Welcome dear readers and, please, brace yourselves. The following narrative, made up of 15 small chapters, is a musical tribute to the power of narcotics on weak, fragile minds.  It is not intended as a promotion or a condemnation of drug use… it merely is. ENJOY!

Chapter 1:    Coffee and TV

Spike is bored of the same old routine. He gets home every evening from his dead-end job, where he is one of many zeros, and slouches down easily in front of the TV, whilst his Mother (yeah, he still lives with his Mum, ha!) brings him mug after mug of instant coffee. He’s 30 years old and his life is one long, monotonous blur. He wants more. He craves more. What he’d love to do most is go out, live it up, but social ability is hard enough for him without the mind-numbing effects of his chainstore lifestyle. Tonight however, midway through Eastenders and his third cup of ghastly coffee, he decides he is going to start over again. What the hell, it’s Friday night after all! So off he pops down the local boozer, stopping to buy some fags on the way. Just to be wild.

Chapter 2:     Cigarettes and Alcohol

At the pub Spike enjoys his second helping of BritPop, a nostalgic, hard-hitting beverage that reminds him of the summers and sunshiiiiiiiyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine of his youth, and then, feeling nicely typsy, he steps outside for a ciggy. There he meets some cool-looking student types who ask him if he is looking for some action. Spike says, “thanks but I’ve finally found what I’m looking for with cigarettes and alcohol”. “Nah man, there’s so much more out there” say the heavily haired young dudes, “you gotta make it happen”. Spike was feeling easily swayed at this point and, before he knew it, he’d been invited back to theirs for further smoking. What the hell, he thought, it’s only cigarettes… right?

Chapter 3: Hash-Pipe

Half an hour later and Spike is feeling rather apprehensive because, comfy though he is, curled up on a colourful beanbag, he’s nervous about the hash pipe in the shape of a naked lady that has just been sparked up and passed around. Spike politely declines, saying he can’t help his feelings and he’ll go out of his mind. But the stoner dudes insist, playfully pretending to be the voice of the naked lady pipe; “Oh, come on and kick me… I’ve got my ass wide”. Spike can’t help thinking these tricks are for kids but indulges a little anyway. What the hell, right? Unfortunately for Spike his very first toke results in him coughing and spluttering for a full 10 minutes, prompting the young hippy wannabes to nickname him the ‘Weezer’ dude.

Chapter 4:  Hits from the Bong

Feeling totally baked from his first ever toke of hash Spike is in awe as some skunky, funky, smelly, green shit is produced, along with some plastic apparatus that kind of looks like a big dildo. “What’s that?” asks Spike, mightily confused. “We’re gonna take hits from the bong” says one layabout, putting his blunt down just for a second, “don’t get me wrong it’s not a new method”. Spike grapples with the beanbag as he struggles to sit up and snatches eagerly at the bong as it is passed to him. “There’s water inside don’t spill it, it smells like shit on the carpet!” raps one of the tenants of this house on Cypress Hill. So, carefully, Spike takes his finger off of that hole and inhales… “we just got an ounce in the mail” says one scraggly haired mofo. But Spike barely registers this, as he sinks back into the velvety embrace of his rainbow-coloured beanbag…

Chapter 5:    Cocaine

Spike is still chilling on his beanbag, playing a bit of guitar hero with his new homies, when some bloke from Clapton called Eric turns up. Eric turns down the offer of guitar hero, he’d only cream them all anyway, and asks if they want to go to a rocking party. Spike, annoyed that some fag beat him, says “sure, I’m naff at this game anyway”. Eric pulls him in close and says, “Here’s some advice. If your thing is gone and you want to ride on… cocaine”. “Erm, ok, but…” Spike began before Eric interrupted him, pulling him in even closer to whisper hoarsely in his ear, “If you want to get down, down on the ground… cocaine”. Spike can’t help sniggering. This guy’s wasted, he thinks. But hey, what the hell! The next minute he’s ushered into the back of a car with Eric and some attractive blonde woman, who offers him lines of cocaine. “It’s good stuff” she says. Eric yanks Spike close a third time and, with wide eyes, stammers into his ear, “She don’t lie. She don’t lie. She don’t lie… cocaine.”

Chapter 6:      Ebeneezer Goode

Eric takes Spike to a party in Camden Town, where Spike natters incessantly about himself to anyone within earshot before getting a nasty nosebleed and having to run to the loo. On his return he bumps into the main geezer the whole party seems to be revolving around, who glides into his mind with a sunny hello. “The name’s Eezer Goode. Ebeneezer Goode. A gentleman of leisure and I’m here for your pleasure. What can do for you my friend?” Spike realises Mr Goode must be quite the crowd pleaser, because the people around him are chanting “Eezer Goode! Eezer Goode!” whilst grinding their teeth and snapping their jaws about their faces. This guy is the life and soul, Spike thinks. “What the hell, I want to feel the love your followers are feeling” he said. Eezer gives a grin that gurns around the room from face to face. “Pop one of these my man!” he says, slipping Spike a small tablet with a Smurf on it. Half an hour later and Spike is a spinning sweat-fountain in the middle of the dancefloor, spraying all who come near, and has somehow gained a big pink day-glo headband and plastic sunglasses. As he frantically hurls himself into ever messier shapes he can be heard hollering “Eezer Goode!” as loud as his panting lungs permit…

Chapter 7:      Sorted for E’s and Wizz

Its many hours later and the normal world seems very, very, very far away for Spike. He’s with twenty thousand people standing in a field and he can’t quite understand what this feeling is. But its ok because, as he roots around in his pocket, he finds he’s sorted for E’s and wizz. He can’t remember exactly where he is however, so he asks some girl called Lucy, who he seems to have befriended . She tells him he’s at a music festival and that he got his ticket from some fucked up bloke in Camden Town. Must have been Ebeneezer Goode, thinks Spike. After boogieing in the mud with Lucy for a short while a hollow feeling grows and grows and grows inside him. He feels sick. His head aches. It’s 6 o clock, he wants to go home. But he is ashamed. So he calls his mother and says, “Mother! I can never come home again. Why you ask? Because I seem to have left an important part of my brain… somewhere, somewhere, in a field in Hampshire”. As he hangs up, with his mother’s sobs resounding in his ears, it starts to rain. This makes Spike miserable. “It’s alright, just keep on moving” says Lucy, “Anyway, I have just the thing to sort out your poor, frazzled mind …”

