The Murky World of Barry Adamson

Next stop on the musical roundabout is Manchester. Away from London this place is magical for music, I adore the passage beyond words, although I will try expressing something about them in due course. Then I fell for the Buzzcocks and Magazine too, Joy Division, New Order and The Smiths. I cannot imagine what life would have been without these bands. 

Amongst the wonderful artists the most intriguing over the whole of my life has been Barry Adamson. Superb bassist with Magazine initially, his career has twisted through The Gun Club, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and film scores and the Magazine re-union and his jazz influenced albums. I’ve been lucky enough to see him live several times now and the whole family witnessed a superb gig at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in February snow, 2012. 

Presence the man has in abundance, and more than his fair share of rhythm naturally, and a wonderful sense of humour - introducing his shakers as his bald friends Dave and Howard! Mrs Hora and I went to see him at the Pigalle Club, Piccadilly and decided to eat first. As we were being shown to our table Barry had clearly just finished his soundcheck and we said hello. He said something along the lines of ‘good timing, wouldn’t want my voice spoiling your meal’, as if!

I’ve only recently noticed that he’s currently touring with Nick Cave again. Should have tried to get a ticket for the Albert Hall next year, mmm, might try, will be impressive I’m sure.

He had Billy MacKenzie sing on a song too. It’s a brilliant piece, ‘Achieved in the Valley of the Dolls’ on the ‘Oedipus Schmoedipus’ album which also featured Nick Cave on the lushous ‘Sweetest Embrace’ and Jarvis Cocker in a rare moment of his that I like, ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis’, great title.

My favourite albums (in order): Stranger on the Sofa; Oedipus Schmoedipus; The Murky World of;

Favourite songs (not in order!): Every single song on the ‘Stranger’ album, some amazing weirdness, it’s a belter!!; Still I Rise; Straight ’til Sunrise; Deja Voodoo; The Snowball Effect; 007 A Fantasy Bond Theme; What It Means; The Big Bamboozle; The Trigger City Blues; The Man With The Golden Arm; The Vibes Ain’t Nothin’ But The Vibes; Walk The Last Mile

Best lines: ‘and so they will find me, and in the middle of a cold afternoon, they will ask, ‘what is it exactly that you know?’ and then, they will take me outside, and they will kill me, that much I do know.’

‘It’s the music that I love’ [Spearmint - ‘Julie Christie’]

Bloggers love a series of articles don’t they? Well I’ve decided it’s time to go through my music collection. It is the one constant amongst the myriad of obsessions I have had running throughout my life. There’s a song for every moment of the day, every emotion, every thought. But where to begin? A, obviously. And by artist. Good. Plan made.

And Also The Trees would be a sensible band to begin with however I think they might deserve a series of their own so we’re off up to Dundee for The Associates. Billy MacKenzie’s suicide came into my life via BBC teletext. I was struck with sadness that this incredible voice was one I would never get to hear live. I loved the strength of his voice, the unexpected patterns, the Scottishness of it. It was only in the aftermath of his death that I learned about his life, his perfectionist nature, his early marriage in America, and his ongoing battles with depression.

Strangely, I do struggle with some of the albums, some of the songs. They can be a little difficult in that I find I need to be in a certain state of receptiveness for them. That there are countless others I adore and can listen to at any given moment is a rare treat. There was a huge amount of material released following his death showing how much that perfectionism had prevented so many songs becoming public. I weighed up whether he’d want it all out in the public but was grateful that it was. Some artists ‘worst’ songs are far superior in my eyes than the majority of mainstream releases. Commercialism is music is horrendous, possibly the heaviest for any art form. Don’t get me started!

Final thoughts on Billy. I have a beautiful full page black and white photo of him, his whippets and Alan Rankine from the 24 April 1984 edition of NME. It is framed and hangs proudly in my world. I have missed him growing older, performing live, working with other interesting artists. His voice is unique, beautiful, obstreperous and hugely alluring to me. He is one of my all time heroes.

My favourite albums (in order): The Radio 1 Sessions; Outernational (Billy MacKenzie); Fourth Drawer Down

Favourite songs (not in order!): Breakfast; It’s Better This Way; A Severe Bout of Career Insecurity; Kitchen Person; Q Quarters; Tell Me Easter’s on a Friday; Outernational; What Made Me Turn On The Lights; Love Hangover; The Girl That Took Me; Perhaps

Best line: ‘I cook offal for two, it lies there getting cold, then I cook your shoes, then I cook your shoes, you have so many shoes.’

Obsession, Hobby or Collection?

Male. Hunter / Gatherer. In the Twentieth Century the role evolved more than a little and now, who knows? Collector is what I like to think. Some call me a hobbyist - terrible word - and others, ‘obsessive’, as if it’s the worst thing a person could be.

As you may have guessed I’m a board gamer. I like playing board games. I love the mental challenges, I love the little gaming components, and I love the social side of it too, it’s about having some fun with like-minded people. It seems it’s the latest in a long list of hobbies I have had although some people have called them my obsessions.

Perhaps it’s because I become completely engrossed in the topic, trying to find out as much as I can about anything to do with it. Maybe it’s because it takes over my allocated space within the Hora home. Or could it just be that I have a passionate nature which is lurching towards the psychological unbalance that has become my life?

From childhood I remember being completely infatuated by Subbuteo, those little plastic men. I had a reasonable collection, much larger than my friends come to think of it. And I had the football, rugby, cricket and 5 a-side versions. I’d play for hours on my own, creating leagues, cup completions, test matches. Solitary it was. There was a little bit of other gaming then too although, with no-one else interested unless it involved a standard pack of cards, it was more something for me to get out and look at in those days. Some things haven’t changed there much.

