Sunday 28 October 2007 21:02
A miracle took place in our house this afternoon. Really. The need for our corpse to leave home, coinciding with his being invited to a party at our local, led to us dusting him off and addressing some minor cosmetic wear and tear (his false nails were showing through the latex).
When applying a new coat of latex to his fingers, Rhiannon announced, Gary, he's bleeding! And, sure enough, he was. From what looked like a cut on one hand, sticky red stuff was oozing out. We checked the other hand and found the same. Already thinking that we had the first artificial corpse to display stigmata, I checked a foot; the one without a sock. Can you imagine how I felt when I saw 'blood' there too?
Unfortunately, closer examination revealed that the red PVC sleeving on the wire I'd used as a frame for hands and feet seemed to be reacting with the latex and was turning into a sticky red gel.
We covered the 'cuts' with more latex, drying them with a hair dryer. The largest was beyond a quick latex repair though, so a sticking plaster was used. You can just make it out on the webcam picture.
He'll be missed, but I'm sure he'll love the party and his new home.
Sunday 27 October 2007 22:11
Yet another evening has been spent removing plaster. You can see where the fireplace was bricked-up a long time ago. It's so badly done that it actually moves when you lean on it. The original brickwork's pretty solid though, so I don't think it'll fall down if I open up the fireplace.
Thursday 25 October 2007 23:43
I've a new excellent way to end an evening ... a pizza, a litre bottle of San Miguel and a new rubbish best of CD. What more could anyone want?Monday 22 October 2007 01:04
Sunday 21st Union Rooms at 8?
I felt so bad earlier; still do. I'm trying to convince myself it's down to having the past week off work, but I'm coming to realise that my brain can only cope with so much stuff at any point in time. Trevor and I'd arranged to meet in Newcastle tonight. Apparently, one of us had forgotten about it (despite setting a reminder on my phone).
I'd barely walked through the door when Trevor rang to ask where I was. After calling a cab, I was only a half hour or so late.
Guilt's a horrible thing. But I've had a lot on my mind. I know, that's no excuse.
Saturday 20 October 2007 22:33
I was waiting at a bus stop the other day; by coincidence, waiting for a bus. I noticed a flyer stuck to the side of the bus shelter. Someone had apparently lost a dog. At first I thought it had to be a joke, since Bess appears to be a stuffed toy. But then I saw similar notes at other bus stops.
Saturday 20 October 2007 22:18
This morning, Rhiannon and I had a walk down Gateshead Quays to take a look at the Dott 07 festival. It was kind of ok, but then we had a look in the Baltic since it was right next door.
There was a cool exhibition of ... um ... mirrored fridges. You probably had to see it to understand, but we thought it was impressive. Excuse the mobile phone pictures though.
Well, it's better than a fridge mountain isn't it? Oh, there was some other 'art' too ...
Friday 19 October 2007 21:30
During my current period of (enforced) leave, I had to find a way to occupy myself. Unfortunately, I think it'll take a little longer than I'd anticipated.
The bedroom wall ...
Thursday 18 October 2007 21:20
Quote of the day; Rhiannon:I could be a detective, me.
Thursday 18 October 2007 00:17
I don't know why, but I just
clicked onto some older entries and noticed that the rubbish blog
program I use (well, it's free) has trashed any entry where there's a
picture. That means I'm going to have to revisit this year's stuff and
tidy it up (older stuff used a more stable version of the program).
Never trust a beta.
All fixed now!
Wednesday 17 October 2007 23:42
I just looked at the Eels' website. With new releases and a book from E too, January's going to be a good month. Naturally, I'm hoping for a tour. There're even daisies on the 'best of' cover.
