Category: Blog

My general wonderings…

Billy Bragg: Tooth and Nail

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

With his first studio album for five years, Billy Bragg is most certainly back…..only now we see the more relaxed-into-middle-age Bragg, an album about love, loss and hope, as opposed to fight, struggle and protest. As much as this album lacks a bit of the old fiery protest singer, what it does show is that Billy has lost none of his songwriting skills: touching and poignant throughout.

The album has a definite Americana influence, lots of slide guitar and a country feel in places. Bragg still manages to produce an album that feels perfectly balanced between the polemical and the out-and-out love songs.

The album is littered with the songs of struggle – only now it is the struggle with relationships, loneliness and loss. As much as Bragg is associated with protest songs, he does, in my opinion, sing about love even better. Take 'Your Name on my Tongue' a song about love and longing, or 'Handyman Blues' a wry look at modern relationships.

“I'm not any good at pottery, so let's lose a 't' and shift back the 'e', and I'll find a way to make my poetry build a roof over our heads”

Following on from the Mermaid Avenue album's of Guthrie lyrics put to music, Bragg has included one Woody cover: 'I Ain't got no Home' – an anthemic track about a migrant worker trying to survive the depression the 1930s.

He does still sing about changing the world, but in a calmer, less anxious way: 'Tomorrow's Going to be a Better Day', 'There Will be a Reckoning' and 'Do Unto Others' all have something to say about people and politicians alike, but with a softer tone and more philosophical approach – perhaps Bragg is mellowing in his old age!

“There will be a reckoning for the pedlars of hate who spread their poison all across this estate and a reckoning too for the politicians who left us to this fate”

Overall, 'Tooth and Nail' is a great album, it has a back-to-basics feel to it, it feels like we are welcoming an old friend back…

 

One Second Everyday

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 3 Comments

It has been a busy couple of years since I began blogging: 2011 saw #project365 where I posted a picture every day; 2012 saw a different project completed and blogged about every month; and 2013 began with the annual attempt at #janathon. Since then I have given myself a month away from the blogosphere, but now I'm back…complete with a brand new project….

Inspired by a fella called Cesar Kutiyama who has been recording 1 second every day for the last 2 years, you can read more about his story here. He has also created an easy to use app – so anyone can do it. You can literally take short videos through the day, if you remember (although you can get reminders), then decide which 1 second part you want to use, then mash them together. Simple. Here is the inspiration…

Today is my birthday so I plan to begin today and by the end of the year I will have a 365 second video of my year. Not entirely sure how it is going to go – I'm not sure I do enough 'interesting' things – but we'll see what happens. I'll probably be posting monthly videos on the blog just to see how we're doing.

 

Beans on Toast at the Cookie Jar!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

It has not gone unnoticed that this post has lots of food items in the title. So, if you have come across this post hoping for either a new funky recipe or a video of someone eating beans on toast by a cookie jar you are going to be extremely disappointed.

Last weekend saw a rare visit to Leicester to watch the fantastic, folky and a little bit sweary Beans on Toast. The Venue: The Cookie Jar – a basement venue beneath the coffee shop The Crumblin' Cookie.

Considering 'Beans' wasn't on until 10.15pm, and it was a Sunday night, an impressively sized audience had gathered. Now, if you've ever listened to Beans on Toast before you will understand that musically they are not the most complicated and complex melodies, in fact 'Beans' will be first to point out that they all sound the same. But what you get is a great collection of simple intelligently written songs, with lyrics that immediately strike a cord with listeners. 'Beans' has a way of breaking down the barrier between artist and audience.

It's not just great little songs you get with Beans on Toast, it's an evening of entertainment: funny stories, requests, forgetting verses, impromptu 'beat boxer' from the audience, and my personal favourite….”Right Leicester who likes blowjobs?”.

It was a great set, funny and quirky – bizarre in places – but what you ultimately get is a 'real' singer/songwriter without a glimmer of pretence, and with it a very enjoyable evening.

 

Back in the Blogosphere…

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

Let's be honest: Janathon was a disappointment. Only managed to run for 22 days, barely reached the 100 mile mark and found the second half of the month very tough. Cue an endless list of excuses: cold, snow, ice, busy at work, snow, cold, ice, dark nights, busy at work and it was very cold.

Following on from the monthly projects in 2012 and Janathon I feel like a bit of a rest is needed in February.

Work has been very busy and I've been working hard to catch-up with marking in an attempt to have a pretty quiet and relaxing half-term. The hard work has paid off and I've somehow managed to do everything apart from a class set of Y10 controlled assessments that need doing. A week to recharge the batteries this week because the next term is probably going to be very busy: exam preparation, after school sessions and other general rubbish.

So the start of half-term began with beer, some vodka martini in a James Bond style, some blue stuff…

….followed by some green stuff….

In other news….I have managed to bag some tickets for a few gigs in the coming months:

 

Review of 2012

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

I've read a few of these 'review' blogs over the last couple of days and after a year of various monthly challenges I thought a quick review of my own was required.

January started with my first attempt at Janathon. This was a quite a challenge to start the year, and I actually ran every day of the month and completed a total of 133 miles. It was great fun, really enjoyed reading the blogs of fellow janathoners. Good start to the years challenges.

After the excursions of Janathon, I decided on something rather gentler for February. The aim was to teach myself to play the ukulele. Didn't go amazingly well, although the uke is still hanging around and is often picked up every now and then.

March's challenge was again music related, only this time the challenge was to listen to new music and blog about it. This was an enjoyable month, I discovered some great bands and some have even made the list of bands to see in 2013.

Thanks to my sister and her birthday present to me, April was a month of model making: an Airfix model of The Cutty Sark. This was a very difficult challenge, the model was near impossible to make, very fiddly, and the paint didn't work either! Although a YouTube video of the final boat was a thing to behold.

And so we reached May and one of the most difficult challenges of the year: write a short story. Difficult for a number of reasons: time was an issue, lack of plan and a distinct lack of skill.

So after a couple of rather relaxing challenges, June brought us Juneathon and the attempt to run every day of the month. Didn't go quite as well as Janathon, I dipped out on running every day and completed 114 miles in all.

July's challenge was tasty: baking. I made ten different things other the course of the month, from cupcakes, brownies and tarts, through to shortbread, cookies and flapjacks. Lovely jubbly!

Of course, after making and eating cakes for a month, a physical challenge was needed for August. Swimming was decided. I could swim before but after a month of visiting various swimming pools in the area my swimming has really improved. I'm far from entering a triathlon, but maybe that's something for the future.

Learning to ride a unicycle. Seemed like a good idea at the time. September was the month to do it, which because of injury, turned into October's challenge as well. The unicycle was not mastered, even after two months, but I've not give up on that yet. Summer 2013 for the next attempt.

After the efforts of the previous two months, November brought the rather more gentle art of Origami, one per day for the duration of the month. My tutor group came on the journey with me and between us we produced 100s.

And so to the final month of the year, December, or should I say decembeer. The challenge was to drink a different beer every day of the month. This was a good challenge, and despite a dodgy illness over Christmas, it was completed. A reflection on 31 beers in the form of a blog post coming soon.

So the idea to dump the new year's resolution and instead complete 12 different monthly challenges was a complete success. I can now: run, swim, bake, unicycle, appreciate music, become more knowledgable about beer, have become an origami master, make models and write. All to varying different degrees. But as much as I've enjoyed the year…..enough is enough.

 

To run or not to run…..

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 9 Comments

With Janathon fast approaching the decision is actually not whether to run or not, I will be taking part, but more like how far. Last January I entered Janathon and ran every day, completing a total of 133 miles in the month. Then Juneathon came along and I began with the idea that I would be able to beat January’s total, this didn’t happen, for various different reasons I took a more relaxed approach as the month continued (finishing with 114 miles under the belt).

So what to do this time round? As I sit writing this blog I have just about seen off a bit of a cold that has lasted over Christmas, stopped me running, and more importantly, seriously affected #decembeer. So I’m eager to get back to the running and blow away the cobwebs.

In my head at the moment I want to beat the 133 miles clocked up last Janathon, but am also well aware of the busy start to the school term that awaits (exam prep, marking and extra sessions). So the plan is to begin with the 4.5ish miles a day that are required and see how we go.

Also, with a new year brings new plans. I was browsing through Runner’s World magazine in search of some races for the year, still considering whether or not to run my second marathon this year, I came across this, Rat Race Dirty Weekend…..

After last year’s attempt at the Zombie Evacuation Race as part of ‘Dead Men Running’ this seemed perfect for 2013. I just hope the rest of the guys agree!