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 |   Maybe meandering, possibly peripatetic and indisputably irregular. |
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So here it is.. a blog. Repository of some of my present musings and interests. Sometimes things pop into my head that should probably stay there - it is possible I shall share at least some of them here. (Naturally I shall filter out the ones about my sordid obsession with the culinary dark arts, one has to protect the innocent!) Please feel free not to take this too seriously, much of it could wind up being snippets of things that amuse me. Yesterday I came up with this: Few politicians can be considered first class, but not a few are number twos. What can I do with it? Nothing springs to mind, except perhaps blog it. Perhaps in some other life I'm a failed stand-up comedian. I have the beginnings of an idea to introduce another player into the Mr Moonlight story, a nice visual has occurred to me, and a summoning gone wrong seems appropriate. When I finish up here I shall literally put pen to paper. I find writing at least initially longhand helps my ideas flow. When I type up what I've written, I give it a first revision at the same time, and as a bare minimum check my spellings and grammar . I do want to keep tabs on my current reading here. I usually have several books on the go at the same time. Currently I am working through 'Pyramids' by Terry Pratchett. I reread Pratchett's books over and over - usually at work where they provide much needed amusement whilst I eat breakfast. 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle', by Stuart Turton was loaned to me by a friend who shares a love of murder mysteries, (especially Agatha Christie's works). It is a new take on the genre and very very clever. The protagonist occupies different bodies - a selection of the guests at the house where Evelyn is murdered. Each day he spends in a different guest, and he has been tasked with discovering the murderer - or maybe saving Evelyn from actually being murdered, it is hard to tell. The book twists and turns and is quite intriguing. 'New Science - Principles of the new science concerning the common nature of nations' is an English translation by David Marsh of 'La Scienza Nuova' by Giambattista Vico, published in 1725. Not far into this yet, I had to find a copy of the frontispiece online, as it wasn't included in the Kindle edition. The first part of the book explains the idea - and uses a detailed description of the frontispiece to convey this. So being without it would have made things somewhat harder. 'The Complete Works of Michael De Montaigne' is again a translation, this time by Donald M. Frame. Montaigne's Essays are famous, I kept reading about them, so treated myself to a nice hardbound copy to dip into - usually just before bedtime. So there we have it - a blog entry - enjoy! (whispers almost inaudibly 'Bon Appétit). |
| Prompt 4: With which great musician did Andre study when he was a little monkey? Andre was lucky enough to come from a musical family and picked up all sorts of instruments from his relatives. His love of drums began when he was just six, and his favourite uncle Mickey Dolenz bought him his first drum kit. Now, now, I know what you are wondering, and yes, Andre does have an extra drumstick that he uses with his tail. Oh! That wasn't what you wanted to know? Ah, I see, well truth be told his Aunt Jemima, (the electric one), was adopted. After her divorce from Uncle Meat in 1969, she hitched up with Mickey Dolenz, thus making him Andre's uncle. All clear now? Good, we'll press on. Uncle Micky is best known for missing out on the role of 'The Fonz' on 'Happy Days,' and as the Director of a Stage Production of 'Bugsy Malone'. When Andre was still a little monkey, Dolenz was a drummer in a band. Every Sunday he would take Andre down to Pleasant Valley, where they'd meet his friends and fellow band members, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones. Yes that Davy Jones, better known to millions as David Bowie, but this was before his breakout single 'Let's Face The Music and Dance'. The guys would jam all day, and Micky would coax Andre and offer him much needed encouragement. "You've got to be a Believer in yourself Andre." Micky used to say this all the time, "All Day and All of the Night-time too. You can't just be a Daydream Believer." Micky liked to offer the young Andre advice, "You've got to make it on your own Andre, I'm not your stepping stone." Then he'd call people over and tell them to 'Listen to the Band.' Andre later acknowledged what a huge influence his uncle was on him. When asked about this in 1988 he said, "I was so embarrassed, I didn't know where to hide my face." Apparently he'd thought they were asking him about his coke addiction, back in the 80's, he could get through almost two 500ml bottles of cola a day. It was through Dolenz's connections with Micheal Nesmith, who owned Pacific Arts, that Andre made his first music video. Covering the classic 'Wipe Out' by the Surfaris, Andre's drumming was intercut with shots of stampeding shoppers in the Greyish Thursday sales. It became a cult classic after the video was used in a Brazilian safety film about the dangers of hot wax. Word Count: 410 |
