Showaddywaddy in Kirkcaldy

Busy doing stuff not posting as regularly, hopefully this will change.

Sometimes you just have to try & fathom out what is really going on? A couple of fine examples illustrating my point follow:

Recent concerts in Glasgow with arguably the best 2 Scottish male singer songwriters in the world, both at very different venues. Blue Nile @ Concert Hall was pindropping & Jackie Leven was his usual professional self. These were my last 2 concerts & they were outstanding.

Here is the thing though: I met chaps from my previous life in the ‘nick’ at both concerts (although they wore different contrary uniforms behind the wire).

We exchanged pleasantries, chatted about the concert….etc…..but don’t you think it is a bit weird for this to occur at my last 2 gigs in sequence………..smacks of the old 12 Monkeys to me.

Now that my Bombay taxi driving days are over, I thought that I would apply to the de-commissioned IRA in case they require a getaway driver for suicide bombers.

Beat Poem on Hearing of the Death of Hector Zazou




Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou
Hector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector ZazouHector Zazou


I Miss you

The Time of the Season



Taking my time updating as I try & remember any summer this year.

As the berries in the garden sprout, ripen & darken, my thought turn again to that autumnal blanket of rusts & reds & ochres. My listening pleasures reflect this cycle of nature.

Out comes Sufjan Stevens on repeat play, Magna Carta - 'Seasons' & Paddy McAloon's 'I trawl the Megahertz'.

On go the fleeces & out of doors, more this autmn/winter. Must must must.

Fitzcaraldo Does the Loch Thingie


Ok let's just get one thing straight, the Vikings may have been the first dumb blondes, but I find it inconceivable that they could have dragged their longships from Loch Long at Arrochar all the way up that steep gradiant to Tarbet on Loch Lomond.


I was stating this to 2 of my neighbours as we chatted away the time in our gardens without actually doing any work.

An admirable occupation for a Sunday afternoon.

Rained for 40 Days


Just a passing observation to ponder: are suicide notes always spellchecked?

Cold Sun, Warm Dust

I finally got around to listening to the cult, stone classic cd, that has been on my playlist since, Moses was a boy & since I first caught sight of that Nurse With Wound list.

Of course, you guessed, I was referring to Cold Sun’s ‘Dark Shadow’. I was a little wary of the hype initially that always colours these psychedelic discoveries, but this album does live up to its praise. I would put it up there beside other recently discovered gems such as Warm Dust’s ‘Peace for our Time’.

From ‘Blows Against the Empire’ & ‘Kick Out the Jams’ to a cup of tea & a comfy sofa

Is that going to be the limit of my needs? That is all it will take to make me happy? A comfortable chair???

Meeting my old mate from teenage days & his ‘devil dug’ at my mothers, as he is now a drinking buddy of one of my brothers, made me realise how old I must be now.

Although in truth, I would have struggled to identify him in a line up, as the lines, creases & wrinkles tell a tale of an ill begotten life.

Am I the same even with this George Clooney haircut?

Does Common Sense Play It’s Part in the Beautiful Game?

The short answer would be no.

My friend les, who lives in oz, once convinced me that 5-a-side was a triumph of mathematics, geometry & logic. It was all about maximising the use of speed & space. Rapid passing of the ball, no physical contact, no dribbling, no tackling.

As my 5-a-side season is about to start, how I wish my team mates would engage in some of the above concepts.

Is there something wrong with the Scottish psyche? I heard yesterday, that one of my team mates would continue to play this season, although he is on the waiting list for 2 hip & 2 knee replacements. He is much younger than me & because of his age, they are going to just treat him with morphine.

My own aches & pains have continued over the damp summer into an even damper autumn.

I met some of my old Monday night crew (in the days when I could play more than 1 game per week!) & that team is riddled with broken this & that, strained this & that, but they all still turn up as expected every week.

Normal people would have given up the ghost years ago or would have shifted their passion to bowls.

What creates this crazy behaviour? Is it the constant pressure to feel young? To still perform on the park? Perhaps it is, what it is for me i.e. that feeling of being totally alive in that moment & of being here now!

If only this passion for the game carried on, onto the park, when salaried players are involved.

The Man Who Couldnt Cry


Well I dont know I have done a fair amount of tear shedding in the past few years. The last time was at my neighbour's wedding!


I seem to have gone all retro at the moment from Randy Newman to Loudon Wainwright's 'Recovery' his old songs redone.


It is a tremendous album that closes with the above title. We seem to have had 40 days & 40 nights of non-stop rain here as autumn creeps in.

Harps & Angels


Great to see Randy Newman move away from making his millions writing naff movie soundtracks long enough to produce an exceptional album.

Lyrics like God bless the potholes in memory lane. Quite. I mean I misinformed a friend about me having the latest Calexico album. Not true yet.

Also good to see that the 'Wire' magazine has finally got around to publishing another candid letter from yours truly.

Fit Like

As I was listening to Fit & Limo’s killer psychedelic/krautrock version of ‘Dark Star’, I began to remember, what I had heard on radio 5 during wafts of ‘Rule Britannia’ as England beat some pub team in their first game in the World Cup qualifiers.

I still do not believe what I heard in this day & age. One commentator suggested Andorra & the smaller countries….e.g. Luxembourg……etc…should have to undergo some knockout competition before they are allowed to play with the best teams.

As he was going through his list of small countries, Mark Lawrenson added Scotland to the list. I assume this was meant in jest or was it?

Let’s Get Lost

I have spent most of 2008 trying to locate my video of Chet Baker’s ‘Lets Get Lost’.

So I was a little perturbed to discover that one of the happy Highlanders, who had come down for Jackie Leven @ King Tuts had been to see it recently in Inverness.

His tales of the Tilda Swinton film festival in Nairn or Elgin made me smile & realise she is way cool.