Listen this Sound, it’s a Champion…

This must be the longest time away from my blog in a long time. Have no fear….Paudie will not forget about the outer world to which I still cling to. It just goes to show you that I was after all …a very idle little boy….so now it will have to be a post of high quality.

Over the last week I have not only been dashing to and from work but I have also purchased myself a “new” automobile to get me to and from my place of work. Over the years I have always driven petrol cars but now I have decided to get myself a diesel car. The round trip distance to work has dictated this direction I am taking. Petrol is not cheap these days so hopefully my “new” diesel car will increase the bulge in my wallet!! The car I chose is a Volkswagen Passat TDI and boy does it move….smooth …comfortable ….economical…and 12 years old too with a small price tag attached. It may sound old to some people but back in the day, this was a top of the range mover on the road so this somewhat elevates my status……..one of those cars that I always longed for and now it is mine…not as fresh as it used to be but just as spicey!!!
I only got it last night so it is still a relatively fresh toy in my small arsenal of toys. Driving it gives you a strange feeling of power….something I have never had in my other cars. I have driven plenty of powerful cars before but they were never mine. This one is all mine …mine, mine, sounding a bit like a spoiled little boy in a sweet shop…but mine it is!!
The funny thing about this car is because of its age there is no CD player…only tape….so this morning at an ungodly hour I found myself listening to old dusty blank tapes that I had recorded from years ago…scratching my head wondering what was on them. The first tape I put in was a selection of Raggamuffin ans Ska form the early 90’s. I haven’t heard these songs in ages simply because of the absence of a tape machine. I still held onto the tapes as an archive to my life. Each tape is like a DNA genetic strain of my life indicating the development of my musical life over the years and because they were blank tapes you just would not know what would pop up at any moment to interrupt the flow of music. Random intervals on tapes were common in our house, especially with an inconsiderate brother who did not care for tape etiquette or the valuable piece of music you had stayed up past midnight to tape….a previously unheard concert or interview wiped out for the sake of a ridiculous snippet of a song…..careless taping was one of my pet hates. My brother was the kind of pest who would tape whole conversations over valuable …precious rare concerts….obviously kitchen conversations were top of his list over my taste in music! The tape I played this morning had one such 2 second interval ….not too bad considering the length of the tape. I had forgotten how long these tapes went on for ….90 minute is a long piece of music to fill a car jouney…..an hour and a half of passing cars and ditches and traffic lights and bridges…bypassed with the aid of a roll of magnetic tape. Wonderful invention it was….it should not be allowed to fade out the way it has…..our children will never know the sudden ending of a song or the squeaky sound a tape makes as we anxiously prepared for a recording…..the premature endings …the recording of voices at the end of an album…..the hiss of a vinyl record on a tape. They will not really know the meaning of the terms fast forward or rewind…these terms are being repalced by less meaningful terms. They will never know how to sync up 2 tapes for fast recording or how to properly fill out an inlay card. These are important talents that can only be learned through hours of waiting with your finger paused over the rec button waiting for that moment that could change your life…..45 minute snippets of the radio that were taped while you were out having pints. Theses are the moments that need to be reignited in the youth. Maybe they have their own methods now….I know I have latched onto them also but its always nice to give a nod of respect to the past and not to dismiss it out of hand as an uncool method of recording your favourite music. We were bloody glad of those 90 minute tapes when there was nothing else around…….
Anyway….while I was listening to these old ragga tunes and with a bit of ska thrown in…..I came across this timeless classic from the 80’s which never fails to stir my dancing feet…..champion sound, indeed……

Mmmmmm…hibernation over!!!

There’s a place I go to escape sometimes to search and seek out new music or just fresh music. A quest has begun for me to look forward and listen to all things new and by God I have listened to umpteen new bands today already and it was quite nice. One band that I would like to get my hands on though is Natural History Museum….they are just top of my list at the moment but unreachable as far as the net is concerned. Maybe they are hibernating somewhere but I really like what they do and I think they should come out of hibernation for the masses…There song ‘Billy Pilgrim’ has the makings of a grower into a ‘classic’…can’t find them though…shame.
Whilst looking I came across this favourite…bliss…….

