Senses working overtime #580

1 Tough week of medical dramas...

Photo from Unsplash

...with Keegan having his (successful) back operation, Fanfa her root canal, and the Minister of Defense his on-going hospitalisation in New Plymouth, and now Waikato.

2 Watching: FIFA World Cup 2026

 

Four games a day of top football action! Welcome to heaven.

3 Reading: Ringo - A Fab Life by Tom Doyle

I struggled to eek out some quality reading time this week but this excellent biography continued to hold my interest. Luckily, Ringo's alcohol/drugs fueled years were dispensed with reasonably adroitly.

4 Celebrated: Macca's 84th birthday...

...on June 18 with Now and Then (the video is great too but have tissues ready) and my favourite track on The Boys of Dungeon Lane - Home to Us. 

5 Listening: Billy Thorpe - Solo

Overtime: Thornton Wilder

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.

Basically, the motto of this blog!

Senses working overtime #577

1 This week: out standing in their field...

...while on cross country duty at school. Go Fraser!!

2 Listening: The Boys of Dungeon Lane - Paul McCartney

Macca's latest, released this weekend, is excellent in all ways. I recommend the vinyl over other formats: the packaging, the songs, the sound - it's gear fab!

Here's a taster: Down South is a simple love song to the past.

3 Reading: Bread of Angels - Patti Smith

After being distracted for a few weeks by reading Mojo/ Guardian Weeklies, I've returned to Patti's memoir. I'll need to return to her first chapters eventually. Currently reading about the making of Horses and it's superb!

4 Watching: The Long Promised Road - Directed by Brent Wilson (no relation)

Thanks to their 20% off sale, I picked this up from JB Hi Fi for less than $10!!

5 Celebrating: King's Birthday weekend in New Zealand

Still enjoying his recent speech to Congress.

Overtime: Mahatma Gandhi

We must become the change we want to see.

Senses working overtime #511

1 The feeling this week

Photo by Upesh Manoush on Unsplash

2 Watching: Cobra Kai - Season 6

A fun, non-stressful way to end each day.

3 Listening: WTWMC Kiwi Pik n Mix

The playlist is now complete - 90 waiata o Aotearoa for your listening pleasure.

4 Listening: Van Morrison - Celtic New Year

After listening to my Van Morrison collection this week I've selected Magic Time to highlight here and the beautiful Celtic New Year (from Later...with Jools Holland)

5 Reading: The McCartney Legacy (Kozinn/ Sinclair) and Scented (Fearnley)

Yes, still chewing through these. They are now competing with schoolwork, blogging, journaling etc, but I aim for a few pages each day in each. Both are enjoyable for very different reasons. I'm in awe of the forensic detail in both (McCartney's life and the smells in Scented).

Overtime: James Clear

"Spend today interpreting whatever people do in the most generous way. See if you feel better as a result."

Senses working overtime #506

1 Listening: WTWMC - Kiwi Pik n Mix

Get on board for our NZ music playlist. We are selecting our favourites, rather than the best, so a lot of deep cuts among the hits.

2 Watched: Black Doves

A pretty good British spy thriller on Netflix starring Keira Knightley.

3 Watched: Yellowstone

We finished the last season of this show - thoroughly enjoyed it, too. Bravo to Beth (Kelly Reilly)!

4 Reading: The McCartney Legacy Volume 1- Allan Kozinn, Adrian Sinclair 

 

I'm currently working through his solo albums for my Goo Goo G'Joob blog and this is a great companion. I don't have Volume 2 yet, but I will.

5 Listening: Flowers In The Dirt - Paul McCartney

For me, his best album of the eighties. Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace round out his top three eighties albums.

Overtime: Buckminster Fuller

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

(courtesy Swiss Miss)

Senses working overtime #493

1 Theme of the week: Slow recovery

Photo by Sofia S on Unsplash

2 Reading: Joan Baez - And A Voice To Sing With

3 Listening: Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust

One of her best, try Hello In There if you just want one.

4 Watching: Macca doing Now and Then

Another view of The Beatles version here (but be warned - it gets emotional)

5 Listening: WTWMC - Beasties

75 songs now with two weeks to go.

Overtime: Kindness

Being kind to others is mostly about your actions.

Being kind to yourself is mostly about your thoughts.

James Clear

Senses working overtime 474

1 Autumn sunset at Maple Grove

The view from my music room.

2 Reading: The Lyrics - Paul McCartney

Closest thing we are likely to get to an autobiography, it says on the cover, and I actually believe it.

3 Watching: Unfrosted (on Netflix)

Jerry Seinfeld is a comic genius. He can do no wrong in my eyes. This is a beauty! Lovingly put together - the art direction, script, acting, cinematography are all class. It zips by too. Who doesn't love Jerry??

4 Reading: The Ultimate Music Guide to Paul McCartney

I picked this up a while ago from a weird novelty store in Wellington which had masses of old back copies of music magazines. Great companion to The Lyrics.

5 Listening: Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel

Talk about classy - Peter Gabriel oozes classiness. Great cover and Here Comes The Flood (especially) has been on heavy rotate.

