Mrs Woman

'Music Beats Mines' is a three-month festival of music, poetry and arts to raise funds for MAG and their humanitarian mission to clear landmines, weapons and other remants of conflict for the benefit of communities worldwide.

Pin back your lugholes for a minute while the Garvmeister tells you more:



As part of this extended feelgood shindig, I'm doing a sponsored 'For One Day Only' Busking Tour of Cumbria. The idea is to play a 40 min set in each of a minimum of 5 market towns or tourist spots in the county, 95-100 miles round one way, then ending up in Cockermouth, which is where MAG started out before they moved to Manchester. Li'l bit of trivia for you, fact fans.

No exact date, but I'll be doing this on what looks the most likely for best driving weather and shopper traffic during the last two weeks in December. Probably one of the most fun ways to use annual leave ever.

There'll be photos & video taken through the day to show my exploits and these will go up on various places online, so you can join me in spirit on the rain-sodden mean streets of Keswick, Ulverston or wherever else I can annoy the locals for cash.

If you're able to sponsor me, any amount - even 50p or £1 - would be fantastic. My Just Giving page is http://www.justgiving.com/MrsWoman/ . Thank you x

Time has moved on plenty since my last post. Mr W is getting stronger and gradually back to normal life. I've had a few changes to the daily routine too. One example, my job now involves being online much more as a contributor rather than just a regular t'internet user, so there's a feeling of "busman's holiday" about updating here.

Today has brought up how difficult it is to really communicate with others. As dead-on-its-arse as it is, this year's Celeb Big Bro produced an unexpectedly astute philosophy from Tina Malone. "I don't get all these Facebook sites; if you want to talk to your friends, go SEE them... take them SOUP!"


Social networking sites are a bit of an acquired taste for me personally, despite using them regularly for professional reasons. Broader social media is fine - forums, YouTube, blogs, whatever - but it doesn't replace real people having a craic with you over a cuppa or a beer.

In the blog drought, I've met up with some old and new online buds who've become real-life friends. J, U, D & W, more folks from music sites... all been ace to meet and lovely to actually talk - rather than type - to them.

On the other hand, there's recently been an incident reminding me that it can also be really fucking hard to get a clear, but important message through to particular folk online. Even though there's a face-to-face bond, even though they've been told similar in the past... they interpret something so off-the-mark it's painful. Just another example of why communication theory officially rates online interaction as 'piss-poor'- with or without emoticons. ;)

Dragging up all those cliches, it's a hard lesson learned that you can only be true to yourself. Whether or not someone chooses to really hear what you need to say is a joint responsibility. "An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may" - William Hazlitt

Reads a thought-provoking bit of art near the neuro wards in a specialist regional hospital 70 miles away. It's a place I've spent a lot of time for the last four, nearly five weeks, visiting Mr W who's been ill with what emerged as a brain tumour and some unexpected complications .


Once he got to a stage where the photophobia, acute pain and high temperature were controlled, the doctors there interpreted the scans pretty quickly to come up with a diagnosis of 'intra ventricular space occupying lesion'. The op to remedy this went well, so much so on the day Mr W was amazingly coherent, chatty & cheeky whilst high as a kite on the anaesthetic. If there can be scarier times than wondering if your other half will successfully get through brain surgery, they kicked in the morning after he was discharged and started leaking cerebro spinal fluid - 'brain juice' - from his op site wound. A few hours later, after already visiting his GP and A&E as instructed, he became seriously ill again so ended up going back into the neuro wing for another couple of weeks.

So now he's home - again. Because of what happened last time he was discharged, I'm slighty cautious of relaxing fully. So far anyway. Everyday since he was first admitted to our local general hospital I'd set up daily measures & contingencies, some of which are still in evidence with notes left for family and friends, weird 'grab & go' food in the cupboards, pet arrangements. I'll put them away tomorrow. Maybe.

Meanwhile, my other half has a very impressive scar on his head, reminiscent of a shark bite according to one observer. The other thing that's evident with him is a changed outlook. Something about valuing whatever life throws at you for good or not so good, a more spiritual appreciation maybe. Not particularly from a religious point of view, just a tangible air of 'wake up and smell the coffee' before your particular espresso machine gives up the ghost. Even I can feel that wake-up fix: It feels like I've been sleepwalking for years and all of a sudden I've had a much-needed, good, dry slap. Just like a real bitch slap, there was a slight stunned feeling, then slow realisation of what's to be learned from the experience.

There's nothing like a crisis to really make you realise how many people you have in your life, what they mean to you and conversely, what you mean to them. And for all those people, even ones who I hardly know yet have been so kind, I'm really grateful you're there.

Name your top 10 most played bands on iTunes:

1. Elbow
   
2. Keane
3. The Smiths
4. Radiohead
5. David Bowie
6. The Flaming Lips
7. Elvis Presley
8. Cherry Ghost
9. Coldplay
10. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
    

What was the first song you ever heard by 6 (The Flaming Lips)?

'Race For The Prize' from The Soft Bulletin. Totally blew me away.

What is your favorite album of 2 (Keane)?

"Hopes and Fears", their debut.

