Last call for Xmas pics

Here's the last few Xmassy pics.
Christmas LightsSomerset house bauble

Sushi restaurant light Holborn

Angel of the North?

Damn I already sent my letter to Santa...

What about my old 78's?

Help they've escaped from Brighton.....

LDB: Youtube Obessive Stats checker update.

I will give it up (checking every few hours that is) in January I promise, but in the mean time my little film has had 16,cocking203 views! (let's be clear that's 16,203)

Again I'm not sure what that stat means, I imagine it means clicked on it. There's also some crazy comments too; I love the way some Christians have to evangelise perpetually, don't they get tired?
Also is eating Tangerines at Xmas a British thing as several US viewers where confused by this bit?
Anyway I'll log off now but I'll just have a peek first.......

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 24

2007 so long and thanks for all the phishing

Here in the northern bit of the planet it’s dark most of the time which leads to retrospection, It’s apt to count your blessings at this time of year :

I started the year with less than positive prospects but have steered away from that hopefully and am in calmer waters ready to strike out to something better next year.

For all their help, love and support, I would like to thank a few people; obviously my family who have put up with me for quite a while now for which I am eternally grateful. My friends I would like to thank for their care, and especially this years for buying me drinks and just putting up with my gitishness.

I would also like to thank everyone online too for adding more fun, music, humour, random rage and good old fashion ideas to life, especially Miss woo, R&S, Ally, PM, DH oh and D&B plus many others who have entertained and inspired me.

So whether you kneel before a god or bow to no one, whether your are a rocker or a mod, an Durannie or Spandie, whether you dress to left or to the right and even those who can’t curl their tongues, have a great Christmas and a peaceful & exciting new year and hey let’s be careful out there and if you are going to Glossop put your money in your sock……. oh and don’t eat the yellow snow…….
Yours as ever BLTP

signs in the east

Advent Day 23
Ooops forgot all these pics of Yule related places in London I scanned in, enjoy! My film camera was playing up hence the quality of some of them.

Local shops for local people

Do you really want to be where everyone knows your name?

It was lovely morning the low sun and mist making every view look striking, even the shuffling teenagers in hoodies looked more exotic backlit with halo of glowing sunlight.

I Went down the village for some “bits” from co-op, (why are local shops so far away in small villages?)
In the chiller section of the co-op an older women asked a younger lass to get something from the top shelf. When the younger one asked after her health she replies “ooh it’s me ribs” “sorry to ‘ear that love did ya fall” “no love it was me son (This is when I feared the worse) he ‘ant sin me in six month, he’s back from Iraqi and he ‘ugged me too ‘ard and it popped ‘art”, her companion then went on to fuss about her health and then offered the older lady a lift home.
Town or Country?
What was surprising about his (putting aside how Tony Blair’s is still putting clumsy big local lads in harms way for no foreseeable positive result) is the old chestnut about small towns being friendlier.
I’m not so sure, firstly in small places people HAVE to get on because you see the same people all the time. Also on the whole I think the same people are nice where ever you go. I was helped and given directions by an older woman on the bus in north London recently she was the same age as the woman who cheerily pointed me in the direction of the dates in co-op just now. But then I wasn’t thanked for holding the door for a 20 something in my flat in Deptford nor by the tanned and blonde harridan squawking into her phone outside Waterstones in Leeds the other day. I have feeling if people are nice to you “town” they are being nice. Also going out of your way to drop an old dear off at home in Deptford would mean 45 minutes in the New Cross one way system as opposed to just going the long way round your car fee estate.!


Pink Fraud:
The only reason to come to my Dad's village before he moved here was to go to the baths. Seeing it today brought back memories of going there one time on school bus it would have been xmas ’79; we trundled along eating my first ever monster munch chanting to “we don’t no education” on radio, my teacher at the time hated the song and we couldn’t see why. Now that I’m closer to her age (then) I’m with her, what a stupid song for a bunch of mainly working class kids to sing, in out free coach, from our free school on the way to our free swimming lessons, 4 years before the Tories closed down all the local pits/work. Roger Waters didn’t “need no education” because he left public school joined a band and spent the rest of his life as permanent petulant teenager.

1984 and all that a coda
On the way home the local paper billboard read.” Scargill to name names over strike” sadly not much of a revelation, it’ll be a list of either forgotten or dead NCB chiefs, Tory cabinet members and odd scab thrown in, it’s been a long time since it would have caused an uproar. He might as well list the backroom boys in the gunpowder plot or the henchmen in Princes in the tower mystery, it seems so long ago.