Fool for a Fool

Today I am heading up to our majestic Opera House with my wife and kids in tow to see a Hannah Montana/High School Musical Tribute. The excitement is building slowly as the girls carefully pick what clothes they have to wear…careful selection is crucial for such an event. Even a such a tender young age fashion is their life!
My wife and I are a little under the weather at the moment…sore throats…aching joints…running noses…symptoms not condusive to a room full of screaming kids. hopefully it will be entertaining for all concerned….I actually like some of the High School Musical songs so ….bring it on. I will have to take some nice pics of the event for future posts.

The journey to Cork will be full of anticipation from the back seat of the car….multiple questions from Eabha followed by more analytical and detailed questions from Clodagh. One of these days I will have to write down some of the questions that they ask en route to Cork…varied subjects can be touched upon from the meaning of life to astrology(a very popular subject choice)..moving on to religious topics and various political ideologies. Those journeys to Cork and back can be like a series of lectures given at Yale or Cambridge…they are definitely inspirational and most often than not frustratingly annoying for us…..this is due to the fact that we like to give the real answers to the questions that they ask….not the fairy make believe one size fits all kind of answers that so many parents seem to give to their children. Once all these qeustions have been answered to the best of our abilities …the more important stuff of make believe begins and they gallop off to another world of make believe that only they can understand …a world that has been developed over the short period of time that they have been here on this earth…a world that suits their needs of play and fun, with a different language filled with a blend of characters that they have borrowed from favourite TV programs or just from the wilds of their boundless imagination.

These are the special moments that all parents love and remain quiet to capture a fleeting glimpse of…amazed at the complexities of the storylines of their childrens stories. There are the moments when emotions run high and you cannot get through to them ….the tears and the emotion run high in those backs seat journeys to Cork. I don’t know whether I should share it here but I seemed to have stumbled across a wonderful sedative for such moments when all parents despair. It’s not an injection or a tablet or a cross word said in haste…..no, my friends…its a CD I bought only recenly of Tom Waits and one of the songs that seems to lull my children into a sense of melancholy on those long journeys is “The Heart of Saturday Night”. Whatever it is about this song….I don’t know……my children seem to turn into little angels for the duration of the journey…they turn all mellow on us and sometimes even sing along to the song(multiple plays have this affect)……so for all you parents out there with young children, let it be known that you heard it here first…the answer to all your prayers in a song. A beautiful song at that!!!

Obair Aris

Sometimes when I’m alone I think of my plan for life and how it is turning out. Is there any plan being followed at all? Could it be implemented in a more efficient, silky streamlined kind of way that others seem to follow. To be able to say to yourself on a regular basis…”Yeah…life is turning out just the way I planned it as a little boy…”. It’s not as if I sat under an oak tree at a tender young age to scribble a plan with a pencil and paper.
Wouldn’t it be great to be like that…perfection all round in a nice kind of way…..smooth roads all the way…..a traffic light turning green just as you round the corner…. You may loook at some people who exude this way of life and think to yourself …some people have all the luck. But is it really all smooth sailing for these people…does the breeze fill their main sail all the time. Of course not…life does not take the plain sailing course that we would like to think it does!

As some of you may or may not know, these last few months have seen me lose a job after over 9 years and be left without a means to support my family. Not a nice position to find yourself in after such a long time in the workforce. It leaves you with a gradual sense of worthlessness over time….left to analyse yourself in more detail than you would ordinarily do. The simple fact that your allocated time to think has increased due to the fact that you are out of work leaves you more bothered than usual. That is one of the main reasons that I started this blog in the first place. Little did I realise that I would come to depend on it to help me through this awful period in my life. It’s not all that bad…. I’m a pint half full kinda guy as you all know but there have been times more recently when I never thought I would see myself in a job again.

