upside downer

Hope there's an encore.

No, music lessons never helped in my experience. Junior school (70s) consisted of wrestling (not literally) with a recorder which I never got to grips with and being shunned from the choir due to having a voice like Johnny Rotten. We were put in a group called 'The Groaners' and spent choir practice time by doing drawings instead. Secondary school (80s) was no better. We did the usual 'this is a stave' , 'Mozart, what a guy' etc but my main memories are designing LP covers and sometimes bringing records in. One chap brought in a tape recording off of the TV of dismal, yanky, puppet nonsense Fraggle Rock that for some reason we listened to for 20 minutes before the teacher (who was a geography teacher) restored our sanity and whacked some Motown on. Typing that has just reminded me that for one whole year we never had a music teacher, it was always a PE teacher or whatever. Sometimes, we never had a teacher turn up at all. Dropped music after the third year when options came up because it was just a doss twice a week. The only instrument we got our hands on were glockenspiels for about four lessons very early on in the first year there. Can recall infuriating our teacher by our consistency in making the little wooden balls on the end of the beaters fall off and roll across the classroom. He was going apoplectic, how we laughed. Until we got to school the following morning to be told he'd died of a heart attack overnight. Sorry, Mr Edwards, though I think your heroic boozing and 2 lighters a day smoking habit may have been contributing factors as well.

Fir shame! Who votes fir their own tune? Doesn't seem very fir. 🌲

By 'eck, a champion tune, well done! 👏👏

One of my faves.

Here's my go for this month. The usual lo-fi gubbins but I managed to learn French just in time to parlez up some pretty fluent phrases, I'm sure you'll agree. Hmm. Mon Dieu!

Space rock overlords Hawkwind are getting me through my day.

I'm with Nail Soup in respect of counting old music I've never heard before, 50 year old Krautrock being a current fave. Also, I do like a rummage around Global Roots Radio, lots of weird and wonderful sounds from around the planet. Turkish psych, North African Chaabi, Middle Eastern rhythms, marvellous. You've just got to dig a little deeper than what the mainstream throws at you if you fancy something totally different.

Bravo squire 👏 great tune!

Here's this month's nonsense. Recorded with WavePad/Audacity. Guitars, bass, keys and a drum sample from a live recording of my old band (cheers, Tel). Would have liked a proper vocal but I'm off on holiday now so toodle-pip.

Opening up the Trunk of Funk.

A mighty fine publication in the 80s and 90s, the Danny Kelly editorial years being particularly good. Tom Hibbert's "Who the Hell Does..... ?" articles were brilliant at pricking the pomposity and arrogance of many a celeb. Sad to read about its demise, but it had a good run. Been a while since I purchased a copy, think I bailed out when they put Take That on the cover.

Dubby Thursday with King Tubby.

On a King Tubby roll today.

A love problem, it seems.

Aaron Cheney has the right to post unfunny, tired and cliche-ridden articles. And, having read said article, I now have the right to ignore all future offerings from Aaron. Which I certainly will. World keeps turning, we move onward and upward.

These two ain't bad. Choons, one might say.

Great cover of the Joe South 1960s hit and very on-topic. RIP Bob.

I've got a title - Lady in Red. Clever, eh?

Congrats ND, great stuff!

I been a drag racer on LSD And I rode bare-assed on top of the Sphinx I even had a gorilla on the slopes of kismet And man, that was fun for a while you bet Thing is, I believe you, Lux, I really, really do.

Love this, raving mad!

My missus and I skanked away after the vows at our wedding to this wonderful tune.

Maybe he should have. An achievable goal rather than this fanciful notion of puckering up to the stratosphere.

'Scuse me while I kiss the sky. I'd like to see you try, Jimi!