A Shot At The Title

On Thursday the 9th of November 2006 Silky-D laid down a challenge. In the time since I have thought about the question. I have cogitated. I have writhed. I have wrestled. I have shaken my puny fists at the firmament. I have written some shit hot songs.


And then...what's this? Nearly four years later (that bit surprised me actually) I saw that Maroon 5 were about to release their new album. First, the name, Hands All Over, seems like a flaccid rip off of the Squid Ink debut. But the true majesty is in the exquisite awfulness of the cover. To be honest, I don't think it tops Daltrey, but my oh my is it bad. I think the quality I admire most is how the photographer by any objective measure has ticked all the right boxes for sexual allure (like a totally stacked babe, like totally nude on a bed, dude) but has achieved only a flat-pack emulation of sexiness. I think the only thing I can say in favour of the cover is that the image of the woman, arched as she is towards the sky, seems to be paying homage to the cover shot of that classic Daltrey solo album Ride A Rock Horse.


I heard the lead single at the barber today. This album may be the reason why punk had to happen again.

Idle Hands

The devil's work is usually what I turn to when there is a break in proceedings. I can be found engaging in idolatry with several graven images on the go at once. The neighbour's wife has barely sat down from work as a speech pathologist before I am coveting her(and hello Jane if you are reading). Building pointless tourist wheels in the docklands in an inept fashion, privatising natural monopolies and vital public infrastructure, and specifying IP based phone systems are all devil-sanctioned pass times that often fill, for me, the interregna in hot rock.

However, the only slightly fallen angel that is Mrs Tedium kindly organised for me a guitar lesson as a Fathers' Day gift. So, while the hot rock stays on a gentle simmer, I have begun honing my craft with Patrick (yes!) who lives two streets away. This very evening he took me through some natty exercises that involved barre chords in formations other than E and A. The idea, as Patrick tells it, is to encourage slightly different, or differently emphasised, harmonies and even chord fragments in place of chords.

When asked what I would like to work on I suggested that doing that neat bass and melody at the same time trick that Richard and Tommy, in a nod to Dilky's erstwhile didact, do so very well might be nice.

I shall, as people who are busy doing the devil's work say, keep you in the loop.

Initial Advantages

I have the initials, when not trading as UT, of DP. Not all that handy. No.

Handy initials would be SS. Allow me to demonstrate why.

SS - You can write your initials like the two lightning bolts in KISS.

SS - You share the initials of one of the 80s, and most of the 90s, finest bat manufacturers, Stuart Surridge. It was good enough for Graham Gooch (GG! Not quite Gordon Greenidge mind you - Graham may have been better but Gordon was much cooler...the very antithesis of Graham's "it's grim up north" demeanor, which is odd as he was born and bred in Essex) and me (first bat was an SS).

SS - I skip delicately over the Schutzstaffel.

SS - The Sydney Silky (for it is!) is one of Australia's most loved terriers. I have known two, i.e. Roselea (not named after the Bob Seager, and thin lizzy covered, song) and here charming son Walter (most definitely named after the scorer of mountainous runs Hammond).

SS - Few things are better than steam ships.