Oh sack this

Yes, really. I've found something that's TONS better than Blogger.

I'm now here: http://talkinblues.net/wordpress/

Redirect your bookmarks please-and-thankyou.

TMI monthly crap

Why is it that every month my uterus needs to protest so hard that it's not pregnant? Surely it should be ised to the idea by now, that it's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. I was half-considering going out tonight (Tuesday night folk club) but these cramps are just too much. And I don't even OWN a hot water bottle, dammit.

*whine*

In better news, I am starting a new LOTR RPG which is already proving very popular even though I only first started bandying the idea around last week. Clearly my timing is right. I do hope it takes off well; I really loved the Sinyamar game and I've missed having something like it to participate in, since it folded.

Giant Inflatable Plastic Penis!

Bet that got your attention didn't it?

Tonight we've all (including Leslie and Kat) been to a concert, which was a Genesis tribute band. More than that though, the show we went to see was "Musical Box", a faithful reproduction of the original 1974 tour of the "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" tour, accurate in every detail.

And Oh. My. God. I don't know who's more insane; the Genesis guys who originally wrote this thing, or these bunch of wacky French-Canadians (who look and sound exactly like the original band), who think it's a good idea to copy them 32 years later.

It was an amazing show. Sadly I don't remember most of the songs, it's been at least 15 years since I last heard the LP, but I do remember one thing in particular. The track titled "Colony of Slippermen" was instrumental in me and Leslie... er... getting together for the first time ...if you know what I mean. This particular track opened with the singer inside a giant inflatable transparent plastic penis which was laid across the stage, and he came bursting... or should that be ejaculating... out of it as the song began. And he was wearing a costume which included two very large inflatable testicles. And no penis. (Chopped off and carried away by a raven, so the story goes). Very very bizzarre. Thank god Kat is old enough to appreciate the humour.

All in all, a grand evening.

Fresh Start

My best friend in the entire world, is Andy, aka Firebird, and he has inspired me to start a new public blog (or rather, re-start an old one). I have, for years and years, been blogging away on Livejournal, but the trouble with that one is that it's really useful only to other people who also have Livejournal accounts. Then I had another one on Diary-X. I loved that service because it was small and friendly, and if you had a problem you could chat to Stephen, the guy who ran it, on his forum or just drop him an email and he'd reply personally. D-X sadly died a week or so ago, and my blog was lost. Well, not entirely lost, it's all backed up as a set of text files on my hard-disk... but on the HD they're not a lot of use to anyone else but myself and there's far too much to cut and paste into here. I might eventually get around to pasting the archives here but to be honest I'm in no rush, and I've got much better things to do with my time.

So I was talking with Firebird tonight, and he showed me his blog (I'd link to it here but there's little point, it's all password protected, and unless you know him personally you'll not get in). But he's inspired me to start up again, so here I am again, filling the gap that D-X left behind.

Those of you who already read my LJ (or LJ's...) you'll find that much of what you see here is already there. Bear in mind that this is my public blog, so it's going to be somewhat less candid about some things, and so if you're going to leave comments for me please bear in mind... my parents might be reading this.

Talkin' Blues

Someone asked me what was the meaning of the name "Talkin' Blues", so here's an explanation of how the name came about.

To begin with, the term refers to a style of blues music where the lyrics are spoken rather than sung. Presumably this was invented by some great guitarist who couldn't sing to save his life. Blues music is one of the popular genres at the Friday night club I go to; I'd never consider myself an expert at either performing blues, or even identifying the "greats" I've never even heard of them most of the time. But I do like to listen to it, especially late on in the evening when everyone's relaxed (and slightly stoned).

The next step along the way was one that came from the lyrics of a Dire Straits song "Walk of Life". While this wasn't ever my favourite song of theirs (that honour goes to "Your Latest Trick") the lyrics are about just exactly what this blog is about; a walk through life.

Here comes Johnny, gonna tell you the story
Hand me down my walking shoes
Here comes Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat, the talking blues

The flipside to "Blues" of course is that it's not just about music. Blues is about life, it's what makes you blue (and about what makes you not-blue too) and that's what all those old blues singers were preaching eighty years ago. So Talkin' Blues is me (not Johnny) talking about my Walk of Life, about my own blues.

And that's the story behind the title of my blog.

What's the story behind yours?