Filed under: on the horizon, on the mind, on the streets, on the travels, on the turntable, on the waves | Tags: Aberdeen, flickr, memories, new blog, photos, Thank Folk For That
i’d like to throw a few things your way this evening if that’s ok :)
first of all, i have a new blog!
it is chiefly aimed at spreading the wonderful world of folk to the masses, but will also include a number of other music genres etc just to keep you on your toes! i’d absolutely love it if you could pay it a visit once in a while, but don’t worry, The Checkered Mind will still continue as i splurge out nonsensical, longwinded ramblings from day to day!
click the link below to go to Thank Folk For That!
the first post is a review is of Bon Iver’s new self-titled album, and as a little treat i’ll pop it on here too so you can get a sneaky read in :)
secccondly, the end is drawing near on University life. four years of pure, unadulterated, dedicated studying (ahem…) has come to an end and as i begin to pack away all the junk i’ve collected, i can’t help but feel somewhat sad that i’m leaving this Scottish seaside town, despite my many moanings over the years!
i’ve met some quite brilliant people, done things i never thought i would, lived in some hell-holes, somehow blagged my way through essays and exams coming out with as little history knowledge as i had back in 2007, made some hilarious mistakes, made some never-regretful decisions, been to liquid at least 10 times, more than i ever should, shared some historical moments, waded into the north sea resulting in a 5 second case of bollocks-loss, been to rugby games, balls, and mountains, written a bloomin’ dissertation, watched dolphins at sunrise, danced like a twat in exodus, snowboarded, went on the hunt for the legendary one legged prostitute at the docks (lol) and bought a fish that eats better than i do…so Aberdeen, it’s not been too bad!
and, finally, having pretty much nothing to do this week, i thought i’d go on a few travels – went back up Bennachie with Cal and Marc, visited the insane ‘shop’ near Montrose again, mooched on down to Edinburgh for a few days and hit the beach with the camera and Sloan…here are a few snaps from my travels, and you can see more on my flickr if you click the link on the left :)
Filed under: on the mind, on the stage, on the turntable | Tags: Gil Scott-Heron, RIP, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
RIP Gil Scott-Heron who passed away today at the age of 62…
the spoken-word ‘bluesician’ was well known for his inspiring blend of music, poetry and politics, which paved the way for many of the great rap and hip-hop artists of our day. He set the soundtrack to many demands for change in the 60′s and 70′s, protesting against the rise of mass media, the consumer society and nuclear energy and conflict. Moreover, his words inspired black activism in their call for equality throughout the world.
Last year, Scott-Heron released his first studio album in 16 years, titled I’m New Here. It was one of finest records of the year and was met with deserved global praise. It helped bring his overwhelming talent to the new generation and his voice was sampled frequently in Kanye West’s 2010 release, Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Gil Scott-Heron will be a massive loss to both music and poetry. Rest In Peace.
Filed under: on the horizon, on the mind, on the muddy fields, on the turntable
two reasons to celebrate today!
first of all, it’s the 70th birthday of one of, if not the, finest poets, statesmen, musicians and performers of our time…Mr Bob Dylan himself!
secondly…it’s exactly a month until we romp on down to pilton farm, for Glastonbury 2011…words cannot describe how excited i am…again!
if only we could put the two together…maybe someday before one of them dies out!
x
* i subbed the crunchie for a vanilla slice ;)
well as you can tell revision is going swimmingly! ha, but there is something to keep me all cheery…i gots a ticket for bon iver so i did!
so your friday treat is the main man himself, with Calgary, from his new up and coming album…aaand a tune from a band called Wye Oak, who are pretty damn good too!
enjoy!
x
this week my dad has been emptying my grandparents’ house after (finally) selling it following their passing…for all of us it has been emotional, no more so for him as it is the same house he spent his childhood. however, it has also been a time a great discovery and history, as we’ve found hundreds of photos, some dating back to mid-19th century. we’ve also found amazing, retro trinkets including a 1980′s ‘boombox’, some sensational leather suitcases, classic cameras (quickly snapped up by yours truly!), old toys, vintage china/cutlery/etc, and much more! it’s been really quite awesome discovering family history that we had no idea about. and a personal favourite find was my grandad’s RAF uniform, log book, medals, etc…unbelievably beautiful things that filled me with pride and joy…
here are a few pictures i took of our findings…
hmmm…apologies for the quality, but you get the jist!
from top we have: a couple of awesome, vintage suitcases, my grandad/dad’s tin of toy cars (including some that date back to almost a century ago!), two olddd chocolate boxes, a picture of my great grandad in his WW1 uniform with a fellow soldier buddy, a british flag owned by my grandma from VE-Day, a bunch of grandad’s WW2 things (including his medals, RAF badge, a stub from a wax museum when he was stationed in Kabul, and a 1944 five franc note), next his RAF uniform and log book, a couple of trinkets from around their house (including a drawing made by my grandma, a brilliantly classic jam holder and our Clan Davidson emblem), a retro games board, my grandad’s pretty brilliant school photo, an RAF guide to ‘what to do on leaving the service’, a clipping from the local Runcorn paper reporting my grandparents’ wedding, a toy bus that was made in 1920, and finally a leather suitcase packed with photos, letters, books and my grandad’s huge collection of stamps…
x
today’s the big day! not long to go now! the crowds have been waiting patiently and here it is! yep…it’s Friday Treat Day!
ahem, yeh…so there’s three this week…
1. because im back home, free from work, and all smiles :)
2. because it’s the day them two kids get hitched, and we’re celebrating by drinking, eating cake and seeing this gent play a street party!…
3. because dave grohl recommended it, i liked it, and now im passing it on to you lovely folk if you haven’t heard it already…
enjoy the long weekend!
x
Filed under: on the mind, on the muddy fields, on the travels | Tags: bolton, cup, F.A., manchester, marathon, nonsense, stoke
it will come as no surprise to you that next weekend is FA Cup weekend and that two of the four semi-finalists are rivals in this fair northern city…the other two are Stoke and Bolton.
