Why Bruce used to matter to me and my mates

Continuing the Springsteen theme, and just to prove that Bruce meant a lot to me a long, long time ago, I attach “The River.” See below.

When this came out it was a bit of a revelation. For some Americans, it was the start of a realisation that there were tough things happening in the land of Apple Pie. For many Irish, it was a real-good feeling because somewhere in Springsteen’s Dutch and Italian heritage he had proudly resurrected a Catholic Irish background that he referred to often. And we Irish certainly made the most of the fact that Bruce was almost one of our own, someone who could tell a story in a really engaging lyric – big time.

Me, I was at University at the time this came out, reading people like Flannery O’Connor  and soaking up much of the vibe about Springsteen as a short-story writer – one who, in the guise of a rock and roller, could almost beat the big American short-story giants at their own game. Better than that, it was like he was Flannery O’Connor, Ansell Adams, Georgia O’Keefe all rolled into one. Writer, artist, image-maker – he could paint vivid scenes or break your heart with just a couple of words.

Back then too, I was also friendly with a beautiful native of Philly – blonde, witty, intelligent, musical (she could play guitar better than Chrissie Hynde, we thought) – who told us great stories of nights travelling the turnpikes, skipping from one bar to the next – chrome wheeled, fuel injected, steppin’ out over the line. The trip from Enniskillen to dances in Bundoran was never quite the same after that.

That’s why this Video is the best – and because it was the first video we ever saw on a great big video juke box. So while we should have been doing lots of other things – like essays and tutorials and the sort – we stood in the Edgewater Hotel in Portstewart and pumped coin after coin into the slot and watched one helluva short story unfold… time after time after time after time…

Mercury Music Prize

Gutted that Amy Winehouse didn’t win.

Hello, I’m back again – again.

Once again I’ve been very lax about keeping this particular blog up to date. Obviously, there’s no excuse for such a slack attitude, but I’ve come up with a few anyway:

1. Most of my time has been spent on business in general;
2. Most of my blog time has been spent on a business-related blog;
3. I have a number of other writing projects that need to be finished off soon;
4. We’ve been in holiday mode over the summer, spending loads of time in Donegal;
5. I’m getting older and lazier.

But now that it’s September again – and everyone’s minds turn to work again, and knuckling down again, etc etc - I’ll try to get back on course: not so much for any readers out there, but just to raise my own stickability rating.

Crikey! Do they mean me?

Woke up this morning to find that I had been chosen as a recipient of a Thinking Blogger Award.

The honour comes from From Scratch (http://ellaella.wordpress.com/) an American blogger with a really sweet line in recipes and a sometimes acid take on political naughtiness. It’s a delightful, thought-provoking site – although I imagine it’s hard to stay on it too long without having to go raid the fridge, such is the variety of mouth-watering goodies on view.

Anyway, part of the ruse is for a recipient to “spread the joy” by tagging five other blogs which make me think. Actually, all blogs make me think – one way or another. So I’ll nominate those that currently make me most jealous.

http://hughgreen.wordpress.com

http://whatiftheydid.blogspot.com

http://redmum.blogspot.com

http://hilaryny.blogspot.com

http://russelldavies.typepad.com

Congratulations to the five above and if you choose to participate, here’s the fine print:

1. If, and only if, I tagged your blog, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so people can easily find the origin of your award.

Ah go on, go on, go on – sure life is short.

The Killers vs LCD Sound System

In our office today, someone popped on Sam’s Town by The Killers. OK, he thought it was the new Take That cd (long story). But we haven’t listened to Sam’s Town in maybe a month – after it being a constant for as long as it has been out. Someone else immediately piped up: ‘How good is that? Album of the Year – any year’. And most of us would agree.

But wanna know the next Album of the Year? I mentioned it here before but it just keeps getting better and better: Sound of Silver by LCD System. Please listen. It’ll do you good.

This first clip is just track – no pics. But best track on album. Following clip is the excellent North American Scum.

Album of the Year? Maybe. But I also got a few other contenders. Update you later.

Connectivity: from Red Mum to James Murphy

One of the nice things about this blogging lark is the connectivity it brings. Especially on trivial or seemingly insignificant things. But then one man’s trivial is another man’s essential. Also, I note the number of nice people that seem to exist out there – wherever ‘out there’ actually is. And a lot of them do be thinking nice things too.

