Showing posts with label Wilko Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wilko Johnson. Show all posts

Friday 28 May 2021

A Change


I have not been posting as much on my main blog , (that is this one), and that was my intention this year but thanks to me writing on Vocal my writing has actually gone up significantly.  The thing is there is no checking or approval needed on here and there is no need to hit a minimum word count so I can write as little or as much as I want and not have to  check whether it is OK for publication apart from my own visual and grammar and spelling checks.

With Vocal I do get paid for reads though it's a tiny amount but it is a different platform. The format is similar to how I post on here but I do write the initial post using Google Docs which I find a lot faster , more responsive and easier than Microsoft Word , and I am surprised on how slow Microsoft Office apps have become in general. They take an age to start, and sometimes decide to just freeze you out when you are in the middle of something. That is not very good.

I have just finished watching "The Haunting of Bly Manor" on Netflix and while episodes 1-7 were good I felt a little lost at times , but the final two episodes were amazing and the ending , if a little sad, was excellent. I now need to decide on what to pick up next.

I have just realised that my posts on here can be totally unfocused whereas Vocal needs them to be more to the main point to be approved. 

I am glad I have posted here and this morning while working have been listening to various things and the one that sticks in my mind is "All Through The City" by Wilko Johnson from the "Going Back Home" album on Chess with Roger Daltrey although it was a classic Dr Feelgood song , and I actually set and ran through the main riff and posted it in Instagram here, but will share with you.

Monday 28 October 2019

Milk - #Oktoberfest #33 - Milk and Alcohol - Dr Feelgood


Over the weekend I was speaking to someone about living in the wilds with no neighbours for miles and said that's great in some ways but a major problem if you need something for either convenience or something more serious. Last week I saw an ambulance drive away from my neighbours fairly rapidly. They are great friends but I only have email contact. When there was no sign of their car or lights in the house after two days I was worried so emailed , but got a reply fairly quickly saying it wasn't them and they'd seen as well.

The first thing about living in suburbia, if you are lucky like me you get some great neighbours who you look out for and they look out for you.

The other thing was last night I had some cereal and used the last of the milk. I knew I was running low and had been out a few times and not replenished it but it was nine o' clock at night. Now I have three local shops open from six am to 11 pm (I would not have a problem if they had shorter hours) but it meant I had the option of getting milk when I got up or nipping out immediately. I chose the latter.

They are a couple of reasons why I prefer to live in this type of suburbia, I also don't need a car either which is another plus.

For #Oktoberfest we have "Milk and Alcohol" by Dr Feelgood in their post Wilko Johnson phase but still good. Wilko Johnson is is my guitar hero and an absolutely heroic cancer survivor still playing live today. He lost his wife to cancer, then was hit by pancreatic cancer and given three months to live but decided to not have chemotherapy and perform until he died. Six months later he was still with us and apologised it an interview saying that people probably felt cheated that he was still here (jokingly). Then a surgeon offered some groundbreaking surgery (see here) and Wilko is still with use and you can still see him performing and he's still making records. Oh he was also in "Game of Thrones" (Ser Ilyn Payne) as an executioner and the cast were devasted on his initial diagnosis and elated on his cure.

Monday 6 February 2017

Keep On Keeping On


Last week was very grey then yesterday was actually looking sunny for a while before slipping back into the greyness of the last week and today looking out, I can see all the cars are frosted up. Not the most inviting of Monday mornings, but another week of work is waiting for us.

I had intended to take a walk out to Cow Hill on the Town Moor to take some photographs but was not feeling up to it. Also there's various house related things I need to sort out, and then noticed that my Virgin TIVO box had decided it wasn't recording the first two episodes of the next half season of The Walking Dead but was going to record from episode 3 (well 10 actually cos of the mid season break) onwards, then they seem to have moved The Blacklist onto Sky1 for the next half season and it wasn't going to record that either.

So all that is in hand, but I really need to get some positive uplift into my life, as currently loads of my time is taken by apparent mundanities, the problem being , I think my complete withdrawal from social interaction may be part of the contribution to this because people do inspire me and  give me a lift, even meeting for the odd coffee is good.

The thing is as people get older they seem to almost ossify in their views, what they want to do, and where they want to go. Sometimes an evening in a warm house with a good book or film is more inviting than trying to engineer a social occasion.

I've also not been to any gigs, as I have mentioned previously, and need to get out to see more bands , and there are opportunities to see lots around Newcastle, with venues such as Trillians, The Black Bull and Think Tank? and bigger venues such as The Riverside, The O2, The Tyne Theatre, The Sage, and Wylam Brewery, so it's not as though there's nowhere to go.

In fact I've just checked and Wilko Johnson is playing The Wylam Brewery in April and there are quite a few gigs on before then.

I really must apologise for the down nature of this post I promise to put a smile on my face and do something positive this week and will leave you with Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner" just cos it's brilliant , and music is always uplifting and this makes me feel better.



