Happy 2007 !!!!!!!!!

This is without a doubt the best clipart site I have ever come across.
It has no banner advertising that has to be waited for before you can access the clipart, the people who run it are kind and helpful and the clip art is very very high quality.
Above is a taster...

HOBO

http://coventrymusichistory.vox.com/

Some major updating has been done by Trev on this site - excellent and interesting.

New Year Poem from Bill Costley

Half a Y@y!

Half a Y@y 4 the passing year!

Composer Ronald Stevenson
once ended a lecture in Embro
w/a pointedly-ironic mock-toast:

“Here’s 2 cheers for democracy!
“Hip, Hip!” omitting any “Hurray!”

quickly explaining that there were
‘great men’ long before democracy.

Apply to the Present; ask yourself:
Did I vote for this war in any way?
It was democratically voted for;
will it be Democratically ended?

Half a Y@y 4 the passing year!
but which half? Ya! or aY?
(OK, then, which 2/3?)

(31 DEC 06, Santa Clara)

A taste of Christmas..!

Ruth's Christmas painting for my mother

Bill Costley

"The Cinnamon Bear" (ca. 1948)

When I was a 6yr old boy,
"The Cinnamon Bear" delighted
me, listening to its adventures
on the local MW-radio station.
Many years later, I found out
they'd been distributed on
oversized 78rpm-records
to the stations. Now I have it
all on 2-track audiocassetes,
but still haven't played them
all thru again. I must want to
seal my delight up within 78s.

(21 DEC 06, Santa Clara CA)

Pamela Pamela Pamela!

Pam was wearing what can only be decribed as a biscuit around her neck. She also
appeared to have Jennifer Aniston's hair...





Last weekend I met Pam in Hitchin in an Italian restaurant called Prezzos. Very good! Service very sloooooooooooooow though.

The last Advent picture this year

As I will be away at Christmas this is the last Advent picture this year - Santa going down the chimney on a lovely cake from M & S!

Outer-space sex carries complications

Having sex in the weightlessness of outer space is the stuff of urban legends and romantic fantasy — but experts say that there would be definite downsides as well.
Spacesickness, for instance. And the difficulty of choreographing intimacy. And the potential for sweat and other bodily fluids to, um, get in the way.
"The fantasy might be vastly superior to the reality," NASA physician Jim Logan said here Sunday at the Space Frontier Foundation's NewSpace 2006 conference. Nevertheless, Logan and others say the study of sex and other biological basics in outer space will be crucial to humanity's long-term push into the final frontier.

Sex in space would likely be "hotter and wetter" than on Earth, Bonta said, because in zero-G there is no natural convection to carry away body heat. Also, scientists have found that people tend to perspire more in microgravity. The moisture associated with sexual congress could pool as floating droplets.
The physics of zero-G make the mechanics of sex more complicated. Bonta said it was challenging even to kiss her husband during a zero-G simulation flight they took recently. "You actually have to struggle to connect and stay connected," she recalled. Partners would have to be anchored to the wall and/or to each other. To address that need, Bonta has come up with her own design for garments equipped with strategically placed Velcro strips and zippers.
Although zero-G could be a boon for saggy body parts, Bonta said males might notice a "slight decrease" in penis size due to the lower blood pressure that humans experience in microgravity. Romantics will also need to guard against the type of motion sickness that space travelers often encounter, especially if they get too adventurous right off. "Save the acrobatics for post-play vs. foreplay," Bonta advised.

Virtual Pub Crawl

If you have ever been to Hull, are interested in Hull (why??) or just like pubs - here is an internet Pub Crawl around Hull and surrounding areas.

http://www.eyorks.com/hullpub/

Thanks Chris

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy" - if you agree with this, go online and sign the petition.