What is your favorite lyric that 5 (David Bowie) has sung?

"But the film is a saddening bore / for she's lived it ten times or more / she could spit in the eyes of fools ..."

How many times have you seen 4 (Radiohead) live?

Never, though it'd be great to see how they'd play live.

What is your favorite song by 7 (Elvis Presley)?

"If I Can Dream"

What is a good memory you have involving the music of 10 (Lloyd Cole and the Commotions) ?

It's a very old memory, but I used to travel down to North Wales every other weekend to see my then student boyfriend. I'd pack a well-used Walkman and healthy stash of cassettes, including Rattlesnakes, Easy Pieces and some compilations. That whole period in life seemed to be about finding independence on all levels and roaming round rail networks and gazing, mesmerised by Cole's velveteen voice, out of huge picture windows at ever-changing landscapes epitomised it pretty well. I still can't listen to Lloyd Cole without visualising hurtling through Cheshire greenery, while filled with that thrill of shortly seeing the one you love.

Is there a song of 3 (The Smiths) that makes you sad?

"Back To The Old House" reminds me of leaving our second year student house, shared with six brilliant, wonderful mates. I was completely inseparable from three of them for before and after and even now catch up sporadically.

What is your favorite lyric that 2 has sung?

From "Everybody's Changing": "I try to stay awake and remember my name / But everybody's changing / And I don't feel the same."

How did you get into 3 ?

I was still at school at the time and was into listening to John Peel, so heard one of their early sessions. That brief dalliance grew very quickly into sworn everlasting devotion to Morissey, Marr, Rourke & Joyce thanks to an old muso mate who I used to talk to most nights. Most of our conversations revolved around indie music, so The Smiths very quickly became a shared obsession.

What was the first song you heard by 1 (Elbow)?
"Any Day Now". My other half bought their debut album, "Asleep in the Back" back in 2001 and I remember hearing the first track off it during a run out in his knackered old car.

What is your favorite song by 4 (Radiohead)?
Can't decide between"No Surprises" or "Knives Out", so both.

How many times have you seen 9 (Coldplay) live?
Just the once during the X&Y tour at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton. Morning Runner and The Doves were supporting.

What is a good memory you have involving 2?
"Hopes and Fears" carries lots of good memories: Discovering new friendships, hugely positive life changes and two amazing Keane gigs, including an unforgettable one in Las Vegas!

Is there a song of 8 (Cherry Ghost) that makes you sad?

"People Help The People" has some melancholy associations due to lots of work crap going on at the time which directly affected the whole team.

What is your favorite album of 5?
"Hunky Dory". Pure, classic Thin White Duke throughout.

What is your favorite lyric that 3 has sung?
So many, but, "Two icy-cold hands conducting the way / It's the Eskimo blood in my veins / Amid concrete and clay / And general decay" just about nabs it in the 4-bar excerpt stakes.

What is your favorite song of 1 (Elbow)?
Ask me another day and you'd get a different answer. Today it's "Scattered Black and Whites", but "Fugitive Motel" would be my single Desert Island Disc.

What is your favorite song of 10 (Lloyd Cole and the Commotions)?
Probably "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?", though I love pretty much their whole back catalogue. Heartbroken's opening riff is just gorgeous, almost lo-fi in its simplicity while the lush picking sets it apart.

How many times have you seen 8 live?
Never, but again I'd like to. I'm waiting for the next album so would go then.

What is your favorite album of 1?

Tough call here, as they all have equal strengths and it just depends what mood I'm in. Right now it would have to be "Cast of Thousands" .


What is a great memory you have related to 9?

An obvious gig one. Not sure it's great as in 'wonderful', but it is funny: As mentioned before, we watched Coldplay at the Reebok about 3 years ago and got fairly near the front. Unfortunately, we were stuck near a group of plummy young twunts who didn't appear to be fans at all, judging by the hurl of hardcore abuse directed towards Chris Martin. The twunts were generally dishing out verbally and physical grief to other folk in a 10-deep radius. Despite most of us batting it right back, they were so seemingly out of it, any attenpts at retaliation just didn't sink in. About 30 minutes later, some benevolently jaded snack buyer indicated his displeasure at Top Twunt by successfully lobbing a half-eaten meat and potato pie onto chief Twunt's 'Toploader' lead-singer like hair. After we all cheered in triumph, he sloped off with his toady mates pretty quickly.

What was the first song you heard by 8?
"Mathematics".


What is your favorite cover by 2 ?

They did a mean version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Tom Chaplain's voice really lends itself to highly-emotive, heartfelt material.

For someone who loves messing with gadgets, I'm rubbish at doing anything with my mobile photos. During the Christmas clear out, I found some pictures from - ahem - July, then got a chance to fill up the card over New Year: The digital equivalent of using the last of your holiday 35mm on the cats.


From summer's Steam Gathering, here's the luvverly olde worlde funfair. It has everything from a Old Penny arcade with loads of ball bearing bagatelles, vintage Waltzers, Big Wheel and even a Wall of Death, which incidentally is nowt like Alan Davies' vision with loads of mice running round a bucket ; )


This is Laal Bear who was working at her stall that weekend. Check out the lacework shawl behind her.


