Born Under Punches

Have you ever had a week when it seems an inordinate amount of things go wrong for you?

So as not to bore you good people Ill spare the details. Heres the lowlight reel instead:

-Missed an entire days lectures due to missing a train from Lancaster- copped an consequent ear bashing on how this will effect my chances of doing my masters/putting off entry to The Big Wide World.tm

-Upset someone who I consider pretty important to me at the minute. (was a 'leetle beet drank')

-this was a killer; dropped my phone in a cup of tea (guess you had to be there..)- very much defunct as a result

-this meant my mum, who I later found out had been trying to catch me for upwards of a week prior, was 'worried sick'- this in turn meant she picked a number, at random from my phone bill, and called them to ask if I was ok...

-the number she picked happened to be a girl who I ahem,had a thing with a couple of months ago. Smashing...

-cue deeply,shockingly,upsettingly awkward doorstep conversation after said girl carries out my deranged mothers orders and tracks my elusive self down.

-oh, and it turns out the reason my darling mother needed to speak to me in the first place was that O2 are trying to charge me line rental for the old phone I had disconnected ONE WEEK AGO...see the irony?

-then, it turns out my old school friends 21st party was actually saturday night, not sunday as I had thought, meaning not only did I miss it (being phone-less, I was uncontactable) but I turn up a trendy quayside bar to find out the bar was booked last night, not tonight. Thats 80p bus fare I aint seein' again.

Wow, reading this back Im beginning to see the funny side, it reads like a rather weak and uneventful episode of Seinfeld. Without Kramer's stunning physical comedy and bang-on timing.

The mans peerless...

Heres to a better week ahead...

And heres a little ditty I did..

I was having one of those 'how come nobody ever talks about...' conversations with a mate the other day, and it struck me that, in lue of anything else remotely interesting to say, I could use this blog to vent some of my 'unsung hero' based rants. So here goes...

Im guessing most people who read this know of REM. Undisputed kings of the 80's American college radio scene; pushed to the moon and back after the release of hugely popular albums like 'Out of Time', irresistible singles like 'Shiney Happy People' and their abso-fucking-lutley classic 'Automatic for the people' (read: 'the one with Everybody Hurts on'). Less well known, I imagine, are the other bands who flourished in the heady days of that same mid 80's scene- such as the blistering Husker Du, the wonderfully quirky Meat Puppets and the band Im going to focus on today- The Replacements.

Ill explain something first:

The Replacements career is monumentaly frustrating for a retrospective fan such as me. Never before have I had more 'Why dont they do more songs like THIS one!' thoughts about a band; and I own almost all of Lennon's post-beatle material... So this isnt about me lambasting Joe Public for not making rock gods of my favourate bands- on no. I fully understand the reasons for Mark Westerberg and his band not being household names.

Anyway, the Replacements began life as the Impendiments in the late 70's, with the turn of the decade heralding a name change and subsequent signing to Twin/Tone records. Their early stuff was VERY much in the punk/hardcore/garage vain; rowdy, chaotic, inebriated but strangely charming- hear the drunk neandrethal roar of 'Beer For Breakfast' for a dictionary definition of the bands ability to be belchingly ramshackle, but extrememly likable with it. 1984 saw the band release their breakthru (and my personal favourite of their records) 'Let it be'. Featuring fan favourites like 'I will dare' (which features REM's Peter Buck on six strings), 'Unsatisfied' and 'Androgynous', it signaled a change of direction for the guys...or more acuratly, it didnt. Ill explain... This disc really sums up the bands career for me. Songs like the aformentioned combine elements of the bands punk roots with country, rock n roll, new wave, even lounge jazz and (shhhh!..) pop, to create a truly original and utterly enchanting sound which, most importantly, delivers great, great songs. However, I mentioned earlier that this record doesnt represent a change in direction for the band, which is true. Its more a change in direction of lead singer/writer Mark Westerberg; longing to expand his repetoir thus showcasing his brilliant songwriting, yet hesitent to abandon the punk roots to which he owes aformentioned brilliant songwriting. A dilemma indeed, and one he wrestled with for the remainder of the 'Mats career.
For this reason the later (greater) Replacements records sound very Jeckyl and Hide to me; one side wonderfully written, eclectic and downright charming pop infused rock tracks which could be imtimate, distant, spiteful, reflective, optimistic- whatever; another half thrashy garage numbers which, while retaining some punk credibility, sound a little tired and dated to me. Its this struggle with punk's
(in)famous glass ceiling that frustrates me when I listen to the 'Mats, and, I reckon, stopped the band ever registering the classic they so-incredibly-blatently had within them.

In summary, if you enjoy REM's looser moments, the Pixies or any of the American alternative bands (Pavement ect), I'd suggest you look into the Replacements- the Best of compilation 'All for Nothing, Nothing for All' is a good place to start; you may not be disappointed.

http://www.twintone.com/mats.html -the Replacements page at Twin/Tone

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=29943698 -The 'Mats at MySpace, you can hear some stuff here.

After becoming increasingly immersed in the blog community over the past couple of months, Iv finally got round to having a stab at contributing.

They say blogging is to words what napster was to music; the means and incentive to share news/theories/opinions/innane chatter freely and easily. Personally, I see its impact reaching even deeper. Sites such as this one not only afford the user the means to present their words/media ect. to a vast audience;they are a medium for people to reflect their real lives and personalities. And, for this reason, I think theyre bloody well fascinating. There are few things more compelling than a window into a strangers life; couple with the ability to interact with one another as easily as typing on a message board and the phenomenon status is well and truly confirmed.

From a readers POV I guess the attraction is obvious, but whats in it for the writer? What is it that has people flocking to sign up to these sites? I suppose the 'dear diary' factor comes into it. The thereputic effect of seeing the events of your day in black and white should not be underestimated. But there has to be something in the idea of a total stranger being able to read it aswell as you that appeals to us. Hmmmm....

Also, of all the online communities (message boards, chatrooms ect) I personally have found the blogging community to be (sweeping generalisation warning...) the most pleasant by a distance. The fact there is some actual reading and (heaven forbid) thinking involved in blogging, i think this deters at least some of the less determined web idiots from wreaking their (sexually motivated?) havoc on your decent bloggers.
It is a format which encourages community spirit; the effort is made to read/write/maintain blogs which I feel makes them much less throwaway than your average web community (which are thrown up with a carefree nonchalencence that seems to breed these hateful little flamers). Blogs,I would say by and large are less suseptable to general internet fuck-witery.

Phew..right, a bit about myself. Im 21, studying English language at Newcastle, and I play/record music, play/watch football, read and generally lark about in my copius amounts of free time. Oh, and apologies for my spelling, I study language you see.

This is a tune I wrote and recorded. Its an instrumental guitar driven number. Id love to know what people think.

Thanks