THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Some book called 'Buddhism is not what you think'.

Now I'm a spiritual person (as opposed to 'religious person') and this book looked promising.
It turned out (IMHO) to be more or less utterly incomprehensible.

I tried. I really did but because it was full of phrases like "If you could only SEE the world as it is then..." I lost the plot.

Some of it (e.g) about 'living in the moment'...yes, get that but the rest as to a practical guide as to 'what you might do' was just awful. (It was BTW an academic interest not a 'desperate desire for guidance').

Don't bother.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Leave The Capital - Paul Hanley

This was gifted to me by our very own Gers. It's written by one of the ex-drummers of The Fall. It's mainly about how Manchester finally broke the monopoly held by London with regards recording music but is also about how a sense of place (Manc) informs art and culture (specifically music). It starts in the early 60s beat boom and documents how people from that scene (especially Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman) built the first Manc recording studios. It then discusses, chronologically, the greatest and most culturally important of the music created in Manchester.

There's lots of inside stories but, bizarrely, Hanley refuses to retell some legends (such as the signing of The Smiths) as he reckons they are too well known and too often retold. How he made the call on which legends he needed to retell and which he didn't is unclear and I'd rather he didn't make such assumptions.

The book also has some good critique of the various musical output but also a lot of muso-style descriptions of how certain sounds were achieved. As a non-musician, I preferred the former to the latter but it's not a major criticism. The chronological structure brought to mind those old "rock family trees" books and I found the linkage between the various bands and band-members, songwriters and producers interesting. Some I knew but there was a lot here that I didn't.

A quick, easy read, written with passion and humour and a definite recommendation to anyone with a love of rock and rock history.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

The AFC Wimbledon's own match report, an outstanding piece of fiction. A must read.

Chaise Longue by Baxter Dury

‘As we began our decent into Hamburg airport, Strangler made the sound of a Lancaster bomber to the disgust of everyone on the plane. I knew then that this trip was doomed’

Ostensibly the tail of Duty’s chaotic childhood, after his father, musician Ian, decided that he couldn’t look after his offspring, and punted that job out to one of his roadies. A 6’7” giant nicknamed The Sulphate Strangler, after his prediction for dealing amphetamines, and lifting people up by the neck.

It’s a cracking, if extremely expensive, little book. After his bohemian parents split when he was a toddler, Baxter spent his childhood in the care of the aforementioned Strangler. A man who would go days without sleeping, dealing drugs, filling Duty senior’s flat with waifs and strays, and just basically fueling the already chaotic mood that surrounded Ian.

It’s a strangely romantic tail. Baxter and The Strangler form some sort of loco-parentis relationship. After not sleeping for three days on the trot, The Strangler still manages to drop Dury Jr off at the school gates, with a friendly parental wave. I say school, however, Bax gets expelled from every educational institution his father manages to pay for him to attend.

I went to see The Bad Seeds at Victoria Park just before the world ended, and Baxter was on the bill. He was the outstanding performer that day. He has this persona, The Night Chancer, that's just perfect. Grubby off-white suit, disheveled hair, mumbled vocals. He was brilliant.

I’ve taken to giving my books away recently. I won’t be donating this to a worthy cause. It’ll spend the rest of my days on my bookcase.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Yeah well I have similar feelings about a book I stumbled across. "Too tough to love" by Johnny Ramone's ex-girlfriend 'Roxy'.
She has always been presented as something of a pathetic alcoholic.
If her book is anything to go by - and she doesn't deny the booze - a lot of what 'is out there' isn't right at all.
Now we all know (ok.... us geeks do) that Johnny wasn't nice at all. But although she presents him as a controlling almost monster (which she seemed to like at first) he was much more a true partner to her than is acknowledhged. And you get some more insight into the whole Jonny/Joey thing.
It's not written well. She punctuates almost everything with an exclamation mark and, as I say, admits she was off her head a lot of the time but there's some interesting snippets.
I'd hardly recommend you lot, dear posters, go out and buy it but WTF. Anything out of the ordinary - which I've already got everything of - Ramones is for me. Like ya Gers I won't be selling it.
Just hope my kids don't just take all my valuable rare books to the charity shop when I move to the Great Gig In The Sky.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

I genuinely play Rocket To Russia at least once a week. That means I listen to it more than 52 times a year. I love the Ramones.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

And driving through Notting Hill this morning, and there's old Baxter stood by the side of the road. I wound the window down and told him that I'd just finished his book and loved it. He gave me a startled look and said thanks before I had to drive off.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

RTR is a very fine album.
It's the one where when someone goes "You like The Ramones, if I wanted to, what should I listen to first?" I suggest this.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

A provocative 1950s sci-fi tale which sees an unknown presence mysteriously impregnate the good womenfolk of a country village, resulting in the birth of 60 identical, neurally linked children. The real story becomes how normal life accommodates such a freak happening, and with the passage of years the slow and traumatic realisation of what the presence of the children means to the human race - vividly highlighting the moral cul-de-sac faced by the authorities on what to do next

This is a subtle, beautifully told story on one hand, that poses some absolutely horrible questions on the other

Well worth a read

Yes indeed. They are all good. DOTT is the one most people have heard of/read but TMC is, as you say, rather good. (I think the 60s(?) film of it still stands up pretty well. Trouble with Lichen is also worth a read as it The Kraken Wakes.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment