The Boptists are doing the annual cleanout.
Mrs Boptist has decreed that archive of old mags must go.
Now - I have got a stay of execution on Word of course.

However, - I hope Frazier won't blacklist me for this - I have a large collection of Mojo starting with 1ssue 1 and almost complete to approx issue 125.
I am looking for a home for these.

Unfortunately I live in Ireland so most unlikely I could get them to the UK.

Any interest.

Sun is shining.
Sitting out reading papers.
JJ Cale 2xCD Anthology "Anyway the Wind Blows" on in the background.
Perfect music for a early summer's day - in fact for anyway anyday.

This music is stripped back to it's essence.
Great groove, great playing.
Reject all imitators.

Get CD on Amazon now for a mere £3.99 and you won't regret it.

The Freewheeling Alex Ferguson:

Prompt cards not included.

Eric Cantona will play the part of Alan Ginsberg:

http://www.runofplay.com/s/16702/

Went clothes shopping this week in local M&S.
As a special treat purchased navy blue shirt from the Mark Ellen range.
It cost me the princly sum of €10.

You can keep your Beckhams and Hugo Boss, Ellen is the range for me.

For a number of years I have been following the Transatlantic Sessions on BBC4 and Irish Channel RTE1.

I would recommend to anyone who likes good music played live.

These series appear intermittantly and are recorded in various old houses in Scotland in mid winter.
The idea is to bring together artists from Scotland, Ireland and America who broadly fit under the folk label.
They are backed by a house band, where they sit or stand around and sing and play.
Throws up very interesting mixes of performers and song choices.

Joint MDs are Aly Bain (Scottish fiddler) and Jerry Douglas (Nashville Dobro legend)

Last night we had:
Darryl Scott (Word Friendly American Singer/songwriter)
Cara Dillon (Irish songstress)
Eddi Reader (No explanation needed)
Julie Fowliss (Scots Gaelic singer/whistle player)

In the past they have had such as:
John Martyn
Danny Thompson
Emmylou Harris
Alison Morrer
McGarrigle family
Paul Brady
Sharon Shannon
James Taylor
Roseanne Cash
Maura O'Connell

If you haven't picked up on it yet, I strongly recommend to all.

Dreams, Themes and Schemes with Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio.
Have some of old Bob's shows for some time but this week dug them out again. They are widely available on the web.
Brilliant a completely different view of his Bobness. Companion pieces to his Autobiography Chronicles - A soundtrack to his life.
He really is a walking encyclopedia of American music.
Attached clip is a compendium by Ellen Barkin which each week sets the scene.
Be sure to check out the shows - just search for Theme Time Radio with your host Bob Dylan.

I tried using the "Beach Reads" option to share the above with the Massive, but the format got in the way of my stream of consciousness.
Not just last night but the previous night and the previous day was spent in, in the excellent company of Yasmina Kharda’s latest book “What the Day owes the Night”, followed by the film “Battle of Algiers” and so immersed myself in the Algerian struggle for independence.
I have read previous books by Yasmina Khadra (This woman’s name is the pen name of an Algerian military officer who adopted a woman's pseudonym to avoid military censorship):
The Swallows of Kabul – Story of life in Kabul under the Taliban.
The Attack – Story of a Palestinian doctor working and living in Israel and how he cannot escape the ravages of the conflict there.
The Sirens of Baghdad – How a young man is dragged into the Jihad against the infidel.
All these books are deeply moving. His descriptive writing brings you into the mind and soul to the characters and conflicts.
With "What the Day owes the Night", Khadra turns to the conflict in his own country and specifically the struggle for independence. The story is told by an Arabic boy/man and uses the story a doomed love to mirror the struggle between Arabic & French Algeria.
One of the most tragic and painful books I have ever read – cannot recommend it strongly enough.
Being immersed in the Algerian conflict, I borrowed the file “Battle of Algiers” from my local Library.
The film was made in 1966 and shot in black and white. And unflinchingly tells the story of the struggle between the Arabic freedom movement (The NLF) and the French Police/Army in the late 1950’s . The ruthless tactics of the FLN guerrillas and the French military, and the uglier incidents of the war, are shown. Colonizer and colonized commit atrocities against civilians. The film is from a book by, Saadi Yacef, the NLF leader in the Algiers Kasbah. He plays himself in the film and is interviewed today as an additional extra on the DVD.

Following the passing of Richie Hayward I've been musing over my favourite drummers.
So then invite the Massive to list top 5 drummers.

I have no problem with 4 but struggle with 5th.

Top 4 in no order:

Richie Hayward (Little Feat)

Levon Helm (The Band)

Steve Gadd (Many many including Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon).

Jim Keltner (Everyone else in the planet including - George Harrison, Ry Cooder, Neil Young, Plastic Ono Band)

The problem is 5 -
From Charlie Watts, Bonzo Bonham, Michael Shrieve, Mitch Mitchell.

These are old school, so younger Massive, who are the new guns on the block

Fellow members of the Massive.
My mate and I are travelling to London 21st/22nd of may to see Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton, volcano permitting.
Other than the usual tourist stuff, I would appreciate suggestions a bit out of the ordinary on the Saturday in central London of interest to the more mature massive member.

