World Where You Live
Posted by David Wright on 29 March 2008 - 12:57pm.
Following on from Vulpes Vulpes's thread,which revealed that lots of Word bloggers don't actually seem to do much work in the day, I thought it would intersting to find out where the rest of the Parish live at this moment.
Is the majority of the Word community British, or are you reading this blog from a steam ship on the Mississippi or a stuffy tent in the Sahara?
My current location is far less interesting, I live in Scalby Village, about three miles away from Scarborough, but thankfully not too near Whitby or Filey. I was born in Scarborough, but once lived in Leeds.I have a Scottish mother and an English father; who is now nearly deaf in one ear, poor chap.
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On The otherside
living in Auckland , New Zealand
For what it's worth...
...I live in Oxford. And Steve Earle is coming to play a short bus ride from my house in June.
Also for what its worth
I live in Lichfield,staffs and tom russell who is something of a hero of mine is playing in my town.Given that I have never seen a live act in Lichfield before I am pretty excited.
By the way saw Steve Earle play in January - he was very good - especially the new stuff with the turntables believe it or not.
In the vale of the white horse
Near Oxford, where I have also lived.
Just outside of...
...dear old London in the shadow of the towering pile of suitcases outside T5
Sleepy Cheshire village
about halfway between Liverpool and Manchester.
About as non-rocknroll as you can get.
Gary Barlow used to live down the road.
Take That
That must have been a thrill, did you ever meet Gary?
Sadly not.
Kept himself to himself did our Gary.
Rayleigh, Essex...
Side by side with Southend-on-Sea.
Southend's Underground by Dean Chalkley
^^^^ a completely innaccurate depiction of Saf'ends yoof.
Rayleigh
Area's of interest:
- The bin's behind 'Favourite Chicken and Ribs''.
- erm....
- cough...
- That pretty much covers it.
Come on
Rayleigh has all sorts of wonders
The Pink Toothbrush
The Weir
and best of all, it's so close to Hockley.
What's so good about the
What's so good about the Weir?
Or Hockley for that matter.
And The Brush is full of hormonal tweenies.
Just an attempt to make light of your situation
Rayleigh is crap. It was a joke.
Hello, swaggering Matthew...
...Here's your big, sparkling 'Hello!'' from the less impactful areas of tea stained Britannia. Rayleigh hasn't got the inherent dereliction of Scotland's Glasgow or the vibrant metropolitan decadence of London BUT it has got its own Topshop. Every cloud, ay.
P.s. Just out of interest, where is it you reside?
AND it's only a stone's throw from Canvey
which is always a treat.
Sorry if i caused offence - in truth I quite like Rayleigh. I used to live nearby (in Leigh-in-Sea) and I have a close friend who still lives there.
No offence taken
We call your lot Leighites.
The sort of pestilence that devistates Rayleigh is of a different class.
P.s. There is no way I would actively defend Rayleigh. It is a shit town.
Rayleigh
Why do you call Rayleigh a shit town?
Suppose you could be in charge as say leader of the council for 4 years or so, what would you want to change?
(serious question)
Great Cornard
Near Sudbury in Suffolk.
Some items of local interest...
Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had his head chopped off in the Peasants' Revolt was from here.
The artist, Thomas Gainsborough is also a son of Sudbury. They won't let you forget that when you come here.
As far as I know, no musical acts started here, but folk fan Steve Harley and Jack Bruce both live in the local area.
The Beautiful North
Oxford and "down south" seem to be the most popular locations at present.
Detroit
Living in the Detroit suburbs - English but have been over here for 10 years. Use Word to keep up with the UK music scene. Only buy the magazine when I am in the UK (4 times a year) - or when I very occasionally see it in US bookstores. Otherwise the Podcast and the Website keep me up to speed- does than make me a freeloader. Interesting can find Q and Uncut everywhere -but rarely find Word.
Scarborough Rock
Although I subscribe to Word, not all shops seem to stock the publication in the UK either.
Aside from the late Robert Palmer, the only group who I think who achieved some success from Scarborough, were the rock group Little Angels. They had a number one album "Jam" back in the nineties and few top 40 singles. Former lead singer Toby Jepson, fixed a leak in my friends house a few weeks ago.
Just reading Eric Clapton's biography (slightly disappointing so far) and he mentions that Cream played a low key gig in Scarborough when they first started out. The Beatles and David Bowie have played here too. And so has Shakin Stevins.
Anyone famous from your home town?
Can I just pick up this issue about magazines and availability?
You can get any magazine distributed anywhere in the UK.
All you have to do is pay the distributor and, in some cases, the retailer.
And you have to take back what they don't sell.
The number of places you can sell a magazine has grown MASSIVELY in the last twenty years - supermarkets, specialists, book shops and so on - but it's still a hopelessly inefficient, expensive and tree-wasting way of getting your work in front of the public.
Ask yourself - how many regular shopping trips do *you* make nowadays?
Word is available in major Smiths (high street and travel points such as stations and airports) and at lots of other fine chains, including Borders. If people really find it hard to find then they really should subscribe, thereby ensuring that each issue drops on to their mat without their having to worry about it and at the same time making our lives easier - and probably saving some of the planet's resources as well.
