sunshine of your love

It's getting near dawn
When lights close their tired eyes
I'll soon be with you my love
give you my dawn's surprise
I'll be with you darlin', soon
I'll be with you when the stars start falling
I've been waiting so long
To be where I'm goin'
In the sunshine of your love

Cream vs the Hoxtons
Click the picture above for the dance remix video at full speed
or click or here to choose lower bandwidth.

DCD DCD DCD DCD GFG GFG DCD ACGA ACGADCD
Tag: music, guitar, Cream

failure?

Thanks, Tara, for this one...Type 'failure' into Google search and click "I'm feeling lucky" ...

Googlebombing, by any chance?

aperture of opportunity?

I mainly use Photoshop for picture editing, you know - cropping the corners, changing the lighting, changing the colour balance, stripping out the backgrounds. Now Apple have announced Aperture, which seems to fill the same role. Hmm. Dilemma. I mainly use a Mac for editing and suchlike, so the idea of software that behaves the same as Final Cut Pro and the other things I use is quite appealing. But. Everyone uses Photoshop. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

congestion revolutionaries

Every vehicle driving into Central London during weekdays pays an £8 (circa $15) congestion charge. Except, it seems, US and German embassy staff who are claiming immunity under the 1961 Vienna Convention, which gives protection against paying taxes.

Mayor Ken Livingstone says it is not a tax, but a charge for a service.

Tag: london, transport, diplomats

non bicycle girls go around the outside

Today I spotted qwghlm's account of this so I knew I hadn't imagined it yesterday - but couldn't find any references in the internet.

Tanned, blonde, designer clad Sally Cameron joined the ranks of Britain’s most unlikely terrorist suspects after being held for hours for walking on a Scottish cycle path in the harbour area of Dundee.

Passing cyclists and nearby dock workers had been amused at what looked initially like a spoof arrest. However the Scottish authorities have taken a dim view of this trespass and potential terrorism threat and will take rapid response action if it is repeated. Apparently cyclists can pass unimpeded, but pedestrians will be stopped. Sally has decided to drive to work in future.

Tag: terrorism, scotland, bicycle

la femme Nikita

Home late tonight, had a TV moment watching the 1990 Luc Besson Nikita film on Sky. Basic plot is ex punk drug addict sociopath is recruited after staging her death by French government to act as assassin. Relentless stylish noir-thriller has implausible plotting and some confusing moments, but worth the subtitles.

Divertissement et plein de la pyrotechnie visuelle.

Tag: movie, france, style

Happy Birthday, Melanie!

Shocking Project

A while ago, I joined the last.fm site which allows social interaction amongst people interested in music. Not an mp3 swap site, this one lists the tracks played, through the likes of iTunes, Winamp, Media Player and similar. By collecting statistics for a while it is possible to see the tracks one plays the most and also compare one's taste in music with others. It is also possible to create personalised internet radio stations.


So what is my number one artist from around 2000 tracks played at the moment?

Somewhat to my surprise, its Michelle Shocked! Not the most conventional choice, but I reckon that as she released 3 CDs around 2 months ago and I topped up my collection of her remastered CDs early this year - then there is some explanation for the positioning.

So I thought I'd join the Michelle Shocked 'Group' in last.fm. BUT there isn't one!

Cue my Project.

Why not CREATE the Michelle Shocked group to see what happens? So I've set up a Michelle Shocked group with just lonely me as a member and then emailed her contact address, her agency, her publicity contact and the online store through which she sells her Mighty Sound label CDs.


Michelle's website includes samples of her music and there's a brief biography describing this singer/songwriter's rather unique path which eschews traditional record labels and produces music ranging through folk, bluegrass, rock, swing delivered with a unique personality.

Her origins in Texas and then well travelled lifestyle (including spells living in Germany, England, Netherlands amongst others) create a breadth of songs and exploration of issues and styles.

I'm going to watch this 'group' for a week or two, to see whether we manage to create some critical mass in last.fm!

