Creepin’ Jean – Dave Davis.

This song has suddenly, over the past day or so, made me think of one prominent factor that’s featured throughout my life. My grandmother. She’s called Jean, and the chorus is the bit that reminds me of her (and certainly not the parts about the underwear….. egh.)

She thought that all ‘this’ would be a short lived phase, much like any of my childhood obsessions. They’d last about half a year then peter out. But when I got obsessed, I got REALLY obsessed. I’d think literally of nothing else. For example, when i was 11 I loved Lilo and Stitch. I watched the VHS tape every day when I got to my gran’s in the morning and then as soon as I got home from school. I started to wish everyday for an alien invasion. I wanted to go to Hawaii and Elvis was the coolest idol ever. Little things that i’d notice in the film that only got noticed after watching it over and over, got intergrated into my life to simulate being more part of that world.
But I digress, my point is, my grandmother took a particular disliking to my new take on life that I had from the age of 13. She hated me going to underage club/gigs, she hated my sudden lack of respect, she disliked my hatred of the school I was going to and she especially hated the way I cut my hair and started to dress. And I could never avoid it because I had to go to her house everyday while my mum was at work. She’d say to me “Just you wait, in another year you’ll be onto something complete different. Teenagers are fickle, they need to experiment.” I never did change. She never stopped wanting me to grow long blond hair and have ambition to be a barrister. I still haven’t told her I’m definitely going to study art at university. That’s probably the thing she hated most. “Art is lovely for a hobby,” she’d always ‘tactfully’ say to me.

She was such an omnipresent figure in my life and now I hardly ever see her. But perhaps that’s for the best, so stuck in routine and conformity, she never did understand.

“You don’t know what I mean,
Creepin’ Jean’s a disease”

Keep on,

C X

• Day 01 — Your favorite song

I can’t choose an all time favourite by any means, but Harlem Shuffle is a song I can always listen to because it can be taken as a euphoric tone or even if your angry. Utter classic.

• Day 02 — Your favorite movie

The History Boys is my all time favourite film. Yeah, it was a play first but this adaptation is just as brilliant. The quote that sticks in my head is when Posner (the gay one, and my favourite) is speaking about his love of Dakin and how obvious it is that Irwin, the young teacher is just as enamoured “Our eyes meet looking at Dakin!” Cracks me up every time.

• Day 03 — Your favorite television program

This is a no brainer.
However you could alternatively have ANYTHING that Andrew Marr has ever done. When I was little, my mother convinced me that you had to have an underbite like Andrew used to have back when he was still a BBC correspondent and she made believe I’d have to go to Journalism school to learn how to talk like that. I was that enamoured, I wanted to be just like him.

• Day 04 — Your favorite book

It was the first time I became properly obsessed with a book. I have an old dusty copy from a second hand book shop and it’s one of my favourite things.

• Day 05 — Your favorite quote

“During this small performance this evening, we have broken one keyboard pedal without really meaning to.. we have accidentally broken one of our guitar amplifiers which rendered us ‘armless for possibly 3 minutes. The time was now, and we took it and it broke on the floor and we didn’t mean to.. and we came here tonight, but we didn’t mean to.. and we didn’t mean to break it. And you’ve broken our hearts, and we hope you haven’t broken your hearts, because we might just do that for you.” – Rhys Webb.
This is the only quote I really like, because it wasn’t designed to be reproduced as something “inspirational”,  it was just an articulate slurr.

• Day 06 — Whatever tickles your fancy

I shall be buying these off eBay.

• Day 07 — A photo that makes you sad

Fun times, better times. It’s more mourning than sad.

• Day 08 — A photo that makes you happy

BOBBY THE THINGS YOU DO TO ME.

• Day 09 — A photo you took

• Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

I don’t have one of those available yet.

• Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently

• Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy

Current favourite album cover.

• Day 13 — A fictional book

• Day 14 — A non-fictional book

• Day 15 — A fanfic

No?

• Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

The Great Gig In The Sky – Pink Floyd

• Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)

The Poet (Remix) – Georg Baselitz. My favourite painting, my second favourite artist.

• Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy

FACT: I have a collection of Victorian/Edwardian photos of couples from around the world. The creepier the better.

• Day 19 — A talent of yours

I can write.

• Day 20 — A hobby of yours

Collecting. Records, photos, bottles, taxidermy.

• Day 21 — A recipe

This dish has a wonderful rich flavour, despite the low fat content. It can be put together the day before, then covered and placed in the fridge until needed.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For the white sauce:
Geo Organic Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
700ml skimmed milk
1 thick slice of onion
3 tbsp cornflour
Freshly grated nutmeg
250g pack Waitrose Fresh Lasagne
25g Parmesan cheese, grated

For the meat sauce:
500g pack Waitrose 5% Fat British Ground Beef
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
3 tbsp red wine
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
1 bay leaf
Geo Organic Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. To make the meat sauce, put the beef, onion, carrot and garlic in a pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink. Spoon off any fat, but leave the juices.
2. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, red wine, oregano, bay leaf and seasoning. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook gently for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile make the white sauce. Put all but 3 tbsp of the milk in a pan. Add the bay leaf and onion, bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
4. In a separate pan, mix the cornflour with the remaining milk. Strain the infused milk into the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring continuously, until thickened. Season and add nutmeg to taste. Remove from the heat.
5. Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. Cover the bottom of a medium-sized ovenproof serving dish with a single layer of lasagne sheets. Spoon on a thin layer of meat sauce, and cover with some of the white sauce. Arrange a layer of lasagne on top of this. Continue layering, finishing with white sauce. Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until bubbling and golden on top. Serve immediately with a salad or green vegetables.

• Day 22 — A website

http://thisisoffset.co.uk/

• Day 23 — A YouTube video

• Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy

Artists that have covered ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’:

• ORIGINAL 1935 Big Joe Williams (Bluebird records), also re-recorded in 1941
• 1962 Bob Dylan, officially released 2005 as a download only
• 1964 Them (Decca UK)
• 1974 AC/DC (Alberts/EMI)
• The Doors
• MC5
• Van Morrison
• Ted Nugent
• Paul Revere & the Raiders
• Muddy Waters
• The Animals
• John Lee Hooker

I would include Gary Glitter but.. really?

• Day 25 — Your day, in great detail

I was still on the train home from Stooges/Suicide when the clock struck midnight and the new day began. By half one I was home and by half two I was in bed. Great way to start the week. My alarm went off at 7.40am at which I just wanted to swear at it a lot, but had no energy to. I got dressed with black tights Levi shorts i’ve cut too short, my favourite MBV t-shirt and the cardigan that was a jumper but i cut down the middle. Make up, jewellery. History lesson at 9am until 10.25am intensely focussing on Adenauers government in West Germany. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HERE ABOUT THIS SHITTY DAY – NO!

• Day 26 — Your week, in great detail

As Above, maybe later.

• Day 27 — This month, in great detail

FUCK YOU.

• Day 28 — This year, in great detail

FUCK YOU EVEN MORE.

• Day 29 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

If i say, they won’t come true. La la la.

• Day 30 — Whatever tickles your fancy

MY FAVOURITES ON YOUTUBE

I really should have just reviewed last nights gig. I will later.

C X

Anyway, here:

AAAAHAAHHHHHHHHHH.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

I’m going to break him, and i’m so sorry in advance.

Here is some stuff i’m really into at the moment that isn’t to do with music:

• Dead animals (aka taxidermy) – With foxy tail and Aloysius woodpecker, i can’t stop thinking what i’ll get next. I’d like the owl in the window of my favourite junk shop.
• Foxes
• The Virgin Suicides – I really wish i had four sisters. My favourite Lisbon is Cecelia, even though she kills herself first.
• UFOs – My dad and I love watching for things in the sky. It scares us that we might be the only things here.
• Painting – i’m blowing off all my other work so i can concentrate on art.
• “Taking mind altering substances so you can become an electronic pioneer” – My old teacher really knows how put ideas in my head.

Berlin, Fleamarket.

