mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 30th December 2024 - I've just been watching a 1982 KING CRIMSON concert off of German TV, newly posted on That YouTube They Have Now... I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not MUCH of a fan of the 1980s KCrim, or "THE BELEW YEARS" as I like to call it. The guitar-gamelan/math-rock approach I've always found to be more an 'INTERESTING' listen than an EXCITING one. 'MY' Crimso lies elsewhere. The repertoire of that period, while it was certainly a novel and worthy approach, which I did enjoy at the time, mostly leaves no room for SPONTANEITY, an essential ingredient for any pop music that can push my own buttons in any lasting way. For this audient, the improvisatory 'GOOD STUFF' ("Requiem", "Industry", "Nuages"...) only seemed to happen during those times when they'd failed to come up with any fresh THROUGH-COMPOSED material. While it's always fun to be able to see closely ...

Week from Monday 16th December 2024 - I had my scheduled telephone chat with the KIDNEY PEOPLE up at the Horse Piddle. My latest blood test shows an okay "U&E" but my "eGFR" is still fairly low "for someone my age". Apparently, I don't drink enough WATER. I just pee it out. They gave me a target of TWO LITRES PER DAY, which sounds to me an extraordinary amount when I think about it. You know those little 250mL bottles of water you get at the supermarket? Then imagine EIGHT of those. PER DAY?!? But who am I to question the experts? I'll just spend ALL night in the bathroom, shall I? (By the way, "U&E" means "Urea and Electrolytes" and "eGFR" means "Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate". So now you know.) I went for a shopping trip into town, where I availed myself of Uncut magazine's "KING CRIMSON: THE ULTIMATE MUSIC GUIDE". Nearly twelve quid is rather expensive for what, let's ...

New Releases 2024 FERGUS McCREADIE TRIO - "Stream" Nothing brings me greater musical pleasure these days than the sound of a jazz piano trio. It's the perfect format (unless of course the pianist decides to sabotage the recording by 'vocalising' all the way through it. But that's another story...) Those young whippersnappers McCreadie, Bowden and Henderson win it again for me this year with the new one "Stream", not to mention their frequent appearances on the radio (bla bla bla dum-de-dum BBC Radio Three "New Generation Artists" bla bla bla and so forth). Fergus's playing is, as always, absolutely astonishing and there are plenty of banging self-penned tunes, all steeped in traditional 'folk music' flavours, coupled with some great improvisational interplay. First-class acoustic piano, double bass and drums, guaranteed no extraneous grunting and groaning - what more can anyone ask for? THE SMILE - "Wall of Eyes...

Week from Monday 2nd December 2024 - Saturday is certainly a nice time to visit the hospital, but it has its pros and cons. On the one hand, appointments at the Day Centre are a lot 'QUIETER', so one gets SEEN TO a lot quicker. In-and-out in no time and no 'PATIENT WAITING'! On the other hand, some of the facilities are a bit more 'DO IT YOURSELF' at weekends. I had to go up to the PHARMACY on Level C to collect my own prescriptions. I was hoping that I could have visited the CHARITY SHOP on the same floor, but it was closed! I also missed some of the familiar faces. (I did however get the opportunity to try out my new tablet on the hospital WI-FI for the first time, and was able to do some Twittering while I was attached to THE DRIP for half-an-hour!) This week, I'm starting to make decisions about my "PICK O'THE YEAR" list and writing some sort of article to go on this here bloggydiarydoodah. Some folks have ALREADY posted their "end o...