Senses working overtime #505

1 Farewell: Tango

Sadly, this week we had to say farewell to Tango - a gentle soul if ever there was one.

Rest in peace Tangie.

2 Listening: Larry Coryell - The Restful Mind

The jazz fusion firebrand gets into a meditative state for this one. It's been on repeat at Maple Grove this week, along with #3 below.

3 Listening: Oregon - Out Of The Woods

Three members of Oregon play on The Restful Mind with Larry.

4 Watching: Yellowstone

I bit the bullet and signed up to Neon to watch Seasons 4 and 5 of Yellowstone. No regrets!

Interesting that loose cannon Beth seems to be everyone's favourite character on this show.

5 Reading: Louis L'Amour - The Outlaws of Mesquite

These short stories go well with Yellowstone.

Overtime: 

Philosopher and writer Friedrich Nietzsche on enjoying the process:

"The end of a melody is not its goal."

(Courtesy James Clear)

Senses working overtime #504

1 2025 - Happy new year to the blogosphere

2 Watched: Yellowstone Season 3

3 Listening: Aimee Mann - Bachelor No.2

4 Reading: Testimony - Robbie Robertson

I'm nearly done and I'm not sure if I like him or not. He may be the only musician in the history of the world to go on the road and be faithful to his wife (and three children). Maybe - he certainly doesn't confess to any dalliances along the way in his book.

Most of it centres on a narrow period from when he started being a musician to when The Band were in their prime. I'm on page 420 (out of 494) and he's not even up to The Last Waltz yet!

He does write well, and I'm fully engaged - especially in the chronicling of his relationships with Dylan and Levon Helm.

5 Listening: WTWMC - Loved Ones

The playlist is complete - 135 to celebrate our loved ones. It's a pretty darn impressive playlist made with love.

Our attention shifts to our favourite Kiwi artists next week. Thirty songs for each amigo, spread over 6 weeks. 

Overtime:  

Writer Susan Sontag on finding the courage to change this year (courtesy James Clear):

"I must change my life so that I can live it, not wait for it."

Senses working overtime #503

1 Twas the week after Christmas

2 Watching: Welcome To Wrexham Season 2

I had to pause watching Season 1 a fair while ago for some reason, so I've been binge watching the rest of that and all of Season 2 in two days while Jacky was at work.

I'm an emotional wreck! I've never cried so much watching a TV documentary as I have watching this. It's brilliantly constructed with lovable characters and a football team who are as wildly unpredictable as every other team around.  

Season 2 ends on a high for both the men's and women's team. I'm wrung out!

3 Read: Alan Alda - Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

This starts off brilliantly with his early life but gets a bit wayward after the M*A*S*H sections.

4 Reading: Robbie Robertson - Testimony

Greg lent this to me and I figured it better go to the top of the music books' pile.

5 Listening: Dixie Chicken - Little Feat

The song and the album are damn near perfect.

Overtime: James Clear

"The quality of my life is significantly higher on days that I publish an article. The creative process and well-being go hand-in-hand."

Senses working overtime #502

1 'Twas the week before Christmas

2 Reading: Jimmy Barnes - Working Class Man

I bought this after finishing Working Class Boy (inspired by Anne Marie's week on WTWMC - Loved Ones - see below). WCM's not as visceral or as wildly funny as WCB but great on the background to Jimmy's solo career and reuniting with Cold Chisel. 

3 Listening: WTWMC - Loved Ones

Last week was Anne (no hyphen) Marie's turn, next up is my dad - Graham Purdy. Then, after him is the final week with Kev's mum - Barbara Simms. It's a fabulously eclectic playlist that the amigos have conjured up to celebrate their partners and parents. Listen to it best on shuffle mode.

4 Listening: WTWMC - Christmas Crackers

Our seasonal playlist of 21 songs is indeed a manageable Christmas cracker.

5 Reading - When We Was Fab - The Beatles

Jade gave me a copy of this for my birthday - it's full of great memorabilia, photos, and text relating to the Fabs 1964 world tour, but concentrating on their Australasia section.

The forensic nature of the book is amazing - i.e. the letters and captions detailing the people. The Jimmy Nicol incident (replacing Ringo for the first stages of the tour while he was in hospital) is especially detailed and great to read.

Overtime: 

It’s officially “Let’s circle back in 2025” season (according to Morning Brew)

Senses working overtime #501

 1 My favourite jeans

(See what I did there?)

2 Reading: Working Class Boy - Jimmy Barnes

It's been sitting in the pile for a while. I reached for it as we are heading into Aussie rawk territory next for WTWMC - Loved Ones. 

My abiding thought as I read through Jimmy's harrowing childhood was - poor wee mite. 

3 Listening: WTWMC - Loved Ones

Harry Knowles has now been added to the playlist - next up for this week is Anne Marie McCulloch (who loves Jimmy and Cold Chisel). 

4 Sounds and smell: this seascape 

Last night we stayed at Patrick and Randy's gorgeous place in Taranaki. Superb stay with crashing waves, salty breeze and fantastic friends.

5 Listening: Carole King - Tapestry

Gets better with age!

Overtime:  

Roman scholar and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero on the value of making numerous attempts:

"For who is there who, shooting all day, will not sometimes hit the mark?"

Senses working overtime #500

Photo by Tessa Edmiston on Unsplash

This is the 500th edition of Jewels For The Thirsty (the blog's title comes from an XTC song called...Senses Working Overtime - see what I did there?) 

I've selected one item from each of the top 6 most popular weeks of all time (well, since it started with week #1 in April 2015).

1 The most popular week so far has been #178 - 

 John Cage's 10 rules for teachers (#178 from 2018)

2 Christmas is football (# 193 - below is from 2019) 

Always a frenzy of activity over the festive period - notably Liverpool lost their 100% winning record and Man City lost three games! Loads of drama to follow on MOTD.

As to my teams - Rochdale are solid in the lower reaches of League One and the gunners wobbled. But we still beat Spurs 4-2!!

January transfer window is always interesting. We need some defenders please.

3 The Fab Fabs (#263, from 2020)

They heighten my senses every day, let alone every week.

4 Vinyl celebration #213 (below is from 2019)

 
It's been a funny old week. But then I connected up my turntable after a long time in storage. It felt good! This week's edition is late. Wah wah. Cry me a river. Here are five plus vinyl celebrations.

 

5 Waterloo Sunset (#209, below is from 2019)

 

The Kinks masterpiece goes under the Thom Hickey microscope on his great blog - The Immortal Jukebox.

Overtime: Senses working overtime #57 (below is from 2016. This one is a peach. Hard to pick just one item so do yourself a giant favour and go to the link. But if you shove...try):

Cool

I was never a cool kid, never hip, so this piece from a kindred spirit struck a nice chord.

Senses working overtime #499

1 Jade's birthday (28 November 1991)

Jade's out in front again this week with celebrations for her 33rd birthday. Jacky takes a mean photo!

Here's to you DLG!

2 Listening: WTWMC - Loved Ones

We've completed four of our loved one's selections now - 60 songs for Jacky, Joan, Joe, and Wendy. My mum is up next week.

3 Listening: The Voidz - Like All Before You

4 Reading: BBC Essentials - Nine TV shows they recommend for December viewing

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

5 Reading: Brew - Indie bookstores are thriving!

Overtime: Unplugging from the matrix

I watched The Social Dilemma with my Year 10 classes this week. Key takeaway - delete your notifications! So I have been doing just that this week.