Ah, friends eclectic
More music on this allegedly literary blog. People often claim to have very broad musical tastes, but this is often not borne out in fact. When some starlet or reality TV show participant says something like "Oh I love all kinds of music - anything from Rihanna to the Pussycat Dolls" you sense that their idea of music isn't, shall we say, particularly well-developed. Jools Holland, whom God preserve, said on his radio show recently that it really annoyed hime when people said of a particular artist or type of music "Oh sorry, before my time" as if an

Thirty Year Man
Clive James was 70 this week. When he was a mere stripling in his thirties, I discovered the work he had done with Pete Atkin on a series of albums just coming to a premature end in the face of indifference from the great British public and the big record companies. I've been a fan ever since, so w

It's nice to be recognised...
...especially by the mighty Normblog. Thanks Norm!

Last Chance to See...
Anxious as ever to be present at the cutting edge of vibrantly youthful popular culture, I hied me to the Bridgewater Hall on Friday, accompanied by 'er indoors and the man also known as the Silver Fox to witness a concert by two up and coming youngsters playing modern music. The elder of the tw

Moderation in all things
One of the unexpected benefits of comment moderation has been that I've picked up on some comments on old posts that I wouldn't have otherwise seen - including some spam from China.So, it seems that my titanic struggle with Writers Bureau wasn't quite the success I had though judging by the new comment. I'll see if I can get a copy of their brochure - but does this count as advertising? And thanks to Thomas for his comment on the ways people try to get more money out of us.