Chapter 8:      Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

… Lucy hands Spike a tiny square of cardboard, which he hastily devours, and then he follows her down to a bridge by a fountain where, much to his befuddlement, he sees rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies. Everything seems to have new life breathed into it now, he thinks. The whole world is so awash with colour! He’s finding it all so magical, watching newspaper taxis appear on the shore, but to his dismay he can’t find Lucy anywhere. He looks for the girl with the sun in her eyes but she’s gone. What the hell, he thinks, it doesn’t matter. I’m having a great time in my boat on this river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. What Spike doesn’t realise is that he’s currently floating on an inflatable mattress down a brown river of poo because the rain has flooded the festival and caused the portaloos to fall over and spill crap everywhere. Is that the girl with kaleidoscope eyes? No Spike, it’s a steward come to rescue you, wearing a gas mask because you smell of farts.

Chapter 9:      Lost in the K-Hole

Spike manages to swiftly and stinkily evade the steward, swerving his floating mattress down the river of poo, and eventually washes up outside a tent where people are doing lines of what looks like cocaine. “Can I have one?” asks Spike. The people are not very responsive, in fact they seem to have barely noticed his arrival, so he finds it easy enough to snatch the tray of lines off them. He makes short work of two lines and baulks at its crude harshness on his sensitive nostril tissue. Suddenly he finds himself tripping about inside the recesses of his own mind, where everything looks like the itunes visualiser. He is lost inside this hole for around 3 minutes and 51 seconds before abruptly snapping back out of it… just in time to see what the chemical brothers he’s sitting with are cooking up next…

Chapter 10:      Golden Brown

The junkies scattered around him are totally sparked out now, having smacked some sort of substance into their arms, and Spike thinks, what the hell, I’ve come this far, and seizes the opportunity to smack himself up. He’s still a sticky shade of brown from his poo-river escapades but his whole existence takes on a golden brown hue now, as his rational mind is strangled from him good and proper. He can’t help basking in how wonderful the feeling is, as a texture like sun courses through him. In his semi-conscious state what he doesn’t realise is that the sun is actually coming up, fighting it’s way through the stormy clouds, to bathe him in the cold light of day…

Chapter 11.      Heroin

When he comes round his brothers have abandoned him (maybe because of the horrible stench exuding from his crusting clothes, Spike guesses, but he just don’t know) yet, astonishingly, they’ve left their chemicals behind. The texture of the sun is beginning to pain him considerably now, as he squirms uncomfortably in the mud. His whole body badly aches with the strain of it all, so he reaches for the stash and has one more hit. But the experience just isn’t golden now, it’s too real. It scratches at him like harsh guitar feedback across the eardrums as it flows mercilessly about within him. The whole experience is decidedly unpleasant and, as he wriggles irregularly about on the ground, he thinks ‘what the hell?’ as he slides inevitably off the slippery slope of mud he’s been lying in, and down into a murky ditch under a bush.

Chapter 12:      One More Cup of Coffee

Eager festival-goers trundle past in the mud as Spike lies forlorn in his ditch. The poor guy feels like death warmed up. Or rather death freezing cold, coated in crap, buried beneath a bush. Spike is regretful of his night of madness and starts to feel that his time is up. White stripes are taking over his vision and there is an awful drumming in his ears. He would give anything to go back to his cosy home, with its bland coffee and even blander TV. He can see the light of a new day dawning just above but its beyond him to climb back up the slope and onto the path. People amble past oblivious to Spike’s mournful wails beneath them, as he pleads in vain to get “one more cup of coffee for the road. One more cup of coffee before I go… to the valley below”.

Chapter 13:    Fade to Black

Death comes heavy on Spike’s heart now, as the world slowly begins to fade to black. A metallic taste dominates his mouth as emptiness begins to fill him. He looks back on the drug-fuelled mayhem of the previous twelve hours and wonders at what point it would have been sensible to stop. Could he have called a halt to his escalating hankering for harder substances at any particular stage? Maybe before he ended up floating down a river of faeces? Or was it merely inevitable, once he had embarked on the slippery slope of drugs, that he would end up this way? What the hell, he thinks, I had a laugh, I was me but now he’s gone. It’s too late now anyway. Yesterday seems like it never existed but death greets me warm, so now I will just say goodbye…

Chapter 14:      The Moral

And what’s the moral of the slippery slope kids? Well, the drugs don’t work I guess. They just make you worse… but I know I’ll see your face again Spike, in various guises; in every back alley, disco party, music festival, pub, club, or pavement curb I come across.

Chapter 15:      Death of a Clown

But we can’t end on such a downer can we?  Let’s not forget he did have a lot of fun along the way, that kinky customer Spike. Yeah he was foolish, childish, a bit of a clown, but let us at least salute his efforts, for he won’t be forgotten… so, all together, chink your glasses together and drink… to the death of a clown!

Thanks for reading folks!

Official Web Site

Eric’s My_Space Page

This is the first review of Battle Studies to say what I’ve been thinking. JM’s my hero and he probably always will be, but even I can draw some interesting parallels between him and Clapton. There’s nothing wrong with this, obviously, I’m just saying that he seems to be taking all of his cues, whether intentionally or not, from him.

John Mayer is obviously going through a “Backless” phase. In 1979, Eric Clapton released an album called “Backless” which shifted him from the guitar hero (“God,” if you will) to the more laidback singer/songwriter, causing a universal frown from six-string enthusiasts everywhere. With the release of “Battle Studies,” Mayer treads a similar path with a collection of songs that focus on melody over fretwork.

