There’s a new Hanging Around book release featuring the photography of Virginia Turbett. The book in question features photos of The Ruts (aka Ruts DC – as they are known these days).
The book called “South Of Babylon: The Ruts 1978-1979” is available to pre-order through the Hanging Around Books site and is released on May 27th. Click here to order your copy.
Really looking forward to this one.
Now that’s a spoiler! (Though, given how much I have been talking about how skint I am, I don’t think I’d be giving much away to say I didn’t win the final and the £40k prize).
But…how far did I get? Well…tune in next week to Channel 4 on May 22nd, 23rd and 24th and you can see for yourself!
Well, it has been quieter than ever on the SM front this week. Having said that, Mr Kerr has increased his interactivity on FB ten fold this week! Well, it feels it anyway.
And it’s very welcome. His posts are always so…I dunno…enlightening. I suppose that is the optimum word.
He can post some funny things. Give the fans a giggle. Then express something quite profound. He also has me looking at things deeper, questioning things, pondering others.
And sometimes I am going through low periods and little internal struggles. And it may lead me to question things he says. Doubt him. Or feel he’s being too frivolous, too simplistic in his viewpoint…but ultimately he is always giving me positivity and hope and sometimes even brushes off some of his incredible self-belief on to me…which I will ALWAYS be thankful for.
His post this morning? Talk of getting back on the road and gigging (sandwiched between talk of John Lee Hooker, blues music and its working class roots). I mean…geez…SSOOOO welcome! But it comes with a modicum of panic.
My passport expired on Tuesday and it is going to cost a minimum of £230 to renew. Yes, Australian passports are shit expensive! Even more expensive for us expats, because £100 is added to the cost for processing the application overseas. And if I want my leave to remain document transferred to the new passport so I only have to carry a single passport (I didn’t get it transferred last time and always had to carry both my old passport and current passport with me), then that’s yet ANOTHER £100 on top! £230 is just a ballpark figure…the actual charge is dependent on the exchange rate of currency on the day it is processed.
Apart from that…one word…SKINT. Like, really skint. Impending bankruptcy kinda skint.
So, yep…the drumming lessons feel ridiculously frivolous right now. But…well, I’ve started now, right?
Anyway…mustn’t dwell. The only hope is that this bloody golden carrot of money coming our way will arrive soon. There is still nothing concrete about it yet. Perhaps July is now the new hopeful timeframe of something arriving. But it is just wishful thinking still at this stage.
But! It is fantastic to hear Jim talk of getting back on the road. And it’s good to feel a bit more of a presence from him on FB. Perhaps he is now getting itchy feet and a bit bored so he’ll be on a bit more? Even a small mercy like that is so SO welcome to me.
Please, Sir. Say you’ll be around a little bit more? 🥰😘😘😘🥰
I am booked in for two hours drumming practice from midday and I get to the train station a few minutes before 11am for the 11.21 train. Except…the 11.21 train is cancelled, and there is a train to London at 11am that would eventually get me there on time (a service going direct to St Pancras International. I’ll have to turn back on myself to get to Mill Hill but it would still get me there before midday). But I need to collect my tickets from the machine first. That takes a couple of minutes. The train has arrived in the meantime and is sitting on the platform. I try getting through the barrier with my ticket but it won’t let me though. I have to call for assistance and wait to be let through the barrier. Seconds tick by. By the time I am finally let through, the train doors close and even though it is still at the platform and stationary, I can’t get the doors to open.
I miss the train. I contemplate getting on the next train to St Pancras but toss up whether I’ll actually get there any earlier than waiting for the next all stops train after my cancelled one. I decide it’s best to wait for that one. I end up 30 mins late. Bum!
The rehearsal room is great. A good size. Nice and bright. A great kit set up. All good. Those things really made a difference compared to how it all felt last week.
I felt much better at the kit this week.
Towards the end of my session, I decided to film myself for a few mins. I don’t really know why. I watched it back when I got home and decided to share it on FB. An exercise in being a glutton for punishment, I guess. To thicken my skin. To say “Yes, I know I’m shit…but I WILL get better!” To show progression!
That’s it! In 6 months from now….a year from now…I can watch this clip back and say to myself “Remember when you were shit? Or when you felt shit? And you didn’t think you were going to get any better? Look at you here! You didn’t think you were going to be doing the things you are doing now back then. You’ve progressed. And you will continue to progress.”
I want this! I want to be able to play to a standard. Do I want to be able to join a band? Unless I get REALLY good…no, not especially. That’s all too late. But I want to be able to play good. It’ll take some time to get to that standard. A minimum of a couple of years. Possibly more at this age. I’m old!
“Aunt Fanny” (“personify your inner voice – make her an old, cantankerous aunt” a lovely fellow SM fan offering me support suggested to me this week) has been muffled some right now. (I chose Aunt Fanny, because that is what I resolve to give her of myself and my time – sweet Fanny Adams.)
I know I have a while to go, and Aunt Fanny will try and make her voice heard ALL THE TIME, but if she goes on too much, she will definitely be shown the door!
Anyways…here’s the clip. Enjoy!
Roll on next week!
I’m still regularly checking out BBC Radio for drama. Radio plays and book readings, etc.
Earlier in the week, I listened to this on…well, what is now BBC Sounds app (I’m still using the iPlayer radio app at the moment).
“Burning Both Ends: When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon”. Originally broadcast in 2011, it had recently been repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
I enjoyed it and thought I’d highlight it. Check it out. Just click on the image to go to the page to listen to it.
He literally is about the only thing that makes me happy to exist sometimes…