The Winter Solstice

The axis around which the Earth rotates is tilted at an angle to its orbit and at the winter solstice, the sun is at its southernmost point in the sky.
This is the shortest day of the year in northern latitudes, with London seeing only 7 hours and 50 minutes of daylight on 21st December 2005.
However, for anyone observing the times of sunrise and sunset, it seems odd that the time of sunrise continues to get later after the winter solstice, while the time of sunset has already started to get later before the winter solstice.
In 2005, the time of sunset started getting later after December 13th and the time of sunrise doesn’t start to get earlier until the 6th January.
This asymmetry in the times of sunrise and sunset is due to the fact that the Sun does not cross the meridian (when it is highest in the sky) at precisely noon every day. This is because not only is the Earth's axis inclined to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, but the orbit of the Earth is not circular, but an ellipse.
Near the winter solstice, the length of the day changes very slowly, as does the Sun’s height in the sky – one of the reasons why the long winter nights seem to go on forever!
The effects of the elliptical orbit and tilt of the axis are particularly dominant at this time of the year and cause the time at which the sun crosses the meridian to change by ten minutes between the 16th December (the sun is highest in the sky at 11:59am) and 5th January (the sun is highest at 12:06pm).
It is this factor which is the more dominant at this time of year and this causes the perceived anomaly in the observed sunrise times.

Thursday December 21st - Advent pic of the Day

ISBNs. Interesting fact.

From 1 January 2007 all ISBNs will change from 10 to 13 digits.

I like this, it's funny!

Some pics from Kev

http://loxieandzoot.comicgenesis.com/d/20040126.html

Ebenezer Elliott

http://www.judandk.force9.co.uk/ellyPoe.htm

More really good MySpace reviews by Trev

More My Space around Bert Jansch and the influential Folk Guitarists of the late 60's -

Dave Bennett is Coventry folky and old friend - a Phd in Zoology and a fantastic Ragtime guitarist - now in his 60's and still going strong. I knew him in the 70's - he was at every folk club I visited or played at and we all envied his fast finger picking. My song - Just Before Dawn was partly inspired by watching his playing although pales in terms of skill! He placed an add in my Cov music Mag - Hobo - as 'Blind Drunk Dave Bennett' - the man has a sense of humour!
http://www.myspace.com/davenbrenda

The following are folkies based in London in the late 60's - folk clubs around Greek St. etc. They all influenced the playing of the young Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. Jackson C. Frank was a briliant player and Paul Simon covered his song Blues Run the Game -
The sad life of an influential folk singer began traumatically and ended in obscurity. Throughout his life Frank was haunted with misfortune and ignored tremendously. Greenwich Village's coffeehouse folk scene in the early sixties drew Frank to New York. He met such names as John Kay, later of Steppenwolf. Later - He took up a flat with a then struggling folk singer Paul Simon in London, who later was impressed enough to produce ten of Frank's songs in a self-titled album.
http://www.myspace.com/jacksoncfrank

http://www.myspace.com/bertjansch
Bert Jansch is a well known legend - with his work with Pentangle and his solo work - covers of Davy Graham's Angi - Needle of Death - and many more classics. One of the biggest influences on so many guitarists, including Paul Simon and Dylan.

http://www.myspace.com/davygraham
Davey Graham is best known for his instrumental Anji but is credited with sparking the Folk-rock revolution in the late 60's. He influenced Bert Jansch, John Rebbourn and many many more. A total legend.

http://www.myspace.com/dandoshaft
Is Coventry's legendary folk rock group of the late 60's with a new My Space. The musicians all moved on. Martin Jenkins went on to play with Bert Jansch. The best stuff is not on their My Space but there's a link to Dave Cooper's Dando site with samples of the other classic tracks.

http://www.myspace.com/trevteasdel
Trev - Songs from the Basement - is y second my space - more solo stuff - son to have more on it. The song Just before Dawn is very influenced by the work of the above although I wuldn't claim it to be as good!

Another review of Ys

A review of YS by Mark Alexander:

Ys will divide its audience from the album cover inwards. First and foremost, this is poetry, none of your moon in June bullshit. It’s academic and idiosyncratic. Newsom has studied her passions and this is evident through her chord sequences and complex wordplay. When I first heard this album I thought it was pretentious and precious but nevertheless I still played it as background music as I found it relaxing and soothing. It was on about the 9th time I played it….well, I wasn’t even playing it….but when I least expected it I gave in to her melodies and they entered my head, a bit like an agnostic giving in to faith. This is an album for believers for Newsom is a story weaver of top notch basket weaving. It’s a world onto itself and you can escape into her world of medieval passion. It ebbs and flows like waves. But the most important thing about this album is that it is mine. I don’t care if I can’t share it with somebody. This is my little world and it is situated miles away from the meretriciousness of the Arctic Monkeys or Lily Allen and their dubious qualitites. These baubles have depth as well as dazzle.