If the thought of a more pop-oriented angle leaves a bad taste in your mouth, this probably isn’t the Mayer album for you. One foot is firmly planted in the adult contemporary genre, especially when pop princess Taylor Swift provides background vocals on “Half of My Heart.” It’s not a bad song by any means, just a bit light for a young guy that’s played alongside artists like B.B. King and Slowhand himself.

Full Article

Deweb’s work

Je viens de poster une nouvelle vidéo sur mon site “l’ami des collectionneurs” qui propose des portraits en images de personnes passionnés de choses aussi diverses que les affiches de mai 68, les taille-crayons, les Dinky Toys, les photographies d’actualité ou les guitares. Cette fois, c’est justement un guitariste, Laurent Pradeau, qui est filmé au milieu de da collection d’instruments.

Pour finaliser la couleur, j’ai mixé deux pistes vidéos sur l’ensemble du film avec d’une part la vidéo clean, non retouchée, et sur une autre piste, une version étant passée part une dose de  flou gausssien sur les highlights puis par un filtre Bleach Bypass sur l’ensemble, le tout dans Color1.5. Voilà le résultat.

MojoTwanger.com: hey Hey (Big Bill Broonzy Cover)

My take on this great tune by Big Bill Broonze, later covered by just about every body, including one Eric Clapton…

Below are some of my favourite guitars to play.

I really like the tones and feel of the Danelectro and Rickenbacker models.

Also featured below the links are some pics of great guitarists and musicians that play Danelectro and Rickenbacker.

You may find what you’re looking for at these sites as well. I have found them to be very helpful and fun.
The Recordist

Aztechmusic.com

Guitarchordfinder

Playbetterbluegrass.com

Guitarmasterclass.net

Audacity

AX84.com

cheapguitarsreport

gettuned guitar tuner

haramps guitar shielding

harmonycentral guitar instruction

americanmusical.com

logue.net chords

Guitar Wheel instruction tool

Guitarnuts.com technical

guitarnoise.com

projectguitar.com intonation

mwcamerica.com

Tortoiseguitar.com

Mandolincafe.com tuning

fret2fret.com instruction tool

RogerMcGuinn.blogspot.com

rocknrollvintage.com

gonegator.com Tom Petty stuff

Enjoy.

What are your favourite guitars?

What type of music do you play?

Self taught? Lessons?

Play at home, with friends, family, live in public?

Record your playing at home onto a PC?

First guitar you owned/played?
Please leave Comments.

This Cort Effector model has built in effects circuits and sounds good for a low priced guitar. I have one like this, but all black. They were sold at Sears stores back in the 80’s. It was my first guitar.

One of the most striking things about living in London is that it is always changing, often before our eyes. Tourists may come to visit ye olde London town, but the city we know is always in a permanent state of flux. New buildings go up, old ones are torn down. People settle down, people move on. Not all change is good, and some change is bewildering. But one of the few things that stays the same in London is its constant reinvention. The end of my penultimate Capital Ring walk certainly showed that off – but it began with corners which have barely been touched for decades.

Social change was on display as the walk kicked off in the back streets of Stoke Newington. Together with nearby Stamford Hill, this area has one of the capital’s biggest Jewish communities, and certainly the most visible one. But there’s also a large Muslim community here, too. Any bother? No sign of it in these leafy streets. In 2002, one of the founders of the local Muslim Jewish Forum told N16 magazine: “When they’re house-hunting, Muslims often choose a Jewish road, they see Jewish neighbourhoods as safe and peaceful.”

The neat, snug streets didn’t last for long, though, as N16 became E5 and I entered Clapton. If you’re not local to that area, it’s unlikely you’ll have heard of Springfield Park. But it’s a beautiful green oasis, with well-kept lawns and views out across north-east London. At the foot of the park is the River Lee, and Walthamstow Marshes, and a marina for boats to moor up in. The path crosses the river, and for a while you’re on the Walthamstow side of the river – or, once upon a time, the Essex side.

There’s very little marshland left in London – the last remnants of Greenwich Marshes vanished 20 years ago, Plumstead and Erith marshes are now Thamesmead. So Walthamstow Marsh is special, almost unique – and almost eerily quiet and still; well, until a rush of sirens from distant Lea Bridge Road. The wetlands now form a nature reserve, and with some of the land also used for grazing, there’s even a cattle grid on the route. Railway arches cut across the land, and it was here that aviation pioneer AV Roe tested his early aeroplane designs. A century on, this side of the Lee probably looks much the same as it did then. Across the river, back on the Clapton side, the Anchor and Hope pub looks tempting… but the High Hill Ferry which used to cross the Lee here, and gives its name to the street along the water, ceased many ago.

Eventually, it’s back across to Clapton, through Millfields Park, across the Lea Bridge Road and down to where the River Lee Navigation splits off – it’s this route the Capital Ring will follow. Outside another pub, the Princess of Wales, an old lady was having a bizarre row with a mum and kids. From someone’s back garden, a greyhound stuck its nose through the gate to see what I was doing. Back across the water again, and now on the edge of Hackney Marshes as the Lee Navigation continues ahead. Alongside are the Middlesex Filter Beds, once a part of London’s water supply; now a nature reserve.

Narrowboats are moored along the water, their owners stopping to chat – it dawned on me that it’d probably be very easy to live up here and completely disappear from the rest of civilisation… all wistful thoughts ended, though, with the discovery that the tow-path was flooded. A sign had warned of some flooding that was due to be fixed “by September 2009″. It was the end of October, and the contents of a Thames Water main were still streaming into the canal. There was no other option than to take a deep breath – and go for it, though the water…

Squelching on down the pathway, I reached the old Lesney toys factory at Homerton. Formed after World War II by schoolfriends Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith, Lesney began life as a die-casting factory, diversifying into toys in the 1950s. The Matchbox line was a roaring success, with the Lee Conservancy Road complex opening for business in the 1960s. The original Lesney firm folded in 1982, the Matchbox name was sold and production eventually moved overseas. With so much change in east London over recent decades, the Matchbox factory looms over the Lee like a relic – but not for much longer, as demolition teams have already bulldozed part of the site and are currently stripping out the rest.

