"Little Richard was always my main man. How hard must it have been for him: gay, black and singing in the South? But his records are a joyous good time from beginning to end."

Lemmy, Motörhead

Mr James Brown, John and Paul, Mick and Keef, Jimi, Otis, Lemmy, Prince...

The list of rock 'n' rollers who owed Little Richard dibs and who acknowledged it ( Read more... )

With some rather lovely graphs:


( Read more... )

When I kick the bucket I’d rather folk wrote and said I died; not I “passed” or I went to join the choir invisible or any other twee fucking euphemism.

Death is one of those things. I’d rather I had a great and noble (and relatively painless) death of ultimate sacrifice for greater good etc; but I must admit I’d prefer a nice long life first. If ( Read more... )

Waited in the supermarket queue chatting to folk nonchalantly for the requisite half an hour... without realising my fly was undone.

I am prone to over-reaction atm.

I can see the public being gaslighted but sometimes find it impossible to distinguish properly between distraction tactics, double misinformation, and the righteous indignation of folk who would otherwise be on the side of the angels; but who spread untruths nevertheless.

I used to be able to distinguish between these ( Read more... )

Hooray, hooray,
The first of May...

But with the lockdown I fear the outdoor activities that close the quote are beyond us all, and not just those who are disinclined to put aside the pleasures of comfort for a little bracing exercise in the usual, only-just-sub-Artic, English Spring.

As is the weather has been unusually clement until yesterday when ( Read more... )

So during the lockdown I've been trying to deal with the fact that the skin on my hands delaminated after an allergic reaction and I have lost four decades of guitarist's callouses on my fingertips. The ends of my fingers are now as pink and painful as those of an infant who has never used their hands. I started practicing again only yesterday ( Read more... )

And understandably so. Congratters to Ms Symonds and Mr Johnson. Impressed that Boris will postpone paternal leave until later in the year. I imagine Ms Symonds told him where his duty lay; as she seems like a lass who can keep Boris's nose to the grindstone - and let's face it, never has a chap been more in need of what Paul Erdős called a "boss ( Read more... )

Germany has the most extensive testing of any major European nation.

Covid19 has a mortality rate of 3.8% according to their testing stats. I'd be willing to bet a small amount that the German figures end up as being the most accurate for the nations that can or have mitigated the virus onslaught via social measures like lockdowns, social distancing ( Read more... )

Today is St George's day and Shakespeare's birthday. This should be one of the high days for English literary-types; but we are all in lockdown so I can't get my megaphone out and declaim selected sonnets at folk while riding an old bicycle and dressed improbably.

Next year...

And I may walk rather than ride a bike.

Many years ago I faked a quote from ( Read more... )