have these films as a backdrop to be engrossed in as you have your coffee or cake.

Anyway I asked what the film was that was showing and she told me it was a thirties rendition of Faust, she didn't know much of the story of Faust but was determined to find out more having watch most of the film and , like me she was impressed with it. It's a two hour film and you can watch it above. This led to a chat about German Surreal Horror and Salvador Dali's involvement with film and I was racking my brains about a film that I'd seen recently but also seen as a child with some lasting images of strange angular paths and a bearded eyeless monk through a window (yes I remembered that from my childhood). Anyway a girl a the bar called Amy who also works at the Tyneside Cinema and threw in some ideas including Un Chien Andalou and L'Age D'Or but more intriguingly mentioned a Salvador Dali and Walt Disney collaboration. This is a short film called Destino started in 1946 and completed in 2003. You can watch it below and to me it is jaw dropping, I have to thank Amy for telling me about this absolute gem:


However I still couldn't  remember the film I'd seen,
That Path
so decided to search while I had my coffee and cake. After about ten minutes I remembered it had featured in a documentary on European Horror films by Mark Gatiss and then googled European Surreal Horror and there it was "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari" , which I had discussed at some point with my friend Craig another Tyneside Cinema guy. So I had a really good day , discovering things I didn't even know about thanks to Amy and finally remember THAT film , which I'll use to finish off this post.

Have a great night everybody, because I have had a great day

Friday 6 February 2015

Dogs and Mice



Birds in the Garden
Today has been more than a little weird. The weather is still wintery and I was going to refill the bird feeders in the garden, I went into the garage and picked up the bag of bird feed from the floor which was almost empty. I though that I was sure I'd only used about half of it , no matter, although the bag only had a small hole in it. Then I looked on the shelf and saw the half full bag of bird feed , secured with an elastic band. It look like there has been a very fat mouse or two in our garage. So I filled up the feeders and think I best store bird seed on the top shelf in future.





Oxfam Dog
Then today in the Oxfam shop we had a visit from a lovely friendly dog , who was also extremely well behaved and brought a smile to everyone's face.

The only downer is that , I think due to the wear, my knees nearly seized up causing a lot of pain, making it difficult when crouching sorting out music and looking for stuff for a Valentine's day display. The irony is that it's best to keep moving as it just hurts when you have been still for a couple of minutes , so in a way I suppose my body is telling me to get a move on and stop being so lazy.

So now I'm back in the house and will watch some catch up tv tonight , and the obvious song for this is the excellent Rat in Mi Kitchen by UB40. Have a brilliant Friday night.

Thursday 5 February 2015

First Post


This is my first post this month, despite being technically free to do what I please. This week has resulted in time at the DWP , a couple of days at Geek Talent with my friend Dom , a day in Edinburgh, Physiotherapy , a visit to my surgery to get a prescription, and a visit to the Peoples Assembly with my good friend Joan and Mark which included the excellent Jolyon Rubinstein from BBC3's "The Revolution Will Be Televised" on the panel, and tomorrow I will be going to Oxfam , so I am looking forward to the weekend for a rest.

I am just amazed how much you can find to do, and how all of a sudden you find yourself at 11 o'clock at night thinking , hang about , where did that day go. The coming weeks are looking amazing with work challenges and loads of upcoming gigs actually starting this Sunday with The Lurkers at The Black Bull 

I decided to use the Gil Scott-Heron song for this because of the guest tonight but you can see him taking on George Osborne here. Anyway it's time for bed for me , I'll see you soon.


Thursday 22 January 2015

Disaster Can Be Fun



This week has been a bit of ups and downs and today had it's share of potential disasters, starting with my phone company disconnecting with no notification with flagrant disregard  for OFCOM guidelines. I'm not going to name them but you will know who they are.

Then I had a 10AM interview so decided to get a taxi to ensure I got to the place on time. Half way there I realised I'd forgotten my wallet and bus pass. The guy from ABC said I could owe him the money , but I said I also had to get back and wasn't sure when the interview would finish so I needed to go home and get my stuff. While it turned out costing me about three times as much as expected, I'd allowed plenty of time which was useful as Cobalt Business Park has lots of nameless numberless buildings making it difficult to find the place , but we sorted it out and we got there with ten minutes to spare.

Then I got a Facebook message asking about my availability from a great friend with a very tantalising and interesting scenario, so there is a call tomorrow top discuss that which will be followed by another afternoon at Oxfam which I am looking forward to.

