Posted in Music, Big Daddy Merk, Fella, Work at Sat 29 Apr 2006 by Stavros
I’ve been busy at work this week. Don’t think I like that. Monday and Tuesday were full-on workathons (broken up by some unplanned drinking on Monday night for Fella’s birthday). Wednesday was not as busy but a bit more dramatic. My clumsy junior decided office work and it’s related perils weren’t for him. I mean who could blame him, in danger terms Payroll Junior must be up there with lumberjacks, fireman and Alaskan crab fishing. So that was that. The question is, whether to go with the obvious delights of a young tasty lass as my next junior, or to try and level the gender bias somewhat in my office and get a bloke I can talk football to. That’s surely one of the big questions. Aesthetics or conversation?
I’m supposed to go to Wolverhampton tonight, an official celebration to our (mine, Merk’s and Fella’s birthdays). Not sure if I can be arsed really. Well, I can. Just not Blast Off. We were supposed to go to Jongleurs in Birmingham, that would have been tops. Comedy, a bit of grub and a nightclub all in one. Instead it’s a continuation of the norm, just drinking in pubs. And to be honsest I’m sick of birthdays now, they seem to hang around like the Queen’s did. Ah, maybe I’m just miserable because of the incessent noise outside my window…
God almighty, it’s a Bank Holiday Saturday morning and all I can hear is a marching army of lawnmowers and strimers, an insurgant guerilla force terrorising the grassy fronts of our small crescent. It wouldn’t be so bad if most of the fuckers mutilating their lawns actually worked during the week. Surely 9.30am on a Saturday is for either sleeping off the booze, or for wandering around the house eating Coco Shreddies and scratching your arse.
Music time:
This is Primal Scream’s new effort, it’s out 22nd May, it’s called “Country Girl”, and it’s the best thing I’ve heard from them for a few years. The new album is out in June.
Next I have for your ears, this is Band of Horses, their album Everything All The Time came out last month, and it’s a winner. This is one of the standout tracks, “The Great Salt Lake”. If you like that, you can see the video for “The Funeral” off the same album here on luvverly YouTube.
If pushed, I mean if really pushed, a gun to my head and clockweights in a vice, I would say Super Furry Animals are my favourite band ever. I mean I even wrote a prize-winning ‘poem’ about them (ahem, about 2/3rds down the page). As a treat here’s “She’s Got Spies” from Radiator, possibly their finest album.
I hope this gives your ears a needed respite from those bank holiday grass mutilators.
Stavros.
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Posted in Music, Crown, Beer, Big Daddy Merk at Sun 23 Apr 2006 by Stavros
So I’m twenty-seven. What now? Ahh whatever, we’ll see.
I went out on Wednesday night to celebrate my birthday with a few chums, got merry and woke up Thursday morning with a hangover. There’s nothing like hangovers to make you feel a different age in a morning. I staggered into work an hour late with two bags of cakes for the greedy bastards. I didn’t do much even though I should, as I’ve lost my junior for a week. My hired help not very wisely poured boiling water over his hand last Tuesday while making me a cuppa. They put his hand under the cold water tap, which just washed away a few layers of cooked skin, so someone drove him off to casualty. When he cam back from hospital freshly bandaged up he was of no use so he went home with my disappointed utterences ringing in his ears. And do you know what? He hadn’t even finished making my tea. Pah!
So anyway I’m putting these cakes out ready for feeding time and there’s signs all over the kitchen. How to use the kettle, the microwave, the coffee machine, and warnings about nut allergies. The dickhead who put them up saw me looking at them with a disgust that gets amplified by beers consumed in the double figures the night before. So I’m probably not at my most reasonable. He points his proud stubby finger at his sign about nut allergy, and asks me if any of them have nuts in. “How the fuck should I know”, I answer, hoping my rather forthright and foul-mouthed reply would result in him leaving me to get on with putting apple bramleys on paper plates. “Well nobody thinks do they” he responds. Arrrggghhh, this could end in violence, I didn’t ask for a frigging conversation and if I had it wouldn’t have been with this nosey prick. I glared at him with pink eyes and snarled at him that “if someone knew they had a nut allergy and ate a random cake then they probably deserve to suffer, and if they didn’t know they had a nut allergy then they wouldn’t read your warnings anyway”. He shrugged his massive shoulders and walked off downstairs, I carried on with the cakes, and looked at the side of box I was holding and shouted after him “if you meet anyone with a nut allergy tell them they can eat the chocolate eclairs, they’re fine”. Nothing like starting your birthday with a hangover and a row about cakes is there!
