Best and Worst 'Toffs' -

OK. No spoilers. But where was Eric Arthur Blair in the 'Best' section? Great-grandson of a country gentleman who married the daughter of an Earl. Eton, Cambridge, and stint working on the front line of British Empire... Surely he qualifies as a 'toff'?

One of the greatest writers in English of the 20th century; fearsome, intelligent, and true. A hero to many, and so much more worthy a winner than... No spoilers.

I know. The Beatles. Yawn.

But sometimes, a little tiny aspect of their sheer, soaraway brilliance hits me right between the ears. So here's the late, grate, lamented J.W.Lennon getting his golden tonsils around the Marvelettes' 'Please Mr. Postman,' on the Fab's sophomore platter 'With The Beewax'.

It's just, I don't know... sweet. He sounds young, full of life, vulnerable. He sings it like he means it - he's lived that life of romantic uncertainly, and his voice wavers and cracks slightly as if to prove it.

So, for me, it's Lennon's best vocal. It just makes me smile, and feel a little sad. I've listened to it four times in a row now, and I'm not tired of it. Check it and see, one more time for me.

I have to teach my Year 5 (9 / 10 yr olds) about 'French Music' next term. This can be anything... Classical, Pop, Jazz, etc. Can anyone recommend any accessible child-friendly tunes please?

Merci à l'avance.

Can anyone assist? I wish to LEGALLY PURCHASE a second hand copy of Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard). If anyone has a copy or could point me in the direction of a reputable dealer in such things, please let me know.
Many thanks.

(I know, I should buy a PC or something.)

This might be of interest, if - like me - you wonder how such disastrous famines keep happening, and how we might help to prevent them in the future.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/food/

My gig buddy has dropped out....
Let me know. First come first served.

Cheers,

Adam.

I'm having a quiet Friday evening at home. The GLW and the daughter are at a show, the son has gone to bed. I'm listening to 'Broken Record' by Lloyd Cole, and typing-up reports for my primary school class. (Oh, and sipping a nice Merlot...)

The phone has rung three times this evening, breaking my concentration, making me shuffle through to the other room to answer it, and the last time - 5 minutes ago - it was a wrong number.

And - guess what? - I just realised that I bloody hate the phone. It's insistent tinny ring - answer me now, answer me now! Get up, break off from whatever you are doing and ANSWER ME NOW!

Yes, I know I could just ignore it, or take it off the hook, but when people are out and about, a man needs to be contactable, just in case. I just hate the neediness of the phone - I wish it would go away, or that the GLW would return and assume her role of answering it because, and frankly this might be the problem - it is NEVER FOR ME!

So, what did you recently realise that you can't stand? Anything that has been in your life for as long as you remember, for which you just developed a rational or irrational dislike?

Emmy The Great - Iris

Any other fans of Emma-Lee Moss here? Adam and Joe were singing her praises a couple of weeks ago, and she's live on Cerys Matthews show this morning on 6Music. Good tunes, great voice. Talented kid.

*feels a bit old*

Suede - The Asphalt World

Julian Cope - Safesurfer

As I listened to the Suede remasters earlier today (thanks again to James Blast for the reminder that they are out...) it struck me that the above two songs are distantly-related 90s indie freak-out cousins. Musically similar, and both big favourites of mine...

So... Have you got a pair of freak-outs, from any decade, you'd like to share. What are the sonic precursors to these two? And what, if anything, of similar freakiness followed? I guess I'm interested in songs that melt into a guitar-based wig-out; tune first, giant plank-spank later...

Never mind the end of the world... this is the news story of the weekend for me... It's got it all... an escaped predator, helicopters, thermal imaging cameras, experts on hand with tranquiliser darts... excellent!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-13486698

Last year I posted a little tribute to my dear, departed Mum on what would have been her 60th birthday. So here I am again on her anniversary, with some happy memories of course, and a certain amount of sadness too. She was a big fan of Elvis and the Stones, and - along with my Dad's Beatles records - this helped to foster in me a deep love of all musics popular and rockular. So, if you're out there Mum, this is for you...

Just like last time, please feel free to add a song for someone.
Cheers.
Adam.

Stuart Maconie played this on 6Music this afternoon, whilst I was cooking a delicious lasagne.

I thought it was marvellous and wanted to share it with you all...

...but you'll have to make do with this amazing record, instead... :-)

I have never purchased a Danger Mouse, or a Norah Jones record. Time to reconsider with this one, I think.

Emmylou sings Ron Sexsmith's 'Hard Bargain' live.
Title track from her new record, available on Spotify to check out. Just been listening this morning. Beautiful stuff, as always.

I like this one too, I guess it might be about Gram...

Fantastic sounding record. She's still got it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b010hcmp

Between 6 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. Good little interview, and a couple of live tracks.

First Orbit is a feature-length, experimental documentary film about Vostok 1, the first manned space flight around the Earth. By matching the orbit of the International Space Station to that of Vostok 1 as closely as possible, in terms of ground path and time of day, documentary filmmaker Christopher Riley and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli were able to film the view that Yuri Gagarin saw on his pioneering orbital space flight. This new footage was cut together with the original Vostok 1 mission audio recordings sourced from the Russian State Archive. The film features an original musical score by composer Philip Sheppard.

You can watch it here:

www.firstorbit.org

Trailer here:

Happy Gagarin Day!