I was very keen on sport as a youngster too. Hard to believe looking at my stature now but I’d spend hours down the playing field chasing a football around. Loved it. Hence the Subbuteo I guess, and the devotion to Ipswich Town. My first live game was in the 1971/2 season, Ipswich v Derby and we won 3-1. After that I was smitten and hardly missed a home game until Sebastian was born in 2000. I still have a good lump of programmes from those heady days and will try and sell them on if we ever get promoted again..

During the summer my time was split between golf, dad had made me and sis’ learn very young, and cricket. For the amount of golf I have played I should be so much better than I am. However, it’s been one of those off and on relationships and more off since we moved to London all those years ago. Cricket began with test matches on the telly and then learning to score for the game ’Owzat! A dice variation which worked pretty well. I’d buy a nice score book, usually from the sports shop in Southwold I seem to remember, and fill it with match after match, all neatly filled in.

Around the age of 13/14 I discovered music in a huge way. All through a friend, David Hogg, who introduced me to the Incredible Shrinking Dickies and my interpretation from there of punk/alternative music. It was soon off to taping everything on Peel and spending any money I could get on 7”s. A new hobby was begun and this one’s managed to remain constant throughout. I used to dream about going to gigs and now I get to go to them. I used to dream about travelling to exotic European cities to see bands play, and now I get to do that too.  

Another constant has been reading. I love books and have always read. I wish I’d kept a record of all the books I’ve read, it would fascinating to me now. Ah well. There was something very special when I was allowed to raid next doors boxes of books collected for a fete to see if I wanted any of them. Bizarrely, I picked out Susan Hill’s ‘In The Springtime of the Year’ and Jean Genet’s ‘Miracle of the Rose’. Hill is by far my favourite author and I have two new books by her on order at present, can’t wait! Genet’s work was such a beautiful piece, so glad I got to read it. Other authors have come into my life and once enchanted by one I will read their entire output if at all possible. 

When I moved to London my love for film really took off. Cinema City in Norwich still shows the art films and foreign works I adore but to have to pass by the BFI every evening on my commute home was blissful. Cheryl and I were soon watching two or three films a week, and at home I was recording everything possible accumulating a hideous fire hazard of a collection of VHS cassettes. Again the passion for this knew no bounds and I was soon taking holiday to coincide with the London Film Festival and attending as many lectures as possible with film makers. 

For some reason around this time I also began collecting Swatch watches. They were so different in design, and affordable too. I joined the Swatch club and have several rarish versions. There’s a great second hand shop in Zurich we found for older models too. Getting them from the airport was also a good way to buy them cheaper back in the days when the tax made a difference.

When the children were born these forays into collecting turned to Playmobil and Scalextric. Not quite to the extent of previous hobbies I’ll admit but still overwhelming for the children! I was working from home when they were first born and with no travel time I rekindled first the Subbuteo collection and then the board gaming hobby too. Gradually I have sold the Subbuteo as needs must but am sticking it out with the board games. There’s a truly incredible number of games released every year and among them some brilliant designs. I hope this hobby/obsession remains with me now. It’s looking good so far with Wednesday evening sacrosanct and a little family gaming and an odd evening elsewhere too.

Oi hed a Suffolk Blonde oi ded!

With dissertation deadline zooming towards me it was emergency measures time as my continuing inability to concentrate locked tight. The slightest noise, the tiniest interruption and my mind immediately goes into earnest irritation mode, not the best framework in which to attempt to write about your creative influences in an academic essay.

One of the continuing factors I love about Suffolk is its capacity to remain sleepy. Having mum taking care of my food requirements was a boon too. That she let me try and get my head in some sort of working order on the dining room table was blissful. It took some time I have to say. Despite having a first draft the discussions with my supervisor were around decreasing my self deprecation and getting rid of the ‘interesting’ digressions for more comment on what was going on in my brain as I put the poetry together.

An intensive 48 hours saw me with a considerably improved version and off it flew to Siobhan for her thoughts with my insecurities attached naturally. Whilst waiting for her comments I delved into the Humanities Style Guide, what an officious little beast that is. Footnotes and bibliography, grammar and styling, took another 48 hours just about, but once done it does add authority to an essay that was crying out for some.

And just as I thought about an early night Siobhan’s reply hit the emails. I almost daren’t look at it, save it for the morning was my initial reaction. Not possible to have a quick glance though was it? So I did. And she liked it. Several grammar and footnote comments but they’d mostly been addressed in the meantime. And her three main points weren’t massive either, indeed one I had worded poorly but had found improving my comment difficult so her solution was appreciated. 

The following 24 hours saw the final revision. It’s reading fluently, makes some positive observations and demonstrates what an irresistible poet I have become, huzzah!

During that time mum dragged me out of the house and into the quaint town of Eye for a pub lunch.  The response to my request for pint of lager was the usual abomination of the species or a Suffolk Blonde. It’s full of flavour, local, and the prefect accompaniment for fish, chips and mushy peas.

Geek Outing This Saturday, Huzzah!

Come along, learn what there is to learn about board games, buy a new one, treat yourself, we'll teach you the game, sell it to you and let you buy us a beer too, chance of a lifetime!

The One Plus One

It's been fun and tough, the MFA in Creative Writing. Studying again after all the years in-between took some getting back into, but at least the topic held a fascination for me, and the challenge of writing a novel was enough in itself.

 It's quite a world the creative writing world. Fitting together poetry and poets, novelists and life writers, bloggers and twitterers, never mind the strains of scriptwriting for theatre, radio, tv or film, or travel writing, children's writing, other genres, writing for work; what a mess and what an industry with the usual politics, the enviable enthusiasms and the unnecessary protectors of the art.

