Take two bottles into the shower? Nah mate, just take the fans!
I took this photo at the Concorde, Brighton, UK, 2014 and can’t help thinking he looks like he’s just getting out of the shower!
Long Live The Fans!
Anna x
Tag Archives: rock
Poetry for Mother’s Day and Others
What do you get mum on Mothering Sunday? To be honest mums rock and deserve treats all year round, but for the sake of tradition and all the high street gaudy, garish pink satin bows and disposable greetings cards with “mum you’re one in a million” (which should more truthfully read “…one in millions”) that you are bound to be buying in some form or other, we have to do the whole singing and dancing shebang on just one day a year. Sorry mum.
A few years ago I became acquainted with the passionate independent publisher Candlestick Press, based in Nottingham who produce the most beautiful poetry pamphlets that are keepsakes to be read time and time again. They are far from disposable and mean a great deal to the reader. Like greeting cards, they come with their own envelope and a bookmark on which the sender can write their message and can be kept on the bookshelf forever.
There are countless themes on offer, from pamphlets containing poems about chickens, poems about ghosts and poems about gardens to poems about revenge, poems about bedtime and of course, poems about mothers, entitled Ten Poems about Mothers. The range is huge. I can highly recommend these as perfect, meaningful and affordable gifts that say a great deal more than chocs and cut flowers any day.
Happy Mother’s Day mamas.
Anna x
#RIP Heroes
So, happy new year everyone! What a way to start. The funeral of Motorhead’s Lemmy took place yesterday and David Bowie died.
I can’t quite believe I just wrote that.
DAVID BOWIE DIED.
“Don’t be too sad.” said my kid, shutting the car door.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” I said, and returned from the school run this morning with tears rolling down my face, snot pouring from my nose, the roads, flooded by the rain.
I’m still leaking now, as I write. I can’t bear to play the radio because it’s all Bowie stuff and I will only make this post short as I will probably short circuit my laptop if any more water gets in between the keys.
THE HUNGER, David Bowie, 1983, (c) MGM/courtesy Everett Collection
I am so pleased to have grown up in my teens listening to and watching David Bowie. He influenced my love for music. I was fascinated by his ever-changing style and my friends and I were besotted by his screen performance in The Hunger, a film that we would watch over and over again, never tiring of his soft voice and exquisite looks. Probably one of my most guilty Bowie pleasures was The Laughing Gnome, that my friend and I used to listen to back at her house on a school lunch break, and we would wonder, why did he do that one? But it had us in stitches every time.
Lemmy’s passing, now that was a sad day too, but one that I had seen coming having read reports of ill health during 2014/15. It is, however, a sign of time moving along, little bits of our present that, beyond our control are now past and I feel a little panic at this.
I saw Motorhead play a few times, loud and fast. Too loud. Very fast. The last time I saw Lemmy in the flesh was at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2013 when he received the Golden Gods award from Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, and Loaded bassist Duff McKagan. I and all Lemmy’s fans can be comforted now knowing that they will be seeing him again soon in the forthcoming rock and roll movie (the loudest silent movie on earth) Gutterdammerung, due to be released at events this year.
Thank you Bowie for giving me a love for music and creativity.
Thank you Lemmy for giving me tinnitus, I will cherish it forever 🙂
Long Live The Fans
xxx
Something new
Despite being a little under the weather, I dosed myself up with a fine mix of Benylin and various cold defying products and pushed myself out for a great evening this week sharing some of my words with Watford’s finest wordsmiths at The LP Cafe, the little home of vinyl, coffee and splendid homemade custard tarts set on the edges of the ring road.
Organised by the Caffeine Dreams collective who literally juggle clever words and balls, it was an evening of reflection and humour, mulling over rights and wrongs, the recent election, global issues and scenarios that are pretty unbelievable (I shall mention that one in a moment). Then I came on and mucked up the cause for discussion and opinion. Well, it was the LP Cafe afterall, with everything from Iron Maiden to Churches hanging from the walls. So, I went straight in with a couple of poems from my new pamphlet and read it’s self titled “The Will To Gig” and “Eggs Fudge and Arctic Roll”, a poem about an intern dealing with the backstage needs of rock and roll bands. I did decide, however, to share “Like”, found here on this blog in the hope that it may have provided some food for thought on my part.
What makes it so special about events like these, when writers all come together with a few listeners thrown in for good measure, is that any topic whatsoever is entertaining and enlightening in itself, and this evening brought everything to the floor – from demonic, psychedelic sexed crazed adventure stories (I don’t know what that guy was on, but he can share Benylin with me any time) to mental health issues, politics and how the Bible came into existence (loved that one!)
Checkout the Caffeine Dreams Facebook page and also The LP Cafe which hosts a lot of different events for the local community. Watford gets to be a better place with guys like these.
Just Arrived – The Will To Gig
My first printed anthology (or annathology!) of poetry has arrived. I thought I would share this little sneaky peak with you guys as I am so please with the outcome. Don’t they look brilliant?
Advent 3 – The Struts
A new favorite of mine this year. Great live entertainment. I wrote a review for Stereoboard earlier this Autumn of their gig at Dingwalls, Camden.
Enjoy this little ditty
Advent 1 – Scholars
Love Scholars and missed them at Sonisphere this year, so they are kicking off my Advent blogs. Enjoy Hemel Hempstead’s finest rock band!
The Nosh Pit
Photographed by Meredith Phillips 2014
Take one freshly packed festival fan
carrying a handful of wholesome oatcakes labelled “good intentions”.
Place in the sun to ripen
and baste regularly with warm lager for a couple of hours.
Remove from the heat when pink
and set aside to cool rapidly in cold cider.
Next, add nachos, chilli and chips
and stir gently with a little more of the cider.
Reserve two tablespoons of the mixture to pat flat
and layer decoratively, in portions, across the arena.
Next, mix cider and lager together with Jagermeister
and compliment with several hot sugared donuts.
Allow to simmer in the heat once again before placing with
three ready-made festival fans gently smoked in something wacky.
Next add spit roast chicken, noodles, a couple of sausages,
one giant Yorkshire pud with gravy and a further portion of chips,
taking care to spread some sun lotion onto any burnt areas, if not already done so.
Loosen the mixture with a large slug of lager, setting aside the cup to use for emergencies if the crowd becomes too thick.
Then, take all four fans and blend vigorously for about an hour.
Cool again in evening rain and white wine
and allow to marinade for six hours or overnight.
Garnish with a handful of crumbled wholesome oatcakes labelled “good intentions”.
© Anna Ghislena
spreading words
Just had a handful of these mini cards printed to hand out at spoken word events and gigs. Cool eh?
Anna Ghislena 