BEEN A LONG TIME

Been a while now since I posted on here. Started a new job the day after my last post and have been pretty busy since. This former pub is where I'm working out of. Beats a blue tin box. Interesting area. More to follow.

HACKNEY

I've spent the last fourteen months working in Hackney, a place I hadn't really spent much time in before. I have worked in some of the estates shown in this film. Hackney is a fantastic place, full of history, culture and a diversity of people. I shall miss it. Won't miss the W15 bus going home though. West London here I come.

 The video seems to have disappeared sometime. Here's another one.

TWIST AND CRAWL

I went to see The Beat play on this boat on Friday night. It's currently moored down in Canary Wharf. What a lovely venue, the staff were all really friendly and chilled out, everything was clean, and there were loads of interesting things going on. The Beat were really good. Only one original member - Ranking Roger, but they tore the place up. Go and see them if you can. Have a look at the the website for the boat, it could be in your town soon - http://ms.stubnitz.com/

HEAVY METAL

I saw this installation by Richard Serra in the Guggenheim in Bilbao about three years ago. It's one of the best things I've ever seen. Bilbao is definitely worth a visit.

The original link doesn't work anymore so I have reinstalled it here.

THROW BACK THE LITTLE ONES

This is the Steely Dan song from where the title of my blog comes from. Their version has lyrics.

Another missing link. Here's a different video of the same song.

"Throw Back The Little Ones"

Lost in the Barrio I walk like an Injun
So Carlo won't suspect something's wrong here
I dance in place
And paint my face
And act like I belong here

[Chorus:]
Throw back the little ones
And pan-fry the big ones
Use tact, poise and reason
And gently squeeze them

Hot licks and rhetoric
Don't count much for nothing
Be glad if you can use what you borrow
So I pawn my crown
For a ride uptown
And buy it back tomorrow

[Chorus]

Done like a matador I pray for the weekend
And hope the little girls still throw roses
Else I'll change my bait
And move upstate
Before the season closes

[Chorus]

RADIO JOE

This is a radio show Don Letts did about Joe Strummer on BBC 6 on the 20th of December 2007.

http://www42.zippyshare.com/v/10429805/file.html

Here's another one.

 http://www4.zippyshare.com/v/65299250/file.html

These links don't work anymore. If anybody wants them, let me know.

TRIES, PIES, AND VIDEOTAPE

I was in Edinburgh last weekend to watch Ireland play Scotland in the Six Nations. A very enjoyable weekend, apart from the result. A couple of days later, I was looking for a song to commemorate the weekend and I came across this. As a friend of mine said, this is why it's called the beautiful game.

THERE'S ALWAYS ONE CALLED BIG JIM......

I saw this band play in the Sportsman's Inn in Dublin in 1982 or 83. They came and had a drink in my local the night before.I ended up talking to them and they gave me some free tickets for the show. I still have one them. Here is a link to down load the music on this E.P.

http://www34.zippyshare.com/v/53039556/file.html

SNOT GREEN SEA

I have started this book on numerous occasions, but failed to get much further the first few pages. I suppose I'm waiting till I have a broken leg or something and I'm laid up with nothing else to do. I feel I may be disappointed when I do read it, a boat I may have missed, a bit like Blonde on Blonde. For another, older generation, who hadn't heard enough words and enough ideas. We have too many now.

ON THE LAKE GENEVA SHORELINE

The founder of The Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs, died on Thursday after a skiing accident. It's something I've always wanted to go to. Hope it continues. Here's SRV ripping it up at the festival in 1985.

IT USED TO BE MY PLAYGROUND.

I grew up around here and probably would have cycled on these roads at some stage. The nearest he comes to the house I lived in is at 05.58. If he had turned left instead of going straight on, he'd have been there in five minutes. I can just about see where my mother lives at 07.44. I spent a lot of my summers swimming at Sandycove and in the Forty Foot.

YOU ONLY GIVE ME YOUR FUNNY PAPER

Listening to this version of Abbey Road by the Beatles Remixers Group. Their stuff is always interesting and worth checking out. The series of compilations, Tuned To A Natural E, is especially good. Available from all good internets. Happy New Year to all my readers.