Strangely, one thing I've missed most is reading. Specifically, reading novels that I've been wanting to read, for a couple of years now. I thought I might 'discover' some new authors during the course and although I have really enjoyed a few - Jonathan Barnes, Kevin McNeil, Karen Perry, James Miller - there haven't been as many as I'd hoped to find. On the poetry front I've fared much better, quite a plethora in fact; Wendy Cope, Matthew Welton, Michael Surnowski, John Clare, John Redmond, Geoff Peterson, Lucy Furlong, Dave Russomano, Christina Stylianou amongst several more.

In the last week I've taken time to start reading again. I kicked off with the excellent thriller 'The Boy That Never Was' by Karen Perry - great title by the way - followed by 'The One Plus One' by Jojo Moyes. I first delved in to her output with 'The Last Letter of Your Lover', a gorgeous romance / lost love story. Following that I zoomed through the brilliant 'Silver Bay', 'The Peacock Emporium', 'Foreign Fruit' and picked up her last three releases as they became available.

'The One Plus One' is a story about two families of disconnected people with lives falling apart. It's fascinating how they reconcile some of their problems and attempt to make things work and how their relationships intertwine and will it all work out in the end? I love the characters, they are brilliantly constructed and believable. The differing points of view are written wonderfully, I went through each one with empathy, sympathy and hopes and frustrations.

At about 400 pages in I thought the book was reaching a natural conclusion and I wondered what could take me through 115 pages I had left. So often I finish a novel and wish I could have been immersed further inside the futures of the characters I'd lived with. This novel took me there. I'm so pleased that Jojo Moyes's deserved recent success hasn't affected her writing. Can't wait for her next one...

It's the knowing how inhuman we are

My minor gripes reach epic proportions today as I proffer a tiny view on Malaysian flight MH17 and the current situation in Israel and Palestine.

From the comfort of my London home it's easy for me. I cannot imagine having to protect my family. And I cannot understand what I might have to protect them from. It feels as though my world has evolved far enough that I will never have these worries. Which is where MH17 comes as close as anything can I guess. From the make-up of the passenger list all those who have tragically lost their lives probably felt pretty similar. I doubt they imagined they would be at risk for one second.

The proliferation of accusations and denials already leave me with doubts over whether the truth will come out; as ever, too much at stake 'politically'. I have not followed the conflict closely enough to have anything but the smallest understanding of what is motivating both sides.

That the position in Israel and Palestine is even more complex seems clear. That so many dismiss it as a conflict between religions is all a bit lazy in my opinion. Any 'truly' religious people would not let their beliefs lead them into a state of war. For me it's pure human greed, power, any of a huge number of inhuman traits, that has been behind all of this and more.

If we could all just focus on the basic human rights of food, water and shelter, if we could treat others as we'd wish to be treated, if we could all try and do one act of kindness each day, then I believe the world would be a better place. As I said at the top, it's easy to write this, never easy to make it happen, but a damn sight easier than becoming part of ongoing power struggles.

My heart goes out to everyone in the whole wide world.

It's another little thing

Grumble mumble number two for this week. As you know I love my gigs. Over the last few weeks there have been several although I did skip one I'm afraid. Anyway, highlight for me was Polica down in Hove, very good indeedy!

Really enjoyed The Naked & Famous at Shepherd's Bush Empire and Bastille at Somerset House. Not quite as enthralling were Daughter, also out in the open air. Perhaps my expectations were out of kilter, unusual that! Never mind. It certainly wasn't bad and I still love them dearly too, probably more than the others in this paragraph.

The downside though, has been the lighting for these gigs. Some of it was interesting, new to me, different, and I can appreciate that. But on the whole the lighting was too much, too many lights, too bright. I've come to see a band play live, not a bunch of silhouettes, you know? I want to be able to see expressions of singers living their lyrics, of guitarists being carried off on their music, of sweaty drummers beating the hell out of their kit. I love seeing the knowing moments the musicians share, how they interact with faces in the crowd, damn it, even their nervousness. I love all these human elements of gigs.

Mr lighting engineer. I'm impressed at how well you've managed to use the latest technology to do a million things at once. Get over it though, or perhaps you could go into large even firework displays? Let me see the people you're supposed to be lighting for me. Give me an atmosphere, don't blind me with strobes that really add nothing to a gig. Show me subtlety, see if you do that for me, please?

It's the little things

Minor irritations. I have a theme running for some of my poems, intolerance. It meets head on with a second theme of the 'great british isles' quite frequently. No doubt it's all a part of becoming a more opinionated person as I grow older, being more certain that I should express my opinions, whether or not anyone is interested!

So, the World Cup. What the hell was it with the abundance of single colour strips? Don't we all love seeing what the latest strips will be? Which teams Adidas had invented a new stripe for, in ALL of it's 'new' creations? As an avid collector of Subbuteo teams over the years I have to say that references 21, 41 and 42 were amongst the most boring; Leeds, Liverpool and Chelsea, not exciting in the way that a 50, 164 or even a 156 were; Brazil, France and (West) Germany.

Having grown up with black and white telly I got the fact that the strips had to be as opposite as possible to each other for the cameras. But as time's gone on it's been incredible how some strips evolved, shocking at times, wonderful at others. Within Subbuteo and table football generally this translated into incredible machine prints initially and then hand painted strips reached incredible levels of detail, I love these in particular:

Algeria '82

Belgium '82

It was weird therefore seeing so many single coloured strips out in Brazil. Not weird, wrong. For all the brilliant games and superb excitement, definitely the best tournament I can remember, there's always a niggle somewhere, this was mine!!

Another grumble will follow this one. You have been warned.

