Clooney’s Sattelite

Another item from the farthest regions of reality: actor George Clooney, at the  Venice Film festival to promote his new film ‘Gravity’, has been talking about his satellite. Hollywood actors are famous for their lavish spending, but this is a first – he owns a spy satellite in orbit over Sudan to keep an eye … Continue reading →

Colanders from Kansas

Here’s a movement from the outer reaches of sensibility, so gloriously mad it works. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was founded as a protest against Intelligent Design being taught in Kansas schools, and has spread to become a worldwide phenomena. They now have something like a million followers, with some actually believing in … Continue reading →

Grey Goose

Grey Goose. This is probably the best known of Leadbelly’s songs. I have heard so many versions of it, but I love this. It sounds soooo old.

I Ain’t Going Down To The Well No More

I Ain’t Going Down To The Well No More. Another brilliant piece of early Leadbelly from the archives.

Old Ship Of Zion

Old Ship Of Zion. This is a wonderful mix of one of Leadbelly’s last recordings. Sounds almost Elizabethan.

The Tale of the Fox Animated

This is an animated version of Goethe’s classic folk tale, voiced in French with English subtitles by Russians. It could have been a slab of Europudding, but it is a masterpiece of early animation. Enjoy! http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/the-tale-of-the-fox.html

Your Song through Time

Elton John is a musician I tend to forget about because he has simply been around for so long, and for all the Disney stuff, but he has always been a formidable singer/songwriter from the earliest days of this profession.  This is a clip of him singing one of his best songs, Your Song, through … Continue reading →

Dark Side Streaming

A few days ago I posted about the play by tom Stoppard being broadcast on BBC Radio. It is brilliantly clever and makes wonderful use of this iconic album. You can listen to it here: http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/darkside-streaming-free-for-limited-time.html

How a Man Becomes a Gardener

This is another slice of the wonderful book The Gardener’s Year, by Karel Capek, illustrated by his brother Josef: Odd as it may appear, a gardener does not grow from seed, shoot, bulb, rhizone, or cutting, but from experience, surroundings, and natural conditions. when I was a little boy I had towards my father’s garden … Continue reading →

The Gardener’s Year

This is a book by Czech writer Karel Capeck who gave the wrd robot to the English language. It is a brilliant little tome that was hugely popular on its release in 1931; the copy I have is the 10th impression, from 1939. It is both funny and an accurate (?) account of gardening, beautifully … Continue reading →