This and that whilst sipping a fine malt.
Way back in the days of bus services, long summers and local rumours, village shops with news stands the length of one wall, recreation grounds with wardens chasing you off the grass, where even the smallest village had a library, news filtered to us through the NME or Rolling Stone that a new release was… Continue reading Rejoice!
The Election Bit It feels like it hasn’t stopped raining since the beginning of October and still it goes on. The sky weeps for the state of the UK. I could say that words fail me,but they don’t. I am angry but measured. Those of us on the left are being encouraged to engage with… Continue reading Music to lift your soul
... we were half a million strong. Three weddings in two days left us pretty much depleted. We managed the stresses and strains and paced our bodies and got through. Much to our relief and the grateful delight of three happy brides. C&P goes from strength to strength and we are having fun. After a… Continue reading By the time I got to WOMAD…
Hanging in our kitchen are these words. Something to cling on to as the world outside goes to hell in a handcart. And we love all of the arts in our house - well, most anyway. (Sorry, I don’t get opera.) Also, Mrs. Monkey and I have very different tastes in music. Albeit that… Continue reading Worth it for great art
Time for reflection as we sit down between buffets. 2018 was a momentous year in several respects, but more on that in later posts. Here, I delve into my “world culture” explorations to, hopefully, give you some inspiration as an alternative to the Happy Holidays fodder. First up - the Movies I haven’t watched many… Continue reading A feast of World treats for the end of the year
Now here's an album that serves up an adventure. At times dark and complex and at others trippy and spaced. A feast of dark chocolate coated turkish delight. A box of surprises. The first track begins at a frenetic pace, rattling in challenging your attention, and then comes in the vocal. A voice of purity… Continue reading We need to talk about Gaye.
As the UK and the US split themselves down the middle and bleeding-heart liberal snowflakes like me contemplate our belly button fluff in the cosy confines of our cultural snobbery, there’s nothing quite like doing it to the sound of great music from around the World. Recent weeks have seen The Monkey groove to sounds… Continue reading Contemplating belly button fluff to the groove.
Note: for some reason the videos embedded in this post sometimes disappear. If you are reading a version without the videos I encourage you to seek out the "Land of Gold" narrative and title track via your favourite search engine. It will enhance your experience. Thanks. I first fell in love with Anoushkar Shankar and… Continue reading Gig Review: Anoushka Shankar, Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Every once in a while you can attend an event where the venue is as much a part of the experience as the event itself. Such was the case on Friday when I trekked down to London Town to The Troxy to catch Junun in concert. Having never been here before I was looking forward… Continue reading Gig Review: Junun,The Troxy London
It's not possible to like all types of music. Personally, rap is misspelt and I'm not particularly a fan of folk music - fingers in ears and black dogs and stuff. But, to blanket ban some of these forms in ones listening is to narrow down your options of coming across a derivative that may… Continue reading The absorbing amalgam of Ana A
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