Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before

Mr K is right (as usual) when he says I need to add the following to the sweepstake:

6. The New York Dolls
7. Roxy Music

No [*ahem*] Raymonde one hopes - a band so dire that even the mighty Google does not compute a link (lucky readers...)

ETA - rank outsiders - they're good but they're not right:

8. Linder
9. Jobriath

November Spawned a Mozza*

Morrissey is on Desert Island Discs on Sunday. I am unbelievably excited - every trailer on Radio 4 has me all a-quiver with delicious anticipation. He is one of my heroes and I have loved him since I was 12 years old.

I think I last heard Morrissey (who has consistently viewed the media with suspicion throughout his career) on the radio in June 1986 when he made a rare-as-rockinghorse-s*** appearance to preview The Queen is Dead on Tony "the Greek" Michaelides' *alternative show* on Piccadilly Radio, a much-missed independent Manchester station where Chris Evans began his career as Timmy Mallett's sidekick (not to mention OOH Gary Davies...).

I can remember so vividly sitting in my bedroom, hoping my tape deck was working, hanging on Mozza's every word, transported by the new songs I was hearing, counting the minutes down till I could buy my very own copy (on vinyl, natch). Ah, happy days**.

So roll on 11.15am on Sunday morning! I predict we will hear at least one if not all of the following:

1. Elvis
2. Twinkle
3. Cilla Black
4. Sandie Shaw
5. The Smiths ;)

Happy listening, readers!

PS OMG! Tony the Greek is a blogger! And he's thinking about making a radio comeback! Do it Tony, DO IT!

*I can claim no credit for this witticism - it's the name of a Brighton club night devoted to all things Smiths & Moz-related. Still, as Oscar Wilde (a Mozza idol) is reputed to have said - talent borrows, genius steals ;)

** when I wasn't busy being, erm, miserable lol ;)

Blog Assessment; Bee Amazement; Bong Amusement

Blog Assessment

I'm now almost five weeks into starting this blog (yes, I know it feels like longer ;)), and this evening I started to worry slightly that I've been doing it wrong.

Yes, I've been making some punchy political points about both local and national government policy issues, and yes, I've tried to give my, erm, dozens of readers a flavour of the work I carry out on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the residents of Preston Park ward. I've also blogged at length about the recent European elections, and the current local by-election in Goldsmid.

But equally I've also been wittering on about things I like (art, architecture, food, horticulture etc) and things that amuse me (smoking fish, Morrissey heads), which aren't necessarily directly connected to my work as an elected Green, or to my efforts as an activist (although to me, the personal is always political).

It feels like a dilemma: should I scale back on the fripperies and observational stuff to concentrate only on being a Politics Robot? Or should I leave out the campaigns and the elections, and just content myself with musings about urban meadows and street art (etc)?

Ideally, I'd like to keep on doing both, but I don't want to appear inconsistent and/or (*ahem*) 'random'.

This ISN'T an official Green Party of England & Wales blog, but I am a Green councillor, and I'm very mindful of the potential for tension in including both my personal musings and my political mutterings in the same blog (*eyes P&P imprint to right*).

Answers on a postcard please (or via the 'post a comment' button), but in the meantime, here's a bit of both:

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Bee Amazement

(Charlie Brandts, a White House carpenter as well as beekeeper, collects the first batch of honey from the beehives on the South Lawn of the White House, June 10, 2009. Official White House Photographer: Lawrence Jackson)

So we all love Obama (yes, we do!). But this week I started to love him even more when I learnt that he's keeping bees at the White House. I am so thrilled by this! - it's amazing, visionary, and totally leading by example.

I have, erm, a bee in my bonnet about bees: some readers may be aware that the escalating demise of the honey bee is a serious cause for concern, and potentially a catastrophe for agriculture and ergo humankind.

Bees are also a symbol of industry, and the symbol of my hometown (see right for a snap of the beautiful mosaic floor in Manchester Town Hall): I love the little fellas, and I'm hoping to do some work on (or even with) them soon (now fuelled by Obama-spiration).

Here are a couple of pix of some apian chums closer to home (well, Bowdon, last weekend) to be going on with:

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Bong Amusement

Last Sunday my family and I went for a walk at Lymm Dam - an area of rural fringe land abutting the M56 which has been beautifully restored in recent years by a regional agency and community partnership project.

Pastoral beauty and tranquillity notwithstanding (and somewhat regrettably, given the fact that we're now both in our thirties), it doesn't take much to reduce me and my brother into Beavis & Butthead-like fits of the giggles:
Lol etc ;) (Etymologists might like to know that "bongs" is derived from the mediaeval (old French) word "bancs", meaning "wooded banks".)

After a lovely walk (during which we saw chaffinches and goldfinches), we ate some delicious cakes provided by the Lymm Brownies. At 30p for a big fat slice, it seemed churlish not to. Ah, Mysterious Cheshire!

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So there you go - tit and tat. Like I say, answers on a postcard or via 'comments' please... I enjoy blogging about the incidentals as much as I enjoy blogging about hardcore politics/industry stuff. Maybe I need two seperate blogs (*brain melts at prospect of moar difficult coding*). All advice and constructive criticism much appreciated.

Art & About

Mr K & I took a stroll along the seafront yesterday. The AQUA studios on Madeira Drive were open, and the piece on the right caught my eye, warming the cockles of my heart :)

There was a companion piece stating "I Hate My Husband", but I didn't take a photo of that one because, erm, I don't.




Walking back along George Street, I spotted this collage in someone's window. This just about made my afternoon, and I'd like to salute the artistic genius who created this splendid array of Morrissey heads.

I thought the juxtaposition of the orthopaedic crutch was a nice touch too.