2 views of the Arctic Monkeys album 'Whatever people say I am that's what I'm not'

I bought the Arctic Monkeys album the other day and it's only my opinion but I really cannot see what all the fuss is about. The lyrics are as far away from poetry than the feet are from the head. Alex Turner sounds like Mrs. Merton on Prozac!

by Mark A

The worst title but the best album of the year by a country mile!
I'm always a bit sceptical when a band is touted as the next big thing as the Arctics were. But there was no hype here. The band are brilliant.
The first time I played it I thought 'yeah, ok' but then I played it some more (minimum 5 times before you judge it) .
The melodies are strong and the lyrics are amazing. Listen to them. Don't tell me you've never been out on a night and seen these scenarios. And the musicianship is superb!
I just hope they can continue it over to the next album...and the next.
Is Sheffield the next Liverpool?

By Steve M

Me & John & Brian (from Brian)

Greatest Living Icon.

Following an earlier post on this blog, the winner of Greatest Living Icon, as voted for by viewers of the BBC2 programme The Culture Show, was Sir David Attenborough. Morrissey and Sir Paul McCartney were voted second and third respectively.

'Time' magazine Person of the Year is...

All of us!!

"For seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is you," the magazine's Lev Grossman wrote.
The magazine has put a mirror on the cover of its 80 year-old "Person of the Year" issue, released on Monday, allowing 'You' to easily beat out Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, China's President Hu Jintao, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and James Baker, the former U.S. Secretary of State who led Washington's bipartisan Iraq Study Group.
"It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes," wrote Grossman, Time's technology writer and book critic.
"The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web," he wrote. "It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter."

Flea pod

http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/06/29/technology/
highbandwidth/windowsmedia/20050629_GUEST_VIDEO.html

Chicken of the Sea

I just love the name of this product - which, needless to say, is fish not foul.

Winchcombe at Christmas

I really like this photograph of Winchcombe - and it was taken by an old friend of mine .
www.winchcombe.co.uk

This year's Christmas Tree went up yesterday.

Ruth and Starbucks!

This is the new uniform Ruth has to wear at work. Obviously, she's not too keen on it...

Famous Face Recognition

http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php

This is a good site if you want to while away a few idle minutes seeing which famous people you look like!! You do have to register but I thought it was worth it to see what turns up!!

A fantastic advent calendar.

This is what i would aspire to in the on-line Advent department. It is absolutely fantastic. Sadly the lady who designed it died earlier this month so this is her one from last year. It is truly inspired. Truly.

http://www.harpold.com/advent2005/

A wonderful cartoon.

(http://rulingcatsanddogs.com/funny-pet-stuff-pics-4.htm)

BriAnnimation

(Though strictly speaking there is no Ann in this one!!)

Here's an animation of a girl descending stairs and turning from 1884 or 1885. I've just done the front view. You can see that Eadweard Muybridge cropped the original images for the published collotypes. The original negatives no longer exist but working proof prints (cyanotypes) do for some shoots. I haven't searched yet for any of them on the internet. By Brian.

An acquired taste

Ys by Joanna Newsom

As someone says about this album on the internet - Buy this album if you dare. You may love it or you may hate it. Either way, passion is good.

To be honest, on first listening it didn't seem to be my cup of tea at all. However, even after just a second listening to track 2 I began to get the feeling that there was something special going on.
I still have to make my mind up completely though.

(From Wikipedia ) - Joanna Newsom (born 1982) is a harpist, pianist, harpsichordist and songwriter based in her hometown of Nevada City.
Her second album Ys was released in November 2006. The album features orchestrations and arrangements by Van Dyke Parks.

Steve's comments on the album
Woman with a strange voice plays harp. Sounds like she should have been singing on a 1940s Disney film.

BriAdvent @ Vox

Brian has continued archiving this year's Advent pics from my blog - here they are all together in little rows...

http://rockinbrian.vox.com/anns-advent/

A Review of MySpaces you should visit. By Trev.

