Round 512: From RM to VG . . .

 

Darts Thrown: October 8th 2020

Blog Written: October 12th 2020

Highest Score: 180

Lowest Score: 5

Sixties: 29

100+: 9

180s: 1

180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

The blog's now in lockdown. Decided to put it on private. Will it now be more indiscreet and revelatory? Nope, it's not turning into an online personalized diary. I'm just now in the position where I no longer want it to be visible, but by the same token I'm not about to press the delete button for it.

Anyway, Blogger's a cunt nowadays. They've 'updated' the blog features and until I'm in a position where I feel comfortable with it -  and, it might be the case that I won't master - I will be hating on blogger for the foreseeable feature.

The darts? Yeah, write something about the darts. Hit a 180. Last throw of the round. I've yet to get back in the groove with the darts, but there's an improvement of sorts. Not sure if I'll ever return to those halcyon days of 180s every day. We will see.

Now for a random video. Looking up The Mekons on wiki to see if there's ever been a book written about them - so, I'll download it and never read it -  and stumbled across this rather nifty collaboration between Vic Godard and The Nightingales that dates from 2018. Never knew about it - and I go through Vic Godard phases from time to time, which means I'm annoyed that I missed it -  but a couple of listens in and I'm enjoying it. I was never much of a Nightingales fan. I remember reading about them in Record Mirror back in the day but I never ever heard them at the time. It was that period in the mid-80s when they were associated with Ted Chippington and We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It, so they got a fair bit of coverage in RM despite the fact that they never sold any records. They are now getting the documentary treatment via - amongst others - Stewart Lee, who some kind of uber fan of a group that never sold more than 137 records. Eventually every band that featured in the Indie Charts 1984-86 will get their own documentary. It's written in the sleeves.

Back to the song. The Mekons connection is that Jon Langford designed the record's cover. Robert Lloyd sounds a bit like the bloke from Tindersticks, so it took a couple of listens for me to get into it.

Vic Godard and The Nightingales - Commercial Suicide Man

Round 511 - Turn it off, kids . . .

 

Darts Thrown: October 7/8th 2020

Blog Written: October 12th 2020

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 7

Sixties: 28

100+: 5

180s: 0

180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Really nothing to note with the dart stats. Very much middle of the road.

Onto the music. Someone just posted this on Facebook, and I love it. The Style Council performing 'Long Hot Summer' on the long forgotten Channel 4 music programme, Switch. Despite loving Style Council all these years, I was never really much of a fan of LHS. I always thought it was a bit too lightweight - I missed the 'controversy' about the video - and I associate it with a shit family holiday in Minorca. (Other songs associated with that horrorday include Level 42's 'The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)', KC and the Sunshine Band's 'Give It Up' and Flash and the Pan's 'Waiting For A Train' . That's a mixtape I'll never be compiling.)

Back to the video. I just like this version 'cos of Weller's dubby bass playing. It's just a nice wee change.

Long Hot Summer - The Style Council (1983) Switch, Channel 4.

Round 510: More than a flash in the pan (groan)

 

Darts Thrown: October 6th 2020

Blog Written: October 13th 2020

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 3

Sixties: 25

100+: 7

180s: 0

180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Another middle of the road darts round. Need to hit more 100 plusses. At least I was throwing for a 180 for a change.

About Round 511, and the mention of that miserable childhood holiday and the music associated with it; well, I happened to check out Flash in the Pan's 'Waiting For A Train' again and, gulp, it's fucking brilliant. I always knew it was a good song but I don't remember it being this good.  That holiday was still an absolute shocker but fair fucks, this song is magic. Turns out that wanker Guy Ritchie used it in one of his films, which half annoys me but I'll let it pass this time. Here's a link to the 9 minute version. Enjoy and try not to think about sand, sunburn and a pissed up pater:

Flash And The Pan - Waiting For a train (9 minutes) 1982

Round 509: Fuzzy Feelings

 

Darts Thrown: October 6th 2020

Blog Written: October 13th 2020

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 3

Sixties: 31

100+: 9

180s: 0

180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Absolute fucking nonsense of a music choice but it does explain why I had always had The Nightingales, Ted Chippington and Fuzzbox as a package in the back of my head all these years. Record Mirror absolutely loved this back in the day, and I swore by Record Mirror back in the day . . .  too much so.