This all changed last week when I was offered a position in well renowned company in Cork…..ta daaaaaa! Just like that…applied for the job in hand and hey presto after the usual requirements by all employers, they gave me the call….”Come join the party, Paudie!”. Today was my 3rd day on the job and all is going pretty well. The advantage for me is that I have worked here before…over 12 years ago….so it’s like a homecoming for me. Some of the people who have worked there recognise me from yesteryear and there are others who have worked with me from previous jobs. Cork is a small place…so the transition has been smooth. It’s as if my main sail is gradually about to fill for the circumnavigation that I am about to under take. How do I feel to be part of the human race once again? Lets put it this way! When people ask me now “Are you off for a few days?” …no I can hold my head high and say “Yes …but not for long!”. I know there a lot of people who are in the same boat as me and feel the same way I did…it’s just not nice to be idle….idle is the word for it….yes…idle!!! Even for me to look my kids in the eye and tell them that “I’ll say you later, ladies…Be good for Mammy when Daddy is at work.”. This one sentence is enough to give you the greatest feeling of achievement in the world.

I may not be as frequent now with my blogging duties due to the increased workload but who cares. At least now I will have more topics to discuss due to my increased exposure to…people …life…..work!!

A blast from the past. I knicked this single from a DJ a long time ago…precious!!

Stage 1

All weekend I’ve been researching the El Camino de Santiago and the logistics of the whole thing. Mulling it around in my head whether or not I should go…when to go…who with…will I be able to attempt this most unusual of holidays or pilgrimages. Lets face it…it’s not every day that you wake up to decide…yes…I want to do a pilgrimage. The last pilgrimage I can think of that I attempted was to go out for a litre of milk.

Then I sat down and really thought about it…was I to sit around hoping that I would do it some day in the near future or should I just do it. The one person that I wished I could experience this trip of a lifetime with was my father. Maybe I wanted to have my own private road trip with him…something for us both to share in….instead of a typical everyday vacation that we all experience!!! This would be our spiritual awakening coupled with plenty of blisters and aching joints. All I wanted to do for the time being is a small section of the Pilgrimage…enough to gain the coveted Compestela!! I have found that I’ve opened up a whole new world of information regarding the El Camino…reams of information, maps, packing lists, routes to take, hostels to stay in!! So, you’ll be glad to hear that on Saturday, I booked 2 return flights to Santiago De Compestela for the beginning of May…the last day of our holiday being my fathers 77th birthday and what better way to celebrate than on the streets of Santiago de Compestela!! I have a lot of confidence that we will make this holiday a success and will complete the designated route on which I have yet to decide upon…even though my circumstances have slightly changed somewhat in the last 24 hours…workwise…but already I can feel that first film of sweat drenching my forehead and running down my back as we pound our way across the hinterland of the Gallicia countryside…the crunch of gravel under our boots…or the swish of the wind through the trees and grass…the smiles from the people wishing us Buen Camino as we slowly pass them by…stopping at certain points along the way to marvel at the beauty that surrounds us…eating the local cuisine…tasting the local beer and wine…making lifelong friendships along the way and just being together as father and son on a pilgrimage of the soul. This is what I have wanted for a long time and believe me there is no time like the present. I don’t want to be looking back in a few years time thinking “We should have done the El Camino…but now it’s too late!!”

No…each and every one of us live in the now and now is the time for life to be experienced and tasted. We can’t wait for it to turn sour like a piece of meat in the fridge. Life must be cooked and seasoned and turned around just like any roast beef on a Sunday. That is why I booked the flights…some might call it impulsive …but hey..thats me…I’m an impulsive kind of guy. Some people may not think me as so impulsive but I am…so there!! We will have 9 or 10 days to follow the final stage of the Camino Frances from Sarrio to Santiago …plenty of time for rest and to appreciate all of what awaits us. Like most people I would have loved to travel the whole way but this would not be possible for obvious reasons. Maybe one day I might do it with my 2 girls as a life experience between father and daughter like no other or maybe we could attempt it in stages over a few years. Spain is a big place and the Way of St. James takes many paths.

When I first mentioned it to my father only last week he jumped at the chance of this wonderful adventure. It was not the reaction that I expected and when I showed him the article in the paper and later on the different videos online …you could sense his excitement..anticipation of the unexpected…a gratitude to me perhaps for considering him as a travel partner on this voyage of discovery. He wasn’t going to let his age or presumptions of others to get in his way…no sir!! Maybe when its all over he will curse me for the blistering pain in his feet and stiff muscles from head to toe but for now we must prepare and train for those tough climbs ahead!!! God…I’m excited now…this has been some week for me…full of ups and downs in every sense of the word…but in the end life has a way of suprising all of us in the most unusual ways you could not imagine….