"My Space, My Space" is a humourous song by Midland Alt. Comedian Owen Niblock who played the Writers Cafe - it sums it and blogging in general. He also has a song about a Frog! Check it out.
http://www.myspace.com/owenniblock
Of course Trev's is the biggest and best My Space and all these are on his site.
http://www.myspace.com/trevampthecollectiveunconscious
Surianne is a Gibralter born latin singer songwriter who is brill - currently No 3 in a recording opportunity competition. I've promised to bring her up to Teesside for the Riverside Fest if funding pans out. Check out her song Impossible - http://www.myspace.com/surianne Remember Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac - Peter disappeared for years owing to mental illness but he's back with Splinter group and all the old classics are on his site - redone with new ones - really good too.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=79396518

Like quirky, innovative singers - Yoko / Lena Lovittch / Bjork etc. Check out Schizowave. Lena is Russian and lives in USA - did a unusual version of Bowies China Doll with Ian McDonald of King Crimson fame guesting and a new version I Talk to the Wind from Crimson. Lena tells me they all went out for a meal and she was talking to the food - Ian began singing "I talk to the food - the food does not hear". That makes sense if you know the Crimson song. Her website depicts a very intersting and talented career. She's a pianist and writer and wears a red wig on stage! Some of her vids are also on U tube. http://www.myspace.com/schizowave

If you liked Donavan in the 60's you may like his daughter - astrella Celeste with her new singles Dream and Runaway - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48913777

US singers Songwriter living in Belfast has some powerful songs - her name is Rachel Austin -
http://www.myspace.com/rachellaustin
Hannah Delany from Saltburn but Irish and played at the Cafe - her own songs but her voice sounds like Alyson Moyet -
http://www.myspace.com/hannahdelany

For poets - Belinda Subrahman who Ann remembers from Poetic Licence days and who ran Gypsy mag has a great music and poetry site -
http://www.myspace.com/belindaandkc
The Nerve, who I've done some recording with but its not up yet, have done a great version of Lou Reed's Waiting for my Man with Una Luna (Read Yoko Ono take off!) on lead vocals.
http://www.myspace.com/thenervesite
Better than the original in my opinion

Loads more including our own Izzy Isgate / Hooper / Tommy Marshalls Ambassadors / Steve Meller / Bo and many more famous and not famous - all good stuff. This is a brief selection - take a hike there!!

Bill Costley

ROBBERIES TEND TO GO UP

“Robberies tend to go up with the Holidays.”

- Claudia Wong, KTVU-2 (FOX) TV
reporting from El Cerrito CA


I work in the poshest mall in the South Bay,
busy all day & nite, open to midnite weekends.
It calls its Information booth a Conciergerie;
as you walk around you can often easily hear
many languages spoken, often in groups of 3,
often young, apparently affluent enuf to buy
or at least shop as tho they were, at top shops:
an Ecco shoe store recently opened there -
I already have Ecco dress-shoes & sandals,
but really prefer my Mephistos. All are used,
bought in thrift-shops in Milpitas or Wayne MI.
I think of them as previously well broken-in.
When I began my job, months ago, there was
a robbery around suppertime in the parking-lot:
2 suburban women were relieved of their purses
& everything they’d just bought. Poetic, is’nit?
Soon, the mall's rent-a-cops pointlessly searched
the Borders book-store I work in for the robbers! .

(13 DEC 06, Santa Clara CA)

Can Santa fit in the chimney if he’s travelling at nearly the speed of light?

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/santa/index.html

Lovely article which is also very interesting!!
Read and learn...

Lily Allen

A surprisingly good album compared to what I thought it was going to sound like!
I particularly don't like the single 'Smile' but there are some listenable tracks on here - my favourites are 'Everything's Just Wonderful' and 'Not Big' (allegedly a song about her ex-boyfriend's penis). So there you go.

Trev's view on same album -
I like the arrangements and the lyrics - good songs and while I like her voice - it tends sound a little bland at times and samey - they are good songs - I think if she varied her tone a bit now and then she wouldn't sound so robotic - maybe she will develop - same as the songs are good.

Sunshine - the single is nice but the voice is most bland on that - was wanting a variation of tone I think. Like the others more.