Book Ends

Sometimes, things just come together. You make a little effort and the most wonderful experience results. I hadn't seen my Best Man Mick for many, many years. Neither of us are the sort to work out how long but it must be over fifteen years. He lives and works in the US and when he's back in Blighty he has that merry-go-round of family to visit. Thankfully, his lovely wife Pam is on Facebook and we work well as FB friends. She'd been posting about her trip to my home town Beccles and all the other great places they've visited this time round and I realised they must be coming to the end of their trip.

Pam had mentioned they'd flown in via Heathrow so I took a punt and dropped her a little message. If they were returning via Heathrow, and no-one else was seeing them off, could we pop along briefly?

Yes, no and yes. So we did, Cheryl, Josephine and I. We met in T5, between letter E and F, perfect!

And oh so quickly we'd caught up and were talking about all the little things that you only can with the closest of friends, even when you haven't seen them in aeons. Mick is the loveliest and funniest of people. Brilliantly down to earth, brilliantly Professorial, now an ecologist of sorts study the trees that grow under the oceans.

He'd dug out some photos of the time we'd spent 'round Garrod's': we'd meet up at Kev's house as often as we could back in our teens and that was were life was formed for me. That's where we worked out how we were going to avoid the inevitable draft to go and fight in the Falklands, stuff like that!

It was such a treat seeing Mick and Pam again, a real highlight. Life can be beautiful so often...

blue skies [Simon Calnan]

Gigs and Music

There's a flurry of gigs coming up, and as normal they are all bands I long to see, would hate to have missed and yet as the day's arrive I still have a doubt as to whether I really want to make the effort to go out. All part of the day-to-day coping I guess. Doubt is good for writers, in their writing that is, in the tale they are portraying I mean. On the courses they call it 'conflict' but I'm more than a little averse to conflict so I call it doubt.

Wovenhand, Bush Hall, 2014

Anyway, last week it was out to see the incredible intensity of David Eugene Edwards. There are only two 'performers' for me who seem to become possessed in their delivery, and I'm not doubting that others give their all, not for one second. But Mr Edwards and Simon Huw Jones go much further inside themselves and become raw, they expose themselves on stage and are enticing, are seducers of emotion, are out to take you with them on the journey into their minds, their soul. It is mesmerising, it is powerful and it is frightening too. Never must they change.

And Also The Trees, 2013

Tomorrow it's down to Brighton to see Polica, there should be an accent on the 'c' but I haven't worked that bit out on my mac as yet, sorry!! Playing their first album this morning has me very excited. It's even better because I'm meeting up with another Hora hero and his wife. So there's no way I'm missing this one!

Next up are The Naked & Famous and Basti's coming with me to that one which is great. The following week is Conor Oberst and then Daughter at Somerset House, such a great venue for a gig. The week after that is a return to Somerset House with the whole family for Bastille, Josie's very excited about this one.

Live music is such a treat, and I sincerely hope I never give up going to gigs. I can only count one really disappointing experience at a gig, that alone is amazing. Of all the money I've spent going to the cinema, theatre, football matches, other live events, that is incredible. Wow, I'm exhilarated just thinking about that!

Waggle You Buggers, Waggle!

Ok, so the Waggle Dance is getting rave reviews from all over the place, really impressed with PR machine chaps, well done!!

However, it still needs some funding to get this game out into the world.

If you've never backed a kickstarter before then here's a helping hand;

1. go to the page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1811420414/wag... 

2. play the video... read all about the game... watch the 'final thoughts' video for an independent assessment - yes, he got sent a copy of the game but he didn't have to review it, and he certainly didn't have to like it as much as he obviously does!

3. decide whether you want to support a fledgling Cornish games producing company. This is their second project and they delivered a fine product first time round and on time too.

4. if you're still in then it's time to pledge some money. You don't get charged if the project fails. You only get charged on it succeeding, on Sunday 29th June 2014.

5. click on 'Back this Project'.

6. choose your pledge level - £22 for UK addresses, or £27 for EU, US and Canada, etc.

7. follow the payment requirements, nothing out of the ordinary of course.

8. spread the word... Facebook, tweet, all those things.

9. thanks!!

Audience, hello, how are you?

In amongst lines of poetry and ideas for lines of poetry and words that might prompt ideas for poetry I came across a note trying to analyse the problem I have with blogging. Having done some bits in the past the thought of writing a small commentary on my life was fine. I'm sure I've stated previously that one reason I'm relatively quiet in public, especially in a group, is that I doubt how interesting anything I have to say will be. That's from the other side of the fence as it were, how often do I switch off or think I could be spending my time more efficiently by not listening to someone telling me something I do not wish to know. To be fair I only spend my time with interesting people so this is rarely an issue anymore.

Anyway, there's part of my perceived difficulty with blogging, digression. I love digression. I love where it takes you, it seems natural to me that other ideas will take over for a while and yet you can still revert to the original point in due course - just wrote 'original pint' there!! But, a lot of people don't seem to like it. Maybe I'm putting those off. Who cares! For me, the king of digression is Victor Hugo. A few years ago I waded through Les Misreables and loved it for its digression, intense, historically fascinating and absolutely too long to be true. Incredible piece of writing to hold the book together.

Right, back to the issue. Blogging problems. My biggest inhibitor is that some people do actually read this. And although I have a pretty good grasp of most of you - thank you so much! - there may be others lurking that I'm unaware of. So, I'm always thinking what would Vera like to know - must send her some poems - or maybe Chris is keen for some more games thoughts. Perhaps Tamsin is wondering what's happening with a writing group we would both like to be part of, or maybe my sister, or even my wife, is trying to work out the state of my mind. That's my problem, I don't know how to write to keep this disparate audience vaguely interested. And it also means that I can't really tell the world everything that's going on inside, which is where I thought this blog might have a release for me.