Plug over - until the next time.
How I get my Word
....of course by the time I have read the blogs and website and listened to Podcast do I actually NEED the magazine>>>>- I sense a New World Order of revenues coming here.
Time to consider a charge for the podcast?
Don't think we haven't thought about it...
....but at the moment it seems that podcasts are, like the internet in general, something that people expect to get for free, which is actually creatively beneficial because you don't have to g. a. f. when you're doing it, which is a blessed relief let me tell you.
g.a.f.???
you lost me there. But there does seem to be a freedom with the podcast.
Interestingly the GLW never reads the mag - but loves the podcast. It has become a regular on long car journies. She says its like listening to great conversation at the table next to you in the pub. On a number of occasions we have ended up laughing hysterically as we drove (The Sooty story being a particular fave) - keep up the good work. Just get Ellen to stay a consistent distance from the microphone - I am going nuts adjusting the volume.
Can we expect...
...the WORD podcast to go the way of those old fashioned radio programmes, where the presenters act out the advertisements on behalf of their sponsors. Because if so, I'm all for it.
Mark Ellen: (apropos of nothing) Anyway, at the moment I'm having a real problem with limescale build-up in my kettle.
David Hepworth: Then you need Stepney Brothers Kettle Descaler. Its patented descaling formula tackles 14 different varieties of limescale. But don't take my word for it. Look at these photographs of an underground limestone cavern.
Mark Ellen: All those untidy stalagmites and stalactites. Surely nothing can get rid of them!
David Hepworth: Now look what happens when we add Stepney Brothers Kettle Descaler. Centuries of accumulated calcium build-up removed in seconds!
Mark Ellen: That's incredible!
David Hepworth: It's not incredible, Mark. It's Stepney Brothers Kettle Descaler. Available in handy pocket-sized tins and one gallon drums.
Mark Ellen: That's Stepney Brothers Kettle Descaler?
David Hepworth: Yes, Stepney Brothers Kettle Descaler.
Mark Ellen: Anyway, what were you saying about Motörhead?
Every Monday morning has a silver lining
It's not silver, Archie. It's a pure-gold-effect finish!
And that's not all. . . .
Subs
Word is the only music magazine I have ever subscribed to, although I did have a brief subscription with "Railway Modeller" during my teens.
A man after Rod Stewart and Neil Young's hearts then
What with them being No. 1 and No. 2 Celebrity Railway Modellers in America, respectively.
Andrew2:
I flew over you yesterday. Looked cold.
It is cold.
Cant seem to get the temperature above freezing -Al Gores fault. Give it a month and we'll be basking in the sun. Spring always seems to last about 3 days here.
Beijing...
...is home. But today, I'm in Mexico City.
Subscriptions
Have seen Word in Barnes and Noble in USA but you really should get a subscription. Its not really breaking the bank is it??
One thing that also puzzles me considering the high esteem in which I hold this publication - whenever you see adverts for new cd releases, any comments recommending the release are usually from Uncut or Mojo but never from Word.Dont your comments count for anything??
Subscription excuse
This is my address:
ä¸å›½åŒ—京市海淀区北四环西路66å·"第三æž"F15层1507-1510
If the good folk who manage subscriptions can get that on the package, I stand a snowball's chance of getting Word delivered via airmail.
Credit card at the ready..
Indicates the high calibre of person working on the account..
...probably.
Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse
Not really breaking the bank. Well no-but the US magazines are much better at making a deal and pushing subsciptions.
US subription price for Word is roughly $120 - and basically 12 times the monthly cover price and a little more - ie not a deal for bulk ordering. I do subsribe to Paste Magazine - lets say is a US equivalent of Word - regular bookstore price is $6 - but a yearly subscription is only $20 (11 issues).A staggering deal - too good to refuse.
Apologies
for the various strange spellings of subscription ! The concept of proof reading seems to disappear after a glass of wine
American publishing works on a different model
They give the subs away in order to get the numbers to justify the advertising rates.
Different Model......
.....seems like a winner.
I'm in sunny Stockholm,
Sweden - and wonder why every month my copy of Word arrives a week late with a New Zealand postmark on it. Is it just me who gets this?
Melbourne, Australia
And I share the dilema with subscribing. I have the choice of either dropping about A$230, or spending about A$11.00 on a monthly issue that's about two months late (bulk surfacemail, I assume). And given my current tight financial position, I'm stuck with the vastly second rate option. Bugger.
And it's not like I have a wealthy auntie who'll come to the party either.
Exactly the same situation...
I moved from the UK to Sydney about a year ago.
Sub here is very expensive, but I can pick up a 2 month old copy at the newsagent 5 minutes walk from my house for $10.95. Also, a much more efficient and environmentally sound way of receiving a copy than having an issue flown over from the UK once a month.
Does mean I'm constantly 2 months behind the UK, but most media here is at least 2 months behind the UK anyway, so works out fine.
I'd love to subscribe again (I was a subscriber almost from the start in the UK, and I miss having the magazine dropping through my letterbox, and getting the special edition covers) but it's just not really sensible for me to do so.