On Friday night me and Merk went to The Crown, even though he couldn’t drink because of his anti-biotics for his weird shaped face. That was quite fun, it was weird for me talking shite to Merk and him not talking shite back. He just nodded and grinned, smug in his own soberness. He did well actually. I’d have been sucking the beermats if I couldn’t have had a pint in a pub. Really.
We’ve just come back from Franky and Benny’s for Merk’s birthday, nice food but the service was a bit bobbins.
As is the current vogue I have some more tunies for you. First two topical treats dedicated unashamedly to me. First up is Blur’s “Birthday” from their debut album Leisure (buy here).
Secondly are yet more Canadians, these are Stars and this is their aptly titled “Ageless Beauty” from their 2004 album Set Yourself on Fire (buy here), on this track they bear a passing resemblence to The Sundays or The Cocteau Twins. Real nice.
Next, dedicated to my kettle-phobic assistant at work is the Manic’s version of Nirvana’s “Pennyroyal Tea”.
And finally for Merk and his brave squash drinking exploits in the pub on Friday is “Sick, Sober and Sorry” by Gene, from their 1995 collection of b-sides and stuff To See The Lights (buy here).
Stavros.
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Posted in Music, Crown, Food & Drink at Mon 17 Apr 2006 by Stavros
Yeah, look soz for the blogshyness. We’ll get over it OK. I’m freshly cut from the Crown, and I’ve just had a ham and ’shroom pizza (with added hot green chillis) from dirty Mama’s so bear with me. I really enjoyed myself up Aber way, I’ve got to pull myself out of this convenient lethargy and go for it. Wow, the thought of living and working in a town that feels like home! I did actually get to watch the second part of The Godfather Part II, and I think I may have come to the conclusion that it is a better, more complete film to the first (I know I know, a thirty year old film review - it’s what the Intarwub was invented for). Anyway, I’ve got some tuneage for you my lucky readers.
First up, is Canadian band Islands with “Humans“. It’s like a sci-fi post-apocalyptic indie calyspo song with nice harmonies and banjo. Enjoyable. It’s off their forthcoming album Return To The Sea, and there’s some ace tracks on there, about swans and volcanoes and diamonds and stuff.
Me and our Merk are thinking about putting on an Indie night at Pussycats or somewhere, and I’ve been thinking about what newish tunes I’ll be playing to bring in those tasty indie chicks with their cute hairgrips and halter tops. Grrrr. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’ll be playing this, The Rifles’ “Repeated Offender“, you might have seen them on Soccer AM. They’re unashamedly mod-influenced, like a good Ordinary Boys who have left the celebrity girlfriend at home with the Clash LPs.
So with this indie night in mind, I’ve been scouring through a lot of my old britpop stuff, and also I’ve been watching an awful lot of This Life. Amongst the train wreckage that is Miles and Anna’s relationship I heard this tune, “Drink The Elixir” by overlooked group Salad. I don’t know if you remember but the singer was pretty hot, in that ever-so-knowing way only birds in indie bands can be. Woof! Yes, I did just bark.
Moving on, I probably won’t be playing this, a bit ambient, a bit chilled for your enjoyment, this is The Album Leaf, I was trying to find the CD in Andy’s Records in Aberystwyth but couldn’t find it. This is “On Your Way“, it’s simply beautiful and it’s off the In A Safe Place album, which I believe was recorded in Iceland and features a couple of Sigur Rósers.
What’s that? Your music collection lacks shoegazing electronica bands from France? Meet M83. This is “Don’t Save Us From the Flames“, and it has a self-assured epic sound of Broken Social Scene jamming with Air. And they’re probably listening to My Bloody Valentine while they do it. Very nice. It’s off their latest LP, Before the Dawn Heals Us which includes a very tasty track called “Moonchild”, I advise you post-rock fans (you know who you are) to check it out.