| Prompt 3. Andre got fired - why? Some years ago Andre took part in a fund raiser down in Whynot, North Carolina. This, as some of you will already know, is the home of the world famous 'Bertha Boa's Flying Circus.' It was a good cause, and one close to Andre's heart. 'Go Fly A Kite', a campaign run by The Kite Foundation, encourages children to get out... and fly a kite, (it's not clear if Andre cared THAT much about the kite flying part). A galaxy of stars had been gather, but that was long ago and far, far away, so instead a group of musicians and actors had come together to take part in a 'Super Circus' event. Some of them were giving concerts in Bertha's Big Top, and top of the bill was Elton John, (this was before he became Sir Elton and had to be moodily wrapped in endless white satin). Elton and Andre hit it off straight away, initially resulting in Andre drumming for Elton as he knocked out a medley of his greatest hits. The Hendersons were all there to dance and sing, having come straight from their hugely successful gig at Pablo Fanque's Fair. They'd brought Henry The Horse and Matilda the Mule with them to waltz together. They'd all been brought to the party by Ringo Starr, and this provided another show stopper as after making a few phone calls to friends, Ringo and Andre staged the biggest drum battle in the world. As the event was spread over a whole week, Andre and Elton kept bumping into each other, until Andre had the bright idea of cleaning Elton's super-sized novelty spectacles that is. By then they were firm friends and Elton prevailed upon Andre to take part in a very special event at the closing ceremony for the Circus. Next day Andre donned a sparkly helmet, skin tight jump suit and a cape featuring the flag of the USA. Waving to all his fans, our monkey hero climbed into a huge cannon. Elton compèred the televised closing show, whipping everyone up into a charity donation frenzy. As the ten million dollar barrier was crossed, (this was a few years ago remember), Andre was fired out of the cannon. He flew through the air with the greatest of ease, this daring young monkey was no flying trapeze artist. The crowd roared and then yelled as he fell from the sky... straight into a net hung between two biplanes from Bertha's flying stunt team. So popular was the stunt that the number of donations were doubled within an hour. Andre discovered he had a taste for charity, though not so much for being a simian cannon ball, and so embarked on a largely secretive career of funding worthy causes. Word count: 459. |
| Prompt 2. What is Andre's favourite genre? Does he have a favourite artist? Who and Why? A conno-sewer of so many musical genres, you might think it impossible for Andre to have a favourite. He's done blues; ragtime; punk; industrial; electro-pop; bubble-pop (electric); and naturally, Celtic Rock. But his first love is always for Jazz. He loves the highbrow, rarefied and downright intellectual aspects of Jazz. Experiments with tempo, technique and even on one strange occasion tea, all give Andre goosebumps. Being the consummate drummer he is, he has been in demand to play with many of the greats. Never one to name drop, Andre keeps photos of himself with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald in prominent displays around the Banana Bar. Pride of place however goes to a signed picture of Andre's favourite artist Cab Calloway. Mr Calloway as the better educated amongst you will already know, was a master of scat. How could Andre fail to love the guy. Cab even had a hit with 'The Scat Song'. Andre loves scat, and if you think about it, how could it be otherwise? Calloway is best known for his song 'Minnie The Moocher', which he performed so memorably in 'The Blues Brothers'. Andre and Cab got on like a house on fire and according to unsubstantiated rumours on more than one occasion literally burned down a house. Following Cab's death in 1994, Andre performed a stark acoustic version of 'Minnie The Moocher' on the Jimmy Kibble show. 'Pretentious Percussion Magazine's Wilberforce Cherryblossom described it as being: "A performance full of raw sewage, scatological beyond belief, Andre has just flushed his career down the pan." But the public loved it and called for more. Andre obliged, and teamed up with Snoop Dawg. Together they released a tribute album, with newly recorded versions of Cab Calloway classics. On the back of the album's multi-platinum sales they funded a Robot Chicken project 'Monkey Poop Island, The Musical'. Based loosely on Snoop's ten second appearance on the plastic puppetry's deeply philosophical examination of societal norms and responses to diverse stimuli, the show hit Broadway like an ocean going liner, and promptly sank. Word Count: 348 |