Core to the Steam Gathering is it's huge collection of classic vehicles. Here's just a few to please surf dudes and hippy dippy chicks:

There's more quirky vehicular kicks to be had on Flickr, including a caffeined-up Smart car and its 1960s predecessor.

And finally, Esther, we saw Hank Hill's Missus on New Year's Day.


All together now: "Pro-pane!!!"

The old adage, "If Event X happens, I'll show my arse in Woolies' window" had its swan song with a flourish here just over a week ago.

Realising it would be their last chance to deliver on failed verbal bets, some badass set up a photo opportunity to outshine anything the local rag could come up with, assuming* they would've had the balls to do it:

Cost of a 99-year old High Street institution going out of business: £Thousands.
Cost of a good scrub, freshly ironed pants and a nice black top: £1.46

Unashamedly shocking passers-by with your pale, pimply backside: Priceless.

There isn't much left of 2008, so I wish you a very Happy, healthy & downright brilliant 2009.

Mrs Woman x

Like thousands of fans still mourning his passing, I really miss John Peel's affable, shambolic nature and intuitive good taste. While 'Margrave of the Marshes' sits with cracked spine on the shelf and 'The Olivetti Chronicles' barely unwrapped, what little vinyl I've hung onto looks like a slimmed down 'best of' the bands who appeared on his sessions. Even my MySpace page sported a 'Peel is God' badge for ages, until its image link got taken down.

In a similarly blasphemous vein, this intermittent obsession surfaced again on Christmas Day during Dr Robert Beckford's 'Decoding The Nativity'. As you would imagine, it included interviews with various befrocked ecumenical types, including Dr Richard Chartres, Bishop Of London with his spooky resemblance to Peel:

Photoshop-free doppelgangers aside, one of the most iconic pieces of John Peel history has to be his Festive Fifty. If you've never come across this annual treat, the idea was that Peel would invite listeners to nominate their three favourite tracks of the year, which he would distil into a chart of the most popular half-hundred.

By way of half-hearted tribute, here's fifteen loosely indie favourites which unlike the real chart include some 2007 tracks which only registered with me this year. OK, here's the note excusing my tardiness Sir...

15. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie, 'Narrow Stairs'
14. That's Not My Name - Ting Tings, 'We Started Nothing'
13. Last Po' Man - Seasick Steve, 'Dog House Music'
12. The Age of the Understatement - The Last Shadow Puppets, 'The Age of the Understatement'
11. Chasing Pavements - Adele, '19'
10. Ladies of the World - Flight of the Conchords, 'Flight of the Conchords'
9. Thou Shalt Always Kill (De La Soul Remix) - Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, original version on 'Angles'
8. Gideon - My Morning Jacket, 'Z'
7. Ali in the Jungle - The Hours, 'Narcissus Road'
6. Some Riot - Elbow, 'The Seldom Seen Kid'
5. Time to Pretend - MGMT, 'Oracular Spectacular'
4. Is There a Ghost - Band of Horses, 'Cease To Begin'
3. Going To A Town - Rufus Wainwright, 'Release The Stars'
2. Galaxy of the Lost - Lightspeed Champion, 'Falling Off The Lavender Bridge'
1. Mykonos - Fleet Foxes , 'Sun Giant EP'

Ugh. Don't you hate those post-modern portmanteau words like 'Twixmas'? Rubbish name or not, here we are in that hungover no-man's land between long-anticipated, soon-dissipated Christmas and the forced repentance and/or revelling of New Year.

Despite sounding like a mardy old cow, it's been a good Christmas here, one that Goldilocks would be happy with: Yunno, not too much X, not too little of Y, so it's worked out just right. Hope yours was too. Very quickly, we've somehow done all the necessary social stuff with parents, straggler family members and friends. After yesterday's two wildly contrasting parties - think wacky warehouse-at-home kidsville, then depraved, drunken shenanigans in a wonderful vintage den of iniquity - we now get to curl up in carb-induced stupor, augmented by time-shifted TV, radio and 'tinternet delights. If that sounds tempting, there's still room on the sofa, no questions or social niceties asked.

What else did I do? I enjoyed spinning up some of LimeGreenJelly's roving


and carried on reading Stuart Maconie's 'Pies and Prejudice', which Mr W swiped off me mid-read last year. As a kid I'd devour books in hours while these days I struggle and pick at paperbacks with the enthusiasm of a macrobiotic monk at McDonalds. Julian Clary's "A Young Man's Passage" recently helped regain shreds of the reading mojo, so maybe 11-year old literary habits will kick in again soon, uncanny and unnatural as they were.

As much as I hate social pressure to do anything en masse, the forces of New Year reflection have relentlessly worked their way into those remaining brain cells. It's been a long time since the day job has been right, so after a decision that amounts to an economically defiant 'f*ck it!', big changes are finally in progress. One side benefit is already materialising as simpler living, something that's been hard to stick to these last few years without a big kick up the arse. Ah yes, discipline. I'd love to be disciplined, but sometimes I just can't be bothered... ; )