Am I after more engagement from my audience? No. I can speak to anyone I want to speak to easily enough. Do I want feedback on topics? No. I would never ask for that. I guess I just need to acknowledge my responsibilities whilst blogging, keep somebody interested enough each day, and find some more catchy titles that might entice a read...

I had a black dog, his name was depression

Simple enough... this is what it's like.

Finding Liam Neeson...

Liam Neeson. How to contact the great man, that's this morning's question. He has a little something waiting his attention but he possibly doesn't even know about it as yet. His agent surely owes him this opportunity? I wonder what he'd make of it? Liam that is, not his agent!

So I'm sat outside having my Bran Flakes this morning and the bees flitting around the newly planted flowers grab my attention. They go over and over the same path and then will rest suddenly, or is that when they're doing the business end of their reconnoissance? I guess so. For me, one of the best things about Waggle Dance is the set up you can put in place in the early rounds. Extending your bee population, or your hive makes sense but you don't want to miss early opportunity to collect pollen if your opponents aren't able to, and maybe the Queen Bee Cards will bring you a huge favour early too, who knows?

In the mid-game the pollen collection is what it's all about and having some good Queen Bee Cards by then is crucial. And it could well be time to restructure the hive or pick up the odd piece of pollen to ensure you've not wasted any. All that honey needs producing; I bet bees are efficient little buggers!

The kickstarter campaign for Waggle Dance started with a real flourish and on the back of the UK Games Expo I expected this to then take off even further. It's choogling along quite nicely but needs a little helping hand. Just like the bees. We need to give them a chance, hence the Hora garden having more flowers this year, and we've left the sage to flower with it's beautiful mauve stalks that the bees have been going crazy over for weeks now.

So, for an outlay of £22 you get a copy of this lovely game, delivered. You help a small Cornish publishing company with their second game, and they've also put together a ton of info on bees on their website, a fascinating study in itself. Another level among the kickstarter pledges is the one just for Liam. His own special opportunity to assist. That's why we need to find him, urgently!!

All help greatly appreciated, obviously...

Okay, take me and Liam to the page...

Spotify, Spearmint and the Stones

So, I've recently been increasing my usage of Spotify. In the past it was somewhere I might pop in to listen to some more tracks by an artist a friend had mentioned or recommended. Being decisive in these things usually four or five tracks would be enough for me to add an album to the wish list, buy it immediately, or scrub the name from the depths of my amnesia.

But since the Mac investment the sound quality on my laptop is very good, not up to the quality of my hifi, but it's clear, works well for me. Not sure when this happened, but Spotify claim they now pay the artist for every track played. I'd hate to estimate the infinitesimal amount of this but, ok, fair play. For most of the day I pick one of my beloved faves - Spearmint, And Also The Trees, Belasco, the passage, the Beloved - and turn the volume down and just let it cycle through their Spotify selection. When I listen to them I'll listen 'properly'.

I have the download version of Spearmint's new album, 'News From Nowhere'. You'd be shocked if I was loving it, every single second, every line, note, all that stuff. And I do. But I'm looking forward to the CD arriving, I have a feeling it will sound better through the hi-fi. As often as I've doubted my ears they do appreciate my beautiful set up. Or maybe iTunes I'm listening to the download on isn't quite up to it.

Recommendation One. Get yourself a copy of this album.

Once in a blue moon a new band comes along and falling in love with them is the most wonderful thing. To say that this is rare would be an understatement, but it happens. Fortune favoured a strange link recently and drove me in the direction of the Stones, Angus and Julia. One of my favourite authors of the last decade is Jojo Moyes. She's built a reputation based on 'Me Before You' and rightly so. I was lucky enough to be attracted by the title of her 'The Last Letter From Your Lover' and delved into her six or so previous novels thoroughy enjoying all of them. Anyway, she tweeted that someone, a German lady, had put together at 8tracks.

On that compilation are the wonderful Daughter, xx, Birdy, and the Stones, Angus & Julia. I have to say I'm very disappointed that no-one pointed them out to me earlier, they've sold out their impending shows in London and I would have loved to have seen them, maybe next time... Or did someone point them out and me, in my stubbornness towards trying new music, didn't bother. Oh, what an idiot!

Anyway, I've ordered what I can, bizarrely an album less than eight years old seems impossible to buy on cd for less than £30. Don't get that, literally too. But my Spotify habit in the last few weeks has been to open them up and listen over and over. Bliss, complete, utter unrefined joy. As someone once wrote, 'it's the music that I love'.

Election Hysteria

Election hysteria, mmm. So I decided to vote Green this time, both locally and EU. Having read through everyone, I promise you, everyone else's marketing blurb, they were by far the most closely aligned to my present raison d'être. And so you have to go with it. I'm not political enough for a tactical vote.

My overriding feeling about the elections was one of horror. I am severely frightened about the thinking of my compatriots, the level of their understanding, motivations and gullibility. My conclusion is that the power of the media must be peaking. Surely it must? There must come a time when being told how think reaches the ridiculous and something clicks inside and we decide, 'hold on, do I really have that much hate for a fellow human being?'

After a recent slight dig at Facebook friends not advising me how to be positive in my political outlook I have been impressed that social media is at least trying to be bold. These three links particularly hit home for me, and if only one of you has the time the take a glimpse into the articles then I feel I may have done my bit for once;

For more...

But what to do about the media hysteria. How do we change the journalists who 'perform', to me, like a good number of barristers, rather than think about what they are actually doing? Yesterday's mid-day news had someone interviewing a Labour MP and his questioning was interrogatory to say the least. He would not let the man answer. I had no idea whether he had anything to say or not, he wasn't given a chance. So presumably some would say that as a politician he should be able to influence a discussion, but I don't agree with that. If you're going to interview someone try to LISTEN to what they may to say and then ask the questions I would want asked... please.

