Senses working overtime #200

1 Okay - here we are at the 200th edition. 

Wow - they mount up.

What does this mean? Well, it means that for the last 200 weekends I have posted on this blog. pretty cool huh!

Here's where they all started, 199 posts ago, with the very first one.

2 James Russell Lowell 

American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat, James Russell Lowell would have been 200 years old on March 22. Clearly, no one lasts forever!

No, I hadn't heard of him either. So here's some bio, and one of his poems: The First Snowfall.

3 Peter Tork

One of my BFFs alerted me to the passing of Monkee Peter Tork. Like The Fabs, there are now only two Monkees left. 

4 James Acaster

Love JA on Would I Lie To You, so snapped this (Classic Scrapes) up from Waterstones. I'm annoying Jacky by reading it as I laugh out loud all the time and want to read out bits to her. It's a blast!

5 Three Amigos

Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston and Anna Soubry

I was buoyed by the news of Tory defections and Labour defections this week - great to know that a whiff of principle and integrity still appears to have a place in British politics.

Overtime Private Universe
I love this Neil Finn song (done when he was a Crowded Housemate), reminds me of growing up in Auckland and sums up what this blog is all about in its own way.

I came across the Farewell concert CD at Flashback Records and lapsed into full on childhood nostalgia while listening to it this morning. Can't think of a more appropriate place to end the 2ooth JFTT post than in my Private Universe!

Senses working overtime #199

1 The Tracey Thorn-a-thon

It all started with reading an excerpt from her third book in The Guardian a week ago. Great writing that I could relate to, somehow, given I'm male, from New Zealand, and was at university when punk broke out. But I grew up in a happy family in superbia (sic) and have a masters degree in English like her so we do have a few things in common. Plus, like her, I've been happily married to one person since 1984.

My previous experience with her was a copy of the Everything But The Girl version of the Crazy Horse song - I Don't Want To Talk About It and a copy of their album The Language Of Life (given to me by Roger Marbeck with a written thanks to Roger from Tracey and Ben on the cover).

A trip into Foyles and they had a display of her three books by the counter at the music section (you know I frequent that section a lot). So I bought...

2 Bedsit Disco Queen

Being someone who likes to begin at the beginning I needed to buy her first book first - Bedsit Disco Queen and read it in a few sittings. 

3 Marine Girls

Greenwich Market has a record booth/stand thing and I had a browse while Jacky went for a wander amongst the 'antiques' and jewellery stands.

Found some Everything But The Girl albums and this one by her early all female group of keen amateurs. Kurt Cobain was a fan!

As I said, I like to start at the beginning. I'm very linear!

4 Naked At The Albert Hall

Her second book is a companion to Bedsit. This one is about singing and so I dilly dallied over it until a few days ago. Shouldn't have worried. It's engrossing on a different level!

5 Another Planet

Got a signed copy of this from Waterstones (Foyles have them too so be quick) and looking forward to getting stuck into it next!

Overtime Everything But The Girl - Missing
Picked up a greatest hits CD from a local charity shop and been thrashing this song this week.




Overtime bonus Warren Ellis
I've said it afore and I'll say it agen - Warren is the man! He speaks to me. Here is a recent sign off from his newsletter:

It might be a long year. But I know you're resilient - you've had to be, to live this long. Look after yourself first, do something good for yourself today, tell someone else you like them, put some music on and find some peace. You deserve it.

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 #197

1 Oh January - boy did you suck!!

Good riddance. And I'm not the only one out there feeling like that. So here's to February! Thanks to Austin Kleon.

2 Groundhog Day
Hail to you Bill! Yes, it's rolled around again. celebrate with the movie.

3 Woody

I ordered a book online recently. It arrived. And along with it was a free copy of Woody Woodmansey's autobiography - Spider From Mars. It's not that great. I never would have read it but, hey - it's a free book! 

Half way through and it's okay - the usual and averagely written at that. No fault of Woody - he's a drummer. It's mostly about Bowie obviously. More particularly - a band member's take on Bowie and that has limited appeal to me. But, hey, it's a free book! It's a harmless drudge.

4 On yer bike!

I've been very disappointed by the decision not to back the Mayor London's plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street. Oslo hasn't looked back and the fact it hasn't happened in London is a profoundly short sighted decision.

5 Rejection
James Whatley recommended this Ted Talk on dealing with rejection - good enough for me! Spend a great 15 minutes!

Overtime Airport!!

Another JW link (chur bro): the new airport in Beijing in a photo essay. Yes, that's a person on the roof in the middle of that picture. As Bill Murray would say: Raz-zil Daz-zil.

Senses working overtime #196

1 Captain Marvel

Are you really pleased that this is ready to set all sorts of records? Me too. 

See what I did there?

2 Bruce Willis

An under-appreciated talent? There is a case for that, but we've recently watched him play a brutal revenge seeking surgeon (hahahaha) in 2018's Death Wish on Netflix and, really Bruce? Really?

3 The Speaker

A superhero movie? Erm, nope. Although...

It's the way the Europeans and Yanks are styling John Bercow, the Speaker in the House of Commons, that is interesting here. 

4 Rituals and routines

Interesting article - as someone who has had his routines and rituals completely disrupted lately, I can freely attest that discombobulation is the result. This edition of JFTT is coming to you from Sunday! Yikes!

Here's a taste from the article:

As Maria Popova, founder of Brain Pickings writes, though very different in practice, routine and ritual seem to be two sides of the same coin-

While routine aims to make the chaos of everyday life more containable and controllable, ritual aims to imbue the mundane with an element of the magical. The structure of routine comforts us, and the specialness of ritual vitalizes us.

5 Star Wars Episode IX
Excitement is building. What do we know so far?

Overtime Noddy Holder

Having just finished his autobiography (Who's Crazee Now?) I figured it was time to celebrate with one of my fav Slade songs.

Senses working overtime #195

1 Breathe

My mum was a keen promoter of deep breathing. It's important, okay.

2 Jorma Kaukonen

Hoyle's ordered me a copy of this autobiography by Hot Tuna/ Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Hard to put down this week!

3 Ten Years After

One of my favourite bands? Not in this case - a Facebook challenge - compare ID photos from 2009 and 2019, that may have other side effects.

4 Mary Oliver
Rest in peace.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?

Mary's question is a really good one.

5 John Wick 3
Loved the first two! Looking forward to this one, three, too.




Overtime Jorma Kaukonen
His version of the Rev Gary Davis song has been in my head all week.

Senses working overtime #194

1 Affective presence

Explained.

2 New movies 

New year equals new expectations for some about to drop movies.

3 Ian Hunter

Of Mott the Hoople - recently, I managed to track down a copy of Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star from Hoyles on Charing Cross Rd. It was expensive at nearly 20 quid but, having finished it, I can tell you it's worth it (I notice it's cheaper on Amazon but I love the Foyles experience).

4 The Dharma of Star Wars

Now onto this which I found in the Star Wars corner at the aforementioned Foyles - yes, they have a whole corner of books devoted to Star Wars. This one is a geat blend of Buddhism and the Jedi tao. Be mindful of the living force!

5 Art Pepper



This has been a constant companion this week after I bought an album at Ray's Jazz - yes - in Foyles! You don't get that experience from Amazon d'ya!!

Overtime Red Garland
Thanks to a Jamie Cullum's BBC Radio 2 programme, I've recently discovered the joy of Red Garland on piano. Enjoy!