Now Hear This. 5.

Later than planned, but work got in the way, here we go the fifth instalment of Now Hear This, a lot of the questions are similar, the replies are not, I had over 400 peeps asking questions, so here we go as honest as I can be, enjoy and then lets move on to the final chapter of the blog as it stands………..INCOMING!

We Want More Books!

Well, yes, no, maybe I haven’t decided and I probably need to sort out my aversion to technology but let’s just say I have a few ideas, it’s a cunning plan, just not a one at the top of my to do list, watch this space………...Maybe!

Knee Jerk Reaction when writing.

I have gotten better, I started doing this to sort out some anger issues, I’m still a work in progress, the fuse is always tinder dry, so I try to keep it away from naked flames LOL

Have you got any ambition left?

Yes, I could elaborate but that would take the fun out of some future plans again watch this space!

Are you happy?

Good days and thankfully less bad ones its not perfect, but I am happier than I have been in a long time, the blog and everybody’s comments have certainly helped.

Depression?

Is not a dirty word (not that it ever was) again I’m a work in progress taking each day as it comes as I have said before, as long as I wake up happy I can usually take what’s thrown at me, I do have bad days, I am not going to lie, it’s called life!

Honesty.

If I can’t write something with honesty, I simply won’t do it, I have standards and believe it or not my standards are ridiculously high!

Drive.

I do have it, but it simply depends on the day, there is times I can write 6 to 7 thousand words (I never claimed that it was all good) there’s times I can barely put a sentence together, these days I go with the flow, this blog should have been done a week ago, work got in the way as well as my health, go figure!

Do you still have the same spark?

Again yes and no, I hope I have improved and by doing that the spark changes, there’s times  I feel the urge to write/blog and sometimes the spark is barely there, one thing I do is I don’t force it, it its not there then I go off and try and find something better to with my time (I usually fail lol).

Music/Historical?

To be honest this is two separate questions but they are linked so here’s the honest answer, yes hopefully, I have a couple brewing that are both musical and historical, a number of you have asked about the plagiarism story ( I started  it in a kiss like judas back in 2013…someone did their homework) and I do feel like I need to close the book on this one, so yeah incoming, the other ones are really personnel so I need to be in a really good place before I go anywhere near them, watch this space!

What’s the next step?

I’m still not sure, I do have some ideas,  I love writing but it doesn’t put food on the table, I do have a following (over 52000 hits last year is pretty damn good I think) I’m not sure that many will want to follow the directions I have plotted (it’s between three) I still have time what ever happens they will not be as often as the blog as it stands!

Cunning Plans?

Always and 99.9% of them usually go adrift, but life would be crap if everything went smoothly!

Family & Friends.

Yes I still have some and yes I still need them, socially we are still in a crap place (work rules all our waking hours and me and the Mrs are very rarely in the same space together) but again see cunning plans, that should explain how my life is at the moment!

Health?

Is shit, worse than its ever been no matter what I try to do, even with me being a good boy, I still lose most nights due to my diabetes and now you can add anaemia to my tales of woe, more medication, I will not go down without a fight!

Numbers?

Are through the roof, and I have no idea why, I thought last year was good this is going to beat it hands down, I’m not as obsessed as I used to be, however if a blog did poorly, I would obsess as to why!

Still Angry?

Yes, but in much shorter bursts, maybe I’m maturing, maybe I just think life’s too short, it is what it is!

Still in Code?

Oh, hell yeah, I am aware that a number of people from my past have started reading and they haven’t tumbled yet as to who I actually am, I haven’t written about them, but they will recognise a couple of people from the Girls blog!

A distinct lack of boats/sailing?

I have made an effort, I’m not always successful, but the boat/sailing analogies are being kept to a minimum…. honest!

Social life?

I am trying and yes, the Tee Hee Club will ride again in some form, please see the family & Friends section, we will try harder this year, the more of a social life we have the more I have to blog about!

Will this really be Toodles?

In this format, I think it will be, I don’t intend to be Frank Sinatra and make comeback after comeback, I’m not saying that I will be gone forever, I still intend to have a presence, but it will be ………ah I will keep my powder dry until we get to blog number 500, but of the three options, I am doing prep work for them all, let’s see if I do a mixture of all three or do I stick to one path, lets just see, as the end draws closer, I’m sure that it will be come as clear as mud…..as always!

There you go, I am honestly trying to be honest and I am working to an end game and a timescale, its not the end its simply a different path,  there will be one more Now Hear This (Blog 499) so if you do actually have a burning question send it in you never know you might get an answer!

So again, thank you for all of the support, watch the skies for incoming, keep spreading the disease (maybe not the best catch phrase for the blog when you consider all that’s going on in the world) but it is what it is, until the next one………………………..Toodles!

I Love it Loud.

Ok so I have seen some bands, I know lots of people have seen a shitload more than me, good for you however I am going to tell you about bands that I have seen or rather had my ears bleed! 

Now there’s a couple of bands that claim to be the loudest bands n the world, trust me they arent not by a long chalk, so let’s go there first and get it out of the way!

