Size Of An iPod 1

Zig Zag Nov 1983 - Psychedelic Furs & King Kurt

For Marisa

Some more to show the kids ;)

(You can just see me in the reflection in the mirror in the 3rd picture - look how much hair I have got!)

My Soul Is Dark

My Soul Is Dark

My soul is dark - Oh! quickly string
The harp I yet can brook to hear;
And let thy gentle fingers fling
Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear.
If in this heart a hope be dear,
That sound shall charm it forth again:
If in these eyes there lurk a tear,
'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.

But bid the strain be wild and deep,
Nor let thy notes of joy be first:
I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep,
Or else this heavy heart will burst;
For it hath been by sorrow nursed,
And ached in sleepless silence, long;
And now 'tis doomed to know the worst,
And break at once - or yield to song.

Lord Byron 1788-1824

Oh Dear

The first two Cranes - Jewel 7"s I had posted, from the box set of three released in 1993, have gone the way of the DMCA Takedown notice. I'll save myself the hassle of posting the third.

The first post was something about collecting records which I haven't been able to recover and the second post is below:


"...the first test of voter feeling following the expenses scandal." you say?

Well I think voter feeling has spoken - complete and utter disinterest reflecting back the contempt in which they are held. Within the 9201 strong electorate, who potentially could have voted, was there a massive backlash against Labour and a surge in the number of protest votes? Nope. There was apathy. Only 1612 people decided to exercise their "democratic right", constituting a withered 17.5% turnout. I suspect that tells us all we really need to know.

Politics in its current form, despite all the talk of democracy, tradition and voter engagement, is a vacuum. People are angry for sure (really fucking angry I would say) but they are also hopelessly resigned to a continuation of the status quo if their own vitriol can not even make them cast a vote. They are pissed off with the establishment but they don't think it will ever change. If anything it appears inconceivable that it could change judging by the number of people who feel voting is worthwhile.

To then have the 'demented ginger weeble' (© Ministry Of Truth) gargling that "The result shows the values of Salford people are the values of the Labour Party." is delusional comedy genius. Hazel, the values of Salford people are the values of Salford people in the main - with the exception of the whopping 6.59% of them who voted Labour. What makes it even more grinding is the politicians or councillors inate ability to make any victory sound like a ringing endorsement of them, their party and their policies - which of course they can, as they won. In the meantime our first past the post system of democracy just continues to draw smaller and smaller crowds to its spectacle of hollow, decrepit meaning. If it were a club based on members it would have closed a long time ago.

So how will this scale up for the European Elections? We'll just have to wait and see. That or get on with our lives safe in the knowledge that we don't care about politicians and they don't care about us.

We're Closing In...

Wish I had come up with these posters.

And here's the site they are based on. They even have a handy form for submitting information about benefit expenses thieves online. Its gonna take me too long to submit all the MPs names by myself so I'm looking for volunteers to help with the hefty workload...

Nationalism Par Effluents

Received this particular item through my letterbox today, along with one for the UKIP, in order to prime me to vote, from the bottom of British Bulldog heart, for the BNP in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections.

Clearly it isn't going to happen. People like me are not voting BNP - I think that's a pretty safe bet.

But what puzzled me about this leaflet was the sheer jingoistic inappropriateness of the section in red (under the picture of the builders) where it states: "Because We've Earned the Right!" and goes on to list "Trafalgar, The Somme, Dunkirk, D-Day, The Falklands". Anybody with even a vague knowledge of history will realise that these were crushing British victories all... with the exception of The Somme and Dunkirk obviously... and D-Day where we had maybe a couple of hundred Yanks with us... and so on. They've coupled this odd brief march through British military history with a sepia tinted picture of a Spitfire with the headline, yes you guessed it, Battle For Britain.

And therein lies the problem. The remainder of the leaflet is exactly what you expect but to throw in the historical references is baffling. Evocation of the Blitz Spirit falls flat when you consider the number of Commonwealth nations that have fought for Britain, and the similarly diverse Allies we have had, and people will feel that even if they don't immediately spot it. I think its a vote loser.

Zig Zag Apr 1981 - Public Image Ltd

Told You So

Like I said - Labour and Conservative: no difference.

Moat clearing, chandelier hanging, swimming pool cleaning, full-time housekeepers and houses with no mortgage - you fund the lot. Possibly the only difference is that the aforementioned claims give a greater insight into the World of the Tory MP than the dodgy Labour claims did for their lives. Moat clearing?! I fucking ask you.