EELS CELEBRATE FIRST DECADE WITH BEST OF AND RARITIES COLLECTIONS
FIRST
RETROSPECTIVE, MEET THE EELS: ESSENTIAL EELS VOL. 1 (CD+DVD), AND FIRST
RARITIES COLLECTION, EELS USELESS TRINKETS (2CD+DVD), SPAN 1996-2006
FOR THE ACCLAIMED ALT-ROCK ENTITY
Release date:
USA January 15, 2008
UK January 21, 2008
The EELS
are one of music's most acclaimed and idiosyncratic enterprises,
accomplishing what The New Yorker calls "that rarest thing in
contemporary pop: a unique sound." The ever-changing lineup of
musicians that play the songs of
singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett (aka E),
unveils both its first best of compilation, Meet The EELS: Essential EELS Vol. 1 (CD+DVD), and its first collection of rarities, B-sides, film contributions and unreleased tracks, the EELS Useless Trinkets (2CD+DVD), each issued by DreamWorks/UMe on January 15, 2008 (US) and January 21 (UK).
Meet The EELS: Essential EELS Vol. 1 spans the first decade of
the EELS with 24 selections on CD and 12 promotional videos on
DVD. The CD opens with four tracks from the band's 1996 debut Beautiful Freak, two tracks from the Eels' highly acclaimed second album 1998's Electro-shock Blues follow plus a previously unreleased Jon Brion remix of "Climbing to The Moon."
Four songs from 2000's Daisies Of The Galaxy, which NME dubbed "a masterpiece in almost every way," are represented on the Essentials album plus three tracks from 2001's Souljacker,
which Time Magazine crowned as one of the best albums of the year, was
acclaimed overseas with NME calling it "downright brilliant" and the
London Sunday Times named it Album Of The Year, writing that "the
conventional wisdom that (the earlier album} Electro-shock Blues was E's masterpiece will have to be reassessed: it was clearly just one of his masterpieces."
2003's live-in-the-studio Shootenanny! (awarded four stars by
Rolling Stone) adds two fan favorites, while five songs from the highly
acclaimed, and best charting album in the band's history Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
are included. Also on the Essentials album are the previously
unreleased "Get Ur Freak On", a live version of "Dirty Girl" from
2006's With Strings: Live At Town Hall and "I Need Some Sleep" from the Shrek 2 soundtrack.
Highlights within the 50 CD tracks of EELS Useless Trinkets are
longtime concert favorite "Living Life" from the Daniel Johnston
tribute album, the previously unreleased 2006 cover of Screamin' Jay
Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" and other covers including James Carr's
"Dark End of The Street" and Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend. " Useless Trinkets
also includes a large handful of BBC performances, unique live versions
of "Novocaine For The Soul" and "My Beloved Monster," tracks from
films-- The End Of Violence, Holes, Levity and How The Grinch Stole Christmas
and several previously unreleased tracks including the original
collections title track which frontman Everett performs backed by a 28
piece orchestra. The DVD features six performances from the EELS'
Lollapalooza 2006 performance, including a gospel rave-up take on "My
Beloved Monster" and a high octane rumble through "Souljacker part I".
Meet The EELS: Essential EELS Vol. 1 and EELS Useless Trinkets prove why, following that 2006 Lollapalooza performance, Rolling Stone wrote: "EELS define coolness. "
Both packages will be packed with never before seen photos, artifacts and Everett's notes about each track.
Wednesday 17 October 2007 00:00
I came into the living room this morning, to open the blinds. As I opened the door, I said the customary 'hello Bird', before I realised Bird wasn't there. I put a plant where the cage used to be, but it's not working at all.
Sunday 14 October 2007 22:40
The house is just so fucking quiet without Bird.
Saturday 13 October 2007 22:25
My best friend died tonight. He took with him my deepest secrets. And a huge part of my past.
Friday 12 October 2007 22:01
Well, that's another week in Preston at an end. Thankfully. However, something good came out of the week. After a gap of 18-ish months, Rich, Mr E and I met up for a reunion. It was a cool night and after a while we didn't even notice the rain. Quarterly reunions are now planned.
Friday 5 October 2007 23:40
Two positive things happened today. Not in any particular order; I met a very nice man (through a mutual friend) who likes to make things. It was great to talk to someone who's tackled similar projects to myself, but who also has a brilliant imagination. Further exchange of ideas is planned.
