Walkerless

Sorry, but there's no Ian Walker article today. Been busy with other stuff.

Don't worry, there will definitely be one posted on the blog on Friday.

Update

I've been reading . . . and getting heavily beat at Lexulous.

Sprite Spite

Cannot post, email or even type atm. The keyboard is busted. It lost a fight with a glass of Sprite last night.

The mouse still works, so this communiQue has been painstakingly brought to you via cut and paste . . . ransom note style.

I'll be in touch.

Yesterday's Zero

2006 seems so long ago.

I've been away . . .

. . . from the publish button.

I had my reasons.

Asleep on the sofa

Oops, 6 of the last 7 posts have been nothing more than me listing details of which films I've recently viewed.

What can I say? It happens to be the case that I've been watching a lot more films recently.

If you can, check out King of Kong and FRÖKEN SVERIGE. Both excellent films.

Gearing Up

A man of great promises

Whatever happened to PaulWellerMonth?

Apologies. Some great ideas in the planning stages stymied by some bogus excuses and maybe attempted again sometime after I complete the promised RickParfittMonth.

7 Bloggers . . . 7 Songs . . . 7 Links

There's a canny music meme that's been doing the rounds for a few weeks now and, at the last count, I've been tagged four times to do it but bare arsed laziness - coupled with an exceeded bandwidth - has thwarted me in complying with the repeated request.

So, whilst I'm in the process of trying to relegate my bloggers block to the bottom of the sock drawer, here's a quick series of links to a magnificent seven who have done the meme in good time.

The music choice are all theirs . . . the snotty comments are all mine . . . and, as an afterthought, rather than me tagging seven people in turn to do the meme, this is my arse about face way of finishing at the end and working my backwards.

Btw, just noticed that I've written arse twice in less than three paragraphs. It must be the dutch oven effect.

Back to this meme that has been hanging over me:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

Bob From Brockley tagged me nearly a month ago and I was a good little blogger at the time, selecting seven songs and the rest, but the bandwidth thing intervened at the time. I can't even remember what songs I selected (that's a partial fib), and I know that I wouldn't pick the exact seven songs today or tomorrow.

Of the seven songs 'Bob's' selected, the only one that recognise is the Miles Davis track and that's only because the self-same track is mentioned in glowing terms in 'The Shoe'. Of course, I recognise three of the other artists listed but tracks 5, 6 & 7 have me reaching for the cut and paste function on the computer.

Going by Bob's selection I'm guessing that he is a bit of a muso. Has been known to subscribe to Record Collector magazine, and has index carded his record collection. Back in the day he was more of a Charlie Gillett groupie than a John Peel groupie. Been known to not only buy CDs that have been reviewed in the New Internationalist, but he's also been known to listen said CDs voluntarily.

Never Trust A Hippy Paulie over at NTAH also tagged me last month. Damn, I'm struggling here. I only recognise The Specials track - great track, btw, and I also know of Roy Ayers. (The title of his song looks interesting.) Have I already done the CDs reviewed in the New Internationalist joke? Shit, moving on then. I think Paulie may have misread the meme because his choices seem to be based more on, 'Name 7 songs that remind you of the 1981 Nottingham Riots.' I'm prompted to ask, has Nottingham ever produced any decent bands? I can only think of Paper Lace off hand.
Back to Paulie's selection. Another muso by the looks of it. And I'd always pegged him as a meat, two veg and a Jam box set sort of guy. I got him wrong. He's the Rob Gordon to 'Bob's' Barry. Music wise, they'd both intimidate the hell out of me, but I like the sound of The Enemy . . . even if I've yet to hear the sound of The Enemy.

Big Blowdown Surely I'm on safer ground with Reidski's selection? The bloke's not known for his obscurantist music tastes, and I admire him all the more for it. OK, I recognise all of the seven artists listed but only one song? What the hell?
I think I've got a handle on this meme now. The theme of the meme is the more obscure the better. Everybody's hiding their ABBA greatest hits inside a Captain Beefheart record sleeve. I'll bear that in mind when I pick seven obscure tracks in my meme

Reidski likes LCD Soundsystem? I guess someone has to.

Harpymarx Socialist-Feminist blogger is a kindred musical spirit. I actually recognise - and like - 5 of her 7 selections. Well, you can't go wrong with The Jam, Liz Fraser and Blondie. And I've long since come round to the opinion that Julian Cope is a bit of a lost treasure. He seems resigned to being a *spit* cult artist and he's much too talented to be put in that category.

A Very Public Sociologist Just like Phil over at AVPS blog to actually apologise for the best song on his list. Since when have The Boo Radleys become a guilty pleasure? I must have missed the leaking of Peter Taaffe's memo in the pages of Weekly Worker where he outlines the CWI's opposition to Britpop/Creation crossovers.
Phil mentions an Icelandic band that isn't the Sugarcubes, and tries to make a case for the monstrosity that is Morodor and Oakey's 'Together In Electric Dreams': without a shadow of a doubt the worst piece of music that Oakey has ever put his name to.