I've tried to find the interview online but two hours have passed and although I'm sure it was Chuka Umunna being interviewed I can't find it. I can picture the BBC reporter too, but can't find a photo to discover his name... in this day and age too!

I don't know. I'm sure I'll find a poetic response but give me some better ideas and maybe it'll provoke the present 'Horatude'...

A great day to age

Yesterday was a very good day. Remembered to get to swimming early to avoid the children and was finishing my 64th length as the cacophony began. Then late morning met up with two lovely people I met on a writing course in Richmond. We wandered down to the Tide Tables Cafe by the river and yapped on for  a good couple of hours. They both write really well in my eyes and yet aren't the most prolific of writers which is such a shame. Hopefully we will encourage each other and become more productive!

In the afternoon it was the final 'intro to apple mac' course, must sign up for the intermediate one after half term. I've great at turning this one on now after all the practice I've had recently. From there it was the H37 from Richmond station to South Street, Isleworth and a short walk to the London Apprentice for games night. Miraculously I won two of the three games I played - coming a distant last in the other although I scored my highest score by miles. Each week we write a blog about the evening. Here's my submission for the game 'Stone Age', slightly adapted for the non-gamers amongst you.

'Our ancestors worked with their legs and backs straining... in Stone Age, players live in this time, just as our ancestors did. They collect wood, break stone and wash their gold from the river. They trade freely, expand their village, and so achieve new levels of civilisation. This is exciting and interesting.'

Now, as part of my recent teaching to some creative writing undergrads I asked them to become more away of literal and figurative speech. To be careful around the use of cliches, to try and consider each and every word they chose to use. So let's have a closer look at the game of Stone Age through the marketing spiel as Philip, Andy and I played it last night...

First off, I have to admit that we hardly 'lived in the time as our ancestors did'. Philip and I had our glasses on for starters. What would those ancestors have made of them? With Philip on hol at the mo' only Andy had done some hard work during the day and yet, it is fair to say, he looked pretty refreshed upon his arrival. Our ancestors would have been proud of Philip's venison and black pudding dinner, maybe less so about my house salad and pint of 4% lager.

Secondly, 'collect wood'. Now this is something we did do. In abundance. We collect timber shaped pieces of wood, meeple shaped pieces of wood, brick shaped pieces of wood... you get the picture. Each one weighs 5 grams as a guess. Was it 'just like our ancestors did'? Mm, not exactly. You know. Andy and I collected a lot of wood early on, indeed I also hoarded brick shaped wood and meeple shaped wood too, but the energy expended was, frankly, embarrassing when compared to the stone age days.

'Break stone'. Can't say we did any of that. Me dropping a couple of pieces on the floor was the nearest we came to that. But they both wooden bits. It might have been whilst the others were scrabbling around trying to find those bits that I rearranged the huts and cards but I couldn't possibly admit to such a thing!

'Washing gold from the river'. Nope, the Thames wasn't laden last night and never has been as far as I know, so, we didn't do that either. One of the dropped bits undoubtedly resurfaced covered in a mashed chip but we just wiped it on the green blaze, sorted.

'Free trade'. If only. Every trade costs you know. Bits of wood, precious bits of wood that we'd been working hard to collect. And competitive it was too. The huts were in demand from early doors and although I picked up six of them it was tough let me tell you. The cards trade was even more intense. Those other boys were there collecting cardboard like it was the precious gold mentioned above. And then there was the 'free' element of the dice rolls. Always a gamble. Philip didn't get the rolls that Andy and I did it's true. His technique undoubtedly accounting for this, the determined use of the stone-age-dead-animal-smell dice cup turned swiftly upside down and planted firmly on the table. That was the most energy any of us consumed throughout this hard time; legs and backs decidedly unstrained.Expanding our village. The player boards are difficult to expand. On occasion they got a little lumpy with bits of wood and cardboard on them. And my sixth hut had to be crammed in with my nine workers struggling for space amongst the food. Greenbelt expansion? Not exactly.

'Achieve new levels of civilisation'. Now, this is where we did meet the job description. We were magnanimous in our skill sets, impressive in our competency range and unyielding in our capacities to collect all that wood and cardboard. 'Exciting and interesting', we flooded the whole room with our infectious, life-affirming qualities; did you feel it Isleworth??

I love box descriptions. I was recently asked to write one for a Spanish designer. I carefully selected every word, thought through every phrase and sentence. He liked it... wonder if any potential publishers will? 

Some say this character looks familiar...

Whilst Philip and Andy moved further up the food track, and collected all of the green civi cards between them, they didn't quite match my number of huts and points scored from those, as well as my great hoard of workers scoring at 5 points each. A close contest, all could have won or lost with one more item. But they didn't. I did, yippeeeeeee!!

Final Scores; Neil - 157, Andy - 149, Philip 145 (or thereabouts)

Sometimes you just have too many thoughts in one day

And, it would appear, that today is just one such. Hurrah!

The Germans announced one of their most important things today, nothing to do with their World Cup Squad either, oh no. They announced the 'biggest' board game prize nominees for the year. This is the time when everyone suddenly has an opinion on what they left out, what they included, and well, that obviously covers it!

So, the German nation are backing one German game - unusually low - one French - quite brave for the Germans - and one Belgium game, bloody hell! I back the French entry, Splendor. You may remember it comes in a huge box... but it plays wonderfully, is colourful, quick and Mrs Hora just got thrashed in quick succession twice this evening.