Also recommended/interesting music stores.

Many thanks in advance.

Hope I am not tempting fate or more especially the volcano.

I know I'm showing my age but do any of the older massive members remember a little publication called "the record songbook".
I remember it in the mid-late 60's.
Published monthly in black and white, it mainly consisted of the lyrics of some of the current hits and misses.
I was learning the guitar at the time and got the mag each month and tried to work out the chords of my faves. Where I failed I would go round to my more advanced friends(guitarwise) and try and get the chords from them.
Looked forward to the new edition each month hoping it contained the lyrics I wanted.
When TRSB did not have the lyrics, I would put on the record (begged, borrowed and yes at times stolen from my pals if I did not have it)and take down the words bit by bit. In fact quiet often the words would be memorised when I was finished.

It's all so easy now what with chort & tab databases removing the challanges from life.

Have picked up the guitar again in recent times, get the lyrics and chords from the web and don't even bother to print them off.

One of my weekly delights is the Crossword in Irelands Sunday Tribune.
The clues are a wierd mixture of cryptic and factual (very very obscure facts alot of which relate to Northern Ireland).
I do this exercise with a friend of mine, who has first shot and leaves the music, film and ones he cannot do to me.
I must confess, when all else fails I resort to the assistance of Mr. Google, which in itself can be a challange.

This week got stumped by a clue, that I felt must be wrong:

Musician who played with Them and Thin Lizzy. Now I confess, I would not be an expert on the changing lineup of Them, but thought I was knowledgeable on things Lizzy.

To cut a long story short, I consulted with Mr. Google and found a Mr. Eric Wrixon described as a former member of both forementioned groups, by Colin H, who contributes to the Massive knowledgebase, in a piece he wrote on Rory Gallagher.

Mr. Harper I am indebted to your knowledge.

Have submitted my finished crossword and await voucher for weekend in top hotel.

What a day.
Leeds Unt. 1 Man Utd. 0

Watched last 2 episodes of the Wire.

How can I top that.

Is there life after the Wire.

On this fine morning, I must share a sadness with the massive.
Start of December, in the company of my good lady we visited NYC for a few days.
We had not been there since before the dark days of Bush The Younger - so at least 10 years ago.
One of the delights was visiting the Record stores, both the Virgin/Tower megastores and the Greenwich Village Aladdin’s caves.
So as in the past I put together a wish list and with the good lady headed for Gotham.
Alas, the beautiful stores with ranks of CDs/Vinyl/Tape no longer exist. Virgin is gone. Tower is no more. Yes Barnes and Noble exists, but much diminished. In fact the number of people on the music section was but a fraction of the volume in the book sections.
So, to the music mines in Greenwich Village. There was a small street – St. Marks Place – which had a row of specialist and 2nd hand stores, where you could spend an entire day. All gone, except for one mangy shop (walking dead). I trudged through the village and the story was the same.
Now, at a logical level, I wasn’t surprised but on a spiritual level, I was stunned.
I download music (eMusic - refuse to engage with iTunes). I purchase albums from Amazon etc., where you can buy any album you have ever heard of. I am also responsible.
But, in doing so, I have lost something. I have no doubt, shortly, the only music store to be seen will be “Championship Vinyl” in “Hi-Fidelity”.

Yes indeed, a great sadness !

I have been bombarded with Christmas music everywhere I go since 1st December.
99.999999% I cannot bear listening to.
Many years ago I loved Dr. Winston O'Boogies "Happy Christmas(War is over).
Now alas I can no longer listen to it - for no other reason than saturation.
In fact the only Christmas song that now I can tolerate repeated infliction, is Shane McGowens wonderful "Fairytale....".
I have no doubt that it will eventually go the way of Dr. Winstons ditty.

So to the album in the title - Jethro Tull's Christmas Album.
This fine frosty morning, while the FPO is out buying some more Christmas lights - We could supply the entire neightbourhood - for me to put up, I have stolen some metime to catch up with the musings of the massive, went looking on the hard disk for some mind massaging tunes and came across the Tull's Christmas Album.

A thing of beauty, a mix of Tull "old", Christmas "old" and "new" which I can only hear in my own home and when I want to.
So far it has escaped the clutches of the corporate christmas (the small "c" is deliberate.

I wish all the massive a peaceful and tunefull Christmas and suggest you dig out the Mighty Tull - as Mark Ellen correctly calls them.

IT's too late to stop now - My favourite live album was recorded at the Rainbow in I think 1973.

Some time later it was shown on BBC TV with a simultaneous Stereo Broadcast on Radio 1.

I have trawled the web for this on DVD, without success.

Does any member of the Massive, know if this was ever released and if not, why not.

Although I'm sure the legendary un-accommodating Mr Morrison is responsible. Hope I'm wrong. But it must be the only piece of music video, which should be available, but has not been released.

I posted this on the Live Album thread, but opened this one as this is one of the great missing DVD releases.