Extinct

This is a new series on ITV 1 on a Wednesday evening. The first endangered species to be featured were the Rwanda gorillas. Part of the money raised is going to support people in Rwanda by providing, for example, rainwater collection tanks. Also training and employment for guides and rangers. So it will feed into the economy of Rwanda - ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world.

http://extinct.itv.com/ Visit this site to find out how to vote for the animal you choose and the site has alot of information on it about endangered species. Worth a look.

Photobooths.

Yes, this site is dedicated to photobooths.

http://www.photobooth.net/

Tears. A poem by Aaron.

crying in pain,crying with the shame of broken hearts,my own with its useless,broken strings.

the salty,wet,river of tears runs down my face,leaving dirty streaks,like old scars returning to hurt me.

extinguishing our fire of love,damp where the flames once burned,licking around me,

you cry too,your chest heaves with each sob,your flames burn no longer ,your crocodile tears bite and nip me in places all over.

one last kiss may re-kindle the heat,but you cast me away on my little torrent of tears to drown in this salty sea.

Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday are the only English League club with a day of the week in their name. The club derive their name from "The Wednesday Cricket Club", whose meetings were held on Wednesday afternoons. Wednesday was traditionally the day that the local steel workers who formed the club took their half-day off to play sports.
The club were formally known as "The Wednesday Football Club" until 1929, when the club was officially renamed "Sheffield Wednesday Football Club".

Napkin Folding

Sometimes this site comes up in English, sometimes in German. A useful skill to have nevertheless.

http://66.249.93.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.roterochs.de/serviettenfalten/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dservietten%2Bfalten%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DISO-8859-1%26sa%3DN

The Kooks

You might not want to listen to this album for ever but the single 'She moves in her own way' is super super super!!

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm

A pencilled note written by the King after signing the Instrument of Abdication on 10 December 1936, referring to Mrs Simpson's efforts to dissuade him from giving up the throne. This note was sent to Baldwin, asking him to refer to these efforts in his speech to the House of Commons later that day, which would give an account of the events leading up the Abdication. Baldwin did not mention Mrs Simpson in his speech.

Interesting site if you like Ice Cream Van music..

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/06/bust_a_gut.html

Ruth in one of her favourite places doing one of her favourite things!!

A good tree I came across the other day

December 14th - Advent pic of the Day

Some nice, plain old holly today.

Cartoon - thanks Roger!

Trev tells me he's redone the Writer's Cafe site...

http://www.writerscafe.org.uk/

Punctuation is powerful!

An English professor wrote the words:

"A woman without her man is nothing"

on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All the males in the class wrote:

"A woman, without her man, is nothing."

All the females in the class wrote:

"A woman: without her, man is nothing."

Advent collection

On his Vox blog, Brian has collected together all my Advent pics so far -
it looks quite nice actually!

http://rockinbrian.vox.com/

Another really good Garfield Christmas cartoon

http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_archives_strip.html?2006-ga061210

The Kiss that Never Ends

When we kiss

Glaciers melt at the edges of the earth
Polar bears dance on the ice
& bells ring in outlying churches.

time is barely there as we
feel our way together
through bruised lips &
bloodied tongues

Yours is the best kiss
Yours is the one kiss that never ends
x

Hobo - Coventry + Trev

Maybe you can advertise the new Hobo site although it won't be finished for a while

It's called Hobo - Coventry's Music Magazine of the 1970's

and is Trev's a growing archive of the Coventry music scene in the 1970's and Trev's magazine. Some of the musicians written about in the magazine later made it in the music business including Pete Waterman who wrote a soul article for the magazine and provided a Soul Chart from Pete's Soul Hole shop (which sold rare soul imports) and much more. The site is only just starting off Trev says and already has some poetry and photographs on and a full band directory is forthcoming. You may spot some names in it that you know when it's up.

You can resize the photo if it's too big.
http://coventrymusichistory.vox.com/

December 10th - Advent pic of the Day

A bizarre little thing for Christmas

http://www.northpole.com/Mailroom/

December 9th - Advent pic of the Day

Free Gifs and Animations

A super site with cardboard toys to make

http://papertoys.com/