1970s Nightmares

For some reason I’ve been obsessed with the darker side of the 70s. Its bleakness, its repressed emotions…

Started by watching Ben Wheatley’s adaptabtion of JG Ballard’s High-Rise.

At its heart its a Sci-fi story (without ray guns, spaceships or robots) the setting really transported me back to that time in both style and tone. Outstanding performances by an ensemble cast. Jeremy Irons is particularly chilling yet very fragile and human as the Architect of the building and Tom Hiddleston as the lead character shines but does not outshine the rest of the cast.

Total recommend from me, reminds me of some of the dark stuff you’d used to see on C4 & BBC2 in the 80s (not surprising this was funded by Film 4). A highly intelligent and well shot film, but not one for when you need a happy-cheery film

Meanwhile Radiohead ruin and soil many people’s childhood memories of shows like Trumpton and Camberwick Green with their video of their song Burn the Witch.

And continuing the theme of music and Black Magic, I picked up the Dark Horse Comic’s Graphic Novel version of That Damned Band. Without giving too much away its a beguiling mix of 70s Heavy Metal excess, the band that the story is about Motherfarther screams Led Zepplin (with elements of other bands of the time ), psychedelia (the cover which drew me in reminded me of the 13th Floor Elevators) and good old horror storytelling.

Of course the prize for creepy 1970s goes to Scarfolk Council, the blog/book/design project about a town stuck in a paranoid version of the 1970s.

Visit Scarfolk

March in Photos

This is getting to be a habit as the months whizz by in 2016. Proper post with thoughts, feelings and broad sweeping generalisations soon my beauties 🙂

For one day only…Snow in March! 🙂

Under the Beetham building in Manchester centre

Grandad Ted’s Sheep in Castlefield Park, Manchester

Grand Hall in the building I work.

Wayhey small boys playing in the garden with forts n stuff!

So now we know where Major Tom got to 🙂

Cuddle Cthulhu!

Comics have landed in our house, but TV still here

Henry looks at “No Thanks Evil” RPG with interest

Spring is here 🙂

Close up of the “Spring is here” bush 🙂

Millie!

Weird things you see in Manchester

Enjoy a Hot Cross Bun Burger at the local pub that sense forgot 🙂

Easter Egg haul. Mine was the Adventure Time egg with mug 🙂

Some cats have all the sleeps 🙂

February 2016 in Photos

Big photo post this one, so brace yourself.

The biggie being our Cotswolds half-term break. Me and Rach long have a tradition of going away in February, to beat the winter blues, and this year was a return to the Cotswolds. We stayed in a cottage in Shipston near Stratford upon Avon, and the absence of going to the more fairytale parts of the Cotswolds (Burton on the Water, Stow on the Wolds, Broadway etc) made it a different experience for me. The children are now mature enough to appreciate the historical places we go which is really good 🙂

We drove up after the last day of school on Friday, which turned out to be another 7 hour trek, and arrived late in the dark. Saturday was a pottering day round Shipston, which is a lovely little town which I could easily see an older Newt relocating.

Sunday was London. We got a Family Ticket (about £60) which not only let us get via a hour long rail journey, but also gave us unlimited bus and tube travel. Morning we did Buckingham Palace and Parliament Square, as well as a large chunk of Whitehall (Admiralty Arch etc) simply because it was on the way from the tube station we jumped off at. With aching feet we whizzed over to the British Museum and had lunch at family favourite Pizza Express. Then around the museum, which was excellent as ever but was way too busy for our liking. Then a quick tea at The Spaghetti Company ( big thanks to the manager who squeezed us in before the Valentines Day rush) and home on the train again.

Monday was another rest day at the cottage, with a bit of pottering around Shipton, and boy did we need it after London.

Tuesday was Warwick Castle. Still my favourite castle, despite the Disneyfycastion its undergoing.

Wednesday, a quick trip to Stratford upon Avon as a retail experience, ending up in the Bella Italia, where me and Rach first went on our way down to our Honeymoon all those years ago, watching H stuff his face. The others got toys and books, but I got a new lightweight waterproof (which is like having your own tent) which pleased my middle-aged self no end. It got immediate testing because it was chucking it down. Still no where near as bad as home, which we delighted telling the shocked locals.