Recently-built housing mixed with light industry on the other side of the Lee Navigation, but the greenery on my side came to an abrupt halt at a sign pointing out that there may be some diversions to the Capital Ring. This was the start of the Olympic Park. It was a hive of activity, but the 2012 media centre is shaping up to be a squat, ugly building. In fact, I didn’t quite twig it was part of the Olympic Park at first, thinking it might just be some kind of warehouse. No wonder the residents of Leabank Square, opposite, aren’t impressed. (“If we were across the canal from Hampstead Heath or Wimbledon Common – they would have been to scared to design something like this! But it’s only Hackney Wick – so let’s lay a tower block on its side and the scum locals will absolutely love it!”) The huge Olympic Stadium suddenly appears behind the media centre, and starts to dominate the view.

Further down, a familiar tune came into my head – I’d reached Lock Keepers’ Cottages, the home of Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast for nearly a decade. Now a private home, it’s dwarfed by the Olympic Stadium just behind. The cottages, by Old Ford Lock, only date back to the late 1940s, but in 60 years have already seen dramatic changes to their surroundings. The next few years will see even more change as a whole new district emerges behind the cottages. I’d last walked up here in June 2007, shortly before the bulldozers moved in. Blue hoardings block off the old Lee riverside path, which now leads up to the stadium. There’s enough in place now for the imagination to fill in the gaps on how this will look in 2012.

The path finally leaves the Lee at the Greenway – the walkway on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer. It’s shared with Olympic workers and construction traffic, and offers an uninterrupted view of the stadium and the complex work going on around it. There’s a diversion off the Greenway further down, onto Pudding Mill Lane, passing its eponymous DLR station, and across Bow Back River. Suddenly very familiar territory came into view – Stratford High Street. After waiting an eternity to cross the A11, something even more familiar appeared. I put my still damp-feet into motion and ran for a 108 bus home.

So now, the end’s in sight. If all goes to plan, there’s one more leg to go – Stratford to Charlton. It’s strange to think I’ve covered nearly 70 miles already. At least I know what to expect at the end of the final 10 – but there’s still plenty of exploring left to do in east London.

Le guitariste qui énerve votre copine à force que vous vous preniez la tête sur ses dvd de méthode nous envoie le best of de ses albums

- Ton regard sur ta compilation qui sort en décembre ?
- Une compilation c’est un peu, dans le meilleur des cas, comme un album photo, où on revisite ses heureux souvenirs… C’est touchant et agréable. Ca permet aussi de redécouvrir des choses à côté desquelles on a pu passer… Et ça finance les prochains disques, aussi !

- Ton moment préféré sur ces albums « Guitar Connection » ?
- Le duo avec Hank Marvin… Enregistrer avec un orchestre classique aussi…

- Ton plus mauvais souvenir ?
- Avoir pris 10 kgs au moment du tournage du dvd du volume 3 parce que je nageais dans des soucis persos !

- Le morceau dont tu es le plus content ?
- Le prochain…

- Ton ambition secrète ?
- Un duo avec Paul McCartney… Ca va être chaud !!!

- Ton guitariste préféré ?
- Vous avez deux heures devant vous ?

- Ta guitare préférée ?
- Miss Daisy, ma Strat vintage de 1954

- Quelle chose changerais-tu dans ta carrière si tu le pouvais ?
- Je serais Eric Clapton !

- Le morceau que tu aurais aimé écrire ?
- Martha my dear, des Beatles (enfin, de McCartney…)

- Ton prochain projet ?
- Out of the Blues : un album participatif et caritatif, mélangeant internautes anonymes et stars de la guitare dans une jam session géante…

Jean-Pierre Danel / Guitar Connection Anthology (Universal) CD+DVD le 14 décembre prochain
14,99 €

Jean-Pierre Danel - Guitar Connection Anthology

Sgamp vuol dire tutto e niente.  Ci si occupa di  cultura, ambiente, news dal mondo e anche, come in questo caso, di fatti di cronaca.

E’ accaduto a Sharjah, il terzo, in ordine di superficie, dei sette emirati, compreso tra Umm al-Qaywayn e Dubai, che compongono la fiorente confederazione degli Emirati Arabi Uniti.

Purtroppo è accaduta una orribile disgrazia che ricorda un poco quella accaduta a Lory del Santo e Eric Clapton nel 1991, quando il loro figlio Conor è caduto dal 53° piano del loro appartamento di New York.  Sull’accaduto il cantante inglese ha dedicato Tears in Heaven alla memoria del figlio scomparso

La polizia di Sharjah sta indagando sulla morte di un neonato trovato in fondo a un pozzo di ventilazione in uno dei tanti alti edifici avveneristici che svettano verso il cielo azzurro.

Il bimbo, con il corpo coperto di sangue, si presume sia stato gettato da uno degli appartamenti di edificio residenziale sulla lussuosa Jamal Abdul Nasser Street.

La macabra scoperta è stata fatta dal guardiano dell’edificio, rimasto molto sconvolto quando ha trovato il piccolo corpo in una pozza di sangue. Costui, occupato nella solita routine delle pulizie, è giunto lì attratto dall’ odore ripugnante emanato dal pozzo di ventilazione.

Sembra che il bambino avesse appena qualche giorno di vita. Intanto, la polizia di  Sharjah ha già arrestato un uomo e una donna sospettati d’essere gli autori della tragica morte del bambino.

Fonte: gulf news

It’s occurred to me that I haven’t given you a recipe yet. I’m not really into precise measurements or detailed step by step method so forgive me if my approach is a bit lax.

I tend to use recipes simply for inspiration. Other times to refresh my memory before heading to the shops to source ingredients for a specific dish. A quick peek online often reminds me of a key seasoning or ingredient that I would otherwise have forgotten.