Take Red Mum for example. She wrote eloquently about stationery the other day; specifically her reluctance to soil a new, great-looking notebook with an entry that didn’t match the quality of the book. I know how she feels actually. I have had a terrific unlined moleskin notebook now for nearly a year – just waiting for the perfect thought to be jotted down on page 1. I also have a similar diary. But everything goes into the diary without delay – no thinking about writing it neatly, or whether it’s in pencil, or even if the marker will bleed through to the other side. Why is that? Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

Then there’s James Murphy of the group LCD Sound System. Yesterday I mentioned his new album – see blog below – and so in an effort to find out a little more about him and his music I actually discovered a blog of his on the Guardian website. In it, he talks about the boredom of life on the road. He goes on to talk about the need to connect with home. This is a bit of what he says:

i’ve been on tour for a bit now – the first time in over a year – and the adjustment is strange. i’ve run into friends in the uk who’ve read this blog, and we’ve had a pretty good laugh about all the “feedback”, but now i’m finding it harder and harder to find the time and headspace to write anything. … i’m close to finished with pynchon’s mason & dixon, but i just can’t seem to read right now. the book just sits in my bunk, and i adjust where it is depending upon what type of position i’d like to sleep in. on my side, with the book up by my face. on my stomach with my arms by my head, and the book shoved down by my waist. i’ve read it twice before, and i like it very much, but right now it’s still sitting there, directly between me and the new pynchon, …. i can get on my computer in certain venues and turn on the ichat, which lets me see my apartment, my wife, my dog. sometimes we talk about what she’s been doing (my wife, or the dog, really) and sometimes i like to leave it on when they’re asleep just so i can look in and see where it is i live. i’ve talked to other bands about touring, and there seems to be two camps of ideology. one camp prefers to forget about home, and the other tries to stay as connected as they can. i fall firmly now in the latter camp. there is a camera at the front door of the dfa office in new york where i work for checking who people are before buzzing them into the building. my friend steve has thoughtfully set up a web address for the camera so that i can always look at the street in new york if i’m homesick. sometimes it’s snowing and daylight on the camera while it’s a hot night where i am, as it was last year in australia. sometimes i see someone i work with standing outside to meet a friend or have a cigarette. it can feel invasive when you look at someone you know halfway around the world having a conversation on their phone, but luckily there’s no sound. i wonder if i’ll ever see something i shouldn’t on the camera – like someone i know cheating on their husband or whatever. i sometimes wonder if there’s something wrong with me wanting to see a live image of a street i know in new york when i’m in a bus somewhere else.

 Nice thoughts Red Mum and James. They made a connection.

(See Red Mum’s link below. Hook up with James here: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/arts/author/james_murphy/)

Blogging Vs Print: more sense from Russell Davies

Forgive me if I start to mention Russell Davies quite a bit. But this is highly relevant and, for me at least, very educational as I make the leap from print to digital. Here are some snippets from his column in this week’s Campaign magazine. See the whole piece here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RussellDavies

Writing these pieces for Campaign after years of blogging has forced me to think about the relative characteristics of all this new-fangled digital stuff and good old-fashioned, grimy print. And I think the essential difference is this; digital may be flexible, conversational, speedy and cheap, but print still has this undeniable, irresistible weight and authority, an authority that’s attractive to readers, advertisers and writers.

A good blog is conversational because it’s porous, not just on the web, but of the web. The joy of writing one is that you don’t have to explain everything, you can just link to it. If your reader wants to pursue that link she will, if she doesn’t she can continue with you. The other great advantage is the way the possibility of feedback is built-in, and the real value often comes from the discussion in the comments, where your idea is really examined and refined. I suspect that’s why most blog posts look so half-formed compared to print articles, they’re not designed to be finished thoughts, they’re offers of conversation, thought-starters, provocations. (Or at least that’s what I tell myself every time I write a blog post that just dribbles to an inconclusive ending.) All that combined with the fast pace of the blogosphere and the minimal cost of entry makes it a buzzy, messy, democratic place where every good thought leads to a good conversation and every good conversation is global.

In contrast, print can often look stodgy, stale and slow, but despite that there’s still something very compelling about it. Partly it’s because you always feel like you have to try and construct a decent argument here, make a point, explain something clearly and round it off with a snappy ending.

Davies is probably the most-at-ease blogger or podcaster I know of. As I said before, check out all his blogs by following the blogroll link below. Especially good are his pieces on youtube.

(Cartoon from gapingvoid.com)

Things have changed a bit

Like I said, I’m getting to grips with this blog design bit – slowly. So it seems I pressed a wrong button and the whole look of things changed. I quite like it though, so we’ll keep it like this for a while. Until the next button incident at least. (Did I say button? Shouldn’t that be key? Oh well.)

Go see the Levee man

This guy’s good: www.theleveebreaks.co.uk