The Nightingales, Ted Chippington and Fuzzbox - Rockin' With Rita (Head To Toe)

Round 508: Disco Dolly

 

Darts Thrown: October 2nd-6th 2020

Blog Written: October 13th 2020

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 3

Sixties: 39

100+: 13

180s: 0

180s Missed: 2

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Okay, it looks like I'm in a George Young/ Harry Vanda trip at the moment, so I'll throw in this pop classic that they penned back in the 70s. I'm sure I heard this as a kid. If I didn't, I loved it since. Weird to think it was an Australian pop song. For me, it screams EuroHit.

John Paul Young - Love Is In The Air (1978)

Round 507: A French Twist

 

Darts Thrown: September 29/30th 2020

Blog Written: October 13th 2020

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 3

Sixties: 31

100+: 9

180s: 0

180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

At this point it's more about the music, innit? The dart stats take care of themselves.

Another take on Flash in the Pan's 'Waiting For A Train'. This time it's called a 'French Take', which at first listen suggests a Kraftwerk 'Tour De France' connection. Still sounds brilliant. With regards to Flash in the Pan, I knew they were Australian but I didn't know about the Easybeats connection. And Easybeats means George Young, which means AC/DC and his two wee brothers. Now that's just asking to be a pub quiz question.

Flash & The Pan - Waiting For A Train (French Take) (1983)

Round 506: 'Try some wrong . . . '

 

Darts Thrown: September 28/29th 2020

Blog Written: October 12th 2020

Highest Score: 121

Lowest Score: 7

Sixties: 23

100+: 5

180s: 0

180s Missed: 0

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

The darts stats look after themselves. Why 'Push It' by Salt 'n' Pepa? The song's playing in the background of the film clip I'm half watching. That's it. No fuss, no hassle and really easy. Do I like 'Push It'? Not really.

Salt-N-Pepa - Push It

Round 430: The Shendish Hundred

Darts Thrown: June 9th 2020
Blog Written: June 21st 2020

Highest Score: 140
Lowest Score: 7
Sixties: 50
100+: 20
180s: 0
180s Missed: 0

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

When we went into lockdown, I thought I would come out the other end playing darts like Peter Wright. Instead, most days I play darts more like Edgar Wright. So, it's nice to occasionally play a half decent round. My first 50-Sixties round in a long, long time.

I put it down to my anarcho-capitalist/Peñarol dart flights:

*'The Shendish Hundred'? It's a Hemel Hempstead pub darts term from back in the day.

Now for a random video. Alex R. shared this one on Facebook a few days ago. I'd never heard of them before, and part of the reason I'm posting it on the blog is because I know I'll forget it otherwise. The comments on YouTube are annoying 'cos people will insist on making the Talking Heads comparison . . . but it's better than that. I'll need to dig out the lyrics sometime as I'm sure they hold up. But it's the tune that grabbed me initially, and I was adult enough to put to one side that grown men shouldn't be on skateboards.

De Lux - "Oh Man The Future"

Round 162: Walking Wounded

Darts Thrown: February 13th 2020

Blog Written: February 13th 2020

Highest Score: 180

Lowest Score: 11

Sixties: 49

100+: 22
180s: 1
180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

A game of two halves.

Avoided playing darts today because of an increasingly painful right elbow and a fucked up left knee (both dart related), but I thought I'd at least throw in one round before I went to bed.

Big mistake. First half the darts were all over the place. Only hit 13 sixties and I thought I was going to end up with my worst round of darts for about ten months. Thankfully I recovered enough in the second half, hitting 36 sixties, and that penultimate line is arguably the best run of darts I've ever thrown.

The get up and go thing to do would have been for me to immediately launch into another round of darts, so I could capitalize on this fleeting rich vein of form but, me being me, I quit whilst I was ahead. It's the hope that kills you.

I'll leave you with a song. Nothing to do with the aforementioned round of darts. It just happens to be in my tabs, and if I don't post it now I will forget all about it. Though the song dates from 2012, it's new to me. Love the keyboards and how the lead guitarist shamelessly rips off The Byrds. Good man.

The Moons feat. Paul Weller - Something Soon

Round 96: Smashing New Year's Darts Resolutions

Darts Thrown: January 26th 2020

Blog Written: February 15th 2020

Highest Score: 180

Lowest Score: 5

Sixties: 60

100+: 26

180s: 1

180s Missed: 3

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

New Year's Darts Resolutions (Updated)

• Hit two 180s in one day.
• Hit fifty 180s in 2020.
• Hit a high of 41 - as the lowest score - in a round.
• Hit 60 sixties in a round.
• Hit a 180 in a bar.
• Towards the end of the year, join a pub team and, naturally, go down in flames in ignominious defeat.