If we have a cheeky gander at the map of Britain we can see where these 3 cities are located(ish), as well as London…
what i would like to know is….why for the love of God have the F.A. decided to host the semi-finals (as well as Arsenal vs Liverpool and West Ham vs Villa) down in London, over the same 2 days and for late kick-offs and on the same weekend as the London marathon!?
i unfortunately will not be heading to the capital to watch the ‘derby’, but my mum is, as are thousands of mancunians, boltonians and…stokers(!?) Traffic is likely to be mental, trains will be bursting and people trying to find hotels etc will most likely be clawing their brains out by now!
one of the most idiotic factors is that the United – City match is at 17:15…meaning that if the game ends up going to penalties, the best part of 90,000 people will be heading up the motorway or pissed on trains at eight or nine in the evening, with a three and a half hour journey ahead of them, which they’ve already done once that day…violence is also another factor that will have to be dealt with. 90,000 fans kicking around the stadium until the early evening with beer aplenty?…surely that can’t be a good thing.
of course passion for the game will most likely take over, but surely the F.A could have used their noggins a little bit…there’ll be 40,000 people dressed as bananas and chickens running about the place all morning! And, on the Sunday, several thousand scousers will be heading down along with the Stoke and Bolton fans for the two four o’ clock fixtures…
finally, isn’t going to Wembley part of the whole FA Cup Final excitement? making teams head down for the semis and then the final a few weeks later seems to have drained a bit of the fun out of recent years. players have the incentive for a final at Wembley…not any more. this year looks to be different with the two Manchester teams competing, however i still believe that Wembley is for the final, not any other rounds.
essentially, it is all down to money though…for a start, Sky want late kick-offs for the extra viewers. moreover, the country is in debt, we’ve got an Olympic Games to fund, why not pimp out Wembley as much as possible! in the past it was Villa Park, St. James’, Old Trafford or somewhere in London for the semis, depending on the teams…now it’s all about the cash so they’ve packed us all off down south on a petrol-guzzling, 400 mile round-trip, nonsense journey…
nevermind…i guess me and Rooney will just have to watch it down the local…
x
Filed under: on the film reel, on the horizon, on the mind, on the parchment, on the projector, on the streets, on the travels, on the turntable, on the waves | Tags: aberdeen uni, climate change, hard rain, mark edwards, project
if you’ve been on campus at any point this week, im sure you’ll have noticed the Hard Rain campaign near Elphinstone Hall and King’s College. i really hope that most people will have had the time to stop and take in the pain, shame, beauty and hope that is presented by Mark Edwards’ display….however if not, here’s a little bit of info (taken from the uni website) that may draw you into paying the exhibition a visit…
Artist Mark Edwards, one of the few environmental communicators to have personally witnessed the global issues that are defining the 21st century, will speak at 6pm on Tuesday March 22 in the Regent Building Lecture Theatre on the King’s College Campus.
Mark’s presentation — introduced with photos synced to Bob Dylan’s prophetic 60s masterpiece ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ shows habitat destruction, overconsumption, poverty, pollution, climate change, war, loneliness and despair gathered from Mark’s expeditions to over 150 countries over 40 years. The presentation explores the state of the world and its people, and brings alive the policies, technologies and lifestyle changes we need to adopt to reinvent the modern world to be compatible with nature.
The accompanying 60-metre outdoor photo exhibition will open beside the Elphinstone lawn on the King’s College campus on March 14 until April 12.
The exhibition has been seen by over 15 million people across all continents and has attracted huge public and critical acclaim. It has been shown at venues as diverse as the United Nations Headquarters in New York and national governments including Scotland, Australia, Belgium and Cuba, to the European supply chain for McDonalds, and the community of Wormwood Scrubs prison.
Hard Rain is being brought to the City by the Aberdeen University Students Association Climate Change Project and funded by the Scottish Government.
Jamie Peters, who represents the Climate Change Project, expressed his hope of the benefits the exhibitions and inspirational talk would have on the University and wider community of the north-east, saying: “The Climate Change Project has been engaging students in environmental discussion and equipping them with the tools to reduce their own environmental impacts since last summer. We are hoping that by hosting Hard Rain we can continue to get the community involved in making positive contributions to the environment and allow them to adopt more sustainable lifestyles.
“We have started a number of initiatives that are designed to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, save students money, help them meet new people, learn new skills, and reduce their carbon footprints in as fun a manner as possible. We feel that every single student can find something in our project that they can get involved in and hope that this exhibition will allow us to engage with even more people.”
The Hard Rain Project was established as a charity in 2009 to support educational programmes for schools, universities and colleges, and public exhibitions that campaign for realistic solutions to the interlinked problems of climate change, poverty, the wasteful use of resources, population expansion, habitat destruction and species loss.
here’s a wee interview with Mark Edwards, taken from when the project was on show down in Manchester…
Filed under: on the film reel, on the mind | Tags: aid, earthquake, hilda grahnat, japan, red cross, relief, tsunami
if you haven’t donated yet…visit here…
x