Lichfield Mafia
...along with pvincent and Steve Turner, neither of whom have I knowingly met. Maybe at Tom Russell, eh?
I'm in
Cardiff.
Although I'm currently in an internet caff in St Davids.
I'm in Cardiff, too
Andy Fairweather Low lives a few streets away.
Eddie, I'm just digesting the shock news that there's an internet cafe in St Davids - a regular holiday destination of mine until my kids decided fresh air, beautiful surroundings and peace weren't for them, & the smallest city in Britain on account of its disproportionate (and wonderful) cathedral.
Another Welsh one.......
...from Swansea. Living on a road that leads to the Gower - immortalised by Richard Thompson in "Beeswing", much loved by this parish.
Another Taff
Living in that bastion of Welshness - Northampton
Location?
I'm a Scot, living and working in Houston, Texas...coming up to 3 years over here.
I usually find the magazine in Barnes & Noble and Borders, but usually a few weeks after release.
Listen to the podcast while out running, distracts me from the pain.....until Mr Ellen starts laughing, which is a different type of pain!
Big shout out to Harringay
Or is it Haringey? I've had it explained to me why there are two official spellings for the area, but have long since forgotten.
Another Essex boy writes
Here I am in Turriff, Scotland listening to live commentary of the Essex Senior Cup final on Essex Radio from Sarfend, (near Rayleigh, Leigh-on-sea and Canvey mentioned above) where the mighty Clarets of Chelmsford are losing 1-0 to Southend.
Local stars are few and far between (let's face it, with a population of 4,400 its not too surprising) but Sandi Thom does come from Macduff which is about 10 miles up the A947.
Still, if East Thurrock can hold on another 45 minutes without conceding a goal Chelmsford will be Ryman League Champions tonight.
I went to Rayleigh once, it was shut (it was 3 in the morning) and nearly got arrested for my troubles. Some soul boys were vandalisng the railway station on their way home from the Brush, the police arrive and immediately want to arrest the punks (all 2 of us)! I ain't going back, it's a mini fascist police state!
From Sunny Spain
I live in Spain, in the central part, work in Mad Madrid and live in a small village in Toledo, ´bout 30 miles to the south. Word costs 10.60 Euros here, but ´tis a small price to pay etc..
Where I Live
I was born and lived in Colchester for the first 35 years of my life. 'Britain's Oldest Recorded Town', Roman past, Norman castle etc. etc. Famous sons and daughters include Steve Haley (he worked on the local newspaper); Blur (Albarn's dad taught at the local art college); Pete 'Nel' Nice of New Model Army; and Sade (my wife went to the same art college with her). Nowadays I live in Melton Mowbray (home of the esteeemed pork pie (though I hate 'em) and not much else; and work in Oakham, Rutland which is the smallest county in the country wih more millionaires per square mile than London (apparently). Oakham's claim to fame is its Victorin signal box which was used as the model for one of Hornby's train accessories.
Johnsey
we should meet for a pint...hell...maybe we already know each other!
The internet caff, by the way, is in an ice cream parlour called Bench or something!
Exiled
Living in Maidenhead now having been exiled from Newcastle for 20 years. Lived in most parts of London over this time whilst sharing houses with other equally skint nomads. Limehouse and Tooting were where the most fun was had. Whilst in Limehouse, for a short while, the street we lived on became an unexpected enclave for(some of) the rich and famous. Chris Evans, Dr David Owen and er...Nigel Benn all used the same local Happy Shopper. Also lived the Lewisham Dream and the Beckenham bachenal.
Now residing undercover as the only Geordie in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Unless of course you know different.
Lavapies
I too live in Madrid, in the area that roughly translates to "Foot wash".
A subscription makes life so much easier, and as I've changed addresses a fair few times in the last few years it goes to my parents home near Reading (Mortimer). Shortly after it arrives there, my small slice of UK culture magically lands at my desk in Spain.
Rockdelux is my Spanish music magazine of choice, they lead the way in bizzarre genre titles.
Tropicalismo for Maria de Madieros,
Maquinas y Juguetes (machines and toys) for Cabo San Roques's new album
and my favourite this month
Pop Anglófilo for Voxtrot
Singapore
Well I'm in Singapore - been here 15yrs this month.
On the topic of subscriptions, I used to subscribe to Q, but found that a combination of the excessive cost of a "rest of the world" subscription and the common occurrence of lost postage / late receipt (and that was before T5), meant it wasn't worth it. We are lucky to have a reasonable HMV and they generally get within 2 weeks of publication in the UK... and its much cheaper than subscribing !!
What I would get the credit card out for is a downloadable pdf version - that would allow me to (a) get on time and (b) stop my wife nagging that the back issues are taking up too much space (I work for a major hard disk drive company so disk storage is not a problem.......)
Wonderful Copenhagen
Is where I'm currently living, I subscribe to word as it's cheaper, quicker and much more reliable than waiting for it to turn up in Magasin or the airport.
In The Winds And Wilds
Of the deepest, darkest East Midlands, in the centre of known universe if you must really want to know.