I know Phil (from Stoke, not Phil from Sheffield) is trying the old 'so bad it's good' defence with regards to Moroder and Oakey, but though that sort of logic might work with regards to the Millies transitional programme, it doesn't cut any musical mustard from where I'm sitting . . . in an aged armchair which has only one arm (on the ultra-left of where I'm sitting) and which is cut off from the working class.

Life is all Cobblers JJ comes up with the goods with a selection of The Auteurs, The Divine Comedy and one of Chumbawamba better tracks.
Nice to see that JJ didn't feel compelled to dredge up the obscure stuff to belittle the rest of us muso wise, but I have to say that, even after all these years, the jury is still out for me when it comes to McAlmont and Butler's 'Yes'. I sometimes hear it and wonder at its spine tingling majesty and lush orchestration. Other times I hear it, and I think 'Will someone stop trying to drown that cat. It just depends on which day you catch me.

Infinite Thought A totally random pick. Just typed '7 song meme + socialist' into the google search engine, and this post came in at number two (after Bob From Brockley).
Never clicked on IT before but it sounds familiar. A quick look at the links suggests that s/he might be an SWP blogger, so where's The Redskins tracks in amongst the seven? (Alleged) SWP members really have lost sight of their original political tradition.
An eclectic selection that reflects the SWP's current perspective of a popular mixtape of a special kind. From what I recognise, very last century, very angsty . . . someone who is obviously harking back to the safe political security of the downturn period.

Bet after all that, IT isn't even a Swuppie. I should have just recycled that New Internationalist joke again.

OK, that's 7 bloggers, 7 links, 49 songs and 83 gratuitous insults. If I ever get round to actually doing the meme, I'll get totally bloody slaughtered.

Do They Mean Us? #16

Bloggers block can mean only one thing . . . a dash of cut and paste to conjure up another post in the 'Do They Mean Us?' series:

“At the Barras market in Glasgow about 25 years ago open air political meetings were not uncommon, and the best were conducted by a fiery brand of working-class revolutionaries called the Socialist Party of Great Britain. Founded about a hundred years ago (and still going, I’m glad to say) and proudly hostile to all other allegedly socialist or communist political parties, they had several fine speakers and in those less apathetic days could always raise a fair crowd of the starvelings whom they hoped to rouse from their slumber.

Scorn for their hearers’ meek acceptance of poverty and satire upon the quality of goods and services supplied to the workers were prominent in their arguments, as when the speaker would draw our attention to an evil-looking greasyspoon caff and recite parts of the horrible menu, concluding with Stomach pump free of charge. Once, when challenged by a wee bauchle with scarce a backside to his trousers on the grounds that ‘under socialism we widnae be individuals’, the agitator on the soapbox paused from his remarks on the rival attraction of ‘Jehovah’s Jazzband’ (a Salvation Army ensemble) just down the street, fixed him with a baleful eye, and loosed a withering tirade about how the questioner was obviously a proud specimen of individuality, with your individual Giro and your individual manky shirt and your individual football scarf and your individual council flat and your individual Scotch pie for your individual dinner . . .

It went on for ages, a tour de force of flyting”. [Kenneth Wright, Glasgow Herald, 13 February 2001.]

Being on the receiving end of the withering wit of Glasgow Branch comrades on many an occasion, I've narrowed the suspected speaker down to a shortlist of ten of the wizened old scrotes.

Special Note: I scoured the internet high and low but I couldn't find a picture of the Barras circa 1976, so I decided to throw post authenticity out of the window by posting a still from Bill Forsyth's 'That Sinking Feeling' to accompany the post. Trust me, Glasgow 1980 was not that different from Glasgow 1976. The Smiles Better Sunshine Gimp was a lifetime away.

The Ugly Face of Football

The picture's all that needs to be said about Chelski. Whatever happened about the joy of scoring a goal? Watch for the next time the usual suspects score a goal for Roman's mercenaries. Ugly gurning faces 'giving it large' to the crowd. Arseholes.

Btw, Arsenal were robbed. A shocking penalty decision on top of the dodgy decision in favour of Kuyt in the first leg. Last night's match should have been all about Walcott's amazing run to set up Adebayor for the equalizer. Walcott's coming good.

Arguably, the only thing about the result that might provide some succour is that Liverpool have the measure of Chelski in Champions League semi finals. Let's make it three out of free.

Saved by the bell . . . that was a cup . . . until it was struck

Temporarily stopped myself from checking out early Talking Heads by listening to old Wire again.

It was the right decision.

Byrned Out

Scared to listen to early Talking Heads, 'cos I know I'll end up liking them.