K-K-Keep on,

C X

All I’ve been doing the past few days is reversing records and painting. My room is so cluttered with paper, paints, wires, books, the amp, the moog (now on the floor to make desk space), clothes all over the radiatior, things hanging everywhere to dry. I can’t breath for clutter. But I love it. It’s my own little space to pretend no one exists. And pretend others do. Call me childish, but imagining you live with other people that you want around makes things less lonely.

My fucking tourist photos.

Message to the Ramones Museum…

I put in my single use today, so should have some more soon.. better ones soon.

I love Berlin, it’s one of my favourite cities. Albeit one of the most depressing. But i think that’s my style. The whole city seems to be under construction and you can’t look over out onto the buildings without cranes and metal fences in the skyline. Yeah, so you get that with any city right? Well, it just seems more prominent there, kind of out of place.
In Scheunenviertel I found a pile of books on the street, just dumped (or fallen out of somewhere) and so in the darkness of the evening, picked one up. The scenario reminded me of two things: 1) The Book Thief, the book i’m reading. 2) The Book Burnings in Nazi Germany. The one I took would have definitely been burnt. It was written in 1932 and is called “Neuland Unter Dem Pflug” which translates as “New Country under the Plow”. It’s about the life of Cossacks after the (presumably) First World War in the Soviet Union and the new life developing there. Essentially Communist propaganda. Which makes sense since my copy was published by the GDR in 1953. Good ol’ East Germany.
Another that makes my stomach twist in an odd way (but not a bad way) is the fact that everything is graffitied on. And the police have no real control over anything. Or at least that’s what someone there told me. I can believe it. The most amazing evidence of this was an old warehouse that was completely taken over by graffiti artists. An arch led you into a large courtyard where everything was visually busy and anyone was free to take a look about the workshops. Then there are floors and floors of old building that just seems to be theirs. On one side there was a tiny club.
But I’m just talking about the good things. There was a lot of touristy things too. Which is fine once, but can get overwhelming. And increasingly sad.

But seeing all the suffering of Nazi Germany and the Cold War has made me put everything into a little bit more perspective. So now i’m starting a Series of My Worst Fears. And the process of getting rid of them. My first success came in an unexpected form. I’ve always heard of some 45s having the B-side to them just being the A-side played in reverse. Since i was very young, i’ve been terrified of sounds being played backwards. I saw it as a form of brainwashing. (Then I saw that Simpsons episode when Bart gets in a boyband and they sing a subliminal song about joining the navy and made it worse. THAT haunted me for years.) It’s only been for a couple of years i’ve really wanted to get over it. Mainly because I couldn’t listen to songs with reversed sections in them and it became frustrating (I still can’t listen to the end of Dementia 13 by The Grusomes). And then something brilliant appeared on Youtube. A few Horrors songs had been digitally reversed by someone and put up. I was a bit hesitant at first, but then I heard Sea Within A Sea and had to try and reproduce it. It was totally beautiful. No brainwashing, just warped music. This was my reproduction:

Now I’m trying all sorts of things. So far, i’m enjoying Future Days by Can backwards, but i’m going to search until I can finding something as equally mindwarpingly brilliant. What can I say, i’ve been converted.

My Series Of Worst Fears:

†10. Reversed Sounds.

†9. Never achieving my one big dream.

†8. Death of My friends or family.

†7. Being kept in solitude for long periods of time.

†6. Being Alone Forever.

†5. **** ****** * **********.

†4. Nuclear Bombs.

†3. Flying.

†2. Death.

†1. Death from a Plane Crash.

That’s pretty much in order. I’ve flown twice this week and although I was a nervous wreck throughout both, it was probably a step in the right direction.
After this mammoth post, I think there’ll be some photos to follow soon.

Keep On,

C X

Facebook has become the spotty, whiny kid of the internet world, where you’d love to just leave it there to rot, but you need to tend to it. No one communicates in any other way and i hate it. I’m bored of the groups and the pointless messaging and the lack of creative conversation. And while the real world has nothing much to offer, i’m stuck in limbo.

Oh well, at least i have Bo Ningen and Damo Suzuki tomorrow night.. right?