I just had to share this...

And her new album is excellent as well.

I have just been catching up on the blog after a week away and Genesis have been mentioned a couple of times in various threads.

They were a great band IMO.

I love their early prog adventures and the subsequent morphing into 1980s pop/rock.

Two wonderful tunes here as a starter

What is not to like?

Latin Quarter "No Rope As Long As Time" from 1985.

A marvellous tune from a great album.

Any more?

Jane Mansfield excluded.

On my first day in my first job as a "Catering Assistant" (summer job after 1st year 6th form) at the local Leisure Centre I was stuck in a cupboard to sort out a massive pile of spoons, forks and knives from an event that had taken place the week before.

Having demonstrated my cutlery differential credentials I was moved on to be the assistant to the wash up operator. I have never lost the ability to pick up eight soiled plates and quickly drop them into a washing up machine basket. Unfortunately my domestic washing machine (the sink) deprives me of this opportunity these days.

I later progressed to "front of house" where I collected dirty plates from the cafeteria area and took them in to the poor sod who had taken my place as "wash up boy".

This progress up the hierarchy was over a 6 week summer holiday.

You could be in Megadon watching Templevision.

No wars for 50 years.

Equality for all represented by the tunes of The Brotherhood of Man.

You re-discover the joy of the guitar and before you know it you can play the complete works of Styx.

Told to ignore it by The Man you go home and ponder on the wonder of it all (probably not the complete works of Styx though).

You dream about a new place and complain.

You are ignored.

The Coalition has assumed control.

I just came across Gene Loves Jezebel in my iTunes library and remembered how much I liked them back in the day.

This was a particular favourite:

and this

I have never ever been able to paint or draw.

For those of you amongst us that can...what is the secret? Are you born with this ability or is there a secret world I haven't been privy to?

I would love to be more creative with drawing and if there are skills I can learn then show me the way.

My lovely FPO has bought me a telescope for Christmas. As a kid I loved astronomy and learning about the solar system and planets and this gift has reignited my interest,

Any suggestions on what I should look at? (Keep it clean!).

Have a good one fellow Massive members.

When I was only six at my infants school I was only allowed to play the triangle as part of the "class group" during what was known as a "music and movement" lesson in the early 1970s. This, I was later to realise, was because the teacher saw a complete lack of musical ability in my younger self.

How astute she was!

A couple of years later my lack of footballing ability was similarly identified by being one of the last to be picked out from the line when choosing a team.

At what tender age were your shortcomings made clear to you at school?

Bill Haley - Hydrogen. The basis of the art.

AC/DC - Carbon. The underpinning of all rock and such life forms.

The Beatles - Oxygen. Bringing an ailing life form back to life in the early years.

Judas Priest - Osmium. The most heavy metal.

Cliff Richard - Aluminium. Very durable. Will never rust.

Over to the chemists amongst us for more suggestions.

I have just noticed that my iTunes library would take me 78.9 days to listen to.

Happy months I am sure would ensue but I doubt I would recognise over half of the songs.

How did it come to this?

I recall my 200+ albums/cassettes that I saw as friends as an 18 year old and could sing all of the tunes on.

Oh Well.

I have just come across an old Rainbow bootleg in my iTunes library (nice image as I wish I could stumble through an actual library with loaded shelves of albums).

Blackmore was a great guitarist to my ears. I'll leave the technical arguments to those that know!

Do guitar heroes still exist in 2011?

I have just discovered a channel on Freeview (channel 46) running repeats of old Blockbusters episodes from the 1980s.

Happy days!

Anyone here ever go on this programme?

If so what did you win?

These are still a valid way of donating to Children in Need apparently.

When did you last buy or receive one of these?

I received a couple in the early days of ebay before PayPal was fully established but since then....nothing.