mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 20th May 2024 - FERGUS McCREADIE's new album "Stream" may well be another contender for my "Pick O' The Year". Yes, I know we're not even half-way through the twelvemonth yet, but I actually buy so few 'new' releases these days, that it's surely going to figure on the (short) list somewhere, as have his previous couple of discs. To these ears, there is no more satisfying format in all of music than the 'JAZZ TRIO' combination of piano, bass and drums. Musical perfection. My 'comfort zone'. The sound quality on "Stream" is as clear as a bell ("it's a freaky trip on 'phones"), with equal attention being paid to the double-bass of DAVID BOWDEN and the percussion of STEPHEN HENDERSON. Of course, the piano playing is astonishing as usual, but it's the ever-inventive interplay between the three that rewards close attention. I heard someone compare young Fergus to KEITH JARRETT, an...

Week from Monday 13th May 2024 - DISCOVERING 'NEW' MUSIC (an occasional series)... I had long ignored the music of WILLIAM WALTON, having dismissed him as just another one of those pompous English twentieth-century composers - all royal occasions, chocolate-boxy village scenes and war films, a bit too flagwavy for my tastes. But in the last twenty-four hours, I've heard a couple of his pieces which might have swayed me that there's a little more going on, namely his FIRST SYMPHONY and the VIOLA CONCERTO. They sure sounded like sparkling performances to me (but then again, as a first-timer, I've nothing to compare 'em to)... Colourful and quirky compositions which sounded to these untrained ears as being of equal parts Ravel and Schoenberg. Tellingly, both pieces might be considered 'early works', so perhaps he only got REALLY "pompous" later on!?! I'm currently EARWORMING the complete works of THE HOLLIES. It's my own fault. In an eff...

Week from Monday 29th April 2024 Week from Monday 6th May 2024 - M'Aidez! It's that time of the year (already!) when the BANG COLLAR DAZE come thick and fast. Not that it affects my own scheduling! Long weekends, shorter weeks, makes no diff! I am required to live from day-to-day (and particularly NIGHTS), coping with shifts in routine only by WRITING STUFF DOWN, making lists, ticking boxes, calculating averages. It's what I do now. Occasionally, I might pour out any thoughts into 'This Here BloggyDiaryDoodah' as they occur to me, even if it is at three-thirty in the morning! Painful nights, comfortable daze... I managed to hobble down the road to cast my vote in the LOCAL ELECTIONS. But the results showed that no form of #StopTheTories 'tactical voting' will ever work in Fareham. Even the specialist websites can't offer a definitive solution. I can't see any way of shifting the SelfServatives out of THIS borough. I'm not saying that the to...

Week from Monday 15th April 2024 - FRIDAY IS THE NEW WEDNESDAY... I don't have any appointments SCHEDULED for today (Wednesday)... Got up bright and early (having experienced a little bit of overnight PAIN), sorted out all my MEDS and had that all-important cup of coffee. I drifted off back to sleep while watching an old episode of "The Repair Shop", then I was rudely interrupted by THE PHONE CALL... "No more bookings available for Wednesdays, but they can move me to Friday instead". Okay, no problem! Oh! and they need another BLOOD TEST, so could I go up there TODAY before twelve for a 'WALK-IN'? Also not a problem, especially as the BUSES were running in my favour this morning! I availed myself of a FIRST DAY ticket, meaning that I could hop(?) on and off the bus at any point, so I took the opportunity of hobbling down to the HMV in Commercial Road to purchase the long-awaited "Wall Of Eyes", the second studio album from THE SMILE (Them Of...

Week from Monday 1st April 2024 - I'm generally a bit SORE first thing in the morning, but it soon passes once I'm UP AND RUNNING (probably the wrong choice of phrase, 'cos I ain't 'running' anywhere at the moment!)... Another kerfuffle on Wednesday for my regular 'chemo' visit. The provided transport arrived this time, so I got there in plenty of time for my three o'clock appointment. But then I had to have a BLOOD TEST and that required that I wait an EXTRA ninety minutes for the results (in a fairly cold reception area). Once I had been seated (some time after five o'clock) the nurse dropped a bottle of medicine and I had to wait some more for a clean-up crew to do their job, before I could finally get my tabs'n'jabs. They don't call us 'PATIENT(s)' for nothing! Luckily, the transport home had been re-arranged. Now I have lots of 'HOMEWORK' to do in the morning, sorting and documenting all the meds for my third ...

Week from Monday 18th March 2024 - My Myeloma treatment continues. Symptoms come and go, UP and DOWN, but everything seems to be under control. Why, I even went for a toddle about town yesterday on the way home from the hospital! (A bit sore afterwards, but hopefully it'll help rebuild some of the muscles that I don't have anymore.) My only complaint is with all the administrative 'HOMEWORK' that I have to do every day: counting out and minding stocks of meds; recording blood pressure data for several different interested parties; keeping track of appointments and organising transport; writing it all down in 'the book'... This is definitely MY JOB now! Further to my previous comment that "this might be the year that I finally 'get' choral music"... I gave GIUSEPPE VERDI's highly acclaimed "REQUIEM" a go last night, and it wasn't at all what I expected it to sound like! I can't say for sure whether it was a 'GOOD...

Week from Monday 11th March 2024 - Gosh! I've missed MUSIC all the time I was staying at the HOTEL DEL QA. Not so much as a piped daytime selection could be found to tickle my ears, so I was left with the EARWORMS in my own head for company for a month (mostly a couple of bars of Zappa and something else I couldn't place...). I now hope to make up for it! The latest addition to the CAN live releases is of course STUPENDOUS, and a fitting tribute to the recently departed DAMO SUZUKI. But I was slightly disappointed to find that it is a show that I ALREADY HAVE in its entirety, having appeared on a ('semi-official' and equal in quality) CD in the late nineties. The one with the rather obvious picture of a hand holding a tin can on the front. So after all the anticipation I DIDN'T purchase the 'new' download, but nevertheless I've been playing my old copy to death... I compiled and burned the one-hundred-and-sixty-second volume of my ongoing "HOT TI...