"In the beginning, 'the bloody Kettley record' as we like to refer to it,  had only two verses and was written by us simply as another song for the 'Fruitbats' album."

19/8/01 - One single article on travel to the Florida Panhandle is not going to turn it into the new Tuscany:

"I know why we chose the Panhandle, that forgotten half of the Florida boomerang bordering Georgia and Alabama. With past prosperity based on timber and cotton, the region has more in common with the Deep South than with peninsular Florida. Being one symbolic hour behind the rest of the state, the Panhandle promised a different world from the over-touristed madness of southern Florida – not to mention some of the best beaches in the US."

"I blame all the critics who gave favorable reviews to Tortoise." He admits it was probably more complex than that, but feels like things started to turn at the time everybody started praising the Chicago instrumental group for their overt jazz and classical influences. "Suddenly everybody had a Moog. Suddenly everybody was making really boring fucking music."

19/8/01 - I can see the old school being proud of this: Myleene from Hear'Say went there.

Finally some one who can challenge Hewett and Cathy Dennis.

19/8/01 - If you're not going to see Cat Power on one of her few live dates in Britain, the you can hear her on the John Peel show on Thursday.

16/8/01 - When pigs fly!

15/8/01 - From The Observer's 10 greatest performances in the history of athletics:

"The Czechoslovakian army major [Emil Zatopek] had already won the 5000 and 10,000m at the Helsinki Olympics when he lined up for the marathon - an event he had never previously run. He decided to run with the favourite, Jim Peters of Britain, on the basis that he knew what he should be doing. But after a few miles Zatopek turned to Peters and asked: "Are you are sure we are going fast enough?" Attempting to psyche him out, Peters replied: "No, we should be going faster". At that point Zatopek took off to win his third gold medal of the games, the only man ever to achieve such a unique treble."

"The recipe for rolled kudzu leaves calls for rice, diced tomatoes, meat (anything but lamb), garlic and lemon juice to be rolled up in green, cigar-shaped pouches and cooked."

15/8/01 - Just watched the latest Home Front where the floppy haired one and the Irish one performed unspeakable things to a mock tudor semi.  Couldn't decide whether the inside or the outside was worse, but as no-one can see the inside, plumped for the outside:

14/8/01 - I'm puzzled that no-one, not even the Daily Mail, has managed to whip up a public outcry over this:

"AS THE fourth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, approaches, an Irish art gallery is displaying disturbing and possibly distasteful images of the manner of her tragic end."

From Erwin Olaf's - the artist - website:

I actually find the picture of Jackie O. more disturbing; perhaps as John Kennedy was worth mourning.

14/8/01 - Everything a girl should know about Elvis in A Girl's Guide To Elvis.

14/8/01 - A look back at Neu!

I'm assuming Negativland got their name from the eponymous Neu! track.

14/8/01 - My favourite Tom Tomorrow of recent weeks.

14/8/01 - A profile of Stan Richards (Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale) who, along with Charlie Williams, were, according to my dad, the greatest living Yorkshiremen.

14/8/01 - Don't you sometimes read record reviews that you feel 'I must hear this!'?  A case in point Miles Davis' 'Get Up With It'.  One review:

"This double album was so far ahead of its time that people were actually afraid of it; Lester Bangs compared it for sheer bleakness to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music...."

"My personal favorite track here is "Rated X," which I had read about for several years before finally finding a copy of Get Up With It. On this song, Miles really lays into the keyboard, barely keeping it on this side of banshee-shrieking. Underneath this, a very dense rhythm section churns out a very (and yet oddly) danceable beat that sounds quite contemporary even today (but then, so much seems to come full circle, anyway). Every so often the rhythm stops, leaving nothing but the incredible organ-howl, then cranks up again. "Rated X" brings to mind the tape-splice crazy-quilt funk of Miles' earlier On the Corner, but may be even more over-the-top than that."