One Tan shop towns:
Sorry no photos the only thing I didn’t pack was my phone charger and this being a friendly small village there are no shops selling phone chargers phone card, Bluetooth headsets, saffron, polish beer, cock soup, Yams, Turkish delight, hot and sour soup. Unreleased Hollywood DVD……..

A message from across the pond....

Advent Day 22

I've mentioned before one of my favourite bands HEM (their name is the only bad thing about them!)

They have Christmas Card/EP out and a free song you can download here. enjoy!

Solipsism Corner

LDB has now had over 4,500 views. I'm falling into a similar trap ( BLBW pointed this out) that authors do, of obsessively checking their Amazon ratings (I'm number 14 for the record).
But well it is all new to me and I do think it's great that anyone for good or ill can broadcast their work like this.
Much like when someone from Spain or Russian visits your blog, it's exciting to know someone on the other side of the world has had chance to look at something you've done and in some cases enjoyed it. I'd like to thank my Mom......

I wasn't a miner....but I know a man who was

Advent Calendar day 20


It’s Billy Bragg's 50th birthday today

On the sad news of Tony Wilson’s death a few months ago I mentioned that I have several foot of records he inspired, well the other artist with a high footage is Billy Bragg.

It’s Bills birthday today the DEC 20th and he’s 50, which means I’ve been a fan for 25th years (there are too many high numbers in this last sentence).

This machine kills Fascists
Much like Factory I’m not sure where to start; as I’ve said before BB was the first proper concert I went to see along with New Order. It was anti-apartheid gig in Sheff and it was great.
Next day I wore my “Soweto Don’t Mourn Mobilise” t-shirt to 6th form, I was stopped by a old gaffer in the street, who pointed out “tha alreet wearin’ that arand ‘ere, flower”. He may have had a point, but that sort of protest was in the air, recently a small band of us had listened to a frozen South African trade unionist round the back of the old court house and then had marched on Barclays. Just a few weeks earlier The Miners strike had just come to it’s bitter end, older friends at Uni were joining the peace camps at Greenham common. This is where Billy came in (and where for good or ill some people still place him) his first ep’s where a great mix of Punk and working peoples songs; I played his first single to death with its picture on the front of kids eating their jam tomorrow.

Have Guitar will travel
However what the media etc don’t mention having only taken a snap shot of BB is what he’s like live. In the 20 plus times I’ve seen him I’ve never seen a bad gig, often he’s the best thing on the bill (sorry!). The word raconteur gets over used but that’s what BB is, he’s perfectly aware he’s there to entertain and tells stories and jokes between songs, takes the piss out of other bands but mainly himself. He’ll tease his audience and point out the humorous side of the sometimes po-faced Union/socialist axis. He will also make serious points, normally about some forgotten local issue or sticky national campaign and because he’s won us over, what would be a lecture in the hands of Bono or what’s his name James Martin from Coldplay is just a serious and thoughtful counter point to the jokes about Blur eating kebabs.

Young and wild and warm and free
It’s almost a cliché to point out that he also writes loves songs, but it’s true some of his best work is about the day to day joys and lows of living from the redemptive power of soul music (Levi Stubbs Tears) to bereavement.

Here in no particular order are some of his highlights:

Best song about not having a snog at the school Christmas disco:
Saturday Boy.

Best song about losing your dad:
Tanks park salute.

Best song about a British road
A13_trunk road to the sea.

Best song to mention a cheese pavilion
Waiting for the great leap forward

Best song about astronauts
The space race is over

One of the best versions of Jerusalem
Jerusalem.

So Bill happy birthday and thanks for everything.

I was going to post a song but didn’t know where to start so here’s a jolly clip from a couple of Glastonbury’s ago. Sadly I think I went to see Mozzer instead (to whom Bill alludes) but here BB shows that socialists aren’t all worthy yoghurt weavers enjoy!

La Lucha Continua!

Here's a mad fan mash up

You can't please all the people all of the time

LDB has had it's first bad review :
Someone called ThunderDonkey went to the trouble of leaving the following on youtube:

"whats this for piece of shit, wtf? "

He appears to be a 14 year Dutch Boy, with an interest in playing "sport rock" tunes on the piano, so there's one vital market down the pan. tee hee.

Greater minds than I have wrestled with WHAT (dare I call it so) ART is FOR. I'm at a loss.
If anyone has any ideas answer on a postcard or stuck down envelope to
Master Thunderdonkey c/o........

The Best article this week

Read this :

As a long term flat renter I have regularly raged at how we are ignored in the perpetual hoo ha about house prices etc.
We are seen as pathetic creatures like Maggie Thatcher's "30 year old bus passenger" by the media, we have very few practical rights or protections and at whim of landlords and fellow tenants we can become homeless by the weekend, the list of problems is endless (chief among mine is a lousy fridge and a couple downstairs who get up at 6.15 am to shout at each other).

Thankfully and wonderfully Renter girl has written this great piece about the plight of us renters .

Please read it even if you own a house or live in a council flat, it's the only time this year you'll here from us and it might just add to the housing debate. Don't worry we can get back to moaning about house prices tomorrow.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

Stop this nonsense right now!

There's a worrying story in the paper to today. Basically Ofcom are proposing to slice off money from the BEEB to "promote public service broadcasting to mainly " the young" " not fully sure what this means, I think I have to pay for some dreadful "yoof" soap opera to be emailed to hoodies phones.

My confidence isn't boosted by the pictures at the bottom of the article, under the title "related Articles " are pictures of X factor applicants!

"I'm planning DVD boxset orgy...."

So basically as well as paying more for tins of beans so they can subsidize ITV, I am now going to be paying for it direct via tax.
I think the big problem here isn't new platforms, the BEEB coped with the introduction of TV ok, it's the meddlesone attitude of so called "watchdogs" . Because the BBC is unique in the world in it's quality and funding, they see this as an anomaly. Not that the rest of the world is just plain wrong but that we should move towards what they have.

Yes everyone raves about HBO DVD boxset shows like "the Wire" but the rest of 23.15 hours of daily Amercian telly is largely crap. French telly is bizzare, Spanish Tv like Spain is just plain mad, with bull fighting and porn on at teatime (siesta time probably) and last time I was in Italy they had the Pope on 2 channels and an construction industry convention on another.

Faggotgate vs Keelie's stubble.

Sure the BEEB's daft for censuring the Pogues, but Captial would never have given them a Peel session when they were first starting out. It's the BBC that's continuing ITV's tradition of talking sensibly at about TV with Charlie Brooker following on from Clive James. So instead of nicking money off me, so Ant and Dec can texted pictutes of z list celebs bikini lines to teenagers , why not keep it at Broadcasting house and get some bright creative grown ups to think about the future and invent things we've not even considered yet. The "yoof" will be doing their bit from their end too; as longs as we still have dull bits to Britain, teenage bedrooms will producing enough content for years to come, giving loads of my cash to Nathans in Hoxton isn't the solution.

Made from organic full fat English wit....

Seen in the Street:
A nice twist on "I wish my wife was as dirty as this van" in town today; sadly I couldn't grab a pic. (on the back of a St Michael's van.)

Not just filthy

this is M& S filth...

Drumming up Support....

Banging my own Drum

My film Little Drummer Boy has had over 2000 views on youtube which won't worry the producers of Titannic just yet, but makes me pretty chuffed.

Little Drummer Boy .

Advent 17
World Premier(sort of) of New(ish) BLTP Film

Here’s a little Christmas present for you all, It’s already had advanced screenings as I posted it on You tube a few days ago, at one point it was the number 5 film in UK !It’s one of a number of films I’ve made over the years, I started out using super 8 and have moved onto digital (this was made on my £80 stills camera!) largely so my flat doesn’t get filled up with celluloid when I edit the things. One of my projects for next year is to digitise my super 8 projects so I can inflict them on a wider audience; Super 8 film is ideal for youtube being at best 3.50 mins long.

Anyway I made this festive tale of clockwork violence, poppers and extreme tangerine action as a Christmas card a year or so ago, youtube wasn’t quite what it is now then so I passed out cd copies to friends etc. The wonders of the digital age mean now over 1,000 people have at least clicked on it (even if they didn’t make it to the hilarious end titles!).

Anyway (again!)consider it my Christmas gift to the digital world, well the people who stumbled on this little corner of it looking for pictures of Julia Bradbury, cures for boils and of course cocking cinder toffee!

Oh and if you do watch it on youtube leave a message it cheers me up and boost my ratings.

The Little Drummer Boy a BLTP film

What no Doddy?

D'pool Nativity

It would be churlish to pour too much scorn on tonight's show performance. A few things spring to mind.

• Maybe the crowd would have sung along more if the works of Atomic Kitten where included!
• And why was Sonia oeuvre so cruelly omitted, tee hee!
• They could have turned off Eddie Yates mic when the singing started.
• Also isn't JC a pagan ,that's Julian Cope of course.

Tinsel town

Advent Days 15- 16
This weekend many people are putting up their trees, so here's some I've seen in the last few weeks.

Norwegian Tree Trafalgar square

Blackpool

Atrium

St Pauls southside

Pater Noster Sq

Half a bottle of red or white per person...

Advent Calendar Day 14

: the Works Christmas do

They didn't play "Dancing Queen" until 23.02 left before Angels came on.

From the 171

I don't want to be Catty but

Can we start talking sense?

I’m afraid I’m back to business/ad speak again, I think one of the reasons this nonsense persists is that in the age of the blackberry etc, no ever has to say these words out loud (at least in mixed company) as if they did surely their mouths would fill with ashes and their teeth would fall out, as such torture of the English language must by a mortal sin.

The phrase that struck me was in the paper this morning at the end of one those interviews with famous people where they shamelessly talk about shopping.

This weeks star was with former yoof tv presenter and brummie Cat Deeley, you know form, one of those pieces where they say “vintage” when they mean “second hand” and where there’s no shame about spending £500 on bag. Nothing new in any of this except at the end, because Cat wouldn’t talk about shopping without some higher purpose there is the usual plug for her latest project. Ms Deeley isn’t selling a book, or tv show nor is she the next Roxie doo dah in Chicago no she’s and I quote “guest editing http://www.visuaurlife.co.uk/, a new website which gives expert direction to online shopping”
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!

Ps. With reference to Ms Deeley “list of stuff she’s bought” I must try to calmly discuss sometime how new age types square their “touchy-feely” beliefs with the sort of hard edge business practice that being a “personal yoga instructor” must involve, “yes, Miss Deeley can I call you Cat, I sensed you were spiritual person from the first time we met, and you have such a lovely home……”

OH No Eno & Bono, ere's Yoko

Advent Calendar 11-13 (AND MY 300th POST HURRAH!)

The Best Christmas song by a much maligned artist
It’s the season of good will, so let’s reach out to those who have had a good kicking over the years.

Yoko Ono has been the end of endless stick for over 40 years; this is out of proportion with that which was handed out to any woman who deigned to marry a Beatle. Yes she was wacky and her singing was an acquired taste but she was always good value and some of her art was straightforwardly good conceptional stuff.
Also one shouldn’t overlook that some of the flak was simple racism. Let's be honest John and Paul had moved so far in a few years that they weren’t going back to writing “I want to hold your hand” even if they moved back their mum’s spare room.
Lastly Yoko at her gauchest isn’t a tenth as annoying as Macca's soon to be ex.

I like Yoko’s original version which was on the back “Merry xmas war is over”. But both my copies are really scratched.

So here’s Galaxy 500’s wonderful version:

I can see clearly now......

w h y t

j u d h

s j l o

k J p u

I went for an eye test for some new glasses today, it was the usual arcane ritual of glass lollypops, strange letter sequences, weird red and green lights, kindly strangers looming out of the dark close up into your face and at the end you come out it feeling a bit giddy and blinking in the sunlight, so a typical night out then (bum dum tish, I’m here all week, folks tell ya friends….).

Having sold a kidney to pay for my gebs and fended off the sales men who wanted me to buy a pair like Goks! I was reading their sales posters, they have scheme to sell you contact lenses, the usual way of siphoning off more cash from you. As part of the deal you get regular lenses, solutions, eye test but most puzzling of all a contact lens based magazine! No me neither, I have no idea what's in it apart from really good pictures and small writing (to test out your newly perfect eyes). It reminded of this article by Charlie Brooker about his coffee machine corporate mag.

Celebrity gebs wearer of the year?

What’s the most arcane, niche magazine you’ve come across (that last sentence aside let’s keep it clean L & G) ?

Wot no hamster?

I have no idea what this sign is about it just made me laugh.

Oh put that new Can Cd on lovey....

Advent Calendar Day 10.

The best Christmassy song you could never play at ya grannies on Christmas day

Any music fan knows the problem, you are spending Xmas at your rellies and your thoughtful spouse or cooler sister has given you what you want i.e. a box set of kraut rock, early ska or “now that’s what a call shoegazing XI”, after lunch a kindly elderly relation encourages you to put on your new present.

Almost as soon as the cd draw slides shut and you press play, the room slowly quietens as the first bars of “scraping foetus of the wheel” kicks in and all the needles fall off the tree, the Bailey’s curdles in the bottle and all a sudden grannies deaf aid starts whistling and it’s back to Heartbeat and 2llb of match makers, ahh well maybe next year.

Here without doubt is the best song you won’t be able to play after the Queen’s speech. Mainly because it’s so wonderfully bleak.

The Handsome Family: So much wine

You cheap lousy maggot...

Advent Calendar Day 8/9

The Christmas Number 1

I’m not going to spend too long on the best Christmas pop song it’s been much discussed and everyone knows its “Fairy tale of New York” by the Pogues and Kirsty MaColl followed by “Merry Christmas everyone” by Slade and then Phil Spector......

What is interesting is the fact that barring the re-release of Band Aid there’s not been Christmassy number one since East 17 “Stay another day” back in the 1990’s.(go over to those charming types at Landcroft house for a striking cover version by the Maps).

There are many reasons for this.

The most depressing one is that everyone so bloody cool these days,that even the miming pop idol gimps don’t want to be seen in scarf and a bit of fake snow.

“So, oi, Lion face or whatever your names is, if it was good enough for John cocking Lennon stop your sub Mariah mewling and get with the tinsel and carol singers.”

The final of X factor being in December with its associated dreadful single is another knife in xmassy songs back.
Another aspect is that as we get richer the customary single from your sister is sadly less aspirational. For a long time a single or maybe two was a perfectly acceptable present, a good example is the Power of Love by the Frankies which came in a promotional envelope,

(a slight aside I was sitting in a chapel in Venice marvelling at the Titians and thought that the altar piece was familiar, it took me a while to realise it was the original of the FGTH cover doh!)

The funniest thing about Christmas songs is that even though pop singers don’t do them anymore (well not the sort promoted by the media, I imagine Daniel O’Donnell still makes Christmas albums) the more leftfield artists have taken up the challenge.

A year doesn’t go by without some American indie artist’s version of jingle bells.
Perhaps the most perfect examples of his is this Low’s Christmas song, there’s also a good xfm collection as well. Last year I got Sufjan Stevens LP and have just started to get into it.

One of the shortest and best is from the much maligned Bare Naked ladies from there "Holidays" record of 2004 (?) it's treat from all CSN&Y fans!

Top Pop Facts:
Shane Macgowan was born on Christmas Day

A List Christmas number 2's anyone!

Today's news

Reading the paper:
BNP Dancer
The racist senior ballerina Simone Clarke at Covent garden has been up to more of her evil nonsense.
The thing I've find most disconcerting about this is that she's still in post. That her fellow dancers haven' t just refused to work with her, I wouldn't want to be tarnished with her reputation and by continuing to work with her they are tacitly condoning her repugnant views.

Also what about the patrons of the ballet they are obviously happy with her activities, and what about the media, old Mozza says "you don't hear much English spoken in knightsbridge nowadays" and it's hold the front page. A senior publicly funded artist joins and runs the BNP and associated groups and it's OK.

She's obviously a sad mixed up and callous individual, who can square slagging off foreigners whilst taking part in an artform which is Russian and French in origin.

A load of Twoss
Jonathan Ross: The ho ha about JR crowing about his wages this week can be put against his increasingly rubbish chat show. The interview with Jerry Seinfeld on Friday night was rubbish, Ross claimed to be a fan but seemed to have nothing to ask Seinfield. Once JS had denied being exactly like his stage and screen persona JR kept going back to this seemingly out of desperation. I turned over half way through. It's shame as Ross' film and recent comic work is good, I just find his self obsessed chat shows tedious and his resorting to cheap smut faintly embarrassing. He's not worth the money few people are.

Toys,gloves,chips and squirrels

Things you see when you are out and about

London Plane Tree with baubles

Toys 'R' us

I feel trapped

I'm saying nothing except where are my royalties!

Obesity time bomb: fuel for the fire.
2 jars of Branston?

I was on the bus to Greenwich, it was cramped and crowded, the windows were fogged up. A teenage girl got on and proceed to eat a sickly smelling box of "Kentucky" and Chips, her meal was smothered in ketchup.

Nothing new here except she was wearing woolly gloves!
It was the most joyless, bleak meal I've seen in while.

















To cheer myself up I stayed on the bus to Greenwich park and it did the trick. Yes its great in the summer and especially in spring, but a cold rainy day with charcoal black wet trees and just few other melancholics for company, the park was just fine. Two Goths were feeding the squirrels, thankfully it wasn't Morpheus and his sister. After a turn round the market, a trip to the butchers for me tea, a pint of IPA, a chat with a jolly "north" country lass the day picked up.

Plenty of room at the inn

Bltp Advent Calendar :Day 6/7
The difference £300 a night makes?

Blackpool vs Leeds