you call that psychedelic?

Seeing the goat (below) also created a brief search for other psychedelia. Where better than the Avalon Ballroom? And check out those sandals. You know, you can still buy them.

goat hunt

So I looked at Edie Sedgwick's Photostream, where I spotted a Psychadelic Goat. An internet adventure loomed.

1) Why spell it with an A instead of an E?
2) Why in monochrome for something psychedelic?

A little exploration found ellen's sadly neglected website and a few musical tracks about getting ready for Finals. I wonder what happened next?

saxophone headgear

I was having a debate with Ray a few days ago about headgear for a saxophone player. We narrowed it to berets or trilbys. Then I remember seeing saxophone guy in London a couple of days ago and that I had captured him on the edge of a photo I took with my phone. With massive enlargement and general Photoshopping, I managed to make a little dot into this kinda arty photo shot.

The result... No hat!

Wanna hear some sax? Click here!

Tag: music, saxophone

dream gomi and F:F:F

Look carefully at this picture (or the bigger version) for one minute before you go to bed.

Have happy dreams.

Tag: dreams

blog shuffle

Google has added blog search. It is quite interesting to use against your own blog as a kind of 'shuffle' setting! Here's my current blog listings as an example.

2-1 The Ashes come home

I joined everyone walking to Trafalgar Square, today at around midday, to celebrate the return of the Ashes to the UK.

Overhead was the pronounced buzz of multiple helicopters; Nelson surveyed the scene from his usual lofty vantage undisturbed by passing policemen.

The song Jerusalem was introduced and sung, complete with giant song words displaye for all to see.

Then the bus containing 'our lads'; the victorious Ashes winning team, made its way into the Square.

And on top, Vaughan and Pietersen restraining Freddie Flintoff who had already consumed a reasonable quantity of alcohol.

Tag: London

I heard you scream from the other side of the mountain

There is so much written about Tori Amos. Flashing between 2005's The Beekeeper and the January 1992 Little Earthquakes shows Tori Amos to have excellent and durable singer/songwriter qualities with emotive, raw and poignant songs spanning the entire period.



Years go by will I still be waiting
For somebody else to understand
Years go by if I'm stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds raining in my head

Sometimes playing just piano, other times using dance track style drum and bass accompaniment, Tori creates a web to enthrall. In Scarlett's Walk, which toured post September 11 in the USA, as well as visiting us here in Europe, she is able to demonstrate the performance quality of her work

Years go by will I choke on my tears
Till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we're too
easy
easy
easy



If you have not checked Tori's work, click one of the
references in this entry.

To give another perspective, Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls describes a 2005 Tori concert. Amanda appears a sceptic, but has really already been quite influenced over a long period with views about Tori and her writing.

She writes, "So we went to see her here in Boston the night before last, my band and I, and there I sat. And as I watched her I thought: This performer does not need to care about whether I like her music or not. She has a huge following, people who love her music and stick with her, she's forty, a mother and she's touring."

"Terrible album or not, Amanda, you've got to respect this woman. Coming home, I finished the last few pages of her book and thought about what had struck me, stuck with me. One thing that she expressly said a few times was how sad she thought it was that female musicians and singers felt the need to compete so fiercely with each other, as if there were only room for so many - and it was kill or be killed."

Royal Horseguards, London

Today required a trip to the centre of London, near Horseguards Parade. Sunny weather and a location overlooking the Thames. There was a considerable police presence in the centre today, but I suppose the area I was visiting is close to Whitehall, Parliament and Scotland Yard.

The River Thames view shows Hungerford pedestrian footbridge, leading towards the Shell Centre and Waterloo and the London Eye. As I walked back over the bridge, I heard the sounds of a lone saxophonist playing under the trees on the South Bank.

Tag: London

lets dismantle a nano

Theres a Japanese site that has already figured out whats inside the new Apple iPod nano.

The new iPod Nano comes in nice packaging, especially if purchased from an Apple Store.

And the box inside is well made with a quality OOBE (Out of Box Experience)

The unit is pretty, and some force is needed to split the two halves apart.

Take care in prising the motherboard from the front surface

There's a few wires connecting the colour LCD, and a very shiny reflector to aid brilliance.

The memory units are like compact flash, with 1 unit in the 2GB and 2 units in the 4GB nanos.

And the end result shows that theres quite a lot of gubbins in the slim package. The original version of this decomposition is on a japanese website and Google can translate it after a fashion.

Tag: apple, ipod, ipod nano

Here come the choppers - Louden Wainwright III

Loading a few new tunes to the iPod this evening and I came across an old recording of Louden Wainwright III. It sounds as fresh as the day it was cut and is a great album called 'One Man Guy' - which appears to be unlisted, even on his website.

I see there's a new album "Here come the choppers", so I shall need to take a look. The picture above is from June 2005, when he was playing in Appel Farm, NY, with his son, Rufus Wainwright also on stage.

Tag: music, guitar, Louden Wainwright

Sundays a week apart

Last Sunday,for our weekend away, we were so busy having a good time it is surprising there is a blog entry at all. Still on the Isle of Wight...

we left Gotten Manor, travelled to Blackgang Chine.

Here we spent several hours clambering around the landslip and playing around with the amusements.

Then Dimbola Lodge to check out photos, old Isle of Wight festival exhibitions.

Then on to the Rex Bar for a storm weather supper. Then back by the same ship that took us from the mainland and up through the New Forest to home by midnight.

This Sunday, its 14:00 and I'm just easing into the day. Without wishing to offend anyone, I may have to change a lightbulb later.

Time to apply the Brakes

I just pulled out of the fridge a pint of Brakspear bitter - the first "Brakes" I have quaffed for quite a while. The Brakspear brewery was in Henley-upon-Thames, and closed after 200 years, back in late 2002, losing 35 jobs in the process.

The rights to the Henley beer were purchased by another company, and old equipment from Henley moved to new premises in the Wychwood Brewery of Witney, who also brew Hobgoblin and Fiddler's Elbow.

The beer tastes great; it is a proper bitter and has a refreshing bite from the hops. Truly a character.

As a Londoner, there is something special about beers made with Thames water.