Ink

Quotation of the day: David Baddiel (?) ~ Conspiracy theories are how idiots get to feel like intellectuals

Let's talk about ink.

I only have one very small tattoo on my body -- a treble clef 'way up at the top of my left arm, where hardly anyone ever sees it, and that's okay -- it's only important to me, it symbolizes the fact that my life would be unthinkable without music, blah, blah, who cares anyway, right?

But i'm starting to develop a theory about people who have extraordinary, extravagant and highly-visible ink on themselves.

My theory is very inchoate at this point, but it seems to me that many of those who have a lot of ink on 'em, are desperately boring people. I suppose that it depends on the designs, though. One of my best friends at work is Kate,* a truly wonderful person and she has exceptional designs all over her arms, and they -- and she -- are really lovely. I have another friend called Kyle, who has more ink on him than anyone i've ever met -- and all of it's tasteful and well done. On him, it looks good.

On the other hand, i know a few people -- not you, Tom, Carolyn, Michele, or Lisa if you should read this! -- who have really, really boring body art and they are without exception dull, dull, dull persons.

So ... the ink reflects the person? Is that my conclusion? Well, i did say it was inchoate.

Here, have my playlist and behave yourselves.

Pink Floyd -- Live At Pompeii
Renaissance -- Scheherezade And Other Stories
Renaissance -- Novella
Quintessence -- In Blissful Company
Peter Hammill -- Patience
George Harrison -- Wonderwall Music
Be+Bop Deluxe -- Modern Music
Sky -- Sky 2
Be+Bop Deluxe -- Electrical Language
Don Henley -- The End Of The Innocence
Jethro Tull -- The Minstrel In The Gallery
Bowling For Soup -- A Hangover You Don't Deserve
Elvis Costello -- Spike
Les Paul & Friends -- American Made World Played
Mike Oldfield - Tr3s Lunas
Kate Bush -- Never For Ever
Steeleye Span -- Below The Salt
Fairport Convention -- Myths And Heroes

*What is it, i wonder, with me and women named Kate / Cate? My cat's name is Cate and i named her after one of my favourite actresses, Cate Blanchett. One of my fave singers is Kate Bush. And Kate is one of my favourite people at work -- well, anywhere, really.

Radio Radio

Quotation of the day ~ Fred Allen: Radio is called a medium because it is rare that anything is well done.

I really need to stop listening to commercial radio. It's just the same old crap over and over -- the result of exhaustive research into the audience, no doubt.

Today's my day off. As is my wont, i started the day listening to my friend Tommy T. on KSHE (from St Louis) -- he has a fabulous feature called "The Rock Magazine" every weekday morning from 4:00 'til 5:00 and either spotlights a particular performer and plays music of theirs that's rarely heard elsewhere, or has a "theme" feature -- he did "Women In Rock" just before Mother's Day, for example -- and it was all music that's rarely heard and it was fabulous. But ... apart from "The Rock Magazine" he plays, no doubt under orders, the same old crap: Z.Z.Top, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, etc., every friggin' hour.

When i'm working, i generally stick with him until it's time for me to leave for the sweatshop, but today (my day off, remember) i switched to K-ROCK (Kingston, Ontario), where my (Facebook) friend Wendy Boomer is co-host of the morning show (along with Big Kris). She's great, and the morning show is great, and they're very funny. But guess what: it's Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin and (this being a Canadian station) Rush every friggin' hour.

When the Big Kris & Boomer show ends, i generally stay with the station and listen to Courtney Murphy, who has an atrociously raw Canadian accent and a smirk in her voice that drives me nuts, but she plays some great music -- but again, it's all the same schtuff i hear every day. Not her fault, i know, and she seems a nice person, but i could quite happily live my entire life without ever hearing "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Stairway To Heaven" ever again.

When Courtney's program ended today, i switched to KZQZ (also St Louis) -- an oldies station that was recommended to me by some friends in Belleville, Illinois. Erm -- they play music from the fifties and sixties and that theme doesn't really work for me. Basically, the fifties ended, and the sixties began, in 1963, with The Beatles' "She Loves You." which i love, of course. But The Beatles were interspersed with Bobby Vee (?) and Lesley Gore (??). Love the sixties schtuff, but a lot of the fifties music is like having nails driven into my eardrums.

So now i've switched again, this time to KOCI, http://www.kociradio.com/ a listener-supported station from Newport Beach, California. In the past half hour i have heard Bob Dylan, Marcia Ball, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, Bonnie Raitt, Ten Years After, Cat Stevens and it's all been abfab. This could well be my new favourite radio station! (And a shout-out to my friend George Golde, who lives in L.A., city of angels, for telling me about it.) If i have one complaint about KOCI, it's that i haven't found a link on their website that will tell me what's playing. They play some pretty obscure schtuff, and i'd love to know what it is sometimes. They played, for example, a song that i'd never heard before and i could have sworn it was by Rory Gallagher (my favourite guitarist), but i couldn't find the info anywhere. I even emailed them to ask what it was, but they didn't respond.

The playlist:

Pink Floyd -- Live At Pompeii
Renaissance -- Scheherezade And Other Stories
Renaissance -- Novella
Quintessence -- In Blissful Company
Peter Hammill -- Patience
George Harrison -- Wonderwall Music
Be+Bop Deluxe -- Modern Music
Sky -- Sky 2
Be+Bop Deluxe -- Electrical Language

Re-Assessing Crabby Joe's

Quotation Of The Day ~ Clive James: Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. Those who lack humor are without judgment and should be trusted with nothing.

As i wrote recently, Crabby Joe's Tap & Grill Stratford is a lovely new boozer in town. In my previous post about it, i wrote that the only reason that i probably wouldn't frequent it was that they didn't have open Wi-fi. Nevertheless, i had lunch there a second time, had an excellent clubhouse sandwich and had the same barmaid with the spray-painted-on trousers and trust me, on her, they work!

And my dear friend Jill came in for a drink with her brother, and i bought her one and i was liking the place more and more by the minute (in spite of no Wi-fi).

However, although they don't have open Wi-fi, they do have Wi-fi, and i have a friend who works in the kitchen there and (chortle) he gave me the password. And so, armed with this, i went in for a drink after work on Wednesday. And the first thing i noticed was a new sign on the door suggesting Wi-fi was available. Oh, cool, i thought, but when i tried to connect to their network, it still required a password (?). Maybe the staff are empowered to give you the password if you ask for it? But i wasn't worried: i had it!

And yet again i had the same attractive bartender. She's very nice (turns out her name is Jess) but i suspect she's high-maintenance: everything about her appearance is perfect (or purr-fect, if you prefer). (On the other hand, maybe she's just naturally perfect; further research is indicated.) (I actually found a photograph of her on the Internet, too, but i'm not going to post it. Invasion of privacy and all that, although it was scary how easy it was to find....)

So, i'll just post some different eye candy, a pic of Kira Milan, one of my favourite girls of all time.

And my playlist, too!

Fairport Convention -- Myths And Heroes
John Kirkpatrick -- Plain Capers
Oysterband -- Holy Bandits
The Albion Country Band -- The Battle Of The Field
Saga -- Images At Twilight
Runrig -- In Search Of Angels
Cat Stevens -- Mona Bone Jakon
Marillion -- Brave Live 2013
Saga -- House Of Cards
Ten Years After -- Live At Reading, 1983