Halfway through this post I was watching the programme ‘Room to Improve’ and for the final sweep of the finished house they played Chequerboard with a very appropriate piece of music….the building blocks of life!!!

El Camino or Bust

Today was a really shitty day!

New start…fresh…breathe in!!! My weekend paper of choice is The Sunday Times. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been getting it for years now. No other paper will do for me. I would consider it a sacrilage to waste money on the ‘other’ things that they call newspapers….the news of the…and the daily whatits and the awful drivel that some people seem to just love. Call me a traditionalist or a conservative but I just like The Sunday Times. It just feels good to the touch. To carry it it your arms ….you just know that there is bound to be something in here that will affect you in some way. Sometimes I don’t even get the time to finish the bloody thing but thats not what it’s about. It can be referred to throughout your week ahead to inform and guide you through the vast selection of information that it provides. I just love it.
One of the best things about it is the TV guide for the week. I rely on it to separate the good from the bad in the weekly viewings. It is always by my side as I refer each night. My wife and I have little tugs of war over the nightly selections. It has become my tv friend over the years….”have you seen the new programme on blah de balh”….

They even call it the Culture….it makes you feel as if your viewer ship is not an embarassment but a cultural expedition. TV is to be valued. I don’t watch that much TV per say but the Culture guides me in my limited viewings. Lets put it this way …I’d be like a man who has lost his clicker arm if I didn’t have the Culture as a crutch for the week. I’m ashamed to say it that there have been Sunday mornings when we…I stress WE have forgotten to get the Sunday Times before the rush …well…if your not there in time you might as well not bother your arse even looking for it. That paper sells like hot cross buns…gone before noon. They should rename it “The Gone Before Noon Times”. You just can’t take the risk of a lazy Sunday morning with those valued extra few hours in bed. No paper for you …sonny!! I have been there. It’s not nice….running from shop to shop…”Do you have The Times?” …followed by that little smirk from the shopkeeper….”who does he think he is?”.

Anyway….whew…I was reading the travel section of the Times and an interesting article about El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, also known in English as The Way of St James. This is something I have heard about in passing from an old workmate of mine whose brother does it every year. I would just love to be able to do this some time. I mentioned it to my father and he said he might be up for it also…any excuse to get away…so there will have to be a bit of research over the next couple of weeks to see if this is possible!!
Northern Spain is a part of the world that I have longed to explore and what better way than in the footsteps of St. James…its over 750km long and can go for even longer if the weary traveller is so inclined. It’s not as if I have been longing to do this pilgramage but I have been waiting maybe for it to fall into my lap and thanks to the Times I have been awakened to it’s delights. I do hope that my father will still be interested in this …. 7 days walking through the most beautiful countryside that you could think of…the culture…the people…the wine ..the dust…the pumping of your heart and the loose waistbands on the flight home. Watch this space for any developments. It might not happen but we can still try our best.

Thinking about it has made my day much better!! Listen to this twice a day for the next few weeks….Yes, Doctor…..

Time to Share

Lately I’ve come across this fella Findlay Brown while listening to Dineen late at night. I’d just be on the cliff ready to fall into a deep sleep with the music drumming in my ear and off in the zone between being awake and deep sleep ….I hear this song in my head. Dineen always seems to play it as a finale and it seems to do the trick. His version goes on for about 6 minutes…..it seems as if it will never end but is alll the better for it. It was only last night that I actually found out this guys name. Very hard to figure out the names of tracks when your listening to Small Hours. Frustratingly so…..he doesn’t give the names of tunes sequentially….its like ‘before that was so and so and the second last song before the third to the right was humpitydumpity do da da find out for yourself boys and girls’….. I suppose it gives them an air of exclusivity. And eventually I did find out this fellas name and number. This song has been travelling through the highways and byways of my jukebox head for months now and last night was my EUREKA moment. Worth the wait. Let me know if you feel the same way or has there been some kind of magical spell cast over me that filters sound to the degree that I can’t figure the good from the bad.

