Wednesday 16 May 2012

From out of the cellar.........

Blimey. Has it really been over a year? That's disgraceful.


Confined to the cellar, with only Mrs Norman Bates, an intimidating glow in the dark Jesus, a life size Edwardian sideshow mechanical  laughing clown (with a tendency to ‘go off’ at random) – oh and a pen, paper and a job lot of Pot Noodle, Arthur has been wrestling with a bit of writer’s block. Time to make amends……..

Haven't even got a subject for this one to be honest, this is more like a dip of the toe back into the water, a cautious peep back into the daylight with squinting, dazzled eyes before - hopefully, I might feel inspired enough to get cracking once again on my enthralling tales of what I had for supper the day I first heard 'Hunky Dory' whilst watching episode 2 of 'The Talons Of Weng Chiang' (come to think of it, I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday evening...)

I won't try and recap as far as back as Easter 2011, the night I wrote my last blog about 'Diamond Dogs' I reckon I'll just try and summarise 2012 so far, seeing as time is flying by at it's usual rapid rate and it might as well still be January considering how wet, cold and miserable it is outside. 15th May? Never.

The year started with a cracking New Year do courtesy of my sister and her family, which led inevitably to a filthy hangover the next day which I rode out by listening to Stuart Maconie on BBC6 playing 20 minute long epic freakouts by some early 1970s looney tune called Don Bradhsaw Leather. Still, if you're going to try and learn / hear something new every day, you might as well start on 1st January. I was supposed to be starting an ambitious podcasting project this year and my daughter Hayley gave me a lovely headset / microphone combo for Christmas for this exact purpose. Sadly, the bit of podcasting I had done in the past had been in the company of (and with all the technical expertise of) the seasoned old pros at Simply Syndicated, but it's a different story when trying to go it alone, without others there to bounce off (and to do some of the talking!) and a knackered old PC on it's last legs, even if you have got a superb, sexy and stylish headest / microphone combo (thanks Hay x) However, all is not lost on that front and I do still plan to get it up and running some time this year. Perhaps I ought to just get drunk one evening and crack on with it. We shall see.

Another huge but welcome distraction this year is that I also got for Christmas a Kindle, which I know wouldn't have come easy owing to our ongoing shaky circumstances, making it even more special. Of course these little things cost big pesetas to fill up, so naturally enough, like most new Kindle owners who are in their cups, I filled a large chunk of it's memory with 'the classics' - all in the public domain and can be downloaded completely and legally free. I won't start banging on about what I have read so far this year, but I am unashamed to admit that I love a lot of the Victorian and Edwardian fiction and it provides genuine escapism when times are stressful - for some reason a bit of Wilkie Collins, H G Wells or W M Thackeray can have the same calming effect on me as a few Scott Walker albums or a box set of The Persuaders on a damp and miserable weekend.

So that was another idea - a 'blog, son of blog' based on classic books. Nothing too scholarly, no big frilly blouses and catching the clap in the hills of Italy, just a light hearted guide and recommendation, much as I do with my favourite albums. The idea is big within my heart and mind, but not so easy to get going. I might need to consult my brother Brian for guidance - I know he usually reads these - what do you think, bruv?

I also aim to do as much as I can to promote the work of two very good friends of mine, one (Paul 'Ed' Edwards) an aspiring and genuinely excellent author, the other (Andrew 'Drew Crow Star' Warner) an accomplished and very talented musician, composer, songwriter, recording artist and performer. I aim to promote as much as I can their works (all currently available through various channels) and hopefully have the honour of collaborating with them in doing so. Drew, in fact comments regularly on my blog posts, all of these comments perserved for posterity amongst the back catalogue.

So, thar's about it for now - I hope to try and get back into this, if not daily or even weekly, but certainly a bit more often than yearly! I would love to hear from anyone who reads this - and my thanks to those who do - with any ideas you may have, a favourite record, film, TV show, book, play etc that you think might benefit if I took it down to Arthur in the cellar along with his meagre supper so that he might give it the Chairman's treatment.

More to follow?









1 comment:

  1. Episode 2 of 'The Talons Of Weng Chiang'?? My dear CJC, we are on the same page of retro culture...

    I absolutely loved that as a child, with the giant rat in the sewer (my favourite bit!) and a knife being thrown into a metal something or other to stop in the nick of time something or other (a vague memory now!) and the lovely Leela (of course, too young to fully appreciate her at the time though!)...

    And a podcast is a MUST!!!!! As is more writing. Including a novel. Too much talent is being dissipated in the carbon based life form that is Chairman Arthur (or IS he carbon based??)

    Rectify that situation! That's not a request. That's a DEMAND!!!

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