I am luckily enough to live in Clapton. A typically multicultural London suburb awash with Turkish and Halal butchers and grocers. I’ve been buying my vegetables, mutton, lamb and chicken from these places ever since I became a resident. They’re great value and the meat is as good, if not better than any family butcher anywhere in the country. 

I had some friends over for dinner a few weeks ago. Finally, the excuse to cook one of the big joints of mutton that have been tempting me recently. A quick wander up to Paradise Halal Butchers on Lower Clapton Road, £15 later and this was on my block seasoned and ready for the oven.

Shoulder or leg of mutton is a very old and well used bit of kit. It’s got a much deeper and more gamey flavour compared to lamb but will be tough if it’s not cooked for long enough. 

You’ll notice the fat had been trimmed from my joint, Shame. With the fat left on you can simply season it and wack it in a slow oven. Once it’s roasted you’re graced with the added benefit of ‘crispy bits’.

Due to the lack of protective fat I had to be careful not to dry out the meat so I chose to braise it in some liquid.

Slow Braised Mutton with Puy Lentils

Serves 6 (there were 4 of us)

• 1 leg or shoulder of mutton. About 2Kg.
• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 1 cup puy lentils – rinsed
• 1 large carrot – diced
• 2 sticks celery – diced
• 1 large onion – diced
• 1 bulb garlic sliced horizontally
• 1 bunch thyme
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped parsley stalks
• 3 bay leaves
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 1 bunch spinach
• 1 litre stock or water

Gremolata

Finely chop and mix parsley, garlic and lemon zest.

• 4 tbsp very finely chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp very finely chopped garlic
• 2 tsp very finely chopped lemon zest

Pre heat the oven to 140C and ensure the mutton is at room temperature .

Season the meat well with salt and pepper, brush over some oil and brown in a large heavy pan. Remove the mutton, deglaze the pan with the wine and leave to simmer.

Place the lentils, herbs and all the vegetables aside from the spinach in a large baking dish. Lay the mutton on top of the vegetables and pour over the wine. Add some more water or stock to cover the vegetables by a few centimeters and cover completely with foil.

Braise for 4-6 hours basting every hour and adding more stock or water if necessary. Remove from the oven and check the meat. It should be very tender. If it’s not then return it until it is!

Take off the foil and turn the oven up to 180C. Roast uncovered for final 45 minutes basting every 10 minutes to glaze the meat and thicken the sauce. 

In a pan wilt the spinach and drain off the excess water. Remove the mutton from the oven and adjust the sauce by either reducing it or adding more stock to get the consistency you want. Add the spinach and check for seasoning.

Serve at the table topped with some Gremolata

To finish we had an apple and gooseberry crumble with a bottle of Double Vision 7.4% Cider. Steve and Helene had come straight from a Kentish apple festival with gifts.. Thanks!

Funthyme

The second instalment of the ’supperclub’ series takes us to Green Onions, a supperclub based in Clapton. Handy for someone like me who lives in say, Clapton.

Green Onions confirm your reservation and text you the address so you’re not left out on the street searching for clues as to the whereabouts of the flat. This efficiency  however doesn’t take away the intrigue as it’s deep in an estate, you’ll see what I mean when/if you go.

Green Onions is run by  duo one of them being a chef at St John. He must know all about seasons, ingredients, technique, flavour, seasoning, profit margins….

The living room had been gutted and filled with two tables of 8 and one of 4. That’s 20 guests, oh and the ‘contributiuon’ was £25. Not a massive amount of effort had gone into the decor but it was cosy and comfortable all the same. Actually, there were gyp flowers in on the table – I thought this was a nice touch.

I just need to drop in now that the night before I had some people over and cooked mutton followed by crumble.

Cue the host…..

“Tonight we’ll be serving celeriac and bacon soup – slow roast mutton with pearl barley followed by ‘windfall’ plum crumble”

That’ll be mutton and crumble two nights on the trot for Funthyme. I’m really not complaining though. I love mutton and crumble and surprise is the whole point of these things. Right?

Celeriac and Bacon Soup

It’s been a while since I’ve had a broth style soup.  They always tend to turn up blended, super smooth and full of cream these days. I have to admit, mine have started to go down that route so it was nice to have some lumps for a change. The autumnal flavours of the bacon and celeriac made it warming but it still remained light thanks to the broth, the parsley complemented to the taste of the soup rather than just sitting there looking pretty. Good soup – Here’s to chunky bits!

Slow Roast Mutton with Pearl Barley

Understandably the hosts didn’t fancy plating 20 meals in their domestic kitchen so they plonked a leg of mutton on each table and left us to get on with it. I was nominated (thanks Laura) to carve. Normally fine but with a blunt knife and a slippery base of pearl barley it made tough work. Eventually we got enough of the bone for the 8 of us.

Compared to the mutton I cooked the night before it was more subtle, perhaps it was younger? It had been sufficiently slow roasted so the outside was crisp and the inside tender. Not quite pull apart with a spoon tender, but tender.

The pearl barley was a good filler and there was some spinach running through it for greenery. I’m not 100% convinced about pearl barley – It’s that Sugar Puff thing it’s got going on.

Plum Crumble with Homemade Custard

A good solid crumble.. The custard was especially good, full of real vanilla and perfectly sweet.

I liked the simplicity of Green Onions. It’s no nonsense and well prepared seasonal food in simple surroundings. I do wonder though how far my £25 went? Although perfectly good, these were afterall ‘economy’ ingredients.

Here is a quick guide we have put together to help you choose your style of electric guitar.