Sunday 13 April 2014

Will It Go Round In Cirlcles?



Number One
I have just been into Newcastle to dispose of an awful Alcatel Tribe phone, donated it via CEX to a Muscular Dystrophy charity, then on the way to Waitrose I dropped in a Windows Record Shop in the Central Arcade.

They're all ready for National Record Store Day, but something I've noticed with them and other record shops in the town is that the amount and range of vinyl on sale is increasing in a big way. In another year or so vinyl may actually be elbowing out CD. Thanks to them I found this Charts page. I can't say I've looked at a music chart for a long time, but at the time of posting it's nice to see the Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey at number one.


 
I suppose this is one of those situation that demonstrates that sometimes things can be very cyclical, although I suppose the sale of music started with busking , the paper, then vinyl then tape, then CD , then they tried DAT and Minidisc, then you had digital, and now we have the return of vinyl. Live music will always be with us as well. I was thinking of this when I left Windows and saw their husge vinyl window display which made me think of Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round In Circles" so that's going to be the music for today.

So if you have any weekend left enjoy it , we have Easter coming so for a lot of us it's only a four day week. Which is good

Sunday 30 March 2014

Foggy Day and a Full Wilko Johnson Gig


It's seems the east is foggy and the west full of sunshine today. I got a more powerful LED bulb for my office and have discovered that LED bulbs to still generate heat although not as much as ordinary incandescent and energy saving light bulbs. You can stll change the bulb even if it's been on for a long time.

Today I nipped into town to purchase, an other things a copy of the Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey collaboration but the record shop had sold out. No matter I can wait a few more days, to get my own copy.

Wilko in Game of Thrones
Fourteen months ago Wilko was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and he'd maybe have six months with chemotherapy. He declined the treatment. He's still going and quotes "If I ain't dead by the end of the year, it's gonna start getting embarrassing" . Well I certainly wont complain if he's ear at the end of the year, and at the end of many more years.. The article is here. He is an example to us all of how to live life to the fullest. Amazingly positive and I am amazed how good he's looking. All power to him. He also played the executioner in Game of Thrones so a many talented guy.

Oh and he's the guy who I based my electric guitar playing style on!

Anyway I found a ninety minute concert of them on YouTube, so you enjoy it, I certainly did.

Monday 9 September 2013

Relax - I Can Tell You Don't Love Me No More All Through The City


Well that's what I intend to do before hospital tomorrow. I have a certain amouth of trepidation , like what if it's not just a trapped nerve? But that's the whole point of going in for these things , if it's good news then that's a relief and if it's something else it means you can take the appropriate action whatever that may be. I have know people who would not go to the doctors in case they got bad news!! For the reasons above you just HAVE to go.

We are so lucky in this country to have the NHS which means you don't have to worry about health insurance or paying for care. It is a treasure we should jealously guard. I am going tomorrow , hoping and expecting I will be fixed , not wondering if I can afford it. It will be a pleasant experience , I have many friends who work in the NHS and would trust them with anyone i their hands.

There is a huge amount of lies and scaremongering , and they should be subject to the highest scrutiny before being believed.

Anyway that's enough serious stuff as I say I want to relax tonight , just need to find a way to do it !! Maybe some Dr Feelgood , Wilko Johnson is my all time guitar hero ..... two of my favourite songs ....... "I Can Tell You Don't Love Me No More .... All Through The City"

Sunday 16 June 2013

Dr Feelgood and First Woman In Space

Well it's that last day before I go back to work and I still sound like a consumptive despite the drugs and medicines  and rest that I've taken this week. Sometimes things like this are just awkward. It's Father's Day and I'm listening to excellent Dr Feelgood compilation All Through The City. One of my favourite Wilko Johnson compositions is "Paradise" which I thought was premiered on the first Solid Senders album. It's out it actually appeared on Wilko's last Feelgood's album Sneakin' Suspicion. I never knew that , god knows how I missed it. Anyway that has to be the June's Tune for today.

Also on this day in 1963,Lieutenant Valentina Tereshkova, 26, was the fifth Russian cosmonaut to go into the Earth's orbit when her spaceship Vostok VI was launched at 12:30 Moscow time. Full details here. I was going to have some space themed piece but I'm afraid it just has to be Paradise which could be classed as vaguely stellar :


Tuesday 11 June 2013

Back In The Night

One AM this time and for some reason can't sleep. Yesterday was a relapse and today intend to stop and maybe just have a bath and do some catch up TV. The title comes from the opening song on the Wilko Johnson interview which should still be on 6 music here til next Sunday and I would recommend to go a listen to it , failing that get a copy of Oil City Confidential the brilliant Julien Temple

Anyway this a short one and an excuse to include Dr Feelgood's Back In The Night in my June's Tunes series. Ofviously my back in the night and the songs subject are quite different said he with a chuckle: