Tag: youtube

Day 16 #juneathon

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

Sunday 16th June…..Father's Day….or to put it in a simpler form….Ridiculous Mass Consumerism Day. But that didn't stop me beginning the day by taking full advantage of it (reconstruction)….

This rather slow and lazy start to the day continued until about lunchtime when a spot of shopping in Peterborough was needed: summer shoes/sandals were top of the list. There are a plethora of summer footwear around at the moment: Birkenstock, Toms, Reef, to name just a few. I nearly went for this rather groovy pair from Cushe, although at £50 I decided against it for now…..

However a beautiful pair of Toms are the way to go!

After shopping I did a bit of work: edited a video for school, marked a couple of bits and planned lessons for tomorrow. Although now the Y11s have left it does make for a slightly lighter day tomorrow; I am particularly looking forward to period 4.

And so to Juneathon….

After a couple of short runs the past couple of days I was determined to get a few miles under my belt tonight. A date at the woods was arranged. Completed over 8 miles with the help of the iPod on shuffle which made for an interesting mix tonight….here is just a flavour…

Frank Hamilton – a few tracks from Frank tonight came on, but this one particularly stuck in my head…

U2 – now I can't stand them and not entirely sure how they got on the iPod, so how about a particular attractive picture of the old rocker himself (what a mess)…

And for the sophisticated, beautiful and classy people out there, a bit of opera, Vide Cor Meum, as featured in 'Hannibal'….

A great run tonight, bringing the total Juneathon mileage to over 75 miles, so heading west from Bourne that would take me to Uttoxeter, although a break half-way at Melton Mowbray for a coffee may be required!

Today's mileage = 8.68

Total Juneathon mileage = 79.08

Mojo level = very high

Over and out…or should I say…NEVER over and NEVER out

 

Day 7 #juneathon

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

One week down, smashed through the 30 mile mark, and all seems to be going well!

It was a glorious evening in South Lincolnshire…..

Took the dog with me on this evening's run and spent the whole time ensuring he didn't find some festering, disgusting water hole to roll around in. I was also accompanied by Frightened Rabbit on the iPod; the latest album 'Pedestrian Verse' is a cracker. Have a listen, you may like….

Tomorrow is a trip to Wakefield for Long Division Festival.

Having just read that I need to clarify. Long Division Festival is a celebration of music not some sort of geeky maths convention. Looking forward to seeing Allo Darlin' for the first time, and if you like a bit of twee indie, take a look….

Today's mileage = 3.93

Total Juneathon mileage = 31.92

Mojo level = still very high!

Now off to the pub to celebrate!!!!

 

What an evening!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

The Date: Monday 22nd April 2013

The Venue: The Cookie Jar, Leicester

The Artist: The fabulous Frank Hamilton

If you ever want to experience a fantastic singer/songwriter you can do a lot worse that attend a Frank Hamilton gig. Following on from #onesongaweek in 2012 that culminated in a sold out gig at London's The Borderline in Camden, Frank has followed it up with a UK tour…..

Tonight was the second night of the tour – held at a great little live music venue in Leicester, The Cookie Jar located in the basement of The Crumblin' Cookie. Frank was on top from, sharing his own brand of indie-folk-pop music and brilliant song writing skills. He is a very likeable fella, lyrics that express Frank's emotions and experiences, from travelling around, moving to a new city, through to finding and losing love.

It was a great set, including the fantastic, 'Things I do', 'Make Things Make Sense' and the splendid 'Flaws and Ceilings'. Frank manages to write about things that relate to everyone: a soundtrack for life. Who can't relate to this….

“I wonder what she's thinking when she lies in bed, coz when I wake up when she's in my head, and I'm thinking in few years time will I still be yours, will you still be mine”

If you get a chance go and see Frank Hamilton: you won't be disappointed.

 

1SE – March

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 3 Comments

One Second Everyday is up and running.

Since my birthday on the 16th March I have begun to take a one second video everyday, read more about it here. The plan was to wait until the end of the year and put it all together, but I thought I'd have a little go and see how easy it is. It turns out, using the 1SE app, is incredibly easy. So we have episode one, the first 16 days of my 44th year…

As you can see, not the most amazing start to my project: Bragg, North, snow, school, running…I must try and do more in April!

 

Trepidation

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

'A feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen'

Now being born and bred in South London – which I am very proud of – travelling North is always a slightly worrying time. So when the time came to venture to Huddersfield for an 18th Birthday Party, it was with trepidation that we began.

Overall we had a great time, but I never thought it would be plain sailing….

  • We had previously booked a 'bargain' room in a pub just outside the city. We only paid £35 for a family room so didn't expect too much on arrival. Seemed pretty clean, a lovely little village pub and was perfect for what we wanted, even included a TV that was situated on top a rather rickety cupboard. The full extent of what we had done would be revealed later.
  • After doing a lap of the city centre in search of 'Rhubarb', the hippest, happening joint in Huddersfield, we still seemed lost. So we asked a local. In fact we asked three locals, before actually meeting one who had a reasonable idea of where he was and what century he was living in who was able to point us in the right direction.
  • We entered 'Rhubarb', the hippest, happening joint in Huddersfield. At this point I began to show my age. It was very loud. It was not only very loud, it was dance music. I have a serious issue with dance music – it all sounds the same. I'm pretty sure we listened to the same track for 4 hours. Hence the fact we didn't last too long in the throng of drunken teenagers.
  • The constant bang bang bang of dance music had done one thing – we were now desperate for food. Therefore a visit to a nondescript pizza takeaway place was on the cards. A ham pizza was ordered. I'm not sure if this is a northern thing, but instead of ham we got a light sprinkling of some sort of hard red substance – clearly they had noticed my southern accent and attempted to show me the way of the north.
  • And so we made it back to our room. Only now our room was above the loudest, hippest happening joint just outside the city centre. Our 'lovely little village pub' had turned into the devil itself. And the devil did not rest until 4am!
  • One other interesting point to make about the room is that the en suite did not have its own light, the light only came on when you switched the main room light on. Cue a ridiculous trip to the loo in the middle of the night with the light from my phone shining the way.

AND because I am in the midst of a 'One Second Everyday' project I have even managed a very short video of the events – minus the visit to the loo of course….

 

PS. Happy Birthday Shanice!

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…