By the way people, I got the tickets for Eddi Reader in the post this morning. I will be doing massive amounts of research over the next few weeks so that when she does stroll on stage to impress us all …I will be able to give a nod of approval when she plays an otherwise unknown song to the crowd.
For now though..sit back and enjoy the wonderful beat and flow of Findlay Brown. I must try to find the extended version of this tune….

Warp Speed, Captain

Every now and again we need to take a little look under the bonnet …check the oil…new spark plugs and all that. On Saturday I booked 2 tickets to see Eddi Reader in the School of Music in February. I just happened to be trawling through the gig guide and up she popped. Years ago, I had the chance to see her play but she had to cancel due to lack of demand for tickets so now my chance came again. I can’t confess to being a big fan of her work but the fact that she is playing in this relatively new venue that I have yet to visit. Well, I just had to go. One problem was that my wife had no interest in going. Not her bag really.
A tinkle on the phone to my sister and before I could finish the question…”Would you like to go?”….she nearly reached down the phone and begged me to go with her. Later on in her house she was reminiscing about the old days…how she went to gigs in the early 80’s in the Arcadia with her friends… a golden age in music. “I want to….no….I need to reinvent myself…” she said. She feels the need to step outside her comfort zone and experience new things ….go to places that she has not ventured before….just like Kirk, I suppose. Maybe I will be her Spock to guide her on these little expeditions to new worlds. It’s funny she said that because I have been feeling the same way over the last few months and there is a ‘want’ in me for such adventures….

I just hope that the gig is enjoyable for the sake of our future adventures together. Excuse me now while I make out my 2010 calender of upcoming events.

2010 No.1

I have been searching for ages for a song that epitomises everything that I have listened to. Over the years, I’ve tipped my hat to all types of music. I was never the kind of person who alienated himself from certain genres….I’d listen to anything that inspired and most music does inspire in some kind of way, especially if its played with passion and depth of feeling. It doesn’t necessarily have to be cool or anything like that. All it has to do is capture you in the moment. I suppose I’m lucky in a way that I can drift from one style to another. Maybe I have experienced a greater range because of it. Lets put it this way! I even like to listen to some country music…within reason obviously…but some of it can be really good!
I’m actually sorry I started a top ten list because it can be so bloody hard to keep it to just 10 tracks. What I ended up doing was selecting tracks that I would not normally hear in the every day run of things. Songs that I haven’t heard in years but have loved to listen to over and over in the past! If I had to make a proper list of songs, it would be infinite. I dare you out there to make a top ten of your true favourites and be honest in your assessment of what you think are your favourites. It’s bloody hard. There are some songs that I had to leave out that I didn’t want to.
I do hope you have enjoyed my taste. Maybe some of the stuff might not be to your taste but there you go…these are the songs that I have picked.
The No. 1 song is one of those songs that just reaches into your soul. This is a band that I have loved for ages. I can’t think of many people I know that listen to them as much as I have. Perhaps my brother Lenny and an old Goth friend of mine (Barry) are the only others who would recognise this song. They just have a unique sound…Peter Murphys voice just has this quality that cannot be matched along with the musicianship of the band. I hope it pleases those who chose to listen to it and maybe put you on a voyage of discovery into a band that influenced so many….Here goes….

Beat Boys in the Jet Age

This is the no. 2 in my countdown of all time great tunes. What can I say? I just love this band. I stole this album off my cousin Fergal when we were both DJing in Nancy Spain’s. All the songs on it are just great pop classics and when I was trying to think of something for my No. 2, this was one of the songs that naturally popped up. I actually haven’t listened to this song in a long time due to the fact that its on vinyl, so to be able to access it on youtube is like some kind of magical gift given to me by the Gods. People don’t realise how difficult it was to get your hands on this kind of stuff years ago. Now, all we have to do is enter it in youtube…hey presto…it’s there right in front of you….no effort involved whatsoever. The days of sharing your prized LPs seem to be long forgotten. Mark my words that I would not leave anyone get there hands on this LP though. It’s precious to me with lots of memories attached of another age…as the song goes!!!
And what makes it more poignant is that the lead singer passed away in 2008….so let this be a tribute to a great band of there time!!!!