| Prompt 1 (March 2nd) What instrument does Andre play, why and with whom has he performed?. A true musical polymath Andre can, and has, played many instruments, memorably ghosting as the entire Count Basie Orchestra on The Bonzo Do Dah Dog Band's "The Intro and The Outro." Andre of course having actually played with the Orchestra live in Birdland NY, back in 1961. His real passion though has always been for drums. It was Andre who created the simian snare sound so popular in the Sixties and Seventies. During this fruitful period he jammed with some of the greats including Strawberry Jackson, Joe Blackberry, Marmalade, and the inimitable Miss Apricot Jones, Andre indeed provided the drum backing for her breakout album "Spread Thin." Andre has often contradicted himself in interviews about his music, giving the impression that he enjoys being both mysterious and mischievous. Perhaps his most honest answer was given to fellow musician and part time politician Wiliam Clinton asked "Why drums Andre?" to which, with typical laconic aplomb, Andre replied " The rhythm." He was a little more forthcoming in his autobiographical "Swing Low, Swing High." Whilst describing his early years he recounted what happened when he attended a voodoo ritual in Burbank CA presided over by Walt Disney. "Suddenly I knew, I was the king, you know, the jungle VIP. I had to reach the top and never stop." Andre later voiced the character of King Andre in Disney's "Jungle Book", and co-wrote "King of the Swingers" with Robert and Richard Sherman. Sadly the song was retitled "I want to be like you" and re-recorded with Louis Prima after Walt and Andre fell out of a balloon together. Forming his own band "Aliquet Skin", Andre embarked on a series of unlikely, yet enormously successful collaborations, knocking out hit after hit with the likes of Kraftwerk, The Wombles, Boney M, and Dolly Parton, amongst many others. His biggest hit was undoubtedly the concept album "Petre", a heavy metal/thrash re-imagining of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." The album was light years ahead of it's time. Andre's 37 minute drum solo was released as a single and immediately topped the charts everywhere but Finland where Terrific Mythic Frog's "He Dun Croaked" still held sway. Word Count: 358. |
| Fair warning, this I am typing using a stylus on my tablet. Already I have learned its traitorous habit of autocorrecting me. I'm on a few days holiday, which means for me reading, writing and walking, as I prefer to do my arithmetic at home. Today I took a very pleasant amble around the Great Orme, whilst mulling over Einstein's E=MC2. Sadly I am no physicist, but then I was considering it from a slightly different angle. When I'd completed the walk I sat for a while in the rather wonderful afternoon sunshine, and wrote about my thoughts. It is possible that I shall type these up and post them, then you'll know what sort of madmad you are dealing with. The highlight of my walk was seeing some beautiful, and fluffy, kids. Kids in the sense of goats, part of the herd that live on the Orme, and are owned by the Queen. I finished reading The Illuminatus! Trilogy, and am now enjoying reading Don Camilo stories, which always make me cry, because of the love they describe in almost every chapter. |
| WDC has taken a bit of a back pedal this evening, as I went to see a film at the cinema with my eldest son. We watched 'Moonfall', having seen trailers for it when we went to see 'The Matrix Resurrections' at the end of December. I didn't have great expectations of 'Moonfall', but it surprised me, it was way better than I'd expected. Sure it was hockum, but I LIKE hockum. The plot was silly, the moon changing it's orbit - wreaking havoc on Earth, and turning out to be nothing like what we all think it is, (cheese! - sorry, I'll be good). The heroes ride a museum piece out to save everyone and it all ends as you'd expect. 90 minutes of pretty great entertainment, silly, but fun. I've been thinking about my March event,leading to an April Giveaway, I am so going to regret this. Part of my thinking is that I shall use a static item to showcase the pieces reviewed. Then I thought, what if I commit to reviewing the new member's story/poem etc. as well? (gulp), Then I thought, what if I further offer to review an item from the existing member's portfolio too, as a further thank you, over and above getting a merit badge. I'll give this more thought, because it will involve a lot of work, but then all things worthwhile do. What do you think gentle reader? |