I'm now officially half way through my New Year's Darts Resolutions. I refer you to the documented evidence above to show that I've finally hit 60 sixties in one round. I guess the next goal is to hit 75 sixties but don't hold your breath on that one.

The song of the round? No rhyme or reason; I'm just another wannabe axe hero.

The Stone Roses - 'Love Spreads'

The Winmaus of Your Mind

New dart board . . . newish city . . . new 180.

Round 320: The Pug Dance across the room.

Darts Thrown: June 30th 2019

Blog Written: June 30th 2019

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 7

Sixties: 29

100+: 10

180s Missed: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Not bad, not bad. Not great, either, mind. A couple of 140s . . . threw for a 180, and the third dart hit the board. Calls for a random tune . . .  and it is random 'cos I never really cared for this song, but the bundle of energy otherwise known as Liam just careered into the room and it made me think of it. No, it doesn't make sense to me either:

Round 319: A Town With Pitney

Darts Thrown: June 30th 2019
Blog Written: June 30th 2019

Highest Score: 100
Lowest Score: 6
Sixties: 20
100+: 6


Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Just put on a record, for fucks sake. Love, love this song. Eddi Reader did a great version of this song - i.e. it was a faithful rendition - back in the mid-90s, which I may have bought as a single. I had it in my head that it was by P. J. Proby but of course it was by Gene Pitney; how could you mistake that voice?

Round 318: Fight me, Nelson.

Darts Thrown: June 29th 2019
Blog Written: June 30th 2019

Highest Score: 140
Lowest Score: 3
Sixties: 22
100+: 7


Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Decent high score but mediocre 60s total. Nothing more to add . . . except a YouTube video. 

Next up is Luscious Jackson's 'Here'. I had no idea it was from the Clueless movie. That's a plus in my book. Another cassingle I bought back in the day. It's in my head at the moment because for some strange reason - and it is a strange reason 'cos I never rated them - I've recently been reading/listening up on the Beastie Boys and before they became the most overrated group in the world, BB were a hardcore 4-piece featuring LJ's Kate Schellenbach on drums. The story goes - and it's from KS herself - she was bumped from the band when the other three hooked up with Rick Rubin and they put down the instruments for the drum machines. I guess it sorted itself out 'cos a few years later BB signed LJ to their vanity project record label, Grand Royale. Anyway, LJ always were better than BB. Fight me in the comments if you disagree.

Round 317: Brooklyn Calling!

Darts Thrown: June 26th-29th 2019
Blog Written: June 30th 2019

Highest Score: 100
Lowest Score: 3
Sixties: 22
100+: 8


Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Just trying to catch up. Comments and observations will be spasmodic. Why 'Brooklyn Calling!'? Well, that's the dialing code, and we never did change our numbers when we moved to Indy. Go figure. Maybe it's a sign . . . probably not. Nothing to read into the Dart stats. Still mediocre at best, though it is a saving grace that despite 100 being a disappointingly high score, at least I hit 8 of them during the drawn out session.

Anyway, here's a music video to break up the bitty text. Why XTC? Because YouTube told me  . . . and because I'm half-rereading their biography on archive.com at the moment. Why Mayor of Simpleton? Again, 'cos YouTube's algothingy told me. Not one of my favourites but it does hold up:

Round 141: Headstart to dizziness

Darts Thrown: March 8th 2019

Blog Written: August 17th 2019

Highest Score: 135

Lowest Score: 2

Sixties: 13

100+: 3

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

I'm just here for the cool jumper. Anybody says otherwise, and I will deny it whilst blushing like a schoolboy.

Dee C Lee - See The Day

Round 20: It shouldn't work, but it does

Darts Thrown: January 23rd 2019

Blog Written: May 22nd 2019

Highest Score: 120

Lowest Score: 2

Sixties: 19
100+: 3

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Look at the date this blog was written. A backlog, people. No specially selected book, as a backdrop with the piss-poor excuses for why I haven't read it. Just a the facts, mam. I have a lot of these to steam through. Maybe I'll provide the colour commentary once they are all on the blog.

. . .  And you just know that I will have mislaid at least one sheet.