The, there are the 'Gamers' Games' award. With people seeming to dare the committee to nominate Russian Railroads, one of the few games I've played that has left me completely underwhelmed, they gave it a nod only. The three games to have are apparently Istanbul, Concordia and Rococo. And it just so happens that I have them. Playing them is a different matter. Only Concordia has been played and after it's brilliant reception at Essen last year I didn't rush to buy it. But playing it was great, I enjoyed it a lot. I cannot really say then that one deserves it above another. At least most of the reaction has been funny!

Could be yours for a small fortune.

The other gaming related news is my latest escapades on ebay. If you're after a rare Subbuteo Zombie Team then now's the time to pick one up... Rochdale, Dumbarton, you're out to make me my fortune this week. We shall see. The initial reaction has been promising and with a load more to go on next week, more European, plus American - North and South - and National teams then who knows. The overdraft could be cleared once again.

Elections, Voting...

Thursday, another round of elections. What to do? Who to vote for? To say I'm not much of a political animal would be an understatement. I avoid politics more than any other topic I can think of, would much rather chat about ballet shoes, birds native to Peru and the latest soap tv drama in Sri Lanka.

However, it's an important right. A huge number of people strived for my right to vote for people to represent me, locally, regionally, nationally and so on and so forth. At home we've duly collected a couple of articles about our voting options, have kept the myriad of flyers posted through our letterbox. Even keeping the one that told us to stick it in the window so that others didn't have to post any more through our letterbox, democracy at work presumably? Gosh, that was the UKIP one, who'd have thunk it???

So, I start reading through the A5 pieces of brightly coloured paper. And they all say the same. Brilliant! Whoever I vote for is going to reduce crime, improve the education of my children, make the Health Service more efficient and cut my council tax bill. How wonderful is that? Now I just have to gauge which will do to the greatest extent I guess. Can't be too difficult can it?

The recycling of ideas, of marketing lines, of change for the sake of change and then a return to the older ways brought up to date a little and well, it gets me down. When I was quite a bit younger it annoyed me that every four years the conservatives and labour would trade places and reverse half of what the other had been doing. I decided that continuity would be good, it didn't matter which one it was as long as they had the chance to get stuck in. And then Margaret was elected. So much for that idea!

A good few friends comment politically and I'm pleased that they do, they give me an opportunity to understand some of the issues. They highlight a lot of the inconsistencies, provide me with some of the facts. The majority of this, however good the information is, is negative. And I could well be missing it through lethargy but I don't recall being advised who I should be voting for... who the good guys and gals are. And we even vote with a 'X', why not a nice tick, positivity is good.

Okay, so less of the facetiousness. I don't trust many people. I know everyone deserves a chance, and I like to think that I can certainly offer everyone that, even after my first impressions have been filed for later consideration. This is so unfair of me. I know there are some genuine politicians out there who will do whatever it may take to make a difference. I love those people, admire their incredible persistence and dedication, feel guilty that I am not one of them. It's just most politicians I have met - not a vast number it's true - or even those I think I might have some understanding of through the media I equally irresponsibly loathe, not a single one would I wish to have represent my views. I should go with the one who will get as close as they can to my view obviously, and yet I just don't trust them. I should try to get to know them better, then I could confidently vote. Oh what am I going to do come Thursday? I have two decisions to make, up to four votes to cast. You know what I'm going to do? Absolutely nothing. That's it!

Kickstarter: Copper Country and more Thalatta

Well, another busy week - by my pretty laid back standards - has seen me tidying through papers, chucking out lots of it and feeling good about that. Went to the first Spearmint gig in aeons and it was straight back into a lovely evening, some great new songs, a few surprises that I love, The Whole Summer Long and Your Southern Skies, the latter providing fond memories of my first driving tour with Shirl, Si and Little Jim in Jan 2005. Anyway, you'd be shocked if I hadn't enjoyed it. It was wonderful seeing them all again plus all those other people that go to Spearmint gigs too. A real treat.

Most of the rest of the week has had me writing out the rules for Thalatta as well as a little bit of marketing spiel too;

The designer has been great to work with. He's let me ask the daftest questions, and lots of 'big' questions that I should have got straight a lot sooner! Never mind. I think we're there, he's whizzing the files around the world this weekend to play-testers he's lined up. All very exciting.

And after a couple of kick-starters finished last weekend I had a bit of a gap in the future production line-up and thankfully it was easy, very easy to choose something to slot in. Copper Country has been a game of interest for a while. There's been a growing swell of information about the game from the two designers for some time. They made some excellent videos, posted some enticing photos and brilliant artwork.

They sent an email through announcing the start of the campaign this week and so I duly signed up immediately. They sent a personal 'thanks' message straight away, always a good sign. And then replied to my response too... I find if you try and engage with the project a bit at the start you'll soon find out about how keen, enthusiastic, serious, the project leaders are. I recently backed out of a kickstarter for the first time. No reply to my mail, and no answers to a few questions raised. It looked interesting, some great art, but never mind.

Copper Country is all about mining in Michigan. I like mining games, this one seems to have quite a bit of depth - no pun intended. Here are a few Copper Country pieces to whet the appetite;

Take a look on the Geek

Spearmint - News From Nowhere - Buffalo Bar

This week is very very special for me. Of all the things I love in life there is nothing that gets close to my love of music. Within that love are a myriad of bands and artists that I adore passionately, they mean everything to me. I can't imagine life without their songs being around me, without gigs to go to. Never let me go deaf, that's all I ask.