Choose your Body Style…

Les Paul Shape

The Gibson Les Paul shape is among the most recognized solid-body electric guitar designs. It was developed in the early 1950s and has become one of the most enduring and popular musical instrument models in the world. Its design has been left virtually untouched for nearly 50 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Les_Paul

SG Style

In mid 1960, the Gibson Guitar Corporation felt that the Les Paul signature model, introduced in 1952, had run its course, and decided to change the design. This new design, with a slim double-cutaway body featuring prominent scarfing around the edges and cutaways, was officially issued in the 1961 model year as a Les Paul signature model. The main idea was to compete with the double cutaway Fender Stratocaster, which gave players easy access to the higher frets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_sg

Stratocaster

The Stratocaster, often called the ‘Strat’, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender in the early 1950s. Much of the popularity of the Stratocaster can be attributed to its versatility. The neck, middle, and bridge (in the original manual, labelled “rhythm”, “normal tone”, and “lead”, respectively) pickups provide a wide range of tones. The standard single-coil pickups often found in Stratocasters produce a trebly sound with a high top end and bell-like harmonics.

Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster (aka ‘Tele’) is a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender. Its simple, yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in the fields of electric guitar manufacture and popular music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Telecaster

Choose your Pick Ups…

The Single Coil Pick Up

A single coil is a type of pickup for the electric guitar. As its name indicates, it is composed of copper wire wrapped in a single coil around a single bar magnet or several rod magnets. Single-coil pickups are most commonly associated with Fender guitars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_coil

The Humbucker Pick Up

A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils. Humbuckers have increased output, and because the two coils are of reversed polarity and reverse-wound, noise and interference is essentially ‘canceled out’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbucker

More Info

How Guitar Pickups Work

Choose your Bridge System…

Stock Tremolo

A tremolo arm, tremolo bar, vibrato bar or whammy bar is a lever attached to the bridge and/or the tailpiece of an electric guitar or archtop guitar to enable the player to quickly vary the tension and sometimes the length of the strings temporarily, changing the pitch to create a vibrato, portamento or pitch bend effect.

Double Locking

The Floyd Rose Double Locking system consists of:

1. a lock at nut of the guitar, which prevents the tuning (“machine”) heads from being used and holds the strings taut,
2. a “floating bridge”, where the other ends of the strings are also vise-locked (hence, “double-locking”).

The locking system helps to keep the strings in tune while the strings are slackened to a degree which wasn’t possible with older tremolo systems, such as those found on Fender Stratocaster, allowing “dive bombs” (i.e. rapid lowering of the pitch of a note). Since the tuning heads are ineffectual with the lock in place, the Floyd Rose bridge has heads for fine tuning; the guitar is tuned before the lock is put on, then fine tuned afterwards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Rose

Hard Tail

Instruments without a Stock tremolo or Double locking bridge system are called hard-tail.

Choose your fret board…

From maple to Rosewood there is no one “best” wood. The choice you make should be based upon your application and personal taste or preference.

Chose your neck joint…

This is the point at which the neck is either bolted or glued to the body of the guitar.

Bolt on Neck

This method is used frequently on solid body electric guitars and is considered the easiest neck joint method. Body and neck cross in horizontal plane and are joined using 4 (rarely 6) screws. As screws damage the wood and could put extra stress on it, typically a rectangular metal plate or a pair of metal plates are used to secure the joint and re-distribute the screw pressure evenly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt-on_neck

Glue in Necks

Set-in neck is a method of guitar (or similar stringed instrument) construction that involves joining guitar neck and body, pressing it tightly together using some sort of adhesive. This yields better connection of neck and body and makes sound waves. Gibson leads the trend for set-in necks with Gibson Les Paul series, opposing Fender that build guitars traditionally with bolt-on necks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set-in_neck

Through Necks

These are designed so that everything from the machine heads down to the bridge are located on the same piece of wood. The sides (also known as wings) of the guitar are then glued to this central piece. Some luthiers prefer this method of construction as it is said to allow better sustain of each note. Some very high-end instruments may not have a neck joint at all, having the neck and sides built as one piece and the body built around it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck-thru

Hola Eric Clapton! Gracias por componerla e interpretarla. Me he atrevido a cantarla. Echaba en falta tu guitarra…pero qué le vamos a hacer…

watch?v=C3ibtzz0FYM

Pata de Elefante é uma banda gaúcha de rock instrumental muito boa. Eles estão concorrendo no VMB deste ano na nova categoria Instrumental. Infelizmente, as votações para esta categoria já acabaram, mas continuamos na torcida.

O som dos caras tem uma influência forte e clara das grandes bandas de rock dos anos 60 (Cream, Clapton, Grateful Dead, Stones, algumas indentificadas por nós), e é construído num formato típico dos rocks com vocal. Estão prontos para enfiar a voz, mas não precisam. A melodia da guitarra substitui qualquer obrigação de letras que correm o risco de não dizerem nada.

Fizemos uma matéria para a segunda semana do programa Rádio Kanastra na MTV, com uma entrevista e uns sons ao vivo, onde eles falam um pouco deles e de suas influências.

Finally…new stuff. Please try and contain your excitement. I know this is similar to discovery of lost tracks of The Beatles’, The Band, or Cream.

Now that we are settled down…the names of the tracks are Blind and When The Devil Comes Crawling. They can be accessed here. I recommend using headphones.

Lyrics are also posted. Should be able to access them by the links to the left.

A few words about the new bread, if you don’t mind. First, can you say “Live”? Yea. I tried a different micing technique tonight, which makes the sound very live. I also added a good, ‘ol fashioned foot stomp as I played – it was atop a plastic case I have for carrying 40 pounds of free weights. I carry around free weights just for fun. And stomp on the cases.

Blind is BRAND new. As in, came out of the burner in the last few hours. Don’t know why it seemed to happen so nice…I don’t ask. Just know that it did. Hope you dig.

When The Devil Comes Crawling was written in the last two weeks and I have been trying to lay it down since. It’s inspired by a bit of old time southern Gospel and Bluegrass. The other tracks fell apart with the vocals, which had too much reverb. I like the sound now. Vocals could be a bit more, but whatever. It’s not like I’m selling this nonsense. Hope you dig.

Well…time to chill and hang out with my wife, who is the one doing to real important work around here right now…studying! Love ya babe!

Until next time…don’t pick him up.

