jester1470

Haven't picked up my copy yet, first one in a while I haven't bought on the day of release. What's the difference ?

Most singer/songwriters make me cringe and walk the other way. Even the words make me go red with embarrassment for some reason. They immediately remind me of this (painfully slow intro/build up followed by an internal 'stars in their eyes' moment where you decide how good their voice is)

 

 

Then I'll hear the odd one that just gives me goosebumps and I'm reminded of how beautifully pure the simple combination of a voice, a guitar and a good song can be. Then I think i'm too harsh on these wishy washy songsmiths and that I should give some a chance.

 

What's everyone's opinion on them (and I know the term is a bit loose) and who do people recommend checking out?

I quite like a good singer/songwriter, my favourites include:

John Wesley  - http://www.john-wesley.com/ - occasional sideman with Porcupine Tree

Jo McCafferty - not all of her stuff sounds complete as like many singer/songwriters much is a stop gap until she can do it with a band, but stuff like Chiar Daca Ma Duareh wouldn't work as anything but one voice, one guitar

Kitchen Cynics - Alan's work has some of the best storytelling lyrics around

Steven Page - Although I prefer his stuff with the BNL his solo stuff has a great charm to it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHD1uPVkyk0 

or indeed:

Or God bless the radiiophonic workshop:

or from my own childhood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPJ0H1N1ASg

Some epic Science Fiction themes:

 

Most people don't realise that the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is actually a song by the Eagles called Journey of the Sorcerer.

That tune she sings in Romanian has always been one of my fav songs by an Aberdeen artist. I was desperate for bob to sing it at our covers night in the moorings, sadly he did not. 

I've always wanted to hear a version of that with a big strings backing back it wasn't one she picked when she did her full band album, but if you haven't heard the stuff she did with the band, it was out a few years ago and is mostly up here https://myspace.com/jomccafferty, it won't be to everyone's taste but there's some interesting stuff, she hasn't really gigged much in a long time, family etc has taken over, i think her last gig was as support to Joan Armatrading last year.

Yeah ive got a copy of it at home on the lap top. 

I must try and get hold of a copy if there's a hard copy.

Cant really remember to be honest, Stayover, im sure Joe McCaffery was on it, ill have a look tonight, ill put it on that dropbox folder that was set up ages ago. 

I would be surprised if she wasn't I think she was the only person to actually put out a Live at the Moorings CD as the whole set was rather nice, I still listen to her live at the Moorings CD in the car occasionally, it has some cracking versions and it was a very nicely done recording.

I regret not cutting my all my fingers off on the 5th March 2005...

Did you ever do your best of the Moorings CD back then ?

I know this will at least please and interest Del:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24467337

9 down 97 to go, I have to say if they were going to find any of the missing Dr Who's I'm glad it was Troughton's and especially glad it was most of the Web of Fear. Rumour has it they also have the last episode of the tenth planet (but as the DVD is out on Monday with an animated episode instead I can't see them announcing that for a while) and Marco Polo , a Hartnell story but that's taking time to remaster, considering that only 2 missing episodes had been found in 20 years this is quite a haul. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Web of Fear, Yeti's in the underground and the first appearance of maybe my favorite Dr Who character the Brigadier (though he was only a Colonel at this point). One for trivia fans apparently one of the yeti's is played by John Levene who went onto play Sergeant Benton in the UNIT years.

Fish - A Feast of Consequences - 9/10 - Another cracker after the return to form that was Thirteenth Star, wasn't sure tbh he could repeat his success there but he managed it and make it better, the WW1 concept piece in the middle, the High Wood Suite is worth the price of admission alone, possibly his best ever solo album.

Hmmm let's see,

David Devant and his Spirit Wife - when they had the full original line up, just after Work, Lovelife, Miscellaneous was released

Mott the Hoople - Original line-up, last gigs they will ever do with the full original line up sadly, they were amazing

Queen and Paul Rodgers - Not everyone's cup of tea but I will always love Queen so even the chance to see a bastardised half of them was pretty cool.

Marillion with Fish - As Marillion are my favourite band and they split when i was 11/12, i was very happy to be at the only occasion since that Marillion have done a song with Fish, I had to travel half the length of the UK effectively just for one song but it was worth it for me.

Barenaked Ladies with Steve Page - Again another line up gone but was so pleased I saw them live

The Beautiful South - Another band that many people hate but i really like, loved seeing them live with full brass section etc, saw Paul Heaton solo a few years after that and he was incredibly poor.

Asia - One of the bands I grew up with but never thought I'd get to see the original line up of but was lucky enough to see twice before Steve Howe buggered off again

Dido - I don't care what anyone says one of the best pop singers/writers out there and loves seeing her live, great show with a brilliant band

Bruce Springsteen - Got into the Boss late so have loved seeing him twice on the last tour.

Meat Loaf - Back when he still had the voice after Bat 2 and his greatest hits, saw him after Bat 3 and he was terrible.