And I've only taken 12 Ibuprofen today. That's the least I've taken in a week and a half. Oh, and this was my first paracetamol free day too. My head still hurts pretty bad, but the slightly lower pill intake must be a sign that whatever's been wrong is getting better.
Assuming I'm getting better, I'll not moan about this again.
Friday 5 October 2007 00:13
While I was typing that last one, there was some kind of political thing on tv. I wasn't watching, but it was clearly biased towards the Conservative party. There was a line, from David Cameron, which described Gordon Brown as a boring scotsman. That smells of desperation I think. I really don't like name calling.
If there's an election; don't weaken. We've had ten years of social conscience not so bad stuff (amended after an objection from Rich); don't let them back in again.
VOTE LABOUR
Thursday 4 October 2007 23:42
When I was eight I had a friend, with a pirate smile. No one knows that song; well, hardly anyone. But, for the tiny minority who've listened to it, there's a lot of big stuff in there. I once had the advantage of hearing the background in the middle of a cool concert. In 1995.
Anyway, I was reminded of this song by a very brief text message exchange this very evening. The end result was having to think about a recurring dream I used to have at the age of six or seven (hell, I have a grandchild that age).
We lived in an upstairs flat. Its days were numbered in view of the recent birth of my sister, but I quite liked living there (I'll return to this one day).
I used to have this dream. The flat had a huge staircase; it was ridiculously steep. I dreamt of standing at the top of the stairs, looking down, then leaning forwards and floating down. I can even, retrospectively, put a height to it, at around three feet from the floor/stairs.
I can almost feel it when I think about it.
But of course it's rubbish. It was a dream. I should mention the second part of the dream (and at this point I'm wondering whether I was as young as five). Somehow, and it's not part of the dream that lasted, I went from floating down that huge staircase to sitting in an upturned concrete pipe.
The odd thing is that it's still so clear; I can picture the stairs, the carpet below, the concrete pipe and the field around it.
Of course, I've never floated down stairs.
But there's a concrete pipe. There are actually two. In a field. I found them when I was twelve or thirteen and, when I realised I'd seen them before, the whole world came to a stop.
And then I realised I must have been there as a young child. The stairs thing isn't as easily explained, but does it need to be? It was just a dream.
I actually, still as a young child, tested my dream. After all, it was so vivid it had to be real. I stood at the top of the stairs, facing down, leaning forwards as I'd done so many times in my sleep.
And fell down the stairs.
Thursday 4 October 2007 18:24
My head hurts. I ran out of antibiotics a few days ago and my head still bloody hurts. I've taken so many pills lately I'm sure I've led to an increase in painkiller manufacture. I suspect the sinusitis diagnosis may not have been correct.
Unfortunately, I'm 150 miles away from my doctor.
Wednesday 3 October 2007 22:32
It's taken me several visits, and four days on this particular occasion, but I've found a gorgeous restaurant in Preston. Unfortunately, I'm now so stuffed I can barely walk.
Wednesday 3 October 2007 23:14
I've been living in a kind of deja vu world the past couple of days.
I'm staying in the Holiday Inn in Preston. I've not stayed in this
particular hotel since my birthday a couple and a bit years ago. I've decided that Preston's a strange place. Last night, after
eating, I decided to have a quiet pint in what seemed to be a quiet old man's
pub. But, within seconds of buying my pint of Kronenbourg, a fight
broke out. This was followed very shortly by a girl rubbing my leg,
then saying she'd thought I was someone else. Then it got worse. After making a hasty escape, round the corner to the hotel a girl came up to me and asked whether I was looking for business. For a second or two, I didn't realise what was going on. It was a relief to get back to the hotel and close my door. Tonight was better ... possibly because I discovered that last night's experience of Preston
isn't at all the norm. I had a very nice meal
near the Uni, then a pint in an empty pub. On the other hand, Liverpool's just over an hour away apparently. Manchester must be closer.
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