Son's in his shed, daughter's Skyping about school bags, and wife's napping.

I found The Blues Brothers on Picturebox and Budvar in the fridge.

What are you doing this afternoon?

Aretha Franklin:

Just spent the last couple of hours in the garden with my son, 16, listening to Surfer Rosa and Pilgrim.
I took him to see The Pixies a year or so ago at the Troxy; they are one of his favourite bands and he can play most of their songs on his guitar.
Anyway, I had a beer, he had a beer, I cooked him is favourite chicken with some potatoes we had grown.
The only only point of recording this is that 16 is bastard age, he pretty much lives in his shed, and he can be a more than difficult sod.
But when it gets tough we can pull it back over music and laugh at his friends who aren't impressed by my Joy Division vinyl (why the hell should they be?), and don't 'get' the VU.
And we're both looking forward to going deep-sea fishing in Lyme Regis. - which makes me happy. That's it, really,

http://youtu.be/0TJZ0eSb-b8

My wife's nephew is getting married tomorrow, and this morning she and our children got on the train to Glasgow.
I love the city, weddings, and the lad and his wife-to-be, but I've been having a particularly debilitating rhuematological episode so I'm left in north London with only the cat and snake for company.
I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself, no doubt exacerbated by the Budvar Mrs P was kind enough to lay in.
After finishing the new Fred Vargas I moved onto season three of The Sopranos from my birthday box set. Episode one has a mash up of Every Breath You Take and Peter Gunn, which made me smile.
And Peter Gunn is one of the few somgs I've mastered on my son's guitar.
Best bit so far of a miserable and painful day, though the cat litter needs changing and a mouse needs defrosting, so there's hope yet.

Andrew Harrison with a Word bag near Rectory Road station in Stoke Newington, while I was listening to the latest podcast.

I was rushing for the green light, so didn't stop and put my hand out. Do I get to claim my my £5 retrospectively?

I have two free tickets for the recording of the 25th anniversary celebrations of P*ul J*nes Rhythm and Blues Show tomorrow night at Maida Vale in London.

You have to be at the BBC studios for 7pm and the minimum age is 18.

Oli Brown, Marcus Bonfanti, 24 Pesos and Kyla Brox are playing and there will only be 100 people in the audience.

Unfortunately I have to work so can't attend. Which is a shame, as I was really looking forward to it.

First person to PM me can have the tickets. But please only get in touch if you will definitely go, I'd really like them to be used.

are on Sky Arts in 10 minutes. If anyome can burn a copy I will be forever in your debt. And if anyone has live at the Derby Assembly Rooms, I'll do a swap for my first born

This from a press release received today:

"On record, Gold Panda’s quickly worked rattle, cut-up Eastern mysticism and looping melancholy coalesces into something otherworldly, whilst in a live setting the immediacy of sound promises even greater clarity of that vision: passages of sound in which to lose yourself, find yourself or do both in equal measure, regardless of where you might be."

Can't wait

I always knew about this one of course,

but I was ignorant of this example until I happened across the Jack Good LP in a second-hand record shop.

And there are quite a few Elvis gold lamé efforts, but I’m sure you can add some others

Wife and kids away for two weekends, and I've got lots of fun planned. Or what passes for fun for a 45-year-old man.

But tonight I was taking easy, it's been a hard week and I didn't get home from work till gone 11 last night.

So I settled down with series six of the West Wing - I reckon I can get through to the end of seven by the end of October or so. Just a year or so behind the rest of the western world I know, but you can't rush televisual perfection

But I've just got two episodes into series six - and bloody hell, Leo.

And how does effect the future of the Explosion, exactly?

‘Antiques’ was the first word sung on the album I listened to on the way to work this morning.

While not exactly an obscure word, it’s rare in popular music I’d argue.

So, first question – what was I listening to?

And secondly, any other unusual first words?

This press release just in, and I offer it without comment*:

Apple Users Have The Biggest Sexual Appetites

7 July 2010

Apple users spend more than anyone else on sex toys, statistics from the
UK's largest online sex toy retailer LoveHoney.co.uk show.

The data, generated by Google Analytics, showed that iPad users have the
highest average spend on sex toys, closely followed by iPhone users, then
Mac users.

“Apple users might spend more than Windows users because they’re
sexually more confident and are more adventurous in the bedroom,” says
LoveHoney director Richard Longhurst. “Or it could be because they’re
richer – those iPhones and iPads aren’t cheap.”

Despite Steve Jobs’s attempts to keep adult content off the iPad, owners
of the trendy tablet computer are spending more than anyone else on sex
toys.

A month after the launch of Apple’s latest device, statistics from
LoveHoney.co.uk , the UK’s largest online sex toy retailer, show that iPad
users spend an average of £59.06 per order – nearly double the amount
that Windows users spend.

“The iPad is the perfect way to browse and buy adult products on sites
like LoveHoney” says LoveHoney founder Richard Longhurst. “People can
take their iPad anywhere so it’s private and discreet, which obviously
gives people more confidence to buy.”

iPad users are obviously hungry for information and advice about sex and
sex toys. As well as spending more money than anyone else, they also read
50% more pages on the LoveHoney site than average.

* Apart from to note this blog entry was made on a Mac.

Any of you in London may be interested to know that Stoke Newington is holding its first literary festival next month.

There’s some really interesting authors lined up, but on the musical side the highlight will be Grace Maxwell and Edwyn Collins talking about her book about his recovery from a stroke.

There will also be a ‘short set’ from Edwyn and his band.

Tickets are only £6, and its opposite the Rose and Crown, where I will be delighted to buy you a pint afterwards.

All the details are here: www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com.

They don't do much for me, but I know there are fans here. So click on this address for details about a show the Beeb is putting on - there's a chance of free tickets

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/in-concert/crowded-house/

Do any of you fine upstanding members of society know where I might 'find' this on the internet or for sale on DVD?

I couldn't get tickets when it was shown in London a few years back, and today's Observer has just reminded me of it.

We're halfway through side two of Exile and the 15-year-old son has yet to be convinced it's the greatest album ever made, through Rocks Off 'rocks' apparently.

Thanks, in advance.

Anybody else getting excited yet?

I've been cooking Mrs P Coq au Reisling, and treating her to this to prepare her for Oil City Confidential:

She's not that impressed so far