What the lot of them fail to realise is that their constant whining about "how it was within the rules" rings particularly hollow given that they wrote the rules. I would love to write my own expenses system, charge it all to somebody else and then defend myself with the same pathetic excuse in the hope nobody would pick up on it. I really can not express my contempt highly enough - although I will give it a good fucking try.

We were even treated to Gordo's sister-in-law completely and utterly missing the fucking point in the Guardian at the weekend. She bleats that people have "insinuated corrupt and illegal behaviour over the past week" and that journalists have implied "there is something strange, unconventional and dishonest about our attempts to keep tidy".

No, No, NO!

Back in the real world, people clean their own houses, people buy their own groceries and people have a go at DIY. We don't get paid the salaries of politicians, we don't get back-handers from corporations and we don't have cushy places on the boards of big businesses to take our wages into the stratosphere. I can't afford a fucking cleaner and, even if I could, I wouldn't expect to be able to charge him or her back to the tax-payer.

So while jobs are being lost, houses repossessed, wages supressed and lives ruined - we have to read her drivel about how mundane it all is. God, it must be awful having a never-ending expense account funded off the back of the working men and women of this country. How frightfully dull!

Alphaville - Big In Japan (EP)

Was conscious of the fact that I hadn't posted any music for a bit so I was in the process of bringing you this from my own vinyl copy but then I noticed that Cherry Red had reissued it on CD. Shit, I thought. Had it all ripped and was in the process of scanning the cover and inner sleeve (a time consuming job given I need 4 scans for each side and then have to piece them together) - so, if you leave enough begging comments (highly unlikely) then I may make it available for a period.

So instead I bring you some Germanic 80s pop.

I don't remember hearing this on first release, don't remember where I did hear it but I do know that I like it. Bought this battered copy at a car boot sale and ripped it accordingly. For some reason it seems to be all over the music blog community at the moment so have I captured the Zeitgeist? As long as it isn't worse than Swine Flu I don't mind.


Alphaville - Big In Japan (EP) (WEA International 1984 X9505T)

1. Big In Japan (Extended Remix)
2. Big In Japan (Extended Instrumental)

Alphaville - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

Don't Kid Yourself

No, it's claiming vast amounts of tax payers money instead.

Does your employer, if you are "lucky" enough to still have one, reimburse you for plants you bought for your garden? No? Didn't think so.

Do they reimburse you when you go to Tesco to buy their cheap, poor quality own-brand goods as you can't afford anything else? No? You do surprise me.

Well, surely they must give you something to cover the cost of your cleaner? Silly me, of course they don't. You clean your own house after all.

Well what about home improvements on either of the two properties you own? Whats that you say? You only have one - if you're not renting - and you have to pay for any work yourself. Course you do.

And why is that? Because you are not a fat, fucking leech deciding what you think is best for everybody else, from ID cards to taxes to education, while you puff yourself up with your own importance, exploiting a system that you are supposed to regulate in our interests. Instead, we have MPs, their cronies and their families all gobbling from the same trough with decisions about their own expense allowances, their own pay rises and their own fringe benefits while workers rights take a double-barrelled pounding from UK.gov and the EU.

And for all those who are banging on about having a General Election so we can "teach Labour a lesson" (you read hundreds of these comments about the place and hear it said enough times) - USE YOUR FUCKING MEMORIES BEYOND WHAT YOU HAD FOR TEA LAST NIGHT OR WHAT WAS ON EASTENDERS! What the fuck makes you think the Tories will be any better?

Recessions in the 80's and 90's? Under a Tory government.
Sleaze? Plenty of it kicking about under the last Tory government.
Crooked expense claims? Derek Conway ring a fucking bell? He's the Tory that started this story that refuses to go away (much to our MP's horror I should imagine)
Big business jobs on the side? Check this post from AVPS - read it and weep. Thats 'ordinary Dave' Cameron's mob for you.

Labour, Tory, LibDem, UKIP, whoever - all THE FUCKING SAME. All comprised of people who think they know what's best for you while making damn sure they use your money to really do what's best for them. Get rid of the fucking lot of 'em.

Statement Of Fact 3

Zig Zag Apr 1981 - Martian Dance, Schleimer K & Fleshtones

Schleimer K at the always excellent Phoenix Hairpins

Martian Dance Peel Sessions and Live thanks to Nuzz (and Pete) and their first single at Punk Friction courtesy of Longy.

Porphyria's Lover

Porphyria's Lover

The rain set early in tonight,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And called me. When no voice replied,
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,
Murmuring how she loved me--she
Too weak, for all her heart's endeavor,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me forever.
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could tonight's gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshiped me: surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
And I untightened next the tress
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propped her head up as before
Only, this time my shoulder bore
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!
Porphyria's love: she guessed not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!

Robert Browning

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