But I will use the this rush through as a cheap excuse to post music videos from YouTube. Why not? I need a soundtrack whilst I do this. Next up is Men of North Country's cover version of the Human League's Mirror Man. I stumbled across this version on some Facebook group that I frequent, and I have to admit that it works - especially that guitar break in the middle - and that's something coming from me 'cos I'm usually steadfast in denying to like a cover version of a song that I love . . .  and I love this era Human League. They were so underrated. As someone mentioned in the Facebook comments to the original post, who knew Mirror Man was a lost Northern Soul classic? A good spot.

Round 19: Going way back

Darts Thrown: January 21/22 2019

Blog Written: May 22nd 2019

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 3

Sixties: 20
100+: 2

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Look at the date this blog was written. A backlog, people. No specially selected book, as a backdrop with the piss-poor excuses for why I haven't read it. Just a the facts, mam. I have a lot of these to steam through. Maybe I'll provide the colour commentary once they are all on the blog.

. . .  And you just know that I will have mislaid at least one sheet.

But I will use the this rush through as a cheap excuse to post music videos from YouTube. Why not? I need a soundtrack whilst I do this. Next up is The Byrds performing the Goffin/King classic, 'Goin' Back'. Some people insist that Dusty Springfield's version is better but I can't see it myself. (And I did give it a listen.).

According to the wiki page for the song, the Byrds recording song actually created a rift between David Crosby and the rest of the band, which is a shame 'cos that rift resulted in the classic Byrds line up parting ways. Still one of my favourite bands from the 60s, up there with The Kinks and The Beatles:

Round 18: Cherish

Darts Thrown: January 19th 2019

Blog Written: May 15th 2019

Highest Score: 134

Lowest Score: 3

Sixties: 18
100+: 5

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Look at the date this blog was written. A backlog, people. No specially selected book, as a backdrop with the piss-poor excuses for why I haven't read it. Just a the facts, mam. I have a lot of these to steam through. Maybe I'll provide the colour commentary once they are all on the blog.

. . .  And you just know that I will have mislaid at least one sheet.

But I will use the this rush through as a cheap excuse to post music videos from YouTube. Why not? I need a soundtrack whilst I do this. Next up is, um, that Kool and the Gang track I was referencing in the last post. Am I half-assing it to plough through this backlog? Am I fuck. That particular ship sailed long ago. This is brilliant. Apparently there's a one-hour version of this track on YouTube. I need to bookmark it for future reference. It would drive everybody else in the house absolutely mad but I'd be too busy relaxing to notice. 

Back in the day, I always had a love/hate relationship with Kool and the Gang but that's because they'd gone down the cheesy as fuck road musical road in the early 80s. I guess bills had to be paid and it's what the punters in the Living Room Chasers and New York, New York wanted. Music in the 80s really did kill me as the decade wore on. I never got over it.

Enough of how the 80s failed me, here's 'Summer Madness' by Kool and the Gang. There's another 37 versions of this song available on YouTube. I suggest you group them all into a playlist and turn your phone off for two and a half days:

Round 17: 90s please (not a darts reference, peeps)

Darts Thrown: January 18th 2019

Blog Written: May 15th 2019

Highest Score: 140

Lowest Score: 4

Sixties: 13
100+: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Look at the date this blog was written. A backlog, people. No specially selected book, as a backdrop with the piss-poor excuses for why I haven't read it. Just a the facts, mam. I have a lot of these to steam through. Maybe I'll provide the colour commentary once they are all on the blog.

. . .  And you just know that I will have mislaid at least one sheet.

But I will use the this rush through as a cheap excuse to post music videos from YouTube. Why not? I need a soundtrack whilst I do this. Next up is . . . well, to be honest, I'm still listening to that Paul Weller track from Round 16. It's good, isn't it? I really like that laid back groove. I guess, if I'm having to find a song to fill the gap - and I won't go for the obvious of picking an early 70s Isley Brothers track - then the groove of the Weller track makes me think of this old pop/rap standard from the 1991. Cheesy as fuck, I know but I still think this track is a stone cold classic. I'm guessing it's the Kool and the Gang sample that makes it, but that seems a bit unfair to Will Smith.  It's his version that I first knew and loved, and just because I can't give a tuppeny fuck for his acting career, there's no need for me to begrudge him his proper accolades for what is one of the all time great summer songs.

'Summertime' by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: