Category A PERSONAL APPROACH
CIMMERIAN CLASSIC
Prior to an overseas trip in the early nineties, I hosted a Book Party. The goals were threefold: to reduce the amount of stuff I needed to put into storage, see people for a farewell drink and chat, and perhaps raise a few shekels for the travel fund. So I put the word out, mentioning […]
I GOT THE NEWS
[Recording: Bright daytime voice over fade of smoky alto sax solo] This is independent station WJAZ, all night jazz and conversation. Now back to your host, Lester The Nightfly LESTER Hello Baton Rouge. It’s coming up to 2:15 on a drizzly Saturday night… or Sunday morning if you’re that way inclined. Continuing our tribute to […]
TOP TEN EXCUSES FOR BUYING RECORDS
The review I read was really positive 1 The price was a lot less than Discogs 2 It’s my birthday 3 I’ve never seen it ‘in the wild’ before 4 The cover art is nice 5 It fills a gap in the collection 6 It will be my birthday in 10 days / weeks / […]
TIMELESS
I remember where but not which. The shop was in Princes Gate Arcade, down the end in a kind of cul-de-sac where only record hunters and lost commuters ended up. I remember a big window, counter, racks—sparsely distributed around a loungeroom-sized space—and bean bags where you could audition an LP of your choice under headphones […]
CURRANT BUNS FOR TEA
I’ve got a bike. You can ride it if you like It’s got a basket, a bell that rings and Things to make it look good. I’d give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.* Despite painful learning as to the aptness of the name ‘stinging nettles’, it was one of the […]
DO THE POP?
In 1977, being on a trial separation from the University of Melbourne (it ended in divorce) I was working at Max Rose Electronics in suburban Melbourne. At the time I was deeply into prog heavyweights Yes for the playing, the complexity, even the unfathomable lyrics. All the things smart-arse music journalists were queuing up to […]
VERITIES AND BALDERDASH
Back in the seventies I listened to quite a few singer-songwriters as I made a feeble attempt to be one myself. Wrote a few tunes, performed at a few threadbare church-connected coffee shops, gave it away (both the church part and the songwriting). But along the way, I listened to some artists who really were […]
THE LATE ROOSTER
For more than four years I’ve wanted to write about the first LP I bought. Over a year ago I finally squeezed out a first draft. Didn’t really like it and the file sat there on the desktop staring dolefully back at me whenever I glanced around for blogging inspiration. The second version stripped back […]
COME AND GO BLUES
Back then, Brothers and Sisters was a notable purchase: a new record, still on the charts. What led to this profligate expenditure? Perhaps the infectious boogie of the radio single “Rambling Man” demanded more frequent playing than AM radio offered; doubtless hearing the instrumental “Jessica” on 3XY’s Sunday night Album Show fanned desire. A late […]
STRANGE THINGS
This week I noticed that Vinyl Connection was about to turn four. There have been a few stutters, but we are still spitting out regular posts on everything from 60s folk to twenty-first century electronica, from funked up Miles Davis to European Prog. Along with periodic celebrations of album cover art, of course. Vinyl Connection has […]
10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT PAN
1 Pan is the Greek god of Nature, of untrammelled wilds and rustic settings. He is the player of music, the companion of nymphs, the patron of shepherd and flocks, and a bit of a lad with the ladies. Goat from the waist down, crowned with curling horns, it is sometimes written that Pan is […]
WORLDS IN A MAGICIAN’S HAT
Yesterday I ran a beginner’s dungeon for a group of children between the ages of 11 and 15 (plus an embedded 50-something). Today I’m recovering. The convalescent state rekindled a process of memory-mining around my introduction to the prince of all role-playing games, an excavation that began last year when I read David M. Ewalt’s […]
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