-J

I can’t say that I’m the sporty type. I simply adopted my Dad’s football team as my own, (Go the Tigers!), and I think cricket’s got to be the most boring game on earth. No correspondence on this issue please! It’s probably an indication of how much I like a challenge that I  chose SPORT as our topic for this week. And because I thought it might also be a good idea to get a ‘bloke’s’ perspective on the subject matter, The Captain returned to co-present the show. 

We got the show started with a fantastic song from the late Kirsty MacColl: ENGLAND 2 COLUMBIA 0. She uses the first round of the 1998 World Cup as backdrop and metaphor for romantic deceit. Here she is on ‘Later with Jools Holland’ in 2000. The band is made up of Chucho Merchan, James Knight, Pete Glenister, Dave Ruffy, Michelle Drees Ben Storey and Joey de Jesus. Very nice.

I have to admit to a guilty pleasure: I don’t mind a bit of boxing (yes, best not to cross me!). I can’t justify it. I know that it’s a violent sport but I grew up with a younger brother and we were both addicted to watching both boxing and wrestling on the tele. Boxing being so incredibly visceral and exciting and wrestling being just plain silly. So, here’s two boxing songs for you:  SO YOU WANT TO BE A BOXER from the soundtrack to the film Bugsy Malone and Eminem and Shaggy sampling EYE OF THE TIGER from the film Rocky. 

A couple of baseball songs followed: Billy Bragg and Wilco with an ode to one of America’s heroes: JOE DIMAGGIO DONE IT AGAIN and then John Fogerty begged “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play” in CENTERFIELD. Check out this video clip of John Fogerty performing live in 2007. Worth a look to view the guitar he uses – made from a baseball bat! Cool.

James Taylor has recently done a great covers album and we included one of the tracks this week. Originally by Jnr. Walker, the song is I’M A ROAD RUNNER. Then it was Teddy Pendergrass’s turn with LOVE TKO, a song that simply borrows from sports jargon to express the singer’s heartbreak. 

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s song SPORT (THE ODD BOY) is a memento to school sports days. It even includes a sick note from Mum. Gotta love that.

Then it was two songs set in a pool hall: Johnny Lang with RACK EM UP and JIm Croce’s DON’T MESS AROUND WITH JIM. The lyrics of the latter song concern the fate of a ‘pool-shooting son-of-a-gun’ by the name of ‘Big’ Jim Walker when his ‘mark,’ Slim, from a south Alabama Honkytonk shows up to get a refund from being hustled or get revenge. Check out the video clip:

I would have been in real trouble if I hadn’t played any surfing songs, as the radio station is situated in one of Australia’s premier beach communities. My choice: The Beach Boys with SURFIN’ SAFARI and we followed that with Loudon Wainwright’s SWIMMING SONG. Here’s Loudon with this very catchy tune that even mentions the Australian Crawl.

Mic Conway’s National Junk Band are always good value as they were this week with RACE CALL OF LIFE TO DEATH from their Corporate Chook album. Very clever. Wish I had a video clip of it.

Will Smith went on to play Muhammad Ali in the biopic of the great boxer’s life but he has trouble doing even one round in I THINK I CAN BEAT MIKE TYSON. Here he is with DJ Jazzy. The video includes with cameos from Don King and Mike Tyson. Funny stuff. The year was 2005.

How could we forget to mention the bicycle? Nicely fixed when we played Pink Floyd’s BIKE and  Red Hot Chilli Peppers BICYCLE SONG.

Let’s talk about Bowling. Lawn bowls really took off for a while there with everyone and his dog (literally) playing mufti bowls. And now Tenpin Bowling is experiencing a resurgence of popularity. My, otherwise groovy, 22 year old son and his mates have formed a team and they play in a league every week down in Sydney. It seems to be mandatory that bowling team names require bad puns. Examples: the Lucky Strikes, Rolling Pins, Spare Me, Pin Pals and my favourite: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gutter.  Personally I’m all in favour of a sport that has two toned shoes (golf being another goodie). 

I didn’t discover any tracks on golf but I did find two great Bowling songs: Stephen Lynch with BOWLING SONG and TAKE THE SKINHEADS BOWLING from Camper Van Beethoven. 

Now any tune that uses the term “silly mid-on” in a song, deserves to be in the list. WHEN AN OLD CRICKETER LEAVES THE CREASE, from Roy Harper, is actually quite a good song despite being about Cricket.  Cream, on the other hand, are more interested in Tennis.  Check out this incredibly droll clip of ANYONE FOR TENNIS?  from around 1968. Could Clapton look any more bored? Hysterical.

We didn’t forget the skaters out there and happy to include HEAVEN IS A HALFPIPE from OPM. But then it was time for more football, um soccer, um football. We call it soccer, the English call it football. But whatever you call it, on a global level this game is HUGE. Even highly credible rock bands can’t stop themselves from penning songs to their heroes. The Fall gave us THEME FROM SPARTA FC and The Lightning Seeds delivered  THREE LIONS. Here you go all you Soccer fans, well the English ones anyway, a clip with lots of footie, um soccer,  in it.

I saw Mental As Anything live last week and they’re still belting out those party tunes.  I decided to close the show with a tune of theirs that pretty much sums up the Australian way of life, being the sports mad nation that we are: SURF & MULL & SEX & FUN. 

Thank you to Spirit Gym for our giveaway today of some personal training sessions. Much appreciated. And thanks to the Captain whose hilarious news items kept us entertained betweeen tracks.