Overtime: 

Something will happen. 

(Paul remembers one of The Beatles saying this after their van ran off the road and they wondered how they were going to get back up onto the road)

Senses working overtime #291

 1 Neil Armstrong's famous lines from the moon

2 The brain's most important job

Your brain’s most important job isn’t thinking; it’s running the systems of your body to keep you alive and well. According to recent findings in neuroscience, even when your brain does produce conscious thoughts and feelings, they are more in service to the needs of managing your body than you realize.

3 A sound so loud it was heard in over 50 countries

What we’re talking about here is like being in Boston and clearly hearing a noise coming from Dublin, Ireland. Travelling at the speed of sound (766 miles or 1,233 kilometers per hour), it takes a noise about 4 hours to cover that distance. This is the most distant sound that has ever been heard in recorded history.

4 Author Ann Hastings on the availability of satisfaction:

“Satisfaction is always available. It is just not always looked for. If, when you enter any experience, you enter with curiosity, respect and interest you will emerge enriched and with awareness you have been enriched. Awareness of enrichment is what satisfaction is.”

5 Declining Freemason numbers

Overtime: Paul McCartney III is about to come out so here's a press interview to whet the appetite (hopefully it's like his first solo album rather than McCartney II)

"I think it’s a fact of life that personalities don’t change much. Throughout your life, there you are."

Senses working overtime #209

1 Baby, you're a star (Prince)
That 'you' would be music in general: I can't live without music as this selection shows.

I'm not sure if I like this new storage trend for vinyl, replicating the shopping experience. Maybe. Maybe.

2 Yesterday
I saw the shorts of this movie recently and made a mental note to catch it if I can.




3 Here today

This Netflix Joko doco travels some familiar ground (regardless of what this piece would have you believe) but it's still a must see!

4 Good work if you can get it

The world's richest musicians. Where do you think Macca featured on that list? Check your answer here.

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

Overtime: Hall and Oates

Been spending a lot of time in the Purdmobile this week (my new work car has been christened 'Sid'). Radio Wozza threw up a few Hall and Oates classics along the way and this one had me bopping and pounding the wheel like a maniac, maniac. A perfect road trip song:

Senses working overtime #198

1 February! Thank goodness!

It's off to a flyer. Literally. I'm in Vienna. Lovely spot! British Airways got us here safely out of Heathrow's Terminal 3. No frills (have to buy a cuppa fer goodness sake), and the cabin attendant had a cold and looked bored according to the current Mrs Purdy. but all up, it was okay for a short 2 hour flight.

2 Vinyl

Been a great few days vinyl wise as I rebounded from the HMV debacle (all three of the HMV's close to me - Bluewater, Croydon, Oxford St., have all lowered the shutters. Grrrrrrr.
Still Fopp is operating where I picked up a Howlin' Wolf picture disc and a Blackberry Smoke EP.

3 HMV

Some great photos of the 1960s HMV.

4 Vienna




5 Walking

I really enjoyed Austin Kleon's lovely post on walking.

Overtime Wack! I was made up seeing Macca had retweeted this story.

Senses working overtime #178

1 Diving boards

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Seth Godin! Nails it! Take that leap! I did!

2 Poetry corner

One Day One day after another— Perfect. They all fit. Robert Creeley

3 John Cage's 10 rules for teachers and students

James Whatley is back into his newsletter (does anyone do one better?? Love to see that!). So this list came from a link shared by James. Welcome back dude. Much missed!

4 Thanks Mo

Ha ha - since 1970 there have been endless stories like this one - Let It Be (may, possibly, but who knows) set for re-release in 2020 (or not). 

Why it takes nearly 5 decades to release a film to an adoring Beatles public is beyond me.

I have a DVD bought online (sourced from Canadian TV if memory serves) and it would be GEAR to see it in pristine condition or heaven forbid - in a new expanded format. Come on Paul. Let it happen!!

5 David Crosby on tour in the UK

Great notices in The Guardian this week. I love his last few albums - and this is a great catch up from Rolling Stone.

Overtime - The aforesaid Macca's new one has one great song - Confidante

Senses working overtime #174

1 Egypt Station

Our Paulie has a new album out on September 7. I've just finished the Mojo article about it and read the review. Sounds fab!! Two thumbs up. Can't wait!

I'm also digging the artwork - based on a painting done by Macca.

2 Poetry corner returns!

from Ars Poetica

I say I want to save the world but really
I want to write poems all day
I want to rise, write poems, go to sleep,
Write poems in my sleep
Make my dreams poems
Make my body a poem with beautiful clothes
I want my face to be a poem

Dorothea Lasky (2010)

3 Three Jeff Bezos questions to use for hiring talent

4 The Fugitive

I'm a fan. I watched it again recently in a hotel room. It stands up (even though I know it backwards. Why is that? The answer may be here).

5 Kant

Great piece on Immanuel Kant who was...well, read the article!

Overtime
For your listening pleasure this week - The Transit of Venus Across the Sun by Big Big Train has been on high rotation on Radio Wozza.