It is not unusual for newcomers to this wonderful place to cause a bit of a kerfuffle, in most instances it is not deliberate, they just get caught unawares. If you are newly arrived from one of the other millions of blog sites avaialable on the web the humour, tolerance and general camaraderie (occasional pedantry excepted) of this place is unusual and unexpected. Don't get me started on football blogs. Anyway, yes there is the FAQ and Frasers firm but fair hand but I think we should prepare our own users version of the do's and dont's that make this THE blog to belong and contribute to. Here's mine.

Even if you are obsessed with a moderately popular 80's / 90's band from Scotland you should not assume that by repeatedly mentioning them that other people will feel the same love. Learn when enough is enough and move on.

Over to you.

Being the tree-hugging recycling man that I am, I recycle my old copies of Word. Unfortunately this has meant I can't look up old articles.

Having recently become a Dad, I was looking for kiddie friendly tunes. Got the wonderful Colours Are Brighter collection which is brilliantly bonkers but remembered that the Word did an article on the best rock songs for kids.

Could anyone help me out by giving me the tracklisting?

Much obliged,

Sandy

Yeah, that's right, another punter telling you how great you are; just what you need.

I love the staples, I love the shininess and smelliness of the cover, I love that new bit where Mark Ellen does his own version of "I've Been Everywhere, Man" at the beginning, I love anything that gives Danny Baker the chance to have a page to himself, and I laughed so hard at Giles Smiths' review of that 1970's kid's DVD thing that a little bit of wee came out. I've lost count of the things I love. Oh, did I mention that I also love Kerry Shale? If I didn't, I'll get back to that.

You've been so brilliant this month, in fact, that I've accidentally misplaced a box in my brain that had "critical distance" written on it.

There is just one thing though, while you're in the business of change (and this is my Kerry Shale bit): I'm not happy with that podcast sting that goes: "The Word: A magazine, a podcast, a website (pause) a way of life".

I've never liked it. It doesn't scan proper

ly, and it breaks the golden "rule of three". If there is an opposite of premature ejaculation, then that sting is it. I know you're all four of those things, but still, it just doesn't sound right, and I think it should go. How about:

"The Word Magazine: a website, a podcast, a way of life."

NO: that's still not right, but maybe there's something else....

Quite an amusing chat between Jim Naughty, Pete Paphides and Peter York on Dinner Party Music on R4 Today this morning. Apparently Massive Attack were a bit put out that Blue Lines is a popular choice for background ambiance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8505000/8505658.stm

Notice that York traces the devaluing of music from the point when CDs were given away free with newspapers and magazines, mmm.

I guess my choice would be the same as Paphides.

When I bought mine I got a 16GB model because I don't want to have more than a certain amount of music at a time. I'm not one of those people who has to carry their entire record collection around with them. However, I underestimated the appeal of apps and how much space some of them would take up. If I did it again I would probably go for a bigger capacity.

What with the Flash ads for It Might Get Loud and the animated gifs, the Word homepage is currently a tad painful to look at. I recommend a dose of Firefox with a chaser of the AdBlock Plus and FlashBlock extensions.

BTW: It Might Get Loud is worth watching though the Jack White bits are a bit staged. It's worth watching for the grins on Edge's and Jack's faces when Jimmy plays the intro to Whole Lotta Love. They look like little boys meeting their hero. And I suppose they are. :-) Bless.

...never seen anything like this before!

I wouldn't cross that Meg White, me

http://thirdmanrecords.com/

A while ago there was a story about Bob Dylan being briefly arrested in New Jersey, having been taken for a vagrant wandering down the highway with his hood up. He was looking for Bruce Springsteen's childhood home. Somewhere (quite possibly here) it was asserted he had been seen doing similar research in the suburbs of Toronto, researching Neil Young's early years.

Can you learn anything about an artist in this way? Strikes me that it is a bit cultish and like a sort of inverse reliquary, where saints' childhood places not their bones are worshiped. I think of the musicians I love the most, and can't imagine any who I would want to make a journey to see where their primary school used to be.

Is this to do with Dylan's particular make up as an artist, or about how we want our musicians to be? Some people like to dig into the biography for as far as it goes to 'explain' the music, some like to take it on its own terms. I like to imagine Mark E Smith's Prestwich, say, but I don't think the place formed in my head it has much to do with the actual place. If I did happen to visit it would be dispapointing to find that it did, in fact. And of course with some musicians (arguably including Dylan and Young) the mythmaking of their work is in some sort of opposition to their (non woody guthrie-ish) upbringing.

So. Would you go on a Dylan-style stalk through any particular artist's childhood environs? And if so, who?

If there's one album which I'd love to see reissued it's the 1972 self-titled album by Spring (or American Spring, as they were known outside the USA).

They comprised Brian Wilson's wife, Marilyn, and her sister, Diane Rovell. Brian produced the album. I've only heard those tracks which are on youtube, but they are really something special. Their take on Dennis Wilson's 'Forever' is, to my ears, even better than the Beach Boys version.

Other tracks like Sweet Mountain, Superstar and Tennessee Waltz (also on youtube) are equally lovely.

Does anyone, more knowledgable than me in these areas, know whether it's likely to become available anytime? Has anyone else been seduced by these few beautiful songs?

Anyone else watching this? It's wonderful and well worth catching up with on iPlayer.

Loads of clips on Youtube too, of course.

OK, here goes.

Prompted by various threads on here, including Paul Waring's recent request for TV help, and also the Childhood scares thread, I now put my question to you, the good people of Word town.

Sometime in the seventies, I was watching TV in the afternoon, and a scene that haunts me to this day came on. I hesitate to ask for help on this, because it genuinely scared the living daylights out of me, and gave me nightmares for ages.

I need you to identify this for me.

I reckon it might have been part of the Thriller series.

The scene is in a car park.

Well dressed man and blonde lady are heading for their car.

Another car arrives (I think), guy with longish hair and a shotgun gets out, grabs blonde and shoots well dressed man.

Well dressed man collapses, dead, and the area around him fills with blood. Lots of blood.

Finally, an overhead shot of dead man, and blood. Lots of blood.

Sorry I can't give you any more, only a nagging suspicion that the well dressed man was also a straight man in Ealing comedy, or possibly some Carry On's. Thats only a suspicion, mind. I have trawled IMDB for pictures of the actor I'm thinking of, to no avail.

All help appreciated,

Ta

Apologies for my second video post today but some things are worth sharing.

Everything about this seems wrong to me:

http://www.silverodyssey.co.uk/index.html

£380 a ticket for dinner and an "anti-gig" experience.

This is a joke, right?

Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen the Best & Worst lists in the new issue and you worry about knowing them in advance, come back later.

The Sopranos - the twist surely is that we, the viewers have been assassinated. We suddenly find everything black. All the references and hints - the man who went to the toilet; the orange juice earlier; the "communion" of eating the onion rings, Tony and Pussy's discussion way back about when you get whacked, it all goes black.