Here’s the complete playlist:

England 2 Columbia 0 - Kirsty MacColl

So You Want To Be A Boxer - Bugsy Malone  soundtrack 

Eye Of The Tiger  - Eminem Ft. Shaggy

Joe Dimaggio Done It Again - Billy Bragg & Wilco

Centerfield - John Fogerty

(I’m A) Road Runner - James Taylor (Jnr Walker & Allstars cover)

Love TKO - Teddty Pendergrass

Sport (The Odd Boy) - Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Rack ‘Em Up - Johnny Lang

You Don’t Mess Around With Jim - Jim Croce

Surfin’ Safari - The Beach Boys

The Swimming Song (Live) - Loudon Wainwright III

Race Call Of Life To Death - Mic Conway’s National Junk Band

I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson  - DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

Black Superman – Muhammad Ali - Johnny Wakelin

Bike - Pink Floyd

Bicycle Song - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Bowling Song - Stephen Lynch

Take The Skinheads Bowling  - Camper Van Beethoven

When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease - Roy Harper

Anyone for Tennis?  - Cream

Heaven Is a Halfpipe - OPM

Three Lions - The Lightning Seeds

Theme from Sparta FC - The Fall

Surf & Mull & Sex & Fun - Mental As Anything

Hey Micky - Toni Basil

Next week: Songs about FAMOUS PEOPLE.

Listen to Lyn McCarthy at the Theme Park on BayFM, Tuesdays 2-4pm, Sydney time.

Also streaming on http://www.bayfm.org

Tragically also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maccalyn

and Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/themeparkradio

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I woke up in a mood Friday morning.    Actually, the term,”woke up” isn’t correct.   I decided to finally get up and out of bed after hours of  sleepless tossing and turning.    Sleep has evaded me the past couple of nights.   That happens every once in a while.   Still, something must be on my mind and if my reflection in the mirror is any indication, it’s a terrifically bad hair cut caught in the tacky no man’s land known as “growth”.  

My hair at this stage is insidious looking.   It wasn’t a very good cut to begin with and now that it’s grown out, it makes me look like this unholy spawn  from the unattractive loins of  TV religious grifter, Benny Hinn and that unfunny, Borscht belt hack,  the late Marty Allen.

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Take it from me, NEVER allow an angry, hungover lesbian to cut your hair.  Nor should you believe her when she tells you that in Milan, they’re doing marvelously hip things with hair and those large desk top paper cutters with the long,  handled blade.    

But this weekend is Labor Day …a nice  long weekend and respite from work and the start of college the football season.   Go Horns!!!!   Let’s mark the occasion with cook outs,  music and my longing for the days when my hair was once attractive and stylish.

I remember spending many fond labor days at the Kendrick Kompound IN Hyena Port, Texas.  Especially during my childhood in the halcyon days of the 60’s.  I have many fond memories:   Vietnam, race riots in the South, the burning of the ROTC and Administration buildings on college campuses throughout the land, the assassination of John,  Bobby and MLK.  The Manson murders, the Zodiac Killer, sniper Charles Whitman perched atop the University of Texs Tower, Richard Speck and of course, Hippies.   

Good times.

I was asked recently if I liked the music from the 60’s and I answered in the true parlance of the times, “Gliddy glube gloopy.  Nibby nabby noopy, la la la lo lo.   Daba sibi wabah.  Doobie yabadabah, baby oh no.”

Translation?      “Yes”. 

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And here are a few songs that American Top 40’s 127-year-old Golem, Kasey Kasem must’ve overlooked when he insisted that his feet were on the ground, while reaching for the stars.

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Coco Montoya (foto: Event Plus)

Miercuri seara, trupa chitaristului american a transportat publicul bucurestean direct in lumea lui Clapton si a lui John Mayall.

 Dupa ce au invitat in Romania legende ale bluesului, cum sunt chitarisul John Hammond si muzicutistul Charlie Musselwhite, organizatorii de la Event Plus au reusit sa aduca inca un invitat de soi, o vedeta rock-bluesului de peste Ocean. In seara de 2 septembrie, chitaristul stangaci Coco Montoya a cantat in fata a peste 400 de spectatori la clubul bucurestean Hard Rock Cafe.

Interpretand piese precum “Beyond The Blues”, “Casting My Spell” sau “Nothing But Love”, muzicianul american si-a “teleportat” spectatorii undeva intr-un club de blues din anii ’70-’80, perioada in care Montoya lua lectii de la Albert Collins si se intovarasea cu John Mayall in celebrul grup The Bluesbreakers.

“Nu am mai avut de mult un asemenea public. Ne-am simtit exceptional, as reveni oricand in Romania. Acum am inteles ce inseamna Blue Moods (titlul platformei de concerte blues – n.red.). Este vorba de o stare de spirit, de un dialog din priviri cu un public deosebit si avizat, de un flux de energie incredibila”, a spus Coco Montoya dupa un show care a tinut mai bine de doua ore. Muzica sa a fost gustata de cei mai buni cantareti romani de blues, precum A.G. Weinberger, Alexandru Andries, Marcian Petrescu si George Baicea, ultimul cantand in deschiderea show-ului lui Montoya.

Chitaristul american a spus povesti, a glumit, a facut mimica acompaniata de chitara si a venit insotit de un excelent pianist, Jerry Lepper. Improvizatiile sale la orga si minirecitalul de boogie woogie au facut senzatie, “furand” in unele momente show-ul lui Montoya. Nici chitaristul cu un stil amintind de Eric Clapton nu s-a lasat mai prejos. Montoya a coborat de pe scena si a executat cateva solouri chiar in mijlocul publicului. L-au mai acompaniat basistul cu tuse funky Nathan Brown si percutionistul Robert Hayes, care si-a demonstrat priceperea intr-un solo hipnotizant de peste cinci minute.

(cronica aparuta in cotidianul.ro)

maybe its not authentic bluegrass, not that I would know (so maybe it is?), but this shit is outstanding

Bloggen er flyttet til berekvam.com

It’s a fucking four day weekend, ‘AVE IT! Naturally myself and Tobias started the celebrations in the kitchen about 7.30am this morning. Can of Bella Emberg, line of Carlos Santana, and we stumble across a note from Barnaby

“Alright cunts
Fuck work, I’m calling in sick with AIDS today so I can hit the battle cruiser early. Take the keys to the Shaftmobile you queers, go buck wild
Barno”

Typical Barnaby, his motor’s a quam magnet, so my chances of pummelling a chick tonight has increased 10000%. ‘Pint bottle of Shagners love. What? I said Magners!’ Hahahahahahahahahaha!