Want a real post? Not a prayer.

First single I ever bought. The song still holds up after all these years.

Further Linkage:

The 'Save A Prayer' wiki page.

The 5p blog gives the lowdown on 'Save A Prayer'. (Dates . . . deeds . . . discomania. That sort of stuff.)

Snapback

I don't think the blog is racy enough. Apart from the perennial raincoat brigade in search of Kika Markham pics, I never seem to get those type of random hits. It's the usual hot-potch of footie, music and lefty politics that lure the passing stranger onto the blog. Must try harder.

Via the sitemeter, the last ten random searches:

More people read this blog, than watched last Sunday's Oscars.

Sweet dreams are made of this.

Duff search engine reveals mid-nineties musical gold.

Sinclair CSE

Caught between Korsch and a hard place.

Listen to my dreams.

What's cooking on your stereo?

Hitchens has google searched himself on the blog, and found this old post.

Corrupting the nation's youth.

Breaking the mould.

Bloggers Block + Six Web Pages of Separation = Random Recommended Links

Following on from Shiraz Socialist's Jim D recent admission of his love for the good/bad film, Galaxy Quest, I thought I'd point you in the direction of a blog post about Walter Hill's 1984 musical mishap, 'Streets of Fire'.

Nope I can't remember it either, but coming on the back of the brilliant 'Warriors' and the underrated '48 Hours', it was Walter Hill's 'John Squire Moment' . . . the cinematic equivalent of the Stone Roses second album and subsequent risible recordings with The Seahorses all rolled into one.

To come crashing down in such a magisterial fashion brings 'losing the creative plot' to a whole new level, but nine times out of ten will eventually result in blog posts 20 odd years after the fact where budding Roger Eberts' will make the case for the film's rehabilitation. Early nineties through the night tv has a lot to answer for.

'Streets of Fire' is not to be confused with that other musical mishap of the 1980s, 'Hearts of Fire'. The latter film falls into the bad/bad film category, and also provides the explanation for why Bob Dylan failed as many as six auditions for a role in Todd Haynes's latest film, 'I'm Not There'.

The Internationale, Finnish google and a rememberance of Finns impact on North American Radicalism

Funny sometimes how people stumble across the blog.

Someone in Finland wanting info on a Ja Rule song ends up landing on a page about an article in a past issue of Industrial Worker about 'The Internationale'.

Sort of cool when you think of the role that Finnish-Americans played in the building up of the American Labor Movement in general, and the Industrial Workers of the World in particular.

Don't Go Back To BBC'Ville

The curse of the updated BBC webpage.

With regards to this post, whose original BBC link has unfortunately been updated beyond original recognition, I was of course referring to Hogan Ephraim as my favourite quasi footballing Dickensian character.

I guess it should be bleeding obvious. But, if nothing else, I can fall back on Matthew Connolly being my favourite Joycean character, but where does that leave me with Akos Buzsaky? Reading Tibor Fischer's 'Under The Frog' 15 years ago doesn't necessarily make me an expert on Hungarian literature.

This post is so lame that I feel barrage of YouTube clips bubbling to the surface to push this post south of the front page.

Those 2008 New Year Resolutions In Full

What he said.

Back To Back

Catching my blogging eye on Crimbo Eve:

We Could Live To Be 1,000 Years Old But For Capitalism? Sounds like something to do with Doctor Who Is it a blog or is it a website? Doesn't matter: the World Socialist Party of United States webspace carries a review of Aubrey De Grey, “Ending Aging”. No, I hadn't heard of him either before now.

Never Apologise, Never Explain Nice to note that 'Freens' of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Republic is back on the blogging front. Thought we'd lost him.

Blast From The Past Paul Anderson's Tribune column from the 21 December tells the story of Labour MP, James Lamond, who died last month and who was a visible and vocal part of that sizeable section of the British Left who continued to be apologists of the Soviet Union right up until the first sledgehammer hit the Berlin Wall in the Winter of 1989.

Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle and a new graphic history of SDS Fascinating post from Louis Proyect that covers Harvey Pekar graphic history of the Students for a Democratic Society, the internecine strife within the (American) Socialist Workers Party in the early seventies and Proyect's remembrance of growing up in the Catskills.

Communist Students Blog Well, the parent body, the CPGB/Weekly Worker continue to be a bit sniffy about this blogging lark, but it's interesting to note that the young guns have struck out with a Communist Students blog and if you check the sidebar of the CSB, you'll see links to personal blogs of Communist Students supporters. I've got a soft spot for James Turley's blog, Tragic Life Stories, with its subheading description of "Neither Matgamna Nor Bambery, But International Socialism!" and blogging labels which has 'sectariana' outscoring 'rightwingers' by 14-2. A scoreline like that can only mean one thing: a future season ticket holder to the Left Trainspotters discussion group.