Tag: music, guitar, Michelle Shocked

Navigating to statutory leaves

London is still sunny and I find myself in Belgravia. I wanted the statutory 'leaves of autumn' picture and thought 'why not make it literally statutory?'

So here's Prince Henry the Navigator, whose statue nestles in Belgrave Square. Henry was a visionary and an early believer in the world being round when most people believed the world was flat. He knew that Africa was more than endless land, and that if his sailors could circumnavigate the continent; he would find a water route to India. A ship could carry more goods to and from India than the largest overland caravans, but Europeans could only guess that sailors could go around the tip of Africa.

Prince Henry paid for many sailing expeditions out of the Portuguese treasury and also employed cartographers who created the most sophisticated maps of their time. It was twenty-eight years after his death that Bartholomeu Dias proved that Africa could be circumnavigated when he reached the southern tip of the continent via what is now known as the "Cape of Good Hope." Then later in 1499, Vasco da Gama was the first sailor to travel from Portugal to India.

And back to the plot...Here's the leaves of London Autumn - this one enlarges nicely if you click it! Feel free to ping, email, trackback, comment your 'leaves of autumn' links and I will "Navigate" to them as a link in this entry!

01 Mark, 02 Carmi, 03 Hanna, 04 Chuck, 05 Adam, 06 Cassie
07 Joel, 08 Christian, 09 Brian, 10 Steven, 11 Daz, 12 Bronxelf, 13 Suzanne, 14 Bill, 15 Heidi, 16 Cindy, 17 Tina, 18 Leanne

Tag: london, autumn, fall

helicopter moment

Sometimes I get busy days with lots of chores to do. Basic stuff like paying bills, running errands and similar. Today, was one of those days and I headed out to do all kinds of things driven from a list and quite tightly scheduled.


As I drove around the yellow autumnal lanes of Hampshire I mused that my complex schedule reminded me of the closing scenes of that Goodfellas film, where Ray Liotta has to run around doing lots of things and thinks he is being chased by a helicopter.

About an hour later (at 14:40), still on errands, I was on the way into central London, on the A4 near Hammersmith, when I spied a helicopter circling about a mile in front of me. I looked at it more closely as I approached it. Blue and Yellow. It was one of the Metropolitan Police helicopters.

Co-incidence, of course, but it made me smile.

Tag: london, police, helicopter

Always time for a cup of tea

mar just visited my site and reminded me that it was a good idea to pause a while and take a look around whilst sipping a nice cup of tea. Those that know me will know that like many Brits I enjoy my 'Breakfast tea' with milk, but that I am also partial to Lapsang Souchong, which is my tea of choice today. This is a unique black tea with a smoky aroma and distinctive, pungent flavour enhanced by smoking the tea in large baskets over pine chips. Even just sniffing the leaves is a great hit! (Wow - just done it!) A strong tea, big leaves and best taken with just water. Delicious and invigorating.

Citizen 32 at Matt & Phred's

Matt and Phred's is a cool jazz club in Manchester, where the new radical literature and arts magazine Citizen 32 has just launched. Citizen 32 focuses on contemporary issues bringing new and established poets and writers together.

Friend of this blog John Challis was amongst the poets on show.

Citizen 32's featured poets include diverse work from such established artists as Harold Pinter, Adrian Mitchell, Roger McGough as well as much new talent.

Compèring the launch night was Jackie Hagan, poet and dramatist who gave each poet a strong introduction, making it clear that no distinctions were being made for experience or talent – tonight everyone was equal.

The first on the bill were the Wild Women Collective, five poets each with their own different styles and agendas. It was a good mix to begin and, in BBC Manchester's words "John Challis shone out from the group with his raw and sensual poem, Passion". Others making impact were Irish poet Aiofe Mannix with exerpts from "The Elephant in the Corner" and the inimitable Chloe Poem’s "The Ballad of Will Young".

Tag: poetry, manchester, jazz