The music has to be Van Der Graaf Generator's beautiful "Afterwards" from "I Prophesy Disaster". Some people seem to things going wrong as the end of things and an excuse to give up, I just see it as a reason to give it another go and try harder. Preparation and contingency does help, but you should never give up and always take the positives out a situation. It's nearly weekend now, so go and enjoy your tea.

Saturday 17 January 2015

The Drugs Don't Work (Very Well)



Or rather, yesterday they worked in the wrong way. My first day volunteering at Oxfam with Brian, Katie , Jan and another girl who came in briefly before I had to leave and may have been called Mary. While going through the basics of what I was going to do I suddenly started getting floaters and bright light lights in my eyes distorting my vision , and getting very trippy . I really had to sit down for a minute before going outside and sitting on a bench. I started to feel a bit better but the sun had gone supernova making even walking impossible for a few minutes. Anyway when I did improve I went back in to see everyone and say goodbye with a view to actually doing something useful on Monday.

I think the reason is some reaction between antibiotics and the blood pressure lowering tablets that I take, although this is the second lot of these antibiotics to tide me over until the minor required surgery (I wont go into that but feel free to contact me if you want to know the gory details).

After that experience the song that comes to mind is the Moody Blues "Legend of a Mind" sbout sixties LSD advocate Timothy Leary, which I've always loved ever since I first heard it on Alan Freeman's Saturday Rock Show.

Katie's Vinyl Door

But before all that it was great talking to all the staff who were really nice and welcoming, and the most impressive thing for me was Katie's vinyl door and the sheet music wallpaper. The music area is small but very interesting and probably has a better selection of music than HMV Harrogate and Shrewsbury. This is one of the things about blogging is how one particular item can throw up some totally random connected thoughts but maybe thats just me.

Anyway if you get a chance to visit the Oxfam Music shop in Jesmond do so, take a selfie by the vinyl door and spread the word. There is some great stuff and the staff are excellent, well apart from me who had to cry off like a proper softy yesterday.




Anyway enjoy your weekend, I'm feeling better and looking forward to another packed week. I thought this redundancy meant you had nothing to do?

Thursday 15 January 2015

Battleships, Garage Rock, Physiotherapy and The Weather



It's been an interesting week, not least the atrocious weather we've been having.  Had a guy out to fix the roof, which has still to be sorted, but had to rescue him when his ladder blew down . We decided to postpone the work until things got a little better.

The great thing about this week is although I was planning to relax I have been up at or before seven each day. I've doing lots but the most enjoyable thing is to actually spend time with people who matter to me and to catch up with people who I've not seen much of.

Garage 
So it's been a busy week and I have managed to do quite a bit resulting in job interviews for next week, volunteering to work in an Oxfam Music Shop , catching up with friends at the Tyneside Cinema Cafe as well as taking in some of The Battleship Potemkin, the classic masterpiece silent film from director Sergej Eisenstein from 1925, and committing to some work for events at the cinema as well as possibly performing again, as well as spending time talking about garage rock.






Coincidentally early this week , the guy doing my physiotherapy at the RVI told me his father had worked as a projectionist at the Tyneside Cinema which was called something else then and Tyne Tees had done a film called The Messenger in 1959 (two years after I was born)  about his work. I've not been able to unearth anything further about it but if I do I will update this post.

Anyway it's time for bed, another busy day tomorrow.





Wednesday 28 March 2012

Drought In Salop

For the past couple of days I have been pottering about in Shropshire and Powys , mainly in Ludlow and Shrewsbury and Knighton. The buildings are interesting and very old , people are friendly and the weather is wonderful but that's by the by.

I was slightly disappointed to find no record shops in Ludlow ,unless you want to buy from Tesco or Oxfam. But barring Tesco and a new WH Smith being put together there are no chains in Ludlow and the Park and Ride  is remarkable good value for money.

Worse still Shrewsbury is a much bigger town and still no record shop , barring Oxfam. There may be an HMV but that doesnt really count as they will sell anything, the record space in most HMV stops decreases by the second.

We have World Record Shop Day which coincides with Newcastles High Bridge Festival and World Book Night on the 21st April , so that is a plus to look forward to. If you go here you can download iPhone and Android Apps to find your way around,


In Salop we'll make do do with the nice weather , historic buildings , Aardvark Books and Thion at Leitwardine!!