Praise be to the eclectic. Peace out.
Stavros.
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Posted in Aberystwyth, Beer at Sat 8 Apr 2006 by Stavros
Last night was pretty enjoyable, and not really as messy as some of you might have expected. I met Merk off the train and he checked into the B&B. I played about a bit trying to connect to someone else’s internet, but it was a ropey connection. Then we departed into the Friday night, fist to Bar Essential for some much needed grub and Brains (and Eurofizz for the Merkster). Then I think we went to Scholars, yeah that’s right, it was quite lively and had a fair share of pretty lasses for Merk to growl at. This continued on to Rummers. Aber Jazz were doing their thing there which was ace, all dixie jazz, with a great trombonist (is that right?). There was some more nice girls in there, Merk liked a blonde with naughty eyes, I liked an oddly dressed brunette who we agreed looked a bit like French actress Julie Delpy. Well we had had quite a few by that stage. Last orders were taken outside where it was cold. The gin warmed me up a bit, but we left when the noises of the windy harbour had sufficiently freaked our kid out. Ding, ding, ding.
I missed breakfast this morning (who has brekkie at 8 o’clock on a Saturday?), and woke up proper at about ten. Sans hangover luckily, must’ve been the bottle of water and the plain chocolate digestives I wolfed last night. When I eventually got Merk up we walked down to Andy’s Records because he wanted to see a label in the Post-rock section he’d found funny when I told him last night. Under the labels for Mogwai and Sigur Rós there’s a hand written divider between the CDs saying “That’s not music, that’s just noise”. Also as we left the shop (where once again I spent money I shouldn’t've), there was a tile fireplace outside a house with a label saying “free, please take”. Merk stopped to take a photo and I trod in a huge ruck of dog shite. Orange it was, and it certainly hadn’t come from a jack russell. Unsurprisingly Merk found this hilarious. This was followed by the Cabin Café, the arcade, then to Coral to put on some Grand National bets. I won £33 on Numbersixvalverde, but then due to my previous form on the big races, I had backed about six horses but only to the tune of twelve quid, so I’m well up. Rock on!
Stavros.
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Posted in Aberystwyth, Films at Fri 7 Apr 2006 by Stavros
So this morning I had a quick shower and a cup of tea, packed all my things neatly into my suitcase and departed my home for the last four nights. At the end of that road was my place for the next two. How about that for an extensive tour? So ten minutes after packing, I unpack. I’m all settled in to the B&B (I know, posh eh? That’s Merk for you, he won’t slum it). The Big Daddy is joining me in about 5 hours, so I’m chilling out, pleased that my new bed is as hard as a snooker table. I decide to get my laptop out and check for unproptected wireless networks. I may as well, there’s a few offices around here and the homes are closer than in Bath Street. I plugged my doofer in, and it found one. Then lost it. I just managed to slowly read a couple of emails, and check our kid’s blog. I tried to read Fulla’s site, but I lost all contact. I managed to send a couple of emails by holding the computer up at the window, but that started aching my arm. I’ll have another go later if I’m not too drunk (read as: I’ll try tomorrow when I awake with mahoosive hangover).
I started watching The Godfather Part II last night. As it approached the end I was thinking “this seems a bit weak”. I was sure it was better when I first saw it years ago. Then, at the end a message came up to tell me to insert disc 2. Guess who didn’t bring disc 2? I assumed it was full of extras. Bugger. So I watched the Battle of Algiers instead. That is some film, it’s filmed on newsreel so it has this grainy realism to it. Most of the actors are amateurs too, many just local folk. I can’t believe it was filmed just 8 years after the events, some of those scenes must have been so fresh in the memory of both Algerians and French. Also, for a war/revolutionary film it seems so fair. The army are never just essentially baddies, and the freedom fighters are portrayed at times as terrorists. Maybe that’s because it was filmed by an Italian rather than an Algerian or Frenchman. It makes me shudder to think how Hollywood would remake it. Top flick. Four and a half stav’s out of five.
Stavros.
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