Thursday was a nice stroll about Charlecote Park. It was still slightly damp and cold, but the day was clear and typical of the nice weather that we enjoyed while we were away. In the evening I quickly packed everything and dumped it in the car. A far cry from our two-week long camping holiday in the summer.

After a very quick rounding up of the last bits of stuff, well done Team Newport, we said goodbye to the Cottage and had a lovely morning in historical Stratford Upon Avon. So we did Shakespear’s Birthplace and the adjoining museum, before wandering down to the Merchant’s house (whose name escapes me) and doing lunch at a British Pub (cheese sandwiches and Pedigree for the win!). Then it was the long drive home.

After that February was pretty much done, but there were signs that Spring was coming on time which perked up my mood no end.

At work 3 flights up, with 5 to go, next to a motivational poster congratulating me for using the stairs. Kinda sums up the day job at the moment.

A quick selfie – me in Feb 2016, relatively stress free at the Holiday cottage

Ye Olde Map of Warwickshire – the place of my birth

Kids chillin’ in the lounge of the Holiday Cottage

A picture of that epic lounge window coming down the stairs.

Henry enjoying a snack in the light and airy kitchen.

Part of the family outside the gates at Buckingham Palace

Oh look here’s where Henry’s wandered off to 🙂

High Court at Parliment Square.

Parliment Square, Big Ben and a photobombing Red Bus

British Musseum

Stand on the stairs and wave to daddy 🙂

Me brooding under a black obelisk

Ouch!

Head of a susposed statue of Claudius, cut off and tossed into the river during Boadicea’s revolt

Uber busy Egyptian hall

Sutton Hoo helmet

Reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo helmet (oh shiny)

Bit of chillng out writing old school D&D

Gate leading to the charming back yard

Warwick Castle

Inside the Kingmaker exhibition, and hey there’s the great man himself on the right in armour

Oliver Cromwell

H at Bella Italia in Stratford upon Avon

A boy and his Jess,at Charlecote Park

An actual Hobbit House

A bit of the Hall at Charlecote part

Ignoring the “Don’t feed the birds” signs at Stratford upon Avon

H with the biggest Jamie Dodger in a medieval Costa Coffee in Stratford upon Avon

Bill Shakespear Tudor Pulp Hero

Admiring the wall paper at Shakespear’s birthplace

A casual lunch in a pub at Stratford upon Avon, before the drive home

Back home…the pussies are waiting!

Spring is coming !

January 2016 in photos

January was a roller coaster of a month. After an energetic start to the year, which we celebrated as a family with a breakfast at the John Milne after Rach’s Night shift, both me and Evie were off with obnoxious colds for a week.

Sorted out what I’m doing with D101 this year while the day job remained bizarrely broken, do to a Future of IT programme that sees senior management lay off a third of our department in the name outsourcing ( something that the rest of the world seems
to have given up on).The next working day after the last day of those taking “voluntary severance”, the Head of IT announces his resignation!

Rachel hit 40 … Opps sorry 28 😉 Amongst the Birthday celebrations we had a lovely family meal out at Manchester’s top Chinese Restaurant, Yan Sing and a rather strange trip to the Trafford Centre (which was still too busy after Christmas).

Here’s the month in photos.

Let Battles commence!

So I’m a big fan of the band Helmet, and I was checking out what their original drummer John Stainer was up to these days….and as a result I discovered his current band Battles. Mind blown, albums ordered 🙂

Bill Murray sums it up

Talking about being more present in the moment, was something that I’ve had a feeling for – oh like 25+ years. But its been a nagging feeling that has been so overwhelming I’ve stumbled badly to put it into words, even into context within my life. The best I could do was turn that feeling into a life long commitment to the practices of Taoism.

Recently I did a short online course about Taoist Manifestation techniques, to help me really get on with life in a calm and relaxed way, and a basically it came down to “Be happy that you are here”. Amoungst all the mind blowing “you are what you think” techniques, its central message was “Look you are here, be more present, be in good shape and it will all come to anyway”. For a moment I got it fully, then the cynical voices came back and it slipped away again.