Magnum - Another band i grew up with via my brothers taste in music but ended up really liking, so was pleased to finally see them when they reformed,

Amazon has great customer service, I bought a kindle fire recently from another source, the screen had a scratch on it and when i asked the place I got it from they said they didn't have any others but would refund me, i had become quite attached to it and emailed amazon to ask them what they recommend to fix the screen and they said they'd send out a new one and just to send it back even though i didn't buy it from them. So new one is on its way and I then just have to send the old one back. Can't ask fairer than that.

Music has been good to me and that is why I keep posting and trying to help young musicians.

I even had Bigsby and The Malpaso Gang play at my 70th birthday party.

http://www.knightsaberdeen.com/Cecil.htm

Congrats on 500 posts Graham but I am confused by your use of Bigsby and young musicians in the same sentence

I'm hoping he'll get to play the Dr. like Christopher Eccleston, slightly darker and moodier. It's good that they have chosen to appoint someone who is a big fan, apparently Peter made a bid to take over the running of the Dr Who fan club in the 70's http://www.odwfc.com/#/reviews/4563033009

Aye, I've got that book, there's a real animosity between the guy who wrote it and Peter Capaldi, it's quite funny as he takes every opportunity to have a go at him who was quite active as a fan back then - he wrote for fanzines etc, possibly the biggest Dr Who fan (apart from Nick Briggs and Gary Russell) to actually work on the show.

What's everyone's thoughts on Peter Capaldi as the new Dr, much as i have enjoyed the Matt Smith stuff i am really quite looking forward to an older Dr again, by the time he starts his first full series as the Doctor, Peter Capaldi will be older than William Hartnell was when he started. There's already a backlash from young girls claiming that the Doctor should be in his 20's/30's and good looking and they can't understand why he has been cast.  A generally surprising bit of casting as well as I didn't expect them to go for an older actor tbh. Can't wait to see the little kids checking out what he's done in the past and meeting Malcolm Tucker...

Comment from me:  It doesn't sound like the musicians will be getting much from this new Apple service that will compete with Spotify etc.

 

 

That's very likely true but also remember that artists get very very little from spotify either - in fact Apple may actually end up paying more. Was it not Lady Gaga who got under $160 from Spotify for over a million plays of 1 song iirc.

I totally nerd out over old maps and town plans and relate them to Google maps. It's really fascinating, especially when comparing maps and prospects of London from the 1600s to today - the street layout within the old city walls is still intact. I recently stood on the spot William Wallace was effectively eviscerated, which I was able to identify due to old maps and layouts of the Smithfield area.

 

My most treasured map is a D-Day battle map, showing the whole of Normandy, denoting where all the British and American airbourne drop zones were, the five landing beaches, Point du Hoc, and all of the key battles immediately following D-Day. These are not especially difficult to come by, but it's an interesting thing to look at and assimilate.

 

My favourite online map resources, for anyone interested:

 

http://maps.nls.uk/towns/

 

http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/mapmakers/braun_hogenberg.html#maps

 

The above Braun and Hogenberg collection is absolutely fucking awesome.

 

And the remarkable John Slezer: 

 

http://digital.nls.uk/slezer/find.html

I love old maps as well, got quite a few copies and some originals, my prized posession is a Blaeu original from 1645ish of Westmorland.

I generally collect nice artwork and have original, either paintings or sketches by Rodney Matthews, Geoff Taylor, Andrew Skilleter and Peter Firmin, as well as lots of comic artwork.

Mick Aston has also left us, loved him in Time Team, he was a Sunday Night fixture.

The legendary Trevor Bolder, 1/3rd of the Spiders from Mars has gone to play with Mick Ronson...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22619872

These recent episodes have been disappointing overall imo. Stephen Moffat seems too intent on aiming for a clever story arc and has sacrificed the strength of the individual episodes. 

I've thought they were really good, I thought Rings of Akhatan and Journey to the Centre of Tardis were pretty poor but the others were all good, I don;t really get this thing about a clever story line because I just don't see that much of it is that clever, the backstory with Clara was really not a defining feature until the last episode and the rest were just sci-fi stories albeit with a lot more back references to original Who, which is to be expected in the 50th year.

Alan Who?

Yes

Great ending episode to the season, not to mention a whole new story for the 50th. Loved the visits to the Dr's timeline and great to see each Dr referenced, loved seeing them all and the tribute to the worst cliff hanger in Who history from McCoy's Dragonfire, some lovely references to past Who, especially the unpopular stuff like mentioning the Valeyard... through that's a bit of a spoiler for anyone who hasn't yet seen Trial of a Timelord...

Not my car but same design and colour:

Diesel, goes like a beast, comfy and I love it, I was gutted when they went bust.

Now Saturday's was a proper Who episode. Lot's of references top Troughton era, a new take on a classic monster and a great alien pastiche. A bit of a return to form after the week befores weak offering.

Come on, it was no Curse of the Black Spot!  

I far preferred that to last night's, I just didn't get anything to like about last night.

I really loved the first one as mentioned, but this one really was more than a bit crap. Plot didn't make much sense, some interesting ideas about the alien religion etc, but used very clunkily and didn't hold up, was this the worst episode of nu-Who yet ? Let's just say i think it'll be making close friends with Victory of the Daleks at the bottom of the polls.