And then there's the top of the tree, the star upon that Norwegian spruce in Trafalgar Square. It seems almost inappropriate to choose just one band. If you ask me what my top 10 albums are I'd have to rattle off a list of at least thirty, impossible to pick only ten... but, sorry, that should be, BUT, this band are the specialest, the most perfect, I have ever heard. I understand they might not do it for everyone but there's nothing but wonderful about them for me. They are quirky, funny, catchy, melodic, they really are purrfect. There's not a single song of theirs I have ever felt lukewarm about, and every single time I play their music it does it to me over and over again, that hairs thing, on the back of my neck. What a great invention that sensation is.

Stumbling across them back in July 1997 at the Water Rats Mrs Hora and I were blown away by this fun-packed live performance, handclaps, swirling harmonies, choppy, edgy guitar and pulsating beats and bass. We tracked them down again, and again, and eventually plucked up courage to thank them for the pleasure they were giving us, and eventually we got to know them little by little. Band-stalking is quite a profession for many and we didn't want to get too caught up! And then I was asked to drive three of them around Germany for seven acoustic gigs in January 2005 and my tour driving began. Imagine sitting in a Renault Scenic with three of your heroes for a whole week. It's a wonder we arrived anywhere, especially in the snowfall that winter.

Get it here!

Over the years the albums have come out, what a selection. I hosted a lyrics website for a few years, must dust those files off sometime perhaps, I packed them full of photos and useless/useful info on hidden pages, why did I hide them I wonder now? Never mind. I love that they run their own label, and always have done. A true Indie indie band. And the man Shirl, the main songwriter, well, he's a gem. Hell, they all are. Some of the loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.

There's a new album coming out, on the 26th May, News From Nowhere. I haven't heard a single song on it yet. I will love it. Simple.

Wednesday evening, they play the Buffolo Bar in Upper Street, by Highbury and Islington tube station. It's their first gig in a couple of years. It will be the 106th time I have seen them live... I can't wait. I really can't!

Thalatta!

It's Ancient Greek for sea they tell me, or more to the point the Spanish designer of a board game - called Thalatta - tells me. Somehow, he struck gold in choosing me to help with the English rules translation of his latest design! I know, unbelievable.

Anyway, in the week he sent through the files and I printed off a very pretty map, a bunch of cards and dug out some spare tokens. Friday was my first run through; how can I write the rules up if I haven't played the game? I played the maximum four players and it took me quite some time as I got to grips with the rules and tried to play as fairly as possible for each colour. Thankfully, the game is good, it is interesting, very interesting and the more I got into the game the deeper it became.

At first, it's a set collection exercise to get enough ships to build routes around the Med. There are 'demand cards' which will provide income and thus victory points. The strategic bits are around the time element of the game. It takes ships some time to travel and so they need to 'collect' this as well. And you can't possibly build complete routes that often so you have to interact with the other players to claim trades. It's been well thought through. Yesterday, I played it again as a three player game and once more it worked really well. Today was the two player run through and whilst I preferred it with three or four it certainly handles two fine.

The emails that Jose and I have been trading have been very open and that's made the whole process so easy. I will read up some rule sets I think are well written this evening and then start my work in earnest tomorrow. Great to be involved in this.

Swimming Into Trouble

Another few more lengths this week, but some turmoil in the pool too. My timing was out, to say the least. Let me explain;

Wednesdays, never forget, you need to be in the pool to ensure an early finish. From 9:00 the Blue School arrive and take up three of the six lanes, as well as the training and lagoon pools. With two more lanes being combined for general swim this leaves only one lane for those of us keen to do lengths. I foot this, arriving in the water at quarter to nine. The lane was empty for my first four lengths, sixty to go, when I was joined by an nice old fellow who swims breast stroke like me, a fraction quicker he is, and then alternates with back stroke - he has a bad neck he once explained - when I catch up and a little more. We share a lane well, efficiently.

I was in the early twenties when the children and their high pitched frivolity joined the fray. Into 'our' lane came an Asian lady who's quite fast going forwards, but on her back, very slow. Lane swimming is all about the slowest swimmer, tricky. As the attendants combined the other two lanes another lady joined us too and the sensible maximum of three per lane was over. As it was, after a couple of lanes we'd all sorted out our rhythms and were working well as a small community. I felt proud in the human ability to all get along.
Until, the testosterone macho-man dived in. He had as much right as the rest of us of course, I would never deprive him of that freedom. He proceeded to impress with his pacey front crawl, probably twice the speed of any of the rest of us. And those fancy forward-roll turns too. Not being able to swim past us with the frequency required he opted for turning before a lane end, quite a good solution, until he was suddenly spinning as we all limited the middle ground. Time for a blistering strike through the crowd he decided. Gulping the water, not my favourite pastime, damn. None of us where going to submit. I wonder what the attendants made of it all, and what my comrades were thinking too. The Asian lady decided to relax on her back more often. I lost count of my lengths, or did I?

The microcosm of the world had fallen apart. My relaxing swim, when I sort out my brain, calming gently into the day, became a whirl of frustration, misunderstanding, doubt, conflict. Somehow, I managed to reach fifty lengths before giving up. That five individuals, all keen to swim, weren't able to do so with an amount of consideration, cooperation and thought. Is it any wonder we have a world we have?

Just wow!

So, been working hard - couldn't believe it myself - on the PGCert final assignment and a big slug of marking too, but it's all done now so I can get back to explaining my brain for all and none...

Find the Moose on facebook

There are a few topics to catch up on but today's going to be a visual feast. First up is a wonderful creation by Chill, the drummer man in And Also The Trees, the joker in the pack, the entertainer when all else fails. I love his paintings, drawings, doodles and this is a real gem;

The secondly the artwork for the box for Waggle Dance has been uploaded to the Geek and I simply had to share it. Look at how colourful and detailed this is. Blown away is not a phrase I use lightly, or often, but maybe this did it;

Full details can be found on boardgamegeek