Memphis.
really ace piece on Dan Penn, Tommy Cogbill and the awesome Masqueraders Masqueraders album at Amazon
Pleasures Of February
( aka what dipped our floats this month) Feist “Love You Inside Out” (Sumo Refix version) “The English Year” by Steve Roud The Damned United Lake Windermere Hard Candy Ella Fitzgerald sings Duke Ellington Clydie King Julie London June Christy “Blind – Frankie Knuckles remix” Hercules and Love Affair Rivers Mole, Thames, Culm Michael Crick [...]
Van Gogh Fields
Behind me the fields of grass swayed nosily in the breeze. Perhaps ‘swayed’ doesn’t do this vision justice. Neither, for that matter, does ‘field of grass’. Let us start this vision again in order to gain a better sense of clarity. After all, there are many depictions of fields within literature which I am competing [...]
Dynamo Kev
ja sorry for the delay… lines were down after a nuclear strike from the electric company, a well aimed million volt power surge knocked out the 8 houses in my hamlet, smoke pouring from electrical goods two fridays back just as we were all plugging in our toasters and downloading the morning post. my modem [...]
The great Roger Deakin.
Piece on the Guardian blog here.
Marmalade Cake
25 February 2008 // Food and Drink
Cake plays a very important part in fishing. It’s pretty much guaranteed that, after the ritual recitation – “I reckon it’s gonna be a good day today” – has been made and agreed with by all, that the next words my pals say are: “Has Wendy made a cake?”. When fishing with friends, stopping for [...]
Snakehead
21 February 2008 // Caught By...
Attack of the killer fish? It sounds incredible. Apparently a savage fish more terrifying than a piranha is invading the UK. It can even “kill people”. Sorry, I mistyped that quote, it should be “KILL people”. The story that’s got The Sun newspaper and a few other tabloids in a feeding frenzy is a report [...]
Another Place
14 February 2008 // Miscellany
I spent the weekend on an ale trail round the British Isles as part of a book project I’m working on. Managed to fit in just the one piece of culture, but what a piece – Antony Gormley’s “Another Place” installation at Crosby Beach just near Liverpool. Fog had come down over night, but by [...]
Local Heroes
13 February 2008 // Food and Drink
Interesting piece in today’s Guardian about food and local distinctiveness. If it sparks anything with you, it’s well worth checking out the brilliant book “The Taste Of Britain”, which is kind of like a gastronomic “England In Particular”. Still haven’t actually plucked up the courage to cook up a dinner of Bath Chaps though… RT [...]
You’ll Never Make The Station
13 February 2008 // Caught By...
dp the last of the few marched from the birdtable via redan hill and sebastopol road to the east bank aldershot with a pint of bull’s blood from the crimea fresh in our throats. to stand in a february fog in tailored red coats with brass buttons, led by a drummer boy who took the [...]
Caught by the River