Ted Nugent, I have seen him a couple of times and not even in my top twenty loud…...ish and in his later days a bore between songs not as entertaining as in his youth!

Manowar more of the same, all talk and leather pants did I enjoy the gig, yes, I did, but loud erm nope, I have heard louder pub bands!

Talking of pub bands The Flakes who I loved and they should have been huge in various bars in and around Newcastle always loud always great!

Thin Lizzy usually crystal that’s until John Sykes joined the band, that’s all I will say on that matter!

Venom……. actually, I was disappointed, if it was a school report it would have said could do better.

Motorhead I saw a couple of times in the early days loud and clear in the later days loud and distorted it was like they wanted the reputation but not for the right reasons, hey ho that’s my opinion, what the hell do I know.

Holy Cow at Trillian’s how it should be done Loud and crystal Clear!

The Teardrop Explodes loud and sodding awful……bleurgh!

Now let’s do some of the bands that have been loud, usually they have been loud and awesome, crystal clear, and absolute perfection!

Van Morrison yes you read that right a boring gig but bloody loud, I know, I thought that as well!

Jethro Tull again I know the first time at the hall was nearly off into distorted territory, however I saw them in Birmingham and it was so loud it gave me chest pains, not on all of the set just the riff heavy ones.

Yes, always too bloody loud, except the Drama tour which was pretty damn good, I always enjoyed the gigs just didn’t want to be on Chris Squires side.

Europe, on the Prisoners in Paradise tour was sooooooooooo loud great gig just my ears were buzzing for days afterwards.

Gillan it was usually too loud when his voice was shot but crystal clear when he was in good voice (so not often then).

Stanley Clarke, I had gone to the North Sea jazz festival, I saw some awesome bands he was great for the first three songs then he just turned everything to the max, awesome and then aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh everybody ran from the hall with their ears bleeding!

Engelbert Humperdinck, I had a friend playing in his backing band so a group of us went to see him to take the piss, we lasted 6 songs then ran away with all of the old dears sitting there loving him the band were superb but it was simply way too loud for us rock n rollers!

Kiss, were always loud just not excessively, sorry I know its not what you wanted to hear……. WHAT?

The loudest band I have seen to date was Clutch, damn I had ear plugs in and it was crystal clear, but god damn it was loud, bloody brilliant but loud.

Yngwie J Wankstain was ridiculously loud the first time just about everything was pre-recorded, and shockingly awful, the second the rest of the band in the corner with a wall  of Marshalls, so sad that some one with his talent can’t be reigned in, Ripper Owens obviously got paid for every time he mentioned Wankstain Name.

Jellyfish, damn I thought it was AC DC, they learned and got better still awesome gigs!

AC DC were always loud, what can I say, just not as loud as those bloody cannons!

UFO usually had a great sound however I saw them on the mad men tour with Laurence Archer and it was pitiful.

Wasp latter gigs shit sound, first tour loud and proud!

Adam and his ants never saw them at the height of his powers I saw him on the Dirk wears white Sox tour and it was OK, then jump to about 2015/16 and yeh god’s way too loud again more than likely to hide the lack of vocal prowess.

Stiff Little Fingers awesome gig was deaf for days after wards!

TRB awesome gig my ears rang for it seemed like weeks

I saw the Who in London and it might as well have just been John Entwistle, that’s all I heard all night.

Most blues artists too loud to enjoy, they should talk a tab out of Robben Ford’s book loud but perfectly sounding!

It Bites over in Cumbria was way too loud until Francis had a strop and then it was perfect!

Black Sabbath with Ray Gillan again ears were bleeding for no reason! 

The Monkees in London around 1983, at least I think it was they would have given Motorhead a run for their money.

Be Bop Deluxe and Bill Nelson was at the sound engineer all the way through the gig, no wonder he is nearly deaf these days!

Queensryche supporting Judas Priest at the arena loud and horrible.

Richard Marx, I’m sure he was overcompensating for something!

Slade loud every time but cracking gigs!

Blue Oyster Cult…………………. the gods of rock! So loud so proud!

Most of the punk bands I saw back in the day (god I feel old) all except the Stranglers who were always loud, but oh so perfect!

Now there is a lot more that were loud, usually metal bands but hey they were loud for a reason and had a crystal-clear sound, I don’t mind loud, but bands can do it and have it clear like water! Those that do it distorted, well to me that’s just laziness on the sound engineer’s behalf!

There’s the blog slightly late but work pays the bills, so there you go, the last one was OK in numbers but it is what it is, I can live with it, as always thanks to the nice comments get your questions in for the next blog as it’s a “Now Hear This” Blog, so until then ………….Toodles!

Don’t Stop Me Now.

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Bob.

I have a dog his name is Bob, actually it’s not an actual dog, it’s a big black dog that likes to takes bites size chunks out of me whenever he feels like it.