Let's see if this works:  Perfect! This was my first attempt at a trinket, I hope you like it. Old joke: Joker: "My dog has no nose." Straight man: "Really? How does it smell?" Joker: "Depends what he's been rolling in recently." (aural prompt: please insert a drum sting of your choice here.) Speaking of jokers or to be more specific fools, (visual prompt, the author takes an elaborate bow at this point), as you may know by now, or not if this is the first time you've encountered me, I like to plan ahead. Sometimes I plan a body, but this is not the time to digress into murder mysteries. Where was I? Oh yes. In March I shall be running a giveaway that I'm planning for April 1st - or as some of us know it April Fool's Day, hence it will be grandly titled A Very Foolish Giveaway Now don't quote me on this, but I'm considering creating a more exclusive trinket for this event, something of a self portrait, if I can find the makeup I need. (Flashback prompt: Simpsons episode with Homer having an erotic picture taken of himself, "Light is not your medium." "We need more Vaseline on the lens.(Trowels on a thick layer of same.)" Back to the point, what will be the nature of this foolish giveaway I hear you asking, (please don't ask me about the voices!). Well I may have to iron out the details, but the thrust is this. I'm going to ask our wonderful WDC members of longer standing to review something written by a new member, (exact details as to what constitutes a new member will be one of the ironed out bits). For their trouble, the member will get a nice shiny merit badge, and quite possibly an exclusive trinket. The new member will ALSO receive a merit badge, probably of the appropriate genre that they've written in. "I hear that you like to plan ahead" I hear you saying, (again please don't ask...) "It says so right there." (pointing up to the appropriate paragraph). This is true gentle reader, and the next giveaway is planned for ... May the Fourth. Spoilers! |
| I should not do this drunk, but oh well, what the hey. There are types of drunk, as some of you will know. Before I get sleepy, I'm a happy drunk. Since I don't do this often, it doesn't actually take a lot for me to get happily buzzed, and when I do, my natural inclination, which is to love everyone, comes to the fore. Embarrassing huh!? Well no, not really. See I'm a deeply flawed human being (at least in part), (that's at least in part human for those who love nonsense), and because of that I'm slow to judge anyone. (Unless they hurt cats, then they should be smeared with BBQ sauce and left in a small room with some hungry tigers). Today's strange ideas include 'Enter The Draino', which might actually see the light of day, because I'm thinking of ideas for the Screams weekly contest,
  's The Contest Challenge,
This must be a train of thought thing, because prior to this I was thinking about Saddam Hussain's Secret Hidden Drains. This would recast the frankly imaginary 'WMD' as the equally absurd 'MFS', (Massive Flushing Systems). I'm also considering writing 'Let Them Eat Cud', an exploration of the unsuspected presence of camels in the French Aristocracy. I've 'leaked' a teaser for my next three giveaways of Merit Badges. Did I mention that I'm having fun? Lot's of Valentine's stuff going on, and I have availed myself of some of the possibilities, I do love this site, and several (many) of the wonderful people on it, (almost as much as I like bracketed comments or asides!) |
| Some days suck. Today was not such a day. Today totally rocked. Something that has been preying on my mind suddenly resolved itself, and very much in my favour. But that was not all, I also sorted out the first practical step to getting a card machine sorted out for our shop, something that has been on my to-do list for a long while now. I had a nice day with my wife and our dog. Lots to be thankful for, and I am. One of my problems as a person, is that I have so many ideas, but I don't always have the ability to focus narrowly on just one of them. Which means things get half done, (or less). This is frustrating, and it can feel like I have streamers of loose ends trailing around with me. Ho hum. January was a terrible month as regards writing anything, or reviewing anything. I do hope that I can improve on this in February. |
| Today I sent out a lot of merit badges. I think it is fair to state that they have been well received. I couldn't have sent so many without help. Now what this has illustrated to me is that WDC is a great community, and there are some truly amazing people amongst you. I'm a very selfish person. It gave me a lot of pleasure to give those merit badges away. It gave me more pleasure when some of you told me it had made your day to get your badge. Suffice to say, I plan more self indulgence - more giveaways, and hopefully more silly fun too. Happy Groundhog Day WDC members. |
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). I mostly reject that. I'm eating rice with an egg this morning but Pannya just brought me chocolate milk from 7/11 (bless him; I really don't need it).