Then Bill Murray in full on wise elder emerges from the void that is You Tube (OK I’ve been searching for more Bill Murray quotes after coming across this wonderful meme image ), with this…

A fast-slow start to the year

2016 started off in a really epic way, no it really did. Things literally flew through the air into place and everything was nicely lining up to be Awesome and Full of Win. Then like a mirror image of the end of last year, when Rach and Henry were full of cold/Flu for a week, me and Evie (who is the healthiest of all of us) had a grotty cold which stopped us in our tracks. Its been a weird and frustrating week, there’s so much I wanted to get done, but I think the best advice I’ve read during this time is “Take a step back, slow down, and see it all coming” 🙂

Kinda summing it all up, especially in the light of the recent deaths of David Bowie, Alan Rickman (both this week) and Lemmy, is this short animation by the creators of Southpark, using a fragment of a talk by Alan Watts.

All this makes me want to live more intensely, be more present in the moment, but at a slower more graceful pace. Especially when I’m full of cold at the start of the year 🙂

Tis was the night before Returntoworkmas

I’ll be glad to go back to work tomorrow. It will be a refreshing change from all this holiday I’ve had to take recently 🙂

2015 in music

2015 musically was a year of branching out as I gradually grow from the metal of my younger years. There’s been alot of noodling about with Jazz, dabbling in chill out music and experimental electronic music.

A big discovery for me this year has been Phish a lovely intelligent melodic psychedelic band, who are huge in America filling out arenas, but strangely absent from European touring schedules (the lead singer apparently has a drugs conviction that prevents touring over here). My entry point was via the awesome Fuego which is their last album, after a hiatus and reformation. Then I consumed Billy Breathes which has the fantastically uplifting anthem Free. My final trip to Phishland was the appropriately titled Joy, a heartfelt epic of a long player.

Also rediscovered Ozric Tentacles via their latest album Technicians of the Sacred, which is their latest after reforming, and has all the joyous swirling dancey uplifting instrumentals that I remember them for from the early 90s, where I discovered them from my pals in Leeds University’s Psychedelic and Trash Society.

Clutch put out Psychic Warfare, which is a lovely blend of their ‘pure rock fury’ sound which has developed over the last couple of albums and the weirder sci-fi influenced lyrics of their early albums, bliss.

Faith No More came back strong with Sol Invitus, which is a wonderful continuation and evolution of their musical mission, not a plundering and invalidation of their musical backcatalog like some reformations are.

I was initially very excited about Killing Joke’s new LP Pylon. It hits all the buttons that a good Killing Joke release should. Perhaps that’s the problem, that after thirty odd years of them pushing my buttons I no longer need the cathartic release they used to provide. Going to see them live back in October certainly felt like I concluded business I started with them in the 90s. I dunno maybe after a break I’ll come back to them with fire and passion. Perhaps they will find a new and exciting direction.

Bandcamp has been a big find this year and I’ve taken the time to explore it. I really like the model of free streaming and then them nudging you buy (usually at a pay what you want price). Its become my main place to find new music. A lot of nice electronica, like the abrasive Igorrr and the relaxing Gnomes of Kush (check out their latest LP Honey) have come this way, as well as new geetar music – such as the swaggering garage punk of Gentlemen and Assassins and the math metal of Innerty (both groups have unfortunately seemed to have faded in real life, but their albums are still available in the virtual record store that is Bandcamp). Slovenian one man band Neurotech has combined the best of both worlds, with uplifting lyrics, sweeping symphonic metal and ethereal synths. Best of all it has the OST to River of Heaven by my mate Keef Baker in his Slipdrive guise

You can check all this out via my Bandcamp home page, which neatly catalogs both what I’ve bought (my Collection) and what’s on my Wishlish (stuff I’ll probably get when I feel less tight).

Uncle Lemmy RIP?

So they say Lemmy Killminster of Hawkwind/Motorhead fame is dead this week at 70 years of age?

Bollocks say I.

He’s not dead. Not to my 10 year old self bumping into 80s Motorhead fans at the local youth club, thinking “I’m going to be that confident and so self assured when I grow up, and wear denim and have a bullet belt”. Not to my 15-20 year self who worshiped the Holy Trinity of Overkill/Bomber/Ace of Spades. Not to my 30 old self who got picked up by his music every time I was beaten down into the dull routine of ‘grown up life’. Not to my 40+ self who knows the stars that shine the brightest are eternal 🙂

Nah he’s flying along in a big etheric Silver Machine through the higher frequencies, a new Sonic God to help the faithful kick out the jams and hammer the boring and dull 🙂

and from his time in Hawkwind

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