Thankfully he doesn’t show up very often these days, but when he does, he does just as much damage as he can, he has a tendency to take a few forms, but anger and despair are the symptom’s that soon follow, let me explain, I feel I need to. When he shows up, its debilitating, it takes a hold and causes pain, not only to me but usually to people within my orbit, today was the first visit of the year and it caught me unawares, I hate technology, today Bob turned up in a way I hadn’t expected.

A cunning plan had formed the night before, lots of variations of tasks that needed to be carried out, but I thought I had found away to resolve some of my carbon footprint, instead of going to buy tickets at the box office let’s just go online, we had a couple of tasks to sort, this included getting up in a relative early frame of mind (that never bothers me as I’m an early riser, but the wife struggles) we managed just so, I was up before the rest of the clan, I did what I had to do, I then assisted the wife into an upright position, and helped her descend the wooden hill to the land of the living, all the while I was in quite a good frame of mind, the youngest whose idea for the first part of the day was nowhere to be seen, she takes after me and can usually be relied on to get up if there is something to be done, not this morning she was suffering from a bad nights sleep and arrived in our midst looking and behaving like a cast member of the walking dead, not great.

So I moved to cunning plan number 67533, later in the day we were going to travel to the Sage in Gateshead as Blue oyster Cult had announced a date in October, woo hoo, I asked the wife if she fancied buying the tickets online, I was thinking of saving her the thankless task  of travelling all the way for a two minute transaction at the box office, no it’s technology so I tend to let her do it, this morning was not to be our morning, technology was in a huff (computer says no) and I could she was starting to get stressed about it so I simply cancelled the transaction to save her any further annoyance, I wasn’t bothered I was simply trying to save us a journey, five minutes later Bob was sat right next too me and he took a huge chunk out of me!

I then set about all the tasks that I had prepared for myself all the while getting more and more angry the youngest picked up the vibe and simply helped and moved away as soon as she could, I wasn’t angry with her or the wife (who was blissfully unaware) I was angry with Bob! Why did he have to show up, why now of all days, I wanted to have a day with the wife (we don’t get many together because of our shift patterns) I started with the painting I had planned and I attacked it aggressively, once complete I went and had a soak, I was hoping this would clear my mind and brighten my mood, it didn’t, dark thoughts rushed in and clouded my personal sun, I wasn’t going down without a fight, Bob bit me again and again.

By the time I was out of the bath I was punch drunk, but I was still standing waiting for the bell to sound so I could come out swinging one more time, Bob had backed off, I got dressed and once again tumbled down the wooden hill, the youngest waved goodbye as she headed off to work, the wife and I ate our lunch in silence, I soon headed off into my usual food coma if I don’t keep moving, I awoke about an hour later groggy and not really sure where I was, I soon gathered my wits and realised that Bob was still there circling me but keeping a healthy distance, I attacked the rest of my tasks and mood went from being angry to non-committal, thankfully Bob receded from sight he was still there licking his wounds but for once I was the master of my destiny or so as always I assume I am.

Tea was made, the wife was still oblivious frame of mind, as always after a visit I am exhausted mentally and physically, I don’t think that I won the day I simply put up a better defence then I normally do, as always I intend to take my life one day at a time, in reality I should have seen this coming all of the warning signs were there I simply was oblivious to them, or was I, I was a car crash waiting to happen, I’m so glad it happened at home and not at work, that would have been a disaster especially if I  was having a difficult day, I’m quite good at dealing with the many faces of humanity I have to deal with at work, however sarcasm and violent intent would have raised its head I don’t do well with stupid people when Bob comes a calling, he makes me burn brightly especially when the fuse is lit.

My diabetes isn’t helping, and I’m at a loss at what to do as I am trying my best to not only eat the right things but the right amount as well, when Bob is here my head wants to be in the fridge, these are the calling cards he leaves me, warning me of my impending doom, another reason why I rarely drink in the house these days, only when I know I am in a good place, I don’t need alcohol to cloud my judgement I don’t think that’s the right mix for a conducive family atmosphere, hey at least I know it, I’m not an arsehole I do know when I need to behave, I am a better person than I have been at certain points in my life.

Will I get Blue Oyster Cult tickets probably not, simply to punish myself, I feel like I let my guard down and I asked for today, a wasted day when I could have had a better day than we did, unfortunately I am stubborn and quite capable of cutting my nose off to spite myself, I’m really good at it, tomorrow I’m home alone so maybe a brisk walk and some fresh air to clear the stupid out of my head, before anybody panics this is not a cry for help, I’m not in anyway in danger, like I said I am a lot better than I used to be, I’m simply harder on myself than on others, this isn’t a cry for help, simply me relaying what a crap day is like for me, thankfully they are few and far between but they do still happen, I do not control Bob I hope though that he keeps his distance as he realises I’m a stronger person that I used to be, or at least I hope I am!

This is me on track with the blog actually arriving a little bit early, please don’t expect that every time, this has mainly been written out of anger , being angry with myself and Bob, hopefully a good nights sleep (its where I’m going once this is posted) will do me the world of good, I’m not sure but one can only hope, so watch the skies and keep spreading the disease, hopefully I will have a historical (not a hysterical one)blog for the next time but until then……………………..Toodles!