Austin is the self-styled “Live Music Capital of the World“, which is mostly wasted on me. I wasn’t brought up to appreciate live music – the only communal experience I was used to was going to the movies. I didn’t know anyone who went to see live music when I was growing up. That lasted… Continue reading On the Best Concert I Ever Saw
Everything you’ve done, everything you’ve experienced, everything someone said to you has a chance of adding another facet to your character. It’s enough to make you never want to leave the house, isn’t it? But what about the media we absorb every day – not the news, views, and eye-bleeding hate that passes for political… Continue reading On Why We Like What We Like
Prince came to live with me in Xmas 1984 (or maybe ’85), via the kind of cassette tape you could pick up for a couple of quid at any market stall in the country during those prehistoric, lawless times. As I listened, wearing out the tape, he told me strange, unknowable things, things I sometimes… Continue reading On Losing an Imaginary Friend
OK, I understand advertising. I get it, I really do. And, no, it doesn’t necessarily have to be evil (although, mostly, it probably is). And, if I walk into a store, I know I’m volunteering for some form of the hard sell. I understand what you might call the ‘social contract’ of that one. But,… Continue reading The Big Sell
It came to me in a dream. A vision. A blinding flash of mind-expanding inspiration. You know what Tom Waits needs? A duets album! You feel silly now not having thought of this yourself, don’t you? Well, that’s why I have this super-important blog and you don’t. It all makes sense if you think about… Continue reading The Pitch #1: The Tom Waits Duets Album
My list of Songs I Hate is a long one. It would include anything Ace of Base have ever done. “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions. Tom Jones’ version of “Kiss”. But my #1 Most Hateful Song is “Imagine”, by John Lennon. I know: this seems a bit hipster, a bit cooler-than-thou. After all, it’s… Continue reading On John Lennon’s “Imagine”
