Sat, 20 December 2008
Oh thank fuck it's Christmas. Or, any holiday really. I am so fucking incredibly tired I could pitch face first on the tarmac and sleep for six months without so much as coming up for air. I have been reading, with some amusement, the bickering over the religious nature of Christmas which seems to take place in the American press with monotonous regularity. Apparently the Christians are adamant that we remember the religious nature of a pagan festival, which seems a little odd considering that the Christianisation of Christmas itself was basically the Christian colonists' acceptance that they could never defeat local pagan religions. So basically they adopted Yuletide and tried to wedge their amusing Biblical myths into a story that their conquered people would never give up, and then waited a few years for it to degrade into some sort of carnival of aquisitiveness which they could have a tantrum about. So it's a pagan festival which has turned into an unbridled celebration of Western consumerist greed... erm, which part of this came up in the Bible again? Personally,
as an atheist, I love Christmas. It's got nothing to do with that
Jeebus character, it's closer akin to the the pagan celebration of
light and life in the middle of the darkest part of the year. As a
family we have always come together and spent peaceful time together at
this time of year. We play music, we read books, we cook together, but
above all we rest. We get together and enjoy one another's company.
Mrs. Toad and I will, this year, be doing nothing more than snuggling
up on the couch and wasting time. And that time wasting together is
oddly one of the most important things you can do to forge a strong
relationship. Just taking time to be together and enjoy one another's
company is, after the year we've had, going to be a rare treat, and one
which I intend to enjoy immensely. 01. Yo La Tengo - On Our Way to Fall (03.12)
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Sat, 13 December 2008
Ah, mates. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em. Mrs. Toad's best friend from her reckless yoof is visiting us here in Edinburgh with her gentleman friend, and consequently I got to thinking about my own old friends, and all the people who, over the years, have introduced me to so much brilliant music. So I started to patch together a playlist of all the important friends who have added a lot of music to my life. The problem is that it became way too long for my one hour restriction, so for this week I cast that aside, and allowed myself an extra ten minutes. Honestly though, old friends are so important, this
could have gone on for two hours, easily. Every one of the people I
mention here has a whole story of their own, and it was quite difficult to resist telling all of them in proper detail.
It seems such a shame, actually, to reduce all of these people to a
two-minute link. I could almost do a whole podcast for any one of
these scenarios really, and maybe I'll do that in future. For now,
though, you'll have to make do with this. It may be shabby, but it
really could have been so much worse. Meanwhile, Mrs. Toad is fucking
plastered. Oh good. Enjoy! 02. Pearl Jam - Black (11.23) 03. The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings (18.30) 04. Gene - Her Fifteen Years (25.23) 05. Radiohead - Black Star (28.04) 06. Verve - Lucky Man (34.41) 07. Weeping Willows - Eternal Flames (39.19) 08. Billy Bragg - Days Like These (DC Remix) (45.41) 09. Bob Dylan - Po' Boy (49.42) 10. Elbow - Newborn (55.46) 11. Blanche - Do You Trust Me? (63.19) 12. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure (69.07) |
Sat, 6 December 2008
By the time this is published I will be lying in bed in Toad Hall with a hangover like a nasty case of death warmed up. The Song, by Toad Christmas Party was on Friday 5th December, and given how exhausted I am at the moment I would imagine that about two or three gins into the evening I will be whistling Waltzing Matilda out my fucking ears. Still, the Meursault album will be out, the party will be sorted, the Song, by Toad Records publicity juggernaut will be chuntering along comfortably and I will be able to begin the gentle slide into Christmas relaxation. Finally finally finally. I am so fucking exhausted from all the bloody time I've thrown into this since the Summer, and over Christmas there will be two weeks off with little to do but move this site all over to self-hosting and tinker a little with the design. I'll be trying to make the sessions and Toad Records things a little more prominent, and generally poking about in general. The problem is that my CSS is so piss-poor that I really am limited in what I can do, so I'll just have to hope it turns out okay. I am loath to pay someone to redesign the thing for me though, because that seems to be somewhat contrary to the Spirit of All Things Toad. The Spirit of All Things Toad, of course, being gin. 02. Doveman - Teacup (06.05) 03. Samamidon - Wild Bill Jones (12.53) 04. Phil & the Osophers - High Art (22.43) 05. Miracles of Modern Science - MR2 (26.15) 06. Radiohead - Idioteque (32.49) 07. Chopps Derby - Down the Dogs (41.22) 08. The 1900s - Age of Metals (47.01) 09. Alela Diane - White as Diamonds (50.12) 10. The Wave Pictures - Leave the Scene Behind (58.07) Song, by Toad |
